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PIPELINE COMMENTARY AND REVIEW #46
19 April 1998
by Augie De Blieck Jr.
http://www.nic.com/~augie/pipeline
Just a couple of rave reviews and one big BOO-HISS for you all this
week. And I have no idea what next week will bring. (The sister is
getting married and all hell breaks loose from that next weekend.) So at
this point, I'd be betting on a Monday night Pipeline next week. Thanks
again for your patience.
THE SAVAGE DRAGON #48, as usual, is difficult to review. This is part
of Erik Larsen's charm and, to quote the Perl programming language text
books, is generally considered a feature. Why is that? Well, I've always
been of the opinion that this review column shouldn't spoil new comics.
And so I don't do in-depth discussions of the big surprises of the issues
at hand. And with the Savage Dragon, 3/4 of the fun is the plot twists and
surprises Larsen throws in the mix with any given issue. Page two of this
issue constitutes a major spoilers, and page 6 blows the lid off of
everything. This makes it tough to review.
So I'll review what I can. First: Yes, at last, Powerhouse and Dragon
have a fight, and it's a jim-dandy. I'm not one for huge fight scenes.
Kirby did all of those with a sense of wonder. And the Spider-Man writers,
when they remember that Peter Parker is an ESU student, make some clever
fight scenes as Spidey uses physics or biology or chemistry know-how to
defeat his opponents. And in this fight, Erik Larsen's pun-filled dialogue
makes the fight. The result is mostly secondary to me. But the
story-telling and the dialogue cinches it.
There's also some remarkable background art done by Erik Larsen in
this issue. Some well-detailed houses and some intricate backgrounds show
up this month, such as the airport on pages one and two.
And I also feel it interesting and in the interests of ego-boo-ism to
mention that I had letters printed in both DRAGON and HULK on the same
week this week for the first time ever. Whee! It's my first HULK letter
in print. (I miss PAD already. Just when this book gets back on track, Bob
Harras pulls a fast one on us all again.)
I know this puts me in the minority on-line, but I still think Chris
Claremont has the knack. WOLVERINE #125 is the best example of this I can
give. To me, it reads like much of his classic X-MEN stuff. It includes
great character bits, a thorough knowledge of continuity and some clever
mutant power-ploys. (See the analysis of fight scenes above.) And
Claremont writes a terrific Jubilee, a character I do, yes, like a lot. I
think she functions as a perfect counter-point to Wolvie.
Leinel Francis Yu does an excellent job in keeping all the characters
straight, as well, even if I could nit-pick Jubilee's necklace going AWOL
on page three for no good reason.
So what could ruin this otherwise beautiful week? BATTLE CHASERS #1.
I generally like Joe Mad's artwork, although I rarely get to see it. I
first followed him when he first started on MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS. He
started on UNCANNY X-MEN when I tired of the mutants, so our paths rarely
crossed. But I gave this one a shot. And what did I get? A beautifully
packaged, beautifully-colored piece of worthless story-telling. Nay, there
is no story here to tell. It's a bunch of characters floating around, each
a walking cliche or joke. Who knows? Maybe it all comes together next
issue or something, but I don't need it. See you later, Joe.
So it's back to programming for me again. Only three more weeks of
classes. Whew. =)
-Augie
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