|
PIPELINE COMMENTARY AND REVIEW #83
03 January 1998
by Augie De Blieck Jr.
http://www.nic.com/~augie/pipeline
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT. . .
I know some people just visit the web site on Mondays to catch the latest
column, so you might have missed it: There was a special mid-week edition of
Pipeline last week. Column 82a is available through the 1998 Links section of
the web site.
LOTSA META STUFF
With the beginning of a new year, it is incumbent upon me to sum up the
previous year in some way, whether it be with a top 10 list or a brief look
back at that Year That Was. Sorry, I haven't bothered. If you want, click on
the 1998 Links section of the web site and reread the last close-to-60 columns
I've written and figure it all out.
The 1999 Links section should go up in the next week or three. No promises.
There is now a Pipeline message board/newsgroup! That's right, since it is hip
and trendy to form communities in CyberSpace alongside every possible thing,
I'm joining the crowd. I'm just setting up the site, so forgive me if things
look a little wonky right now, but go visit:
http://www.dejanews.com/~pcr
and poke around. Leave a message. Participate in the newsgroup there. Take
the poll. Because if you don't, I'll just be forced to ignore it or take it
down. And I think the web has enough rot as it is, don't you?
Finally, the Pipeline web site is now being prepared on Linux. My Linux box
is finally up and running well enough that I feel comfortable in doing this.
Why crash? Use Linux.
ERIK LARSEN FAN CLUB
Once again, we explore the wonderfully wacky and diverse world of comics by
Erik Larsen. (For those of you who couldn't care less about Erik, I would
suggest going straight down to the KINGDOM review towards the end of this
column. I apologize for your poor taste. ;-)
AQUAMAN #52 came out awhile ago now, but is Larsen's best issue so far. In
fact, it might be the single strongest example of his writing skills. It's
one of those stories you get occasionally in comics where events parallel each
other. You split the page in half and have two different stories running next
to each other. The hope is that they echo each other or parallel each other
in an interesting or important way. Usually, they just frustrate me. I don't
want to read two stories at the same time. And if I do, do I read the top
half of two facing pages first and then the bottom half of those same pages?
Or just go one page at a time?
While I still had that problem with this issue, Erik Larsen did a great job
here with the issue. There's a nice connection made at the end to link the
two stories in a way you probably weren't expecting. Along the way, of
course, we see the way characters change and how Aquaman went from the smitten
one to the jealous one, and how Mera has changed in her feelings towards
Aquaman. Interesting stuff and well done.
The art in the top story (set in the past) is by Jim Aparo and it works well.
His art style lends itself to that period easily enough, and Bill Sienkiewicz
managed to tone down his usually egregious inking enough to make it fit in.
Tanya and Richard Horie colored that half of the issue more flatly to give it
the appearance of a DC comics from 30 or 40 years ago. Eric Battle's art in
the current time frame was serviceable. It's still too frenetic, and he's
still prone to posing people instead of telling a story or having characters
act naturally, but... Take what you can get, you know?
Chris Eliopoulos' DESPERATE TIMES #4 came out Christmas week, and just in time.
This issue has a Christmas theme to it, but it's something that you could
still laught at now that the holiday season is past us. Trust me. It's more
hilarity from Marty and Toad and my favortie, Kennedy. If there is a God,
there will be a Kennedy stuffed animal sometime in 1999.
Picture It's A Wonderful Life, Christmas Eve shopping madness, and goofy
costumes! That's about half of the book. It's just damned funny stuff.
Don't make me come out there and shove it down your throat!
(My, I'm a bit confrontational this week, aren't I?)
Seriously, read the entire issue. If the last two panels don't drop you to
your knees laughing, I fear for your sense of humor.
THE KINGDOM: I WADE INTO WAID
It's an impressive feat to write 8 books published in the span of three weeks.
Actually, it's probably even more than that, counting THE FLASH and CAPTAIN
AMERICA. OK, so it's damned impressive to have those 6 KINGDOM books come out
in the same week all written by one guy.
And I've only read one of those.
The other 5 have a LOT to live up to. PLANET KRYPTON is one of the best
single-issue stories I read in 1998. It's a -- dare I say it? -- beautiful
story? Kind of simple, but with likeable characters, a great concept, and a
haunting mystery. It's set in the PLANET KRYPTON restaurant chain first
introduced in the KINGDOM COME mini-series. (It's also the setting for the
best scene of that mini-series: the one at the end with Supes, Bats, and
Wonder Woman sitting around a table and talking.) We follow a young woman,
down on her luck, who gets a job at the restaurant. Wonderful stuff ensues. I
won't spoil it any further.
Maybe next week I'll come to understand what all this talk about HyperTime
is. =)
PIPELINE MOVIE REVIEWS II
I caught a couple of real live movies in the theater this week:
ROMEO IN LOVE is brilliant. If you know anything of Shakespeare, particularly
Romeo and Juliet, go see this movie. It's well done. It's best categorized
as a romantic comedy, but don't let that deter you. The writing is excellent,
the acting surprising. (Who'da thunk Ben Affleck would work in a
Shakespeare piece; or Gwyneth Paltrow?)
PATCH ADAMS I'd recommend with some reservations. It tries hard to maintain
one strong plot, but tends to just ramble all over the place. The comedic
portion of it is hilarious, of course. This is Robin Williams we're talking
about. But that lack of focus and one or two really poorly-written scenes
means I'd have to stick it with 2.5 stars instead of 4.
STUPID STUPID PIPELINE CREATURE
II
To everyone who might read this column in the CBEM, I apologize for its
absence last week. It was my own dumb mistake: I just forgot to send it in.
No other excuse. Not the holiday week. Nope. I just forgot to forward a
copy of this column to David.
-Augie
|
