#418 THE MAN WHO EFFED UP TIME #4 (Aftershock, July 22 release date - - still in stores!!!) Poor Sean Bennett, stranded in the primordial wasteland by a future version of himself. He finally realizes he's been set-up and the answers to fixing things are in solving the mystery of who and why. I'm happily baffled, but enjoying this immensely. This blurb from the Aftershock website probably explains things better than I can . . .
Sean Bennett’s been racing the clock, trying desperately to repair the f#%&ed up space-time continuum and get the dreaded robotic Future Police off his back, but everything he’s done has made things worse. So, Sean simply says “f#%& it,” figuring things couldn’t get any worse, but it turns out things COULD get worse. Like, extinction of humanity worse! Whoops!
FOUR out of Five STARS.
I normally avoid epic events from the Big Two, but this one promised to be only six issues and pushed all my hot buttons. So far, the first half of this has held my attention sufficiently. (Yeah, I know it came out a year ago - but I really didn’t recognize its’ greatness until this second reading.)
ISSUE #1: The two components of the Anti-Life Equation are combined, prove too powerful for any one person (even a god) to control, and leap from its patient zero to the Internet. There, the Anti-Life Equation begins to spread as a techno-organic virus, attacking through social media and infecting the minds of all who see it. It spreads very quickly and infects 600 million worldwide, making it a threat deserving of the attention of the Justice League - at least those members who aren’t already infected. Batman has a big problem on his hands, and hanging onto his arm. The art switches between Trevor Hairsine/Stefano Gaudiano and James Harren in this issue, and the transition is noticeable - - but who cares? It’s very good, as well as the opening of this storyline by Tom Taylor. FIVE STARS.
ISSUE #2: More heroes and villains become infected. One hero replaces another in a real shocker. The infected aren’t really zombies. They’re spreading death as the anti-living. The smartest (my opinion) of the heroes quarantines himself to slow down his metabolism and search for a fix. It appears to be too little, too late. Bang! My favorite line this issue, almost prophetic for our times, is uttered by Green Arrow: “I always suspected we’d have to destroy the internet to save the world. I just didn’t know it would be like this.” FIVE STARS.
ISSUE #3: Alfred loses his cool. Harley loses her boyfriend, and then some of her friends. Some of the tension is numbing me. Too many standard DC characters are becoming infected and then dying - - if it was only a few I’d have a reason to worry. FOUR STARS.
ISSUE #5: The Internet gets shut down, so the only way the virus can spread now is from person to person. Several sanctuaries for survivors are sought and found. Some want to leave the planet. A lot of characters are meeting gruesome ends here. Smarts aren’t a saving grace, neither is speed, or super-duper powers. There have been some touching moments throughout this series, dealing with grief, passing the torch, etc. But because of the severity of the threat, it doesn’t give heroes much time for anything else. It just gets grim and grimmer. THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.
ISSUE #6: The extra-sized finale. Superman has turned, just like you knew he would. The art in these battle scenes is exceptional. I also appreciate that Wonder Woman is given a prominent role, as it should be considering how much power she possesses. I like Green Arrow’s moment of redemption. I was even satisfied with the ending. Not everything is worked out, but at least its a new beginning. Although it ended. Time to turn the page on this imaginary tale / else worlds story / what if saga. Hey, aren’t these stories imaginary in the first place? FOUR STARS.
So, the bottom half of the story earns a total rating of 11 STARS from me, still above average. The whole six-issue series gets 25 STARS out of a possible 30 STARS. Definitely worth your time.
FAITHLESS was billed as ‘an erotic depiction of faith, sex, and the devil in the tradition of the divine comedy.’ We’ll see. That’s a tall order to follow.(I’m acting as if this is my first reading of this series in order for us to explore it together). I should also mention right now that there is lots and lots of sex (all varieties) here, so if that puts you off stop reading now and move onto the next post.
The first thing that caught my eye is the very good art (pencils, inks, and colors) of Maria Llovet. There’s a great flow from panel to panel and facial expressions and body language are spot-on. Very important for this type of story. Main character Faith is artistic, young and lovely. We also learn on the opening pages that she has difficulty achieving orgasm while masturbating. She hangs out at a coffee shop where her friends encourage her to keep sketching her magical/Satanic-influenced images. To Faith, magic is all about “connecting to energy and influencing things.” She strikes up an impromptu friendship with a pretty stranger (Poppy) after causing a coffee spill all over her clothing. Poppy is in the middle of a rough break-up with Michael, and her first act after learning of his suicide is to put the moves on Faith. (Ugh. I am definitely not warming up to this character!) Faith and Poppy end up at Poppy’s apartment, where after learning a little about each other, they end up in bed. Faith finally has an orgasm, but her new love may not be exactly who she seems (as revealed in a shocking final panel). This is promsing. I’m disturbed but also curious enough to continue. More to come . . . . . FOUR STARS.
ISSUE #2: I scored the unlocked retailer variant cover by Fabio Moon on this one, and I didn’t even have to pre-order. Right off the new releases shelf. Captain Blue Hen is very acommodating. The storytelling of Azzarello and Llovet will turn most readers into voyeurs. Faith gets invited to an exclusive celebrity party (open sex and drugs) by Poppy, and gets nabbed by security when she attempts to take a photo, depositing her outside on the fire escape. There she meets a dark, seedy looking man sitting and smoking, blocking the stairs down. Poppy recognizes him as Mr. Thorn, an apparent celebrity. He grabs her ankle violently so that she loses her balance, and he can then pretend to save her from falling off the fire escape. Poppy appears to rescue her before his aggressive nature can take things further. There’s an unexpected scene in an alley on their walk home, where Faith becomes the aggressor when three young men mock and taunt them, persuading them to do unto themselves what they intended to do to others. I was on the fence about continuing with the title, until the very last panel threw out another cliff-hanger: the mysterious Mr. Thorn is Poppy’s father. THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.
ISSUES #3 and #4: This marks the point where, after the cast of characters has been introduced, the supernatural and horror elements start to creep into the story. For my money, that just made it a bit more exciting. Issue #3’s cover is a spoiler- - now we can stop wondering if Faith will have sex with Poppy’s dad (full name revealed as Louis Thorn). But what does that reverse image of a winged demon indicate? Odd things that Faith has been seeing out of the corner of her eyes (a feral wolf, etc) begin to seep into the lives of her close friends. Two of them perish in strange ways in these issues, and Faith starts to see ghosts at the worst possible moments. Unlike Poppy, Faith is devastated by the deaths - and Louis is there to comfort and console her. Although his presence near the death scenes is suspicious. They have many discussions about love and grief, although Louis is more indifferent than sympathetic in his attitudes towards everything. Faith takes a part-time job at his design/modeling agency, and ends up being interviewed on camera regarding a very troubling time in her past. The death of her friend Max at the end of Issue #4 is especially creepy and weird. FOUR STARS each for these two issues.
While familiar with the classic Italian literary work, I’ve never read it so I can only compare FAITHLESS to its’ themes (as stated on Wikipedia). The main character travels through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise (Heaven), meant to represent the “soul’s journey towards God”. THE DIVINE COMEDY is divided into three sections, beginning with “the recognition and rejection of sin (Inferno), followed by the penitent Christian life (Purgatorio), which is then followed by the soul’s ascent to God (Paradiso).”
Is FAITHLESS meant to be part of a trilogy? The final page of Issue #6 proclaims “Faithless Returns 2020”. FAITHLESS II recently debuted, and two issues have been released so far. The long story might make more senses, as Issue #6 doesn’t so much as end with any concrete resolution, but sort of reaches a stopping point, or intermission.
Let’s revisit that cover blurb: “An erotic depiction of faith, sex, and the devil in the tradition of the divine comedy.” The journey of Dante’s character begins in Hell; so is FAITHLESS following the same path with the first volume representing Azzarello’s erotic version of Hell? Or does it begin with “faith”? - - meaning the next volume will be “sex” and the final in the trilogy will be “the devil”. I don’t have the answers. However, if the first mini-series was ‘faith’, the next series will be off the charts. (Drat. Now, I have to seek it out. I originally passed on pre-ordering this when it was announced in Previews).
What’s that? You were anticipating a description of what happens in Issues #5 and #6? There’s really not much to spoil here, if you’ve been following the series. However, there is enough soul-searching, despondency, confusion, and grief expressed by Faith in Issue #5 to create a lot of empathy for her. I hope she fares well, but fear she is heading down the wrong path here, not so much a journey toward God, but the reverse. There are plenty of symbolic images here, and references to the devil and his minions to get the point. Before it all ends, Faith ends up further involved with father Louis and daughter Poppy despite repeated warnings from remaining friends and a prophetic old homeless woman who keeps bumping into Faith since Issue #4. And, is Poppy just another representation of the devil, and father and daughter are just two manifestations? The same being?
I’ve done an about-face on this series. After the first read, I sort of dismissed it as interesting experimental fare from Azzarello. After the second reading, I’m going to try and pick up FAITHLESS II and see where this is going. I just hope I’m not on a journey, heading in the wrong direction. New evaluation: FOUR AND ONE-HALF STARS for the full mini-series.
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