PGHHEAD'S 2023 COMICS ODYSSEY, Part Four

PGHHEAD’S 2023 COMICS ODYSSEY, PART 4

    This marks the third consecutive year that I will attempt to document my comics reading by writing at least a mini-review. The goal is 1200 books read and reviewed in 2023, although I missed the mark in 2022 by 88 books.  Still, I like that number as it’s easy enough to track - - - 100 books per month on average. Wish me luck!

# GOAL FOR January 31, 2023. . . 100 comics documented

CURRENT COUNT . . . . .  87 comics documented

#61 - #65  THE MARQUIS: DANSE MACABRE #1 - #5 written and illustrated by Guy Davis (Oni Press, 2000-2001)  “It was during the 18th Century, a time of Inquisition, when faith governed the land, a time when the souls of Hell had escaped into this world to sin, murder and be free within the possession of the living . . . .

      During this time a man began a holy crusade to hunt down the damned and return them to Hell, but as he wrestles with all he believes, the lines of good and evil begin to blur into a struggle between faith and sanity.”

     The main attraction for me was the exquisite detailed art of Guy Davis, worth multiple viewings in order to appreciate fully. However, the story is well done although it seems to be a bit repetitive across the five issues that comprised this mini-series. 

I'm reminded bit of SPAWN, especially the main character who doesn't realize who he's really working for- - although once learning this it does not seem to deter him. MARQUIS is about faith and how it can sometimes cause a practitioner to become more like those he opposes. FOUR STARS.

#66  THE MARQUIS: A SIN OF ONE one-shot written and illustrated by Guy Davis (Oni Press, 2003)

More black-and-white gorgeous art from the pen of Guy Davis. The series is about escaped demons and the consequences of Hell unleashed on Earth.  Another guided tour into Davis’ imaginary 18th century France and the troubled soul of the Marquis. 

      I enjoyed this one-shot much more than the five-issue debut mini-series which seemed to drag on. This one gets right to it: the Marquis dispatches three more demons hiding inside civilians of various rank and class, each one providing a valuable lesson in his journey. The final victim is especially troubling and will haunt me for a bit. FOUR STARS.

#67 - #68  NECROSCOPE BOOK II: WAMPHYRI #1, #3 by Martin Powell and Dave Kendall (Malibu Comics, 1993) This adaptation of Brian Lumley’s second novel is as well done as the first mini-series. Sadly, this volume was never finished, as Marvel bought Malibu Comics before it completed. Necroscope was one of the titles to get the immediate axe. (Marvel acquired Malibu simply in order to prevent DC from buying them, put out some half-hearted crossovers with their superhero characters, and then discontinued everything. I wish publishers would not do that.) 

     There are buried vampires in the ground, still alive and thinking their thoughts - - thoughts they can express only through the Necroscope, Harry Keogh. Poor Harry can read the thoughts of the dead in their graves.

   In this second volume, new character Yulian Bodes feels a strange compulsion to discover his real father (ancient vampire Thibor Ferenczy) and spread his works around. Only Harry Keogh, trapped in the metaphysical Mobius Continuum, can stop him. But Harry has a problem: he exists within the Continuum but doesn’t have a physical body. THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.

#69 - #72  BEFORE WATCHMEN: RORSCHACH #1 - #4 of 4 by Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo  (DC Comics, 2012-2013) This one gets 3.5 stars mainly on the strength of Bermejo’s gritty photo-realistic art. The story takes place in NYC 1977 and Bermejo’s depiction of dirty, crime-ridden streets is so believable. 

    I’m a bit disappointed in Azzarello’s story, and thought it to be a trifle lazy. For my money, Rorschach was the most interesting character in Alan Moore’s WATCHMEN. Azzarello does explore his character here (briefly) but mainly strips him of the trappings that made him mysterious and reduces him to the ordinary. He gets the crap beaten out of him - - twice!, and by the same crime gang. 

     Plus, there’s a budding romance between Rorschach in his un-costumed identity and a diner worker but Azzarello messes with that as well. The Rorschach I remember had a code of honor and integrity - - as brutal as his interrogation methods sometimes were, there was a line he would not cross. Azzarello here implies that he may have used his girlfriend as bait to entrap a serial killer. THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS. 

#73 - #78  BATMAN: WIDENING GYRE #1-#6 written by Kevin Smith, pencils by Walter Flanagan, inks by Art Thibert (DC Comics, 2009-2010)  This was intended as a twelve issue mini-series, with a break at the middle. Part Two was to be released as BATMAN: BELICOSITY - - and it never happened.

After the break both Smith and Flanagan (manager of Smith’s Secret Stash comic shop in Red Bank, New Jersey) became involved in the COMIC BOOK MEN series for AMC and never returned to the work. (Shades of SPIDER-MAN/BLACK CAT - although Smith eventually finished that one). That’s a real shame as well as a disservice to Batman fans, as Issue #6 ends on a big cliffhanger. 

     Nevertheless, I enjoyed this. It’s a more light-hearted version of Batman (in several ways) with many of his long-time foes making appearances (Poison Ivy, Joker, Killer Croc, Mr. Freeze, etc). A new night-time vigilante with a goats-head mask named Baphomet shows up to first bail Batman out of a jam and then assist him on several missions, eventually earning his trust. Having both Nightwing and the new Baphomet on hand frees up a little leisure time for Batman. Bruce Wayne reunites with Silver St. John and their romance rekindles. Catwoman is super-jealous and tries to insert herself back into Batman’s life. At least Bruce Wayne gets to be happy for a couple of issues. 

     I appreciate the humor here, which was sometimes deemed off-color/crude at the time, but comes off as mild compared to current DC (and others) fare. Walter Flanagan’s art is very good. It would be nice to see more of it, but I suppose he’s happy doing what he’s doing. THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.

#79  WONDER WOMAN: REBIRTH one-shot by Greg Rucka with art by Matthew Clark and Liam Sharp (DC Comics, August 2016) This debut issue of the new re-birth (a.k.a. re-boot) of WONDER WOMAN held a lot of promise, enough to convince me to pick up the first of both alternating story arcs. Neither one engaged me enough to keep going, but it was a good beginning. I think the title suffered a bit from jumping back and forth each issue between Rucka’s current storyline and Brian Azzarello’s Year One story, not to mention two very different art styles. The art in this one-shot is very good, especially Sharp’s details on pages 15-20.

   The best scene is Diana/Wonder Woman looking at herself in a stand-up mirror and reflecting on her past: “You are many to many. Peace-maker and war-fighter. Supplicant. Aspirant, Penitent. The true friend and the boon companion, the trusted soul and the truth-speaker . . . and you have been deceived (as her truth lasso reveals to her when wound around her arm). The entire issue is Wonder Woman questioning her life and if everything she believes is a lie. Several times Rucka presents a scene from her past, and then gives readers three different versions/meanings of it. 

   If you’re a Wonder Woman fan, then you should be checking out this issue as well as the opening story arcs that followed. It’s also a decent jumping-on point if you’re curious about the character - although this can get a bit confusing. THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.

#80  THE WORLDS OF H.P. LOVECRAFT: THE ALCHEMIST by Steve Jones and Octavio Cariello (Tome Press/Caliber Comics, 1997) The story here lacks a time/date notation. It covers a period of time in France when there were still castles and moves forward hundreds of years to cities with gas lamps and horse-drawn carriages. I’ve never read the original story to see how faithful this adaptation is, but I did enjoy the story.

     A young son of a royal family (the Chabrillanes) disappears, and the local necromancer/sorcerer/alchemist and his son are suspected. This results in the head of the manor strangling the older sorcerer, minutes before his son is found. As a result, the sorceror's son places a curse on the family — adult males to all perish upon reaching the age of 32.

   The current head of the family, worried about his upcoming birthday, seeks help from a fencing master/part-time detective who uncovers the mystery behind how members of the family were dispatched for six generations. Kind of a supernatural solution, as befits Lovecraft stories. 

    Nice black and white illustrations here with some good ink work. FOUR STARS.

#81 - #87  BATMAN AND ROBIN ETERNAL #13 - #19 Story by James Tynion IV & Scott Snyder. Script by James Tynion IV (#13, #14) Jackson Lanzing & Colin Kelly (#15, #16), Ed Brisson (#17, #18), Tim Seeley(#19). Art by Marcio Takara (#13), Fernando Blanco & Roger Robinson (#14), Christian Duce (#15), Andrea Mutti & Roger Robinson (#16), Scott Eaton (#17, #18), Paul Pelletier (#19). . . . (DC Comics, February-April 2016) 

As you can tell from that list of credits, it takes a bunch of creators to put out a weekly book on time. I’m surprised the story hangs together as well as it does, although there are certainly moments of contradictions, repetition, and confusion. Another limitation is that with this many artists some of the secondary characters get harder to identify because of the different ways they are depicted. 

    This series was of interest to me because it features  many secondary actors in the Bat-drama. In fact, that title is misleading. There’s not that much Batman in this story. It’s more about the others. This should’ve been titled BAT-FAMILY ETERNAL. 

     I was reading this every week when it was originally released and was confused often. It was hard to follow. Now, reading multiple issues at a time certainly helps cut through the fog. It’s not possible to write a short synopsis but I’ll give it a shot . . . . . .

      Mother runs a school for young assassins in England, and has utilized Batman in the past to actually secure orphans and provide some funding. He was duped, but that’s explained mid-way through. Even Azrael’s Order of St. Dumas was mixed up with this. After being exposed for her true intentions, Mother unleashes her pre-programmed students to attack and destroy whatever is in their path. The Bat-family sorts it out. 

    While the art can be really interesting in parts, and the story is entertaining, there is really nothing here to cause me to recommend that others read this series. Pretty non-essential unless you, like me, want to read about a large cast of characters from the Bat-universe. THREE STARS.