Comic Review: Batman Beyond: Hear No Evil (2002)

Batman Beyond: Hear No Evil masquerades as a standard children's picture book tying into the ever-popular market of Saturday morning cartoons. The flavor of May, 2002 happened to be the outstanding Batman Beyond animated program, which served as a sequel to the award-winning Batman: The Animated Series and would influence not only the DC Animated Universe, but DC's entire franchise as we know it (even seeing a revival as a monthly title in 2011 which ties directly into the main DC universe). As I mentioned, however, this book, much like Batman himself, is merely undercover. Under its cover you won't find the standard morally-infused childhood fare, but a solid 24-page comic story.

The comic is definitely written for a younger audience, but unlike a lot of such material, it doesn't ever treat them like idiots. Most children's media is far up its adult ass that it can't help talking down to the kids, and that's something that put even me off in my younger years (and I like everything!). This book, on the other hand, just wants to tell a good story. And it does. Well.

Each page is split into a few large panels with surprisingly good art which matches up pretty well with the cartoon it's cashing in on. The dialogue is simple and toned down to appease the censors, but none of it feels contrived and it all flows very naturally. The characters all sound like they're supposed to, and you can tell that the writer, Scott Peterson, really got into their heads and went the extra mile to not just tell a story which is "good enough" for children, but to tell a Batman Beyond story.

While there isn't a moral in plain sight, the book does adequately deliver a message of kindness. There's all of one obvious plot hole which can be ironed out with just the tiniest bit of imagination, and contrary to form, significant character development! I mean, there's no surprises for an adult, we'll all know how it's going to end practically before it's even begun. However, that doesn't detract from the effectiveness of the story and the superb pacing. Honestly, if this were published as a one-shot story in the monthly title, I wouldn't be disappointed one bit.

Let me just answer your questions real quick: story, good. Art, good. Characters, good. Book, good. As far as comics go, it's not the grand epic of a more mature tale, but who could expect it to be? Now, as far as children's comics go? Oh yeah. This is good. This is nine out of ten good. The back cover lets me know that it sold for $3.25 US, which is actually less than modern comics. Weird, considering this will last longer when exposed to its target audience.

You know what the best part is? Any age will enjoy it. I enjoyed it enough to read it again, and I'm sure I'll do so a third time in the future. If you're going to slap four bucks on a comic anyway, might as well make it a good one.

Comic Review: Godzilla, King of the Monsters #2 (Essential Godzilla) (2006, Marvel Comics)

The second issue of Marvel's Godzilla, King of the Monsters continues directly where the first ended. Godzilla, injured and angry from his encounter with SHIELD, flees beneath the surf and rises in Seattle, which he promptly levels. The Godzilla-destruction is seriously not anything special, and has already become stale since its excessive exposure in the first issue. Fortunately this is all relatively sped through as most of the book is human characters, which is something we need right now as Godzilla has not been fully personified.

Of particular note is Robert Takiguchi, who follows a very traditional manga path for his character (interesting how the Japanese character follows that path. It makes me wonder if Doug Moench read up on Japanese comics before writing this series). He's a young and restless grandson who's very passionate in his beliefs and wishes to force others to see things the way he does, often by shouting over them. He's talked down and falls away into quiet brooding, watching SHIELD take the tyrant from a distance, of course with some ominous last-panel words.

In short there isn't too much I can say about this issue that I didn't say about the first one. I'm still worried about this little journey growing very stale very quick. However, this second issue gives me much more hope. The characters are all starting to find their voices, and that's really adding a savory flavor to it all. We're also exploring Godzilla in ways similar to how audiences got to explore the Predator in the 80's film, and that's always a cool thing. Also, the removed color was much less bothersome in this issue. I'm not sure what that says for the original volumes, but it's certainly a boon for this black and white reprint.

It's certainly a step up from what came before, and y'know, it was actually kind of good. There wasn't anything particularly wowing about it, but I'd definitely read this issue again. Like all good things, Godzilla #2 blasts by with a seven out of ten.

Comic Review: Godzilla, King of the Monsters #1 (Essential Godzilla) (2006, Marvel Comics)

As promised, I've finally cracked open my copy of Essential Godzilla (unfortunately "Cracked" should be taken literally. The second I opened it up the front page split halfway up the binding 3:) and gave the first issue a quick read. I spent a while wondering whether or not I should review this issue by issue since the comics aren't presented in their original form, but then I thought: "Mario Bros. Classic wasn't exactly a port of Mario Bros., but I reviewed that anyways. Might as well do the same for Godzilla."

And here we are approximately twelve hours later, my fingers on the keys and Godzilla tearing through my brain. I'll have to begin with the negative, I suppose, of which there isn't very much. In fact, the only real negative to this comic would be the fact that it was a black and white reprint of a color comic. Now, I have nothing against black and white comics. I read a large volume of manga on a regular basis, and it would be much less charming if it were all in color. Unfortunately, removing the color from something intended for it often damages it. It can now be fairly difficult to distinguish exactly what I'm looking at, particularly in action sequences when there is much swooshing and motion dragging. Explosions become blots of black ink, you get the drill. Taking the color out seriously hurt the comic, and I wish they'd release a more accurate reprint in full color (and on better paper... with better binding...).

Of course a book is only as good as its story. This being a first issue, there isn't very much of it (and I fear the rest of the series will continue that trend). We get some narration by a distant observer as Godzilla wakes from a forced hibernation within the confines of a glacier, something which I believe is fairly common for the big lizard. He then takes to immediately destroying anything in sight, which happens to be an oil pipeline in Northern Alaska. This story really takes Godzilla back to his most primal days, when he wasn't a scaly softy and simply a radioactive, green force of nature (like another certain Marvel hero).

We're also treated to a brief origin story, which is fairly different from the original one and isn't nearly as powerful. Godzilla was originally a metaphor for the destructive power of nuclear warfare. Now he's just an ancient beast, awoken by experiments (which are still nuclear, at least). Other than that he exists in relatively the same form with similar histories, and his two-decade ravaging of Japan is referenced several times throughout the book, leaving lots of room to interpret the majority of the film series as canon.

Throughout the chaos we are introduced to several human characters, including three of Marvel's classic heroes, all members of S.H.I.E.L.D.. The SHIELD agents, already being developed personalities, far outshine the series-original humans, who are right now a rather bland bunch of plot-drivers. I'm hoping they'll develop a little more as the story progresses. Interestingly, it looks like our antagonist/protagonist (I'm not sure if we're supposed to be on Godzilla's side or not) is Fury's old war buddy, Dum Dum Dugan. I'm not familiar with the Dugan character outside of the Captain America film, but he's very stylish and defined with his constant bowler hat and all. I'm pretty excited to get to meet this new character, although he isn't quite as thoughtful as I'd have liked from the figurehead of the Howlers.

Ultimately the book is passable, and actually pretty good at times. I feel as though the writers were a little trapped, though, and while the series is building in some interesting directions with continuing threads, I'm worried that it will quickly become monotonous. There's only so much that can be done with any individual character, and while Godzilla would probably make a great sometimes-character, I don't know how he can handle a monthly on his own. There's also a lot of forgetting I'll have to do, because the Godzilla in my head is more of an anti-hero than an uncaring beast. I'm sure somebody out there is capable of writing a very thrilling Godzilla story that takes it all in lots of wonderful directions, but my first impression of Godzilla, King of the Monsters is that "This isn't it".

But it hasn't been bad yet. Maybe a little boring, but not bad. I'm going to give it a six out of ten, because there isn't really much going for it yet. Here's to hoping it all gets better!

Comic Review: Cheer Up, Emo Kid (As of "Panic")

Before we get right into the meat of this review, let me just give you a small recap of my day. I'd really like to do this in some kind of adorable comic form, but Ubuntu has shit all for paint programs and my weapon of choice has always been MSPaint. Instead, have some bullets!

• Woke up at 1:30 PM feeling pretty cold and pretty groggy. Considered sleeping all day.
• Remembered girlfriend was out of work already and went online instead.
• Felt more awake and motivated by two o'clock after some Internet derping! Work's getting done today!
• Go downstairs for breakfast.
• Spend an hour and a half goofing off downstairs simply to avoid doing anything at all remotely constructively. Also, discovered siblings had Twix and demanded mom buy me Twix while she is out.
• Go back upstairs. Complain to girlfriend that I don't do enough things with my days and I should definitely get off the Internet and do more things.
• Discover Cheer Up, Emo Kid with the strip "Communication".
• Proceed to read all 205 strips from beginning to end, including playing the flash games multiple times to see each of the potential endings.
• Attempt to convince self that spending my entire day goofing around and reading a webcomic was not a terrible thing, that I consumed some form of media, and that if I review it it counts as work.

Good, now that we're all caught up, here's my review of Cheer Up, Emo Kid up through the most current strip (205: "Panic"). I didn't review each individual strip along the way because not even I could manage that (although I've been tempted to try!)

Cheer Up, Emo Kid is a currently running webcomic which has gone fairly under my radar for about five years. In fact, I only discovered the comic because "Communication" was being shared from a Facebook page and I thought it was so hilarious that I checked out the actual site. While I regret wasting my day, I do not, by any means, regret discovering Enzo's (that's the author) amazingly crafted cartoon.

The comic (which currently spans 205 strips which I'm going to consider as chapters in a greater piece of work) focuses primarily on Zeke, a young emo-styled boy, as he tries to get his love life in order with the help of the rather frank... Frank. 

The early strips are simple and it can be difficult to tell characters apart as they are all drawn as generally generic bald fellas all in black and white, though the female members of the cast where multi-colored bows to differentiate themselves. Characters are also identified by unique colors or tones in their dialogue which helps to keep things from getting too confusing. These early strips have less of a focus on coherent plot and more of an emphasis on gag-of-the-day devices, and bear a resemblance to  popular webcomics Cyanide & Happiness and XKCD. 

Despite the overall sameness of the characters there is a charming quality to the style of these early strips which is somewhat lost as the comic progresses. For the majority of the strips Zeke keeps his appearance and Frank gains a gray scarf to differentiate the two. The more frequently used female character-type is named as "Red" and shown to be the ex-girlfriend of Zeke, and as such plays a very important role in the early story arcs of the series. Later on we are also introduced to Purple, whose defining article of clothing is the typical bow modified with a skull, as well as Sue, Zeke's sister who is characterized by green, and Sue's boyfriend Steve, who is identified by his brilliant blue necktie.

The comic is quick to ditch the generic situations stick for story arcs, although it manages to retain the gag-a-day format--for which it must be greatly praised. Typically comics of this sort tend to sacrifice one aspect for another when attempting to both provide weekly humor and tell a coherent story, but the transition is mostly seamless and warmly welcome by the time it comes. Continuity sets in slowly as the generic slice-of-life characters begin recurring from one day to the next and are quick to take on unique characteristics of their own. Of course Cheer Up, Emo Kid does not manage to avoid all of the pitfalls associated with this method of story development; a number of the early strips create false-ideas about characters which later become recurring. Because of this, there are a few continuity errors which have gone unaddressed in the strips themselves, and I suspect they will continue to be ignored.

The pacing is pretty good, although some events happen more quickly than I would have liked. Typically these kinds of comics are good at keeping a single plot going for a few strips, and that's something I really like. I'm not overly fond of rushing through a storyline. Unfortunately the ball always drops at the end, again typical of the genre, with the story arc often being wrapped up in a single strip with a quick and sudden punchline as a character walks off-screen never to be seen again.

There is a time jump which shows us a bit of the past which confuses things. Originally it was something I was going to complain about, but I realized you could piece the timeline together with a little work and supposition, so that all well and good, I suppose. Despite being able to actually figure out the continuity as I was typing this, the fact that it was utterly unclear upon first reading is something which maybe should be fixed up. Particularly for a strip like this, which is pretty surface simple.

Inconsistencies flow over from the story into the artwork as Enzo tries to redefine the characters in various styles. For a while they were drawn with far greater detail, including hair, and even define clothing. While some might consider it a step up for the comic, I wasn't particularly fond of it. In my opinion much of the comic's charm comes from the simple artwork and character designs of those early strips, and I'm glad that the more recent strips seem to reflect more of the comic's beginnings (although there is a touch more detail than there used to be).

Interspersed throughout the series are videos and games which continued the story in some way. The flash games I found pretty funny, as they are parodies of and homages to famous games and genres, but I also found that they worked pretty decently for a two or three minute minigame, and I wouldn't mind replaying them if I had to. This style of interactive comic adds a little more immersion to the overall strip, as it makes you work to see how the arc continues, but I feel like it's slamming the brakes on the flow of the strip. Ultimately, I'm not sure how to feel about their inclusion. But they aren't bad by any means.

There is also a multi-page poem dedicated to Enzo's (at least, I believe it is dedicated to Enzo's) dog, whose passing seems to have affected him more than he thought it would. While the poem is not really part of the greater story, it is a decent piece of work in its own right and skipping over it would be a disservice to yourself.

To sum up my thoughts on the comic so far: I like it. The art's good, the gags are funny, and the plot can hit more than a few of the right nerves. It'll only take a single afternoon to read through to the current point, and I have to say that it's worth it to do so. I'll go ahead and give everything up to the present an eight out of ten, and I eagerly await more.

Young Justice #7 (Targeted by Artemis!) Review

Targeted by Artemis! by Kevin Hopps
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"Targeted by Artemis!" is the seventh issue in the Young Justice tie-in comic, and the first one I've read. I admit to putting off on reading this for... about a year since I borrowed it from my brother. The primary reason for this is because I'm such a nut about the television series, and I didn't want the comic to soil that somehow. Mostly, it didn't.

Now there's only twenty pages here for me to talk about, so there isn't really a whole lot to review on. The writing was pretty good, I didn't feel slowed down by any of the dialogue. Which is always plus, because it's a real drag when everything is flowing and then some character opens his mouth with a bit too much to say. I find this happens more frequently with Marvel's comics, though.

The art was alright. The characters were pretty flat, which is something that's been popular in the past couple of decades, and in a lot of panels their facial features are a little squished and weird looking. So subtract points for that. The backgrounds were pretty good, nothing fetching, but nothing wrong either. It was all very easy on the eyes, with no glaring color clashes to murder your eyes with.

Overall, I liked the comic. Mostly. It kind of messes with my perception of the Young Justice continuity a bit, but it's a tie-in and they tend to do that. Grain of salt, I guess. I'll give this one three stars.

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