Daily Archives: 19 September 2011

Deathstroke 1 (November 2011)

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DC Comics, as a major publisher, “proudly presents” Deathstroke? Really?

First off, the writing. Let me get through it. Kyle Higgins isn’t as bad as some of the writers DC has on the New 52. Oh, sure, he’s really lame and can’t write dialogue, but at least he tries. He does try to sound conversational and not declarative. He even succeeds. He writes bad conversational dialogue. He’s leagues better than the guys who can’t write like anything but Frank Miller knockoffs.

But he can’t plot either, maybe because the concept would require some understanding of the human condition to succeed.

And the art? Joe Bennett is a diet Ed McGuinness; he doesn’t sell the forced style. Plus, his references are all Marvel—both J. Jonah Jameson and the Vulture cameo in the book.

Maybe Deathstroke’s all supposed to be a joke.

Even if it is… it’s a bad one.

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Planet of the Apes 19 (April 1976)

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Tom Sutton inking Mike Ploog.

It must be seen to be believed. The result is more Sutton than Ploog but the fluidity to the action is all Ploog. This visual feast is on Moench’s getting even stranger original story this issue.

While waiting for the evil gorilla to arrive, the protagonists take peyote and trip. I guess as long as it wasn’t a comic book, Marvel didn’t care about encouraging drugs in the seventies.

Moench brings in a lot of sci-fi elements this story and it’ll be interesting to see what comes of them.

Alcala continues to be the essential component to Moench’s Conquest adaptation. With so little dialogue–basically just squabbling politicans–Acala has to make just the visuals compelling. He does a great job of it; Alcala’s future world is restrictive, but still somehow open. It’s claustrophobic.

It’s a good adaptation; Alcala makes it even more spectacular.