Daily Archives: 3 November 2011

Revolution on the Planet of the Apes 6 (August 2006)

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Even with Fowler back, nothing can stop Revolution from having a lousy finish.

O’Brien introduces a fighter pet gorilla. He just shows up. Maybe Templeton planned a second limited series from his point of view… I’m glad he never got around to telling that bad story.

This issue is loose with the characters. O’Brien was never good at making any of them interesting, so when they start dying off, the momentous scenes have no weight. The whole thing just can’t end fast enough.

And then when it does end, when O’Brien finishes with an inane development (apes learned to talk seven days after the Conquest movie), then there’s the backup.

Templeton continues the silliness of his backups, but almost has something interesting. Sort of a Back to the Future thing. He lets it pass and goes with something dumb instead.

Revolution is an awful comic book.

Great Fowler art though.

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Swamp Thing 3 (January 2012)

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It’s terrible.

It’s incredibly terrible.

Snyder’s first couple issues never even hinted at his terrible idea for Swamp Thing.

Though he does seem to think a callback to the Swamp Thing movie is going to earn him brownie points… as he craps on Len Wein, Alan Moore… Rick Veitch… Nancy Collins… Josh Dysart… Well, maybe not Collins.

What’s so stupendously bad about the plot–from the editorial standpoint–is how Snyder’s creating his own organic elemental, which is already going on over in Animal Man. I assumed the two things would tie together.

Apparently not.

I’m also not clear why Abby is so badly written. I understand Snyder’s trying to revive the character, make her tough and whatnot, but it didn’t have to be ludicrous.

He also takes the book away from Alec Holland, who–shockingly–turns out to have been a better lead.

And the final reveal’s crap.

Revolution on the Planet of the Apes 5 (July 2006)

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Swell, Templeton brings in Kent Burles (from the Adventure series) for the backup. Burles’s art is still bad. Worse, Templeton’s script doesn’t have any action, so Burles is doing talking heads. It’s incomprehensible.

But it does explain there are multiple lawgivers (which doesn’t make much sense) and there’s something with the development of ape society. It’s pretty crappy; I expected more from Templeton’s writing.

The feature story has Sam back on the art, which isn’t a good thing. This issue’s about diversion–ties to the movies, ties to the Marvel black and white magazines. O’Brien sticks to the humans for this one, which doesn’t make much sense. They’re all unsympathetic and many of them are just plain evil.

It makes for an unpleasant read, which is better than a stupid one though. When it gets to the backup story, the issue is just plain stupid.

Thankfully, the series’s almost finished.

Action Comics 3 (January 2012)

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Almost nothing happens this issue. Clark has a nightmare of Krypton (where we learn of some new menace who can follow him to Earth), he argues with the cops and then Lois. He’s got a “Deep Throat” source too. It’s kind of hilarious how Morrison writes a thirties crusading reporter in the modern newspaper age.

It’s less realistic than the flying alien.

And then the bad guys show up at the end and Lex wants to get busy with them.

Get busy in the supervillain team-up sense.

Somehow, it’s Morrison’s best issue of Action even without the action. He’s finally establishing the setting with nuance, instead of neon. Too bad it’s not Morales’s best issue. While Gene Ha does some nice work, Morales just draws Clark Kent as a nerdier Harry Potter. It’s sort of ludicrous… his body shouldn’t change shape between identities.

But the comic’s finally getting compelling.

Revolution on the Planet of the Apes 4 (May 2006)

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O’Brien’s pacing of Revolution is bad, but it’s not entirely an issue-to-issue thing. It’s more of a four issue story being spread out to six. For example, this issue could go alltogether (if it weren’t for Fowler doing the art).

There’s a good deal of implied action, but the reader doesn’t see much of it. Instead, O’Brien follows Roddy McDowell as he chases the bad guy from Conquest. I’m guessing Templeton and O’Brien hadn’t seen the extended cut where they kill that dude.

So it’s a chase issue instead of an action issue. Not sure why a movie tie-in series needs a chase issue.

Oh, there’s other stuff–the other governments (or “givernments,” I guess no one proofread the lettering) of the world nuke themselves instead of letting the American apes invade.

The backup, from Templeton and Sam Agro, is both a silly misfire and subtely profound.