Snarked #2

Princess Scarlett and Prince Rusty are hiding out with Wilburforce J. Walrus and Clyde McDunk to avoid being captured by the traitorous royal advisors. They hope to be able to set sail to locate the King, but the advisors have other plans — they’re going to hire the most feared, most unstoppably unstoppable tracker and bounty hunter in the nation — the Gryphon! Will they be able to give him the slip, or are they all bound the the royal dungeons?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Fun cartooning and excellent, deceptively emotional storytelling. I love the re-imaginings we’re getting of Lewis Carroll’s characters, and the dialogue is quite good. You’ll definitely want to check out the backgrounds while you’re reading — lots of funny stuff gets hidden outside the main action.

Justice League International #3

Multiple giant robots threaten the Earth, and the Justice League International has not yet been successful at stopping even one of them. Do they have a chance when they have to divide their efforts around the world? Maybe if they don’t take the giants on directly. Booster Gold and Batman focus on the ground underneath a giant in Peru, while Rocket Red and Ice travel to Russia, Fire and Vixen visit South Africa, Godiva and August General in Iron go to Canada, and Guy Gardner checks out the situation from orbit. But there are more threats to be dealt with, both underground and in outer space…

Verdict: Thumbs up. In a way, I want to not like this — it’s not a particularly deep, meaningful comic. The villains are pretty forgettable. The dialogue is not ideal, though the characterization is getting stronger. And I don’t know why a bunch of giant robots and a huge spaceship would mobilize a bunch of second-stringers and not the entire Justice League. But it’s good, solid, unapologetic superheroics. I like the characters, I like the costumes (and since so many of the A-list DC Reboot comics have been plagued by awful costume changes, that’s saying something special), I like the action, I just plain like what I’m seeing here.

Today’s Cool Links:

• Oooh, plush tentacles? I’ll have me 8-10 of those…
• Does Wonder Woman’s new origin reduce her status as a feminist icon?
• David Brothers takes a look at the notoriously racist “Tintin in the Congo.”

Justice League International #2

While the Hall of Justice has been destroyed in Washington, DC, the Justice League International has found that their simple mission to locate some missing UN workers has become very, very complicated after a giant robot climbs out of a hole in the ground in the middle of Peru. The entire team is completely out of their depth, with too much arguing between Rocket Red and August General in Iron and too much flirting from Godiva. And when the robot attacks and injures Ice, Booster Gold makes the first serious decision of his tenure as team leader — that they should all retreat and get Ice to a doctor. This causes a great deal of stress with the rest of the team and the UN, despite support for Booster’s decision from Batman, Fire, Godiva, and August General. Guy Gardner finally gets around to joining the team, even if it’s mostly to be close to his sorta-girlfriend Ice, but he may not be enough to turn the tide, especially when even more giant robots start appearing all over the world.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Extremely nice art and good action, along with some decent advancement of the plot. It’s just all around good superheroics. If I’ve got a complaint, it’s got to be with the fact that the vast majority of these characters seem to have absolutely no personalities. This series needs to start giving these characters something to do other than fight and quote stilted dialogue at each other.

Snarked #1

Roger Langridge — creator of the acclaimed Muppet Show comics from the past couple years — kicks off his new series, based on the works of “Alice in Wonderland” author Lewis Carroll. The king has been lost at sea for six months, and his treacherous advisors want Princess Scarlett and Prince Rusty out of the way so they can rule. The Cheshire Cat appears (and then disappears) and tells them to scram out of the castle and look for Wilburforce J. Walrus and Clyde McDunk, a couple of fast-talking ne’er-do-wells, to get their protection. But can the money-hungry scoundrels be trusted?

Verdict: Thumbs up. It’s a very cute story, with wonderfully cartoony artwork. Great characterization and dialogue — and I love the way the Cheshire Cat is drawn to look like the old silent-era Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons.

Today’s Cool Links:

• Ya like Franz Frazetta? Sure you do! Check out this tribute from the Pictorial Arts Journal.
• These little kids performing Metallica are awesome beyond words. Dig the bored-looking little girl who just shreds on the guitar solo.
• And a lot of these TV rock performances — often featuring bands forced to appear on shows where they’re required to lip-synch their songs — are pretty funny. Loved the video of Iron Maiden randomly trading their instruments back and forth during the show.

Snarked #0

Roger Langridge has gotten a ton of good press for his spot-on “Muppet Show” comics — now he’s moved on to a new all-ages project based on Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” and “The Hunting of the Snark.” Our main characters are the Walrus and the Carpenter — Wilburforce J. Walrus and Clyde McDunk, two ne’er-do-wells looking for easy money and large dinners. The king has gone missing, and they manage to get inside by posing as dance masters and later as snark hunters. What’s a snark, asks Princess Scarlett. Well, maybe if the mighty hunters have some time to scavenge around the royal kitchens, they’ll be able to figure it out.

Verdict: Thumbs up. The main story is actually very short, with the rest of the length of the comic taken up with sketches, puzzles, the texts of “The Walrus and the Carpenter” and “The Hunting of the Snark,” and plenty of other extras. And it’s all just one measly dollar! Go pick it up, folks.

Avengers Academy #17

Still stuck in the middle of the “Fear Itself” crossover, the kids from the Academy fight off some Nazi soldiers in Washington, DC, and then get given the news that they can leave the battlefield and return to Infinite Avengers Mansion. Veil and Mettle are upset because they had to kill people on the battlefield and start to bond while trying to work their way through their traumas. Meanwhile, the Absorbing Man and Titania, now possessing the powers of Asgardian gods, decide to hurt Hank Pym by killing the students. Once they break into the interdimensional mansion, can anything save the young heroes?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Lots of good character work in this one — and lots of attention paid to the continuing evolution of the kids’ moral backgrounds. Nice to see that Reptil can change into animals other than dinosaurs, and interesting to see that Striker is actually able to talk sensibly about something other than self-promotion.

iZombie #16

Gwen and Horatio finally rescue Spot, but they’re still being pursued by hordes of zombies, leading to a desperate flight through the caverns. Spot’s geeky friends are also chased by zombies, but they’re saved by Spot’s grandfather, still trapped in the body of a chimpanzee. Amon reveals to Ellie that Eugene, Oregon is one of the places on Earth where the walls between worlds are unusually thin, making it a prime location for magic and monsters. The Dead Presidents show up to help stop the zombies, but then Horatio’s old monster-hunting friends in the Fossor Corporation make their appearance — and reveal Gwen’s status as a zombie to Horatio. Is there any way to stop everyone from killing each other?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Tons of stuff happening. Tons and tons and tons of stuff, with lots of slow-moving or dormant plot points finally getting set into motion. This is a plenty exciting comic, and it looks like things are only going to get more frantic.