[Comic Execution] 1/17 – ‘THE FOX’, ‘GHOSTED’, ‘THE ILLEGITIMATES’

I would like to apologize profusely for the unmitigated disaster that was last week’s column. Besides the massive blunder of failing to update the cover art for the comics, I had paragraphs ending abruptly and my writing was just not up to snuff. I’m sure there’s a bunch of other really bad things too but I’m not going to look too closely at it because I’m concerned I’ll see a mistake so boldly idiotic that my family’s honor will be smeared and my only relief will be ritual suicide. So yeah, this week’s column will be better. Scout’s honor. *fingerscrossed.gif

In other news, more rule-breaking! Well, it’s definitely in the “bending of the rules” category so I’m letting it slide but the second arc of GHOSTED kicked off this week, with a new art team, so I’m re-evaluating it in light of this. I enjoyed the last arc all the way through to the last and, in fact, I quite liked how compact and sharp it was so I’m a bit wary of more but we’ll see.

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THE FOX #3

Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Dean Haspiel
Colors: Allen Passalaqua

Publisher: Red Circle Comics
Price: $4

Here we are, at the third issue of THE FOX, and it’s down to the wire. The first issue of this series was a spectacular debut and while the second issue saw the debut of an initially unwelcome back-up story featuring a much less amusing hero, the top-tier quality of the work remained compelling and said back-up story was just north of mediocre.

The writing for this issue sticks to Waid’s strengths; punchy dialogue. He’s given almost entirely free reign to give Paul/The Fox an amusingly quirky inner dialogue that seems to have disappeared from Spider-man’s comics lately and, despite the challenge of making that more than just background noise, he keeps the fun at full tilt. The story itself is also paced perfectly, beats landing with pugilistic rhythm. That said, I am a bit disappointed that this issue seems to have dedicated almost entirely to introducing the readers to “new” old heroes from The Fox’s world, but I’m hoping those heroes will play more integral roles at the plot evolves. Waid’s to be given credit for essentially balancing the chore of introducing these “new” old heroes while still telling a ripping yarn but it’d be nice if he could just tell the Fox’s story without having other characters shoehorned in.

Thankfully, the visual side of the comic has no such burdens and Haspiel continues to prove why he is one of the most underrated talents in the business. There are at least three moments in the issue that genuinely impressed me and not one stumble that I could spot easily. But this issue’s art was, if anything, a magnificent combined effort for which colorist Allen Passalaqua deserves high praise. I have no qualms calling this a “psychedelic” pulp comic and it’s almost entirely the result of his efforts. The glittering staircase at the beginning, the glittering purple cave interior, the liquid diamond pool that The Fox nearly drowns in, the fiery golem he fights, and the charged electricity crackling as a hero is being tortured, this is all vibrantly realized with Allen’s intense hues but it’s their contrast to the complex, refined, atmospheric colors throughout that makes it the book so exciting just to look at it. This is what superhero comics SHOULD look like, on the whole.

That said, to address the matter of the back-up story. I wasn’t keen on seeing this again, even though the last issue was all right. The story for this one starts off with a pretty boring recitation of The Shield’s origin story, he being the main character of this short piece in which he’s confronted with two other superheroes representing Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. The story tries to approach their conflict as a kind of “perils of nationalism-driven hate” thing but ultimately fails since one of them represents, you know, the systematic wiping out of an entire race. I’m not condoning being anti-German but being anti-Nazi on the basis of, you know, Nazism, that seems pretty on-the-level. That being said, you can actually make a legit case for the “allegorical” angle of the US vs Japan here, since the supposed freedom-loving USA got so anti-Japan during WWII that we put Japanese-Americans in internment camps and generally abused them. DeMatteis doesn’t have the chaps that Waid has so the persistent internal monologue here is boilerplate stuff, nothing to distract us from art that, frankly, is just too busy. Cavallaro can works wonders with big panels and big action but there’s no room for him to do so here; the epic battle between the three heroes is compressed into bite-sized portions, to its detriment.

It only gets worse when the monsters show up, especially given their uniform appearance. There’s a moment of humor that I’m not entirely sure is supposed to be funny? I should give DeMatteis credit for making the bickering between the superheroes in the face of the real enemies seem absurd but I can’t tell if I’m supposed to chuckle at their perpetually ticked off expressions as the monsters grab at them from off panel. Fortunately, the second to last page gives Cavallaro space to show off his colorfully odd monsters and the very last page is actually pretty awesome. I can’t spoil it but it halfway makes up for the awkwardness that precedes it.

Between the main The Fox story and the lower-quality back-up, the whole book is pretty good. I still wish we were getting more Waid + Haspiel + Passalaqua goodness but at only $3, you’re paying exactly the right amount for what you’re getting. In fact, Red Circle Comics has also thrown in a REALLY nice new paper for the cover of the comic, giving it a welcome heft and pleasing texture that doesn’t easily absorb skin moisture. THE FOX is awesome and I’m glad this column gave me the excuse to try it because it makes a wonderful substitute for not getting Waid’s incredible ‘Daredevil’ comics, because Marvel’s comics are shorter than this one, packed full of ads, more expensive and don’t sport a luxury cover.

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GHOSTED #6

Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Davide Gianfelice  
Colors: Miroslav Mrva

Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3

If there something weird in ya’ neighborhood, who ya’ gonna call? Jackson Winters! Uh, wait, I mean… GHOSTED IS BACK! Recap: Jackson  Winters, seasoned con man busted out of prison to steal a ghost despite the facts 1) stealing a ghost is really hard 2) his last job, his ENTIRE CREW died except him. He improves on that by a few corpses, delivers said spectre and a dose of revenge, then escapes to an island paradise with one of his criminal buddies tagging along. Issue 6 marks the beginning of a whole new arc so I figured why not put this sucker back through the wringer and see if it maintains integrity.

Jumping right in with some amusingly macabre stuff, we get a poetic bit of menace from an enigmatic voodoo witch who apparently is so unhappy with Jackson she’s strung up a half-dozen voodoo dolls of him. It’s a wonderful and unexpected way to open the story and Williamson keeps the surprises coming with a jump to a serene island scene that thankfully fills us in on exactly what was happening at the end of the previous issue. There’s more ominous stuff going down but Williamson jukes like a pro, page six managing an expertly-timed shock, simultaneously reminding us that Jackson Winters is a badass and that this is a pulp comic. In fact, only half-dozen pages in, Williamson in the best way evokes the pulpy detective horror of Ed Brubaker’s ‘Fatale’ and Steve Niles’ ‘Criminal Macabre’. An introduction to his “friend” and illusionist aptly named Trick later and they’re about to make their mistake when goons show up and everything goes south. There’s a squirt of backstory in the dialogue between the gangsters and Jackson but, for the second time, Williamson pulls the rug out from under us.

To his credit, it doesn’t feel cheap mainly because of how engaging the follow up is; Jackson revisits a familiar locale, sees a similarly familiar face and has a rude awakening. Not only does this scene serve to fill in uninformed readers as to some of what occurred in prior issues but ups the menace at least two notches. Unfortunately, the context of the scene in the story is a bit muddled and I hope we get a more solid explanation as to what exactly was going on, as the pass off seems a bit weak. We soon meet the matriarch of the Native American mob and she explains why she has a pressing need for Jackson’s particularly spooky brand of skulduggery. She’s an interesting character; there’s a sympathetic angle to her motives but she’s still a woman of color who’s pitted against our white, male protagonist so hopefully she gets to pick up some redeeming qualities. Oh, yeah, and there’s the twist at the end. I’m going to give Williamson the benefit of the doubt as to why this woman, Wenona Blood Crow, feels like the notoriously unlucky Jackson is her granddaughter’s savior, as he’s proved before he knows exactly how to construct a satisfyingly tricky narrative.

This new arc of GHOSTED sees thrill-a-minute illustrator Davide Gianfelice join the team, having previously rocked the house 200% on Brian Wood’s criminally underrated viking action drama ‘Northlanders’. He’s in top form here, exercising an acrobatic range of line dynamics, equally capable of rendering wide opening shots as well as intimate character interactions laced with emotion. The more I look at this comic, the more impressed I am by how easy he makes this complete a work seem; speedboats, gory headshots, lavish interiors… he even nails the nuances of racial features in faces with confident precision. But what I want to rave about the most are his scaries; his ghosts have a much needed menace and the macabre illustration on the final page of the issue is delightfully nasty. Colorist Mrva is still focusing, as before, on establishing atmosphere foremost with his palates of saturated purples, soft sunset oranges and grim grays, filling in the more procedural-focused scenes with solid hues. While I’d like to see a bit more bravery and energy in this department, he’s also having to keep up with Gianfelice and considering that, I’ll not complain.

And this continues to be, despite an upgraded art team, a $3 title from Image with no ad interruptions and a generous letters page. While only 20 pages might seem paltry to some readers, I’ll take that many of something that’s fast-paced like this than a hefty book with very little actually happening. This new arc of GHOSTED is off to a great start and something tells me it’s only going to get better.

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THE ILLEGITIMATES #2

Writer: Marc Andreyko & Taran Killam
Artist: Kevin Sharpe & Diana Greenhalgh
Colors: Peter Pantazis

Publisher: IDW
Price: $4

Because I’m annoying like that, let me follow up with my last introduction to this comic by talking just a bit more about Daniel Craig’s James Bond. Specifically, WHEN’S THE NEXT ONE?! After the frankly mind-blowing and glorious thrill ride that was ‘Skyfall’ I do find myself looking forward to the next film the series and Daniel Craig himself has been keeping a low-profile as of late so I feel like there’s GOT to be something going on but if there is, production is being INTENSELY secretive. Which is actually thrilling. The only news I’m seeing is that one of the writers of ‘Skyfall’ is writing the script but that doesn’t mean anything; I could claim to be writing the script if I wanted to. Anybody out there got contacts in Hollywood, give me a line. I’ll reward you handsomely. And by that I mean I’m handsome and I’ll be really grateful.

THE ILLEGITIMATES kicks off with a prison riot. That’s a pretty awesome way to get things moving. It’s both a nice bit of action, sets the tone for the comic, provides character development for one of the “Illegitimates” involved AND lays pipe for later as we don’t know exactly what her motives are for breaking into the office and altering her personnel file. Quick scene change and we’re getting another action scene in Africa where we learn that the sharpshooter Illegitimate has been denied enlistment in the Army, again setting up for a later reveal. It’s not until we see the cage fighter Illegitimate being ordered around by his mother that the previous scene REALLY clicks; the male heirs to Agent Steele’s legacy appear to be mama’s boys, though we don’t see that for a fact with the Asian street racer. Instead, we get a display of his alcoholism? Kinda puzzled as to why the writer chose to do that instead of, as with the previous characters, establish his bond with his mother.

With those character traits established, the mid-way plot turn lands and the plans of the antagonist come to light, though it still doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. It does establish how capable this bad guy is, which is exciting because the promise of him swatting these spies-in-the-making like flies is a thrill. There’s more danger promised in the near future but the villain’s vague threat is more confusing than exciting, saying he’s going to introduce them to each other, which doesn’t seem like it would be in his favor. In fact, what he does later seems pretty unwise in general, but maybe there’s something more going on. I do like that, when confronted with the chance to become spies as well as the grave threat, the men bravely decline. I don’t like that they have to be motivated by having someone close to them killed, even if it’s not as insulting as a girlfriend. But then these guys aren’t really supposed to be “good” character so I guess it fits in with what Andreyko is building. And thankfully, the two female characters are both, in their own ways, promising in their reaction to the situations.

The art is still kind of good but I think the honeymoon has worn off. For such detailed linework, there’s a sense of stiffness to some of the action and several panels see a pretty hard drop in quality; the bank interior, for example, has a blocky look and was clearly done in haste. An overhead shot during the car race looks chunky and hurts the power of that scene. There’s more than that and this is only the second issue so I’m a little concerned about the art quality as the series progresses, though the colors remain as glossy and effusive as the first issue so the cinematic feel holds.

My gut is telling me to execute this series for ham-fisted writing that’s not toeing the line of satire as faithfully as the first issue as well as art that’s worryingly rushed. And at $4, I expect a higher quality product than this, especially art-wise. Heck, there’s a misspelling in this issue, and an obvious, easy one at that! But I also have to testify that I bought this via Comixology and read it on my tablet which, to my surprise, provided me with an ad-free experience. So I’m not executing it yet, but I also can’t recommend you buy a print copy either, unless you’re okay with ads and you really want to own your comics physically.