FIRST IMPRESSIONS


Ho Ho Ho! Happy Holidays from First Impressions!

All reviews by Alex Bernstein (AB) and Matt Singer(MS).

TRUTH
Writer: Robert Morales
Artist: Kyle Baker
$2.25
Marvel Comics

Hard to tell what's going on so far, which I find to be a plus. There's no trace of Captain America, the Red Skull, a super-soldier serum - or really anything remotely resembling the Marvel Universe in this story. For a book hyped as the most controversial Marvel comic of the year (scoping out the "truth" that the man originally chosen to be Captain America was black) this book has only characters and plot - and quite a dense one at that, too. It traces the stories of three very different black men in the months leading up to Pearl Harbor. What happens next is anyone's guess. The storytelling is oblique at best (at this point), but Kyle Baker's art is simply stunning. Kyle Baker has been, perhaps, one of the greateset "sleeper" artists we have right now. It's nice to see him finally get such a high profile project. The book is brimming with humor, caricature and life. (Somehow, I never noticed before how influenced his work is by Harvey Kurtzman.) If the rest of the story lives up to the brilliant artwork, this will be the best book of 2003.(AB)

We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas...

RAISIN PIE #1
By Rick Altergott and Ariel Bordeaux
Fantagraphic Books
$3.95

I'm familiar with Rick Altergott from his short "Doofus" strips in the back of HATE. Doofus graduates to his own book here (or half a book, anyway) and it's bizarre and pretty amusing. Altergott's style is a cross between Wally Wood and Dan Clowes. This first story is - sort-of - about a drug dealer just out of prison getting his revenge on the judge who sent him up. But that description's selling the story short. There's a sense that somehow Doofus might save the day. Or not. Hard to tell at this point, as the story's continued. As it is, Doofus may have the makings of a latter-day HERBIE. We'll see. The second half of the book is taken up by short (also continued) stories by (I'm assuming) Rick's girlfriend Ariel Bordeaux. Ariel's slice-of-life cartooning is slight and uneven in places, but she's definitely developing and worth keeping an eye on. Her best piece is the very funny back cover. (AB)

Mo-zur, y'shu o see...

DETECTIVE COMICS 777
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Tommy Castillo
DC Comics
$2.75

Call me crazy, but I'll take new DETECTIVE artist Tommy Castillo's Batman over Jim Lee's any day. Castillo gives us a Batman that's suitably shadowed; Lee's art, while certainly dynamic, doesn't really scream "vengence" and "the night" and all that jazz. While we're at it, I'll take Ed Brubaker's nifty POWERSish super-villain mystery over Jeph Loeb's awkward first few issues. The one thing that isn't up to snuff in this very solid comic is the surprisingly weak Tim Sale cover. Over on SPIDER-MAN: BLUE, Sale is turning in some of the year's prettiest covers; here he sticks us with something that looks like a tossed off sketch. If he wants to keep up with this strong new creative team, he'd better get his act together. (MS)

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

FORGE #1
Writer: Various
Art: Various
Crossgen
$9.95

Where to start? I realize this book is on it's eighth issue now and about to change formats. But for myself (and PopImage) truly this is a first impression.

I had a very difficult time with this book, although it has it's merits. It's inexpensive. It's thick, covering several issues of Crossgen comics in squarebound, glossy format. (There's a modern-day element of the 100-page super spectaculars here, which I definitely give a thumbs up to.) Unfortunately, the stories, by only above-average ex-Marvel and DC creators, seem to be tremendously standard fantasy fare. To say that the best thing in the book is a bog-standard Mark Waid and Steve Epting Atlantis story is to not say too much. My caveat to this is that, honestly, I am really not the audience for this material. Fantasy, generally, leaves me completely cold. (Manga, too. Sorry.) For a fan of sword-and-sorcery this stuff might be incredible. The artwork by Epting, Paul Pelletier, Bart Sears (probably his best ever for what it's worth) and others certainly has some lovely moments.

How's that for a non-commmital review?(AB)

Christmastime is here by golly, disapproval would be folly, deck the halls with boughs of holly, fill the cups and don't say when...

THE COMICS JOURNAL #248
Writer: Various
Fantagraphic Books
$6.95

THE COMICS JOURNAL has added a square binding and some color pages to its layout. Not that either of these things was necessary. If you haven't checked out the JOURNAL in a while, please do. It's opinionated and almost too literary, but still the best comics reporting in the industry, bar-none. With articles covering Joe Matt and the DOOM PATROL, as well as extremely lengthy interviews with Andi Watson and Steve Rude (with killer artwork for both), this is an especially entertaining issue. Probably the best thing about TCJ interviews are the utter lack of fanboy mentality present, as shown in Tom Spurgeon's interview with the "Dude." Spurgeon deftly asks Rude if he ever thought there would be a problem pitching his and Mike Baron's brilliant comic NEXUS as a cartoon to the networks, considering that Nexus kills alls his enemies. ...I'll let you read the rest of the interview yourself. Highly recommended.(AB)

Santa bring my baby back to me!

FIRST IMPRESSIONS runs just about every other week at PopImage.com. All artwork copyright it's respective owners and creators, used for purposes of review. I'm dreaming of a White Chanukah...


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