Friday, August 27, 2021

Review: The Robonic Stooges #2

For the first time ever, American Mythology has published an issue #2 of a Three Stooges comic. The Robonic Stooges #2, like the first issue, features two stories and a couple text pieces. The first story, written by S.A. Check, is another story taking inspiration from Marvel Comics.  What, no love for DC?  In a Fantastic Four inspired tale, our heroes encounter a giant mole man who bears a slight resemblance to Shemp.  As with the previous issue, the art by Jorge Pacheco, has a distinctive Mad Magazine/Sergio Aragonés riff.

The second story, written by Todd Livingston, deals with the boys taking a vacation on a Fantasy Island-esque island, and, hold on to your grouses, attempt to make Larry a romantic leading man by giving him a love interest, perhaps inspired by his leading man turn in the boys' first Columbia short Woman Haters.  The art by Diego Tapie mimics the art from the later Dell comics.  After the text pieces and a misplaced "sneak preview" of Three Stooges Thru the Ages, which was published ages ago, there is an announcement there will be an issue #3 later this Fall. It looks like the comic book may last longer than the original cartoon series did.

Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Review: Superman '78 #1

The first issue of Superman '78 hits the bullseye. The script, by Robert Vendetti, reads like a comic book adaptation of an unreleased Christopher Reeve Superman movie.  He hits all the right notes, and gets the tone perfect. The art by Wilfredo Torres, has an Alex Toth quality to it, yet he still captures the actors' likenesses to a tee. That makes it more confusing why Batman '89 had to be more vague with the likenesses. The story opens on a flashback to Krypton's destruction observed by Brainiac. From there we are reintroduced to Richard Donner's version of Metropolis, where Brainiac sends a robot to scout the planet in an action sequence that undoubtedly would not have been able to be done justice on film in the 1970s. 

I hate to compare the first issues of  Superman '78 to Batman '89, but in many ways the Superman issue gets things right where the Batman issue stumbled. Superman '78 #1 was a very fun and entertaining read, and could easily be envisioned as an installment of the Christopher Reeve Superman movie franchise.  This issue earns an A.

Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Review: Batman '89 #1


Batman '89
#1.  Written by the 1989 film's writer Sam Hamm, with art by Joe Quinones. Something I have been waiting for.  But did the anticipation drive up expectations so that reading the actual comic book falls short?

The first part of the issue is essentially a set up to get the reader back into the Batman '89 mindset.  Except it quickly becomes obvious this is not really Batman 1989, i.e. a bridge between Batman and Batman Returns.  No this is more like Batman '94, set some time after Batman Returns.  And in a lot of ways, this issue seems to have a lot more in common in tone and character portrayals with the Daniel Waters penned Returns than with Sam Hamm's own 1989 script.  

Harvey Dent is the main character of this issue, and we open on his marriage proposal to Barbara Gordon.  Wait... what?  Yep, you read that right. Now, I'm not much of a Barbara Gordon fan.  It seems like whenever she pops up in a franchise, things go down hill.  The 1960s Batman TV Series. Batman The Animated Series. Batman & Robin (although technically that was "Barbara Wilson").  So to see her right off the bat in this comic... eh.  Harvey's fixation of a double headed coin, not referenced at all in the 1989 movie, is heavily explored here, and then we get a great Batman action sequence that involves a giant penny. Harvey visits Bruce at Wayne Manor to try to get him to join with him to rid Gotham of Batman, and force Commissioner Gordon out of the police force.  This seems vaguely like a rehash of the Max Schreck story line from Batman Returns.  We get more background, sort of an origin, on Harvey.  Then Batman attempts to stop a robber who stole diapers and baby food for his kid, and Batman is ambushed by another costumed figure who is obviously going to turn out to be either Barbara Gordon or Drake Winston.

Joe Quinones' art is excellent, but only Billy Dee Williams' likeness is truly captured.  All the other characters, like Bruce, Jim Gordon, and Alfred, have a more vagueness to them. Bruce, in particular, is far too gray. Perhaps DC couldn't get clearance to use the actors' likenesses... but do they need permission if they own the original material?  Gray area, I know.  Quinones puts in a lot of Easter egg callbacks to Prince's Bat Dance video.

Sam Hamm's script is, frankly, a far cry from his 1989 movie script, or his unused script for Batman II, but it is still miles better than most of the Batman comic book scripts of the past decade or so, and after this six-issue miniseries ends, I'd love to see Hamm and Quinones become the regular creative team on either Batman or Detective.  However, making Barbara Gordon such a major character so quickly in, and the rumors the comic will utilize the Batman Returns concept of Marlon Wayans as Drake Winston/The Kid, a choice that was widely and universally panned, instead of the actual 1989 concept of Ricky Addison Reed as Dick Grayson/Robin, factors into the answer to the question I asked at the beginning of this review. Does this issue fall short of the anticipation and expectations?  In a word, yes. This issue earns a C+.