From: [slacker 01] at [aol.com] (Slacker 01) Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc Subject: T H E S L A C K E R F I L E S 001/Part A & B Date: 20 Nov 1994 15:20:14 -0500 T H E S L A C K E R F I L E S <001> Welcome to the first Internet-wide edition of The Slacker Files! For those not familiar with it, TSF is an almost-weekly file of News, Views and Reviews covering the best of the comics industry. Folks who want the file sent directly to them can tag themselves onto the e-mail list by dropping me a note with your address. This edition is a about twice as long as most, to give folks a good sample of the type of things that go on here. Companies who want a book reviewed or profiled -- no book too new, no company too small -- can likewise drop me a line. I've been a writer for Wizard since the magazine's beginnings, and one of my frustrations there has been getting the small-press adequately covered. I saw a lot of great stuff from smaller companies at the trade show before the San Diego convention, and I'd be happy to give some of them some publicity here. Okay, then, onto the newly-numbered-for-the-Internet, Slacker Files 001! * N E W S * * More editorial restructuring is in the works for Marvel. As most folks already know, Marvel reorganized its editorial division a few weeks ago by ousting Tom DeFalco as Editor-in-Chief and installing five individual editors-in-chief in his place. In addition to that, these new revisions now include cancelling up to 30% of Marvel's titles and dismissing up to 20 of its comic book editors, as part of an effort to streamline the company and make it more competitive in this very difficult market. Marvel will announce which titles and editors get the axe sometime in the coming week. ----- * YOUNGBLOOD: YEAR ONE has been pulled from the shipping schedule and will be resolicited sometime in the distant future. The reason: Rob Liefeld, who's slated to do the art on the book, decided that the book should be painted because Kurt Busiek (of MARVELS) wrote it. The Slacker Files is suspicious, as the first issue was slated to ship in December, which would appear to be less than two weeks away. This would probably mean Mr. Liefeld had not yet started to draw it. According to Matt Hawkins of Extreme Studios, Rob has never had painted work published before, but has apparently painting some type of work on the side. Hawkins said the new version of Y:Y1 will be resolicited around mid-1995. As a side note, Busiek said he found out about the cancellation from a computer bulletin board, and then was asked about it in an interview with HERO magazine the next day. Image likewise failed to inform him of the changes that were taking place in the End of Extreme storyline before announcing it to the press. ----- * Alan Moore is rumored to be in negotiations with Touchstone Pictures for a movie version of his FROM HELL series, about Jack the Ripper. Talks are in the very early stages only; more as they develop. In related Alan Moore news, the long-awaited series BIG NUMBERS may be back on track after numerous bizarre delays. If you'll remember, Moore debuted the series along with Bill Sienkiewicz a number of years ago (to get an idea how long: Frank Miller's first GIVE ME LIBERTY series was coming out at the same time). But Bill's commitments forced him to leave after the second issue, and the groundbreaking series was placed on hiatus. Eventually, one of Bill's assistants -- whose artwork closely resembles Bill's -- was to take over the series, but (as the story goes) the assistant suffered a sudden nervous breakdown after drawing two issues, and summarily destroyed all of the artwork. Now, however, word is that the assistant (whose name escapes me) has recovered from his bouts with depression (best wishes), and will be picking up the series again where Bill left off. Expect the new issues to be done in normal, comic-book-sized format, rather than the record-album sized setup of the first two issues. * V I E W S * * Anybody read Frank Miller's lettercol comments in the latest issue of SIN CITY? Frank's got a killer style of argumentation, but I'm not sure I agree entirely on his views about comics labelling. The fact is, DC has labelled its books for some time now, and suffered none of the consequences that Miller says such labelling will invite. Beyond that, Miller makes a moral stand against putting warning labels or ratings on his creative work, and yet has written two movies (Robocops II and III) that have been the subject of ratings (both R) without much convulsion on the part of his conscience. Which is not to say that Miller's right or wrong; only that it's hard to see how he's justified such an unrelenting viewpoint. ----- * I'm a bit surprised at some of the fan reaction to Xerox Hour. As most of you have heard, Marvel will place its X-titles on hiatus during an unprecedented storyline in which new versions of the books will take their places for four months. Fan reaction has been mixed; but I'd remind people that we have no idea exactly how good or bad these stories will be, and I'd be inclined to actually read them before passing any type of judgment. Credit Marvel, at least, for doing something daring and original. Heck, it's got me interested in the X-books again, after I'd all but given up on them. I understand that some folks take exception to the titles being "cancelled" during the Alter-X storyline, especially after they've stuck with the titles through some very questionable times. I'd note for them, though, that the regular titles are set to resume after only four months, so it's certainly not a case of "everything you know is a lie." And, if you don't want to follow the storyline, then that's no problem, either: Just skip the various "miniseries", and pick up the old titles when they restart again. Your collection won't have any gaps in the numbering. In all this, I'd like to remind folks of the last time Marvel did something like this: back in X-MEN #141-142. Those are considered two of the most classic stories ever to run in the X- Men; but if Chris Claremont and John Byrne had said, "We're suspending UNCANNY X-MEN for two months, while we run a miniseries called Future X-Men #1-2"... would that have made those stories any less classic? Not at all. All IMHO, of course. * R E V I E W S * Some top-notch comics are in this week. * GRENDEL: DEVILS AND DEATHS #2. I'm reluctant to say that this book exceeds Matt Wagner's run on GRENDEL, since it's dangerous to ever suggest that the derivator is superior to the creator; but if any GRENDEL TALES story arc has ever come damn close to beating Matt, it's this one. This is one of the best titles to come out all year, and it gets my highest possible recommendation. The creative team is from Croatia, one of the war-torn republics that once served as part of Yugoslavia. Their background is apparent in the story without being distractingly overt, and it lends a profound underpinning to a story that is already powerful in its own right. It displays some of the best techniques of European storytelling, both in the style and structure of the art, that never seems to get the proper amount of attention here. I was all-but-heartbroken when, after reading the astonishing first issue, I found out that this story arc was only slated to be a two-parter. But Diana Shutz delivers the glorious news, in this issue's lettercol, that this creative team will be back for a four- part Grendel series sometime in 1995. The first issue of this current arc should still be available, so if you've missed it, make it a priority to pick it up. RATING: * * * * * (Highest Possible Rating) * WILDC.A.T.S #15 This is James Robinson's and Trevor Charest's first issue as the new creative team on the book, and all I can say is: WOW! Jeff Mariotte of Wildstorm Studios showed me some of Trevor's pencil work at the San Diego Comic Con, and I can't tell you how breathtaking the pencils looked on their own. Jeff was trying to find a computerized way to reproduce the book straight from the pencils, but it turned out that the colors would have overwhelmed them and they had to be put through an inker. Don't worry: the pages have not suffered under Troy Hubb's inks, and the entire issue is absolutely beautiful. Which doesn't even begin to praise the writing of James Robinson. James's work came to my attention when I began reading FIREARM, from Malibu's Ultraverse (I having foolishly missed his GOLDEN AGE miniseries from DC), and I didn't realize at the time that he was the same writer who was thrilling me with FOUR DEVIL, ONE HELL, over in GRENDEL TALES. When I suddenly made the connection between the two, I realized that James was going to be one of the next great comics writers of our time. His scripting is tight, his pacing is top-notch, and if I have any complaint about this issue at all it's that there's not too much of the WildC.A.T.s themselves in the story. That's okay: This is more a setup issue for the story to come, and that's certain to focus on the title characters. Normally, I don't read this title, because Jim Lee's writing gives me a headache, but so long as this fantastic creative team is on the title, I'm along for the ride. RATING: * * * * ----- * TEAM 7 #2 I have to say right up front that I've been extremely skeptical of Image titles; I think they've relied too much on style over substance, and too often forgotten that comics must tell a story with their art. That said, I must also admit that Jim Lee's Wildstorm Studios has completely won me over. I certainly don't like everything they do; but damn it, I sure like this one. TEAM 7 #1 was just about everything a debut comic book should be, being accessible to new readers but giving old readers that extra-special-something that they get by knowing some of the characters ahead of time. TEAM 7 #2 suffers a bit from the sophomore slump, but that's really only because it's the issue where story gets set up after the first issue spent most of its time on introductions. Aaron Wiesenfeld shows himself to be a capable penciller (though most of the Homage look, of course, comes from the inks), and Chuck Dixon shows himself to be the type of writer who Image should have been employing all along. I've always thought that Image would be producing the comic books of the decade if only they'd hire some decent writers, and it looks like I'm about to get the chance to see if I'm right. As for the comic itself, it chronicles the first manifestations of the powers of the Gen12 characters -- who will later give birth to the teens of Gen13 -- as well as several other personalities in the Wildstorm corner of the Image universe. As I said, this issue suffers a bit too much in the pacing, but otherwise, it's a fine, solid job. RATING: * * * ----- * SIN CITY: THE BIG FAT KILL #1 Well, here's a surprise: I've rated an Image book higher than a Frank Miller book. The fact is, this book just isn't up to the blockbuster, runaway locomotive, jump-up-and-grab-you-by-the-collar quality of the first two SIN CITY series. Which is not to say that it's bad: It's Miller, which is almost a guarantee that it's going to be good, but it's also a bit of a disappointment, since it suffers in the comparison. Miller's art doesn't really look different, but it has lost a bit of its novelty, and the cinematography doesn't capture that dramatic element of storytelling of the previous two efforts. (I haven't seen THE BABE WORE RED yet.) The story itself is a bit too perfunctory, with a difficult-to-identify-with motivation on the part of Dwight, the protagonist, which again is uncharacteristic of Miller's regular work. I'm certain to stick with this series -- since it's still quite good -- it's just a disappointment that it's no longer great. RATING: * * * ----- * BATMAN v. PREDATOR II: BLOODMATCH #2 Here's another book that suffers from the sophomore slump. Number 1 of this series was damn fine, but the most I can say about this issue is that it's pretty good. It's the kind of issue where the plot doesn't get terribly advanced by the story, and in which the writer felt the need to put in an early confrontation between the two main adversaries to keep the reader interested. The problem, of course, is that the reader is well-aware that the combat isn't going to resolve anything, since the series still has more than two issues left to go. The end result is a series of decent but not terribly consequential pages, because the writer's story wasn't strong enough to carry the series with the fight scene held off till the end. Again, the issue -- and the series -- is enjoyable enough to stick with, but it's just not what the previous effort had been. RATING: * * 1/2 ----- * GHOST RIDER 2099 #9 This is normally one of my favorite books -- and if you haven't been reading this great series, then you don't deserve to own a modem -- but it just didn't jazz me like it normally does. It's got a new art team (again), whose style is suited to its predecessors just fine, but which made it no doubt difficult for the book to capture its normal amount of magic. Amazing that the book has stayed good despite the art changes: First with Chris Bachalo being snapped up for GENERATION X, and now NIGHTMAN artist Kyle Hotz missing from this current issue. Mark Buckingham and Kev Sutherland do a great job with the style of this book -- especially the cyberspace scenes -- but their storytelling seems more suited to a book like SHADE than in an action title like GR: 2099. Buck has some difficultly handling the action scenes, and in an issue that's got a big fight scene, that's bad. Still, I think that's more a matter of Buck acclimating himself to the type of storytelling, and since this is normally a four-star book, I'll give him a couple of issues to get his sea legs. As always, the writing, lettering and coloring of this are absolutely killer. They just don't carry the book completely this time. RATING: * * 1/2 ----- OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS: MARTHA WASHINGTON GOES TO WAR #5 (Final issue of a great series, with more of Angus McKie's astonishing colors -- look for him at awards time); DOOM 2099 #25 (Anniversary issue, up to its usual fine quality, with the confrontation we've all been waiting for); and BATMAN #514 (Part 9 of Prodigal, with Dick Grayson as Batman. A bit heavy-handed on the script, but very effectively plotted.) ----- Well, that's it for this week! Hope you enjoyed this extended, double-sized first-issue for he Internet, and as always, feedback is encouraged and appreciated. If you'd like, I'll even run your comments as part of the Views section, so long as they're short enough to fit and to the point. NEXT WEEK: My friends over at Malibu have just sent me an advance copy of the special PRIME comic that will appear in the soon-to-be-released Prime video game; the game is the only place you'll be able to get it, and I'll give you a review. I've already seen demos of the game, and it looks quite neat. See you next week, and as always: Slack on. ---Slacker01/AOL