Iron Man #2, Ultimates 2 #5, Fables #36

I wish Warren Ellis would realise that he's writing for a comic, and not a movie. The slow, deliberate pace of Iron Man #2, coupled with the absolutely lack of any sound effects makes me feel that I'm watching a movie with the volume on mute, and subtitles on. That's not a particularly good feeling. This is quite similar to his Ultimate Secret #1, with the first few pages having some dialogues and the rest just a big fight scene, one that doesn't even conclude here.

I'm not a fan of Adi Granov's art either. While rendering a great Iron Man armour, I just can't get into how he portrays his humans. I don't know if it's the fact they seem creepy, like stuffed mannequins, or if that this photo-realism reminds me of all those photo-romance magazines that were so repulsive when I was a kid (and most likely still are), but whatever the reason, Granov's art just doesn't cut it for me.

It's not all bad though. The Iron Man armour has some interesting moves, the Extremis explanation sounds fairly interesting, and the villain seems like a believable threat. For all that they have, maybe they should take a cue from Millar and Hitch's work on the Ultimates vol 2. Mark Millar is have a much better run this time round, and while Hitch's pencils aren't as polished as they were in the first series, as a team, they are kickin' the combined ass of Ellis and Granov (I realy shouldn't be comparing the two teams, and if at all, it should be Ultimates 2 vs Ultimate Iron Man, but since i can't see the second issue of the latter anywhere, I'll settle for the 616 Iron Man).

Ultimates v2 #5 has everything a big blockbuster movie could hope to have; a fantastic cast, the oppressed good guy whom everyone's cheering for, the self-righteous government hicks who take on the good guy, the sneaky snakey slimy character who's secretly manipulating everything from behind the scenes, and finally, most importantly, the magnificent, large scale spectacular action that seems totally real, and full of life and danger and just oozes adrenaline. Ok, that's a little overboard, and i'm dissapointed that Captain America is still standing when the dust settles, but what the heck, it was a great issue nevertheless.

However, for pure comic book madness, nothing beats Fables #36! The Jack-in-Hollywood storyline was entertaining, no doubts about it, but this is the real deal! Our first real glimpse of the homelands! The book is usually as much Willingham's as it is Buckingham's (seems like a made-for-each-other duo, if there ever were one), but not this time around, because wow, Buckingham has really outdone himself! From the lush green serenity on the opening pages to the foul, desolate route to the Imperial Throne World, the environment is stunningly rendered. The larger-than-life comic book effect is in full flow here, with the varied fauna on display: the tax-collecting goblin duo, the beasts of burden at the gates, and the diabolically intimidating dragon who meets Boy Blue. Ah yes, Little Boy Blue, not so little anymore. He is, infact, surprisingly dashing as the goblin-terrorising Black Knight. Yes, I know what you're thinking, "Shouldn't he be the Blue Knight?". The goblins thought so too, you know, and well, it got them killed. So I'd shut up, if I were you, and just wait for the next issue!!

Hack/Slash : Comic Book Carnage

Somewhere in the beginning of the story, Cassie makes an observation : "Slashers love a good ironic kill... The smoker gets burned alive, the slut gets stuffed in the outhouse toilet, the cook serves the students as school lunch... Killing the horror writer in the shower, "Psycho" style... Well, it doesn't get more ironic than that."

And that love of irony seems to be the primary motivating factor behind setting this story in a comic book convention. Granted, this particular story works out best in a Comic Book Convention, the deranged fan killing off writers and artists who have decided to take a character, and in the words of Niles, "..Kinda throw a new dark angle onto the character... To introduce him to a whole new mature audience". But the problem here is that Tim Seeley hasn't used the setting to it's complete potential. The whole comic convention comes off as a private shindig thrown by Steve Niles, Robert Kirkman, Skottie Young, and Messy Stench (I've never heard of her. Infact, when I saw her name on the cover, I thought it just a joke, kinda letting us know what to expect inside. Lotsa blood and guts, a messy stench, that kinda thing. I've also never seen her movie "Death By Boobjob". Damn.), promoting the new Wunderkind comic by their Young Buck Entertainment company. The premise isn't really milked to it's fullest potential, and you get the feeling that these killings would have had the same effect if they'd been committed at a mall or any other generic setting.

The big reveal as to who the slasher is, kinda fell flat on it's face for me. There just wasn't enough dramatic tension or build-up to it. Ofcourse, you have the usual rabid fan around, accusing Young Buck of ripping off his idea, and vowing revenge, but that was a blatant and unsuccessful attempt at misdirection.

Nevertheless, as generic as the plot and setting is, it's the script that's the clear winner here. The book is peppered with some great one-liners, such as Cassie's "..Our diet is gonna kill us long before a slasher does.." and Vlad's "Hurrm... I am very popular today" at the convention; which pretty much had me in splits. Tim has got most of the characterisations down pat. Like when Carrie attempts to hit on Skottie, at first that just seems waaay out of character for her, but then you realise, even with all the hacking and slashing she regularly does, she's only eighteen (or somewhere closeby). Ofcourse, when it comes to Skottie Young and Robert Kirkman and the others, I'm no authority, but atleast they don't appear as caricatures.

The art by Federica Manfredi is another major plus point. It's pretty darn good. Though the perspective seems kinda off at times, Cassie, Vlad and all the other human characters are not only very expressive, but also greatly distinct from one another. She does it all, right from the youth of Cassie, to the macabre Slasher fiend. I'd really love to see her on a lot more mainstream project.

Hah, as for Whizzar world, I can seen why Tim didn't just use "Wizard World". They've been portrayed here as the worst example of P.T.Barnum's "The Show Must Go On" types. Shit, the two employees with that wide toothy grin were actually much more creepier than the Slasher at the end. Maybe Seeley will end up giving us a "The Walking Wizard Dead" eh? Or maybe Kirkman. Wait, he's dead. *Sign*. I'm so unfunny, Mark Millar should be writing about me...

THE END

Ultimate Secret #1

Taking Blood of the Demon #1 as an example, I came across a fair bunch of characters whom I'd never read about before. Yet, I found the book to be pretty easy to get into, and quite accessible. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for Ultimate Secret #1.

The silver guy in the lead, his armour has quite a striking design. But, just who is he? Reading the book, I'd never have found out. Thanks to the chat rooms and forums I lurk on, I learned that he was, infact, Captain Marvel. Well, I remember thinking, didn't he have those negation bands on his wrist? Aah, I see, out here they've been replaced with some kind of a cosmic wrist-watch. Cute, but unfortunately, it's already been done, and done much better, back in the pages of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' crossover with Cerebus. Remember Lord Simultaneous, and the Digital Cosmic Quartz? As I said, much better. Warren Ellis was beaten by nearly 20 years. You don't see that often.

That apart, I don't think anyone needed the nerdy science fiction. Save the unnecessary dialogue for the movie. Out here, we need plot. The two page monologue on how the space shuttle is powered served absolutely no purpose in the story, and just came across as Warren Ellis showing off his scientific acumen. And padding. Yes. Throwaway jokes and splash pages do not a comic book make. And yet, ironically, that was the only time the book was engrossing, because the rest of the issue was dull, dreary, and beset by inertia. Hence, in this issue, we learned that the Kree are stealing a top-secret, experimental space shuttle.

The art is pretty good, nicely detailed, but the fight at the end is pretty poorly depicted, and there isn't much flow between the panels.

So a six page introductory setup is stretched out into an whole issue, and not a very interesting one at that either. Poor stuff.