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Comics and Music
various reviews by Mike Baron
The Escapist 1
Written and drawn by various creators, 80 pages
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics, Price: $8.95 US
Most comic fans know about Michael Chabon's Pulitzer-prize winning novel,
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, which lovingly recreates the
dawn of the age of comics. In the book Chabon chronicles the birth of
Kavalier and Clay's breakthrough character, The Escapist. Inevitably, here
is the comic. Chabon's concept was that The Escapist, like Captain Marvel,
has undergone numerous changes at the hands of numerous publishers. The book
purports to present stories from all those eras which Chabon outlines in his
introduction and in "Escapism 101."
© 2004 Dark Horse Comics
The faux history, designed to capture the flavor of the pulps, is more
entertaining than most of the stories. The first issue succeeds mainly on
the strength of Chabon's origin story, beautifully illustrated in an Alex
Toth-influenced style by Eric Wight. "The Passing of the Key" is taut,
moving and effective. Wight's art is square-jawed and clean. The whole story
is square-jawed and clean, but never dumb.
Jim Starlin's "Reckonings" is a near-wordless story of Luna Moth, who in
Starlin's hands is a somewhat terrifying creature. Those giant, upswept
demon eyes deny her humanity while her overblown carnality screeches her
femininity. Think manga female, then think the opposite. Geez, Jim. This is
enough to turn a schoolboy off girls. As in most wordless stories, it takes
a nanosecond to read, but Starlin actually has a story here, and there's a
pay-off. He has also managed to incorporate his life-long themes of
man/woman/life/death/infinity. If this were to appear in a Jim Starlin
anthology it would be of a piece with the other stories.
Consulting Editor Kevin McCarthy, Chabon's factotum, contributes
"Sequestered," a funny story in which the Escapist is called for jury duty.
Kyle Baker's loosey-goosey art captures the feel of old Mad magazines,
particularly Jack Davis and George Woodbridge. McCarthy's premise is better
than his execution. When it turns out that the Iron Chain is railroading an
innocent man merely to degrade faith in the justice system, my reaction was,
Huh? Wouldn't they be more effective simply committing crimes and getting
away with them? McCarthy never explains why the defendant was discovered
crouched over the body with knife in hand.
Howard Chaykin contributes "Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been," a cautionary
tale about Senator Joe McCarthy. This "Senator McCraven" is a sex addict
with a yen for domination. The Escapist and crew blackmail the Senator to
get him off their backs. Inevitably, there is the Chaykin drawing of a
gorgeous woman tied spread-eagled to a cross. As Lincoln said, if you like
this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing you will like. Chaykin's chops
are fine as ever but the story smacks of padding, several pages of huge
talking heads that could have been profitably condensed.
Finally, McCarthy contributes "Prison Break" with art by Steve Lieber. The
Escapist breaks into prison to discover the fate of a Golden Key informant
who has stopped broadcasting. Turns out the guy joined the Iron Chain. If
the Golden Key can't choose their agents more effectively than this they don
't deserve to be in business. I give McCarthy credit for having the Escapist
shout, "UF DA!"
Full disclosure: when I heard there was going to be an Escapist comic I
wrote Michael Chabon and he invited me to contribute. My story is in the
second issue. It's called "300 Fathoms Down" with art by Val Mayerik.
Iron Fist 1
Writer: James Mullaney
Artist: Kevin Lau
Publisher: Marvel Comics, Price: $2.99 US
Crap. What used to be called "it's just a comic book" where nobody thinks
about the character or takes anything seriously. Blurb sez, "Yours are the
most finely-honed Martial Arts skills in the world." Writer displays
ignorance of martial arts as a badge of honor. Any twelve-year-old at Kim
Yee's Karate West could choreograph better fight scenes than this. What is
the point of declaring your hero a martial artist if the fight scenes
consist of close-ups of a man's foot smashing another man's jaw? As if that
constituted martial arts.
© 2004 Marvel Comics
There is a way to show martial arts with grace and excitement. Check out any
of the Young Masters by Chuck Dixon or Val Mayerik, or Way of the Rat, for
that matter. (Way of the Rat's martial arts don't compare to Young Master,
but at least the moves flow logically and kinetically from panel to panel.)
The art is a bastard hybrid of bad superhero and manga. The worst of both
worlds. The splash page is the same as the cover. Trees died. Fans wept.
Daredevil 57
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Alex Maleev
Publisher: Marvel Comics, Price: $2.99 US
In the second part of The King of Hell's Kitchen, Daredevil has removed his
mask and declared himself the title boy. Hordes of yakuza crawl out of the
woodwork to disabuse him of that notion. The FBI stands pat, afraid to get
involved. Bendis' writing is always good in the sense there are no false
notes. This is the way people really talk. Ben Urich does all the talking
here, describing Daredevil's terrific fight to a mystery visitor.
© 2004 Marvel Comics
And that's part of the problem. Instead of showing the fight, Bendis and
Maleev go for an impressionistic effect, throwing away several two page
spreads on mood. The big crimson center-spread of a lone yakuza swinging a
club is a particular waste. Once again we are given an ostensible martial
arts expert and asked to take the writer's word for it. When Denny O'Neil
edited Daredevil he advised Frank Miller to find a fighting style, which
Miller did. He also choreographed the fights so that you believed Daredevil
was a martial arts expert. Bendis and Maleev rally for a moment on page
seven when Daredevil snaps the aerial off a car and uses it to whiplash an
assailant. The book could have used more of this, more clearly shown.
Maleev seems to be going for a gloomy, rain-ridden Bladerunner look with his
overwrought textures. Didn't work for me. And for all the folksy dialogue,
and the shocker on the last page, this story doesn't much work either.
Marvel shoots themselves in the foot with their wretched ad placement. The
splash page, no longer part of the story, consists of credits and recap. One
page of Ben Urich talking facing an ugly ad on page three. Page three? Why
not just put the ad on the cover? Why can't Marvel figure out their ad pages
to be non-obtrusive like DC's?
The Letter Aitch
This year is poised to go down as one of the greatest in the history of pop
music. You won't hear them on the radio. You won't see them on the MTV
awards. But the pop underground is reaching critical mass, producing music
of such beauty and power that the so-called record industry has two choices:
embrace the pop underground or die. Frankly I hope it dies, and these
independent garage bands, the spirit of pop, break out on their own, selling
on their own labels.
Which brings us to the letter 'H'. Last month I told you about Hindu Rodeo's
new release Nalaadaloobr, their first since 1995. Not even Nostradamus could
have guessed that Hindu's Minneapolis neighbors the Hang-ups, and Nova
Scotia's answer to Brian Wilson the Heavy Blinkers would also produce new
albums. Hindu Rodeo, Heavy Blinkers, Hang-ups. Add to them a new Rockfour
album recorded in Detroit. Rockfour's previous release, A New Beginning, is
a jaw-dropping celebration of early seventies' psychedelia, Byrds, 13th
Floor Elevators, and bands of that ilk.
Cry Aitch and loose the dogs of pop!
Mike Baron is the creator of the award winning comic book Nexus and
during his career has written an enormous variety of comics from The Flash to The Punisher. He is currently writing Faro Korbit for AP Comics, working on
a Green Lantern novel for Byron Preiss, and is working on several projects
destined to change the face of pop culture in his secret skunkworks.
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