Review - Superior #3 by Mark Millar and Leinil Yu

Superior #3 sees Superior/Simon Pooni save the crashing space station that was hurtling towards New York in issue two and then begin dramatically rescuing people in life-threatening situations across America.

Introduced in this issue is TV anchor-person, Madeline Knox who for an unexplained reason looks dressed to go partying rather than to work. She mentions in her voice over that when she was the highest paid television personality she wasn’t a very nice person. Held up in traffic she complains aloud that the stoppage must be because of ‘some kind of retard convention'. Hmmm... seems she’s not so much of a nice person now either! However she vows to find out who Superior is. I smell mismatched relationship happening, where Simon and Madeline learning something special from each other...ooh, won't that be nice. Millar referenced the movie Big in issue one and Superior, I dare say, is going to draw some close parallels.

This issue also sees the return of Ormon the talking monkey in a space suit, albeit minimally and it seems that he may not be the benevolent simian we were led to believe! Millar, you scoundrel! All talking monkeys, especially those in spacesuits should be working for the forces of good! This is an unwritten comic law!

What is excellent in this issue is the scale of heroics presented. This issue is mainly an onlooker's view of Superior’s actions. Really well done is the sense of wonder (which Millar has said he wanted to show) in how a man can pick up a space station. Superior is dwarfed and hidden by the space station so to an onlooker it looks as if the thing is hovering on its own. Yu's artwork and use of scope is excellent. He uses the widescreen format that Millar likes so much to great effect. His cityscapes are quite remarkable and the scenes of the space station using an array of worm's eye and bird's eye view angles are especially brilliant.

One criticism of Yu’s artwork is the somewhat gratuitous use of boob and crotch shots. Is this Yu ad-libbing or directions from Millar’s script? Either way, is there really a need for Ms Knox to have such a low cut dress, or a female train passengers' dress to ride up in a crash to reveal her panties, or… yeah, I think you get the idea. From the promo art for issue four it looks like it’s going to continue.

As I stated in my review of Superior #2 I’m not a fan of the colouring and in that regard for issue three my stance hasn't changed. It looks harsh and takes away from Yu's artwork.

Now, would a pre-teenager with massive power go straight to heroic actions? Would he even have an idea of how to stop a nuclear meltdown in a power station (as he does)? We’re not privy to Simon’s thoughts in this issue about what he's going through apart from the fact her likes the attention. It seems Simon just knows what to do. But I'm not really supposed to ask these questions, am I? I mean Superman and all those Golden Age heroes never had any other thoughts than to use their abilities for forces of good, did they? It was straight to work as the good guy! No doubts, no hesitation. This is what Superior is all about and it's working a treat.

The question is - why am I enjoying this, a fairly straight forward superhero comic? Well, unlike Grant Morrison's stuff, it's not taxing on the brain nor does it come burdened with years of comic continuity which means it can just be enjoyed on its own. And to Millar's credit, he knows how to pace a story to keep you interested.

This: Entertaining (portrayal of superheroics) and mildly annoying (sexist art) at the same time.
Forthcoming: I've come this far, I can't go back.

Read review of Superior #2.

Review: Nemesis #3 by Mark Millar (writer) and Steve McNiven (artist)

Carnage. Nemesis #3 is pure carnage.

Millar and McNiven have produced a love letter to violence and shock tactics with Nemesis #3 going into gross-out territory in both physical and moral violence.

Having been captured by supercop Blake Morrow, Nemesis (aka Matthew Anderson) isn't too worried as it appears being incarcerated in a maximum security prison is all part of his master plan. Sure enough, with some help from his henchmen Nemesis escapes, in the process killing not one, not two, but ninety-seven fully-armed riot-cops! This takes up approximately five pages.

Nemesis though has much in store for Morrow and his family. Nemesis' actions against them are genuinely sickening.

As far as story goes, there's actually not a lot here. Nemesis escapes, makes Morrow reveal some secrets, and Morrow's resolve to capture Nemesis is reinforced - 'let's nail this bitch.'  Morrow's family secrets aren't really that shocking but they're supposed to show us that attaining 'supercop' status has had disadvantages and consequences which affect Morrow's family. It's supposed to make us sympathise (and empathise) with Morrow (i.e.: he's flawed) and show that Nemesis has no scruples (as if we didn't know that already) in trying to tear Morrow down.

Okay, so let's make it clear. Millar isn't drawing on subtlety, or indeed reality, with Nemesis. It's major over the top stuff in virtually every sense. He's going for big and extravagant and succeeding brilliantly. Nemesis is pure spectacle. Don't believe me? A supervillain walking around in a completely white suit and cape for starters...

The issue really belongs to Steve McNiven. His artwork, especially the violent and bloody sequences, is top quality. As shown by the sample script pages at the rear of the comic, Millar's directions are minimal allowing McNiven's talents to shine. If asked for one word to describe his art, I'd volunteer- precise. There's nothing extraneous or superfluous here. Everything is exact.

My only gripe is that it ripped along so fast. Pages where there's all action and little or no dialogue makes a very quick read. Considering I'm in Australia and it cost me $6, I was hoping for a longer experience. Again produced in the widescreen format with a maximum of five panels to a page (with the exception of one page with six) and four full page spreads I couldn't help but feel this was really only half a comic.

I'm hoping for a truly memorable ending next issue.

This: Worthwhile, but a little disappointing in content. Forthcoming: Bring it on!

Review: Scarlet #2 by Brian Michael Bendis (writer) and Alex Maleev (artist)

  
Bendis reveals more about his red-headed vigilante and her mission to purge Portland of crime in Scarlet #2.  

Physically, but not emotionally, recovered from her shooting in issue one, Scarlet determines to find out the circumstances which led to her boyfriend Gabriel's death and thus try and make some sense of what happened. Over ten weeks she follows Officer Dunes, the cop who was responsible, and finds out he's subsequently been promoted.

Scarlet then confronts Guzman, Dunes' former partner, questioning him about his involvement in the shooting. The answers aren't what she expected, finding that apart from saving his own skin, there was little he could've done. Corruption in the Portland police force is extensive.

Far from being intimidated by the magnitude of her task, Scarlet's decision to fight back is reinforced. And the first person on her list to feel her wrath is the smug and reprehensible Officer Dunes.

Bendis and Maleev are really pulling the emotional strings on this one, asking a fundamental question - how can justice be done when the good guys are all bad? Scarlet's answer is to administer justice herself. Brutal justice. Her question is - are we with her or against her?

Again Bendis makes us involved in the story by having Scarlett address us directly as readers, making us complicit in her actions. By simply being readers we push the story along.

Maleev's artwork is as good as ever and the fact that he's using a model for the Scarlet character makes her depiction very realistic. Indeed Maleev captures Scarlet's expressions and depth of emotion in each illustration brilliantly.

This comic is characterised by Scarlet looking at us. On almost every page Scarlet checks if we're still with her, making sure that were coming along, and virtually asking for our approval and consent. When she says 'See? I'm trying desperately to find someone who would miss him enough to make it worth me not killing him', she's really asking us if we're that someone. The only way to avert his death is to stop reading. But are we going to do that?

Bendis goes to great lengths in both issues to show that Scarlet is just an ordinary girl. In issue one Scarlet says 'I'm not Miss America super hottie' and all her actions before her vigilantism are characterised by normality - normal upbringing and life experiences. Does Bendis have a twist in store for us about Scarlet? She seems to handle weapons quite well... Or are we set to see a tragedy? The degeneration of a typical, ordinary, girl into the corruption of the soul that ultra-violence brings.

Everyone wants to see corruption and purveyors of injustice punished. Vigilantism is appealing because it asks few questions and offers quick results. Bad guys are immediately erased. But what punishment fits the crime? The broad strokes with which villains and heroes are painted in pop culture are rarely mirrored in reality. That's why we have a justice system. 

Scarlet's story is intriguing and the artwork lush. I flew through this really quickly. There's many a page with no writing at all leaving me thinking - where's the rest? But no matter. It's good enough for multiple readings.

This: More brilliance.  Forthcoming: Yes, please! We want more brilliance.

Review: Scarlet #1, by Brian Michael Bendis (writer) and Alex Maleev (art), Icon (Marvel) Comics

Hot off the presses from Marvel's burgeoning Icon line of creator-owned comics comes Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev's Scarlet. 

Bendis again joins with his Daredevil artist to produce a character that he says will 'spark a modern day American Revolution'.

Scarlet is a twentysomething redhead who's decided to fight back. and do something about corruption and criminals. If she sees something wrong, she intervenes. Usually with brute force.

At base Scarlet #1 is basically an origin story. Like most origins it's based on loss, this one specifically building on the pure senselessness of an individual's actions. The incident, which is both poignant and heartbreaking, propels Scarlet into her new life as a vigilante.

While Scarlet may move a bit slow for some, if you're familiar with Bendis' work (if you aren't go out and do so now... No, really, I'm serious... NOW!) then you've come to expect that something big is going to happen later on in the series. Bendis weaves small stories into great interlocking narratives which build into something big and then rushes into something bigger.

Bendis' forte (for me) is his dialogue and he again produces true to life conversations. That's not to say he can't tell one hell of a story. When the first thing you see in a comic is a full page illustration of a woman garotting a man you know this story isn't going to pull any punches.

The most interesting part though is Scarlet 'breaking the fourth wall'. She talks directly to us. The way Bendis does it is something which I haven't come across in comics. The closest would be Grant Morrison when for example his characters in Seven Soldiers of Victory (and to some extent in Animal Man) look out at the reader. Morrison is more about a comic characters recognising themsleves as characters; that they're trapped inside a story. Scarlet addresses the reader directly and therefore  situates both as existing in the same world. But Bendis is also doing more. He (via Scarlet) is asking us to be involved in the story, a collaborator, an accomplice. A difficult task, but if anybody can pull it off, it's Bendis.

Maleev's art is I think, an acquired taste. Like many of my favourite artists he has an individual style that's recognisable as Maleev and that's what you want. Not surprisingly Maleev's art strikes me as a cross-between two other Bendis collaborators - Michael Gaydos (Alias) and David Mack (Kabuki, Daredevil, Alias covers).

Scarlet looks like Bendis has got another hit on his hands and should propel him further into the comic writing stratosphere.

This: Highly Recommended. Forthcoming: Can't Wait.

Review: Nemesis #1 and 2, by Mark Millar (writer) and Steve McNiven (art), Icon (Marvel) Comics.

Managed to pick up the first two two issues of uber comic writer Mark Millar and Steve McNiven's creator owned Nemesis at the incredibly excellent Minotaur pop culture shop in Melbourne.

Nemesis is a very nasty man. He has a vendetta against police of all nations having had his very privileged upbringing torn from him when his parents were arrested for running a hunting club. With the father committing suicide and the mother sent to the chair, the young man who'll become Nemesis inherits a massive fortune and travels the world acquiring the skills that will make him a criminal genius. All to eventually to take revenge on Blake Morrow, the cop who "stole his life away".

Nemesis asks the question, basically, what if Batman were a criminal? It reverses the "good guys wear black" to "bad guys wear white" (and it doesn't even add any weight to Nemesis at all).

I have to say I was pretty impressed with these two issues. This sort of storytelling reminds me of the early Image comics, only much better.

Millar hits all the cool points and sets up the Nemesis' motivation cleverly and succinctly. He doesn't waste any time on needless exposition - the mark of an accomplished writer - and heads straight for the action. These action sequences filled with train wrecks, exploding buildings and the required high body count are spectacular and plain over the top, which unfortunately for meant for a fairly quick read, with few pages sporting more than four panels.

Even so there's a lot to get into with McNiven's art (previously combining with Millar for Civil War) verging on stunning. McNiven seems to have pared back his line work since Civil War but the art loses nothing for it. It's detailed and highly individual. I've been going over the panels just taking in the intricacies. There's not one flaw or unnecessary line.

Millar writes in an Afterword that since the Wanted and Kick-Ass movie adaptations there's been many a person sniffing around Nemesis. Whoever gets the gig won't have much work to do in adapting it because whether deliberate or not  Nemesis could easily be translated to the big screen with little trouble. It verily screams "summer blockbuster".

The challenge for Millar will be in making the "everyman" hero cop Blake Morrow more interesting than the supervillain-genius, Nemesis in the too cool all-white costume. Otherwise you won't want him defeated. I mean, this guy is bad - murdering cops and indiscriminately slaughtering civilians by the truckload. But, you know, carnage can be appealing. At this point I think Millar's got it about right with it looking like it's going to a battle of intellect and wits even though there's sure to be more high-stakes action.

These: Highly recommended. Forthcoming: Highly anticipated.