Phill's comic review thread

**Peasant Phill** · 09-10-2009, 15:32

There's a movie review thread in the front room. You can get lots of tips to get in shape as well. LEN's footballodium …
I'm a fan of strips, BD's, comics, graphic novels, … whatever you want to call them. So why not start a comic review thread.

I'll kick off with "The Dark Knight Returns" by Frank Miller (1986)
In which senior citizen Wayne gives in to the bat once more and people lose their ability to reason logically.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Not being of American origin, I haven't read any American style comic book until recently. Determined to correct this hiatus, I asked around for some excellent series. As answers I got Sandman, V for vendetta, Watchmen, Maus and finally The Dark Knight Returns. I've read them all. Some were great, some were underwhelming. In which category should I put TDKR?

Firstly the format and the premise
I like shorter stories that run for only a few issues. Par definition, ongoing series can never build up to an equally powerful ending.
I don't much care for superheroes. Without excellent writing superhero stories can be prone to drift towards trying to One-up the previous story arc or "I'll get you next week"-situations. Therefore I liked the premise of an almost elderly batman giving it one last go. It's a standalone story with the potential for a good ending.

Graphically TDKR was decent. Good for the period it was made in. By today standards (or at least mine) it's average when it comes to line art and coloring.

Storywise I'm less than satisfied. The story simply boils to Bruce Wayne going up against the same people he always goes up against with the twist that they're all older now. No character development, no new insights.
There's absolutely no flow or rhythm. Walls of text just halt the story to a crawl. A picture is worth a 1000 words according to a well-known cliché. It's a good idea to show the controversy around batman by means of talk shows. Just don't let it crowd those few pages you have. And for the love of god make it believable. There are far better arguments for condemning batman than accusing him over and over again of murder by proxy. Seriously Harvey Dent/the joker only kills because batman exists. At least make a good argument if you want to convey a pro/con batman conflict to your readers.

Happy endings are a touchy thing for me. I don't mind them in feel-good stories and the likes but some stories just don't fit with a happy ending. Would braveheart be as compelling if Wallace escaped beheading at the last minute? Would Saving private Ryan be believable if they would've won the last battle without much loss of life?
The mock death and resurrection of Bruce Wayne felt IMO forced. A real death or forced retirement would've been better. Now it just looks like Miller awkwardly left the possibility open for a sequel. And guess what …

**Hooahguy** · 09-10-2009, 17:57

i dont really read comics. but i read comic strips like Pearls Before Swine and Foxtrot. can we review those?

**Peasant Phill** · 09-10-2009, 19:41

Originally Posted by Hooahguy

i dont really read comics. but i read comic strips like Pearls Before Swine and Foxtrot. can we review those?

Be my guest

**Hooahguy** · 09-10-2009, 23:09

Pearls Before Swine-
there is so much awesomeness related to this strip that words cannot even begin to show its awesomeness.
plus im friends with the cartoonist on facebook.

Garfield
ah, where to start with this? pretty much until the first Garfield movie, this strip was good. but afterwards, it took a deep plunge, most notably when Liz started dating Jon, even though for about 20 years beforehand Liz rejected Jon every single time. obviously Jim Davis was submitting to the will of the newcomers who only started reading garfield because of the movie and demanded why liz wasnt dating jon, as she did in the movie.

Foxtrot
used to be a personal favorite, got lame after he switched to sunday-only strips.

**Peasant Phill** · 09-11-2009, 07:32

Originally Posted by Hooahguy

Garfield
ah, where to start with this? pretty much until the first Garfield movie, this strip was good. but afterwards, it took a deep plunge, most notably when Liz started dating Jon, even though for about 20 years beforehand Liz rejected Jon every single time. obviously Jim Davis was submitting to the will of the newcomers who only started reading garfield because of the movie and demanded why liz wasnt dating jon, as she did in the movie.

Garfield got repetitive long before the movie came out. You know that you have recycled your jokes to much when the random Garfield panel generator dishes out better jokes than the ones you produce.

**Fragony** · 09-11-2009, 07:46

I recently developed a taste for American graphic novels, the style is so different, I never knew superhero-saga's could be this mature, I didn't expect any blood.

My favorite comics are Storm and Thorgal, I doubt they are known very far abroad. Both aren't that good anymore but what can you expect. I have Watchmen but I have yet to read it, the movie was.. interesting.. didn't know what to make of it so I bought the comic I will put up a review when I am done but I am doing a lot.

**Peasant Phill** · 09-11-2009, 11:03

Originally Posted by Fragony

I recently developed a taste for American graphic novels, the style is so different, I never knew superhero-saga's could be this mature, I didn't expect any blood.

My favorite comics are Storm and Thorgal, I doubt they are known very far abroad. Both aren't that good anymore but what can you expect. I have Watchmen but I have yet to read it, the movie was.. interesting.. didn't know what to make of it so I bought the comic I will put up a review when I am done but I am doing a lot.

Watchmen was IMO not that great. It was dated, overly dramatic and an end that just doesn't make sense. I have yet to see the movie.

Read sandman if you're interested in American graphic novels. The first few issues are a bit hard to get through but once the main story starts rolling it's just simply mindblowing. So many characters, stories, intrigues that are all intertwined with each other. This series is simply epic.

Other novels to recommend: Maus. A bit different but a great mix of a dramatic story and comic relief.

**Fragony** · 09-11-2009, 11:35

Maus is great I agree, I kinda have a problem with the cats/mouse/pigs concept but in the end it doesn't really have any pretentions. Baby vs tree will haunt me for life. You will probably like Joe Sacco's work (Gorazde & Palestina) same genre, it's horribly onesided but that is more for the backroom, but he is really good at presenting a situation, if you liked Maus you will like this as well.

**Peasant Phill** · 09-11-2009, 14:58

Originally Posted by Fragony

Maus is great I agree, I kinda have a problem with the cats/mouse/pigs concept but in the end it doesn't really have any pretentions. Baby vs tree will haunt me for life. You will probably like Joe Sacco's work (Gorazde & Palestina) same genre, it's horribly onesided but that is more for the backroom, but he is really good at presenting a situation, if you liked Maus you will like this as well.

The only reason I could figure out for the different animals to represent different groups of people was just to make a clear distinction that would otherwise be a lot harder given the simplicity of the line art.

I liked Maus for the sincere story rather than the subject itself.

**Fragony** · 09-11-2009, 15:50

You will love 'Gorazde' and 'Palestnia' by Joe Sacco, few samples. Very biased but very good.

**Peasant Phill** · 09-12-2009, 15:10

I'll see if I can fiend them around here, but I have my doubts.

oh and trust me on Sandman.

I'm reading the Grimm Fairy tales right now, I'll comment on them when I've read some more of them.

**Fragony** · 09-12-2009, 15:44

Shouldn't be very hard to find, just about every bookstore here has it.

**Peasant Phill** · 09-15-2009, 11:26

The Grimm fairy tales
In which pin-ups and top-heavy women in suggestive poses equals girl power and morale lessons.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

I started reading this series on advice of someone on another forum who seemed really enthusiastic about it and its spin-offs. Unfortunately, the age of people on internet isn't always that clear.

Graphically it's decent, using different artists with different styles throughout the series. I'm not particularly opposed to this but I always feel that certain styles fit certain stories better and can thus bring something extra to the comic.
Style wise, it's nothing special. Except on 2 occasions (one for the better one for the worse), it's all cleanly and realistically drawn without any noticeable style features.
The subject of the drawings is something else. The series excels at portraying pin-ups and girls/women with the focus on big breasts, butts and panties. I'm not shy when it comes to the female body (hey, I'm from Europe after all) but I feel that 'sex' in any media should be functional. Suggestive poses that in no way help the story, are cheap (and for the love of god give those breast nipples!). Oh, and if you have to, the world isn't populated with Pamela Anderson clones alone. That girl with normal measurements but with a certain 'je ne sais quoi' is just as sexy.

I'm not saying that the story is everything to me. I can enjoy a 'no-brainer' just as much as a story-heavy comic. But the 'no-brainer' should bring something extra on other fronts (humor, style, atmosphere, …).
This series feels like filler. There's no real story, just flimsy (cliché) excuses to rework known fairy tales. To add upon insult the writers don't know where to go with the series. So far I've read 32 issues and the central character goes from Faustian devil over idealistic world saver and angel of vengeance to being killed with an indication of resurrection. Oh did I mention that she gets killed while confronting her nemesis with the same powers who then takes on the leading role? It feels like an unpopular TV show testing mid-season what would work better.

Conclusion:
Grimm Fairy tales are meant to be pulp for teenage boys. No more, no less.
If you like the themes but have outgrown naughty comic books I would recommend the following: Fables (American series about fairy tale creatures in exile) , Wisher (Italian/French series about the desperate survival of the last mythic creatures) or Djinn (Belgian/Spanish series about the events in the live of a djinn, nudity with a story).

Still, I'm giving the Wonderland spin-off a chance. At least in that series there seems to be a story involved (and I've always been a sucker for Alice in wonderland).

Frag, I haven't found them in my favourite library, maybe it's time to go on another buying spree in the local bookstores.