ANOTHER UPDATE

I'm spending my weekend doing household and organization things...and also enjoying a family dinner with my wife and kids. I'll be back to work on Monday. That means working on my new book, writing bloggy things and coming up with Last Kiss gags. Plus whatever else I can squeeze into days that will include some medical and personal appointments. 

Have a safe and sane and happy weekend.

Tony Isabella

UPDATE

 I'm working on a number of bloggy things as I deal with some medical issues (not serious) and some other business and personal stuff. I know the lack of new bloggy things has been disappointing to my readers here. While I might post some new content before then, my target date for a return to my daily posting is Monday, February 1. 

Once I prove to myself that I can maintain that schedule or one close to it, I'll be throwing up one of those donate via Paypal buttons. At that time, your donations will be greatly appreciated and will help finance my work on some upcoming projects.

Please stay safe and sane in these challenging times.

Tony Isabella

 

REFLECTION

I've been doing quite a bit of self-reflection as I ease my way back to work. Something occurred to me yesterday and it may point to why the Big Two editors and publishers aren't interested in working with me. Alas, it's not something that's likely to change.

Here it is...

 

I write about good (sometimes flawed) super-heroes. My heroes are unselfish. They triumph over overwhelming challenges to help people and bring evil to justice. 

 

Many of today's Big Two writers - I won't say "most" because I'm not currently reading many of their books - are content to let the heroes barely survive their generally self-involved battles while allowing evil to escape without consequence and to return to do more evil over and over again. Ordinary people are little more than statistics in their stories, extras without spoken lines or back story who exist merely to die horribly at the hands of the villains.

 

When I took this sabbatical to work on some personal issues and matters, I thought I would achieve clarity about my path going forward. That hasn't happened.

 

Even today, part of me wants to throw in the towel. Stop writing cold turkey. Read all the books I haven't read and watch all the movies I haven't watched. Leave social media. Downsize my Vast Accumulation of Stuff to as little as 10% of what I own. Work on being able to move to a smaller house in a hopefully progressive liberal community where I don't have to worry about some insane Trumper taking a shot at me. 

 

I've struggled with depression all my adult life. I know I'm far from alone in that, especially in these times of Covid-19 and domestic right-wing terrorism. We've lost so many good people and pets. We've seen treason supported by elected officials who took oaths that they would defend our country and Constitution. Even now, they work to destroy America and democracy. It's soul-crushing.

 

But...

 

I will write today. I will write tomorrow. And hope that there is light as the journey and the struggle continue.

ARMY OF ONE (2020)

                                                         

Readers have asked me how I can watch, much less enjoy, some of the movies I write about here. They don’t understand how someone with my impeccable taste in comic books is so forgiving when discussing movies. I shall endeavor to explain.

I know how to write great comic books. I have written great comic books. To me, it’s not all that difficult. Which is why I shake my head in disbelief when writers write and publishers publish crappy comic books.

Movies are different. I think I could write a great movie, but, as I’ve never tried to write one, I don’t know that I can. Indeed, I’d more likely shoot for an entertaining movie or a fun movie than a great movie. Not that great movies can’t be entertaining or fun. I know they can. I simply don’t hold movies in the same regard or to the same standard that I hold comic books.

All I ask from a movie is that it entertains me for ninety minutes or two hours. It can have a silly plot or dialogue that falls flat or bad acting as long as those things are all good enough to give me that relaxing ninety minutes or two hours.

When I started in comics, many of my fellow writers wanted to get into movies or television. I just wanted to write the best comics I could write. That was my grail.

Great comics are my gold standard of entertainment. Movies are just there for fun. I don’t expect as much from them. This is reflected in the movies I watch and write about.

Army of One [2020] is not a great comic book. It’s not even a very good movie. But it was good enough for the ninety minutes it took to watch it. No more, no less. Here’s the Internet Movie Database summary:

Out hiking, Special Forces Brenner Baker stumbles onto a Cartel's compound. Her husband's killed and she's left for dead. The Cartel made two mistakes, killing her husband and leaving her alive. They won't live to make another.

That’s pretty much the entire movie in three sentences, but I will still throw up the usual warnings.

SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD

Actress (and one of four writers) Ellen Hollman is the best thing about this movie. What she lacks in the actual acting, she makes up for with her assortment of defiant faces, gritty determination and excellent fight scenes. There’s an extended one-shot fight scene that was filmed in one take after only an hour of preparation. That is impressive.

Hollman’s Brenner doesn’t face any moral quandaries as she takes out the bad people. Her foes are cold-blooded killers, conscience-less rapists, human traffickers, gunrunners and religious hypocrites. I make no claim of biblical scholarship, but I’m fairly confident Jesus would do none of those things.

Geraldine Singer plays Mama, the head of this crime organization, though she tries to portray her evil as somehow serving the Lord. Her assortment of henchmen all meet their expected and satisfying  ends at Brenner’s hands. On her part, Brenner only takes a hit when she’s betrayed or when she sacrifices herself to save someone else. Yes, she takes the law into her own hands, but I’m very comfortable calling her a hero.

My biggest disappointments are that Brenner fails on two occasions to protect women she’d promised to protect, that she fails to bring down Mama until a final scene that takes place several months after the main action and that she seemingly never remembers to tell the local sheriff that his dispatcher is working for Mama.

SPOILERS OVER
SPOILERS OVER
SPOILERS OVER
SPOILERS OVER
SPOILERS OVER
SPOILERS OVER

The movie was written by Mary Ann Barnes (who was a staff writer on Last Man Standing), David Dittlinger, Stephen Durham (who also directed) and Hollman. I watched it on Amazon Prime.

Do I recommend this movie? If you’re someone who likes movies with bad-ass women, definitely. Someday I want to write a comic book or maybe a movie featuring bad-ass women. If you like movies wherein villains are slaughtered thus putting less pressure on our justice system, you might enjoy it as well. Outside of those demographics, I won’t presume to say who else might enjoy it.

I’ll be back soon with more book, comic and movie reviews. I have other bloggy things in the works as well.

Thanks for visiting today. Stay safe and sane and be excellent to your fellow humans who aren’t cold-blooded killers, conscience-less rapists, human traffickers, gunrunners or religious hypocrites. It is okay to have standards.

© 2021 Tony Isabella

COMICS STUFF

                                                                                  

I started writing this bloggy things several months ago. My review columns are often what I call “modular” columns. I add to them as time permits. In this case, it’s taken me until now to get back to the three reviews I had already written and add another review to the mix. Here we go...

M.O.D.O.K.: Head Trips [Marvel; $39.99] collects over 400 pages of stories featuring the Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Modok is a character I like a lot. However, reading stories I hadn’t read before and re-reading the earlier Modok tales, I came to realize I like the visual of the character more than most of what’s been done with him.

The original Lee/Kirby stories from the Captain America series in Tales of Suspense are terrific, as is most of what came from that most talented of creative teams. After that, the Modok tales just don’t have that zing. They are readable, even entertaining in some cases, but they don’t live up the character’s awesome visual.

Super-Villain Team-Up: M.O.D.O.K.’s 11 #1-5 is an exceedingly odd but interesting caper/heist adventure. Modok is the Danny Ocean of the series with various super-villains filling out the roster. Lots of twists and turns along the way. Modok is no Frank Sinatra or, if you prefer, George Clooney, but I was amused.

Better and more insane was M.O.D.O.K.: Assassin #1-5, which takes place in one of those Marvel crossover events that make no damned sense. That said, the Modok in this series was fun in a murderous sort of way. When he falls hard for a female Thor, hilarity, albeit  murderous hilarity, ensues.

I read this trade paperback via my local library, which is probably the most budget-conscious way to read it. Amazon currently has it at 34% off; you might find similar bargains elsewhere online.

ISBN 978-1302920746

                                                                                

Courtesy of my local library system, I read Green Lantern: Legacy [DC Kids; $9.99] by Minh Lê with illustrator Andie Tong, colorist Sarah Stern and letterer Ariana Maher, Editors are Jim Chadwick and Lauren Bison. The target readership for the DC Kids graphic novels is 8-12 years.

Here’s the back cover skinny on this book:

Thirteen-year-old Tai Pham lives in the apartment above his grandmother's store, where his bedroom is crammed with sketchpads and comic books. But not even his most imaginative drawings could compare to the colorful adventure he's about to embark on.

When Tai inherits his grandmother's jade ring, he soon finds out it's more than just a piece of jewelry. Suddenly he's inducted into a group of space cops known as the Green Lanterns. He is about to learn that being a superhero takes more than just a ring. Does Tai have the willpower and the imagination to uphold his ba's legacy.

There’s a lot I like about Green Lantern: Legacy. It’s not part of  whatever is currently passing for the real DC Universe in current DC comic books. Tai is a likeable if somewhat headstrong youngster.His grandmother is a very interesting character. We even see some familiar Green Lanterns in a story that is well-written and well-drawn. I don’t think it’s an award-winner, but it’s a fine way to spend a couple hours.

ISBN 978-1-4012-8355-1

                                                                                

After reading Doomsday Clock Part 2 [DC Comics; $24.99] by Geoff Johns with artist Gary Frank, colorist Brad Anderson, letterer Rob Leigh and original editor Brian Cunningham, I gripped that handsome hardcover in my hands and asked myself “What the heck happened in this series?” I was lost.

The writing was first-rate and the art even more so. I thought the final issue of the series was one of the best Superman tributes I had ever read. But, somewhere along the way, I lost the thread of what was surely meant to be an epic tale. I have no clue as to how it fits into the current DC Universe continuity or even if it does fit into that continuity. I am lost.

Somewhere down the line, possibly when all the issues of Doomsday Clock are collected into a single volume, I’ll reread this series in a single sitting. I’m hoping I’ll grasp what I’m missing at this time. Because I really want to love this story.

ISBN 978-1-77950-118-9

                                                                                   

I was a fan of Frank Robbins from his first Batman stories for DC Comics. When he started drawing some of those stories, I became a bigger fan. When the sorely missed Menomonee Falls Gazette started running his Johnny Hazard newspaper strips, well, I couldn’t have been happier. Until...

I actually got to work with Frank Robbins. I was very instrumental in his coming to Marvel Comics. We worked together on Ghost Rider and Captain America. To this day, he’s one of my favorite artistic collaborators. He’s a giant to me.

And today, published by Hermes Press, we have these great hardcover collections of Johnny Hazard. I just finished Johnny Hazard The Newspaper Dailies Volume Six: 1952-1954 [$50]. Reproduced entirely from original King Features press proofs, this volume contains a half-dozen exciting stories.

Hazard rarely gets any time off. Just as he finishes one adventure, the next begins. We start with Countess Destina, who claims to be nearly 500 years old and who has mentally enslaved a young English lord. From there, we get a scheme to steal the crown jewels before Queen Elizabeth’s coronation...an assassin targeting a young lad who took his photo by accident...French pearl smugglers who frame Johnny...a scam involving forged paintings...and an exciting Roman holiday that turns very dangerous. Our boy Hazard has the stamina of a Superman.

If you have not already discovered Johnny Hazard, you should make that a 2021 priority. The volumes aren’t cheap, but I’ve been able to read them through my local library system. You might be able to do the same, Highly and incredibly recommended.

ISBN978-1-61345-138-0

I’ll be back soon with more stuff.

© 2021 Tony Isabella

BOOK TALK

                                                                              

Wonton Terror: A Noodle Shop Mystery by Vivien Chien [St. Martin's Paperbacks; $7.99] is the fourth novel in the series. There are a couple of things I’ve learned from reading this books. Lana Lee, the manager of the Ho-Lee Noodle Shop, has never met a murder she didn’t want to investigate, even though her investigations are sure to put her in mortal jeopardy. That’s the first thing. The second is that not even murder stops Cleveland’s Asian Market from whatever events the business community has planned.

In this book, the Asian Night Market starts with a bang as Wonton on Wheels explodes, killing its owner. Lana and her chef Peter are not seriously injured, but Lana is determined to uncover who killed the competition and why. Naturally, this concerns Detective Adam Trudeau, but, to his credit, the man is accepting this is part of the woman he loves.

In addition to the murder mystery, we get some Lee family drama as Lana’s aunt comes to visit. Her mom and her aunt have been picking at one another all their lives. It almost makes risking one’s life seem like the safer option.

Wonton Terror is an enjoyable read. I’m wondering how long it will take for some television studio to realize these books would make a great series.

ISBN 976-1-250-22834-5

                                                                            

Harry Bliss is one of my favorite cartoonists. I get a kick out of his covers and interior cartoons for The New Yorker and his single-panel syndicated feature “Bliss.” That he is a comic-book fan just adds to my delight. In fact...

SIDEBAR. Bliss is the only New Yorker cartoonist who’s ever showed up in one of my dreams. We were chatting at some convention. He looked like he had drawn himself. I looked like Sergio Aragones had drawn me. Bliss asked me to write a weekly panel called “Bliss’s Heroes” in which he would draw his favorite comics characters and I would write gags for his drawings. END OF SIDEBAR.

Bliss does have a well-known collaborator who many consider to be even more hilarious than myself. I didn’t know this until I read A Wealth of Pigeons: A Cartoon Collection by Harry Bliss and Steve Martin [Celadon Books; $28]. The 272-page hardcover contains lots of cartoons by the delightful duo.

The way this team-up works is that sometimes Bliss draws a cartoon for Martin to write and sometimes Martin dreams up with a cartoon for Bliss to draw. Some of the cartoons are dryly humorous and some are laugh out loud hilarious. It’s a nice mix of cartoons and short strips with a wonderful cover design by Chip Kidd. I read about 20 gags a day and it was always a nice break for the insane pandemic and political world in which we live.

Bliss is a treasure and I recommend this book highly. And, should he see this review and he’s not repulsed by working with a writer who looks like a Sergio Aragones drawing, I’d be absolutely up for working on that comics character feature with him.

ISBN 978-1-250-26289-9

                                                                                  

I have mixed feelings about Personal Pronouns, a 2017 mystery novel by Ohio author David Allen Edmonds [Snowbelt Publishing; $15.99]. Protagonist Joe Lehrer, a German high school teacher grieving the horrific death of his wife in a auto accident, is very interesting as he wrestles with that grief, his return to the classroom and an insane plot involving sinister school board members, prostitution, various political plots and too many murders to be believable for this reader.

Lehrer strives to be moral, but he is sorely tested by the madness of the plot unfolding before him. He is the high point of the book. The writing itself is inconsistent, though I give Edmonds props for two truly chilling scenes. In the first, Lehrer recounts the death of his wife before his very eyes. It’s gut-wrenching.

In the second, he and a woman he is becoming involved with, return to her home to find all her furniture has been rearranged. That’s a creepy and unusual intimidation technique. Edmonds makes what is happening clearer when she walks into her bedroom to find all her family photos and such slashed and laid out on the floor.

The more I read, the less I cared for this book. The crimes seemed unlikely and the reasons for them even more so. Nor did it end on a satisfying note. It came off like the first half of a book. Given there’s a sequel, that may well have been what Edmonds planned from the start.

I’ll read the sequel, hoping for a more satisfying conclusion, but I can’t really recommend this novel.

ISBN 9780998546605
                                                                                    

Julián Is a Mermaid [Candlewick; $16.99] is a charming kids book by illustrator and stage actress Jessica Love. This is her first book. Here’s a summary:

While riding the subway home from the pool with his abuela one day, Julián notices three women spectacularly dressed up. Their hair billows in brilliant hues, their dresses end in fishtails, and their joy fills the train car. When Julián gets home, daydreaming of the magic he’s seen, all he can think about is dressing up just like the ladies in his own fabulous mermaid costume: a butter-yellow curtain for his tail, the fronds of a potted fern for his headdress. But what will Abuela think about the mess he makes — and even more importantly, what will she think about how Julián sees himself? Mesmerizing and full of heart, Jessica Love’s author-illustrator debut is a jubilant picture of self-love and a radiant celebration of individuality.

Recommended for ages 4-8, this book will likely be a hard sell for conservative schools and libraries because it is such a wonderful celebration of acceptance. They should get over their close-minded ways. Maybe putting this book on their shelves will make them more open to the changing world around them. This is an award-deserving work and I recommended it without reservation.

ISBN 978-0-7636-9045-8

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While I’m working on several more involved bloggy things, I’ll be bringing you all sorts of reviews. I hope you’ll enjoy them.

If you want to comment on these bloggy things, which I would love for you to do, be aware that all comments have to be approved by me before they post. I do my best to get to them as soon as possible, but don’t be concerned if your comment doesn’t appear right away.

That’s all for now. I’ll be back soon with more stuff.
 
© 2021 Tony Isabella

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2020: Part Three

I’m continuing my reviews of 2020's Free Comic Book Day giveaways. Every year, my pals at Stormwatch Comics in West Berlin, New Jersey send those FCBD comics to me so I can read and write about them in the bloggy. Only twice have I actually reached my goal of reading and writing about all the FCBD comics available in one year. Maybe this year is a year in which I three-peat that achievement. I think I can do it, but it’ll likely take me until sometime in early 2021 to complete this particular mission.

When I read and review FCBD comics, I look at three areas.

QUALITY: Is the material worthwhile?

ACCESSIBILITY: Is the material presented in such a way that someone coming to it for the first time can follow it?

SALESMANSHIP: After reading the FCBD offering, would someone want and be able to buy more of the same?

I score FCBD offerings on a scale of zero to ten. Each category is worth three points with the tenth point coming from my interest in seeing more of what’s ever in the book.

First up is The Boys #1 [Dynamite]. It reprints the first issue of the long-running series by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, which led to the popular TV series on Amazon Prime.

QUALITY: Top-notch. This series is as grim and gory as it gets, but it’s brilliantly written and drawn. Ennis and Robertson are among the finest comics creators of our time.

ACCESSIBILITY: Since this giveaway is essentially a first issue, a new reader can get into the series from the start. That new reader won’t learn everything about the world of The Boys, but they will be intrigued by what’s here.

SALESMANSHIP: The best I’ve seen this year to day. There are lots of Boys-centric or Ennis-centric house ads, including a double-page spread that shows the covers (comic and photo) of all the trades. There’s also a checklist of Dynamite’s Ennis-written titles. Just the thing to hook anyone who loves this first taste.

SCORE: Ten points out of a possible ten points. This is a standard to which other FCBD giveaways should aspire.

                                                                                 

Canuck Beyond and Captain Battle [Chapterhouse] features ten pages of the former, ten pages of the latter and a three-page interlude of Captain Canuck. I confess I winced when I saw this in the FCBD pile. I’ve never been a big fan of Captain Canuck, feeling that the seemingly countless reboots of the character made the history more trouble than it was worth. However, that said, I’d love to see good modern adaptations of the various super-heroes and other characters from the “Canadian whites” of olde.

QUALITY: Mediocre. None of the excerpts were engaging in writing or art. The franchise needs an experienced editorial hand, which would probably mean yet another reboot.

ACCESSIBILITY: Adequate. There’s some hard to read “what has gone before” copy on the inside front cover. It was enough information that I wasn’t entirely lost.

SALESMANSHIP: Surprisingly good. There are house ads for a variety of Charterhouse publications.

SCORE: Four points out of a possible ten points.

                                                                                 

Critical Role Vox Machina Origins [Dark Horse] also features Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology. Going into this comic, I’m not sure what Critical Role is. Role-playing game? Video game? Animated series? On the other hand, Norse Mythology is clearly an anthology comic with this first story adapted by P. Craig Russell. Each excerpt is ten pages long.

QUALITY: The “Vox Machina” excerpt is dull stuff centered around a group of tavern patrons exchanging tales of gods and/or heroes that may or may not be true. The “Norse Mythology” excerpt is your basic mythological creation tale, adapted beautifully from the original prose novel.

ACCESSIBILITY: Not good for “Vox Machina” and excellent for “Norse Mythology.”

SALESMANSHIP: As good as it gets. There are a lot of house ads for a lot of Dark Horse comics and products.

SCORE: Six points out of a possible ten points.

                                                                             

Dark Ark: Instinct [AfterShock Comics] features a 16-page story by Cullen Bunn (creator/writer) and Antonio Fuso (artist), backed up by a five-page preview of Sympathy for No Devils by Brandon Thomas and Lee Furguson.

QUALITY: Not great, not bad. “Instinct” is a stand-alone story that didn’t offer much in the way of background. “Sympathy” introduces Winston Willis, who seems to be a private eye of some sort with an uncanny knack for not dying when things go south as they apparently always do with him. No background here either.

ACCESSIBILITY: Poor. Which it didn’t have to be. If AfterShock had not gone all design-y with the inside front cover, there would’ve been ample room for a “what has gone before” on Dark Ark. Dropping one of the issue’s not very effective house ads would have allowed the same for “Sympathy.”

SALESMANSHIP: Good, but not good enough. Plenty of house ads, but none that really offered decent information on the comics they were selling. Plus house ads devoted to telling the reader how wondrous
various creators and titles were without offering any information on the titles.

SCORE: Four points out of a possible ten points.

                                                                             

Brandon Sanderson’s Dark One #0 [Vault Comics] features the first 32 pages of a modern fantasy series created by and with a story by the Hugo-winning, New York Times bestselling author. It’s written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly with art by Nathan Gooden and colors by Kurt Michael Russell. Fantasy has never been a favorite genre of mine, but the modern real-world elements of this and its intriguing characters hooked me.

QUALITY: The story, the writing and the art are all first-rate. One of the better FCBD issues I’ve read this year.

ACCESSIBILITY: Though this opening issue doesn’t answer a lot of my questions, there’s more than enough here to get me into the story and keep me there.

SALESMANSHIP: This issue is a come-on to the hardcover and original graphic novel. It’s a limited focus but it succeeds.

SCORE: Ten points out of a possible ten points.

Look for more Free Comic Book Day comments in the near future as I see if I can cover all the issues before the next Free Comic Book Day. Place your bets now.

© 2021 Tony Isabella