As with a lot of the unfunny comics of yore, I really enjoy the art on this one, and the first panel in particular is pretty terrific. But it has one fatal flaw...
... it has a punchline so terrible that it exerts physical force, knocking the straight man on his ass. This is almost never a good sign.
Still, I wish that "Drunk Man and Boy Scout" had become one of the classic comedy pairings. I'm sure that it would be a rich source of comedy.
Why Dilton ever turns to Archie for advice is beyond me. Also: women are stupid. And I`ll bet Dilton`s yard sales are awesome.
Seriously, Archie. You are the worst.
It was another heavy week for me, folks. Literally, I mean. I had a hard(er) time carrying my comic bag home. What terrible scheduling spirits conspired to have Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour and Rasl come on the same week as my copies of The More Than Complete Action Philosophers! and the second Agents of Atlas trade came in, I'll never know. Mean ones, they are - I was listing sideways all the way home.
Wait, that doesn't sound very heavy at all. Perhaps I should explain something about my bag: It's already very heavy, because I must carry a ridiculous amount of stuff around with me for my own peace of mind. Four more books made it think seriously about gravitational collapse.
Curiously, the fact that my stack of comics contained fewer items this week did not make me any more productive, review-wise. Quite the contrary, in fact - evidently the height of the pile is the thing that'll really kick my procrastination circuits into gear, not the number of items it is composed of.
Which is all a way of saying that I don't have much to say this week. Oh, Action Philosophers! and Rasl are terrific, and it's about time that I got around to reading them, but you probably already knew that. I'm going to confine myself to the two exciting brand new things of the week, Scott Pilgrim and Welcome to Tranquility. I'll save Scott Pilgrim until the end, just to give you ample warning: much as I try I might spoil something or influence your experience or something, so don't read to the end if you need to keep your thoughts pure to derive pleasure from a comic.
Welcome to Tranquility: One Foot in the Grave No 1
Speaking of series that I waited way too long to get into, I didn't pick up on this one until the second trade came out, despite Rachelle's insistence that it was rilly, rilly good. And it is!
If you're not in the know, Welcome to Tranquility (Gail Simone - Writer, Horacio Domingues - Art, Jonny Rench - Colours) is about a small town where a large number of Golden and Silver Age super-heroes retired, settled down and raised their families and got on with small-town life. I keep wanting to make a comparison to Neopolis in Alan Moore's Top Ten, but it's not a perfect fit. Where Top Ten is about a city full of people who have no place in the outside world any more and thus have recreated the wold in microcosm, complete with all the crime and vice that they fought on the outside, Welcome to Tranquility features larger-than-life figures trying to recreate what they imagine that everyday folks have. Of course, there would be no story in that if everything didn't go wrong, so the series is really about non-super-powered Sheriff Tommy Lindo having to solve small-town murders and conspiracies. Only think Hot Fuzz, rather than Agatha Christie. Because of the super-powers.
If you've ever read anything by Gail Simone, you know that she can write characters, and this is a book full of 'em, ones that she created herself, and complimented by Domingues' art and Rench's colours. You've probably seen the preview for this if you read any Wildstorm books at all, and let me tell you, I don't know what the hell is going on. In a good way. Mayor Fury is getting out of prison! My mind is blown! His lawyer wore a suit and cape! That was awesome!
So. As I recall, the first two trades were pretty reasonably priced, so if you check this out and like it but have no idea what the hell's going on I most heartily recommend them. I can't remember if there are gorillas, but basically every other excellent thing from comics shows up at one point or another, including robots and really fun mysteries.
Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour
Or should I write that Scott Pilgrim Book 6: Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour? Or Scott Pilgrim Book 6: 's Finest Hour? Damn you, O'Malley! Oh wait, book one was Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life, wasn't it? i guess consistency gets you off the hook. This time.
First off, I have some bad news. My theory about Ramona being a fictional stand-in for Kim Pine and the whole fighting evil exes thing being Scott's penance for how poorly he treated her in high school totally didn't pan out. I repeat: Scott and Kim don't end up together at the end. So sad. Why do my crackpot theories never pan out?
Other than that, though, totally awesome. As is required of any Scott Pilgrim epic, this had crazy fight scenes and video game references and callbacks to prior volumes and sappy twentysomething romance. All of my favourite characters got some facetime and there was resolution without absolute certainly. An ending completely in keeping with the quality fun and pure joy that the series has been for me.
Here's where you really, really want to stop reading if having my reading experience taint yours would make you sad. Seriously, I'm going to talk about themes and stuff.
Aside from the straightforward joys of watching Scott Pilgrim fightin' and lovin', this was an extremely satisfying read because it managed to cast the entire series in a new light. My guess wasn't that far off in one respect - Scott Pilgrim has been on a voyage of redemption and redefinition. In light of what happens in this final volume one can look back and see it: Scott Pilgrim making the transition between the selfish world of high school love and the hard-to-attain adult relationship that isn't just high school love with a new face. He's trying to grow up without becoming an asshole (the assholes are represented by the evil ex-boyfriends). Or something like that. What this really means is that Bryan Lee O"Malley has given me a really solid excuse to read the series again. Thanks, man!
And now I must go. Good night!
From the 40s to the 60s, super hero comics frequently featured more cartoony, comic-relief one-and two-page strips in addition to the action-adventure style stories that were advertised on the cover. Sometimes these stories were somewhat related to the main feature - Aquaman comics frequently featured the adventures of Homer the Skin Diver, for example - but more often they functioned as complete non-sequitors.
And not just in terms of subject. These comics frequently do not make sense, especially as objects of mirth. Whether it's because of changing standards of humour or because they weren't funny in the first place, they often leave me scratching my head. And yet they are clearly meant to be amusing... it's maddening!
In an effort to cut down on my frustration by spreading it around, I'm going to start sharing these confounding artifacts with you folk - look for them on slow days when I'm feeling bored. Please feel free to try to explain why they are or are not funny in the comments section.
"Kitty McTabby" from Superman No. 18.
Miss Grundy hits Veronica where it hurts.
Oh, hello. I was just thinking about about Superman.
Now, despite my intermittent grumbling about the military conspiracy as over-used plot device and "turning the public against super-heroes with little to no effort" as over-used plot device that we need to go back in time and assassinate before it rises to power, and despite widespread tongue-clucking about there being no Superman in any of the three or four Superman comics being sold, this past year hasn't been a bad one for the Man of Steel. I enjoyed the Mon-El, Nightwing and Flamebird stories in Superman and Action, for example, and World of New Krypton was an entertaining diversion into politics and subterfuge. Though if returning to the status quo was the intent all along it would have been more satisfying (to me, at least) if New Krypton had been shrunken again, rather than being blown up.
However enjoyable it was, I was looking forward to seeing Superman come back to Earth and get into some adventures - maybe fight a giant robot or thwart an invasion by dinosaur men. Or, I don't know, smack Shrapnel around. Stop Kobra from blowing up an orphanage.
Instead, walking and philosophizing. Now, I'm not opposed to my super-heroes having some depth, but... I think that I have to take you on a tangental but relevant trip before I can finish what I'm saying. It's from way, way back in Superman No.17 and it's what got me thinking about this much-discussed subject in the first place.
Clark Kent is covering the execution of arch-fiend Luthor, when suddenly:
Energized by the electrical charge, Luthor escapes and resumes his life of crime. As he and his men are robbing a train, Superman intervenes, and a car fight ensues.
But Luthor is not quite powerful enough to defeat Superman, and so he flees. His only chance is to acquire the Powerstone, a huge gem that Superman ends up with after he stops Luthor from making off with it.
Luthor outwits Superman with a fake newspaper story that sets himself up as Allerton, an expert in mystical gemstones.
He then grow to enormous size, hits Superman with a bridge, steals his powers and goes on a crime spree. Later, Superman plays on his ego and tricks him into dropping the Powerstone. Justice is served!
I didn't really need to tell the whole thing, but I felt like providing some context for the important parts: the car fight and the bridge-smack. Oh, and I suppose that the part where Superman tricks Luthor is also relevant.
See, Superman is, without a doubt, a smart guy. He's a Pulitzer-winning journalist, he's written a few novels - he's manifestly not some big dope. He's surely thought about just how many people that he can hope to save in the course of his life. But his powers are the super-equivalent of a hammer, and even a smart man with a hammer is more likely to view a large proportion of the problems he encounters as nails. Realizing that a woman blames him for not zapping her husband's brain tumour should not cause him to spiral into an existential crisis, especially given that there's no logic to the claim that he could have helped (see here). If anything, his reaction should be more along the lines of a frantic quest to save everyone, just flying around at lightspeed until he collapses from exhaustion. Because that is where Superman's depth lies: deep down, he wants to save everybody. Hell, if there's any reason to believe that he would be so affected by this woman and her slap, it's because of this drive.
In summation: I want to read comics about Superman being a strong man who tries to do good. Possibly by fighting someone with a car. I am prepared to argue at length about this.
Thank you.
Living Between Wednesdays is a place for people who love comic books and superheroes.
