Cover
B (25%) by Jae Lee
Well,
this marks the halfway point, and the story skips right along. There
are no new heroes introduced, but Rafael Vega ducks into a costume
and prop shop to evade the Black Police, then kills his pursuers with
a sword and seems to be outfitting himself as Zorro. Also, the
Spider in Albany discovers that the governor is the lackey of a Man
in the Mirror called the Master. Green Hornet, Kato, and the Black
Terror terrorize the mayor of New York into revealing the existence
of the Master as well, for which the Master remotely kills him.
Green Lama and Miss Fury fight the Black Police, then are picked up
by the Shadow and Margo Lane. And D.A. Quinn discovers that he can
see in the dark when he's attacked by the Black Police, giving him
the advantage.
My
wording above was deliberate, “the story skips … along.”
Again, there's considerable sketchiness to the narrative. Not the
art, which is just fine. Perhaps only because I have the “proper”
mindset and background for this, I'm loving it. I wondered what
those without the background would make of it, and my fears were more
or less confirmed by talking with a colleague who is also getting it.
He's kind of regretting picking it up. He's largely not familiar
with the characters (except the obvious ones), and he hasn't read The
Spider versus the Empire State.
Cover
B by Alex Ross
In
1929 Lamont Cranston returns to New York City, but there are hints
that Cranston is not the same man as who left some time before.
Which is a nice call-back to the original pulp magazine where he is
not – the “Lamont
Cranston” who appears there is actually the Shadow impersonating
the real Lamont Cranston who is out of the country. Cranston is just
one of the Shadow's many personae,
and although in a later adventure the Shadow's “real” identity as
Kent Allard is revealed, I for one wouldn't bet the farm on that
being his true
identity either. Of course, I've not read any of the later
adventures, including the one “revealing” the “truth.”
Anyway, it's Margo Lane who sees the discrepancy here, as well as a
snooping reporter whom I'm sure will play a roll in future issues.
Margo is introduced as a gangster's out-of-favor moll who turns up
pregnant, an inconvenience the gangster is going to get rid of by
“aborting” mother and unborn child. The Shadow as such appears
twice – at the very beginning of the book in Cambodia, and at the
end to save Margo. Neither time does he look like the stereotypical
Shadow, which makes sense because this is
the beginning of his career.
I
picked this up mainly because it's written by Matt Wagner, in the
quasi-pulp element I have enjoyed from him before in Dynamite's Green
Hornet: Year One, DC-Vertigo's
Sandman Mystery Theater,
and even DC's Batman: Full Moon Rising two-volume
containing retellings of two of the Batman's first adventures from
1939-1940 Detective Comics.
And I really liked it, but I'm strongly leaning toward dropping this
title as a monthly and waiting for the collection. I'll have more to
say about that at the end of this round up.
“The
Return of the Jungle Lord, Part 5 of 6: Through the Valley of
Shadow”
So
we're five of six parts through a considerably altered retelling of
the second Tarzan
novel. It's still entertaining, but frankly I had hoped for
something more canonical, more of an “expandaptation” à
la
Dynamite's main Warlord
of Mars
title. I'm around for a while longer, at least, but the deviation
makes it much more likely that I'll bail.
Anyway,
here the main development is that Cecil is murdered by Rokoff, but
confesses to Jane that Tarzan is the real Lord Greystoke.
“[Warlord
of Mars,] Part 3 of 5: The
Carrion Caves”
Cover
A (50%) by Joe Jusko
I'm
really glad these continue to be closer to Burroughs' original,
although maybe it's must my impression looking at the issue number
we're up to, but it sure seems
to me like the adaptation of the third John
Carter
novel is going quicker and being told more sketchily than especially
the first back at the beginning of the series. Even so, I'm still
enjoying it immensely. And the use of the “northern magnetic pole”
of Mars as literally that, and as a weapon jerking attacking fliers
out of the air, never fails to tickle me.
Cover
B (50%) by Fabiano Neves
Concluding
the “Assassins/Metal Men of Mars” story arc.
Meh.
Moving
on....
Cover
A (50%) by Paul Renaud
...Zzzzzzz....
The
main interesting development is a sense of continuity from the first
story arc, “Colossus of Mars,” through the just past couple of
issues and this one picking up another thread from the fallout of the
defeat of Yorn. Not enough to keep this interesting enough,
however, and I really figure Dejah
Thoris
is about to be on my discard pile.
It's
a pity, because I really want
to like it, and really did
like the first dozen or so issues. And some readers do
still like it, as does blogger JCOMReader
whom I enjoy reading and depend on for my “referral” reviews
since my new “one-stop shopping” site Comic
Book RoundUp
doesn't have pages for these ERB titles from Dynamite, at least any
recent issues. Can it be a good sign that CBRU
doesn't seem to pick up any
reviews for these? Are they that
low selling that no comics review sites that feed into CBRU
bother with them?
Main
cover by Jay Anacleto
Immediately
after the Warlord
of Mars
Annual #1, Dejah Thoris is abducted by some Green Men and sent to a
chop shop … to be literally chopped
up
and auctioned off piece by piece, to satisfy the still-present taste
for Red Martian flesh among the Greens despite the newly forged
alliance between Helium and the Tharks.
And
at one point after Dejah Thoris has been taken, unsuspecting John
Carter (mysteriously sandy-brown haired) waits in a tavern: “Hmph.
/ Where could she be?”
Someone
thought this was a good idea to publish? – good
enough to EXPAND?!
Even
JCOMReader
has mixed feelings about it.
* * *
It
really looks like Dynamite is about to be getting less of my money
each month. Of the ERB titles, only Warlord of Mars is really
still delivering for me. Dejah Thoris itself has been frankly
wretched in my estimation for the last several story arcs. I don't
begrudge those who are enjoying it – why would I? – but they are
just not doing it for me. As Lord of the Jungle varies
further and further from the original stories by ERB, I'm losing more
and more interest.
In the
case of The Shadow: Year One, I've pretty much decided I'd
rather have this in a collected format, and while having the issues
library-bound is an option, eight issues is rather slim for that.
Masks
is, of course, a special case, and as I've said before I fully expect
to double-dip on it. I'm enjoying it month-by-month, and
I am pretty much set on buying the collection – hopefully
hardcover.
The
only other thing I have coming from Dynamite is Mark Waid's
Green Hornet, which hasn't even
appeared – at least for me, perhaps because of the monthly
mail-order time-lag. I like Mark Waid as a writer, I like the
original Britt Reid Green Hornet,
but I don't like everything
Mark Waid does, and his increasing fascination with deconstructing
the super-heroic character, which recent pre-publication information
seems to indicate this new Green Hornet
title to be, is not really up my alley. So, even though I've got at
least the first issue pre-ordered, I'm most likely going to leave it
at that. Unless it turns out to be amazingly good, and even then,
waiting for the collection is always an option.
And
I'm really feeling the need to cut back at least some on my monthly
order. It's unfortunate that a small company like Dynamite is going
to bear the brunt of my cuts, but that's just the way it looks to be
shaping up.
Cheers,
and Thanks for reading.
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