Smoke #1 (de Campi, Kordey)

I'm reading Smoke #1, a comic/premiere format from IDW Publishing. I finally got around to reading this indie title, written by Alex de Campi and illustrated by Igor Kordey).

I like the whole Dark Knight Returns-ish near future (except in London), and the characters ("ex-soldier-turned-government-assassin" (but-really-wants-out-of-the-whole-business); cheeky nasty ex-girlfriend; doddering general serving as assassin fodder, etc.) each seem to have a rich backstory at which is only subtly hinted.

I think I need to give Igor Kordey's art some more time, but though I like his scenery and architecture, I'm not crazy about his people -- especially their faces (Lucy the Ex looks like Chucky in her panel reveal).

I probably need to pick up the other two issues in the run, or maybe just the trade paperback, just to give the whole thing a fair shake.

X-Men #5 (reprint)

I'm reading X-Men #5, the 1964 Stan Lee/Jack Kirby classic that came as a reprint with the Angel action figure I just picked up.

"The Angel is Trapped!" is a great little gem. Professor X has lost his mental powers, and is now just a "poor homo sapien". Hank McCoy (Beast) is erudite (rather than the Ben Grimm clone). Bobby Drake (Ice Man) is still a wise acre.

But what really struck me about this issue is how hopeful Lee is about youth.

He was in his early forties when he wrote this, and alongside Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, Rick Jones in The Incredible Hulk, etc. -- Lee really believed (believes) in young people.

Typical of Lee's prose and optimism is this line, when Scott Summers (Cyclops) escapes the Danger Room in which he's been trapped, while the team is trying to convince Jean Gray's (Marvel Girl's) visiting parents that Xavier's Institute is just a "normal" school:

"Typical of the caliber of the X-Men is the fact that even in this moment of trial, the youth known as cyclops thinks first of others!"

Excelsior!

Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects

I just finished Marvel's last issue of Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects, which is a tie-in to Electronic Arts recently released video game.

Mheh -- Kind of like the game.

And, like the game, there are some good things. Jae Lee's covers are pretty nice. Renato Arlem's art is OK -- kind of stylish, kind of dark, kind of appropriate.

But I'm not a fan of Greg Pak's writing on this series (also not a big fan of it on Marvel 1602: New World (though I'm not sure anyone looks good picking up after a Neil Gaiman run). He gets some characters OK (like Spider-Man and the Thing), but I feel like he totally doesn't get characters like Elektra or Storm.

And the story ended on a limp/weak note, that didn't tie up the story nicely, or dovetail into the game. Double loss.

1602 (Gaiman)

I just finished 1602 from Marvel, and master writer Neil Gaiman.

Basically, Gaiman has recreated the Marvel universe in the year 1602, and mixed it with historically accurate events for a great, great story.

What does the mix get you? Mutants are "witchbreed". What really happened to Virginia Dare. And so on.

Write Now! Magazine

Write Now! Magazine, by Danny Fingeroth.