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From: boyajian@akov68.DEC (JERRY BOYAJIAN)
Newsgroups: net.comics
Subject: Jayembee Reviews
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Date: Tue, 3-Sep-85 05:33:27 EDT
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Posted: Tue Sep  3 05:33:27 1985
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Reviewed this time around:

BATMAN #390			THE MARVEL SAGA #1	WONDER WOMAN #328
DOC STEARN...MR. MONSTER #2	SHADOW OF THE BATMAN #1
GREYLORE #1			THE SPIRIT #11		THE UNCANNY X-MEN #200
THE INCREDIBLE HULK #314	SUPERMAN #414		X-MEN/ALPHA FLIGHT #1

Ratings for the comics reviewed are as according to the Mad Armenian Scale, a
shameless rip-off of the Moriarty Scale, stolen out from under the very nose of
the Napoleon of Crime. Nyah-ah-ah!!

"For a critic, it's better to have wrong standards than none at all."

						-- Elmer Allyn Craft

********************************************************************************
|=>A+< A veritable Classic. One of the best of All Time. Example: THE SPIRIT   |
|==>A< One of the best of the year. Ex: TEEN TITANS #38: "Who Is Donna Troy?"  |
|==>B< A very good issue, one of the best of the month. Example: CEREBUS       |
|==>C< A well done, entertaining issue.  Satisfying.  Example: JON SABLE       |
|==>D< Rather boring, or a few good spots mixed with more bad ones. Ex: ROM    |
|==>F< Boring AND stupid or childish.  Example: MARVEL SUPERHEROES SECRET WARS |
|==>Z< Actually offensive.  Example: DAZZLER --- THE MOVIE GRAPHIC NOVEL #12   |
********************************************************************************

BATMAN #390		[DC, $.75]		C-

	Doug Moench's work on this book is rather peculiar. During the long
(nigh unto interminable) Nocturna/Nightslayer storyline, is was ghastly and
self-indulgent. Once that storyline was over, Moench's work picked up consid-
erably. Now, with Nocturna and Nightslayer back in action, things are starting
to get sluggish again. Moench seems to be so taken with his creations, that I
have been getting worried.
	Now, the cover to this issue seems to indicate Nocturna's death. All
well and good, says I, until I started reaching the end of the issue. Unfor-
tunately, it's not Nocturna, and fortunately, she may not be dead. One can
only hope that *this* character is not being cleaned out of DC's crowded
stables.
	Whom am I referring to? Read the issue and find out. And keep your
fingers crossed for the next issue of DETECTIVE COMICS.


DOC STEARN...MR. MONSTER #2	[Eclipse, $1.75]	D+

	I found Mike Gilbert and Bill Loebs' MR. MONSTER #1 to be a refresh-
ing near-parody of the jut-jawed superhero, with not a little touch of the
two-fisted (and two-gunned) pulp magazines characters such as The Shadow and
Doc Savage. Well, the first issue did well enough to have Gilbert and Loebs
(I don't feel like type Messner-Loebs all of the time) continue the feature
as a regular comic.
	Well, what's refreshing once or twice can get a bit tired after a
while, and I'm a bit dubious about the staying power of Mr. Monster. Especially
if future issues are as confused and rambling as this. The story is rather
bizarre, which doesn't faze me much, but it badly needs some tightening up.
If Gilbert can't do some better editing of himself, someone else better do it
for him.


GREYLORE #1		[Sirius, mini-series, $1.50]		D+

	A new comic, from a new publisher, GREYLORE is the product of David
Campiti, Kevin Juaire, Peter Palmer, and Bo Hampton. It's got an interesting
enough premise: there's this wizard whose "charge" is this double planet
system of Stormgren and Sirius. However, something seems to be upsetting the
natural course of events on one planet, and that's having an effect on the
other. The wizard in question ends up disappearing as a result of this some-
thing, and his apprentice (with a gabby familiar) looks into matters. It
seems the problem is this character named Baru Greylore, an adventurer and
rogue. his less-than-honest activities are causing this upset, and the new
wizard must try to get Greylore to become a hero in order to re-balance
things.
	There's a lot of nice ideas in this comic, which is enough to keep
me reading it. Unfortunately, the ideas aren't bolstered by very good writing.
Not bad, but about on the level of the writing one could find in DC's NEW
TALENT SHOWCASE (in fact, I think Juaire and Palmer had stories published in
that comic). And Bo Hampton's art just isn't polished enough for my tastes.
To say nothing of the color repro, which is rather bizarre (it reminds me of
the late, unlamented BLODDY BONES AND BLACKEYED PEAS).
	I'd be happier if this book was less than it was, so that I could
just ignore it without qualms. Unfortunately, it's just good enough to not
want to ignore, while being not good enough to really rave about.


THE INCREDIBLE HULK #314	[Marvel, $.75]		C-

	I'm not sure what I can say about this issue. John Byrne is now the
writer/artist, which says a lot right there. For the most part, it simply
establishes the Hulk's return to Earth, as well as some of the supporting
players. There's also a re-cap of HJulk's origin. I'm kind of glad that
Byrne switched over to hear from ALPHA FLIGHT, as he was running out of steam
on the latter. I'll be interested to see if he can pull the same sort of
remedy on HULK that he has on the FF.


THE MARVEL SAGA #1	[Marvel, $1.00]		D

	This is what CRISIS was originally intended to be, a sequential history
of a comic book universe. Using a combination of reprints and new art, comic
historian Peter Sanderson is giving us a textbook of the major historical events
in the Marvel Universe. The first five pages give us a quick overview of the
birth of the MU, the first coming of the Celestials, the rise and fall of the
Thurian and Hyborian ages, through WWII, up until the FF's origin. The bulk of
the issue then focuses upon the events of FF #1-2, with a good look at the
origins of Vindicator/Guardian and Ant-Man.
	This is an interesting project, and it's nice to have all of the events
put into this sort of perspective. But, it's unfortunately both very dry, and
very repetitive. This may be great for someone like a young kid, who isn't very
familiar with Marvel history, but those of us who've been reading Marvel comics
for any length of time will be rather bored reading the same material we've
already seen again and again.
	A nice reference book, which might be just what Sanderson might want
it to be, but not terribly interesting reading.


SHADOW OF THE BATMAN #1	    [DC, deluxe reprint mini-series, $1.75]	C+

	This series is supposed to reprint the classic Steve Englehart/Marshall
Rogers issues of DETECTIVE COMICS, which many people (I among them) feel is the
definitive Batman. Unfortunately, Englehart's first two issues were done, not
by Rogers and Terry Austin, but by Walt Simonson and Al Milgrom. I don't know
whether Simonson was having an off period or Milgrom's inks didn't suit his
pencils, but the art was less than satisfying both then and now. But these two
issues are necessary to the overall story (among other things, they introduce
Silver St. Cloud and Boss Thorne), and so they are rightfully reprinted in this
first issue. If you're disappointed by this issue, fear not, as the best (and
I mean the *best*) is yet to come.
	Oh, and for those of you who might be disappointed by no Rogers, in the
back is a story from HOUSE OF MYSTERY that was one of Rogers' early art jobs.


THE SPIRIT #11		[Kitchen Sink, $2.95]		B-

	Well, it's all your fault! All of you who don't buy THE SPIRIT. No,
this isn't the last issue, so it's not going the way of ZOT!, but it's the
last color issue, which is both a good and a bad thing. The first 8 issues were
simply the best comics being published today, in terms of the overall package
of story, art, color, and production. But not enough folks were buying it, and
Kitchen had to give up the re-coloring of the original art, and laser-scan the
newspaper sections, which resulted in rather poor reproduction of not only the
color, but the artwork itself.
	But Kitchen was not pleased with this repro, and neither were fans, so
now THE SPIRIT is going back to black and white, as it was in its magazine
format. Not that color is essential to the enjoyment of the stories, and it's
certainly better to have crisp, clear b&w than the awful laser-scanned color,
but it won't be the truly overwhelming package it once was. I mourn.


SUPERMAN #414		[DC, $.75]		D+

	This is supposed to be a carry-over from the Superboy of Earth-Prime
story in DC COMICS PRESENTS #87. On the contrary, Superman and Superboy hardly
get back to Earth-1 when Superboy is yanked away to God knows where, and we
are treated to a story pitting Superman against the Superman Revenge Squad.
and a rather pedestrian story it is.
	But what's worse is that this is yet another comic which shows the
rather lackadiasical editorial coordination between CRISIS and the regular
line of comics. Here, we see Jimmy Olsen wondering about the reported death
of Supergirl, whereas at the end of CRISIS #7, there is a big memorial service
for Kara. And since this issue follows DCCP #87, which follows CRISIS #7,
there shouldn't be this question hanging around.
	However, there is a tocuhing scene at the end of this comic, in which
Superman brings Kara's body to New Krypton for burial, as well as giving the
sad news to her parents. This almost makes up for the problems in the rest of
the issue.


WONDER WOMAN #328	[DC, $.75]	D+

	Well this certainly is a surprise. We've known almost since the start
of CRISIS that FLASH was going to end at #350, but no one told us that WW was
going to fold with the issue after this! No, Wonder Woman isn't going to bite
the big one like Flash, but her comic is, at least for now. It's just as well,
since in the alst couple of issues, Mindy Newell hasn't shown any evidence of
pulling WW out of the pit it's been in for as long as FLASH has been.
	But, for you who are following all of the CRISIS cross-overs, we have
a biggie here, as Wonder Woman and her fellow amazons fight alongside the
Gods of Olympus against the Anti-Monitor's shadow demons. The situation is
interesting enough for me to read the next (and last) issue to find out how
things will wrap up in the face of the Crisis, but this is a comic I won't
particularly mourn.


THE UNCANNY X-MEN #200		[Marvel, $1.25]		C-

	Well, here's the biggie. Magneto's trial, the X-men's and Newties'
return from Asgard (after the events in the NEW MUTANTS and X-MEN Annuals),
the return of the von Strucker twins, Maddy goes into labor, and someone's
death. Well, maybe not. We shall have to see if Marvel's copped out this
time or not.


X-MEN/ALPHA FLIGHT #1	[Marvel, mini-series, $1.50]	B-

	Despite the rather hackneyed team-up gambit of setting the two heroes
(or in this case, teams) to fighting each other over some misunderstanding,
then having them team up to fight a common foe, this comic turned out pretty
good. First of all, it's nice to see Paul Smith back doing the artwork for
the X-Men (to say nothing of what he does for Alpha Flight). Second of all,
the storyline is interesting --- Loki finds himself in the position of having
to bring peace to Earth, but knowing Loki, we know that he's up to something
sinister. But anyways, Loki's plan involves the two super-teams, as Scott and
Maddy find themselves in the middle of Loki's plan, and Snowbird seems to be
having troubles related to it. I'm genuinely intrigued to find out what
happens next.
	But added to this interesting story is a series of nice little scenes
between Heather and Logan and Rogue (I *still* can't believe she hasn't told
nanyone her real name yet; if she doesn't have one, *why*?) and Northstar.
And then there are the scenes involving Scott and Rachel's meeting and the
revelation of Maddy's pregnancy, not to mention Puck's transformation, which
by the way implies that there's something more to Judd than we all know.
There's also a hint of something more between Judd and Heather than either
we or they knew.
	All in all, much more satisfying than either of the teams' own books
have been lately.


--- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Acton-Nagog, MA)

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