It’s time for a good scare

“The Haunting of Hill House”
Netflix

Tomorrow is Halloween, and since I haven’t read any good scary comics to talk about recently, I thought I’d take a small departure and talk up a great Netflix original series my wife and I recently enjoyed.

We both like scary movies and television shows, especially at Halloween time. We recently had a weekend to ourselves while our 7-year-old daughter stayed with her grandparents. We’d watched all of “Black Mirror,” a creepy techno-based anthology series, and the first season of “Creeped Out,” another creepy anthology, but this time aimed at and focusing on child protagonists.

We’d also just watched “Castle Rock” on Hulu and loved it right up until the disappointing cop-out ending. And we’d also just watched “Light as a Feather,” another new series this October on Hulu. Like “Castle Rock,” we enjoyed “Light as a Feather” until it came to a disappointing ending.

Let me clarify that I understand the impulse of so many shows to leave things open ended at the close of a season. Writers, actors, producers all hope their show will be a hit and run a long time. But leaving the season finale open-ended leaves viewers, even fans of the show, feeling like they were cheated. There’s no payoff at the end of watching the show. The conclusions of both “Castle Rock” and “Light as a Feather” had other issues, too, but the endings of both lacked a sensible resolution that didn’t feel like a cheat at the end, at least in my opinion.

“The Haunting of Hill House” does not share that problem, and I heartily recommend the Netflix series to anyone who is looking for something spooky and satisfying. If you haven’t watched this series but are a scare fan, you need to watch it soon.

The series centers on the Crain family — Hugh and Olivia and their five children, Steve, Shirley, Theodora and twins Luke and Nellie. The family purchases Hill House and stays there over a summer so the parents can renovate and flip the property, but the house has a history of hauntings. Part of the story takes place several years later as the now adult Crain children cope with what happened to their family over that summer and how those experiences continue to haunt them and shape their lives.

Hill House or some of the Crain family character names may sound familiar. That’s because the 1959 book, “The Haunting of Hill House” by Shirley Jackson, has spawned two other film adaptations. The first was a 1963 British film starring Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson and Russ Tamblyn; the second was in 1999 and starred Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Owen Wilson and Lili Taylor. I haven’t seen either film, but several of the character names recur, although the various players are not family members in the film versions. In fact, according to Wikipedia entries on each film, the family name Crain belongs to Hill House’s builders in both films. Making all of these various people family members adds several new dimensions to the hauntings and the impact, in my opinion.

What sets this show apart from some of the others that disappointed us is the solid ending to the series. Is there room for a season two if all involved are given the chance to do another 10 episodes? Absolutely. More stories could be told in this continuity and based around this house. But these 10 first-season episodes tell a complete story, giving viewers a satisfying and at times frightening slice of entertainment.

A rough time for Bond, but it’s great for the readers

Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007: VARGR tpb
Dynamite Entertainment
Creators: Warren Ellis, Jason Masters, Guy Major and Simon Bowland
Release date: 2018

I have a complicated relationship with 007. Most people seem to fall squarely into the “love it” or “couldn’t care less” camps when it comes to Ian Fleming’s creation. I’m more in the gray in-between area.

I never saw a Bond film in the theater until Pierce Brosnan was allowed to take on the role; I was a fan of “Remington Steele” growing up and was happy to see him finally be allowed to play the famous British MI6 agent. Brosnan’s four films were also the only Bond films I have ever owned on VHS, although I did not replace them when I updated my collection to DVDs.

While Brosnan rates a very high second-place, my personal favorite Bond is and likely always will be Sean Connery, the first and best. I have seen all of his turns as 007, some many times, but never in a theater and never did I feel the need to own them. But I’ve watched them all on television.

Timothy Dalton and George Lazenby never had much impact in the role for me, and Roger Moore’s Bond always seemed more tongue-in-cheek. Nothing wrong with that really. Bond has always had his humorous side, to varying degrees. But Moore seemed to take it to an extreme and to be playing the role more as a farce than anything else.

That just leaves Daniel Craig. Reportedly, his take on Bond is quite good, but again, I haven’t caught any of his Bond films in the theater. I want to see them, but I prefer to see them in order. And I still can’t find his version of “Casino Royale,” the first in which Craig played James Bond, without having to pay a high fee for the privilege. So I have yet to see any of the Daniel Craig Bond films, but I have seen and enjoyed Craig in other roles.


During my time as a comics collector, several companies have tried to translate James Bond in comics form. I’ve yet to feel strongly enough about any of them to purchase them, though, with the exception of a three-issue prestige format Bond tale that Mike Grell wrote and drew titled “Permission to Die.” I own that series, but bought it secondhand and still have yet to read it.

All of that serves as my introductory thoughts on the character when I heard that Dynamite was going to publish a James Bond ongoing written by Warren Ellis. Ellis can be hit-and-miss with me, but I happened to see a few preview pages online of the first story arc, “VARGR.” Both the name and the preview pages intrigued me, as they were meant to do. Those preview pages, by the way, are some of the 10-page opener for the first issue and serve as the Bond film-style opener that has nothing to do with the story proper. Bond pursues the man who killed 008 and puts that case to rest, then roll the opening credits.

What follows is a solid tale that has a number of twists and turns; appearances by a number of familiar Bond characters like Moneypenny, M and Q; the inclusion of bionic body parts (another intriguing aspect of the story); and several instances of sharp, quick-witted dialogue that seem perfectly in character for this famous British espionage agent. I could see this story being made into a film quite handily.

In fact, I liked this first 007 story arc enough that I have ordered the second trade, “Eidolon,” and another Dynamite James Bond trade from a different creative team, this one based largely on the name — “Hammerhead” — and the obvious aquatic theme.

Good job, all! I hope the future volumes continue the trend of quality.

Hope is a requirement

Captain America: Home of the Brave tpb (Collects issue Nos. 695-700)
Marvel Comics
Creators: Mark Waid, Chris Samnee, Matthew Wilson and Joe Caramagna
Release date: 2018

I read two of the single issues collected in this volume, and liked them enough, I said I would buy this trade. Don’t believe me? I wrote about it here.

I bought the trade and just recently, I had time to sit down and read it. It was full of surprises despite my having already read nearly one-third of the contents previously. In fact, it was so surprising, I might not have purchased this trade if I had known more about the contents beforehand. And that would have been sad, because had I not bought the trade, I would have missed out on a wonderful story.

But let’s back up. I took a break from Cap comics after Ed Brubaker’s phenomenal, multi-year run on the title. Brubaker’s run saw Bucky brought back from the dead, Cap killed and eventually resurrected and explored a lot of what the character of Captain America is and represents. I liked that run and its focus first on Cap as an espionage-style character, then later as more of a traditional superhero.

After Brubaker’s run, a number of other creators took the reins of the book and guided it in different directions. I felt I had read the definitive Cap — at least for my tastes — in Brubaker’s run, so I bailed on the title. I can’t speak to the strengths or weaknesses of those subsequent stories because I didn’t read them. But the most recent one prior to the issues collected here was certainly a bit controversial. In that lengthy story arc, an evil version of Cap was revealed as a sleeper agent for Hydra and helped bring the world “to the brink of destruction,” according to a brief introduction in this book, before being defeated by the original hero.

This book opens with the real Steve (Captain America) Rogers traveling the country, getting in touch with common folks and trying to rebuild his reputation. The issues I’d read previously included a done-in-one story along those lines from issue No. 696 and a confrontation with Kraven the Hunter in issue No. 697, which seemed to be kicking off a multi-issue arc when it was revealed that Kraven’s attack was orchestrated by another group. What I didn’t know when I read those two issues was that the group behind Kraven’s assault on Cap had faced the star-spangled hero twice before in the pages of issue No. 695, the first in this collection.

The group is a white supremacist, paramilitary organization called Rampart that tries to stage a coup of the United States, beginning in the small town of Burlington, Nebraska. Captain America thwarts that small-town takeover attempt shortly after the Avengers find and revive Cap from the ice-induced suspended animation that had held him captive since World War II. Cap begins his tour of America by returning to that small town, now renamed Captain America, Nebraska. It is the 10th anniversary of Cap’s defeat of Rampart, but that newly rebuilt terrorist group has also returned, seeking revenge.

Cap once again dispatches the Rampart goons with some help from the residents of the small town, and he leaves feeling somewhat re-invigorated. That is where we find him in issue No. 696, where he happens purely by chance upon a plot by the new Swordsman, the done-in-one tale I’d read previously. What Cap doesn’t consider is that none of the Rampart ringleaders are defeated or rounded up in the battle from the previous issue. Instead, they put in motion the plan with Kraven that is meant to end with them once again putting Captain America on ice, which is exactly what happens in issue No. 697.

When issue No. 698 begins, Cap is once again revived from suspended animation to find an America much changed and at the mercy of Rampart and its mysterious leader. Nuclear war has ravaged the population, leaving the few survivors weak or mutated. With the exception of issue No. 696, this entire trade is one big tale about Captain America facing off against this one group three times and ending up in a rather dystopian future that is quite bleak, to say the least.

I’m not a fan of dystopian future stories, as I believe I have discussed before, although there are always exceptions. I’m glad I didn’t know this tale would so heavily involve such a future before I bought it or I likely would have passed it up. Instead, though, I happened to read the two chapters that did not deal with the bleak future and found them quite enjoyable. I've read and enjoyed Mark Waid’s writing in other books; and I appreciate Chris Samnee’s clean, flowing art style; it isn’t too cartoony but still harkens back to a simpler time, with clean, simple lines. It also didn’t hurt that I knew from previous cover art that the Thing and the Hulk would also play a role in this story, and I like both of those characters.

So I did buy this trade, I did read it, and I was not disappointed. This team has crafted a stirring tale filled with heroism big and small, with tragedies befalling beloved characters and innocent masses, with examples of mindless depravity and noble sacrifice. And all of it hinges on a simple little concept, one critical to these kinds of four-color heroes, but especially to Captain America — hope. As Cap himself says in this tale near the finale, “Hope is not a plan. But you sure as hell can’t win without it.”

Well said, Cap, and well done, Messrs. Waid, Samnee, Wilson and Caramagna!

You have to laugh at heroes and villains “punching in” and out

Evil Inc. Annual Report Vol. 1
Lulu Press
Creator: Brad Guigar
Release date: 2006

This book has been on my “to read” stack for quite some time — so long, in fact, that I no longer recall exactly how I first came across it. But I somehow did come across it, thought it was a good idea to buy it, and now, several years later, I’m finally getting around to reading it and realizing that it was indeed a good purchase.

This first volume is a collection of comic strips from an online comic by the name "Evil Inc." by cartoonist Brad Guigar. What makes this stand apart from some other print collections of web comics is that Guigar tried to get a little more creative about the packaging. Rather than simply reprinting each individual daily strip, Guigar opted to snip and repackage to make the collected edition more of a smooth narrative. That means this volume might not appeal to a completist, and some of the initial strips in this first volume are still a little clunky. But for the most part, it works very well and makes this an enjoyable read.

The "Evil Inc." strip is a spinoff of another online comic strip Guigar did called "Greystone Inn." I’ve seen an odd comic or two from the "Greystone Inn" strip but never followed it with any regularity. "Evil Inc." follows the efforts of a former silver age villain named Evil Atom (standing in the panel above with a number of other more “familiar” evil faces) as he takes his criminal exploits legit by founding a corporation run by super villains for super villains.

Evil Atom is joined by a number of other regular cast members like his assistant/receptionist, Lightning Lady; Dr. Haynus, a disembodied brain in a jar surgically attached to a dog; Dr. Muskiday, with the head of a fly on the body of a janitor; Miss Match, a fire-based villainess; and a number of guest appearances that must really frustrate copyright attorneys.

The first volume begins very much as a typical gag-a-day type strip poking fun at a number of comic-book tropes perpetrated by both heroes and villains. I think any fan of the superhero comic genre will enjoy Guigar’s sense of humor. And the author does a great job of excising panels and adding some running commentary in places that helps lend a continuing feel to these strips.

What further helps is the quick introduction of some continuing story threads. Early on, a plot is revealed wherein someone is trying to buy up controlling interest in Evil Atom’s business, Evil Inc. There are also appearances by the occasional hero, most often Captain Heroic, the top hero in the fictional Fairmount City. Another subplot involves the fact that Captain Heroic, a hero, and Miss Match, a villain, are secretly married and have a 5-year-old son, Oscar.

The secret life of Captain Heroic, Miss Match and Oscar is one of my favorite parts of this book. I’m also happy to report that that relationship continues to be developed and play a key role in the strip in later collected volumes. I know because I’ve also just read "Evil Inc. Annual Report Vols. 2-4," and I’m currently working on Vol. 5. All in all, I’m really glad I found this strip and have enjoyed following its evolution in collected form. Here are a few of the full strips from the second collection. I think this scene is funny as I have my own little monster who continuously calls out at bedtime, but it doesn’t hurt that Aquaman makes an appearance, too.

 

The woman who just wouldn’t quit Part 3

Jessica Jones Season 2
Netflix
2018

I know it’s been a few months since the second season of Netflix’s Marvel series “Jessica Jones” dropped, but my wife and I just finished watching it. We have a 7-year-old daughter, and sadly, most television and streaming programs these days are not created with a family audience in mind. I’m not personally opposed to anything in this series, mind you. I honestly feel that “Jessica Jones” is my favorite and consistently the best of the Marvel Netflix street-level heroes series of shows. “Daredevil” and its offshoot, “The Punisher,” were also excellent programs. While I had trouble getting into “Iron Fist” and “Luke Cage,” “The Defenders,” which brought all four of the main characters together, was also good. “Jessica Jones” is my favorite, though. It’s just that some of the scenes and topics in the show are not suitable for my elementary-age child to watch while we’re eating dinner.

I’ve previously read and enjoyed much of Jessica’s brief history in the print comics, and you can read my thoughts about her two main series here and here. Hence this being “Part 3” when the previous two posts had nothing to do with this character. (Also as a side note: I re-read the issues in question before writing those posts back in 2013. I liked them so much upon re-reading them, that I sought out the debut hardcover of Alias, so I have now read those first nine issues of Jessica’s debut.)

The first season of Netflix’s version of Jessica Jones started in a familiar place for readers of the comics. Much of her past was explored by making Kilgrave — alias the Purple Man and amazingly, creepily portrayed by David Tennant in the show — the main villain of the season. Jessica herself is portrayed by Krysten Ritter as a no-nonsense, boozing, jaded private detective who cares more than she initially lets on. The show also includes Malcolm, played by Eka Darville, a young wannabe assistant to Jessica. In the show, Malcolm is also a former victim of Kilgrave’s.

Several other characters make it into Netflix's "Jessica Jones" from a variety of Marvel Comics sources. Claire Temple, alias the Night Nurse and portrayed by Rosario Dawson, is most closely associated with Luke Cage in the comics, but she was one of the earliest unifying members of all of the Netflix shows’ casts. Jeryn Hogarth is a character most closely associated with Iron Fist in the comics. A male attorney in print, Jeryn “Jeri” Hogarth is a female attorney in the Netflix Marvel universe and is played by Carrie-Anne Moss. Actor Mike Colter first brings Luke Cage to life in the first season of “Jessica Jones,” too.

But the most important transplant for the Netflix version of Jessica Jones is Patricia “Patsy” Walker, played in the show by Rachael Taylor. In the comics, Patsy Walker was the co-star of a teen romance/comedy title in the 1940s and 1950s. She was re-invented as a superhero named Hellcat in the mid-1970s. The Netflix show works Patricia “Trish” Walker in as Jessica’s sister after Jessica survives the crash that kills her biological family and is adopted by the Walker family. Trish was a child television star best known for a sitcom called “It’s Patsy” in the Netflix continuity, but she begins her transformation into the eventual Hellcat during the second season of “Jessica Jones.”

All of these nods to past Marvel continuity are a great bonus for a longtime fan such as myself. But the producers behind “Jessica Jones” do a fantastic job of keeping those things as Easter eggs for the longtime fans while not confusing fans new to the Netflix series. They tell you everything you need to know about each person to follow along. I know this because my wife watched both seasons of the show with me, and she not only doesn’t know all the comic book ties, but doesn’t really care. She doesn’t want to have to do homework (or listen to me explain everything ad nauseam) to follow a television show. She was not only fine simply watching what was presented, but she also enjoyed “Jessica Jones” more than the other Netflix Marvel programs.

So the show is accessible to non-comics fans. It also holds surprises for longtime comics fans. The Netflix series does not feel it has to follow the character’s history from the books to the letter. Starting off with Kilgrave was a smart decision because it is a compelling story and gets to the heart of the character of Jessica Jones. Attaching all of the other ancillary characters from other books was the first departure and has offered up a number of story directions different from the comics history of the character, for instance. I don’t believe any kind of foster family was ever introduced for Jessica’s backstory in the comics, for instance. Not only adding a foster family, but adding one with its own heroic history, opened up a number of possibilities. The second season of “Jessica Jones” further opens up the title character’s history by suggesting the possibility that Jessica is no longer the sole survivor of the car crash she believes claimed the lives of her biological family.

Netflix’s “Jessica Jones” is smartly written, wonderfully acted and well worth checking out if you enjoy a good drama. The other shows will allow you to learn more about the shared universe, if you enjoy this show, but it is not necessary to watch all the shows to understand any one. Give Jessica a try; she’s just conquered another medium, so she remains the woman who just won't quit!