Today we're going to talk about an odd-sized trade called High Moon by David Gallaher, Steve Ellis and Scott O. Brown published by Zuda Comics. Now, Zuda Comics is DC's online branch, and I've never been too fond of online comics. I've followed a few over the years, but never for long periods of time because either they go away or I do. When I do, it usually isn't because the comics are bad — quite the contrary — I just don't have the time at work to devote to them sometimes, and let's face it, at work is when I squeeze in most of my online time.
Anyway, some of the Zuda concepts sounded interesting to me, and since DC/Zuda were kind enough to release their online product in these neat little 6 x 8.5 trades, I decided to give some of them a try. Bayou is actually the first Zuda trade I purchased, but it got tossed on the "when I get to it" pile and I simply haven't gotten around to trying it yet. High Moon is my second Zuda purchase and the plot combines werewolves and cowboys! It even throws in some vampires as bad guys. Vamps as evil and werewolves as good! C'mon, how could I pass that up?!? I'm the choir these guys are preaching to!
A former Pinkerton detective named Macgregor rides into the small town of Blest, Texas, tracking a fugitive. He finds the town with its sheriff missing and a small girl kidnapped. Macgregor suspects his quarry, Eddie Conroy, might have something to do with the kidnapping, but soon finds evidence that the real culprit(s) aren't quite human. Gunfights and supernatural goings-on combine for all three chapters of this first collection as the reader meets others in the Macgregor clan.
The trade reads smoother than some episodic web comics do when collected as recaps for a daily audience are kept to a minimum in this volume. There were a few spots where Ellis's art was a little hard to follow from one panel to the next, but he does a good job of drawing his figures as distinct individuals. And the few unclear passages become clear as you read on, so the reader isn't left behind.
Short post this time for a short book, but High Moon is well worth a read, if you have the inkling. I know I'm watching for a follow-up collection, myself.
Showing posts with label werewolves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label werewolves. Show all posts
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
To Know Her Is To Fear Her
Believe it or not, that fear tagline above was printed at the top of each issue of Spider-Woman, not some Marvel monster book from the 1970s. But reading the character's beginnings in Essential Spider-Woman Vol. 1, I learned that the character owes just as much to those great old Marvel monster books as she does to the spandex set.
Much has been made of the convoluted origin and back story of Jessica Drew, alias Spider-Woman. In recent years, writers such as Brian Michael Bendis have tried to streamline Jessica's back story and bring the character back to prominence in the Marvel Universe. So I knew, or thought I did, a little of how she was first introduced as a villain, an agent of the international terrorist organization Hydra, who later became a hero and was ret-conned as being always a hero, working for Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. as a double-agent planted in Hydra. That's an oversimplification, but essentially my understanding before reading this great Essential volume. Now, I see that it was waaay more convoluted than that.
Jessica does start life as a pawn of Hydra in Marvel Spotlight No. 32 (February 1977) dispatched by that organization to slay Nick Fury. In a tale written by Archie Goodwin and illustrated by Sal Buscema and Jim Mooney, Spider-Woman is revealed to be a secret weapon held prisoner by Hydra and brainwashed into being loyal to the organization. She fails her mission to slay Fury, being overcome by doubts about what she is ordered to do, and is betrayed by her fellow Hydra agents. Spider-Woman is left believing that she was one of the New Men created by a villain known as the High Evolutionary, who mutated various animals to make them more human-like. Spider-Woman believes she only appears human, but began life as a real spider. Also, her costume is slightly different in these early appearances, completely covering her head — except for the area around her mouth and chin — and sporting a black back.
Just a few months later, in July 1977, Marv Wolfman and Ron Wilson take up Spider-Woman's tale in the pages of Marvel Two-In-One Nos. 29-33. This book matched Ben Grimm, the Thing from the Fantastic Four, with other Marvel heroes. Initially, Thing and Shag-Chi, Master of Kung Fu, are battling Hydra, and Spider-Woman comes on the scene. At first, she is again a pawn of Hydra, but her encounters with the Thing again make Spider-Woman question her loyalty to Hydra, and eventually she breaks from the group and sides with the Thing and a modern-day incarnation of Modred the Mystic. With the Hydra cell finally defeated, along with some other criminals along the way, Modred agrees to unlock Spider-Woman's hidden memories to reveal her true origin, which he does off-panel.
Readers had to wait a few more months, until April 1978 and the debut of Spider-Woman No. 1, to find out what Modred revealed. It seems that Spider-Woman was born human and named Jessica Drew. Her father created a serum to help protect mankind from radiation by using the blood of a spider, since spiders are immune to radiation. Jessica's family, along with another scientist named Herbert Wyndham, moved to a place called Wundagore Mountain to complete their researches. The site was chosen for its rich uranium deposits, needed for the men's work, but which, over time, caused Jessica to become deathly ill. The only way to save the girl is to inject her with Dr. Drew's spider serum, but it works too slowly to save Jessica in time. Wyndham suggests also placing Jessica in his genetic accelerator to speed up the healing properties of the serum. After much time in the accelerator, Jessica is revived by the High Evolutionary (previously known as Herbert Wyndham), and her powers are put to use by him in his organization, Hydra.
Jessica has the spider-like ability to cling to walls and other surfaces. She is immune to most radiations, and becomes immune to any poison or toxin after a single exposure. She also is able to generate a bio-electric "sting" of varying intensity. Finally, her costume is made with light-weight filament glider webs which allow her to glide on air currents, simulating flight.
All of those powers sound like a typical superhero, but as I mentioned above, Spider-Woman's solo title tried to play up the horror aspects of the character at first. Jessica's natural pheromones were changed by her transformation, so that many people reacted to her presence with a strong sense of unease. Werewolf By Night, Jack Russell, made guest appearances in Spider-Woman twice in her first 25 issues. And the villains Spider-Woman tended to run into were of the creepy variety, too. She had more run-ins with Hydra, of course, but there was also a Kali-worshipping death cult, a serial killer made up like a circus clown, a flesh-devouring muck-monster and a pair of possessed "dolls" among her most troublesome opponents. She also had a confrontation with Morgan Le Fay and a recurring alliance with a Merlin-like sorcerer.
Aside from her earlier alliance with the Thing and her attack on Nick Fury, the only other superhero she crossed paths with early on was, of course, Spider-Man. But even that somewhat obvious match-up didn't occur until issue No. 20 of Spider-Woman's own title, more than two years after her debut. And she and Webhead didn't really even get along when they DID finally meet.
All-in-all, Essential Spider-Woman Vol. 1 was a great read and an interesting Marvel history lesson. Most definitely not what I expected when I bought it, but in a good way!
Much has been made of the convoluted origin and back story of Jessica Drew, alias Spider-Woman. In recent years, writers such as Brian Michael Bendis have tried to streamline Jessica's back story and bring the character back to prominence in the Marvel Universe. So I knew, or thought I did, a little of how she was first introduced as a villain, an agent of the international terrorist organization Hydra, who later became a hero and was ret-conned as being always a hero, working for Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. as a double-agent planted in Hydra. That's an oversimplification, but essentially my understanding before reading this great Essential volume. Now, I see that it was waaay more convoluted than that.
Jessica does start life as a pawn of Hydra in Marvel Spotlight No. 32 (February 1977) dispatched by that organization to slay Nick Fury. In a tale written by Archie Goodwin and illustrated by Sal Buscema and Jim Mooney, Spider-Woman is revealed to be a secret weapon held prisoner by Hydra and brainwashed into being loyal to the organization. She fails her mission to slay Fury, being overcome by doubts about what she is ordered to do, and is betrayed by her fellow Hydra agents. Spider-Woman is left believing that she was one of the New Men created by a villain known as the High Evolutionary, who mutated various animals to make them more human-like. Spider-Woman believes she only appears human, but began life as a real spider. Also, her costume is slightly different in these early appearances, completely covering her head — except for the area around her mouth and chin — and sporting a black back.
Just a few months later, in July 1977, Marv Wolfman and Ron Wilson take up Spider-Woman's tale in the pages of Marvel Two-In-One Nos. 29-33. This book matched Ben Grimm, the Thing from the Fantastic Four, with other Marvel heroes. Initially, Thing and Shag-Chi, Master of Kung Fu, are battling Hydra, and Spider-Woman comes on the scene. At first, she is again a pawn of Hydra, but her encounters with the Thing again make Spider-Woman question her loyalty to Hydra, and eventually she breaks from the group and sides with the Thing and a modern-day incarnation of Modred the Mystic. With the Hydra cell finally defeated, along with some other criminals along the way, Modred agrees to unlock Spider-Woman's hidden memories to reveal her true origin, which he does off-panel.
Readers had to wait a few more months, until April 1978 and the debut of Spider-Woman No. 1, to find out what Modred revealed. It seems that Spider-Woman was born human and named Jessica Drew. Her father created a serum to help protect mankind from radiation by using the blood of a spider, since spiders are immune to radiation. Jessica's family, along with another scientist named Herbert Wyndham, moved to a place called Wundagore Mountain to complete their researches. The site was chosen for its rich uranium deposits, needed for the men's work, but which, over time, caused Jessica to become deathly ill. The only way to save the girl is to inject her with Dr. Drew's spider serum, but it works too slowly to save Jessica in time. Wyndham suggests also placing Jessica in his genetic accelerator to speed up the healing properties of the serum. After much time in the accelerator, Jessica is revived by the High Evolutionary (previously known as Herbert Wyndham), and her powers are put to use by him in his organization, Hydra.
Jessica has the spider-like ability to cling to walls and other surfaces. She is immune to most radiations, and becomes immune to any poison or toxin after a single exposure. She also is able to generate a bio-electric "sting" of varying intensity. Finally, her costume is made with light-weight filament glider webs which allow her to glide on air currents, simulating flight.
All of those powers sound like a typical superhero, but as I mentioned above, Spider-Woman's solo title tried to play up the horror aspects of the character at first. Jessica's natural pheromones were changed by her transformation, so that many people reacted to her presence with a strong sense of unease. Werewolf By Night, Jack Russell, made guest appearances in Spider-Woman twice in her first 25 issues. And the villains Spider-Woman tended to run into were of the creepy variety, too. She had more run-ins with Hydra, of course, but there was also a Kali-worshipping death cult, a serial killer made up like a circus clown, a flesh-devouring muck-monster and a pair of possessed "dolls" among her most troublesome opponents. She also had a confrontation with Morgan Le Fay and a recurring alliance with a Merlin-like sorcerer.
Aside from her earlier alliance with the Thing and her attack on Nick Fury, the only other superhero she crossed paths with early on was, of course, Spider-Man. But even that somewhat obvious match-up didn't occur until issue No. 20 of Spider-Woman's own title, more than two years after her debut. And she and Webhead didn't really even get along when they DID finally meet.
All-in-all, Essential Spider-Woman Vol. 1 was a great read and an interesting Marvel history lesson. Most definitely not what I expected when I bought it, but in a good way!
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Hitting Some November Highlights
Hello again, Kiddie Cops. Sorry for the delay between posts. Work craziness abounds this month. So, without further ado, here are some quick thoughts on a number of the November releases — I haven’t read everything yet, but most of it.
Werewolves: Call of the Wild 1-3 (Moonstone) — This three-issue series is written by Mike Oliveri and illustrated by Joe Bucco. It’s a werewolf tale, a murder mystery and darn fine comics all rolled up in one package. A few of the plot twists seem predictable, but the greatest strength of this series is its treatment of the werewolves as regular people — some good, some bad, some honorable and decent, some not-so-much. It’s a moody little series that I highly recommend, and feels as if it could be part of a larger story. If it is, I’ll be seeking out other chapters, to be sure.
52 Weeks 26-28 (DC Comics) — We’ve reached the halfway point in this series and so far, I have to say, I’m mildly curious about where the story lines with Ralph, the mad scientists and the space heroes are going; Steel just seems wasted in the series, and the break-out stars are the Question and Renee Montoya and the totally awesome Black Marvel family.
Justice League of America 3 (DC Comics) — I thought Brad Meltzer did an incredible writing job on Identity Crisis and his previous Archer’s Quest arc in Green Arrow, but so far, he’s just disappointing me in this book. The big three are sitting and talking, not fighting; the time frame is jumbled; and the repetition shows that even Meltzer is confused about what is going on.
Nightwing 126 (DC Comics) — More greatness from Marv Wolfman and Dan Jurgens. This is the second part of what, at the time, was going to be only a four-issue arc. Yet Wolfman has introduced several interesting supporting characters, adding a richness that should have always been a part of this title.
Batman 658 (DC Comics) — Grant Morrison’s four-part Batman & Son concludes in this issue. It’s a nice story, one I’ll likely keep in my collection, but it suffers from the ongoing nature of comics. Iconic characters like Batman must stay somewhat static and recognizable, therefore, real, lasting change cannot occur. So when Talia drops off their son with his father, you know the boy cannot remain in Batman’s world indefinitely. Sure enough, the story ends with him maybe dead, but with enough doubt planted to allow the boy to return at some point. So, the story changes nothing.
Teen Titans 40 (DC Comics) — So Bombshell is the latest Titans traitor — a character we’ve never seen before this arc. That always negates any emotional impact from the story, even if the characters know each other for years. The reader doesn’t.
Fables 55 (DC Vertigo) — I love how Willingham introduces this chilling plan to wipe out the exiled Fables and the rest of our world, only to provide a simple, logical reason, in story, why it can’t happen and makes the whole thing WORK.
New Avengers 25 (Marvel Comics) — Tony Stark’s perspective on the events of Civil War, but it’s really not. This issue was a little disappointing because I was expecting more of Stark’s insights.
Birds of Prey 100 (DC Comics) — Nice jumping on point for a consistently good, well-written and illustrated comic showcasing strong female leads. Nice.
Checkmate 8 (DC Comics) — This arc looks to be what I want from this title. Checkmate operates in a world filled with metahumans, that can’t be escaped nor should it be overlooked, but while acknowledging that fact, this should be primarily a spy story filled with espionage. I hope it continues.
Civil War 5 (Marvel Comics) — Spider-Man takes a major pounding as he decides to leave Iron Man’s side and Cap considers help from the Punisher. I like the ideas in this series, but I’m still worried about the direction of the Marvel Universe after it's over.
Those are the books I’ve read so far this month that evoked the strongest reactions. Check back next time for more.
Happy collecting.
Werewolves: Call of the Wild 1-3 (Moonstone) — This three-issue series is written by Mike Oliveri and illustrated by Joe Bucco. It’s a werewolf tale, a murder mystery and darn fine comics all rolled up in one package. A few of the plot twists seem predictable, but the greatest strength of this series is its treatment of the werewolves as regular people — some good, some bad, some honorable and decent, some not-so-much. It’s a moody little series that I highly recommend, and feels as if it could be part of a larger story. If it is, I’ll be seeking out other chapters, to be sure.
52 Weeks 26-28 (DC Comics) — We’ve reached the halfway point in this series and so far, I have to say, I’m mildly curious about where the story lines with Ralph, the mad scientists and the space heroes are going; Steel just seems wasted in the series, and the break-out stars are the Question and Renee Montoya and the totally awesome Black Marvel family.
Justice League of America 3 (DC Comics) — I thought Brad Meltzer did an incredible writing job on Identity Crisis and his previous Archer’s Quest arc in Green Arrow, but so far, he’s just disappointing me in this book. The big three are sitting and talking, not fighting; the time frame is jumbled; and the repetition shows that even Meltzer is confused about what is going on.
Nightwing 126 (DC Comics) — More greatness from Marv Wolfman and Dan Jurgens. This is the second part of what, at the time, was going to be only a four-issue arc. Yet Wolfman has introduced several interesting supporting characters, adding a richness that should have always been a part of this title.
Batman 658 (DC Comics) — Grant Morrison’s four-part Batman & Son concludes in this issue. It’s a nice story, one I’ll likely keep in my collection, but it suffers from the ongoing nature of comics. Iconic characters like Batman must stay somewhat static and recognizable, therefore, real, lasting change cannot occur. So when Talia drops off their son with his father, you know the boy cannot remain in Batman’s world indefinitely. Sure enough, the story ends with him maybe dead, but with enough doubt planted to allow the boy to return at some point. So, the story changes nothing.
Teen Titans 40 (DC Comics) — So Bombshell is the latest Titans traitor — a character we’ve never seen before this arc. That always negates any emotional impact from the story, even if the characters know each other for years. The reader doesn’t.
Fables 55 (DC Vertigo) — I love how Willingham introduces this chilling plan to wipe out the exiled Fables and the rest of our world, only to provide a simple, logical reason, in story, why it can’t happen and makes the whole thing WORK.
New Avengers 25 (Marvel Comics) — Tony Stark’s perspective on the events of Civil War, but it’s really not. This issue was a little disappointing because I was expecting more of Stark’s insights.
Birds of Prey 100 (DC Comics) — Nice jumping on point for a consistently good, well-written and illustrated comic showcasing strong female leads. Nice.
Checkmate 8 (DC Comics) — This arc looks to be what I want from this title. Checkmate operates in a world filled with metahumans, that can’t be escaped nor should it be overlooked, but while acknowledging that fact, this should be primarily a spy story filled with espionage. I hope it continues.
Civil War 5 (Marvel Comics) — Spider-Man takes a major pounding as he decides to leave Iron Man’s side and Cap considers help from the Punisher. I like the ideas in this series, but I’m still worried about the direction of the Marvel Universe after it's over.
Those are the books I’ve read so far this month that evoked the strongest reactions. Check back next time for more.
Happy collecting.
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