By Andrew A. Smith
Tribune Content Agency
Every Tuesday or early Wednesday I post a "Comics Guide" on the Captain Comics Round Table website, chock-full of reviews, previews and press releases about the week's most interesting new comics and graphic novels. Perhaps this is my way of carrying on the spirit of the old "Comics Buyer's Guide" magazine, for which I worked for more than a decade. Or maybe I just like to write about comics.
Either way, here are some of this week's reviews:
* DOCTOR WHO: FOUR DOCTORS #1 (of 5, Titan Comics, $3.99): I'm not normally a Doctor Who reader, as Whomania rose up outside my radar, and now that I've become aware of it, I've always feared I'd simply never catch up.
But now comes a Doctor Who "event" from Titan Comics, which features the stars of their three ongoing Doctor Who titles (the Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors) and their companions. Hey, I get to learn about three of them at once! Maybe I can catch up!
Further, the name of the series -- which publishes weekly for five weeks, beginning Aug. 12 -- is Four Doctors. So who's going to complete our bridge group? Even I know that the Twelfth Doctor is supposed to be the last, so how and where is this next guy coming from? And it has to be a Thirteenth Doctor, because if it was an earlier one, the Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors would all remember this adventure already, wouldn't they?
Or maybe not. The first issue sets up the premise, in which an alien machine tells Clara, the Twelfth Doctor's companion, that all timelines and universes will end if the three Doctors in question meet on a certain day in Paris in 1923. So naturally she goes back in time to warn the other two companions to not let the Doctors meet. Which naturally results in the situation she was trying to avoid.
I'm sorry, is that a Spoiler? Because if they don't meet, there's not a story, so shut up. Anyway, while the whole scene ends the way we know it will, it's pretty amusing getting there, as the pacing is perfect and the dialogue is witty. It's written by Paul Cornell, who has written Doctor Who novels, TV episodes and comics. Plus, the art is clear, pleasing and -- where it comes to the frustration of the companions -- expressive.
In short, Four Doctors #1 is a lot of fun. No wonder people like this Doctor Who business!
* HARROW COUNTY #4 (Dark Horse, $3.99): Well, I sure didn't see this coming.
Harrow County is the story of a teenage farm girl who begins to suspect she is a reincarnated witch -- as do her neighbors, who want to burn her at the stake. She escapes with the help of some friends (not all of them human), but discovers some things in the woods that aren't so friendly. She is forced to find out who she is, as she is pursued by those who want to kill her for who they think she is.
And, silly me, I thought that was the premise of the series. I figured she'd go on having adventures while learning her identity on the go -- in other words, a coming-of-age story.
Nope. Writer Cullen Bunn (Sixth Gun) takes a sharp turn, storywise, in Harrow County #4, turning what has happened up until now as a sort of origin story. So now the real story begins.
And I can't wait! Harrow County is genuinely unsettling, a testament to both Bunn and artist Tyler Crook, who renders this rural world in a convincingly grubby and rustic fashion. The pacing of both story and art is also extremely cinematic, so I fully expect to see Harrow County turned into a movie or TV show soon. And so should you.
* REBELS #5 (Dark Horse, $3.99): This book is so absorbing, I'm always surprised and disappointed when I abruptly come to the end of an issue. I always want more, more, more, which is the sign of a great book.
Rebels is the story of two New England lads in the 1770s who get caught up in the War for Independence. We see actual historical events from their point of view, although author Brian Wood (Northlanders) acknowledges he may vary from history here and there, or compress an event.
We see folks like George Washington, Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen, but mostly in passing. Mainly, it's just a well done historical book about the slobs who actually fought the thing. The characters and setting feel authentic -- I imagine Wood did a lot of research -- and the art is the kind of sketchy I normally don't like, but is perfect for this book, in that it demonstrates a raw earthiness that feels authentic. And the main characters are both likeable and plausible.
This issue completes a task our heroes began last issue, hauling 59 cannon and attendant ammunition and such from Fort Ticonderoga in Canada to Boston in the dead of a New England winter. It's an adventure a lesser writer would have decompressed for six issues, at least. Instead, Wood says what he has to say, shows what he has to show, tosses in a few cookies and curveballs, and gets out.
I was completely mesmerized.
So there's no magic trick or clever idea or edginess to explain why this book grabs me. It's just very well done, and that's irresistible.
* STAR TREK/GREEN LANTERN #2 (of 6, IDW Publishing, $3.99): This weird but fascinating crossover continues, with DC's superhero Green Lantern meeting the crew of J.J. Abrams' rebooted Star Trek crew.
Last month I wondered how they could possibly mix the likes of Green Lantern and Star Trek in a way that didn't reduce Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock to spectators. That was the problem in the X-Men/Star Trek crossover of 1996 that was never solved. That is to say, when you have the god-like powers of superheroes mixed with the very human Trek characters, who need tons of resources, time and organization to do what a power ring can do in seconds, the book becomes Green Lantern and His Amazing Friends pretty quickly.
So how to avoid that? I guessed they'd power down Green Lantern, but writer Mike Johnson surprised me by doing the reverse -- and handing out power rings like so much candy. So yes, we have Green Lantern and Sinestro in the Star Trek universe. But we also have Uhura, Chekov, Bones, a Klingon and a Romulan with power rings. And things are about to get ugly. Cool!
So that's a taste of this week's reviews. For more this week and every week, go to captaincomics.ning.com. Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!
Reach Captain Comics by email (capncomics@aol.com), the Internet (comicsroundtable.com), Facebook (Captain Comics Round Table) or Twitter (@CaptainComics)
Replies
I used that cover because it showed both Green Lantern and Captain Kirk (the other one did not). But I don't think it's very attractive. What is it I'm missing about Paul Pope's work?
He looks like he's in the market for a good inker.
Captain Comics said:
I don't think he needs an inker, but I'm a fan. I agree that he's not a good choice for that cover. He's very stylized, so his art generally works best on his creator-owned work, where the art and the concept are unified. I did like his Batman story. He was responsible for the whole storytelling package there, so the covers showed what to expect on the inside.
When I was growing up, and reading European comics in very limited doses in Heavy Metal and Epic Illustrated, I thought Europeans must have really big, heavy lips, because that's how famous European artists drew them.
No. Turns out Europeans have ordinary lips. But European artists like Paul Pope draw them that way.
Well, fine. But I find it ugly. I guess I'm just not sophisticated! I'll never be invited to Monte Carlo. Darn these thin caucasian lips!
Pope has European and Manga influences, from what he's said. I have limited experience with both, but I somehow acquired a taste for his stuff. It's true about the lips. His male characters tend to look like Mick Jagger--which is also what Pope himself looks like. So I'm never sure how much of it is self-portrait.
Andrew Smith: