Reviews of WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN VOL. 2 and MATT WAGNER’S GRENDEL OMNIBUS VOL. 1: HUNTER ROSE

While one of earth’s greatest heroes is wrapped up scrambling for cash to fund his school, one of the world’s greatest villains, a devil in black and white, stalks the streets as we catch up with the continuing adventures of the Westchester X-Men and discover a criminal mastermind’s most diabolical legacy.

Wolverine and the X-Men Vol. 2

After the brief diversion of Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha & Omega, we return to the regular series with volume 2. For those who missed it, the X-Men have schismed into two groups: Cyclops and his team at Utopia on the West Coast and Wolverine heading the Jean Grey School for the Gifted Youngsters in Westchester on the East. While Cyclop’s Extinction Team confronts world-ending menaces and alien supercriminals, Wolverine confronts the trepidations of running a school populated by superpowered teenagers and the reemergence of the Hellfire Club.

In this volume, Hank McCoy takes the class on a fantastic voyage into the mutant body, getting up close and personal with antibodies, the mutant gene, and a number of the ickier organs, all rather brilliantly illustrated by Nick Bradshaw. Meanwhile, Wolverine contends with the school’s money woes, desperately scrabbling for income from Worthington Industries, a prospect immediately shot to ribbons when the board of executives declares Warren Worthington (alias Angel, formerly Archangel) declares Warren mentally unfit to run the company (and as Warren sheds his clothes on the company HQ’s lawn, it’s hard to argue the fact). Officially hitting desperate times, Wolvie fetches his trusty bag of desperate measures and yanks Quentin “Kid Omega” Quire out of class, loads up in a rocket, and rides to the galaxy’s richest casino. And if thought they treated card counters harshly in Vegas…

Meanwhile, Kitty Pride is…pregnant!? OR IS SHE!? *dramatic music sting*

God, it’s been a long time since an X-Men book has been fun. Fun and not wrapped up in the overdramatics of persecution, prejudice, and people generally acting like assholes. Is a bit of fun adventure so much to ask from a comic book? Not that a bit of drama and tragedy is a bad thing, but when an entire book becomes saturated with it to the point that everyone is miserable and angsting about one tribulation or another…yeah, like any monotone, it gets boring eventually. The characters here aren’t exactly having the times of their lives either, but the overall tone is much more lighthearted and enjoyable. Wolverine and Kid Omega continue their authoritarian/anti-authoritarian rivalry while bonding over the joys of extraterrestrial gambling. Meanwhile, Kitty’s pregnancy gets her questioning her choices in life, the mistakes made and relationships past gone wrong. And as an alien menace invades the school, the students must summon the strength to be heroes — albeit, in Kid Gladiator’s case, the call to heroism means having your masculinity questioned by an uppity white blood cell. Following the events in X-Force, Angel’s delusions smack head first with reality, forcing him to question truths he thought immutable and dreaming of reconciliation. The book concludes with a one-and-done spotlighting Hank McCoy (and featuring the return of artist Chris Bachalo on pencils, always excellent), yet again battling between the beast and the brain as Sabretooth pushes him to the brink in yet another ploy by the Hellfire Club. Overall, it’s all very proactive and develops each character in a positive direction, rather than taking them down the twin roads Dick and Douche.

I suppose the harshest thing to be said about this book is that it avoids all those classic X-Men dilemmas too much. The school comes off as a far too insular a place and you yearn to see these characters interacting with the outside world with non-mutant humans. For a lot of the students, particularly the ones we follow the most like Kid Omega and Idie, how they’re viewed by humanity plays a large part in defining their character, turning Quentin into a lovably diabolical smartass and Idie into a self-loathing bag of neuroses. It just comes off as a lot of missed opportunities passing the series by.

But for what it is, Wolverine and the X-Men is one of the better books being published by Marvel at the moment, a publisher which, like DC, has been pursuing some rather questionable editorial pathways in recent years. When was the last crossover event when the good guys actually fought a villain rather than fight each other? While DC made the mistake of disowning their characters’ pasts with the September 2011 reboot, Marvel makes the mistake of letting their characters’ pasts bog down a narrative to the point that heroes end up bickering among themselves over the tiniest trifle while villains just fade into the background. This is why Wolverine and the X-Men feels so good to read; it’s just so refreshing after the same old overdramatic crap plays out for the hundredth time. Sure, it may not be the most revelatory of X-Men books but it compensates with sheer entertainment.

And now, a tangent…

Conundrum: Is it better to get more trades more often at the cost of fewer issues published per trade or get fewer trades less often but with more content per trade? At the moment, this is one of the key differences between DC and Marvel’s publications. While DC’s trades are being rolled out with at least a six month gap between each publication, each volume contains no fewer than six issues with at most eight issues. Marvel, on the other hand, have taken to publishing four issues per trade while occasionally upping that to five or six. Both companies give some leeway for the storylines to dictate the number of issues per trade so the reader isn’t left with all but the last issue of an arc missing or two halves of a two stories shoved together into a single book. It also shows how each company is willing to let writers decompress their stories. Peter J. Tomasi’s first story arc on Batman and Robin took a total eight issues to unfold and DC kindly packaged all eight issues in one trade. Meanwhile Marvel’s writers have been trending toward shorter storylines concluding in four to five issues. Both schools of thought have their advantages but, coming in at a scant four issues, Wolverine and the X-Men Vol. 2 feels underweight, especially for a hardcover release at its current price.

Nevertheless, the quality of the stories will leave you wanting more and it’s only a few months’ wait for volume 3. Personally, I really hope this title survives Avengers vs. X-Men with the same writer intact but, if not, I’ll heartily enjoy it while it lasts.

Reviews of previous volumes: Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha & Omega.

OMNIBUZZ

A look at the latest collections and omnibus releases

Matt Wagner’s Grendel Omnibus Vol. 1: Hunter Rose

Inspired by the European noir of Diabolik, Matt Wagner’s Grendel premiered in 1983 from Comico but soon moved to Dark Horse, serialized in Wagner’s own Mage series, after that company went defunct. As years passed, Grendel grew out of its pulp fiction roots into a treatise on crime and aggression, of the strength of the human will and its sublimation by the strong and corrupt. In short, an epic.

What better series to archive into an omnibus collection given its twenty year history, choppy publication history, and the sprawling nature of the work, covering the life and legacy of the world’s greatest criminal mind and the fallout from his vainglorious reign?

Grendel’s debut, Devil by the Deed, is a sophomoric work, indicative of Wagner’s young age (21 at the time of publication) and early exploration into the medium. It’s not so much a comic as an illustrated essay; indeed, the story takes the form of an article, or possibly book excerpts, of a third party recounting the famous criminal mastermind’s deeds. Wagner’s prose is overwrought at times, rarely broken up with dialogue, expositing constantly. Yet the story plays a key role in everything that is to follow. What we are reading isn’t a bildungsroman recounting the rise and fall, life and death of Hunter Rose but rather the legend of Grendel, mythologized like his namesake. What’s important isn’t the twists and turns and intrigue of Grendel’s doings but, rather, how these things build upon his legacy.

At face value, Hunter Rose is very much a Mary Sue, perfect in nearly every way, praised by those around him, unerring in nearly every deed and crime and kill. So Devil by the Deed barely builds upon him as a character, leaving deeper insights into his motivations to the speculations of the narrator. Thus, Grendel’s entire career from birth to death is expounded upon in broadest details, painting Grendel as mythically capable and unimaginably talented, doing most to set the stage for future stories than build a cohesive stand-alone narrative. Everybody knows the tale of Beowulf, whether they’ve read the poem or not, and they know the end before they’ve read it; how Beowulf dies is not important, but rather how he lived and what he stood for matter most. Similarly, it’s Hunter’s singular sense of utter superiority and the fruits he reaps of his latent talents and malevolent deeds that form the centerpiece of the Grendel cycle.

Effectively spoiling the entire narrative of Grendel’s life draws the reader’s focus away from basic narrative conventions — will he survive? won’t he? who will prevail over whom? — and forms something worthy of the Grendel title: a twisted and bastardized rendition of the Hero’s Journey. While Wagner’s prose tries terribly hard to evoke literary sensibilities, ultimately sounding pretentious, the story succeeds in establishing the Grendel mythos, building the framework for what will emerge from the collections to follow and the story to conclude Hunter Rose’s time as the devilish Grendel. What works most about Devil by the Deed is Wagner’s artwork, remarkable most in its composition if not the detailed artistry of each individual image. They complement each narrative passage well, doing more to evoke the necessary emotional resonance than the prose itself.

What follows, the collections Black, White, & Red and Red, White, & Black, compose the heart of what makes Grendel a remarkable work: short stories centered less around Grendel himself and more so those affected by his plans and plots. Those he hunts, those who witness his kills, those who cross him, those who track him, those who fear his name and quake at the thought of that double-bladed staff pointing their way. Each story unravels in its own unique style, assisted by the multitudinous talents of the artists on display here who all make the most of Grendel’s black and white with red spot coloring style.

The book closes with Behold the Devil, the longest of the stories, and one of the few with a full arc. Hunter Rose is in the middle of his career, expanding his reign over organized crime and arranging deals with foreign mobs. But Hunter Rose is feeling off his game as a strange presence stalks him; feeling as though he’s being watched, Rose finds himself uncharacteristically flinching at shadows. Meanwhile, a reporter and detective each find themselves on the trail of Grendel, skirting the edges of his criminal empire but unable to penetrate it. And with Hunter preoccupied by this strange menace, they may just get the advantage of him. The story builds to the ultimate challenge to Hunter Rose’s self-made brilliance, calling into question his own capability and uniqueness in a world suffused with banality.

The biggest fault to be laid against this book is in its publication. Dark Horse has elected to release these omnibus editions in paperback only with glued binding. Given the number of pages, snapping the spine is absolutely required to fully enjoy any double-page spread. As well, the nature of the binding and the quality of the paper makes the book awkward to hold. To top things off, while several of the collected works here were originally published in standard 7” x 10” comic book format — namely Behold the Devil, the longest, piece which easily dominates the book’s page count — all have been reduced to 6” x 9” format. It’s not a book made for repeated readings nor will it have a long shelf life; while the paper itself is high quality, the book feels as though it will fall apart with time. The minimal amount of extras taken with the book price and the above grievances indicate Dark Horse doesn’t intend this to be an archival release so much as a definitive collection of every Grendel story targeted at new and curious readers. However, given the quality of the stories here and the sheer amount of them and the reasonable price, those unfamiliar with Grendel have no excuse not to pick it up and discover a true masterpiece of sequential art.

Grendel Omnibus Vol. 1 is a must-read for any fan of noirish, literary comic books, classic pulp fiction, and unconventional storytelling.

Undead soldiers, were-bat assassins, sentient monster planets, bratty children, the monsters in today’s books will surely quake the heart and rend the soul.

Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E. Vol. 1: War of the Monsters

Here’s an odd yet brilliant mash-up of characters and ideas, so, of course, it should come as no surprise that most of it originates from the mind of Grant Morrison. Specifically, this version of Frankenstein and the Super Human Advanced Defense Executive (S.H.A.D.E., a…shady government organization — see what they did there?) germinated from Morrison’s Seven Soldiers of Victory, a miniseries itself composed of several smaller miniseries meant to reinvigorate several  of the DC universe’s minor characters, with Frankenstein as one of the titular seven soldiers. A version of Frankenstein’s monster has existed in the DC universe since the ‘40s (oddly enough, debuting as a Batman nemesis) but this incarnation takes inspiration from Doc Frankenstein and Hellboy, homages to classic pulp heroes like Doc Savage with a gothic twist. Jeff Lemire’s Frankenstein continues in that vein, battling forces from beyond the veil with Pulp action aplomb while maintaining a healthy sense of poetic self-loathing that comes natural to an electrically animated monstrosity forged of multitude corpses.

But whereas Morrison’s S.H.A.D.E. was an out-and-out nefarious organization (a product of the Patriot Act no less) that had to blackmail Frankie into service and got up to even stupider villainy in the Infinite Crisis tie-in Battle For Bludhaven, Jeff Lemire reinvents S.H.A.D.E. into a B.P.R.D.-esque covert supernatural investigations group. Following suit, S.H.A.D.E.’s director, Father Time, has forsaken his villainous roots as well, embodied, strangely enough, in his transmogrification into an elementary school-aged Japanese schoolgirl…wearing a domino mask…because domino masks are cool.

Along for the ride, we also have former Atom, Dr. Ray Palmer, complete with shrinking belt though sans costume (Ryan Choi remains the current Atom, it seems), supplying S.H.A.D.E. with advanced technology while acting as liaison between S.H.A.D.E. and the United Nations.

The book opens with a scene all too familiar to horror movie fans: the opening kill. Yes, sadly this grandfather and grandson enjoying their day fishing on the lake lack the extrasensory perception to know they’re the opening shot of a creature feature. Sure enough, wretched lake monsters devour the pair but not before the grandfather lets on that he knows more about these nightmares than your average grandpa. Enter Frankenstein.

Foregoing a scheduled vacation, Frankie pays a visit to S.H.A.D.E. at Father Time’s request where Father recruits Frank into action against this sudden monster outbreak. Frankenstein refuses at first but upon learning his estranged wife, the Bride of Frankenstein, S.H.A.D.E.’s premier super-agent (and, yes, she’s given no other name beyond “Bride” despite making it abundantly clear the two are well divorced), is M.I.A. and most probably in danger, Frank can’t help but accept. Enter the Creature Commandos, S.H.A.D.E.’s team of enhanced super-agents, each made to resemble a classic Universal Movie Monster: Nina the Mermaid, a Creature from the Black Lagoon homage; Velcoro the Vampire, more accurately a Langstrom serum-induced man-bat; Griffith the Werewolf; and Khalis the Mummy. With Frankenstein at the lead, they enter the now quarantined town and give battle. But yet more unspeakable horror await them within the lake itself.

Alberto Ponticelli’s sketchy, exaggerated penciling suits these adventures well, conveying frenetic skirmishes with aplomb and ludicrous landscapes and technologies with equal virtue. The Ant Farm, S.H.A.D.E. HQ, looks suitably enormous yet claustrophobic as pylons stretch endlessly upward yet Brazil-style ducts, wires, and machinery clutter the ground — indeed, the specter of technology looms over the characters, an entity unto itself. However, juxtaposed to J.G. Jones’ magnificent cover art, personally, I’m left fantasizing what could have been had he penciled the entire book. But that’s unfair to Ponticelli who really does an outstanding job here and more my personal preference when it comes to comic book artwork.

As much as I enjoy Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E.’s classic Pulpiness, a few moments try just a little too hard to be Pulp. “What shall we call our egg-shaped interdimensional shuttle?” “How about ‘The Egg’?” “Perfect!” “What shall we call this box-shaped device that holds a ridiculous number of weapons?” “How about ‘The Toybox’?” “Brilliant!” Anything and everything has its appropriately twee codename — the Ant Farm, the Zoo, I’m sure even the lavatories have appropriately pointless nicknames. Consequently, the book has about as much character development one would expect from a Pulp adventure.

Frankenstein, ever at odds with his Bride (sorry, ex-Bride), shows some rounding around the edges as we learn some of his backstory and see his interactions with old friends like Father Time and the Bride, but the book becomes so wrapped up with ludicrous plots that not enough character shines through after six issues. Frankenstein’s Bride provides the requisite mouthy badass but Frankie’s Creature Commandos suffer the most: Nina the Mermaid gets her own Dr. Frankenstein-style guilt trip following the creation of her first batch of botched Creature Commandos, but Velcoro, Griffith, and Khalis remain one-dimensional even after six issues. Velcoro and Griffith exchange verbal silos but their quips lack originality. (Their one-liners must have come from the three-for-one bin.)

Regardless, Frankenstein remains good old fashioned comic book fun. Universal movie monsters battling Lovecraftian horrors across mind-blowing landscapes — there’s an inherent intrigue to the premise and Jeff Lemire doesn’t waste it, carving out a good horror action niche for himself. In Animal Man he’s created something truly terrifying but here he’s created something undeniably fun.

OMNIBUZZ

A look at the latest collections and omnibus releases

Batman: The Black Glove Deluxe Edition

Yet more goodness from the weird and wild brain of Grant Morrison who never fails to bring something strange and new to every title he works on, Batman included.

But before we get into the meat of things, it needs noting that this volume’s title is something of a misnomer as it contains more than just Batman’s confrontations with the Black Glove. Indeed, the working title seemed to be “Batman and Son vs. the Black Glove”, a more encompassing title as the first third has little to do with the Black Glove storyline save some foreshadowing. I say “something of a misnomer” because Morrison’s run here can be characterized as part of the overall Black Glove cycle (although that would also include Batman R.I.P. and Batman & Robin if we were to nitpick). Regardless, this collection contains three distinct storylines previously collected in the Batman and Son and Batman: The Black Glove trades and contains everything the entirety of Morrison’s run on Batman leading up to Batman R.I.P.

Unlike a lot of modern comic book writers, Grant Morrison embraces the lavishly ludicrous elements of superheroes, taking all aspects of a hero’s storied career as canon and shedding new light on forgotten chapters of a character’s history. Here, Batman’s particularly zany adventures from the Silver Age manifest as the garbled hallucinations induced by too much Joker gas and fear toxin. Alternate versions of Batman manifest as the Three Ghosts of Batman, the Batmen of Many Nations, and even Bat-Mite has a cameo.

Impressively, Morrison introduces these elements without losing the heart of Batman’s character and without allowing the ludicrous to override basic emotional investment. For example, there’s a nice through line from story to story about Alfred encouraging and helping Bruce to maintain his playboy image, not so much to hide the fact that Wayne is Batman, but to remind Bruce to lighten up every now and again for his sanity’s sake. He’s one of the few writers now that remember Batman’s human side while too many others, taking all the wrong influences from Frank Miller, turn him into a paranoid asshole.

Andy Kubert, J.H. Williams III, and Tony S. Daniel provide pencils for each story arc. All provide excellent artwork though Williams stands above the others, providing his ever amazing design work for the Club of Heroes segment. Kubert and Daniel provide your typical post-’90s artwork: highly detailed and sketchy with lots of hatching. Not a bad style, especially in the more action oriented sequences, but, against Williams, falls somewhere short. The more painterly touches in Williams’ art complement the noirish mysteries behind Morrison’s plotting while Kubert and Daniel’s art feels more at home in your typical action comic, though both successfully deliver when it comes to grandiose reveals and high-flying stunts.

This is an excellent jumping-on point for recent events in the Batman mythos as well as an essential lead-in to Morrison’s Batman & Robin and Batman Incorporated, along with Batman R.I.P. Plot arcs from The Black Glove carry over into those books, so jumping in without this volume for backstory means jumping into a story half finished with no context.