December 2007 Archives

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So the end has come to Marvel's six-issue mini-series "The Loners", written by C.B. Cebulski and drawn by Karl Moline. This series was pretty cool for a while. It's about a group of young superheroes that start a kind of Heroes Anonymous, vowing to keep out of their costumes and not use their powers. In the group is the Green Goblin (Phil Ulrich), Lightspeed (Julie Powers), Turbo (Mickey Musashi), Ricochet (Johnny Gallo), Spider-Woman (Mattie Franklin), and Darkhawk (Chris Powell) (YAY, Darkhawk!). Of course, the series is about these retired heroes being forced to put on their costumes again, first a couple in secret, then this final issue (released last week) with all of them suited up for a final throw-down. The story was pretty interesting and the art wasn't bad, either. In fact, sometimes it was pretty good. For most of the series, such interesting things were happening that I forgot to notice Cebulski's writing, which, as always, is way over the top and often completely annoying. His writing did overwhelmed me in the last issue, though. Not in a good way. The dialogue is SOOOO over the top and so melodramatic. He tries to be witty like a lot of the other hero comic writers are, throwing in a bonmot at the most intense moments to create comedic relief. The problem is that they aren't funny. Or original. Or clever in any way. Sometimes they are just plain stupid. For example, in the final issue, betrayals are revealed by the villain to tear the group apart as he, the villain, lays on the ground defeated. The end of the scene is Spiderwoman, outraged at the betrayal of their team leader (and H.A. founder), Turbo, say dramatically to the group "Count me out from now on. You've been trying so hard to stay out of costume, to put your pasts behind you...Some of you seem to have forgotten what it means to be a hero in the first place. And I can't believe I actually slept with you, Johnny!" ...uh, where did that come from?! The scene, of course, then dramatically ends and cuts to "one week later". Gag me. Luckily I only had to endure another couple of pages before the series ended, at least "for now", according to Cebulski.

The only interesting thing from the series was the revelation in the final battle sequence that one of their comrades is actually an advanced cyborg, to the surprise of everyone, including the cyborg herself. Shock! Intrigue! Boundary-crossing! How do we tell the difference between human and machine? This was a really interesting throw-in, it's just too bad everyone else has already done it. And the the only thing to come out of said revellation is this dialogue: Namie (the cyborg): "What?" Lightspeed: "You mean..." Spider-Woman: "...She's a..." Ricochet: "...Robot?!" Green Goblin "I believe they prefer to be called cyborgs these days." And then it's over. No more discussion, no more examination. Not even a hint of how and if things change, how she's affected, how their relationship with her is affected. Nothing interesting at all. So close...

The only other news is that Shekhar Kapur's "Snake Woman" is coming to a close. I am sad. While the series has gone downhill, I am still really involved in the story. It's about Jessica Peterson, a completely average young woman who finds out she is the reincarnation of a Naga snake-god. The series is a revamping of ancient Indian legends about snake gods being reincarnated in to human form. In this series, Jessica is out for revenge on a group of people (68 people, to be exact) who stole from her and her mate's temple centuries ago and slaughtered the Nagini tribe, who worship the Naga. Jessica is a pretty awesome anti-hero who struggles with her human conscience and her reptilian instincts. I'm a sucker for Indian folklore, but the art has always been really refreshing, too. Jessica is always drawn as a very realistic, average woman.

The main artist has been Michael Gaydos, who has my gratitude for this great artwork. More recently, Vivek Shinde has taken over and done a great job at keeping up with Gaydos' style and vision for Jessica. Though Shekhar Kapur created the story and character, the script has been written by Zeb Wells. He's not the most amazing writer in the business or anything, but he does a really good job at keeping Jessica as a smart, strong character. I have really been enjoying this series so I'll be disappointed when it ends, but it was a solid run.

Now I'm off to stare menacingly at the snow and curse it, probably rather explicitly.