Pathfinder 1 (Zub/ Huerta): Okay, here’s a book that is your gateway to Gen Con. It’s based off the popular roleplaying game that I have never played, but as I understand these things it’s like the Linux version of Dungeons & Dragons - an open-source game based off a more mainstream one that, while technically very sound and satisfying, only the hardcore need apply. Like I said, I’ve never played the game, so I can’t speak to that.
The comic I can speak for, and will speak for, as I do many comics. The art and writing styles are similar in that they’re not especially tight, but they’re fun. It’s got all the usual trappings: a warrior, a thief, and a mage walk into a bar, stumble upon a plot that seems tiny but is really much bigger, and they’re the only ones that can stop it. There’s nothing new going on.
That being said, the execution is well done. The action parts are graphic and fast, the exposition parts don’t drag the overall book down, and there’s humor enough to keep things entertaining. For all the crazy settings, the coked-up spellwork, and the designs that inspire head-scratching, the characters are very grounded and relatable. That guy that throws the meticulous plan out the window because nothing’s died in the past five minutes? The one that gets the entire party into trouble? I know that guy. That guy makes me laugh even as I wish I could choke him over Skype. And he’s here.
You may not read this book, but it’ll be acted out in various forms hundreds of times this weekend in Indianapolis. If you can’t be here to play it yourself, reading it may be the next best thing.
Birds of Prey 12 (Swierczynski/ Richards): I try to pick one book a week that I know nothing about, hold my breath, dive in, and see what sticks to me when I surface. My dive-right-in book this week was Birds of Prey, and as with many DC titles I try this experiment with, I didn’t fare well.
The Birds of Prey franchise is historically about a small cadre of B-level or less heroes, often female, that basically watch the superhero community’s backs. When someone tries to rob a bank, Superman comes in and slugs them with a smile and flash of pearly teeth, but when someone tries to rob Superman, the Birds drag the robber into a back alley where he/ she is broken into pieces. I don’t know the details behind this particular group, but somehow Poison Ivy has co-opted the group into going after polluting tycoons. Maybe it’s because the tycoons have manipulated the Justice League somehow, maybe it’s because Ivy possibly infected the group with a virus she’s keeping dormant unless they do what she asks, maybe one side or the other is on a new self-help regiment. I simply don’t know.
I really tried, but I couldn’t get into this. I was not drawn into the story at any point. Apparently everyone’s disappointed that a known murderer and ecological terrorist is willing to do unpleasant things? The art’s okay, but it’s not worth the price on its own, and the story just doesn’t contribute.
Daredevil 17 (Waid/ Allred): Last week I bemoaned It-Girl for daring to have a Mike Allred character not drawn by Mike Allred. This week we get a non-Allred character drawn by Allred. A weird bit of juxtaposition, but if you had no idea who or what I was talking about last week (CC Note: as opposed to any other week?), this is a good place to learn for yourself.
Daredevil is Matt Murdock, a blind man whose other senses compensated the way a teenager on a meth-LSD cocktail reacts to a micro-change in air density - they flipped out and went into overdrive. Matt learned how to process the new input before going insane, but this issue highlights that his closest friends may have just been waiting for insanity to finally show up. Murdock’s father’s bones appeared in Matt’s office. His friends think he dug them up and brought them there, and Matt’s not defending himself. He may have a perfectly reasonable explanation, like his best friend did in a similar situation, or he may be due for a straightjacket, it’s not made clear.
Daredevil’s never been a stable character. He’s great at his best, he’s hideous at his worst. Mike Allred is one of the few artists that can communicate the beauty behind both. Waid provides plenty of material for him and the reader to work with as well. This is kind of a one-off issue, but a good one.
The Shade 11 (Robinson/ Irving): After craploads of artist changes, location changes, character change-outs, and apparent wandering with no clear focus, finally there is something that resembles payoff.
It’s hard for me to “introduce” The Shade because he’s never had an introduction. Part of his character is that he’s immortal, every story he’s been in has him well established already, and the question of how he came to be has been brought up many times, but never fully addressed. His current foes get their introduction in this issue fast and full, and by the end there’s no ambiguity at all about where they came from or why they do what they do.
Through the conflict between the Shade and the Celestial Pharaohs (I know, just smile and nod...), all the disjointedness of the series to date starts coming into focus, and it’s made clear why things have led up to this point. And we’re assured that in the next issue, we’ll get our introduction to the Shade after years of waiting.
In a review of a previous issue, I think I wrote that this is not a series that brings in new readers. I feel the need to go one step further and say this isn’t for monthly readers, either. I’m going to try rereading this series after it’s done, all in one sitting, and I predict I’m going to really enjoy it. With four weeks between chapters as it is now, it’s a very difficult read.
That’s about all I have for this week. I’m assigning homework - go do something fun.
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