Pick of the Week
What did the
iFanboy
community think?
Pulls
Size: pages
Price:
Writer – Warren Ellis
Art – Raulo Caceres
Avatar Press – $6.99
Preview Night for San Diego Comic-Con 2007 is in the books and it’s late and we’re all tired so you’ll just have to go with me on this one.
Cross your fingers – no typos!
This was a book that for me literally came out of nowhere. I didn’t even know of its existence until people started discussing this week’s shipping list over on the forums. The idea of pitting Warren Ellis together with true history was very appealing to me so I made a note to pick it up. Unfortunately, the store that iFanboy hits when it’s in town for Comic-Con didn’t have it, so I made a last minute purchase from the Avatar Press booth itself on the convention floor, where Warren Ellis was doing a signing.
I’ll be honest with you – I’m really, really glad I did.
I went into reading Crécy with absolutely no preconceived notions about what to expect. All I knew was Warren Ellis + The Battle of Crécy. That’s it. What I got from this 48 page one-shot (they’re calling it an Original Graphic Novel, but it really isn’t very graphic novel-y) is a post-modern history lesson covering the animosity between the English and the French, an examination of battlefield weapons and tactics and an overview of the relevant English and French royal lineages, as well as the Battle of Crécy itself, all told from the very self-aware point of an English longbowman named William of Stonham.
The narration is at turns laugh out loud funny (no one throws around insults quite like the British), wonderfully educational, and horribly blunt about the realities of war. It’s been a while since I’ve found myself laughing at one page and wincing in horrible disbelief at the next. I haven’t had such a good time reading a comic book in a while. It was a lot of fun and educational all at the same time. And it was different.
I read a whole big stack of books today and Crécy was unlike anything else I read, and unlike anything else I’ve read in a while. This is one of those books that really stretches the limits of what a comic book can be. It plays with the medium in new and unusual ways.
Don’t get me wrong – this isn’t all some highbrow educational lecture about the history of warfare, the depiction of the battle itself is pretty damned brutal. Lots of dudes take lots of arrows to lots of parts of their bodies.
This is a good time to mention the art of Raulo Caceres. Normally I’m not really a big fan of Avatar’s stable of artists who all seem to have the same style. That style just doesn’t work for me. The art here works fantastically. It is hyperdetailed and many panels are very reminiscent of old engravings and of artwork depicting those old battles from The Middle Ages.
It’s always nice when after all of these years a comic book experience can still take you completely by surprise. It’s totally satisfying and so much fun. And that’s why we do what we do.
Conor Kilpatrick
Bollocks
conor@ifanboy.com
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Interesting pick. I personally really liked Amazing Spider-Man this week.
Have a great time at the Con tomorrow guys, and I can’t wait to meet you guys at the con Friday!
nice pick. I went with TWD #39.
http://revision3.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8136
I loved this book. Didn’t like the art as much as Conor did though.
Nice, with Doctor Sleepless, Black Summer and Crecy, its an Ellis extravaganza this week.
Conor! AWESOME PICK!! I had no idea this book was coming out and picked it up purely because I thought the art was bugged out and I really liked the idea of a one of ‘short form’ story like this. This book is INTENSE and a great surprise.
Looks like I gotta check out Crecy then.
Although from opposite ends, this week’s Fear Agent & Buffy were excellent reads. Either one could be my POW. Also really liked Mighty Avengers and Green Arrow: Year One.
I’ll probably pick this book up this weekend at the Con, cause the selection at both my stores is pretty limited in terms of books that aren’t from the big 2.
My stack was beastial this week. My head was hurting by the time I finished. I feel like a broken record though, because every time this book has come out I’ve picked it.
Silver Surfer #3
I experienced an acid trip without taking the necessary drugs. This happened in the form of All Star Batman #6 and Batman #666. I still can’t tell if this was bad or good yet, but it was definetly something.
Hellboy #4 was killer!
Amazing Spidey was better than the pre-reviews out there.
I miss David Aja on Iron Fist. Still this was one sweet single-issue story.
Black Summer tonight and now I got to look for this other Ellis book. I just love history stories.
Oh! My POW!
Queen & Country #32!
I know this was a year+ of waiting, but damn that was some serious “wet work” by Tara. I had dinner with Greg last year at San Diego and it was great to talk about Q&C with him. His letter at the end of #32 didn’t come as a complete shock. These things, I was fortunate enough to already know.
Ron Lim did some fantastic art on (Cable) Deadpool 43 this week. Yeah, that Ron Lim. I hadn’t seen him on a book in forever.
Hey gang, Thanks Conor, the POW sounds cool, I will pick that up tomorrow. I haven’t read my stack yet, not sure what I’m looking forward to.
Unrelated to the POW discussion, I’m moving to Raleigh, NC from Long Island next week, does anyone know of any good comic shops in the Raleigh area?
“Why we do what we do” is as strong a recommendation as you’re likely to get. I enjoyed Buffy this week myself… though I don’t remember the previous arc ending. Is that bad?
Is it just me or is Mighty Avengers the least satisfying book that Bendis is putting out. Don’t get me wrong it’s a decent book, but it’s not Bendis caliber. Even when stuff does happen, it still feels like a lot of nothing. And Cho’s art during the big action scenes felt kinda stiff to me. It looks like action figures that are posing rather than a snapshot of something in motion.
I know it’s late but I just put up my first Weekly Highlight review. Weekly meaning if I get a chance to write a review that week.
Let me know what you all think.
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=87204037&blogID=292500968
“Newton at July 27, 2007 4:50 AM
Is it just me or is Mighty Avengers the least satisfying book that Bendis is putting out.”
I agree. I’m typically all for Bendis’ stuff, but this feels too much like him trying not to be Bendis, or something. Maybe I’m just not happy with the character selection, but New Avengers is always one of the best books of the month while this one is starting to get on my nerves.
I think part of it is the thought balloons. Instead of having actual character development, and using dialouge to discuss what the characters are thinking, we get one sentance thought balloons which are supposed to be a short hand for the longer development that Bendis is used to and known for.
The thought balloons aren’t bad, per say, but they’re not really particularly funny nor insightful.
My other issue is that I’m not really sold on the characters. I like Iron Man, but he’s been Ultron for the past few issues, but I’ve got no real connection to the other characters since I’m not an old school Avengers fan and thus not big into Ms. Marvel, Wasp and Wonder Man. Bendis could make me love them, like he did Luke Cage, but he hasn’t yet.
For me this was a disapointing week. WWH is dragging on, as is Amazons Attack. Countdown is bouncing around too much for my tastes, with not much happening anywhere in the stories. Buffy was good. Batman probably would have been my POW, but even that was not great.
Flipped through Crecy at midtown and saw the $6.99 price tag and decided to pass. Maybe I shouldn’t have because none of the books I picked up this week were great.
Incredible Hulk 108-This book was terrible. It did absolutely nothing for me. I could really careless about the cockroach character. There was barely any Hulk in this book. Can I please have my $2.99 back. Seems like the only book in WWH I need to read is WWH.
Amazing Spiderman-good book but I feel like I have been there done that. I felt the whole fight with Kingpin was a little dragged out. Solid book no less.
Silver Surfer-good but not POW material.
Mighty Avengers…meh
Anyone get Green Lantern Coprs? Midtown sold out on Thursday before I could grab a copy. My mistake for not putting it on my weekly pull list. Also, for some reason forgot to grab Green Arrow Year One. I know nothing about this character but I really liked the first issue.
X-men 201 was solid but not spectacular.
Still have to read WWH IRON Man but I am not looking forward to it b/c I think it’s gonna be bad.
I had a really good week this week. My pick probably would have been Green Arrow: Year One #2. This is a great series, and it’s most excellent to see Diggle and Jock back together again. It’s like nectar from the comic gods.
Speaking of Diggle, his run on Hellbalzer is blowing me away. It just kicks major, major ass.
Countdown is still doing it for me, although I would like to see more happen. As in, something, just something needs to happen in this book.
I also want to second others’ thoughts on Amazing Spider-Man . This run has been really interesting, and JMS really nailed this issue. The art was great, and Peter’s speech at the Kingpin was just awesome. Good stuff.
I also enjoyed Hellboy, Iron Fist, Hulk, and Batman immensely. I am one happy fanboy. Here’s hoping next week can be just as good!
To hell with the price tag — this is a rocking piece of pomo, deconstructivist, Ken Burns-type shit. It totally merits picking up.
In fact, Avatar was the big winner this week thanks to WE: Black Summer, Doktor Sleepless, and Crecy were all noteworthy.
Nice pic
Hey im moving away to school and have to sell all my comics
so i thought id let you guys no im putting up some good ones some even pic of the weeks and id rather have someone get a good deal than some guy resell them after ok peace
hears the link
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZjelly216QQfrppZ50QQfsopZ1QQfsooZ1QQrdZ0?
ebay- jelly216
I didn’t read your pick, but I’m interested. Amazing Spider-man was the funnest read for me this week. He almost turned into the punisher. Kicked Kingpin’s A$$ and didn’t get touched. really cool.
Amazing Spider-man was really good this week but I think X-men #201 was the best book that I read. I haven’t really liked Mike Carrey’s run but this issue was awesome, lots of action, they focused on Cannonball finally!!! And we found out that Dark Beast is part of the endangered species storyline… All in all a great issue. I thought Buffy #5 was also good, not sure how many of you guys are picking that one up.
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Sorry to hear about the live show guys.
And just to let you know Green Arrow: Year One is actually a 6 issue story, the “# of 4″ on the cover is a typo.
Picked up Crecy from the avatar booth cause you had to buy something to get Warren to sign anything. I think that was avatar’s rule and not hiss. But I wanted Fell signed so picked up Crecy cause I recognized the cover from the POW. Woman gave it to me for 5 bucks too so all is well.
Just remembered Captain Marvel in running the prison. I’m not reading many Marvel books but did they really bring him back just to never use him ever again?
And Bendis’ thought balloons are pointless. Cho is a good enough artist that everything I learn from the thought bubbles can be seen in the character’s faces most of the time. They really take me out of the story.
I think the problem with Mighty Avengers is the same as CW (main book) and Bendis’ New Avengers story arc “The Collective” (issues #16-20, I think) — and I don’t think Cho is entirely to blame.
Basically, FAR TOO MANY splash pages, half page pictures, full page pictures, double page splash pages — when you have that many splash, large size pictures, time and story can only move so fast. Hence, you get the sense that things are dragging and not much is really happening, and the story is underdeveloped. You simply can not advance a story with that many big pictures — there’s no space for dialogue, which advances the story.
Compare Cho and Bendis’ Mighty Avengers with Cho and Bendis’ New Avengers #14 – the issue which goes into Jessica Drew getting caught up between Hydra and SHIELD, and questions of how much she can be trusted. Tons of story development happens, lots of beautiful smaller panels move the story along, and there are even some really gorgeous splash pages and large panels that make for some really nice pacing of story.
Ultron Lady Story in Mighty Avengers is not bad per se, but I suppose for some reason Bendis needs to slow down the pace of the book(?) give it an epic feel like CW (?), or more likely, needs to slow the pace of the story down so that it matches what’s happening in New Avengers right now (on a screwed up publishing schedule?). Anyway, repeating giganntic picutes of the same dinosaurs, another huge picture of this or that character (the mole man even), and the same two repeating images of Ultron Lady’s face ain’t doing it. Same thing happened in The Collective Arc — about five minutes of real time happened in 20 pages, due to.. SPLASH PAGES!
Anyway, just my take on this. I somehow don’t think that if CW had had less GIANT SPLASH pages and more story development, people wouldn’t be as dissatisfied….
Don’t get me wrong, full page or double page or giant panel splash pages are great, but should be used judiciously to set a nice pace.
And here’s a good question for Continuity Detectives — if the Mighty Avengers jumped into battle to face the Mole Man’s monsters in less than an hour after being formed, at what point in that hour did Iron Man and the Mighty Avengers face down the New Avengers over the fake body of Cap in the pages of the New Avengers on Ryker’s Island, and then call in Brother Voodoo to do his Hoodoo on Dr. Strange’s house? Same writer on both books, just wondering….
I suspect having to juggle two books at one time may have something to do with this… but Bendis is very clear about the time in Mighty Avengers… 45 minutes, 55 minutes, etc. Stark must REALLY be good at multi-tasking….