THE GOON #39

Review by: akamuu

What did the
iFanboy
community think?

115
Pulls
Avg Rating: 4.4
 
Users who pulled this comic:
Users who reviewed this comic:
Writer: Eric Powell
Artist: Eric Powell
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Cover Artist: Eric Powell

Size: 32 pages
Price: 3.50

(Under the tyrannical influence of Mexican cola and a mostly subpar quesadilla, Akamuu is pairing his comics this week, reading two comics, comparing them, contrasting them, and then writing two reviews of each. His mother misses him, and wishes he’d call more, instead of wasting his time writing comic reviews.)

“Franky, there’s something I must tell you. In my youth, amongst my tribe of warrior Eskimos, I was bitten by a radioactive Narwhal. And from that day forwards, I’ve known: with great strength comes a crippling case of Hemorrhoids*.” “I thought you said you were Puerto Rican.” “This is the reboot. Keep up, Franky.”

Every week or so, I get the crippling desire to read an entire run of a comic that I haven’t looked at in a while. As serendipity would have it, I spent this weekend reading The Goon, which was helpful for this review, and 20th Century Boys, which was not.

It’s because I just refamiliarized myself with The Goon that I feel like I can say, this is not his best issue, without worrying that I am waxing nostalgic for his early run.

Don’t misunderstand, this is funny, but it’s sometimes too winky in its humor. But while I do enjoy Eric Powell’s writing, the main appeal of The Goon, for me, always been Powell’s art. Occasionally, an issue of The Goon would include both his usual spare panel layout and perfectly shadowed inks (enhanced, of course, by David** Stewart’s lush colors), with a few pages of Powell’s stark pencil sketches. Combined with Powell’s meticulously*** painted covers, the man has always shown range. But the multiple costume changes of Superhero The Goon show him to be rangier than we imagined. A little Nightwing here, a little Spawn there, a Thorish touch to the left, some Tin Woodsman on the right…classy stuff. There’s even a two page spread that I’m pretty sure Erik Larsen could sue him for.

By contrast, Adam Kubert and Stuart Immonen’s work on AvX: Vs. plays purely to their narrow strengths. Kubert’s photo referenced panels with their eye popping color look great. The panel layout is very summer movie storyboard. And, were this comic done with actual ink, instead of computer pallets, I imagine his local Blick store would be super low and space blue, and Magneto red.

Immomen’s work is more classic looking. (He employs a KRAKK! sound effect, where Powell preferred a DOUCHE!****) The muddy green and brown Marvel watch that was so popular during Dark Reign, is here in full force. It makes sense here, because most of the fight is underwater, but it just reminds me of a time when I hated the look of all Marvel comics. His fish, though, is awesome. And how the Thing uses it to ***** is hilarious.

Whereas The Goon’s busy cover is a perfect introduction to the interior content, AvX: Vs’s cover is really a poor reflection of the inside story. I don’t mind the giant banner splitting the issue, but it’s be nice if Marvel let the cover artist have as much fun with Vs, as they let the creative times between the covers.******

The scores below apply only to this issue of The Goon. My rating for AvX: Vs #1 can be found on that review.

*-This is the first time, in my arduous and mostly overlooked writing career that I’ve spelled Hemorrhoids correctly without consulting either Dictionary.com or Frank Miller’s biography.

**-I also refer to The Monty Python actor as Jonathan Cleese. Neither of them return my calls.

***-There is a sale at The Overwrought Adverb Store For Bloggers until Thursday at nine. Get them while they’re flamingly hot.

****-That’s merely the sound effect he uses. I am fortunate enough to lack any knowledge of his personal hygiene habits.

*****-Content removed by Special Agent River Song of the Spoiler Removal Network

******-Between the covers of the comic books. I am blissfully unaware of Kathryn and Stuart Immonen’s sex life, which I hope is fantastic. *******

*******-I had to consult Wikipedia to make sure they are, in fact, a couple, and I wasn’t encouraging incest of any kind.

Story: 3 - Good
Art: 5 - Excellent

Comments

  1. Any review that works River Song into the footnotes gets my vote.

Leave a Comment