Paging Doctor Aphra

Doctor Aphra - TPB #1 "Aphra"

Kieron Gillen - writer
Kev Walker - artist

One of the more delightful surprises in my reading stack has been Doctor Aphra.  The recent incarnation of Star Wars comics have, overall, been good to excellent.  Marvel has put its full force of top quality writers and artists behind this corner of their comics division.  With Kieron Gillen writing and Kev Walker doing the art, you’d think that this would be a title that everyone is talking about but unfortunately it’s not getting the attention that it deserves.

The best way to describe Doctor Aphra is “a female Indiana Jones set in the Star Wars universe,” or “Tomb Raider in space with a sprinkle of Wookie dipped in the Dark Side.”  The titular character Doctor Aphra appeared as a supporting character in the revamped Star Wars and Darth Vader solo series.  She was hired / forced (depending on how you look at it) to work for Darth Vader.  After her role was complete, I didn’t think much would come of this character.

I put off reading the first trade, titled simply “Ahpra” (collects #1-6), for a while.  I enjoy the Star Wars books but when it comes to reading the offshoot titles, I’ll let them build up and go on a Star Wars binge.  This is when I’ll catch up on the Lando’s, Chewbacca’s, Princess Leah’s, etc. of the Star Wars universe.  Doctor Aphra was such a surprise because it is exciting, funny and expands on her own story.  

Taking place between during the time of the original trilogies, it’s a period we’re familiar with but Aphra’s story isn’t beholden to any of the plot points that sometimes traps the other character’s storylines.  We know where the likes of Luke, Leia, Vader, Solo… are heading but that’s not the case with the dear Doctor.  She’s even amassed her own rag tag crew of Triple-Zero and Beetee (the very evil versions of C-3PO and R2-D2) and the equally villainous Black Krrsantan (evil Chewbacca).  Mix in a few other familiar faces and her own family issues, Doctor Aphra is a great way to explore the universe and tell new stories not involving the Skywalker clan.  With the recent news that Disney is going to make new movies set in the Star Wars universe but are sans-Skywalker centric, this is hopefully the kind of adventures we can expect.    

Thanks, 

WK

@wkbear on Twitter 

Spider-Man: Miles Morales TPB #1 and #2 review

Do you remember when Ultimate Spider-Man first came out?  Not only was Brian Michael Bendis’ quick-witted Sorkin-esque-lite writing refreshing but also this new Spider-Man didn’t have decades of exposition to tip-toe through.  BMB has captured that again with Miles Morales.  This time he’s able to expand storylines and characters by having Spider-Man be a minority.  Additionally, Morales has a few new spider-powers to explore.  And the return of web-shooters is never bad.     

None of this is completely new.  Miles Morales comes from the Ultimate Universe when the Ultimate Peter Parker was killed off (spoiler alert, oops).  Morales quickly became a fan favorite of the Ultimate Universe and was one of the few characters to make the leap to the 616, post Secret Wars company reboot.  

None of this matters when sitting down to read this new series.  All you need to know is;

• Miles Morales is a new Spider-Man still learning his powers
• High School aged
• Black (father) / Hispanic (mother) mix
• His best friend is Ganke (yes, he knows Miles is Spider-Man)
• And he’s already an Avenger

Okay, so that’s kinda a lot, but you’re ready to go.  

I’ve read all of the past Miles Morales stories, including his origin from the Ultimate Universe.  They're enjoyable if you want to go back and read them but you don’t need any of it to start enjoying this series.  

Best read in Trade form due to the occasional issue where nothing happens except character development.  As with most BMB stories, his writing is enjoyable, humorous and most importantly a quick read.  

So far, I really haven’t told you anything you probably don’t already know.  

The real standout, especially through the first Trade, is Sara Pichelli’s art.  With inking assists from Gaetano Carlucci and coloring by Justin Ponsor, the first trade is beautiful.  Pichelli’s ability to handle fast paced dialogue and then transition to double page splash action scenes is fantastic.  The second Trade’s main arc is handled by Nico Leon (art) and Marte Gracia with Rachelle Rosenberg (color), which provide a slight drop-off from Pichelli but still very high quality and a similar style.  

The main drawback is most of the second Trade is bogged down with a Civil War II crossover story.  Join the club Spidey.  I can’t totally rip Marvel for dragging this Spider-Man solo book into the Civil War II storyline when Spider-Man plays a huge roll in the Marvel event but these are definitely the weakest of the 10 issues covered in the two Trades.  There’re also two sub-plots involving Miles’ father and grandmother, the father seeming to be more important to the overall Marvel universe but the grandmother’s is probably the one BMB is more interested in telling and exploring, since it includes BMB staples Jessica Jones and Luke Cage.  To BMB credit, even these “lulls” are good reads and you get through them quickly.  In lesser hands, the subplots and Civil War II tie-in’s would be a mess.

My recommendation is a huge yes.  As someone who is 5+ years behind on all the Dan Slott, Peter Parker Spider-Man stories, this is a great way to jump in a Spidey book that very much is intertwined with the current Marvel Universe.  I hear great things about Slott’s Spider-Man but I haven’t taken the time and effort to get caught up with the Parker world.  Sometimes you just want a good awkward teenaged Spidey who’s just trying to get through school while becoming one of the most iconic superheroes ever.  With BMB and Miles Morales, you can get right in and have fun.

Thanks,

WK

@wkbear on Twitter

Current Obsession = Ryan Ottley

As I do more to keep all you kiddies up to date on what the Bear likes and don't like, I wanted to point out my current obsession with Ryan Ottley's work. He's the regular artist for Invincible and has just been killing it lately. I went back to the beginning of the series to see if his work has always been this good or if I was just noticing it more.

As you know, he didn't become the regular artist until Trade 2 of the series. Even though his earlier work was solid, it was not nearly what it is today. Nothing is better and more fascinating than to see an artist grow. We are truly lucky that he's been able to work on this book for as long as he has and that he's become (and probably strives) to be one of the great comic artists of our generation.

I looked back at his work and it was definitely raw. You can see that he was holding back. It really wasn't until Trade 5 or 6 when you see him really taking off. Now not only do you pick up Invincible for the great story but I can't wait to see what Ottley has created this time around. He shines when it comes to detail but doesn't give any less effort to when he's doing a two page splash either. In fact it seems with the more confidence he gets the more intricate and bigger pictures he challenges himself and us with. With a recent two page splash he not only has a huge picture of Invincible defeating Conquest but in the background he's got box after box of Invincible head butting Conquest into submission. I find myself taking more time to stare at pictures like these than I would to read a regular page of comic. His simplicity of line and his use of the thickness of those lines, he's able to create detail in a very unusual but simple way. His art is so clean but delivers such detail, it proves you don't need a bunch of cross hatching to create the illusion of detail.

If you're not reading Invincible, start. It's a Kirkman book and it's great, so you'll want to start with Trade 1. But take note of the growth of a great artist in Ryan Ottley. He's going to be around for a while and I certainly won't complain about that.

He can also be found recently doing the pencils for the first few books of Haunt where McFarlane does the inks. Very interesting.

Y should I?

Because it's fucking awesome. Y the Last Man is a great comic. If you're a comic book fan, you probably already know this.

I was just doing some house cleaning and was putting away the last TPB of Y the Last Man and, as I so often do, I started to re-read the book. At first I was a little disappointed in the ending. I was hoping for some extreme ending that lived up to how great the book was. After reading the last book again, I realized that it was a prefect ending. There are too many books that just linger on and the endings seems contrived and forced. I know Vaughan needed to wrap the book because of time restraints (such as bring Lost back to greatness, but that's for a different post) and at first I thought that was a pussy way of ending the book. But 60 issues is enough. If you can't say what you want in 10 trades and be happy, you're not that good of a writer.

The more I read the last trade, I feel the whole story wrapping. Yes, it sorta just ended and then you don't see the 30 odd years that happens afterward but that's OK. The deaths of certain Y's friends and @ at the end (I'm not giving anything away it's a monkey and can't possibly live forever), the saddest of all, was OK and I'm OK with it. I love the book. And for someone like me who likes action action action in his books, I really stayed away from this book. I bought the first 4 trades and raged through them. I usually can't get through books that consist of page after page of dialog, but this was such a perfectly written book. Don't get me wrong, it has action. 355, is one of the more bad as characters of all time. And who doesn't like boobies, which this book has a lot of AND lesbians, LESBIANS. The art is simple but goes perfectly with the story. It takes a true artist to give us so many characters that all look different. In so many of my action books, I love the art, but if you changed the costumes on the characters you wouldn't know one big breasted chick from the other. Guerra really does a great job on this type of book.

So if you haven't read this book, get it. Get all 10 trades and enjoy.

Iron Fist

I just finished the first TPB of the new Iron Fist. For the first 3 1/2 books, I wasn't impressed. I've been hearing all this great news about the new Iron Fist. It starts to pick up in the last few books and leaves us at a great spot. We've got a super SUPER powered Danny Rand and some mysterious tournament and a secret book of how to be an even better Iron Fist. It reminds me a little of Harry Potter in an odd way, but there's worse things to be reminded of.

I've got trades 2 and 3, so I'll start on those. I can see why it's getting buzz, but I'll wait and see for the final verdict.

P.S. Not being a regular reader of Daredevil, I'm not quite sure where the bonus pages came from and went to but I can deal with Iron Fist posing at Daredevil, it makes sense in a comic book way. I'm sure the story that leads to this is good. One day, I'll have to get all the trades of the new Daredevil and see what people are talking about.

P.P.S. Really, isn't Iron Fist just Batman with slighly above average super powers? It still can be a good book, but that's my first impression. Except his "Alfred" is a weasel.