Format Changes Coming Soon

I'm working on some changes to the blog but will be back up and running very shortly.

Be sure to check back here at nerdthenewcool.blogspot.com and follow me on twitter @nerdisnewcool for the latest updates and the new schedule.

Until then, Nerd Is the New Cool, signing off.

Lady Rawhide #1 (New Comic Day #4)

Admittedly, I was never a fan of Topps’s Zorro or its spinoff Lady Rawhide.  Though the latter did have a couple of visuals that improved it over the former, so I was reluctant to pick this first issue/reboot up.  And I should have gone with my gut. 

I did manage to read it all, which is saying something, as the writer Eric Trautmann was a bit long winded and boring in his narrative and his dialog was a cross between hackneyed and cliché. 

But let’s start with the art.  The internals by Milton Estevam were so-so.  Foreground characters, especially Lady Rawhide, are very crisp and clean – except in a flashback sequence, which still looks good and stands as a valid choice thematically – but background characters and scenery are almost added in as an afterthought.  In most cases, they do more to detract from the issue than add to it – many images would look better had Estevam not even bothered. 

Added to this is an almost complete lack of visual differentiation between minor characters, and all the points Estevam earns with his depictions of Lady Rawhide.  Ditko detractors will offer comparison to his inability to draw more than four or five standard character appearances, while his fans will counter with Estevam’s lack of the charm and nostalgia in Ditko’s work.

Worse still, an early establishing image of a train which is treated almost as a character – and a main character at that – is so poorly executed as to be insulting to the art of comic book art. 

Better is the wonderful cover by Joseph Michael Linsner – the color version is good, but the Black and White version is much more stunning.  Linsner’s Lady Rawhide is much different than Estevam’s – most noticeably in her lack of certain super exaggerated, gravity defying assets, in a time long before the necessary advancements had been made in silicone technology to support them. 

My favorite image of the book however is on the inside front cover – a partial picture of Rawhide in gray, white, and red, which is very invocative of what can only be (to my eye at least) a heavy influence from Marvel’s Electra to Lady Rawhide’s character/costume design. 

You may have noticed I’ve spend an inordinate amount of time on the art of this book, this is not by accident, but by design.  As mentioned above, Trautmann’s writing leaves much to be desired.  The pacing is off, things happen more to be and look cool than for a coherent reason, certain actions by our heroine make her seem foolish if not downright stupid, and many other characters behave in incomprehensible ways.  Add to this a page six shocking revel that is so easily seen coming as to be an affront to the reader’s intelligence, especially when it was a neat enough thing stand on its own without the wanted “OMG!” factor. 

Some of Lady Rawhide’s internal dialogue and banter shows the promise of possibly developing into something interesting or at least entertaining, but Trautmann does not quiet hit that mark here. 

2/5 Stars (3/5 if just considering the art)         Excellent Jumping on Point

Rated T for Teen (Western and Adventure Violence, some Language but in Spanish)

Nerd Survey: How do you watch TV

Howdy, Nerds and Geekgirls,

There will be no new Nerdy Top Ten today.  I started writing this as a This Nerd's Life, but decided at the last second to make it a new feature instead.  Thus, we here at Nerd is the New Cool, proudly welcome you to our first ever blog length Nerd Survey. 

I have from time to time posted quick Nerd Survey entries on my twitter feed (@nerdisnewcool) with minimal response, but this is my first long entry.

Background first.  My wife and I are contemplating booting the cable company out of the apartment, but aren't sure what to do from there.  There are a number we like but only a couple of must sees, Doctor Who being the biggest current show and Agents of SHIELD being the most important upcoming one.

So my question to you is: How do you watch TV shows?

1. The old fashioned way, on live TV
2. The new old fashioned way, on TiVo or some such
3. Buy seasons on DVD
4. Hulu or HuluPlus
5. Amazon
6. Netflix
7. Some other way

Anyway, I'd love to here from you, feel free to comment below or message me on twitter.

Until next time, Nerd is the New Cool, signing off.  

P.S. be sure to follow me on twitter @nerdisnewcool for the latest Nerd Surveys, This Nerd's Life Dailies, Quickies, and more Nerdy content.  

Twisted Tales 1 (Reader Copies #2)

Greetings Nerds and Nerdettes and welcome to this week’s exciting edition of Reader Copies.  Today we will be looking at the first issue of Bruce Jones’s classic Tales from the Crypt-esque anthology series Twisted Tales from Pacific Comics (aka PC).

This series is one of my all-time favorite 80s titles, probably is my favorite 80s horror title.  Writer-Creator Jones is one of the modern comic/horror icons.  He first made his bones at Warren writing for Creepy and Eerie.  He also spent time at Marvel writing for Ka-Zar and Conan.  But it is here with Twisted Tales and its sister title Alien Worlds that Jones truly shines. 

This issue, while not the greatest in the anthology’s run, is wonderfully, gorily fun.  This issue, like most of the ones that follow, features four short horror tales all written by Jones. 

The cover, signed JOCO – often attributed to opening story artist Richard Corben – features a big busted blonde bimbo holding a door closed against a horde of ravenous – or possibly horny – undead.  It kinda reminds me of that Evil Dead would have looked like if it had starred Loni Anderson.  This is the artistic high point of this initial issue. 

The four tales inside range in quality from a bland opener to a comical tale about fairy tales come to life.  The bland opener, “Infected” – told in second person which comes off very annoying (second person can be good when done right, but here at least Jones doesn’t pull it off) – concerns a loan collector hooking up with one of the women he came to collect from.  The story features a twist ending – as do many of Jones’s tales – but part of the twist is achieved by not telling the reader something early on that the main character is told.  Already something of a no-no in good viewpoint fiction, made worse by the constant narrative “you.” 

The art in this story is the worst of the lot, almost unforgivingly so.  It features stereotypical depictions of some ethnic characters, odd angles (which it uses to good effect in one scene, but abuses elsewhere), horribly drawn silhouettes, and ridiculous looking monsters.  

The second story, “Out of His Depth,” features a better, yet hackneyed, story of deception, murder, and revenge.  Drawn by Alfredo Alcala, this story features slightly better art than the first, which harkens back to the art of Tales from the Crypt, which works well with this tales that could easily have been lifted from that title. 

The next story is by far the best of this issue, “A Walk in the Woods.”  This tale features a married couple, lost in the German backwoods, travelling through a land of dark fairly tales.  The art, by Bret Blevins, is on par with Alcala’s from the previous story, and works well with the dark yet light hearted tone of the piece. 

The final tale, “All Hallows,” is similar in theme to “Out of His Depth” as it is a undead-return-for-revenge story, but is much darker and more removed from the ironic and moralistic tales of EC’s horror titles, being more disturbing and less forgiving.  True, like the tales of EC, the guilty are here punished, in full and in kind, but perhaps unlike those tales, and unlike in “Out of His Depth” the guilty here was more deserving of forgiveness and life, possibly even more deserving than some of the survivors of this story and of “Infected.”   The art, here by Tim Conrad, may be the best of the four stories, but is somehow lifeless and absent the moodiness of Blevins or the nostalgia of Alcala. 

 The four stories depicted here already show the gore and violence of Jones’s later issues, but it is much less dominate than it will be in future issues.  Also, missing in large part is Jones’s characteristic nudity and sexuality – though both do appear briefly.  In later issues – partly thanks to better art, partly to a more refined since of self – Jones et al, will reach their stride and create one of the best horror anthologies in the history of comics.  The promise of that greatness is here, but still just out of grasp. 

3/5 Stars (Individual stories range from 2 to 4 stars, with the 4s outnumbering the 2s)

Excellent Jumping on Point (Non-sequential anthology)

Not rated but Mature (Sex, Nudity, Violence, Gore, and some Language)

Until next time,

This is Nerd is the New Cool, signing off.  

New Comic Day (Late): Captain Midnight 1

Captain Midnight 1 was recommended to me by the clerk at a local comic shop.  It’s a beautiful piece and it did manage to get me involved with the story.  But that was as far as it went.  I remember there being parts of it that I liked and parts that I didn’t but they are gone now.  In a moment I’ll start flipping through it to find some points to reference, but for now, I can’t remember much that redeems or condemns it, and that alone is after something to condemn it.

The title suffers from all the things that make a modern comic good and all the things that make one bad.  I’m sure that if I’d read the other issues (don’t let the big #1 on the cover fool you, this is far from the beginning of the story.  A recently released issue 0 reprints Captain Midnight’s previous appearances, but I haven’t read it), the complex and largely unexplained back story would make more sense, but as I haven’t there are several gaps in my understanding of things.  Now don’t over read that last bit, I was able to follow the story for what it was, but this isn’t what I’d call a great jumping on point.  Not a big seller for a first issue (again, had a known about issue 0 before things might have been different, so we’ll give that one a slide). 

The hero suffers from Post-Watchmen syndrome.  He is human.  Something I expect my superheroes to be more than.  For example, in the opening WWII-era sequence, Captain Midnight’s actions put a villain in danger.  And Midnight, stands back and lets him die, saying “this isn’t what I wanted…but I wasn’t going to risk my life for a criminal like him.” Can you imagine Spider-Man or Superman saying that? 

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll give Watchmen its due.  It’s a great comic.  So are The Dark Knight Returns and a dozen others of their ilk.  And the modern Hero can be dark and violent.  Wolverine is a wonderful example.  Dark Horse, in fact, has done it very well with several of their characters.  X and Ghost stand out as fine examples to me.  But looking at this comic, I wasn’t expecting gruff and violent.  And maybe that is Joshua Williamson and Fernando Dagnino’s point: a juxtaposed look at the “bright shinny hero” behaving like the dark and mysterious.  A real world guy.  But I ask you do we need another real world guy in comics?  Watchmen, Frank Miller’s Batverse and Sin City, Comics Greatest World, Ultimate Marvel, Astro City (which I openly admit to loving)… What does Captain Midnight add to the genre that these books don’t already fulfill? 

Too many comics nowadays are either staring “heroes” no better than the villains (many worse than the villains of the sixties and seventies.  A good example of this, as pointed out recently to me by my good friend RA Jones, is Henry Pym, a hero, who – among other things – stuck his wife while suffering a mental breakdown; something the character has yet to live down over thirty years later).  I ask again, do we need another violent hero? 

But enough of the bad, what about the good? 

As I said before, the book is beautiful.  The cover art is just that, Art.  The interiors are standard quality, on par with most everything coming out of Marvel and DC, maybe even better than most, though far from the best I’ve seen in the last few years. 

The supporting characters (and villains) stand out more to me than the titular hero (perhaps because he was only on 8 of the 22 pages and on two of those only barely).  The first up is 1940s villain Ivan Shark, he is a very standard Nazi villain, reminiscent of the Red Skull, Vandal Savage, and their kind, but while he is something of a standard baddie, he is well executed and his disappearance from the story is felt.  But the emergence of true big bad Fury Shark shows much promise; she had less screen time than Midnight (four pages) but is far more interesting and memorable.  Finally, Montoya…I mean, Maj. Charlotte Ryan is the standard tough as nails cop soldier.  Charlotte was by far the star of the issue (with 14 pages) and is shaping up to be the reader’s loyal (the character their allegiance is firmly placed with). 

Rounding out the cast are Joyce Ryan (Charlotte’s grandmother) who was one of Midnight’s sidekicks in the 40s, Agent Jones and Officer Rick Marshall (Marshall is Charlotte’s ex-husband) the two main government agents on Midnights trail, and several of Fury Shark’s lackies who could rise to more prominence or simply disappear. 

Overall, the art – especially at its grandest moments such as Charlotte’s rock climbing scene and the establishing shots of Secret Squadron HQ and the Nazi base at the North Pole – coupled with a somewhat gripping story and a few standout characters, isn’t enough to save the book for me.  Much like a lot of creator owned comics from the 90s, this book is a mediocre story in beautiful packaging. 

2.5/5 stars.                   Average Jumping on Point                  Unrated but Violent

Until next time, Nerd is the New Cool, signing off