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Human Torch #4 New Mutants #3 Runaways #4 Startling Stories: The Thing: Night Falls on Yancy Street #3 (of 4)
Human Torch #4 Writer: Karl Kesel Pencils: Scottie Young Inkers: Joe Seung and Pierre Andre-Dery Marvel Comics, 32 color pages, $2.50
I'm impressed that, out of all the Marvel Comics over the past two years, this one does the best job of portraying the challenges faced by firefighters, including the casual heroism they demonstrate. The sequence where the established guys are teaching the cocky newcomer just what's involved in their everyday work was more gripping than many other less realistic superhero adventures.
Johnny joins the firefighting unit of his old nemesis in order to investigate some strange fireball activity. I'm sure that somewhere in the character's long history someone's done a similar fire-themed story, but it's fresh to me, and it seems a perfect choice for the character.
I'm hoping that the saboteur doesn't turn out to be the obvious choice, a new character introduced this issue, bitter that she can't join the firemen. That would be much too predictable for a writer of Mr. Kesel's abilities, although the lack of other significant female characters is suspicious to me.
New Mutants #3 Writers: Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir Pencils: Keiron Grant Inks: Rob Stull Marvel Comics, 32 color pages, $2.50
My patience with this relaunch is waning. The issue doesn't get off to a good start for new readers, trundling out the nostalgia as the Professor and Dani get maudlin over a picture of the previous team. I felt left out, as character history was discussed without enough context for me to identify who they were talking about. It's likely that most readers are more familiar than I am with the previous versions of the team, but I had the impression that these Tsunami books are supposed to be friendlier to a new audience.
The art is pedestrian, with odd angles and viewpoints chosen to distract attention from stiff, simplistic figures. The classroom, for example, has every seated student in the class drawn in the same pose, a rather unlikely possibility. Blood (from a dog bite) and clothing decay are both shown through a set of black dots. The emotion of the story, which has the potential to be quite involving, is damaged by the lack of any feeling expressed through the figures or scenes.
It's a good thing that the text of the story explains most of the key points to the reader, since the art can't be relied on. More significantly, it kept me at arm's length from the story. I'd have liked the book to have ended two pages earlier than it did, actually, because the sledgehammer spelling-out of the moral of the mutant school, followed by vows to continue the fight, in a conversation held over a former classmate's comatose body, belonged to a bad movie of the week.
I want to like this book, because it seems a more human handling of the teen team concept than many, but it's got to ramp up more quickly and improve the art to keep my attention in a crowded field.
Runaways #4 Writer: Brian K. Vaughan Penciler: Adrian Alphona Inker: David Newbold Marvel Comics, 32 color pages, $2.50
Every time I think I can predict the next revelation, I'm surprised by something more interesting. This issue has the parents more directly interacting with their kids, now that they've been tipped off by the cops. I can't say too much about specifics, because a lot of the fun of the ride is shock at what happens next.
The art still doesn't live up to the quality of the writing. It's competent, but not exciting. The most visually distinctive sequences are made that way in large part by the use of color (handled by Brian Reber) instead of anything special about the illustrations. Worse than that, one of the cliffhanger plot points simply isn't illustrated at all through most of the issue.
I like these well-rounded kids, and I stay interested in what's going to happen to them next. It's a bit odd that a book in a line geared for collections is so dependent on issue-to-issue suspense, but right now, that makes it a terrific monthly read.
Startling Stories: The Thing: Night Falls on Yancy Street #3 (of 4) Writer: Evan Dorkin Pencils: Dean Haspiel Inks: Dean Haspiel and Wade VonGrawbadger Marvel Comics, 40 color pages, $3.50
I'm guessing that the mere mention of the Ultimate Nullifier explains the non-continuity Startling Stories tag on this story. Or maybe it's the emphasis on torture, I don't know. Anyway, while I'm curious to see how Ben finds his way out of this one, what I found most interesting about this issue was seeing Mr. Haspiel's pencils inked by someone else. The second half of the book has Dean's distinctively thick, active line handled more delicately, which showed me just how skilled both artists are. It was easier for me to see the classic structure underlying Dean's work by noting what changed and what stayed constant. His art was also made prettier than usual, which suited the soap opera nature of the plot, I thought.
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