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Reviews and commentary by Tony Isabella
"America's Most Beloved Comic-Book Writer & Columnist"
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TONY'S ONLINE TIPS
for Friday, February 25, 2005
I had a throw-away line about Congress protecting corporations from class-action lawsuits in Monday's TOT and someone e-mailed me asking for clarification. The line was just meant to amuse, but, since I was asked...
I'm not thrilled with recent legislation designed to push more class-action suits into federal courts where the corporations will presumably gain some advantages. I think the deck is already well and truly stacked in favor of corporations over citizens and that the corporate advantage is getting greater with every moment that the Bush bunch are in charge.
When it comes to class-action suits in specific, I see no need for limits as to either penalties or venues, or at least not limits beyond those which courts are already equipped to determine without any federal interference. These suits arise because corporations, often egregiously, have acted in a manner detrimental to the public well-being and often with malice aforethought. If they cleaned up their acts, they wouldn't get sued.
Okay, yeah, this is America, land of lawyers, and they could still get sued by litigious souls. But such nuisance suits would have less credibility and even someone like me might find himself in the position of rooting for a corporation.
If I have any problem with class-action lawsuits, it's that so much of the awards go to lawyers. I don't begrudge the lawyers a fair payout for their work, but there should be percentage limits on how much of the award pie they can receive. These lawsuits are generally very profitable for the attorneys; they need to find ways to do their job properly for less and to spread more of the wealth to their clients.
I think the important lesson to be learned from this is that you shouldn't expect me to elaborate on every throw-away gag I use in writing these columns. Sometimes I'm just going for the funny, even if I fail to actually get the laugh.
By the way, our opening cartoon is by distinguished political cartoonist Bruce Beattie of the Daytona Beach News-Journal. He is a former president of the National Cartoonist Society and has been on the boards of directors of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, the Newspaper Features Council, and the International Museum of Cartoon Art.
Me? I've been a member of the Merry Marvel Marching Society. Why would anyone even ask for my opinion on class-action lawsuits or anything more serious than whether or not the Hulk is stronger than the Thing?
Let's see what else I have for you today.
******
UNCANNY X-MEN: THE NEW AGE
The title is a mouthful. UNCANNY X-MEN - THE NEW AGE VOL. 1: THE END OF HISTORY [Marvel; $12.99] collects UNCANNY X-MEN #444-449 in trade paperback format. These issues marked the return of Chris Claremont to the book, teaming him with artists Alan Davis and Mark Farmer and Olivier Coipel and Scott Hanna.
I reviewed UNCANNY X-MEN #444-447 in previous installments of this column. You'll find those reviews here:
www.worldfamouscomics.com/tony/back20040624.shtml
and here:
www.worldfamouscomics.com/tony/back20040625.shtml
and here:
www.worldfamouscomics.com/tony/back20040815.shtml
Reviewing "The End of History" arc, I was fairly cautious in my praise. Rereading those issues in this volume didn't change my opinions per se, but those elements which concerned me concern me even more after reading the issues which follow. I'll get to those in a moment.
The trade suffers from the lack of the "what has gone before" pages which appeared in the regular comic books. Given that these trades are likely to be seen by many people who only know the X-Men from the movies, I think an introduction to the characters and the current storyline would be a good and smart thing to have in these collections.
Count me as a fan of Claremont's writing and all the artists who worked with him here. That doesn't mean I don't recognize his flaws. The elements which concerned me most in those issues I read previously were these three:
Dangling and unresolved storylines.
Insufficient background on some characters.
Increasing the power levels of the heroes.
All of those are found in the two Olivier-pencilled issues in this collection. Consider my "This is a concern" elevated to "This is a definite problem" as I discuss those issues and warn you that there are...
SPOILERS AHEAD
"Guess Who's Back In Town?" opens with former Captain Britain Brian Braddock and his wife Megan maybe not dead after all. I say maybe because Rachel Sommers - aka Marvel Girl - gets a glimpse of a different reality and of Brian's crazy reality-altering brother Jamie. She doesn't tell the other X-Men about this or follow up on it herself, which is one heck of a dangling plot. Oh, yeah, there is also no further sign of the Weaponeers who appeared and quickly disappeared in issue #444. That's a second dangling plot in a mere six issues with a third coming up fast.
Viper is the villain of the Coipel issues. I assume this is the former Madame Hydra, but I wouldn't bet the ranch on that. We get almost no background on the bad lady, save that she holds some sort of grudge against Sage and has some history with the Hellfire Club, the dastardly organization introduced when Claremont teamed with John Byrne for some of the most memorable X-Men comic books of all time. I remember them fondly.
What's up with the Hellfire Club these days? Beats the heck out of me. Claremont indicates there's some sort of reorganization (power struggle) going on within the group, but doesn't elaborate on it. The issue ends with what seems to be a budding alliance of Viper, Courtney Ross, and Sebastian Shaw...and Sage lying on a roof with Shaw in the crosshairs of her high-powered rifle. That makes a third dangling plot in six issues. If I were a civilian paying thirteen bucks for this trade paperback, I think I'd want a little more closure than Claremont and company give me here.
Additionally, it bugs me that Viper can threaten London with a nuclear bomb and not be brought to justice. It makes the heroes look bad at the same time their powers are being increased to what I consider absurd levels.
Example: to prevent London from getting nuked, weather-wizard Storm "generates pressures higher than on the surface of Jupiter." Oh, geez, pull the other one, why don't you?
If you make your heroes too powerful, even if they only pull this kind of stunt occasionally, it takes away from the suspense of other perils they might face and further distances them from your readers, many of whom are more-or-less normal human beings. Take it down a notch to keep things interesting.
Despite these flaws, I am still entertained by what Claremont and company are doing in UNCANNY X-MEN. However, my enjoyment will wane if the dangling plots continue to mount and no resolutions are forthcoming...and if the heroes continue to pull extra power out of their posteriors whenever things get dicey.
On our scale of zero to five - see the chart elsewhere on the page - UNCANNY X-MEN - THE NEW AGE VOL. 1: THE END OF HISTORY gets a respectable three Tonys.
******
COMICS IN THE COMICS
You know I love the self-referential humor in comic books and comic strips. Here are some examples:
Jimmy Johnson's ARLO AND JANIS for February 11.
Jim Meddick's MONTY for February 11.
Dan Piraro's BIZARRO for February 23.
More to come, I'm sure.
******
NEW ARRIVALS AND TONY POLLS
In a shameless attempt to curry your favor - and maybe get you to send this website a donation via the handy TIP THE TIPSTER link on this page - I have been listing all the review items I receive on my message board:
www.comicscommunity.com/boards/tony
Posters to the board are encouraged to request reviews of the items they are most interested in and, for those to shy to post, I run frequent ballots on our TONY POLLS page.
Here are some recent results of those ballots:
Which of these items would you most like reviewed in TONY'S ONLINE TIPS?
DC COMICS RARITIES ARCHIVES VOLUME 1.....32.14%
Adam Strange #5.....21.43%
Bizarro World.....14.29%
Adventures of Superman #636.....7.14%
Books of Magick: Life During Wartime Book One.....7.14%
Batman Strikes #6.....3.57%
Birds of Prey #78.....3.57%
Action Comics #824.....1.79%
Authority: Revolution #4.....1.79%
Bloodhound #8.....1.79%
Breach #2.....1.79%
Catwoman #39.....1.79%
Danger Girl: Odd Jobs.....1.79%
Angeltown #4.....0%
Aquaman #27.....0%
Batgirl #60.....0%
Batman: Gotham Knights #61.....0%
Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #188.....0%
Books of Magick: Life During Wartime #7.....0%
Cartoon Network Block Party #5.....0%
I wasn't at all surprised that the DC COMICS RARITIES ARCHIVES was the top vote-getter in this poll. It's the most expensive item on the list and I can see where a potential customer might want a bit of information before buying it. I'll be reviewing it here in within the next week.
I was - at first - surprised by the low level of interest in the Batman books until I realized that, by reviewing every issue of the recent WAR GAMES event, I probably exceeded your interest level in those titles. I do have a hankering to do follow-up reviews of the various Bat-titles just to see where they have gone since WAR GAMES, but I'll space those out over the next month.
I'll have more DC poll results for you in the next edition of TONY'S ONLINE TIPS. In the meantime, you can vote on the current TONY POLLS questions here:
www.worldfamouscomics.com/tony/poll
Thanks for spending a part of your day with me. I'll be back soon with more stuff.
Tony Isabella
<< 02/24/2005 | 02/25/2005 | 02/26/2005 >>
Discuss this column with me at my Message Board. Also, read Heroes and Villains: Real and Imagined.
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THE "TONY" SCALE
ZERO: Burn your money before buying any comic receiving this rating. It doesn't *necessarily* mean there's absolutely nothing of value here - though it *could* - but whatever value it might possess shrinks into insignificance before its overall awfulness.
ONE: Buy something else. Maybe I found something which wasn't completely dreadful in the item, but not enough for me to recommend it when there are better comics available. I only want what's best for you, my children.
TWO: Basic judgment call. I found some value, but not enough to recommend it. My review should give you enough info to decide if you want to take a chance on it. Are you feeling lucky today, punk? Well, are you?
THREE: This denotes something I find perfectly respectable. There are better books out there, but I wouldn't regret buying this item. Based on my review, you should be able to determine if it's of interest to you. Let the Force guide you.
FOUR: I recommend anything earning this rating. Unless you don't like the genre, subject matter, or past work of the creators, I believe you'll enjoy this item. Isn't it uncanny how I can look right into your soul that way?
FIVE: Anything getting this rating is among the best comicdom has to offer. You should buy/read this, even if the genre/subject matter doesn't appeal to you. It's for your own good. Me, I live for comics and books this good...but not in a pathetic "Comic-Book Guy" sort of way.
Please send material you would like me to review to:
Tony's Online Tips
840 Damon Drive
Medina, OH 44256
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