G.I. Gary’s Pull List Pick of the Week 7/20/17
This go around, I’ve got TWO picks of the week. Both surprised me for different reasons. One not good…
“Rom / Transformers Shining Armor”#1
Writers: Christos Gage and John Barber
Artist:Josh Perez
Kicking off a limited series between two Hasbro properties is a space adventure from before the Transformers landed on earth. The premise is Rom saves a lone Cybertronian survivor, Stardrive, from a crash who is then raised by the Solstar Order to becomes a space knight beside Rom. This book feels more than just a setup for someone taking two playthings from the toybox and having them battle. This is a great origin story for Stardrive. More than just a fish out of water story, Barber and Gage definitely let it be known what other races think of the Cybertronians, and the struggles she lives with. Her origin doesn’t seem to be complete, and I’m looking forward to them revealing more. Another bonus is that it’s great to see Autobots and Decepticons battling, rather than the post war politicking period currently portrayed in the other Transformers comics. Rom retains his idealistic viewpoints that makes him a paragon of virtue as one would expect of a seasoned(Solstar)knight. Josh Perez uses classic designs on the Transformers, so it’s easy to identify the characters and lays it out pretty sequentially with some nice detailed splash pages. I wasn’t expecting much out of this book, but obviously I was pleasantly surprised.
“Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe Again”
Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist: Dalibor Talajic
So Deadpool has killed the Marvel Universe before. It was really popular. It set off a trilogy with “Deadpool Killustrated” and finally with “Deadpool Kills Deadpool” They all felt fresh and a reasonably unique take on the genre. Deadpool also retained the personality we have been familiar with since his third series. So Marvel has returned to make another series, but do it differently. After reading the first issue, and it feeling a bit off, I figured I’d give the second issue a shot(besides I’ve already ordered the complete mini through Previews). What felt odd to me in the first issue, was only enhanced in the second issue. The setup is stale. Bunn is trying to paint the picture of Deadpool’s dilemma, where his gifts are out of his control and being used for evil by a team of super villains. Talajic’s art doesn’t convey that Deadpool was ever a hero, making him look like a haggard cosplayer with an unwashed costume. There is no sense of conflict inside of Deadpool other than the contrast between the real world and the fantasy world inside his head. The deaths seem to be in a more realistic style now than previously, but if feels played for shock value, but it neither shocks or surprises. However,there is one good effort with parodying the old Hostess treat ads featured heavily in comic books from the 1980s, I’ll give them that. There’s a team of superheroes trying to detective their way to solving the crime, but everyone present is one dimensional and serving a specific purpose. There’s a particular scene where Deadpool kills a superhero in front of their child. Reading it I was disgusted with the way it was presented. Then the aftermath portrayed felt self serving and not weighing the gravitas of what happened. Even the heroes here are bleak. Nothing feels different. The whole comic feels like it’s an overstuffed recycle bin from the “House of Ideas” where a whole bunch of really good premises from lauded story lines just got jammed into a depressing Deadpool comic for sales on a sequel that is unneeded.
Until next week!
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