100 Bullets Vol. 3 Hang Up on the Hang Low Trade Paperback Review

100 Bullets Vol. 3 - Hang Up on the Hang Low

DC Comics - Vertigo

Softcover Trade Paperback

128 pages

$14.99 (2001)

ISBN 9781563898556

Contributors: Brian Azzarello, Eduardo Risso, Clem Robins, Trish Mulvihill, Digital Chameleon, and covers by Dave Johnson

Reprints: 100 Bullets #15-19

Synopsis: Loop is a wannabe gangsta always getting into trouble.  His father skipped out on his mom when he was a baby and Loop never knew him.  One night Agent Graves shows up and gives Loop a briefcase containing one untraceable gun, 100 untraceable bullets, information on his father, and the guarantee he will not be prosecuted by the law.  

Naturally Loop looks up his deadbeat dad and puts the gun in his face.  Well, Curtis Hughes ain't no pushover.  He's a mob enforcer with a mysterious past connected to Graves.  That can't be good for Loop who gets his ass handed to him by his old man.

The two strike up a tentative relationship as Curtis brings Loop along on his jobs to teach him how to make it as a gangster.  Loop is a hot-blooded youngster quick to draw his gun and his old man teaches him to even his temper. 

Just as the pair are finally beginning to reconcile events take a nasty turn.  A routine job goes sideways leaving Curtis to choose between his newly established bond with his son and the loyalty for his mob boss.  Will he choose blood or self-preservation?  You just know there won't be a happy ending. 

Pros: One single storyline in this volume, Risso's art continues to be top notch - feels kinetic and urban, Azzarello's plot and writing are near perfect - the gangsta talk actually sounds okay, Johnson's covers continue to be solid, this story won an Eisner award in 2001 for Best Serialized Story - now that's impressive!

Cons: Somewhat unrealistic in several parts (but reminded me of a good pulp action flick), readers need to be familiar with previous volumes to understand the full story (although somewhat standalone)

Mike Tells It Straight: This series keeps getting better with each successive collection.  It really helped to have one single coherent story in this volume and an Eisner award winner to boot.  Azzarello and Risso craft a gut-wrenching crime noir tale within the conspiracy theory of Agent Graves' briefcase test.

This book can almost be read standalone, but new readers will only get about 90% of the story - continuing readers with the first two volumes under their belts will be treated to a nice layering of converging sub-plots.  A lot of skill went into this story by both creators.

The characters are basically urban crime caricatures (this is comics after all and caricatures are essential in a visual medium), but you can instantly identify with them and Azzarello builds from there.  I really disliked Loop's character at first, but by the end of the book he made a complete turnaround (kind of like Dizzy Cordova from the first volume).  If you read the first two volumes and were on the fence then this storyline will pull you back in.

 

TO BUY and Recommendations:

Secret History of the Authority: Hawksmoor Trade Paperback Review

Secret History of the Authority: Hawksmoor
DC Comics - Wildstorm
Softcover Trade Paperback
144 pages
$19.99 (2009)
ISBN 9781401222079

Contributors: Mike Costa, Fiona Staples, Rob Leigh, and covers by Cully Hamner


Reprints: Secret History of the Authority: Hawksmoor #1-6 (of 6)


Synopsis: Jack Hawksmoor was human once.  It was before he was abducted into the future and had his insides rebuilt in order to commune with the cities.  See, in the future, Earth is one big city from horizon to horizon and the cities have a life of their own.  The future people who altered Jack knew one of their cities would go rogue one day and try to destroy the past.  They wanted to stop it and created an ultimate weapon - a being who draws strength from the cities, could absorb nourishment from pollution, no longer needed to sleep, could shape the cities' very surfaces to their will, and was so connected to the cities that they would die outside of urban environments.

Jack in the City by the Bay

Jack Hawksmoor was human once, but now he serves the cities - as protector, as savior.  Jack hates San Francisco.  His life was forever altered in the Bay Area, but Jack is drawn back to the scene of tragedy again and again.  He searches for some sign to make sense of his hurt past.  It never comes, but he always returns.

On this trip he stops a giant robot from Sliding Albion from destroying the Golden Gate bridge.  Easy enough for a god of the cities.  Then a strange thing happens - he encounters a dead space inside the city where a murder happened.  Investigating further he encounters a beautiful woman who washed out of Stormwatch.

They investigate the murder and run into strange men with the power to stop Jack from communing with the city.  The men know of his past and have a clandestine mission.  They are from the future!  Jack must solve the mystery of his origin while courting love or disaster.


Pros: Decent art by Staples, okay covers by Hamner, we get Hawksmoor's origin


Cons: Dialogue is atrocious - people from the future should speak differently than us, plot is weak, art is so-so

Costa gives us awesome dialogue like this

Mike Tells It Straight: Gone are the glory days of The Authority when Warren Ellis introduced us to the next generation of comics in ultra-violent, widescreen format.  Long since the time of Ellis and his successor Mark Millar (who authored Jenny Sparks: Secret History of the Authority) we are left with an unknown (at least to me) writer's attempt at Jack Hawksmoor's origin.

It's a meager effort and the plot doesn't mesh in a coherent manner.  The future people who altered Jack to become a god of the cities are revealed to be complete idiots.  I had high expectations for this story after being a Stormwatch and Authority fan while those two books were in their prime.

This book is a far cry from Jenny Sparks' origin and leaves a lot to be desired.  If you're an Authority completist then pick up the book, otherwise it doesn't add much to Hawksmoor's or the team's history.


TO BUY and Recommendations:

Booster Gold Vol. 2 Blue and Gold Hardcover Review

Booster Gold Vol. 2 - Blue and Gold
DC Comics
Hardcover
160 pages
$24.99 (2008)
$14.99 (2009) TPB
ISBN 9781401219567

Contributors: Geoff Johns, Jeff Katz, Dan Jurgens, Norm Rapmund, Hi-Fi, and Randy Gentile


Reprints: Booster Gold #0, 7-10, and #1,000,000


Synopsis: Booster Gold was a self-centered superhero in the 21st century who originally time-traveled from the 25th century with future-tech to gain fame and fortune after being a loser in his own time.  After the events of 52 he became the greatest hero you've never heard of!  He now protects the timestream with Rip Hunter, Time Master!

OMAC plays with it's food

Booster has abused his time-travelling privileges in order to save his best friend, Ted Kord aka the Blue Beetle, from death at the hands of Maxwell Lord prior to the happenings of Infinite Crisis.  Rip Hunter tried to teach Booster the impossibility of changing the past, but the bond of friendship mixed with tragedy proved too strong to resist.

Time goes haywire and events shift with Blue Beetle's escape from oblivion - Maxwell Lord is not stopped by Wonder Woman before unleashing his O.M.A.C. (Observational Metahuman Activity Construct) army against all metahumans in the world.  Heroes and villains alike are killed, the Justice League falls, and it's up to the old team of Blue and Gold to save the day!

We get a retelling of Booster's origin before the two adventurers attempt to stop Maxwell Lord.  Things don't go as planned as Max has enslaved Superman with his psychic powers.  How can they possibly stop Big Blue?  Maxwell Lord is just the tip of the iceberg as the true villains show themselves - the Time Stealers!

They include Booster's estranged father - Supernova!?  What terrible secret does he hold (in his ear) and can Ted Kord possibly live with himself at the price of so many other heroes?


Pros: Rapmund's finished art over Jurgens is decent, great colors (probably the best thing about this book are the bright colors), nostalgia for Justice League International days, lively plot, great use of past storylines like Zero Hour and DC One Million, their friendship is touching (yet very ambiguously gay duo)

Okay, so it's not Maxwell Lord

Cons: Jurgens art remains blocky and weak, story continues to jump around (hey, it's time travel), Dan Katz, dialogue is bland/hokey


Mike Tells It Straight:  I'm a sucker for any dystopian superhero alternate reality story (Age of Apocalypse, Kingdom Come, Earth X, JLA: Rock of Ages to name a few).  Johns and Katz attempt their own version while pulling in hypertime from Zero Hour and the far-flung future with DC One Million tie-ins.  I absolutely love the fact they used these old storylines with specially numbered issues.

Great (but highly unlikely) reunion of the JLI and Jurgens' drawings under Rapmund's finishes are mildly palatable.  The colors really save the book and are very bright.  I liked this second volume better than the first - more happened and it had a lot of explanations.  Good continuation to the 52 storyline, but I'm really curious to see how long this book will last (as of this review I think it has ended) since Booster is a relatively unknown character.

If you liked 52 then you will continue to dig the exploits of Booster Gold in these pages.  This second volume is better than the first due to lots of non-stop action without a pause (for the reader to question what the heck is going on).  High energy, mainstream superhero fare.  Incredibly shallow, but potentially addicting and a solid mid-range book.  




TO BUY and Recommendations:
 

The Zombie Simon Garth Trade Paperback Review

The Zombie: Simon Garth
Marvel Comics
Softcover Trade Paperback
96 pages
$13.99 (2008)
ISBN 9780785127512

Contributors: Kyle Hotz, Eric Powell, Dan Brown, and Joe Caramagna


Reprints: The Zombie: Simon Garth #1-4 (of 4)


Synopsis: A disoriented woman awakens after a terrible car accident on a deserted country road.  Her daughter is missing and she desperately enters the woods to search.  She is set upon by a pair of disgusting in-bred hillbillies, but miraculously rescued by a shambling horror wearing a name tag reading 'Simon'.

When we last saw Simon Garth, the former bank teller experienced the worst day of his life.  His bank was robbed and he was taken hostage by a pair of bloodthirsty thieves.  Things got worse as the unlucky group stumbled upon an army experiment gone awry.  A highly contagious virus transformed a group of soldiers and any unwitting bystanders into mindless killing machines in pursuit of flesh.  Simon managed to stop the bank robbers, but was infected by the virus and evacuated by an army scientist.

Their helicopter crashes and the virus spreads again in an isolated small town.  Investigating the strange occurrence is the town's sheriff.  He finds a man who survived the car crash and also looking for a girl.  Hell descends upon the town and all of the players converge in an effort to survive.

The army scientist barely escapes the crash and manages to make contact with his superiors - will help arrive in time?  The man from the car crash knows the woman and missing little girl - what is his dark secret which endangers the entire group?  Simon Garth ambles through the forest - does he remember his former self or is he consumed by the insatiable violence of the virus?

Just another town hall meeting...of zombies

Pros: Art by Hotz is perfectly fit for this tale of zombie horror, story is logical progression from previous mini-series, ending was decent and left room for another sequel, retains the MAX rating with cursing and bloody gore, entertaining with a few plot twists


Cons: Characters are mostly one-dimensional, Simon Garth doesn't talk and his character really doesn't do much except react (must have been a helluva challenge to write), cannibal hillbillies, not as good as the first story (most sequels aren't), short - disposable entertainment


Mike Tells It Straight: Following up on the hidden gem Zombie, Kyle Hotz takes over the writing reigns (with an assist from Eric Powell - known for writing horror-comic The Goon) from Mike Raicht as well as his usual horror-tinged artwork.  You can really tell Hotz went all out for this story - he does a great job.

It's a logical continuation of the first mini-series where Simon Garth is reintroduced with a modern spin.  His original stories had him suffer a voodoo curse and be susceptible to control through a mystical amulet worn around his neck (yeah, it was the '70s).  The old modus operandi is cast aside for the currently popular zombie plague apocalypse.

If you liked the first mini-series then this is a decent continuation which brings Simon Garth back to his status quo as a shambling, mute-yet-benevolent zombie.  Hotz does a great job and shows some potential with his writing.  Overall the story is not as good as the first one, but is still a passable zombie offering.  I'm a sucker for an offbeat horror story and give this a fair recommendation.

TO BUY and Recommendations: