PROPAGANDA Reviews: Ultimate Human # 1

Ultimate Human #1

by Warren Ellis and Cary Nord

This is Ultimate Hulk Vs Ultimate Iron Man by another name and it’s a comic specifically designed to be out in collected form by the time both characters’ films come out. But thankfully a crass marketing ploy is saved by its high quality creators.

It’s pretty much everything you’d expect really. From Warren Ellis, from the Ultimate Universe and from two big powerful superheroes pounding the crap out of each other.

Bruce Banner (The Hulk) turns up at Tony Stark’s (Iron Man) penthouse and begs for Stark’s help in ridding his body of the Hulk cells that trigger the transformation into his psychotic, murderous, rampaging alter-ego. And the key to all this, according to Banner, is the miraculous nanotechnology that Stark uses to control his Iron Man suit and could in theory tell the Hulk cells to switch off.

(Bruce Banner seeks Tony Stark’s help with a simple plea that sobers him up in the first issue of Ultimate Human by Warren Ellis, with art by Cary Nord and colours by Dave Stewart)

Which is such a handy solution that Stark immediately heads off to his heavy testing base and decides the only way to test the theory properly is to force Banner to turn into the Hulk by exposing him to the atmospheric conditions of the planet Venus.

Which isn’t the best idea Stark ever had… Its Hulk Vs Iron Man, so fighting was always going to be on the agenda. A comic where Stark actually manages to cure Banner would be a little boring and short. Throw in an old Warren Ellis Marvel character in Pete Wisdom as the Ultimate version of one of Hulk’s oldest foes – a veritable Leader of men indeed – and it’s a recipe for a good old fashioned bit of fighty-fighty, hitty-hitty.

Like almost everything Ellis writes for Marvel (with the exception of the huge slab of bilious fun that was NEXTwave) and particularly the Ultimate Marvel stuff he’s responsible for, Ultimate Human is no more than two minutes reading at best. Cary Nord’s biggest page is just 6 panels, and nearly all of the pages in this first issue are three large horizontal panels. Luckily they’re very nice panels; his art does everything you want it to, it’s full of energy but covers basic anatomy and panel design well and, most importantly for this sort of book, moves the action along with style and gusto.

To be honest I’d feel a little jyped if I’d have bought the thing. It’s a throwaway thing, a terribly quick and yet entertaining read. And I can’t help but think that somewhere along the line writers like Ellis doing this super decompressed style of book are just going to have to bypass the comic altogether and bring the stuff out directly to book form, because that’s the only way I can see something like this being in any way satisfying in the long term.

(“Your bloodwork just frightens me. Synthetic hormones? If you ever had kids they’d make their way out of their unlucky wombs on flippers and tentacles…” Even in human form Banner pays a huge cost for his experiments; either that or he’s been eating too many GM foodstuffs)

But aside from that there’s very little wrong with Ultimate Human. It’s packed with the usual Ellis standards; sharp dialogue, fast pacing and a love of future tech. One of the best bits of this, for me at least) is the moment of the change from Banner to Hulk where Ellis plays with the idea of super-biology:

“He’s growing new cells at an impossible rate – new muscle, new nerves, whole new internal organs – there’s carbon Fullerenes in his skin.”

“He just grew a thicker skeleton and a new array of deep musculature in front of us.”

“His system’s adapting to the antidote. New stress is just making him stronger. I don’t think I like it when he’s angry.”

(the painful nature of having your entire body reworked becomes apparent in this scene from Ultimate Human #1, written by Warren Ellis, art by Cary Nord, (c) Marvel)

And this is exactly what puts Warren Ellis writing a Marvel book just that little bit above the norm. It’s the way he takes a character and makes you think just a little bit more about the things they do. In all the years I’ve known of the Hulk I never really thought that deeply about the physiological aspects of the change from puny Banner to Hulk. Ellis did a similar thing with Ultimate Fantastic Four with a look at the physiology of Mr Fantastic and now he’s doing it with Ultimate Hulk and Ultimate Iron Man. But he cleverly never lets it get in the way of telling a great, fast story.

So if you’re in the market for something entertaining and what promises to be a fun bit of big hitters hitting each other to a background of Ellis’ near obsessive love of future tech you’re in for a treat.

Originally posted on PROPAGANDA at the FPI Blog here.

PROPAGANDA Reviews: Doctor 13

Doctor 13 – Architecture & Mortality

Brian Azzarello
Cliff Chiang

The nicest thing I can say about this is that it’s okay.
The idea; okay. The story: okay. The art: okay.
But in a world where okay is everywhere, wouldn’t it be nice if okay wasn’t okay anymore? There’s nothing quite so disheartening for me as a book that makes me just give a faint shrug of the shoulders when I finish it. I’d much rather hate the damn thing than have the lack of reaction I had on finishing Doctor 13.

So, here goes. Doctor 13 is Terrance Thirteen, a parapsychologist in the DC universe who spends his time investigating all the weird and unnatural goings on with a view to debunking them all. Obviously in a world of Men of Steel, Wonder Women and countless magical and spiritual beings, his refusal to believe in any of it makes him delusional to the point of madness and/or stupidity.
And over the years he’s become a bit part player, one of a host of DC characters lying unused and redundant. Architecture & Mortality sees him teamed up with a cast of the detritus of the DC Universe to go in search of the reason they’re being wiped out of reality. They quest leads them to The Architects, the shapers of the Universe “who decide Who’s Who and Who isn’t.” Seeing as this came out around the time of 52, when Messrs Morrison, Waid, Johns and Rucka were busy deciding who lived and who died and who made it back into the 52 alternate DC worlds, it’s an easy guess that this is who the Architects are meant to represent.
At the very end, it’s not the Architects threatening Doctor 13 and his pals, they just came up with the idea. Terrence learns just a touch too late that it’s us, the readers, who can wipe the good Doctor out of existence with a casual turn of the page.

But of course, they do force the issue. Panel from Doctor 13, art by Cliff Chiang, published DC

It’s another one of those “let’s all break the fourth wall and oh, aren’t we clever” books. Which is not to say that I’m against these books per se. Indeed, two of the finest books I’ve ever read – Grant Morrison’s Animal Man and Alan Moore’s Pictopia both played to this idea. The difference is they did it with a style, originality and passion that made the stories affecting and important. Hell, I can still cry at the end of Animal Man if I’m in the right mood.

But Doctor 13 just doesn’t connect with me in the way those great books did, at no point in the story do I genuinely care what happens. I can acknowledge that it’s very well crafted, well written and well drawn. But that really doesn’t mean a thing when it gets the same emotional response from me as a nicely designed tin of baked beans. There’s some nice touches, some fun wacky ideas, a bit of pastiching of the comic book industry, a few swipes at DC and Marvel that will raise a smile. But nothing more. It’s okay. And for me, okay just isn’t good enough.

Originally posted at the FPI blog here.

Urrrrgggggh. Tired.

God I feel lifeless.
One of those very long weeks where everything seems to take so bloody long and nothing seems to get done. Added to that I’m feeling incredibly tired all of the time. Which is most likely my own fault as the plan to get to bed early has rather failed. It’s back to 2am rather than the 1am I was hoping for.

Spent most of the night finishing reviews and interviews for Marc Ellerby and John Cei Douglas. Both very talented young comics people. They’ll be going up on the FPI blog and here soon.
But I’m wiped now and still have to do some prep for tomorrow at school.

Albert Hoffman 1906-2008

Albert Hoffman died last night aged 102.
Hofmann was, of course, the scientist responsible for synthesising LSD-25 in 1938.

Little by little I could begin to enjoy the unprecedented colors and plays of shapes that persisted behind my closed eyes.
Kaleidoscopic, fantastic images surged in on me, alternating, variegated, opening and then closing themselves in circles and spirals, exploding in colored fountains, rearranging and hybridizing themselves in constant flux.
It was particularly remarkable how every acoustic perception, such as the sound of a door handle or a passing automobile, became transformed into optical perceptions.
Every sound generated a vividly changing image, with its own consistent form and color.

Albert Hoffman, describing the effects of his ingestion of LSD following his “Bicycle Day”

Want, Want, Want again…..

Okay, in addition to this lot, I’ve got a new want to add onto the techie list.
We’ve had some new monitors at school to replace clunky old CRT monitors. The best value we could get were 17 inch ones.
Just for fun I brought one home last night to compare to my meager 15 inch monitor.
Now I want one. Or a 19 inch one maybe.

But I have decided that I’m not going to get a new I-Pod after all.
30Gb is a fine number for music. I’ve started going through the music on there with a critical ear and deleting some of it now. (It seems that this is normal after having a bit of a binge on bit-torrent).

And I’m waiting until they release the new 9 inch scren version of the eeepc to see what impact that has on prices. We’ve already had one educational supplier emailing today with a 7 inch 4Gb for £189 (excl VAT) so maybe prices will come down even more.

Larry Marder’s Beanworld – at last – we have news!

Larry Marder’s Beanworld is at last returning. After years and years of being lost in the wilderness (or working at Todd McFarlane’s Toy empire – same thing) he’s bringing it all back.

From a panel at the weekend’s Stumptown Festival:

“Dark Horse plans to republish the first 21 issues of Tales of the Beanworld, possibly in deluxe hardcover editions, then deliver Marder’s new adventures sometime in early 2009.
Diana Schutz will edit.”

Hardcover would be a must buy.

Plus his new Graphic Novel has a name:
Interview with Larry Marder at CBR.
Larry Marder’s Beanworld to Dark Horse announcement.
Big happy times in Bruton mansions with this news.

PROPAGANDA @ FPI blog – Secret Invasion 1

New Propaganda up at the FPI blog.

Secret Invasion # 1 – Marvel’s summer event this year – who do you trust?

The Blank Slate of Kenny Penman…

Over at Matthew Badham’s Overspill blog there is an interview with Kenny Penman all about his new venture; Blank Slate Books.

Kenny, as some may know, is one of the men at the top of Forbidden Planet International.
He’s also a very nice bloke, incredibly passionate about comics and full of near religious zeal when it comes to getting some things out in front of an audience.
It was Kenny who started the idea of having an FPI blog & it was Kenny who asked me if I’d fancy doing some reviewing on it like I used to in Nostalgia & Comics.
Indeed, if we’d have known how much Kenny, Jim and many others at FPI loved the idea of comics and comic shops back when they took over Nostalgia & Comics I doubt we’d have been so worried about it.
So I have to say that I like the man. He’s also a great emailer – never bothering to hold back on a subject if he’s particularly fired up about it.

But Blank Slate books is something else entirely. It’s an incredibly brave decision to start up in these troubled times. But I’m really hopeful for them. From Matthew’s interview:

Who are Blank Slate?

Blank Slate is basically myself and my original business partner James Hamilton. We’ve owned Sci Fi Bookshop in Edinburgh since around 1986 (it started in 1975) and later tied up with Mike Lake and Nick Landau to open Forbidden Planet stores in a joint project. Those are now the Forbidden Planet International stores around the country as well as in Dublin.

What made you decide that there was a need for Blank Slate?

In truth, I’m not sure there is. I think the small press has shown it is capable of getting a lot of good material to consumers on its own – look at the likes of Dave Sim, Sam Hiti, Eleanor Davis in the US – Bob Byrne, David Hitchcock, Simone Lia and many more in the UK. They are all producing excellent comics and producing their own books through self-publishing. I think if you want to do it and can find the financial wherewithal to print it, you can produce great work without a publisher.

I guess Blank Slate is here for those who don’t want to go down that route and for some foreign comics unlikely to be translated otherwise. Ultimately though it is really because both James and myself have been comics fans since we were about five, have spent a lot of our adult life around comics, are still big comics readers and fancied having a go at publishing stuff we liked which we hoped others would as well.

What is Blank Slate’s objective?

You know, I don’t think we really have one as such – except to try and get our books to the widest possible market. We hope to put out as many comics as the company can afford from the revenues each release brings in (the start-up capital has come from our own individual pockets), to print some interesting material, to try and nurture some home grown UK talent into finding a readership.

Of course, talking about this could have been a minefield. Like being asked what you think of your mom’s cooking. Not wanting to offend someone and trying to walk a very difficult tightrope.
Except that’s not the case here. Blank Slate’s first two books are looking very good indeed.
“We Can Still Be Friends” by Mawil is new to me but looks lovely. But the clincher for how good Blank Slate can be is their first release: Train Are …. Mint by Oliver East. I’ve already blogged about this so you have an idea of how excited I am by this one. It’s a sublime book and I’m looking forward to having the beautiful Hardback collection of the first three issues on my bookcase very, very much.

So I think Blank Slate is a great idea. The first two releases look fantastic.
Trains Are … Mint deserves to be a breakthrough book lauded by the sort of people who loved Chris Ware and Daniel Clowes.
But whatever you think of the material, it’s never a bad thing to have someone come along wanting to publish the sorts of comics that we rarely see over here. But having talked to Kenny about this, it’s not just a vanity press thing. There are plans in place for a continuing stream of unseen material, some old, some new, some foreign, some British and there’s even promises of a few surprises along the line as well. A good thing for the comics industry.

1500 and counting….

Somehow, last week I managed to pass the 1500 posts mark. But I singularly failed to notice until now. Bloody hell. 1500 posts in under two years. Is that good, bad, sad or a combination of them all?

John Welding – Drawing The City – Part 4

Start here.
All John Welding posts.

Now, some more of that lovely artwork, remember to click through for bigger images & sorry for the colouration on the images, in reality the background is a dazzling, pure white:

Of course, one of the joys of the exhibition is that this isn’t just a gallery show of individual pieces. This is a document of the city’s progress. And John engages the visitor in the same relaxed, easygoing and conversational style that I always found in his comics. Take the two images below. In the first John documents the work on Coronation Gardens that has been done to make the place nicer. But finds the stone benches just a touch cold to the backside. But a few months later, across the room and all is well. New benches are a cause for jubilation.

Or there’s this image, from the very end of the piece. A nice, relaxed and natural way to end this mammoth journey:

Around the gallery there were a few display cabinets, including this one of the artist’s materials and the all important fingerless gloves:

Also on show were selections of John’s previous works, none of which, very sadly, is available at the moment. Surely it’s time for a major collection?

All in all a wonderful exhibition which runs until June 22nd. Please do your best to get along to see it. Even better, go and see it and then contact:

1. Wakefield Art Gallery – museumsandarts@wakefield.gov.uk to tell them how good it was and petition them to put the completed work on permanent display in the new Hepworth Gallery.
2. John Welding himself and try to convince him to get his work into print again. I’d love to see a collection of his extensive works.

John Weldings website, his blog.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 all images © copyright john welding