BB Comic Reviews: 19/4/07

THE BURTON AWARD (Best Of The Week)





Ultimate Spider-Man #106. Bendis, Bagley &Hennesey.



In the last couple of years, Ultimate Spidey has struggled to maintain the high standard it set over the first 50 or so issues. From the Venom saga on, Bendis and co. seemed to lose their way, ultimatizing character after character and forgetting the main reason for the book's success - Peter Parker himself. It's been said before, but the reason Spiderman is one of the most successful comic book characters of all time is his relatability. Peter Parker is one of us; a geeky kid who, as Bendis himself described so eloquently, 'fell backwards into some powers'. For a while there, this seemed to be forgotten in the rush to introduce Ultimate Carnage, Ultimate Deadpool et al. However with the Ultimate Clone saga and now this Ultimate Knights arc, Peter Parker and his life are right at the forefront again and the book is all the better for it. Though this issue does have Ultimate Ronin (imagine a retching noise right about here) it makes up for it with the continuing triangle between Peter, Kitty and Mary Jane. Not to mention a Kingpin-featuring final page cliffhanger that Brain K. Vaughn (the samurai/jedi master of the back of the book jaw dropper) would be proud of. Bendis has said that he's got Ultimate Spidey stories in him for years to come and as long as they're more like this and less like Ultimate Carnage we have a lot to look forward to. It should also be mentioned that Bagley's work on this, his last arc after 100-odd issues, is as good as anything he's done on the title before. The bar been set very high for incoming artist Stuart Immomen. Let's hope he's got a ladder, artistically speaking.






Justice League Of America #8. Meltzer, Davis & Banning.

Like any good comic geek, I loves me a team-up. When that team-up happens to include two teams from two of the best books DC is currently producing (some of the only good books DC is producing if you listen to some) then that's nothing but gravy. And tasty gravy it is my friends. For a start, this issue is chock full of the kind of cross-team character interaction between the J's LA and SA that makes a grown man who still buys toys (they're collectibles!!) whoop with delight - from a blindfolded Mr Miracle (he's the world's third smartest man you know) playing Green Lantern and Black Canary at chess to Batman and Power Girl discussing first editions. Then there's the set-up. Seven members of the Legion of Super Heroes are stuck in the past with no idea of their real identities and the teams have to (yes!) split up and go and get them It's the stuff of really, really messy comic book wet dreams. On art, we have Shane Davis - recently wheeked from the lower leagues of Mystery In Space and thrown under the spotlight of 'DC's biggest selling book - and he does a fine job. His art is not a million miles away from previous artist Ed Benes but if I was forced to choose (say if you stood over my Uncanny #350 with a lit match) then I would go with Davis as his stuff is just a little bit cleaner than Benes. Writer Brad Meltzer took a lot of abuse for his overuse of captions in his first arc but he reigns it in somewhat here and does a good job of juggling the swollen cast. Actually that sounds kind of nasty. Let's try bulging instead. Bulging cast. Anyhoo, he also gets extra geek credit for having a face-off between Batman and the Legion's Karate Kid which is immensely pleasing in a I'm-a-five-year-old-who-would-win-in-a-fight-between-Superman-and-The-Hulk kind of way. The answer's The Hulk by the way. Or is it...?

BB DVD Review: Thank You For Smoking

Morally reprehensible righteousness. No, I have no idea how they did it either.






The Plot: Fast-talking lobbyist Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) fights the not-so-good fight for big tobacco. But with his son starting to pay attention to what dad does for a living and an anti-smoking Senator (William H Macy) and an attractive reporter (Katie Holmes-Cruise-Scientology) on his case, can he make it to the church on time (metaphorically)?


In the words of that guy from South Park whose name I can't remember, 'Smoking's bad m'kay' (don't you just love my on-point pop culture references?). But how bad is it really? That's one of the many questions posed by this slick black comedy from first-time helmer Jason Reitman. Yes, that's Reitman as in son-of-director-Ivan but it could be worse - he could be Jason Scorcese. Plus it's been a long time since his dad made a decent movie. Yes, Evolution was kind of fun but I think even the most weak-kneed Duchovny fan (i.e my girlfriend) would have to admit people only liked it because if you squinted your eyes you could almost pretend it was Ghostbusters 3. Anyhoo, the point, if there even is one, is that Reitman has some moderately sized (albeit shrinking with every subsequent film) shoes to fill. So just how big are his directorial feet?

Pretty damn big is the metaphor stretching answer. Mixing the comedic and the thought-provoking in equal measure, Thank You For Smoking is a grown-up funny flick for all of us who enjoy our big-boy pants. Aaron Eckhart steals the show as the suave but morally questionable Naylor - making a character that would be a villain in 99 out of a 100 Hollywood efforts seem likeable and (almost) heroic. It's a great performance, and one that Christopher Nolan clearly watched before signing up Eckhart for the role of Two-Face in his upcoming Bat-sequel Dark Knight (is it 2008 yet?!!). It's far from a one-man show however as Reitman assembles a wet dream of a cast that includes William H Macy, Robert Duvall, Maria Bello, Rob Lowe, J.K Simmons, David Koechner and the mighty Sam Elliot. All of whom clearly signed on based on a screenplay (adapted from Christopher Buckley's novel by Reitman himself) that's almost Communist in his dedication to dolling out good lines to all and sundry.

If a criticism can be made, it's that, much like it's protagonist, Thank You For Smoking talks a good game but never really provides any answers. The film builds to a confrontation between Naylor and the Senator but when it comes it's a bit of a letdown. The former just about comes out on top but his victory is more of a judge's decision than the Mr Smith Goes To Washington full-blooded knockout you would hope for. It's probably a more fitting ending given the material but that doesn't stop it being disappointing from a dramatic point of view.

Other Things I Liked...

Naylor's get togethers with his compatriots in the alcohol and firearms industry. The interplay between Eckhart, Bello and Koechner characters is great and provides some of the movie's best lines.

The lack of a character arc. Flying in the face of Hollywood convention, the main character doesn't realise the error of his ways and has learned almost nothing by the movie's end. Brilliant!