REVIEW: Klaus #1 (of 6)

Written by: Grant Morrison
Illustrated by: Dan Mora
Review: Will Dubbeld

So I hear Grant Morrison is writing Santa Claus' origin story, which is absolutely insane if you stop and think about it. On the other hand, an equally logical response is, "well of course Wacky Grant is writing a Santa Claus origin story, that makes perfect sense."

So clearly I preordered it. My love/hate relationship with Grant Morrison compels me to try out almost everything Grant writes, as I have clearly failed a Will Save vs. his Chaos Magics.
That's clever on a couple levels, folks . . .

Dispel from your mind the vision of a jolly white-bearded fat man slinging toys and "ho ho ho-ing" appearing in this book. The Klaus of Grant Morrison's story is a steely-eyed, rugged wilderness warrior, all corded muscle and bearded machismo.
From the double page spread of Klaus overlooking a medieval walled city locked in a winter tundra to a scene duplicating the titular hero and his wolf companion (!) locked in mortal combat with a sinister looking reindeer, you're made to believe Santa is badass.

Klaus opens with our titular hero headed to the aforementioned walled city of Grimsvig to trade pelts and game. The opening scene is portrayed beautifully, a p.o.v. through the gates of Grimsvig depicting city life with a design reminiscent of a city in Fable II.
It's incredibly odd for me to make a video game reference, as I rarely play, but I really dug Fable II...

Klaus soon discovers the formerly friendly and progressive burg has fallen to ill times due to the oppressive reign of Lord Magnus, a stereotypical totalitarian sadistic ruler. Klaus finds his goods confiscated, Lord Magnus has forbidden children to have toys, and the tavern ale is watered down.
Adding injury to insult, our hero is beaten in the streets and ran out of town.

In an oblique way this is sounding very familiar...

We are soon treated to an uncomfortable family dinner with the sinister Lord Magnus, his horrible -terrible-no good-very bad bratchild Jonas, and the unnamed Mrs. Baron Magnus who seems to be either a hint of coldly sinister or the medieval equivalent to a 1950s housewife self-medicated on Mothers Little Helpers.

I haven't quite got a handle on Mrs. The Barons character yet...

Up to this point we've been treated to a fairly straightforward, if tongue-in-cheek, fantasy fairy tale book. The first words printed on the page are, "Once upon a time" for cryin' out loud.

But then Grant's mushrooms must've kicked in.

There Klaus sits, minding his own business, communing with nature and jamming out on a flute like so much Jethro Tull, when out of the woods come floating some psychedelic forest spirits.
A quartet of little guys that resemble disembodied Grey Aliens.
The Ghostbusters may have referred to them as "full torso, free-floating apparitions", if memory serves . . .

In any case, these big headed forest spirit/aliens zap Klaus with some trippy mojo and the comic explodes into a surreal Technicolor sequence showing Klaus madly crafting toys in his own personal trip factory. Finding the fruits of his labor in the morning, Klaus wonders, "What am I supposed to do now?"

I'm not sure, but I bet it involves Klaus bounding from rooftop to rooftop like so much Christmas Batman delivering contraband toys to the children of Grimsvig.
Did I mention the comic takes place during the Yuletide season...?
So this book is very much like that old stop-motion Christmas special where Santa Claus was a kickass freedom fighter in his younger days. "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" was the special if memory serves, but in any case Mr. Morrison is giving the program a healthy nod here.

These are the Grant Morrison stories that really work in my opinion. Flex Mentallo, We3, Happy! and the like really capture the authors eclectic style without getting too pretentious (Doom Patrol, Invisibles, lookin' at you...) so this'll be a book I stick with, if nothing else to see if Lord Magnus learns the true meaning of Christmas or if Klaus dispenses some Yuletide justice on his ass with extreme prejudice.
Also, I really want to find out if the forest spirits just peripherally resemble Grey Aliens or if Santa Claus came about due to extraterrestrial mind control.

Because with Grant Morrison either theory is just as plausible as the other.

Between the superior script and great pencils, I'm recommending Klaus to everyone. Mora's art alone is with the price of admission due to the amazing background work and nearly Terry Moore-caliber attention to detail and expression. The colors are phenomenal atop Mora's line work and although the snow fallen winter is the story's backdrop there's a superior use of blues and earth tones with occasional slashes of bright color. Fantastic work.

Klaus is a $3.99 floppy available from Boom! Studios at your local comic shop. Don't wait for the trade, folks. If you don't buy the singles, there may not be a trade.

Merry (early) Christmas!
Happy Hanukkah, Kwazy Kwanzaa, etc. etc. and so on and so forth.

REVIEW: The Amazing Spider-Man #1-3

Writer: Don Slott
Penciler: Giuseppe Camuncoli
Inker: Cam Smith
Colorist: Marte Gracia
Review: Madman

First off, level the plane out . . . Secret Wars Part Deuce is over and we survived, although the MU . . . not so much. Things are so mixed up and coo-coo bonkers over at Marvel right now. Everything you thought you knew, everything you loved in the continuity of your super friends has gone the way of the buffalo. That’s right, ‘tis no more . . . aaannnnd I hate it already. Maybe I’m just old school? Maybe, just maybe, I’m being a hater? The fact is I’m sick and tired of the Big Two rebooting every other week. I get that they do it, because it brings in the $$ and puts the comic n00b on the same level as the veteran reader as far as long term knowledge goes. Screw that! Write quality works and spare us the $6 first issues. At a certain age the cute sassy little kid turns into a real annoying jerk. So I shelled out the $6 because . . . Spider-Man . . . Marvel . . . Never a question, but for $6 someone is getting my opinion.

So the whole deal is Spidey’s gone global . . . oh yay. The first panel of the first page is Parker showing off his fancy computer watch, while in a commercial for Parker Industries’ tech , and he says “With great power . . . comes greater speed, storage, and battery life”. Yep. Told you I hated it.

The 2^nd page opens with a high-speed car chase through the streets of Shanghai. In the rabbit car we have members from the Leo Sect of Zodiac’s forces. In the pursuit car . . . er, umm, pursuit Spidermobile . . . we find Spider-Man and Mockingbird. I dig Mockingbird. I do not dig the Spider-Car. It looks ridiculous, and it’s tacky as hell. Things get worse. It sticks to walls and at one point it actually transforms into a giant flying spider . . . that’s right. It would appear it grows legs and flies. I told you I hated it. The rest of the comic goes as you can imagine. Spidey and Mockingbird beat up the bad guys with their Spider-Tech, and then we get invited to the marriage of Max Modell and his partner Hector. The book goes on and Spidey tussles with Zodiac some more, and then the strangest thing happens: the cover’s promise of an “oversized and action packed first issue” evaporates into thin air as I realize that by “overstuffed” Marvel means full of gratuitous teasers for every other Spider-Person book Marvel is dropping. Yay. I hate it.

So far my previous doubts are justified. I hate the addition of all the tech. I hate how Peter has totally become Tony Stark. I hate it. I hated just about everything about this first issue except Mockingbird. I dig Mockingbird.

Issue 2

First off this issues cover was as bad as the cover to the first issue. They both are very turn-offish for me. Alex Ross, you have failed this city.

I’m really bummed about this new Spider-Stark concept. This issue continues to push the topic of Peter relying more and more on his fancy new tech. Ya see, two issues in and The Zodiac has already stolen Pete’s personal Super-Spider-Tech-Watch and of course the world will end if the good guys can’t retrieve it. The good guys being Spider-Man (who is posing as Peter Parker’s bodyguard . . . ), the Prowler (who dresses up as Spider-Man when Spidey and Peter need to be seen together . . . ), and Fury-n-Mockingbird are still in play.

Now if you liked the Spidermobile wait until you see the Spider-Sub . . . yeah, that’s right. I said it. I wish I hadn’t, but I had to. The sub has some super-awesome super-spider tech that allows it to project a hologram allowing it to appear as something it’s not. Such as turning into a humpback whale. As dumb as that sounds, Slott felt that triumph was worthy of a flashback of Parker telling Fury his Spider-Sub makes a mean Humpback whale. That happened. The Spider and the Prowler roll up on the super-secret super-bad guy hideout somewhere in the bottom of the ocean and win. They retrieve Parker’s stolen Skynet Rolex but not before Zodiac can send Parker’s encrypted data to every super-secret Zodiac base on the globe. Oh no! Whatever will our heroes do? Just kidding, Fury is on it. They trace all the emails and now S.H.I.E.L.D and our heroes can take the fight to Zodiac . . . hopefully in a super lame Spider-boat or Web-Copter, or maybe on the Spider-Vespa . . .

Have I mentioned I hate this Parker Tech business? I get a strange feeling that all this b.s. is going to unleash some super AI or something along those lines. Face it, no matter how much you dress Parker up he’s going to screw things up royally. Oh, he’ll no doubt save the day at the last possible minute as he tends to do. Slott, please I’m begging you . . . just give me a good ol’ fashioned Spider-Man vs. The Spot arc, and we’ll let bygones be bygones. No harm done.

This is the part where I call Camuncoli out for flat out ripping off Ryan Browne of God Hates Astronauts fame. Just as Spider-Man and the Prowler make it into the super-secret super-bad guy hideout is when it happens . . . a man with a crab for a head. I don’t care that his code name is Cancer. He has a crab for a head. That’s Ryan Browne right there. How many people can think up guys with a crab for a head? Busted, Marvel. Write that man a check. Saw it here first. I’m debating not reading issue #3 in protest. Just kidding . . . I’m going to read it.

Issue #3

At first glance this cover is much, much better, especially with the Human Torch blazing his way across the sky. Boy, I sure do enjoy a Torch/Spidey team up. I believe that’s pretty much a requirement for all Spider-Man fans. A lot of history there. I do feel the need to express my displeasure about the fact that Spider-Man’s symbol on his chest appears to glow now . . . I hate it. Maybe this whole ASM volume is really just a flashback back to sometime around Demon in a Bottle, and Stark is just having a "What If?" kind of drunken hallucination . . . please?

Peter Parker has bought the Baxter Building, and this angers Human Torch. So much so that he and Parker battle it out for a few at the beginning of the book. After the two call a truce Spider-Man takes his buddy on a tour of the new and improved Baxter Building. During said tour we learn that Harry Osborn (now known as Harry Lyman) is running the day to day of the building . . . ok. As the tour passes by Johnny’s room he goes inside to take a peek. It turns out Johnny’s old room is now the new Spider-Garage . . . huh. I know I was totally joking during the bit about all the super lame Spider-Vehicles (except the Spider-Car and Spider-Sub those are totally real . . . with pictures and everything) the last issue, but Johnny Storm made my worst fears a reality when he opened his old bedroom door. We got the new Spider-Mobile, the Spider-Skimmer, Spider-Copter, and Spider-Cycle, just to name a few. This is straight up torture. I hate it.

In other news, The Zodiac attack S.H.I.E.L.D's heli-carrier (which by issue #4 will be named the Spider-Carrier). The main crew of Zodiac reminds me of Battle Beasts and that pleases me. Zodiac puts a real beatdown on Fury and his minions and get away. All the while Peter, Johnny, and Harry are out at the bar drinking nonalcoholic cocktails.

On the last page we are teased with a last panel glimpse of a man in green and purple camo with a bandaged up head that is being identified as . . . Mr. Osborn. Sigh. Too soon. I hate it.

So there it is, as a life long Spidey fan I will honestly say I hate this new run. I hate it. My desire to continue reading this title is rapidly fading. Maybe Spidey and I have come as far as we were meant to come. I have a rule: never abandon a title until the 5^th issue. I figure if you can’t make me want to read your comic by issue #5 then you never will, so ASM has until issue 5 to fix my Spider-Man or our love affair is over. After all, I can get my Spider-Person fix from one of the many Spider-titles out there, and to be perfectly honest there are a lot of GOOD comics coming out by way of Image and other independent creators. So far this is book is the biggest let down of the year and that’s a damn shame.

SEVEN QUESTIONS WITH ROBERT VENDITTI

It seems like yesterday I walked in my local LCS and asked the store owner to recommend a graphic novel that was a “must read”. That book was The Surrogates, and at C2E2 I paid forward that recommendation and bought the entire HCB staff a copy. Getting the opportunity to briefly chat with the creator of this book and so many other quality titles is truly an honor.

Robert Venditti is the New York Times best-selling author of The Homeland Directive and the groundbreaking graphic novel series The Surrogates, which has since been adapted into a feature film starring Bruce Willis. He currently writes for both DC Comics and Valiant, writing four ongoing monthly titles: X-O Manowar, Green Lantern, The Flash, and Wrath of the Eternal Warrior. His debut novel, Miles Taylor and the Golden Cape: Attack of the Alien Horde, was released by Simon & Shuster in June 2015.

William: Firstly, thank you for this opportunity. Producing multiple contributions to the medium has to be a time consuming practice. To start, I want to talk Valiant. What attracted you to writing X-O Manowar? How is he different from the average superhero, and why should people be putting the title on their monthly pull list?

ROBERT VENDITTI: There were a lot of things that attracted me to X-O Manowar. First and foremost was the high concept, the tremendous mix of both historical fiction and science fiction. A 5th Century Visigoth fighting with sentient alien battle armor in the modern day . . . the appeal was apparent to me. It was also a chance to launch not just a new monthly series, but to help launch an entire universe as well. Those types of opportunities don't come along every day.

William: The Green Lantern Universe has become dense and filled with many different characters of every ilk. It has also had runs featuring some of the greatest comic writers of all-time. What do you hope will be your contribution to the mythos of such an iconic comic franchise?

VENDITTI: I try not to think about things in those terms. Green Lantern has been around for a long time, and it'll continue long after I'm gone. It's wonderful to be a part of that tradition, but I don't ever feel like I have to compete with that legacy. I just try to tell the stories that I like to tell the way I like to tell them, and hope readers enjoy the result.

William: Completely unrelated from comics, I noticed on your Twitter account that you're a huge Star Wars fan. Are you excited for the re-boot, or are you concerned about the missteps from the past? Will you and your family be first in line for Episode VII?

VENDITTI: I am. A new Stars Wars film was an event when I was a kid, so I'm excited to see what they do with the franchise. I don't know that I'll be jostling for a spot in line on opening night, though. That's probably going to be a madhouse.

William: Due to the immense success of The Flash moving to television, and the legions of fans waiting with bated breath for his emergence on the big screen, how do you think this will affect the monthly comic, if at all? What are your plans for Flash now and in the future?

VENDITTI: The Flash comic book operates separately from the T.V. and film endeavors. We aren't aware of what they're doing, and I doubt they're aware of what we're doing. I do watch and enjoy the show, but I'm just like every other viewer, experiencing the story for the first time when the episode airs. The show has helped bring the character to the forefront of the pop-culture consciousness, though, so it's a fun time to be writing the series.

William: "Grodd of War" from Flashpoint cemented Gorilla Grodd as one of my all-time favorite comic book villains. Who are yours?

VENDITTI: I love Grodd! What's not to love about a super-genius gorilla? Another of my favorites from Flash history is Mirror Man. Outside of Flash, I like Two-Face, General Zod, and my all-time favorite long-shot villain, Gentleman Ghost.

William: In that same vein, there have been many incarnations of the Green Lantern. Which one is your favorite and why?

VENDITTI: Aside from the human Lanterns, it'd have to be Mogo. Such a great concept. One of the first things I wanted to do when I took over the series was make Mogo a more permanent fixture. I'm glad I was able to do so.

William: The Surrogates has cemented your legacy in the world of comics, and I'll be the first to admit that when I see the name Venditti on a cover I'm in for at least one arc. What can Robert Venditti fans look forward to in the future? Are there any upcoming projects we need to know about?

VENDITTI: That's very kind of you to say. I'll always be proud of The Surrogates--it was my first book--and I still get people talking about it with me at conventions. The story isn't finished, so there are more Surrogates books that I hope to write one day. For right now, I'll be working on X-O Manowar and Wrath of the Eternal Warrior at Valiant, Green Lantern and The Flash at DC, and I just launched my first children's novel series, Miles Taylor and the Golden Cape. There are other projects in the works as well, but I'm not able to talk about them yet!

We want to thank Robert Venditti for agreeing to talk to us and answer our questions. Wrath of the Eternal Warrior, X-O Manowar, Green Lantern, and The Flash can be purchased at your LCBS. Miles Taylor and the Golden Cape: Attack of the Alien Horde can be purchased both online and at your local bookstore. Now go out and buy some comics. What are you doing? Go. Now.

Interviewer: William R. Davis, Jr.