First off, a hearty thanks to all my donors. With my latest sponsorship, I’m now at $616 for the Denver Dumb Friends League. I feel great that I’ve been able to gather so much support for them — again, my deepest thanks.
The Order, Vol. 1, “The Next Right Thing” (Marvel) [collects #1-5]
The Order, Vol. 2, “California Dreaming” (Marvel) [collects #6-10]
w. Matt Fraction; a. Barrry Kitson
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Post-Civil War, Tony Stark started the Fifty State Initiative, to put a super-hero team in every state. The Order is California’s team, powerful and pretty — but with performance clauses in their contracts, mandatory retirement after a year, and, of course, the chance of dying in the meantime.
Fraction does a good job dealing with how a team like this would work together — relative strangers, drawn together by a paycheck and chance of glory, and not necessarily all compatible. Kitson’s art is, as always, clean and lovely.
The Order was — by design or circumstance, short-lived, but it wraps up well by the second volume. Not the world’s most amazing comic, but a respectible one nonetheless.
Essential Painkiller Jane (Dynamite) [collects #0-5 (Event Comics)]
w. Joe Quesada, Jimmy Palmiotti, et al.; a. Rick Leonardi, et al.
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Reissued while the short-lived SciFi series was running, the book demonstrated that … well, there was pretty much nothing in common between the two, except for the protagonist’s name and the premise that she can heal from everything, even though she feels the pain ..
There’s not much to recommend here. The stories are trite and violent. The art is generally sloppy. Bleah. This one is probably going to go on the discard queue.
Penny Arcade, Vol. 5, “The Case of the Mummy’s Gold” (Dark Horse) [collects #1-6]
by Jerry Holkins & Mike Krahulik
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Going through 2004’s cartoons of this webcomic, I realize it’s an acquired taste. Holkins and Krahulik talk a lot about computer games, are generally irreverent and mocking, and engage in more-than-occasional character asssassination. But “they were all bad,” and I find the strip highly entertaining at least 70% of the time. The notations for each cartoon explain jokes that might no longer be topically obvious (the nature of the game industry being as it is). Some stuff here is very funny; some isn’t, but that’s almost always the case, unless you’re Bill Watterson.
Listening to: Madonna, “Die Another Day” (Limited Edition 007 Sampler))