I was shocked when I read that Micheal Turner had passed away on Friday night at the age of only 37 years. Honestly, I thought I was thinking of the wrong person, that there was some other, older, Micheal Turner that I had not known about. I didn’t even know he had cancer.
Micheal Turner has been a bog part of the comic world these last few years, especially in the comic blogosphere, where his work often caused controversy. Whether it was the size of Power Girl’s chest, the absence of feet or the Thing’s jaw, people were always talking about Micheal’s work and, sadly, these last few years have been filled with a lot of negativity. I don’t think it’s fair to pretend those controversies never existed (well, whining about the Thing’s jaw was pretty stupid), but it is good to see that, now that we know what we’ve lost in Turner, there are only good things to say about him.
While I never followed his work closely, I have always loved the way he would render his characters. I remember being a kid, copying the lines from Fathom concept stetches from a Wizard magazine because I loved how Turner was able to make the characters seem both fluid and whole at the same time. Turner’s work was never very “realistic” but you could really get a sense of completeness from his drawings. His work was strong and dynamic and it’s a real shame to be losing out on that strength in the future.
The following panels from (a scanlation) of Parasyte (the best manga currently being published in the US) gives us a peek at what a Mr. Fantastic/Flash Amalgam character would be like.
Smokin’!
Secret Invasion: Runaways and Young Avengers #1: Looks to be so much better than the first team-up miniseries during Civil War. Chris Yost does a fine job writing the kids and Takeshi Miyazawa’s art is a nice blast from the past. I especially love the focus on Xavin during this issue as she may be my favorite character but he’s usually regulated to the team grouch. This series will definetly keep me happy until the next Runaways series is released.
Runaways #30: Forgetting the insane delays on this book, this issues (and the story arc in general) is pretty good. But that’s all I want to say about it. Read my feelings on Joss Weadon and this issue here.
New Avengers #42 and Mighty Avengers #15: The real story of Secret Invasion is all in the tie-ins, especially these two series. I especially like these flashback issues that give us the backstory of the invasion, show us how the Skrulls have influenced the Marvel Universe recently andjust how long each imposter has been in place. If only the main miniseries were like this.
Final Crisis #2: I’m now warming up to this series. I think Grant Morrison may be loosing his touch as a storyteller as some panel-to-panel transitions are pretty rough, I still think the ideas of this series are what places it above all else. Lots of thrills and surprises. I don’t care too much about the reveal at the end so much as the results of the explosion just before it.
No Hero #0: I’ve been a big fan of Warren Ellis’ work for the Big Two but I’ve never dipped into his independent work. With the realease of this $1.00 preview, I thought it was time to remedy that. No Hero looks like it will be good. Maybe the idea isn’t totally original (I mean, how many gitty “real-world” superhero comics have there been since 1986?) but Warren’s delivery is worth giving the series a look. And Jaun Jose Ryp’s artwork is astounding, even if the final splash page looks like the house was blown up with a Tang bomb.
1985 #2: This book really isn’t doing it for me. It seems to not know what it wants to be: touching real-life drama or superhero fantasy by way of the Monster Squad. Really, the only thing that keeps me reading this is geeking out over the 80’s continuity references. Remember: Juggernaut’s got nards.
Hulk #4: This comic opens with the Watcher getting punched out and ends with the Hulk bitting a gun barrel to disarm his attacker. What more needs to be said?
It would seem that I haven’t posted here in over a month. Wow. I supposed that I didn’t have much to say. Or maybe I was simply becoming two depressed in unemployment or Rock Band was taking up all my free time. One of those things.
In any case, here are 17 things I have thought in the past month:
- I should do a “reveals reviewed” for Secret Invasion #2. Oh wait, their aren’t any!
- Parasyte is the best manga currently being published in America. I doubt I will ever tire of it.
- Final Crisis #1 is confusing but has some good ideas.
- “Batman R.I.P.” is confusing but has some good ideas.
- All-Star Superman is still awesome.
- The Robin/Spoiler Special was the best Robin comic in the five years, at least.
- Should I be doing a “reveals reviewed” for the Secret Invasion tie-ins since that’s where all the story is?
- Umbrella Academy is really, really good. My Chemical Romance still sucks.
- Comics are too expensive for someone without a steady job.
- Chuck Dixon is leaving DC? Robin will go back to sucking.
- Fabian Nicieza will be writing Robin? Maybe there is hope after all!
- People are just now noticing the insane continuity errors that occur during major event books?
- Final Crisis wins if we are talking only about the main series. Secret Invasion wins if we add tie-ins.
- I doubt I will ever pick up another Joss Weadon comic again.
- Two Runaways books on one day = best week ever.
- Showcase Presents and Marvel Essential books can be very tiring.
- I can’t believe I missed out on the Supreme Powers MAX series before now. It’s like the Ultimates with Superman.
In the time is took for Joss Weadon to write and release six issues of Runaways, my wife and I have moved three times. Given, we’ve had pretty bad luck when it came to living quarters, but if I can remember picking up the second issue of Joss Weadon’s run two apartments ago, something is seriously wrong.
But it’s finally out, and Joss is done with the series, so I should be looking on the brightside, right? Okay, let’s do just that:
What I liked about Joss Weadon’s run on Runaways (pst, there will be spoilers):
- He writes a lot like Brian K. Vaughan, so there was no shock in the creative team change.
- Classic Weadon dialogue.
- He fixed Chase! Tech-enhanced jock is good. Emo-jock with death wish is bad.
- Steampunk was really cool when this series started, so it appealed to me on a very geeky level.
- Didn’t add the team member we expected.
- Molly taking down the Punisher.
- He didn’t kill anyone.
- There is only one Runaways title, so there would be no necessary spoilers (see: Kitty being dead in Uncanny X-Men months before dying in Astonishing X-Men).
But I can’t be positive forever, so here is What I hated about Joss Weadon’s run on Runaways:
- I actually had to read the “Previously” pages because I could not remember what happened in the previous issues, which never happens to me. And even then I would be confused. And when the very beginning of the arc is referenced in the last pages of #30, I was completely lost.
- By the time this run ended, Steampunk got boring.
- He broke up Nico and Victor, which may be for the best but I’m a ’shipper at heart.
- The next Runaways issue will be an unnecessary #1 to generate hype after Weadon’s delays killed the book’s appeal to new readers. I hate unnecessary #1’s.
Looking back, Weadon’s run was really quite good. It’s really just the mutiple-month delays that will cause me to forever look back on it with distain. I look forward to reading the trade that will be coming out in a matter of weeks, as it would be nice to read all the chapters together. (I would read the individual issues, but they were packed away during the last move six months ago.)
