From: mfterman@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Mutant for Hire)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics
Subject: Post-Dinner Terman Reviews
Date: 5 Apr 92 23:45:04 GMT
Organization: Princeton University
Originator: news@ernie.Princeton.EDU

Okay, here are the reviews, short and to the point.

Reviewed on 4/5/92
Chroma-Tick #1
Cool World #1
Incredible Hulk Annual #18

Ratings and artwork are broken up into separate ratings, with a scale
of zero to four stars for each, four stars being top of the line, and
zero stars meaning I could do a better job, and less offensively as
well to the reader.

=====================================================================
Chroma-Tick #1
Writer: Ben Edlund
Artist: Ben Edlund
Publisher: New England Comics

Writing: ***
Artwork: *

There is a case to be made for not taking a black and white comic and
colorizing it. This comic is the epitome of that statement. Some
comics, like Akira make the transition quite well. This comic makes
the changeover in the worst way possible. The colors are bright and
garish, and do not look like they were designed with the detail lines
in the comic. Looks like someone took an original Tick and used it as
a coloring book.

The writing, which is the best part, is about a superhero who is
totally insane. He loses track of his identity, believes he's a tick,
and decides to become a superhero and fight crime. He honestly
believes all the cliches about the comic world, and strangely enough,
they start turning up. Very good parody of a superhero comic.

Overall, I'd recommend digging up the black and white originals, and
to simply ignore this comic. There is a nice interview in the back
with Ben Edlund, but frankly it looks nicer in the original. For the
Tick completist only.

"Ninjas. I can't stand them. They're everywhere."
=====================================================================
Cool World #1
Writer: Michael Eury
Artist: Stephen DeStefano, Chuck Fiala
Publisher: DC Comics

Writing: *1/2
Artwork: *1/2

Okay, this is a four issue prequel to the movie Cool World. While the
comic is trying not to spoil too much for the movie, we get the rough
shape of the world, which is pretty much Roger Rabbit done grim and
gritty. Instead of Toon Town, there's a whole world of toon figures,
and there's a single human (a "noid", short for humanoid) living in a
world of doodles.

So Frank Harris, the noid, lives in a world of drawings. He is a
crook, and everyone is so frightened of him, he has his way in the
world. He could run the place, but he doesn't want to. He's not happy
with being a crook either, but he doesn't want to return to the real
world for some reason.

He has a girlfriend, though he obeys the first law of Cool World, no
sex between noids and doodles. If you've ever read the original "Who
Censored Roger Rabbit" the Jessica Rabbit in that book is pretty much
the archetype for Holli. For those who haven't read the book, she is
bad, and she's drawn that way. She wants to become real, and Harris
is her ticket to doing that.

Meanwhile, a group of criminals has stumbled across the ultimate
weapon, a weapon that can destroy any doodle. Naturally, in turning
it over to the big boss, it gets lost. Also meanwhile, a group of
criminals fails to rob a bank. Harris comes over later to rob that
very same bank, and ends the issue facing the entire police force.

Mixing live actors with cartoons loses its impact quickly when you do
it in a comic where everyone is drawn. Also, the thing about Roger
Rabbit was that it was novel. This appears less so. There does seem
to be a more sophisticated relation between drawings and real people.
There are hints of why Harris won't go home. Still, it is bizarre.
I'll collect the series, but only because the movie looks
interesting.

"I may be a crook, but I pay my own way through life."
=====================================================================
Incredible Hulk Annual #18
Writer: Anthology
Artist: Anthology
Publisher: Marvel Comics

Writing: **
Artwork: *1/2

There are five short stories in this issue, one of which is the first
of a four part story. Peter David, the regular writer of the series,
does the first two shorts, including the one-of-four story. Various
different artists do each of the shorts with varying degrees of
success.

First is "Mano a Man" by Peter David with Travis Charest doing the
art. This has the best art of the series, and centers around an arm
wrestling contest between the Hulk and the Thing, which makes me
wonder yet again at the exact strength levels of both. The third
story, "Things to Come" is a story about the Pantheon fighting, by
Evan Skolnick writing and Gary Barker on pencils. Artwork is nice,
but the inking doesn't look all that great. Too heavy on the black
inking. Doesn't go well with the coloring.

"Nobody Loves the Hulk" written by Tom Brevoort and pencilled by Karl
Alstaetter, has bad writing and okay artwork. Call it blah. "The
Running Man" by James Robinson art by Joe Phillips has good art and
writing, and is number two in ranking after "Mano a Man". It deals
with someone having nightmares about the Hulk and the damage he does,
though the identity of the dreamer turns out to be interesting.

The big story, "Four on the Floor" deals with an evil magical
creature that wants to perform some horrible ritual. A demon appears
in Las Vegas, and Rick Jones tries to fight it, finally knocking it
out with electricity, getting zapped in the process. The demon turns
into a woman with no memory of what happened, and Rick Jones thinks
he's Namor the Submariner. The Hulk knowing when he's out of his
depths, calls in Doctor Strange.

Turns out, Namor is in Rick Jones, his body elsewhere. Also turns out
there's a book called "Spelling Made Easy" which is a best seller and
people reading the book have a compulsion to read some words out and
turn into a demon. Like Rick Jones' girlfriend Marlo. Also, the
Pantheon, a group of superpowered idealists, have one of their
members turn into a demon. Disaster breaks loose, as the demons prove
resistant to Strange's magic, but the Hulk manages to work out how to
turn them back to humans. The issue ends with Strange calling for the
return of the Defenders to investigate the publisher.

The main story is amusing for the jokes, but the plot just doesn't
quite rub me the right way. I mean, there should be a huge number of
demons all over the place, an epidemic, and yet there isn't any by
the time the book starts, and supposedly its on the best-seller
lists, which means that it has to have been out for a week. Or at
least people vanishing as they turn into demons and wander off.
Someone should have gotten the connection by this point. Artwork on
the big story is also less than impressive, as Kevin Maguire's Hulk,
and for that matter all the other characters just look off.

For regular fans of the Hulk, it should be collected as there are
things in the main story that reveal lots about the Hulk's character.
The arm wrestling story is funny, and the final story with the dream
sequences is also quite good. People interested in picking up the
Hulk might take a glance through, realizing that a better artist does
the regular series. It is weaker than the regular run though.

"I know what you're going through. I... I had claws once."
=====================================================================
-- 
  Martin Terman, Mutant for Hire, Mad Scientist, Priest of Shub-Internet
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