2009: A Musical / Dancing Review

2009 is four days gone now. Good riddance, I say. I don’t think I’ve ever been so glad to see the back of a year as I am for 2009. And I’m not sure why, exactly. Maybe it’s the long-term gloom and doom of financial crises and greed, swine flu, and terrorism. Maybe it’s because I tried to work a home-improvement project into my schedule during December as I was also preparing for Christmas and guests. Maybe I’m just bitter. Maybe it was endless crossovers and events from Marvel and DC …

Yes, that last one sounds appropriate.

But before we give 2009 a final swock to the nuggets, I decided to look through my year’s worth of reading and point out the best of my year. (Yes, I know some — many — of these didn’t come out in 2009. I don’t care. If you want timeliness, go somewhere else.) So here are the top 5s, in Marvel (which is most of what I read) and non-Marvel lists:

Marvel:

5. Guardians of the Galaxy: Legacy (4): Emerging from a crossover I didn’t care about, a bunch of characters I was only vaguely aware of were stuck in a team book that seemed to be heading for permanent crossover events. But somehow the first volume worked, and worked well.

4. Mini Marvels: Secret Invasion (4): The 2009 collection of Chris Giarrusso’s Mini Marvels wasn’t as good as the 2008 version (Rock, Paper, Scissors), but it’s still hilarious. You should all go out and buy the recently released Mini Marvels Ultimate Collection.

3. Hood: Blood from Stones (4): This book, which features the Hood’s origin, showed why Brian Bendis was so eager to use the petty crook turned superpowered antihero. It also showed Bendis didn’t care about what made Blood from Stones so good.

2. Incredible Hulk: Planet Hulk (4.5): A sprawling, over-the-top action movie of a comic, Planet Hulk made the Hulk interesting for the first time since Peter David left. And then Hulk was promptly handed to Jeph Loeb, who gave us Red Hulk. Way to capitalize, Marvel.

1. Age of the Sentry (4.5): Marvel’s answer to DC’s Silver Age Superman nonsense, recounted with a knowing wink and smile — but never to the detriment of the character.

Non-Marvel:

5. RASL: The Drift (4): Jeff Smith’s story about a scientist / thief who penetrates alternate realities has me eager for more. Compare this to Casanova, which also has thievery and alternate realities; Casanova threw so much high concept at the reader I was screaming for it to stop, but RASL’s slow pace has me intrigued. On the other hand, RASL’s publication schedule will mean I’ll probably remain intrigued for quite a while.

4. Promethea: Collected Edition, Book 1 (4.5): Although I wasn’t as excited by the next two volumes of Alan Moore and J.H. Williams III’s coming-of-age / metafiction comic, this one had me eager to read the rest of Sophie Bangs’s adventures.

3. Usagi Yojimbo, v. 23: Bridge of Tears (4.5): I was greatly anticipating the only new Usagi Yojimbo reprints of the year, and Stan Sakai didn’t disappoint. Of course, Sakai and Usagi never disappoint.

2. Tales Designed to Thrizzle, v. 1 (4.5): Michael Kupperman’s absurdist masterpiece nearly snuck by me, but I was glad I found it. Now I too know the majesty that is Snake ‘n’ Bacon.

1. Maus: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History (5): A classic for a reason — Art Spiegelman tells a story of one family’s collision with the Nazis and the Holocaust movingly, using not-so-funny funny animals, without making the protagonists perfect saints.

Honorable mention should go to The Essential Batman Encyclopedia (4.5) by Robert Greenberger as the outstanding comics reference book I read this year. Of course, I only reviewed two reference books, but that shouldn’t take away from the impressiveness of the book.

Reviews will resume on Friday. Here’s hoping 2010 will knock the sour taste 2009 left out of our mouths!

Now I Am Sad

Chris Giarrusso will be doing no more Mini-Marvels, as he states in this interview with Comic Book Resources.

Marvel wants to make sure no one confuses Mini-Marvels with Super Hero Squad. Given that Mini-Marvels are funny, I’m sure that wouldn’t have happened. And I suppose selling out of a digest collection is something to avoid again. In any event, it makes me more eager for Giarrusso’s G-Man collection. You can see some his G-Man stuff at the interview; it looks as funny as his Mini-Marvels work.

Mini Marvels: Secret Invasion

Collects: Various Mini Marvels strips (2001-9)

Released: February 2009 (Marvel)

Format: 96 pages / color digest / $9.99 / ISBN: 9780785137177

What is this?: More fun with little Spidey and the rest of the Mini Marvels as they take on Civil War, World War Hulk, and other stories.

The culprits: Chris Giarusso with a few other contributing writers

I really enjoyed the first Mini Marvels volume, so when I heard about Mini Marvels: Secret Invasion, I was really excited. As it turns out, my excitement was well placed. Chris Giarrusso, who drew all the stories and wrote most of them as well, has an outstanding touch with the Mini Marvel characters, who are pint-sized versions of Marvel heroes.

Giarrusso is at his best when his Mini Marvels are reliving Marvel history. The first story, “Conspicuous Invasion,” retells Fantastic Four #2 and #18, the team’s first contact with the Skrulls and the debut of the Super Skrull. It’s amazing how much humor Giarrusso manages to squeeze from a relatively straight retelling of Marvel’s stories, with only a few detours for extra jokes. In another writer’s hands, this could come across as mocking Stan Lee’s early whip-quick plotting, but here Lee’s original becomes part of the warped logic of the Mini Marvel world. His stories lampooning the return of Thor and World War Hulk are similarly funny, although they go off the plot more for their laughs.

Perhaps the best story in the bunch, however, is “Hawkeye and the Beanstalk,” which crosses the first Galactus story in Fantastic Four #48-50 with “Jack in the Beanstalk,” as Hawkeye tries to get superpowers. Giarrusso has the enthusiastic but not terribly bright Hawkeye blunder through the story, managing to outwit Galactus and the overbearing Iron Man to save the Earth and get cosmic power. (Interestingly, Giarrusso’s Silver Surfer looks a lot like Jeff Smith’s Bone, without the large nose.)

In this volume, other writers get a shot at the Mini Marvels, with Giarrusso providing the distinctive and deceptively simple art. Marc Sumerak writes a Civil War parody, featuring Spidey babysitting Power Pack; Sean McKeever brings in Firestar and Iceman in “Spidey and His Amazing Co-Workers”; Paul Tobin contributes a pair of Hulk / Power Pack stories, introducing the TV show “Dr. Hawkeye, MD” to the Mini Marvels world; and Audrey Loeb has a series of Green / Red / Blue Hulk one pagers. Most of these are a little short of Giarrusso’s work but still funny. Sumerak’s Civil War story, the longest of the non-Giarrusso tales, lags when Spidey is actually babysitting but picks up when it touches on Civil War itself.

It’s the details in Giarrusso’s art that drive the humor home. For instance, in one scene, Hawkeye talks to Quicksilver while Quicksilver does dishes; the background goes from a sink full of dirty dishes to a drainer full of clean dishes to an empty drainer, as Quicksilver completes the task between panels without either character calling attention to the fact. In one of the Hulk stories, the multicolored Hulks play on a stack of luggage; when the luggage is scattered and the suitcases fly open, all you see are torn Hulk pants. Or Ms. Lion the dog from the “Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends” TV show being a level boss in a video game Spidey plays instead of working his paper route with Firestar and Iceman.

This isn’t quite as good as the first Mini Marvels volume, and I still think $9.99, the new price for Marvel digests, is a little high for this slim volume. The book does reprint a few of Giarrusso’s older strips, which is a nice bonus, but it doesn’t make up for the price.

Mini Marvels: Secret Invasion is worth buying — and it’s still worth buying even though Amazon.com doesn’t seem to have it — and I’m looking forward to Giarrusso’s Image digest, G-Man, v. 1: Learning to Fly, as well as his future Mini Marvels work.

Rating: (4 of 5)

Mini Marvels: Rock, Paper, Scissors

Collects: Varioius Mini Marvel strips and backups (2002-3, 2007-8)

Released: July 2008 (Marvel)

Format: 96 pages / color digest / $9.99 / ISBN: 9780785132110

It might surprise some when I say that the most enjoyable trade paperback or hardback graphic novel I have read this year is Mini Marvels: Rock, Paper, Scissors by Chris Giarrusso.

Some of you might not have heard of Mini Marvels; most probably haven’t heard of Giarrusso. In 1999, Giarrusso wrote and drew a series of comic strips for Marvel’s Bullpen Bulletins page; called “Bullpen Bits,” it featured elementary-school editions of Marvel’s heroes and villains. In 2000, Bullpen Bits faded from view, but in the intervening years, longer stories have appeared as backups in various Marvel titles. Mini Marvels even managed to get its own comic specials from time to time.

Mini Marvels still shows its origins as a superhero version of the classic newspaper comic strip, although unlike today’s newspaper strips, it’s funny. The influence of Charles Schulz’s “Peanuts,” seen from early “Bullpen Bits” to Mini Marvels (Giarrusso’s Xavier looks like a cross between Jean-Luc Picard and Charlie Brown), is obvious. But despite the comic-strip roots, Giarrusso makes the transition to longer stories effortlessly.

It would be easy for Giarrusso to pound one joke into the ground, over and over again, until you just wish you could go back in time and break Jim Davis’s hands before he created “Garfield.” That’s not the case here; Giarrusso’s parodies the Marvel Universe, and by God, he’ll travel all over the Marvel Universe for his jokes. His standby is classic Spider-Man continuity, with Spidey as a paperboy who has to deliver to the homicidal Green Goblin’s house and contend with his paperboy rival Venom. But there are also stories based on Spider-Man’s Iron Spider armor, Planet Hulk / World War Hulk / Illuminati, and the continuity from the animated X-Men: Evolution. If you like obscure characters, well, so does Giarrusso; there are plenty of second-rate heroes and villains in the background of crowd scenes, especially in the “Paperboy Showdown” story.

Giarrusso’s Hulk is adorable and hilarious. It’s clear Giarrusso identifies with Hawkeye and Colossus, but Hulk steals the show in any story he’s in.

Interestingly, there is more depth to Mini Marvels than you might think; Giarrusso wittily satirizes current Marvel stories. Also, on a second reading, I kept finding jokes I didn’t see the first time. And on a couple of instances, what I had originally read as amusing throwaway jokes were actually well set up payoffs for earlier gags. (“All funds, said and dunds!”) Even the title comes from an obscure — but funny — background gag in the “Round Trip” story.

That’s not to say Mini Marvels does not suffer from drawbacks. But there aren’t many. The $10 price tag is a bit steep for less than 100 pages in digest size. Giarrusso uses a couple of jokes that are Twisted Toyfare Theater standbys — for instance, Daredevil is really blind and Aunt May can’t figure out Peter is Spider-Man, even when he’s in full costume. Each is used only once, however, and the Daredevil joke is a tiny throwaway on the front cover of the first printing. And that’s about it, really.

Demand outstripped supply on this one, with the first printing selling out so quickly Marvel rushed a second printing to press with a Wolverine cover. (They’re hedging their bets there, aren’t they? Wolverine always sells, even in adorable childlike versions!)

I cannot wait until the next volume of Mini Marvels comes out. I hope the success of Rock, Paper, Scissors makes Marvel consider coming out with a digest of original Mini Marvel comics, just so I don’t have to wait so long for another volume.

Rating: (4.5 of 5)