aelio
03-30-2008, 10:44 AM
So no one was already talking about this book, and I would like to:
Super Sexy (but very brief) Spoiler-Free Summary:
The issue begins in the present with the Authority fighting an ancient Slavic Deity (maybe Chernobog?) in Kiev. For some unknown reason, Kiev stops listening to Hawksmoor and even seems antagonistic toward him. Hawksmoor is struck and lapse into darkness while remembering the last time a city stopped listening. The scene then opens on San Fran in 1994. Hawskmoor is fighting a giant robot near the Golden Gate Bridge. After cleverly defeating the robot with the aid the bridge and pre-1908 San Francisco, much of which was left after the bottom of the bay, Hawksmoor discovers that the robot was piloted by what seems to be one of Sliding Albion's human/alien hybrids, and he meets the mysterious passerby named Juliet, who appears to have super strength and admits that she was once rejected after auditioning for Stormwatch. Later, Hawksmoor is investigating a murder in a Pacific Heights mansion only to discover a deeper mystery, made more disturbing by the fact that the house isn't fulfilling his requests. As the book closes, Hawksmoor is surprised to see a familiar face appear in the mansion...
My Mild Mundane Musings and Obviously Ordinary Opinions:
I enjoyed reading the book. It works well as a first issue: it had a lot of action and set up the larger story being told. This is apparently Mike Costa's first comics work, and he does well. He seems to have a decent sense of who Hawsmoor is and how his relationship with cities works. The dialog was smart and believable. I also liked that there were a few throwbacks to the Ellis days in the opening scene: large action shots, a fight against a nearly unstoppable adversary, and the old "Authority Role Call." I'm a sucker for any story with any member of The Authority in it (I even made it all the way through CA: Armageddon, but to purge afterward), so I might be a little biased, but I have so far (please don't blow it in issue 2) enjoyed this book as much I have enjoyed other recent Authority books by more established comic writers. So many books today seem to be excuses to contrive scenarios within which to job out members of The Authority: Wright did in in Stormwatch: TA, Gage did in in Authority: Prime (I loved the last two issues of that series, though), and, of course, Pfeifer jobbed the entire WSU to Captain Atom. This book seems to be more in the vein of older minis that respected these characters a little more. This series has a lot to live up to, since it's title is reminiscent of Millar's Jenny Sparks book; I wish it luck. Also wouldn't it be great if we got one of these for each member of The Authority? Of course, the Millar book sort of had chapters for everyone.
A complaint: Why is Jenny being called "Jenny Quarx" now?
Who else is reading and what did you think?
Super Sexy (but very brief) Spoiler-Free Summary:
The issue begins in the present with the Authority fighting an ancient Slavic Deity (maybe Chernobog?) in Kiev. For some unknown reason, Kiev stops listening to Hawksmoor and even seems antagonistic toward him. Hawksmoor is struck and lapse into darkness while remembering the last time a city stopped listening. The scene then opens on San Fran in 1994. Hawskmoor is fighting a giant robot near the Golden Gate Bridge. After cleverly defeating the robot with the aid the bridge and pre-1908 San Francisco, much of which was left after the bottom of the bay, Hawksmoor discovers that the robot was piloted by what seems to be one of Sliding Albion's human/alien hybrids, and he meets the mysterious passerby named Juliet, who appears to have super strength and admits that she was once rejected after auditioning for Stormwatch. Later, Hawksmoor is investigating a murder in a Pacific Heights mansion only to discover a deeper mystery, made more disturbing by the fact that the house isn't fulfilling his requests. As the book closes, Hawksmoor is surprised to see a familiar face appear in the mansion...
My Mild Mundane Musings and Obviously Ordinary Opinions:
I enjoyed reading the book. It works well as a first issue: it had a lot of action and set up the larger story being told. This is apparently Mike Costa's first comics work, and he does well. He seems to have a decent sense of who Hawsmoor is and how his relationship with cities works. The dialog was smart and believable. I also liked that there were a few throwbacks to the Ellis days in the opening scene: large action shots, a fight against a nearly unstoppable adversary, and the old "Authority Role Call." I'm a sucker for any story with any member of The Authority in it (I even made it all the way through CA: Armageddon, but to purge afterward), so I might be a little biased, but I have so far (please don't blow it in issue 2) enjoyed this book as much I have enjoyed other recent Authority books by more established comic writers. So many books today seem to be excuses to contrive scenarios within which to job out members of The Authority: Wright did in in Stormwatch: TA, Gage did in in Authority: Prime (I loved the last two issues of that series, though), and, of course, Pfeifer jobbed the entire WSU to Captain Atom. This book seems to be more in the vein of older minis that respected these characters a little more. This series has a lot to live up to, since it's title is reminiscent of Millar's Jenny Sparks book; I wish it luck. Also wouldn't it be great if we got one of these for each member of The Authority? Of course, the Millar book sort of had chapters for everyone.
A complaint: Why is Jenny being called "Jenny Quarx" now?
Who else is reading and what did you think?