Dan Dare Omnibus

Garth Ennis is a man of his principles. He doesn't seem to be a big fan of government, but he loves the soldiers that make that government run. That's true in his WWII War Stories and it is true in this sci-fi tale of alien invasion. I haven't had any exposure to Dan Dare before this hardcover, but I found myself really enjoying it.

Britain is the last super-power on Earth and Dan Dare is in well-deserved retirement. Dare spends his days wandering around a holographic world of old England when he's called back into service to battle his old foe the Mekon. I guess these guys have a long history, with the Mekon leading an alien race into attacking Earth, only to be repelled by Dare. There's a great line in this collection about how the Mekon's major motivation for everything he does now is to humiliate and defeat Dan Dare "the man who taught me to hate."

The story is made in the smaller moments, not in the overall story. Dan Dare's former teammate taking over the government in small doses is entertaining and shows off the "waiting" part of war nicely. I love how Britain's space fleet still feels like a Navy. The company of marines that follows Dare around on a few harrowing missions were tremendous. The squad leader even claims to have had worse down at the pub when his arm is ripped off!

And Ennis nails the cost of war as he always does, with Dare's new protege having to go up against overwhelming odds to give the mission a chance of success. This holds up nicely against Ennis' other war stories, and I recommend it. It's refreshing seeing he still tells riveting stories in addition to the fairly offensive stuff in The Boys and Herogasm.

Gary Erskine makes space ships and armored suits look mundane. And that's a compliment. The sci-fi elements look functional and working, nothing too sleek or crazy. The personal elements of this story would only work with grounded art, and Erskine delivers.

Good

Best of the 2000's #1: The Punisher (MAX)

#1: The Punisher by Garth Ennis and various

When Garth Ennis isn't making fun of super-heroes, he's the best in the business. After spending a few years being silly with Steve Dillon on a Marvel Universe title, Ennis got serious and essentially put the Punisher in the real world. Taking real-world type villains, Ennis put the focus on the depravity and evil of the villains, making them so vile that the reader can't help but squeal with glee when Frank finally gets his hands on them. The Punisher hands out some awful punishments throughout this run, but I always believed the bad guys deserved it. In fact, when Ennis would give us people like slavers or gleeful killers, I couldn't wait to see them get what they had coming. Ennis was able to switch tones too, keeping fun elements like the Barracuda. Barracuda was such an over the top villain that I loved reading about him, but we all know that no one survives meeting Frank more than twice (even his friends, it seemed). After reading this series, I was left with two thoughts: What a sad, lonely guy Frank Castle must be. It must be awful to be him. The second? Why doesn't the real world have a Punisher?

Ennis worked with quite a few artists as the series progressed. While they all handled the violence well, I'd say Leandro Fernandez really captured NYC the best. Fernandez's characters oozed evil, especially in the Slavers, my favorite arc of the series. Goran Parlov handled the Barracuda stories, and his bright, European style made him one of my favorite artists. He drew hot (and slutty) ladies, tough guys, and great wimps. I'd say those were the strongest artists of the run, although the others weren't bad at all.

Overall, the sheer creativity in villains, deaths, twists, and turns made this my favorite series of the 2000's.

Excellent

Best of the 2000's: Near-Misses

Thunderbolts #110-136 - Warren Ellis' examination of Marvel villains was my favorite thing he ever did. For someone who hates super-heroes, his reinvention of Doc Samson, Steel Spider, and especially American Eagle were brilliant. Then Andy Diggle came on board and picked right up and continued the great story.

Invincible Iron Man #1-6 - I adored the opening arc in this series, but it floundered for a bit during the too long Iron Man Disassembled arc. Even at its worst, it is an entertaining book.

Batman #667-669 - Batmen of All Nations - This fantastic story made me realize how much I would have adored Morrison's whole Batman run if there had been a good artist involved. Too bad Tony Daniel was the regular artist.

Hitman #45-49 - This only shipped for 5 months or so in the 2000's, but since it may be my favorite series of all time, it still makes the list.

Beyond! #1-6 & Fantastic Four #544-553 - Dwayne McDuffie cobbled together a classic Marvel U story using all sorts of odd pieces from the Marvel U. He also dusted off the Hood before anyone else did. Scott Kolins on art and a series heavily featuring Hank Pym and the Wasp? That's my perfect storm of a comic. McDuffie and Paul Pelletier picked up some strings from that series and wrote my favorite FF stories. Including the great scene where Black Panther put the Silver Surfer in a headlock!

Crossed #7

Yeesh. Garth Ennis' post-apocalyptic book rolls on, and while it is as upsetting as always, this is actually a little less perverted than it has been.

The whittled-down group has weathered the winter and crossed a desert in search of finding a sanctuary from the Crossed maniacs. The problem is, the last group of Crossed that swore to chase them has tracked them across the desert and is still on their trail. The mindless maniacs are showing even more cunning. Even worse, now they seem to be holding grudges. I'm having a hard time remembering exactly what happened last issue, since I think it has been awhile, but I do recognize the two leaders of the gang of Crossed. They eventually catch our survivors as they attempt to cross a river, and the Crossed open fire on the group, splitting them up. Most of the group meets back up, except for the young boy of the party. When they get to him, he's been infected and after spouting some profanity, he's put out of his misery by his mother. She doesn't pause at all, just shoots her kid in the head. It would be an awful choice, but Ennis deftly avoids the horror-movie cliche that a parent can't do what is necessary to free their kid. It's an awful scene, made worse in that the mother is cold about it. It is the rest of the party that is in shock and upset.

Jacen Burrows is a good storyteller in addition to having a penchant for gore. Burrows is able to focus on just gore here. I'm not sure that the core scene of the book needed as much focus though. I think showing the kid's head blowing apart is a little much, and the message might have been just as clear cutting that out. But heck, I don't think people reading Crossed are trying to avoid brain splatter.

Good

Punisher War Zone TPB

Garth Ennis can still write the Punisher. Stepping into his style from something like 10 years ago, this picks up with all the major players from Welcome Back Frank. The Elite, Lt. Molly Von Richthofen, and even Ma Gnucci (sort of) all show up and start causing problem for Frank Castle. Castle continues his detached slaughter of the criminal underworld, and Ennis always takes the time to make it entertaining. To be honest, the low-level criminals seem more human than Frank. He exists only to murder, and the criminals may be dumb, but you can almost understand them.

Ennis includes some great sequences with Frank taking on actually competent henchmen and multiple instances where Frank is caught off-guard and has to make due with whatever weapons he has on hand. Molly Von Richthofen has some nice development here too, as we see more of her personal life with her model-girlfriend. Molly is insanely jealous, violent, and always angry. Her eventual team-up with Frank is a great payoff. She has a hard time getting on in the normal world, but in Frank's, she fits right in. Ennis amps up the humor but still delivers a compelling story. I really do miss his work on the Punisher; I'd love to see more of these types of stories every once in awhile. I burned through this whole story in one sitting, and getting a cheap trade rather than paying $3.99 per issue made the experience even more satisfying.

Steve Dillon looks like he hasn't missed a beat since Welcome Back Frank. Everyone looks dead perfect and the violence is brutal while staying cartoony. He's is a much better fit here than he was on Wolverine Origins a few years ago.

Good

Crossed #4

I'm going to pass on posting the cover, I think. Hmm. Either I'm getting a thicker skin in dealing with Garth Ennis' depravity, or there wasn't quite as much of it on display in this issue. Oh there's still plenty of filth and perversion, just not to the normal levels. The little band of survivors is trying to get out of the city, but the group is split after having to deal with last issue's kid-cannibals. I still say that they probably should not have been killed, but I can see why the protagonists did what they did. I think it is funny that I'm getting to know the characters in this book, but I don't know anyone's names. It is almost like it doesn't matter. Heck, with the world collapsed down like it is for the cast, they probably don't care about names anymore either. What worries the group is that the crazed cross-faced maniacs are starting to become more organized. The sickness has turned them totally evil, but they aren't insane, they are calculating and sadistic. This issue was positively subdued though. When a bunch of people are thrown in a trailer to knife each other to death, it is left to the imagination, showing a restraint I didn't think had a place in this title. I did like the crossing the bridge bit at the end. With the main bridge broken, there is a single plank left for the survivors to cross. The blind survivor understandably takes longer than the others to cross, and she's panicking the whole way. Her delay costs another survivor her life though, when the plank falls away, leaving her alone on the city-side of the bridge as a crowd of crazies descend on her. Rather than be let herself be violated by them, she drops off the bridge to her death. (You've gotta hope she would die, don't want to survive that!) The crazies are all ramped up to go after the survivors, so I imagine the next issue will be pretty stressful.

I feel like there have been big delays between issues that are affecting how involved I am in the book. I always love post-apocalyptic stories, and this one is unflinching in its take on a horrible apocalyptic world. Ennis gets to play to both his greatest strengths (characterization and plot) and greatest weaknesses (incredible gore and perversion) in this. Unsurprisingly, I'm often disturbed and shocked at each issue, but I want to know what happens next!

Jacen Burrows can do exactly what is necessary to keep this book as disturbing as it is. His crazies are all upsetting to see, and the cast all has a distinctive enough look to stand out.

Good, if you can handle the sick stuff, Poor if you can't

Battlefields: Dear Billy #1-3

Garth Ennis, you bastard. No one can write more moving war comics than Ennis and he does it again here. Carrie and Billy's story ends logically, I'll give it that. This series is fantastic and a worthy descendant of the War Stories Ennis penned for DC a few years ago. I never know if the facts in these are adapted truths or if Ennis is making things up, but either way he does a fantastic job. I'll be grabbing this trade for certain. The story has wartime action, interpersonal drama, humor, and of course moments of crushing heartbreak too. I won't go into detail since this is at heart a simple story, and I don't want to ruin it. But if you've been steering clear of these Dynamite Battlefields books, make an exception. This is a fantastic genre story by a man who seems to understand it better than anyone else. I honestly can't believe this is the same guy who write The Boys.

Peter Snejbjerg's art has an emotional resonance on every page. The difficult subject matter could be wrecked by a less skilled artist, but in Snejbjerg's hands this is a story that will stay with you for a long time.

Excellent