Robin Lewis
Sep 19, 2004, 11:20 am
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/0904/TerraObscuraVol22.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/0904/TerraObscuraVol22t.jpg" align=left alt="Terra Obscura (Volume 2) #2"></a>Reviewer: Robin Lewis, lucillerobin@aol.com
Quick Rating: Great.
Story Title: Smash of Two Worlds.
SMASH fight SMASH.
Co-Plot by: Alan Moore
Co-Plot and Script: Peter Hogan
Pencils by: Yanick Paquette
Inks by: Karl Story
Colors by: Carrie Strachan
Letters by: Todd Klein
Assistant Editor: Kristy Quinn
Editor: Ben Abernathy
This issue starts out well with a great joke on page one. With all the superheores out there called "Captain Something-or-other" it's a wonder no-one has ever suggested that occasionally a promotion might be in order before. I look forward to Major America, Field Marshall Marvel and Brigadier Britain with great anticipation. Can they get demoted? Will Buck Private America be making his debut soon? Heh - "Colonel" Future, indeed.
I doubt there's a single super-team out there who haven't fought versions of themselves from different timelines or realities. SMASH join that club this issue, as the past continues to resonate strangely in their present. It's not just apparently unexplainable events that are coming back to haunt our heroes. Di makes the unwise move of revisiting her past relationship with Tim (who's developed a nervous tic that hints at the fairly gruesome reveal on the last page), and Tom Strange is trying to piece together some kind of relationship with a woman from his past. His car is still regressing, too. One of the things that's so pleasing about this series has been the sense that we're reading about adults. The relationships between the characters are just as convoluted as a normal super-team book (he used to date her, now she's sleeping with her, while he used to be in love with her and now she's dating the armchair, etc), but the grating soap-opera cliches that normally stifle this kind of thing are absent. Reading most team books I'm always struck by the thought that, first and foremost, these are superheroes, and usually fairly immature and petulant ones at that. Teenager minds in tights. Reading this, it's clear that we're looking at men and women who happen to have extraordinary powers and aren't going to spend five panels spouting some unrealistic and generic dialogue while they angst and fight their way through the bad guy of the week. They're grown-ups, which makes a pleasant change.
The slow pace from last month's installment is quickened a little here, which will be welcome news for the impatient souls among you. Things also take a rather sinister turn in the closing pages, but I won't ruin the surprise. All I can say is that I wouldn't them operate on me. I bet they don't even have a Doctor's license. Things are shaping up nicely for the series as a whole. Events in Invertica are coming to the boil, while the return of Captain Future and the intrusion of the heroes of yesteryear will probably lead to somewhere I can't guess at yet. It's an enjoyable feeling, not knowing where a story is going to go next, and one that doesn't often cross my mind when I'm reading comics these days.
The art is still fabulous. The costumes look like some kind of chemical distillation of classic sci-fi design, and I'm fairly certain one of the characters is based on Jennifer Connelly, which can't be a bad thing (and is sort of fitting, as the super-hero movie that comes closest to this in terms of style and atmosphere is undoubtedly The Rocketeer). The fight scene between the two different versions of SMASH is a trifle static, but that's the price you pay when the panels are as clear and clean as these. I find it a perfectly acceptable price to pay, but your taste may differ (in which case you'll be wrong, but you'll get over it). Some have apparently found the cheescake factor too high for their liking, but personally I can't see it, especially when this book's placed next to something like Worldwatch or Frank Cho's Spiderman. The female characters are all smart, sassy, and come across like a heroine from a nineteen-forties Howard Hawks movie. Think twenty-year old Lauren Bacall in a superhero costume and you'll be just about there.
As the cover says, 'The Mystery Deepens!' but the only thing we can be really sure of is that the past just won't lie down and die. Another excellent comic from the ABC line, and one you should be picking up.
ART:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcnone.jpg
STORY:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcnone.jpg
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcnone.jpg
Buy this issue online now from X-World Comics and save! (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=1411&cat=TERRA+OBSCURA+VOL%2E+2)
Quick Rating: Great.
Story Title: Smash of Two Worlds.
SMASH fight SMASH.
Co-Plot by: Alan Moore
Co-Plot and Script: Peter Hogan
Pencils by: Yanick Paquette
Inks by: Karl Story
Colors by: Carrie Strachan
Letters by: Todd Klein
Assistant Editor: Kristy Quinn
Editor: Ben Abernathy
This issue starts out well with a great joke on page one. With all the superheores out there called "Captain Something-or-other" it's a wonder no-one has ever suggested that occasionally a promotion might be in order before. I look forward to Major America, Field Marshall Marvel and Brigadier Britain with great anticipation. Can they get demoted? Will Buck Private America be making his debut soon? Heh - "Colonel" Future, indeed.
I doubt there's a single super-team out there who haven't fought versions of themselves from different timelines or realities. SMASH join that club this issue, as the past continues to resonate strangely in their present. It's not just apparently unexplainable events that are coming back to haunt our heroes. Di makes the unwise move of revisiting her past relationship with Tim (who's developed a nervous tic that hints at the fairly gruesome reveal on the last page), and Tom Strange is trying to piece together some kind of relationship with a woman from his past. His car is still regressing, too. One of the things that's so pleasing about this series has been the sense that we're reading about adults. The relationships between the characters are just as convoluted as a normal super-team book (he used to date her, now she's sleeping with her, while he used to be in love with her and now she's dating the armchair, etc), but the grating soap-opera cliches that normally stifle this kind of thing are absent. Reading most team books I'm always struck by the thought that, first and foremost, these are superheroes, and usually fairly immature and petulant ones at that. Teenager minds in tights. Reading this, it's clear that we're looking at men and women who happen to have extraordinary powers and aren't going to spend five panels spouting some unrealistic and generic dialogue while they angst and fight their way through the bad guy of the week. They're grown-ups, which makes a pleasant change.
The slow pace from last month's installment is quickened a little here, which will be welcome news for the impatient souls among you. Things also take a rather sinister turn in the closing pages, but I won't ruin the surprise. All I can say is that I wouldn't them operate on me. I bet they don't even have a Doctor's license. Things are shaping up nicely for the series as a whole. Events in Invertica are coming to the boil, while the return of Captain Future and the intrusion of the heroes of yesteryear will probably lead to somewhere I can't guess at yet. It's an enjoyable feeling, not knowing where a story is going to go next, and one that doesn't often cross my mind when I'm reading comics these days.
The art is still fabulous. The costumes look like some kind of chemical distillation of classic sci-fi design, and I'm fairly certain one of the characters is based on Jennifer Connelly, which can't be a bad thing (and is sort of fitting, as the super-hero movie that comes closest to this in terms of style and atmosphere is undoubtedly The Rocketeer). The fight scene between the two different versions of SMASH is a trifle static, but that's the price you pay when the panels are as clear and clean as these. I find it a perfectly acceptable price to pay, but your taste may differ (in which case you'll be wrong, but you'll get over it). Some have apparently found the cheescake factor too high for their liking, but personally I can't see it, especially when this book's placed next to something like Worldwatch or Frank Cho's Spiderman. The female characters are all smart, sassy, and come across like a heroine from a nineteen-forties Howard Hawks movie. Think twenty-year old Lauren Bacall in a superhero costume and you'll be just about there.
As the cover says, 'The Mystery Deepens!' but the only thing we can be really sure of is that the past just won't lie down and die. Another excellent comic from the ABC line, and one you should be picking up.
ART:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcnone.jpg
STORY:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcnone.jpg
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/abcnone.jpg
Buy this issue online now from X-World Comics and save! (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=1411&cat=TERRA+OBSCURA+VOL%2E+2)