Pop Culture Gadabout
Sunday, February 12, 2006
      ( 2/12/2006 01:52:00 PM ) Bill S.  


"EVEN WASTEROID DUMPS GET HYPHENED!" – The first comparison you'll see made to Giffen & Grant's Jeremiah Harm (Boom! Studios) is to their ultra-violent space bounty hunter Lobo, but I also see similarities to Grant's work on the comic book adventures of Star Wars' Boba Fett, a much more laconic, but equally bad-ass, space hunter. As with Giffen's work on Hero Squared, the immediate impression one gets of a work that had its genesis in the plot outline for a big money company comics property (in the case of Hero, the Justice League) but morphed into something a bit more free-wheeling along the way. Not a bad practice if the end results are as delightful as Hero, though since the first issue of Harm is primarily devoted to set-up, it's a bit too soon to make any broad judgments on this 'un. I will note that the series' opening volley makes an entertaining read: futuristically grungey with a gleefully mordant callousness that both writers have long made a part of their writing arsenals. (Grant is, as usual, adept at crafting a believably futuristic hard-boiled patois.) Could be fun if the writers can pull out a few good surprises in the issues to come.

The series opens with a jailbreak from a maximum security satellite by a trio of psychotic aliens so single-minded in their desire to escape that one of them painfully removes a neural bond parasite from her body ("That would be like removing your entire nervous system . . .by hand!" the satellite's warden states) while in solitary confinement. Concerned about the political ramifications of this escape, the weasely warden arranges for another prisoner, earthman Jeremiah Harm, to be released to track down the trio. Harm has a history with Dak Noira, the threesome's ringleader – his capture of the genocidal alien led to Jeremiah being framed as an accomplice – and the warden guarantees immunity for our hero if he retrieves the threesome. The sleazy bureacrat's lying, but we're sure Harm already knows this.

So our title hero is, in other words, a comic book Snake Plissken (though, come to think of it, doesn't he have his own comic now?) – and that's it for the pop culture comparisons, I promise – right down to the surly look and stubby cheroot in his mouth. (In a nice touch, Harm is shown lighting his cigar with his thumbnail.) At this point all we know about the character is he's a hard-ass who'd "just as soon not bust up a broad" but is plenty brutal when it comes to beating the truth out of a double-dealing underworlder. The fact that our murderous trio its making its way to his old stomping grounds hints we'll more 'n' likely learn more about Jeremiah, The Man/The Cigar Chomper, along the way.

Rael Lyra's art has a suitably tarnished look, though as I've noted in the past, I could do without the infusion of murky green coloration into so much of the proceedings – makes me think too much of our old color television on its last legs. While I understand the wish to look visually oppressive on a series like this, too much swamp tones can get monotonous, particularly when yer prime alien baddies are all reptilian creatures. Perhaps things'll lighten up a few watts when our hero arrives on that familiar backwater planet where his quarry is a-plottin'? We shall see . . .

A Quick Snipe At A Small Editing Flub: Looks to me as if someone misdirected the word balloons at the top of page eleven – not a fatal flaw, but it did give me pause when I was re-reading the book . . .
# |



Pop cultural criticism - plus the occasional egocentric socio/political commentary by Bill Sherman (popculturegadabout AT yahoo.com).



On Sale Now!
Measure by Measure:



A Romantic Romp with the Fat and Fabulous
By Rebecca Fox & William Sherman

(Available through Amazon)

Measure by Measure Web Page







Ask for These Fine Cultural Blogs & Journals by Name!

aaronneathery.com News
Aaron Neathery

American Sideshow Blow-Off
Marc Hartzman

Arf Lovers
Craig Yoe

Attentiondeficitdisorderly
Sean T. Collins

Barbers Blog
Wilson Barbers

The Bastard Machine
Tim Goodman

The Beat
Heidi MacDonald

BeaucoupKevin
Kevin Church

Big Fat Blog
Paul McAleer

Big Mouth Types Again
Evan Dorkin

Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog
Laura "Tegan" Gjovaag

Blog This, Pal!
Gordon Dymowski

Bookgasm
Rod Lott

Cartoon Brew
Amid Amidi & Jerry Beck

Cartoon Web Log!
Daryl Cagle

Clea's Cave
Juana Moore-Overmyer

Collected Editions

The Comics Curmudgeon
Josh Fruhlinger

The Comics Reporter
Tom Spurgeon

Comics.212
Christopher Butcher

Comics Waiting Room
Marc Mason

Comics Worth Reading
Johanna Draper Carlson

a dragon dancing with the Buddha
Ben Varkentine

Egon

Electromatic Radio
Matt Appleyard Aaron Neathery

Estoreal
RAB

Eye of the Goof
Mr. Bali Hai

Fred Sez
Fred Hembeck

Greenbriar Picture Shows
John McElwee

The Groovy Age of Horror
Curt Purcell

The Hooded Utilitarian
Noah Berlatsky

Hooray for Captain Spaulding
Daniel Frank

The Horn Section
Hal

The House Next Door
Matt Zoller Seitz

Howling Curmudgeons
Greg Morrow & Friends

The Hurting
Tim O'Neil

I Am A Child of Television
Brent McKee

I Am NOT the Beastmaster
Marc Singer

In Sequence
Teresa Ortega

Innocent Bystander
Gary Sassaman

Irresponsible Pictures
Pata

Jog - The Blog
Joe McCulloch

The Johnny Bacardi Show
David Allen Jones

Journalista
Dirk Deppey

King's Chronicles
Paul Dini

Let's You And Him Fight
One of the Jones Boys

Mah Two Cents
Tony Collett

Metrokitty
Kitty

Michael's Movie Palace
Michael

Nat's TV
Nat Gertler

Ned Sonntag

Neilalien

News from ME
Mark Evanier

No Rock&Roll Fun
Simon B

Omega Channel
Matt Bradshaw

Pen-Elayne on the Web
Elayne Riggs

PeterDavid.net
Peter David

(postmodernbarney.com)
Dorian White

Progressive Ruin
Mike Sterling

Punk Rock Graffiti
Cindy Johnson & Autumn Meredith

Revoltin' Developments
Ken Cuperus

Rhinoplastique
Marc Bernardin

Scrubbles
Matt Hinrichs

Self-Styled Siren
Campaspe

Spatula Forum
Nik Dirga

Tales from the Longbox
Chris Mosby

TangognaT

The Third Banana
Aaron Neathery & Friends

Thrilling Days of Yesteryear
Ivan G. Shreve, Jr.

Toner Mishap
B2 et al

Trusty Plinko Stick
Bill Doughty

TV Barn
Aaron Barnhart et al

Unqualified Offerings
Jim Henley

Various And Sundry
Augie De Blieck

Video WatchBlog
Tim Lucas

When Fangirls Attack
Kalinara & Ragnell

X-Ray Spex
Will Pfeifer

Yet Another Comics Blog
Dave Carter



A Brief Political Disclaimer:

If this blog does not discuss a specific political issue or event, it is not because this writer finds said event politically inconvenient to acknowledge - it's simply because he's scatterbrained and irresponsible.




My Token List of Poli-Blogs:

Alicublog
Roy Edroso

Eschaton
Atrios

Firedoglake
Jane Hamsher

James Wolcott

Lance Mannion

The Moderate Voice
Joe Gandelman

Modulator
Steve

Pandagon
Amanda Marcotte & Friends

The Sideshow
Avedon Carol

Skippy, the Bush Kangaroo
Skippy

Talking Points Memo
Joshua Micah Marshall

This Modern World
Tom Tomorrow

Welcome to Shakesville
Melissa McEwan & Friends



Blogcritics: news and reviews
Site Feed



Powered by Blogger



Twittering:
    follow me on Twitter