Abandon Strip - Part Three

Yet more comic-related shenanigans from the laptop of Gallows drummer Lee Barratt. Ever wondered what a monkey assassin would be like, or what would happen if Wolverine and Captain America were turbo-charged with radiation? Of course you have...

Posted Wednesday, 1 September 2010 by Lee Barratt in

Blog

Hi everyone, and welcome back.

This week has been a bit of an up and down one for me in terms of what I've been reading. I never thought I'd enjoy a story about a simian assassin but Hit-Monkey (Marvel) has drawn me in over the course of the origin tale and the 1st issue of 3 in a limited series. Writer Daniel Way - who has been handling the "merc with a mouth" Deadpool lately - actually manages to pull off the story of a young monkey's transition in to a killer of killers very well indeed. Surprisingly, Hit Monkey is low on humour - I was expecting more wild antics from such a ridiculous concept - but the mood is mostly dark throughout. And even more surprisingly, it really works.

Hit-Monkey centres around a mysterious wounded assassin who is taken in by a clan of monkeys and cared for. What the monkeys don't know is that the assassin is part of a very shady Japanese government coup that has gone wrong. Sensing the danger, one of the young monkeys tries to warn his group of fellow simians but is too late and they are all murdered along with the assassin. The monkey takes swift revenge and brutally guns down the army of murderers. Thus: Hit-Monkey is born! Aided by the ghost of the murdered assassin, Hit-Monkey begins his mission to track down the corrupt government figures and avenge the death of his brethren. The art by Dalibor Talajic is impressive and definitely deserves a mention. I can't imagine how hard it must be to convey what a monkey is thinking or doing when the only speech he has to work with are random noises like "eeehk" or "auk"! The appearance of one of Marvel's biggest villains at the end of issue 1 should really spice up the action and I'm hoping issues 2 and 3 live up to my high expectations which were originally very low for this title.

Unfortunately, not even Marvel can strike gold every time and with World War Hulks: Captain America vs Wolverine I have to admit that I was left not overly impressed. Maybe I'm being overly cynical but this did just feel like an excuse to cash in and have two of Marvel's biggest hitters, well …hitting each other.

Both Wolverine & Captain 'Bucky Barnes' America (NOT Steve Rogers) have been induced with the Incredible Hulk's gamma and are now tearing through the streets of Washington DC pounding seven shades of shit out of each other. That's about as interesting as the main plot gets as one fight scene blends into another after a while. The fights are well drawn but there's only so many times you can see a vehicle being smashed over a character's head before it all becomes a bit tiresome. What's more interesting is the flashback plot involving the Winter Soldier, Wolverine and a very attractive young woman who is fond of dishing out some severe torture. The flashbacks actually go into a little bit of detail on why the current gamma-powered Wolverine & Cap are currently going at it hammer and tongs. Without it, this limited series would totally fall in to the fanboy only category. I was expecting more and would recommend it if you're into Marvel battle royales and want to check out what Captain America would look like if he ate PowerBars all day and had a metal arm.

Lastly this week I have the first issue of Green Hornet: Year One (Dynamite) written by the awesome Matt Wagner with art from Aaron Campbell. The Green Hornet character is currently getting a lot of attention with a whole host of new titles from Dynamite plus the release next year of a feature film starring Seth Rogen and Cameron Diaz, so if you don't know too much about the characters then I suggest picking up Year One ASAP.

The title is a little misleading as it is practically an origin story rather then a depiction of Green Hornet and his sidekick Kato's first year fighting crime. Readers already familiar with Britt Reid's escapades may not find much new material to sink their teeth in to but this first issue could be perfect for newcomers to the pulp character. With the plot cutting back and forth between Britt and Kato's past relationships with their fathers while youngsters and their first engagement with some Chicago mooks, this is a nice introduction with some very fitting art by Campbell that is hopefully going to be built on fully by the talented Wagner in subsequent issues. I would presume though that more experienced Green Hornet readers will no doubt be more enthused by Kevin Smith's current run on the character plus the current "Parallel Lives' limited series.

Make sure you check in next week for the return of everyone's favourite killer cyborgs in the new limited series Terminator 2029 plus BBC's Torchwood is adapted into a comic for the very first time!

Thanks to the ever-wonderful Forbidden Planet, your one-stop shop for everything comics-related.

© Rock Sound 2011 | Terms & Conditions | Advertise with us