Comics Review: The Rocketeer and Wonder Girl

Free Comic Book Day snuck up on me, as usual, at the start of this month.  I heard about it on the Friday before from a comics review video.  I wasn’t convinced.  My last trip for free comics didn’t go well (5-5-18), specifically we arrived, “Too late,” for the free comics, though the store was still open.  Frankly, every time I’ve gone out for FCBD it’s been disappointing at best.  Times I haven’t gone have been hand-wringing affairs, where I berate myself for being too lazy or whatever to leave my apartment.

 

I checked out the FCBD website and noticed a Red Sonja comic that looked good.  I checked that Zia Comics was participating in the event, and I knew that they nominally carry Red Sonja comics.  So off I went on Saturday morning.  I was surprised by the large number of people at the Downtown Mall for the weekly Farmer’s Market.  It was like a big street party.  That was good to see.

 

Inside Zia Comics, there were plenty people shopping.  I looked over the new comics racks and easily found a couple comics I was interested in.  I’d been afraid I’d have to sweat out finding something to buy.  However, I didn’t see the free comics anywhere.  I went to the register to check out and finally asked about them.  I was apparently, “Too early,” for the free comics. 

 

The free comics were only being of offered from 2:00pm to 5:00pm.  Never mind that there were already a bunch of people at the shop.  Never mind that they were going to be handing out the comics after the market closed and most of the crowd had gone.  (I did go back and look at their website.  If you follow a link to their Facebook page, there they give you the times.)  [Edit: Looking for a third time, they did list the giveaway times on their website.  This still begs the question: Why weren’t they just giving comics away the whole time they were open?]  It was going to be an hour and a half until the handout.  I’d already eaten lunch, so there was no reason to stay to eat somewhere nearby.  I was also missing another free event—all of the games being free on MLB.TV. 

 

I left.  I looked at my two purchased comics.  They were $5 apiece, that’s a $1 increase over regular comics from my last trip (12-17-21).  These had better be the best two comics I’ve ever bought, or I’m done going to Zia Comics, I thought to myself.  I actually sat on these for over a week before reading them in fear of my curse.  I actually took them over when I went to see dad and he read them first.  (He kind of likes Wonder Girl from previous issues, I think.) 

 

So, here we’ll see what I think of them.  A week after the event, I was watching another comics review video.  The guy reviewed his FCBD comics.  The first issue he held up was that Red Sonja comic and he said it was the best of the bunch.  That’s swell.     

 

The Rocketeer: The Great Race #2

I’m a big fan of the Disney movie from the 90’s.  I was exposed to the comic in the 80’s, but never got to buy an issue.  The cover of this issue is great (except for the price), so I couldn’t resist. 

The inside artwork isn’t bad, but it’s kind of dark and muddled.  Still, the character-work is good.  However, the technical aircraft art is a bit crude and sometimes out-of-scale.  Since the story is all about an air race, this is a problem.  Ultimately, the problem is the original artist and creator of the Rocketeer, Dave Stevens.  His artwork is incomparable.  You’re almost better off using a completely different style than trying to emulate his.

I wouldn’t say the story is decompressed, but not a lot happens.  Basically a trans-Atlantic air race begins and there’s a couple of subplots going on involved with it.  I think seeing the whole story, it would be more interesting.  In all, this story fits in well with the Rocketeer setting.

My favorite part of the issue, though, was the text section in the back about Dave Stevens.  It gave the history of the character in publication.  There were interviews with artists and others who knew Stevens.  It’s not all praise, but everyone was in awe of his talent.  There’s the story of Stevens holding up a finished story for weeks because he wasn’t satisfied with his drawing of a dog’s leg.   

 

Overall, the text saves this issue from me tossing it into the trade pile.  I don’t know if there’s going to be a trade paperback to wait for.  If you’re a fan of the character and frequent the comic book store, I’d recommend collecting all the issues.  Oh yeah, if you’re a Bettie Page fan, she’s here.  (I don’t know.  She’s iconic, but Jennifer Connelly looked awfully good in the movie.)

Trial of Amazons: Wonder Girl #1

One last chance for comic book redemption here.  I’d heard a review of the whole Trial of the Amazons storyline on Thinking Critical’s channel (I can’t easily find the specific video) and he did not think well of it.  The only thing he praised were the parts with Joelle Jones’ artwork (as I have).  (This issue also has a really thick cover.  It’s not worth an extra dollar.) 

I won’t speak to the rest of the larger storyline, but this issue is great.  The art is a huge selling point, of course.  It’s too bad about the event storyline, because this issue sets things up well.  There are flashbacks and flashforwards to establish and build tension.  Pity it apparently doesn’t resolve in a satisfactory way in the other parts of the series.

Wonder Woman is a background character in this issue and apparently the rest of the event storyline.  The focus here is on Yara, the new Wonder Girl.  However, Cassie, also Wonder Girl (?), gets attention, along with Artemis.  Put in a good storyline, these are interesting, likable characters.  Unfortunately, there’s too much Agenda in the other issues for these characters to properly thrive. 

This issue does feature the Brazilian tribe of Amazons.  There are also references to the other Amazon tribes for a contest amongst them in Themyscira.  This reminds me of Green Lantern and the various color corps, which were probably unnecessary.  In this case, it makes better sense.  Did there need to be another Wonder Girl?  Maybe not, but Yara is a good character and the Brazilian Amazon origin gives her legit a place to start from. 

 

In addition to the contest, there are vague warnings about Doom’s Doorway and the assassination of Queen Hippolyta (not to bury the lead).  With the murder mystery, the contest, the possibility of demonic invasion, and the characters, all of the ingredients are there for a great comic book event story.  So much for that, but at least we have this pretty comic and can imagine how it might been something great. 

 

Am I going back to Zia Comics in spite of their lousy service and overpriced comics?  Thank Joelle Jones for saving you guys this time.  I sympathized with Ya Boi Zack, who talked in a video (I again don’t remember which one) about going into a shop and leaving without buying anything because nothing appealed to him.  I’d had the same experience recently.  I’d wanted to give them the business, but they didn’t have anything I wanted, apart from some very expensive large omnibuses.  I think I’ll only go back when I’ve got a good reason to and not just because “it’s been awhile.”  I might show up for Free Comic Book Day again, just to get my damn free comics satisfaction.