I think there is actually a Zombieland rule somewhere after "zombies don't run" and "it is no reflection on me but I should probably concede that Scott Pilgrim is a character served best through an actor capable of a wider emotional range" that reads something like "do not fuck with Geordie women after dark." At least, that's how I imagine it in my head where Zombieland is a much better film.
Reading:
Getting up to issue 47 of my slog through the entire publishing history of early 90s Marvel Spider-Man redux
Darkhawk, I find the teenagers unrecognizable, as there's nothing here to hint at the prevalent cultural ephemera of the 90s. Usually it's 'current' references that are the first thing to date a comic, like Spider-Man meeting John Belushi (he's the dead one, right? I think he's the dead one) and the Beatles, or Flash Thompson "giving Charlie what for" with a tour in 'Nam, but there's nothing in Darkhawk like that. The main character makes a reference to Die Hard in an issue that - I kid you not - later got ripped off by Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but apart from that the confused and identity-starved main character never comes across the recruitment for Gulf War 1 that took off in US high schools when the military started pitching themselves as an alternative to college rather than Uncle Sam's diplomatic arm, and the script doesn't mention RATM or Nirvana or the usual musical suspects that come to mind when I think of those years, although I did spot a reference to the 1991 Flash tv series because
I am a massive nerd. A decent enough comic so far, Darkhawk does suffer slightly from swinging about wildly in terms of story direction and tends to introduce new plot elements abruptly - his never-before mentioned girlfriend suddenly appearing out of nowhere several issues into the series, for example - but it has an interesting protagonist motivated by a mix of confusion and social responsibility rather than the typical superhero raison d'etre of guilt or vengeance to set it apart from
Marvel's supposed once-a-decade reinvention of Spider-Man. Danny Fingeroth gives us good angst and adds the odd subtlety to proceedings that isn't often credited to the character, while the art is a bit of a mess across the series but I still like it as most of the trouble stems from the brash colouring choices. For the most part Mike Manley's linework apes the mid-70s Marvel house style derived from John Buscema (more Sal Buscema in appearance, though I like Sal just as much as John) but also adds heavy use of shadow or the occasional curveball like the issue drawn entirely in the style of a Rob Liefeld comic - trust me, this is better in practice than I probably make it sound as Manly
can't actually draw badly enough to make the illusion convincing with even
three inkers to help him, as he keeps getting his anatomy right or correctly utilizes perspective and shadow - the effect is more reminiscent of Erik Larson when he apes Jack Kirby, though without the outre layouts.
The Boys I had to give up on as the current issue follows on directly from events that happened in a spin-off miniseries, which is probably Garth Ennis doing metacommentary on the cross-pollinating continuity that defined superhero comics for a time (and which has arguably returned of late) and served to drive away new readers. A shame, as The Boys is one of the better superhero comics around. I shall probably try and catch up at some point rather than abandon it entirely.
