Cape Town Capsule Reviews, 4/6/11 Releases

By Don M. Ventura

Nonplayer #1

Image Comics

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Nonplayer is strikingly beautiful from cover to cover. Artist/writer Nate Simpson has delivered a new piece of work that deserves to be soaked in slowly as each panel is a testament to his skill.

You might wonder where the credits are on the book. There aren’t any. Simpson handles everything down to the lettering on this imaginative piece of obvious labor and the results are impressive for sure. To say that the artwork is superior to the story is not to demean his abilities as a writer, it’s a testament to his capacity to deliver one gorgeous page after the next.

Nonplayer is the story of Dana, who prefers the full-immersion multiplayer online game “Warriors of Jarvath” to real life. There she’s a warrior with a flying cat-thing. Dana and her elf friend attack royalty and about a thousand soldiers before things appear to go glitchy in the machine. Simpson plays up his strengths during this fantastic sequence. While I have an aversion to role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons and the like, I found my prejudices did not get in the way of enjoying the book.

I’ll be interested to see more from Simpson in terms of dialogue because the book is somewhat sparse in terms of it, but I liked what I read. When Dana asks her mom not to touch her stuff, her mother replies, “Funny how you make an exception when it comes to your dirty laundry”. It’s clever and sincere exchanges like this that I appreciate in good dialogue.

Cape Town Capsule Reviews, 3/2/11 Releases

By Don M. Ventura

5 Ronin #1

Marvel Comics

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Peter Milligan begins a five-week mini-series with an interesting take on one of Marvel’s most recognizable heroes. Set in 17^th Century Feudal Japan, a former samurai who looks (and acts) a lot like Wolverine finds himself confronted—and soon beheaded—by a mysterious samurai.

Turns out there a story about an immortal Ronin wandering the Japanese landscape and he also looks like Wolverine. Milligan uses an interesting spin on the character’s immortality, and sets up an interesting Elseworlds-style story. The remaining stories feature Psylocke, Hulk, Deadpool, and the Punisher.

Wolverine’s story does not end at the story’s close, so it would appear that the characters will all come face-to-face over the course of the tale. This was an enjoyable opener that I did not believe I would have enjoyed as much as I did. The art by Tomm Coker is striking and perfectly fitted for this type of story. Each page is gorgeous; Coker confidently draws fantastic Japanes landscapes and exciting battle scenes.

My only gripe about the book as there a few times where Wolvie is too in-character. He uses “huh” and “ain’t” a couple of times and it pulled me out of the story. A minor qualm though because this book was otherwise quite good.

Cape Town Capsule Reviews, 2/9/11 Releases

By Don M. Ventura

Ultimate Captain America #2

Marvel Comics

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Maybe it’s because I haven’t read many Ultimates titles since the second volume of Mark Millar’s run on the book, I forgot what a louse this universe’s Captain America could be. That made the first issue a less enjoyable for me. Sometimes I let my “old school” way keep me from enjoying these takes on the characters.

I’ve warmed up with this second issue by Jason Aaron. This title is fun. We begin in the hospital where Cap is disgruntled after being capsized by Frank Simpson, the Vietnam-era super soldier who is one rough character.

In a wonderful scene Carol Danvers helps Captain America go rogue to follow Simpson to North Korea where S.H.E.I.L.D. believes him to be. Ron Garney’s work is stupendous in this book—and the Apocalypse Now homage on the cover is truly striking.

Where Jonathan Hickman’s Ultimate Thor had an epic feel, Aaron is telling a great adventure yarn with cool twists. Marvel has put its Ultimate Universe in the ablest of hands.