The Manhattan Projects #11

Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Nick Pitarra

One of my favourite monthly titles continues to impress with each new issue.  The Manhattan Projects has moved into new territory, as the American and Russian science agencies have affected a secret merger, and are now setting about making their plans for all their Cold War funding.

To that end, a meeting is held on their new Moon base to come up with some long-term goals.  Of course, Oppenheimer has his plans, and details three projects he would like to commence, which involve space travel, alternative energy, and human longevity.  He has a fourth project as well, but it's a secret...

The heart of this issue lies in the story of Dr. Harry Daghlian.  We see how he became an animated atomic skeleton, and we see just how close his friendship with Dr. Enrico Fermi is.  It is because of Fermi that his containment suit allows him to interact with other people.

This book is impossible to predict, and knowing Jonathan Hickman's penchant for long-range planning, is likely to stay that way for a good long time.

Another thing I like about it are the completely unconventional covers, which reflect the content of the book in puzzlingly tangential ways quite often, but also make the comic stand out like no other book.

East of West #1

Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Nick Dragotta

While I'm not entirely sure I have a handle on everything that's going on in this new series, I am definitely swept up in it, and am very excited to be able to enjoy another Jonathan Hickman-written creator-owned series.

In terms of tone, this book is closer to his Marvel work than his current book The Manhattan Projects, or any of his earlier Image mini-series like Pax Romana.  It feels like Hickman has a sprawling, involved story to tell in this series, and that he's going to take his time doing so, much like he did with his epic Fantastic Four run.

This series is set in an America that underwent some alternate history from our own.  When the book opens, modern American territory is split into various factions, including a vibrant and sovereign indigenous territory.  We know that the peace between these regions was hard-won, but we don't know a whole lot more than that.

The book is split between two stories - one involves a trio of children who come out of some sort of portal, surprised at the absence of a fourth.  It doesn't take long to recognize that these three are Horsemen of the Apocalypse (although there is a Conquest and not a Pestilence).  They've been reborn, and aren't all happy about that.

We also follow a different trio, a white man and two Aboriginal companions, all of whom are shown as being all in white (or black, as the mood fits).  We know that they are looking for the people who had arranged to have them dead, and that leads to one of them paying a visit to the President of The Union.

Hickman is making it clear that this book is going to be very bloody, but I really don't know what more to expect from this title.  Nick Dragotta is an incredible artist, and he adjusts his style nicely to fit this darker material.  As always with a Hickman independent book, I worry about its shipping schedule (anyone know what's going on with The Secret?), especially since I can't wait to read the next issue.

The Manhattan Projects #10

Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Ryan Browne

Have you ever felt the desire to read a comic that features J. Robert Oppenheimer punching out a horse?  You know you have, and Jonathan Hickman has finally helped you realize your dreams.

To say that this is a strange issue of The Manhattan Projects is a difficult comment to parse.  Does that mean that it's completely conventional and a little dull?  Or does it mean that this issue is even crazier than the series usually is?  Well, yes, as the whole comic takes place inside the head of Joseph Oppenheimer, Robert's twin brother who, in the first issue of the series, killed and ate him.

Robert comes to his senses in a deep well, which he climbs out of to find himself in a strange landscape where his thoughts have power over reality.  At first, everything seems barren, but then he finds the aforementioned horse, roughs it up a bit, and then rides it into the city he has seen in the distance.  As it turns out, the city is his brother's brain, where he finds the infinite copies that Joseph keeps making.

This issue suggests that Robert may be starting the long process of gaining control over his brother's body.  I wonder what he'll think when he discovers that the Manhattan Project has manipulated its way into a position of great power over the United States, and for its own ends.

This issue is guest-drawn by Ryan Browne, an artist I'm not familiar with, but whose art looks remarkably like regular series artist Nick Pitarra.  I'm sure much of the credit for that goes to colourist Jordie Bellaire, who helps maintain consistency.  I'm not sure if Pitarra is just behind a little, or if other changes are in the works for this comic.  Either way, this is a great issue of one of the best series on the stands.

The Manhattan Projects #9

Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Nick Pitarra

The staff of the Manhattan Projects, under the leadership of General Leslie Groves, have effected a merger with their Russian counterparts, and have escaped the American government's attempt to stop their machinations towards independence.  What's left to do then, but to figure out who is really calling the shots, and go after them.

In this issue, Groves and his team do just that, acting on information they gain from the artificial intelligence that is all that is left of dead President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. They learn that their enemies include the luchadore head of an international banking cartel, a very old Egyptian with mystical powers, an overly corpulent man who controls all emerging markets, and of course, current president and Freemason Harry S. Truman.

It doesn't take long for the Projects crew to deal with all of these guys, and it is a lot of fun watching it happen.  Hickman's taken his time setting up this series, and with each new issue, he's introduced some pretty wild ideas.  Now, he's put the Projects in a new position of power, and has guaranteed that this book, which plays with historical figures with great irreverence, will continue to be a terrific read for a while to come.

The Manhattan Projects #8

Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Nick Pitarra

Last issue, the combined leadership of the American Manhattan Projects and the Soviet Star City initiative decided to join forces and pursue their own scientific ends separate from their respective masters' wishes.

This issue, the Americans decide to put a stop to them.  The comic opens on a meeting between President Harry S. Truman and his advisors, which appear to include a man in a luchadore mask, someone who only speaks in Egyptian hieroglyphs, and most surprisingly, the AI of former President FDR, who we thought was firmly entrenched in the Projects' ranks.

What follows is a bit of a bloodbath, while FDR-controlled robots attack Los Alamos, Star City, and the Singularity, the orbital space stations the Russians had built.  Much of the comic focuses on Wernher Von Braun, the former Nazi rocket scientist who drives much of what happens in the Projects, as he has to escape Star City and make his way to Los Alamos to shut off the FDR AI.

This is another very entertaining issue in a series that has surpassed all expectations I had going in to it. Hickman has consistently written a crazier, freer flowing story than I've seen him do before, and Nick Pitarra has been there every step of the way backing him.  This is a terrific comic.

The Manhattan Projects #7

Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Nick Pitarra

Jonathan Hickman spent the first six issues of this series introducing the characters, and establishing just how wonderful and weird his universe was.  Now, he's gotten all the groundwork laid out, and it's time to start moving this book into high gear.

The American Manhattan Projects, supposedly under the control of General Leslie Groves (although it looks more like Nazi scientist Wernher Von Braun is calling the shots) enter into secret talks with their counterparts from the Soviet Star City program.  The basis of these talks?  They want to work independently of their governments to explore new options, after the Americans' recent interaction with alien lifeforms.

As much as I've loved this comic, I've been unable to predict where Hickman was taking things; now, I have a good sense of what is going to happen in this title, as the two groups settle into an uneasy alliance, while earning the enmity of President Truman (whose orgy is interrupted by the news of what the Projects are up to).

This is a truly wonderful comic.  Hickman has done a great number of strange and twisted things to the actual historical figures involved in the American atomic weapons project (this issue, we get to see just how alien Enrico Fermi really is), but has also imbued the book with some humanity, especially through the character of Helmutt Gröttrup, a German scientist who has been prisoner of the Soviets for years.

Nick Pitarra is more than up for any crazy idea that Hickman throws at him, and his art just keeps getting better and better.  This book is incredibly unique, and never boring.

The Manhattan Projects #6

Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Nick Pitarra

Considering that The Manhattan Projects is set firmly in the middle of the Cold War, it's a surprise that it is only with this issue that we see behind the Iron Curtain, and learn just what the Soviet equivalent of the Projects is.

Like the Americans, the Soviets tried to snap up as many Nazi scientists as possible, and this issue revolves around one of them - Helmutt Gröttrup.  Gröttrup had led the Nazi science base Oberammergau just prior to the Americans seizing it, as was shown in an earlier issue, and instead ran into a Soviet patrol, which was filled with unexplained squid-headed robots.

This comic follows Gröttrup's career, as he is literally branded a Nazi, and made to work in Star City, a Soviet project that involves rockets.  Gröttrup works steadily for his freedom, although personnel changes in the Soviet system make that seem unlikely.

In relation to this book's usual craziness, things are a little quieter this month.  We do learn that the Tunguska Event was alien-related, although Soviet attempts to reverse engineer the technology they recovered have not been too successful.  The preponderance of squid creatures is never fully explained, but I'm sure we'll get back to that at some point.

This issue is much more human than any of the previous ones, as Hickman shows Gröttrup as the victim of a number of unfortunate coincidences.  Visually, this comic is as good as it ever has been, as colourist Jordie Bellaire mostly sticks to a red and blue palette.

The Manhattan Projects #5

Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Nick Pitarra

What I like most about The Manhattan Projects is that there really is no telling what each new issue is going to contain.  The covers (which I love for their simplicity and unique graphic design) give away nothing about the content of the book, and Hickman has been playing with peoples' expectations since the first issue.

This month's issue returns to the meeting in Los Alamos between Manhattan Projects director General Groves and the alien ambassador of the Siill.  That meeting takes a turn to the violent, thanks to Dr. Oppenheimer, but because of his peculiar methods of gaining intelligence, we are soon treated to an explanation of the cosmic balance of power in the Milky Way and beyond (complete with a two-page map that must have been designed by Hickman). 

It seems that the Siill have recognized the value of the device that Einstein has created, which they call a Pulling Way, and now they are likely to return to Earth to get it.  This leads the Projects to act proactively, and send a group through the device to the Siill homeworld.  That's when things start to get really interesting.

With this issue, Hickman really gives Nick Pitarra a chance to cut loose, creating alien species and giving them room to breathe.  I especially like that the Siill leader looks to be wearing the skull of another Siill as a sign of office.

I don't have the first clue where this series is headed, and that's why it's one of the best books I'm buying these days.  If you haven't checked this out yet, you need to.

The Manhattan Projects #4

Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Nick Pitarra

Since this series began, we've only seen Albert Einstein sitting in front of an obelisk studying it.  Finally, we get to see what the purpose of this object, which does remind me a little of 2001, actually is.  And, as has become typical in this series, it's not exactly what you would have expected, even though the device's secrets echo some of the events of the first issue.

The Manhattan Projects is about the various secret sides of the famous war initiative that gave us the atomic bomb.  Hickman is playing with a cast of historical figures, but has twisted all of them into strange and bizarre characters.  J. Robert Oppenheimer is really his twin brother.  FDR is not dead, but is now the first artificial intelligence.  Things like this are common in Hickman's playground.

This issue opens with a visit from alien beings in the desert of New Mexico.  This apparently happens every decade, and on hand to greet the visitors are Manhattan Projects director General Leslie Groves, Oppenheimer, and representatives from the Soviet Union, Germany, and somewhere else.  The only thing is, it's not the usual visitors, but people from another alien race that conquered them, who have an offer for Earth.

The rest of the issue is concerned with Einstein and his device.  I like the way that Hickman has used each issue so far to explore a different aspect of the Projects, without yet giving us a notion of a larger plot or story-line.  Instead, much like his earliest issues of Fantastic Four, it seems that he is just taking his time laying the groundwork for a gigantic tale.  It works here.

Secret #2

Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Ryan Bodenheim

Jonathan Hickman's new series, Secret, is kind of the 'other' Hickman book.  His Manhattan Projects has been garnering more attention, and while that book, about the variety of secret science projects rolled into the development of the atom bomb, is a lot of fun and generally pretty nuts, Secret feels to be its opposite.

The first issue established that this series was about espionage in the business world, and it introduced a number of characters, but Hickman kept most of the comic's goals and purpose quiet.  I thought this new issue would clarify what's going on, and it did to a certain degree, but it also just piled on a number of new questions.

The comic opens on two boys who are waiting for their father to mete out punishment for something they did.  We are given enough to know that the father is involved in organized crime, and that his punishment is pretty harsh (I'm not going to spoil it, but the cover kind of does).

From there, we move to today, where Grant Miller is target shooting with a woman.  She gives him a letter, and they both realize that this particular day has significance to Grant.  Later, he's called into his boss's office, where he learns that his friend was killed last issue, and that the company's 'fixer', who he doesn't like, will be handling that problem.

Hickman takes his time establishing Miller's past and relationships, without really getting into the nuts and bolts of what he, or Steadfast Security Solutions is really up to.  The mystery works very well though, as I find I'm completely invested in finding out what's going to happen moving forward.

Ryan Bodenheim's doing some very good work with this comic.  His previous books, A Red Mass For Mars (with Hickman), and Halcyon, have both been much more over the top.  I like how he handles normal everyday situations, and Michael Garland's colours, which fit with Hickman's usual monochromatic palette, work very well here.

This title deserves at least as much attention as The Manhattan Projects is getting, and is perfect for anyone who enjoys Thief of Thieves or Criminal.

The Manhattan Projects #3

Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Nick Pitarra

I guess if you're going to have a comic about the hidden scientific projects that received funding from the real Manhattan Project, it's probably best to drop the bomb at some point, and that's exactly what Jonathan Hickman does in this issue.

This comic has been laying the groundwork for Hickman's large-scale vision of scientific mayhem, but with this issue, much of it comes together into a cohesive whole.  The issue opens with Richard Feynman approaching Albert Einstein for advice on which delivery system to use for the atomic bomb (build both, says Albert), and then follows through Hickman's interpretation of the bombing, with a few forays into theology and governance.

Hickman is clearly having a great time writing this book, using real-life members of the Manhattan Project to his own ends.  We learn in this issue that scientist Harry Daghlian didn't die when exposed to high amounts of radiation, but instead became an undead living skeleton in a containment suit.  Hickman also hints in the back of the book that Italian scientist Enrico Fermi is not actually human.

Most amusingly, we are shown a scene where Harry Truman is presiding over a particularly bloody Freemason ritual when he learns that Franklin Delano Roosevelt has died, making him the president of the United States.  Of course, Roosevelt's body is being hooked up to a machine in the Manhattan Projects, so that he can continue to live.

Hickman has conflated Roosevelt's death with the dropping of the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, events that took place almost four months apart in real life, which adds a lot more dramatic tension to the comic.  I'm really enjoying this book, which has excellent art by Nick Pitarra that still reminds me a little of Rick Geary's work.  I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for something a little different.

The Manhattan Projects #2

Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Nick Pitarra

The second issue of Jonathan Hickman's new 'mad scientists of WWII' comic, The Manhattan Projects, upends some of the expectations I had for this series coming out of the first issue.  It seemed to be setting up a comic that was mostly about J. Robert Oppenheimer and his twin brother, and their involvement in the Manhattan Projects, plural; a wide-ranging scientific effort fronted by the quest for the atomic bomb.

This issue shows that Oppenheimer is only a small part of the operation, as the Americans try to recruit German rocket scientists to the cause, and we figure out that many other figures, including Richard Feynman, are going to be profiled and share the spotlight.  Also in this issue we are introduced to Wernher von Braun, a Nazi scientist who hung out with Hitler, and who has a gigantic robotic arm.

These scientists are all real people - I will admit that while I recognized some names, I have no knowledge of the history of 20th century science, and so am probably missing some pretty funny stuff.  I do enjoy seeing some lighthearted Hickman work, and am enjoying Pitarra's art.

It is difficult to predict where Hickman is going to be taking this series, but he is a comics writer who has gained my trust time and again, so I know enough to just sit back and enjoy this comic.  I definitely applaud the bold cover designs that he is using for this series - this issue really stood out on the stands.

Secret #1

Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Ryan Bodenheim

It seems like almost every week there is a new on-going or mini-series coming from Image that is of the highest degree of quality and ingenuity.  This week, the second of two new Jonathan Hickman-written series debuts, and it is a very cool book, harkening back to his first comic series, The Nightly News.

As Secret opens, a man is awoken from his sleep by a masked assailant, tied up, and tortured in order to learn his work computer's password.  His interrogator pulls out one of his teeth during their conversation.  Later, we learn that this man is the CEO of a large Washington accounting firm, and that his password gives him access to the financial secrets of many powerful people and corporations.

Scared, our executive goes to his lawyer, who is in turn able to put him in touch with the group that his firm uses for industrial espionage and security.  That group is run by Grant Miller, who proceeds to point out to the law firm, in the most arrogant way possible, the numerous gaps and weaknesses in their own security, in a bid to have them increase their use of his services.  Miller later meets with Dunn, our man from the beginning of the issue, and they outline a plan to capture or mislead the guy who attacked Dunn at his home.  Of course, there is more going on than either Dunn or his lawyer suspect, as Hickman begins to lay out just the beginning of what looks to be another multi-layered and complex story from the man who excels at these kinds of things.

At one point in the book, Miller tells the lawyers that, as 'nations are crumbling... soon all we will have left are the little tribes we call corporations."  In The Nightly News, Hickman explored people whose lives were hurt or ruined by the media; now we appear to be on the other side of the glass, as scared millionaires fight to hold on to their ill-gotten riches.  It's interesting, in the post-Occupy world, to find the 1% being portrayed as the more sympathetic characters, although I do find myself much more interested in the people who are working to ruin them.

Hickman is joined on this book by Ryan Bodenheim, the artist he worked with on A Red Mass For Mars.  This book is, by necessity, less visually gripping than that futuristic outer space story, but Bodenheim still does very well with the numerous talking-heads scenes that make up this comic, and balances them nicely with the terror of the home invasion.  The comic is coloured by Michael Garland, but I suspect that Hickman had a firm hand in the design of the comic, as most pages are monochromatic, or only have splashes of one colour.  This is a technique we often see in his independent books, and helps give them all a unified look, despite the fact that he works with a variety of artists.

I'm not sure if Secret is an on-going or a limited series (Image never seems to share that information these days), but I'll be with it for the long haul.  I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who is enjoying Thief of Thieves, as the two comics go well together.

The Manhattan Projects #1

Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Nick Pitarra

I'm not even sure where to begin with this new series by the brilliant Jonathan Hickman.  I am very happy to see Hickman make a more solid return to independent, creator-owned comics, after his recent announcements that he will be leaving the Fantastic Four and Ultimate Comics Ultimates in the coming months.  The Manhattan Projects, with his The Red Wing collaborator Nick Pitarra, is (I believe) an on-going series that is like nothing he has written before (although it is easy to see his slept-on Transhuman as a direct precursor).

The concept behind this series is that the famous wartime Manhattan Project, which created the first atomic bomb, was in fact only the surface of the much larger Manhattan Projects, which investigated any number of strange scientific applications that could be used for weapons.  This issue opens with the acceptance of Dr. Robert Oppenheimer into the Projects. 

He is given a tour of the facility that houses the Projects by the unnamed General in charge of things, right before it is attacked by Japanese robots coming through a gate that was lobbed into the facility.  While all of this is happening, we are given flashbacks detailing the life of Dr. Oppenheimer, and his twin brother Joseph.  It's hard to discuss this part of the issue without giving away a couple of surprises, and so I won't, except to say that I found it very enjoyable.

I will say that Hickman's writing in this series more closely resembles something written by Joe Casey or Matt Fraction than his usual well-orchestrated and plotted projects, which always contain a sense of great order to them.  Here, there is a sense of improvisation and maniacal oneupmanship, as he attempts to outdo himself with ever more crazy ideas and dialogue.  Here are a couple quotes that help demonstrate the timbre of this series:

"This is America... everyone gets a gun."
"A Red Torii.  No doubt Zen-powered by Death Buddhists."

Pitarra matches the writing with the correct level of insanity in the artwork.  His work is looser than it was in The Red Wing, with a little bit of a Rick Geary flavour to his faces - especially Oppenheimer's.  This is a very visually interesting book, as he has to design retro-futuristic scientific devices, which is always a fun exercise. 

I'm very intrigued to see where this series is headed.  If you have been enjoying Hickman's Marvel work, here's your chance to get in on the ground floor of something more satisfying.

The Red Wing #4

Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Nick Pitarra

Now this was a cool mini-series.  Jonathan Hickman excels at taking gigantic, complex ideas, and playing around with them in his comics, sometimes crafting equally gigantic, complex storylines (most of his Marvel work falls into that category), although sometimes he instead delivers a tightly focused little series, like he has with The Red Wing.

In this futuristic comic, the world is being attacked by a mysterious force that comes from the future.  Their goal is to strip different eras of time bare of all resources, and so the good guys have created fighter vessels that can move through time as well as space.  Picture a cross between Time Bandits and Battlestar Galactica, and you start to understand the background here.

At the same time, as with many a good science fiction story, there is a family tied to the centre of things.  Dom's father was a TAC pilot who was lost when Dom was a small child.  This spurred him to become a pilot himself, and the hero of the series.  As it turns out, his father wasn't lost, and instead hung out with some ancient Aztec or Inca for a while, before becoming a prisoner of the leader of the enemy forces.  Dom, meanwhile in the future, has a hard time becoming the pilot he wants to be, and keeps turning to his General for support.

This issue finishes the story of the father, and reveals a little more about their family, in a very Star Wars way.  It's a great issue for action, and the emotional scenes are handled nicely.  I don't know that I fully follow all of the future stuff - time travel and paradoxes make my head hurt, but I did appreciate the manner in which Hickman told his story, and I admire its scope.  This book is a good companion to Hickman's superior Pax Romana, which is about a group of people moving back in time to guide human development.

I want to close this review by commenting on how bummed out I was to learn this week that Hickman's one-shot, Feel Better Now, which he is drawing and which was supposed to come out this month, has been cancelled and will be solicited later as an original graphic novel.  I was looking forward to seeing Hickman draw something again.

The Red Wing #3

Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Nick Pitarra

I'm going to admit up front to being totally left behind by the comic book time travel pseudo-science that permeates this comic, and yet I still find this to be one of the most compelling and entertaining books on the stands this week.

In this issue, the bad guys (do we know their name?) attack the gigantic satellite that our heroes live in, while the father of one of our heroes has a conversation with the enemies at another point in time.

So, if I don't understand everything that's happening on a macro level, why am I so enamored with this book?  Largely because, since I was a small child, I've loved space battles.  Were Star Wars set entirely in X-Wings and the Millennium Falcon, I would have loved it more.  As much as I enjoyed Battlestar Galactica, it needed more Viper-based stories.  Here, The Red Wing satisfies with some truly great spaceship scenes, while also providing all the character work and actual plot that such stories require.

This book looks terrific, and Hickman makes some very head-scratching ideas palatable and dramatic.  Great stuff.

The Red Wing #2

Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Nick Pitarra

Now this is what I've been looking for.  The Red Wing has cool space ships that remind me of Battlestar Galactica, nice character development, interesting ideas and settings, and a twist that actually surprised me.  Once again, by working on a creator-owned book, Jonathan Hickman demonstrates why he's one of the best writers in comics.

Our two new recruits, Dom and Val, are working their up through the ranks of whatever the military organization they joined last issue is called.  They both have their own TAC fighters, although Dom kind of sucks at flying his.  The reason for this is that he is having a difficult time adjusting from a linear thinking style, that seriously hinders him in battles that flow through time as well as space.

We also get to see Dom's father, who was stranded somewhere in South America in the period before European exploration, as he interacts with a local chieftain of an Aztec tribe (I assume based on the images shown).

Matching Hickman's peerless writing is Pitarra's terrific art.  He's equally comfortable drawing ancient times as he is designing the futuristic look of the vehicles that the two forces fly.  I'm completely drawn into this comic; I just wish it was longer than four issues.

The Red Wing #1

Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Nick Pitarra

I'm always happy to see the creators I have a lot of esteem for achieve commercial success.  They deserve it, even though in the comics industry, commercial success usually means abandoning creator-owned work in the pursuit of work-for-hire for one of the Big Two. That's why, when a formerly 'independent' writer or artist returns to creator-owned comics, it can be pretty exciting.

Jonathan Hickman, who both wrote and draw the amazing series The Nightly News and Pax Romana, and wrote Transhuman and Red Mass For Mars before joinging Marvel and becoming one of its 'Architects', has returned to Image with The Red Wing.  And it's terrific.

The title refers to a fighter squadron used to fight in a war that is spreading throughout all of time.  The TAC (Temporal Attack Craft) fighter is able to jump through time, and one skirmish we watch moves through a number of different eras before the pilots are lost.  After that we are introduced to Valin Redd and Dominic Dorne, the sons of the first pilots we met.  They are cadets, hoping to fly the Mark II TACs in the same war.  Also, we are introduced to the concept that it is possible for a downed pilot to survive.

As with all of Hickman's independent work, the high concept is everything in this comic.  He's put a lot of thought into the science fiction, but is also interested in exploring how people live and interact with the technology.

Pitarra's art in this book is very nice.  I don't know who has had more say in the development of the general design of the space craft or other technological wonders that we see.  Hickman has a strong design background, and his fingerprints are all over the look and feel of the book (there are a couple of blank splash pages), but I also feel that Pitarra, with whom I am unfamiliar, is no slouch himself.  I hope that the scheduling of this book doesn't hit some of the same snags that Red Mass and Pax Romana suffered, because I am very much looking forward to reading more of this.

Red Mass for Mars #4

Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Ryan Bodenheim

In the year and one month since the last issue came out, I've managed to completely forget what was going on in this book. 

This issue has the heroes of Earth fighting against the alien horde (looking at my post of a year ago, they are called the Hun-Du, not that you would know this from reading this issue).  There is a black hole bomb, and a God Gun, all of which sound like the types of things one would see in Hickman's Fantastic Four run.  There are also a couple of flashbacks, but they don't add much to the proceedings I felt.

Really, this issue is a big disappointment.  I liked the first three quite a bit, and could have managed to read this as just a big epic ending if the books had come out in any sort of reasonable stretch of time, but at this late date, the whole thing feels a little like Hickman has forgotten his original intent, or has since used a similar idea elsewhere, so he just blows stuff up and kills people instead.  It's a let-down.

On the positive side, Bodenheim's art is wonderful, and more or less worth buying the comic for.  I would still recommend that people read this in trade, as the beginning was excellent; just don't expect a great ending.

Shang-Chi Master of Kung Fu One-Shot

Written by Jonathan Hickman, Mike Benson, Charlie Huston, and Robin Furth
Art by Kody Chamberlin, Tomm Coker, CP Smith, Enrique Romero, and Paul Gulacy
This is a strange little project. Marvel has decided to emulate the black-and-white magazines of the 70s with these one-shots (there was a Wolverine one in the summer which I never even looked at), and I suppose they are locking in some copyrights while they do it.

The concept is cool, but the execution is very mixed. The opening story, by Hickman and Chamberlin, is a lot of fun. It has Shang-Chi and Deadpool sharing narration in a tale about an outlaw motorcycle race that crosses the US/Mexico border. This story reads more like a Jason Aaron Ghost Rider story than a kung fu tale, especially since there is no kung fu in it, and Shang-Chi neither looks nor acts like Shang-Chi. If I hadn't read the credits, I never would have guessed this was by Hickman - it's not his usual thing, but it is enjoyable.

The best part of the comic is the second story, by Mike Benson, Tomm Coker, and CP Smith. This story is written in Chinese, with subtitles, and it's a simple tale of a son seeking revenge for his father's death. It makes up for all the kung fu missing in the first story, and then some. It really makes good use of the atmospheric black and white presentation, and is beautiful to look at.

The remaining offerings are not too memorable. There is a piece showing Shang-Chi's reunion with his returned from the dead brother Midnight that doesn't really go anywhere, and a long prose story that I didn't finish. There is, however, a wonderful Paul Gulacy splash page, the likes of which I would think Marvel is contractually obliged to commission for any project featuring Shang-Chi.