Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Posted on Tue, Mar. 09, 2004

REVIEWS

’X-Men’ director, ’Buffy’ creator make jump to comics

By MICHAEL SANGIACOMO

NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE

There was a time when comic book writers longed to make the jump to Hollywood.

Now, movie director Bryan Singer and TV show creator Joss Whedon are taking the opposite route.

Singer, director of the "X-Men" movies, will try his hand at writing the source material. Marvel Comics officials confirmed a story in the entertainment publication Variety that Singer, along with "X-Men" screenwriters Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty, will write 12 issues of "Ultimate X-Men" beginning later this year.

The "Ultimate X-Men" series exists separately from the traditional "X-Men" family of comics and is closer to the movie version of the mutants. The "Ultimate X-Men" series is young and features a version of the team that has been together for only a short time. This allows new readers to jump in without knowing the more than 40 years of X-Men history.

Singer drew from both the traditional "X-Men" and the "Ultimate X-Men" storylines to create his two "X-Men" films (with a third on the way). But clearly the "Ultimate" version was more prominent in the films.

In other news, Whedon, the creator of the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Angel" and "Firefly" television series, is also making the jump to comics.

His first issue of a new title, "Astonishing X-Men," will be released in May. Now for some quick reviews.

"Swamp Thing" (DC/Vertigo, $2.95): This is the return of the real "Thing" from writer Andy Diggle and artist Enrique Breccia.

It’s no secret that the last "Swamp Thing" series featuring his daughter, Tefe, did not measure up to the Earth elemental’s previous series. This one perfectly captures that magic by returning to the roots of the character.

The trickster magician John Constantine is here for the rebirth, which is appropriate, since he was so integral to the development of the character. The Swamp Thing’s wife, Abby, also is back, as is - Alec Holland?

But wait, Holland was the scientist who died and whose memories provided the basis for the Swamp Thing. How could he be back?

Ah, mysteries.

"My Faith in Frankie" (DC/Vertigo, $2.95): The final issue of this four-issue miniseries by Mike Carey and artist Sonny Liew comes out later this month. I’ll be sorry to see this quirky little beastie end.

There is this very minor god named Jeriven - very, very minor. In fact, Jeriven has only one worshipper, a 17-year-old girl named Frankie.

Frankie has had a god on her side since childhood, and they were always there for each other, providing that symbiotic worshipped-and-worshipper relationship. But then Frankie falls in love with a man, and Jeriven fears he will lose his only devotee. And he will fade away.

Carey’s story is witty and weird and is matched by Liew’s oddly surreal style.

"Lovecraft" (DC, $24.95): "

’Shuthoolhoo,’ it’s pronounced ’Shuthoolhoo,’ " says the H.P. Lovecraft character. "But it’s spelled ’Cthulhu,’ " his associate protests. "The first sound cannot be replicated by the human tongue," Lovecraft explains.

That makes sense.

Lovecraft has given the world tales of unspeakable monsters with unpronounceable names, tales of old gods, dark gods and things that rule the darkness.

A screenplay by Hans Rodionoff makes the man the story. Freely adapted by weird comics veteran Keith Giffen and illustrated by Breccia (of the "Swamp Thing" title reviewed above), the graphic novel puts an otherworldly spin on the mysterious private life of the creator.

Obviously this is not a biography, but a fanciful exercise in what Lovecraft’s life could have been like in order to allow him to write such bizarre horror stories.

Don’t expect to finish it in one sitting; read it over a few nights. Just don’t read it in a darkened room by candlelight.