I

D
:i

llefO

i WOfShip i
could,be

canon, Marvel's look back, and

joint effort by two

i i

comics companies.

(All

reuiews by Frank Louece.)

Ir
-l

vou

AGES 5 TO

any cornic-book
superhero, who would you be?

IHE BATMAII ADVENTUBES #19 (DC,,$7.50) This series, based on the darkly deco television cartoon, may be the most stylish of all comics. It zips along like a coming-attractions trailer for a German Ex-

"

i
i

i i
i
:

"The Incredible Hulk, be-

pressionist movie-Fritz Lang directing Bruce Willis. This issue's bad-guy fearmonger, the Scarecrow, is just scary enough.
BARBIE

h cause he helps the in-

A-

nocent when there's a robbery. He beats the thieves up and throws them in the garbage canwell, not always, but most of the

#41 (Matruel, $1.25) A happy-face button hair, with this '90s Barbie not only models but rolemodels, piloting the space shuttle in a pinch. Sti[ she's often insufferable-Barney as a blond. G+

i i i

I H E EV!

EY E : The

past haunts Spidey in Manvels #4

#1 (Archie,,$z) With inventive stories starring Archie's sidekick, Jughead Jones, and his new baby sister, Jellybean,
JUGHEAD'S BABY TATES

i i i

this debut issue depicts a loving sibling relationship without a hint of saccharin, though witlz
strained pizzaand anchovies.

time."
Briseno, -Jerreit 11, Eloise, Fla. "Rogue's the best. She's one ofthe female X-Men.

A-

AGES A TO

11

Youngat Art
Young kid hears Keith Richards' opening licks on "Satisfaction," decides to be a rock & roll star. Thade a pencil for the guitar, and it's the story of Chap Yaep. Yaep (pronounced Yape), who

lllARVEtS #4 (Maruel, $5.95) This

exquisitely oil-painted miniseries, retelling historic Marvel

You xr'tow rHE sroRy:

Universe events through the

eyes of a photojournalist, concludes with a death that changed

Her special
power is that she can take away the special powers of other things just by touching her skin. She can also fly, and she's real

debuted last summer as a 19-

year-old penciller for Image's

Team Youngblood, may be the
comics industry's youngest fulltime professional. "In high school, I started gettinginto comics artused to do wise," he says. sketches on the back of my home-

Spider-Man's life. Both graceful and gruesome, with classically

beautiful illustrations, it's like a Brothers Grimm tale with superheroes. A

"I

AGES 11 AND UP
BATMAN/SPAWII: WAR DEUIL (DC,

strong."

-Lawen 8, Wilkins

Toohey,

Toumsluip, Pa.

"I kind of like

Superman the best because he always
saves people.

I like it when he
flies and when he turns from a man into Superman." Jew,8, -Eaelyn San Francisco

work and on tests and stuff." Last summer he took his port- llEAll STA[f: Yaep with a folio to a couple of comic-book model citizen from Youngblood conventions and found a ready audience in Image, itself founded by artists in their 20s. Yaep relocated last August from Oakland, where his parents own a Chinese restaurant, to Anaheim, where Image is based. Yaep's flashy art could earn him six figures his first year, but money is far from his sole motivation. "One of these days," he says, "f'll create my own books and characters and keep having fun with them. That's why I got into comics in the

$4.e5); SPAWII/BAIMAl{:
SEARE

RED

(Image, $3.95) These two comic books have Batman meeting the hyperpopular Spawn-a damned soldier-mercenary reincarnated with a too-cool costume and magical powers. DC's is a solid if stolid urban-zombie tale; Image's is wildly energetic, with wino-head cyborgs. Oddly,

these two issues aren't a two-

first place."
So what's next?

"I want to take some life-drawing

classes,"

part story-in each, the heroes meet for the first time. Both
resonate less as fables than they do as a marketing calculation. War Deuil: G+ Red, Scwe: B

he muses. "Anybody who's serious about this needs some proL fessional art training."

-F

6A APRIL

8, I994