Review of Hobgoblin #1

I think crossover events in comic books are a lot like buying an expensive item.

I recently purchased the new Samsung Galaxy Nook. I had purchased Nooks prior to purchasing the new one, starting with the Original Nook with had a electronic ink reading screen which made it easier on the eyes to read but really wasn’t very useful for reading magazines with images or trolling the net. And then I purchased the Color Nook, which solved those capabilities, but had a very limited number of Google apps, even though the machine was based on the Android operating system, and then the Nook HD, which was lighter and, more importantly, had access to Google apps, not just Nook apps.

So I expected miracles with the Samsung Galaxy Nook. I had bought myself the Galaxy Note 10.1 when it first came out, which I have loved even though subsequent models have come out, so much so that I have not considered rooting the device and installing a custom rom on it as is customary for older devices. But the Samsung Galaxy Nook was not everything I expected it to be. Sure, it was a tablet, but it failed to deliver what I thought a Nook device should be, a media device in which I could not only read both books and magazines, but also the number of digital comics I bought each week, and a media viewer to watch movies and television on. See the problem is the interior memory which some apps insist on utilizing instead of the additional memory you can add. As a result, I have had to constantly worry about the number of media items I put on the device.

I still use the device regularly. I do it because I feel that I have invested myself in it, bought in to the hype and now, despite my disappoint, am determined to live with my decision.

I have been purchasing the AXIS comics published by Marvel Comics, not the tie-ins, unless of course I normally collected them, but the main books. However, I made an exception with the Hobgoblin tie-in.

My understanding of the plot of AXIS is that the Red Skull, a Captain America nemesis, with the stolen mind of Professor Xavier, has harnessed the power of Onslaught in order to create a feeling of hate which has settled upon the whole world and the X-men and the Avengers are now called upon to stop Red Skull.

I read the first AXIS book and wondered how it was that the writers were going to stretch the event over nine issues let alone the many tie-in books. The plot seemed simplistic if not kind of stale. The story was frenetic in a way which left me a little confused and not sure were I was supposed to go. So needless to say, I was a little wary about picking up any of the other titles, especially now that I have found myself weighed down by the Crossover event running through the Green Lantern titles, titles which I normally don’t read, and the Futures End event currently being published by DC.

But there is something about the Hobgoblin which attracted me. I know nothing really about the Hobgoblin, particularly because I am not really interested all that much in Spider-man as a hero. But there is something interesting in the Hobgoblin story, which made him unique to other villains, the way that Hobgoblin became a copycat criminal to the Green Goblin. If the Green Goblin was scary in his madness, the Hobgoblin was that much more scary for his desire to follow the Green Goblin down that road of madness. His story played upon a base fear that we all fear when we here of a horrific crime being committed, the charismatic killer like Charles Manson, or the serial killer twisting the familiar and safe into something horrific like Gacy and his awful clown makeup. Like there awful people, the Green Goblin became a figure for evil people, like the Hobgoblin to emulate.

I debated whether to purchase Hobgoblin #1. I looked at the artwork sample provided on the preview sites, even flipped through it at the comic book store, inspecting the artwork. It seemed promising. And so I bought it.

So I picked up Hobgoblin #1, an AXIS tie-in.

The book is written by Kevin Schinick, who has had a long career in show business, involved with such shows as Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, Keenen and Kel, and more recently with Robot Chicken and Mad animated series. He has also worked on Broadway as well, staring with such people as Matthew Broderick and Tony Randall. Clearly, Schinick’s wheelhouse is comedy, which as Hobgoblin shows, he does very well.

The book’s artist is Javier Rodriguez, who has done not a lot of work, but work all the same on such books as Daredevil, Amazing Spider-Man, and DC’s Breach.

Although it is not clear how the book fits into the AXIS crossover event, on its own, it works well enough, and simply because it uses a variety of elements established by other writers and artists in a competent way to tell the story it means to tell.

The book does a great job leading the reader into the story, starting first with the story of a college graduate who after graduation cannot find a job, and, thus resorts to seeking employment as a super villain by answering the ad of the protagonist, Roderick Kingsley. During these panels, the reader hears Kingsley narrate his take on the dismal economy and how he plans to profit from it, the haughty tone of Kingsely’s personality coming through the words. He says with air of superiority, “Fashion has always been a barometer of the economy. I should know. My name is Roderick Kingsley, and I’ve always been a barometer of fashion.”

It takes several panels to tell this story, which by the end of the book, we see doesn’t really have any importance. The college student we follow disappears from the story after page 8. But this is okay because through this short seven page story, Kingsley, the original Hobgoblin as we come to find out, is revealed in a cleverest of ways, through the experiences of someone else. Kingsely is a profiteer, we understand this right from the start. He seeks out a segment to manipulate and reams it, and does so making his victims believe that he has the most honorable intentions.

Another thing that Schinick does well is the pacing and transitioning of the story. The story flows beautifully in three parts, with part one being the setup of Kingsley, the protagonist whose hubris suggests a long fall; part two being the story of the Goblin King and his plan for the usurpation of the Hobgoblin, and part three being the fall of Lily Hollister and her seeking help from the Hobgoblin.

The story is moving right from the start. The college graduate is walking as the comic book starts and he continues to walk until page 8 when Kingsley is moving on screen and then onto a stage. The only jump is on page 14 which starts with the Goblin King explaining his plan but moves from him killing an impostor Hobgoblin, to his attempted rescue of Lily Hollister, to Lily Hollister’s fall into the river, to her rise from the river, and then final to her appearance at the Hobgoblin’s lair.

Further, it is clear that this book is meant to be humorous. On the first page, a warning is placed not to read the book before reading AXIS #3 in which the Hobgoblin states: “If you don’t, neither I, Roderick Kingsley, nor any employee or subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment can really be held responsible for any spoilers you might incur.” On page 7, the book Kingsley is hawking has a foreward by Gene Simmons. Perhaps the funniest panel is the reference to Action Comics #1, the one with Superman lifting the car, found on Page 15. Also on the same page is Spider-man reference as well.

Clearly, too, Schinick is comfortable with being self-referential. On page 15, one of the Goblin King’s minions is reading the same comic book the reader is reading, the image of the Hobgoblin as found on the warning page there. It is something someone might find in a Grant Morrison or Deadpool book, but subtle so that it doesn’t overtake the work or detract from the story going on.

Although perhaps not as accomplished, Rodriguez still shows himself capable of the task of servicing the overall tone of the work. His figures are drawn in a light hearted manner that allows the reader to remember that this is a “comic book” world, not a serious or threatening one as the reader might get in books like the Avengers or the New Avengers. Yet, Rodriguez pays close attention his craft and its purpose, and, in particular, the inking, the panel set-up, and the details included (and omitted) from the panels.

Take for example, the first panel of page 4, whereon our college graduate walks down a dark street looking for the place where he can sign on to become a super villain while the image of Hobgoblin appears large over the city scape looking down in a pensive glare, a smirk laid across his face. This technique is used again on page 20 whereon we see the image of the Goblin King along with his minions staring down on an Lily Hollister, the former super villain known as Menace, who as a result of a recent explosion, has lost her memory of who she is.

Such technique has been used before, not making it original in and of itself. However, it is interesting how Schinick and Rodriguez use the technique as bookends in the book, like two players of a game of chess. It echoes the actual conflict between the Hobgoblin and the Goblin King who are vying for the rights to the “Goblin” name.

There is also page 19 upon which Rodriguez places a lost Hollister, his head is down and hair hung over her face, hiding who she is. Her placement on the page ignores the panel boundaries, ignores the various different perspectives established by the panel frames. Instead, just like she is in the comic, she is lost on the page, not sure where she fits in. It is a technique taken right from a book by Grant Morrison.

I like too the first panel on page 19, a city scene right after Hollister emerges from the river. The people of the city are insubstantial, see through, like ghosts. They’re down in a monochrome blue. Above them the neon from the city lights blare so bright that it is difficult to make out the different signs and buildings from which the light is emitted. It is a powerful page. And then, in the last panel, we see Hollister reading a discarded paper, her hair parted just enough so that we can see one lone eye, opened wide, horrified and bewildered. On the front page is plastered “Spider-man defeats Goblin Army,” her old allies.

There is also a play with the colors in the book to show transition. In the first eight pages, we see the transition from lighter panels to darker panels to show the college graduate’s decline and his ultimate decision to become a super villain. Then, artist uses alternating light and dark panels to show a separation between Kingsley and his victims, the prospective customers for his product. Rodriguez moves from the dark, shadowed room where the potential customers are sitting in rapt attention as Kingsley pitches his sales pitch.

Later, we see Rodriguez use the light and dark panels to show the movement of time. Specifically, the reader sees the movement of time in the Goblin King’s story, from when he begins to reveal his plan to overtake Hobgoblin. He sits in the dark explaining his disgust with his own failure to capitalize on the “Goblin” name like Hobgoblin has and his plan to use Lily Hollister to thwart Hobgoblin. He then flashes back to his failed attempt to rescue Lily Hollister which is done in lighter colors. And then later, to darker colors when Hollister rises from the river.

Finally, there are a number of panels which Rodriguez chooses to omit everything but the bare essentials. A good example of this are the last two panels of page 8 when Kingsley moves from his teleconference to his live appearance before the stage 3 customers. In the first panel, the only elements are Kingsley, his publicist, Sterling, and the ear piece to be used in his live appearance which Sterling hands Kingsely. In the second panel, Sterling has been removed; it is only Kingsley and the entrance to the stage. Rodriguez doesn’t even include panel borders.

This is a book well-executed. It establishes a well-defined set of conflicts. It utilizes the elements to tell the story. The characters are characters, well-rounded, developed, with flaws. There is tension in the book, which is self-contained. But more than all of these things, it is clear that the book itself is meant to be a work of art itself, the way that Schinick and Rodriguez frame the story with the competing forces, Hobgoblin and the Goblin King, on either side of the book. If Issue #2 is as good, this promises to be a good mini-series, and perhaps a writer/artist team to look for in the future.