The Anchor #2 ("Five Furies Part Two: Bark and Hide, Bone and Root") by Phil Hester (writer), Brian Churilla (artist), Matthew Wilson (colorist), and Johnny Lowe (letterer). $3.99, 22 pgs, FC, Boom! Studios.

We continue the first arc, as we get a bit of backstory about "Clem" on the first two pages, hearkening back to when the Vikings roamed the seas and men lugging anchors crawled out of the ocean. Then we're back to the present, and our hero and his new pal, Hofi, head to Scotland to battle a half-man, half-elk, who, unfortunately, can't keep his mouth shut. Oh, and the ghost of a teenager joins the cast. And some mean United States government people show up, because the United States government just can't keep its grubby little paws out of things, can it? It's mostly plot-building, although Hester does a nice job with it, and Churilla does a great job with the fight between Clem and the Elkman. Churilla makes the Elkman really frightening and majestic - he's a formidable challenge for Clem. And Churilla has fun with the brief scene in Hell, too.

As always, I'll give this series an arc and see where we stand. It's still an intriguing idea, and Hester has a good idea of where he's going with it (or so it seems), even though I wish the United States government wasn't quite so sinister. But both the writing and art are strong in this book, and Hester has a lot going on here.

Batman and Robin #6 ("Revenge of the Red Hood Part Three: Flamingo is Here") by Grant "All right, you bastards, next issue you get Cameron Stewart - are you happy now?" Morrison (writer), Philip Tan (penciller), Jonathan Glapion (inker), Alex Sinclair (colorist), and Patrick Brosseau (letterer). $2.99, 24 pgs, FC, DC.

I've been defending Tan on this book, and I still don't think he's awful, but he screws up the Flamingo, and it's a shame. It doesn't help that Quitely draws him on the cover and Tan draws the interiors, because we can compare a good version with a not-so-good version. Quitely's Flamingo is suave and dangerous, while Tan's is just nutty. He's just another somewhat dull Batman villain, and it's too bad. Batman's villains are often as well-defined by their look as by their characterization, and Tan's Flamingo lacks the flair that makes him a truly great Batman villain (I guess technically he's a Red Hood villain, but you get my drift). He's just a wacko. Robin's line, "I was expecting scary, not gay," doesn't work too well, because Tan's Flamingo isn't as "gay" as Quitely's. Tan does a few things well - his Scarlet lying on the ground, beaten to a pulp, is a tragic panel - but his biggest problem when teamed with Morrison on Batman is that he lacks the slight cartoony edge that Morrison's scripts seem to demand. Quitely has that, and so does Stewart, while his collaborators on his earlier run are more like Tan (with the exception of the ever-changeable Williams III). If this issue weren't quite as "brutal" in the way Tan draws it, Flamingo's abilities might feel more brutal, if that makes sense.

Because, for a fight issue, it's pretty effective. Flamingo's lack of speaking makes him more creepy, and Damian's slow journey to non-bastardness reaches an important signpost in this issue. Morrison also does a nice job at the end, when Jason confronts Dick about his feelings toward Bruce, because it's accurate. The entire epilogue of the issue is well done, from that confrontation to the fate of Scarlet to the scene with Oberon Sexton. I'm sure smarter people than I am can delve into the "W" on the back of El Penitente (I'm going to assume that's El Penitente), but I am unsure why the final page is supposed to be dramatic. Can anyone help?

Anyway, everyone who couldn't stand Tan's art can relax now. It's certainly not great, but for the most part, it did its job. And Morrison continues to have his moments of brilliance in a solid story. I'm glad he's doing something with Damian, because I'm still annoyed that Bruce is "dead." It's frustrating reading his take on Dick and Damian, because we know Bruce is coming back, so Morrison can't do too much with establishing them as the true Batman and Robin. This doesn't bug me as much as it does Jog, but it's definitely hindering the God of All Comics, it seems. When Morrison focuses on the good guys versus the bad guys, he does a good job, but the world-building isn't as strong.

The Black Coat: ... Or Give Me Death #1 and 2 by Ben Lichius (writer/colorist), Adam Cogan (story), Francesco Francavilla (artist, part one), Dean Kotz (artist, part two), and Chris Studabaker (letterer). $4.50, 44 pgs, FC (mostly), Ape Entertainment.

Man, I've been waiting for The Black Coat to return, and here it is! Life is good! Now, if only the next two issues could come out in a timely fashion, I'll be a happy camper!

For those of you who don't know, The Black Coat tells the tale of a mysterious vigilante in 1775 New York who fights the "tyranny" of the British (who weren't all that tyrannical, after all) as the colonies gear up for war. The Black Coat fights weird supernatural beings in league with the British and an evil organization called the League, and at the end of the first series, he battled a scientist who had created an immortality serum. They both ended up in the harbor, seemingly dead, but they both had ingested the serum, so of course they're still alive! At the beginning of this comic, the Black Coat's lady friend, Ursula, finds his body in the harbor (she's wearing a diving suit and traveling in a submarine, don't you know) and manages to get him home, where he eventually revives. Of course, he needs to keep taking the serum or he'll go nutty, and there's very little serum left. So he has a problem - he needs to create more serum, or all will be lost!!!!!

Lichius and Cogan not only give us a story about the Black Coat's quest for the scientist's brother, who may be able to synthesize more serum, but also a larger story about the beginnings of the war and what the colonists are doing to rebel. Lichius places it in a larger framework of supernatural evil, which doesn't work perfectly (it always bugs me when writers attribute war to grand machinations of the few when men are perfectly willing to kill each other without any nudging in that direction), but I don't mind in the context of the story. It's a terrifically exciting comic, with a giant gargoyle menacing our hero, back alley dealings, a creepy bandaged dude, and the Black Coat going slowly insane, which adds nice tension to the proceedings.

Francavilla started on art, but the delays in the book meant he moved on, which is a shame (although I'm certainly glad to see him on Zorro; it just would have been nice if he could have finished this). However, Kotz is quite good (I don't like him as much as Francavilla, but he's still good), and he's a good fit to finish the series, because he has a similar style to Francavilla. He draws a mean-looking gargoyle, too.

I know this is going to sell about 200 copies, which really stinks. It's an exciting, interesting, nicely-drawn comic that remains grounded in historical reality (sort of) even though Lichius and Cogan take it into supernatural territory. They don't go overboard, however, which is nice. The build-up to the war is as interesting as the supernatural stuff. If you've missed The Black Coat until now, it's time to rectify that oversight!

Comic Book Comics #4 ("Leagelese!") by Fred van Lente (writer) and Ryan Dunlavey (artist). $3.99, 40 pgs, BW, Evil Twin Comics.

Speaking of long-delayed comics, it's the fourth issue of Comic Book Comics!!!! Yay!!!!

I have no problem with this taking so long, because of a few reasons. First, it's 40 pages for 4 dollars. Second, Dunlavey packs the issue with detailed panels full of wacky sight gags, so if takes him a while to draw it, that's cool. Third, van Lente has to, presumably, do a ton of meticulous detail for these (I imagine he doesn't know all this stuff off the top of his head), which takes a while but makes each issue a blast-and-a-half to read. Fourth, given the fickle comics-buying public, I'm sure van Lente and Dunlavey make no frickin' money at all on this, so they have to earn a living somewhere and fit this in when they can (like, one of those nights when you've eaten too many Doritos to sleep and your subscription to Skinemax has been cancelled and you figure it's time to work on an issue!). Van Lente and Dunlavey can take as long as they want with this, in my opinion.

This might be the best issue of the series yet, probably because the Fifties through Seventies are a bit more documented than the early days of comics, and several people involved are still alive, so it feels like van Lente gets deeper into the dirt behind the creators, which makes it more interesting. It's funnier, too, presumably for the same reason. Dunlavey is also able to cut loose a bit, which again might have to do with my familiarity with the material, so I get more of the jokes. Maybe. But the subject matter, from crime comics of the 1950s to the Marvel explosion of the 1960s to underground comix of the late '60s and 1970s, lends itself to satirizing and weirdness a bit more than the earlier stuff. This certainly feels the most joyous of the series so far. Plus, it features Metaa, The Thing That Walked Like a Man That Walked Like a Thing That Walked Like a Man! Of course it did!

If you haven't been buying Comic Book Comics, there's no reason to find the first three issues, because each issue is pretty much self-contained. Seek this one out, because it's a wildly fun comic. And I do hope van Lente and Dunlavey can finish this (buy the new Action Philosophers! trade when it shows up soon, so you can give them some funds!), but they can take as long as they need to. I'll be here when issue #5 comes out!

Fables #90 ("Witches Chapter Four: Ozma") by Bill Willingham (writer), Mark Buckingham (penciller), Steve Leialoha (inker), Andrew Pepoy (inker), Lee Loughridge (colorist), and Todd Klein (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC/Vertigo.

It's always so difficult to review an issue of Fables, especially when it's in the middle of a story arc. Willingham sets them up extremely well, often doesn't end them too strongly, but in between, he just lets the plot carry the characters along, and it's a pleasure to read. We get Bufkin figuring out how to defeat Baba Yaga, and it's quite nifty. We get the witches deciding that Ozma should take the leadership of the group because Totenkinder has disappeared, and for some reason, I don't trust Ozma. We get Geppetto plotting with an oak tree (come on, it's Fables - of course he can do that!). We get Totenkinder still helping the Fables even though she's ... elsewhere. We get the return of Dunster Happ! Yay! And it's all wonderfully drawn by Buckingham.

See? Willingham just turns the characters loose, and they do their thing. I love reading each issue. They make me happy.

Plus, there's a preview of Gabriel Bá's and Fábio Moon's Daytripper. Goddamn, it looks awesome.

Rapture #5 (of 6) by Taki Soma (writer/layouter), Michael Avon Oeming (writer/artist), Val Staples (colorist), and Thomas Mauer (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, Dark Horse.

I'm fearing the final issue of Rapture, because the way Soma and Oeming set it up, it feels like it's going to be a superhero fight, and I'm really hoping it's not. The early part of this issue is actually quite good, because Evelyn finds Gil under the absolute worst circumstances, and their reunion is definitely not what she was hoping it would be. Of course, she did tell Gil that she needed "space," so she has only herself to blame, but the pages on which they argue, with a young boy who has turned evil insensate at their feet, are gripping to read. The art shows Evelyn's isolation nicely, too, from one panel that has her in a long shot to another where her eyes are black holes of despair. Even Gil's decision about what to do with the boy is handled well. Then the weird dude who gave Evelyn the spear shows up, and it goes sideways a bit. The art still looks great, but the set-up to the final issue indicates that Evelyn and Gil are going to fight it out, and that would be disappointing.

I will, of course, read it, and hope that Soma and Oeming have something up their sleeve. That would be nice.

Starstruck #3 (of 13) ("Mirage à Troi" and "Buy, Buy, Birdy!") by Elaine Lee (writer), Michael Wm. Kaluta (artist), Charles Vess (inker, "Buy, Buy Birdy!"), Lee Moyer (painter), Todd Klein (letterer, "Mirage à Troi"), and John Workman (letterer, "Buy, Buy, Birdy!"). $3.99, 27 pgs, FC, IDW.

There's a nice post about the history of Starstruck here, in case you're interested. The author wonders why this latest incarnation isn't getting the love he feels it deserves. Well, I'm trying, man! I'm trying!

I think the problem with Starstruck is that it's so extremely dense that it's very hard to judge it based on the individual issues. I can rave about Kaluta's art all I want (and I will continue to do so, because it's amazing), but as interesting as Lee's story is, it's obvious that each issue is a tiny part of a much, MUCH bigger whole, and she's not really interesting in telling a shorter story in each issue that leads into a bigger story, she's just interested in telling the large story and the issue ends when IDW doesn't want to put any more pages in it. (I should point out that because of the ways this was originally released, I doubt if Lee had any intention of making it fit into a 22-page format, so I don't blame her in the least.) I'm not even sure if this is how the book was originally released - a few things I've read about it (including the link above) seem to indicate that some of the Epic Illustrated stuff is not here. So there's that.

I'm not going to go as far as the writer of that post, who compares this to Watchmen - at least not yet. It is refreshing reading something like this, however, because Lee is throwing all sorts of interesting stuff in here, from sexual politics to space opera to a fairly standard rebels-vs-establishment kind of fight, yet with plenty of twists, to a critique of objectification. Plus, both the main story and the Galactic Girl Guides are really funny. Lee has created this entire insane universe from scratch, and it shows on the page, because she confidently writes about this made-up world as if she's lived there her entire life.

I still like reading it, but I have a feeling I'll appreciate it a lot more when it's all done. Until then, I'll just revel in the artwork. It's so damned gorgeous!

And in the back of the book, there's an advertisement for J. Scott Campbell's "Fairytale Fantasies" calendar. You know, I don't know if I can watch my daughters' Disney DVDs ever again without thinking of stuff like this:

I know that Zenescope has been doing this for years, but Campbell is a bit higher-profile than they are, so this will get more pub, I expect. Sigh. The IDW link has Ariel, by the way. Sigh.

S.W.O.R.D. #1 ("No Time to Breathe" and "Not Yet") by Kieron Gillen (writer), Steven Sanders (penciler, "No Time to Breathe"), Jamie McKelvie (artist, "Not Yet"), Craig Yeung (inker, "No Time to Breathe"), Matt Wilson (colorist, "Not Yet"), and Dave Lanphear (letterer). $3.99, 30 pgs, FC, Marvel.

Let's consider S.W.O.R.D. #1. I have been on the Kieron Gillen bandwagon since Phonogram #1 came out, over three years ago. I told you to buy it. I ordered you to buy it. I begged you to buy it. I bribed you to buy it. I blackmailed you to buy it. I offered sex, booze, and video games if you bought it. And none of it worked. You didn't believe me when I told you that Gillen (and McKelvie, of course, but he's a different subject) was awesome. Then he started writing for Marvel, and far hipper people than I like Chris Sims told you to read his Beta Ray Bill stuff (to be fair to Sims, he also recognizes the awesomeness that is Phonogram). I've accepted that you're not going to listen to me, because I'm, you know, square. But if you don't believe Sims, then I just don't know what to tell you. There's just no hope.

Which is a roundabout way of saying that S.W.O.R.D. is pretty frickin' keen. I've been skipping Gillen's Marvel stuff, not because I don't think it would be good, but because I really don't have a lot of interest in Thor and Thor-related stories unless Walt Simonson is writing and drawing them. But I was jazzed about S.W.O.R.D., not because I have a fondness for Joss Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men, but because it sounds like the kind of series that Gillen can just go nuts on, probably because (as I mentioned when it showed up in Previews), no one will read it and the PTB will ignore what he does until the sales figures come back. You know, kind of like The Order. I certainly hope that it smashes sales records and Gillen gets to write it for the next decade (even though, as I pointed out at his blog, that would mean he'd be too big a star to talk to me next year at San Diego), but it's always a tough go with new series that don't star one of Marvel's big guns, and when your biggest gun in this issue is Henry McCoy ... well, I think that speaks for itself. But hey! it's a Marvel book, and maybe someone who avoids indies like the plague will pick it up and think, "I wonder what else that Gillen bloke has written ... Phonogram, you say? The next issue of which comes out next week? I'll give that a whirl!" That happens all the time, right?

Of course, I should probably write a bit about the actual issue, shouldn't I? Well, it's mostly set-up, but a very entertaining set-up, as we get the internal tension between Henry Gyrich and Abigail Brand, co-commanders of S.W.O.R.D. (Sentient World Observation and Response Department). Gyrich wants Abigail out, obviously, and Gillen sets up a nifty sub-plot in which Gyrich wants to kick all aliens - all of them - off the Earth so that something like "Secret Invasion" doesn't happen again. Of course, that was secret, so how would it stop that? But we'll run with it. We get a quick look at the inner workings of S.W.O.R.D. - some aliens want tribute or they'll steal North Carolina - before Abigail learns that her half-brother is running from a bounty hunter and has requested sanctuary. When she gives it to him, the bounty hunter simply takes him and skedaddles, leaving Abigail, Henry McCoy, and Lockheed - who's drinking himself into a stupor because Kitty Pryde is "lost" (not dead, as we learn in the second story) - to go fetch him. Oh, yes, the bounty hunter is Death's Head. Oh, those wacky British writers and their love of Marvel UK characters! Death's Head is, of course, goddamned awesome. And he has a big motherfucking gun.

In the second story, Abigail explains to Lockheed how they're trying to save Kitty. Lockheed doesn't think she's doing a good enough job, so he visits the robot in the basement. This is the same robot who helped Abigail in the first story, and Gillen is trying (and, to be fair, succeeding) in making him kind of creepy. I can't wait to see what he does when he (inevitably) gets out.

It's been some years since I read Five Fists of Science, which is the only place I've seen Sanders' art, but it's quite good - his Abigail looks slightly less repressed than McKelvie's, with hair out of place and stylin' sunglasses on. His Death's Head is quite menacing, and he draws some other keen aliens, too. The only problem I have with the art is Henry McCoy. Frankly, he looks like a goat. It's not a good look. The second story is not necessarily built to show off McKelvie's strengths - he does a fine job with the Kitty Bullet and what it's doing out there in the universe, but that doesn't give him much opportunity to show off - but the final page, where Lockheed speaks to the robot, is a nice page, on which the robot looks even creepier thanks to the way McKelvie draws him (that is, cheery as hell). I'm always happy to see McKelvie's art, but I'll be much happier to see it when the next issue of Phonogram comes out, which ought to be (if that lying Brit Gillen can be believed) next week.

So S.W.O.R.D. is pretty cool. Gillen doesn't go for the one-and-done big crazy issue, deciding instead on a longer arc, but with established characters, that's not necessarily a bad way to go. And it features Death's Head, for crying out loud! Can Motormouth be far behind?????

Vengeance of the Moon Knight #3 ("The Bushman Cometh") by Gregg Hurwitz (writer), Jerome Opeña (penciler), Paul Mounts (colorist), and Joe Caramagna (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, Marvel.

Man, Opeña is really good. I mean, I've known that for a while, but it's worth noting again. I just love his casual tiny Khonshu thing (whatever that thing is haunting MK these days) checking out the museum after our hero takes out the punks. On the same page, I love the panel showing enough of Marlene's face to let us know that Moonie's getting lucky tonight! This is just a beautiful issue, and the fact that Opeña switches easily from the big gaudy superheroics in issue #1 to the extremely dark invasion of Ravencroft Asylum in this issue is very cool.

As you might have heard, this is the beginning of "Knightfall," in which Bane breaks all of the inmates out of Arkham to soften up Batman before the coup de grace. Oh, wait a minute, no, this is where Bushman breaks all of the inmates out of Ravencroft to soften up Moon Knight before the coup de grace. You can see where I'd get things confused a bit! Seriously, Marvel and Gregg Hurwitz - you guys thought this would be a good idea? I realize "Knightfall" was almost two decades ago, but comics fans these days have really, really long memories, and when commentators for years have called your character a Batman rip-off (I've never been one of those people), it's probably not a good idea to mimic one of Batman's most famous stories from the past 30-40 years or so. I mean, it's just ... well, it's silly, even by the standards of comics, where stories get recycled all the time. It gets back to the tone of this series so far, where I'm not terribly sure if Hurwitz is satirizing superheroes in general. I mean, this reads perfectly straight, but I can't decide if Hurwitz is pointing out the idiocy of "Knightfall" and the revolving door policy of prisons and asylums in the Marvel and DCU or if he's not that subtle. I mean, this hews so closely to "Knightfall" that I can't believe Hurwitz isn't making some kind of comment on it. Bushman could easily get an army from any number of sources, but he deliberately breaks inmates out of an insane asylum. His freakin' face is tattooed like a luchador (despite the fact that he's an African mercenary), much like Bane's was, for crying out loud (yes, I know Bushman predates Bane, but work with me, people!). The Scarecrow is even in this issue! It's just ... odd. Hurwitz writes is fairly effectively, but it's still weird.

But damn, it's nice to look at. And it's an exciting issue, for all the ripping off of old Batman stories. So I'll stick with it and see what Hurwitz is doing with it, but that's just very strange, the way they've set up this story.

So there it is: the week in comics. Any thoughts?

And look! totally random lyrics!

"I'm gnawing on the knowledge
That I have been burned
And I'm learning things that I
Should've already learned
Everyone I ever knew
Was so kind and coy
I was with a girl
But it felt like I was with a boy"

Sing it loud! Sing it proud!

40 Comments

• At November 12, 2009, Wraith wrote:

  Re: "J. Scott Campbell's "Fairytale Fantasies" calendar"

  Yeah, someone's going to Hell. And, since I clicked on the link, I suppose ...

• At November 12, 2009, sgt pepper wrote:

  Yay! Comic Book Comics is my favorite comic.

  And yes, everything Kieron Gellen has done is pretty much gold. ...

• At November 12, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  I don't know what the last page was supposed to signify either, but the password to open that case-- " ...

• At November 12, 2009, Matt K wrote:

  Good to hear about S.W.O.R.D. (and the last time I'll be using the acronym). I just got the Beta ...

• At November 12, 2009, bongoes wrote:

  I think the last page was Bruce's body. Zur Enh Arrh was just the password.

• At November 12, 2009, JP wrote:

  What, no The Unwritten #7? It was such an awesome issue!

• At November 12, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Yeah, I read somewhere that it's Bruce's body. I thought it might be, but then what the heck is ...

• At November 12, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  JP: I saw that The Unwritten was coming out, but I didn't see it at my comics shoppe. I ...

• At November 12, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Anyway, everyone who couldn't stand Tan's art can relax now. It's certainly not great, but for the most part, it ...

• At November 12, 2009, Capper wrote:

  Nice "Heathers" reference. "How would he have felt about a limp wrist with a pulse?"

• At November 12, 2009, Reno wrote:

  Wasn't the Flamingo a Joker pastiche in the Big Bang universe? In fact, he's the arch-enemy of the Knight Watchman, ...

• At November 12, 2009, StrongWall wrote:

  Batman & Robin = dead in the water. All momentum for this book was killed the minute Phillip Tan's name ...

• At November 12, 2009, s1rude wrote:

  The Violent Femmes are A W E S O M E. My s.o. was recently commenting on how freakin' ...

• At November 12, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  not sure how that jives with what we saw in Final Crisis

  Well, as Dick is acting on words from Jason ...

• At November 12, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  Death's Head!? Why didn't anyone tell meeeeeee

• At November 12, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  I've only been reading Marvel lately. That's not on any weird principle or anything, it's just that my funds ...

• At November 12, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  " Yeah, I read somewhere that it's Bruce's body. I thought it might be, but then what the heck is ...

• At November 12, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Best case scenario; Zombie Batman. :)

  Which would make sense as #7 has to be held off until the next ...

• At November 13, 2009, Chris Jones wrote:

  Wait, is that story ACTUALLY called "The Bushman Cometh?"

  ACTUALLY?

• At November 13, 2009, Michael wrote:

  God dammit, J. Scott Campbell.

• At November 13, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  >>even though I wish the United States government wasn't quite so sinister.

  Same here, though at least it's not nearly as ...

• At November 13, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  s1rude: According to Gillen, some issue of Phonogram got out even though Diamond requested that they be pulped because ...

• At November 13, 2009, Rebis wrote:

  I agree, you're going easy on Tan. He's not a great artist to begin with, but his output has been ...

• At November 13, 2009, Neal K wrote:

  Violent Femmes!!! Yes!! Excellent to see one of my faves in that lyrics box every once in a while. ...

• At November 13, 2009, Tekende wrote:

  I really, really wish Tan hadn't been drawing B&R #6, because story-wise it's probably my favorite issue so far.

  I've ...

• At November 14, 2009, Anonymous wrote:

  Damn you J. Scott Campbell. Only Alan Moore is allowed to sexualize children books characters!

  Though I have to admit he's ...

• At November 14, 2009, Bright-Raven wrote:

  Burgas:

  I don't know which is sillier. The notion that you think Chris Sims is "hip", or that you're using him ...

• At November 14, 2009, Bright-Raven wrote:

  I should say it undermines the credibility of his blog to my mind's eye, not in general context.

• At November 14, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Bright-Raven: I was joking, for the most part. :) I just figure if I can't get people to ...

• At November 14, 2009, Pedro Bouça wrote:

  "If you haven't been buying Comic Book Comics, there's no reason to find the first three issues, because each issue ...

• At November 14, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Well, yeah, that goes without saying. But the first three might be hard to find!

• At November 14, 2009, Ed Buskirk wrote:

  I don't think you're succeeding in spreading the Starstruck gospel, Greg, as not one comment so much as mentions it. ...

• At November 14, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  I bought SWORD today, because you told me to. I hope you can deal with that sort of responsibility.

  Is ...

• At November 15, 2009, Kieron Gillen wrote:

  Mary: It's an ongoing, but we're using a pretty firm arc based format. In other words, you can totally treat ...

• At November 15, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  Wow. I've never had an actual author respond to my comments directly. (Except for two occasions with Peter David ...

• At November 15, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Mary: If you like Gillen, you should DEFINITELY check out Phonogram. It's his Image series, and it's great (don't ...

• At November 16, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  >>It features Jamie McKelvie on art (he drew the back-up story in SWORD)

  Damn. I wish you hadn't mentioned that, because ...

• At November 17, 2009, Kieron Gillen’s Workblog » S.W.O.R.D. 1 Out For Nearly A Week wrote:

  [...] O’Brien, House To Astonish: “The dialogue is great.” Greg Comics Should Be Good: “I certainly hope that it smashes ...

• At November 21, 2009, Drew wrote:

  Greg: Hey, thanks for your great review of S.W.O.R.D. #1—I'm glad I'm not the only one who loved the issue ...

• At November 21, 2009, Oeming wrote:

  Thanks for the review Greg- hope you also check out Powers next week!

  M!

Assault on New Olympus (Prologue) by Greg Pak (writer), Fred van Lente (writer), Rodney Buchemi (artist), Guillem Mari (colorist), and Simon Bowland (letterer). "Godmarked Part One: The Oldest One" by Jeff Parker (writer), Gabriel Hardman (artist), Elizabeth Breitweiser (colorist), and Tom Orzechowski (letterer). $3.99, 38 pgs, FC, Marvel.

I got the idea for this week's theme mainly from being obsessed with the bikini Aphrodite is wearing. I guess it's her goddessy powers that are actually keeping those things covered!

This is a fine "prologue" to the story that is coming up in the regular Incredible Hercules book, as it gets all the players into place, advances the story a little, but doesn't have anything too, too crucial that can't be covered quickly if you happen to skip this but read the regular title (but really, why would you do that?). If you haven't been reading the regular title (and really, what's up with that?) and just grabbed this because of that wallcrawler on the cover, Pak and van Lente do a fine job getting you up to speed. There's a nice fight between Hercules and Spider-Man (with more good sound effects), a funny reference to that Amazing Spider-Man issue where our hero was trapped under all that wreckage and the water was pouring in (you know the one!), another funny reference to when Spidey fought the Juggernaut, and some nice character moments, from Herc's reconciliation with Hebe to his reunion with Amadeus. Plus, we get an Agents of Atlas back-up (which is called "Godmarked," which is also what the second story in the X-Men/Agents of Atlas book is called), in which the Atlas gang fights a giant octopus god. You goddamn read that right - a motherfucking giant octopus god!!!!!

Damn, I love comics. I didn't even mention how frickin' terrifying Amatsu-Mikaboshi is.

Boobs? Of course!

There's also Jocasta, who's metallic but, well, naked (as young Zeus points out), a naked but demurely covered Gaea, Athena wearing battle armor that inexplicably doesn't cover her shoulders or upper torso, and Spider-Woman wearing her thing.

Atomika #11 (of 12) ("Relentless") by Andrew Dabb (writer), Sal Abbinanti (artist), Buzz (inker), Simone Peruzzi (colorist), and Dave Sharpe (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, Mercury Comics.

Speaking of reasons to love comics, Atomika is still out there, speeding toward its conclusion, and I'm still loving it. There have been certain issues where Dabb takes a bit of a back seat, and this is one of them, but it's still stunning. Basically, Arohnir tells all his minions that Atomika is coming to kill them all and they need to fight, and then we get, I kid you not, eight (8) double-page spreads showing the forces arrayed against our "hero." Abbinanti draws the hell out of the armies, from the huge spiked one-wheeled dreadnaughts to the flying Harpies of the KGB, from the ornate bombers to the horrific demi-gods. Abbinanti even gives us a single double-page spread showing the war between Atomika and all his enemies, as if it's so horrible it can only be represented symbolically. Of course, it leads to his final confrontation with Arohnir (and a special guest!), but that's for next issue.

I've written this whenever an issue has come out, but gazing on Abbinanti's stunning art is really fun. With Dabb simply along for the ride on this issue (Dabb is a fairly good writer, but this issue simply isn't focused on the writing too much), Abbinanti can go more nuts than he usually does, and the sense of oppression and terrible magnificence that he's brought to the comic all along threatens almost to overwhelm the pages themselves. Atomika continues to be unlike almost every other comic, not because of the story (it's a good story, but it's basically a superhero battle), but because of the way Dabb has made it feel like a Soviet comic (if that makes sense) and the way Abbinanti has truly created a weird and unique world. I have a feeling a lot of people have missed this, but I greatly encourage you to get the trade of the first six issues and, of course, get the trade of the second six when it shows up. It's a dynamite comic.

Boobs? Of course!

For some reason, the female demi-god, who has that big fur on because she lives in Russia and understands how cold it is, feels the need to wear a low-cut outfit and expose her midriff. How's that going to help her fight Atomika?

Batman: Unseen #3 (of 5) ("Ghost-Killer") by Doug Moench (writer), Kelley Jones (artist), Michelle Madsen (colorist), and Pat Brosseau (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC.

All right, so I skipped reviewing issue #2, because it came out two weeks ago, when I was really, really sick, so I missed that it came out and didn't get it until a few days ago. But I'm back with issue #3, and it's not like you don't know what you're getting from a Moench/Jones Batman comic, right? I mean, on the first page we see Batman working on some wacky, pseudo-scientific-but-also-slightly-Gothic machine in the cave, trying to figure out what's going on with the invisibility serum. Throughout the book, we see more and more weird contraptions, because that's the way Kelley Jones likes it, damn it!

Of course, Batman goes out and does stuff, beating up an invisible man (because he's the Goddamned Batman, man, so he doesn't need to actually see the bad guys like mere mortals!), making an appearance as Bruce Wayne (I always liked how Jones's Bruce Wayne was almost as scary as his Batman), and doing his Batman thing. Meanwhile, the invisible man kills again, Moench's favorite character Roman Sionis recounts his origin yet again, and it's another Moench/Jones instant classic. Don't listen to T.! Moench and Jones on Batman is always a blast of pure awesomeness! Come on - for one of the chapter breaks, Jones turns Batman's head into a candle! Who else would come up with something so wacky????

Boobs? Of course!

The invisible man tries to kill that dude, and of course his wife is sleeping in lingerie instead of sensible pajamas!

Black Widow: Deadly Origin #1 by Paul Cornell (writer), Tom Raney (penciler), John Paul Leon (artist/colorist), Scott Hanna (inker), Matt Milla (colorist), and Cory Petit (letterer). $3.99, 21 pgs, FC, Marvel.

I don't get this book at all. It's 4 dollars for 21 pages of story, which is a bad return. I know I said I wasn't going to fall for this from Marvel again, but it's Paul Cornell, and I really want to support his work, so there's that. But that's not what I don't get. The end of the book gives us a "Next," but which issue is "next"? Marvel's December solicits include Black Widow and the Marvel Girls #1 (God, what an awful title), which is a mini-series by a completely different creative team than this one (Paul Tobin and Salvador Espin, in case you're interested). Marvel then has issue #3 of this series up on their site for January, but I can't find where issue #2 is. Hmmm ... Then, issue #3 is still $3.99, presumably for the same amount of pages (21 or 22), so I think I will skip the rest of the series, even though I want to support Cornell. I'm sorry, Marvel, I'll pay 4 dollars for an indy book, but when you can slap a 4-dollar price tag on a 38-page book (see above) and on a 30-page comic (see below) but aren't able to sell a book featuring, let's face it, a middle-tier character in your stable for 3 dollars, why should I pay it? It will just come out in trade in a few months anyway.

It's kind of shame, because this is a decent comic. It's not quite as good as Rucka's work with the character at the beginning of the decade, but it's pretty good. Cornell does a good job jiving it with long-established "continuity" with regard to Logan and Natasha in World War II (Natasha seems a bit old during this section, based on what we discovered back in that great Uncanny X-Men issue, but I'll forgive it), and Leon, who is apparently the go-to artist when you need someone to draw something in Russia, does his usual fantastic job depicting the action. Raney's art is always good, even though I assume Milla "Marvelized" it by smoothing out the rough edges. There's plenty of action, a mystery to be solved, and Bucky Barnes! I didn't love this part too much, because Cornell falls back on simply listing who he is and what he means to Natasha instead of working it better into the story, but that's okay. It always seemed less intrusive when narrative boxes were more common. When they just show up occasionally and read "James Barnes, now a free man. And upgraded. Enough of a boyfriend to use her nickname," it's kind of jarring. Oh well.

I'd really like to get this mini-series, but I'm not gonna. I'd rather spend my four dollars on something like GrimJack. Come on, Marvel, you're flush with Mouse Cash - keep the prices on your regular-sized books at $2.99!!!!!

Boobs? Shockingly (in a book starring a character who often wears black latex), not really. On the credits page we get Natasha in her black latex, but it's surprisingly chaste. I guess that's a win for Cornell, Raney, and Leon!

Elephantmen #22 ("Dangerous Liaisons Part Seven of Eight: 7 Days of Smog Part One: Truth") by Richard Starkings (writer), Andre Szymanowicz (artist), and Gregory Wright (colorist). $3.50, 23 pgs, FC, Image.

As always, I have to thank Richard Starkings for sending this to me, and I hope it's not too late for you to still find it on the shelves if you're interested (it came out two weeks ago). Should you buy it? Of course you should! It's, what's the word ... oh yeah, excellent. I know I sound like a broken record and I really do tell Starkings that I would buy his comic if he didn't always send it to me for free, because it's so damned good! After last issue, when Ebony went a bit nutty thanks to the thing in his head (which allows humans to control the elephantmen), Hip and Miki show up at his place to find out what's going on, and of course he doesn't remember anything. His red eyes freak Hip out a bit, but he doesn't get a chance to explore that. Meanwhile, Vanity meets a man named Simm, who showed up a few issues ago and is a bit mysterious, and he tells her that Obadiah Horn is selling Elephantmen paraphenalia, which piques her curiosity. Of course, she shouldn't trust him, but he's so darned cute! What's a poor girl to do? (Remember the Golden Rule of Comics, kids: Never trust anyone who's attractive!)

Szymanowicz is another good choice for the art chores - his women are slightly different than we usually see, but Miki and Vanity are still, you know, smokin'. Szymanowicz has a nice indy style that seems to fit with the "Blade Runner" kind of world that Starkings has created - he throws in all sorts of nice touches in the street scenes that make Los Angeles two hundred years in the future feel like a foreign place even as Hip visits a normal neighborhood in Santa Monica. It's a really nice-looking comic, and the final page is gorgeous. It's nice to see Szymanowicz getting some higher profile work. Next for him: Selling out to Marvel!!!!

Elephantmen just keeps trucking along, with good issue after good issue. If Starkings didn't get new artists every few issues, I'd never have anything new to talk about with regard to it! I'd just write, "Ho hum, another brilliant issue. What else is new?" Thanks, Richard, for helping your poor reviewer out!

Boobs? Well, I guess, as Vanity and Miki are in the book, but they're wearing fairly normal clothing, so there's nothing too obnoxious about it.

The God Machine (preview book) by Chandra Free (writer/artist). $3.95, 36 pgs, FC, Archaia.

This is the first of three (3) Archaia books on the agenda this week, only one of which I bought on my own (this isn't it). It's always nice to get stuff in the mail, and I'd like to thank the fine folk at Archaia for sending these on to me. I'm also glad they're getting their books out a bit more regularly, and are doing new stuff (like this) as well as cleaning up their back catalog.

Of course, the problem with getting stuff in the mail is that sometimes you just don't like it. I can't really recommend The God Machine, not because it's a preview and doesn't tell a complete story, but because it's not really my thing. The art is very Johnny the Homicidal Maniac kind of stuff, which I'm not too keen on, although I appreciate the work Free put into it - this is very much a labor of love, and there's a lot of energy on the page, even though I don't really like the style. The story isn't my thing, either - seventeen-year-old Guy Salvatore is pining away for his (presumably) dead girlfriend, bitching about how his school sucks, and seeing things. He ends up in a cemetary, where two gods - the Good God and the Evil God - show up digging out a grave. Guy seems to know the Good God (she's a hot redhead, whereas the Evil God is a dude, natch), but before they can speak to each other, they disappear and Satan shows up. He tells Guy that his girlfriend is still alive in another dimension and only he can save her. And, of course, she's trapped because of the gods' messing around with reality. Guy, naturally, doesn't believe him. And thus the preview ends.

It's not a terribly bad plot, but Free sprinkles too much weird shit into it that drags it down, even though it's supposed to make things more manic. For instance, the book begins with Guy watching television late at night, and a show comes on starring "Everybody's favorite suicidal sock puppet, Mr. Insane Sock Puppet," who naturally tells kids to commit suicide. It's supposed to be funny (I guess), but I don't find it funny, and it sets the tone for the book, with Guy being kind of jerk to everyone (yes, I know his girlfriend just died, but it seems like he'd be a jerk even if she was alive) and everyone yelling a lot. Guy has a very keen creepy dream at one point, but that's about the only thing I really liked in the book. Maybe I'm just too old to enjoy something like this. I am pretty old, you know. It just never feels like Free does much to create interesting characters - she spins the clichés of Goth kids fairly well, but just because you twist those a bit doesn't mean you're creating an interesting character. I assume Guy's quest to find his girlfriend (whose nickname is "Sith") will be the crux of the book, and will intersect with the gods and what they're up to, but based on this preview, I don't really care if Guy succeeds or not.

I hate not liking this. Free writes in the beginning of the book that it's taken her ten years to get the book to publication, and you can certainly tell that she's put a lot of herself into it. You can check out her web site, her DeviantArt page, or The God Machine page to see more of her artwork, in case it's up your alley. It's just not up mine.

Boobs? Hmmm, the one book drawn by a woman features several attractive women, but none flashing a lot of cleavage. I'm stunned!

Greek Street #5 ("Book One: Blood Calls For Blood Part Five: The Anger of the Gods") by Peter Milligan (writer), Davide Gianfelice (artist), Patricia Mulvihill (colorist), and Clem Robins (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC/Vertigo.

I'm 90% certain I'm done with Greek Street, because this is the end of the first story arc, and it's just not doing it for me. The reason it's still only 90% is because in this issue, Milligan hints that the characters are actually the mythic characters themselves, not just people who happen to be living out lives that resemble characters from Greek myths. I'm not sure if he's hinted this before, but it's kind of interesting. Other than that, though, this is still a bit of a mess, and it's not really doing much for me. Milligan doesn't seem to have a clear idea about what he wants to do, even though I'm sure he has a long-term plan. The book just seems so all over the map, and it makes it very hard to get into it. Milligan has tightened the focus a bit as he's gone along, but not enough for me. I just find myself not caring very much about what happens next, which doesn't bode well.

I do like that Milligan seems to have a balls-to-the-wall kind of attitude about this book with regard to who lives and who dies, as it seems like nobody is safe in this book. That's always fun, because I get annoyed when a writer has a favorite character and obviously has no interest in harming that character. Suck it up, writers! Milligan doesn't seem to have that problem, and it makes reading this a bit jarring, which is actually kind of neat. But I don't think it's enough! We shall see, but I doubt if I will pick up the next issue. So sad!

Boobs? Of course!

This is the first panel in the book, and it's a boob. Greek Street features plenty of nudity, significantly none of it male frontal.

GrimJack: The Manx Cat #4 (of 6) by John Ostrander (writer), Timothy Truman (artist), Lovern Kindzierski (colorist), and John Workman (letterer). $3.99, 25 pgs, FC, IDW.

Speaking of why comics are great, Ostrander sends Gaunt back in time to discover the secret of the Manx Cat, and Gaunt inhabits the body of a vigilante monk who fights demons, is in love with a fellow monk (who doesn't know about it), visits the ruler of Cynosure's churches and has to get by three belligerent heads, and then fights ... battle cherubs. The fact that I can write that sentence and not have fellow blog readers think I'm snorting angel dust is why comics are goddamned awesome. It's not even that weird an issue! It is, however, brilliant as usual. Oh, and Gaunt/St. John of Knives ends up in a different dimension facing a mummified (but still sexy) cat goddess. Of fucking course.

Damn, I love comics. Yes, I already wrote that, but I don't care! It's still true!

Boobs? Of course!

You can't have a sexy mummified cat goddess without some boobs!

The Secret History #6 (of 7) ("The Eagle and the Sphinx") by Jean-Pierre Pécau (writer), Igor Kordey (artist), Carole Beau (colorist), Marshall Dillon (letterer), and Edward Gauvin (translator). $5.95, 46 pgs, FC, Archaia.

It's been quite some time since The Secret History saw the light of day, and while it might not be for everyone, I'm still loving it, mainly because (as I've written before) I'm a total sucker for history and alternate history, which we get in large doses in this book. Each issue moves the grand plot along (a plot, I'm sorry to say, that I'm extremely fuzzy on, mainly because it's been so long since I've read the previous issues, but it involves immortals manipulating humanity, to be as basic as possible), but each issue, because they're separated by hundreds of years, also tells a compelling story in its own right, which is a keen trick. In this issue, Napoleon goes to Egypt, but not for the reasons you might think. This gives Pécau the opportunity to give us some nice battle scenes, some nice creepy scenes in which sand creatures attack the French, and gives Kordey the opportunity to draw the mysterious Orient, and as usual, he draws the heck out of it. Whenever I read anything drawn by Kordey, I need to remind people who only know him from X-Men that he's very good and that his work on X-Men was compromised by the fact that he was churning out an issue a day (which may be exaggerated, but not by much). He does a wonderful job with a large cast of characters, a sprawling canvas of locations, from Toulon to Egypt to Syria, and some horrific violence. The book feels a bit crowded, with a lot of panels and a lot of narration and dialogue, but it flows very nicely due to Kordey's art.

I do hope the final issue isn't too late. I'm looking forward to the grand finale!

Boobs! Of course! It's European! Which means that the only boobs are naked ones, pretty much in the service of the story. There's nothing terribly gratuitous about it, which is nice. It's just there.

Secret Six #15 ("Control") by John Ostrander (writer), Jim Calafiore (artist), Jason Wright (colorist), and Travis Lanham (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC.

One of the things that's nice about the minor characters in the DC (and Marvel, of course) canon is that it's fairly easy to keep track of what's going on with them if you're so inclined. As they pop up not too often, they don't have years and years of backstory to incorporate. Of course, that's not always the case - I'm not sure what the hell is going on with Looker - but it does apply quite often, and if you happen to have read about the character a lot, you won't be too lost when someone like Ostrander writes about someone like Deadshot. Despite being in Suicide Squad for its entire run and being a fairly popular villain for 30 years, it's not too difficult for Ostrander to recount the major points in Floyd's life, and he even manages to update his origin for the hell of it. It's your typical excellent Ostrander tale, with Floyd feeling out of control (as he seems to be in Secret Six recently) and seeking the advice of John Ostrander himself, in the form of Reverend Richard Craemer, Ostrander's stand-in the DCU (and who, frankly, I'm surprised is still alive - why hasn't Geoff Johns slaughtered him yet?). He walks around with Craemer, explaining how he came to be and getting sound advice from the good reverend. Although there's not a lot of action and we are positive Floyd isn't going to kill Craemer like he claims he will, it's a gripping tale, because Ostrander gets Floyd better than anyone who's ever written him (including Steve Englehart, who brought him out of mothballs back in the Seventies), and Ostrander is also quite good at writing Richard Craemer. Calafiore, Bill Reed's favoritest artist EVAH, does his typical yeomanlike work on the book - if you hate Calafiore, you won't change your mind seeing this, but if you don't mind him (I kind of like him), this is more of the same.

As much as I dig this book, I really hate when Ostrander shows up in the DCU and starts writing stuff like this. It makes me miss Suicide Squad and The Spectre even more. Goddamn.

Boobs! Of course!

Bruce Wayne in his "Bruce Wayne" role? You know he'll have scantily-clad women near him!

Strange Tales #3 (of 3). "Cool Hand Uatu" by Nick Bertozzi (writer/artist) and Chris Sinderson (colorist); "Oni" by Stan Sakai (writer/artist) and Tom Luth (colorist); "The Fortune Full X-Man" by Corey Lewis (writer/artist) and Dylan McCrae (colorist); "Fantastic Fool's Day" by Jeffrey Brown (writer/artist) and Bill Crabtree (colorist); "La Querelle des Monstres" by Jay Stephens (writer/artist); "Cup Cake!" by Chris Chua (writer/artist); "The Abominable Peter Pepper!" by Max Cannon (writer/artist); "The Punisher" by Jonathan Jay Lee (writer/artist); "The Incorrigible Hulk" by Peter Bagge (writer/artist); "Let's Fight" by Michael Kupperman (writer/artist); "Nightcrawler Meets Molecule Man" by Paul Hornschemeier (writer/artist); "Look Out, Sub-Mariner! ... Here Comes the King Crab" by Becky Cloonan (writer/artist). $4.99, 48 pgs, FC, Marvel.

Ah, yes, Strange Tales. Has anyone - Joey Q, some other bigwig at Marvel - ever explained exactly why Peter Bagge's Hulk story was shelved? I kept waiting for Hulk to eat a kitten and rape General Ross - or, you know, the other way around - so that I could say, "Oh, so THAT'S why," but it never happened. It was a silly Hulk tale, but nothing terribly objectionable. Does anyone know what the backstory is?

Other than that, this remains a mixed bag. I still think the first issue was the best, and the second issue the worst, with this falling somewhere in between. I didn't get the feeling of mockery of Marvel's characters that I did from the stories in the second issue, but I also didn't get the feeling of revelry in the glorious goofiness of Marvel's characters that I did from the stories in the first issue. Sakai's Hulk story is fine, nicely drawn (not surprisingly), but kind of dull. Corey Lewis's Longshot story is dazzling to look at, but like The God Machine, it makes me feel old. Jeffrey Brown's Fantastic Four story cracked me the fuck up, I'll tell you that much. The Beast versus Morbius story was fun solely because of the odd juxtaposition of the two characters beating on each other while engaging in a philosophical debate. I don't know what the fuck is going on in Chris Chua's story, and I don't think I'm alone in that. Max Cannon's contribution was better than the one in the second issue, but still not too funny. Jonathan Jay Lee's Punisher story might actually get me to read a Punisher issue, if only for how different it looks. Michael Kupperman's Avengers story is funny until we get the worn-out Hostess Fruit Pies ending. Paul Hornschemeier's weird story also features philosophical musings, sans the punching. And while Becky Cloonan's story is ... strange, to say the least (fitting for the anthology, I guess), I can't not love her art, and Marvel should give her a Sub-Mariner mini-series, stat!

I'm probably always going to support this kind of thing from Marvel and DC, unless the quality is really, really bad. Unlike Brad Curran, I actually occasionally support these creators' independent stuff, and it's very neat to see them unleashed on iconic comic book characters. I mean, Uatu's comment about Kraven on the first page is almost worth the price of admission!

Boobs? There aren't a lot of women in this book, but the ones that are there are dressed normally and aren't showing anything.

Stumptown #1 ("The Case of the Girl Who Took Her Shampoo but Left her Mini Part One") by Greg Rucka (writer), Matthew Southworth (artist), and Lee Loughridge (colorist). $3.99, 35 pgs, FC, Oni Press.

There were two main reasons I purchased this comic:

1. Greg Rucka is writing it. I pick on Rucka when he's writing Detective because I just don't think the writing is that strong, but for the past decade, he's been one of the good writers in comics when he's able to do this kind of crime book, from Whiteout to Queen & Country to Gotham Central to Checkmate. So when I saw he was writing a private eye book, I was jazzed.

2. I fucking love Portland, where this book is set ("Stumptown" is a nickname for Portland). That may seem like a lame reason to buy a comic, and of course if the book sucks it won't matter where it's set, but I really would like to get across how much I fucking love Portland and wish I still lived there. There's absolutely nothing I don't fucking love about Portland, and that includes the crappy winter weather. Whenever goddamned Jeff Parker posts on his blog that he'll be signing his latest goddamned excellent comic at Clackamas Town Center or somewhere else in the greater Portland area, I leave a comment on his blog damning him for living in Portland. Damn you, Jeff Parker!!!!! So, needless to say, I was jazzed about Rucka writing a crime comic set in Portland. If someone told me I could move back to Portland and have a nice house in Alameda or by Mt. Tabor or down in Westmoreland or Oak Grove or up by the University or out in the Northwest or even a little further out in Lake Oswego or West Linn or even Tigard and all I had to do was kill Apodaca, I'm afraid he wouldn't be long for this world (sorry, Dan). Yes, I'd risk life imprisonment to live in Portland! (Although, let's be honest, who'd miss him? Oh, I kid, Dan, I kid!!!!!!)

Of course, now I have another reason to purchase Stumptown, and that's because Southworth's art, which I've never seen before, is very good, even when he's not drawing Portland landmarks. And, of course, Rucka's story is nice and twisty, as we're introduced to the unfortunately-named Dexedrine Callisto Parios (we learn that on the final page, and also that everyone - thankfully - calls her "Dex"), a private investigator with a big gambling problem. To get out of debt, she agrees to find the granddaughter of the casino owner (manager?). The girl disappeared, and it seems several people are looking for her. Of course, Dex is approached by someone else who's looking for, someone who scares the girl, apparently, because she calls Dex and says "he" wants to kill her. Dex arranges a meeting, it all goes pear-shaped, and she ends up in police custody. Just another day in the life of a seedy private eye!

Rucka keeps things moving along nicely, and he gives Dex a brother who has special needs (I'll guess Down syndrome, but it's not clear), which humanizes her a bit. There's also an implication about her relationship with Sue-Lynne, the casino owner (or manager), but we'll see where that goes. It's a solid first issue, with a dynamite beginning and a nifty little mystery.

And it makes me miss Portland even more. Damn you, Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth. And I wouldn't kill you, Dan. You're too neat a guy. Maybe I'd just have to maim you. We cool with that?

Boobs? There's one panel where a woman wearing a bikini steps from a pool, but it's not obnoxious at all.

Sweet Tooth #3 ("Out of the Deep Woods Part Three") by Jeff Lemire (writer/artist), José Villarrubia (colorist), and Pat Brosseau (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC/Vertigo.

Sweet Tooth remains an odd comic, one like Greek Street, in that I'm not sure if I'm really loving it or not (in pretty much every other way, it's unlike Greek Street). I dig Lemire's art, and he brings a true feel of the rural world to the book that you don't see too much in comics. It's a bleak world he's created, and when terrifying things happen, like Gus's dream, it's even more terrifying because of the setting, and when Gus and Mr. Jepperd show up in a town, we feel the tremendous emptiness, due mainly to Lemire's art. However, I'm not terribly sure if the story is all that compelling. I mean, there's nothing terribly original about a plague wiping out most of humanity, and Lemire hasn't done a lot yet with the fact that Gus is a human-animal hybrid (although the end of this issue might change that next time). I stuck with Wasteland, another post-apocalyptic story, as I waited to figure out what Antony Johnston was doing with it, and I was rewarded for my patience. From what I've read of Lemire so far, I think he knows what he's doing and will make this worthwhile, so I'm going to be patient for this too. But right now, I'm just not loving it. It hasn't grabbed me yet. I hope it will.

Boobs? There's only one panel with a female in this book, and she's wearing a simple dress. Does the Cinderella preview count?

Titanium Rain #1 and 2 by Josh Finney (writer/artist) and Kat Rocha (artist). $4.99, 48 pgs, FC, Archaia.

This is the third Archaia book I received in the mail, and like the first one, I'm not going to recommend it. I read about Titanium Rain when it was first solicited, but it didn't sound like something I'd like. In 2032, a civil war in China has brought in an international peacekeeping force. As there is a lack of good fighter pilot candidates, some of the wannabes have been injected with various nanomachines to make them better. So the story is about whether these people are still human. In the first two issues (which are combined here), it's a lot of fighting and not a lot of philosophical discussion, but Finney still brings it up nicely, all the while making sure the situation in China is fairly realistic. It's not a great story, but it's not a bad one, either.

However, I can't stand the art. It's done in that digital "realistic" style where the artists (both Finney and Rocha are credited) actually use models and somehow scan their faces into the computer. It's really, really creepy, because we get what looks like movie stills but in sequence, which makes this look like a movie that's not moving. Comics are a static medium, and trying to do this kind of thing never works. Using models is perfectly fine, but making the book look like it's a series of photographs robs it of any dynamism, and everything looks extremely plastic in this book. It takes me right out of the story, as I find myself staring at each face, wondering if the doctor in the book is the Bettie Page chick from NCIS, looking at the weirdly dead eyes of the characters, and it just doesn't work. With good art, this might be an interesting comic. With this, it's really unpleasant.

Of course, at the web site, you can check out some of the art and read some of the praise of the book. Don't let me stop you from buying it!

Boobs? It's a war comic! Everyone's in uniform! Although NCIS chick does have a tiny bit of cleavage going on, but not enough to be remotely egregious.

The Unknown: The Devil Made Flesh #2 (of 4) by Mark Waid (writer), Minck Oosterveer (artist), Andres Lozano (colorist), Javier Suppa (colorist), and Marshall Dillon (letterer). $3.99, 22 pgs, FC, Boom! Studios.

Waid's weird detective saga continues, as Catherine and Adriana head to Alabama to investigate some murders that an amateur detective told her about. It turns out the "amateur detective" is a kid who suddenly got really smart, which is strange enough. But someone really doesn't want Catherine to be in Alabama, and things get violent at the end, as one bad guy is revealed and the other ... well, he has an axe. The mystery continues, and as usual, I have to wonder what's important and what's not. Are the gloves important? ARE THEY????? Oh, the drama!!!!! Plus, Waid delves a bit deeper into Catherine's brain problem and why she doesn't get it operated on. It's a nice character moment in the middle of a weird story.

Oosterveer, of course, continues to dazzle, especially now that he has two hot women to draw instead of one. But he also does a really good job with the creepiness of Mountain Oak, Alabama, and he gives the climax a nice tense feel to it. He's the kind of artist whose earlier work I want to track down, because he's so talented.

I honestly have no idea where Waid is going with this, but it's a very cool read. What about James, Mr. Waid? Is there more to his story?!?!?!?!???!?

Boobs? Of course! Check out that cover!

Two well-endowed women solving crimes? Where's the FOX television show????

X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas #2 (of 2) ("The X-Heist Part Two" and "Godmarked") by Jeff Parker (writer), Carlo Pagulayan (penciler), Gabriel Hardman (artist), Chris Samnee (artist), Carlos Rodriguez (penciler), Jason Paz (inker), Terry Pallot (inker), Wilfredo Quintana (colorist), Veronica Gandini (colorist), and Joe Caramagna (letterer). $3.99, 30 pgs, FC, Marvel.

Parker wraps up his nifty little crossover with more fighting, eventual reconciliation, and Namor not acting like a dick for once. Way to go, Namor! What's keen is that Parker does a nice job explaining just what the hell was going on with the Chris Samnee-drawn section of issue #1, which was, you know, kind of confusing. And although I'm not sure why Aphrodite gives Venus a tramp stamp, the endgame, drawn by Hardman, is pretty cool. Aphrodite even gets a joke in as the Agents of Atlas battle her!

This would have worked a lot better as part of the Agents of Atlas ongoing, because it's so obvious that the X-Men are here just to goose sales, but it won't help the ongoing now, will it? Unlike most crossovers, this is basically an Agents of Atlas story with the X-Men being there just because they're famous. I mean, it's commendable that Parker tries to make them important, but they're not, really. This is all part of the Agents getting involved in the Hercules world, and Parker does his usual fine job putting all the pieces in place and entertaining the hell out of us, but it doesn't feel like an important crossover, you know? I mean, like one where it's a story about both teams? Even though Parker tries to do this, it still feels like an Agents of Atlas story. That's not a complaint, by the way, because Parker's Agents of Atlas was better than pretty much every X-book, but it's a shame that Parker needed to bring in the X-Men to tell this story.

But it gets us to where we need to go, which is Assault on New Olympus, which directly follows this issue. See? This is the Möbius strip of comics reviewing! How's about that!

Boobs? Of course!

But not too much. I mean, Venus doesn't wear a lot in general, so of course there's going to be some. But there's nothing terribly gratuitous.

I don't really have a point with all the cleavage, but it's worthwhile pointing this stuff out occasionally. The last time I did this, it seemed a lot more gratuitous. That was a few years ago. Maybe we're making progress!

And hey, it's time for totally random lyrics!

"Once you take a hit of this
You won't ever wanna quit
You'll be so addicted
Said I'll have you spinning round and round
Crazy, making freaky sounds
You won't want to come down
And I'll have you seeing things and hallucinating
Even walking funny 'cause your legs are shaking
All night we'll be blazin'
I'll take you for a walk to the other side
We can get high and enjoy the ride
Hold tight we'll be all right"

We're still friends, Dan, right? Right?

21 Comments

• At November 5, 2009, stealthwise wrote:

  Question about the "Bruce Wayne" persona: has it always been around, or is it a more recent invention of the ...

• At November 5, 2009, Rebis wrote:

  This is a bit off-topic — sorry Greg — but you did review a Boom! Comics title, which reminds me ...

• At November 5, 2009, Aperture wrote:

  Irredeemable is a great book in my opinion so you should pick it up right away, Rebis. Then again, ...

• At November 5, 2009, Alan Coil wrote:

  Man, I didn't read any of those books.

• At November 5, 2009, Omar Karindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy! wrote:

  The Bruce Wayne persona is pretty much there in Detective Comics #27, where he yawns through the Commissioner's story about ...

• At November 6, 2009, JackKing wrote:

  You know, if we pooled our money together, we could buy that house for Greg...

• At November 6, 2009, Johnny P wrote:

  The Faith No More line was much more interesting than John Legend lyrics.

• At November 6, 2009, Manglr wrote:

  The gratuitous guest stars is one of the things killing Agents of Atlas for me. I thought the ongoing ...

• At November 6, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Rebis: Irredeemable is one of those things that I may pick up eventually, but I feel no need to rush ...

• At November 6, 2009, Craig wrote:

  Regarding "Irredeemable": I started reading it, and was blindsided by how uncompromisingly violent and brutal it was. The first issue ...

• At November 6, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  I dropped The Secret History when I noticed that Igor Kordey wasn't drawing ALL of the series.

  I'm just of the ...

• At November 6, 2009, s1rude wrote:

  I think there is an Irredeemable trade out - 10 buck for four issues, which is a $6 savings over ...

• At November 6, 2009, Manglr wrote:

  @Greg

  You're right of course about trying to goose sales of Agents of Atlas, but at what point does oversaturation of ...

• At November 6, 2009, Chip Mosher wrote:

  Wow! What a bunch of IRREDEEMABLE haters. :P

  FWIW, this is our top selling book, with the latest issues outselling the ...

• At November 6, 2009, CW wrote:

  Writting this from the south waterfront downtown portland as we speak! Be thankful you're not up here this weekend, huge ...

• At November 6, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  I haven't read any of these.

  Did the Black Widow really fight in World War II? I never heard of ...

• At November 6, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  1990's Uncanny X-Men #268 established Black Widow being around during World War II.

• At November 6, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  Thanks. I stopped reading X-Men in 1989, so I guess I just missed it. How did they explain ...

• At November 6, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Mary: I'm not sure if they've explained it before, but Cornell explains it in this very issue! Bucky gives ...

• At November 7, 2009, MikeCr wrote:

  Irredeemable isn't bad but it could be better. Even at its best I feel like it'd only be considered ...

• At November 7, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  Widow probably takes the same stuff Nick Fury does, but she gets more beauty sleep.

Dark Horse:

There's a new Solomon Kane mini-series on page 28 (13 January), if you're interested. According to the quote on the page, Kane is the "only Puritan" Ed Brubaker has been a fan of. What about Roger Williams, Ed? He was a pretty cool guy!

On page 34, we get a hardcover collection of Blacksad for $30 (24 March). I've heard plenty of good things about this - anyone want to reaffirm the kudos?

DC:

I have no interest in DC's "final issue" thing that they're doing (although it's a clever enough idea), but I suppose I'll have to buy Suicide Squad #67 (page 69; 6 January), as it ties into Secret Six. It's another issue to test Bill Reed's patience, as Ostrander and Simone write it, but Jim Calafiore draws it. Poor Bill!

As much as I'm jazzed by Batman and Robin #7 (page 71; 27 January) because it's drawn by Cameron Stewart and features the Knight and Squire, it appears to be a "Blackest Night" tie-in. Goddamnit, even the God of All Comics can't resist!

Why is Spawn guest-starring in Batman #695 (page 71; 13 January)?

So the solicitation text for Supergirl #49 tells us that Lana Lang dies (page 77; 20 January). That's not what concerns me, though. It's this: "She is survived by ex-husband, former president of the United States Pete Ross ..." I know why Pete was president, but stuff like this just reminds me how very, very stupid comics can be occasionally.

The Mighty gets cancelled on page 83 (6 January). I guess that's my fault.

Hey, look - Mike Grell draws Warlord #10 (page 86; 6 January). Will it be enough to save the book????

The second Hitman trade gets a new printing on page 88 (24 February). Buy it. It does not suck.

The fourth Planetary hardcover is offered on page 97 (3 March). Will there be a complete Omnibus (with the specials included) in the future?

Some dude named Grant Morrison has a book called Joe the Barbarian on page 108 (20 January). If you like shitty, non-linear, pretentious comics which probably don't feature enough ass-kicking, that is.

David Lapham draws an issue of Fables (page 113; 13 January). Look at him, getting work like that!

DC is re-releasing the first two volumes of The Losers as one book (page 114; 27 January). I was ambivalent about this book through the first trade, but it gets a lot better as it goes along.

Joëlle Jones draws an issue of Madame Xanadu (page 115; 27 January). Nothing against Amy Reeder Hadley, but they get some dynamite fill-in artists on that book. Speaking of which, Michael Kaluta's arc is collected in trade on the same page.

Image:

There's a new Jack Staff comic on page 140 (27 January). That monthly Jack Staff book worked out pretty well, didn't it?

If you buy Dynamo 5 in trade, the latest one is on page 145 (27 January). It brings us up to date while we wait for the relaunch.

Proof comes to an end with issue #28 on page 156 (6 January). I hope it was just a natural place and not because sales are terrible. That always sucks.

Marvel:

Max Fiumara draws an issue of Amazing Spider-Man (page 21; 6 January). I still won't buy it, but Fiumara is really good.

Geoff Johns' run on The Avengers is collected in trade on page 100 (20 January). Is this the arc where the Wasp and Hank Pym were having icky sex?

Continuing Marvel's policy to put out a trade for everything (which is a nice policy, even if some of their choices are head-scratching), we get the first seven issues of Iron Man from 1998, written by Kurt Busiek and drawn by Sean Chen and Patrick Zircher. If you were jonesing for these issues, here they are!

That's some really unfortunate placement of that console there, Marvel.

More Visionaries volumes on page 116: Another Peter David Hulk one, collecting issues #383-389, and another Alan Davis Excalibur one, collecting issues #51-58 (27 and 20 January, respectively).

You know what time it is ... time for the back of the book!

SLG offers Animal Crackers, a collection of early work from Gene Luen Yang, on page 178. I imagine it's pretty good.

Over on page 183, Antarctic Press gives us ... Obamouse!

Dear Sweet Lord.

Hey, "Rob Liefeld's fallen angel, Avengelyne," returns to comics from Arcana on page 184. Did you miss her?

Also on page 184, Archaia offers Tumor by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Noel Tuazon. You missed their last collaboration, Elk's Run - don't miss this one!

No Hero comes out in trade on page 191 from Avatar. I'm sure you're dying to see the dude tie someone's spine onto his crotch and brandish it like an erect penis, aren't you? (Isn't this the comic where that happened?)

I haven't been reading Swordsmith Assassin from Boom! Studios, but I've read some good things about it, and there's a trade on page 202. If you're in the mood to check it out!

I shouldn't point out anything to do with Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose (page 204), but Jim Balent makes it so tough with awesome covers like this:

Well, Dynamite Entertainment does it again, with Robocop #1 on page 214. I don't know if it'll be any good, but there it is!

Dynamite also has the second Zorro trade on page 219. It's a hardcover, so you might want to wait until the softcover comes out, but it's a pretty good story.

In case Chad Nevett wants a new edition of Hicksville, Drawn & Quarterly has it on page 223!

D & Q also has Adrian Tomine's first book, 32 Stories, in a new redesign (page 223). It's sure to be caustic!

IDW has some things you might be interested in. On page 242 they reprint The Wizard's Tale by Kurt Busiek, which isn't bad. On page 243 they have the trades of The Veil, which is quite good, and Fallen Angel: Reborn, which is pretty decent.

Rick Veitch and King Hell have Abraxas and the Earthmen and a new edition of Brat Pack on page 248. I've never read these, but someone has!

Chuck Dixon writes Airfighters on page 248 from Moonstone, which means it will feature kick-ass war stories featuring brightly-garbed heroes! Can you resist????

Oni has a new printing of the Local hardcover on page 252. It's very good. Then, on page 253, the first 13 issues of Wasteland (including the prose shorts) are collected in a giant hardcover. This too is very good.

Page 256 gives us another title from Radical Comics: Aladdin. I don't know if it's going to be any good, but Ian Edginton is writing it, and he's a fine writer.

And so we reach the end of another Previews. As usual, there's some good stuff in there, if you're willing to dig! So get to it!

19 Comments

• At November 1, 2009, Shaq-fu wrote:

  Those are awesome Rick Veitch comics!

• At November 1, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  I don't know that I'd call 32 Stories caustic. It's more maudlin,or contrived. It's Tomine's extremely early work. It's interesting ...

• At November 1, 2009, The Dude wrote:

  I know almost nothing abot Joe The Barbarian, other than it's written by Morrison.

  Can you tell me what it's about?

  I ...

• At November 1, 2009, Nawid A wrote:

  Proof isn't cancelled. Issue 28 is just the end of the first season (currently the plan is to have at ...

• At November 1, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  No one knows much about Joe the Barbarian. It's said to be a kind of Narnia-esque journey into a world ...

• At November 1, 2009, Joshua Long wrote:

  Joe the Barbarian is about a diabetic kid who, when he forgets to take his penicillin, hallucinates all of these ...

• At November 1, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  I've read Rick Veitch's Abraxas and the Earthman waaaaaaaaay back in those days of EPIC ILLUSTRATED magazine. A futuristic ...

• At November 1, 2009, Zdenko wrote:

  Blacksad is very, very, very good. If it doesn't bother you that you have things like sex, racism, drugs, mafia, ...

• At November 1, 2009, Dan Felty wrote:

  Tom F.--The One is still available from King Hell Press at http://www.rickveitch.com/store/ I just picked up a copy last ...

• At November 1, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  Over on page 183, Antarctic Press gives us ... Obamouse!

  And also President Evil #4 (#4!) with a cover depicting Obama ...

• At November 1, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  Oh, god.

  I found the solicit for Obamouse.

  And, this is real:

  The economy is crumbling like stale roquefort. We are at ...

• At November 1, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  Heh, my dumbfounded-ness made me misspell "Penguin".

  Still. Wow.

• At November 1, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Dan: I've only read one Adrian Tomine book, and it was caustic, so I just assumed they all were. ...

• At November 1, 2009, Joshua Fialkov wrote:

  Thanks for the kind words about Tumor and Elk's Run, Greg! Anybody who wants to check out the book ...

• At November 1, 2009, buttler wrote:

  Good lord. With names like that, Roy Thomas and Scott Shaw! should get some sort of royalties from Obamouse. ...

• At November 1, 2009, Pedro Bouça wrote:

  Blacksad is great, get it!

  And Mike Grell has been drawing Warlord for some time now. I fear that many others ...

• At November 1, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Whoops! I did not realize that Grell had been drawing it. The one issue I got didn't feature ...

• At November 1, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  I don't know that I'd call 32 Stories caustic. It's more maudlin,or contrived. It's Tomine's extremely early work. It's interesting ...

• At November 1, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  Neat. I didn't know there was such a thing.

  Yeah, it is interesting to track his evolution as an artist throughout ...

The upshot of this, of course, is that it's very late in the day, and although I thought about skipping a week, I did get a metric ton of comics, two of which I received for free and therefore ought to review, and many of which were very good. I can't say these will be the best reviews (keep your snide comments about how none of these posts are the "best" to yourself!), but I did want to point out some books that came out a week ago that you might have missed. Let's fire it up!

Beasts of Burden #2 (of 4) ("Lost") by Evan Dorkin (writer), Jill Thompson (artist), and Jason Arthur (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, Dark Horse.

This issue is even creepier than last issue, which is saying something. It's pretty terrifying, and Dorkin does a really nice job with two things: Making these animals truly animalistic (they do a pretty nasty thing) but also tapping into some universal emotions that make their nasty actions more understandable. It's a tense, action-filled issue, stunningly illustrated by Thompson. It's nice that Dorkin is doing these as one-and-done stories, because you don't need to have read the first issue to enjoy this. So if you see this lying around, pick it up. It's totally freaky!

Chew #5 ("Taster's Choice Part 5 of 5") by John Layman (writer/letterer), Rob Guillory (artist/colorist), and Lisa Gonzalez (color flats). $2.99, 24 pgs, FC, Image.

Speaking of freaky, the first arc of Chew comes to a close with Tony solving the central mystery and getting in a lot of trouble because of it. Layman experiments a little bit with the format, giving us a first page with snapshots of Tony getting into deeper and deeper trouble, then going back in time and filling in the spaces that led him to those dramatic moments. It's as gross as ever, of course, but Layman still manages to bring his black sense of humor to the proceedings, which alleviates the sickening central premise. And the solution and the fallout from it nicely sets up the rest of the series. Guillory, naturally, is phenomenal, with a two-page spread of such shocking violence (even more than the rest of the book) that we feel the pain of the character intensely. It's a stunning comic artistically.

This arc will be out soon in trade. Check it out, because this is a very interesting series that's getting better as it goes along. I'm looking forward to the direction Layman and Guillory are going with it.

Ex Machina #46 ("Pro-Life Part Two") by Brian K. Vaughan (writer), Tony Harris (artist), JD Mettler (colorist), and Jared K. Fletcher (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC/Wildstorm.

You know the drill. Flashback; some politics; some violence; a cliffhanger that ties back into the flashback. I know that some people don't like the formula, but I do. It's keen. Plus, it's getting to the end, so we are getting some answers about the series. Good to see. Only a few more issues to go!

FVZA: Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency #1 (of 3) by David Hine (writer), Roy Allan Martinez (artist), Kinsun Loh (painter), Jerry Choo (painter), Richard Starkings (letterer), and Jimmy Betancourt (letterer). $4.99, 44 pgs, FC, Radical Comics.

As usual, the fine folk at Radical sent this to me, and I'd like to thank them. It's always cool to get free comics, even if I don't love them completely. And I don't love this completely, but that might be because of the subject matter. I'm just not the biggest fan of vampires and zombies, so a book about a federal agency that destroys vampires and zombies isn't really in my wheelhouse. Hine does only one nifty thing with vampires, when he points out that vampires might not actually enjoy being vampires, which is a pretty good observation. Other than that, the vampires and zombies aren't that distinguishable from any other vampires and zombies.

That's not to say the comic is bad, because if there's one thing Hine knows, it's horror. He does a very nice job setting up this mileau, in which the United States government set up the FVZA in the 1860s and almost eradicated them from the country, to the point where the agency was disbanded. Of course, now they're back, and two young siblings, Landra and Vidal, whose grandfather was a big wheel in the earlier incarnation of the FVZA, are tasked to instruct new agents. Hine does a nice job with the set-up, as Landra stands over her grandfather with a gun, presumably because he's been turned somehow, and then tells the story in flashback. Hine does a good job building the horror of both the vampires and zombies, and even though we know what's coming, he's still effective. Martinez's art is better when it's not painted because it's rougher, but he does have a few truly horrifying scenes that complement Hine's story pretty well.

As with a lot of the Radical comics, FVZA has a lot of positives in it. The production values are stunning, and to go back to last week, their books often have good "hand," because this feels like a good chunk of comics. I wish Hine would do more with making the vampires and zombies more unique, because the idea of the federal agency (which isn't his, of course) is a pretty decent one.

Hellblazer #260 ("The Long Crap Friday") by Peter Milligan (writer), Simon Bisley (artist), Jamie Grant (colorist), and Sal Cipriano (letterer). $2.99, 20 pgs, FC, DC/Vertigo.

What's cool about Milligan writing this series is that he didn't even make any pretense about John being noble. Most of the other times I've read the book, the writer tries to set up John as some kind of damaged yet somewhat decent fellow who eventually gets tempted too much to meddle and it all ends horribly. Milligan has simply shown us, from the beginning, that John is a scumbag, which makes all the crap that is happening to him in this run kind of fun, because we indulge in a little schadenfreude and never worry if maybe, this time, John has changed. Milligan is making this a different kind of Hellblazer run, because nothing John is doing is noble, even tangentially. His proclamations regarding Phoebe in this book don't even ring true, because we saw how he treated her, so we know it's bullshit. Perhaps Milligan is going this way so that John can actually earn some redemption. Perhaps not. Either way, Milligan is writing a nasty little comic, and it's pretty cool.

Incarnate #2 (of 3) by Nick Simmons (writer/artist), Matt Dalton (inker), Dami Digital (colorist), and Rob Steen (letterer). $4.99, 53 pgs, FC, Radical Comics.

I still feel the same way about issue #2 of this series that I felt about #1 - Simmons is an interesting artist, with a ton of energy in his pencils and glee in his horror that's somewhat refreshing. The fight scene at the end of the issue is fun to look at, with lots of blood and crazy monsters and wacky choreography. Simmons does give us a bit more about the characters and what the heck they are, and presumably we'll learn all in issue #3. But the problems are still there, and they come from Simmons's storytelling abilities, which are pretty raw. In issue #1, there was no reason to care about the characters, and as we knew very little about them, no other reason for us to be involved. In this issue, Mot is imprisoned by Sibyl, who forces him to be her bodyguard. It's obvious that Simmons is building a romance between these two, but it's mainly because that's what they'd do - Mot is a Goth dude who has a secret, while Sibyl is a blonde Catholic schoolgirl. Of course they're going to be attracted to each other! But just because their "types" would be attracted to each other doesn't mean Simmons can skip the actual relationship between them, and he does. The writing in the book is strangely enervating, with Simmons simply doling out information without spicing it up too much. It jars with the art, which crackles along.

It seems like this would work better if Simmons weren't trying to be "deep." As a strange mystery about demons who slaughter humans, it's not bad. Simmons seems to want to deepen the emotional resonance of the book, but he's not quite as good at that. But, like FVZA, this is a huge chunk of comics for not a ton of money, and it's nice that Radical is giving us our money's worth!

The Last Resort #3 (of 5) ("Part Three: Surf and Safari") by Jimmy Palmiotti (writer), Justin Gray (writer), Giancarlo Caracuzzo (artist), and Chris Mowry (letterer). $3.99, 20 pgs, FC, IDW.

Now that is a keen cover. Darwyn Cooke cracks me up (yes, Tom, I know a lot of things crack me up, but come on - check out that cover!).

Here's another reason why I would not be a good character in a horror movie: If I were on a plane that exploded on the runway and then, when I reached the terminal, there was no one around, I'd stay with the group. I know that most of the people in this comic don't know about the flesh-eating zombies running wild on the island yet, but two pairs of people break off from the group to wander around alone, and not surprisingly, one person pays a pretty horrible price. People in horror movies (and horror comics, I guess, as that's what this is) are unbelievably stupid. The victim I'm talking about here (there are others in the comic, but they're not stupid) deserves what she gets, because she's so obnoxious that we're cheering for her to get eaten. Now, I might still get killed in a horror movie, but it wouldn't be because I'm stupid.

There's a bit of a lull in this issue, as the characters regroup and try to figure out what the hell is going on, but it's still sheer bloody fun. And yes, that cover does depict something that happens in the book. Very stylistically, of course, but still.

The Lone Ranger and Tonto #3 ("Born and Made") by Brett Matthews (writer), Jonathan M. Abrams (writer), Vatche Mavlian (artist), Marcelo Pinto (colorist), and Simon Bowland (letterer). $4.99, 32 pgs, FC, Dynamite Entertainment.

We find our heroes at the circus, where the human cannonball has died under mysterious circumstances and the Lone Ranger and Tonto take it upon themselves to solve the crime. It's not a terribly good mystery, but that's okay, because Matthews and Abrams are more interested in examining the idea of outcasts and what binds them together, from the circus freaks who form the community to the Lone Ranger and Tonto themselves, who set themselves outside of society. It's not a terribly deep examination of this theme, but it's an interesting one, especially as our heroes peel back the layers of secrecy surrounding the carnival. Mavlian is fantastic, despite a few problems with clarity (which might be the fault of the colorist; I don't know). He has a nice rough style and the scenes where Tonto fights the bear are magnificently powerful.

I wish the regular series came out more often, but the specials are always pretty good. And they give you a nice single story, so there's no commitment to more!

Poe #4 (of 4) by J. Barton Mitchell (writer), Dean Kotz (artist), Digikore Studios (colorist), and James Dashiell (letterer). $3.99, 22 pgs, FC, Boom! Studios.

This turned out to be a pretty good mini-series, even if the idea of Poe-as-detective was abandoned quickly, mainly because he figured out the whole thing too easily. It turned into a spooky supernatural tale, much like one Poe himself would have written, which is somewhat interesting but a bit unfulfilling, because if we wanted a supernatural tale much like one Poe himself would have written, we'd probably read a supernatural tale that Poe did write. I would have liked Poe being more of detective, but oh well. What's best about this is the way Mitchell brings in aspects of Poe's life and fiction and uses them in the story, and he shows why Poe is not only a good writer, but a good man as well. Mitchell takes the tragedy in Poe's life and shows why it can be triumphant, and that's the interesting part of the tale. The action bits are fine, but not the best part of the book. Kotz, meanwhile, continues to do a good job on the art - this issue is far brighter than issue #3 (although it's still fairly dark), and we get some cool flaming skeletons and ghosts and whatnot.

Check out the trade when it shows up! It's worth a look.

Power Girl #6 ("Space Girls Gone Wild: Conclusion") by Justin Gray (writer), Jimmy Palmiotti (writer), Amanda Conner (artist), Paul Mounts (colorist), and John J. Hill (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC.

I usually give new series six issues to make a decision about whether to keep buying it or not, so we've reached the moment of truth with regard to Power Girl. I'm still torn, which means I'll probably drop it, because it's just not thrilling me. That pains me, because I simply adore the art, and it's almost - almost - worth the money. I do appreciate that Palmiotti and Gray aren't simply giving us dull hero-vs.-villain stories and that things get wrapped up in non-traditional ways, like the way PG takes care of the three alien hotties, and that the stories tend to blend into each other, but nothing is really wowing me. It's too bad.

Am I being too hard on the comic? I dunno. But damn, I love Amanda Conner's art. She needs to draw Grant Morrison's Adventures of Rogue and Psylocke. Now that would be a comic!

Robotika: For a Few Rubles More #3 and 4 by Alex Sheikman (writer/artist), David Moran (writer), Scott Keating (inker, issue #4), Joel Chua (colorist), and Norman Felchle (artist, "Dr. Agon"). $4.99, 60 pgs, FC, Archaia.

Boy, I really wish this series (and Archaia books in general) came out on a decent schedule. Sheikman's work deserves a much, much bigger audience, and it's not going to get it with the scheduling of the book. As always with Robotika, this is a visual feast, with beautiful individual panels and breathtaking choreography. In the second story, Sheikman divides the page into three long horizontal panels and tells two different stories that gradually converge, and it features stunning fight scenes. This is such a beautiful comic, and I would love to see Marvel throw a ton of money at Sheikman to draw a Dr. Strange mini-series. Or DC could let do some Jonah Hex. He'd kick ass at it.

The writing isn't great, although Sheikman and Moran do a good job wrapping up the story and setting up a new one. It gets the job done, and although it's still a bit messy, that's okay. Sheikman has such a strong visual sense that he's smart enough not to overwrite, allowing his art to tell the story. He needs to get better at writing, but he is getting there, so there's that.

Even without the best writing, this is totally worth the five dollars. Sheikman is that good. He's tremendous.

Spider-Woman #2 by Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Alex Maleev (artist), and Cory Petit (letterer). $2.99, 21 pgs, FC, Marvel.

Another cool-looking decompressed mess. Come on, BMB, get moving!

As far as Jessica's abilities with secreting chemicals, remember when Gambit could do that? Sort of? Claremont brought it up in, I think, his first appearance, and I don't know if anyone's ever mentioned it again. It was kind of cool. Oh well.

Sugarshock by Joss Whedon (writer), Fábio Moon (artist), Dave Stewart (colorist), and Nate Piekos (letterer). $3.50, 24 pgs, FC, Dark Horse.

This is mostly impressive because of Moon's art, which is fantastic as usual. Whenever there's a chance to revel in Moon's art, I'm probably going to take it, unless he's drawing something by a writer I really hate, and I don't hate Whedon. Of course, I don't love Whedon either, and this is a good example why. It's a bunch of randon stuff strung together, some pretty good and some that doesn't work at all. I mean, the anti-Viking sentiment makes no sense and isn't funny. Dandelion ignoring Robot Phil's requests for his legs isn't all that funny. It's as if Whedon thinks he can make jokes by just saying the punchline, but yelling "Lemur!" in a crowded room isn't clever, and that's what a lot of this comic feels like. It's perfectly fine, and for the price you get a fairly packed story with a lot going on plus lots of sketches from Moon, but it's definitely not as clever as it thinks it is. That's an unfortunate by-product of a lot of Whedon's writing.

The saddest song in the world is kind of cool, though.

Underground #2 (of 5) by Jeff Parker (writer), Steve Lieber (artist), and Ron Chan (colorist). $3.50, 22 pgs, FC, Image.

What's interesting about this series so far is that Parker isn't taking the clicé-ridden route with regard to the story. Not that I thought he would, because he's too good, but it's kind of of cool that the bad guys aren't just gun-firing crazy people, and while they're not terribly concerned about Seth and Wes, they are concerned about doing their "job" correctly without killing anyone. And Parker shows that things aren't black-and-white even in little ways, which is always fun. And Lieber is great as usual, doing a tremendous job with the cave interiors and the claustrophobic atmosphere therein. When the characters confront each other, Lieber squeezes them into smaller and smaller panels, which is a neat effect. This continues to be a nifty series. Why wouldn't you buy it?

Zero Killer #6 (of 6) by Arvid Nelson (writer/letterer), Matt Camp (artist), and Dave Stewart (colorist). $2.99, 25 pgs, FC, Dark Horse.

I'll just link to my review of the entire series, okay?

I apologize again for the tardiness and brevity of these reviews. I'm feeling much better now! To prove it, let's check out some totally random lyrics!

"That's right here's where the talkin' ends
Well listen this night there'll be some action spent
Drive hard I'm callin' all the shots
I got an ace card comin' down on the rocks
If you think I'll sit around while you chip away my brain
Listen I ain't foolin' and you'd better think again"

Damn straight!

23 Comments

• At October 26, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Now, I might still get killed in a horror movie, but it wouldn't be because I'm stupid.

  It'd be because everyone ...

• At October 26, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  Oh my God, that Beasts of Burden issue was the saddest thing I've read in years. Marvelously written and illustrated, ...

• At October 26, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  Your weeklong illness perfectly summarizes my Sunday hangover. Awesome.

  Already ordered the Chew trade.

  You have to keep buying Power Girl! They're ...

• At October 26, 2009, buttler wrote:

  You have to keep buying Power Girl! They're bringing back Vartox! VARTOX!

  Bringing back Vartox???

  Sometimes I can't believe how beautiful this ...

• At October 26, 2009, Philip wrote:

  Greg, are you planning on doing any panel contests anytime soon. It doesn't even have to be for a prize ...

• At October 27, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  You lost thirteen pounds in a week?! Good lord, dude.

  That sounds like the worst crash diet ever.

• At October 27, 2009, Wraith wrote:

  "Come on, BMB, get moving!"*

  Mwa ha ha ha ha. Yeaaaahhhhhhhhhh no. Good one, though.

  (* Seriously, what's the tag in ...

• At October 27, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  < blockquote > < / blockquote >

  Without the spaces, of course.

• At October 27, 2009, Wraith wrote:

  Thank you.

• At October 27, 2009, Alan Coil wrote:

  Tomorrow I go to pick up more new comics, but I haven't started reading the ones from last week. Looking ...

• At October 27, 2009, stealthwise wrote:

  If you're on the fence about Power Girl I'd keep getting it. A lot of series that I've bought ...

• At October 27, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  FGJ: It probably will read better in trade. And you get a gigantic dose of Conner's art instead of ...

• At October 27, 2009, Wraith wrote:

  Hey Greg, that's why we're all here anyway, right? :-)

• At October 27, 2009, Neal K wrote:

  I have a bunch of those books waiting to be read as well. I have been ill, though nothing ...

• At October 27, 2009, Posts about Movie Reviews as of October 27, 2009 | Movie blog wrote:

  [...] was caught cheating on a test (he wasn’t really cheating but his dad doesn’t believe him). What ...

• At October 27, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  VARTOX!

• At October 27, 2009, JIMMY PALMIOTTI wrote:

  you should keep buying powergirl...I heard it's getting better.

• At October 27, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Who could have told you that, sir? :)

• At October 27, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  I'm glad you're feeling better, Greg.

  I figured that was the reason for the delay, so it's nice to see you ...

• At October 27, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Thanks, sir!

• At October 28, 2009, s1rude wrote:

  VARTOX?

• At October 30, 2009, ryan s wrote:

  You got another thing coming!

• At October 30, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  I'm glad someone got the lyrics, ryan!

I wasn't sure if I was going to pick this up, but I figured with Hester writing it and Churilla drawing it, I couldn't really go that wrong. I'm still not sure about it, but it's a solid first issue. It's a lot of set-up, as Hester introduces the Anchor, a dude who stands at the gate of Hell and fights demons that want to get out. Meanwhile, on earth, his actual body (in Hell it's his soul) wanders around, and in this issue ends up in Reykjavik fighting some kind of ice monster. The fact that whatever happens to his spiritual body manifests in his physical body helps him win. Yay! Plus, he meets a cute Icelandic chick and does something gross (not to her - ewwww - but in a different context - although, on second thought, something gross happens to her that is because of him, but not his fault). All in a day's work for "Clem," as the Icelandic chick - Hofi - dubs him, based on his wearing the cross of St. Clement on his belt (which just happens to look like an anchor - the traditional story is that Clement was martyred by being tied to an anchor and thrown overboard into the Black Sea). As a set-up issue, it works perfectly fine - we get the basic premise of the story, two main characters, and a big fight. Hester is an underrated writer, and Churilla has a nice, cartoony-but-not-too-cartoony line that reminds me of Scott Wegener, and we get an ending that leads into next issue but doesn't change the one-and-done nature of the issue. As first issues go, this works fine. It doesn't dazzle me, but I'll probably check out the next issue, at least.

I did want to address something I read recently on The Savage Critics. Here's Retailer Extraordinaire Brian Hibbs:

As long as I'm talking about cover stocks, let me mention that last week's BOOM! titles also had a new stock that I liked very much -- one of the things that has REALLY hurt BOOM! sales, in my opinion, is that they've had lousy "hand" (that is to say, holding it in your hand, if you think "This feels flimsy, and not worth the cover price!", that's "hand").

I don't know if Hibbs has polled anyone about this, and I certainly can't compare to his expertise in the retailing arena. I have noticed the phenomenon with regard to Boom!'s comics, but I wonder if that's a reason for not buying their comics. I don't think it's a terribly good reason, but the reasons for not doing something, after you get past economic and taste, are often goofy ("It doesn't feature superheroes!" "I remain devoted to boycotting Mark Millar books!" "That movie doesn't star Rosamund Pike!"). So I wonder if you - yes, you! - have decided not to buy a Boom! comic because it wasn't "heavy" enough. Does that figure in your buying in any way? Consider: The Anchor has NO ads to break up the flow of the issue. The paper stock on Vertigo books is a bit heavier, but the glossy stock Boom! uses doesn't seem different than any other regular comic. In terms of pages, The Anchor has 14 (if we simply count the number of 8½-by-11 pieces of "paper" that make up the book, which includes the front and back cover) while a random Marvel book (this week's Incredible Hercules, for instance) has 18. Herc, of course, has eight (8) adverts in the course of the comic to break up one of the best superhero fights you're ever going to see (see below!), so there's that (in fact, I smell a theme!). I can't believe consumers would think a Boom! comic isn't worth the cover price because it's not heavy enough. Maybe because it's $3.99, people expect to get more for that extra dollar, and when the book "feels" thinner than a $2.99 comic even though the story is the same length, they feel cheated. That doesn't explain the 22-page comics that Marvel sells for $3.99, though, unless the presence of extra ads "fools" consumers into thinking the book is longer than it is. If you don't like Boom! comics because you don't like the stories, that's one thing. I hope Hibbs is wrong, though, because it would be depressing if he were right (in the comments, one person agrees with Hibbs, so I guess he's not completely crazy).

This issue: 22 story pages; Hester's introduction to the series (where a letters page will go); Boom!'s page about their current and upcoming comics.

Fables #89 ("Witches Chapter Three: Baba Yaga") by Bill Willingham (writer), Mark Buckingham (artist), Steve Leialoha (inker), Andrew Pepoy (inker), Lee Loughridge (colorist), and Todd Klein (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, DC/Vertigo.

Hey, it's another gorgeously illustrated issue of Fables! That's a shock. And hey, it's another interesting and intricate issue of Fables! That, too, is a shock. Willingham continues to use these characters in marvelous ways, from Bufkin figuring out his strengths (with some help from the magic mirror) to Frau Totenkinder divining what's going on with the Dark Man. And Buckingham, who entered this comics world as Chris Bachalo's inker, moved on to aping him in his pencils, has moved on from that and doesn't get enough credit for bringing this fabulous world to life. His detailed art, page designs, sense of humor, and ease with which he draws flying monkeys and giant genies and small birds make each issue of Fables (well, the ones he draws) a pleasure to look at. Frau Totenkinder's new look is eerily exotic in an indeterminate way (she's not exactly Romani, but she's close), Baba Yaga is horrific, and Buckingham does a fantastic job showing the way the genie slowly comes around to Bufkin's way of thinking (to his regret). It's a tremendous book to gaze at, and it's nice to see Buckingham continuing to grow as an artist.

Plus, that's a pretty excellent cover.

This issue: Six (6) story pages, then an ad. Two (2), then an ad. Five (5), then a double-page ad. Two (2), then an ad. One (1), then an ad. Six (6), then the end of the issue. Adverts: Two movies available on VOD (?); the new Fables novel (Peter and Max); a video game; Luna Park, the new graphic novel from Vertigo; Jack of Fables; a three-page preview for that Cinderella series at the end of the issue; the "On the Ledge" column on the final page.

Gødland #29 ("Iron Black Moses") by Joe Casey (writer), Tom Scioli (artist), Bill Crabtree (colorist), and Rus Wooton (letterer). $2.99, 20 pgs, FC, Image.

I always hope a new issue of Gødland means that the book is back on track for at least a semi-regular schedule, and then, after it shows up, we wait another 3-6 months for the next issue, and I spiral back into a Gødland-free depression zone. Don't Joe Casey and Tom Scioli know what they're doing to me????? I mean, not only do we get a cameo by President Obama in this issue, the creators suggest we "clip and save this collectible portrait" and dot the lines of the panel. And the joke gets even better from there. Plus, Adam's cosmic adventure with Neela gets even cosmicker in this issue, and Scioli goes absolutely nuts with the art, from a giant single-page panel of Leviticus and Vayikra smashing R@d-Ur Rezz to the wackiness of the planet at the "very edge of universal reason." Every issue I can't imagine how Casey and Scioli will up the ante, and every issue they do. Okay, so the Universal Decimator goes into a cocoon stage early on in the book and doesn't bring the awesome, but that's okay, as every one else steps up their game. I mean, R@d-Ur Rezz makes a cat's cradle to escape his pursuers. Bow down before the excellence of Gødland!

Dang, I love this comic. I'm so excited to read it when I buy it, I'm so excited to read it as I'm reading it, and I'm so excited to flip through it while I'm writing about it. Then the long, cold winter of my discontent begins anew, and I must wait until the day, far in the future, when another issue comes out. Oh, how long I must wait!!!!!

This issue: 20 story pages; one letters page (on the inside back cover).

The Incredible Hercules #136 ("Thorcules versus Hercuthor!") by Greg Pak (writer), Fred van Lente (writer), Reilly Brown (penciler), Nelson DeCastro (inker), Guillem Mari (colorist), Ulises Areola (colorist), A. Street (colorist), and Simon Bowland (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, Marvel.

Okay, so not only is the recap page of this comic often more entertaining than the actual stories in most other Marvel and DC books (I've mentioned this before; in this one, Thor narrates about some of their fights and wishes that Hercules would wear some underwear), but in this issue, my campaign to get Simon Bowland an Eisner for best letterer resumes in full force. Yes, I know the debate last time was whether the writers come up with the sound effects and Bowland just implements them, but in the absence of any creator coming by here and letting us know for certain that Bowland didn't come up with them, I'll keep pimping him for an Eisner. Last time, I simply wrote the sound effects. This time, if you'll forgive the SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!, I'll scan them:

This is in the middle of one of the best superhero fights I've seen in a long time, as Herc (pretending to be Thor) battles Thor (pretending to be Herc) in order to keep Queen Alflyse from rampaging across Asgard. Pak and van Lente keep it clever, as Thor tells Herc he needs to lose, which Herc certainly understands but also certainly doesn't want to do, because his pride is at stake. Of course, it all works out in the end (I won't tell you how, especially with the way they deal with Malekith), but the writers continue to make very nice points about the characters in the midst of all the mayhem, as they do when Zeus tries to figure out why a buffoon like Hercules is considered a hero. Plus, as you can see, Brown's art is fantastic as usual.

What a wonderful comic. Come on - a purple nurple!!!!! Who doesn't love that?

This issue: Recap page; three (3) story pages, then an ad. Three (3), then an ad. One (1), then an ad. Three (3), then an ad. Three (3), then an ad. One (1), then an ad. Two (2), then an ad. Five (5), then an ad. One (1), then the "next issue" page. Adverts: Milk (with some dude named Ryan Sheckler; Kia; a video game; a video game; a video game; Punisher #11; The Incredible Hulk #603; Realm of Kings.

Scalped #32 ("The Gnawing Part Three of Five") by Jason Aaron (writer), R. M. Guéra (artist), Giulia Brusco (colorist), and Steve Wands (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC/Vertigo.

It's been a while since an issue of Scalped came out, which is a shame. It's always a gripping read, even one like this, which seems to fly by. It's not that this isn't packed with stuff, but the set pieces in this issue - the witness escaping both police custody and Dash; Dash returning to Carol's house and getting kicked out; Red Crow showing up at Carol's place; Dash visiting his mother's grave and making a deal with the proverbial devil - are notable by the fact that Aaron lets Guéra draw the hell out of them, and Guéra, perhaps not surprisingly, does a wonderful job. There's just not a lot of words in this issue, which is fine, because it's always nice to see writers and artists have such a good synergy that the writer trusts the artist to tell the story, which Guéra does. The jailbreak could be completely wordless and we'd know exactly what's going on. The same could be said for Dash's visit to his mother's grave and subsequent deal. We see from Dash's face that he's about to go straight to hell, and then we see his disgust when he's forced into his alliance. Aaron has gotten some good fill-in artists for this series, but no one captures the grittiness of this world like Guéra does. You can just feel the despair oozing off the pages when you read an issue of Scalped, and that's at least half due to the art. Aaron rarely has to tell us the characters have no choice when they do things, because we see it all over their faces. As we hurtle toward the end of this story arc (and wherever the hell Aaron is going with it, because it just doesn't seem like Dash has many options left), it's due in a large part to Guéra's art that we're so emotionally invested in the book.

This issue: Fifteen (15!) story pages, then a double-page ad. Seven (7) story pages, then a seven-page preview of Peter and Max. Adverts: A video game; the "On the Ledge" column on the final page. I can't remember if the Vertigo books from the past few months had fewer ads when they ran the preview of the novel; I assume so, which may be why there's hardly any advertising in this issue, which is late.

Secret Six #14 ("Depths Part Five of Five: Early Release") by Gail Simone (writer), Nicola Scott (penciller), Carlos Rodriguez (penciller/inker), Doug Hazlewood (inker), Mark McKenna (inker), Jason Wright (colorist), and Pat Brosseau (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC.

As I always point out, I love the fact that this book makes me feel uncomfortable, as it's often really creepy, and Simone can do things in this comic that I wouldn't want to see in a more "straight-forward" superhero comic (even though costumed people abound in this book). Case in point: Grendel standing over a spread-eagle Wonder Woman and licking her palm with an extremely long and wet tongue (tentacle rape comes to mind, very deliberately, I'm sure) as he tells her he's going to "eat" her (he means it literally, but the sexual element is very strong). This is on the first three pages, mind you, so it's not like Simone eases us into it. I forgive it in this comic, even though if this thing took place in, say, Wonder Woman's own magazine, I might think it's excessive. It all gets back to tone and the "audience," I suppose, of the book - it's a standard DC comic, so theoretically it can be sold to kids, but Simone seems to understand the horror better than others writing for DC, and she addresses it head-on. It's an unpleasant comic, not in that it's not excellent (it is), but in that Simone is dealing with horror and, in a superhero way, she brings us the consequences of the actions. Wonder Woman is not a superhero in this book, she's a woman avenging as close a rape as we can see on the page, as well as the imprisonment of her sisters. Scandal does something in this book that makes the one person whose opinion she cares about lose respect for her. Deadshot shows, again, why he's such a cool guy, but his "betrayal" of the team has to have repercussions in the future, I'd imagine. This is about as intense a comic as you can get from the regular DC and Marvel universe, and Simone is brilliant at showing how depraved these people are without making them completely hateful. I mean, you have to love Ragdoll, right? But even someone as nasty as Lawton is a compelling character with a nice undertone of tragedy (this comes mainly from what I know about Lawton from when Ostrander wrote him back in the day - and I suppose I should mention that next issue is the one guest-written by The Man himself - but Simone has done a fine job building on that). Even Mister Smyth is oddly sympathetic, or at least comprehensible!

I love comics that keep getting better. This is one of them.

This issue: Four (4) story pages, then an ad. One (1), then an ad. Two (2), then an ad. Three (3), then an ad. One (1), then a double-page ad. Four (4), then an ad. Three (3), then an ad. Three (3), then an ad. One (1), then the end of the issue. Adverts: Kia; the movies available on VOD; Victorian Undead, the new Wildstorm mini-series by Ian Edginton and Davide Fabbri; The Great Ten, the new mini-series by Tony Bedard and Scott McDaniel; a video game; Lobo: Highway to Hell, the new mini-series by Scott Ian and Sam Kieth; Batman #692 (Tony Daniel's return to the title!); World's Finest, the new mini-series by Sterling Gates and Julian Lopez; DiDio's "DC Nation" column on the last page of the comic.

The Unwritten #6 ("Inside Man Part One") by Mike Carey (writer), Peter Gross (artist), Chris Chuckry (colorist), Jeanne McGee (colorist), and Todd Klein (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC/Vertigo.

Carey and Gross get back to the main story, as Tom gets sent to prison while he awaits trial. Carey cleverly moves him from Switzerland to France by way of one of the victims of the massacre being French and the French wanting to try him, and this sets him down near where "The Song of Roland" is set, which apparently leads into the next section of the tale, as Tom suddenly begins acting very un-Tom-like but definitely more Roland-esque. Meanwhile, Lizzie is tasked to "undo the harm that's already been done," so we'll have to see what that entails. Oh, and Frankenstein's monster shows up. Well, of course he does!

To call this issue "efficient" might sound like an insult, but it's really not. Carey moves all the pieces into place for his next arc after the first one ended oddly, with Tom arrested for murders he didn't commit. Obviously, Carey is going for a slow burn on this title, which is fine (it might annoy people who buy the trade of the first arc, because its ending is so inconclusive, but fuck those assholes and their monthly-serial-killing ways, right?), so, much like Fables (with which this seems to share a sensibility), individual issues might have little cool moments, but in terms of advancing the plot, they might disappoint. A lot "happens" in this issue, but none of it pays off now, because that's not what Carey's going for. It's still an interesting comic, and as I happen to enjoy "The Song of Roland" a hell of a lot more than Shelley's band of whining Goths, I have high hopes for this section of Tom's journey.

Of course, even if the writing portion of the issue "disappoints" (to the extent that it does, which isn't much), we can still marvel at Gross's art. His style when he's drawing the portions of the book with Roland and Oliver is nicely different from his regular style, looking more "medieval," for lack of a better word, reminiscent not only of a manuscript but also of, say, Charles Vess's art when he was drawing Shakespeare for Gaiman back in the day. He also does a fine job with the dankness of the prison, and I don't know if he designed Lizzie's outfit when she goes into the police station, but it's pretty dang awesome (not as awesome as these outfits, but still pretty keen). And, of course, the image of the monster in the church at the end is chilling yet strangely tender. Gross is excellent on this book, and it mitigates Carey's desire to do a slow burn on the book a lot.

But I'm patient. And I do enjoy the cool conceit of the comic, so I don't mind that Carey is going slowly.

This issue: Two (2) pages of praise for the comic, with the second page adding a recap that also introduces the "Inside Man" of the title. Two (2) pages of story, then an ad. Two (2), then an ad. Three (3), then an ad. Three (3), then a double-page ad. Two (2), then an ad. Five (5), then an ad. Three (3), then the "On the Ledge" column. Two (2), then the end of the issue. Adverts: The two movies on VOD; Luna Park; The Dream Hunters adaptation by Gaiman and P. Craig Russell; a video game; Peter and Max; The Absolute Death.

The Veil #4 (of 4) ("Veil") by El Torres (writer) and Gabriel Hernandez (artist). $3.99, 24 pgs, FC, IDW.

As we come back around to the topic I was ruminating about in the first review, the commenter who agreed with Hibbs specifically mentioned IDW's titles, which cost the same as Boom!'s do but have more "hand" because their card stock is heavier. This comic is a good example - in terms of story, it's two pages more than The Anchor, but it feels substantially thicker. Is that enough to get people to buy it? I don't know. I do know that some IDW books that I buy might have better "hand," but the art is occasionally blurrier than on a Boom! comic - like this issue is. Some of the pages look less crisp than they could be, as if we're looking at a photograph of the art rather than the art itself (I'm well aware I'm never looking at original art in a comic, but I'm talking about the reproduction values of the actual original art). Therefore, even though I've been very pleasantly surprised by this series and I think Hernandez's art is a bit better than Churilla's (even though I think they're both good), The Anchor's interiors actually look better than the interiors of this issue do. I hope that people who think that the IDW book is worth the four dollars and the Boom! book isn't check out the interior work, too, rather than just making a snap judgment based on "hand." I wonder if IDW's commitment to heavier stock means that the art doesn't reproduce as well, because this isn't the first time I've noticed it.

That is, of course, a production issue, and it has nothing to do with the actual content, and The Veil is, for me, the most surprising comic of the year, because Torres took a fairly standard horror trope - a girl can see the dead - and crafted a truly terrifying comic that - and this is key - follows through on the premise. I don't want to give too much away, but too often in popular entertainment, creators rely on a deus ex machina to pull back from the edge just when things are about to get really unpleasant. This doesn't only happen in horror, of course, but in all forms. I've told the story of my experience with Dolph Lundgren's Punisher movie before, but it's worth repeating. As crappy as the movie is, it was goofily entertaining, and when the Asian villain takes those kids hostages, I told my friend, "This movie gets five stars if the kids die." It's not that I wanted to see kids get killed, even in a fictional setting, but if the director puts kids in jeopardy to elicit an emotional response from us ("Save them, Dolph!"), he should have the balls to acknowledge that the evil villain probably would kill at least one. I ought to have a name for this, in fine Cronin fashion - maybe I could call it the Independence Day Syndrome, because of that damned dog outrunning a fireball because whatever you do, you can't kill a poor dog! Torres sets up his story in such a fashion that his bad people really ought to follow through, and by God, they do! There are always casualties in horror, after all, and they shouldn't all be girls who had pre-marital sex. This is truly a horrifying comic, one of the better ones I've read recently, and I encourage you to go find the trade when it comes out. Hernandez's art is amazing and creepy, and Torres really gets under your skin with his story.

This issue: Twenty-four (24) pages of story, then eight (8) pages of ads, all for IDW products and including a three-page interview with the new creative team on Transformers.

Let's break down the advertising:
Video games: 7
Two movies available on VOD: 3
A Kia: 2
Milk: 1
House ads: 20

I don't know what that says about publishers' ability to sell advertising space, but that's the breakdown.

So that's the week. Quite excellent in terms of quality: A nice debut, a very good continuing series, a long-missed favorite, Marvel's best book, another great issue of Native Noir, DC's best book, a new arc of a promising series, and the terrifying conclusion of a very good horror comic. It's all about quality, not quantity here at the Burgas home! And now, it's time for totally random lyrics!

"Through all the cities and all these towns
It's in my blood and it's all around
I love you now like I loved you then
This is the road and these are the hands
From Mozambique to those Memphis nights
The Khyber Pass to Vancouver's lights
Knock me down get back up again
You're in my blood I'm not a lonely man"

Once you get this song in your head, you'll never get it out! That's how insidious it is!

Oh, and GO PHILLIES!!!!! We can't let the damned Yankees win, can we?

36 Comments

• At October 15, 2009, Wraith wrote:

  Incredible Hercules - This was a great story. I don't remember exactly what led me to pick it up, actually... ...

• At October 15, 2009, Monica Dickey wrote:

  Nice. My friend lent me Secret Six after I enjoyed Watchmen and I gotta say it was pretty creepy. The ...

• At October 15, 2009, GarBut wrote:

  If you really want to piss off your Canadian readers, tell them that the song is by Rascal Flatts (not ...

• At October 15, 2009, patrick wrote:

  GO YANKEES!

  ALL THE WAY BABY!

• At October 15, 2009, Omar Karindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy! wrote:

  Incredible Hercules and Invincible Iron Man are the two books right now that get past my Dark Reign embargo. ...

• At October 15, 2009, Rob Barrett wrote:

  Pak and Van Lente are having a Simonson-level run on Hercules, and in Brown they finally have a regular artist ...

• At October 15, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  I don't really care if my comics give good "hand" or not. I prefer it when they give good "head."

  If ...

• At October 15, 2009, Ralph wrote:

  the only reason I havent purchased a Boom! comic lately, is that their trades come out soon after the first ...

• At October 15, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  it might annoy people who buy the trade of the first arc, because its ending is so inconclusive, but fuck ...

• At October 15, 2009, Nick Rini wrote:

  I hate to admit that I've picked up a bunch of Boom titles and then put them back on the ...

• At October 15, 2009, Mike Blake wrote:

  It's a good thing you had some stuff between comics giving good hand,and the depravity in SECRET SIX or it ...

• At October 15, 2009, Alan Coil wrote:

  I understand that a lot of people love The Incredible Hercules, but what you have posted here is just stupid ...

• At October 15, 2009, Chad Nevett wrote:

  I was hoping you'd mention the appearance of the butterfly in GODLAND... after all, we've seen a butterfly like this ...

• At October 15, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  patrick: BOO!!!!!

  Ralph: That's a perfectly fine reason.

  Nick: That's interesting that you feel that way. I do agree with you ...

• At October 15, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  A bunch of supposedly funny scenes all strung together isn't writing. What horrid tripe.

  Yeah man, where's the gritted teeth, bulging ...

• At October 15, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  I've never read this Hercules series. I keep hearing about how great it is, but I've always hated Hercules ...

• At October 15, 2009, jazzbo wrote:

  Maybe I missed it, but where is the opening quote about homeless people from?

  And again, maybe I missed it ...

• At October 15, 2009, San wrote:

  Alan: That seems to be unfair criticism. "A string of scenes strung together" is what Greg scanned and posted. It's ...

• At October 16, 2009, Scavenger wrote:

  re: Hercules #136...After reading it, I'm not sure I will ever read another comic. Anything else is going to ...

• At October 16, 2009, And we’re done | The Veil wrote:

  [...] received a lot of good reviews. Greg Burgas, in “What I bought” has been reviewing every issue. Thanks a ...

• At October 16, 2009, BDaly wrote:

  Herc haters probably enjoy kicking kittens.

• At October 16, 2009, The Dude wrote:

  Stuff like Godland and Elephantmen are the reason why you're in my will, Greg! :-)

  I started buying them because of ...

• At October 16, 2009, The Dude wrote:

  By the way, you didn't buy Anna Mercury?

• At October 16, 2009, s1rude wrote:

  I have a distinct and indelible memory of listening to (and shout-singing along with) that song in my buddy's ...

• At October 16, 2009, brian wrote:

  I thought it was Tom Cochrane - Life is a highway?

  House ads I think are a sign of the economy ...

• At October 16, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  Another installment of one of my fave GRAMMAR SHOULD BE GOOD columns! Even though roughly half the time I (a) ...

• At October 16, 2009, Pedro Bouça wrote:

  Greg,

  I read somewhere that the editor (Mark Paniccia, if I recall correctly) came up with the "sound effects". He apparently ...

• At October 16, 2009, Chad Nevett wrote:

  Ah, the butterfly reminded me of the one that guided Automatic Kafka from the Warrant's home to the comic shop ...

• At October 16, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Mary and jazzbo: I was just pointing out that when you judge a book by "hand," you're often thinking it's ...

• At October 16, 2009, Michael M. wrote:

  The Thor/Hercules fight, and the two pages where "Hercules" schools "Thor" in the ways of dirty fighting made me laugh ...

• At October 16, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  >>As a friend put it, the ONLY way it could have been better would have been if they went out ...

• At October 16, 2009, joshschr wrote:

  One thing about the ads in Fables this week, in the last panel on the page before the Peter & ...

• At October 16, 2009, Scavenger wrote:

  Dan Bailey: I had the exact same reaction re: Hercules and PS238. PS238 is one of my favorite books, ...

• At October 16, 2009, The Cosh wrote:

  I've no idea what the problem is with UK distribution, but while I saw most of these titles in the ...

• At October 16, 2009, Michael Mayket wrote:

  I'm with Mary. I keep reading (especially here) how great Hercules is and think about trying it, but then ...

• At October 17, 2009, Fascination Place » This Week’s Haul wrote:

  [...] expressions (penciller Reilly Brown does a bang-up job on the art) and very silly sound effects (helpfully scanned by ...

Batman and Robin #5 ("Revenge of the Red Hood Part Two: Scarlet") by Grant "What other mild-mannered animal can I turn into a scary character name?" Morrison (writer), Philip Tan (penciller), Jonathan Glapion (inker), Alex Sinclair (colorist), and Patrick Brosseau (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC.

Well, all the slack I gave Philip Tan last issue dissipates a bit in this issue, as we get a panel that is supposed to show the Penguin bouncing off the roof of a car but is almost incomprehensible, a two-panel shot of the Red Hood grabbing Robin and smashing his face down that makes me pine for a Quitely rendition of the exact same scene, as I still can't figure out the choreography in the scene, and some other really odd perspectives. On the whole, however, it's still not as painful to look at as something like Haunt, so I guess that's something.

I'm still not willing to let the God of All Comics off the hook, however. G-Mozz, I assume, wrote that Penguin gets chucked out the window. How, pray tell, is Oswald supposed to get to the ground? Did Morrison figure that out? Did he write, "Chuck Cobblepot out of the window and make sure he doesn't die" or was he more specific? The Penguin falls a tremendous distance and has no visible problems with broken bones or head injuries, after all. Do we blame Tan for that? Similarly, I understand that this is part of the greater Bat-universe and that the Mozzer doesn't necessarily have to clue us in on what's happening, but I do wish he would make it more clear that someone is impersonating Bruce Wayne (right? isn't that Hush guy pretending to be Bruce right now? gee, that's dumb). And even though Morrison rejects the grand retcon that is "Crisis on Infinite Earths," as far as I know, the Jason Todd who dyed his hair never existed. Right? Or did I miss something? Finally, as cool as the Flamingo is, I still can't get over the fact that this plot - "heroes" killing villains because the real heroes won't - is tired. It's interesting reading Morrison's dialogue, because he thinks of neat things (like Jason getting zits because of the helmet), but this is a boring comic redeemed by two things: Morrison's skill with making the characters interesting, and the fact that we know it ties into a bigger plot, which we pray will be better than this minor one. The way this book ends, it appears the final issue of Tan's arc might be something pretty cool, but let's not dump on Tan completely if you don't like this issue. Some of the blame must go to the Messiah, you know. As I usually do, I will trust Morrison to make sense of it all, but that doesn't change the fact that these two issues haven't been his greatest.

Batman: Unseen #1 (of 5) (Part One: Meat-Man") by Doug Moench (writer), Kelley Jones (artist), Michelle Madsen (colorist), and Pat Brosseau (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC.

Now, I'm sure people will call me crazy (go ahead, I can handle it), but Batman: Unseen, even with Moench returning once again to his favorite villain, Black Mask, is a superior comic than Batman and Robin #5. Moench tells a story of a disgraced scientist who ends up working (without knowing it) for Black Mask, and his formula gradually turns him invisible and, well, insane. Batman gets involved because at one point, the semi-invisible man heads out for grub and things turn lethal. So while the first issue is mostly set-up, it still hums with energy, and Moench and Jones have such a wonderful synergy which makes this just zip along. It's totally ridiculous and pulpy, and Moench makes the scientist say such things as "I am the almighty face of biological shock and awe!", but what's great about a Moench/Jones Batman book is that a statement like that doesn't sound stupid, just bombastic. Moench's Batman villains talk like that because Moench understands that they're not supposed to be realistic, they're supposed to be larger-than-life bad guys, and they are. In the same way, Jones is close to the perfect Batman artist (I would say Breyfogle is, but others are in the running, of course), in that he understands that a man dressed up as a bat is a bit silly, so he makes him almost inhuman (this is why his and Moench's VampBats books are so neat) and puts him in a wildly Gothic city, the kind of place that looks kind of neat to live in when you're not scared out of your wits. Jones's Batman is a terrifying creature, well suited for dealing with the freaks who live in his city.

I do have an inordinate fondness for the Moench/Jones Batman of the mid-1990s, so I'm always glad when they hook up to give us another story, but that doesn't change the fact that this is a gloriously pulpy comic in the best sense of the word. If you're not a fan of Moench and his pseudo-scientific rambling or Jones and his ever-growing Bat ears, this comic won't change your mind a bit. But if you are a fan, this will just make you smile. Now, if only DC would let Moench and Jones tell us what was up with that puppeteer dude!

(Kelley Jones drew that cover in 2007, as you can see by his signature. That's strange. Has this been on the shelf a long time, or did it take them a while to get their schedules together? Inquiring minds want to know!)

Criminal: The Sinners #1 by Ed Brubaker (writer), Sean Phillips (artist), and Val Staples (colorist). $3.50, 29 pgs, FC, Marvel/Icon.

Criminal returns, and because this world makes no sense, a better comic than Incognito by the exact same creative team will automatically lose readers. Up next: goats with two heads will be born! Planetary will conclude! Glenn Beck will be a conservative voice of reason! It's topsy-turvy!

Not surprisingly, it's a very good issue. Tracy Lawless, who has become the nominal star of Criminal, returns, this time fulfilling his "contract" with Sebastian Hyde. He's knocking people off, but he's a lousy enforcer, as he always makes sure the guy really deserves it, which makes Hyde grumpy. Hyde, however, has a new job for Tracy - someone is killing "connected" people in his town, and Hyde wants Tracy to find out who it is. Off he goes!

We find out soon who the killers are (yes, plural), but not why they're doing what they're doing (although we can make some educated guesses). Tracy, meanwhile, is not exactly screwing Hyde's wife, just spending time with her, which will still probably get him killed if Hyde finds out about it. And, because Tracy's life isn't crappy enough, some dude rolls into town looking for a "deserter" - yes, Tracy. Oh dear.

As always, Brubaker doesn't re-invent the wheel in this book, but he and Phillips have done such a wonderful job creating this world that whenever they return to it, we just slip into it easily and go along for the ride. Tracy just moves through the plot, learning information, doing the best that he can, trying to get through another day. It's not surprising that Brubillips keeps coming back to him - he's a good character, and the situations he gets into challenge him to remain a decent guy. It's always fun to watch Tracy try to navigate this morally murky world in which he lives.

I don't know if you're one of those people who bought Incognito but won't buy Criminal, but don't be that person. That person probably thinks that Modern Family is much, much better than Arrested Development. You don't want to be that person, do you?

Days Missing #2 (of 5) ("September 12th, 1815") by David Hine (writer), Chris Burnham (artist), Imaginary Friends Studio (colorist), and Troy Peteri (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, Archaia/Roddenberry Productions.

This unusual series, in which different creative teams are featured in every issue but the theme is the same - a weird dude erases days from human history that would have completely changed humanity for the worse - continues with the weird dude intervening to stop a scientist from re-animating the dead. He does so, but his experiment remains in the dreams of Mary Godwin (who witnesses the resurrection) and she comes up with her famous monster story. It's a decent issue, and David Hine is the kind of writer who can craft a good horror story. Burnham, who is usually quite good, suffers a bit from the poor coloring, which softens his pencils a bit too much. When John Galton resurrects a dead guy, we can see that Burnham is a good artist, because those scenes are full of power and terror. But the coloring job washes the sharpness out of his lines and makes it less distinctive than it might be otherwise.

I am a bit puzzled by the idea of the series, a problem I hope will be cleared up as we move along. The weird dude (who is known only as the Steward) can fold days away so that they never existed. Is this a last resort? Because it seems like that would be easy to do, but he tries to stop the resurrection by more conventional methods before he "folds" the day and erases it. I don't think it was addressed in issue #1 (although I could be wrong), and it's not addressed here. I know that he doesn't erase the days at the beginning of the issue because, well, then, the issue would be over, but is this a case of what Chad was ranting about a few days ago, where it's simply to heighten the drama? Beats me.

If we can get past that little annoyance, this is a pretty good comic. It's not great, but it's interesting. And the creative teams are pretty keen (next month: Ian Edginton and Lee Moder!). We'll see how they continue to explore the Steward's intervention in human affairs.

Fallen Angel: Reborn #4 (of 4) by Peter David (writer), J. K. Woodward (artist/colorist), and Neil Uyetake (letterer). $3.99, 22 pgs, FC, IDW.

I thought this was a five-issue mini-series, but I guess it's not. IDW never lists how long a series lasts or even, at the end of this issue, gives us a "the end" or a "to be continued," but nothing past this issue has been solicited, so I guess it's over. I write this because it ends ambiguously. The main story appears to wrap up, but then, in true Peter David fashion, there's one of those endings that sets up a sequel. I wasn't clear why David ended the regular series, but I guess he's going for a "series of mini-series" kind of thing that all the kids dig these days. That's fine. Unless he's doing something different. Who knows what lurks in the mind of Peter David????

Anyway, it's a typically keen issue of Fallen Angel, as Illyria is confronted with what she's become, Lee effects her typical obnoxious attitude, and there's a tough ethical dilemma to be solved. I don't mean to belittle it, because, much like Brubaker and Phillips on Criminal, David knows exactly what he's doing, and it's always a pleasure to see him write a nifty 22-page comic. And Illyria's real form? Icky.

I don't know what's next for Fallen Angel, but I'll be there!

Greek Street #4 (Book One: Blood Calls For Blood Part Four: The Monster and the Labyrinth") by Peter Milligan (writer), Davide Gianfelice (artist), Patricia Mulvihill (colorist), and Clem Robins (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC/Vertigo.

More of the same with this series, which I just can't get a handle on. Milligan gives us some creepy scenes (scary naked lady leaping out of the bushes? gold!) and moves things forward, but it's still very scattershot, and it's becoming increasingly clear that, even if I want to read the series, it would be better in trade format. Milligan seems to be ignoring the 22-page format, which is fine, because I do appreciate the grand scale of this comic, but it makes each discrete chapter a bit of a mess. It's the dilemma faced by every comic writer who wants to work with a large, unknown cast: Do you do what Milligan is doing, juggling several characters and their arcs and hope that people can keep up, or do you focus on one character for a few issues, then go back and focus on another character, and then another, until you return to the first character and hope people remember what the hell happened? I think the way Milligan is going is a better one, but it's not perfect, and it's nice that he seems to be bringing the plot threads together a bit more and also that we've gotten a little bit of a handle on the characters so we can keep up with them. Of course, I might just be an idiot, and had to go four issues before I started figuring out who was who.

The first arc comes to a close next issue, and one nice thing about this series is that I have absolutely no idea where Milligan is going with it. I mean, Eddie is back in a similar situation that he was in the first issue, and I wouldn't be surprised if Milligan twists it back to his feelings about what happened with his mother, but I have no idea. It's vexing, because I also have no idea if I'm going to keep buying this. We'll see.

GrimJack: The Manx Cat #3 (of 6) by John Ostrander (writer), Timothy Truman (artist), Lovern Kindzierski (colorist), and John Workman (letterer). $3.99, 28 pgs, FC, IDW.

Here's another series about which I just don't have a lot to say, because it's so enjoyable. It's Ostrander and Truman doing GrimJack, after all. They give us action, bloodshed, some answers about the Manx Cat, a horribly creepy strip club, and a promise that we will find out the whole truth about the cat. It's exciting, adventurous, and looks great. If you're waiting for the trade, I can't blame you, but it's so much darned fun reading the installments that I'm not switching. And Mike Gold plugs Comix4Sight, the web site at which you can bid for things to raise money for Ostrander, who's dealing with glaucoma. If you're interested.

Kill Audio #1 (of 6) by Claudio Sanchez (writer), Chondra Echert (writer), and Mr. Sheldon (artist/letterer - link probably NSFW). $3.99, 34 pgs, FC, Boom! Studios.

Chip Mosher, grand poobah of marketing at Boom!, sends us .pdf files of pretty much everything the company releases. Occasionally Other Greg reviews them, occasionally Brad reviews them, and occasionally I review them. I usually don't because everything I'm really interested in that Boom! publishes I just get in the real world. But it's swell of Mr. Mosher to fire these off to us, because Boom! is doing a good job, I think, of getting their name out there and trying to make a dent in the market. I was going to skip this because it didn't seem like something I'd be interested in, but Chip is really pushing it, so I figured I'd give it a look.

It's not the greatest comic in the world, but it does have a lot going for it. First of all, the art is phenomenal. Sheldon has a wonderfully surreal take on the world, with a lot of very bizarre characters and "camera angles," for lack of a better term. He challenges you to really look at each panel - that's not to say that it's difficult to figure out what's going on in them, but because his point of view is so twisted, you often have to re-orient yourself when you're looking at the art. Some people might find this annoying, but for me, at least, it really wasn't. Once you're looking at each panel differently, everything becomes clear (unlike, say, Tan's art in the latest issue of Batman and Robin, where you can look and look and still not figure out exactly what's going on ... and I don't mean to pick on Tan, but they both came out this week, so his art was on the brain). His characters are detailed and insane, from the drugged-out rooster to the clockwork wizard. Visually, this issue is a treat.

Story-wise, the comic doesn't work quite as well, although there's a lot of potential. Kill Audio, a rather short immortal being, is pursued by a weird creature who attempts to kill him. After one such attempt, the creature tells him he might need to find his purpose in life. So he heads off to see the wizard, literally, collecting three other characters along the way. If this sounds vaguely familiar, it should, as Sanchez and Echert even make a reference to a "yellow brick road." It's also reminiscent of innumerable heroes' journeys into the underworld, from Orpheus to Dante. That's perfectly fine, especially because the series, as a whole, is about what happens after Kill Audio finds the wizard and learns his purpose, but it's odd that they would make it so obvious. Once Kill Audio finds the wizard, he learns his purpose - something about saving music. Again, this is fine, but because Sanchez and Echert have been dropping musical references into the text, it makes me think that this is going to be something about how cool some people are because they listen to obscure music and how lame others are because they listen to Celine Dion (to be fair, the characters enjoy some old-school Whitney Houston at one point, so there's that). I'm certainly willing to be proven wrong in that regard, but it's nagging me, especially because the characters all talk like they're in a movie and everyone's acting too cool for school. Overall, the story only gets going a little bit in this issue, and the characters remain ciphers, but the issue itself is packed with energy (both in the writing and the art), which goes a long way.

I'm kind of on the fence about Kill Audio. It's wonderful to look at and has a somewhat intriguing premise, but I worry that the writers will be unable to pull it off without being snarky, based on the way they write the characters in this issue. It's a delicate balance, and as I have no idea how good (or bad) Sanchez and Echert are as writers, I can't say with confidence they'll be able to. But it's certainly an unusual book, and in a comics world of sameness, that goes a long way.

Planetary #27 (of 27) by Warren Ellis (writer), John Cassaday (artist), Laura Martin (colorist), and Comicraft (letterer). $3.99, 28 pgs, FC, DC/Wildstorm.

Hmmm. Is this some kind of book I should be interested in or something? I just don't get it.

Okay, I'm kidding. Planetary was my favorite comic of the week whenever it happened to come out, so of course I'm totally jazzed that Ellis and Cassaday finally bring it to a close. From the preview, I wasn't expecting the dazzling stories of the first few issues or the conspiracy of the later issues, mainly because Ellis wrapped all that up. What we get, instead, is a nifty rescue mission to get Ambrose Chase, who Elijah thinks is still alive. Of course, Ellis uses this to indulge in some of his wacky pseudo-science that he enjoys (this time it's time travel), bringing up a point that, interestingly enough, I read in the Penn State alumni magazine this summer. It seems that there's a professor at my alma mater who is trying to build a time machine. He wants to go back in time and save his father, who died of, I believe, heart failure 40 years ago. Of course, it's been pointed out to him that you can't travel back further in time than when the time machine was first built, which kind of bummed him out. But he's undaunted! Anyway, Ellis uses this to great effect, as The Drummer points out that if they build a time machine, all their future selves will show up at that moment in time, because why the hell not? Because I am dull, I don't know why this is such a big deal, but whatever. The point is that Cassaday draws the hell out of this, and Ellis makes it clear that even though the series is ending and the Four have been defeated, it's still a weird world, and the Planetary bunch will continue to explore it. And strangely enough for fictional characters who don't actually exist, that's comforting. Ellis and Cassaday have done such a great job with this series that I like to imagine Elijah, Jakita, and The Drummer out there doing their thing, discovering all the weirdness in the world that losers like me, sitting on my couch watching the Phillies blow home-field advantage and eating potato chips, will never even conceive of.

Dang, I love Planetary. I can't wait to re-read it.

Sherlock Holmes #5 (of 5) ("The Trial of Sherlock Holmes Part Five: Endgame") by Leah Moore and John Reppion (writers), Aaron Campbell (artist), Tony Aviña (colorist), and Simon Bowland (letterer). $3.50, 22 pgs, FC, Dynamite Entertainment.

You know what's annoying about Sherlock Holmes? It's almost exactly like an Arthur Conan Doyle story. Why is that annoying? Well, Conan Doyle often wrote stories in which the real mystery was not what we thought, and it kind of comes out of nowhere. That's what happens in this issue, although Moore and Reppion have been leading us down that path too, so it doesn't come completely out of nowhere. The resolution to the murder of Sir Samuel Henry is clever enough, but it leads to new revelations that, because I don't want to spoil anything, I can't discuss. Suffice it to say that this is a nifty enough puzzle of a comic, but the ending kind of subverts everything by showing what's really going on. And what's really going on in kind of annoying, even if it's certainly in the spirit of Conan Doyle's stories.

Man, I hate not being more specific. If you're thinking about getting this trade, I'll just warn you: It's well written, nicely illustrated, somewhat nifty in the way Moore and Reppion build this mystery up and the way they explain it, and kind of frustrating at the end. How's that?

Starstruck #2 (of 13) by Elaine Lee (writer), Michael Wm. Kaluta (artist), Charles Vess (inker), Lee Moyer (painter), Todd Klein (letterer), and John Workman (letterer). $3.99, 25 pgs, FC, IDW.

Yet another book that's kind of difficult to review, because it's an old comic that's getting a new look, so if you really want to know what's going on, you can probably Google it and find out. It's another one of these things where it's so obvious a large-scale story that it's hard to really get a sense of whether the story is any good or not. I don't want to just do a plot summary, either. I will say that Lee does a better job this issue than the first with giving us an idea of who these characters are - the first issue did a little bit, but in this issue, we not only get more about the weird relationship between Phillipe Cesare Kalif Alexander Bajar (who I guess is called "Kalif," but it seems to be used as a title, even though it's part of his name) and his sister Indira Lucrezia Ronnie Lee Ellis Bajar, as well as the relationship between Mary Medea and her mother. It helps, when you're dealing with rather odd interstellar politics, to have something the audience can relate to, and Lee does this well. I'm still buying it for Kaluta's art, because it's absolutely gorgeous. It's a magnificent blend of the fantastic and the mundane, and his delicate line work is wonderfully highlighted by Moyer's colors. I don't know what this looked like it its original incarnation, but Moyer, who is recoloring it, is doing a great job.

Man, Kaluta is good. And we get more next issue!

Strange Tales #2 (of 3). "To Catch a Watcher!!" by Nick Bertozzi (writer/artist) and Chris Sinderson (colorist); "The Invincible Iron Man" by Tony Millionaire (writer/artist) and Jim Campbell (colorist); "Anything but Retail!" by R. Kikuo Johnson; "Brother Voodoo in Death Rides a Five-Dollar Bag!" by Jim Rugg (co-writer/artist) and Brian Maruca (co-writer); "M.O.D.O.K. 'n' Me" by Jhonen Vasquez; "The Unfortunate Three!" by Max Cannon; "Lookin' Good, Mr. Grimm!" by Jacob Chabot; "The Incorrigible Hulk" by Peter Bagge; "Untitled Galactus and his heralds 'story' " by Jonathan Hickman; and "The Black Widow" by Matt Kindt. $4.99, 45 pgs, FC, Marvel.

In terms of quality, this is a big step down from issue #1, which had only one story that was not terribly good. This time, the poorer stories outweigh the good ones by a bit. The genius of turning Matt Kindt loose on the Black Widow, which should lead to Matt Kindt doing a Black Widow ongoing (which would sell about seven copies, but how frickin' awesome would it be?) or giving Ben Grimm a Chia-pet moustache can't overcome the lousiness of some of the stories. Tony Millionaire's story of Iron Man battling Baloney Head, Liverwurst Face (mmmmm ... liverwurst), and the deranged head of Dwight Eisenhower is nice to look at and marginally clever. Jacob Chabot's story of Ben Grimm's moustache is a clever little FF story. Jonathan Hickman's few pages, which feature pin-ups of Galactus and his heralds offering us a job, selling products, and explaining why human flesh is good to eat, are funny, and Kindt's story is, unsurprisingly, excellent. R. Kikuo Johnson's tale about Alicia Masters makes way too many unfunny blind jokes (I'd be a bit put out by it even if they were funny, but they're not even that), Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca's story looks great as it's made to resemble a 1970s comic but is kind of dull, Jhonen Vasquez goes the same route as Johnson and tries to wring laughs out of the decapitation of a child and fails (again, being funny mitigates the offensiveness a little, but it's not even funny), Max Cannon's obvious parody of the Fantastic Four's origin is, well, obvious, and even Bagge's Hulk story drags a bit. There's still nothing in it that I can see that would keep it from being published, but maybe I'm missing something.

The difference between this issue and the first one, I think, is that the stories in this volume that don't work seem a bit more mean-spirited than the ones in issue #1. Even Bertozzi's M.O.D.O.K. story (in issue #1), in which M.O.D.O.K. does horrible things much like the horrible things he does in Vasquez's M.O.D.O.K. story, had a different tone than Vasquez's. Again, this could be just me, but the creators in issue #1 seemed to revel in the ridiculousness of Marvel's characters, while some of the creators in this issue seem to reject it and point out how stupid they really are. Wait, a giant floating head with tiny appendages is stupid? Really? Thanks for that information. In this issue, some of the creators seem to want to pick on superheroes. If you want to do that, go write The Boys. There's a place for that, certainly, but it seems like when you're working with goofy Marvel characters, it's a hell of a lot more fun to wallow in the goofiness. It's certainly a hell of a lot more fun to read. But I could be in the minority in that regard.

Sweet Tooth #2 ("Out of the Deep Woods Part Two") by Jeff Lemire (writer/artist), José Villarrubia (colorist), and Pat Brosseau (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC/Vertigo.

Lemire continues to flesh out the plot and the characters, as the new guy - Jepperd - finds Gus in his cabin (after Gus wisely absconded from the scene of the bloody murders that bridge the first and this issue) and tells him about the Preserve, which is where hybrid children can live without fear of getting killed. He also clues us into a few things: Gus claims to be nine, but Jepperd says the plague only appeared seven years ago, and the hybrids began showing up then, which means Gus is somehow special (not surprisingly); and the reason the two dudes wanted to kill Gus was because all the "normal" people believe the hybrids hold the key to a cure because they don't get sick. Fairly important information there. Then more people attack, Jepperd gets wounded, and that's where we leave things.

Lemire is still feeling things out, but he does a good job doling out the information, giving us some action, and establishing that Jepperd is a tough SOB who, for some reason, doesn't want to kill or otherwise experiment on Gus. Why, we don't know. There's still not much to distinguish this (well, except for Lemire's art, which is good as usual), but it's also only two issues in. As usual, I'll give it a little bit to see what happens. Right now, it's not bad, but it's not a must-buy, either.

Vengeance of the Moon Knight #2 ("Shock and Awe: Chapter Two") by Gregg Hurwitz (writer), Jerome Opeña (artist), Paul Mounts (colorist), and Joe Caramagna (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, Marvel.

I usually like Leinil Francis Yu, but that's an ugly cover. It looks like the Sentry is not only wearing a diaper, but that he's about to have a bowel movement. Which would make the diaper appropriate, I know, but it's probably not what you want for a cover.

Anyway, after the giddy and oddly gleeful first issue, in which Hurwitz let Opeña go a bit nuts, we calm down a bit to re-establish Moonie's bonafides in New York. I'm still not sure why this needed to be a new ongoing series, as Hurwitz continues to build on what Huston and Benson did in the previous series, even bringing back the Profile from that series (who really ought to get a, you know, real name). But that's neither here nor there. I'm also still not buying that the return of a low-level superhero would be so newsworthy in jaded New York - I know that Moon Knight made a splash (both a positive and negative one, really) in the last series, and I appreciate that Hurwitz is pointing out that these heroes don't operate in a vacuum and that others besides Spider-Man can make the papers, but it's still a bit weird.

However, I'm still intrigued by what Hurwitz is doing. MK and the Sentry have an interesting conversation about insanity and the reality on the ground in the Marvel U., and then "Jake" visits Marlene and Frenchie before taking out the Slug. That allows Opeña to flex his muscles a bit (although he's good at the quiet moments, too, like when Marlene looks up after the helicopter's ladder hits her car), and then we get the Profile telling Osborn and the Hood how to get into Moonie's head. Why, by bringing back Bushman, of course! While that's kind of annoying, I'll reserve judgment on how they're going to do this (and why Bushman's grave is apparently in or near New York in some kind of Gothic cemetary and not in Africa) until next issue.

Right now, I'm glad to see Moon Knight back and in (seemingly) capable hands. I'm a bit tired of Osborn and the Hood and wish they would just go away, but I guess I can deal with it. It's more interesting than most superhero comics, and it continues to look fantastic.

X-Babies #1 (of 4) by Gregg Schigiel (writer), Jacob Chabot (artist), Emily Warren (colorist), and Rob Steen (letterer). $3.99, 22 pgs (plus 14-pg reprint), FC, Marvel.

I tried to resist buying this, but I just couldn't. The X-Babies were kind of a minor joke back in Claremont's heyday, and when I last saw them (I want to say it was when Dazzler, no longer pregnant, accompanied them to Mojoworld back in the early Nineties, but I seem to recall them popping up again more recently), they had become a bit annoying. Claremont's initial foray with them (with Art Adams art!) is reprinted here, and I can see why Marvel and the X-writers milked them to the point of oversaturation, because it's a charming little story. I'm glad they've been sidelined for a while, but it's kind of cool to see them back.

Chabot is perfect for this kind of light-hearted romp, as he does a nice job with the wee characters but also draws a nifty fight scene. Schigiel gives us a story in which the X-Babies have been replaced in Mojo's programming by boring educational fare, a gentle knock on current kids' programming. It seems Mojo has been overthrown and replaced by his major-domo (who gets a name in this book, even though I don't think he ever had one before), who yanks "violent" shows like the X-Babies off the air and replaces them with "The Adorable X-Babies," in which Storm shows them how to grow plants (I love Farmer Cyclops) and even Wolverine decides vegetables are groovy. When the X-Babies try to interfere, Spiral is tasked to send them to a station where rebellious characters go, where they meet the characters from Marvel's 1980s Star Comics (I'm just assuming this, as it's in the solicits; I don't recognize the characters as I never read Star Comics). Presumably they will lead a rebellion to return good, wholesome entertainment to the airwaves!

For the most part, this is just a way for Schigiel and Chabot to riff on familiar X-tropes, like Wolverine hating Cyclops (the only thing the new show got right, according to Wolverine, is that Cyclops is a "dink"). Storm references fighting "Apocalisp" and Cyclops speaks of the "Cradle Will Fall of the Mutants," which would probably be a better character and a better story than the ones to which they refer, and it's always nice to see a "classic" X-team, even in little kid form. There's nothing tremendously new about this issue, but it's a lot of fun. And don't we need a little fun every now and then?

X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas #1 (of 2) ("The X-Heist" and "Atomic Age Heroes") by Jeff Parker (writer), Carlo Pagulayan (artist, "The X-Heist"), Jason Paz (inker, "The X-Heist"), Wil Quintana (colorist, "The X-Heist"), Chris Samnee (artist, "Atomic Age Heroes"), Veronica Gandini (colorist, "Atomic Age Heroes"), and Joe Caramagna (letterer). $3.99, 30 pgs, FC, Marvel.

I was trying to ignore the inanity of the X-Men setting up shop on the downed remains of Asteroid M, which is as dumb an idea as putting a costumed psychopath in charge of the nation's security without, you know, vetting him in front of Congress, but I couldn't, because Parker is writing an Agents of Atlas crossover, and I must be there! I figured Parker wouldn't dwell too much on "Utopia," and he doesn't, which is nice. This is basically a nifty little first part of a story in which Atlas wants to steal Cerebra to look for Venus (who has been kidnapped by members of the Greek pantheon, which leads into the next Atlas story, which will cross over with The Incredible Hercules - phew!) and the X-Men don't want them to. The fact that everyone thinks Atlas is an eeeevvvvilllll organization helps the inevitable "two groups of heroes fighting" go down a bit more easily, although I always wonder why these groups punch first and ask questions later. I mean, Cyclops could have just yelled at them and given them a chance to explain, but instead he starts blasting away. That's okay, though - it's just a fun bash-up, so I can forgive it. The second story features an earlier fight between Jimmy Woo's bunch and the original X-Men, which is fine except that the original X-Men, based on Marvel's sliding time scale, didn't get together in the 1960s anymore, and it's clear that Chris Samnee (whose art is quite good) is going for that vibe. Plus, this story can't end with the groups coming to an accord or Cyclops would have remembered that Jimmy was an okay bloke. I work myself up too much about this stuff, don't I? I can be Kontinuity Kop as much as the next guy, man!

Pagulayan's art continues to puzzle me. It's good in this issue, but it changes in style once, and it's odd. If you're following along at home, look at the two pages with Venus and the centaur. Doesn't it look rougher, with darker lines and more definition in, say, Venus's hair? According to the credits, it's the same penciler, inker, and colorist throughout the book, yet those two pages look markedly different. I know things like this shouldn't bother me, but it's kind of strange. Did the three artists change deliberately or was someone else working on those two pages? These things keep me up at night.

I hope slapping an "X-Men" on the cover of an Agents of Atlas book will goose sales a little. This isn't as good as the regular title, mainly because Parker needs to somehow get two teams of heroes fighting each other, but it's still a good read.

Zodiac #3 (of 3) ("Death's Finest Addiction") by Joe Casey (writer), Nathan Fox (artist), José Villarrubia (colorist), and Albert Deschesne (letterer). $3.99, 22 pgs, FC, Marvel.

Casey and Fox complete their journey through the dark heart of Marvel villainy, and come out with one of the better mini-series of the year, and definitely one of the best from the Big Two. There's so little you can do with Marvel and DC's characters that feels consequential, so although Casey isn't allowed to mess with too many big guns (like the Torch, who's fully recovered in this issue), he still does a fantastic job making Zodiac a completely evil guy and setting up more stories in the future that I hope he and Fox will be able to tell. I would love to read a mini-series a year about these characters, doing horrible things and basically being unpleasant. Fox draws the battle with Red Ronin unusually, in that he rarely focuses on the entire robot, making it much more intimidating than we might think, because we keep seeing parts of the big guy instead all of him, which is a bit freaky. Meanwhile, Zodiac reveals his big plan to the one person we might care about in the book, which is never a good thing (for that person, that is). Ultimately, this story is just to reveal the end, which some might see as cheating, but because it's only three issues and because Casey is so good at characterization - Reed's cameo is quite good, and Osborn is sufficiently arrogant and short-sighted even as he figures almost everything out - and Fox is so good at plunging us into this world that the ending feels earned. Yes, it's just a set-up, but it's been a wild ride to get there. I very much doubt if this sold anywhere near what it would need to justify more stories about Zodiac (at least from this creative team), but it would be nice if it did. Then we can see what Zodiac is up to next! Either way, you should definitely check out the trade when it arrives. It will probably have a reprint from the 1970s - maybe the one where Zodiac drinks a lot of Schlitz!

And so we reach the end of another week of comics. See? I can review books instead of giving you pointless minutiae! You're just lucky I didn't review these ... in sonnet form! Man, that would have been hard. Have you ever tried to write a sonnet? It's no fun.

Let's fire up some totally random lyrics!

"I wanna smash the faces
Of those beautiful boys
Those Christian boys
So you can make me cum
That doesn't make you Jesus"

Those last lines might be the greatest lyrics ever written. But who wrote them?????

35 Comments

• At October 9, 2009, Olly McPherson wrote:

  Sounds like it could be Patti Smith?

• At October 9, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  Coming soon from Ellis, PLANETARY: book 2 (another 27 issues that comes out once a year) ;-)

  Sorry, couldn't resist.

  But ...

• At October 9, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Olly: Sorry, not her. Not a bad guess, though.

  Tom: I'd only be in my early sixties when that series ...

• At October 9, 2009, Michael Rawdon wrote:

  For what it's worth, Incognito turned me on to both Criminal and Sleeper. I think Sleeper is the best ...

• At October 9, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  What separates the new Red Hood from other murderous-antihero-villains ( quite the mouthful ), including the new Red Hood when ...

• At October 9, 2009, Greg Hatcher wrote:

  The trap in writing a Sherlock Holmes story is that if you get TOO far away from Conan Doyle, it ...

• At October 9, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  Yay! Greg buys more comics that I won't see for another week & a half from HeavyInk because I'm a ...

• At October 9, 2009, Wraith wrote:

  "...a reprint from the 1970s - maybe the one where Zodiac drinks a lot of Schlitz!"

  Aaaah Greg, you crack me ...

• At October 9, 2009, s1rude wrote:

  Ms Amos, from back when being an angry female wasn't a marketing tactic. Precious Things off of Little Earthquakes, ...

• At October 9, 2009, Omar Karindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy! wrote:

  Reposted from that Brian vs. Greg comments thread below:

  There's a fairly weird subtext to this issue, at least from my ...

• At October 9, 2009, agent_torpor wrote:

  LOL @ "Batman Unseen" being better than "BR#5"

  Dude, best laugh i've had all day.

• At October 9, 2009, Dan Lokhorst wrote:

  Nifty, I've been waiting for a team-up between Sentry and Moon Night. World's Craziest! The only crime fighting duo that ...

• At October 9, 2009, Punchy wrote:

  I'm pretty sure those pages with Venus and the Centaur in X-Men Vs. Agents Of Atlas were actually by Gabriel ...

• At October 9, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Nitz: That's probably the only thing that redeems this plot, in that Jason is being so self-conscious about it. ...

• At October 9, 2009, Oz the Malefic wrote:

  Finally some lyrics I know.

  It would be Tori Amos of course.

• At October 9, 2009, s1rude wrote:

  I had missed that "that Brian vs. Greg comments thread", so I didn't see Dread Lord's explanation of Jason's violence ...

• At October 9, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  " Nitz: That's probably the only thing that redeems this plot, in that Jason is being so self-conscious about it. ...

• At October 9, 2009, Wraith wrote:

  Greg,

  Quite so; that's really the kicker: the historic legacy. I ask hypothetically "was there a reason to wait for Cassaday," ...

• At October 9, 2009, Omar Karindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy! wrote:

  I don't know that they're being downplayed, exactly, but I do think they have the least interesting roles so far. ...

• At October 9, 2009, fit2print wrote:

  Money well spent this week. Top job, Burgas. P.S. Tori Amos

• At October 9, 2009, Michael Mayket wrote:

  I find it slightly funny that your fear with regards to Kill Audio is that it's going to be about ...

• At October 9, 2009, Julian wrote:

  I dunno Greg, I think your issues towards Strange Tales speak more to your own insecurities with the wackiness than ...

• At October 9, 2009, T. wrote:

  As problematic as Philip Tan's art can be, it's 1000 times better to look at than Kelly Jones' steroid disfigurement ...

• At October 9, 2009, Stefan Wenger wrote:

  A lot of disappointments this week honestly. Doctor Voodoo #1 was probably book of the week.

• At October 10, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Michael: Well, I don't know how obscure the books I read are, and I think I read a pretty good ...

• At October 10, 2009, JKWoodward wrote:

  Hey Greg, I'm glad you liked this miniseries. There will be another one coming in about 6 months or so.

  I ...

• At October 10, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Thanks for the info, J. K., and for clearing up what was going on with the art. It's always ...

• At October 11, 2009, The Cosh wrote:

  Penguin was trying to escape on a helicopter umbrella. Robin broke the shaft with a batarang. I assumed it was ...

• At October 11, 2009, Michael Mayket wrote:

  Greg: I was out of town for the weekend so I just read your response... I know you're being tongue ...

• At October 11, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  Sonnets are really hard, man. I hate sonnets.

• At October 11, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  As problematic as Philip Tan's art can be, it's 1000 times better to look at than Kelly Jones' steroid disfigurement ...

• At October 12, 2009, Ted wrote:

  Have you ever tried to write a sonnet? It's no fun.

  What great nonsense spouted by Greg, our friend,

  to disparage that ...

• At October 12, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Michael: No worries, sir. I kind of hoped you were being tongue in cheek, and I'm glad you were. ...

• At October 15, 2009, What I bought – 7 October 2009 | Nationwide Drug Interventions wrote:

  [...] More info…“I’m not a hero! I’m not a savior! Forget what you know!” All right, no shenangians this week. ...

• At October 19, 2009, Hatter Entertainment News » X-BABIES #1 Reviews: “This is not a serious comic…” wrote:

  [...] review, despite reading into things incorrectly, in the end is [...]

See?

Dark Horse:

Ugly Cover Alert! Page 22 gives us this:

Usually, I'd be all for two nude ladies on a comic book cover, but Willow looks ... really terrible. Oh well.

There's an Empowered one-shot on page 26 (2 December). I imagine I'm a bad person because I just wasn't impressed with the first volume and I haven't been back since.

The final volume of Rex Mundi is offered on page 33 (3 February). I'm really hoping for a giant Omnibus or two.

The latest B.P.R.D. series comes to an end on page 36. I mention this only because I just heard that Dark Horse isn't planning on doing for B.P.R.D. what they've done for Hellboy; that is, releasing them in those big ol' "library editions" (the third volume of which just came out this past week). That's unfortunate; I suppose I just have to go get the trades, as I've been holding off buying them until I could get the fancy library editions.

DC:

The cover for Green Lantern #49 (page 60; 23 December) shows John Stewart looking through a scope as he's aiming a rifle. There was a cover in last month's Previews on which he was looking through a scope as he's aiming a rifle. What the hell?

Hey, look at the cover of Booster Gold #27 (page 66; 9 December):

Classy!

I like the solicitation for Arkham Reborn #3 (page 76; 23 December): "[I]t's starting to look like the new Arkham Asylum is one big joke." Really? As opposed to the fine security at the old one?

So the DC Holiday Special 2009 is coming out on 9 December (page 83). B'wana Beast stars in it! Remember, 20 years ago, when a certain God of All Comics pointed out that maybe, just maybe, that's a bit racist? But it's so kitschy! Good job, DC, bringing the name back!

There's a Steve Ditko Creeper hardcover on sale on page 91 (24 February). It's 40 bucks, but I would assume it's totally worth it. Of course, I like how it includes stories that were written by people who weren't Ditko and drawn by people who weren't Ditko. That's rather weird.

DC is releasing the Doc Savage mini-series from 1987 in trade paperback (page 92; 13 January). It's written by Denny O'Neil and drawn by the Kuberts (Adam and Andy, not Joe). Anyone want to chime in with a recommendation for this?

Vertigo has Daytripper #1 (page 107; 9 December) by Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon. Yeah, that's going to kick much ass.

Hey, Peter Milligan's Human Target gets a new trade on page 113 (13 January). It collects the original mini-series by the much-missed Edvin Biukovic and the graphic novel Final Cut by Javier Pulido. Is it worth it? For 15 bucks, you better believe it!

Jamie Delano writes a new John Constantine graphic novel, Pandemonium, on page 114 (10 February). Not only that, it's drawn by Jock. So you know it will look awesome.

The third (and sadly, final) trade of Young Liars is out on page 116 (20 January). Pick it up and have your mind blown!

Image:

The latest "next issue project" is offered on page 143 (9 December). It's Silver Streak Comics #24, and it features Erik Larsen and Paul Grist, among others.

The second Elephantmen trade is offered on page 148 (16 December). Excellent stuff, and it's 312 pages for 25 bucks. Not bad.

Speaking of second trades, the second trade of Phonogram is offered on page 149 (16 December). Considering three issues have yet to come out, I wouldn't hold my breath. I get sad whenever another week passes and an issue of Phonogram doesn't come out. Please tell me they'll come out, Mr. Gillen! (Mr. Gillen reads the blog occasionally, and although I can probably call him Kieron, I don't want to take the chance. He'd probably get McKelvie to beat me up.)

Speaking of tardy comics, Gødland #31 is offered on page 157 (16 December). I miss Gødland.

Marvel:

I won't be buying Avengers: The Initiative #31 (page 4; 23 December), but that's an awesome cover:

Here's the solicitation text for X-Men Noir: Mark of Cain #1 (page 14; 2 December):

"In the dark and steamy jungles of Madripoor, the flashing claws of Logan, the blazing bullets of Cyclops, and the dashing fists of the Angel met with wave after wave of beserk [sic] headhunters, all willing to protect the secrets of the Temple-Tomb of Cytorrak with their lives! The ancient treasure map of mercenary Cain Marko, with its siren-song of the priceless gigantic ruby of the fabled god-king, had lured them only into the icy claws of Death!"

Now, it's written by Fred van Lente, so I'm sure it will be good, but that doesn't really sound like noir, does it? And how nice that these stories sold so well they're getting sequels.

So last month, in the solicitation for Dark Avengers #11, the text claimed, "[A]s the world gets turned upside down and no joke ... someone dies. For reelz!! This month, for Dark Avengers #12 (16 December), they use the exact same text. I guess no one cares what's in the actual book, as long as it's, you know, kewl.

Okay, I don't have much to say about the two Fall of the Hulks specials on page 34-35 (2 and 23 December), but the fact that there's a "Hulk family" is, well, stupid. There. I said it.

Ugly Cover Alert! New Avengers Annual #3 (page 45; 2 December) is drawn by Mike Mayhew, who's fairly decent, but his cover looks like this:

Blech. Really, blech.

So Bushman is back and is letting all of the crazy people out of some asylum in the latest issue of Vengeance of the Moon Knight (page 46; 16 December). If you want to convince us that Moon Knight isn't a Batman rip-off, you probably shouldn't steal ideas from a famous Batman story.

Ugly Cover Alert! What. The. Bleep. (Page 51, by the way.)

Even though we all must love Warren Ellis, in the latest issue of Astonishing X-Men (page 57; 9 December), we learn that there's an "attempt to remove mutantcy from the planet Earth entirely." Sigh. Good plot, there. I realize it's all in the execution, but still.

X-Factor #200 is offered on page 70 (16 December), and the team is back in New York (God forbid a Marvel book take place outside of New York or some fictional location; the X-Men bailed on San Francisco for a fictional location, and now X-Factor has skipped out on Detroit). It's an odd solicitation - the issue is 104 pages, with the listing "new and reprint," but there's no mention of what's reprinted. Usually Marvel makes a big deal about what they're reprinting, so I wonder what's going to be in this one.

Ed Hannigan: Covered is a cool project (page 80; 2 December). It features some of Hannigan's Marvel covers from the 1970s and '80s, and proceeds go directly to Hannigan himself, as he multiple sclerosis. What's interesting, though, is that there will be only one printing of this book EVER (as the text loudly proclaims). I guess Marvel doesn't want Hannigan getting too many proceeds through multiple printings, do they? Still, it's a cool thing to do.

Marvel Masterworks: X-Men vol 8 (page 83; 10 March) is a keen collection: all the X-Men stuff from between the cancellation of the original series in 1970 to Giant-Size X-Men #1 in 1975. That's kind of neat.

For 20 dollars, you can get the Mini Marvels Ultimate Collection trade paperback (page 100; 23 December). I don't know if I can handle all the awesome that this collection will surely have.

Okay, it's time to head into the back of the book. Fear not the lack of superheroes!

Jim Rugg draws Afrodisiac from AdHouse Books on page 188. I don't know if this will be any good (it sounds like a parody/pastiche of 1970s blaxploitation movies, so I'll probably skip it), but Rugg is a damned fine artist, so it will look good.

As you recall, I'm not a big fan of Eric Powell's writing (although I love his art). But many people are, so check out Chimichanga #1 on page 188 from Albatross Exploding Funny Books (which means it's self-published), which is Powell's new series. It's the story of a bearded girl in a circus. Presumably, because it's Powell, there will be gross jokes that I won't find funny.

I would recommend getting the Secret History Omnibus on page 196 from Archaia, because it's a very good series. I'm wondering, however, if Archaia is ever going to finish publishing the original issues. I've been waiting for the final two issues, and don't want to spend $35 to get two new issues. It's vexing. If you haven't bought any of the individual issues, however, this is a very cool series, and the $35-price tag is for a 336-page comic, so it's a fairly good value.

I'm kind of bothered by Avatar's new layout in Previews. On page 205 they offer "Ignition City #5 Auxiliary" edition. I don't know what the hell that's supposed to be. But Ignition City #5, the "regular" edition, hasn't come out yet. This can't be replacing it, so when is it supposed to arrive? These are titles shipping in December, and it's not on their list of books coming out in November. I loathe "convention" specials and "variant" crap - I just want to read the damned book! (That last rant wasn't aimed directly at Avatar, as other companies do it too. Don't worry about the exclusivity of the book, worry about people reading it!)

There's a new printing of the Mysterymen Adventures trade for $20 on page 210 from Bob Burden Studios. I've never read anything by Burden. Tell me, good comics aficianados, should I purchase this?

Com.X has the softcover version of Cla$$war volume 1 (a second volume of which will probably never appear). It's actually not bad - the art quality goes down when Hairsine leaves and the fact that it's incomplete is annoying, but it's pretty good. That's on page 227, right next to a strange offering: 45, in which one man interviews forty-five super-powered individuals because his unborn child might have the gene that makes one superhuman. That's a decent idea, but here's the twist: each page is drawn by a different artist, and according to the solicit, they have some good ones lined: Liam Sharp, Jock, Charlie Adlard, and Dan Brereton, to name a few. Interesting.

Garth Ennis has a new Battlefields series coming out on page 235 from Dynamite Entertainment. This time, we get a young Australian joining a bomber squadron that's about to start runs over the Ruhr valley. It's drawn by PJ Holden, who's quite good. It's always nice to see an Ennis war story, although it would be nice to see him do other wars than WWII. It's called "Battlefields," not "World War Two Battlefields"!

On page 239, Dynamite gives us Dreadstar: The Beginning, which collects the stuff from before the ongoing series began. Yes, it's $30, but I can't wait to get this, as I've never read them.

I doubt if I'll get Death Valley #1 from Desperado (page 242), but it's a Western, it's written by Keith Champagne and drawn by Shawn Moll, so if you really dig Westerns, this might be something to check out.

Fantagraphics brings Ho Che Anderson's King back into print on page 252. Is this as good as I've heard it is?

I probably won't get Borgia (volume 3) from Heavy Metal on page 255, mainly because it's volume 3 and it's $15 for 56 pages, but it features artwork by Milo Manara, who's tremendous. And he likes drawing naked women, which is never a bad thing.

IDW keeps bringing these old comics back into print, and I certainly appreciate it. On page 263 they have Winterworld by Chuck Dixon and Jorge Zaffino. I don't know if it's any good, but it sounds like the kind of action comic that Dixon knocks out of the park, and Zaffino is a fine artist. I'll have to check it out.

You can also get a trade of The Life and Times of Savior 28 (page 267), J. M. DeMatteis's deconstruction of a superhero who decides he wants to change the world by becoming a pacifist. It's not perfect, but it's pretty good.

Abby and the Crusader get married in Love and Capes #12 (page 269, Maerkle Press). I should get this series more. It's quite charming.

Justin Gray and Lee Ferguson bring us Mr. Keen: Tracer of Lost Persons on page 270 from Moonstone. It's the story of a woman who hires Mr. Keen to find a man who is "sheer evil." Oh dear. It's a good creative team, and I might have to give it a whirl.

The second volume of Chris Schweizer's "Crogan" series, Crogan's March, shows up on page 274 from Oni Press. The first of the series, Crogan's Vengeance, was quite good, and now we get a story of a different member of the family in the French Foreign Legion, fighting bad guys and creatures that like to eat people! Man, that sucks.

Atomic Robo and the Shadow From Beyond Time gets a trade paperback on page 284 from Red 5 Comics. You shouldn't wait for the trade on this awesome comic, but if you do, now's your chance to pick it up!

Mercury by Hope Larson is offered on page 285 from Simon & Schuster. Hey! I already reviewed this!

On page 294 we find The Apocalypse Plan from Transfuzion Publishing. Writer Rafael Nieves imagines Heaven and Hell as corporations that track souls instead of sales. It could be a clever idea, and Dan Dougherty draws it, so it will look pretty good.

I'm sure you're dying to get your Zan and Jayna T-shirts (page 330):

The question is: would wearing the Zan one and promising that you have a Jayna one for her repel a woman or attract her? The mind boggles! (Considering they're brother and sister, perhaps it's best not to think about it.)

This figure features "cast-off clothing." Ewwwwwww (page 376).

Page 385. Blood Energy Potion. We're in hell:

Okay, maybe going too far into the back of the book isn't that good of an idea. But you can still stop before you get to the truly creepy stuff! Grab that Previews and start digging! You know you want to. Who wouldn't?

38 Comments

• At October 4, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  Damn, that's a lot of goodness in one month, even without comics shipping the last week.

  I seriously did not ...

• At October 4, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  I dunno, if I saw a Zan shirt at Kohl's for like ten bucks, I might go for it for ...

• At October 4, 2009, Wraith wrote:

  Damn, that's a lot of awful in one month. Greg, I gotta share just about every criticism you made in ...

• At October 4, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  I thought Detroit was fictional. Didn't they invent it for Robocop?

• At October 4, 2009, T. wrote:

  Mike Mayhew is usually pretty good but he really seems to have channeled his inner Greg Horn for that cover. ...

• At October 4, 2009, Sijo wrote:

  Mr. Burgas, you have a REALLY strange sense of what an ugly-looking cover is. Especially since you didn't seem to ...

• At October 4, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  Yet Warren Ellis' Astonishing X-Men has been, for all its delays and status quo irrelevance, the best X-Book on the ...

• At October 4, 2009, Jack Cheng wrote:

  I like the MysteryMen, but I don't think it's Bob Burden's best work. If you've never read anything by Burden, ...

• At October 4, 2009, Dean wrote:

  Jim Rugg draws Afrodisiac from AdHouse Books on page 188. I don't know if this will be any good (it ...

• At October 4, 2009, Omar Karindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy! wrote:

  That Buffy cover reminds me of a question I've always had about comics licensed from TV shows: given that the ...

• At October 4, 2009, Omar Karindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy! wrote:

  Also, Nitz, no: I'd say X-Factor is more consistently good than Ellis's Astonishing. Ellis has superior technique in his ...

• At October 4, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  " This isn't to say Alyson Hannigan or Buffy are necessarily someplace I'd expect this, givent he show's attitudes and ...

• At October 4, 2009, Scavenger wrote:

  I never could figure out the racism in B'Wana Beast's name. I've googled and searched and have never figured ...

• At October 4, 2009, Anonymous wrote:

  It's always nice to see an Ennis war story, although it would be nice to see him do other wars ...

• At October 4, 2009, funkygreenjerusalem wrote:

  T'was me.

• At October 4, 2009, Omar Karindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy! wrote:

  http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bwana

  "Bwana" is sort of like "sahib" in India: a word the natives were expected to call the guys in pith ...

• At October 4, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Scavenger: "bwana" is a "respectful term of address" in parts of Africa, but I believe it's usually associated with natives ...

• At October 4, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  D'oh! Too quick for me, Omar!

• At October 4, 2009, funkygreenjerusalem wrote:

  FGJ: I was thinking of his Spanish Civil War story in "War Stories," which was very good. I wouldn't mind ...

• At October 4, 2009, TimCallahan wrote:

  You will like Burden. Read his stuff.

  You will not like the O'Neil/Kubert(s) "Doc Savage" mini. Unless you like stuff that's ...

• At October 4, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  " 'Do other wars'... just say what you mean Greg - we want him to do Nam! "

  He has done ...

• At October 4, 2009, funkygreenjerusalem wrote:

  He has done it, twice, and excellently, during Preacher. John Custer's experiences in Vietnam show that he's done more war ...

• At October 4, 2009, Michael wrote:

  I see no problem with the Buffy cover; then again, my Hannigan crush is well documented.

  X-Men: Noir sounds more like ...

• At October 5, 2009, Jamie McKelvie wrote:

  Issue 5's been done for almost a month, but unfortunately has been held up on the production side of things.

• At October 5, 2009, Andrew Collins wrote:

  The Doc Savage mini wasn't awful by any means, but it does suffer a bit from "Scrappy Doo" syndrome. The ...

• At October 5, 2009, Craig wrote:

  Eric Powell's Chimichanga looked like it would fit in the vein of Goon... until I noticed that the solicit says ...

• At October 5, 2009, Omar Karindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy! wrote:

  [I]in Punisher it was about Castle and how he was destined to be The Punisher well before his family were ...

• At October 5, 2009, Kieron Gillen wrote:

  Hi Greg

  Issue 5 has been held up at Image for the last four weeks due to a production bottleneck, which ...

• At October 5, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  KG and Jamie: This is why I can't imagine being in your shoes, when you've finished something and it's still ...

• At October 5, 2009, Gianluca wrote:

  Greg. There must be some Radical hate going on since even Stevie Wonder would have caught the The Last Days ...

• At October 5, 2009, Jay Potts wrote:

  Greg,

  Trust me, you WILL want Jim Rugg's "Afrodisiac" collection. Here's why: http://worldofhurtonline.com/tag/jim-rugg/

• At October 5, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Sorry, Gianluca! I did see the book, but Remender is usually hit and miss with me. I'll have ...

• At October 5, 2009, Gianluca wrote:

  Sweet. Steve Pugh and myself greatly appreciate that. I'm obviously biased on Last Days so please excuse my rant. It ...

• At October 5, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  That Buffy cover reminds me of a question I've always had about comics licensed from TV shows: given that the ...

• At October 5, 2009, sgt pepper wrote:

  Kieron and Jamie, that all DJs issue (was that #4? anyway) was masterful, and easily one of my favorite comics ...

• At October 5, 2009, Stefan Wenger wrote:

  Mm, I'd have to say Ellis' Astonishing X-Men has been the least inspired and least exciting core X-Men book (though ...

• At October 7, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=289815

  Beau Smith has no problem with B'wana Beasts name!

• At November 9, 2009, Drew wrote:

  I know I'm joining in on this conversation way late, but I haven't been a fan of Ellis's Astonishing X-Men ...

Agents of Atlas #11 ("Terror of the Jade Claw Part III and the Final Issue for the Foreseeable Future Because it Didn't Star Wolverine and God I Hate Consumers Sometimes") by Jeff Parker (writer), Dan Panosian (artist), Gabriel Hardman (artist), Elizabeth Dismang (colorist), and Tom Orzechowski (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, Marvel.

Okay, so maybe the title of the story isn't quite as listed. I don't know.

Agents of Atlas will be back, of course, as they fight the X-Men for two issues and then back up the Incredible Hercules for a time, and maybe that's good enough for now. I don't know if these back-up stories (in both DC and Marvel) will help the lesser-tier characters get more leeway, but it would be nice. I'm not sure why Marvel and DC are so eager to rush into an ongoing series anyway - the sales on the original Agents of Atlas mini-series apparently didn't burn up the charts, so why not produce a couple more to see if the buzz grows? It would have helped to keep a regular artist around - this book had at least four artists draw this, from what I can recall.

I certainly don't mind too much that the regular series bit this dust, even though this issue feels a bit rushed. I'm always happy to get 10-15 issues of a really good mainstream comic even though they bite the dust with stunning regularity. At least DC and Marvel try these things. I wish they gave them more time to build an audience, but at least they're giving them some life. I mean, if the Big Two wanted things to sell like they did in comics' heyday, EVERYTHING would be cancelled, so I guess the fact that they let some of these titles tell a nice story or two is okay. I guess. But what do I know? I'm still bitter that Major Bummer died an untimely death.

Does something explode in a fairly gross manner? Something explodes, but it's not really gross. But that's our theme this week!

Atomic Robo: Shadow from Beyond Time #5 (of 5) ("From Beyond") by Brian Clevinger (writer), Scott Wegener (artist), Ronda Pattison (colorist), and Jeff Powell (letterer). $3.50, 22 pgs, FC, Red 5 Comics.

The great thing about Atomic Robo, the comic, is that Clevinger is always pointing out the silliness of comic books while still wallowing gloriously in the silliness. Whether it's pointing out that those giant ants couldn't exist or that dinosaur shouldn't be able to talk, Clevinger does a nice job deflating standard comic book clichés but still managing to make this a wonderful, pulpy comic book. Like this issue: How many times have we seen someone build a machine like those guys on the cover build (the dude on the left is named Louis; the dude on the right, sadly, doesn't get a name) and no one thinks twice about it? Robo shows up and points out, logically, that it's an evil computer. "Computers that are evil have all kinds of unnecessary ornamentation," he says. "This thing's venting steam!" Of course it's evil! It's funny because it's true, as Homer Simpson might say. And Clevinger, of course, shows that it is, indeed, evil. Why won't they listen to Robo?

This is the big finale to the big fight against the thing from outside the universe, so we find out what was going on at the end of last issue. It's a twisty time-travel sort of thing, which means it makes my head hurt, but Clevinger, showing how good he is, makes it at least funny and somewhat plausible. And Tesla's reaction is pretty awesome.

I don't know if I can express how joyfully kooky this comic is. Clevinger and Wegener knock it out of the park every time, and it's just one of those books where each issue is a slice of greatness. Long may Atomic Robo reign!

Does something explode in a fairly gross manner? Robo fights that thing from beyond space and time. He likes bombs and guns. You do the math! (Yes, math! In a comics post! You should never have skipped algebra to hang out in the smoking alley trying to get into that goth girl's pants! Just because you listened to the Cure and had a Robert Smith haircut doesn't mean she really liked you, you know! Sorry to burst your bubble. She was really into preppies. Man, those goth girls - always teasing you with those ripped fishnet stockings and that black lipstick!)

Batman and Robin #4 ("Revenge of the Red Hood Part One: Red Right Hand") by Grant "Come on, this guy isn't bad, right?" Morrison (writer), Philip Tan (penciller), Jonathan Glapion (inker), Pete Pantazis (colorist), and Patrick Brosseau (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC.

Now, I know Tim Callahan a little bit. Not a lot, mind you, but I have met him face-to-face on two separate occasions, which is a bit of an anomaly out here in the wilds of the comics blogaxy in Internetland, and he's a pretty cool guy who has a lot of interesting thoughts about comics. I do wish he would blog more often and turn his face away from the seductive wiles of Twitter, but if he's comfortable with the Dark Side, so be it. I mention this because this year at San Diego, he told me that Philip Tan would be a drop-off from Frank Quitely on this title, an opinion shared by many around the comics blogosphere. Now that the product is here, I wonder if Tim is changing his mind. I'm not saying he needs to change his mind, but if he liked the art, would he step up and admit it? Because although I wasn't as scared of Tan taking over as most, I will admit I thought the art wouldn't be nearly as good as it is in this issue. It's not quite as good as Quitely, but it's very close. Yes, I just typed that. I'm totally serious.

Where Quitely shines is in his inventive page design, something that Tan apes a bit and, while he's not quite on par with Quitely, he does a nice job mixing things up with regard to the design. The second and third pages, where Lightning Bug runs from the Red Hood and leaps between buildings, is laid out very well, with the gap between the buildings bisecting the splash page and the smaller panels scattered along the edges. Similarly, when the Red Hood crashes the hoods' meeting and slaughters them is nicely done. The biggest problem with the art layouts is on the credits page and on the final page, where the position and the way the Red Hood and Scarlet are drawn are very weird and awkward. But Tan does a good job with the art, and on some pages there's a bit of a Tom Mandrake vibe, and I like Tom Mandrake. So there. I'm not as concerned with the art now, even if I'd rather see Quitely or Cameron Stewart doing it. But that's not Tan's fault. Those dudes are seriously good.

As for the actual story, it's a testament to the God of All Comics that he can make a dull plot like someone taking Batman's schtick up a notch (killing bad guys instead of incarcerating them) and giving it some zazz. Of course, he came up with the plot, so maybe we shouldn't let him off the hook too much. As usual in superhero comics, it's all about the details, and the creepy author and the Red Hood's conversation with Scarlett, for instance, make this a decent read, even if it feels stale. Whenever you put plot in superhero comics above everything else, you're going to hit some dull spots. Witness a couple of Marvel books below this, one of which hinges on the depiction of a character and overcomes a (deliberately) goofy plot, while the other hinges on a plot and therefore feels a wee bit stale (even though I still like it). Whenever Morrison puts words that don't have much to do with the overall plot in his characters' mouths, we get neat stuff. But acknowledging that the plot is a bit shopworn ("But mostly ... I guess this is about the revenge of one crazy man in a mask ... on another crazy man in a mask") doesn't make it less shopworn.

Still, it's a good, solid superhero comic. And Tan is better than I expected, which is neat. (Not surprisingly, I've been reading negative reactions to Tan's art across the Wide World of the Web. Only one I've read so far as done any kind of analysis of why it's bad, preferring instead to wax nostalgic about Quitely. I certainly don't mind people preferring Quitely to Tan, but it would be nice if they gave some reasons. End rant. I promise.)

Does something explode in a fairly gross manner? Why, yes! Lightning Bug's neck counts, right?

Beasts of Burden #1 ("The Gathering Storm") by Evan Dorkin (writer), Jill Thompson (artist), and Jason Arthur (letterer). $2.99, 23 pgs, FC, Dark Horse.

I'm fairly certain I've never read anything by Evan Dorkin before. I know I have to turn in my "Indy Comics Nerd" card for admitting that, but that's the way it is. But now I have! Can I have my card back?

I mentioned that I saw Thompson's pages for this entire issue at San Diego, and I was totally jazzed to check out the first issue, because her paintings were, typically, fan-freakin'-tastic. She does an amazing job with the animals, making them real animals even as they're speaking to each other. The frogs that fall from the sky, for instance, are really keen-looking, but of course they remain frogs, who are slightly icky, setting up the crisis that develops later in the issue. Thompson does a wonderful job with the battle in the forest, showing how, well, animalistic these animals really are. It's an unsettling comic visually for two reasons: the darkness of the subject matter is contrasted nicely with the gorgeous surroundings; and Thompson makes the animals so real (and often cute) that when they turn vicious, as they must, it's disturbing. You could get this book based on the art alone and not be disappointed.

I missed the first few appearances of these characters, but Dorkin does a nice job introducing them all and alluding to the previous stories without making it necessary to go back and check them. This is a nifty one-and-done issue, so if you want to give it a try without committing to the entire mini-series, you can. Dorkin does set up the rest of the series nicely, but it's still a complete story in its own right. It's a terrifically weird and creepy story, too, with a nice touch of tragedy and a good climax in which ... well, the characters win, but do they really? Maybe something weirder is going on around Burden Hill ...

This is a very good first issue, because it introduces the characters well, introduces their situation well, has a disturbing plot that resolves in this issue but also sets up the rest of the mini-series, and features Jill Thompson's art. If you had any brains at all, you would have seen the listing of Jill Thompson as artist and immediately shut off your computer and run out and bought this! And you have brains, right? I know you do!

Does something explode in a fairly gross manner? Most assuredly! And it's strangely beautiful. Such is the power of Ms. Thompson! (Who, by the way, gave the best acceptance speech at the Eisners. She's talented and hilarious!)

Ex Machina #45 ("Pro-Life Part One") by Brian K. Vaughan (writer), Tony Harris (artist), JD Mettler (colorist), Jared K. Fletcher (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC/Wildstorm.

The wheels are in motion. The BIG! PLOT! is dull (yeah, I'm harping on that this week), but that's not the point, of course. The point is that Mitch will, presumably, find out what exactly is going on with this alien thing. Vaughan does some nice things in this issue - he shows, once again, how difficult politics are to navigate, even when, like Mitch, you're not worried about re-election; and he starts tying earlier story arcs into the main arc more than usual, which is neat. Other than that, it's business as usual on Ex Machina, which means it's a good story and it shore looks purty!

There's a bit of a preview for the last issue of Planetary in the back, and as it involves time travel, it made my head hurt a little bit. I'll probably address this more when the actual issue comes out, but Ellis brings up a problem with time travel that, weirdly enough, was recently discussed in the Penn State alumni magazine (which my parents get, so I was reading it at their house in June). It's the zeitgeist, man! Oh, and I CANNOT FREAKING WAIT FOR THE LAST ISSUE OF PLANETARY!!!!! I just thought I should point that out.

Does something explode in a fairly gross manner? Surprisingly, no. There's some blood and violence, but nothing going BOOM! and spraying guts everywhere.

Fables #88 ("Witches Chapter Two: Totenkinder") by Bill Willingham (writer), Mark Buckingham (penciller), Steve Leialoha (inker), Andrew Pepoy (inker), Lee Loughridge (colorist), and Todd Klein (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC/Vertigo.

I really like that cover. I think it's the word balloons that aren't actually on the page. I don't know why I like that. But I do. Don't judge me with your dead eyes!

Frau Totenkinder finishes her knitting, and if that doesn't scare you, it should. As usual with this book, something as innocuous as an old woman (who is, after all, a witch) finishing her knitting is loaded with portent, both for the other Fables and for her herself. Basically, this issue is her transforming from the old woman sitting around into ... something else. Something not quite as grandmotherly. It's one of those issues of Fables that is extremely fun to read, mainly because threads from earlier in the book are still weaving their way through it and because there's a sense of great evil lurking around every corner. Willingham's track record on this book with regard to resolving his arcs is decent if not spectacular, but the way he builds to those resolutions is usually very good, and this is just one example. Buckingham, as usual, is wonderful - Totenkinder's look as she disappears is haunting. And Baba Yaga is still hanging around being a nuisance.

Very cool issue, as most of them are.

Does something explode in a fairly gross manner? Not really, although Baba Yaga's weapon explodes, sort of, and slices and dices some demon things. I guess we'll count that!

The Lone Ranger #18 ("Resolve Part Two") by Brett Matthews (writer), Sergio Cariello (artist), Marcelo Pinto (colorist), and Simon Bowland (letterer). $3.50, 22 pgs, FC, Dynamite Entertainment.

As usual with this title, it's difficult to review an individual issue. Matthews has done such a nice job with getting the slow rhythm of a Western down that this is "decompressed" to the extreme, but only in the sense that The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is decompressed (to use a movie I saw recently) - that is, the violence on the frontier was often short and brutal and somewhat out-of-nowhere, and in between, there was a lot of riding. So in individual issues of this title, very often not a lot happens, but Matthews is often more concerned about one scene illuminating the moral fiber of the characters, or allowing Cariello to draw bleak scenes of the American West. In this issue, the plot moves along slowly (the Lone Ranger framed for murder!) but three scenes in particular are what Matthews is trying to get across: the sheriff wants to arrest our heroes but shows that he's a decent man because he gives them a chance to view the victim and explain what happened; there's love in the air between John and, well, his sister-in-law (Linda?); and Cavendish buys weapons and makes an unusual statement when he tests a Gatling gun. It's small moments like this that Matthews is going for, and he just allows the plot to take care of itself. I imagine that makes it read better in trade format, but I do like buying those singles, don't I? Still, Matthews and Cariello are doing their typical good job, and even though this takes its time coming out (another example of decompression?), it's a marvelous comic book.

Does something explode in a fairly gross manner? Cavendish doesn't test the Gatling gun on animals or humans, so no.

M.O.D.O.K. Reign Delay by Ryan Dunlavey (writer/artist/colorist/letterer). $3.99, 20 pgs, FC, Marvel.

When this appeared in Previews, I smiled a big fanboy smile and waited eagerly for this week. I mean, come on - Dunlavey, famed for Action Philosophers!, doing a M.O.D.O.K. story in which he moves back in with his parents in Erie, PA? How can that not be awesome?

Well, it can't. Not be awesome, that is, as this is quite awesome. The only thing that gets my goat slightly is that Marvel is charging 4 dollars for this, and the story is only 20 pages. There are two text pages about how awesome M.O.D.O.K. is, but let's face it - we've just read 20 pages with glorious Dunlavey art (in full color!) about how awesome M.O.D.O.K. is, so do we really need someone writing about it? Marvel should have lowered the price on this (especially as it showed up first on-line) or added more material to justify the cover price. This is one of those "fool-me-once" things - I willingly plunked down 4 bucks for this, but next time Marvel does something like this, I really will have to consider my purchase more carefully. The nice thing is that Dunlavey really packs this story with very funny scenes, and it actually feels meatier than your standard Marvel/DC fare, so I didn't feel ripped off. But it's a slippery slope, Marvel!

Anyway, in terms of funny, this is. M.O.D.O.K. wants to get into Norman Osborn's Cabal, so Osborn sends him to Erie to clean things up. Hilarity ensues when M.O.D.O.K. (aka "George") is invited to his high school reunion. Before you can say "Grosse Pointe Blank," M.O.D.O.K. is getting bullied by the same guys who did it in high school, fighting Box of Alpha Flight, and yelling at people at the mall. It's, you know, funny. I don't really know how to explain how funny it is without ruining the jokes, but it is. In the first panel, Osborn's answering machine message tells people to make it quick because he has "28 cameo appearances this month." Box (the Madison Jeffries version, that is) is "Kitchener, Ontario's greatest super hero!" and his wife gets him to fight M.O.D.O.K. by claiming he said that the Maple Leafs suck. For example. Despite Jeffries' rather sad state (hiring himself out to make ends meet) that doesn't jive with his current appearances in Hank McCoy's little X-club, Dunlavey even makes this "in-continuity" by referencing Fred van Lente's M.O.D.O.K.'s 11 mini-series. If you care about things like that. Oh, and Erie is not "the mistake on the lake." Everyone knows that's Cleveland. Erie's rather nice, actually.

It's funny, is what I'm saying. And Dunlavey is a really good artist. And I'm disturbingly turned on by Jeffries' hot wife. Oh, did I type that last part? Never mind that bit.

Does something explode in a fairly gross manner? No, but there's a lot of brain blasting.

Poe #3 (of 4) by J. Barton Mitchell (writer), Dean Kotz (artist), Digikore Studios (colorist), James Dashiell (letterer). $3.99, 22 pgs, FC, Boom! Studios.

Mitchell moves everything along, bringing in more and more tropes from Poe's fictional work, which isn't as annoying as you might expect. It's kind of clever, actually. We've moved past the "Poe tries to figure things out" portion of the book and on to the "Poe tries to stop the bad guy" portion, which is fine but less moody than the first issue-and-a-half. Kotz's art is good, but this book is really, really dark, and it's pretty annoying. I mean, sure, it takes place at night in a pit with no good lighting, but just because the scene is dark to the participants doesn't mean we shouldn't be able to see everything. Or maybe my eyesight is really horrible. I'm old, remember. And those years in the monastery copying ancient texts didn't help. Plus I think I got diphtheria there. No wonder I'm always cranky.

Does something explode in a fairly gross manner? Sadly, no. Or maybe it did and I didn't see it!

Unthinkable #5 (of 5) by Mark Sable (writer), Julian Totino Tedesco (artist), Juan Manuel Tumburús (colorist), Ed Dukeshire (letterer). $3.99, 22 pgs, FC, Boom! Studios.

I've said it all along, this is a really weird mini-series. It seemed to zoom along, slow down very briefly in issue #3, and then suddenly speed up again to finish. Sable really tried to pack a lot into this series, and I wonder if it might have been better served by six issues, but then I think there really wasn't enough for six issues and maybe he could have cut some of the stuff and still had enough to get into five (or even four) issues. It's very weird. I mean, Alan Ripley thwarts the bad guys in this issue, but Sable leaves some things hanging in case he gets a sequel, so he pulls everything together nicely, but it still feels weird. Things speed to the climax, and then speed through the climax, and in between panels the entire group, at one point, changes into hazmat suits without, apparently, any significant time passing, and it's all very rushed. It bugs me, because Sable seems to have this issue with his writing - his last mini-series, Fearless, suffered from the same problem with pacing. He does some things very well - the ideas in this series are marvelous, and he obviously keeps a lot of balls in the air competently - but then he doesn't seem to be able to make things fit in the space allotted. I'd really like to see him get better, because he writes some interesting things.

The big find on this series is Tedesco on art. Like Minck Oosterveer on The Unknown, he's quite the find. Good job, Boom!

Does something explode in a fairly gross manner? I'm going to count the immune systems of a few people as a "yes."

The Veil #3 ("Evil") by El Torres (writer) and Gabriel Hernandez (artist). $3.99, 24 pgs, FC, IDW.

Dang, I love that cover. Cool use of negative space.

Anyway, Chris Luna discovers what's really going on in Crooksville, and while it's somewhat a standard horror plot, the way Torres and Hernandez present it is really well done. I've mentioned this with regard to the other issues of this series, but it's hard in comics to get the "shock value" of horror movies, which don't scare as much as they surprise you with things leaping into the frame from out of the frame. Hernandez instead works hard to make the images he puts on the page, which never move, really creepy, and therefore this stays with us longer. And he does a nice job building the sense of dread that Chris feels as she gradually figures out what's going on. Torres doesn't do anything too surprising with the story, but we do get an interesting twist at the end that takes our expectations and subverts them just a bit. We think we know what happened to certain characters, but it's possible something completely different and far more disturbing is happening. It's also neat that Torres hasn't been afraid to show Chris as someone who really doesn't have her shit together, even though she's the heroine. We'd expect her not to have her shit together, but if this were a crappy horror movie, her weaknesses would be briefly mentioned and then ignored. Here, it's part of her life, and she struggles with it all the time.

This continues to be a really cool comic. Check it out if you see it on the shelves!

Does something explode in a fairly gross manner? I don't know if "explode" is the right word, but there's quite a bit of blood on a few pages.

Vengeance of the Moon Knight #1 ("Shock and Awe Chapter 1") by Gregg Hurwitz (writer), Jerome Opeña (penciler), Dan Brown (colorist), Joe Caramagna (letterer). $3.99, 24 pgs (plus a 24-pg reprint of Moon Knight #1 from 1980), FC, Marvel.

So this is technically the FIFTH volume of an ongoing series starring Moon Knight, plus the two mini-series that Doug Moench wrote in the late Nineties. Someone at Marvel reeeeeaaaaaallllllllly likes the character, I suppose. I swear, I'm not the person who keeps greenlighting these! I'm not entirely sure why the previous series got cancelled - it just ended earlier this year, and this story simply follows that one rather logically, so I guess the lure of a new number one was too much for Marvel to resist!!!!!

And I hate to stir up a shitstorm surrounding an Alex Ross cover, but I do enjoy where your eye is drawn in that cover. I asked my wife about it, and she went right to it, too, so it's not just me being scared I'm suddenly going to like Neil Patrick Harris and Right Said Fred all of a sudden if I stare too long at that cover! I just wonder if the people who pose for Ross know they're going to be ... featured ... so prominently when they show up on a cover.

So we get a continuation of the theme of the previous series - namely, that Moon Knight is a bit bonkers. Except that didn't work commercially (even if I thought it worked very well artistically), so Hurwitz pulls back on it a bit while still teasing it. But it's hard to suss out what Hurwitz is doing otherwise with this particular issue. If I'm hopeful, he's satirizing the notion of superheroes quite subtly, playing this as straight-as-he-can superheroing while mocking the entire notion of both Osborn's corporate superheroes and really, the entire notion of pervert-suits as something healthy. While we've seen that before, ad infinitum, Hurwitz does it rather well, and it's never a theme that gets too old. That is, if I'm hopeful and that's what Hurwitz is doing. I've never actually read anything by Hurwitz (prose or comicky), so I don't know anything about his take on superheroes. Because if he's playing it straight, it's kind of odd. Moon Knight narrates as if he's a whiny teenager, desperate to be taken seriously and thinking the only way he can be is by making a big splash in New York. There's something charmingly smug about Moonie's New York-centric narration as he wings his way through Times Square, which is why I'm somewhat hopeful. And the idea that talk radio would debate Moon Knight so vigorously, despite what he did in the last series, is kind of goofy as well ... unless it's deliberate. You see the conundrum? The fact that Mr. Knight is still certifiable (even though he claims not to be) is what makes me hopeful. But we'll see.

Meanwhile, like Jill Thompson above, Opeña's art is almost worth the price of admission. I guess we'll never know how the Big Two shift creative teams, but Opeña was apparently taken off of Punisher to work on this, even though I have to assume Castle is a bit higher on the Marvel pecking order than Spector (or Lockley, as he's apparently still calling himself). So did Opeña lobby for it because he loves the character so much? Or did Marvel decide that he's a big enough artist now that they really want to give this book a push? I'm not sure, but he blows the doors off on this, in what is really two extended action scenes, one in broad daylight and one at night. The one that opens the book, where MK thwarts a robbery, is a ballet of violence and verve, with the highlight being Moon Knight surfing on a van (which gets back to Hurwitz's intentions, as it's almost too giddy to be taken seriously). Opeña gives us one beautiful panel after another, culminating in two splash pages summing up the first issue: Moon Knight destroying property to announce his presence with authority and the appearance of the Sentry at the end to challenge him. He's having a grand time drawing this, you can tell, and even though Marvel breaks up his symphony with advert pages (how annoying!), it's still a wonderful-looking comic. Who knows how long Opeña will last on the title; who knows how long the title itself will last?

As long-time readers know, I'm a big fan of the character, and I want his series to sell. However, I want them to be good, too, which is often mutually exclusive to a book's position on the sales chart. I thought the last Moon Knight series was excellent, and although I'm uncertain about Hurwitz's ultimate intentions (if he turns MK into just another superhero, this will get boring), I'm happy that he's back. We shall see, won't we?

(Oh, and the cover price is almost worth it for the reprint of Moon Knight #1 from 30 years ago in the back. That particular issue isn't the best of the series, but it's neat seeing Sienkiewicz's art before he became, you know, BILL SIENKIEWICZ - he's obviously ripping off Neal Adams, but he's also channeling Frank Miller's early Daredevil stuff. It's interesting to consider how different and unique Miller and Sienkiewicz became when you consider how much they both were patterning themselves after Adams.)

Does something explode in a fairly gross manner? No. This is in marked contrast to the previous Moon Knight series, where things seemed to get gross quite often!

Wednesday Comics #11 (of 12). $3.99, 15 pgs, FC, DC.

I ought to have more thoughts about this, but I'll save them for next week, when the grand experiment comes to an end. I will say that Fletcher's page design on the Flash strip is just amazing, and as neat as Baker's computerized art was early on, it's looking sloppier and sloppier as we go along. What's up with that?

X-Factor #48 ("The Cortex Equation") by Peter David (writer), Valentine de Landro (penciler), Pat Davidson (inker), Jeromy Cox (colorist), and Cory Petit (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, Marvel.

I don't know if you guys have heard this, but David recently confirmed that the book is being relaunched with issue #200. Meh. I don't really care, but the book did go on hiatus for some years, plus there was that four-issue (underrated, in my mind) X-Factor mini-series that came out back in the Jemas days that had those non-mutant government agents doing their thing which won't count in the numbering. Whatever.

David continues to tie everything together in anticipation of issue #50, with a revelation about the big, bad villain behind everything and a funny Doctor Doom moment and Shatterstar showing up at an opportune moment. There's a bunch going on, naturally, and it's fine and dandy. And it's kind of interesting to see De Landro pencil an entire issue. Wait? An artist doing the entire issue of an issue of X-Factor? Holy crap!

Oh, and David wants to forget the 2009 Mets season. Even if my beloved Phillies don't win the World Series again this year, they've still had a better season than the Mets. Suck it, Mets!!!!!

Does something explode in a fairly gross manner? Surprisingly, yes. It's not too gross, but it's still fairly gross for a mainstream Marvel comic, even if it is rated "T+."

So that's the week. Wegener, Thompson, Harris, Buckingham, Cariello, Dunlavey, Tedesco, Hernandez, Opeña, Risso, Sook, Bullock, Allred, Pope, Conner, Garcia-Lopez, Kubert, Fletcher - dang, some good art this week! Let's hit the totally random lyrics!

"That thunder in your heart
At night when you're kneeling in the dark
It says you're never gonna leave her
But there's this angel in her eyes
That tells such desperate lies
And all you want to do is believe her"

Let's bring it home where we began:

"This is a Pershing missile, Chip!"
"Chet. My name is Chet. And I didn't think it was a whale's dick, honey!"

Classic. CLASSIC!!!!!

33 Comments

• At September 18, 2009, Joe wrote:

  As soon as I saw "...where Tan really shines is his inventive page-layout" I had to skip the rest of ...

• At September 18, 2009, dmor173 wrote:

  'shes the one' bruce springsteen.

  track 6 off born to run(which by the way is way is the greatest album ever ...

• At September 18, 2009, Wraith wrote:

  "This is one of those "fool-me-once" things - I willingly plunked down 4 bucks for this, but next time Marvel ...

• At September 18, 2009, TimCallahan wrote:

  Because of work and illness I haven't even picked up my comics this week. But I AM reviewing Batman and ...

• At September 18, 2009, Matt D wrote:

  Yeah, I'm bummed that ATLAS is going on hiatus, but on the other hand, ATLAS as a back up in ...

• At September 18, 2009, Matt K wrote:

  I actually got MODOCK for I believe $0.99 from DCBS. I had no idea the cover price was so ...

• At September 18, 2009, Michael P. wrote:

  You have nothing to worry about. It is biologically impossible for any human being to like Right Said Fred.

• At September 18, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  Geezola .... 8 count 'em 8 comics on your list that I should be receiving no later than Monday & ...

• At September 18, 2009, BDaly wrote:

  Since we're talking about Dunleavey, does anyone know if there'll every be more Comic Book Comics?

  And, on a kind of ...

• At September 18, 2009, Ted wrote:

  You have nothing to worry about. It is biologically impossible for any human being to like Right Said Fred.

  And similarly ...

• At September 18, 2009, BDaly wrote:

  Sorry, Dunlavey.

• At September 18, 2009, BDaly wrote:

  Actually, I think I may go download some Right Said Fred.

• At September 18, 2009, Manglr wrote:

  I highly recommend the earlier Beasts of Burden appearances in the "Dark Horse Book of..." anthology series. Each story ...

• At September 18, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Joe: Yeah, I knew that would be a controversial statement. I thought the pages 2-3 spread was nicely done; ...

• At September 18, 2009, jccalhoun wrote:

  I had never heard of Beasts of Burden before so I looked on Dark Horse comics for something about them ...

• At September 18, 2009, Tekende wrote:

  I disagree about Tan's art. His page layouts are awful. There were quite a few pages I found really confusing ...

• At September 18, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  Gotta remember to pick up the Veil trade.

• At September 18, 2009, Derick wrote:

  Agents of Atlas, Cable, Guardians of the Galaxy... a lot of Marvel books are having rotating art teams. That´s really ...

• At September 18, 2009, Blackjak wrote:

  "Why are you such a wanker, Chet?"

  "Because I get off on it!"

• At September 18, 2009, Chad Nevett wrote:

  Unthinkable was pretty damn good. I loved the art especially. I still think the final issue suffered by not giving ...

• At September 18, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Thanks, Tekende! That's all I ask for!

  Chad: Yeah, that's part of why the book feels rushed. I just ...

• At September 18, 2009, Chad Nevett wrote:

  Well, another issue or tighter pacing up to this point could have helped. Even just devoting a little bit of ...

• At September 18, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Good stuff, sir! I disagree with your comment about the first page, ignored the bird (no, it doesn't say ...

• At September 18, 2009, Chad Nevett wrote:

  Like I said, I think this issue relied on subtle nuane between characters at times... which is a flaw in ...

• At September 18, 2009, jccalhoun wrote:

  Darkhorse.com is back up. Here's a link to the ecomic of the older Beasts of Burden stories http://www.darkhorse.com/Features/eComics/1090/Beasts-of-Burden

• At September 18, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Very cool, sir. Thanks!

• At September 18, 2009, Duff McWhalen wrote:

  While nothing makes me happier than thinking "Opena on Moon Knight" I really wonder what the hell is going on. ...

• At September 19, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  Y'know, I own a Right Said Fred single with something like 7 mixes of "I'm Too Sexy." Also their (only?) ...

• At September 19, 2009, TimCallahan wrote:

  Luckily, the "Batman and Robin" #4 Philip Tan is not the Philip Tan of the mid-to-late "Final Crisis: Revelations," but, ...

• At September 19, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  I will say that Fletcher's page design on the Flash strip is just amazing

  ...Fletcher - dang, some good art ...

• At September 19, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Whoops, my bad. I could have sworn Fletcher was drawing it. Sorry, Misters Kerschl and Fletcher!

• At September 19, 2009, TimCallahan wrote:

  You can tell them apart in this simple way: Kerschl draws the hell out of anything. Fletcher doesn't draw.

• At September 19, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Ah, I see. That's a good way to do it!

  No Moon Knight hate, Tim? You're slipping!

I mentioned when the first issue of this series came out that I had already pre-ordered issue #2, which I probably wouldn't have bought otherwise. Well, here it is, and I'm glad I didn't pre-order issue #3. I really want to like this series, because I dig the pulpy character of it, and the idea of a socialite crime-solving vigilante who sleeps around is kind of neat. Holder doesn't do much with it, though. The dialogue is silly, the cases Domino Lady solves are interesting in the set-up but kind of dull in the execution (she does very little solving of crimes, for instance, as the bad guys generally confess), and the art, like the stories, is fairly standard. There's nothing that makes this stand out, and when you have the main character that Holder has created, the stories ought to be far more interesting. But they're not.

It's too bad. I had high hopes that this would be a fun, sort-of noir series that turns the standard clichés of the genre upside-down, but it doesn't. Oh well.

Fallen Angel: Reborn #3 (of 5) by Peter David (writer), J. K. Woodward (artist), and Robbie Robbins (letterer). $3.99, 22 pgs, FC, IDW.

There's always a problem with Peter David's stories after he's written a series for a long time - we know pretty much what we're going to get (even if it's completely unpredictable), and he does it very well, to the point that it's very difficult to discuss an individual issue. Things happen, the plot moves forward, Illyria and Liandra have a stand-off and David writes very good dialogue between them as they try to find the next plot device - I mean Illyria's symbols of power - and it leads up to a fight that is, as usual, clever. People who don't read David's comics might think it sounds boring, but it's not. David constructs single issues very well, and even if a single issue might feel a bit pre-fabricated, David adds good touches that make each chapter of each title work both as a snapshot of the characters' lives and a part of a larger whole. You might think it would make it difficult to pick up a David comic idly, but because he is so good at single issues, a new reader can ease into things pretty well. In this issue, for instance, Illyria and Liandra discuss how Lee fell, and although David doesn't repeat the whole story (which he's told before), we get the gist of it in a few pages, and David is able to create a nice emotional moment when we didn't see it coming. It's this kind of storytelling that, for me, always trumps David's unfortunate tendency to pun at the worst possible time, and why I'll always at least check out a comic that David writes.

I do wish I had gotten the "retailer incentive" cover, which shows Lee and Illyria standing next to four penguins and Lee saying, "Well, this sucks," a la Madagascar. Funny stuff!

The Incredible Hercules #134 ("W.W.T.D.?") by Greg Pak (writer), Fred van Lente (writer), Reilly Brown (penciler), Nelson DeCastro (inker), Guillem Mari (colorist), and Simon Bowland (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, Marvel.

Every so often there's a slightly weaker issue of The Incredible Hercules (meaning, a 12 on a scale of 10 rather than the usual 15 or 20) and I think, "Maybe Pak and van Lente are finally running out of ideas." And then they come back with an issue that blows the doors off of anything else on the stands, and I am comforted. This is one such issue. The last issue, with Amadeus Cho out there on his own checking out what happened to his sister, was pretty good, but only a 12 on a scale of 10. In this issue, which focuses back on Hercules pretending to be Thor, Pak and van Lente made me laugh on pretty much every page, and Reilly Brown is back on art, so that gets stepped up a bit as well.

This issue is pure pleasure. The recap page mocks Oliver Coipel's version of Thor, which is hilarious ("thipples"?), and from there, we just page after page of sheer insane delight. From Hercules believing that sunlight turns trolls to stone because he saw a documentary about The Hobbit to Alflyse's dramatic entrance, from the Acme anvil that lands on Herc to his knowledge of Star Trek pop culture (and the elf's rejoinder), and finally the ending, with the Warriors Three playing their ace in the hole, this is a wonderful comic. It's very funny (and Pak and van Lente manage a sexual double entendre that isn't too obnoxious) and very exciting. And just when I think that maybe, just maybe, van Lente and Pak are slipping just a tiny bit, I am reassured.

Dang, this is a great comic book. And soon: Agents of Atlas back-up feature! That'll be worth the extra dollar!

The Life and Times of Savior 28 #5 (of 5) by J. M. DeMatteis (writer), Mike Cavallaro (artist), Andrew Covalt (colorist), and Neil Uyetake (letterer). $3.99, 25 pgs, FC, IDW.

The mini-series comes to an end with a solid issue, a bit wordy (not surprisingly, as DeMatteis is often verbose) but summing up the thoughts that DeMatteis wants to get across. This is a thoughtful comic that ends pretty much the only way it could, not breaking any new ground, but telling a story that makes you pause and wonder what kind of people superheroes really are and what kind of people we are. Cavallaro has been doing a strong job on the art, and he continues here, giving us several full-page drawings that bring Savior 28's life to life, so to speak. He also shines in some of the smaller moments, like when he shows how apprehensive some of the characters are about Savior 28's lifestyle change. We get a good sense of how earth-shattering his desire to create peace on earth is from the way Cavallaro draws people reacting to him. DeMatteis tells us, of course, but it's still good that we see it on characters' faces.

I haven't seen a trade offered for this (I imagine there either is one or will be one), but you could do a lot worse if you check it out. Yes, it's a deconstruction of superheroes, something we've seen a lot of in the past, but DeMatteis is always interesting, because unlike a lot of deconstructions, he doesn't think of superheroes as fascists in costumes. DeMatteis is very good at creating real characters who act like real humans, and that's what makes this comic a nice read.

Secret Six #13 ("Depths Part Four: Fit For a King") by Gail Simone (writer), Nicola Scott (pencillers), Carlos Rodriguez (penciller/inker), Doug Hazlewood (inker), Rodney Ramos (inker), Jason Wright (colorist), and Travis Lanham (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC.

The second of the brilliant comics I read this week is completely different than the first. Where The Incredible Hercules is fun, Secret Six is brutal. Where The Incredible Hercules is joyfully exciting, Secret Six is horrifyingly exciting. They're both excellent comics, but it's interesting how polar opposite they are from each other. Except for Ragdoll, who's very funny. But his humor is really, really disturbing.

I've said this before with regard to Simone, and I'll say it again: I didn't see this coming. As much praise as was heaped on her Birds of Prey, the issues I've read were fairly bland - not awful but nothing great. Same thing with Wonder Woman (although it's been a while since I've read that - maybe it's better). Welcome to Tranquility was a good comic, but unlike this (although there were flashes of darkness in it). Her previous mini-series with these villains were some of her best work, but they only hinted at the depravity (in a good way) that lurks in Simone's brain. In this series, she's given full rein to that depravity, and it's magnificent. I've defended my love of this series with regard to my disgust with some other recent DC superhero work, and I'll do it again: The characters are despicable, so I can deal with them doing despicable things, and Simone's level of writing is simply higher than the other gorefests that DC is publishing. This issue, for instance, is packed with beautiful moments: Ragdoll trying on Wonder Woman's boots, which for some reason is extremely creepy; the interlude with Liana; Scandal's offer to the guards who are trying to kill her and the way Joseph reacts to it; the peek into Bane's psyche; Ragdoll (again); Scandal's gauntlet; Grendel's proclamations. As the characters spiral into darker and darker depths (hence the name of the arc), it's fascinating to watch what drives them and what changes them. Except Ragdoll. Don't ever change, Ragdoll! And it's gloriously illustrated by Scott, who keep getting better, even if she's forced to cover a nipple with a bloody axe. Remember, kids: Spikes coming out of a man's head - fine and dandy; nipples - won't someone think of the children?!?!?!?

Dang, this is a great comic. Oh, I already wrote that? Well, it's true about this as well.

The Unwritten #5 ("How the Whale Became") by Mike Carey (writer), Peter Gross (artist), Chris Chuckry (colorist), and Todd Klein (letterer). $2.99, 23 pgs, FC, DC/Vertigo.

I guess this is the way this series is going to go. We get the initial arc, then a single issue that fills in some history. I'm okay with that, even though issue #4 didn't really end the story arc. This issue is excellent, not only because it teases us with some information about the mysterious forces at work in Tom Taylor's life, but also because Carey does a fine job integrating Kipling's life into the story. He gives us a "secret" biography of Kipling, who is recruited by the mysterious forces that are now part of Tom's life, and begins writing about the glory of the British Empire. It's a nice tale of his fall from grace and why, for instance, he began writing children's stories, until he gets his revenge in death. Carey uses the tragedy in Kipling's life (which might be tactless if he hadn't died 70 years ago) in his narrative nicely, and he leads us to the cliffhanger very well. Gross is magnificent, as always, giving us a fantastic Victorian-looking comic that integrates fables and Kipling's children's stories nicely. Gross is always good, but occasionally he is wonderful, and this is one of those issues.

I can even forgive the typo that lets Oscar Wilde live past 1900. Where's that fact-checker?!?!?

Wednesday Comics #10 (of 12) by creators who think they're better than you are. Are you going to stand for that? $3.99, 15 pgs, FC, DC.

"Give yourself up."
"Do your worst, monkey! My father and I will die on our feet like the warriors we are!"
"Read this!"
"That was a helluva thing, dollface ... a helluva thing."
"We take what we like. And there is only one of you."
"Will there be giant vegetables?"
"But do you remember who you really are?"
"There are many strange wonders on Earth, your highness - but talking blue baboons are not among them ...!"
"I wonder what it's like to be a genius."
"Enough of this mushy stuff. We've got a city to save!"
"But the habits of beasts can be studied ... and mastered!"
"Take it, kid. Spoils of war."
"I'm gonna ask you one more time, and then I'm vibrating my fist through your face."
"Now come, my sweet! This fate is not for thee!"
"Look! Look what I can do!"

It all makes sense when you break it down logically, doesn't it?

(I should point out that Gaiman gets his Latin wrong. "Ego sum regem mundi" is incorrect, because "regem" shouldn't be accusative. It should be "Ego sum rex mundi," because "to be" verbs take the nominative - it's the appositive, technically. In fact, you probably don't even need the "ego," as "sum" means "I am," so it's a bit redundant.)

So that's the week. Not a ton of quantity, but two absolutely brilliant comics, and three others that are pretty good. And that Flash strip was freakin' excellent. And Java continues to crack me up. And now ... totally random lyrics!

"When her robe is unfurled she will show you the world,
If you step up and tell her where.
For a dime you can see Kankakee or Paree,
Or Washington crossing The Delaware."

Good stuff!

20 Comments

• At September 11, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  Y'know, I didn't make it to my LCS Thursday because I (a) felt like crap (from the usual sleeping problems ...

• At September 11, 2009, JackKing wrote:

  I thought this post was going to be about 9/11...

• At September 11, 2009, Brian wrote:

  Why, that would be "Lydia, the Tattooed Lady," covered once by the Capitol Steps, with several groan-inducing puns, as "Libya, ...

• At September 11, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Well, Dan, I certainly hope your journey is safe! It's totally worth it! I went to a sleep ...

• At September 11, 2009, Rebis wrote:

  Simone's Wonder Woman was really lagging with the interminable Genocide storyline, but she sprang back to her standard smart-and-fun form ...

• At September 11, 2009, DanLarkin wrote:

  I always thought the "has a brother Larry" was parenthetical, and that it's Harry who's asking his best friend to ...

• At September 11, 2009, Mike Loughlin wrote:

  You're also friends with Larry, and his original best man had a last minute emergency. Despite being brothers, Harry and ...

• At September 11, 2009, Michael P. wrote:

  I don't think Herc saw a documentary about The Hobbit. I think he saw The Hobbit, and thought it was ...

• At September 11, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Yeah, that's probably right, Michael. Although I wonder, because he's been around for long enough to figure it out. ...

• At September 11, 2009, Chad Nevett wrote:

  Yeah, that date in The Unwritten should be 1895... the type doesn't fit into the chronological nature of the story ...

• At September 11, 2009, The Last Boy Scout wrote:

  How it thrills me to see a Latin scholar! (Or, at the very least, a former Latin student with ...

• At September 12, 2009, Andrew wrote:

  "Ego sum" is pretty common; it just emphasizes the "I" for effect. It's the difference between observing that you're king ...

• At September 12, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Andrew: Yeah, I know it's common enough that it's not really an issue, but it still is a bit redundant. ...

• At September 12, 2009, KCViking wrote:

  Slowly but surely this is becoming my favorite column here at CBR.Keep up the great work Greg.

  Glad I'm not the ...

• At September 12, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Thanks, KCViking. I hope I can!

• At September 12, 2009, Philip wrote:

  I love, love, love Hercules and Secret Six. Two of the best comics out there today, especially by the big ...

• At September 13, 2009, acespot wrote:

  it wasn't a peek into Bane's psyche that was as horrifying as the one-panel peek into DEADSHOT'S psyche: basically, where ...

• At September 13, 2009, Fascination Place » This Week’s Haul wrote:

  [...] Greg Burgas liked it, though, as did Rich Johnston. Leave a comment ...

• At September 13, 2009, ZZZ wrote:

  Let me preface this by saying it COULD be entirely incorrect (never smart to assume that just because someone's an ...

• At September 13, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  ZZZ: Yeah, I thought of that. I'm going to give Gaiman the benefit of the doubt and believe that ...

And always remember: If you're going to hire Machete to kill the bad guy, you'd better be damn sure the bad guy isn't you!

Agents of Atlas #10 ("Terror of the Jade Claw Part II") by Jeff Parker (writer), Gabriel Hardman (artist), Paul Rivoche (artist), Elizabeth Dismang (colorist), and Tom Orzechowski (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, Marvel.

Parker gives us a relatively quiet issue, as Jimmy Woo and his bunch strategize about what they're going to do with the Jade Claw while we get subplots for future stories (whether they're going to be in this title or not). It's nicely handled, especially because everyone gets some face time (except for the awesome Derek Khanata, who's only in one panel), which is hard when the cast is relatively big and relatively unknown (still). There's a lot of cool stuff, of course, from the mad scientist in the basement to Mr. Lao's exposition about the Dragon Clan Wars to Ken Hale's trenchant observation about Atlas's cargo ships, and the ending, with M-11 getting a chance to try out its upgrade, is very cool. I'm not sure how the art chores are split up, but I've always said that Hardman on this book is a good fit, and the art doesn't change that much throughout, so it looks good throughout. Dismang has to get some of the credit - whenever she colors the book, the art looks like a better fit.

I didn't love the "Night Radio" portions, mainly because it's hard to believe that some paranoid dude on the radio is freaking out about Atlas in a Marvel Universe where gods literally walk the earth. I know that the normal people of the MU don't often see superheroes strolling around, but they know they exist, and that's why it's difficult to create these kinds of mood in a shared universe title. It's a nifty idea, but the fact that the AoA are going to interact with the X-Men and Hercules soon makes it less compelling. But that's just me.

I still have no idea what's going on with this title. Parker isn't making any announcements on his blog, and according to the back of the book, there's a next issue and the X-Men crossover coming up. Then, according to the latest Previews, it moves to a back-up feature in The Incredible Hercules after Jimmy Woo's group crosses over with everyone's favorite Greek demi-god. I assume that's the end of the regular book. So is next issue the last one? Beats me. We'll see, I guess. It's just annoying. At least DC has the decency to list "final issue" in their solicitations.

Chew #4 ("Taster's Choice Part 4 of 5") by John Layman (writer/letterer) and Rob Guillory (artist/colorist). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, Image.

Layman showed me a few pages of this issue at San Diego, and he wasn't kidding when he said that, as twisted as those pages were, this issue would get even more twisted. It's gleefully twisted, and getting more laugh-out-loud funny with each issue, so it seems that Layman's scripts are catching up nicely with Guillory's glorious art, which means this book is getting even better. That's good to see.

There's a lot to like in this issue, from the actual plot, which is creepy and somewhat plausible (with one exception, which I'll get to), to the interaction between Tony and Savoy, which isn't really friendship but is still fun. Layman drops a clue about our rotund F.D.A. agent friend, Tony's brother advances a subplot, and we get a rather odd ending. Guillory, of course, is fantastic, from the way the coroner's face goes from smug to horrified anger in an instant to the way Chu reads what happened to the senator to the scene in the observatory, which is choreographed wonderfully. It's fun to check out the splash page, which is where the issue essentially ends, and then watch how Guillory and Layman make it to that point, because it's so very twisted.

I'm a bit confused by the end, which seems to indicate that the Russians and the Americans destroyed a planet. Why? What was written in the sky of that planet? What does this add to the book, if anything? Was it just a two-page throwaway gag? Beats me. Seems awfully mean-spirited of the Russians and Americans, I must say. Oh well.

There's also a three-page letter column, which is quite neat, although one writer is all about the "collectibility" of the series and actually berates Layman and Guillory for making issue #1 more available, thus destroying its "collectibility." Layman is very diplomatic to the dude, but I wonder if he wanted to tell that letter-writer to shut up.

Anyway, we'll see how the first arc wraps up next time. I have a feeling it will be even more evil. And that's good stuff!

Greek Street #3 ("Book One: Blood Calls for Blood Part Three: House of Ghosts") by Peter Milligan (writer), Davide Gianfelice (artist), Patricia Mulvihill (colorist), and Clem Robins (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC/Vertigo.

I'm still feeling this sucker out, but I did like this issue more than the previous two. The presence of a Greek chorus is nice, because there is a ton going on in this book, and Milligan hasn't really given each plot enough yet to make them memorable, and the Greek chorus lets us back into the story. I did like the reveal of the monster, though. Pretty keen.

But I'd like to talk about the art. Gianfelice draws this and the latest issue of Northlanders, which also came out this week. I loved (and love) Gianfelice on the Viking book, and not as much on this book (although it's still pretty good). I looked at this issue and Northlanders this week, and I don't know why they look different. He inks his own work, so it's not that. His line is bolder on Northlanders, giving the art a stronger feel, whereas on Greek Street, it's definitely looser and more malleable. If Gianfelice is doing this deliberately, as the story in Northlanders demands a harder edge because of its subject matter, than that's pretty keen. I wonder if the coloring has anything to do with it. Both Mulvihill and McCaig make these comics "look" like a Vertigo book, in that the colors are a bit muted and we get a lot of earth tones, but McCaig's brighter colors (the red of blood, for instance), are a bit more crimson than Mulvihill's. Again, I have no idea how much the colorist influences the pencil art, and Gianfelice's pencils look bolder in Northlanders, but I wonder how much influence the colorist has in this instance. It's interesting (to me, at least) that it's only taken me 20 years to start noticing the color art, but now that I am, I'm starting to have favorite colorists as well as writers and artists. It probably won't be enough to drive me away from books, but it's something to consider.

GrimJack: The Manx Cat #2 (of 6) by John Ostrander (writer), Timothy Truman (artist), Lovern Kindzierski (colorist), and John Workman (letterer). $3.99, 27 pgs, FC, IDW.

One of the great things about Ostrander is that he has never bought into the idea of "decompression" (at least the books I've read that he's written), so these 27 pages can feel twice as long, and it's nice to read a comic with so much packed into its pages. I mean, Gaunt is still looking for the eponymous cat, but his trek takes him all around Cynosure, and Ostrander brings a bunch of new characters into the mix and even manages two fight scenes (in which Gaunt, perhaps not surprisingly, kicks ass). It's been a while since I've read the original series, and I've only read it once (and not even all of it), so I don't know where this "fits" into the chronology, but I do know that Ostrander is indeed fitting it in, and it's very cool for long-time readers. And if you've never read GrimJack, you can easily follow along. That's just how good Ostrander is!

Truman is brilliant, too, of course. There's more subtlety to the art nowadays as opposed to 25 years ago (not surprisingly), and it deepens Truman's excellent pencils and makes Cynosure more of a real location. I'm not too jazzed by the photographs dropped into the book, but they only show up on two pages, so I can live with it. John's look is dated, of course, with that big-ass shoulder pad thing, but it's also something of a classic, so even though this book occasionally feels like a relic, it also manages to feel fresh, and that's a neat trick. Of course, if we get back to the colorist, Kindzierski has a lot to do with the art looking great, as the metallic hues on the robots late in the book, for instance, make them more "realistic," for lack of a better word. Kindzierski also makes Gaunt look his age (whatever that age may be), even more than Truman does. It gives the main character a good "beaten-down" look, appropriate for Gaunt.

I do question something Mike Gold writes in the letters column. He claims all of the "original GrimJack stories" have been collected in trade paperback. That's not true. IDW got to issue #54 and then discontinued the trades. Now, issue #54 marks a major shift in the original series, but the series did continue (with Ostrander writing it) until issue #81, so IDW has a way to go before all of the "original" stories are collected. Gold does tease a GrimJack Omnibus, but we'll see what's up with that. If it's just reprinting the series from the beginning, I'll be less excited about it than if IDW got around to collecting the rest of the series. They have claimed a lack of interest in the trades (which sucks, as this is a great series), so I don't know how well an omnibus would do, but we'll see.

Incognito #6 (of 6) by Ed Brubaker (writer), Sean Phillips (artist), and Val Staples (colorist). $3.99, 34 pgs, FC, Marvel/Icon.

As much as I liked Incognito, I am happy that Criminal will be returning soon. It's just such a shame that the superhero mentality has such a grip on most comics readers that this book, by the same exact creative team, sells much better than Criminal, which is a superior title. There's nothing terribly wrong with Incognito, as Brubaker, Phillips, and Staples really go nuts on this final issue, wrapping things up, leaving some things open, and wallowing in all the tropes that make superhero comics great (the death traps, the crazy scientists, the intractable problems with the supervillains and the extreme solutions to said problems). It's basically Criminal if everyone in that book had superpowers, which is why it's annoying that people abandon Brubillips in droves when they churn out another issue of their noir comic. Sheesh.

Anyway, after I praised Staples on Rapture a few weeks ago, I should point out that his work here is pretty glorious, too. I have to go back and check out the rest of this series, but it seems like it's been getting more day-glo as Zack gets more and more into his "supervillain" mode, as it went from a noir book to a more superheroic comic. It's still pretty dark in tone, obviously, but the weird green hues in the doctor's lab and the crackly energy of Zoe's flying car make it a kind of "through-the-looking-glass" superhero book, which is I'm sure what Brubaker and Phillips were going for. Once again, we must hail the colorist!

The trade will be out soon. A new issue of Criminal will be out soon. Do yourself a favor and get them!

The Last Resort #2 (of 5) ("Red Tide") by Jimmy Palmiotti (writer), Justin Gray (writer), Giancarlo Caracuzzo (artist), and Robbie Robbins (letterer). $3.99, 22 pgs, FC, IDW.

The splash page of this comic shows a burning airplane in the background, with at least three burning people running from it. Plus, there's a torso in the foreground, looking sadly at the audience. Then the plane explodes again, and some of the wreckage decapitates at least three people and skewers a few more. That's just the kind of comic this is!

In other words, awesome. I don't mean to keep comparing this to Power Girl, the other comic by this writing team that I'm currently reading, but I do, and DC's offering comes up way short. I know that that's a corporate comic and therefore has standards of decency (I mean, it's not like DC would publish a comic in which heroes torture people and the undead bodies of heroes are skullfucking those they've just killed, right?) while IDW made its bones with a bloody vampire comic and lets creators go a bit bonkers, but again, it's about the level of energy, and while PG has been a bit enervating so far (writing-wise, not art-wise, of course), with flashes of goodness, this series, two issues in, has just hit the ground running and hasn't let up on the throttle. Of course, it's a goofy comic, a melding of horror and disaster movies, but that's a nice mix, and Gray and Palmiotti are just having a great time. They're dispatching characters left and right with aplomb, introducing new characters who will have a major impact on things, and doing a good job showing how crisis doesn't really change someone's character, just enhances it (whatever that may be). Jerks are still jerks in a crisis situation, people! Caracuzzo gets to draw nekkid chicks and lots of horrible violence, and he also looks like he's having a blast.

I know this is 4 bucks a pop, but it's shaping up to be a fantastic series. I guess the trade will be cheaper than buying the individual issues, but reading this in installments is a lot of fun.

Northlanders #20 ("Sven the Immortal") by Brian Wood (writer), Davide Gianfelice (artist), Dave McCaig (colorist), and Travis Lanham (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, DC/Vertigo.

Wood returns to Sven, his character from the first arc, and gives us a single issue story in which Sven gets to kick all kinds of ass. That's basically it; this acts as a coda to Sven's life, showing us that as much as he's softened in the years since "Sven the Returned," he's still a warrior, and he knows a few tricks that help him fight men decades younger than he is. It's beautifully drawn (see above for my musings on Gianfelice's art here), and Wood basically lets Sven go nuts. It's a well-written comic, of course, but it is basically Sven killing a bunch of dudes, and that's perfectly fine.

I hate to nitpick about this comic because I'm afraid that Brian Wood will come to my house and kick my ass, but I wonder about Sven's family. He hooked up with the girl at the end of the first arc, and I could have sworn they were closer in age. It's been 29 years since the events of "Sven the Returned." So why aren't his kids older? His kids are younger than ten, I'd wager, and it's strange that he didn't have any others. Did they die? How old is Enna? I suppose she could have been in her mid-thirties when the kids were born, but any older and I doubt she would be bearing children, which is iffy these days for women older than 35 and would be very dangerous for women living in the Faroe Islands at the turn of the millennium. Anyway, I just wonder about these things. Yes, I should be looking for grand themes in Wood's writing, and this is what I focus on. So sue me.

Still. Great comic. Really.

Strange Tales #1 (of 3) by Nick Bertozzi (writer/artist, "Lo, a Watcher!" and "And Call My Lover MODOK!"), Chris Sinderson (colorist, "Lo, a Watcher!"), Paul Pope (writer/artist, "Inhumans"), José Villarrubia (colorist, "Inhumans"), John Leavitt (writer, "She-Hulk"), Molly Crabapple (artist, "She-Hulk"), Star St. Germain (colorist/letterer, "She-Hulk"), Junko Mizuno (writer/artist, "Welcome to the Spider Town"), Aki Yanagi (translator, "Welcome to the Spider Town"), C. B. Cebulski (adapter, "Welcome to the Spider Town"), Dash Shaw (writer/artist, "Dr. Strange vs. Nightmare"), James Kochalka (writer/artist, "Hulk Squad Smash"), Johnny Ryan (writer/artist, "Marvel's Most Embarrassing Moments" and "Scared Smart"), Michael Kupperman (writer/artist, "Fed Up With Man"), Peter Bagge (writer/artist, "The Incorrigible Hulk"), Nicholas Gurewitch (writer/artist, "The Green Menace" and "The Blue Hair"), and Jason (writer/artist, untitled Spider-Man story - "Spidey Gets in a Bar Fight"?). $4.99, 47 pgs, FC, Marvel.

I'm not sure if I can even express the sheer awesome found in these pages. You won't spend a better five dollars this week, I can tell you that much. From the Watcher peeping on She-Hulk in the shower to Doctor Strange conquering a yawn and feeling damned proud of it to the Punisher disciplining a wayward child to Namor's secret weakness that only "air breathers" can deliver to a warped and strangely poignant tale of MODOK to Logan's jealous reaction while he's getting busy, there's nothing that's not excellent in this comic. Okay, there is, and it's Kochalka's Hulk story. Why can't I enjoy Kochalka's work????* Other than that, every page of this book is a delight. Paul Pope gives us a tale of Lockjaw just wanting some damned food, Spider-Man can't figure out how to win the affections of a bunch of actual spiders, Johnny Ryan shows us what really happens behind the scenes in Marvel history, and Peter Bagge's Incorrigible Hulk manages to live up to the hype (so far; two installments left!). "Slutty girl not afraid of Hulk?" Good stuff! And why, oh why does Dr. Strange not think something is weird about his soup?!?!?!?!?

You know you love this comic already, even if you haven't read it. Now all you have to do is buy it!

* I will say that if you've never read anything by Kochalka, the Hulk story is a perfect way to decide if you like him. If you like it, you'll like everything he does, because it's all the same. If you don't like it, he never does anything different to make you change your mind. So there's that.

Sweet Tooth #1 ("Out of the Deep Woods Part One") by Jeff Lemire (writer/artist), José Villarrubia (colorist), and Pat Brosseau (letterer). $1.00, 22 pgs, FC, DC/Vertigo.

As Marvel continues to scoop up independent creators by the bucketful, DC manages to snag Jeff Lemire, and after his graphic novel The Nobody (my review is here!), he fires up an ongoing that is, well, weird. It's pretty well done, and Lemire gives us a really nice double-page spread in the middle of the book that looks gorgeous, but it's hard to judge this. Unlike the other recent Vertigo books, it's not longer than your standard comic book, although it is cheaper (which means you should give it a try!), and it feels like Lemire is just getting his feet wet with the monthly format, so it's a lot of set-up. Sure, someone gets shot in the head, but otherwise, it's a lot of exposition. The basic premise: some pandemic has wiped out a good chunk of humanity, and the only kids being born are strange hybrids, including Gus there, who has antlers. His father dies in this issue, and Gus is rescued from some hunters by a mean-looking old dude. Yeah, like I said: a bit thin on plot, but that's okay. Lemire is very good at mood, both with his sparse writing and his bleak art, and that's what he's doing here. He gets the sense of Gus's isolation down very well, and as his father fades away (almost literally), Lemire does a good job showing Gus's despair. If you've never seen Lemire's art, it's a bit of an acquired taste, but it's very haunting and stays with you long after you close the book.

Lemire claims in the "On the Ledge" section that this will be unlike any post-apocalyptic or Vertigo monthly you've ever read, and while that's not in evidence here, it's still a well done issue that promises quite a bit. And, as I pointed out, it's a freaking dollar. And you won't feel dirty after reading it, like you do after checking out a teenager's rack in a different comic from this week!

Wednesday Comics #9 (of 12) by all sorts of people. $3.99, 15 pgs, FC, DC.

Batman: The red shards of glass / Fall like leaves through the battle / "Don't go easy, Bats"

Kamandi: New York to Vicksburg / Back to Washington, D. C. / We don't need no maps!

Superman: Supes becomes a wuss / By mind meld; what does he blame / All the other times?

Deadman: Oh, Boston Brand, you've / Been dead so long, you forgot / Never trust the woman!

Green Lantern: Invasion force? / But what about Dill and Hal's / Hot forbidden love?

Metamorpho: Happy Java sings / If you don't like this strip then / "Fellita eum"

Teen Titans: Jeez, I don't even feel like thinking about making a haiku for this. Yuck.

Strange Adventures: Those damn dirty apes / Are far too sloppy; Korgo / Dates the Zeta-Beam!

Supergirl: Doctor Mid-Nite is / A bit too creepy with owls / I miss Aquaman

Metal Men: Chemo's casing cracks / He sits sadly in the street / He just needs a hug

Wonder Woman: "More guns and ... bullies" / Says Wonder Woman as she / Punches the bad guys

Sgt. Rock and Easy Co.: Yay! Rock kills a guy / But gets bopped by a Ratzi / Rock must be too old

The Flash: Coolest strip this week / Barry as Dagwood is neat / Is that the Mole Man?*

The Demon and Catwoman: Morgaine le Fay is / Just like a James Bond bad guy / She talks way too much

Hawkman: I'm the goddamned Hawk? / What gives Katar the right? He's ... / A superhero!

* Note: I know it's not the Mole Man, but it sure looks like him!

Young Liars #18 (of 18) ("The Death of Good") by David Lapham (writer/artist), Lee Loughridge (colorist), and Jared K. Fletcher (letterer). $2.99, 23 pgs, FC, DC/Vertigo.

I don't really know what to say about this. It's very metafictional, and although I've loved the series, if we believe that Lapham is writing this as a cri de couer for the death of his creation, he comes off kind of petulant. But then I think A) He has a right to be petulant; and B) It's probably not really him in this story. It goes around and around the main arc, and Sadie/Loreli does something awesome with butcher knives, and there's a weirdly tragic page near the end that gets back to whether this is Danny's story or David Lapham's story (not that I'm saying that David Lapham is some kind of Spider God from Mars, of course), and it's just a lot to digest. This has always been a series that makes you think and makes you consider how to tell a story and what it means to tell a story, and for that, it should be appreciated as one of the best series of the past few years. It's the kind of thing that, on the surface, can be read and appreciated for its sheer audacity, but when you start thinking about what Lapham is doing, it makes you dig deeper and deeper until you face the insanity of fiction, and then it really gets interesting. I haven't done that enough yet with the series; we all saw what it did to poor Chad Nevett, who now sits in a rocking chair playing canasta with three invisible friends he named Manny, Moe, and Jack while regaling anyone who will listen about how he cracked the secret Young Liars code and discovered the key to the universe is currently in the possession of a young Belgian girl. So I'm not sure I want to go there.

But you go ahead and live your lives. I didn't cry when Automatic Kafka bit the big one, and I won't cry now. I didn't get all suicidal when the masses decided Major Bummer was too cool to live, and I won't cry now. But when the radness of Zombie Ch'p isn't enough to fill that gaping hole in your soul, don't come crying to me!

I was a bit surprised that no one got last week's totally random lyrics, as they were from Pete Townshend's awesome tune "Crashing By Design." I'm getting a bit worried about you guys - turn off the Lady Gaga, people, and put on some classic rock! Let's crank up some more totally random lyrics!

"Under the dog star sail
Over the reefs of moonshine
Under the skies of fall
North, north west, the stones of Faroe

Under the Arctic fire
Over the seas of silence
Hauling on frozen ropes
For all my days remaining
But would north be true?"

By the way: FOOTBALL IS BACK!!!!!!!! That's real football, mind you, not that other game played largely with ... the foot. Whatever. U! S! A!

27 Comments

• At September 3, 2009, Grant Watson wrote:

  Your randoms lyrics are by Sting, "Why Should I Cry For You", The Soul Cages, 1991.

• At September 4, 2009, joepiops wrote:

  c'mon, football beats your rugby in armour anyday

• At September 4, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  They did try to have other kids before these one's in Northlanders - it's mentioned in the closing pages of ...

• At September 4, 2009, Ted wrote:

  FOOTBALL IS BACK!!!!!!!! That's real football, mind you

  What the hell are you talking about? The AFL is just about to ...

• At September 4, 2009, BDaly wrote:

  What a week, huh? I just went to my shop today, and on top of all this week's great stuff, ...

• At September 4, 2009, Brian wrote:

  I missed Last Resort at my shop, it's on my list when I go trolling elsewhere.

  I watched SC squeak past ...

• At September 4, 2009, Ed wrote:

  At the end of the Sweet Tooth review - "And you won't feel dirty after reading it, like you do ...

• At September 4, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  >>What the hell are you talking about? The AFL is just about to end.

  What the hell are *you* talking about? ...

• At September 4, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  Otherwise, this is of course another installment of "What Greg Bought & Dan Paid for but Won't Receive Till Next ...

• At September 4, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  FGJ: Thanks. I forget things.

  Ted: That's not even the AFL, but the minor league Arena Football! Although the ...

• At September 4, 2009, Chad Nevett wrote:

  I don't think Lapham is being petulant at all. The first two pages seem rather justified -- what else would ...

• At September 4, 2009, Ted wrote:

  Yeah, I don't know what you guys are talking about, but I'm talking about this http://www.afl.com.au/

  OK, technically yes, I do ...

• At September 4, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  Ted --

  Yeah, I figured you were talking about an overseas league. At the very least, I knew you *weren't* talking ...

• At September 4, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  >>Otherwise, this is of course another installment of "What Greg Bought & Dan Paid for but Won't Receive Till Next ...

• At September 4, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Sorry, Ted, I didn't think of the Aussie league. I should have, as I've seen a match in the ...

• At September 4, 2009, Ted wrote:

  I was hoping that Greg might get it, what with his having been to Australia, but I neglected to consider ...

• At September 4, 2009, Ted wrote:

  Oh, Greg, you ninjaed me.

  In answer to your question, no unfortunately they don't let the fans go onto the oval ...

• At September 4, 2009, Stefan Wenger wrote:

  Greek Street 3 was better, I agree, and I'm still feeling it out.

  Somebody revealed at a convention that the AoA ...

• At September 4, 2009, Andrew Collins wrote:

  Greg,

  I haven't had a chance to pick up the new Manx Cat issue and see what Mike Gold is referring ...

• At September 4, 2009, Michael P. wrote:

  According to a post Parker made on Newsarama, Agents of Atlas will relaunch sometime next year.

• At September 4, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Andrew: Yeah, that's probably what Gold was referring to. I'm glad they're doing the Omnibus, as I do hope ...

• At September 4, 2009, Ted wrote:

  Depends which University you went to. If it was Melbourne, then yes. If it was Monash, then no.

• At September 4, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Definitely Melbourne. I actually went out to Monash once with a friend of mine, but that was it.

• At September 5, 2009, Stefan Wenger wrote:

  I have to say I enjoyed that little Hulk story probably more than I've enjoyed every other James Kochalka story ...

• At September 6, 2009, acespot wrote:

  Read CHEW again. The planet being observed was 24 light years away. There's a flashback scene to "24 ...

• At September 6, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Oh, I see. I thought the writing in the sky was something that someone on Earth sent and that ...

• At September 6, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  I got the AFL joke Ted, but I found the following misunderstandings to be even funnier.

That's a tough one. So much bad-assery! Let's get to the comics!

Dark Horse:

I'm torn about the Dr. Horrible one-shot on page 22 (18 November). On the one hand, everyone in the world (including, you know, orphans in Rwanda) loved the web movie. On the other hand, I never saw it. Because I am lame. So do I deserve to read this? On the other hand, Joëlle Jones draws this, and Joëlle Jones's art is concentrated awesome (even if typing her name means I have to check my HTML code every single freakin' time, because I never remember what the code is for a freakin' umlaut over an "e"). On the other hand (yes, I have four hands; don't you?), it won't feature Doogie Howser, who was, apparently, part of the awesomeness of the movie. See? I'm torn. But there it is, in case you're interested.

More Conan from Dark Horse: Page 29 brings us the Barry Windsor-Smith archives from the early 1970s (20 January). 200 pages, 50 bucks, and dang, I may have to purchase that.

Fear Agent volume 5 is solicited. Again (page 32; 13 January). Man, that book is slow. But seriously cool.

Over on page 37, we get the early stories of the Goon (30 December). I assume this means the Avatar stuff. I can't wrap my mind around The Goon at Avatar. That's just weird. Anyway, I have no interest in this, because I just don't like The Goon, but for 14 bucks, you might be interested.

Gantz volume 9 is offered on page 49 for 27 January. Considering that volume 6 hasn't come out yet (has it? I don't think it has), I'm not confident that Dark Horse can make this release date. Why are they soliciting it? I wonder.

Speaking of manga, The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service volume 10 is finally offered on page 50 (13 January). I goddamn love this series.

DC:

DC must stand for "Dick Comics." They're giving out those rings, right? The seven different rings that all true nerds must have? So they're offered with various comics that ship in November. Retailers get them if they order a certain amount of the title. Twenty-five copies, to be exact. So that's fine for the green ring that comes with Blackest Night #5 (page 61; 25 November), because most retailers are going to order 25 copies of that. R.E.B.E.L.S. #10 (page 69; 11 November), however, is a different animal. I doubt if the retailers in Tony Bedard's home town sell 25 copies of R.E.B.E.L.S. I know it's a shameless ploy by DC to get retailers to order more of their lower-selling books, but don't be surprised if your retailer charges you a modest fee for some of these "free" rings.

On page 80, Brian Azzarello and Phil Noto have a Batman/Doc Savage Special (11 November) which leads into a mini-series by Azzarello and Rags Morales. This might be the most awesome thing DC puts out in November. It might suck, of course, but I surely hope it doesn't.

I very much doubt if I will buy The Great Ten, the new mini-series by Tony Bedard and Scott McDaniel (page 82; 4 November), but I do like that DC is putting out a series with Chinese superheroes. I'm always happy to see DC and Marvel go outside the United States for some superheroing!

I want to resist Lobo: Highway to Hell on page 83 (4 November), but I might not be able to. I love that Sam Kieth is drawing it, and although I have no idea if Scott Ian can tell a story, the man who wrote "Startin' Up a Posse" can't be all bad at it, can he? It's still 7 bucks for 64 pages, though, so we'll see.

John Ostrander writes Suicide Squad #15 (I mean Secret Six #15; page 87; 4 November). That should make Bill Reed happy. But Jim Calafiore draws it. That will make Bill Reed sad. Will he choose to buy it or not? The world holds its breath!!!!!

That Batman: Confidential arc featuring Catwoman and Batgirl and drawn by Kevin Maguire gets a trade paperback on page 90 (2 December). 128 pages for 13 bucks. Sounds good!

Batman: The Cult gets a new printing on page 90 (9 December). This isn't a great comic, but damn, Wrightson's art is cool. And if you think Quitely's Batmobile/Batcycle thing in Batman and Robin #3 is keen, wait until you see Wrightson's Batmobile!

Absolute Green Lantern: Rebirth on page 91? For $75? Even the extras don't make it worth $75.

The Mighty gets a trade on page 93 (23 December). I may have to check this out, because more than a few people have said it's good. Too bad Snejbjerg didn't stick around.

Wildstorm is finishing the God of All Comics' run on The Authority (page 100). Without Morrison. Without Gene Ha. Okay, G-Mozz plotted it, but still. Just move on, Wildstorm!

Ian Edginton writes Victorian Undead on page 105 (18 November). Sherlock Holmes versus zombies. As dumb as it sounds, I like Edginton a lot, so we'll see about this.

David Lapham cashes a pay check on page 106, as he writes a video game comic. I have absolutely NO problem with him cashing a pay check, believe me. Let's hope it allows him to do something I want to read.

I thought the cover of Hellblazer #261 (page 114; 18 November) was pretty damned awesome. The dude at my comic book store disagreed. What say you?

Mike Sterling pointed this out in his post on Previews, as DC missed the boat on page 130:

Batgirl dances the Watusi? Really, DC? Aren't you, you know, forgetting something about your past? (Mike links to this, which led me to this, which will make your brain explode from the radness.)

Man, this shit scares me:

Image:

You know, Image has done a lot in recent years to transform into a publisher that is putting out some of the best books in comics. And then they do this:

We're in hell. Yes we are. (Page 136; 25 November.)

And this:

A Haunt #1 collector's edition with gold-fucking-foil embossed logo, motherfuckers! (Page 143; 4 November.)

Did I say we were in hell? We're sinking fast here!

And then there's Spawn Origins Collection: Deluxe Edition Volume 1 (page 149; 18 November), bringing us issues #1-25* for $100. Okay, it features issues written by Alan Moore, Frank Miller, and Grant Morrison, but really? One hundred dollars?

* Not really #1-25, unless McFarlane and Gaiman kissed and made up and that issue is in here. But that wouldn't happen, would it?

In case you haven't gotten I Kill Giants yet, there's a new, "Titan Edition" on page 150 for 40 dollars (18 November). It's oversized (for American comics; Kelly told me at San Diego that Niimura drew it "European-style," so it's meant to be "oversized"), includes the script for issue #1 and other bonus stuff. This is one of the best mini-series in the past two years, so you should consider splurging on this.

If you missed Chew #1 and don't feel like paying $100 for a first printing, the trade is solicited on page 151 (25 November). Ten bucks for five issues!

Ministry of Space gets a new printing on page 153 (4 November). It's not bad.

Marvel:

I shouldn't be too surprised when Marvel and DC recycle ideas, but the turnover between the recycled ideas is getting really tight. Case in point: Amazing Spider-Man #612 (page 19; 18 November), in which Spidey's classic arch-enemies are redefined one by one! Didn't Mark Millar do that five years ago? Shouldn't his foes remain redefined for a bit longer than that?

Paul Cornell writes and Tom Raney and John Paul Leon draw a new origin of the Black Widow (page 25; 4 November). I'm sure it will ignore all the Black Widow mini-series that came out at the beginning of the decade, but that's still a good creative team!

The solicitation text for Dark Avengers #11 (page 27; 18 November) reads: "[T]he world gets turned upside down and no joke ... someone dies. For reelz!!" "For reelz"? Really?

I like the text for Jeff Parker's first issue on Thunderbolts (page 56; 18 November): "You've heard raves about Parker's [Agents of] ATLAS ... but now it's time to turn him loose on some real fiends!" That's a good way to put it - "You've heard raves." They should have written, "You've heard raves - 'heard' being the operative word, as none of you bought it so we have to cancel it!" Sorry, I'm still a bit bitter.

The text for Vengeance of the Moon Knight (page 58; 4 November) puzzles me: "Years ago, Moon Knight lost his mind and killed a man, cut off his face and brayed at the moon. That man was his nemesis: Raoul Bushman." That event occurred in the first few issues of Moon Knight's previous series. So "years ago" doesn't seem like it makes much sense. I know Marvel and DC plays fast and loose with time in their comics, but that stretches things a bit.

Deadpool gets a third ongoing series on page 62 (4 November). That sound you hear is the world ending.

So "Necrosha" is all about old heroes and villains coming back from the dead and menacing the current heroes? Gosh, I wonder where Marvel got that idea ...

Kieron Gillen and Steven Sanders bring us S.W.O.R.D. #1 (page 67; 11 November), which will probably be awesome. As with all new Marvel (and DC) books that don't feature established characters and therefore face a tough road to sales glory, I hope Gillen has planned this as a 12-issue limited series, because that's about all it's going to get, even with the tenuous X-Men connection. I don't mean to be pessimistic, just realistic. If he plans it for a year-long story, it will feel more complete than if Marvel cancels it out from under him, which they will. Or, you know, you could just buy the damned thing!

Psylocke #1 (page 71; 4 November) is the mini-series I should have written, because I love Betsy so very much. Luckily, I can complain about it on the Internet because I'm mean and bitter!

Incognito gets a trade on page 77 (25 November), if you're the kind of person who waits for the trade.

I know Powers has been delayed, so I guess Marvel figured it would be best to relaunch it with a new #1 (page 78; 25 November). I don't believe them when they say it's monthly, though. But that's because I'm mean and bitter (see above).

I buy my Marvel space epics in trade form, so I might have to get War of Kings in hardcover on page 87 (18 November). It's a ton of stuff for 40 bucks. What say the well-informed readers of the blog? Totally worth it?

Deadpool Classic volume 3 is offered on page 107 (25 November). The highlight of this collection, of course, is issue #11, in which Deadpool messes with the 1960s Spider-Man and which Our Dread Lord and Master swears is the greatest single issue in comic book history!!!!!!! (Okay, that may be hyperbole. He likes it, though.)

You know, about two years ago I spent a lot of time tracking down back issues of The 'Nam. So what does Marvel do? Release the first ten issues in trade (page 114; 18 November). Thanks, Marvel! (Of course, this is 30 dollars - I think I actually spent less for the first ten issues than that. So there's that.)

There's a third Fantastic Four Walter Simonson Visionaries trade on page 116 (4 November). It includes the Arthur Adams issues with the "fake" FF, which are hilarious comics. Plus, the other issues are probably good, too. It's Simonson, for crying out loud!

I'm fairly shocked that Marvel got out a third Essential Moon Knight volume, but there it is on page 117 (11 November). The last few issues of the first series, mostly drawn by Kevin Nowlan, are quite good, but the second series (which lasted only six issues) doesn't meet any definition of "essential." It's only 20 dollars, though, so it might be worth checking out if only for the end of the first series.

Let's move on from the Big Four and venture where angels fear to tread: The Back Of The Book!

SLG shows up on page 188 with Doris Danger: Giant Monster Adventures. It's the tale of a photo-journalist who tries to prove the existence of giant monsters but can never get a good photograph. Of course there are bad guys trying to cover up any proof of existence! And it features the "Sphinx-tor." Bwah-ha-ha-ha!!!!

Hey, page 190 gives us Sherlock Ninja from Antarctic Press. I have no interest in this, but I like how he's so cool he can still smoke his pipe while leaping into action:

Archaia collects all of Hybrid Bastards on page 192. This is a pretty good series in which Zeus's weird hybrid children get revenge on their father. It never finished, so it's nice that it's coming out all at once.

Warren Ellis has yet another "superhero-as-god" story on page 205 from Avatar called, appropriately, Supergod. I actually wanted to point this out because I just saw Talk Like Warren Ellis on Twitter, even though I don't follow Twitter and hardly ever go there! (Our own supergod, Chad Nevett, tweeted about it.) "Good evening, hideous orgasm pustules." See? Now everyone can talk like Warren Ellis!

Someone named Tonya Kay shows up in Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose #59 from Broadsword Comics (page 230). Somewhere in South Carolina, Chris Sims pours himself a double of bourbon and wonders if this issue will be the one that breaks him.

I'm not sure if the world was clamoring for an "essential" edition of Obergeist, but it's here on page 249 from Desperado Publishing. It's an odd comic, probably not worth 30 dollars, but certainly interesting.

In case you were foolish enough to miss it the first few times around, Evil Twin Comics has The More Than Complete Action Philosophers! on page 257. With four all-new stories! Damn you, Fred van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey, for making me want this!!!!

Demons of Sherwood shows up on page 271 from IDW. It's 12 years after Robin Hood restored King Richard to his throne, but things haven't been going well for him. Now he has to rescue Maid Marian all over again! It sounds fun, and it features Bo Hampton on art. I can forgive the twisting of the historical record (the Inquisition didn't exist until, at the very least, the late 1220s, much later than the events in this book could possibly occur) if the story is good.

Joe Sacco is back with one of those books that make lazy people like me feel bad that they're not doing more to alleviate suffering the world, Footnotes in Gaza (from Metropolitan Books, page 278), about a massacre of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers in 1956. I've never read a Sacco book, actually. Maybe I'll have to start with this one.

The Tick returns on page 280 from New England Comics. I don't know the writer, Benito Cereno, but Les McClaine draws it, so you know it'll look keen!

All the one-shot issues from Wasteland get collected in their own trade on page 281 from Oni Press. These are, of course, awesome. And only 14 dollars!

Radical has the collected edition of Hotwire: Requiem for the Dead on page 286. I don't know if the last issue ever came out, but the first three issues were pretty darned cool, and although 20 dollars might sound steep for four issues, apparently this has a bunch of extra stuff as well.

There's a new Tank Girl series on page 288 from Titan Publishing by Tank Girl creator Alan Martin. I've never been that interested in Tank Girl, but I do like that the cover promises "Now with added swearing!"

12-Gauge Comics on page 296 brings us Luke McBain #1 by David Tischman and Kody Chamberlain (who I met, briefly, in San Diego, and who seems like the perfect artist for this book, personality-wise). I don't have much interest in this, but I was wondering why disparate people seem to think the last name "McBain" sounds tough. What is it about the name? It's rather weird.

With that enigmatic query hanging in your brains, it's time once again to close our copy of Previews. And, as always, I implore you to explore the dark edges of the comics universe. No, there might not be a comic with a giant dude with a gaping chest wound and a sickle fashioned from a black lantern, but that's just a typical Saturday night for me, so I like to find something different! Fear not the Previews!

24 Comments

• At August 29, 2009, Mecha-Shiva wrote:

  "The Tick returns on page 280 from New England Comics. I don't know the writer, Benito Cereno, but Les McClaine ...

• At August 29, 2009, Thok wrote:

  You can buy Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog from iTunes for 7.99, if you really feel bad about not seeing ...

• At August 29, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Man, I wish I had Tales from the Bully Pulpit. Stupid out-of-print comics!

• At August 29, 2009, Pedro Bouça wrote:

  Dark Horse has the very bad habit of continuing to solicit VERY late manga series like they were coming out ...

• At August 29, 2009, Mysterious Stranger wrote:

  You forgot to mention the other half of the awesomeness of Dr. Horrible... Nathan Fillion. If it were biologically ...

• At August 29, 2009, Colby wrote:

  Actually, i'm pretty sure dr. Horrible is on hulu still. And as a dedicated whedonite, I am required by law ...

• At August 29, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  You know me too well, Burgas. But I probably won't buy that comic.

  You should watch Dr. Horrible, though. I mean, ...

• At August 29, 2009, Cass wrote:

  The face-ectomy of Bushman takes place in flashbacks at the beginning of the Moon Knight series, we never actually watch ...

• At August 29, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  I was thinking that was true, Cass, but I didn't go back and check it. It didn't seem to ...

• At August 29, 2009, Cass wrote:

  Well, you have to admit, "Years ago, Moon Knight..." is a lot more grabbing than "One or so years ago, ...

• At August 29, 2009, Ron wrote:

  The lantern rings are not free for the retailers and cost $8 a bag., and Blackest Night #5, Adventure Comics ...

• At August 29, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Wow, Ron, that's interesting to know. I just overheard my retailer talking about them, and that's what he believed. ...

• At August 29, 2009, Greg Hatcher wrote:

  Well, you certainly can watch Dr. Horrible for free on Hulu if you like, but if you shell out for ...

• At August 29, 2009, TimCallahan wrote:

  Vengeance of Moon Knight must take place in the FUTURE! Can your mind wrap around awesomness that magnificent, Burgas!?!? The ...

• At August 29, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Dang, that WOULD be awesome, sir. I don't think I could handle that!!!!

• At August 29, 2009, Dan Felty wrote:

  Definitely go read all the Joe Sacco books you can find right away! It's not like you need to ...

• At August 30, 2009, Lawrence wrote:

  "So "Necrosha" is all about old heroes and villains coming back from the dead and menacing the current heroes? Gosh, ...

• At August 30, 2009, Stefan wrote:

  I'm so psyched Scott Ian is going to be writing a comic book. He wrote some fantastic songs and ...

• At August 30, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  I just overheard my retailer talking about them, and that's what he believed. I wonder if he had checked it ...

• At August 30, 2009, Andrew wrote:

  I'm really looking forward to both Image United and Haunt - probably moreso than anything else in years.

  Both written by ...

• At August 31, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Both written by Kirkman - isn't that enough to get the haterZ on board?

  Not really - Kirkman has shown, most ...

• At August 31, 2009, The Cosh wrote:

  You are correct, that Hellblazer cover is rad to the power of sick!

• At August 31, 2009, Neal K wrote:

  I noticed the "for reelz" line in the Dark Avengers solicits and cringed. Unless Marvel is having some sort ...

• At August 31, 2009, Andrew Collins wrote:

  I'll recommend Demons Of Sherwood to you, Greg. I read it over at ComicMix's website and thoroughly enjoyed it. It ...

Yes, it's time for another big ol' post about a ton o' graphic novels. These always get out of hand, and I don't anticipate this one being any different!

Let's begin with Black Hole by Charles Burns, which I finally got around to reading after reading the opinions of people far smarter than I am lauding it as the best graphic novel of the decade and whatnot. I know, do you really need to read another reviewer gushing about it? You can find this for $17.95 (a great price, considering how hefty it is) and it's published by Pantheon Books, although it was originally serialized by Fantagraphics, if you must know. And yeah, it's pretty good.

The basic plot is, perhaps, well known. Black Hole takes place in the 1970s in the Seattle suburbs, where a strange sexually-transmitted plague is ravaging the teenage population. Said plague changes people in strange and horrifying ways, but doesn't seem to affect anyone to the point where they get sick and die. They simply change in appearance, from the girl who grows a tail to the boy with the extra mouth on his chest to the variety of people who look vaguely animalistic. Burns introduces several characters, and the book follows them, switching points of view as we go. There's a brief murder mystery, but it doesn't have all that much to do with the plague, so that's all I'm saying about that.

What's fascinating about this plague is that no one takes it all too seriously. The afflicted try to hide their changes, but Burns never goes into why they feel the need to do so. They segregate themselves from society because of the vague notion that their parents will "freak out" if they know their kids have the plague, but we never see any evidence of this; we have only the kids' word to go on. Nobody takes many precautions when they have sex, although one of the main characters - Chris - does have sex with a plague-carrying boy under false pretenses - he thinks she knows he's afflicted, but she doesn't. One of the other characters - Keith - actively seeks out a plague-carrier and has sex with her, knowing full well the consequences of his actions. For all the talk of the plague, nobody seems all that concerned about it.

So what's the point? Well, it's a big ol' METAPHOR, of course, and Burns manages to keep it consistent throughout the entire big package (according to Amazon, it's 352 pages - they're not numbered, and I'm not counting them), which is appreciated. He uses the plague to examine teenage disillusionment and ennui without beating us over the head with it, and he does a fine job. I've often written that I have no interest in "coming-of-age" stories because they're usually riddled with clichés and stereotypes, and while Burns skirts that edge, his use of the plague manages to keep this book on the side of "fascinating" rather than "dull." By externalizing the anxieties of teenagers, he makes it less of an adolescent whine and more of a terrifying experience. These kids, who are stupid and reckless and occasionally dim and often not worthy of our consideration (even the main characters do wildly bone-headed things), are saved from our scorn because Burns makes the plague so obviously an expression of all the silly-yet-desperately-important events teens go through, and we can appreciate that they do fear things not because they're idiots, but because they don't have the emotional maturity to deal with it. The way they deal with the plague is immature, but that's the point. They don't have the vocabulary to express themselves in any other way than the extreme, so while we might chuckle at their extreme reactions to a perceived slight at school or a lack of a date on Saturday night, we take more seriously their reaction to this plague that has swept through them. Ultimately, the plague is as slight as many other teenaged problems, as it affects, interestingly enough, only one's appearance, thereby becoming a less universal metaphor for all teenaged problems and a more focused one about one's looks being all that matters, but the way Burns has made the plague a truly terrifying event softens the blow a bit. Yes, this is a coming-of-age story, which means Keith and Chris must come to terms with the changes in their bodies (Burns doesn't push the equation to both puberty and pregnancy, but both hints are there) and the changes in their perceptions of what it means to be a mature person, but it's more subtle than we might expect from this kind of tale.*

(* I don't mean to belittle the real problems many teens struggle with. I taught at a school that was populated almost completely by "at-risk" kids, and I know the very real issues teens (and even younger kids) have to face, from broken homes to drug usage to pregnancy to abuse, far more intimately than you might expect from my often-flippant attitude. My point is that the kids in this book don't seem to deal with these problems - their problems are far more along the spectrum of "That boy doesn't like me, woe is me!" and "My parents dumped all my weed down the toilet because they're squares!")

Burns's decision to set this in the mid-'70s is interesting, as well. Burns, according to Wikipedia, was 19 in 1974 (when the story is set), so it's not surprising he wrote about teens during this time. However, it's more than that. Much like Richard Linklater did in Dazed and Confused and Ang Lee did in The Ice Storm, Burns captures a zeitgeist of the mid-'70s (whether it's an accurate one or not), one that implies that the great battles of the time had been fought in the 1960s and there was nothing left against which to rage. The teens in Burns's story (which is completely apolitical, by the way) seem to feel that tug of opposing forces: On the one hand, hippies aren't cool anymore, but on the other hand, no one is sure what the next thing is. One of Chris's friends has "Diamond Dogs" (which is a "new album," dating the book) and she wonders what her friend is doing, listening to weird stuff like Bowie (Chris is happier when her friend plays Neil Young's "Harvest"). Bowie is too weird (one wonders what Chris would make of Lou Reed's "Metal Machine Music," which came out the following year) and probably too androgynous, it's too early for punk, funk is too black (I'm generalizing, but there aren't any black people in this book, and while they adore Hendrix, one wonders if "Jungle Boogie" might be too much for these kids), and even disco, which drips with sex, might be too dangerous for these kids (despite their rather libertine ways). They want to rebel but don't seem to have anything against which to rebel. The brief years between the death of the hippie movement (let's say Altamont) and the rise of punk (let's say late 1975/early 1976, when the Ramones released their first album) were as turbulent as any in American history, but the overwhelming sentiment in popular culture - and that includes this book - is that the great movements of history had ended, Vietnam and Watergate had made everyone cynical, and the deaths of the pop icons of the Sixties destroyed a sense of idealism and that teens could change the world. If a creator wants to show teens as disaffected youth, they set the book in the 1970s or 1980s (sure, that's when most creators these days were teens, so it's not surprising), because that's when we think of teens as being disaffected (whether they were or not) without really having much about which to be disaffected. It's a fine line that Burns walks, because, as I mentioned, he does a decent job making sure we care about these characters (whether they deserve our sympathy or not) while subtly showing us that they need to grow up, and those that do are the ones that find happiness. Once the characters get over this need to "rebel" against everything, they can grow up. In that way, it's a typical coming-of-age book, but the way Burns tells it raises the bar a bit.

Black Hole is a horror comic, sure, but it's also an honest look at the neuroses that make up your average teenager. Burns's art is gorgeous, full of dark details and very creepy fantastical dreams and pained expressions on faces that say far more than the words the characters speak. It's a marvelous comic. The best of the decade? Well, it's in the conversation, at least.

Comin' atcha next is Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? by Brian Fies, the creator of Mom's Cancer. It costs $24.95 and is published by Abram ComicArts.

There are a couple of conceits in this book, one fairly clichéd, the other interesting but occasionally annoying (what a way to start a review, right?). The clichéd conceit is that people dreamed of the world of tomorrow for so long that even when they became cynical and lost hope, they still ended up building it - just not in the way they might have expected. Fies writes this in his author's note to begin the book, which might have been a mistake, as this conceit ought to be revealed in the text. It's not a bad idea, but it's been done, and Fies doesn't do a whole lot with it, although the book turns out to be about something different, so it's not that big a deal. The second conceit is that Buddy, the young star of the book, and his father don't age, at least not in real time. Fies begins the book with the 1939 World's Fair and ends it at an indeterminate point in the future, and Buddy and his father age very slowly, much like comic book characters do. It's an unusual way of telling the story, but it occasionally becomes a bit annoying because the book becomes less a story and more a documentary, and it loses a bit when that happens. But it's not the worst idea in the world, at least.

This doesn't mean the book is a failure. It's actually good, although it's not great. Fies does a marvelous job capturing the spirit of each time period on which he focuses. As Buddy "grows" up, it's interesting to track the subtle signs of cynicism creeping into his narration, because it's what happens to everyone as they grow up. Buddy doesn't allow it to dampen his spirits, but it's fascinating to realize that what we might think of as cynicism is just a realistic attitude toward life, and the final chapter pays this off when Fies shows us that Buddy still believes, even as he's changed the way he reacts to certain things. Fies does a nice job with the set-up of the book, too - he mixes his regular pencil art with photographs from each era - the most stunning pages in the book are photographs of a space walk - and integrates everything into the story very nicely. Fies also uses a nifty narrative tool - he creates comics starring Commander Cap Crater and places them throughout the book. Buddy reads them as the years go by, and Commander Crater becomes more and more cynical as the "real world" does so too (and as comics have done). These comics are the most entertaining parts of the book, as Fies does a good job reflecting the way comics were produced at certain times in history but also planting tongue firmly in cheek as he does so. The male characters in the comic are constantly ignoring the sound advice of Policewoman Mooney, and Doctor Xandra, Commander Crater's arch-villain, is perhaps the most complex character in the book, as he tries to create a perfect world with no war, but under his command (of course). The "final" issue of Space Age Adventures is tragic for several reasons, as it parallels the realization by Buddy that perhaps the "future" isn't as glorious as he thought it would be. Fies isn't subtle about much in this book - both Buddy and the Cosmic Kid, Commander Crater's sidekick, have to grow up and strike out on their own - but that lack of subtlety is fine, because Fies is dealing with grand ideas about humanity's sense of wonder, and subtlety isn't really required. What is required is faith, and Fies has plenty of that, which carries us through the book.

What Fies doesn't do, unfortunately, is ever give us a good reason why we should go to the moon and beyond ("ad astra per aspera" is Commander Crater's motto - interestingly, it's also Kansas's). This is part of taking the book on faith, and while Fies's infectious belief in the good of mankind ultimately triumphs over Buddy's (and our) cynicism, it's frustrating because of an interesting lack in the book: women. Buddy has no mother, and it's never explained what happened to her, or if she's around but just never shows up. Policewoman Mooney is the only woman in the book, and although she ultimately becomes the head honcho, she's also part of the problem in Commander Crater's eyes. Why is this important, you might ask? It gets back to the idea of space flight in general, which is a very boys' club kind of thing to desire. This year, of course, is the fortieth anniversary of the first moon landing, and columnists in various newspapers have been writing about how we need to go back to space, because if we wait until we solve all the problems on the earth before going, we'll never leave. One columnist I read didn't give any practical reasons for going to space, instead writing that is was all about the glory of exploration. Another wrote that we should go to space because if we had had a scaredy-cat attitude all along, we'd never have gone into the oceans and to the edge of the world. None of these (male) writers can give good reasons for going into space - will it benefit humanity, will it bring an economic windfall, will it lead to colonization so we can alleviate the overpopulation problem? They never bring up that the great Renaissance explorers went to the New World for very solid economic reasons, not just for the "glory" of finding something new, and if there's no economic reason to explore space, nobody is going to do it. I'm not saying it's a lousy idea to take a step off the planet, but for the glory of it doesn't strike me as a terribly good idea. As I was reading this book, I kept thinking of a great line from Robert Kaplan's classic book Balkan Ghosts: "Here the men sit back like the old men of Crete, talking about nationalism and hate while the women do all the work." It's all well and good to talk about the glory of space travel, but the only pragmatic people in this comic are Policewoman Mooney, who early on is ignored by Commander Crater and the chief; Doctor Xandra, who's evil; and Buddy's daughter, who gets down and fixes stuff instead of talking about grand schemes. I may sound a bit harsh, but it's not like this lack ruins the book - it actually heightens what Fies is trying to say. He knows that Policewoman Mooney is smarter than everyone else, he knows that Doctor Xandra has some good ideas even if he wants to be a dictator, and he eventually brings it around to pragmatism in the person of Buddy's daughter. Fies obviously falls squarely on the side of the men, dreaming of glory, but he doesn't completely forget that there's a price for glory, too. He's telling the story of Buddy growing up and becoming his own man who doesn't live in his father's shadow, so perhaps women aren't necessary, but it's an interesting absence in the book, almost a palpable void in the middle of it.

This may sound like I don't like the book, but that's not true. It's a marvelous evocation of Americana and what propelled the so-called Greatest Generation to achieve, and it's noteworthy for that. It's also an impressive embedded metaphor for any number of things (whether Fies was conscious of it or not), from the son coming out of his father's shadow to the arrested adolescence of anything from comics themselves to comics fans to men who never actually do grow up (and not all of them are comics fans, either!). If Fies doesn't give us a good reason to go into space, he does give us thrilling ones, and although the subtle underpinnings of the consequences of this race for space are more interesting, both in the real world and in Fies's comic, it doesn't change the fact that Fies tells an good story and raises some good questions about our history and our future. And there's certainly nothing wrong with that!

Up next is Far Arden by Kevin Cannon. The venerable Top Shelf Productions brings us this comic and charges 20 thin dollars for it. That's pretty good, considering it's 382 pages long!

I was very excited to read this book just from general Internet chatter, and then I got even more excited when I got it and flipped through it a bit. Then I was even more excited when Zander Cannon told me at San Diego how good it was (granted, he's not an impartial observer, but still). Then I started reading it, and was even more excited by Cannon's dynamic art and raucous storytelling. So my final observation about this comic - that I hated it more than almost any comic I can remember - probably needs some explanation. I can't get too far into it, because I don't want to spoil it, but let's just say the ending to this book made me more angry than the ending of Wanted #6, which led to my world-famous Mark Millar boycott! That's saying something!*

But let's celebrate the goodness in this book, which for about 350 of its 382 pages is abundant. Cannon tells a story set in the Canadian Arctic, among all the islands that stretch from the mainland toward the North Pole. Army Shanks, a burned-out pirate who used to work for the RCAN (Royal Canadian Arctic Navy), sits in a bar with his friend Hafley, who tells him that their old ship, the Areopagitica, is docked right outside. Shanks and Hafley need the boat to avert, as Shanks puts it, "The greatest disaster in the history of the world!!!" So they try to steal the ship, are thwarted, and we're off! Hafley is captured by Pinho and Fortuna, two people from Shanks's past who are now in possession of the Areopagitica, and Shanks escapes, telling Hafley he'll be back. He meets up with a young orphan, Alistair, and two college students, David and Amber. He makes promises he has every intention of keeping but rarely does, gets involved with a traveling circus, fights polar bears and environmentalist cops, and sails all over the north looking for Far Arden. Oh, wait a minute - Far Arden. Yeah, that's the whole point of the book, really.

Far Arden is a land far to the north that is some kind of paradise due to its location over a volcano, which makes the weather warm and Edenic (one character claims it's like Iceland, only better). Everyone wants to find Far Arden, but only Shanks's mentor knew where it was, and he disappeared searching for it. Shanks has a map hidden on the Areopagitica, which is why Pinho and Fortuna stole it in the first place, but he doesn't want to give it up. The book is an adventure across the islands and seas, as characters are thrown together and separated, revelations about each are revealed, connections between them are discovered, and everyone gets closer and closer to Far Arden. Cannon does a fantastic job with the plotting, as everything fits together very well (except, for the life of me, I can't figure out what happens to Hafley, who literally disappears from the deck of a ship late in the comic and is never seen again) and every character gets a lot of screen time, making them much more real than we might expect. Cannon keeps everything moving in odd but not completely unrealistic directions, and we're more than willing to follow along with him.

Art-wise, the book works well too. Cannon has a loose, cartoonish style that fits this style of comic quite well. The book appears to take place in the present day (the characters reference Nunavut, for instance, which didn't exist fifteen years ago), but there's a lot that's very nineteenth-century about the book, and Cannon blends all the elements of this strange dichotomy quite well. The idea of this entire strange (mostly) white civilization among the islands of the Arctic Ocean is interesting, and Cannon makes it somewhat whimsical even as the tone of the book darkens slightly. He does this through both the writing and the art, but mostly through the art, where he uses sound effects to describe the character's motions (as you can see) and does a nice job within the confines of a standard panel format to suggest a larger world beyond the borders of the book. Characters are occasionally cut off by panel borders, suggesting that Cannon simply couldn't cram everything in there, which makes his arena seem larger. It's a nifty trick.

And then it all goes wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong. Without giving too much away, the tone of the book shifts so violently in the final twenty pages that it undoes almost everything Cannon has done in the first 350. It begins earlier, when the book gets into slightly darker territory, and as much as I was disappointed by the fate of one character, it only bugged me slightly because it did make sense in the course of the narrative. The resolution to the book, however, comes almost (but not quite) out of nowhere, and more than that, betrays the way the book has been set up, as a slightly off-kilter-with-reality adventure book. Adventure books, of course, often feature death, and that's fine, but the way some characters die and the meaninglessness of it all belongs in a completely different book, and the shift is extremely jarring and depressing. I'm not sure how Cannon could have gotten out of where he'd gone, but I can't imagine this was the only way. I mean, the bad guy is someone that we really don't take seriously (despite his ingenious way of reading people's minds, which is nasty), but suddenly, the "realism" of the world seems to overtake the characters, and we're left with a hollow feeling inside. It's one of those books where you ask yourself, "Why did I invest anything in this book and these characters if that's the way it ends?" I know some people think I want all my comics to be happy and cheerful, but those people are idiots, because they obviously have no idea what I like. But I do want my comics to remain tonally consistent, and if they don't, I want there to be a good reason for it. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why Cannon ended the book this way. I mean, if he wants to let us know that life is meaningless and we're all doomed, he shouldn't have wasted 350 pages of adventure getting there.

I'd really, really, really like to recommend Far Arden. For much of the book, I was swept away by Cannon's odd fable and enjoying all the twists and turns. The final twist, though, is too much. If you do get it because you think the art looks nice or the first 350 pages sound good, please put it down when you reach page 343. That way, you can make up your own ending. I guarantee it will be better than what's printed on the page.

Now I'm depressed just thinking about the ending. Let's move on!

* Although I should say that this book won't lead to a Kevin Cannon boycott, because I don't think Mr. Cannon was deliberately hateful at the end of this comic, like I felt Millar was being. I just think he wrote a completely and utterly wrong-headed ending.

Our next two books are from a relatively new publisher, Outlaw Entertainment, which so far seems to exist simply to publish comics written by Jason M. Burns (but which isn't his own company, it seems). The first comic is Imaginary Friends, which is drawn by Dustin Evans, and the second is Praetorian, which was drawn by Ramón Espinoza. Both cost $7.99, which is a nice price for a 112-page, full-color comic book that tells a complete story and doesn't tie in to any other comics. It's the main reason why I want Outlaw to do well, because it's nice to see companies release stuff like this.

Of course, it doesn't matter how much they charge if the books aren't any good. Neither of these comics is great, but they're entertaining, and while neither is as good as, say, most of Far Arden, they don't go off the rails as much as that one does either. Imaginary Friends is a tale about, well, imaginary people - a team of them, in fact, led by Rex Montana, a great Imaginary Friend who is enlisted by the International Imaginary Persons Bureau to stop a certain Shift Valentine from using a young boy's need for an imaginary friend to become real, which would have severe consequences for the world. Why Shift Valentine would easily conquer the world if he becomes real is never explained, but the point is that Rex and his team have to stop him! Each member of the team has a crucial skill that will help them (including the beauty queen who can manifest meat out of thin air), and Burns sends them through a crazy imaginary world that includes characters such as The Bowler and Santa Claus. Evans has a nice cartoony flair that suits the story very well, and although everything that happens is fairly predictable, the story has nice energy that helps carry it through.

Praetorian is a bit more "adult" in that it doesn't feature clowns or deer-men and is a bit more bloody. Kasandra Rodriguez, an FBI agent, is investigating a string of horrible murders across the country, and her investigations lead her into a millennia-long battle between ... the forces of good and evil!!!!! Burns gives us the story of the four members of the Roman Praetorian Guard who were charged with making sure Jesus was actually crucified and who didn't really think it was the greatest idea. Their gift for trying to alleviate Jesus's suffering is eternal life, during which time they've tried to do good. However, someone known as the "Judgment Killer" is back, and this time they're definitely going to stop him/her! (The Judgment Killer was around before, apparently, and they didn't do enough to stop the killings.) Rodriguez is, of course, investigating the Judgment Killer, so her case intersects with the Praetorians' efforts to stop him. It's a solid action/adventure story, with lots of signposts along the way to tell us exactly where we're going, and although Burns doesn't try too hard to elevate above a standard action comic, it's a decent read. As with Evans's art on Imaginary Friends, Espinoza's on this book fits the subject matter well, although it's a bit too clean for some of the more horrific aspects.

I don't think I can recommend either of these books unequivocally, but they're not bad for what they are. I'm really far more interested in Outlaw and whether they can make this kind of business model work, selling decent, short, full-color graphic novels for eight bucks. Their repertoire so far seems very diverse, and I certainly hope that they can find an audience for this kind of thing. We'll see.

Let's move on to Smuggling Spirits, written by Ben Fisher, drawn by Mark Henderson, and lettered and "designed" by Adam Markiewicz. It's published by Studio 407 (it's a collection of the "critically acclaimed series," two volumes of which came out in 2008 from a different publisher), and will cost you $20.99. It's a bit steep, price-wise, but it's a damned good comic book.

The back of the book claims it "blends the action-noir of Sin City with the horror and suspense of Hellboy." It's interesting, because I didn't read that until after I read the book, and throughout, I kept being reminded of Sin City, as Henderson uses the same style as Miller did, but a bit less severe and stylized. The figures look far more realistic than those in Sin City, which makes the contrast with the monsters in this book more interesting. It's a pitch-black noir tale, and Henderson makes sure the atmosphere of the book reflects that. There's a lot of rain, for instance. He's a marvelous artist, though, giving us terrifying creatures coming out of the night and a good sense of impending doom. The book is set during Prohibition, and Henderson, although not called upon to ground the book too much in the 1920s, does a fine job with the setting. There's a real sense of place in this book, both when the main characters are out in the country, where monsters lurk, and when they're back in the city, where a besieged bar seems to close in on them.

The story conceit is brilliantly simple and well executed. After the First World War, monsters known as "darklings" somehow started showing up in the United States and became a part of society. Everyone lives in fear of them, but they all seem to have a shaky kind of truce. That doesn't preclude the darklings from killing humans, as we learn in the backstory of Nathan, the young boy in the story, whose father was killed by the monsters. Al Stone, the bootlegger who takes Nathan under his wing, is sent to the country to find out why a still hasn't been sending alcohol into the city. Of course, it's been taken over by darklings, and when Al stumbles across an infant monster and a strange farm in the middle of nowhere, he unexpectedly discovers the secret of the monsters' existence. They, of course, don't take kindly to this, and they track him back to the city, where they trap him inside a bar. Mayhem ensues!

It's a fine story, but Fisher gives us a nice twist: Al can't see the darklings or hear anything pertaining to them. Or rather, he sees and hears different things when people see or speak of the monsters - for instance, when a giant winged dragon attacks them on the road and Al kills it, he believes it's a vulture. When the bartender tells him darklings probably raided the still, he hears "the feds." We don't know why he's this way (we do learn it eventually), but Nathan stays with him to help him overcome this handicap. It's an interesting way to present Al, because he believes he lives in a "normal" world, and Fisher sets up the tension that when he finds out what's really going on, he might panic. It's not an idea that Fisher delves into too much, but it's there, and it adds a nice layer to the story.

Ultimately, this is a monster story, and although Fisher doesn't do as much with the horror as he could have, he does a very good job with this society that lives in fear of things that go bump in the night. Henderson's art does a great job adding to that atmosphere, and it adds up to an exciting comic that sells us its idea very well. Again, I'm not too sure if it's worth 21 dollars, but I would definitely recommend you check it out.

Next is Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli, which has been getting rave reviews across the comics blogosphere. Pantheon Books published this bad bear, and it will set you back a measly $29.95.

Asterios Polyp is a challenging work, no doubt about it, because Mazzucchelli is largely unconcerned with narrative, so the story in this book is somewhat weak. Asterios Polyp is a fifty-year-old architect whose life is going nowhere when a lightning bolt destroys his apartment, spurring him to take a spiritual journey that gives him new purpose in life. Meanwhile, we get flashbacks that show us how he got the way he is. There's nothing terribly wrong with the narrative, but it's definitely not the point of the book. I'm just warning you - if you read this expecting a good plot, you're going to be extremely disappointed. It's much more of an epiphanic story, and there's nothing wrong with that.

The story is fairly simple: Asterios Polyp is a famous "paper" architect (meaning his designs never get built, although they are lauded as genius) whose apartment burns down on his fiftieth birthday. This leads to the dual nature of the narrative: In the present, Asterios gets on a bus and ends up in a town called Apogee, where he gets a job as an auto mechanic (despite knowing nothing about fixing cars; he gets the job, then reads up on cars at the local library) and a place to stay (his new boss is also his new landlord). In the past, we get a biography of Asterios, focusing mainly on his marriage and its dissolution. Mazzucchelli doesn't do anything too radical with either narrative: Asterios is a cold man, not necessarily cruel, but simply unconcerned with human emotions, and this takes its toll on his marriage. His Manichean worldview also helps ruin his marriage, as does his utter self-confidence, which makes him believe he's always right, no matter what the subject. His wife, Hana, a fine sculptor, starts working with a famous choreographer who flirts relentlessly with her, and it leads, in an unexpected way, to the emotional if not the actual end of Asterios and Hana's marriage, which is handled beautifully by Mazzucchelli - it's the high point, writing-wise, of the comic. In the present, Asterios grows close to his landlord's wife, who reads star charts, has a jaundiced view of American history, and speaks of the goddess and the spirits. The Majors (with whom he lives in the present) force Asterios, naturally, to reassess his life, leading to a conclusion that is both hopeful and horribly capricious, as Mazzucchelli makes his point about not wasting time in your life rather forcefully. I'm not going to spoil who the narrator is in the book, but it's a nice device by Mazzucchelli, as it highlights once again the duality theme running through the story.

If the story itself is nothing special, the way Mazzucchelli creates the book, both with the art and the design, is the truly amazing part of the book. He uses different color palettes for the present-day and the past in the book, which makes the sections visually stunning and even fits the locations - the cooler reds and blues indicate the East Coast elite status in which Asterios moves when he's married, while in the present, he's in a desert somewhere (he visits a crater that looks suspiciously like the one in northern Arizona), and the color shifts to yellows and tans to reflect the starkness of his surroundings. Mazzucchelli also integrates Asterios's profession into the story, as he often shifts out of the "real" world to panels of geometric shapes and patterns, placing his hero into this mathematical setting to show his distance from the baseness of the world. The architectural aspects of the book are part of what makes it visually stunning - often, when Asterios and Hana speak, Asterios becomes a man of simple geometric shapes, while Hana becomes a blur of red emotions, visually showing how differently they view the world. In the final section of the book, Mazzucchelli blends the color palettes to show how Asterios has come to terms with his past and his present. It's a nice touch. Mazzucchelli also does a nice job with lettering in the book, as each character gets a different kind of font and even the shape of their word balloons gives us an indication of what kind of person they are. The overall design of the comic is really marvelous, refreshingly unique in a world of comics that too often don't challenge the way books can look.

Ultimately, the book falls a bit short of a masterpiece because the epiphany that Asterios has doesn't feel earned as much as decided upon. Asterios doesn't seem to learn too much through the course of the book, which means the bittersweet ending has less impact than it might otherwise. Mazzucchelli does such a nice job creating Asterios as a cold fish that he runs out of room to redeem him. There are some very nice moments along the way to the end, but the fact that, for instance, Asterios sees himself as Orpheus leading Eurydice (Hana) out of Hades seems less than an emotional and more an analytical response - Asterios appropriates a myth to express his emotions, keeping them an arm's length from him even then. The final conversation of the book is very well written, but it felt like Asterios had skipped a few steps to get there.

That doesn't mean this is a failure of a comic book. The design of the book itself is almost worth the price, and much of Asterios's journey works well. If it's not quite the best graphic novel of the year, that doesn't mean it's not a stunning work of art, and something you should consider checking out.

Up next: Jeff Lemire's debut for Vertigo, The Nobody! It's printed and bound in the United States and costs only 20 dollars!

The Nobody is a new take on the story of the invisible man (you know, the classic movie that starred Ed Begley, Jr.?), with a mysterious man arriving in a small village somewhere, presumably, in the Midwest. Do the townspeople leave him alone? Hell, no! Where would be the story in that?

Okay, so the basic story: John Griffen arrives in the town or Large Mouth ("Home of the World's Biggest Bass!") in 1994, wrapped in bandages. The 16-year-old daughter of the owner of the diner, Vickie, takes an interest in him, and provides us with our point-of-view character. She spends a bunch of time with him (nothing icky happens, so don't think of that!), and we slowly learn his story. Of course, he's hiding a dark secret (well, beyond the fact that he's, you know, invisible) that comes back to haunt him, and gradually, the townspeople twig to the fact that all is not well in Mr. Griffen's life. And then it all goes pear-shaped.

This isn't really Griffen's story, though. We can figure it out easily enough even before Lemire gives us the answers, and it's not that interesting. This is really Vickie's story, and the story even of the town, which is somewhat of a stereotypical small American town. As Lemire showed in his brilliant trilogy, Essex County, he understands small towns and the way the people in small towns act, but he takes some short cuts in this book that don't really work. Because he's dealing with an old story and needs to focus on Griffen at least for some of the time, we get more of a stereotypical depiction of small-town life, with close-minded people who fear outsiders and are easy to jump to conclusions. The relationship between Vickie and her father is complicated and nicely handled, but it's pushed aside too often to deal with the "villagers-versus-monsters" theme that we've seen in countless horror movies. While Lemire handles this with the usual building of tension and suspense, it's just not as interesting as Vickie's awakening to her plight in Large Mouth. This is a coming-of-age story disguised as a monster tale, and Lemire has a tough time balancing the two. It's obvious even before Vickie says so that Lemire is comparing Griffen's actual invisibility with Vickie's feeling of invisibility, which makes Griffen's story useful, but it's still a bit less compelling than Vickie's.

As for Lemire's art, it's the kind of work you either like or dislike, and you're not going to be persuaded one way or the other. I happen to think it's exceptional, but I can understand people who don't like it, as it's a bit odd. Lemire shows a bit more depth in this comic than he did in Essex County, as his characters seem a bit more realized, while his misc-en-scene is more haunting than the stark exteriors in his previous work. He experiments a bit with style, from the soft pencils of the few flashback scenes to the old-time cover homages that separate the chapters, and it works well. The one problem I had with the art is that there's a character who's supposed to be black, which leads to one of the townspeople calling him a "black bastard." This is part of the theme of the close-minded townspeople, but it comes out of nowhere because the character doesn't look African-American, and the lack of coloring in the book makes it even more difficult to tell. It doesn't really add too much to the actual comic, and it's strange to see it in the book. However, for the most part, the black, white, and blue color palette that Lemire uses heightens the bleakness of Large Mouth and Griffen's isolation from the world.

The Nobody is certainly an impressive novel, and it proves that Lemire isn't a fluke. If it falls short of his Essex County trilogy, that's okay - the three books were some of the best comics of the past two years. I would definitely recommend that before this, but if you really dig your comics with invisible men, you can't go too wrong with this!

Finally, last but certainly not least, we get The Hunter by Darwyn Cooke. Should we call this Richard Stark's Parker: The Hunter? The boilerplate calls it simply The Hunter, so that's what I'll call it. Anyway, IDW published this sucker and slapped a $24.99 price tag on it. It's the first of a series, too, which means more Cooke goodness in the future!

I must confess: I've never read any novels starring Mr. Parker (or is that his first name? or is he like Cher?), nor have I seen Point Blank (or even Payback, which I've heard isn't very good), so I had no preconceptions about the stories going in. Of course, I have read Darwyn Cooke comics before, so I had some preconceptions about his work going in, meaning that I'm still convinced he's a better artist than he is writer. His art is gorgeous, but his writing isn't quite up to snuff yet. It's too bad, because I'm not sure his work is as good as it could be until he gets better at writing. That said, I still think his best work as a writer/artist is Selina's Big Score, not The New Frontier, so I was excited about him getting his hands on another noir story.

But he still has some issues with writing. He's a great storyteller, art-wise, as the first twenty almost-wordless pages of this book show. He takes us through Parker arriving in New York (in 1962) and creating a false identity so he can write bogus checks and clean up a bit. Then he finds that young lady on the cover, tells her he's looking for "Mal," and we get a bit of the backstory between them. She overdoses on pills, he dumps the body, finds a guy who's connected to Mal, and tells him that he's looking for Mal but Mal better not find out about it. This is all in the first 40 pages, and the story is set up and everything is looking good.

Then Cooke makes a mistake. He begins writing a lot more. Page 47 delves into the backstory of Parker and Lynn - the dead woman - and the job that screwed up Parker's life. While it's necessary to get into it so we can understand why Parker is so set on revenge against Mal, the book slows down considerably because it's simply a lot of exposition. We get paragraphs and paragraphs of simple chronological narrative, as in "Parker did this, Parker did that ..." and the comic almost grinds to a halt. Cooke gets back to a good blend of art and writing soon enough, but he still indulges far too often in big blocks of exposition, and I'm not sure it's always necessary. One of the great things about comics is that we don't always need a lot of prose, especially when we're dealing with as good an artistic storyteller as Cooke is. There's too much of telling instead of showing in this book, which is odd because when Cooke does simply "show," he's very good at it.

The other problem with the book is personal, but it might be something others feel too. I have no problem with literature that features no likable characters, and this book certainly features no likable characters. The problem with it in prose as opposed to movies is the fact that actors can lend some charisma to roles that, even if they are despicable, we're sucked into their orbit. Characters in comics and prose are, naturally, less charismatic than actors are, and the fact that Parker is an amoral scumbag is much more obvious here than, I imagine, it is in Point Blank, because Lee Marvin has charisma (at least he does in other movies I've seen him in; maybe I'm wrong about that movie). So it's interesting to read this comic for the way Parker goes about his revenge and the sheer single-mindedness (some would say stupidity) with which he gets his vengeance (and, not to give anything away, he does, but it goes beyond that), but it's not as compelling as it might be, because we don't really care if Parker gets it or not. If someone had shot him through the head on page 60, we wouldn't care that much, because the fact that he was betrayed is meaningless, as he's not a terribly honorable guy in the first place. With some stories like this, we root for the "bad" guy because there's some reason that gives him a bit of honor. Parker is a total bastard, so we have no emotional investment in whether he "wins" or not.

Despite that, Cooke does a nice job with the story as it unfolds, because even though we're fairly certain Parker will triumph (he's the star, after all), we still don't know how he will triumph, and the story keeps us guessing. Of course, Cooke's art is the big draw (at least for me), and it's quite stunning. As I wrote above, he's a great storyteller, and it's a treat to linger over the panels in this book and appreciate the details that Cooke puts into them. It feels like the early Sixties, a time period during which Cooke apparently wishes he lived, and he just fills the book with nice touches to give it that feel. He does a great job with character design, too, as Parker moves through this book like a shark. Cooke, in fact, doesn't show Parker until several pages in, giving us a sense of him as a menace just on the edge of our perception, which works later in the book when he's stalking his victims. The coloring, which like The Nobody is black and white and blue, works well, too, as it gives the book a mod yet timeless look, so it's definitely set in the 1960s but doesn't look dated.

A new work by Cooke is always reason to celebrate, even if the writing on this book isn't quite up on the level of the art. He has such a nice look and he obviously loves doing stuff like this, so it's keen that he appears ready to continue with the series. This isn't a great comic, but it's a pretty good one, and although it might not be worth 25 bucks, it's certainly worth a read.

Well, dang. I still have a bunch of stuff to review, but I need to wrap this up before it gets really long (that was a joke). Let's review the reviews!

Black Hole: Believe the hype. It's a classic.

Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow?: Uplifting, patriotic, and a very nifty coming-of-age story.

Far Arden: So very good for so very long, yet so very bad at the very end. So sad.

Imaginary Friends: A rather cute all-ages comic with some nice characters.

Praetorian: An interesting hook that doesn't quite work, but it's still entertaining.

Smuggling Spirits: A fun idea done very well, with plenty of horror to spice things up.

Asterios Polyp: One of the best-designed book you'll ever see, even if the story is pedestrian. A masterpiece in the way it, as a comic, presents the material.

The Nobody: The character interaction is better than the suspense plot, but it's still a very keen book.

The Hunter: Another beautiful book, and your enjoyment of the story will probably depend on how likable you want your characters.

So there you have it. Man, I need to get these posted faster. Stay tuned for even more! And feel free to tell me how very wrong I am! I can take it!

18 Comments

• At August 18, 2009, Dan Felty wrote:

  Hey Greg--I love your reviews, but would you please consider splitting them up into separate posts? I would much ...

• At August 18, 2009, Chris Jones wrote:

  I JUST FINISHED reading Black Hole today. I think it just wiggled it's way into my top 5 ever. The ...

• At August 18, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Dan: Yeah, I've been thinking about doing fewer books per post, mainly because it takes me so long to put ...

• At August 18, 2009, Keith wrote:

  Thanks for the reviews. I'm really out of the loop on Indy graphic novels. Smuggling Spirits appealed to ...

• At August 18, 2009, sterg wrote:

  Ed Begley Jr?

  Well played!!!

• At August 18, 2009, Chris Jones wrote:

  Also, wait, why did you create a Mark Millar boycott for the ENDING of Wanted? It was pretty tonally consistent ...

• At August 19, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  I barely skimmed the first couple of reviews here, purely because I'm exhausted (as per usual for the morning), but ...

• At August 19, 2009, s1rude wrote:

  Well, damn, thanks for the reviews. That is one massive post, I appreciate the hard work that must have ...

• At August 19, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Dan: It's "patriotic" not in the sense of "my country, right or wrong" but in the sense of the American ...

• At August 19, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Chris: I hated the last few pages of Wanted, especially the final page. It seemed to me (and many, ...

• At August 19, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  Good to know, Greg. Though in all honesty, even if the book waved the red white & blue whenever possible, ...

• At August 19, 2009, mckracken wrote:

  man, i dont know....Cooke draws everyone like out of 50ies perfect family ads.

  totally not working for crime fiction.

• At August 19, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  It feels like the early Sixties, a time period during which Cooke apparently wishes he lived, and he just fills ...

• At August 19, 2009, benday-dot wrote:

  Cooke's style may evoke 50-60's ad art, and quite deliberately so, but this is one master stylist whose ultra chic ...

• At August 19, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  I've had Black Hole sitting around the house for almost a year now and I still haven't read it. Something ...

• At August 20, 2009, Tuomas wrote:

  I've read some reviews of Black Hole where the plague is seen as an AIDS metaphor, but I don't think ...

• At August 20, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  I've had Black Hole sitting around the house for almost a year now and I still haven't read it. Something ...

• At September 4, 2009, Latest subtle ways to flirt news – George Hamilton reveals his offbeat teenage life in ‘My One and Only’ | Dating Conversation Starters | Flirting Secrets For Men wrote:

  [...] Who wants graphic novel reviews? You do! [...]

I guess Agents of Atlas is safe from the chopping block for now, and they have a swanky crossover with the X-Men coming up, and you know that if you want to boost sales, you cross over with the X-Men! (Oh wait, this isn't 1991, so maybe that's changed.) I will say the lack of a stable art team is somewhat frustrating. It works for The Incredible Hercules mainly because one artist does an entire arc, whereas this book seems rotate them much faster. Panosian steps into the breach for this issue, and let's hope he's on board for the entire story, however long it might be. His art is less suited for the book than the other artists have been (even Pagulayan's, with which I've had some issues), because it's a bit more cartoony than it ought to be (although he does a fine job with the dragons). As we all noted when Brian featured him in his Month of Art Stars, Panosian's art today looks miles better than it did at the height of the Image explosion, and it's decent enough in this issue, but it doesn't seem to fit as well as the other artists have. But that's just me.

This issue isn't quite as batshit insane as the past few, but it's still an example of why this comic is one of Marvel's best. Parker does a good job wrapping up with Bruce Banner and then keeps the throttle down as Jimmy Woo battles the Jade Claw for secret supremacy of the world. I mean, who doesn't want to see a Dragon Clan War? Well, that's what we're going to get! As usual, there's some nice humor, great action, and just a fun comic all around. Let's just hope its sales continue to justify its existence!

Artesia Besieged #3 (of 6) ("As I Lay Dying") by Mark Smylie (writer/artist). $3.95, 28 pgs, FC, Archaia.

I received a box full o' Archaia comics recently, and this was among them, so I'd like to thank the fine folk at Archaia for sending it along (as well as the other stuff). This is the second issue of the Artesia saga I own, having received another one in the mail a few years ago, and I've come to the same conclusion: I should find the collected editions, because Smylie's mythology is daunting to get into from just the random issue here and there. In this issue, however, he concentrates on our heroine, who was stabbed with a poisoned blade by one of her own, so the entire issue is Artesia hallucinating about her death and coming to terms with what I can only assume are her world's goddesses. So it's easier to follow because there's not a lot of the battling between various sides, which would get confusing. It's more about Artesia's warrior spirit and how she overcomes the poison and the stabbing to take back the leadership of her army. Smylie does a good job showing us how tough Artesia is even as she's lying on a bier for most of the issue. Plus, his art continues to impress, as he has done a magnificent job creating this pseudo-medieval world and populating it with hundreds of distinct characters. His figure art is interesting, as well, because his women are less beautiful and more exotic than we usually see in comics, which makes them far more interesting to look at.

I probably will track down the collections of Artesia at some point, because the issues I've read are well-constructed and obviously immerse us in an interesting world. I just don't feel I can start buying the single issues so far into the saga. Still, it's a neat comic.

Atomika #10 (of 12) ("The Deathless") by Andrew Dabb (writer), Sal Abbinanti (penciler), Buzz (inker), Simone Peruzzi (colorist), and Dave Sharpe (letterer). $2.99, 22 pgs, FC, Mercury Comics.

As this fantastic mini-series hurtles toward its conclusion, it's shaping up as a fairly standard Oedipal conflict, although Dabb might mess with us a bit in that regard, but the fact that Atomika needs to confront his "father" to save the world, while a staple of literature for millennia, doesn't change the fact that the series continues to dazzle. It's due in large part to Abbinanti's dynamic art, but Dabb isn't slacking off either. He takes the familiar and twists it nicely, so Atomika's realization that fear is a good thing and his recognition that Arohnir must be destroyed doesn't feel like a reused plot. Abbinanti, of course, does his usual astonishing work with the art, bringing real power to Atomika's battle with Koschei the Deathless, but also showing us the brutal might of the Russian war machine as it attempts to destroy its former savior. The climax of the battle, in deep space, is a wonderful sequence of irregularly shaped panels that slowly confine Koschei, much like he's being confined within the book itself. It's a marvelous comic to look at, and Abbinanti's distinct style suits the tone of the book perfectly.

I really can't say enough good things about Atomika. I just wish more people were reading it, because it's unlike almost anything out there right now.

Days Missing #1 (of 5) ("November 11th, 2004") by Phil Hester (writer), Frazer Irving (artist), and Troy Peteri (letterer). $3.95 (?), 22 pgs, FC, Archaia.

The first issue of this series is coming out, I believe, next week, but Archaia sent this sucker to me, so I thought I'd review it. It doesn't have a price on it, so I took a guess of $3.95. That seems par for the course with Archaia books.

The idea of this series (each issue of which features a different writer and artist) is not bad - a mysterious man shows up when there's a horrific event that threatens mankind and manages to solve the problem and then change time so that no one remembers it. Why he needs to change time so that no one remembers it isn't really explained in the first issue, but we'll see down the line if it's addressed. This dude (he's called Dr. Steward in this issue - get it, he's like a steward of humanity? - but who knows what he'll be called in the succeeding issues; he's been around since the Dawn of Time, so he probably doesn't have as pedestrian a name as "Steward") turns up in this issue in Swaziland, where a plague is ravaging the population and threatens to kill everyone in the world. Dr. Steward figures out that a vaccine might have something to do with the royal family, but unfortunately, the royal family is on a plane heading out of the country. Dr. Steward gets on the plane and, by using the example of Hammurabi (Dr. Steward knew Hammurabi, of course), convinces the king that his legacy is more important than his life. Yay! Plague fixed! Again, it's not clear why he has to erase the day from human memory, but he does.

Hester does a nice job setting up the premise, introducing the main character, and making the point about sacrificing one's life for the greater good. It's always enjoyable to see Irving's art (I was so tempted to buy that Azrael thing he did recently, that's how much I like his art), and he does a nice job here, even though Hester doesn't give him too much to do. The best part of the book is the flashback to Dr. Steward watching the dinosaurs, because there's a little bit of action as opposed to people in biohazard suits standing around talking. But it's still wonderful art to look at.

This is an intriguing comic that promises some interesting creative teams (next issue is David Hine and Chris Burnham) looking at various points in the past. It will be neat to see how they address the mysteries of Dr. Steward. I assume there's a mandate about who he is and what exactly he's doing, because that would be strange if each writer wrote him without caring what had come before.

Fables #87 ("Witches Chapter One: Bufkin") by Bill Willingham (writer), Mark Buckingham (penciller), Andrew Pepoy (inker), Lee Loughridge (colorist), and Todd Klein (letterer). $