CBD 01/27/2010

Batman and Robin, Detective Comics, Kick-Ass

Batman and Robin #7 (Grant Morrison, Cameron Stewart) - I am still enjoying this series. This issue wasn't one I liked at first. I had to warm up to it a bit and re-read it, but it was good, almost fun even, comics. I am not a blackest night sort of comics person for the most part. This comic has DickBat taking CorpseBat to a Lazarus Pit in England. It also has some fun British gang war stuff, and Squire and the Knight... and BatWoman, who just sort of poofs there. It's pretty fun stuff in a pure superhero comic kind of way, with just a bit of the modern gloominess thrown in, as it does involve trying to make CorpseBat into LiveBat again, and Damien, the current Robin and BatSon apparently in a healing tank getting a new spine.

Detective Comics #861 - We get some Batman in this issue, as well as a new and grizzly badguy who looks like Max Headroom with knives stuck all over his suit. He looks pretty stupid, but he is pretty tough and awful. The art in this issue is by Jock, and Jock's art is very good, but it isn't even close to the bar that JH Williams has set for this title. This may be my favorite superhero title right now that isn't Tiny Titans. The Question backup feature has also been good, and is particularly good in this issue, while not exactly blazing new trails.

Kick-Ass #8 - I am still fully on the fence about this series. I guess I like it. I don't love a lot of things Millar is inclined to do regularly, but I have certainly enjoyed his writing in the past. I think the writing in this, the concept, the premise, and the aspirations it has, are all overblown and perhaps even irresponsible. It's a comic that was born to be a movie and it involves regular kids dressing up as super heroes, taking drugs, brutally murdering and being horribly physically abused. A father raises his young daughter to kill and gives her weapons and instructs her to use drugs. The main character has his body beaten and broken severely and keeps coming back. I enjoyed the story, and the action, but like Wanted, it left me feeling a bit dirty. I am not really a prude, but I don't always think thst freedom of expression should come without some personal responsibity. Maybe High School me wants to yell 'fuck yeah!', but the responsible adult me that still loves comics wonders if this needed to be done like this. Just because you can show the main character's Dad Fucking a woman from behind on their couch as his son walks in, doesn't mean it needs to be done, or that it makes for a good story

The Surrogates and The Surrogates: Flesh and Bone

I picked up these to trades from my local Library the other day when I went to pay the enormous fine I owed them because I am not smart enough to return items or conveniently renew them online. There is no reason anyone should ever owe our library a dime, given how easy they make it for you to renew, but this isn't the first or even fifth time I have almost had my library fine go into collection... and still I just can't quit them.

Robert Venditti wrote both of these stories, and Brett Weldele provided the art. The art is pretty great in my opinion, and works really well in both cases. I have been trying to think of what the art made me think of. Style-wise It seems like a combination of Frank Miller in Dark Knight Returns, and Ben Templesmith in Fell, with yet again another property created in the combining of the two and the use of single color page spreads and lots of muddy gray and earthtone washes, with the occasional blues thrown in. Even in the midst of fairly stylistic art, the characters were distinctive, easily identified, and expressive.

The writing is good, the characters are believable, and it works well, while not exactly making any major innovations with regard to storytelling, or what is effectively a police procedural sort of story mixed in with some commentary on human nature and corporations, and religion. I liked The Surrogates, and because of that, I loved the prequel Flesh and Bone. Flesh and Bone needs to be read after the Surrogates, even if you have no idea of the story, etc. The prequel hits all of the notes and expands upon them in some unexpected ways.

The Surrogates centers around the police investigation into a series of crimes against 'Surrogates' Artificial human analogues that are 'driven' by people and take the place of those people out in the real world. Surrogates allow Police and emergency workers to be able to work better and face less actual potential injury, etc. They are very common in the setting of the story. Detectives Harvey Greer and his partner are our guides through this, and Greer personally stands in for us in the story in my opinion.

Flesh and Bone takes us back to some important events that set the stage for the world as it is seen in the Surrogates. A homeless man is killed by three teens 'joy riding' in their dads' surrogates. This event puts a lot of events into motion, and we get to watch as Harvey Greer participates in the case that will move him from being a uniformed cop to being a detective. We also see his own personal first experiences with surrogates on an intimate level that really gives greater impact to the story as you already know it.

I am not sure either of these will ever find a permanent spot on my bookshelf, but if they do, it will still cast me less than the fine I will rack up having them out from the library..

Chew

I picked up Chew #6 and 7 recently, and just had an opportunity to actually read them today. I picked them up at the comic shop near my parents that sometimes actually has stuff like this on the shelf, unlike my LCS where I would have to have requested it in advance. Not ragging on my LCS, as they are good folks and treat me well.

Chew is the John Layman / Rob Guillory from Image that centers on Tony Chu, a cibopath working for the FDA in a time when trafficking in illegal chicken is a major crime. A cibopath, according to the comic, is someone who can eat something and get psychic impressions of the things history. This makes eating very unpleasant for Tony on a regular basis, and demands that he eat all sorts of awful things in order to do his job.

The first arc of the series (Taster's Choice) ended at number 5, and Issue 6 picks up with a new 5 issue storyline called International Flavor. This one features an investigation into a new, strange, tropical fruit that tastes mostly like chicken apparently. It also has Tony reuniting with an old partner from his days on the police force. The series is funny and interesting, it moves quickly and is served perfectly by Guillory's art.

Guillory's art is a full partner in the success of this book, I believe. It is dynamic and fun and his faces are unbelievably expressive.

The trade of the first 5 issues is out, or you could easily jump into this one if you can get your hands on 6 & 7.

Scalped: V3 & V4

Having received both an American Express gift card for Christmas, AND a lovely selection of discounts that could be used at my local comic shop, I found myself in a position to buy two trades recently. I looked over my shelves before I went to the store and gave it a great deal of thought as I browsed the stock at the shop. Ultimately it was not great contest. If I had about ten more dollars I would have gone with the Complete Edlund volume of the Tick, but beyond that, I had gone way too long without reading Jason Aaron's Scalped.

I picked up Volume 4, The Gravel In Your Guts, and Volume 5, High Lonesome. I read them pretty much straight through when I got home. I love this title. I usually say that Scalped is like a movie, in the best possible way that a comic can be like a movie. I believe now that Scalped is like the best possible gritty crime action/drama that you could hope to get on HBO or Showtime, or anywhere. It has great characters, great plot, intrigue, action, violence, sex, great writing and a real noir visual. I don't always love the art. I think it sometimes looks like a collection of grotesque racial stereotypes, excep for the fact that I have seen people who actually look like the pictures, so I don't think it is racist. It is gritty. It is often as ugly as the situations. This makes it really work.

I think that Aaron and Guera have the kind of complete connection that Brubaker and Philips do. The writing, the atmosphere and the art all gel perfectly in my opinion. This is times are hard and getting harder deep cover crime fiction. If you think things were bad before, you may be surprised by the capacity for them to get progressively worse in these two volumes. Dash Bad Horse, more or less our protagonist is in a hard downward spiral. At the same time even the really bad guys seem to be getting themselves into deeper shit.

In all of this, Red Crow, a big bad who could easily give the Kingpin a run for his money seems to have some bits of conscience and maybe regret or sensitivity that have opened up in him. That doesn't mean that anyone is safe, it may even mean the opposite. Red Crow really isn't a one dimensional character. I don't think even the strippers and whores and thugs are one dimensional in this.

This is an addictive series. For me, it is best to read the trade collections, but can be hard to wait. If you like gritty fast paced action and drama I recommend these highly.

Product Descriptions from Amazon.com

V4 The Gravel In Your Guts
This intense crime drama that mixes organized crime with current Native American culture.

Fifteen years ago, Dashiell "Dash" Bad Horse ran away from a life of poverty and hopelessness on the Prairie Rose Indian Reservation in search of something better. Now he's come back home armed with nothing but a set of nunchucks, a hell-bent-for-leather attitude and one dark secret, to find nothing much has changed on "The Rez" - short of a glimmering new casino, and a once-proud people overcome by drugs and organized crime.

In this volume, Dash makes a dark and fateful decision that will forever affect his future on the reservation as he learns more secrets from his former girlfriend's past.

V5 High Lonesome
Jason Aaron, the hot new writer of the critically acclaimed limited series, THE OTHER SIDE, teams with gritty artist R.M. Guéra for an intense crime drama that mixes organized crime with current Native American culture. Fifteen years ago, Dashiell "Dash" Bad Horse ran away from a life of abject poverty and utter hopelessness on the Prairie Rose Indian Reservation searching for something better. Now he's come back home armed with nothing but a set of nunchucs, a hell-bent-for-leather attitude and one dark secret, to find nothing much has changed on "The Rez" - short of a glimmering new casino, and a once-proud people overcome by drugs and organized crime. Is he here to set things right or just get a piece of the action?

In this volume, we see the landscape of the Prairie Rose reservation through the eyes of a newcomer - a card shark and con man -
whose presence could spell doom for one of our main characters.

2010: the year we get one good comic in two weeks

That's probably not entirely true. What is certainly true is that I have picked up one excellent comic so far this year.

In case it has been way too long since I last posted anything, which it has, I will fill you in on my pick for best single issue of 2010. I know this is a fair designation, as it is the only new issue I have picked up so far. My guess is that even if this issue doesn't stand up once other good comics come out, this series will continue to shine.

The Unwritten #9 - Mike Carey, Peter Gross - I continue to love this series. When I get to my LCS and see that all I have waiting for me after 3 or 4 weeks is a single issue and a Previews, I feel like I made out pretty well when the issue waiting for me is from this series.

In this issue Tom and Savoy survive a big attack at the prison, see the 'ghost' of Sir Roland, Save Lizzie and get to interact with Mingus, the winged cat a lot. The end is also pretty great and puts one of our hero's great adversaries more or less in the same place with him. It's well written and drawn, and continues to delight.

Mouse Guard: Fall and Winter 1152

I read David Petersen's Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 and Winter 1152 recently, and then again for a second time over the past two days. I was bowled over on the first read. The art is beautiful, and the writing is tight. This is a comic made for the medium. There is no shortage of dialog and narration to be found, but the story is told in the art.

These books are square volumes, shorter and wider than a standard comic. It makes use of the size very well, and gives us a good number of full page and even two page spreads that really set the tone and also punctuate just how strong the art is in this. The characters are distinct, even though most of them are extremely cute mice.

The basic story isn't exactly brand new ground. It's a lot like a lot of classic adventure stories. It takes place in something akin to a medieval setting. It features a small group of adventurers on a mission. The main characters are part of a group of elite warriors whose heyday was in the past to some degree. There is a conspiracy afoot, and the order to which they belong is cast in a negative light. Along the way they have opportunities to face perils, meet characters from legends and fight foes that seem to greatly outnumber or outclass them. There are a lot more standard elements that I could name. Add to this that there is no way to avoid comparing this to at least the excellent Redwall series of novels by Brian Jacques.

Beast of Burden #3 came out last week. This also excellent comic is by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson. I read the issue and loved it, and then my ten year old daughter walked over to see what I was reading. I explained it to her and showed her some of the pictures. The art in BoB is also exceptional as well as being very cute in places. She asked to read the issue, and loved it. She is also now a big fan of Mouse Guard. I was thinking about these two very different series, and started to think about something they had in common.

Mouse Guard and Beasts of Burden are both comics I would call 'all ages'. I would actually call them 'most ages', but either of them could be read to a younger reader and edited a little on the fly if needed. Kids nine and up I would say should love these stories.

Mouse Guard made me feel the same way that movies and stories like Robin Hood and The Three Musketeers and Zorro made me feel as a kid. It's exciting and full of action and adventure. The characters are real and flawed, but that isn't the focus, they are also brave and daring, and selfless in their quest to protect those they are sworn to protect, and to complete their missions for the greater good.

I highly recommend these books. Check your local libraries (that's where I picked up mine). And after you read it, share it with a kid. There is a lot to be gotten from the brave little mice of the Guard.

CBD 11/29/2009

Image United, Detective Comics, The Tick New Series, Ultimate Avengers, Beasts of Burden

Image United #1 - I had no interest in getting this until I read something recently that talked about it and it got in my head for some reason. It is both a crossover book AND an image comic filled with all of the characters I was turned off of in the 1990's. It is slightly better than my expectations, but not great. I don't think I will get any further issues, but this wasn't exactly terrible. There is something that I secretly like about this stuff but am afraid to admit.

Beasts of Burden #3 - This is really a great series. I've said this before, but the art is fantastic, and the writing is every bit as good as the art. This comic is about animals that dabble in the supernatural. The animals are cute and compelling and distinctive. The dialog is natural and fast paced. It would make a fantastic cartoon in my opinion, which isn't always the case. There is a lot of action and suspense in this issue, as well as humor in the form of banter. Great stuff. It is a tiny bit to the right of pg, but I think this would be a good comic for kids over 10 or so, and it certainly works for me as well.

Ultimate Avengers #4 - I think that I would absolutely buy any comic where the focus was all the big powerful heroes trying to beat up Captain America, and Captain America Schooling them as he is inclined to do (same thing with Batman... It's a thing of mine). Again, I don't think I will continue to get this title, but something about it calls to me when I see it on the shelf. I think that I am hoping it will be a reprint of the first Ultimates series.

Detective Comics #859 - This is another chapter in the Batwoman origin story. I am still really enjoying this. It's nice to read this as it isn't a story we've seen before.

The Tick New Series #1 - Reviewed Here... Go buy it, you'll love it. If you don't love it then you are incapable of love and I can't help you.