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.

The Issue at Hand: The Tick New Series #1

The first issue of the new ongoing Tick series came out last Wednesday. Unfortunately for me i didn't pick up my comics until today. The really great news is that in addition to there being a copy in my box, there was also a copy on the shelf. This is in a store that doesn't tend to use a lot of shelf space for comics that aren't from the top four or five publishers, but it was there. Hopefully it will catch the eye of someone who has fond memories of the Tick from its various incarnations who didn't realize that a new series was starting.

Despite some very unnecessary self deprecation by the author, both on his blog, and on the Arachnida page at the back of the comic, This is an exceptional book. I understand the fear that there will be disappointment from people who are only familiar with the Tick from the very excellent Fox cartoon that ran in the 1990's. There are a lot of characters that were created exclusively for the show, and they will not be in the comic. There are a lot of characters from the cartoon that created very strong and lasting impressions on people. I don't see this as a negative.

In the case of the Tick, I think that the humor and the tone are most important. The cartoon recreated and perfected the tone and humor of the original comics. Subsequent comics in my opinion were created with an awareness of what had already been done.

This latest offering does the same thing. It draws upon the tone and the humor, it uses existing characters, and adds it's own new elements. Cereno perfectly creates situations and stories within the existing framework of the character, and does so at a level that keeps you from even wondering about the creative team as you are reading it. This is an extremely funny new book that feels familiar in the best possible way. Les McClaine's art is fantastic in the same way as the writing is. When you look at it, it looks like what you are expecting. The book will get a lot of people's money based on the fact that it elicits this sense of familiarity. The good news is that you get more than just the familiar in both the writing and the art. The expressions that McClaine brings out in the characters are what really tie the comic together.

Issue number 1 focuses on two separate Christmas parties. One is for heroes at the Comet Club, and the other is for sidekicks in the Sidekick Lounge at the same venue. In each party there is a gift exchange going on, and stories are being told by both the sidekicks and a group of super-villains gathered in a lounge at the institution in which they are housed. There is an underlying story relating to the gifts, but we also see a handful of times when the Tick ruined a number of villains Christmas-time exploits.

The Tick New Series #1 is good comics. It's funny, well written, and the art is spot on. The 4.95 price tag may seem a bit steep in relation to mainstream comics, but don't let that stop you. If you love the Tick, you will love this. If you are a fan of funny riffs on superheroes, you won't be disappointed.

The Tale of One Bad Rat

I borrowed this Bryan Talbot Graphic novel (Dark Horse Books) from the library a few weeks ago, and just got around to reading it.

The title of this book is in the style of Beatrix Potter. The cover art and font are obviously a nod to the small volumes of stories featuring animals that many of us grew up loving. The story relates to Potter in a number of ways, and is a nice story about overcoming abuse and learning to live and finding peace with yourself. It is a bit neat, and perhaps overly straightforward in its telling and its resolution, but it is still very well done.

There are several themes that run the course of the book. One is a connection to Beatrix Potter, One is vivid visions or hallucinations, One is the theme of child sexual abuse and the toll it takes on the victim, and the last one is rats. These are all tied together in a way that helps us to feel what the protagonist, a girl named Helen, who is homeless when we first meet her and has a pet rat. is going through, and to really see how she is coping with a history of many years of sexual abuse by her father, and emotional neglect by her mother.

Helen goes from one place to another, encountering something at nearly every point that triggers flashbacks to her abusive past. It is something that is ever present, and keeps driving her on. She has a strong interest in Beatrix Potter and goes more or less on a pilgrimage of sorts the the area in which Potter lived and wrote her stories about. In addition to meeting a number of people who just want to use her, she does encounter a number of good souls.

The overall feeling of the book is one of hope. Helen takes control of her situation by the end of the book and it ends on a good note. She is greatly helped toward this end by people she happens upon when she is at a low point, who end up being good and kind to her and step into a positive sort of parental role that she had been lacking in her life.

It's a good story, I'm glad I read it, but I don't particularly love it. The art is good but not a style I like very much, and the story is well written, but didn't blow me away. It's a good book to borrow first.

Talkin bout the same thing over and over

I picked up this weeks comics today. It was a light but good week and I picked up a little bonus comic to read as well.

The Unwritten #7 came out, and it continues to be really good and really compelling. The is great, the covers are even better, and the writing is pretty awesome. I love the fictional geography aspect of this probably more than anything else, but the whole conceit of the power of stories and their influence and their standing as a commodity of sorts is really neat. There is a lot going on in this. There are a variety of things that will eventually come together, and the promise of learning a lot more as everything develops. This is one of those smart comics that doesn't come off as pretentious or trying to be more than it is. One of the core stories is basically Harry Potter. The power is in stories, no matter what the stories are.

Batman and Robin #6 - I am not loving every second of this title, but I am liking it a lot. It is going a long way to keep me reading it. The team of Dick and Damian is a good one. Both characters have strong well defined personalities, and bring a lot to the table. Both provide different perspectives on the Batman identity and make for good action and an interesting dynamic. The Jason Todd Red Hood and his crazy sidekick Scarlet were a good counterpoint to Batman and Robin, and the flamboyant Flamingo was a tough enemy, but still came across as sort of generic and with only the flashiness and brutality standing inplace of actual character. I am enjoying this more than a lot of relatively recent Batman stuff. I still like Batwoman more, but this is pretty good for a Batman fix.

I also picked up SuperGod, but haven't read it yet. Touching the ultra glossy cover was like taking a time machine back to the 90's but I don't hold that against it. I am pretty sure I will like this just as I tend to at least LIKE most things Warren Ellis writes. I'll talk about it more when I don't have to make stuff up to do so...