Batman: The Brave and the Bold Episode 2

The second episode of the new Batman team-up series has come and gone, and I must say that I enjoyed it at least as much as the first episode which I liked a lot. I this episode we get Batman teaming up with Plastic Man. They face off against the Gentleman Ghost, and later on against Gorilla Grodd and his fellow Gorillas mounted on pterodactyls. His goal, pretty much classic, which is to steal ships right out of the sea by lifting them up with ropes and plenty of flying dinosaur power. Oh, and his plan to turn all humans in a 500 mile radius into apes.

The moral dilemma in this one has to do with friendship and trust, and not betraying trust, etc. The Plastic Man origin story is altered to include Batman as a central character in it, as well as adding Kite Man as the leader of the gang that Eel was in when he was a criminal.

It's funny and fun, it's not overly preachy, and we get to see Batman kicking butt in Gorilla form while Plastic Man fires bars of gold out of his mouth (he swallowed them hoping to keep them) by whacking himself in the stomach. It's sort of refreshing and welcome to me.

Bayou

I just finished reading the 160 screens of the comic Bayou that is available through Zuda. I don't think I am exaggerating by saying that this is the best thing I have read all year. I only wish that there was more of it available.

Bayou is set in the town of Charon on the Mississippi delta in 1933. It is not a good time to be black in the south, but Lee Wagstaff and her father are doing the best they can. The story opens with Lee diving into the bayou, rope in hand, to try and retrieve the body of a young black boy who was killed and dumped in the water after supposedly whistling at a white woman. Her father is holding the rope on the shore. She is doing it because they are paying her father a very much needed three dollars and he is just too big to get into the spot the body has settled. While she is under the water she catches a glimpse of a butterfly winged version of the dead boy that she believes to be his soul.

That is the first glimpse of the kind of place Charon Mississippi is, and the sorts of creatures living and lurking just out of sight. It is doubtful that there are creatures under and around the water that are any worse than the very real, very cruel bigots and murderers that seem to be the rule rather than the exception. As the story goes on that hypothesis proves to be false.

I actually don't want to spoil the story as I am tasking everyone who even casually glances at this to go follow that link and give it a few minutes of your time. If you aren't hooked in short order I would be surprised. What I will say, is that it doesn't take long for the story to get going and for Lee to become fully involved in a heroic quest that pits her against fantastic creatures that seem to reflect and amplify everything that is wrong in the same way that she will meet new companions that do the same for the positive characters she knows, in order to rescue her former best friend, and save her father before he is lynched by an angry mob. She embarks on this with the help of a sometimes reluctant hero in the form of a very large green swamp monster named 'Bayou' who greatly resembles her good father and is himself intent on seeing his kids again somehow.

The art is absolutely beautiful. The characters are perfect, and I am not sure that I have seen expressions and emotions conveyed so perfectly. The fantastic creatures have a real sense of 'other' to them, while at the same time being easily recognizable for what they are.

I really do see this comic as a blend of regrettable southern history, blues, Uncle Remus Stories, and southern and slave folklore(real or imagined), mixed with characters that could have been pulled right out of To Kill A Mockingbird. It's just perfect. I am a father of daughters, and the bond and the love between Lee and her father, and her determination to save him is nearly tear-inducing.

I used the word perfect more than I usually do, but I did it to keep from overusing the word AWESOME.

Popgun Bullets: Popgun Volume One, part three - The next 50 pages

Part One Part Two

• p105 Remnants - Llarena/Sobreiro - Perhaps this is too sophisticated for me. The art is decent, but the story isn't so much a storry as it is a statement or a monologue of sorts. I guess that maybe it's a statement on religion or human nature or something, but it zips right over my head.
• p113 The Fall Of Geometry - Coleman Engle - I love the art in this. It is bright and cute and all, but this is another story I am not sure the point of. The art is great, except that it is so light and pleasant in style that the scenes of destruction and guts being sliced open and a cat cut in half are way way harder for me to handle. I noted the references to Ender's Game, but am not sure what purpose they serve. Shapes are falling from the sky cutting things into pieces. It appears to be a defense system gone wrong, but then we mostly just get people dying and things being destroyed.
• p129 Leed's Devil - Joe Flood - This is a pretty standard sort of story done well. It feels like the x-files and any number of private detective shows/movies. That isn't a criticism, just a comment as a frame of reference. There is a very cool looking devil/dragon creature in it, and it is written well.
• p147 New Brighton Archeological Society - Smith/Weldon - The art for this is again amazing. The story itself is really just a bath gag, and really the sort of thing you have probably seen in Calvin & Hobbes in one form or another. As part of a larger work it would be great, but although I liked it fine and appreciate the art, I'm not doing flips over it.
• p150 Amazing Joy Buzzards promotional piece - Dan Hipp - I still love his art. I am not sure why this is in this volume though.
  

Popgun Bullets: Popgun Volume One, part two - The next fifty pages

Here is a link to Part One.

• p 51 Thrilling Ant Farm (fake ad) - Danny Hellman - One page gag. It's funny though, and describes a product every bit as lame as I always assumed the stuff in the back of comics would be.
  
• p52 Pinapl - Corey Lewis - I am crazy about this. I don't know what it is about it, but every bit of it is awesome and just pops off the page to me. The color is crazy in a good way, and there is so much movement and sound. I would love to see more of this in all it's future samurai gangland action glory.
• p67 She's Out Of Reach - Jim Mahfood - This is a very good five pages. I swear I thought it was longer than that when I read it, but it crams a good bit into the five pages. It's fun and interesting. The art is great. It certainly has the feel of a story being told by 'one of your friends' about that 'ideal match' they found, and why it didn't work. I think it's a good use of five pages and a good anthology piece.
• p72 Motorface - Benjamin Roman - It's two pages long. The art is great, but it's not a story and not quite a gag.
• p74 Hector Plasm In Palamon's Conundrum - Benito Cereno and Nate Bellegarde - This is a Hector Plasm story, and a really good one. I am a big Hector Plasm fan, but I will say that the writing is great, the art is great, and it is a great short piece for an anthology. We get to hear a tragic love story, as well as seeing the sort of empathy Hector has with the dead. You don't have to know the character to understand it, but if you do it's that much better.
• p81 Monoluminant: The Goblin Sisters - Joe Suitor - Ok, even I am getting a little tired of how much I have liked the various pieces I have reviewed. I promise you it's because they are good, and not because I am THAT easy. This is another great story with terrific art. It's very funny and cool. I am pretty sure that this is a true story of Jimmy Page... It's got guitars and creepy creatures in it. It's another good piece.
• p89 Sanz Pantz Ninja Platypus - Chris Moreno - I should get a thesaurus. This is a touching piece on just how far some will go for a loved one (in this case it's beer). The main character is a platypus, and looks a lot like a ninja turtle. That is just a fact of life for that sort of creature wearing that sort of mask and practicing martial arts. It's another funny story, and it's well done. Cheesy T-Shirt Slogan Clan has to be my favorite ninja clan ever.
• p95 The Amazing Joy Buzzards in The Fearless Vampire Hunters - Mark Andrew Smith/Dan Hipp - I really like Amazing Joy Buzzards. I really like how it is written and drawn. I think there is a bit too much Smith in this volume for having been edited by him. I know there were bits by others that were cut out of the volume, but there sure does seem to be a lot of Smith in it. I think this bit is great, I'm not trying to take away from that, honest.
• p99 Tag - Dave Crosland - This is like a gag and an editorial statement wrapped in one. I love the art, I love the color, and I love the way that this is so different from so much of what went in before it.
  

That brings me to page 104. I will break here and pick up with the next page range soon.

Comic Book Day 11/19/08

Yesterday was a pretty great day for comics. I noted in my previous post that I also got the Fall issue of Comic Foundry magazine. I really enjoyed it.

Atomic Robo: Dogs of War #4 - Another fantastic issue. I enjoyed it start to finish. It is a bit of a bummer that we only get one more issue in this. Hopefully we won't have to wait long for the next series. The issue is non-stop action, great art and great writing. The story is good, the banter is even better. I don't care what either of them say at the end of this issue, I think Robo and Sparrow are going to be BFFs. I really love the character Sparrow. I would read other things with her in it assuming she is written and drawn the way she is in this.

Amazing Spider-Man #578 - Great issue. It starts out funny, Spidey gets a fortune in a fortune cookie that promises he will be lucky, and then he goes through a number of situations where indeed we see that he IS quite lucky today. He gets a free train ride, meets a half naked model just itching for a photographer, and then lands smack in the middle of an attempted hit on an entire train filled with jurors in a mob trial. He even meets the father of his greatest detractor. Mark Waid does a great job with the writing here. I didn't see the Stallone movie 'Daylight' so I can't make any references to it, but this has a bit of the disaster movie vibe to it, in a pretty good way. It's nice to see the Shocker, and even nicer to see that there are still stupid villains out there.

Terra #2 - I am going to keep getting this. I am not generally a Power Girl fan. I also don't read comics for the t&a generally. The first three pages of this issue feature Terra scrambling around naked, looking for her clothes after being examined by Dr. Mid-Nite. It is extremely funny. There is an Austin Powers like series of conveniently placed word balloons and hands in the foreground that protect our heroines modesty at least a little. I say this every time I read a comic with her art in it, but I really do love Amanda Conner's art. The issue seems a bit heavy on the gratuitously sexy art, but it is funny and well written, and aside from all of the flesh we see, we are presented with an interesting main character with a ton of plot possibilities and a pretty great attitude. Hopefully when this mini is over we will get to see more of her.

Justice Society of America: Kingdom Come Special: Magog - I think I got a bit more out of this than I did from the Superman one shot, simply because we have less history with Magog and 'Lance' than we do with Superman. I still think 4 dollars is too much for this. It was perfectly in keeping with the storyline, it did give us something we hadn't seen more or less, but I think maybe this could have been inserted into a JSA issue. If we had gotten a full length JSA story and this as a backup, that would have been a reasonable giant sized issue to pay a little more for.

Tiny Titans #10 - Happy tenth issue anniversary Tiny Titans. Good job in keeping true to yourself! This issue is a bit different from previous issues, in that it is a single story and not just related bits. It is sweet as can be, and features Supergirl and Batgirl as well as Streaky and Ace. We get the cutest killer croc ever, as well as bizarro, and there is nothing but sweetness and kindness to be found. I love the simplicity of it as well as the absolutely fantastic art. This continues to be the title that makes me smile the most of any comics I get regularly.

AmbushBug: Year None #4 - This issue seems devoted specifically to making fun of Dan DiDio, and it succeeds. It is also just flat out funny in a sort of Animaniacs kind of way. I am enjoying this title a lot.

Drugs are awesome!

I have never read Comic Foundry before, but I have been dying to, since it has gotten some good reviews from people whose opinions I trust. I have been trying to get it through my LCS, but for some reason it has been harder than expected. Today my friends at my local shop came through for me, so I was excited to finally read what seemed to be a magazine that fit the bill of being exactly the type of thing I would like.

I really enjoyed the issue. There is a lot of good stuff in it, and I expect to keep picking it up. It doesn't seem to be trying too terribly hard to be hip and edgy. I understand the need to do that to some degree, and it doesn't bother me at all. That wouldn't count as a strike against them, as I realize, there is an expectation by some out there that everything needs to be snarky, and an article without some gratuitous obscenities just isn't a finished article.

This magazine has a bit on Jaime Hernandez, Minicomics, Mortal Kombat vs the DC Universe,G. Willow Wilson, Gail Simone, Obscenities Law, a variety of politically related features, it's fantastic really in it's scope. I think it is needlessly too fantastic in scope with it's inclusion of the 'Best Comics To Read High" feature.

Grab your rolling papers, these comics are dope...

It's very helpful that they have a guide like that in this magazine. Since drugs are legal in the US, I think it's a valuable service to their readership. I'm not sure why drugs need to be so pervasive. People can do what they will, and face whatever consequences there may or may not be, that isn't the issue to me.

I am looking forward to reading their lists of comics to read while committing other crimes. What do they recommend as required reading for people illegally uploading and downloading comics? What do they recommend for white collar crimes? Are there specific drugs they advocate for specific comics? I just think stuff like that is unnecessary pandering. I re-read it a few times. I guess it could be a joke. The setup paragraph reads sort of like a joke, but the reviews of the four items they present are fairly straight forward. Even if it is a joke, I think it brings the magazine down a little.

Popgun Bullets: Popgun Volume One - Part One, The first fifty pages

There are a number of reasons I decided to go back and post about popgun volume one. Some of them I will post when November is over, but some of them are: I thought of a clever title, I did volume two, and if/when a volume three is released i will do that as well, so I figured I should do the first one as well. Mostly it was the clever title thing. I am a sucker for naming things as though they are a long running feature. I plan to go and retroactively change the old posts to match this naming convention.

Any mention from me of popgun has to start with my standard comment. All the hype for the popgun line focuses on this idea that it is a 'graphic mixtape' and that somehow it is bringing together comics and music in anthology form, in a way that just has never been thought of before. It strikes me as a bit pompous and based in a sort of denial. Reading the blurb at the back of the book by Joe Keatinge takes a little of the fire out of my belly on that, as he seems really sincere. I had read little bits in the press that made it sound like it was a grand experiment for people that didn't read comics, rather than what it is, which is a fairly straight forward, seemingly theme free anthology. To me, None of that matters. If you give me an anthology filled with really awesome stuff cover to cover, then I don't need a theme or any coaxing to like it.

• The Allred cover is beautiful and brilliant. It features Frank Einstein in the middle, and bits from the comics in the volume are all over the room he is in.
  
• We get part of a Joe Flood spread that starts in the front of the book and finishes on the inside back cover. I LOVE this guy's art. Everything I have seen from him is amazing and makes me want to own a print of it. It doesn't hurt that he seems to be just the nicest guy you could want to meet. This page has a character from the first story that appears in most of the pieces done for the book design by a variety of artists. It looks like a vampire themed tele tubby sort of.
  
• Two, two page pieces by Barnaby Ward follow. Both are beautiful, and they work nicely one after the other. The first is a girl reading in an attic and wearing headphones done in muted tones, the second is a similar looking girl in space with pinks and blue and orange. The helmet to her space suit appears to be made out of giant headphones. It's a nice effect.
• The next page we get after the table of contents is another Barnaby Ward piece. I will need to look him up when I am done typing this. I really like what is here. This one is a full page girl standing up and apparently poking Felix the cat in the eye. really nice picture.
• p11 - Your Hand In Mine, Carlos Lerma - The art here is pretty beautiful. The story seems to be taking place in the imagination of a young cancer patient who is being taken off of life support. It's nearly wordless, and really nicely done.
• p18 Me And The Cat Own The Lease On The Flat, Jamie S. Rich & Joelle Jones - This is a joint custody after a contentious break-up story. The kid in this case is a female cat named Jake. I like this piece, although the bad blood that is portrayed in it makes me sort of uneasy. I think that is a sign that it is pretty well written. The art is expressive and works well.
• p23 Codename Colonel Kursk, Toby Cypress - I LOVE the style of art here. It's really cool. Unfortunately, while I can't say i don't appreciate what looks like the end of an action movie, I am not sure what the point of this is. I think it could be (and who knows, maybe is) a piece out of something fairly awesome, but It doesn't seem to be something that is complete.
• p29 Manhunt In The Obsidian Hills Of Mars: A Futari Tale, Nick Derington - This is another piece like the one before it. First, it seems to have a title longer than the work itself, but that isn't the problem. This piece also has very solid art. It looks like something I would like, but it feels like a snippet. It's like watching trailers rather than getting complete short works.
• p35 Frank Einstein In For The Record, Mike Allred. I like Allred, I like Madman. This is a nice little story. In it we get a sort of origin, as well as a story about Frank trying to get a special order from a record store. I don't know if this story was previously published, but it was fairly old when the anthology came out. That doesn't hurt anything, just mentioning it.
• p43 The New Brighton Archaeological Society, Mark Andrew Smith & Matthew Weldon - I like the style here. I am not sure I love that there are three different installments of this throughout the anthology. So far it reads good and the art is great. I like Smith's writing a lot, and Matthew Weldon is a terrific artist. I'll have more opinions on the whole thing when I get to the last part.

I am going to stop here at page 50. I may or may not do larger chunks as I continue on with this.