The Boys: This is no fun, but it's like, real, man

Motion comics links:  I'm not usually interested in motion comics, which tend to be cheesy bits of limited animation with poor voice work, falling in between the two mediums and utilizing none of the strengths of either, making for the worst of both worlds.  But this one is interesting: Dean Haspiel's "Sex Planet", which retains the word balloons while adding Haspiel's own voice and adding a little bit of interest in the motion of graphical elements.  Still not as good as the comic, but actually not terrible.

For an example of the other kind of motion comics, you can watch a 40-minute-long adaptation of the first volume of Dan Hipp's Gyakushu on Hulu (!).  I wouldn't normally recommend it, but any exposure for that awesome series is worth pointing out.  Hipp has an interesting blog post about it, where he notes that he didn't really have anything to do with the adaptation, but the real notable news is that Tokyopop has finally made the third and final volume of the series available, if only through print-on-demand.  I know I'll be springing for it.

The Boys, volume 7: The Innocents
Written by Garth Ennis
Art by Darick Robertson, John McCrea, and Russ Braun

Well, this is certainly an unpleasant read.  It's purposely so, however, an impressive bit of long-term plotting and characterization on Garth Ennis' part, the inevitable conclusion (but hopefully not the final one) of what seemed like silly poor-taste jokes at the outset of the series.  That's right, I'm not talking about the rampant rape, murder, baby-eating, and pedophilia that the super-characters in this series often get up to, but the dissolution of Wee Hughie and Annie January's relationship, which inevitably resulted from choices made and damages done at the very beginning of the series, then percolated under their every interaction up until the climax of this volume, in which they exploded to the surface with devastating results.  It's horrifyingly ugly to watch, like being present for a nasty fight between married friends and trying to look the other way while they air their dirty laundry in public.  That makes it a testament to Ennis' facility with characterization, as he turned what started out as mostly comedic bits of introduction to the world of the comic (that is, the accidental death of Hughie's girlfriend as some superheroic collateral damage, and Starlight's sexual-favor-requiring initiation into the world's premier super-team) and then explored their consequences, throwing the characters together and letting them develop a realistic relationship that stood out through its depth of emotion (as well as being one of the few bits of actual positivity in the series) then demonstrating the pain caused by hurtful secrets, tearing them apart in a scene that is painfully realistic in its depiction of the ugly things that emotionally injured people can do to each other simply through their words.

That's the real power of this series: the realization that the awfulness depicted throughout has consequences.  The horrible events that constantly occur aren't just there for jokes and shock value, but to show how the depravities of society can work their way into everything, polluting the best things about us and ruining everything.  It's a broken world we live in, and while Ennis exaggerates it by clothing it in spandex, horrible things still happen outside our windows, and it affects us all.  Maybe he can manage to bring things back around to some sort of happy ending, but it's looking less and less likely, and thus more and more like the real world.

Collection catchup: waiting for a few months can make for a good payoff

Ongoing series aren't always best when read in chunks rather than issue by issue, but that seems to be the case more often than not these days, so here are a few that I've gotten up to date on recently:

The Umbrella Academy, volume 2: Dallas

Written by Gerard Way

Art by Gabriel Ba

Wowee, there's definitely no sophomore slump here. The first volume of The Umbrella Academy was a pleasant surprise, a smart, fun take on superhero, sci-fi, and dysfunctional family tropes, something nobody was expecting from a writer known more for being an emo rock star than, well, a writer. But while that story was a good introduction, this follow-up might be even better, deepening the various relationships between the characters, explaining more of the complex backstory, and throwing one crazily awesome idea after another onto the page, never stopping to allow the reader to catch their breath. Plus, while the series is being presented in standalone storylines, it's become obvious that long-term plotting is in effect; scenes that weren't fully explained last volume lead to the plot here, while other bits are obviously setting up more stories in the future. It's put together beautifully, and it's tons of fun to read.

The plot here, indicated by the subtitle, manages to involve the assassination of JFK, along with the real reason for Number Five's reappearance in little-boy form; two psychotic, cute-mask-wearing, time-travelling assassins; a possible end to the Vietnam War that involves a giant mummy; the afterlife; and the world blowing up. It all happens at the series' signature frenetic pace, and Way seems to toss several ideas onto the page for every one he uses. At one point, three characters travel backward in time to stop JFK's killing, but the next time we see them, it turns out that they went back too far, and ended up spending three years fighting in the jungles of Vietnam, which in any other comic could have made for several issues of adventures. It's the kind of thing that could be filled in later, but will more likely be left up to the imagination of readers, which makes for a surprisingly satisfying read. Way trusts us to keep up, so he doesn't hold our hands and over-explain every little thing. For all its super-cool trappings and reveling in violence and gore, it's really a very mature bit of storytelling.

And it's incredibly fun to read as well, with funny, incisive dialogue, exciting action, and something incredible to look at on every page. Gabriel Ba outdoes himself here, filling the world with details like characters who happen to be monkeys, crazy futuristic technology, cool supernatural effects, Viet Cong vampires, and tons of grotesque killings. His depiction of life after death is especially striking, and the subtlety of emotion that he manages in his simple depictions of characters is pretty incredible. And the action! Just check out how well it works just in this one panel of a fight between Number Five and about a hundred guys from the future:

Just look at how well all the motion makes sense there, as we can follow the hopping child and see where he is shooting and how he is taking on all his attackers. It's gorgeous, and every panel of the book works this well, presenting clear action, dynamic motion, and images and colors that pop off the page. I love this comic, and I can't wait to see what Way and Ba have coming next.

Bonus: Check out Ba's homage to his collaborator Rafael Grampa's cover to their comic 5! Awesome!

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The Boys, volume 5: Herogasm

Written by Garth Ennis

Art by John McCrea and Keith Burns

Well, this comic is just plain dirty. It might be the closest thing to superhero porn you're going to find in "mainstream" comics, but while Garth Ennis does seem to be trying to provoke and offend, it's not really all that shocking if you've read most anything else he's written. He does seem to be having fun coming up with goofy sex acts and just general depravity though; this sort of thing is kind of right up his alley. The miniseries might have seemed like a sort of step away from the ongoing series for what passes for an "event" in the world of this series, but it actually ends up being pretty important, eventually dropping the sexy shenanigans and focusing on the concerns of the greater plot. This might be a case in which waiting for the collection wasn't the optimal reading experience, since, from what I understand, it functioned in effect as a way to make the series biweekly for six months, alternating with issues of the regular series that took place after the events seen here but with the two storylines playing off each other. A scene in which the superhero group Payback (a riff on the Avengers) are tasked with doing something about the Boys particularly seems like one that pays off later, but while trade-waiters like me won't get to see the results until the next volume, readers of the monthly issues saw that happen within a few weeks. It should still work though, just not at the optimum level. It's hard to figure out the best way to read these things these days, isn't it?

Anyway, the general air of superhero satire continues here, with the series still functioning as a savage, disgusted take on the whole idea of the genre. Ennis seems to be looking at this as what superheroes would be like if they really existed, an idea that's been done before over and over, but comes from a cynical modern viewpoint that sees nothing positive in the enterprise. We wouldn't have benevolent do-gooders, but celebrities and brands wholly owned by corporations and governments, doing the bidding of the rich and powerful and caring not one iota for the little people. It turns into a scary concept, and Ennis is really selling that here by showing how the superheroes are starting to feel that they don't have to been held back by the dictates of human morality and law. Which is where the real message of the series comes in: it's not just about the comics industry, but society itself, in which rich individuals and companies hold all the power, considering themselves above everyone else and free to do whatever they want, no matter whose lives are destroyed in the process.

This consideration of real-world power is emphasized by the continued looks at back-room politics of Halliburton-esque corporations who are making inroads into control of the United States government, and interestingly, Ennis includes the actual Halliburton in the comic. It seems like an odd choice, to plug a real-life entity like that into a fictional story, but it startles one back into reality, reminding us that the inhumane actions being depicted here are representative of things that are actually happening. The use of the events of September 11 functions in the same way, putting real-life blood on the hands of these fictional representations of those who wontonly murder innocents.

One could probably talk about other aspects of the story as well, like the art or character developments, but while those work well enough (although I thought it was funny that John McCrea seemed reluctant to show much male nudity, while fill-in artist Keith Burns draws dongs-a-plenty), that metaphorical aspect is what I think is most important, giving the series its real satirical bite. You can come for the jokes and the dirtiness, but hopefully you'll leave with a consideration of how your life is affected by this type of activity. And I don't mean the sullying of your precious superheroes, either.

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Chew, volume 1: Taster's Choice

Written by John Layman

Art by Rob Guillory

This series has sort of been the comics success story of the year, at least in terms of mainstream, direct market, non-big-two comics, and reading it, it's easy to see why: it's entertaining, accessible, and really nice-looking, along with being pretty unique. And that accessibility might be its strongest point, considering how unique it is; it's about a cop (and later federal agent) who gets psychic impressions from whatever he eats, which leads him toward some cannibalistic tendencies in the name of pursuing justice. And that's only one of the odd ideas that writer John Layman tosses out here; there's also a backstory involving the FDA becoming the leading anti-crime organization in the United States following an outbreak of bird flu the leads to the outlawing of poultry, a love interest who has found great success as a food critic due to her ability to describe tastes so well that people actually experience them when reading her reviews, and also aliens, apparently. There's action and banter aplenty, mysteries to solve, secrets, reversals, betrayals, and conspiracies, but it's never complex or hard to follow. In fact, the five issues collected here are all stand-alone stories, easy to pick up and read without feeling lost. It's a surprisingly approachable book, and a hell of an entertaining one to boot.

Layman does a lot of the work here, establishing characters' personalities through dialogue and (aside from brief introductory captions in each issue along the lines of "Meet Tony Chu...Tony Chu is cibopathic", and so on) delivering exposition organically rather than forcing readers to hear somebody explain the whole bird flu situation for their benefit. But artist Rob Guillory really fleshes out that structure and creates the oddball world of the comic, from the dirty back alleys where gangsters smuggle bootleg chicken to the paperwork-littered offices and gross evidence rooms of the FDA. He's got a style that resembles a more clean-lined and brightly-colored Ben Templesmith, which means that the characters aren't especially attractive, but they've got personality to spare. He comes up with some good effects for Tony's psychic impressions and stages some great action scenes too, perfectly balancing seriousness and comedy. It's a great book all around, and at a bargain price, hopefully it will get plenty of people on board for the series, since Layman obviously has plans for a long, involved story. I know I certainly want to see where it goes next.

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That's it for the moment, but it looks like there will be more coming soon. Comics!

Series collection catchup

Here are some shorter looks at various trade collections that I recently got around to reading:

The Boys, volume 4: We Gotta Go Now

Written by Garth Ennis

Art by Darick Robertson and John Higgins

I'm not sure why I like this series so much when I tend to get annoyed by the regular attempts to make superhero comics all "realistic" and "edgy". Maybe it's that Garth Ennis doesn't hold anything back; his heroes are exactly what we would expect from celebrities who are not only rich and famous but also have massive power and no consequences for their actions. Ennis seems to enjoy coming up with as much sick and twisted shit as he can, but he still grounds it in humanity, and while the violence and sex can be over the top, when it comes time for real horror, he pushes it right in our face. The dirty secret behind the series' stand-in for the X-Men is pretty damn awful, and while the consequence is horrifying, it still feels deserved, both for the perpetrators and those who aided them by not saying anything. Damn.

I also am enjoying the relationship between Hughie and his girlfriend. That's another way that Ennis grounds this over-the-top story: by developing realistic characters and relationships among all the nastiness and carnage. He's as good at writing tender romance as he is at coming up with funny sex and violence, which is surprising, but also quite nice.

And despite complaints I've heard that this storyline went on too long, I thought it worked rather well. It looks like I made the right decision when I switched to trades on this series.

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DMZ, volume 6: Blood in the Game

Written by Brian Wood

Art by Ricardo Burchielli

Reading this collection, I'm left wondering who equates Matty Roth with Brian Wood, since Matty comes off as a naive, easily-influenced doofus, even if he is well-meaning. He does seem to fight for what he thinks is right, but this story sees him get involved with a candidate in the election for a "provisional governor" of New York City, and while the guy seems charismatic, he doesn't appear to have much substance below the surface, riding mainly on the message of "giving a voice to the people". That's nice, but who knows what he's actually going to be able to accomplish, if anything. The series does seem to have taken a turn here, and maybe future stories will see Matty learning about the twisted politics and red tape that have to be dealt with in a tangled situation like this one, not to mention the fact that it's a dangerous war zone.

It's very interesting to see what Wood is doing here; as I've said from the beginning, the real power behind this series is that it takes the real-life violence of war and plops it down in our backyard, where American's don't have that distancing barrier of the TV screen to make it easy to think it doesn't matter because it's happening on the other side of the world. The obvious analogy is Iraq, but there are many more similar areas of conflict, and all of them are full of complex issues like we see here. The plot sees an election for a "provisional government", but what does that even mean? Is Manhattan going to become a new country, separate from the split nations of the U.S.A. and the Free States? Will this government have any power, or is it just listening to the "occupiers"? Does all the fighting and death that springs up around the election have any value at all, or are the people just pawns being fought over by powerful governments and corporations? Sure, this is all fiction, but these exact sorts of questions are very real in conflict zones all over the world, and Wood brings it home for readers and makes us realize how lucky we are that we don't have to face them. Yet.

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Powers, volume 12: The 25 Coolest Dead Superheroes of All Time

Written by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming

Art by Michael Avon Oeming

And so ends the current "volume" of the series. Not volume 12, like it says on the spine, but the volume that has been published by Marvel starting in 2004. Those issues constituted pretty much one long story, and it was pretty damn interesting, seeing major changes for the series' characters and some pretty dramatic events taking place. Even so, I'm not feeling this series like I once was; Bendis' dialogue, which once seemed refreshing, different, and funny, has become much more commonplace now that he has slathered his sub-Mamet-isms across the Marvel universe. It is still good to see him really cut loose though, pumping nasty sex and violence into his stories of superpowered crime and often making things quite disturbing. There's a sort of super-drug-addiction thing going on here that's really gross, and affecting since it's totally based in reality, with people willing to do anything for that next hit.

I dunno, I might be continuing to read this series out of momentum; it's certainly had its moments over the last decade, but it doesn't seem all that unique anymore. Oeming's art, which does do its job pretty well, can grate a little bit, with men mostly conforming to the broad-shouldered, square-jawed look, and women being short and wasp-waisted. I do appreciate the ever-changing nature of the characters though, and the sense of time moving forward and real change taking place. At the end of the volume (which is a natural endpoint and an understandable reason for the forthcoming relaunch and new #1 issue), Walker and Pilgrim are definitely in different places than they were at the beginning of the Icon series, and Pilgrim especially should make for a character to watch. She's stuck with some real guilt about what she has done, and all her relationships have been pretty much destroyed. I don't see her being written out of the series though, so maybe she'll become a PI or something. And Walker's burgeoning relationship with his new partner should be interesting as well, as long as Bendis can keep coming up with interesting cases. So will I keep reading? Yeah, probably. I hope I don't regret it.

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Jack of Fables, volume 5: Turning Pages

Written by Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges

Art by Tony Akins and Russ Braun

It took me long enough to get around to reading this volume, but I'm glad I finally did. This really is a very entertaining series, one that takes the "fairy tales come alive" concept of its parent series and gives it a humorous spin, exploring the limits of the concept and even beginning to introduce some metafictional ideas. It's also slowly moving back toward the main Fables title, just in time to crash right into it for the "Great Fables Crossover", I assume.

Interestingly, the humor gets downplayed in the first of the two stories in this volume, which is a flashback story about Jack in the Old West, when he was a murderous outlaw named Jack Candle. He's always been kind of a lovable bastard, but here he pretty much drops the "lovable" part, and his mayhem spurs Fabletown to send Bigby Wolf to hunt him down and bring him in. It's a striking change for the series, as Jack is seen as kind of a nihilistic misanthrope while still remaining the basically cowardly doofus who mostly gets by on luck that we're used to seeing. When the showdown between him and Bigby finally occurs, he has a sort of breakdown that explains his murderous turn, confessing that after all the death he witnessed in the Civil War, he feels like human life is worthless. It's striking stuff, and a nice bit of characterization and unexpected use of real-world events.

And then it's back to the normal shenanigans, in a three-part story that gives details about the three Page sisters, explains a little bit about the Literals (who will be important in the crossover, getting their own tie-in miniseries), and sees Jack return to the Golden Boughs Retirement Home for what will presumably be a big battle in the next volume. There's some interesting stuff here, including a scary transformation for Humpty Dumpty, a bunch of imaginative "forgotten" Fables, narration directly to the reader by one Eliza Wall (she has three brothers), and some really tumultuous plot developments. It's enough to make me really interested in where things are going next.

I dunno, I really dig the main Fables book, but this one is fun as well, in a different sort of way. It's got kind of a tongue in cheeck attitude, and since it focuses mostly on one protagonist, it's a bit more focused. It's really a different style of storytelling, less epic and more adventurous, but still quite enjoyable all the same. I had been wondering if I wanted to continue to stick with it, but apparently that was just fading memory due to lack of exposure. No, I'm in for the long haul now.

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Northlanders, book 2: The Cross and the Hammer

Written by Brian Wood

Art by Ryan Kelly

Wow, here's another book to really get behind. Brian Wood is really stretching and trying to tell different sorts of stories with this series, and if you ask me, he's succeeding wonderfully. This second collection of his series of Viking stories takes place in an occupied Ireland in 1014 AD, splitting between the viewpoint of a self-styled freedom fighter named Magnus, and his pursuer, an educated Norseman named Ragnar. It's a fascinating, intense, and violent story of the latter chasing the former as he carves a swathe of violence across the kingdom in a one-man crusade to rid his country of its occupiers. And while it's just a minor subplot, an actual fight for the freedom of the country is taking place in the background, as an army of Irishmen have risen up to confront the Norse king and drive him out of their land. This might seem distracting from the main confrontation, but as the story hurtles toward its end, we see that it works as a counterpoint toward Magnus, who seems like an unstoppable badass carrying out his principles but is eventually revealed to be a broken, delusional murderer. It's a great conclusion, one that brings new light on everything that occurred over the course of the story.

Ryan Kelly's art is pretty great too, surprisingly full of blood and gore coming from the artist of Local. He rises to the occasion here beautifully, really bringing Wood's script to life through gorgeous landscapes (which, due to the contribution of colorist Dave McCaig, really match the harsh, forbidding vistas of the other artists who have worked on the series) and clearly-read emotions from the characters.

The story ends up being an excellent examination of the mentality of the nationalistic zealot and what constant violence can do to the mind. Wood has outdone himself here, and aside from one apparent error (SPOILER: Ragnar specifically states that Magnus has a companion, but we later find that Magnus' daughter was imaginary. END SPOILER), the whole thing holds together wonderfully, setting up what seems to be a straightforward story and then yanking the rug out from under readers at the end. This series has quickly become one of the best books that Vertigo is publishing.

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House of Mystery, volume 2: Love Stories for Dead People

Written by Matthew Sturges, Bill Willingham, and Bethany & Peter Keele

Art by Luca Rossi, Tony Akins, David Petersen, Henry Flint, Berni Wrightson, and Kyle Baker

The best thing about this Vertigo series is probably the various short stories that appear in each issues, usually sold as stories told by patrons of the bar in the titular house. The first story arc saw several of these, and they provided a nice break from the confusing main storyline, often leading to some funny and/or horrific images by a string of excellent guest artists. Unfortunately, they seem to be downplayed in this second volume, with the focus returned to the regular cast and their strange encouters with the weirness of the house in which they are trapped. Sure, the shorts pop up in each issue, but with only one exception, they all focus on backstories of the cast; they're still entertaining (with the Tony Akins-illustrated story of Ann the pirate probably being the best, although Berni Wrightson's art on the story about the hapless maiden in all the monster movies is also pretty good), but they all seem to be in service of the increasingly tiresome main storyline, which is a disappointment. And that story is getting more annoying; weird shit happens, nothing gets explained, characters complain. I think I've had enough of that. It's just not clever or interesting enough, despite all the effort from Matthew Sturges writing and Luca Rossi's moody art.

I dunno; I guess it's just not doing it for me, which is a shame, since it started out well. I could also mention Kyle Baker's story about one character's magical childhood adventures, and David Petersen's fairy tale about a war between the cats and the birds; those were also decent. But I'm just not feeling it anymore; I think I'm done with this.

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And there's a dent in my reading pile! Not enough of one though, so I better keep reading.

Jamilti: The past indicates the future

That review of Punisher War Zone #5 I mentioned yesterday: here it is.

Other links:  Check out this Jack Kirby/Sigmund Freud mashup by Hans Rickheit.  Crazy.

Also crazy -- crazy awesome, that is: here are two Kirby-inspired comics by Roger Langridge that originally ran in some convention booklets: a one-page comic featuring a bunch of Kirby characters, and a "Kirby alphabet".  Fun!

Not Kirby, but still awesome: a Jim Rugg-illustrated Afrodesiac comic that originally ran in Popgun volume 2.  Sexy!

And finally, check out these variant manga covers that make for an odd crossover: Honey and Clover's Chica Umino illustrates Kentarou Miura's Berserk, and vice versa for Umino's March Comes in Like a Lion.  Odd!

Okay, to business.  Finally!

Jamilti and Other Stories

By Rutu Modan

Rutu Modan's Exit Wounds was one of the best comics of 2007 (see my review here), but she didn't spring directly to that book fully formed.  Luckily, we have the chance to see some of her earlier stuff and watch her development with this new short story collection, featuring works that were originally published in the Israeli Actus Tragicus anthology.  It's really interesting to track Modan's artistic and storytelling development over the course of her career (although the stories are not presented chronologically, so a final-page author's note and some deduction are required to determine where each story falls on the timeline), but the stories still work wonderfully on their own, providing some nice examples of Modan's wit and grasp of character, along with a few good street-level looks at life in Israel.

The first story, which shares the book's title, is a great example of that, telling the story of a nurse who is preparing for her wedding but isn't getting much help from her fiance, who would rather be playing soccer with his friends.  He comes off as quite a jerk, especially when he starts trading ugly anti-Palestinian rhetoric with a taxi driver who shares his political views, prompting her to leave the cab and walk straight into a bombing.  She ends up making a connection with what appears to be a victim but turns out to be the bomber himself, and the story ends sort of abruptly, leaving us wondering if the experience will prompt her to make any changes in her life (like leaving her bastard of a boyfriend).  It's a good look at the day-to-day life of people in Israel, and their attitudes about the situation they live in.

Another similar story is "Homecoming", which sees a community get caught up in a flurry of hope when a Lebanese plane starts circling their village.  Is it the pilot son of an elderly couple who was shot down, having escaped from a prison and stolen a Lebanese plane?  Or is it a terrorist intending to take out a bunch of civilians?  Either way, it's a sad event, especially when the air force shows up to take care of things.  Modan presents this story in a series of full-page images, and it makes the characters seem almost larger than life as the horrible events play out.

But as interesting as those stories are, some of the other tales in the book are even better, especially when they create and illuminate some interesting characters or play out a bit of charming (and oddly skewed) fantasy.  The latter comes into play especially in two earlier stories, "King of the Lillies" and "The Panty Killer".  The former is an odd little story about a plastic surgeon who tries to shape every woman he treats into the image of his lost love, creating a tragic, yet kind of beautiful commentary on several topics, including confusing desires and memories with reality and the alluring nature of conformity.  "The Panty Killer" is much darker, looking at a serial killer who appears to be targeting people who were in a nightclub on a certain evening.  It unfolds as a mystery, but most of the fun is just watching Modan bring everything together and seeing her enhance the skeeviness of everything with her artwork.  I especially liked this scene, in which the police show up to question the nightclub's owner:

The details there really stand out, from the grittiness that the coloring adds to the setting, to the weird strap on/French tickler that the owner wears, to the way the janitor just picks up her mop and continues with her work, sans pants.  Nice.  And the rest of the story works great too, playing on the themes of family that Modan seems to like.

Speaking of which, she hits the emotional aspect of familial relationships quite hard in several stories.  "Energy Blockage" is a good example, seeing two sisters who work with their mom, a woman who claims to have electrical healing powers, which she supposedly gained after OD-ing on some pills after her husband left her.  One daughter thinks it's all a sham, but she goes along with it so they can make enough money to get by, and when she sees the opportunity to use her mom's abilities to get in touch with her father, she takes it, only to see that he has deserted them to start a new family.  It's heartbreaking to watch, but really well-realized.  

"Bygone" works on different thematic lines, but it also looks at families who aren't quite whole and who can't seem to be truthful with one another.  It follows some sisters who run a theme hotel that simulates Parisian experiences.  The middle sister, who is in the midst of adolescence and is exploring both her family's past and her burgeoning sexuality, starts discovering that her relationship with her older sister isn't what she thought it was all these years.  It's another bit of heartbreak, but Modan brings it all together expertly, forgoing color in this instance to present a simple, evocative tale.

Finally, the most recent story closes out the book: "Your Number One Fan".  It's about a musician who travels to England to play a show, excited to finally gain some acclaim after failing to make any sort of impact in Israel.  But when he gets there, he finds that the "promoter" is actually a divorced middle-aged woman who just wants him to play at the local Jewish cultural center.  It's embarrassing, and we can feel his dreams evaporating right along with him.  Presented in landscape format, this story really shows how far Modan's art has come, especially in terms of space, depth, and color:

Compared to some of the rough, early work here (which does still have its charms), it's an impressive development of talent, and it's a great example of how good an artist Modan has become, even though she has been producing nice work for years.  Her storytelling has developed as well, and at this point, she combines the writing and art to bring some wonderful stories to life.  I can't wait to see what she does next.

Omega the Unknown: What's not known is how something this good came from Marvel

I don't think I linked to this earlier, but I reviewed Punisher War Zone #3 over at Comics Bulletin.  I'm on a roll with that series.  Go Ennis!

Oh, and looks like no weekly preview this week, because I was sick the last couple days.  I suppose I could still do it, since new comics don't come out until Friday, but screw it.  There wasn't much there anyway, except maybe the new Goon.  Next week will be back to normal, hopefully.

Omega the Unknown

Written by Jonathan Lethem and Karl Rusnak

Art by Farel Dalrymple, Paul Hornschemeier, and Gary Panter

How did something this unique and bizarre and, well, good come from the corporate blandness factory that is Marvel Comics?  The obvious answer is that it wasn't their idea; novelist Jonathan Lethem (author of the excellent books Motherless Brooklyn and The Fortress of Solitude, among others) brought the concept to them, pitching a revival of Steve Gerber and Mary Skrenes' weird, unsuccessful 70s series.  Amazingly, they agreed, so along with co-writer Karl Rusnak and indie artists Farel Dalrymple and Paul Hornschemeier, he managed to create this fascinating reimagination of the character, making for one of the best reads of 2008, especially in the "mainstream" superhero genre.

Lethem brings a novelistic flair to the series, weaving a dense, layered tapestry of plots, themes, and characters.  It would take several readings and some intense analysis to attempt to unpack everything that is going on, but it's pretty fascinating to see the story touch on such varied ideas as robotics, nanotechnology, mental illness, celebrity, inner-city life, and marketing.  But at its core, it's all about a teenage boy growing up, accepting the changes he is going through, and making a family for himself in a harsh world.

Familiarity with the source material might make the book work better, or at least provide some illumination on Lethem's themes and ideas, but the lack thereof certainly doesn't hurt.  The story follows a teenager named Titus Alexander Island, a socially-maladjusted genius who is moving to New York City to attend a prestigious academy after being homeschooled for his entire life.  These plans get derailed, however, when a car crash reveals his parents to be robots in a jarring, horrific scene:

Soon, Alexander is left nearly on his own in the city, living with a nurse from the hospital who felt sorry for him and attending a public high school in Washington Heights, Manhattan while trying to understand the weirdness going on around him.  For in addition to his own parental issues, he has some sort of connection with a mute superhero (or a guy who dresses like one, at least) who is wandering around the city getting in fights with robots.  The local superhero, a boastful, egotistical blowhard named the Mink, who has a TV show and an army of henchmen is on the case, but he is more interested in getting his name in the papers and schmoozing with politicians than in fighting for justice.  And under everybody's nose, there seems to be some sort of infection related to a fast food chain called Butterdogs and a delivery serviced called 2U Quik that is turning people into mindless drones. 

This is all rather complex and confusing, but it's all grounded in the very human story of Alex learning to make his way in a world that seems confusing and bizarre to his sheltered mentality.  In fact, it has been suggested that the entire thing is a metaphor for Asperger's Syndrome, which is a compelling idea.  But the character is relatable simply as a symbol of the awkwardness of adolescence, and particularly feeling like an outsider.  He's a compelling figure, and he's surrounded by several others, including the pompous Mink, the mute (and mutable) Omega (or whatever the "blue guy" is supposed to be called, since he's never officially named), and the sentient statue named Verth the Overthinker who sometimes narrates the story.  Not to mention the walking hand that escapes its owner, or the guy who gets combined with some robots and cooking machinery into an unholy cyborg being.  Their plots all bounce around and off of each other, until everything comes to an explosive and fairly satisfying conclusion that still leaves a lot open to interpretation.  It's smart stuff, and for a first-time comics writer, Lethem does an excellent job of telling a great story and using the medium to its fullest.

He gets some great help from artist Farel Dalrymple, who brings a really nice indie sensibility to the book.  His style is closer to somebody like Jim Rugg (Street Angel) than the usual Marvel superhero artists, and it gives the book a unique look, while doing a great job of telling the story.  Dalrymple uses a kind of scratchy, sketchy line, but one that's clean enough to convey exactly what needs to be related, and to do so expressively and excitingly.  He gives the story a very street-level look, adding lots of urban detail:

He does a great job with the small, icky details, like this scene of freaky nano-bling being absorbed into a character's skin:

Not to mention the action, which isn't the big focus of the book but does entertain when it shows up.  This fight in a fast food restaurant is mostly depicted from the exterior, placing the reader among the bystanders and giving just enough of a hint as to what is going on inside as to picque the curiosity:

The panel-to-panel flow works wonderfully; there are several scenes that play out in sequences of small panels to show moments in matter-of-fact detail:

A lot of credit should be given to colorist Paul Hornschemeier as well, who brings a muted pallette to the art, grounding it in more of a real-life-seeming setting than with the usual candy-colored superheroics. It's beautiful to look at, and as mentioned, it's a great use of the comics medium.  This is the sort of story that couldn't be told nearly as effectively in any other medium, as demonstrated in one sequence in which an imprisoned Omega seizes on the idea of comics storytelling to convey his history.  The resulting product is perfectly realized by Gary Panter in his crude style:

All in all, it's a pretty damn amazing book, full of great moments and fascinating developments.  As good an author as Lethem is, he delivered beyond all expectations here, possibly due to the strengths of his collaborators, with whom he worked to create a truly unique and riveting work of art.  That he managed to do so within the confines of corporate comics makes the victory all the sweeter.

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By the way, this will probably be my last post of 2008, so happy new year, everybody!  It's been a pretty good one (in some aspects, at least), so let's hope things only get better in 2009!

Shojo Beat: The key to romance is lots of heavy touching

Hey, has anybody been following Dick Hyacinth's compilation of best-of-2008 lists?  I love that stuff.  Here's a good post about the various issues and type of lists and whatnot.  Fun stuff.  And by the way, I've been working on my own list, but I really doubt I'm going to feel like I can finalize it until at least sometime in early-to-mid January.  There's just too much that I need to read before I can be sure I'll have read enough, and that's not even including the stuff that I'm sure I won't get to (Kramers Ergot, anyone?).  But hey, that means it's been a good year, right?

Oh, and here's my review of Punisher War Zone #2.  Enjoy the Ennis/Dillon violence-making.

Shojo Beat

January 2009

Hey, what's Sof' Boy doing on the cover?  There's a cross-promotion I wasn't expecting!  But aside from that, there's not much non-comics content of note this month.  Maybe the "planning a New Year's party with shojo-manga-based activities" article is worth mentioning?  Actually, I thought this month's installment of "Drawing With Yuu" was funny.  I don't think I've ever mentioned it before, but that's an instructional manga that runs in each issue, written and drawn by Yuu Watase (creator of Absolute Boyfriend, Fushigi Yugi, and others).  It's usually two or three pages long, and it has followed the travails of a would-be mangaka who is receiving instruction from Watase herself.  It's rarely all that interesting (unless, I assume, you're an aspiring comics creator and you're taking all the lessons to heart), but this one had some funny bits, in which the artist was trying to come up with a great line for her main male character to say at a key moment:

I thought that was funny.  There are a couple other amusing bits, including the artist thinking really hard about what to have her characters say, and the character experiencing a horniness-indicating projectile nosebleed.  Good times.  

Anyway, on with the manga:

Otomen

By Aya Kanno

This looks like it could be a pretty entertaining series.  The concept is that a teenage boy named Asuka really likes girly things (shojo manga, teddy bears, jewelry, knitting, etc.), but he feels that he can't be un-manly, so he hides his proclivities and throws himself into macho, honorable stuff like kendo and karate.  But he feels his facade slipping when he starts to fall for a girl named Ryo, leading to complications and conflicts, including dealing with a rival who is a bit of a ladies' man.  That's not a bad setup, and Kanno seems to do some fun stuff with it, even in this short excerpt of the first chapter.  I love the way Asuka stoically helps Ryo do some sewing for a craft project:

There are some clunky bits, including some pages of the shojo manga that Asuka reads that show up without any warning, but maybe that will begin to make more sense when reading a longer portion of the series.  I would definitely give it a try.

The Magic Touch

By Izumi Tsubaki

This other preview chapter has a goofy-yet-endearing concept for a series: massage!  The original title translates as "Romance from the Thumbs", which is much funnier, but probably less commercial.  The story goes: Chiaki is a member of her high school's massage club, and she loves to massage people.  She notices this guy who has a back that is crying out for a rubdown, and she decides she has to give him a massage.  But it turns out he's the most popular boy in school, and kind of a jerk, so she's going to have to convince him to submit to her touch, and she'll probably end up falling in love with him too.  It's pretty silly, but enjoyable nonetheless.  In fact, it almost seems like a parody of shojo tropes while still remaining firmly within the genre (similar to something like Yakitate!! Japan or Ouran High School Host Club, from what I understand), even including stereotypical elements like an evil twin sister who foists the consequences of all her naughty activities on Chiaki, or a group of girls confronting her for daring to mess with the popular boy, or the heroine being especially clumsy when it comes to anything outside of her area of expertise.  It's pretty fun.  The only thing that weirds me out a little bit is Tsubaki's tendency to draw eyebrows as if they are somehow floating above characters' hair, and pointing outward like insect antennae:

But that's easily overlookable, once you get used to it.  Especially when most every other aspect of the series is so enjoyable (I included the full page there, since there's at least one good joke in that scene).  The translation might have been difficult, since there are obviously some Japanese puns that make no sense in English, but that just makes some scenes seem strange and surreal (especially a bit involving an octopus).  This is another one that I would definitely read a full volume of if given the chance.  In fact, one wonders why the magazine continues to run an execrable series like Haruka, when Viz has series like this waiting in the wings.  I think I might have to make it my personal mission to get that series replaced with something that's good, or at least readable.

Oh well, speak of the devil:

Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time

By Tohko Mizuno

Why do I keep talking about this series, when I generally hate it so much?  I guess its presence in the magazine means I at least read it each month, so I think about why it does or doesn't work.  Or what the appeal is, since somebody must like it enough to keep running it in the magazine.  In the past, I've pondered the fact that it might have surpassed even my generous level of girliness.  But I might have hit on another aspect this month, that being prettiness.  As much as I dislike the characters, plot, and storytelling of the series, I will admit that the art is generally quite nice.  That is, it's nice if you like looking at pretty pictures and don't mind that they don't convey action, character, movement, location, or most anything useful for providing information to the reader.  For instance, here's a typical page:

Now, I could harp on the bizarre layout there, but if you ignore that you're supposed to be able to tell what's happening, it's a beautiful image of falling flower petals.  Really, I think the appeal here is supposed to be pretty pictures, cute boys, and little else.  The flimsy plot and lame characters surely can't be what brings in the readers, can it?

Of course, this is all speculation, since I obviously dislike the series and wish it would go away.  I could be completely wrong here, just missing the fact that the audience has bad taste.  

Vampire Knight

By Matsuri Hino

Drama time!  Well, that's a given in this series, but this chapter introduces a new source of the series' energy by having Zero's evil twin Ichiru enroll in the school, presumably to get revenge on his brother (I won't go into what he's avenging; it's too complicated).  And while the other students like him, since he seems to be a more friendly version of Zero, he shows his true colors right away:

Ooh, what a meanie!  And...that's about it for the chapter.  Sure, there's some stuff about Zero being unhappy that he owes Kaname his life, and Kaname refusing to tell Yuki what he knows about her past, and a continuing plot against Kaname by an evil vampire, but none of that is all that interesting.  Maybe it will pay off in the future; we seem to be in "set up an upcoming confrontation" mode, which makes up probably about 75% of this series.  But those confrontations can be immensely entertaining when they do show up, so I'm hoping one happens soon.

Crimson Hero

By Mitsuba Takanashi

We get some good athletics in this chapter, along with some nice on-court drama.  In this match, Tomoyo seems to really flower, jumping to another level of skill and leading her team to a possible victory.  She's the character who was a star player at a different school, but had to quit due to an injury.  But Nobara managed to convince her to join the team, and now she's reaching the culmination of that comeback.  It's a nice realization of a long-running minor plot.  And it gets maximum drama here when the mean players on the opposing team start to target her, and maybe even aggravate her injury on purpose.  We do get a little bit of characterization from those players, so they don't just seem like one-dimensionally-evil villains, and it's a nice effort on Takanashi's part to make all the characters seem like real people and not just plot devices.  I suspect this will play into the climactic game next issue, as everything comes to a head.  It's good athletic drama, which is one of the things this series does best.  More, please.

Honey Hunt

By Miki Aihara

Man, shojo is all about drama, isn't it?  Of course it is, and this series is doing its best to keep the drama quotient high each issue.  This chapter sees Yura worry about her possible crush on the pop idol who seems to like her, but probably only because he idolizes her dad (who is a famous musician).  And while his brother (also a pop idol, and her costar on a TV show) seems to hate her, he might be coming around when he gets a glimpse of her private life.  That being her horrible relationship with her evil, condescending mother (a famous actress).  Wow, that lady is a great villain; when she runs into Yura, she belittles everything about her efforts to be an actress, saying "I guess if you tell people you're our daughter, then you can enjoy the fun parts of being a celebrity."  Ooh, don't you just want to hate her?  

I like Aihara's art style here; she's very expressive, especially when it comes to Yura's dismay and embarrassment.  She has an interesting style of doing chibi, or super-deformed art; rather than making the character smaller and more cartoony, she simply removes details from the face, often depicting little-to-no nose, giving the face a smooth profile, or drawing the mouth more simply:

It's an interesting technique, and it works pretty good for showing Yura's emotions, especially since she's so easily-flustered.  Yeah, I'm liking this series pretty well; Aihara does a great job of getting us to root for Yura to succeed, and I definitely want to see it happen in the future.  But more drama is certainly okay in the meantime.

Honey and Clover

By Chica Umino

Morita's back!  That's the big event of this month in this series; he spent a year of story time away in the United States, so having him show up and immediately resume his wacky ways is great to see.  But he gets an excellent re-entry scene, with the rest of the gang witnessing him accepting the "Mocademy Award" for visual effects in a movie called Space Titanic; his acceptance speech ends up being a 35-minute tirade against the tyrannical director:

Ah, that's funny stuff.  There's also a really bizarre moment involving a butch nurse:

Wow, that makes no sense.  I think it's a reference to another manga?  The art style reminds me of Cromartie High School, but I think that itself was referencing manga by Ryuichi Ikegami, so I don't know what exactly Umino is pointing to.  But it's still a hilarious, weird scene, and it made me laugh, so what the hey.

The rest of the month is dedicated to pondering college graduation and dealing with more of the Mayama/Ayu relationship.  Also, Morita manages to finally graduate, but then he re-enrolls in the painting department.  Yup, looks like we're doing the "make sure the characters stay in place" thing again.  It's a decent couple of chapters, and there are definitely some funny bits, but I'm not feeling the personal, dramatic moments like I have in the past.  But we'll see, maybe next month will bring more goodness.  In the meantime, there's this funny scene of Takemoto imagining Morita and Hagu comparing accomplishments:

Ah, that's funny.  More, please.

Sand Chronicles

By Hinako Ashihara

Did I mention that shojo generally means drama?  Because here's another example, as Ann finds out about her friend Shika's troubles and worries that she's headed for ruin.  It's some well-done teenage drama, and there's one especially nice undercurrent, in which Shika tells Ann about a dream in which she is being chased by shadows, and she reaches to Daigo for help, but is unable to reach him.  Ann starts having the same dream, but she does reach Daigo, only to pull him down into the shadows with her.  It's a great contrast between the two characters; Shika likes Daigo, but feels that he doesn't care about her, and thinks he won't help her as she sinks into depression and despair.  Ann, on the other hand, is worried that her problems will only end up hurting Daigo; she can't bear to bring him any pain, even if he's trying to help her by taking on some of her emotional burdens.  Man, those girls can be complicated.  It's sad stuff, but realistic and in-character.  I'm constantly impressed with how well Ashihara has defined her characters.  And she turns in some really nice artwork too; check out this scene of Ann finding Shika lying by a stream:

Wow, that's beautiful stuff.  I really dig this series.  Let's hope it continues to be this good for a long time.

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Whoa, that's the issue.  More next month!

Acme Novelty Library: The annual mind-blowing reaches to multiple planets

Hey, that review of Punisher War Zone #1 I mentioned yesterday?  Here it is.  Ennis and Dillon go!

This is a bit of an experiment, so please suffer with me, if you have the patience:

Acme Novelty Library #19

By Chris Ware

I find it hard to talk about Chris Ware's comics, since I feel intimidated by the talent on display; I don't feel like I'm able to verbalize what it is that he does so well, and any arguments I might make would seem weak and poorly-justified.  But never let it be said that I back down from a challenge; here's a sort of stream-of-consciousness look at the latest chapter in the ongoing "Rusty Brown" opus:

The opening section of this story is a fascinating science fiction story about life on Mars.  For somebody who seems to disdain genre entertainment (unless that attitude is limited to superheroes, due to their dominance of the comics medium), Ware has put together an excellent bit of sci-fi.  Or maybe it's just a good delivery mechanism for a bit of dark psychological exploration.  Whatever the case, it's a perfectly-paced bit of revelation, full of mundane details about life on another planet and the loneliness that results from complete isolation from the rest of the human race.  The protagonist and narrator of the tale is one of two couples sent to colonize Mars, and when things don't go perfectly, he starts to lose his grip on reality, turning into a murderous maniac.  But since he's the one telling the story, this isn't apparent from the start; it's a slow, subtle reveal, and Ware captures the transition perfectly.  At first, his actions seem fairly reasonable given the circumstances, but we gradually see how far gone he is as his actions become nastier and more obsessive.  It's harrowing stuff, only exacerbated by the tone almost unvarying dryness of the narration, focused on the mundanity of life.  And Ware nails the details, from the simple aspects of daily life to the goofy, not-exactly-realistic 50s-era science, to the awful actions of his character.  It's a totally believable story, at least from a character standpoint.  And the art works perfectly to relate the story, conveying those little details in the small panels that Ware does so well and regularly opening up to reveal the emptiness of the Martian landscape:

And then, we get the reveal the this has all been a story called "The Seeing-Eye Dogs of Mars", written by Rusty Brown's father.  He's doing some reminiscing, looking back at the magazines and anthologies that published his stories, and this leads us to the real meat of the volume, as he flashes back to his post-collegiate youth and his first love.  But if you expected this to be a happy tale of youthful romance, you don't know Chris Ware.  Yep, Woody (as he was nicknamed at that time, after brand name of his electric typewriter) is a typical Ware character, barely able to muster the courage to speak in public, full of twisted emotions and crippling neuroses.  But he does manage to score with a secretary at the newspaper where he works writing obituaries, mostly because she decides to deflower him on a lark.  And of course, he falls deeply in love, even though it's completely obvious that she is not serious about him in the slightest.  Cue lots of scenes of Woody obsessing over her, planning to get married and live happily ever after, even though she will barely give him the time of day.  Except for when she shows up to screw him again.  It's painful to watch, but while Woody is plenty pathetic, Ware doesn't make him a hateful, simpering doofus; instead, he humanizes him, to the point that we feel sorry for him and maybe even empathize with his plight.  Maybe it's the wonder and confusion he seems to feel at first-time sexual intimacy, narrating lines like "It was weird...she'd always seemed so feminine before...but now she was weighty, solid...hairy...I mean, did all women look like this?"  While he doesn't seem like a well-rounded individual, he has realistic emotions and reactions to his experiences, and we can see how they affected his entire life.  In fact, we even get a flashback within this flashback to his childhood, in one sequence that sees him take drastic action to confess his love to her, he races up the stairs to her apartment and thinks back on everything that got him to that point, everything that he wants to tell her.  As is probably obvious, she rejects him, and he spirals into a pit of despair, getting even more pathetic, masturbating to the smell of a science fiction magazine of his that she once touched.  And just when he seems to be getting over her and doing some writing of his own, she shows up again, starting the cycle all over.  It kicks off a horrible cycle that Ware illustrates by cramming a page full of about as many tiny (about one square centimeter) panels as he can, as if he's zooming out from what had previously been a close-up on the details of Woody's life and taking the long view as everything continues to fall apart.  Just when everything is at its worst, he gets "rescued" by the woman who he ends up marrying, and we see that he settles for a life with her, forever pining for the woman he loved who didn't really love him back.

It's a bleak portrait (which really isn't too much a surprise with Ware), but a fascinating, compelling one, due to the masterful presentation.  Ware knows all the right moments to show, how to vary the size of the panels and how to convey the perfect (repressed) emotions through seemingly simple character art.  It's beautiful, and amazing to watch as it plays out.  And while the entire book is narrated, either by the protagonist of the sci-fi story or by Woody himself, so much more is visible in the artistic details.  We see how various elements in Woody's life integrate themselves into his story, from the blind dog he had as a boy to the color of his characters' wife's hair (the text states that it is red, like Woody's wife's, but the images show it as brown, like his lover's).  And one detail that I liked is that Chalky White's sister, who Woody seemed to be obsessed with in previous volumes, is not a virginal beauty that awakens new life in him, a la American Beauty, but simply reminds him of his lost love, right down to her similar disdain for science fiction.  

There are plenty of other nice artistic techniques as well, including a recurring "fuzzy" image that is the result of Woody breaking his glasses:

And that tendency to place large panels on the page to cause a sort of pause that demonstrates the character's loneliness continues in the main story, showing Woody as lost in the newsroom where he works as his protagonist is on Mars:

Ware keeps this sort of rhythm going for most of the book, with a large panel taking up about one fourth of the space on each page, to the point that it becomes noticeable whenever he eliminates it, usually to speed up the narrative during especially quick-moving sections.  It's such assured work that these choices don't even seem to be choices; they're just the natural flow of the story.

It's amazing, all around.  As a chapter in the "Rusty Brown" serial, it does a great job of filling in the background of one of the characters, but it works so well as a stand-alone story that it doesn't need any other material to prop it up.  I can't wait to see how it will factor into the rest of Rusty's story; will he make the same mistakes his dad did? Having seen some glimpses of Rusty's future in the big Acme Novelty Library book from a few years ago, the outlook is not positive.  But I'll still be there to watch as Ware breaks hearts and blows minds.  

Stay classy, San Diego

Monday finality:

I expect this will be the final parroting of other sites' stories here, now that the con is over and all. But how about this: Neil Gaiman is writing Batman? Da fug? Looks like it's a story called "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?", and obvious homage to Alan Moore's "Whatever Happenend to the Man of Tomorrow?". Andy Kubert on art, so it will probably look like crap. This seems like small potatoes for Gaiman; he's got the literary respectability, so he shouldn't need to bother with lame superheroics. But maybe he had a story he really needed to tell. Me, I haven't been impressed with his recent comics work (although I do love Sandman and pretty much all of his novels), so I doubt I'll bother with it. But who knows, maybe he'll pull something great out of his ass. At least he's probably being paid a pretty penny for it.

Some slightly interesting stuff from the Fables panel: another standalone graphic novel called Fables: Peter and Max, about Peter Piper and the Pied Piper (who are brothers, of course). Illustrated by Steve Leialoha, who I've not really been a fan of on Fables art (I believe he illustrated the first volume, which is the weakest one by a very wide margin). We'll see how it turns out. There's also a spy-themed Cinderalla miniseries, written by novelist Chris Roberson, and a Fables/Jack of Fables crossover called The Literals, which, following the style of superhero comics, also has tie-in issues in both series. I don't know if that's the best idea, but whatever.

Hey, it's the cover of the next volume of Scott Pilgrim!



Supposedly, there was an Oni Press panel in which this book was discussed, but I can't find anything about it on any of the major news sites, so any other news which was announced can go unremarked upon by me.

Apparently Scholastic is doing at least one more volume of Bone collections (colorizations?) after finished volume 9. I assume this would include Stupid, Stupid Rat Tails and Rose, unless there is anything else that I'm not aware of.

Okay, I think that's enough of my blither-blather. I doubt I'll bother doing any more of this sort of "news" writing, since nobody comes here to find breaking stories (at least, I hope they don't). Outside of a couple interesting bits (Darwyn Cooke's Parker books, Viz's Urasawa licenses), there just isn't that much for me to talk about, other than the fact that I wish I could be there. And from the conventions that I've been to, I'm more interested in prowling around artists' tables and meeting creators than hearing company heads inform everybody how excited they are about some upcoming crossover. It's fun to attend a panel and hear a creator talk about their work, but reports on news sites are pretty boring, with factual descriptions of what transpired. "Brian Bendis said that he really likes working with Khoi Pham." "A fan asked what Jeph Loeb's favorite color is, and he sarcastically said 'chartreuse.'" That sort of thing can be enjoyable if you're sitting in the audience, but reading about it is generally pretty damn lame. So in the future, screw it. I can mention interesting news at the top of whatever my next post is, if I feel like it, and I'll limit most convention discussions to ones that I attend. Take that, apathy!

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Sunday junk:

There's some interesting stuff from IDW's panel, but nothing that makes me sit up and cheer or anything. They lead off with lots of talk about zombies and vampires (and Ben Templesmith's Welcome to Huxford, which I'm actually looking forward to reading), but then drop some offbeat news, like the collection of a Spanish strip from the 80s called Torpedo, which, from what little information I can dig up on the web, was drawn by Jordi Bernet. There's one or two other notable things, but I'm most interested in Ben Templesmith's The Presidents of the United States, which should make for an interesting comparison to Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey's forthcoming (someday) Action Presidents! Templesmith says he wants to spotlight some of the lesser-known presidents, but look at the sample image:



Yeah, nobody knows about that guy.

Looks like I might actually be interested in a comic from Devil's Due, now that they're going to be releasing books from French publisher Humanoids, including finally finishing the John Cassaday-illustrated I Am Legion. I regret missing out on most of the DC imports of Humanoids books from a few years ago, but that was when I was just getting back into reading comics regularly, and I was less adventurous then. So now I'll hopefully have the chance to check these out.

Here's a summary of Chip Kidd's panel about his Bat-Manga book, with a couple slideshow images. I'm looking forward to checking that one out.

For more stuff about manga, ComiPress has a list of announced licenses, many of which might be interesting, but it's hard to tell until we learn more information. Viz's Shojo Beat panel has some interesting info (I'll have to try to check out the VizBig edition of Fushigi Yuugi, and Blank Slate sounds cool), but maybe only for shojo junkies like me.

For an example of Newsarama's Eisner-winning journalism, check out this interview with Valerie D'Orazio about her upcoming Cloak & Dagger miniseries, in which they mention the art team, but never state who they are. Very helpful guys. I think I'll start apologizing when people offer me congratulations for the award.
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Saturday things:

Another example of Vertigo kind of reaching: a new Haunted Tank series, set in Iraq. What's next, a revival of Joe Simon's Green Team, set among the high-stakes world of commodities trading? Hey, I should pitch that to Karen Berger.

Damn, Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba are all over the place lately; they've got a new series called Day Tripper coming out from Vertigo. Other news from the Vertigo panel: Dark Entries, the non-Azzarello Vertigo Crime book, will feature John Constantine (wow, they're really going for something new and different there). After Seaguy 2: Slaves of Mickey Eye, Grant Morrison and Cameron Stewart are doing Seaguy 3: Seaguy Eternal (awesome news!). Another Morrison series, War Cop, will be coming out at some point, illustrated by Sean Murphy (I might be one of the last people to know about this).

Eh, I could probably find some other stuff to talk about (like the Eisner award winners; I've already got one congratulations for Newsarama's win), but screw it, I'm tired. And this is all ending up kind of boring anyway. We'll see if I can muster the interest to talk about anything else.
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Friday updates:

I don't know If I'll bother with this, but it's at least kind of interesting: Marvel and Stephen King are doing some sort of comics/video/internet/cell phone thing, with art by Alex Maleev that is presented in "pan and scan" format with voiceovers and whatnot. Weird. Sounds kind of dumb, actually, but it's notable that they are trying to tell stories using a new medium. Maybe I'll try to check it out at some point, although I don't have a cell phone that can do that sort of thing.

I don't know why I neglected to mention the Dark Horse horror panel yesterday, maybe because nothing really jumped out at me as especially noteworthy, but there are some interesting tidbits, like the fact that Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba will be illustrating an upcoming BPRD miniseries. That's pretty cool.

Here's some more information about that David Mack adaptation of Philip K. Dick's "The Electric Ant". It sound's pretty cool; I'll be interested to see how well Mack can adapt Dick's style to comics. Lord knows it should be better than the "make it an action movie!" approach Hollywood has usually used. And check out the nice artwork:



Info about the upcoming collection and revival of Dean Motter's Mister X. I've never read that series, but I probably should try it out. It looks cool.

Manga news! CMX has acquired the interesting-sounding titles Genghis Khan and March on Earth. Del Rey has a series called Yokai Doctor, which is a good title, at least. They also announced some cool-sounding non-manga books, like In the Flesh, a story collection by Israeli artist Koren Shadmi, and Life with Dr. Dangerous, by Paul Hornschemier.

More in-depth stuff about the new Ennis/Dillon Punisher miniseries, which sees the return of Ma Gnucci, the mob boss who was dismembered by a polar bear and seemingly burnt to death back in their original storyline. This kind of reeks of trying to squeeze too much lemonade out of a particularly well-worn lemon (that doesn't even make sense). But Ennis should be able to at least make it pretty funny, I imagine.

God, news has to just trickle out in annoyingly minute details, doesn't it? Here's a very slight update on the Vertigo Crime imprint, revealing that the comics will be in graphic novel format, black and white, about 200 pages long. And you can find out the titles of the actual books, for all that good that will do.

There's one worthwhile item in this post about the Image panel, and that's that Darwyn Cooke will be writing and drawing Madman Atomic Comics #14. There, I saved you the trouble of reading through the rest of the dreck. Actually, there's one or two mentions of Invincible and The Walking Dead, and I know those aren't terrible, so I suppose you could read it if you're a Robert Kirkman fan.

Hey, how about this? Viz announced that they finally licensed Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys and Pluto, both of which should be coming out in the US in February. Awesome. That might be the best Comicon news I've heard yet.
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Because I feel like it, I'll try to do a roundup of news and whatnot from San Diego as the convention continues. Looking back at the post I did last year, it's interesting to see that many of the announcements didn't bear fruition until right around now, a year later. So let's see what's in store for mid-2009:

The first big news is pretty awesome: Darwyn Cooke will be adapting Richard Stark's Parker novels into a series of graphic novels for IDW. Suh-weet. I'm all over that. I love Cooke's art, and it will be great to see him doing some more serious, adult work.

Boom! Studios has a new deal with Disney/Pixar to do stories spinning off from their movies (and also The Muppet Show. Weird). I'm surprised there hasn't already been an Incredibles comic book, since that's obvious, but their other stuff should lend itself to the medium as well. We'll see how it goes. Here's the original story, and here's an interview with editor Paul Morrisey. And an interview with Boom! EIC Mark Waid, who mentions that Roger Langridge might be involved with the Muppets book.

Vertigo, which seems to be flailing around for some sort of identity, is launching a new imprint, Vertigo Crime. Starting sometime next year, the first two books will be written by Brian Azzarello (cool!) and Ian Rankin (who?). Why couldn't these have been plain old Vertigo series? Huh.

CBR has an interview with Gerard Way, mostly talking about the upcoming second volume of The Umbrella Academy. There are some interesting tidbits of information, and some boring talk about a movie adaptation (it works best as comics; why worry about adapting it to film? Oh, right, money). If you're a fan (of the comic, or his band, you weirdos), check it out.

Looks like that's all for now, but I'm sure I'll have more to add soon.
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I don't know if this is really comics news, but Virgin is doing some sort of multimedia project with Grant Morrison called MBX, based on the Indian epic Mahabharata. It includes animation and video games, but who knows if there will be any comics involved. If it's anything like Morrison's awesome Vimanarama, I'll be glad to check it out.

Here's an interview with Guy Davis about The Marquis. I've never read that series, even though I dig Davis's art. I'll have to try to check it out sometime.

More to come soon, I'm sure. I'll eventually start sticking updates at the top of the post, but it's still too small and too new for that.
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Lots of boring news about the X-Men and Green Lanterns and crap like that. Meh. But I was interested to see a new Agents of Atlas series from Jeff Parker and some as-yet-unnamed artist. Here's a kind of in-depth article about it. I don't know if I'll want to read it, what with my current antipathy toward superheroics, but I'm definitely more interested in that than whatever's going on with Wolverine.

Other possible stuff of interest from Marvel: a David Mack-drawn adaptation of Philip K. Dick's "Electric Ant" (with Paul Pope on covers!), and Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon doing a six-issue weekly Punisher: War Zone miniseries, which is supposed to be more along the lines of their humorous, satirical Punisher work, rather than the more adult MAX series.