This week's surprising comics theme: politics!

Yeah, I didn't expect so many political books this week. Strange bit of coincidence there. Let's see what we have:

Black Summer #0 (of 7, meaning #7 will be the last issue)
Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Juan Jose Ryp



Actually, I'm not surprised about the political content of this one; I've known this was about a superhero killing the President ever since the book was first announced. However, the President in question is obviously George W. Bush, since the reason John Horus, the superhero in question, gives for the "execution" is the illegality of the war in Iraq, the stealing of elections, and the widespread use of torture. It's a bit of wish-fulfillment (since that's what superheroes are for, right?) for those who dislike Bush, but I think (and hope) Ellis is using this fictional act to raise some serious questions. Horus informs the public that he's bringing democracy back and will personally ensure a fair process, but how soon before he is corrupted? And we immediately see the crackdown that begins as the government starts to go after Horus's former superhero allies. Ellis raises a lot of interesting questions and ideas in a short eight pages, and I hope he doesn't drop the ball in the rest of the series. It's a good beginning to what's sure to be a talked-about comic, and I for one can't wait to read the rest of it.
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Left On Mission #2 (of 5)
Written by Chip Mosher
Art by Francesco Francavilla



Here's the first surprisingly political book, as I was expecting a fairly standard spy story. In this issue, we find that the information our protagonist was trying to recover from the rogue agent is actually incriminating evidence that the (so far unnamed) President supported torture. Actually, now that I reread the page, it actually seems like a plot point that could have appeared in any spy story from the last 30 years; it just seems especially relevant now because the current administration has taken that same stance. It's not intrusive to the story, but I found it interesting.

Anyway, it's another chapter of spy action, and I think I've been won over by Francesco Francavilla's art. Chip Mosher left a comment on my review of the last issue, saying that he thought Francavilla's art was awesome, and I'm starting to see what he means. There's a sequence in this issue in which Eric, our hero, confronts Emma, the rogue spy, in a nightclub, and he's disoriented by the dance floor strobe lights:



It's a beautifully timed sequence, with nearly-black panels alternating with views lit in different colors; it perfectly captures the situation. Very well done. Another scene sees a character savagely beating somebody, and blood splatters all over the page, even getting in the "gutters" between panels. That was a neat effect, and it really emphasized the brutality of the scene.

So, I'm enjoying it quite a bit, and I'll be on board for the rest of the series. Good work, guys, and don't let me down!
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Drafted preview
Written by Mark Powers
Art by Chris Lie and Joseph Baker



And this is the other political book that I wasn't expecting. Unfortunately, it's not especially incisive, presenting a thinly veiled George W. Bush (the character's name is Preston Walker) who says "Sometimes ... I wish I could just nuke 'em all," when talking about the Israel/Palestine conflict. The idea of this miniseries is that aliens come to earth and "draft" everyone into a war against some other, more conquest-minded aliens. I'm sure the story will eventually have everybody putting aside their differences to fight the threat. Yawn. We don't actually get much story here, just some strange happenings across the globe and a double-page spread of alien ships approaching the earth. There are some sketches in the back which feature some nice-looking designs for aliens, ships, battle-suits, characters, etc., but the excerpt of the story given here is enough to turn me off the series. Too bad.
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The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #5 (of 7)
Written by Robin Furth and Peter David
Art by Jae Lee and Richard Isanove



This issue: Sex!



(Partial) Nudity!



A mutant kittycat!



And other freaky stuff! It's kind of a middle chapter of the story, leading up to the conclusion of the miniseries, and I don't really have much to say, other than that it's chugging along enjoyably. If you've read the previous four issues, there's no reason to quit at this point, and if you haven't read any of them, you'll probably wait for the trade if you read it at all. And I think that's all I have to say for right now.
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Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #19
Written by Sean McKeever
Art by David Hahn and Christina Strain



This is yet another nice issue of the wonderful series (which I still have no idea if it's going to keep coming out after Sean McKeever leaves), with a very sweet plot about Mary Jane and friends banding together to help out a buddy. I won't spoil anything, but I did want to point out some of the nice art, like this shot of Flash Thompson:



I love the "star" in the background. I'm not sure if that's solely the work of colorist Christina Strain, but it's really nice. I think she brings a lot to the art on this series. Here's another couple of panels I liked:



I especially like the difference we see due to the MJ's lack of makeup and styled hair when she has been in gym class. Nicely done.

So, the future of the series is up in the air (as far as I know), but I'm sure at least the next couple of issues will be good. If you haven't read this series (and are interested in teen drama with the occasional Marvel superhero cameo), check out the various digest collections. It's good stuff!
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Bonus! There's a four-page Mini-Marvels backup strip by Chris Giarrusso in the book in which Hulk goes on a date with Betty Ross. Really cute, fun stuff; here are my favorite jokes:




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Jack of Fables #11
Written by Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges
Art by Steve Leialoha



Here, we finally get the second part of the "Jack Frost" story, which was interrupted for four issues before concluding here. It's a funny little tale about Jack taking over the powers of Luni the ice queen and abusing them horribly while he chases some tail. Interestingly, I thought it was going to be a throwaway story, but it sets up a plot point which will surely come up in the future, and it gives us the reason the Ice Queen became a villain over in the pages of Fables. Not bad. Decent fill-in art by Leialoha, but I'll be glad to have Tony Akins and Andrew Pepoy back (next issue?). Good times.
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And that's all that I'll discuss at length. I also read Ghost Rider: Trail of Tears, and while it's okay, I'm starting to regret the decision to buy the series. Ghost Rider just doesn't appeal to me. So, maybe another review tomorrow.

The Lone and Level Sands: Where I'd like to exile this book

That title is a little harsh, but I wasn't too pleased with this bit of comics literature:

The Lone and Level Sands
Written by A. David Lewis
Art by Marvin Perry Mann (or mpMann)



I grabbed this from the library after reading some favorable reviews, such as the one by Greg Burgas over at Comics Should Be Good. Unfortunately, it did not live up to the hype (although that's a strong term for a couple good write-ups). The story is a reversed viewpoint of the Biblical story of Exodus, told from the Pharaoh's point of view rather than Moses'. That's an interesting idea, and I applaud the intent, especially the way Lewis tried (as he states in his introduction) to draw from different sources, including the Bible, the Koran, anthropological sources, and the film The Ten Commandments. And it might have made an interesting tale, except it's so confusingly presented I had trouble following it. For one thing, I had trouble distinguishing characters; when presented with a page of Ramses (the Pharaoh), his son, and his friend/advisor talking, I should be able to easily tell them apart; instead, I get three nearly indistinguishable bald, shirtless guys:

[My scanner's acting up, so I can't scan the page I wanted. Just imagine that it illustrates my point perfectly]

On further examination, I see that Ramses has a sort of "soul patch"-style beard, but that's the only way I can differentiate the characters. The whole book is like that, and having to try to figure out who is who on every page makes it hard to concentrate on the story. The intermingling of captions and word balloons doesn't help either, especially since I had trouble telling who was supposed to be doing the narration. In at least one chapter, Ramses seems to be telling the story to his sick and dying wife, but another chapter features omniscient third-person narration. It's all pretty confusing, and I'm not exactly a comics novice.

And that's just the presentational problems that I found. I also had trouble following the plot, and if I hadn't already been familiar with the story from years of Bible school, I would have been completely lost. I guess the aforementioned movie is famous enough that everyone can be assumed to know the basic story (Israelites as slaves, "Let my people go!", ten plagues, parting of the Red Sea, etc.), but very little effort is made to give any background or even introduce characters. Worse, Egyptian words and place names are used with the seeming assumption that readers are familiar with them. I had never heard of Abu Simbel, but it's apparently supposed to be the location of one of the Pharaoh's palaces, or perhaps some monuments. It's hard to tell. Later, the Israelites are referred to as "Apiru", which I thought might have been an Egyptian pronunciation of "Hebrew". But then they are later referred to as "Hebrews", so I don't know what the former word is supposed to mean. Egyptian for "slave", maybe?

As for the actual plot, we get very few of the important details. We don't get to see most of the meetings between Ramses and Moses, so it's kind of odd when the plagues just start happening. This might make sense if the point of view was supposed to be that of an average Egyptian, but Ramses is supposed to be the central character here. And we don't get any mention of the fact that each of the plagues was a direct attack on the various Egyptian gods. That would have been a nice aspect to include, but it's ignored in favor of mentions that Yahweh, the Hebrew god, is challenging Amon-Ra, the Egyptian god.

Lewis also struggles with the reason Ramses keeps revoking his promises to let the Israelites go. In the Bible, God kept "hardening his heart" and making him refuse to release them, because God wanted to prove his point and get through all ten plagues, I guess. Lewis tries to demonstrate that here by having various characters around Ramses be possessed by God (we can tell they're possessed because they speak in a different font) and insist that the Israelites not be allowed to leave. But why Ramses feels he needs to follow their instructions is not explained very well; you would think he would ignore the freaky words of his grandson if he could stop the devastation being rained upon his kingdom. Lewis seems to be making the point that Ramses is being manipulated by God, and it leads to what would be a fairly effective scene if I hadn't been so turned off by most of the previous storytelling devices.

So, it's a good concept, but a poor execution, in my opinion. I will say that the art is pretty nice, other than the trouble I occasionally had telling characters apart. It certainly doesn't get in the way of the story. It's just the story itself that's flawed. I have to give the book a non-recommendation, I think.
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I've got another one to review, so we'll see if I get to it tonight.

To Terra...: That's where I wanna go someday

Man, I'm not sure what exactly to say about this one, so I think I'll go with the old "give a plot description and scan some pictures" method and see what I come up with...

To Terra..., volume 1 (of 3)
By Keiko Takemiya



So, this was one that was getting some attention for a while, probably because it's a bit different from the usual types of manga that get imported to the States. It's from the 70's, and it's by Keiko Takemiya, one of the "Magnificent Forty-Niners", a group of women who revolutionized shojo manga. I thought it was pretty good, but it's that Japanese style of science fiction that's all about psychic powers and stuff, which I sometimes find hard to follow. But any confusion kind of disappears (or gets put on hold) whenever Takemiya busts out some sort of awesome illustration like this one:



Anyway, the plot has to do with a sterile future in which emotion is frowned upon. Humanity has left Earth/Terra after depleting its resources, and now humans are birthed by a system of computers, raised by adoptive parents, and then given a "maturity check" which wipes their memories and sends them to be trained and eventually get to go where the title of the book indicates. We're told that robots have been terraforming Terra to make it livable again, but we don't get to actually see the planet, at least not in this volume, so I suppose it's possible that it's all a dream used to control the people. I guess we'll find out the answer in future volumes.

There's a bit of a monkey wrench thrown in the works of the computer-led society by the Mu, a race of psychically-powered mutants (in the X-Men sense; they still look just like humans) that have formed their own splinter society. The computer leaders want to destroy the Mu, who just want to live alongside humanity on Terra. The first half of this volume concerns a young man named Jomy Marcus Shin (gotta love those Japanese character names), who is nearing his maturity check unaware that he is a Mu. He is appropriated and taken in by the Mu, and they have chosen him as their new leader due to his immense latent psychic powers. There's a lot of angst, since he doesn't want to believe he is one of the horrible mutants, and many of the other Mu don't want to accept him, but eventually he takes over and begins to lead them as they try to go To Terra...

Then he disappears (for the most part) for much of the second half of the book, as we shift focus to a human space station and a somewhat emotionless young "Elite" named Keith Anyan. The Elite are the top rank of humans and the leaders of society, and they get to go To Terra... first. We see some conflict as he clashes with a rebellious young guy named Seki Ray Shiroe who looks a lot like Jomy. And then we learn his dark secret, which I won't spoil.

Anyway, it's an interesting setup, with our two main characters destined to meet in later volumes as the future of humanity is decided. I'll probably pick them up at some point, but I don't feel like I'll be checking shipping lists eagerly awaiting the next volume.

Anyway, how about some art samples? That's probably my favorite thing about the book: Takemiya's big spreads of science-fictiony stuff:





Since it was the 70's, the computers all consist of magnetic tape reels, dials, gauges, oscilloscopes, and blinking lights. I love it.



So I think it's pretty good, especially as a view of older manga that we don't see too much of in the U.S. It's $14.95, but it's almost 350 pages long, a bit bigger than a usual manga digest. Not a bad deal. I'm sure I'll be getting volumes 2 and 3.
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I've got at least one other book to review, plus comics from this week. Maybe I'll get to some of them tomorrow, maybe not. I'll keep you in suspense.

Kampung Boy: Not a member of the Legion of Superheroes

Edit: Added a link to First Second's page about Town Boy.
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I read this the other day:

Kampung Boy
By Lat



I don't know if I have too much to say about this one, but I'll see what I can come up with. It's an autobiographical book by Lat, a famous Malaysian cartoonist (famous in Malaysia, that is; this is his first book published in the United States). It's a fascinating look at his childhood in a small village (or "kampung", hence the title). I found it to be an incredible firsthand look at a culture Americans don't get to see very often, with people living in thatched huts but still using semi-modern technology (Lat was born in 1951).

The book is more illustrated prose than comics (at least by the Scott McCloud definition), with most pages consisting of text surrounded by pictures (or vice versa):



But there are also many sequential bits, so it certainly counts, in my opinion. This next page has two sequential "panels" (and the preceding and subsequent pages are also part of the sequence), and there are several sequences of nearly-wordless full-page illustrations that work as wonderful sequential storytelling.



Anyway, why argue about definitions when you've got a beautifully-illustrated story like this one? I love the way he draws the people of the village, with their wide faces and huge mouthfuls of teeth. And how he juxtaposes the bulk of the adults (especially his father, who can be seen falling into the water above) with the tiny figures of children:



And the sense of motion he conveys is wonderful; in possibly my favorite page, he seems to leave jet trails all over the village as he's trying to escape punishment:



Hilarious.

So it's a highly recommended book, if a bit quickly finished (I read it in one sitting). I'm very interested to check out the soon-to-be-released (in the U.S.) follow-up, Town Boy.
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That's probably it for tonight, unless the urge to write strikes me. More tomorrow, I guess.

Girly manga shakeup!

In shocking news (to me, at least), Shojo Beat is drastically changing its manga lineup. I got the story from Journalista!, but Ed Chavez of MangaCast gives the details. Basically, Nana (probably my favorite manga series) is ceasing serialization in Shojo Beat (cue me shouting "Noooooo!"), but it's going to be replaced by Umino Chika's Honey & Clover ("Yeeeesssss!"). I haven't read the H&C manga, but I've watched some of the anime series via fansub, and it's excellent. So it's pretty exciting to see it get published here in addictive monthly format. I guess I'll just have to start buying the digest collections of Nana, once they catch up to what's been serialized.

In other Shojo Beat news, Baby & Me is also ceasing serialization, to be replaced by (deep breath) Haruka naru Toki no Naka de, which appears to be a samurai series or something, judging by the picture in Chavez's post. I have no idea whether that series is any good, but I'm kind of glad to see Baby & Me go.

So it's a shakeup at Shojo Beat, but I hope it's a good one which will keep me subscribing. Hell, I've already got another year paid for, so I'll read this stuff anyway.

A normal week, except for several trade collections and graphic novels that I will eventually need to acquire

List via Chris Butcher, with assistance from Midtown Comics and my local shop.

New comics this week (Wednesday, 6/6/07):

BATMAN TURNING POINTS TP 14.99

I considered checking this out due to the talent involved (Paul Pope, for one), but meh. I'm tired of superheroes lately.

BLACK DIAMOND DETECTIVE AGENCY SC 16.95

But I'm excited about this one. Eddie Campbell! I don't know if my shop will have it, so I might have to get it from Borders or Amazon.

BLACK SUMMER #0 (OF 7) (MR) 0.99

This has me confused. It's the first issue of Warren Ellis's new ultraviolent superhero series (I guess I can overcome my superhero apathy when he's involved), but it gets a #0. So I'm not sure if the final issue will be #7 or #6. Whatever; I'm expecting it to be good. Art by Juan Jose Ryp, promising lots of detail, and probably plenty of gore. Don't let me down, Ellis!

COMPLETELY DOOMED TP 19.99

A collection of IDW's horror comics magazine. I have one issue which I bought in a sale. There's some nice Ashley Wood art in the series, so it's worth reading. It's just kind of expensive. I might get the collection someday.

DARK TOWER GUNSLINGER BORN #5 (OF 7) 3.99

More of this series. I'll talk about it if I feel it's worth it, but by this point the series is chugging along doing its thing, and I doubt there will be anything too extraordinary to mention. Unless Jae Lee whips out some cool artistic feat or something. Keep up the good work, fellas!

DRAFTED PREVIEW 0.99

I don't remember where I saw an ad or something for this series, but it might be somewhat interesting. Something about aliens coming to Earth to help us fend off another alien invasion, with all of humanity being "drafted" into service, as indicated by the title. It's a possibility.

EXIT WOUNDS HC (MR) 19.95

A graphic novel from the Israeli artist Ruta Modan, about a young man in Israel searching for clues about his father's death (and life). It looks really nice. I might have to look for it.

GHOST RIDER TRAIL OF TEARS #5 (OF 6) 2.99

I probably shouldn't have started buying this series; now I have to complete it out of inertia. It's not bad, but I haven't found it to be too exceptional. Garth Ennis, western setting, supernatural business, etc. Maybe it'll pick up in the last two issues, which seem to be heading toward a big fight between Ghost-Rider-on-a-horse and various satanically-enhanced baddies. We'll see.

I SHALL DESTROY ALL THE CIVILIZED PLANETS SC 19.95

Everybody seems to be talking about Fletcher Hanks lately, probably because of the arrival of this book. I read his story in Art Out of Time, and while it was quite bizarre, I don't know if I need a whole book of that stuff. It might be worth getting from the library someday, I guess.

JACK OF FABLES #11 (MR) 2.99

I think this issue finally gives us the completion of the Jack Frost story that started in issue #6 or 7. Should be fun, like always.

MPD PSYCHO VOL 1 TP (MR) 10.95

Now this is a manga I've been looking forward to. It promises lots of craziness and gory violence. Plus it apparently inspires murders. I'm sure I'll have to special order it or look in bookstores, but I'll definitely read it eventually.

SPIDER-MAN FAMILY #3 4.99

I've considered picking up previous issues of this series due to the talent involved; there was a Vasilis Lolos-illustrated story in the first issue, I think. But the price tag daunts me; I don't think I'll get $5 worth of value when I'm mostly interested in an eight-page story. I don't know what's in this issue, but once again I'll probably flip through it and put it back on the shelf. Maybe I'll pick some of them up when my store has a sale.

SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE #19 2.99

I'll pick this one up without reservation. Still no word on the future of the series after Sean McKeever leaves. Don't leave me hanging, people!

SUPERIOR SHOWCASE #2 (MR) 2.95

What is this, a biannual series? It's got fun stories from the Project: Superior folks, so it's always worth picking up. I have no idea who contributed to this issue, but maybe if people buy it, Adhouse will release issues more often.

THREE PARADOXES GN (RES) 14.95

The new book from Paul Hornschmeier. Didn't it come out already? I'll have to pick it up sometime.

TRUTH SERUM VOL 1 TP (O/A) (MR) 18.00

I kept hearing about how good this was. Maybe I can get it now. Or the sequel; I should get that one too.

WARD O/T STATE #2 (OF 3) 3.50

Did I ever review the first issue of this miniseries? I forget. It was interesting, but I don't know if I want to keep reading the series. I'll take a look and decide in the store.

Girl From HOPPERS TP
Human Diastrophism TP

I didn't think these were supposed to come out yet, but Midtown Comics has them on their list. I'll have to ask about them at the store. I'm quite excited to read them though.
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And I think that's everything. Not a big week in pamphlets, but several items of the larger, more expensive variety to eventually get. Tonight, I might have a review, or maybe not. You could always come back and see.

Epic-length review roundup

Okay, I'm finally getting to the recent comics reviews I've been promising for a week or so. There's lots of stuff here, and I might talk about some of them more than others. And rather than just picking them randomly off a stack, I've tried to be a bit more organized and do them alphabetically. It's almost professional. Anyway, off we go:

The Boys #7
Written by Garth Ennis
Art by Darick Robertson



The unceremonious cancellation of this book by DC seems to have raised its stature in the comics blogoweb's consciousness, including mine. Ever since it started, I thought it was pretty fun with some decent (if mean-spirited) jokes, but never was anything too groundbreaking. This issue brings my memories back, since it's more of the same. Some funny bits, maybe a little worldbuilding, lots of ridicule of superheroes, nothing too special. I expect I'll keep buying it, mostly out of my current antipathy toward superheroics, but I'm not really expecting big things. Who knows, maybe Ennis will pull out the stops and come up with something crazy in future issues, but he seems to be coasting along on his anti-superhero sentiment right now. We'll see where he goes with it.

Oh, and I should mention that I like the variant cover there. It's a good viewpoint reversal from the first issue's cover. Cool.
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Cover Girl #2 (of 5)
Written by Andrew Crosby and Kevin Church
Art by Mateus Santolouco



Well, I kind of criticized the first issue of this miniseries for being mostly setup, but the second issue almost seemed to be designed to address my concerns. As I suspected, the best part of the story is seeing Alex interact with Rachel, which is pretty much what happens for the entirety of this issue. There's some pretty good dialogue (and less of the forced wittiness that bothered me last issue):



Plus lots of action:



This issue has a different artist, and I like him better; his style seems to be closer to Rafael Albuquerque's cover art, and it looks really nice, with good facial expressions (although a couple of characters sport sharklike grins that I found offputting) and pretty nice layouts.

So my concerns have been addressed. One complaint (which involves SPOILERS): The black guy gets killed. That's too obvious of an action movie cliche. Maybe there will be a twist or something, but it bothered me [end SPOILER]. Anyway, good, enjoyable stuff, and I'll definitely be reading the rest of the series.
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Criminal #6
Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Sean Phillips



Now this was pretty sweet. I think it was the slight hiatus that this title had been on, but I was wondering if I should drop it. This issue changed that feeling right away, with a slam-bang intro to a new, brutal story about a tough guy running away from the army to find and get revenge on his brother's killers. We're sure to get some good crime details in the upcoming story, but even this first chapter has some good characterization, and a nice, moody art style. I glanced through the recent Marvel Zombies one-shot that Phillips illustrated, and was not too impressed. He should really stick to this sort of story; it fits his sensibilities much better. So I'm hooked again, and can't wait to read more of this stuff. Nice job, guys; don't let me down!
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Gutsville #1 (of 6)
Written by Simon Spurrier
Art by Frazier Irving



I had been highly anticipating this title ever since I first heard about it, and, judging by the first issue, I don't think it will disappoint. It's a crazy concept: a ship was swallowed by a giant sea creature back in 1850; the passengers survived and set up a society in its intestines. It's a Puritanical place, with religious elders who call themselves Jonahkin ruling over everybody else, promising a "great gurgitation" someday. A sprawling cast is introduced, with our focus seeming to be mainly on Albert, a young man who wants to be an artist (which is frowned upon by the elders) but is forced to take up his father's mantle as Ratcatcher. He's in love with a young lady named Emilia, but she has chosen to marry the son of the head religious leader instead. Albert has found a map of his father's (as Ratcatcher, he had explored the intestines extensively), and hopes to use it to escape. There's also a plot about a serial killer, and a subplot about the mystical abilities of some aborigines (slaves?) on board. And then there's a hell of a cliffhanger on the last page, but I'm not going to spoil it for anybody who hasn't read the book.

Frazier Irving's art, which was the main attraction for me on this book, beautifully conveys the freaky world these characters inhabit. I can't wait to see what he has coming up in the future. He especially excels in portraying the psychedelic aborigine visions:



And while there's tons of other stuff worth mentioning, I wanted to point out the expressive depiction of hands in these panels:



That's really cool. Really, there's only one bit I didn't like, and that's the computer lettering in this panel:



Would it have killed them to hand-letter that? When lettering is printed on top of the art like that, it always looks to me like the letters are floating in front of whatever is being shown. But I'm nitpicking here, and it's one panel out of the whole book. (I seem to seize upon and obsess over minor details like this. A while back I was going on and on about panel borders; now I seem to be all about fonts. Weird.)

But anyway, it's pretty awesome. I recommend it, especially if you like weird stuff like me. I'm excited to read the next issue.
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Iron Man: Hypervelocity #5 (of 6)
Written by Adam Warren
Art by Brian Denham



Damn, I love this book. Adam Warren has been pulling out all the stops to give us an ultra-technofetishistic look at a rogue Iron Man suit occupied by an upload of Tony Stark's consciousness. He spends almost the entirety of this issue fighting off the intelligent virus that has infected his armor (and losing badly). Absynthe (the female projection of the virus, who turns out to be another uploaded consciousness, I think) beats the hell out of him for page after page, wiping out all his memories, like this one (which cracked me up):



Warren pulls of a twist with all this that I saw coming, but it's still handled pretty elegantly. Nicely done. At the same time, the suit is on autopilot, fighting of what seems like the full extent of SHIELD's arsenal. It's all pretty awesome, and it's leading up to a big action finale next issue. Sweet.

As for the art, I complained about previous issues that Denham's style doesn't fit Warren's writing as well as a more manga-inspired artist's might, but he seems to finally be getting close enough to Warren's actual art style that I find it pretty satisfactory. Warren does some pretty extensive layouts, from what I understand, and five issues in, he seems to finally be getting it. You can probably see what I mean on the page above. So it's pretty nice-looking as well as exciting and fun to read. If you haven't been reading the series, I highly recommend the inevitable collection.
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Loaded Bible 2: Blood of Christ
Written by Tim Seeley
Art by Mike Norton



I'm not sure why I bought this. I got the first issue, which came out over a year ago, and I thought it was okay. But this one just wasn't very good. The big story in part one was Jesus fighting off the vampires that had overrun the earth, only to find out he was actually a clone being used by the Catholic church, who were the rulers of the remnants of human society. In this one, you have him angsting over that fact, while the people discover that they've been tricked, so the church releases their hordes of captive vampires to exert control, followed by their army of Jesus clones to regain safety. You've also got some stuff with resistance fighters, and scheming by vampire leaders. Yawn. It just didn't really interest me, possibly due to the absence of any wit in such a crazy concept. Art is by Mike Norton, the current artist on Runaways. He does a decent enough job, but nothing spectacular. I doubt I'll be back for any further chapters.
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Local #9 (of 12)
Written by Brian Wood
Art by Ryan Kelly



I don't really have too much to say about this one, other than "it's really good". It's a series I love, and I wish it came out more regularly. This issue sees Megan traveling back to her hometown of Norman, Oklahoma to pay respects to her mom, who just passed away. It's a very emotional issue, filled with flashbacks to Megan's childhood, and Kelly's art is just beautiful. The way he conveys Megan's sadness is amazing:



And I love the style he uses for flashbacks, with thin lines and rough, charcoal greytones:



Nice. It's a great book, and I can't wait for the next issue, which takes place in my former hometown of Austin, Texas. Don't make me wait to long, guys!
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Madman Atomic Comics #2
By Mike Allred



Oh, yeah, I love me some Madman! We learn what's going on in this issue, and fans are surely happy to learn that Allred is not throwing out all of Madman's past adventures, like he teased us with last issue. Rather, it's a plot by the evil Monstadt! There's some really cool stuff this issue, with a bunch of double-page spreads detailing Frank's Ditko-esque psychedelic adventures. Here's a small detail:



And there's more philosophizing, plus this gem of a moment:



Yeah, that's what I like to see! Next issue promises more interdimensional/spiritual/afterlife action, and I can't wait.
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Newuniversal #6
Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Salvador Larroca



I had thought this issue might wrap up the first story arc of the series, but that doesn't seem to be the case; Ellis is just writing a long story, and who knows how long it will last. I'm impressed with the scope of the story he's telling; whole characters and subplots seem to disappear for issues at a time, and most of the characters haven't even met and barely know the others exist. I count six major characters, each with their own storyline. Two of those stories seem to have merged, as Nightmask and Starbrand have met up and escaped a military attack. The Angelina Jolie-lookalike cyborg-building girl works under the NSA superhero expert, but they've barely interacted. And we don't even get to see what's going on with the archaeologists in Estonia this issue. It's a big, sprawling cast, and I'm finding it very interesting seeing what Ellis is doing with them.

This issue seems to be focused mostly on Voight(the NSA guy)'s meeting with the President (Hillary Clinton, in this universe). We get to learn some of his backstory, and it's pretty scary. We also get to see Justice continue to go nuts, murdering a street full of people because they are or will be guilty of something. I guess. This is an interesting development, since he hadn't done anything too evil before now, but he seems to have become quite the villain.


So, interesting stuff. I don't know if I would get any more out of it if I was at all familiar with Marvel's original New Universe, but I don't really care. I'm finding this really compelling, and unless it takes a drastic downturn, I expect to keep reading and enjoying it.
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X-Men: First Class Special
Written by Jeff Parker
Art by Kevin Nowlan, Nick Dragotta and Mike Allred, Paul Smith, and Colleen Coover



It seems like every other comics blog has talked about this book and how fun it is, so I don't really feel the need to cover it too extensively (or post that panel of Xavier using Cerebro to determine the cuteness level of ducklings). So I'll just say I liked it quite a bit, and share this awesome Nick Dragotta/Mike Allred drawing:



Cyclops' eye really freaks me out there. Anyway, my enjoyment of this issue, and Jeff Parker's writing in general, has me considering picking up the collection of the X-Men: First Class miniseries and/or the upcoming ongoing series. I don't generally care for "hidden years" stories, and the regular artist is Roger Cruz, whom I don't care for too much. Plus, I've been getting pretty tired of superheroes lately. I'll consider it, maybe by trying to find the collection for cheap, but I dunno. It's a dilemma. Any thoughts, anybody?
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White Picket Fences #1 (of 3)
Written by Matt Anderson and Eric Hutchins
Art by Micah Farritor



I picked this one up because I thought it looked interesting, and I kind of liked the art style. The story has to do with a young boy living in suburbia stumbling across a military/alien weapon and possibly starting an interplanetary war. It seems to take place in an alternate version of the 1950's, where the populace is scared not by Communism, but by aliens from Mars or Venus. It's odd, and not explained very well (at least not yet). The story is kind of cute; in addition to Charlie (the boy) and his friends' comic book-inspired activities, we get some scenes between Charlie's father and a neighbor who mocks their shelter, where they hide from alien attacks, I guess. And there's a plot about the military showing up and taking over the town to root out the menace within. It's interesting, I guess, but not too compelling of a plot; I don't know if I'll come back for the next issue or not.

The art is pretty nice though, with some cartoonily angular designs. I especially liked this splash page of the kids playing war games:



It kind of reminds me of Jordan Crane or somebody like that. There's also a backup story featuring an adventure of Captain Odyssey, the kids' Flash Gordon-esque comic book hero. It's kind of fun, although it might be trying too hard to seem like Golden Age comics. And the character designs seem a bit too similar to the ones in the main story; if you ask me, they should be more fantastical. Fortunately, there are some nice visual flourishes:



So it's a fairly fun book. I might or might not pick up the second or third issue.
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Whew! I think that all I wanted to cover. I might have more stuff tomorrow. We'll see.

Quick talk about two new comics, with some new favorite panels

I still have the ever-growing pile of recent books to talk about, but I won't get to them tonight. But here's two that came out yesterday:

Hellboy: Darkness Calls #2 (of 6)
Written by Mike Mignola
Art by Duncan Fegredo



I'm not sure I can follow exactly what's going on here (especially since I haven't read most of the Hellboy oeuvre), but damned if I'm not enjoying it. Hellboy is caught up in some sort of conflict between undead witches, a zombie witch hunter, and a guy who stole the power of Hecate (a former villain, I think). And also Baba Yaga, who apparently has figured into previous volumes (man, I really need to catch up on them). But I'm just going with it, and Fegredo's lovely art helps immensely, whether Hellboy is fighting an undead swordsman:



Or flying through the air with a flock of witches (click to enlarge, please; you can't see much in the small version):



That one right there is in a tie for my current favorite panel. I love all the little details, like the witch that's riding a giant bone, or the one that's surfing on a cauldron. Awesome. Next issue promises more action. I can't wait.
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Shaolin Cowboy #7
By Geof Darrow



Now this series, you just have to hang on while Darrow throws whatever craziness he can dredge up from the strange depths of his mind. You never know what you're going to see next, and words can't really even describe most of it. It's just wild, frenetic, non-sequitur-filled action from wall to wall. It seems like it should take two minutes to read an issue, but I end up poring over each panel looking at the tiny details. It's totally nuts. Anyway, here's my (other) current favorite panel:



If you want context, buy the issue(s). But I don't know how much that will help. You kind of just have to go with it. And here's another panel I had to share, just for the sheer number of crazy jokes Darrow squeezes into two panels worth of word balloons. I guess I should provide some context for this one; the decapitated head that the Cowboy has been fighting for the last several issues is having its skeleton reconstituted by its (his?) wife, the zombie queen:



Man, that cracks me up. Haggard's cervical! Darrow, you kill me!
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Okay, that's it for tonight. I'm out of town again tomorrow, so maybe I'll have something on Sunday.