5.22.13 [Weekly Reviews]

"Weekly Reviews" is a column brought to you with generous support from our retail sponsor Yesteryear Comics. Make Yesteryear Comics your first and only destination in San Diego for great customer service and the best discounts possible on a wide selection of mainstream and independent titles. Customers receive an attractive 20% discount on new titles during their first week of release. Yesteryear Comics is located at 9353 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard.

Wasteland #45 (Oni Press): It’s always been interesting to me that these interlude issues between arcs a) feature a guest artist, and b) tend to play around with the timeline in this world. We’ve seen issues take place 10 and 50 years after The Big Wet, for example, and this one takes place 101 years after, when the entire series is set at 100 years after. That said, I think it’s the first time writer Antony Johnston has done a small “flash-forward” like this. It allows us to join Jakob back at Newbegin, who is wallowing in alcoholic self-loathing, perhaps some lingering guilt over Golden Voice’s death, and disappointment at his own ability to take out Marcus and shake-up the stranglehold he has over the town. If nothing else, after the internal politicking of this issue, the forthcoming arc looks like all that’s going to get resolved in typical startling, bloody, and creative fashion. Chris Mitten is probably doing the work of his career, in a relatively stealth fashion, with this recent series of covers he’s turned in for this series. I’ve always liked his work, but it looks magnificent in full color. On the interior, Johnston is joined by Omar Olivera for this issue, whose style is just scratchy and realistic enough in the foregrounds and figure work to sell the world, even if it starts to lack a little bit of detail in the backgrounds, or need a second read through some of the fight choreography for clarity. If you’re keeping score, there’s only 15 issues left in this series and the closer we get, the more apt I am to get excited and move this to the top of the read pile. Grade A.

Mind MGMT #11 (Dark Horse): This issue focuses on Duncan, who the team recently picked up. There’s a joke in the lettercol about how you could probably make a mini-series out of page 10 alone, but it’s totally true. The lost Bamiyan Buddha is a rich throwaway line, but that page is also just marvelous to look at. It’s the kind of striking piece of original art I’d want to own, the kind that stands on its own as a work of art, and showcases Kindt’s unique talent. Likewise, his visual take on the ethereal memories of the woman known only as The Eraser is a beautiful bit of danger. The team finally finds Shangri-La in this issue, and along the way I kept staring at Henry Lyme. It’s funny, I’ve been bugging Brian Wood about having Matt Kindt do an alternate cover for The Massive, or even an entire issue, and this installment has me convinced; Henry Lyme totally looks like Callum Israel in spots. It’s great. This issue maybe feels a little lighter than some recent ones, with the back half dedicated to “getting there,” but it’s still a great read. If someone were to chronicle Kindt’s career, I think history will mark this series as the turning point where he went from talented up-and-comer to full-fledged star. Grade A.

Sex #3 (Image): When searching for adjectives to throw at Sex, “intriguing” is probably still the best word I can conjure to describe my feelings toward this book. I’m not sold on it yet. After three issues, I still don’t really know what it’s about or where it’s going from a plot standpoint. I still don’t know why some of the dialogue is color-coded. If you’re one of those people who buys into the whole tried and true three-act structure bit, then I don’t know a) what the protagonist wants, b) what the obstacle presented for dramatic tension is, and c) what he’s willing to do to resolve it. That said, it is a cool world being built where superheroing is in the past and that psychological draw has been redirected and sublimated by all things sex. The juxtaposition of those thematic devices is great. The art is great, popping between dark shadows and bright colors, but the whole doesn’t feel like it’s coming together yet. The characters threads aren’t intersecting yet. By the end, there’s maybe a hint of a direction, but we’re three issues in. This is the type of book I’ll probably give the benefit of the doubt to, and try the entire first arc before deciding if I’m committing to it long term or not. For now, it’s just more of the same exact thing it’s been for the preceding two issues, frustrated ex-hero with repressed sexuality mopes around, while other characters sort of revel in their stations. Grade B+.

Occupy Comics #1 (Black Mask): There’s an interesting cadre of talent assembled here, but the results are mixed, resulting in an overall middling effort, as is the case with so many anthologies. It’s also interesting that, in fine comic book fashion, the whole idea of an “Occupy Movement” comic is a day late and a dollar short. I mean, is anybody even really talking about this topical social issue anymore? Is anybody making “Occupy Twitter” jokes anymore when it crashes for an hour? Its moment has already passed in the collective consciousness. It’s been eclipsed by other meltdowns and tragedies, but of course that hasn’t stopped the DC cash-in juggernaut from trotting out it’s The Movement and The Green Team books either, but I digress. So, Occupy Comics. I enjoyed Molly Crabapples’s pinup, Douglas Rushkoff and Dean Haspiel’s historical strip, and Ales Kot, Tyler Crook, and Jeromy Cox turning in what is probably the strongest piece in the book. Theirs was “Grade A” and I could have used an entire feature length version of that project and been quite satisfied. Templesmith’s was biting, Ronald Wimberly’s was clever, Joshua Dysart’s was fact-filled. Matt Pizzolo and Ayhan Hayrula turn in a piece called “Channel 1%” (maybe a nod to Brian Wood’s Channel Zero?) that was very smart in how it framed the conflict of interest hypocrisy of protests by the 99% being filtered  through the 1% distortion lens controlled by the media, back at the 99% for consumption. Alan Moore’s meandering essay was about twice as long as I could stomach and ultimately didn’t have a destination. Everything else in the book was just sort of there and felt flat. Grade B.

Half Past Danger #1 (IDW): Well, there’s certainly no arguing that the book looks absolutely beautiful. I really appreciated how the cover went against type, with a retro feel that captures the blend of genres, dancing between WWII comics and generic “monster” comics that generally preceded the inundation of the superhero genre in the Silver Age. Writer/Artist Stephen Mooney clearly has love for these types of stories and the overall aesthetic that fuels them. The downside to this labor of love is that, judging from this effort, he seems to be a stronger artist than a writer. I know he’s paying homage to a bygone style of storytelling, but that doesn’t escape the fact that many characters felt like stock clichés at times. The soldiers were straight outta’ Sgt. Fury’s Easy Company or Saving Private Ryan, the Nazi Pacific Island base looked like a set out of Raiders of the Lost Ark, a Japanese guy flies in all Kato style and uses karate, there’s an English femme fatale, a stoic Steve Rogers dude, a brooding anti-hero with a past. We’ve seen it all many many many times before, and in order to shake up expectations you have to do something very different and, so far, despite a T-Rex and some V’Raptors, it’s not happening. On top of that, I found some of the weaponry things problematic. The ranking officer has a Thompson, which makes sense, but at other times the sound effects don’t match the semi-auto weapons other members of the squad would have. Theirs wouldn’t really go “RATATATATATAT!!!” as indicated, it’d be more of a “BAP-BAP-BAP,” and I also hate when law enforcement or military personnel refer to magazines as “clips,” but this is all admittedly being really nitpicky. You also have to buy that dudes can outrun a T-Rex and V’Raptors, something Jurassic Park surely taught us just isn’t plausible. It’s not quite strong enough for me to support in singles, but this is something I might check it out in trade eventually. Grade B-.

The Bounce #1 (Image): Joe Casey and David Messina deliver what is an attempted modernization of the classic Spider-Man or Speedball archetype. The art is clean and serviceable most of the time (expect for that horrible Bizarro Nightwing look that the first villain had), with some visually interesting tech, so my lack of enthusiasm has more to do with the scripting. I guess I can buy the whole drug fueled aspect of the story and maaaaaybe even the dude’s goofy-ass bouncing ball powers, but I started to lose interest when corny stereotype drug dealers rolled up, or self-aware metrosexual Matrix reject characters with names like The Darling or The Fog show up and start monologuing and naming themselves in totes inorganic fashion. This is the type of book I pick up in trade for 50% off at Comic-Con. Grade B-.

Natural Satellites [Small Press]

Titan #1 (Family Style/Press Gang): There’s a plethora of great comics at the Study Group Comics site, but you guys know my personal preference for print, so I was very excited to check out this first tangible installment from Francois Vigneault. It did not disappoint. In the far-flung future of 2192 on Saturn's moon of Titan, MNGR Joao da Silva is dispatched to resolve production inefficiencies exacerbated by labor disputes. The union problems seem to be rooted in racial inequality between the Terrans and Titans, the former’s management and security staff of 568 heavily outnumbered by the latter’s genetically engineered workforce of 50,000. Complicating negotiations are some hot-headed Terran officers and equally ill-tempered Titans on the other side of the equation, MNGR da Silva maybe acting too bold for his own good, and a very subdued and odd sexual tension between him and his Titan liaison handler Phoebe Mackintosh. Vigneault constructs the world of Titan and the basic story premise in the tradition of the best kinds of sci-fi. While exploring a logical progression of fascinating speech patterns and technological advances (things like iPhones and iPads simply become the “i” and just the “i,” where your entire body and its functions are internally networked via voice commands), we find that the specific details may be different, but the tensions are essentially the same. There will always be differing worldviews between management and entry level line workers, there will always be power struggles, there will always be economic tension, racial tension, and sexual tension. There’s no false utopia presented in Vigneault’s future world, merely an aspirational sci-fi narrative that allows us to reflect back on our own social issues through the lens of this re-contextualization process. Vigneault’s lines dance between a sort of Herge influenced European classicism, complete with ligne-claire coifs of hair, and the full-bodied beady sweat style of many modern alt cartoonists, running the erratic lineage from Robert Crumb to Charles Burns to  Noah Van Sciver. Vigneault is generous with his world-building backgrounds, and offers a warm tri-color glow of black, white, and an orange hue that gives the impression of what life must be like on a distant moon orbiting a gas giant planet. Compiling the first two installments of a planned six, complete with an unexpected intimate cliffhanger, it also gives me the impression that I can’t wait to see what’s next in this series. Grade A.

The Massive #12 [Advance Review]

The Massive #12 (Dark Horse): I’ll caveat this whole deal by saying in seafaring parlance that it’ll be difficult to review this book without venturing into some spoilery territorial waters, but I’ll give it a try out of respect for the series and where it’s likely to go. It’s the end of this three issue run featuring some diverse guest artists and we’re offered a heartbreaking denouement to this arc, which has led The Kapital on a targeted 6,000 mile search up the Pacific Coast all the way into the Arctic Circle Zone. I immediately liked how Lars is already leaning forward a bit, exerting influence, and stepping in to make leadership decisions in response to the confidential conversations about the future of Ninth Wave that he had with Mary in the last issue. The Massive is in limbo, neither lost nor found, the crew of The Kapital incapable of confirming either status for their sister ship, so Callum Israel stands in solitude up on the bridge, self-imposed exile or social pariah of sorts, like Melville’s Captain Ahab. He’s weary, obsessed, and doggedly repeating futile radio traffic that goes unanswered, on the very precipice of being destroyed by his quest.

I’m not entirely certain which issue of The Massive is my favorite if I was pressed to say; issues 4 and 5 are up there, yet I think this is now a strong contender, and a significant reason is the art of Danijel Zezelj. Every time he and Brian work together is magic (see DMZ #58 and I could easily rest my case). I think this is simply the best these characters have ever looked in terms of pure design work and capturing their personalities. I’ll be a dick and say that my only extremely minor, not even a quibble, but a question, is seeing bearded Cal in flashback because (I think?) we’ve always seen him clean-shaven in the Blackbell PMC era, but that’s not to say he couldn’t have obviously grown a beard on assignment somewhere. If you’ve ever seen Zezelj’s black and white work, you know that to color it is almost a sin. Color can actually mute lively black and white art, and Zezelj’s lines need not be tamped down with any further adornment, no disrespect to the palpable palette prowess of Jordie Bellaire. It’s a very raw aesthetic and his use of negative space to give objects contour is remarkable. Bellaire swiftly recognizes this and shows incredible restraint, letting the inks and not the color do most of the heavy lifting. You notice how it’s the empty un-inked areas that tend to define objects in Zezelj’s moody space. It’s there in the ice shelf on a random coastline, the way the hair hangs heavy around Lars’ face, or how Cal’s beard appears like it’s chiseled out of marble. Zezelj also uses a certain texturing effect (I guess that’s just splotchy stippling?) that makes for ominous shadows, or lends a general grit to the way things appear.

Zezelj is a Croatian artist that I’ve loved forever, having appeared in numerous Eastern European anthologies and being prolific as hell there, yet he’s had relatively few projects pop up in the states outside of his work with Brian on both DMZ and Northlanders, Luna Park at Vertigo, and Rex from Optimum Wound. Simply put, this guy should be a superstar in this industry and if something about his grounded aesthetic doesn’t seem particularly marketable to American audiences conditioned toward superheroics, then American audiences need to have their damn eyes checked and alter their precious artistic sensibilities. Ahem. Nobody is better at capturing the bleak emotional and physical terrain of what’s contained in a book like The Massive, especially a somber issue like this one. It’s particularly evident around page 12 and the disturbing sequence which follows. It’s predominantly just shots containing silent expanses of ice, while Wood complements what he knew Zezelj would deliver visually, in what is the ultimate act of faith in an artistic collaborator for a writer. Wood consciously clips his words and phrases, letting the art shine to convey both narrative and emotional intent, as Cal walks solemnly and contemplates in flashback how he acquired the ship originally, pulling something of a Malcolm Reynolds in the episode “Out of Gas,” if you’re a Browncoat.

The other flashback is one of those historical moments, the crew have all had them (Cal seems to have experienced a few that had a cumulative effect), which functions as a turning point leading toward his decision to recuse himself from private military contract work and form Ninth Wave. Mary’s words “be better” continue to ring in Cal’s ears and influence his decision-making. “Be better.” It’s why he left his old life. It’s all he’s ever wanted for himself. It’s all he’s ever wanted to provide for his crew. It’s all he ever wanted for the world. He believes in the promise of change. He believes in hope. It’s one of the most romantic notions this book has ever put forth. By the time this issue wraps up this leg of the Pacific Coast journey, Cal confronts the disappointing pot of coal at the end of this erratic radar blip rainbow and it boxes him into an emotional corner. He feels that nearly all of that hope has been lost. Grade A+.

5.15.13 [Weekly Reviews]

"Weekly Reviews" is a column brought to you with generous support from our retail sponsor Yesteryear Comics. Make Yesteryear Comics your first and only destination in San Diego for great customer service and the best discounts possible on a wide selection of mainstream and independent titles. Customers receive an attractive 20% discount on new titles during their first week of release. Yesteryear Comics is located at 9353 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard.

Dream Thief #1 (Dark Horse): Well, there’s two independent books that came out this week with “dream” in the title, but this is the one you definitely want. Jai Nitz and Greg Smallwood are two creators I wasn’t familiar with, but now I will make it a point to be. This is the type of new comics experience I live for. Walking into the LCS on Wednesday to discover a new book, new creators, new approaches that seemingly come from out of nowhere and grab my interest. Smallwood handles all of the art, inking, coloring, and lettering duties on the title. His art style immediately reminded me of latter era Sean Phillips, only better. There’s more life in these lines, sans the angular and sometimes stiff edges that accompany an artist like Phillips. Smallwood’s style is quite accomplished, especially when bathed in the warm and welcoming color palette he uses. Additionally, Smallwood is able to deliberately shift his aesthetic at times, like during the memory sequences, or by including visual shorthand like $ signs and “like” symbols in thought balloons, as well as play around with conventional panel layouts to emphasize the disorientation of, say, waking up next to dead bodies while wearing a mask you stole from a museum after assuming you blacked out during an alcohol fueled chronic bender. Ahem. The theft of the artifact and scenes in an art museum were near and dear to me, since I work in one. I particularly enjoyed the complex morality presented with some of the (without spoiling things) decisions that John Lincoln has to make and the ways he finds to justify them. There’s just a fresh, vibrant, effortless sense of discovery to reading this book. It comes across in the engaging characters, the natural dialogue, and the cover story that John quickly starts putting into place, fueling the series, and giving hints as to where things might even go. I’m already wondering how sales and critical reaction on this book will be. It’s probably too early to tell, but at this point it’s certainly the type of story that seems to have the potential for the creators to return to for additional adventures or an ongoing series. I’d welcome that. Grade A.

The Legend of Luther Strode #5 (Image): Remember that artist Tan Eng Huat? Yeah! That’s what Tradd Moore’s art sometimes reminds me of, only more dynamic. It’s kinetic and stylized and refined. There’s probably no end to the adjectives I could sling at this thing and do it justice. There’s a fine sense of detail that’s like dancing on a razor’s edge during the action sequences. Holistically, Justin Jordan has always positioned Luther Strode as a genre hybrid of horror and superhero, and I think this issue taps into that nicely. It’s got all the reader engagement of the latter and the journey toward the redemption of sins of the former. Between them, Luther, Petra, Binder, and Jack end up resolving one personal issue, but one threat is still very much looming for the climactic showdown. This is the type of comic that critics tell people “if you’re not buying this, you just don’t like comics.” It can only be done on paper, in this medium. I love this book. It’s everything a fun modern comic should be. Grade A.

Think Tank #7 (Image): I always enjoy the way Matt Hawkins is able to so strongly infuse the research he does for this book directly into the narrative. This issue opens with the notion of the feint, of balancing small scale tactics with looking at the bigger picture strategy. It suggests that people actually make life-changing decisions every single day, often with insufficient information and limited perspective, probably without even realizing it. The script then dives directly into positioning the players in a military style feint and dealing with the unintended consequences. With biomimetics and advanced drones, we see a surgical strike against Iran, supposedly to halt their nuclear capability, but with the added benefit of diverting attention away from a DNA targeting weapon possibly being used against China. All the while, the White House will probably need a fall guy in this whole mess. Bet you can’t guess how that plays out. Rahsan Ekedal is an artist who should be a superstar in the near future. The decision to showcase his art devoid of full color and using just gray tones really lets it shine instead of tamping down any sense of pop. You can actually see the various line weights, the expressions, and the postures of the in-fighting colleagues and how to tell a visual story sequentially. Hawkins’ back-matter concerning drone carriers, mimetics, and more is very informative, and sometimes startling, regarding material that the mainstream media shows little interest in covering. This issue ends with a huge “holy shit!” moment that’s going to have many political and personal consequences. Grade A.

Conan The Barbarian #16 [The Wood Pile]

Conan The Barbarian #16 (Dark Horse): Damn. Every issue of this series has been what I’d call “very good,” but this one is simply great. Brian Wood re-teams with Northlanders collaborator Davide Gianfelice and the results are electric. I’m prepared to say this is some of, if not “the,” best art we’ve seen on the series to date. Gianfelice brings an expressive danger to the proceedings, and when paired with Dave Stewart's lavish colors, it’s a can’t miss creative effort. It makes me miss those issues of Northlanders. Seeing Gianfelice come in to work with Wood feels like old friends catching up over a drink after years of being apart. They might not talk every day, but they can pick right up where they left off, and you understand immediately by eavesropping on this artistic conversation why they’ve remained friends for so long despite the distance. While some might view this detour to the pleasure city of Ianthe as superfluous, it’s an important step in Conan and Belit’s love story. It offers a brief respite after the many ordeals they’ve endured, a space where they can simply enjoy each other, trust in each other, and build the type of intimacy and bond that only forms through shared experiences. I’ve already seen a review that pejoratively suggests the sex and drug use is somehow gratuitous or out of character, present merely for the sake of itself. Bah. If anything, I think it reflects everything I just said, a brief moment where the two young lovers can relax and be carefree in an otherwise very dangerous and unpredictable world that could end at any second under the right set of stressors. It reflects where they’re at in life’s journey, their age and bold sense of experimentation, but also their willingness to trust in the other and just let go in the presence of the other. This sets them off on some sort of yellow lotus mind trip, the type of Native American vision quest that forces Conan to confront his own insecurities, regrets, and guilt over those lost in the tumultuous time period shared with Belit. This thoughtful examination of the character adds an emotional depth and complexity to what could play as a rather two dimensional archetype in the hands of lesser writers, those content to simply do their rendition of what's come before. It seems like there are purists out there who for some reason desire a word for word pictographic adaptation of the REH source material. That’s not why you hire Brian Wood. You don’t hire him to maintain the status quo. You hire him to create what's known as a "discontiguous process" in the innovation discussions of Corporate America. That’s how you modernize a property and engage a more sophisticated audience, one who's grown savvy to traditional storytelling approaches. Another reason this issue, and the series itself, works so well is the structure involving three-issue arcs. Not only is it a perpetual showcase for artistic talent, parading in amazing artists, one after the other, shit - it almost feels like showing off at this point, but like The Massive, it makes the single issues and compressed arcs feel dense. Each issue is packed with information, fighting the passé tendency toward decompression. It takes a while to chew through an issue of Conan, and I like that. It makes me feel as if I’m getting my money’s worth, getting a complete story or at least a significant chunk, not just a slice of a single conversation. I don’t find the transitions between arcs or artists jarring. If anything, issues of Conan are like storytelling shots, distilled down into an intense experience that can be enjoyed singularly or in succession. So, if you're in the area, I recommend you slip up to the bar in one of the many brothels in the pleasure quarter of Ianthe and have yourself a taste of Conan The Barbarian. Grade A+.

Personal Market Share

It’s been years since I’ve done one of these “personal market share” posts, which amount to little more than snapshots in time of what titles I’m currently regularly supporting, but I like looking at the statistics periodically just to get a general sense of trends. Keep in mind the metrics below do not include any of the material I’m fully comp’d on, which would skew things all outta’ whack. So far this calendar year, I’ve consumed a total of 169 total singles. However, 94 of those (56%) were fully comp’d. If you were to include comps, the metrics would further skew toward mini-comics and small press since 57 of the 94 comps (61%) I received were that type of indie material and wouldn’t be considered “mainstream” titles.

So, for purposes of this post we’re just dealing with the remaining 75 of the 169, which equates to about 22 total titles currently being purchased regularly in the traditional “pull list” fashion. These were all relatively mainstream titles, which, even factoring in my healthy discount thanks to my retail sponsor, I did make a conscious decision to actively support in some way financially. And that’s what this post is supposed to be about, analyzing what I’m currently voting for with my wallet at the distribution and retailer level. With all of that convoluted preamble out of the way, let’s dive in and take a glance at where my money is going.

Breaking things down by publisher, it seems I’ve become a de facto Image Comics spokesperson, with exactly half of my buying power supporting the “new” Image Comics. I attribute this to their phenomenal “Experience Creativity” creator-owned campaign. They attacked this in all sorts of ways, including reeling in big names on buzz books (Saga, East of West, Jupiter’s Legacy), featuring books by creators I’m loyal to (Mara), blurring the line between indie and mainstream (Prophet), and elevated talent with unique projects that stood out for me in ways Marvel and DC could never compete with because of the very nature of their IP portfolios (Danger Club, Luther Strode).

Dark Horse makes a strong showing in second place with 18% of my total dollars. Off the top of my head, I think a large part of this is due to writer Brian Wood (The Massive, Conan, Star Wars) with a little Matt Kindt thrown in (Mind MGMT) for good measure. Boom! Studios and Valiant Comics tie for third with 2-3 books each. That’s surprising because they sort of came out of nowhere. Boom! is a company I never really found a foothold with, but they have two solid series for me right now. Valiant made a big splash and thanks to Joshua Dysart, I’m pretty engaged in what’s going on in the universe. Oni Press, IDW, and Marvel are in a three way tie for fourth place, with essentially just one book each.

There are no DC books I’m supporting regularly. That’s 0% (!). Batwoman would have been on the list, but I stopped after JH Williams III was off of art duties. There’s just one book I’m getting from Marvel, which is Ultimate Comics: X-Men, and that’s only because Brian Wood is writing it. Sure, I expect to also be picking up his adjectiveless X-Men book too, but that hasn’t come out yet and it’s not fair to track things that I expect to purchase (X-Men, Lazarus, etc.).

50% Image

18% Dark Horse
9% Boom!
9% Valiant
5% Oni Press
5% IDW
5% Marvel

Speaking of Brian Wood, I thought it’d be fun to look at how many books I’m buying just out of loyalty to this one creator. As you can see below, he represents 23% of my total buying power. I think that’s a pretty strong commentary about the power of personal brand building and creator loyalty. There’s no other creator I can cite who would come close to that and enter double digits.

23% Brian Wood

77% Everyone Else

 

The other logical category I tried to sort titles into was genre. This isn’t a precise science obviously. Is something like Wasteland or The Massive principally a sci-fi or adventure book? Is Sex a crime book or a superhero book? What’s Todd The Ugliest Kid on Earth best classified as? Not wanting to get too hung up on semantics, I just took a rough pass at this to get a general sense. Roughly 33% of the books I support ostensibly involve superheroes. Granted, you could sub-categorize and say that most of the ones I buy as personal preference involve deconstruction of the paradigm (Danger Club, Deathmatch, Jupiter’s Legacy, etc.), but they are superhero-ish nonetheless. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. ;-) The next easily identifiable category was surprisingly sci-fi, with about 29% of the pull. Star Wars leads the charge here, with things like Prophet and East of West backing it up. Things get a little fuzzy toward the bottom of the list, but I grouped 26% into the loose adventure category (Mind MGMT), with 12% sort of making up the rest, including horror, crime (Ten Grand), and a couple other misc. genres lumped in.

33% Superhero

29% Sci-Fi
26% Adventure
12% Horror/Crime/Other

I’m not sure how much further you can read into these genre numbers, aside from the obvious. Superheroes as a genre still comprise the majority of the creative output of the larger North American comic book publishers. We already knew that, but it looks like I’m starting to gravitate toward other genres according to the diversity of the numbers. I would have expected that superhero number to be closer to 50% just a few years ago, particularly when I was not boycotting Marvel and DC Universe titles as a general matter of principle. I guess I didn’t expect Sci-Fi to be so high? I don’t know. It’s not like a actively see out sci-fi titles. I generally follow creators I like and books that just click with me regardless of genre.

5.08.13 [Weekly Reviews]

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Harbinger #12 (Valiant): Peter and The Renegades finally engage with Cronos and the psiots holed up in The Bellagio in Las Vegas, in what is a rather tenuous gettin-ta-know-ya meeting. Not a whole lot happens in this issue since it’s smack dab in the middle of the crossover event and feels like something of a stall, but the thing I enjoy, which keeps me coming back to Harbinger amid all of the growing list of Valiant titles, is that it’s written really well. Not only do we get more of the super-entertaining Toyo Harada back story, but Joshua Dysart is able to infuse the script with enough casual humor (like the way Faith and Pete name their team “The Renegades” in a seriously impromptu fashion), enough genuine emotion, and the promise of real stakes danger, that the believability factor is actually pretty high. Man, I’d pay like 2x the cover price for this title if Clayton Crain was the regular series artist. He handles just one page of flashback in this issue (uncredited?) and it just sings. To me, that’s the caliber of artist that Dysart has earned on this book. The other art from Khari Evans and Trevor Hairsine is serviceable, but doesn’t have the “wow” factor that Crain does. Grade B+.

Chin Music #1 (Image): Right off the bat, I enjoyed how Tony Harris was able to carry so much of this story visually. The last time I really paid attention to his art was when he was doing Ex Machina with Brian K. Vaughan. The needs of that story demanded a more superheroic sheen obviously. Here, the style is much darker and more muddy, which seems to suit the needs of the story. On the scripting end, Steve Niles has always been fairly hit and miss for me, and this issue a good example of that. At a high level, I really enjoy the odd mix of genres here that seems to be more than the sum of the parts flung against the script to see what will stick. There’s noir detective stuff mixed with Egyptian Indiana Jones stuff mixed with gangsters mixed with the whiff of superpowers mixed with heaping doses of the occult mixed with speculative fiction about Eliot Ness and Al Capone. It's all over the place and hasn't quite congealed yet. It’s sort of half muddled, but half unique enough that I’m interested to see where in the heck this is going to go. The problem with mushing all this stuff together is that there’s the potential for inconsistencies to occur. Much of that depends on when exactly this story occurs. Judging from the cars and clothes and appearances of Ness and Capone, it would seem this is during the late 1920’s/early 1930’s. There’s a gun that's a top-breaking revolver in one scene called a Webley (I’ve owned two) that was widely used in the 30’s and 40’s, manufactured from 1887 to 1923, but used all the way up until 1963, so that doesn’t help straighten things out. At one point, Ness says “I’m a police officer,” which a Federal Agent would never say. Trust me, Feds are quite proud of being Feds and not local cops and making the distinction. He then flashes a badge which says “Internal Revenue Service (IRS)” on it. One, Ness was never an IRS Agent. Two, the agency wasn’t actually called IRS until the 1950’s. Despite the Brian DePalma film The Untouchables, Ness was never really involved in the tax evasion part of the Capone investigation and subsequent prosecution, he was strictly working the violation of the Volstead Act angle. Ness was a generic Treasury Agent at the time, assigned to a unit that morphed over time and would have been considered more of an ATF Agent in modern parlance, though that agency wasn’t called that until 1968 (I worked for ATF as well, which is why all this annoys me, and probably only me). Ness was in Chicago from 1927 to 1931ish, then in Cleveland and DC from 1931 to 1957ish. To my knowledge he was never in Egypt, which I don't mind since it's clearly getting into speculative fiction, but I still don’t know what the hell is going on or when this story is supposed to take place. So, yeah, intriguing, but flawed. There’s a bold hook at the end, and I’m curious enough to give this wacky mash-up another issue or two. Grade B+.

Prophet #35 (Image): This will probably sound contrarian as hell, but man I’m really starting to lose my patience with this book. I enjoy the art of Brandon Graham, Simon Roy, and Giannis Milonogiannis, but we’re not getting Graham’s art anymore on the book and the combined writing efforts of the trio leave something to be desired. The visual world-building is obviously very imaginative and unique, but for me there is some serious plotting lacking. It’s like it’s gone from being a crisp rendition of “Sci-Fi Conan” to just a Sci-Fi Brainstorming Session Gone Awry. It now feels like a never-ending succession of meandering oddities being introduced. So you can have all the ambulavit pod arc mother probes , mind mortar Johns, Parabalani Johns, Thauilu Vah spires, Hydathode slugs, and mucus lines of slaved schechus you want, but no matter how visually compelling and creative they are, if I don’t understand why anyone is doing anything they’re doing and what consequences it has to whatever their objective is, then you’ve kind of lost me. It was dope seeing Malachi Ward art on the backup story, but I feel like I'm going to end up just catching up on this series in trades. Grade B+.

Star Wars #5 [The Wood Pile]

Star Wars #5 (Dark Horse): In sound journalistic fashion, I’ll try not to bury my lead. This is the best issue of the series to date, and it’s going to receive a very high rating today, which actually presents something of a problem for me, since I’ve already been giving the single issues my highest rating.

Now, a few of the guys who shop at my LCS and buy the book have expressed the idea that having Leia out in the field dog-fighting in an Incom T-65 and running off-book stealth missions perhaps strains credibility since she’s the “leader of the Rebellion” (their words). I've heard this fan griping before and frankly, I'm sick of it. Is it really 'cuz she's a leader? Is it 'cuz she's piloting? Is it really 'cuz she's an icky girl? 

Not only is it important to acknowledge that her having the technical skill to do so is quite well established, in the very canon of the films no less, but c'mon, it’s not like she’s POTUS out with the SEALs on the Bin Laden raid. Meaning, she’s not actually the top person in an established government. First, while Leia is certainly a high ranking and important member of the Rebel Alliance, it’s Mon Mothma who's calling the shots, which is why she eventually goes on to serve as the Chief of State in the New Republic.

Second, the Rebel Alliance is also not an established government. It’s a rebellion. Rebellions are often street-fights. Rebellions require hit and run guerrilla tactics. Rebellions require that everyone roll up their sleeves to participate, get dirty, and Boushh it up a little. Washington did cross the Delaware after all.

Diving in, Wood expertly juggles three plot threads and pushes every one of them hard. Leia and her strike team get pounced on by a group of Star Destroyers, and Bircher is deployed with some elite TIE Interceptors. The space battle is choreographed in an extremely engaging fashion, and without spoiling it in great detail, well, I’ve just never seen an X-Wing that battle damaged. It actually makes your pulse quicken and I felt a twinge of fear for the occupant, despite knowing Wood can’t really kill off any established characters at this point. That’s how emotionally invested I was.

We also follow Han and Chewie on Coruscant, doing what they do best, getting in over their head in seedy back alley bars, rolling among dangerous bounty hunters and all manner of galactic creatures and races, including a capable new female character named Perla. As if seeing Boba Fett up close and personal wasn’t exciting enough, The Hound’s Tooth must be parked somewhere on Coruscant, because everyone’s favorite Trandoshan bounty hunter is riding shotgun with him. It’s not all just set pieces though. Wood manages to squeeze in characterization during all the razzle-dazzle, stuff like Boba Fett weighing the pros and cons of delivering Solo to either Jabba The Hutt or Darth Vader.

Wood also touches base with some pilot named Luke and his wingman Prithi, who appears to be not only a love interest for Luke, but a little force sensitive as well. We’ll see where that goes. Oh, I lied, there’s actually a fourth plot thread as well, with Vader deputizing Birra Seah as an Acting Moff, which has all sorts of potential, not the least of which is a female in the Imperial command structure, which I don’t think we’ve ever seen before(?). 

Carlos D’Anda nails everything! The camera placement and perspectives during the action, the way Bircher is bathed in a menacing red glow inside the TIE cockpit (thanks to Gabe Eltaeb on colors), the ability to convey speed and motion in space, the close-ups of Fett and Vader, from explosive action to intimate facial expressions, there’s a slick dirty sheen to the proceedings that’s perfectly suited for what Lucas envisioned and Wood enriches.

Yeah, I think “enriches” is the word I want to use now, the word I meant when I kept saying in previous reviews that Wood is still able to world-build in an incredibly well explored world. The Star Wars tree has many branches and off-shoots, if you’ll forgive this analogy, but Wood is able to fertilize the thing, grow some branches of his own that bloom with life and freshen up this nearly 40 year old evergreen. For those keeping score, this is the fifth perfect score in a row for this title, setting a record in these parts which I doubt will ever be eclipsed, not even by the twin suns of Tatooine. Grade A+.

Burning Down The House [Small Press]

[Originally Published @ Poopsheet Foundation]

BURNING BUILDING COMIX by Jeff Zwirek
www.jeffscomics.com
$19.95

I first became of aware of Zwirek’s work on a 2009 project he edited about Chicago gangsters entitled Pinstriped Bloodbath (which was in fact the very first comic I reviewed at Poopsheet Foundation), so it was great to see the result of this successful Kickstarter campaign come to fruition. Burning Building Comix is probably the most innovative comic you’ll see this year from a construction and storytelling standpoint. The hardcover folds open to reveal two interior booklets, for a total of 10 rows of panels. These rows function as “stories” in two different ways. They’re meant to represent both the actual physical stories of the building, and they also each contain a different story featuring varied building occupants. It’s an interactive experiment that asks the audience to alter their typical reading behavior. You start at the very bottom of these unfolded pages, work your way across, then up to the next row, across again, and repeat, until you’ve reached the top of the building and have raced the fire up the structure as it attempts to engulf the building.

This unique approach creates a dynamic where Zwirek can tinker with many different aspects of sequential storytelling. It allows him to play with the passage of time and control the reader’s eye movement across the page, and to have activities within the rows of panels intersect from floor to floor, such as two people from different stories meeting at a party, or a dog barking which is heard between the floors/rows. In addition to Zwirek pushing the boundaries of a traditional comic book narrative, he also challenges himself to tell this story sans dialogue. It forces him to create an aesthetically expressive cast of characters with pantomime actions, pictorial speech balloons that symbolize ideas, and to lace the backgrounds of the panels with some visual clues. Zwirek perhaps pushes the suspension of disbelief a tiny bit too hard at times. For example, I find it hard to believe that someone could “unhang” themselves or that an average run-of-the-mill dog might be able to use his water bowl to attempt to drown out an incipient stage fire, but that would otherwise hamper some of the humor, and it’s admittedly being very nitpicky regarding an otherwise stellar work.

Either because I’m just contrarian by nature or an absolute idiot, well, maybe it’s really because I was inspired to experiment as a reader, as this creator was inspired to experiment with storytelling, that I also read the book a second and third time. During these reads, I purposely did not follow the intended instructions, and this yielded some interesting results. As an aside, I did this for Jason Shiga’s Meanwhile, for whatever that’s worth. Instead of following the “Choose Your Own Adventure” style, I also read that book straight through in order to catch pages I might have missed. With Burning Building, I read it from the top down, from left to right one time, and this was interesting because it was the exact opposite of what you’re supposed to do, causing you to move against the fire, and not with it. This means that it appeared as if the incantation guy actually started the fire with his spell(!). I then read it a final time, reading the first panel of every story, then moving onto the second in unison, so I read from top left down, reading in columns, and moving forward with all stories at once incrementally. The dynamics fell out of linear sequence at times, the pace intensified with fire seemingly occurring on multiple floors at once, but it was just as interesting. Things like the dog barking fell in line just fine.

Burning Building Comix is worth the price of admission for the sheer craft of bookmaking and the innovative approach to storytelling alone, but it’s not a solitary gimmick that the book relies on by any means. The stories themselves are actually very telling and enjoyable with regard to human nature, particularly if you consider that the building itself represents life, and each player is merely a different aspect of self. It’s compelling to see how people from different walks of life, different ages, genders, and personalities, all react differently to the prospect of being consumed by fire, or just being consumed by their own issues. Grade A+.