Finally, a book for everyone.

Kampung Boy
By Lat

In many ways this book reminded me of The Little Prince, only the basis comes from Malaysia rather than the western Euro-centric world view. It’s the story of a young boy growing up in a Malaysian village (Kampung) in the years up until he leaves to boarding school. The book documents the frontier of that region and the culture coming into direct confrontation with the industrialized world. In many ways it is the Malaysian mash up of works like Anne of Green Gables and Peanuts.

This isn’t totally a coming of age story but an exploration of the Garden of Eden that is childhood. You have little cares in the world other than having fun and exploring your ever growing boundaries. And that is what you get here. A boy who, as he grows, experiences more and more of the world, moving from his home to his Kampung to the surrounding countryside in an ever increasing circle. His concerns also grow as he does from hearing a distant monster to finally seeing a tin dredge in action to “stealing” tin in the shadow of the factory.

As the main boy grows his idealized setting slowly disappears just as that way of life has slowly being swallowed by increasing industrialization. It is fascinating to read and the economy of language used to tell the story allows for the story to contain more meaning than an overly verbose description or enough language to beat the message over your head.

The artwork is compared to Charles Schultz by Matt Groening. I can sort of see the parallels because of the rough style and the economy of line but I’m not totally sold on that. Where Schultz simplified his characters into clean lined versions of an exaggerated human form, Lat is much more loose and rough around the edges. The settings are much more defined but the entire perspective is always slightly childish in the same way that Bill Watterson used to stylize the day dreams of Calvin. This is exceptionally stylized work but it always catches the action and emotion perfectly. There is a great sense of wonder and love here that can’t help but remind you that this story is presenting the idealized world of a child to the reader. I can only imagine that it helps younger readers identify with the work themselves as they see their own drawing style mimicked in the pages.

I really enjoyed this book, both for the message and the art. The only thing sort of bothering me is figuring out the audience for it here. It’s not totally directed at people my age although we’re the closest audience since we’re buying comics and comic art already. But the story is for kids and would really be something worth while to get a new reader, especially one that is interested in the wider world and wants to be an explorer or traveler. I can imagine this being picked up by precocious parents who only let their kids listen to world music but it would be worth while if the non-wankerish set figured out that this is well worth any young reader’s time.

This is one of those small books that just sits on your shelf reminding you that bigger isn't always better.

Last Wednesday's Loot: Part 2 - The Lootening

I’m going to do the quickest reviews I can for the comics I picked up. As you’ve know doubt noticed I’m not creating a flood of content these days. No real reason other than lack of inspiration and noticing I’m repeating myself a lot. So here goes:

Godland #19
As much as I love this kooky yet hip space-god comic it is starting to feel like it’s treading water. I feel as if I’ve been reading the same story for just one too many issues. But I still like it more than most comics I could get so there you go. Spoiled by riches I guess.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #5
This issue seemed a bit more slapdash than the rest. I find myself not as excited about this comic as I once was.

Batman #666
Morrison really likes his son of Batman idea doesn’t he? I don’t like it as much, but what I do like is that Morrison is playing with the notion that Batman as a character can survive and thrive in many different and often contradictory interpretations.

Marvel Adventures: Iron Man #3
This is just good comics but great for young readers too.

Wednesday's Loot: Part 1 - 25 July 2007

Okay I've got quite a few more comics than I'm used to and little to no time to actually read them. I got through two today at lunch and hope to get a few more read this week while I start the process of fighting a parking ticket in Ottawa, which ironically will involve a lot of driving.

The Spirit #8
Who else but Darwyn Cooke can mix up a comic with a LOL CATZ! joke and a classic men’s wear joke? This is still top notch comics that is as fun as the golden age stuff but perfect for the modern fan. You don’t need to know the original material but it can add an additional layer of appreciation. It’s beautiful, it’s fun and it’s what comics should be.

Shazam and the Monster Society of Evil #4
And more great comics here. Yes bright colours and a mash up of classic with the modern all brought through a lens of fun. The ending leaves the door open for a series, which would be welcome if it could come out on a regular basis. Fun stuff here.

Not quite the finest, but darned good

Hi all, I'm back from the east coast and while my beach days got rained out I swam in the ocean none the less (including a jellyfish sting to the back of my right knee) and got to see rebuilt Bounty.

I didn't read any comics until last night and I've got a whack waiting for me at the shop I'm sure.

Anyway, I read Dave Gibbons and Steve Rude's World's Finest last night. I needed a bit of a break from Harry Potter you see (plus it's due back at the library today). My thoughts are that the story was a bit too hard to follow for what should be such a simple plot. I mean I understood the plot but it just felt awkward to actually know the finer details. But the dialogue and interaction of Batman's crew with Superman's crew was superb for the most part. I think there is a great understanding of what makes these two icons tick and it manages to hit the majority of their supporting casts on the head for the most part, but the exposition just seemed lacking.

Making up for that in spades was Steve Rude's artwork. Simply put, it is stunning. The colouring and inking make the pages pop and give off a classic vibe along the lines of Mike Allred or Darwyn Cooke but it is the character design and acting that just makes this book look better than anything I had expected. Rude manages to capture the classic feel of these characters and the look of both the Joker and Luthor, not just Batman and Superman, makes you believe you are reading the golden age versions. You don't need to be told anything about the characters to know what age is being evoked. As someone who is drawn a lot more towards plot than art the highest compliment I can give is that this book is worth it just for the artwork alone. It feels achronistic and looks simply beautiful. I need to find more of his stuff now.

And for 7 days, he rested (after delivering a punch to the face)

Well folks I'm off to the East Coast of Canada after work today. Going to spend time swimming in the Atlantic if the sun stays out and watching the tall ships during my few days in Halifax (including the Bounty from that movie starring Anthony Hopkins and that guy I don't mention anymore).

So before I go I just have a few things to post. Firstly, I have a bunch more trades and OGNs to more or less ready to go. I've read a lot but haven't had time to write reviews so expect the following reviews at some point (Goodbye Chunky Rice, Chicken with Plums, Kings in Disguise, Tor, Vader's Quest, World's Finest and I'm starting to re-read the Sin City collection because I'm sort of untimely like that).

Secondly, no new comics for me this week. I've cut down my purchasing habits which makes me happier and more likely to own a house one day.

And finally, since I won't be here tomorrow when Bahlactus commands it, I'm providing you with rule #5 about comics.

Jedis can punch you anytime they like.

That's right folks. That's a blinded Luke Skywalker punching out a dude with a crossbow. Only in comics can we experience the awesomeness of of blind Jedis beating up medieval aliens. (Okay, maybe in movies, novels, cartoons and video games does this also happen, but they're less awesome - mostly).


And for good measure, since it's highly unlikely I won't be here next Friday either, here's the best fight between heroes without a punch being thrown. The other hero - Green Lantern Kyle Rayner doesn't even need to be in the panel to know who won.

PWNED!!1!

Green and Important

Green Lantern: My Brother's Keeper

I heard about this story in the regular press long before I started reading comics again. I've since learned (i.e. kind of remembered some vague recollections) about the history of the Green Lantern and Green Arrow team-up to fight the problems of the day. This was a decent continuation in that vein of story.

I'm glad DC put out a story dealing with homophobia and didn't make the cause Brainwave the way the story started. I like how it pushes the new GL to a point where he's just unsure about whether or not people are worth saving if this is what he's working so hard to protect. Sure, looking back it's a bit of an emo reaction but the core of the story is solid and the message was handled well.

It's always a bit worrisome when something known for being glib entertainment tries to tackle something important but this was actually done well. It's weird for me to say this, but I'm more relieved than anything that they avoided the afterschool special approach to the subject.

All that considered the rest of the story has some fairly decent superhero action as well. All in all it was a decent read that didn't advertise the "Very Important Issue" too loudly outside of the introduction and in the various text essays. It doesn't cheapen the story or the message that way, which is how these stories need to be handled.

Last Thursday's Loot - 5 July 2007

All Star Superman #8
Bizarro speak am easy comprehend. Jon hate All Star Superman and no go for hard joke review. Fireworks rocket most boring and lame. Me really no like tragic idiocy of Bizarro world.
I no-rate comic: Am terrible and me hate most of all.

Detective Comics #834
Oh the Joker. You're ever the showman. I'm glad your back and I don't really care if you synch up with other Jokers in other Batman comics. They're seperate books so everything can be self contained. I've always liked Dini's Joker with his penchant for elabourate death traps and Joker Gas but when they don't work he's not above slicing somebody with a scythe. And, most shocking of all, a relatively decent ending for the whole mess between Batman and Zatana which I thought DC would either ignore or never try to really fix.
I rate this comic: It's Batman and the Joker, so what's not to like?

Marvel Adventures: The Avengers
I was at the barber shop last Friday reading these books and my turn came up before I could finish more than a couple of pages of this one. I know there were guys riding lizards and the people were about to call the Avengers with some rock. I'm sure it'll be just as entertaining as the rest of this series has been but I'm getting ready for my vacation and haven't had the time to pick this book up again.

For some reason I can't title this post.

I just watched it on DVD and I really really like Superman Returns for exactly all the reasons people don’t like it. It’s a movie that is intimate and introspective starring the most powerful being on earth. They do all the things you don’t expect or probably shouldn’t do with Superman and it works beautifully for me.

He’s the outsider. He has a kid. He abandons the Earth to find out more about himself (sort of selfish). He’s made human and he’s also made more powerful than he’s ever been.

I’m not a huge fan of the bumbling Clark Kent or the goofy Luthor but I like that they follow the movie history of the characters. The only character I didn’t like was Lois Lane. I didn’t dislike her either but I just like the Lois from the animated series so much more. I just didn’t see a career woman here who is a better journalist than anyone else at the Daily Planet. Then again having the love of your life and father of your child return from a five year space journey would probably throw anyone. If I tell myself she was just sort of mixed up by his return then it works – and I hope that’s what they were getting at.

I like that this movie is slow and isn’t like any other superhero movie out there. I like it because of that, I just have no idea what they can do with Superman and child for a sequel. But if Singer is there I’m sure it’ll be done well.

Friday Night Fights: You thought I was done? You thought wrong punk.

Last week I took a sucker punch and missed the mark. Well I'm here to remind you of Rule #4 of comic books - "Seriously, don't talk shit to The Spirit. " You'll also see a prime example of my second favorite punch, the cross, with the uppercut being number one on my list.




Bahlactus didn't miss me though, he's putting a lot of pudgy pukes through the paces, making them jump rope, do wind sprints, work the bags and if they're lucky enough, sparring.


Let's recap those rules so far:

1. Always punch Hitler.


2. Don't talk shit to The Spirit


3. Batman will punch you really really hard.


4. Seriously. Don't. Talk. Shit. to. The Spirit.

Stay tuned, I've got a few more that will appear in a relatively random order of discovery.

Pearlformers

Oops, accidentally posted this on my other blog first - stupid dashboard, stupid no coffee yet.

Last night I went to an hour long car/US forces commercial that was filmed and acted like that Pearl Harbor movie but it ended with a great Transformers fight. Yeah, it was a stinker that would have been as bad as Pearl Harbor if it wasn't for the awesome robot fight scene. The robots are really done well and the free-way fight was totally awesome.

Otherwise it was a very long commercial for American Made Automobiles and the US Military where they eschewed standard movie protocols like "dialogue" in favor of "explaining things in excessive detail to the audience as if the actor were reading from a textbook." Which helped stink up Pearl Harbor - well it's back, en masse here.

But the robots are cool, even if you can't really tell them apart except for their colors and maybe size. If I was the age I first discovered Transformers and saw this movie I would have loved it. As an adult who just wanted to see robots punching each other I had to wait entirely too long with too many meat puppets reading textbooks at me about phosphorous ammunition - but they never explain why the Transformers actually, you know, transform (or for that matter why names like Bumblebee and Jazz are popular on Cybertron).

If you have a young son who likes the toys - go. If you like awesome 3D animation of robots - go. Otherwise, brace yourself for episode one.

Diodes is a good word

NYC Mech: Let’s Electrify
Written by: Ivan Brandon & Miles Gunter

Drawn by: Andy MacDonald

A world full of robots and it’s not Cybertron. For some reason that seemed important to me at first. I didn’t really get this book when I started to read it. I started to project my own ideas onto it, which isn’t such a good thing to be doing. I just didn’t get the point but after the first story I realized there wasn’t a point to be gotten, just one to be missed.

This is a collection of stories that imagines New York repopulated by inorganic life. A bunch of hipster criminal robots to be more precise. Okay, not all of them are criminals but there are quite a few and a bunch of other unsavory characters to go on top of that. The stories are hit or miss depending on your mood. Heck even reflecting back onto this collection I’m still indecisive about whether I actually liked the stories or not. I did, and I didn’t.

The real treat here is Andy MacDonald’s artwork. It is simply stunning. It’s a bit disorienting at first but it has a precision and flow to it that is larger than life. It’s a fantastic mixture of stylized action and movement with utter minute details thrown in for good measure. It’s human robots so there is the fine lines of the metal meeting and the diodes and bolts with the movement and organic flow of people. It moves, it pops and it’s sort of off putting because it just shouldn’t work so well together yet it does.

If you’re looking for a bit of a break from exploding robots and people on the summer screens and are more in the mood for a few short stories – mostly crime/noir stories – where the players are robots. This is for you.

This Ain't Your Father's Clobberin' Time

Rock Bottom
Joe Casey and Charlie Adlard

I had no idea what to expect when I picked up this book. I knew both names but couldn't really recall from where. I knew they were comic book names, and that was about it.

This is the story of a man who is turning to stone. It's the story of The Thing without space particles or anyone shouting "Clobberin' Time!" So it's good on an entirely different basis. Yes, it's good. It's a meditation, albeit a brief one, on what it might actually be like if you were to start turning to stone. It's unlikely many of us would do anything heroic or seek out to do anything heroic. Let's face it, that's reserved for the comic books.

Nope, this is about a guy whose life is pretty crappy and he's trying to deal with it the best he can, when bam, it goes all kooky. It's as much an examination of what happens when you know you're dying as it is about re-examining a superhero origin. It's paced well and the story is straightforward yet with enough curveballs to keep it interesting.

I wasn't sold on the art at first. The lines are fine, but it was just linework on a lot of white space. I got used to it soon enough but I'm not the biggest fan - I like a bit more depth so the shading worked but the rest just wasn't my thing. The character work is top notch, the sets and backgrounds are all clear, it just feels more like a sketchbook than finished work to me - albeit, a very accomplished sketchbook. I know this is to emphasize the stone-man but I think having a bit more shading or greyscales or whatever would have just given the whole work a lot more depth.

My Undead Summer

For some reason a lot of my summer entertainment involves the undead. I've just finished reading I am Legend, which is a really good read if you haven't done so, you should. I had no idea all those Simpsons hallowe'en episodes were Richard Matheson stories. This is the guy who wrote that story about the goblin on the plane wing and the killer doll. I'm sure there's more. Also, there's a Will Smith movie coming out and I didn't want that to ruin the story for me. I had previously watched about a half hour worth of the Charlton Heston version called The Omega Man and I think Night of the Comet is also a version of the story.

I just picked up Resident Evil 4 for the Wii, which is exceptionally good and cheaper than other Wii games. I haven't played the game on previous platforms so this is simply great. Okay, they're not exactly the undead but it's Resident Evil and well, it's creepy. Good, but creepy.

I mentioned my idea for Night of the Sweet Prince: Something Rotten in the State of Denmark. But I'm also working on an actual zombie type story. Yes, I know that genre has jumped the shark but this actually kind of works. It's mostly historical fiction though and I've done most of the planning and research now I just need to find the time when I can go home and not feel like looking at a computer screen will burn the eyes out of my sockets to get that elusive first draft done.

Me and my wife are planning a zombie movie fest for a friend of ours who has never seen a zombie movie. Since we both absolutely love Shaun of the Dead, it's on the bill. We're also thinking of 28 Days Later because she doesn't remember it all that much and wants to see it again. I'm thinking we throw together the sequel if it's out and the Dawn of the Dead remake since she's not a purist, and the schlocky effects of the Romero movies might not go over well with our intended audience.

I'm writing this because I went to go get a blog rating and found this quiz instead:
49%

When I walk to work I look around Ottawa to find the best place of defence. I think my home is okay for a little while but, honestly, the houses of parliament are the place for me. It's stone, it's got a huge front lawn that is fenced in with old-timey fortifications, a cliff protecting the back and the peace tower can work as a sniper's berth. But, the museum of nature is closer and has similar features.

Meme - the fake posting

Okay, got tagged in the "8 Things People Don't know About You" thing. I'll put up 8 and then I'm supposed to tag 8 other people but I probably won't get more than two or three so, whatever. Also, a lot of my immediate circle of friends know this stuff, but the internet doesn't.

1. When I was living in London I had a temp job at Conran Restaurants just before the millenium bug was supposed to wipe out everything. I was working on their stocking records, updating their systems and whatnot. I was in charge of Red Wines and Spirits so got to spend a lot of time in the wine cellar of Le Pont de la Tour. One day I was the person left in the office to watch the phones and I took Arnold Schwartzenegger's reservation. He went with Gabriel Byrne for the End of Days opening weekend.

2. I like to come up with story ideas but I never write anything. For example, the other night I thought up the sequel to Hamlet as a zombie story and called it Night of the Sweet Prince.

3. The first time I ever left a movie to have a pee, Yoda died.

4. I had no idea the university I went to was Catholic until I got there. I was confirmed in the Catholic church when I was 12. The university is called St. Francis Xavier University. I don't consider myself Catholic and I won't raise my kids with any religion but there's no effing way I'm paying a church to get myself removed from their books or whatever.

5. My two favourite songs as a kid were Bob Dylan's Rainy Day Woman #12 and 35 and Like a Rolling Stone.

6. Monday morning I had a dream about an evil spirit or a wizard who had their essence bound to an object. The process of this binding, and the object were called a "Fong." But, instead of the object being a stone with ruins or whatever, it was a watermelon. Then someone bought the watermelon and the spirit transferred itself into the guy. I dreamt I would write this story from the point of view of the guy's spirit trapped in the watermelon and how this was about an essence being transferred from the soil to the watermelon plant or whatever. I was convinced it was brilliant until I was walking to work and had some coffee when I realized this was just stupid.

7. I find my current job exceptionally boring but I just got it and I have absolutely no idea what I want to do with my life. I'd like to change things but I can't afford to although I'm slowly trying to.

8. In the 2000 Federal Eleciton I was the Green Party candidate in Saint John, New Brunswick. I got 2% of the vote, of which I'm really proud since I only campaigned for 7 days because my full time job was as the National Organizer of the party so I was responsible for all the other candidates as well. I know I could have done a lot better if it was the only thing I had to focus on but I was on a live televised debate so I no longer fear public speaking. I did it because I wanted to run for parliament at least once in my life and this was the opportunity to do it. I'm no longer political and I hate the Green Party with the white hot fire of a thousand suns because they are insane racists who need a lot of antipsychotics slipped into their vegan water supply.

Let's see, I tag Siskoid and Whatever your name is at A Trout in the Milk - also, if you read this and haven't been asked, consider it an open invitation.

Last Wednesday's Loot - 20 June 2007

The Spirit #7
Ah, the "Summer Spectacular" comic book - how much I loved you in my youthful trips to the cottage. I remember getting old Marvel editions that had Spider-man and Fantastic Four at a gas station along the way. This summer however, I get The Spirit who has rocketed to the top area of my favourite comic book heroes. I could be cynical about this but after looking at that cover there simply isn't any way I can come up with bad things to say about this collaberative comic. It has 3 stories that manage to feel a lot like Eisner's minimal page count Spirit stories. That's what I love about the history of The Spirit, the basis is just so diverse that there really isn't too much you can do with the stories that makes them feel wrong or off. I like the idea of using this character as a space to focus on different means of storytelling for the creators involved and while I love Darwyn Cooke's work, this was a fun fill in that didn't feel like one.
I rate this comic: In the spirit of The Spirit.

Marvel Avengers: Iron Man #2
Enter The Mandarin. I'm not the most knowledgable about Iron Man but I know a bit about him and his trove of villainy. I like this Mandarin, I only wish he called his flying dragon robot Fin Fang Foombot or something like that. Oh yeah, love the footnotes Mr. van Lent, I never realized how much until I saw one again. Thanks.
I rate this comic: Classic comics.

Friday Night Fights: The one true uppercut

Bahlactus brings the pain, and I'm signing the dancecard "always a bridesmaid never the bride."

Okay, this time I'm waiting for the bell to ring before I jump out of my corner with my best shot to the chin. So who can possibly top The Spirit for pure jaw-smashing power?


Well, it's simple. When the entire multiverse was threatened with destruction and while facing down the destruction of all known reality there is only one hero who knows that the best way to inspire other heroes to give it their all is to punch a man as hard as you can in the face.


I'm of course, talking about Batman.




Damn, son, check that chin at the door or Batman will check it for you.

Proposition

Last night I watched The Proposition and noticed that the credits read music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. Is that comic book writer Warren Ellis? If someone could let me know I'd be ever so grateful. I just can't seem to find out myself although I wouldn't be surprised if it was him - this is a tough movie and probably one of the best westerns I've ever seen. It's well worth a watch.

Comic Bibliophile

Wimbledon Green

by Seth

I think I’m going against the general consensus on this one because I liked this book more than I liked Clyde Fans. Then again I’ve only read volume 1 and I don’t even know if there is a second volume out. That could make all the difference but the first volume didn’t make me want to rush out and get the second volume, whether or not it exists, of Clyde Fans.

What was it that I liked about Wimbledon Green? Well, I think it was the fact that it was more of a sketchbook that was published rather than a completed work. If it was presented to me as a complete work in and of itself I would have been sorely disappointed but as a sketchbook, I can accept it for what it is. To me, it’s basically two stories – the documentary type of story surrounding the life and times of Wimbledon Green and the second being the comic book style adventures based on the life and times of Wimbledon Green.

Like Seth, I’m fascinated by the motivations of collectors and can see myself going down that road if I had the time and money to be so eccentric. Alas, I’m not so I appreciate these little forays into a world we all know is out there albeit unlikely to such an extent in comic bookery circles. I’m a bit of bibliophile myself and seeing the stories and obsessions of that world being transposed onto the comic book world was a fun little exercise in entertainment.

There is a great love for the source material in this comic and at times it wears its influences on its sleeve. Seth manages to create his own Mary Jane in the form of Jonah, and a lot of the other fanboy and collector types rear their heads throughout the pages here as well. There’s a litany of pity bitter revenge plots throughout the book that can only be from the world limited to comic book fans – those inward looking collectors who not only find their escape in the four colour fantasy worlds, but relate to the rest of humanity through it. And there’s the people who love the medium and find the collectors quirky but a wonderful source of information as well as those who rant about the purity of art and embody the whole “not selling out” emotions of a lot of small press or independent creators and fans. And this is all presented via face on interviews as per any documentary (or mockumentary) and, well, Citizen Kane. You can’t help but see the influence of Orson Welles here – the collection of facts via other people’s accounts, the vast wealth, the conflicting stories of the character’s past, the humble origins leading to the rise and eventual fall from those heights, as well as the enigmatic Webb Collection taking on the role of Rosebud.

This was a great read for a sunny day on my back porch where I got to understand a bit more about trying to locate old comics (real or not) and how one who appreciates that sort of thing just doesn’t have the borderline personality to dedicate himself to it fully. I guess a lot of people just wanted something more cohesive in the end and I can see why. There is a lot of potential in this story and if you’re not in mood to simply go where it takes you then it feels incomplete. I was in the mood to not totally concentrate and was open to letting the book lead me where it may. But I too wouldn’t mind to have a complete story one way or the other about Wimbledon Green.

Kafka-esque - oh shut up you wanker.

Kafka

Steven T. Seagle - writer

Stefano Gaudiano - artist

I had no idea what I was getting into here when I ordered this book from the library. I thought it was the Crumb illustrated biocomic about the writer. But the more I read and the more I read about the book, the more I was thoroughly impressed by it. To read how this comic was up for one of the first Eisner’s against Watchmen is impressive enough but to find out it was by two relative newcomers, if not on their first project (I can’t remember) and being done on a 30 day schedule going straight to printing is almost inconceivable in this day and age of delays, changing creative teams and plain old disappearing books – I’m looking at you Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk or Hulk vs. Wolverine, I can’t remember anymore. I’d say I dropped that book but since there’s nothing to actually drop all I can say is if it ever comes out again I won’t buy it then.

So, what do we have here? Well, a manic black and white comic about espionage and past lives merging into a new reality that skirts the lines with a superhero origin. A man with a new identity is visited by some agents telling him his identity is compromised then is visited by two more agents with the same story. Within a few pages you’re given a setup that throws you into a world where you can’t really trust anything you see yet you feel the desperate need to run towards something but just what you don’t completely know yet.

And some weird and confusing stuff starts to happen. At first you think it’s the improbable comic book disguise stuff, you know Superman puts on glasses and nobody knows who he is, but you later realize that it’s just using the powers of the medium to help with the powers of the protagonist. It’s a fairly straight forward set up and storyline but it works really well here. You’re joining this story more or less at the beginning and while you hit the ground running you learn more about the current predicament as the protagonist does. Very well executed.

Then you get to see it through the art as well. It feels manic and just on the edge of being too rushed, but it doesn’t slip. What you’re given instead is art that is infused with the manic energy of a man trying his best to stay exactly one step ahead of what amounts to a well funded and ruthless organization he wants no part of. He really only has his own wits and is constantly being pursued and each line is infused with his desperation and excited energy. And the black and white art is pretty much what any noir type story calls for so no complaints there.

I’m really glad I stumbled across this book. It just goes to show how much comic book pedigree there is out there that even fans, and especially new/returning ones, just simply don’t know about. I guess that’s why I liked Wimbledon Green so much, but more on that tomorrow.

Friday Night Fights: Uppercut Appreciation

Once again I crash Bahlactus's party. Last night there was a boxing match going on just down the street from my house. People dressed up and ritzed up as their limos dropped them off. It reminded me that today was going to focus on the uppercut. So I plunged the depths for one of the originals.

That's right. Rule number two of comics - don't talk shit to The Spirit.

Wednesday's Loot - 13 June 2007

Nothing. Zilch. Zip. Nada. Nil. Uh-uh.

Didn't get a dang-blamed thing this week. A few months ago and I would have used that money to purchase some new comics that I haven't tried before but this week I'm just not really feeling the love at all. I could easily just cancel all my titles and move on, especially the Marvel ones.

I actually quite like the Marvel Adventure books I'm reading and think two definite things. One, they seem more mature than the actual company itself. Two, while I want to support the creators on these books and encourage this type of production I know in the long run buying one copy of two books doesn't accomplish much, especially when the company is making so much that my four Canadian dollars has little to no influence so I'd just be making myself feel somewhat better by not giving a faceless corporation any additional profits while limiting the paycheck of some good talent.

Yeah I'm torn.

On a weirdly related side note, me and my wife saw a preview or something about the new Hostel movie and were discussing the whole torture porn horror movie craze and what it's saying about our culture and us personally. Neither of us find it entertaining and we're just saddened that enough people do find it good enough to create sequels. Sure the basis is that it is b-movie schlock, but the result is re-inforcing stereotypes. Same with the whole Marvel being idiots as far as a company is concerned.

It's a tempest in a teapot that is just making me less and less likely to continue to spend my money on comics. I'm on the verge of pulling out all together and just getting the occasional trade.

I'm glad I gave it 24 hours.

Lucky by Gabrielle Bell

It’s amazing what 24 hours can do to your perception. When I first picked up this book I couldn’t stand it and was ready to simply bring it back to the library. I felt it was yet another exceptionally dull diary comic about someone documenting their rather mundane life. A day later I picked it up again to see if maybe I was just missing the point and with a better day behind me, I can say that I actually enjoyed this book.

What felt like just scribbled art and dull episodic storytelling turned into a fascinating examination of a somewhat transient lifestyle. I think, maybe, it hit a bit too close to home for me to fully appreciate the book on my first day. I too had gone through the horrors of apartment hunting and trying to come to terms with a career that reading about someone aiming for the same thing just felt whiny to me. But as I got to know the characters I could appreciate what they were doing and how they were trying to both find their places and define themselves by and with those places.

In the end what I read was great comics. The figures have an ease about them that is both insecure and charming. The linework shows characters that are just on the verge of becoming incredible – they are infused with the potential for more but seem trapped in the beginning stages at present. Then as you read the additional volumes the characters do get improved as much as the stories do. The people grow with the art.

I probably would have loved this book a lot more if I came across it at the end of high-school or in my first few years at university. It just doesn’t seem so fascinating or original to me now because I’ve had to deal with those problems and I want to read about things I’m not totally familiar with. But I know comics aren’t just about bulletproof underwear fetishists so I try to get out of my superhero comfort zone every now and again, and as I was this time, I get pleasantly surprised.

You get to be a fly on the wall for a day in the life of a regular person. You’ll either find beauty or familiarity in it but it’s as much about you as it is the subject here. This is a comic that allows the reader to give it more meaning than the text itself contains but I do think it is a book about potential. It is about characters and people who are on the verge of becoming more defined, and you’ll either appreciate it, be able to reflect back on it, or like me (at first) just be annoyed by it because it’s sort of just what your life is and you don’t really need to spend time reading about people you don’t know going through similar regular life ordeals because you and your friends are doing that already.

Banlieue 13

Banlieue 13 or District 13 is a French action movie that is a must for anyone who likes kicks to the head and dudes jumping from rooftop to rooftop without wires or nets.

For some reason the English Subtitles kept refering to the Sub-divisions as Barrios, and while that's sort of LA, I can live with it here.

This is an entire movie done by the dudes who did the opening of the latest James Bond movie Casino Royale. It's a free-running extravaganza that is basically a French version of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels mixed with Ong-Bak but set in the not-do-distant future (i.e. 2010).

This movie is kinetic and has more bone shattering kicks than is healthy for one individual to witness in a lifetime. My favourite part is that as much as you think they're using wires, they're not. Like when that one dude lands on the corner of a casino table after being kicked in the face and spinning through the air? No wires, he smacked that thing - I watched the making of feature on the DVD.

The ending is about as subtle as Joe Quesada hyped up on coke but exceptionally not cringe-worthy because the French just have the gall to pull it off right and make you believe in their honesty.

Last Wednesday’s Loot – 6 June 2007

Countdown 47
Yeah I do think they can pull something off but I’m not reading all the books in the DCU so this just doesn’t work for me anymore.
I rate this comic: dropped.

Detective Comics #833
Ah it’s good to see Gotham return to normal with the proud tradition of the insane death trap.
I rate this comic: Classic Batman, but with Zatana

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 #4
And with that I’m really happy I’m reading this book. I was a very late comer to the show in that it wasn’t on the air anymore when I watched it all on DVD so this is all quite enjoyable to me. I haven’t hit saturation point yet. And while I really like this story I also feel like I need to read the last few issues each time I pick up the latest issue. I bet this will read brilliantly in trade.
I rate this comic: It’s Buffy, with ninjas and army plots, what’s not to love?

Hot Fuzz

Well that certainly cleansed the palette after the Senators lost the Stanely Cup to the *shudder* Ducks *shudder*. Hot Fuzz delivered everything I had wanted from that movie. It met my expectations and far exceeded them. I understand why this movie isn't for everyone - mostly because you'd have had to have watched a lot of aciton cop movies and be cool with two Brits totally making fun of them in their brilliantly cutting and loving manner. The romance scenes were brilliant but the climactic battle blew my mind into a gajillion pieces. If I had it at home, I'd have watched it again immediately after I watched it the first time.

You know those rumours about a Solomon Stone movie, well Hot Fuzz beat them to the punch. And that's a joke probably 15 of my 20 readers will understand.

I'd put up a Friday Night Fights retrospective but I only had the one entry (just scroll down a few posts to see the beauty of Plastic Man punch Hitler in the face as part of a three-headed Axis beast).

I'd buy X if Y was writing.

I'm currently reading Fluke by Christopher Moore. I can't help but think he should really get a chance to write an issue or two of Aquaman. I'd read it.

Fluke is just a mind blowing read. It's this really endearing story about whale researchers that just goes bat-shit insane at about the halfway mark. I really don't want to spoil it, but I recommend it to you all (although I'm not quite done yet), and Aquaman fans in particular.

I think Moore would be a good choice because of what Mike Sterling posted the other day. When was the last time you saw a comic book not aimed specifically at a children's demographic that promised thrills, adventure and laughs? I think Moore could pull it off and craft, not only a thrilling adventure but one that wasn't dire and depressing. Okay, maybe he can keep the dire and mix it with something else like excitement, humor, science, or dashing adventures on the high seas.

I've read Lamb, Island of the Sequined Love Nun, Dirty Job and Practical Demon Keeping (which has H.P. Lovecraft owning a greasy spoon) and enjoyed all of them. It wasn't until my walk to work this morning that it hit me that this guy was writing novels that embodied what it was I loved about comic books and generally doing a better job about the whole thing.

I wonder who else would seem to be good fits?

J.K. Rowling writing Teen Titans? Tim O'Brien writing Sgt. Rock or The Unknown Soldier?

Last Wednesday's Loot - 30 May 2007

Countdown #48
Okay this is worth a few more issues. I've made it through the first four and while I'm not totally in love there's still something there that I find interesting. I'm trying to decide if I trust the teams enough to bring it all together because they've all done well by me in the past. It's a tough call. I do like this Jimmy I have to admit.
I rate this comic: On a week by week notice.

Friday Night Fights - Always Punch Hitler

Bahlactus calls, eventually I get around to answering - although not always during the right time of day.

Q: When confronted with a three headed Axis beast, who do you punch?

A: Hitler.

The Plastic Wars

War Stories Volume 2
Written by Garth Ennis with various artists.

Again, more great war comics. In particular I love the story about the four partisan fighters from the Spanish Civil War stuck in a shelling crater waiting for the fighting to stop. I don’t know much about the Spanish Civil War but this did help give me a better sense of it while presenting four separate character arcs that managed to drive the story forward rather than stall it. Anyone thinking of giving background character moments should check this out because it proves you can reflect on a character while driving the over all story forward without interrupting the flow of the story.
Otherwise this collection is just as solid as the last one but with more airplanes – which I love.

Plastic Man: Rubber Bandits

Written and artisted by Kyle Baker

This is a lot more joke oriented than the Jack Cole original crime fighting whackiness but my lord Kyle Baker is a fantastic cartoonist. These are comics in their purest loved until the threads wear out form.

Tired of multi-arc epics dealing with heroes unsure of their roles and places? Are you starting to wonder why characters never question the very obviously artificial barriers created for them? Or do you just want to watch Plastic Man try to catch a mouse? Then this is for you.

Baker thrives in the history of the character who is both a capable hero but was evolved into a goofy stretchy guy. What Baker does is mesh the best of both aspects here and just has fun with the medium, the universe, the characters, the fans and pretty much anything related to DC Comics or comics in general.

I seem to be on a Plastic Man kick, and so far I just haven’t been let down. I just don’t know why people would find the cartoony look off-putting, it’s beautiful – from the lines, to the colours to the layouts and character designs.

Back in Khe San

Will Eisner’s Last Day in Vietnam is more of a sketch book or collection of really short stories than a complete work. It’s almost completely character based with the reader acting as an almost direct witness to the action and stories presented. Some stories more so than others.

The layout is a lot like the lineless panels used throughout The Plot, and I that in part is what makes these stories feel more like character sketches more than complete stories. There is an inherently unfinished look to comic books without hard lines separating the panels. The point here seems to be that the lack of lines draws in the reader and blurs the lines separating the action taking place form the person bearing witness to it – which was what history claims to be the factor that ended the war itself. The blurring of lines between witnesses back home and action on the ground.

And yet this is exactly where Eisner shines. I absolutely love Will Eisner’s ability to capture emotion and character in his figures. When they are happy they are beaming, when they are despairing their entire body slumps over into a heap that is unmistakable. All this is captured with an eye for humanity that knows what it is one person sees in another and is capable of recognizing those emotions. Capturing it on static paper is simply amazing. Hidden under this deceptively simple art are techniques for comic book artists that seem to be forgotten – like using charcoal and textured paper for shading. I love that you can see the tools as much as the story here.

It’s definitely worth your while to look through this book, but I think there is a lot better value for your money out there if you’re looking for Eisner material. What is interesting though is the approach to the subject matter. These are incidents in the life of a soldier and these seemingly amusing anecdotes are what survived in the minds of the people involved in conflict. It’s fascinating to see what it remembered and what is expressed by those in situations that are simply incomprehensible to us as outsiders, and by the players themselves.

Last Wednesday’s Loot – 23 May 2007

Countdown #49
So the big secret is going to be that when the earths all split some people wound up on the wrong ones? Is that it? I can live with that but I’m still on the fence here. I think maybe I wanted and was expecting more than I got. It’s not really bad and I’m actually liking the mysteries being presented so I may give it two months at this point because I don’t think I can judge it yet. And when all is said and done, I am enjoying the read. Plus, I want to see if they can pull of a decent story with these characters. Thank you Paul Dini for bringing back Silver Age Jimmy.
I rate this comic: I have no idea how to rate this comic.

The Spirit #6
Now that was a definite change of pace wasn’t it? This was a nifty flight of fancy issue, something for which the original was also known for. While I enjoyed it, the pacing is much slower than the other issues and because of that I think it feels a bit less polished. Kind of like the jazz and punk it continuously alludes to. This is a very deliberate and probably much more meaty comic than on first read. I’d love to see the author’s notes to penetrate much more of the ideas and thematic references here.
I rate this comic: Still tops.

Godland #18
Yep, another issue of Godland and it’s as good as the rest.
I rate this comic: My one comic I stuck with.

Marvel Adventures: Iron Man
I love that is ends with Tony Stark saying “Is there a law against that?” The Marvel Adventures imprint is fast becoming my Marvel. I don’t mind stories for adults but I’ll gladly read comics aimed at a younger audience when they’re more fun and, frankly, better written. I’m not a huge Iron Man fan so it’s not like I’m getting a rehash of stories I’ve read before, this is me giving a book about a character I know little about a chance. And I love Action Philosophers so Fred van Lente is someone I’ll keep an eye out for. I’m glad I picked this up. It’s action packed, it has great characters, it has a great story, it’s written and drawn exceptionally clear, and all in all is a good technology superhero comic.
I rate this comic: Iron Great.

Sales Results

Okay I sold less comics at the Great Glebe Garage Sale this year but made more money. I stuck to my guns and didn't take any offers along the lines of "I'll give you twenty bucks for the box." Sorry, I took forty last year for like 120 comics. Didn't make that mistake this year.

I made some kids really happy. They would show up with a dollar and ask to buy a comic and inevitably pick something like issue 3 or 4 from a miniseries. I'd either point them to something more kid friendly to make their parents happy or sell them the whole run. There was about an equal number of interested kids and adults this year. One kid bought ten bucks worth of comics, one of which was an issue of Last Planet Standing so I gave him the whole run. A medieval English professor had his young boys going through the box, and I gave the youngest one my stack of free comic book day stuff (minus Conan/Star Wars flip book from last year, although that probably would have worked for the dad) because his older brothers were ignoring his choices. There was a little girl who was maybe five who took my suggestion of Lions, Tigers and Bears but was a big fan of Superheroes - She bought one of my Infinite Crisis books, which I wasn't too keen on selling to someone so young but she was so darned cute the way she flipped through the whole box until she found the perfect superhero cover. Plus her dad was there so I figured it would be okay.

The only real disappointment is that a few series got broken up. Like I said above I only sold one issue of the whole run of Infinite Crisis, and the same with Identity Crisis, so those will be harder to get rid of I suppose.

The other really interesting thing is that about twice as many women stopped and looked through the comics as men, but more men ended up buying - except one woman who bought anything by Warren Ellis.

Today a letter. Tomorrow, the world

Got a letter to the editor printed today in the Ottawa Citizen. Woo hoo.

Now to eat too many chicken wings and guzzle just enough beer that I can still follow the playoff hockey action.

Cross posting on two blogs is a sin

Yeah I've been ignoring good old solid hypnoray this last little while, sorry about that. It seems this week's comics are delayed a day because of the two-four weekend. So you all get to read the post I put up on Ottawa Beige about The Plastic Man Archives: Volume 1. You'll notice one panel that someone else put up, but I can't remember who, sorry about that - the whole reefer madness thing. So read on if you like. Revel in my inability to scan anything straight. Be astounded by the sheer beauty of pre-code comic bookery.

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Of our dozen or so readers here you’re probably wondering why the heck I’ve listed The Plastic Man Archives: Volume 1 as my current book of choice? Well it’s a simple answer, golden age Plastic Man comics are simply amazing. These are adventures from the time before the comic book code so you’re given unbridled creativity with a stronger basis in reality. Yes, it’s still about a man who has all the properties of India Rubber but there’s also a seedy underworld he deals with where people get maimed and die on a regular basis.

The short history is that Plastic Man debuted in Police Comics in 1941. He was created by Jack Cole who among other works, ghosted for Will Eisner for a little while on The Spirit, worked for Playboy creating Females, by Cole as well as finally getting his own newspaper comic strip Betsy and Me. He committed suicide rather suddenly in 1958 and nobody knows why. Ultimately, he’s best known for his Plastic Man work for which he wrote, drew and inked the stories.

I had no idea what to expect, to be honest. My only prior exposure to any work that was relatively contemporary was to Will Eisner’s The Spirit, which I found to be ahead of its time in many ways and came up with eleven reasons for new comers to comics to read it. However, this is about Plastic Man where the art and stories are rough around the edges, especially compared to today’s exacting standards and hyper-realistic bent we see in a lot of photorealistic works. But these pages have life because they aren’t trying to imitate life rather than be an exploration and interpretation of it. They are alive with ideas and energy that you just don’t see that much these days.

Take for instance this story where this Rosie O’Donell looking woman is using her farm to create an all-female gang to take over Mammoth City. Yes, it’s called Mammoth City, which on it’s own is more genius than anything Hollywood produced this summer. Anyway, here’s two panels where we get to see hilariously dated slang and leggy women boxing.

I wonder if Russ Meyer read Plastic Man? Heffner did.

Inevitably Rosie O’Donell’s gang of beautiful yet unbeatable women take over the criminal underworld. And the gangsters respond in the only way conceivable. That’s right, they steal a bunch of tanks from the local army base and raid the farm. Only it doesn’t work out so well and they all die. But what I want to know is how lax was security at the tank base that a bunch of guys in brightly colored zoot-suits could take a bunch of tanks, drive them across the city and countryside during world war two? I guess the army was more occupied with foreign invaders or overseas.

When the women capture Plastic Man they do the only logical thing a self-respecting female crime syndicate can do – smoke him up on reefer until he goes on a murderous rampage.

But don’t worry, a couple of Snickers bars later he chills, listens to some zepplin and is ready to strike back. Okay, not really. He listened to some far out jazz. Okay, still not really. What actually happens is he gets shot in the head a few times but since he’s rubber it just sort of bounces off him and knocks some sense into him until he realizes what happens. It all ends our nicely with Plastic Man pushing Rosie O’Donnell over onto a spike. This all happens in ten pages.

There’s countless other stories about Plastic Man taking on corrupt gangsters, heck he even busts an opium smuggling ring that originates in Ottawa. What follows is most likely where the idea for Bruce McDonald’s Highway 61 germinated.

That’s right they’re smuggling opium across the border in corpses. And when the hell did we line the border with obelisks? Damn, I know NOTHING about Canadian history. Plastic Man manages to not only round up all the players but he gets a confession out of the ringleader by winding his arm around the guy and spinning him like a top until he confesses.

Riddled throughout this collection are various forms of dated orientalism with swamis and natives being these unknown and misunderstood cultural artifacts. One man gets a curse put on his hands that need to continuously steal. The guy cuts them off but they continue to steal on their own until Plastic Man throws them into an incinerator. There is also this wondrous bit of surreality with a giant 8-ball vehicle not only destroying cities but acting as a magnet that attracts all forms of valuables.

Seriously, back then supervillains had a sense of flare. It wasn’t so much to just reek havoc, you had to confuse the bloody hell out of your unsuspecting victims. You just want Rat Fink to be driving this thing. And in case you’re wondering, the best way to stop a rampaging sphere painted like an eight-ball is to mold yourself into a snake and bite someone in the neck.

But as the stories continued and the war heated up in Europe comics weren’t wont to be left on the sidelines. Oh no, pretty much every comic had the heroes guarding the home front and encouraging the loyal citizenry to be ever vigilant and to buy war bonds. Heck, when faced with ratzi criminals using robots, Plastic Man manages to use the patriotism of his fellow gangsters to keep the home fires burning.

Holy crap, that dude got shot through the head by a nazi robot! But seriously, who doesn’t get excited by the promise of a fight between gangsters and nazi robots? Yep, these stories have it all and are wrapped up before most of today’s comic book stories even get warmed up. And while I know there are a lot of problems with these older stories – racial stereotypes are pretty horrific and I’m totally unsure how to interpret the roles of the women, when they even appear – I also feel we’re lacking something in today’s comic market. The utter density and pace without losing track of the plot or action in the stories is remarkable. Maybe it’s just all the anti-smoking information we have that robs us of costumed crime fighters using pipes to make a last minute escape. There you go folks. Plastic Man. Totally fucking awesome. Put that in your pipe and smoke it – or follow Plastic Man’s lead and put that in the pipe of some random evil scientist who is trying to flood you in his hidden underground lab and smoke it.

The shape of things to come

The Plastic Man Archive Edition: Volume 1

I have a confession to make. I don’t really know a lot about comic book history. I also don’t buy or seek out a lot of really old comics. It’s not that I don’t care, it’s just a hard nut to crack. That being said, I find myself getting more and more interested in the whole plethora of older works. Sure I find myself reading them in these reissued collections but honestly, I can’t be a collector just yet – not that I particularly want to be. I want to read the material, not own the originals – kind of like any classic literature really, if you think about it.

Reading this collection sort of whetted my appetite for these relatively historic artifacts. Yeah, I know there’s a plethora of crap out there just like today but this is the foundations and beginnings of all the ideas we’re inherently familiar with in the medium. Not only that, there is more than just superheroes in the pages of these golden age comics. They look to be more about adventuring than superheroing. There are jungle explorers, cowboys, space explorers, warfare comics, undersea explorations and just about any sort of man vs. nature/man/himself type of story.

But none of this has to do with Plastic Man. This volume is jaw droppingly fun to read. I guess a lot of it just caught me by surprise because when I tend to think of older comics I think of comic code comics. This predates them and we get stories where gangsters are seen being shot through the head, Plastic Man is forced to smoke enough pot until he goes on a killing rampage, countless gangs of thugs are killed indiscriminately, and the general level of violence and drugs is higher than one might expect. And it makes the stories better because it manages to ground them in some form of reality instead of a whitewashed version of the world aimed at kids. For instance, instead of villains uttering vague threats to rule the world, Plastic Man smashes up an opium smuggling ring.

These stories are as hefty as they are brief. They fly off in tangents as often as they contain follow a direct route to the conclusion. Ideas are flying as hard and fast as the fists and bullets. And all the while we’re given a likable character in the protagonist. Plastic Man is showing us the basis for the Batman we knew before the most recent crisis. He’s trying to do right while being unable to escape his past, and while Batman needed a company wide event to fix his problems, these comics just have Plas knocked unconscious and dream about meeting his creator – long before Morrison did it folks.

You can read this book as a historic artifact but you can also read it as fun comics. You won’t regret either. I’m honestly shocked I enjoyed this as much as I did. I was thoroughly impressed by this collection.

Long Two-Four Week End

It was a long weekend so I'm only back now. I read the second volume of the Justice League Adventures and it's pretty much the same thing as the first volume. Great superheroics for a younger audience but at the same time I'm enjoying it more than the adult version.

That being said I went through the comic book storage facility - i.e. one square box - to pick out the books to go in this year's Great Glebe Garage Sale. I decided it was time for Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis to go. Also up are the JLA: Classified books I have, the run of Batman: Face the Face, that Morrison essay on the Joker and some other recent fill-ins as well as what I have of Justice. There's a few other odds and sods in there but I'm totally waffling on 52. Part of me wants to hold onto it but I also know I most likely won't ever read it again. I suppose I should just lend it to someone so they can have something relatively meaty to read (maybe not in plot but in text, it's meaty).

Any ideas? Should I put it up or no?

Otherwise, if you're in Ottawa this coming Saturday there are 117 comics for a dollar each.

Wednesday’s Loot – 16 May 2007

Countdown #50
I actually didn’t mind the whole Jimmy Olsen bits, he’s the ultimate “suspension of disbelief” character. So, yeah, you’ve got to accept he knows about Jason Todd but not that the Joker’s daughter wasn’t really the Joker’s daughter. Otherwise, I was pretty much lost and this felt like the second issue that DC wanted me to start caring about characters and mini-series I don’t care about or want to buy. Also, that “I found Ray Palmer” advertisement makes me care even less about the series because Kingdom Come wasn’t exactly a favourite of mine.
I rate this series: I’ll give it two more weeks.

Batman #665
This is the kind of big stupid fun I like. My wife asked me what was happening and I had to explain that Batman’s son, Damian, was about to come back to haunt Batman in the next issue #666. She kind of looked confused and I jus said “it’s a long story.” Because, really, now the hell do you explain that to someone who knows the basics of Batman but not the continuity of Batman? At least she really likes Batman Begins and some of the Animated series she’s watched with me so explaining R’as and Talia won’t be totally impossible. Still, nobody does haunted Batman as well as Morrison whose also bringing some of his massive action from that JLA run to this title.
I rate this comic: Another good, if slightly disturbing, comic.

The Ultimates #13
I waited how long for this? I don’t think it was really worth it. Sure, an eight page fold out is nice and all but I’d have rather had each page drawn nicely instead of having some thumbnail sketches colored for a few pages. It’s too bad though, I was liking this up until this issue which just seemed rushed – which is unbelievably ironic in a very sad sad manner. There were many parts I liked – the Asgardian rainbow, Thor hammering out some justice, the Ultron date but for the most part this issue just made it easier to cancel the title on my pull list. I am wondering if that last panel is the start of Ultimate Winter Soldier, which seems a bit too soon. I’ll just wait for the internet to let me in on what’s happening in this book from now on.
I rate this comic: Should have been better.

Marvel Adventures: The Avengers #13
Who doesn’t like a tribute to The Attack of the 50-Foot Woman? This story feels like it was written in about ten minutes because there was simply no need to cut out anything or rewrite anything – it was just all gold. From Spider-Man giving an interview while being crushed, to everyone making fun of Hank Pym, to pretty much anything the Hulk and Wolverine said this comic is really one of the best things coming out these days.
I rate this Comic: One of three comics that I think are tops.

Wednesday's Delay

Yes I picked up comics yesterday. No I haven't had time to read them yet let alone form any type of opinion on them. Senators' Hockey got in the way. A man's got to have his priorities.

Labour of Love

Brownsville
Written by Neil Kleid

Illustrated by Jake Allen

This is a book that I should have liked a lot more than I did. It has pretty much everything I like. Good looking art, gangsters, interesting story and characters plus it’s set in New York City in the thirties. So why wasn’t I totally in love with it.

Well, it seems like a cop out but I really had a hard time distinguishing one character from another, and while the story as a whole is interesting I felt I was lost on more than one occasion. I don’t want to sound like I didn’t like this at all, there was a lot to enjoy and for the most part it is good comics, but there was just something about it that was off. It could be the actual book or it could just be the mood I was in while I read it, if that makes any sense. I sort of feel that I was just not in the right mood or I was distracted and that’s what took away from the work. Then again, maybe not.

What is it about? Jewish gangsters in New York. What happens? Honestly, I can’t remember a lot of it. It feels a lot like a first book for the writer, and with that in mind I can be much more forgiving. There is a great base here from which to grow, I was just hoping for a bit more clarity I guess but if you ask me precisely what it was that was off, I’m not sure I can answer to anyone’s satisfaction.

So it’s good but not the best thing I’ve read. It’s enjoyable but not throughout, and while I did actually like the story as a whole some of the pieces were just confusing to me. Still, there is a lot of much much worse stuff I read on a weekly basis so if you have any interest in gangster comics or comics about New York this is well worth your time. The package that this book comes in is top notch and the actual package you pick up is enjoyable and quite simply fun to read.

Chilling Milk

The Milkman Murders

Writer - Joe Casey

Artist - Steven Parkhouse

FOR MATURE READERS

This is an interesting book to review. Yes it is good but it is good because it has some really disturbing imagery. And I don’t mean, women with impossibly freakish physiques but gutted animals and a mother on a murderous rampage.

The best way to describe this book is that it is a modern horror comic along the lines of Tales From the Crypt or any EC comic from before the comic code. The content is a bit more hardcore though dealing with the death and myth of the American Dream. It’s about the chilling content as much as it is about the idea that the dream is unattainable by most people no matter how hard we try to reach it. The milkman basically represents the way things used to be, and his actions push a borderline woman over the edge as the shade snaps up and reveals everything in a horribly honest light. The consequenses are quite disgusting but, honestly, up to that point there isn't a lot of beauty to any of the characters - they're all horrible.

This book is disturbing and chilling but good because of it. If you want a quick chill, this is the book for you.

Wednesday's Loot - 9 May 2007

Countdown #51
Okay I’m a sucker for villains playing chess with figures of their enemies. It always makes me wonder if it’s their hobby of if maybe they have a bunch of underlings who are top spies and wood workers. I’m thinking as far as henchmen jobs go, wood worker would be a fairly decent one although it’s probably just contracted out. I mean, Darkseid can’t be playing HeroClix right? Yep, I spent a bit too much time on that didn’t I? Well otherwise this issue seems to be summing up all the miniseries I haven’t read and don’t plan to. I’m just wondering when it’ll be revealed that the Monitor asked three questions there at the end and the answer isn’t for the one he thinks it’s for?
I rate this comic: A decent start but if the whole point is to get me to buy comics I’m not interested in I’m not going to stick it through.

Sci-Fi that doesn't make the internet evil.

The Surrogates
Robert Venditti & Bret Weidele

What I loved about this book is that it is essentially an exploration of the internet generation. It reminds me more of how we interact online in places like LiveJournal, MySpace, Facebook and blogs like this. It examines what happens when we remove ourselves far enough from the world around us with the tools we create – it asks us if we can cope with the world if we remove those tools.

So while its core ideas and foundations are a great mash-up of the ideas in The Matrix and Blade Runner the action still feels relatively fresh for something steeped in genre. In many ways it’s the update of Blade Runner for the 21st century but at the same time the focus isn’t on ideas of life as a whole but on people in particular. It’s a well thought out idea, and the story is a fairly by the numbers noir crime type story but all the better for it.

The art is this weird mix of extremely high-techery and scratchy linework. It feels slightly unpolished and unfinished, which reflects the lives of our characters and the foundations of the story’s idea.

This book had a bit of a stint in the comic blogging headlines when it was optioned for a movie, and I can see the appeal. It would definitely be an interesting idea to explore and could help flesh out a few of the areas that can be further explored, like the relationship between partners – both cop and spousal. But honestly, with or without a movie deal this is comics as I like them.

I took a left turn and ended up in jazzy crazy town

I went to see Spider-man 3 last night. There were parts I liked and others I didn’t. I think it all comes down to not having a story and sticking to it. Too many plots spun into the web and some editing would have been nice. It’s not Daredevil bad mind you, but it’s just this side of Fantastic Four – some great stuff, but some cringe-worthy moments as well. Which is too bad, there was some good stuff to work with. I sort of feel the planning session was like “Here’s a great script with Sandman and Harry Osborne” and then someone went, “Where’s Venom? You can use the Sandman if you put Venom in there.” Or something.

X-men Primer

The New X-Men: Hardcover
The New X-Men Volume 4: Riot at Xavier's
written by Grant Morrison
art by various artists

This is one of the books that if I’d have been in the comic buying public without pause like most other comic book bloggers would have been read (and re-read) long ago. The thing is, I only recently returned. Well, it’s been a few years but there is a heck of a lot of stuff to catch up on and limited time and money to do so. So I’m going to try and create a posting for anyone relatively new or returning to comics. Basically, you should get this book if you have a basic understanding of the X-men.

You see, when I returned to comics there were a few classics I hadn’t read – Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns. So I read them and they lived up to all the hype. But the thing is, it took about year of peering into the cracks of the comic blogs to discover a few other books that are assumed classics but don’t really get hyped or pointed out as fantastic works for new readers. I knew about the two classics above, there’s a lot of talk about Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing run, everyone and their dog loves Fables, and you can’t go within a block of a comic book shop without someone mentioning Sandman. But there’s a few other gems out there that don’t inherently jump out at you. I was lucky to join the medium again at the height of Scott Pilgrim love, the Hellboy movie got me interested in his adventures, and well there were a few others as well that I found fantastic but I don’t want to go on forever without actually getting to the point. What the internet pointed out to me were two specific books – Kurt Busiek’s Marvels and Grant Morrison’s New X-men. It seems Marvels gets a bit less love but both these books are rather cherished.

I finally read both via the public library system and let me tell you, they are now top recommendations for anyone interested in superhero, specifically Marvel-superhero, comics.

Grant Morrison takes the X-men and strips them down to their core. Because of the movies, like Spider-man, Batman and Superman, people know the core concepts of the characters and won’t necessarily be coming to the title to be lost in decades long continuity resolutions. He cuts to the core of the ideas behind the team and just lets them loose into his mad-cap adventures. All the hallmarks of the X-men are there. Conflict with the humans, love triangles, different interpretations of the message of integration, acceptance and tolerance, melodrama and of course aliens and killer sentinels. Seriously, it can’t be an X-men comic without some garish purple robot.

It works not just because it is both a reboot, yet not a complete reboot. There are short and long character arcs as well as a smaller team that recognizes that the X-men are a part of a humungous cast of characters outside the core book. They deal with their own issues at Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters and some stuff around the world but at the same time there are a quadrillion other X-men characters (give or take a trillion) out there dealing with other aspects of the mutant human dynamic.

The adventures here are manic. They are equally horrific while solidly inventive and entertaining. These are the types of ideas that feel so natural and simple that they make you wonder why they are so new. While we have a smaller focus on a specific team of core X-men there is still the sweeping sense of scale with global conflict and interstellar warfare. While the focus is small in some aspects the scale is still grand overall, and the precision of the team allows for the grander action to develop.

For me, what made it work was the characters’ voices more than anything. It felt as if each character had their own voice instead of being the author’s current means of advancing the plot. It’s a hard skill to master but having each character be characterized by their dialogue is what really made this book turn from simple X-men comics to great work of art, for me. There aren’t any visual clues as to who is talking, like having captions with their symbols or different colours, and nothing written with phonetic accents to ensure we know exactly who is speaking at all times. It’s a fine line to walk but Morrison manages to nail it here. We’ve all read stuff that just felt like the delicate balance of characterization was beating us over the head like a rubber mallet.

The actual story is that Professor X has an evil spirit twin who has pretty much planned everything well in advance of her making her move to destroy the X-men. Plus Sentinels thrown into the mix with a bit of the Shi-ar empire. I also read the fourth trade paperback which is more or less a mash-up of American History X and A Clockwork Orange with an exceptionally gifted student being caught up in Magneto’s manifesto and, of course, drugs. Now that’s not a heck of a lot of information I know, or possibly too much, but tossed into the mix are Xavier’s special class, a new mutant with a star for a head, Emma Frost being redefined slightly into a brilliant character, some covers that tend to focus on female anatomy other than breasts – that Lilandra one is a bit more obviously suggestive than the Emma Frost one – and well about every page has an idea being thrown at you and you love it.

This is a great collection that reminds you why you liked or loved the X-men, and reminds you why the movies worked better than the comics have for a long time. You don’t need to totally restart the thing but sticking to the core ideas just makes it work for a reason.

If only ALL my problems were like this.

Gotham Central Volume 4 – The Quick and the Dead.

There is nothing worse than reading a book you really like and then not finding the words to write a simple post about it. If you’ve read my other post on Gotham Central consider this to be more of the same praise. For anyone too lazy to click that link, this is a great street level cop drama set squarely in the real word aspect of Gotham but on the peripheries of Batman’s fight for justice. It captures the core aspects of Gotham, the darkness, the ugliness, and the general complacency that you won’t be able to make sense of the horrible crimes that happen there on a regular basis. It’s not a place where the cops just deal with fender benders and other more dangerous situations, it’s about the cops who show up when The Joker decides to start sniping politicians or poison the city’s water supply.

In this chapter there’s a crossover with one of The Rogues from the Flash family and a couple of Keystone cops. I haven’t read any Flash comics so I have no idea what their history is or how prescient those police officers are in the Flash mythos. While there is a lot of theme crime happening there is also Officer Montoya’s life trying to knit itself back together, which is the right amount of human reality to offset the rest of the action. It’s a great book that is worth every moment you spend with it.

And the only thing I can add to my thoughts on the art is that while a totally different style from the animated series, they do capture the same basic concept of having a city that is dark. The amount of black ink used to set mood and tell the story ensures you know everything you need to know about Gotham City.

53

I was kind of disappointed 52 never explained why Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock came back. Sure this could all just be on a separate Earth or whatever, but it would have been great to have Montoya's Question back in Gotham with Batwoman in a caper that brings back Gordon and Bullock. Maybe it's been explained somewhere else?

Does it really need to be? I suppose not, but it was one of the things I was looking forward to seeing.

Also, I guess this should be 54, is anyone else worried about Tibet taking over the DCU? I mean they know pretty much all the hero's secrets or whatever. I'm just saying, it could be all zen, zen, zen, Pearl Harbor!

Wednesday's Loot - 2 May 2007 (and last week's)

52 Week 51
Did I mention how happy I am to get a bit of Animal Man and his family every now and again in 52? I’m sad we’ll have less of them. Also, I like the evil-Skeets reveal, although I’m more partial to giant robots.
I rate this comic: Worthy of the kid asking to keep Starfire.

52 Week 52
Has it been a year? Wow, now I’ll have to sit and read them all back to back at some point. How much do you love stories that begin with “It was during one of my strange adventures…”? Because I know I love them a lot! Also, I think this explanation of the multiverse or megaverse works and allows the creators to just make it up as they go along rather than get bogged in continuity. Some nice Booster Gold moments, and Dr. Sivana’s home coming was fantastic.
I rate this comic: A decent ending, but didn’t really question all the one-year later answers, if you follow.

Shazam: The Monster Society of Evil #3
This is still one of the best comics coming out. It’s just a pure joy to read. Even with a dick joke thrown in for good measure – without actually being a dick joke.
I rate this comic: Pure comic goodness.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 #3
This still remains a strong comic book version of the show. You’re either really into it or just don’t particularly care about it. I do think if you were coming to this cold it is a lot like the continuity porn of superhero team comics.
I rate this comic: Sweet Buffy.

Unintentional hilarity

So, last night me and my wife went out to meet up with my aunt who is in town as the debate coach for Team New Brunswick - it's one kid trying out for the national debating team. We were at a downtown pub who, kindly, put up newspaper spreads above the urinals so you have something to read as you go about your business and try not to get stage frieght when someone is tying to pee next to you. Well, this Marmaduke cartoon was in the paper and it cracked me up. It's not funny in the way it's trying to be funny.

There's the obvious humour I saw in this but the more I thought about it the more I realized just how utterly freaky it was. For instance, when did this couple start treating their dog like an adolescent child? Seriously. And if Marmaduke is a purebred dog wouldn't he already have a tattoo? I just thought it was funny that the dude had a porn-stache - it makes him look Quebecois.

So, how about some better captions people?

Mine: "I told you peyote makes it better."
Or: "Well that's how I was taught to do the heimlich."