At Comic Book Resources, as usual. If you can't bear to comment there, we have this forum. I'm actually a little surprised at just how positive the CBR commentary has all been -- where are the internet trolls? I guess they simply haven't woken yet today!
Anyway, go find out about DC #2s, B&N, and why Comix Experience won't be racking AVENGING SPIDER-MAN #1.
-B
Gonna talk about a cow puncher who punches hard. And shoots. Yeah, sure is partial to some shooting this fella. Daggnabit, someone's gonna get hurt you don't quit that!
Came The Millennium came the reprints! DC celebrated the year 2000 by re-printing one old comic a month for a year (I think). These were, according to the intro by Paul Levitz, “the best and most vital examples of our art form”. And W.I.L.D. CATS.
I bought some of them and what with the appearance of an all new All-STAR WESTERN#1 I thought I’d cast a boggly eye back at Jonah Hex’s first appearance. And also because I’d just read it.
(Jonah Hex’s first appearance in) ALL-STAR WESTERN #10 By Tony DeZuniga (a), John Albano (w) (Reprinted in Millennium Edition: ALL-STAR WESTERN 10, $2.95, DC Comics)
When Hex was first introduced in ALL-STAR WESTERN #10 (1972) he was a quite exciting breath of fresh air. Instead of the customarily clean cut Marshal driven by a wholesome hankering for Justice John Albano and Tony DeZuniga delivered an ornery bounty hunter with a face as scarred as his psyche and driven by earthy lusts. By today’s standards I guess its tame stuff but back then I can imagine it was quite a bracing change.
The very clever thing about Hex’s first appearance is that Albano and DeZuniga set this atypical character in a story built from the most typical of Western elements. Cliches, if you will. Hex is hired by the usual sweaty businessmen in waist-coats and stove pipe hats to track down the usual sweaty gang of varmints; complications ensue and a young but not sweaty widder woman and her tow headed child are involved. The story around Hex tries to stick to the agreed and expected shape but Hex himself keeps resisting it, pushing the clichés into new shapes through sheer force of his sour temperament. Sure, he gets the gang but, shockingly for the time, kills Big Jim (clearly modeled by DeZuniga on Lee Marvin) by knifing him in the back and this after Jonah has sadistically chased his quarry and haplessly ensured that the widder woman is needlessly endangered. The widder’s wee moppet takes a shining to Hex and Hex clearly figures on settling down with the widder, after all he saved her life, and her boy in the town whose safety he has just ensured.
Which is what would usually happen. It's certainly what Jonah Hex expects to happen. Alas, throughout the course of the tale Jonah Hex has been so unlikeable that by the end of the tale…no one likes him. Except the kid. The widder woman runs him off and the sweaty businessmen block his plans to buy a home and so Jonah Hex hoists up his bag of woe and his sack of trouble and heads off out into the territories. Just time for one last tearful scene with the youngster then:
Mebbe not. Because Jonah Hex is an @sshole.
As comic writing goes it’s good stuff. The whole thing has an easy familiarity due to the use of clichés and the playful undermining of these very cliches lends it an arresting quality. It’s only 16 pages long but by the end you’re pretty clear who Jonah Hex is (an @sshole) and more likely than not wanting to see what he gets up to next. Crucially you have no idea why Hex's face looks like a bison's chewed it which is a smart move. Piques the interest, doncha know. DeZuniga does some smart art here but not as smart as the art he would go on to do. There’s some really stiff staging and his photo referencing (back when that was quite hard to do) works against him at times but it’s atmospheric stuff with a couple of really swell panels. For me the most impressive part of the whole thing is the fact that Hex’s scarred visage isn't revealed until page 7 and rarely thereafter. C'mon, that's pretty great.
Hex soiled the pages of ALL-STAR WESTERN through its name change to WEIRD WESTERN TALES (#18) and up to #38 when he starred in his own series for 92 issues. Which ain't bad for an old cowpuncher but even better is the fact that he’s still knocking about to this day. While the character may not embody that which is best and most noble in us he does embody at least one undying element which burns in each and every one of us to varying degrees. Jonah Hex is an @sshole but aren't we all. Sometimes.
Jonah Hex’s first appearance in ALL-STAR WESTERN #1 (1972) is very old but that doesn't stop it being VERY GOOD!
OK, feeling better, but getting caught back up -- reviews will return by Wed, I hope. Maybe even with the book I am, oddly, most anticipating this week: Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #1....
30 DAYS OF NIGHT ONGOING #1 68 (SIXTY EIGHT) #4 (OF 4) CVR A NAT JONES & JAY FOTOS ALL NIGHTER #5 (OF 5) ATOMIC ROBO GHOST OF STATION X #2 (OF 6) AVENGERS #18 AVENGERS 1959 #2 (OF 5) BATMAN #2 BATMAN ODYSSEY VOL 2 #1 (OF 7) BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #195 BIRDS OF PREY #2 BLUE BEETLE #2 BONNIE LASS #2 (OF 4) BOOK SMART GN BOYS BUTCHER BAKER CANDLESTICKMAKER #4 BPRD HELL ON EARTH RUSSIA #2 CAPTAIN AMERICA CORPS #5 (OF 5) CAPTAIN ATOM #2 CATWOMAN #2 COLD WAR #1 CONAN ROAD OF KINGS #9 DAMAGED #3 (OF 6) DARK HORSE PRESENTS #5 DARKWING DUCK #17 DC COMICS PRESENTS SUPERBOYS LEGION #1 DC COMICS PRESENTS SUPERMAN SECRET IDENTITY #1 DC UNIVERSE ONLINE LEGENDS #16 DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS #2 DEADPOOL MAX 2 #1 DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS #12 FABLES #110 FEAR ITSELF #7 (OF 7) FEAR FEAR ITSELF FEARLESS #1 (OF 12) FEAR ITSELF HOME FRONT #7 (OF 7) FEAR FEAR ITSELF YOUTH IN REVOLT #6 (OF 6) FEAR GODZILLA GANGSTERS & GOLIATHS #5 (OF 5) GREEN LANTERN CORPS #2 HELLBLAZER #284 HERC #9 HP LOVECRAFT THE DUNWICH HORROR #1 (OF 4) HULK #43 INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #509 FEAR JOHN CARTER A PRINCESS OF MARS #2 (OF 5) JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #629 FEAR JUSTICE LEAGUE #2 KEVIN SMITH BIONIC MAN #3 KEY OF Z #1 (OF 4) KUNG FU PANDA #3 (OF 4) LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #2 LIFE WITH ARCHIE #14 MASS EFFECT INVASION #1 (OF 4) CARNEVALE CVR MONOCYTE #1 (OF 4) NEAR DEATH #2 NIGHTWING #2 RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #2 ROBERT E HOWARDS SAVAGE SWORD #3 SAVAGE DRAGON #174 SERGIO ARAGONES FUNNIES #4 SIMPSONS COMICS #183 SPACE WARPED #4 (OF 6) SPONTANEOUS #5 (OF 5) STAR TREK LEGION OF SUPERHEROES #1 (OF 6) STAR WARS KNIGHT ERRANT DELUGE #3 (OF 5) STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE BERRY FUN #2 (OF 4) SUPERIOR #6 (OF 6) TINY TITANS #45 ULTIMATE COMICS HAWKEYE #3 (OF 4) UNCANNY X-MEN #544 VENGEANCE #4 (OF 6) VERTIGO RESURRECTED THE EATERS #1 WARLORD OF MARS #11 WOLVERINE #17 XREGG WONDER WOMAN #2 XENOHOLICS #1 X-FACTOR #226 X-MEN #1 20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION YOUNG JUSTICE #9
Books / Mags / Stuff FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND #258 ALAN MOORE NEONOMICON TP BUBBLES & GONDOLA HC DARK TOWER FALL OF GILEAD TP DUNGEONS & DRAGONS CLASSICS TP VOL 02 FANTASTIC FOUR BY WAID & WIERINGO ULT COLL TP BOOK 03 FREAKANGELS TP VOL 06 GOTHAM CENTRAL TP BOOK 03 ON THE FREAK INVINCIBLE IRON MAN TP VOL 07 MY MONSTERS LEGION OF SUPER HEROES THE CURSE DELUXE ED MARZI TP MEOW HC VOL 01 METABARONS ULTIMATE COLL SLIP CASE PHINEAS & FERB EARLY COMIC READER #6 BEAK STRIKES SCIENCE DOG OVERSIZED HC SHERLOCK HOLMES YEAR ONE TP SHIELD TP ARCHITECTS OF FOREVER TENJO TENGE GN VOL 03 TEZUKAS BLACK JACK TP VOL 16 ULT COMICS SPIDER-MAN DOSM PREM HC QUESADA CVR UNWRITTEN TP VOL 04 LEVIATHAN WALKING DEAD SURVIVORS GUIDE TP WARLORD OF MARS DEJAH THORIS TP VOL 01 COLOSSUS OF MARS X-23 TP VOL 01 KILLING DREAM X-FACTOR HARD LABOR PREM HC WALKING DEAD COMIC SERIES 1 AF ASST (NET)
What looks good to YOU?
-B
Yeah, sorry about this. What can I say? I will take your patience and shatter it like the dry bones of your childhood dreams!
Next Time: A Howard Victor Chaykin free zone. Promise! My Other Half said, "There's no pony like a one-trick pony." That certainly set my mind at ease. Ah, well...
AVENGERS 1959 #1 By Howard Victor Chaykin (w/a), Jesus Arbutov (c) and Jared K. Fletcher (l) (Marvel Comics, $2.99)
Spinning off and out of that NEW AVENGERS arc where in the present the Avengers took 6 issues to ring an ambulance while in the past Howard Victor Chaykin earned that month’s alimony payments comes this 5 issue series! Nick Fury and his rag tag ensemble of D-Listers (Bloodstone, Kraven, Namora, Sabre Tooth, Silver Sable and Dominic Fortune) celebrate the successful end of their mission with a swanky meal before disbanding. Immediately a new threat targets our heroic band, well, those members Howard Victor Chaykin is interested in writing about (Silver Sable and Bloodstone are dispatched from the narrative as soon as possible) and The Blonde Phantom is introduced in order to fulfil Howard Victor Chaykin’s stringent lingerie quota.
Consequently the issue has a rock solid structure consisting of an introduction of the team and then a succession of scenes in which each member evades an attempt upon their life by the mysterious new foe. A mysterious new foe that could well be an embryonic Hydra. It’s efficiently delivered tongue-in-cheek stuff that entertains and retains momentum despite the fundamentally episodic composition. Howard Victor Chaykin isn't breaking any new ground here but what he is doing is bringing his considerable talents to bear with the aim of providing a nice slice of pulp pie. And in that he succeeds.
"Ooooh! Meta!"
AVENGERS 1959 #1 is probably a pretty good point to examine The State of The Chaykin in the year of 2011. The current mode of Chaykin criticism is to bemoan the downward trajectory of his work while also bleating about how he draws “fat faces”. This latter criticism first appeared with his work illustrating Marc Guggenheim’s 2006 BLADE series. This prompted me to make the hilarious joke that Guggenheim had told Chaykin that Blade was “phat”. Since I am a repellent human being no one else was in the room and the joke fell to the floor and expired for want of appreciation. But I have held it in reserve for 5 years knowing that its time would come. Like a quality butcher I waste not; I use everything but the scream. So Howard Victor Chaykin? Degenerate degenerating or innovator innovating? Let’s warm up the thermometer, get AVENGERS 1959 #1 to drop its strides and see what Doctor John can diagnose.
The cover to AVENGERS 1959 #1 is great. Real swell stuff but that’s no big shocker. If there’s one thing Howard Victor Chaykin excels at its, allegedly, lady baiting if there are two then we’d have to admit to page design; cover design in particular. Now as rabid and immune to sense a fan as I am I have never had the financial wherewithal merely to buy a comic because it had a Howard Victor Chaykin cover. Actually on one occasion I did. The 2009 Vertigo series BANG TANGO. Look at this:
Howard Victor Chaykin’s covers were some hip shit, pals o’mine. Alas, the series itself was like wading through hip deep shit. (No offense to all the talented individuals involved.) So I learned my lesson. And the lesson I learned was that Howard Victor Chaykin does covers like a cover artist should. Google image AMERICAN FLAGG! And tell me that those covers aren't like comic cover Heaven. Working in the field of advertising and paperback cover design sure didn't do him no harm. Just ask the Louisiana State University. So yeah, Howard Victor Chaykin knows how to do covers and with AVENGERS 1959 #1 he belts out another winner:
There’s nothing amiss with the storytelling on these pages either. The Howard Victor Chaykin Method is here in full effect. I guess you could call it a formula but then we’d have to argue out the negative connotations before I’d smile at you again. Life’s too short to sweat the small stuff so let’s call it The Howard Victor Chaykin Method and say it can be summarised thusly: long panels for scene setting and context, vertical panels for action within said scene and inset panels for reaction shots and moments of notable action. It varies a bit but that’s pretty much what we have here and it works just fine. It’s not experimental or visionary just solid and effective borne of decades of being experimental and visionary. It’s unobtrusive but it works and that’s pretty much what AVENGERS 1959 #1 demands.
And the stuff in the panels, well, I guess we’ll call that draughtsmanship and that’s pretty…variable. This is kind of where the shakiness starts to set in. Now, as you all remember from previous soliloquies Howard Victor Chaykin doesn't give his draughtsmanship much props. Together with his frequent claim that it’s the design aspects that make his brow feverish rather than the finishing I think we can start to see where the problem may lie. Now, Howard Victor Chaykin’s work is, I understand, the result of his own mighty self and assistant(s). This is super peachy in terms of fulfilling his page quotas as the primary benefit is one of speed. In fact it’s a peachy arrangement all round depending on, well, the assistants. If long before the finished article Howard Victor Chaykin’s sloped off down the bingo to charm a blue rinse then a lot of weight rests on the poor assistant. I don’t know who Howard Victor Chaykin’s assistants currently are but they aren't of the calibre of, say, Don Cameron or Rick Burchett. They aren't terrible and in fact the book does seem to get better as it goes on. There’s a lot less wonkiness by the final page and more precision. Things are looking good on the old assistants front!
"Howard Victor Chaykin: yesterday."
Maybe it isn't the assistants after all maybe it’s the technical methodology involved. When I potter about The Internet sometimes I look at original Howard Victor Chaykin art (and pictures of those wrinkly dogs) and I can say that as recently as the 2009 DOMINIC FORTUNE series the original art looks a whole heap better than the printed version. Come to that his art as whole seemed a far tighter and attractive affair right up until the bulk of his output started flooding out of Marvel. His work on CITY OF TOMORROW, CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN and, yes, even the much vilified HAWKGIRL had a level of precision and sureness that seems lacking in much of his Marvel stuff.
Judging from my on-line scourings Howard Victor Chaykin has also taken to drawing figures in isolation and then placing them on backgrounds via 21st Century technology. He’s not alone in this but to me, being old, it brings to mind those Letrasets from by gone days. You’d get a background sheet and a sheet of characters and objects. The latter would be applied to the former by firm application of pencil rubbing. I liked the KOJAK one best. Who knew the future of comic book art would take its direction from things given away in ‘7os packets of cereal! It’s a perfectly fine method but the results do tend to suggest that maybe all these artists should watch that scene where Father Ted explains to Father Dougal the difference between “far away” and “small”. Maybe it’s the increased output, maybe it’s the assistants or maybe, maybe it’s the colouring.
Now I tend not to notice the colouring on comics too much but, by Tatjana Wood’s eyes!, I notice the colouring in recent Howard Victor Chaykin’s comics. Regrettably this is largely not because of its excellence. There were times when reading RAWHIDE KID: SENSATIONAL SEVEN when I didn't even know what I was looking at. It was like being a character at the end of a H.P. Lovecraft story. My mind could simply not process that which it perceived. Now it’s a Howard Victor Chaykin Fact that he’s colour blind but that’s no reason to take advantage! There seems to have been a real effort in the Marvel stuff, particularly on the part of Edgar Delgado, to colour Howard Victor Chaykin’s work in the manner of animation cels. That’s okay, that’s an approach but it’s an approach that only works, I think, when the art is built to accommodate that. I don’t think Howard Victor Chaykin’s art is built that way. Thankfully for my ocular orbs Jesus Arbutov, the colourist here, seems to agree and I’d have to say the colouring in AVENGERS 1959 #1 is, yeah, its okay. It’s obviously done with computers and science so it has that weird unnatural vibrancy that makes each page look like it’s been lacquered like lacquers’ going out of fashion. Crucially though it doesn't make me re-enact Rod Steiger’s stand out scene of restrained (cough!) horror in THE AMITYVILLE HORROR (1979). Small mercies, eh.
"Testify!"
Of course Howard Victor Chaykin wrote as well as drew AVENGERS 1959 #1 and it's pretty much boiler plate Howard Victor Chaykin writing. The patter has fizz and spark, the exposition is delivered economically and painlessly and the whole thing has a patina of self deprecating humour that makes it a jolly appealing read. When the comics scene was blessed by the return of Howard Victor Chaykin following his adventures in the financially lucrative field of Television it turned out he'd added writing tool to his arsenal; the omniscient narrator. I like this innovation in his work as it lends extra value to each enterprise and also because I like words. Ideally I like to "hear" the narration in my head as the voice of a 61 year old mensch whose tonsils have been gargling musk. The kind of guy who declares loudly "I'm a sexagenarian, but, hey, who was in doubt? Am I right ladies!" before firing his finger like a pistol at every female in the room. I also like this narrative technique because it displays a confidence in language and provides evidence of research that is sorely lacking in other writer's work. It also allows for neat touches like the realisation that the opening narration isn't about the characters we see on the page but rather about the situation that is developing independently of them as they sit toasting and bantering; a situation that will soon enfold each of them and so propel the plot. Words are useful tools for writers, even in a primarily visual medium, and it's laudable that Howard Victor Chaykin remains not only aware of this fact but fully able to press it to his advantage.
"That's the word!"
So, wait what was the question again? Degenerate degenerating or innovator innovating? On the whole, taking everything into account, with all the facts in hand, after due consideration I'd have to say; degenerate innovating! (Legal note: Howard Victor Chaykin is not a degenerate. It's a joke.) It's not as smooth as previous Howard Victor Chaykin stuff, no. But the bumps seem to tend from attempts to embrace new methods and technologies and the fact that these experiments rest upon a solid foundation of tried and true achievements means that AVENGERS 1959 #1 is an example of a comics master embracing modern technology with variable results. On the whole the results are VERY GOOD!
"Well, Avengers 1959, yes. Now, that other AVENGERS stuff..."
Hello! I must be going.
I have several days off in a row and I'm going to make the most of them with reading and watching stuff on Netflix and looking at comic books. So there will be a two week hiatus of good ol' Wait, What? But I imagine we will back before you know it (Graeme already pointed out the last issue of Fear Itself will probably come out during that time. Will I really be able to resist shooting my mouth off about it after six issues of whining?).
And in the meantime: Episode 60! It's an hour and forty-five mins. of Mr. McMillan and me, talking Marvel's new digital incentive announcement, September's sales numbers, Apple, Steve Jobs, and Occupy Wall Street.
And for those of you who don't get rely on us for your knowledge of current events, we also talk comics: the second issues of OMAC and Action Comics, X-Men Schism, a very brief chat about the latest issue of Casanova, Love & Rockets Book 4, the winner of our first contest, the announcement of our second contest, and much, much more.
The auditory epic should be lying in wait on iTunes, but you can also find it loitering about at this very site, willing to bend your hour for a minute or two:
Wait, What? Ep. 60: Two Weeks. Notice.
As always, we hope you enjoy and thanks for listening! See you in a fortnight!
Woke up under the weather -- here's this week, no commentary.
ALL WINNERS SQUAD BAND OF HEROES #5 (OF 8) ALPHA FLIGHT #5 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #671 SPI AMERICAN VAMPIRE SURVIVAL OT FITTEST #5 (OF 5) BALTIMORE CURSE BELLS #3 BATGIRL #2 BATMAN AND ROBIN #2 BATWOMAN #2 BLACK PANTHER MOST DANGEROUS MAN ALIVE #524 SPI BLUE ESTATE #6 BTVS SEASON 9 FREEFALL #2 CBLDF LIBERTY ANNUAL 2011 #4 DAKEN DARK WOLVERINE #15 DC COMICS PRESENTS BATMAN BLINK #1 DC COMICS PRESENTS JLA AGE OF WONDER #1 DEATHSTROKE #2 DEMON KNIGHTS #2 DOLLHOUSE EPITAPHS #4 (OF 5) DUCKTALES #5 ELRIC THE BALANCE LOST #4 ESCAPE FROM PLANET O/T DEAD FEAR ITSELF HULK VS DRACULA #3 (OF 3) FEAR FF #10 FRANKENSTEIN AGENT OF SHADE #2 GARTH ENNIS JENNIFER BLOOD #5 GENERATION HOPE #12 GHOST RIDER #4 FEAR GHOSTBUSTERS ONGOING #2 GLAMOURPUSS #21 GREEN LANTERN #2 GRIFTER #2 HELLRAISER #6 INFESTATION OUTBREAK #4 (OF 4) IRREDEEMABLE #30 JOE HILL THE CAPE #2 (OF 4) JOHN CARTER OF MARS WORLD OF MARS #1 (OF 5) JURASSIC PARK DANGEROUS GAMES #2 (OF 5) KULL THAT CAT & THE SKULL #1 (OF 4) LEGION LOST #2 LEGION OF MONSTERS #1 (OF 4) MEGA MAN #6 MISTER TERRIFIC #2 MORNING GLORIES #13 MY GREATEST ADVENTURE #1 (OF 6) NEW AVENGERS #17 NORTHLANDERS #45 ORCHID #1 PIGS #2 PILOT SEASON CITY OF REFUGE #1 POPE HATS #2 PUNISHER #4 PUNISHERMAX #18 RESURRECTION MAN #2 ROBERT JORDAN WHEEL OF TIME EYE O/T WORLD #14 SHADE #1 (OF 12) SHIELD #3 (OF 6) SPONGEBOB COMICS #5 STAN LEE STARBORN #11 STAND NIGHT HAS COME #3 (OF 6) STAR WARS INVASION REVELATIONS #4 (OF 5) STAR WARS OLD REPUBLIC #5 (OF 5) LOST SUNS SUICIDE SQUAD #2 SUPER DINOSAUR #5 SUPER HEROES #19 SUPERBOY #2 ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #3 ULTIMATE COMICS X-MEN #2 UNCANNY X-FORCE #16 UNEXPECTED #1 UNWRITTEN #30 VERONICA #209 (VERONICA PRESENTS KEVIN KELLER #3) WAREHOUSE 13 #2 WARLORD OF MARS FALL OF BARSOOM #3 WHO IS JAKE ELLIS #5 WORLD OF ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #11 X-MEN EVOLUTIONS #1 X-MEN LEGACY #257 X-MEN REGENESIS #1
Books / Mags / Stuff 100 BULLETS HC BOOK 01 ABSOLUTE IDENTITY CRISIS HC BATMAN ARKHAM CITY HC BATMAN LIFE AFTER DEATH TP BLOOM COUNTY COMPLETE LIBRARY HC VOL 05 COMPLETE CHESTER GOULDS DICK TRACY HC VOL 12 DOCTOR STRANGE TP STRANGE TALES DRAW #21 GLENN BARR FACES HC INVADERS NOW TP JUSTICE LEAGUE GENERATION LOST HC VOL 02 KEEP HC MARVEL FIRSTS 1960S TP NAOKI URASAWA 20TH CENTURY BOYS GN VOL 17 NEW MUTANTS PREM HC UNFINISHED BUSINESS NUTS HC PRINCE VALIANT HC VOL 04 1943-1944 PUNISHERMAX PREM HC FRANK STAR WARS THE CLONE WARS STRANGE ALLIES TP THE CABBIE HC VOL 01 ULTIMATE COMICS AVENGERS BLADE VS AVENGERS TP WARLORD OF MARS TP WARRIORS THREE TP DOG DAY AFTERNOON X-MEN LEGACY LOST LEGIONS PREM HC ZOMBIES VS ROBOTS UNDERCITY HC
What looks good to YOU?
-B
On 7th October 1950 Howard Victor Chaykin was born. Belated Happy Birthday wishes to Howard Victor Chaykin! On 8th October 2011 I wrote this about a book he did in 1988. On...look will somebody answer that dingdanged phone!
This time I decided to talk about one of his books that's in print, after all those Mai Tais don't buy themeselves, people!
Black Kiss Story and Art By Howard Victor Chaykin Lettering by Ken Bruzenak Dynamite Entertainment B&W Hardback, 136pp, £14.99/$24.99
Newly paroled jazz aficionado Cass Pollack (a Chaykin everyschmuck par excellence) lets his little head do the thinking and just may not live to regret it as the Hell beneath the veneer of Los Angeles licks its lips and prepares to give him a very black kiss indeed.
BLACK KISS was originally published as a 12 issue series by Vortex Comics in 1988. In 1988 Howard Victor Chaykin's mighty 4 year run of comics awesome (AMERICAN FLAGG! (1984), THE SHADOW (1986), TIME (SQUARED) (1987), BLACKHAWK (1987))had allowed his career to build to escape velocity. The magical world of Television beckoned but before Howard Victor Chaykin left comics to produce shows about stuff like a man with a special car and a crime solving coroner chimp he had time for one last fond farewell to the medium that had made him the man he was. And by "fond farewell" I mean "kick in the nuts".
The series was a pricey affair with high production values, a low page count and, clearly, complete creative freedom for the author. Given this freedom, even rarer back then than it is now, it is interesting to note that Howard Victor Chaykin chose to produce what is commonly perceived as a smut comic. Several issues came not only bagged but also with a black board protecting the quailing eyes of consumers from the artfully designed and stylishly executed erotica of the covers. There was much talk of censorship and ratings in the air at the time and it seems Howard Victor Chaykin’s response was to do all the things you weren't supposed to do and see how they liked them apples.
"Well, nobody's perfect..."
Howard Victor Chaykin is on record as saying that he has made more money from BLACK KISS than any other project. I guess people liked those apples just fine because, hey, forbidden fruit is always the sweetest. Another reason Howard Victor Chaykin produced a work full of people sticking bits of themselves into other people is probably because that’s the way Howard Victor Chaykin rolls. This is the kind of guy who would, around that time, spend a good portion of an interview opining about what was wrong with porn films and how that could be corrected. I’d take that as indication that Howard Victor Chaykin has high standards even where his lower entertainment is concerned. Other interpretations are possible. Given all that it is less surprising that he produced BLACK KISS and that the result is so superbly executed.
And superbly executed it is. PredictablyHoward Victor Chaykin doesn't stint on the craft one iota; everything that made the previous 4 years of his work so innovative and damned enjoyable is present and correct. Examples? I have examples. I came prepared. Right from the off we have a page consisting of repeated panels of a phone/answerphone on a tabletop. There’s some action involving a cat running through the panels and some hilariously dirrrty OTT chat action. That’s all misdirection though. The real information is in the static elements of the panel. Because Howard Victor Chaykin understands that if its on the page it should fulfill a function. You’ll see that panel a lot through the book but it isn't until you close the book that you’ll realize how much of what you read was contained in it. I love that panel.
Then there’s the dialogue. This is pretty much dialogue-driven but unlike today’s dialogue-drunk drivers Howard Victor Chaykin understands and respects dialogue with regard to the work he’s producing. Through the use of well-honed and finely buffed wordplay information is conveyed effectively and concisely. Yes, the big thing about Howard Victor Chaykin's dialogue is its efficiency and polish. The things people say are important whether in revealing their character or crucial plot points yet they are also often important in how they disguise the same information. As with the phone panels the words are on the page because they fulfill a function. If it’s there whether in word, image or a combination thereof it’s because it needs to be. There’s no fat on these bones. Or on Howard Victor Chaykin's. Have you seen that guy, he's 61 and he hasn't stopped dancing yet!
"You've got some mouth on you, lady."
As usual the plot is a sliver of a thing but as usual Howard Victor Chaykin uses elision, obfuscation, brisk pacing and sheer overload to keep you disorientated and guessing until all comes clear precisely and exactly when he wants it to. Basically he replaces complication with confusion but he does it so well and in such a way that the mental pleasure when all parts unite is quite delightful. It helps that while the plot is straightforward his treatment is not. Sure, BLACK KISS is a smut comic but it is many other things beside. It's a musky mélange of smut, crime, horror, conspiracy thriller and screwball comedy. There’s a certain level of artistry alone in simply keeping such disparate elements from working against each other but there’s another level of artistry involved in finding the common ground that retains each genre’s individuality so that there is never a moment of jarring transition. Until the end when he purposely allows the various genres to collapse into a gang-bang al a the end of the porn he is so effectively imitating.
Oh, don't put your pants back on, it's fiesta of filth alright it's just lots of other things too. There's something for everybody's inner freak here except maybe scat fans. They'll just have to make do with their Cleo Laine and Johnny Dankworth albums I guess. Structurally it lures you in innocuously enough with some naughty role-play then proceeds to progressively up the ante until by the end while sex is involved, well, if this is the kind of situation you flick and tickle your mind with late at night then might I suggest the number of a trained mental health professional? Up until then it’ll probably make the old bald man cry more surely than an honest review of NEW AVENGERS.
"That point one issue was a real return to fo-RaaarRRLpphhh!"
Also I may be forcing this one in but I think BLACK KISS is About Stuff. You all know I have a weakness for stuff being About Stuff and her it is again raising it's ugly head. During the book Pollack’s path is clearly one of expanding awfulness. Like the common perception of the addicts fall. A bit like starting out with the innocuous airbrushed ladies of MAXIM and before you know it waking up one morning to find your PC full of scat videos and the FBI outside your house in a white van. I think there’s a reason Cass Pollack is a recovering substance abuser is all I’m saying. I'm certain I'm not driving too hard or deep when I say that the relationship between Beverly and Dagmar is a scabrously witty attack on those who let their influences overpower their individuality. Y'know, like those fans who lack any kind of self awareness and are constantly banging on about their object of adoration. Hey, don't look at me, there's no way I'm having surgery to look like HVC, it'd require having my shins removed at least and I hear that smarts like chili paste on your woo-woo.
"Everyone's a critic!"
Its not a one man show though. Ken Bruzenak is also here on these pages and Ken Bruzenak is at it again, leaving most other comics letterers in the dust. His usual delightful design sense is present but more sparsely than usual. As though in compensation Howard Victor Chaykin gives him two moments that depend on the lettering to succeed. Well, depend on the lettering and the fact that you aren't too concerned with what’s happening in your pants to be paying attention. The lesser of these involves a character, a cat and a cigarette providing a neat summation of said characters less appealing qualities. The other involves a character and a fly. This latter scene occurs early in the book and is an important indicator of a character's true nature as well as being a homage to a certain novel about a certain count. No, not Monte Cristo. I'm trying to avoid spoilers, okay!
"Was it "on" or "off"?"
Ultimately talking about BLACK KISS without revealing too much is pretty trying. In fact almost as trying as I'm sure you found reading this far but I hope I've succeeded in at least suggesting that its far more than a jazz rag and the pleasures of craft contained within are more lasting and rewarding than those resulting from a quick hand shandy. BLACK KISS judged as comics is VERY GOOD! don't let the schlongs and profanity put you off.
Howard Victor Chaykin, eh? Happy Birthday! Here's to the next 61 years!
I was reading the Joshua Hale Fialkov interview (he's a great writer, by the way) yesterday, and was struck when he said this:
"Everyone has a path, everyone has a road -- for some people that road is a lot shorter than other people. I have moments where I realize I've been doing this for 10 years. When "I, Vampire" was announced, there was a chorus of, "Who the fuck is that guy?" I'm like, "Seriously? 10 years. Tons of awards. Book published by Random House, biggest publisher in the world. Seriously? Anybody?" And then you realize that well, no, I have 3000 fans. I have those 3000 people who read everything I do and now you're given this opportunity with the relaunch and with this book to reach twenty or thirty times that audiences and it's fucking great."
...and the thought that struck me was this: I don't believe there's ever once been a writer in comics who has become a "name writer" who didn't become that way until after doing a regular, ongoing monthly series. Not minis and GNs -- monthly on goings. Let's define "name writer" as "sells a book solely on the strength of their name to a significant (5-10kish, maybe?) audience"
(I think that may also be true for screenwriters as well -- I'm thinking Sorkin, Whedon, Abrams... though Maybe M. Night puts a lie to that?)
Clearly it isn't true for writer/artists -- but I think it is right for writers, which is why a lot of people never "break out", because they never find that ongoing idea they can make their own for 5-ish years.
Thoughts?
-B
It was a tough call, deciding how to chop up Ep. 59 -- it was one of those eps. where the cleanest transition between topics wasn't very clean at all. So, really, if you've just listened to Ep. 59.1, you'll handle the transition to 59.2 just fine--I literally just cut an inhalation between the end of that one and the start of this one.
So maybe when I launch into my thoughts on Craig Thompson's Habibi, you'll get a better sense of where I'm coming from if you've recently finished that. (Or maybe not. I never know. Embarrassingly enough, I more or less have this conversation twice--once as a speaker, and once as a listener/editor -- and I still can't remember who said what.) But we talk about Habibi, and then Graeme and I go on to give you reviews and opinionated blabbity-blab about the first issues of Voodoo, Superman, The Flash, and Brilliant; Bakuman vols. 5 and 6, and much more. Dude, it's like eighty minutes! You understand why I had to break it into parts, right?
Oh, and program notes! I first jabbered about autodidacts in 59.1 so I probably should've linked to one of Tim O'Neil's several great pieces about Dave Sim's Cerebus last entry, but it is still pertinent here. Also pertinent to our discussion of Voodoo is the work of photographer Alicia Vera, particularly this and this (though Graeme was looking at this when we were talking). I know squat about photography but I really think Ms. Vera is the real deal and she could go on to big things. Oh, and I guess those last few links are NSFW, maybe? Not very, but...
Okay, so all that said, here's the podcast! You've probably already come across it on iTunes, but if not or if you would prefer to listen to it here, by all means do be our guest:
Wait, What? Ep. 59.2: Nine 9 Nein
As always, thanks for listening and we hope you enjoy!
The "arriving" lists are what I'm getting from DIAMOND, but I've been doing an increasing amount of business with Baker & Taylor -- because they're delivering books faster, cheaper, AND returnable. Like this week, I'm getting seventeen TPs through B&T, some of them pretty major. To whit:
Best American Comics 2011 HC Do it Yourself Doodler Good Neighbors v3: Kind TP Granpa Won't Wake Up HC Happiness is a Warm Blanket SC Irredeemable v7 TP John Stanley Library Nancy HC v3 Korgi v3 Marvel Comics in the 1970s SC Metamaus HC Monster Christmas HC Post-It Notes Diaries SC Pure Pajamas HC Star Gazing Dog GN Troop 142 Walking Dead Chronicles SC Zombie Tales Omnibus: Outbreak
Anything look good to YOU?
-B
It's true: this is indeed the podcast installment where you will hear Graeme and I talk about Debbie Gibson (or Deborah, if you prefer), Tiffany, and New Kids on the Block, along with Frank Miller's Holy Terror and Grant Morrison's Invisibles. I'd like to try and deny that Graeme and I came up with a marvelous piece of speculative audio fanfic showing how NKOTB were, in fact, an early '90s Invisibles cell....but I can't.
(That said? We didn't, don't worry.)
How does that saying go: sometimes we don't get the podcast we want, we get the podcast we need? That's not really applicable here but it's a fun sentence to type, certainly. And it's not even one-tenth the fun you'll have listening to Wait, What? Ep. 59.1, be it through the magic of iTunes, or the rheumy prestidigation of this site:
Wait, What? Ep. 58.1: Only In Our Dreams
Ep. 59.2 is right around the corner, don't worry. And, as always, thanks for listening and we hope you enjoy!
Running low on time, and I didn't have "clever" subcategories to go with it this week, so, here's the final 13 books in a single post.
ALL-STAR WESTERN #1: What a terrific comic! I thought there was a lot of thought and density in this book, and the art was scrumptious. VERY GOOD.
AQUAMAN #1: A solid debut, though it's really hard to judge what the series will actually be like -- this was mostly a bunch of "Aquaman is lame" jokes, and, clearly THAT's not a sustainable direction, month-after-month. I'll go, for the moment, with a solid GOOD, because the monsters seemed interesting.
BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT #1: Hey, look, ANOTHER breakout from Arkham! Hey, look, we end with a wrongly named character! This just seems like "the unnecessary Batman comic" to me. It wasn't terrible, or anything, but I don't see the reason for this to exist other than "showcase for Finch"... and does anyone expect him to be monthly on this book for 2-3 years? I don't. So: OK.
BLACKHAWKS #1: I mean, for what it is, it is absolutely competently done, but I don't really like GI Joe in the first place, and a DCU version doesn't fill my black heart with joy. I think, after reading all 52 now, this is probably the first one that will be cancelled because there's just nothing to draw me in (though, honestly, it might work fine as a TV show) when compared to "proper" superhero comics in the same universe. EH.
THE FURY OF FIRESTORM #1: Oh, god, ow. Wow, that was miserable. First, Jason and Ronnie as contemporaries kind of sucks. Second, having "Firestorm" without a disembodied co-pilot kind of misses the entire point of the premise. Third, the "Fury" idea is kinda sorta amusing, but way way too much of being Firestorm in the first place was just skipped over to get to that last page beat. Fourth, scientists in the DCU are now just handing out "superpower bombs" to high school students now? Fifth, really? THAT'S the origin? "he presses a button" Really? Sixth, um what's with the other girl who was there, why didn't she get powers too? I thought this was pretty lousy overall -- AWFUL.
By the way, I guess this means that the whole "Firestorm is, like, a bomb that's going to explode" or whatever that plotline was... that will never been resolved, eh? I'm super curious to what the intended resolution of that one was. If you knew it, drop me a line, eh? I KNOW someone from DC is reading these....
THE FLASH #1: Nice art, nice page layout, solid enough story -- more enjoyable than the Flash has been in a long while -- GOOD.
GREEN LANTERNS: NEW GUARDIANS #1: Interesting choice to start with the origin of Kyle, which made this easy enough to follow, but then it leads into the Rainbow Corps stuff, and I'm all meh about that -- no real plot here yet, or notion of what the book is ABOUT. So... OK?
I, VAMPIRE #1: Beautiful moody expressive art... but I had a really hard time following the who and the what and the when of it all. That's probably because I read thirteen comics in one sitting! OK
JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #1: Going in with extremely low expectations helps, yes it does -- I thought this was solid, if unspectacular. A low GOOD?
SAVAGE HAWKMAN #1: Textbook of how NOT to do a reboot -- it's predicated on (at least I think) wanting to break the curse of Hawkman (which I take to mean the through-the-years romance dealie?), but you have to KNOW that to understand the who and what at all. And then when he tries to burn the suit, it somehow bonds to him or something equally incomprehensible. The art was vaguely nice, but there's nothing sympathetic on display, and I felt like I walked into the middle of someone else's D&D campaign where they has a bunch of poorly explained house rules. Pretty AWFUL.
SUPERMAN #1: It MIGHT be in relationship to ACTION, but I sort of think this was a bad comic all on its own. You know what it felt like to me? A comics by and for old people, but who were really really trying to be "hip" or modern, but not at all seeing what and why and how they were entirely missing was IS modern. Also, a special double-ugh to Clark's new hairstyle, which almost sorta worked in ACTION, but looks beyond shitty here. This book smells covered with group-think, and I thought it was sadly AWFUL. (Yet, it was ironically the best-seller this week of the 13)
TEEN TITANS #1: Not enough happened for me to judge the tone or direction of this series, but it sorta worked for me anyway... at least as long as I tell myself "this is the only Titans, ever" OK, I thought.
VOODOO #1: Late night cable in comics form. It started off like some sort of cheesy Skinamax soft-core, then, boom! rubber monster at the end of it. I don't think you can do a book that's nothing but antagonists, and find an audience, but I guess we'll see? At least it was pretty, but oh so very EH.
Sheesh, finished! I never want to do that ever again!!
I have a notion for a "what did I learn?" piece, but it might be better suited after we've got most (or all) of a month of #2s behind us.
Still, as always, what did YOU think?
-B
So so busy! Ben's 8th birthday, got to get the ONOMATOPOEIA out, ugh! My last 52 review series is 80% written too, so expect that... tomorrow?
Look below the cut for this week's books!
ACTION COMICS #2 ANIMAL MAN #2 AVENGERS 1959 #1 (OF 5) B & V FRIENDS DOUBLE DIGEST #218 BATWING #2 BLOOD RED DRAGON #0 BOYS #59 CALIGULA #4 (OF 6) CASANOVA AVARITIA #2 (OF 4) CHEW #21 DARK TOWER GUNSLINGER BATTLE OF TULL #5 (OF 5) DC COMICS PRESENTS BATMAN THE DEMON LAUGHS #1 DC UNIVERSE ONLINE LEGENDS #15 DEADPOOL #44 DETECTIVE COMICS #2 FEAR AGENT #31 OUT OF STEP (PT 4 OF 5) (RES) GREEN ARROW #2 HAWK AND DOVE #2 HOUSE OF MYSTERY #42 HULK #42 HUNTRESS #1 (OF 6) INFINITE #3 INVINCIBLE #83 IZOMBIE #18 JIM BUTCHER DRESDEN FILES FOOL MOON #4 JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #2 KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #178 (NOTE PRICE) LADY DEATH (ONGOING) #10 LAST OF THE GREATS #1 CVR A PEEPLES LOONEY TUNES #203 MARKSMEN #3 (OF 6) MEN OF WAR #2 MOON KNIGHT #6 MORIARTY #5 MYSTIC #3 (OF 4) OMAC #2 PENGUIN PAIN AND PREJUDICE #1 (OF 5) PILOT SEASON TEST #1 RED LANTERNS #2 REED GUNTHER #5 ROGER LANGRIDGES SNARKED #1 SCOOBY DOO WHERE ARE YOU #14 SEVERED #3 (OF 7) SKULLKICKERS #11 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #229 SPAWN #212 SPIDER-ISLAND HEROES FOR HIRE #1 SPI STAN LEE TRAVELER #11 STATIC SHOCK #2 STORMWATCH #2 STRANGE TALENT OF LUTHER STRODE #1 (OF 6) SUPERIOR #5 (OF 6) SUPERNATURAL #1 (OF 6) SWAMP THING #2 SWEET TOOTH #26 THE RINSE #2 THUNDERBOLTS #164 TUROK SON OF STONE #4 VESCELL #2 WALKING DEAD #89 WAR GODDESS #2 WARLORD OF MARS DEJAH THORIS #7 X-23 #15 X-MEN #19 X-MEN SCHISM #5 (OF 5)
Books / Mags / Stuff 30 DAYS OF NIGHT OMNIBUS TP ALL GHOUL SCHOOL GN ALL STAR SUPERMAN TP AMERICAN VAMPIRE TP VOL 01 ANGEL AFTER THE FALL TP VOL 03 ANITA BLAKE VH GUILTY PLEASURES ULT COLL TP ART OF COMIC BOOK INKING TP VOL 01 NEW PTG AXE COP BAD GUY EARTH TP BAKUMAN TP VOL 07 BARBARIAN CHICKS AND DEMONS GN VOL 04 (A) BATMAN EYE OF THE BEHOLDER HC BATMAN THE LONG HALLOWEEN TP NEW ED CAPTAIN AMERICA RED GLARE PREM HC CLASSICS ILLUS HC VOL 14 WUTHERING HEIGHTS FANTASTIC FOUR 1234 PREM HC FARSCAPE TP VOL 05 RED SKY AT MORNING POKEMON ADVENTURES PLATINUM VOL 03 PREVIEWS #277 OCTOBER 2011 RED HULK PLANET RED HULK TP ROGER LANGRIDGE THE SHOW MUST GO ON TP SAVAGE SWORD OF KULL TP VOL 02 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG ARCHIVES TP VOL 16 SPIDER-MAN RETURN OF ANTI-VENOM PREM HC TEZUKA BOOK OF HUMAN INSECTS HC WALKING DEAD HC VOL 07 X-MEN CLAREMONT AND LEE OMNIBUS HC VOL 01 ZOMNIBUS GN VOL 02
As always, what looks good to YOU?
-B
NYT: "So Far, Sales for New DC Comics Are Super" Although he's not saying anything regular readers will find new, I'm linking it since he may end up being too modest or too forgetful to do so.
Congratulations, Mr. Hibbs! Please remember to use this as a crucial point in your "don't you know who I am?" argument the next time you're in New York and trying to bum rush a showing of The Book of Mormon...
Oh, God! He’s back again! Hopefully he won’t be chittering on about WILL EISNER’S THE SPIRIT (DC Comics, 2010 – 2011)! Um, don’t really know how to break this to you…
WILL EISNER’s THE SPIRT (2010 – 2011)
It’s cancelled now, of course. Living in LCS discount boxes across the globe waiting for eager hands and enquiring minds to alight upon the lovely Ladronn covers and pluck them out for a good hard reading. Doing so would certainly be something I’d recommend. For 17 straight issues Mark Shultz, David Hine and Matthew Sturges delivered the scripting goods. Solid, enjoyable writing all the way only occasionally undercut by decompression, but even when the pages seemed a little unnecessary they were made necessary by the delightful stylings of Moritat, for the most part, but also subs such as Victor Ibanez. Moritat was a revelation in this series; to me a new discovery whose art was a sheer pleasure on every page it graced. If I weren't already signed up for ALL-STAR WESTERN his presence would have ensured it. But it’s cancelled now of course, yet there’s still time for one last look before the final issues slip off the shelf to make way for another tie-in, yet another re-boot, yet another thing that matters less but will sell more. If there’s a lesson to be learned from the demise of WILL EISNER’S THE SPIRIT it’s probably that in today’s wacky world of funnybooks VERY GOOD! will only get you so far but hype will get you further. This series was always the former but had little of the latter and so now it’s cancelled of course. Time for that one last look back then…
WILL EISNER’S THE SPIRIT#16 By John Paul Leon (a), David Hine (w), Daniel Vozzo (c) and Rob Leigh (l) Cover by Ladronn (DC Comics, $2.99)
Consisting as this does of a story told via splash pages this corker is pretty much definitive proof that splash pages can be more than lazy page filling; that the derision and heart-sink I feel when presented with one more big image is more a learned response to their implementation over the past years by wastrels and hacks. It’s an exercise in artistic constraint, the kind Alan Moore (ssshhh! Now, Internet. Shhhh!) regularly delights in tasking himself with. Here the brief is clearly to tell the tale in splashes but each splash has to carry the story forward, include all the relevant visual information, convey mood and, just for yucks, also to include THE SPIRIT logo worked into it unobtrusively. Tell the story basically. In lesser hands it would be a stunt, in even lesser hands a pitiful waste but in hands as nimble and facile as these it becomes a joy. A delightful reminder that those rich in imagination and craft can achieve more when restricted than those who are not so blessed can achieve when given complete freedom.
There are 19 more pages as good as this! I shit thee not!
Clearly the star of the show here is John Paul Leon who carries the major weight of the enterprise. John Paul Leon is known to me from the WINTER MEN series he illustrated Brett Lewis’ words for. The fact that I consider WINTER MEN to be the nearest thing to AMERICAN FLAGG! since AMERICAN FLAGG! probably gives you some idea of the regard with which I already hold his work. A regard that this issue does nothing to diminish. It’s one of those artistic performances you really have to see for yourself. I’m not really one to tell people to buy things sight unseen due to all that nasty subjectivity floating about, but, hey, here I am saying buy this one sight unseen. Your eyes will owe you a pint for it because John Paul Leon’s work here elevates a solid script to EXCELLENT!
WILL EISNER’S THE SPIRIT#17 By Brian Bolland, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez and Brian Bolland (a), Howard Victor Chaykin, Paul Levitz and Will Pfeiffer (w), Rob Leigh and Galen Showman (l) Cover by Ladronn (DC Comics, $2.99)
This final issue of the series contains three short and sharp B/W strips. Such strips formed the back-up of the regular comic until DC cut pages and kept prices down (as opposed to Marvel who cut pages and kept prices up). I guess these were in the can when the axe came down but they make a fine fare thee well for the series.
First up is a strip drawn by Brian Bolland. If I have to tell you about Brian Bolland I can only surmise you have arrived here due your abiding love of bad prose styling rather than your love of comics. For to know comics is to know Brian Bolland and to love one is to love the other. It’s Brian Bolland! and although there’s a stiffness evident that was absent from his hey day he’s still Brian freaking Bolland and that makes him well worth the eye time. Here he’s illuminating a strip scripted by one Howard Victor Chaykin. You’d know that even if you didn't read the credits because it’s got all his little, um, interests in abundance (ladies, infidelity, murder, female, ladies, body builders, snappy patter, you know the deal with this guy and it’s a sweet deal indeed). Also, either he scripted this tighter than a gnat’s chuff including breakdowns or Bolland and Rob Leigh went out of their way to make it look exactly like a Howard Victor Chaykin production right down to the signature layering of sound FX. It’s Brian Bolland and Howard Victor Chaykin and so it could never be less than EXCELLENT!
If this panel was any more "Howard Victor Chaykin" it would have had a bah mitzvah!
Next up Jose Luis Garcia Lopez is freed from his merchandising illustration duties to bring vitality and elegance to a tale by Paul Levitz in which The Spirit versus Illegal Lottery Lad and Newspaper Kiosk Kid. Not really, but it does revolve around illegal lottery tickets and an old man in a kiosk who gets dealt with surprisingly harshly at story’s end. There’s a washed out quality to the art that is entirely at home with the snowy setting and, really, as usual Jose Luis Garcia Lopez is worth the ticket price on his own. DC should really collect TWILIGHT by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez and Howard Victor Chaykin before I die, just saying. Mostly because of the art, as the story lacks a certain clarity, this was VERY GOOD!
"FIGHT!"
Finally Will Pfeiffer and P Craig Russell take us on an entertaining whistle-stop tour of art history which runs parallel to The Spirit chasing a hood with many irreplaceable works of art meeting a slapstick end. It’s fizzy, informative and fun stuff that reminds me of how good Will Pfeiffer is and then makes me wonder why he doesn't write more. Being centred on Art it’s pretty much P Craig Russell’s show all the way and this being P Craig Russell it’s a barnstormer, and I can only genuflect at the wonder of his execution. Mind you, I do love me some P Craig Russell. I love him for his graceful and delicate art but I also love him because when he’s allowed to do what he wants he doesn't just illustrate a new and exciting (i.e. stale and uninteresting) take on teens with superpowers intended for other media, no, he adapts Oscar Wilde fairy tales or operas like The Ring Of The Nibelung. Then he does stuff like talk about how his pacing is intended to mimic the movements of the music and it’s right about then that I realise that although I can never appreciate his work to the level it deserves I can at least love it. So I do and this makes the final story in this issue VERY GOOD!
Let there be P Craig Russell...
So there you go - WILL EISNER’S THE SPIRIT published by DC Comics from 2010 to 2011 is cancelled now but it was VERY GOOD! And time won’t change that. Take a look in the dollar bins and prove me wrong, why doncha!
Pah, enough! I must go tend to the roses in the garden of my Life! Have a nice weekend and remember every weekend is better with COMICS!
Um, no show without Punch, right?
Well, how to follow all that, eh? All the Nu-DC reviewed and rated by some of the finest minds to have been damaged by comics at an early age! How about by saying exactly the same things about less comics but more leadenly, with more words and a smattering of shit jokes. Those being bad jokes as opposed to jokes about shit. Business as usual then!
WONDER WOMAN #1 By Cliff Chiang (a), Brian Azzarello (w), Matthew Wilson (c) and Jared K. Fletcher (l) (DC Comics, $2.99)
For someone as pickled in cape comics as I am I sure do have a deficiency in the area of Wonder Woman comics. In fact I think I only own those Wonder Woman issues John Byrne did. I own them but I haven’t read them. I think I was drunk on E-Bay or something. Anyway I don’t really have a clear idea of Wonder Woman but luckily neither does DC by all accounts (ho ho ho) so this blank slate beginning was perfect for me. After reading it I still have no idea about Wonder Woman because it’s not really about Wonder Woman after all or it is but it’s also about everybody else in it, kind of an ensemble piece.
I certainly wouldn't have gone for Azzarello’s idea of sticking Wonder Woman into GREEK STREET as my first choice but it turns out I’d be wrong because I really, really enjoyed this one. It’s creepy, eventful and surprisingly unsettling all in all and Cliff Chiang’s art is just the dreamiest. Cliff Chiang – reach out and touch him! I look forward to this characterisation of Wonder Woman being carried across to the JL where she will just straight gut Darkseid while he’s bloviating leading to a big Super-sigh from Supes and 21 pages of the JL trying not catch Wonder Woman’s eye while she stands there daring any of them to say anything. Because consistency of characterisation across the line is certainly what I expect from the Big 2! In this comic WONDER WOMAN was VERY GOOD!
MEN OF WAR #1 Tom Derenick, Phil Winslade (a), Ivan Brandon, Jonathan Vankin (w), Matt Wilson, Thomas Ch (c) and Rob Leigh (l) (DC Comics, $3.99) I didn't ask for this one. I guess my LCS sent it because I chunter on about old war comics all the time. Watch: What’s this Men of War starring Frank Rock’s grandson business? What’s all that about? Rock stories appear in Our Army At War or Sgt Rock comics! Men of War is Gravedigger’s book! Why didn't they go with Gravedigger? He’s African-American so they could have picked up some of that sweet media heat.
This one looks like one of the rush-jobs because it isn't very interesting at all despite the revelation that apparently in the US Armed Forces on occasion you will be taken into a room where you will be told how much everyone you have ever met really likes you and then they will ask after your Mother. If you are a Captain you get a back rub and ice cream. There was a terrible moment when the issue opened with “Something warm on my face…wet…” but I checked and Judd Winick hadn't written it so I carried on. There’s some weird business with super heroes that lacks clarity, I’m guessing nu-Rock will have a chip on his shoulder about capes. I’m guessing this since the mission goes big-time number ten SNAFU as soon as the cape turns up. I’m thinking someone wants to plan their Ops a bit more thoroughly than sending in the ground boys and then just have a cape jizz about blowing stuff up and crashing into everything willy nilly. I’m no Patton but a bit of planning might help.
"Exciting stuff, there!"
There’s quite a lot of action in this but it isn’t terribly interestingly delivered, which is a shame because that means most of the issue isn’t terribly interesting. C’mon, Tom Derenick, I know it can’t be easy making this stuff look exciting but, I don’t know if you've heard, there ain’t nothing easy in Easy Company! There’s a back-up that is exactly like some early ‘60s Robert Kanigher/Irv Novick short about fighting men and how they are men who are fighting. Which was okay back then but I checked with a passing young person and apparently it is now 2011, so that’s not so good. There’s the usual lovely gangly scratchiness from Phil Winslade on this bit so that’s nice. But his presence suggests someone put this comic together in a rush because although Phil Winslade deserves better he appears to be DC’s first choice for pinch-hitting on non-cape comics. Overall then MEN OF WAR #1 is kind of like stumbling into a pit of confusion laced with punji sticks carved from clichés. Proving once again that War is EH!
ACTION COMICS #1 By Rags Morales/Rick Bryant (a), Grant Morrison (w), Brad Anderson (c) and Patrick Brosseau (l) (DC Comics, $3.99)
Beginning a bold new era in Superman comics! An era of Superman comics I actually want to read! That’s an exciting notion right there, DC Comics; Superman comics people might enjoy. Judging from this issue this bold experiment is working out okay. This is pretty much the kind of capey first issue Grant Morrison can probably spuff out in his sleep by now. It starts at full pelt and just keeps barrelling along with the odd handful of exposition and foreshadowing thrown at the eager reader’s face as it whistles past. Nicely done. Rags Morales was obviously a bit time constrained but for the most part his art is pretty lovely. Other parts are just jarring, like when I was enjoying Lex Luthor’s regal new nose only to turn the page to find he had somehow turned into a beatific bald child, later on his nu-nose was back, but, c’mon. let’s try and keep on-model here, guys. I really enjoyed Lex Luthor in this, he was given some kind of reasonable motivation for his Super-hate and did that suave thing where he basically does what they paid him for without even breaking a sweat (or registering the colossal property damage and human injuries involved) and then just saunters off. Stylish!
"Hey, anyone seen a berk? Superman needs to talk to a berk!"
Superman intimidating that there fellow into a confession? Have to say it didn't bother me that much. The dude he drops is clearly (almost comically so) established to have done Wrong. So, it’s not even a Left/Right wing thing either. He’s a Bad, Bad Man! Of course what Superman does isn't super-nice but then he is basically a power fantasy after all. And, yeah, big old woolly minded Liberals like me have them too. But a part of the power fantasy of Superman is: He’s Right So It’s Okay. Anyway wasn't all this sorted around 1986 with that book WHATCHAMAFLIP where it showed if capes existed then they’d be co-opted by The Man, hunted as criminals, retire quietly or be big, blue men who liked to feel it swing in the wind? As another book that year said “We have always been criminals, Clark.” It’s just one of those things you agree not to notice when you pick up a cape book, I think. C’mon, I noted at least two people had had their head pushed through a wall/table by Superman. I’m pretty sure that’s likely to be fatal. But I bet it wasn't, because, y’know, it’s…Superman! Suspension of disbelief, people, have some on you at all times! And so Superman, and thus, ACTION COMICS #1, is VERY GOOD!
DEMON KNIGHTS #1 By Diogenes Neves/Oclair Albert (a), Paul Cornell (w), Marcelo Maiolo (c) and Jared K. Fletcher (l). The Demon created by JACK KIRBY. (See Marvel, who did that hurt? Eh?!) (DC Comics. $2.99)
I don’t know about this one, I’d guess it was slapped together for the Nu-push at short notice. It’s got concepts and ideas but it all just seems a bit bunged out, a bit “Table Four are getting up to leave! Soup now, Chef!” While it just never really gelled for me it did have appealing elements such as the mix of characters and a working sense of humour. Sadly Cornell drops a bollock by making Merlin practically characterless. As anyone who has seen EXCALIBUR will attest Merlin must always evoke Nicol Williamson’s fantastic I-have-decided-I-am-in-a-different-film-to-everyone-else performance, otherwise your Merlin just ain't happening, pal. Ignoring that but given the very real problems I had with the comic I can’t in all conscience give it better than EH! But since I sense some potential I’m hoping it’ll at least get to GOOD! But try to remember that not everyone is as patient and lovely as me, DC!
"It is the DOOM of Marvel that they refuse to credit Jack Kirby. Hmmm!"
SWAMP THING #1 By Yanick Paquette (a), Scott Snyder (w), Nathan Fairbairn (c) and John J. Hill (l) (DC Comics, $2.99)
It’s lucky I’m not in a Scott Snyder comic or I’d be discomforting Superman with that time my Dad said unfortunate things about immigrants or how this whole dead birds and fish thing is a bit like my Dad saying how people park in front of your house and, yeah, you don’t own the bit outside your front window but, really now, is it too much to ask for just a little common decency here, Superman? But I’m not in it, Alec Holland is. Interestingly despite having returned magically from the dead after a period of some years Alec Holland is still way more employable than me. He’s on his second job since he just popped up a few weeks ago and he’s made the transition from botanical boffin to horny handed builder without missing a step. Versatility is the key in times of recession, jobseekers! Having been dead and then kind-of-maybe-not-sure-been Swamp Thing has left him with the super power of being able to tell which planks are spoiled by rot via touching and staring; I guess that swung the interview despite the Death Gap Years on his C.V. and total lack of experience. I liked that bit, the bit where we get a crash course on rot and also the bit about the anti-inflammatory properties of cabbage leaves. I hear they saved the bit about the effects of coriander on erectile dysfunction for another comic.
"Oh hush now and dance with me you fool!"
I also enjoyed the bit about the slow-motion savagery of The Green. Mind you, that sounded familiar; is that from He Who Cannot Be Named’s run? Speaking of which there are cute shout outs to previous Swamp Thing comics (the logo on the diggers, Holland’s pass code, the name of the motel, etc) but the most obvious throwback is the style, which is very like The Nameless One’s early issues. Not as good, mind you, but similar. The art’s nice as well. I don’t envy Paquette having to draw all that…real stuff but he does it well displaying a commendable range. I heard that he had to redraw some of it as well to incorporate Superman’s new, um, look so kudos for the extra effort there. Hopefully it’ll get a bit smoother now the set-up is over, maybe Swamp Thing will be on more than one page and we’ll hear less Dad wisdom but, yeah, it’s a little bit talky and it’s a little bit creepy (like me, huh! Well, that's nice.) I…guess…it…was…OKAY!
FRANKENSTEIN AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E #1 By Albert Ponticelli (a), Jeff Lemire (w), Jose Villarrubia (c) and Pat Brosseau (l) (DC Comics, $2.99)
I’m okay about Jeff Lemire, I enjoyed that book he did about the sad kid and the grumpy ex hockey player and then that series he does about the sad kid with antlers and the grumpy ex-hockey player after the apocalypse. I thought I’d try this one to see if he could maybe expand his range a bit. Because apparently it’s really laudatory for creators to “go outside their comfort zones”. Which, yeah, it is but only if they avoid moving all their old baggage and furniture in so that in no time at all the place pretty much looks like their old comfort zone. (I’m not talking about Jeff Lemire here, SWEET TOOTH and ESSEX COUNTY are very different, that was a cheap gag earlier so I could cram this next bit in.) Some of these guys who get a rep for “going outside their comfort zone” remind me of a certain tendency we Brits have. This being a tendency to go somewhere exotic and then find the nearest English theme pub and sit in it for two weeks eating Yorkshire puddings and drinking binge while looking at a foreign sky out of the window. Anyway this one’s about a sad monster kid and his team of undead ex-hockey players. No, not really it was just punchline time!
"Keats was a pussy, Palmer! Larkin, dude! Larkin!"
It is, as has been stated by better people, quite similar to Xombi. You remember Xombi; the fresh and fizzy breakneck ride packed with invention and incident that didn't stint on characterisation and was illustrated by someone who clearly gave a shit about what he was doing. The one that got cancelled after 6 issues. This is a bit like Xombi but, I don’t want to be mean (after all I (spoiler!) liked it just fine), but a bit more pedestrian, a bit more stale. A bit more likely to survive, I guess. Of course it’s got a bit of a hand up since it’s riding the crest of the nu-wave. Did this one sell out? Six months ago would this have sold out? Questions there - show your workings. So there’s an immediate benefit the relaunch has had. Stuff that’s a bit quirky, a bit off-beat has a far likelier chance to survive. That can’t be a bad thing can it? I guess once Lemire gets rid of the stock crazy ideas that float on top of his mind things should get more interesting and the series might actually have a chance to last that long. At the moment though it’s OKAY!
ANIMAL MAN #1 By Travel Foreman/Dan Green (a), Jeff Lemire (w), Lovern Kinzierski (c) and Jared K. Fletcher (l) (DC Comics, $2.99)
This one seems to have been pretty clearly in the can before the call to arms came. I think the tell is just how polished it is. It’s a really tidy little first issue which tells you who everyone is in relation to each other, how Animal Man’s powers work, how he is in a crisis, where he stands in the wider world and demonstrates that whoever’s inking it should really sort that out pronto, because some of it was real gloopy. In fact the execution is almost kind of a bit too efficient for me, almost a bit too TV for me.
"They're...they're in your face!"
Luckily there were some appealing rough spots such as Buddy and Ellen’s interaction (I thought it was pretty “realistic” couple chat action myself. Unless that reflects badly on me in which case it was terrible! Terrible!, I say!) and Travel Foreman’s quirky art which had quite a lot of space in it which worked to make things a bit not unpleasingly discombobulating for this reader at least. I’ll stick around for a bit anyway as it was, on the whole, GOOD! However, if Buddy’s kids start being sad and Buddy turns out to have a past playing hockey, I’m gone, bubba!
OMAC#1 By Keith Giffen/Scott Koblish (a), Dan Didio/Keith Giffen (w), Hi-Fi (c) and Travis Lanham (l) (DC Comics, $2.99)
Step back! It’s an OMAC attack! The Buddha of Budda!budda!budda! is back! OMAC! Created by JACK! Bubblegum bellicosity Kirby style! I believe it only right that there should be a corner of comics that is forever Kirby so this was VERY GOOD! If they actually credit Jack Kirby next time I might see fit to say it’s even better. Naughty, DC.!
And on that bombshell! Have a great weekend, everyone!
No idea. No idea. I remember I had some brilliant idea about the image to go with this episode and it's just...gone. Thought I wrote it down and everything. Fortunately, I still feel comfortable ganking images from Mr. Tim at the amazing Our Valued Customers. In fact, this wasn't even the image I'd planned to use but I jumped over there and thought this was brilliant enough to disseminate widely.
(Man, those two words seem pervy next to one another. "Disseminate widely." Brrrrgh.)
So no, be warned, we do not talk Big Bang Theory on this latest not-quite-forty-minutes-and-therefore-is-considered-wee-by-our-standards installment of Wait, What? But Graeme and I do talk Green Lantern Corps, Birds of Prey, Daredevil #4, Witch Doctor #3, LoSH #1, Captain Atom, the original Legion Lost, X-Men: Schism #4, and some thoughts on buying digital.
Also, we are holding a fantastic contest with amazing prizes. Well, okay, it's a "prize" actually, and your working defintion of "amazing" will have to be pretty loose but....hey, we read superhero comics in 2011! Our definition of "amazing" is pretty darn flexible, right? Listen in and enter!
This teeny-tiny podcast, incapable of being seen by the naked eye, is already floating through coursing bloodstream of iTunes. Or, alternately, you could shrink yourself, Raquel Welch and a kick-ass submarine down to microscopic size and view it through your auditory canals here:
Wait, What? Ep. 58.2: A Set of Steak Knives
As always, we thank you for listening and hope you have el viaje fantástico!
First off, curse Graeme McMillan for showing me up, and lapping me like that! Scottish Bastich! Batman, GLC, LSH, Nightwing below
BATMAN #1: The darling of all of the critics, it seems, and I don't really get. It was fine, sure, but I liked pretty much everything about BATMAN, INC. much much better. Maybe it's just me. I sorta despaired up front with the Arkham breakout scene (seriously? Is there a bigger cliche in Batman stories right now?) with "Look it's all of Batman's foes, and he can beat them up, ALL AT ONCE!" Why then are any of them now a threat individually? I also found Bruce's plan to be gratingly patronizing, and inherently top-down and likely-to-fail. He should be smarter than that, at this point. I also thought the cliffhanger, while maybe amusing, was pretty internally illogical, considering Dick is starring in his own comics. I don't know, maybe a low GOOD? A high OK? I'm good either way...
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #1: Kind of more of the same, for this book, and one of the very few of the new 52 that, in my store, is only selling about the same, or maybe a little less, as the issue before (LEGION, below, would be the other one, so far) -- I liked the art, though, even if I didn't really need to see the alien internal cross-sections at the top of the issue. I really liked the coloring, especially, with the constructs seeming to have a different weight than everything else. All of the earth-bound stuff was dumb (really, explain why they want ongoing jobs, again?) I thought, overall, it was highly OK.
LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES: Urgle. Staggeringly bad. It even directly mentions Flashpoint. More than, maybe, any other book, this would have really been better with a "year one" kind of direction, rather than really just being #17 of the last series. AWFUL, and I like the Legion.
NIGHTWING #1: This, to me, is so completely unnecessary, because really what they should have done was just de-aged Dick back to being young one-and-only Robin. Instead, we have a Dick without a Titans (so he ultimately can't be the same character now, can he?), and he just staggers back o the only other thing we know about him: the circus. Yawn! I also how BATMAN #1 opens with Bruce beating all of his enemies at once, while the end of NIGHTWING #1 is Dick getting beaten by a super-generic guy with wolverine claws (!). No sir, I did not like it! AWFUL.
Tomorrow (ish): the final week!
As always, what did YOU think?
-B
You know, before DC Comics so politely sent me the entire run of the New 52 launch issues, I don't think that I'd ever read an entire month's worth of a superhero universe before. I have to say, it's kind of exhausting. But that doesn't mean that I'm not going to try and run down very quick capsule reviews of all 52 right here, right now, as Fatboy Slim once said many many years ago oh God I am so old. ACTION COMICS #1: In retrospect, maybe my favorite of all 52 books, this one feels like it actually understands how to reboot a concept without overwhelming the reader with information or assuming that they already know everything; Grant Morrison's script has some of his shorthand dialogue, but it's dense and filled with "action" throughout, and this feels like a satisfying chunk of comics that also lays the groundwork for future stories. Very Good.
ALL STAR WESTERN #1: It's heresy amongst the comicsinternet to admit that I'm not a massive fan of Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti's Jonah Hex, but it's never really done a lot for me. That said, this felt solidly Good, setting up the new status quo for the character - and offering enough introduction to the character for new readers - with some really nice art by Moritat. I'm amused by yet another "Gotham is built upon conspiracy and evil" storyline so soon after last month's finale of Batman: Gates of Gotham, though.
ANIMAL MAN #1: Oh, this was so almost good. Jeff Lemire's writing is... good, I think, although I feel like he stumbles on the more domestic side of things here, and I like the subtle repositioning of this series as a horror book. But the art is just not serving the writing well at all; Travel Foreman can be an interesting stylist, but he ruins scenes here, most importantly - and, I think, damningly - the final page, which is robbed of its full impact by some weird staging that basically wastes the top half of the page. Also not helping, the inks by Dan Green (which veer between too heavy and almost weightlessly light) and some very dull, flat colors by Lovern Kindzierski. Eh, then, because of the art.
AQUAMAN #1: Yes, Geoff, I get it: Aquaman isn't a comedy punchline anymore. I would've preferred it if we'd had a chance to decide that for ourselves instead of suffering through the "blogger interview" midway through the book, but overall, this is a pretty Good first issue, setting out its pitch, introducing its characters and having a decent enough hook for the next few issues. That said, if you were reading Brightest Day, you pretty much know what's in here already; this is very much a continuation of what was happening with the character in that book.
BATGIRL #1: I don't know if this was flop sweat or something else, but this just didn't work as well as I'd been expecting it to. Maybe because it's so joyless, something that writer Gail Simone didn't seem to have a problem expressing with the character in Birds of Prey, but there really is something very... rushed and filled and self-important about this issue that made it feel like you were being hurriedly brought up to speed by someone who wanted you to know how serious everything was. World's dumbest cliffhanger, too. Eh.
BATMAN #1: Greg Capullo's art is surprisingly nice - Yes, a little too MacFarlane for my tastes, still, but what can you do? - and Scott Snyder's story is... I don't know. Nice, but somewhat slight, perhaps? I'll be coming back for a second issue, but I think that's more down to goodwill for the creative team than anything having particularly wowed me with this debut. Okay, I guess.
BATMAN AND ROBIN #1: Now this was much more my speed, perhaps because I enjoyed this version of Batman more - One who seems to be dealing with his trauma after X number of years processing survivor guilt as Batman, instead of just burying it - than the one in Batman or Detective (And, really, I can't believe that a linewide reboot didn't result in a slightly more consistent portrayal of Batman. He feels like a different character everytime he appears, like Superman. That doesn't seem like a good thing to me), or perhaps because there was more of an urgency on display here than in Snyder's title. Either way, Good, and a much better "first issue" than the last time Peter Tomasi and Pat Gleason took over the book.
BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT #1: Talking of wildly varying characterizations, this book... uh... exists. I don't know what to say about it. If you want a generic Image-style take on Batman, complete with pouty mouths from David Finch and overdone dialogue by Paul Jenkins, this is for you, I guess. I was completely underwhelmed, and laughed out loud as the kids say at the reveal of "One-Face" at the end of the book, especially because he still has half of his face scarred. Awful, but I'm sure it'll have its audience. Oh, and Jaina Hudson is the new Jezebel Jet.
BATWING #1: The first of the "This was much better than I expected" books of the 52, I found myself drawn into this more than I'd thought I would. Maybe it was Judd Winick's take on the character and his secret identity (A cop working outside of the system, because the system is so corrupt), or perhaps it was Ben Oliver's lovely, weirdly hazily dream-like artwork, but this convinced me to try the second issue, which I really wouldn't have thought would've been the case. A low Good, perhaps, but I have to say: This feels much more like a mini-series than an ongoing, already.
BATWOMAN #1: This, however, was a letdown. Not because it wasn't Good, because it was. But I'd been expecting more, spoiled by Greg Rucka's run on Detective. The writing here - by artist JH Williams and co-writer Hayden Blackman - was fine, and hit all the right notes, but didn't surprise me or have the emotional depth that Rucka's had, and the art, while beautiful, also lacked the impact or purpose of the original run. Even though I'll be back for future issues, and even though I enjoyed this, I found myself disappointed nonetheless. That's what I get for having high expectations.
BIRDS OF PREY #1: I'm not sure why, but this felt like it had too much space in it, if that makes any sense. What's here is fine, it's a perfectly Okay comic book, but it feels too empty for some reason, like something is missing. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something isn't quite right, like it's only half of the intended story or something.
BLACKHAWKS #1: I love Mike Costa's Cobra series for IDW, which is why it depressed me so much to realize how much I didn't like this first issue (The art by Graham Nolan and Ken Lashley didn't help; it's overly busy and not quirky enough to make me want to keep paying attention). You can't fault him for throwing the reader in as everything's already happening, but I didn't find any character particularly interesting, mysterious or even distinctive enough to care about, and as a result, the whole thing left me cold. Awful, sadly.
BLUE BEETLE #1: On the podcast, I said this was like the Blue Beetle we had before, but less so. Tony Bedard and Ig Guara make all the right moves, but it lacks the heart or originality to make me want to come back for issue 2. Eh.
CAPTAIN ATOM #1: Hey, everyone who's always wished that there was a Doctor Manhattan solo title spinning out from Watchmen, now you have your dream book. Sadly, it's written by JT Krul - who ruins the goodwill he'd built up from an Okay first issue by ending with a stupid "Is Captain Atom about to die?" cliffhanger (It's his first issue, so I think that question answers itself) - but, on the plus side, the art by Freddie Williams II is very nice indeed. If it gets smarter in future issues, it could end up being worth checking back in with in future, I suspect.
CATWOMAN #1: Oh, man, haven't I said enough about this already? Cheesecakey pandering with a depressingly unsexy tone and annoyingly passive lead character. Awful.
DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS: DEADMAN #1: I swear to God, this is like a black hole in my brain. I have read this book multiple times, and it really refuses to stay in there. Pretty much the definition of Eh for me, although I'll say that Bernard Chang never really gets the credit for his work that he deserves. I'd love to see him paired with less garish colorists sometime.
DEATHSTROKE #1: Fun last-minute twist aside, there's little in this book that appeals: I don't care about the character or the machismo on display, and Joe Bennett has always been hit-or-miss (with an emphasis on the latter) for me. Eh.
DEMON KNIGHTS #1: Punny title aside, Paul Cornell pretty much won me over with the sense of humor on display in this one, much like Jon Rogers did the same in IDW's Dungeons and Dragons book (which this is oddly reminiscent of, it has to be said). Weirdly parochial, but all the better for it. Very Good.
DETECTIVE COMICS #1: Tony "Salvador" Daniel - Has he ever used his middle name before? - aims high and doesn't quite make it, but oh man, can you see him try. There's nothing particularly wrong with this, but there's nothing particularly right, either; it all feels familiar, and more workmanlike than previous attempts. Having Daniel be writer/artist on a Batbook when you also have David Finch doing the same elsewhere in the same franchise feels a bit weird to me, for some reason; I feel like Daniel comes off worse, even though he's better at deadlines and arguably better as a writer, too. Eh, and that's only because I wasn't as appalled by the final page as many were.
THE FLASH #1: After the disappointment of the last Flash run, color me shocked to have enjoyed this as much as I did. Francis Manapul's art is just great - that opening double page splash! The page of Barry in his apartment! - and it turns out that his writing (along with Brian Buccellato) is much faster-paced and more fun than Geoff Johns' on this book. I like the new Barry Allen, and love his relationship to Iris in this new continuity. More of this, please. Very Good.
FRANKENSTEIN, AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E. #1: Another frustratingly "almost" effort from Jeff Lemire - I know where he's going! I just wish he'd made it there! - with equally frustrating art from Alberto Ponticelli, which is just a little too scratchy for its own good (and, like Travel Foreman in Animal Man, a little off in the framing when it really counts). There's a lot to like here, so I'm tempted to put this down to first issue nerves and hope that this book ends up sorting itself out down the line. That said, this is Okay, and I think that the just-finished Xombi played in the same sandbox in a much more entertaining and original way...
THE FURY OF FIRESTORM THE NUCLEAR MEN #1: Of the two Gail Simone books this month, this is the more enjoyable, but it has almost as much crammed into it as Batgirl, leading to a weirdly claustrophobic feeling. That said, I like the new spin on the concept (and the title), and wonder where, exactly, we're going from the end of this issue. Is this going to be DC's second attempt at doing a Hulk book? Yildiray Cinar's art is weirdly reminiscent of Francis Manipul's as far as the inks go, but I'm not sure if it fits here just yet... All in all, an Okay start, but with the potential for either greatness or creative dead-ending within the year.
GREEN ARROW #1: It's as if JT Krul, Dan Jurgens and George Perez set out to create the most generic, boring superhero book imaginable... and succeeded. Crap.
GREEN LANTERN #1: Considering how self-important (and self-conscious) this title had become before the relaunch, it's surprising that Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke manage to essentially play this first issue for laughs and get away with it. Good, although I found myself wishing that the last page had been held back for a few months, if only because I really enjoyed seeing dick Hal Jordan so much.
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #1: I was always going to be a sucker for this book; John Stewart and Guy Gardner are my favorite Green Lanterns, Peter Tomasi's previous run on the title was something I really enjoyed, and there's no Hal Jordan or Kyle Rayner to harsh my buzz. Sure enough, I really dug this; uberviolent opening aside, I appreciated the "this is where our leads are" intros before the mystery was revealed, and the final page felt weighty and dramatic enough to bring me back next issue. Sure, Fernando Pasarin's art feels like a little bit of a letdown after that Doug Mahnke cover, but it's still pretty great in a "Bryan Hitch but more approachable" way. Very Good, for me.
GREEN LANTERN: NEW GUARDIANS #1: And then there's this. This is just a bit of mess, whether it's the loss of the "some time ago" caption at the opener explaining that the book opens with a flashback, or the failure to really explain who all the different Lantern characters are, it seems sloppy and at odds with the other Lantern books, and Tyler Kirkham's art doesn't necessarily help, either. Awful.
GRIFTER #1: Finally answering that eternal fanboy question "What do you get if you cross Sawyer from Lost with ROM, Space Knight," this is Okay for those of you who enjoy this kind of thing; Nathan Edmonson's script is a bit light on explaining things, but I suspect that's intentional, and CAFU's art seems too polite for the story being told for my tastes. I don't know; there's nothing wrong with it, but there's also nothing that feels especially compelling about it, either, if that makes sense. I think Fringe probably does this kind of thing better, really.
HAWK & DOVE #1: I wanted to like this book so much, and then Rob Liefeld couldn't stop himself reminding me that he's a terrible, terrible artist. Everything happens at crazy angles! People's mouths change size without explanation! Everyone looks permanently in pain because of all the scratches on their bodies! It's a shame, because you get the feeling that Sterling Gates is really trying to work with Liefeld's energy, but he's overwhelmed by it on this issue. Truly, unhappily Awful.
I, VAMPIRE #1: On the plus side, Andrea Sorrentino could pass as fake Jae Lee if the position ever opens up. On the minus side, this is worryingly murky in terms of story (and storytelling; it's not just Joshua Hale Fialkov's script here, the art really does it no favors), and reads like someone's idea of doomed romance a la Twilight, but even more melodramatic. I'm sure there is a massive audience for this, but I found it pretty Eh at best.
JUSTICE LEAGUE #1: Hey, remember when everyone was talking about this book? Well, not much has changed since then. I like it, for what it is; I like dick Hal Jordan, I think there's a reasonably strong mystery introduced and I don't care that the entire team isn't in there despite the cover. But I'd be lying if I said I thought it was more than just Good; there were other books that the relaunch could have led with that seem better suited for all-new readers and a heavy media blitz.
JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #1: It's not quite Shade Peter Milligan - or, for that matter, Secret Seven Milligan - but there's the potential for getting there with this opener (I really liked the perversity of the Kathy reveal), and Mikel Janin's art is lovely. Slightly underwhelming, I've got a lot of faith that this Good first issue will turn out to be a very good series.
JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #1: Potentially Green Arrow's main competitor in the "most generic superhero comic" race - And Dan Jurgens is involved with this one, as well! Clearly, this is karma for killing Superman twenty years ago - this just feels like a subpar fill-in to a comic from some point in the 1980s, complete with inexplicable Margaret Thatcher cameo appearance. Considering the potential for a JLI series spinning out of the surprisingly strong Generation Lost mini, this is a tiny bit heartbreaking. Awful.
LEGION LOST #1: The good: Pete Woods' art is just amazing here, really, really great stuff. The bad: Unless you're a Legion fan already, this is likely entirely impenetrable stuff. I love the Legion, and this almost made no sense to me whatsoever. It doesn't help that important things happen off-panel (So, Timber Wolf just picked up the bad guy and no-one tried to stop him?), the characters have no real introduction and just way too much happens to let the reader have any time to make sense of it on first, second or even third reading, because there's not enough space in the book for everything. What it ends up as, then, is a good-looking mess. That's what we call Awful round these here parts.
LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #1: I've really, really tried to convince myself that New Levitz Legion is just like Old Levitz Legion, but I think this is the issue when I realized I couldn't keep it up. I'm unsure whether it's Levitz or his circumstance, but everything feels so jumpy and fractured that there's no chance - or, it seems, space - to build up the long running soap operatics that I loved the first time around, with everything ending up sacrificed for whatever big storyline that I find myself uninterested in. Eh as much as I wish it were otherwise.
MEN OF WAR #1: Someone, somewhere, found this to be more than some generic "Are you really a man?" cliches wrapped around a superhero mystery, but it wasn't me. Awful, and the back-up strip was even worse.
MISTER TERRIFIC #1: Another book that I really, really wanted to like - Although that's almost entirely down to the original release info containing the hilariously melodramatic line about him fighting "science gone bad!" - and the actual book... kind of lived up to my expectations, perhaps? There's a lot to like here (The new origin, with a time travel mystery replacing the Spectre's telling him "Hey, that white guy? You should rip him off," for example), but it doesn't come together properly, and ends with a cliffhanger that just makes no sense in a first issue ("Is this character acting weird? How would you know! You've just met him. Tune in next month to find out if he is or not!"). But... Again, maybe it's goodwill, but even though this was just Okay, I'm holding out hope for better soon.
NIGHTWING #1: I came to really like Dick Grayson when he was Batman, so why do I find almost everything in his new title feeling like it's a step backwards? Whether it's Dick visiting the circus again, or telling us how good it is to feel like himself, all of it feels more forced and less genuine than it should. Eh, and most of my fondness for the character disappears entirely as he disappears behind a pile of dialogue and sentiment we've heard before.
OMAC #1: If it wasn't for Superboy, this might have been the best surprise of all 52 books. Somehow, Keith Giffen and Dan Didio manage to channel Kirby's sense of fun, if not his sense of originality - This is a reboot of an existing concept, after all - by smooshing together Office Space, the Hulk and the original OMAC to come up with something that feels like it owes as much to Giffen's own Ambush Bug as it does Kirby, and it... weirdly... works. It's very much not for everyone, but I think that's true of the original OMAC as well. It's an odd feeling to think that Dan Didio came up with one of the most individual and arguably the most fun of all of the New 52 books, but there you go. Very Good, and long may it stick around.
RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #1: I think we can also file under "Things I've said too much about," but short version: Not for me even before we hit the "Starfire is an amnesiac bimbo nymphomanic" thing. Crap.
RED LANTERNS #1: If Ed Benes wasn't drawing this book, I have the strangest feeling I would have actually liked it, because Peter Milligan's script - or, more properly, his narration - is weirdly compelling here, and feels oddly subversive to all the Geoff Johnserisms in the scenes surrounding it. If he ends up carrying that further in future issues, I could see this becoming a sleeper hit for the the cool kids who are perfectly okay with women who can twist their bodies to simultaneously show off their butts and their breasts at the same time. Eh, with chances for better later.
RESURRECTION MAN #1: Clearly, it's books dealing with life after death that I have a problem with. Like the Deadman book, this one also barely registers after multiple re-reads. Eh, then.
THE SAVAGE HAWKMAN #1: For everyone who ever thought "What would make Hawkman awesome would be if his armor and wings came out through his pores like Warren Ellis' Iron Man!" then this is apparently the book for you. For the rest of us, this is a book where Hawkman tries to burn his costume for some unknown reason, then gets attacked by it, and then it turns out it's living inside him or something. It really is as bad as it sounds, although Philip Tan's watercolor art is rather nice in places. Awful, though.
STATIC SHOCK #1: It's modern Spider-Man, with the rest of the Milestone universe seemingly playing the supporting cast. It's surprising just how ready I was for that book, without ever realizing it. Good, although I'm already worried about it, now that we know that John Rozum is off the book by #4.
STORMWATCH #1: Like Batgirl, it's possible that this book fails because the writer was far too aware of what they had to do; there's too much empty exposition in this issue, and it's an issue that needed useful exposition. Paul Cornell doesn't quite catch the tone of Warren Ellis' characters, and the disconnect is obvious in a way that isn't obvious; no-one sounds quite right, and everything feels off-kilter as a result. It's a book that simultaneously feels dense and sparse, and Miguel Sepulveda's art, static and heavy, doesn't help with that feeling. A low Eh, and it should be much better.
SUICIDE SQUAD #1: Forget skinny Amanda Waller; this book has way bigger problems. You know, things like an awkward structure (Not helped by multiple artists working on the same issue), a ridiculous set-up and thoroughly flat characterization throughout. Disappointingly Awful.
SUPERBOY #1: I was genuinely surprised by how much this book feels like science-fiction instead of a superhero book, at least in this first issue, and how there's an interesting lack of moral certainty at show just yet (I'm sure that'll change in time). With RB Silva's clean art and Scott Lobdell's strongest script for the relaunch by far, this is Good stuff.
SUPERGIRL #1: This is also surprisingly Good. A complete reboot for the character, and a chance to start from a personality closer to Sterling Gates' work with the character - Probably the character's most recent high point - instead of the wishy-washiness of the origins of the previous version, this issue isn't showy in the slightest, but gets the job done nonetheless.
SUPERMAN #1: Oh, oh, oh. Oh, Superman. I guess, if nothing else, this issue does provide an alternative to Action Comics, mainly in that Action was really good, and this isn't. Where to start? The confusing opening (Is the new Daily Planet built? It would appear so on page 2, but I'm still not sure if that was meant to be a glimpse into the future or not. If it had been rebuilt, would the previous site still have the remains of the old one?), the hilarious scenes of Lois et al discussing journalism ("Print is dying!"), Clark being bitter and mean to Lois, the genuinely horrible examples of Clark's journalism... There is so much wrong with this issue, but primarily I think the underlying structure is the biggest problem: Too much is, again, forced into too small a space, and this time, it's combined with a super brawl that is neither exciting or even interesting, leaving the impression that Superman's life is dull, full of sniping arguments and a ham-fisted idea of how journalism works. It's a mess, and one not saved by Jesus Merino's sterling attempts on art. Awful, and maybe the biggest disappontment of the bunch.
SWAMP THING #1: Talking of wordy, this is another overly-verbose book that could've easily dialed back the exposition to sensible levels and become infinitely better as a result (The whole Superman scene in particular felt unnecessary). That said, like Animal Man, the horror tone works and there's definite potential here. Okay, but greedily, I wanted more.
TEEN TITANS #1: It's a slow start, true, but I'll admit to being sucked in to Scott Lobdell's plan of essentially running one story between this and Superboy - although that final scene in both books has different dialogue and staging in some parts, which seems a completely avoidable mistake to me - and enjoyed this much more than I was expecting from early previews. A high Okay - I still have my issues with Brett Booth's art, I'm sorry - and I might even keep going on this, at least until the entire team is together.
VOODOO #1: You know, deep within this book, there's an interesting idea about an alien invasion happening in plain sight, with the alien as the central character. But getting there in this case means working through a lot of gender politics that's trying to have its cake and eat it at the same time ("Yeah, this is cheesecake, but look, the strippers are real women with class and babysitter problems and shit! But here's some more T&A anyway!"), and... I'm just not interested, ultimately. Awful.
WONDER WOMAN #1: Holy crap, it's the last book. I was beginning to think this would never end. And it's ending on a high note, too; sure, Brian Azzarello's script is sharp and fast-paced (if a little short on explanations, but there's time for those later), but this is entirely Cliff Chiang's show, and he doesn't even vaguely fail to deliver. This is a wonderful looking book - Matt Wilson's colors help considerably - and all the moreso because there's nothing else like it on the DC stands right now. The mythical quality of the story seems on a different scale to all the other New 52 books as well, and the strong individuality of the book makes it feel more like an event... and that's a nice feeling for a Wonder Woman book to have. Very Good, and one of the best books of the line so far.
Now, as the saying goes: What did you think?
[Stellar fixed image courtesy of Ron Salas]
Uh, yes. I am running sorrowfully late again, so I'll have to kinda dash through all this verbal hubbub and let you know the who's who and the what's what:
Basically? It's Wait, What? Ep. 58.1. It's a little less than an hour. In it, Graeme and I not only discuss new DC 52 titles like Blue Beetle, Catwoman, Red Hood & The Outlaws (which I called "Red Hood & The Outsiders" which makes more sense but it a mistake), Batman, and Wonder Woman (and more), but also Chester Brown's Paying for It and initial "sweet jeebis, is it pretty!" pre-review impressions of Craig Thompson's habibi. Oh, and there are lots of shrieks from children outside Graeme's window. (At least he told me they were outside his window....) We apologize about that.
Anyhoo, the 'cast is in iTunes (probably) and you can listen to it here (definitely):
Wait, What? Ep. 58.1: The Minor Fall, The Major Lift
Part two is around the corner, so there's that.
Oh! And, of course, we hope you enjoy and thank you for listening!
