Search Results for Less than hero
Mitchell, Brian John – XO #6 (with Melissa Spence Gardner)
XO #6
It feels like I haven’t reviewed an issue of XO in ages. Granted, that certainly isn’t Brian’s fault, as he continues to crank out these minis at a ridiculous pace. Luckily he’s more than smart enough to put a recap on the first page, so people with spotty memories like me have a chance to get caught up. In the last issue there was the small matter of a murder and what to do with the body, so this issue takes care of all that. It’s less suspenseful than you might think, as the main character is given an address to take the body and goes on his merry way. Nobody seems to suspect anything, our hero gets cover at his work so nothing is out of the ordinary, and all he has to do is take a 12 hour drive down to Miami. Oh, and did I mention that our hero is 16 and has never left the area? After all the murders of the first few issues this one was downright serene, as the narrator contemplates the fact that he could now never become a writer (writers have to write what they know, and he can never risk news of the murder getting out) and wonders what other career he could come up with. By the end of the issue he has a pretty good idea, but why spoil that for you? In case people see the vast body of work that Brian has put out over the last couple of years and want to try something but don’t know where to start, I’m going to suggest going for a full series instead of getting one or two issues of everything. In the mood for a fantastic western revenge story? Get Just A Man. Like to read about failed relationships, or at least relationships that left serious emotional scars? Lost Kisses is for you. How about creepy government paranoia and parasitical invasion? Worms, my good chap (or chapette). Or, if “in over his head but still preternaturally calm about it”, why not try XO? $5 gets you pretty much any of the series I mentioned, and who doesn’t have $5 stashed away somewhere for good comics? $1
Van Sciver, Noah – Blammo #6
Blammo #6
I have a theory about the longevity of small press comic artists, based upon many years of observation of the behavior of these fascinating creatures in their natural habitat. I’m going to avoid naming names because otherwise I’d be sure to leave somebody out or offend them, but it seems like most of them need either the money or artistic validation to eventually get published somewhere. Your fantasy/superhero types want to eventually make it to the “big leagues”, and that’s true of the smaller “big leagues” of the alternative comics world. There are also plenty who don’t give a shit and they’ll keep making comics until they eventually get tired of it, and these people you can usually spot because they always come back to the business, even after being away from it for years. They just can’t help themselves. Then there are people like (not naming names, but there is certainly more than one), who seemed to have a really good thing going but just gave up the ghost after a few really great issues. I can’t say that I blame them for quitting, as doing as thankless a job as making comics without any significant compensation must be trying. Where was I going with all this? Oh yeah. Noah Van Sciver is on the sixth issue of Blammo, as you may have guessed from that prominent “#6” up there. He is still self-publishing. He is also getting better and better with each passing issue, even though I continually think he must have hit a high water mark. I don’t know if Noah is the type of person to eventually give up if Fantagraphics/Top Shelf/Drawn & Quarterly don’t publish him sooner or later, but do we really want to take that chance? Take a risk, one of you guys, this guy is more than worth it. So how about the comic? I sampled the very first page, as I just couldn’t help it. Other stories include Abby’s Road (told from the perspective of a 21 year old juggalo/stoner who’s “dating” a 17 year old high school girl, he’s exactly what you think he is and it’s a perspective not often seem in small press comics), As I Remember It (written by Noah’s brother, a quiet moment in the life of the early Van Sciver family), Chicken Strips (still going, Bill goes to heaven, with a fantastic final page spread), Convention (yes, these are fairly common in these types of comics, but it’s still insightful as hell and worth it for the haunted look on the face of John Porcellino), The Krampus Visit (dealing with an asshole singer and an even assholier man trying to get an autograph), and The Easy Life (telling you how easy it would be to quit your job, kill your boss and take over the world). There’s also his sure-to-be breakout hit Punks Vs. Lizards, which is exactly what it sounds like: 5 pages of punks gruesomely killing giant lizards.  If all his smart and meaningful strips can’t make him millions, maybe this one can. Oh, and don’t forget a few pages of shorter strips, reader mail and last words. It’s a whole comic book experience, in other words, and one that most people don’t bother putting together these days. I doubt if I have much in the way of “cred” in the small press hierarchy, but if I have a shred of it, I am asking somebody to take a risk and publish this man. We can’t risk losing him to apathy or one of those paying jobs I keep hearing about. Barring that, the least you can do individually is buy his comics, and you get the added benefit of owning a really fantastic comic. Where’s the flaw in that? $3.95
UPDATE 7/7/10: This was actually published by Kilgore Books & Comics from Denver. That big “Kilgore” on the cover should have clued me in, but I missed it, and anybody who published a comic like this deserves the highest of praise, not being left out of the article entirely because I wasn’t being careful enough to include them. Mea culpa.
Mitchell, Brian John – Worms #6 (with Kimberlee Traub)
Worms #6
And the spinning wheel of Brian John Mitchell comics lands on… Worms! Regular readers of this site and/or Brian’s comics know that the guy has a half dozen series (at least) that he’s working on at any given moment, usually with a few more that come out less frequently. “Less frequently”, in his case, still means more often than most comics that are the ONLY comic put out by other creators. He has an impressively prolific record, that’s what I’m trying to say. In this issue of Worms our heroine wakes up after having been eaten by a giant worm (not to be confused with the smaller worms that have been in past issues). She seems to have developed a rapport with the creature, so she leads it along with three other worms to attack the complex that has been holding her captive. Some serious mayhem, and it’s almost adorable on these tiny pages. There’s one thing that’s clear to me after reading all the issues (except #1) of this series: I still only have the vaguest idea of where this is all headed. I know that Lost Kisses is going to be self-contained stories of his lost loves, Just A Man is going to keep going until the hero learns what happened and gets his revenge/gets killed, but this one is so surreal that it feels like it could have ended a couple of times already, or it could just go on forever. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, just something I’ve noticed and haven’t been able to talk about due to my “no spoilers” policy. Anyway, as always this is worth a look, unless you haven’t read the other issues in this series, in which case it won’t make a lot of sense (but at least Brian is smart enough to put series recaps at the start of his comics). $.75
Croston, Derek R. – Unicorns Changed My Life
Unicorns Changed My Life
I really shouldn’t like this comic. There are at least a few reasons I could point to for that reaction that I should have had but didn’t. There’s the backgrounds (dots, fuzzy clouds and four strands of grass in a field, lazy things like that), the fact that I could see pencil lines poking through for some of the wording, and the fact that the cover artist was not the inside artist. Still, those sparse backgrounds worked, the pencil lines were few and far between, and again, the simple nature of the artwork worked just fine for this. It’s probably because he’s didn’t misspell a thing, that’s probably what gets him off the hook with me. Or the fact that this comic was just a pile of fun, and I wasn’t expecting that after seeing the cover. I figured grim, macho murder a’plenty, but that wasn’t the case. Things start off here with an odd cast of characters in what appears to be a support group: a centaur, a harmless ghost, an archangel, a grigori, somebody who was once the leader of Iris (whatever that means, and if you’re going to put a “*” in your dialogue please don’t forget to follow up on it), and our hero, the first vampire in the world. He was basically just born with one giant tooth, but that still got him chased out of town. He had to hunt to survive, and once he started hunting unicorns he got immortal life. There’s more, including a really fantastic ending, but I don’t want to blow anything. If this all sounds grim, trust me, it’s not. There’s a smart-ass vibe running through this comic that elevates it to something more than the usual fare. I’m not saying it’s the best comic in the world, as it’s still plenty raw, with at least a few easy fixes for the next issue to make it better. Still, it was fun, and that counts for a lot. $1
Mitchell, Brian John – Marked #2
Marked #2 (with art by Jeremy Johnson)
It may have finally happened: Brian may have finally spread himself too thin with the pile of minis he’s putting out on a constant basis. I thought this issue was a little too pat, wrapped up a little too neatly. Things start off with a recap of the last issue (Brian has always gotten this right), then our hero Mark the former demon hunter (called out of retirement in the last issue) wakes up after taking a beating from his own inner demon, which he had to unleash to defeat the other demons. The issue is a mad dash from there, with the demon killing Mark’s girlfriend in his apartment, Mark getting a train ticket to get out of town (as he understands completely that “my inner demon came to life and killed my girlfriend” wouldn’t fly with the cops), and the demon confronting Mark at the train station. I’m still having trouble putting my finger on exactly what it was that felt… less in this issue than in the rest of Brian’s work. The ending was very neat, sure, especially when you consider how much trouble Mark knew it would be to release his demon and the relative ease with which their fight went (not to give anything away or anything, even though I kind of just did. Dammit).  With his consistent record of quality he’s earned the benefit of the doubt from me, so I’m guessing this inner demon thing will get explained more fully in future issues, or maybe he’ll just ditch this series entirely and focus on the half dozen other series he writes. Still, there’s some great artwork by Jeremy on these tiny pages, and the story all by itself was engaging. There was just something a little bit lacking. Yes, I know that as a reviewer I’m supposed to be able to pinpoint exactly what that is. Maybe Brian’s desire to have all the issues be at least mildly self-contained, which caused the fight to wrap up too quickly? That’s a noble goal, to keep everything satisfying if a person only buys one issue. Ack, I give up. There’s also the possibility that something in my brain wasn’t firing properly today; keep in mind that’s always a possibility with these reviews. $1
Dembicki, Matt – Xoc #2
Xoc #2
OK fine, it’s another great issue of Xoc, I can’t believe how well the man can draw all kinds of different ocean life, blah blah blah. The important thing this time around is Matt takes time in his introduction to explain the name Xoc (ancient Mayan word for “demon fish”, so most likely the name for shark) and even reprints an original poster from 1569 (the first known (?) display of a dead shark), which has a very interesting interpretation of what a shark actually looks like. In other words, I learned something before the comic even started. Kudos! Once the comic gets underway things heat up considerably: Xoc gets attacked by a group of killer whales, discovers that there’s an old sea turtle following him around (they’re theoretically just going to the same place, and what safer company to be in than a great white shark?), observes a fight to the death between an octopus and a whale (turns out the octopus has developed a few decent defensive moves over the centuries), feeds on a recent whale carcass (saving some energy by not having to kill something), and gets latched onto by a couple of lampreys. Seriously, I am constantly impressed by the range Matt shows in depicting these underwater beasts. Quite a few comic artists never break out of their comfort zones (whatever it is that they like to draw, usually people and regular life situations), but unless Matt is a deep sea diver there must be a lot of research involved in putting out this comic, and he pulls it off flawlessly. I’d say he should pitch this series to Disney for a movie but I don’t think the world is ready for a great white shark “hero”. Oh well, the comics world gets this all to itself instead. If you have any interest in the 75% of the world with no people in it, there’s no reason in the world to miss this. $2
Ortiz, Juan (editor) – Silver Comics #8
Silver Comics #8
And here I thought I was getting a new Michael Neno comic. Well, technically I am (he has the first story in this collection), but there’s much more to this than just one story. Before I get started, click on that website above. There’s a cover collection there, and if that isn’t the sort of thing that you like, you’ll know it instantly. These books are basically new versions of silver age comics, with the occasional wackiness thrown in, but they’re basically faithful versions of that type of story with some funny thrown in. First up is the story by Michael Neno, which just so happens to be the cover story. Well, this cover story anyway, there’s also an excellent back cover. Someone is attacking all the milk men and none of the children are getting their milk, so an enigmatic hero called The End decides to help them out by going undercover. Yes, you will find many puns about spilt milk, and yes, “The End” is used as a pun more than once. It’s still a thoroughly entertaining story. Next up is The Day of the Ice Menace by Johnny Ortiz, Dan Beltran and Mark Prudeax, dealing with an Iron Man-ish character trying to stop a mysterious ball of energy. He touches the ball, which quickly encases him in a block of cosmic ice, but manages to fly to a nearby volcano to get out of it. This story captures the feel of those old stories perfectly as the hero flits from catastrophe to catastrophe before the shocking ending. Finally there’s Let Them Be Damned by the same crew of Ortiz, Beltran and Prudeax, which deals with a depressed Santa (after Satan has taken over his job) trying to get his fighting spirit back with the help of Rudolph. More mayhem and I particularly enjoyed the “to be continued” ending, knowing that it probably won’t ever be continued unless this is part of a much larger Santa storyline that I missed by not getting the earlier issues. All of this is wrapped up by a text piece from Dan Beltran, which was entertaining enough even if it felt slightly out of place alongside all the illustrated shenanigans. Finally there are a few pin-ups and fake ads, and you’re left with a thoroughly entertaining fake silver age comic. Like I said, you already know if this sort of thing, done well, is something you’d enjoy. This is done extremely well, so it’s your call. And it’s cheap! $1.95
Olson, Daniel J. & Niehaus, AJ – Super Maxi-Pad Girl #1
Super Maxi-Pad Girl #1
I have to be honest here: I really didn’t expect to like this one. About the best I was hoping for was that it would be a funny concept for a bit, then it would get slowly beaten to death during the course of the comic, and that would be it. I was, and not for the first time, completely wrong. Things start off with a young girl coming home crying to her mother after she unexpectedly bled in her pants at school. This mother went on to tell the tale of Super Maxi-Pad Girl and her adventures against Bloating, Cramps and The Period. While Super Maxi-Pad Girl is effective against The Period, two new heroes have to be introduced for the other problems: Pidol and Mamprin. The day is saved and things are calm until the next adventure, which involves new villains: Migraine and Acne. The heroes also get new members, such as the Reusable Menstrual Cup, the Preventative Ovulation Pill and Washable Cotton Maxi-Pad, or Eco-Pad. Things are trickier this time around, as the villains have released a number of monkeys to eat all the bananas in the city, severely lowering the potassium intake, which leads to the creation of the Mega-Period. As if that wasn’t enough, there’s also a final, shorter adventure starring a giantess on her period and Thor. As for any complaints from the ladies about this comic, and there probably will be a few, Daniel addresses them in the strip I sampled below. Not sure if that will fix everything, but I thought it was a smart way to address it: show himself as more than a bit clueless about the whole thing but with good intentions. If you’re thinking that this all sounds remarkably stupid, all I can say is that you have to read this to learn otherwise. As a concept it’s bound to sound stupid, but the dialogue is never less than mildly funny (and often hilarious), the art doesn’t need to be great with the simple natures of the characters but it’s plenty good enough, and there were laughs to be found all over the place. I can’t say that a Super Maxi-Pad Girl #2 would be great, but this one was so good that I actually think he’d have a shot at making it great, which I couldn’t have said before I actually read this. Oh, and one disclaimer: obviously, if you’re completely unable to see any humor in “that time of the month” or anything associated with it, it’s best to stay away. As it is, however, a fact of life, why not have a little fun with it? $4
Miller, John – As the Miller Told His Tale
As The Miller Told His Tale
I’d better clear something up right off the bat: Larned Justin put this book out, and the only contact info in here is for him, which is why I linked to his website up there. Anybody interested in getting this book should contact him so, until I get some sort of website or e-mail address for John, that’s the only contact info I have. Who is John Miller? He’s a guy out of Scotland who’s been making comics for at least 25 years, and these are a sampling of that time. His art, as you can see from the sample, is in that old psychedelic underground style which is almost completely missing these days, which I absolutely love. Stories in here range from one page to four, with most of them being of the short variety. What are the stories about? Well, here’s where things get a little less literal. There’s an underlying theme of fighting the establishment throughout this, which is just about the only unifying thread. Other than that, he deals with spies, repressive societies, records on a radioship, an elite group of special people, tongs, Blotto Woman (the best super-heroine ever), Zooty, Consumer Wars, bomb craters, and, of course, cats. Frankly, the stories in here (while I enjoyed them for the most part) are far less important than the art. That’s what really sticks with you, the sheer inventiveness of just about every panel. Rarely do I enjoy in the full page spreads as much as the actual story, but it was nice to see that art get a little room to breathe outside of those cramped panels. This is well worth a look if you’re interested in that ever-elusive “something different”. $2
Kirkman, Robert – Marvel Zombies #1 (art by Sean Phillips)
(art by Sean Phillips)
OK, granted, this isn’t like the typical comic I review on this site. A tremendously successful Marvel comic, starring pretty much everybody from their universe? Sounds like a big awful crossover type thing to me. However, I recently went into the comic store I used to work at (G-Mart in Champaign Illinois) and asked the helpful proprietor (Colby) what I had to have, as I hadn’t really been in a comic store and looked around for months if not years. He picked this book up immediately, and… damned if he wasn’t exactly right. Apparently in the “Ultimate” universe, the Fantastic Four stumbled across an alternate dimension involving a planet of infected zombies. Something happened, they were sent back to their original dimension along with the zombie Fantastic Four (I think), but whatever happened to that planet of zombies? That’s where Robert Kirkman comes in, somebody that zombie lovers already know for his incredible Walking Dead series. This story starts off with damned near everybody in the Marvel Universe already zombified, with the notable exceptions of Magneto, whoever was left on his Asteroid M base, and one prominent Marvel hero who’s being kept alive for… brain food. See, when these zombies eat they briefly regain their intellect, so naturally Giant Man needed a reliable snack that would let him continue his research. The bulk of this graphic novel deals with the first appearance of Galactus and the Silver Surfer, except with the obvious difference that these otherworldly creatures resemble nothing more than walking food to these zombies. I’ve rarely wanted to give everything away in a review more than I do now, as there are bits and pieces all over the place that are crying out to be spoiled. The fact that Marvel let the creative team make this as graphic and disturbing as they did is amazing (back when I was reading these comics regularly this never would have happened), and pretty much everybody you can think of is in this series, at least briefly. Taken as a stand alone series, assuming that you like zombies as much as I do, I really can’t recommend this enough. The trouble, or at least the potential trouble in the future, is that this series is so successful that there are at least 3 other graphic novels available with this basic storyline. As a novelty this was a blast, but as a franchise? I don’t know. The fact that the vast majority of the characters are dead (as in “blasted to pieces” dead) makes me wonder how long a story can be maintained. Regardless, the use of classic Marvel covers updated with zombies was a stroke of genius, and they’re all included in this collection. The first issues had multiple printings so they gave them multiple covers, and Arthur Suydam deserves a ton of credit for his work. If you can look at that sample cover above (and the sample below) and not be instantly intrigued, then skip this. If it starts an instant internal war of “OK, what meals can I skip this month to afford this” like it did with me, then you won’t regret it for a second. $19.99
Dalton, John Oak – Bad Eggs #1
Bad Eggs #1
#1? That seems to imply that this is an ongoing series, and I don’t know if that’s legal in the world of 24 hour comics. Unless maybe he’s trying to get the “collector crowd” and is just calling this #1 to drum up interest that way, which would be pretty sad. Anyway, this is a fairly ugly comic, as you can tell from the cover, and his synopsis of his 24 hour day is not the usual frantic race to the finish line that these things usually are, as he spent time to sleep, eat and do other things in his allotted 24 hours. Luckily for him the story is a lot of fun, so the sloppy art doesn’t mean all that much. We’re not often treated to becoming a super villain as a second job, and it’s funny to see how the town is overrun with “capes” and their constant battles. The super villain (and hero) names are also fairly ridiculous, and it’s quite a crowd for them all being made up when the 24 hour time limit started. If you’re looking for a run down of the plot, well, it’s mostly chaos. How to get super powers, protecting a cousin and being thrilled to be beaten up by a famous villain are all in here. If you’re looking for the prettiest book on the block, forget this one. If you’re just looking for a good time and like to see the super heroes getting lampooned, you could do a lot worse than this. Here’s a website, it’s probably $2 because it’s massive…
Barr, Steven & Cheaney, Tielman – Devil Water #1
Devil Water #1
Well, this book sure looks gorgeous, I’ll give it that much. And I’m a big fan of the whole horror/western idea, so I had high hopes going into this one. And I’m coming out of it… still hopeful, but it’s more of a set-up issue than one where anything really significant happens. Unless, of course, you think setting up the characters for the rest of the run is significant for some reason. This starts off letting you know that it’s 1899, and it follows a completely stereotypical gold prospector from back in the day. You know, filthy beard, says “Eureka!” when he finds gold, that sort of thing. Turns out that he was followed by a crew of 4 ne’er-do-wells, who follow his lead to a whole pile of gold… and that’s where they discover an underground pool. Why they jump into the underground pool instead of collecting the piles and piles of gold surrounding them is beyond me, but it seems to change them in a significant way. That’s all we really know about that so far, but it looks to me more like this is superhero/western than horror/western, but that’s a very early opinion that’s almost surely wrong. We also meet a few people in town, and a man who’s passing through, trying to sell his miracle wonder cure-all. I’d say this has some serious potential, and Steven Barr has apparently been involved in all kinds of movies, so he should have the money to keep this going until the story plays out. $3.50
Baker, James – Nerve Bomb #0
Nerve Bomb #0
Oh, silly #0. Why do people do that again? Is it a marketing thing? Because if it’s only used for “origin stories”, I’m afraid this one doesn’t fit the bill. This is a bit of a super hero parody, featuring a mechanical rabbit and an incredibly smart woman, wandering around fighting crime. They fight a giant old lady and a collection of villains that spend more time getting introduced than they do actually in panel (and why does that happen so often during these super hero type books? They’re often more interesting in concept than the main characters). Also included are a hand puppet and a giant robot or two. I don’t mean to do nothing but bash this book, as it was pretty entertaining in parts. The art was easy on the eyes and there might have been something to the characters, if they’d been given any time at all to grow. Anyway, the six page wordless story at the end was fantastic. As chaotic as anything I’ve seen in comics, yet still with an underlying sense of order. It’s about a cat, a short man on roller skates and a big dog, um, getting into trouble, I guess. Lovely stuff. I would have liked to see more of it. Check out the website, see what else he’s done, this one is $3.50 but it’s huge…
Allan, Von – The Road To God Knows…
The Road To God Knows…
There are times when I have to get briefly self-absorbed and marvel at the fact that I get so many free comics in the mail, and the fact that so many of them are so incredible. Hell, Von is from Canada, it’s entirely possible that if I was just living my life without this website I would have never even heard of this comic, or so, so many others that are listed on this site. Hey, it’s Thanksgiving, please forgive my brief sentimentality. This is the story of a young girl in junior high school and her life with her schizophrenic mother. She (Marie) is thrust into the role of an adult far too early, having to essentially take care of her mother when she’s not hospitalized with her illness. Marie is also missing a few days of school in trying to cope with this life, and is confronted with teachers who seem determined to make an example out of her without any interest in what she’s actually going through. She does have a few bright spots in her life, as her best friend lives right across the street, her dad is at least occasionally around to help out (it’s never explained, but her parents are at least separated), and a wrestling show is finally coming to her hometown. Much of the book is spent with Marie trying desperately to have a normal life with her mother unwilling to tell what past trauma has put her into this state, while being unable to get past it and move on with her life. Von has an explanation of sorts on his website about why he wrote this book, and it turns out that he has personal experience in the matter. It shows with the conversations, which are about as real as you can get about schizophrenia, and with Marie clinging to the few things she can count on, like new Star Trek episodes and wrestling on TV. This is set around 1991, and I’m able to narrow that down so closely because Marie mentioned that the wrestling champ at the time was Savage. Yes, I am enough of a dork to remember when Macho Man was the champ. All told, this is a remarkably insightful and honest book. The helplessness of Marie’s friend to do her any real good, her dad being unable with work to be any kind of full-time father to Marie, her alienation from kids at school (and even the teachers), all of these things would be bad enough. Throw in a mother who may or may not harm herself or Marie at any moment and who is incapable of being any kind of authority figure in Marie’s life and well, I’m impressed. There are all kinds of ways that this comic could have gone wrong, and Von managed to cut through it all and make an outstanding graphic novel. It looks like he has at least another project in the works, and judging from the quality of this book I’d say he’s someone to keep an eye on in the future. $12.95
Sim, Dave – Cerebus Volume 9: Reads
There’s an immediate dilemma to my reviewing this. Do I review the text parts, the comic parts or both? Because the reviews for the two of them would be quite different. I’ll tell you right now that I’m not going to touch #186 though. Smarter people than me have done it, and that’s not what I’m here for right now. Well, obviously you can’t separate the text from the pictures. Like it or not, this is how Sim chose do to Reads and this is how it is now. One thing that he made abundantly clear in his rambling is that we are only the audience, so we have to accept that. That being said, this is my third time reading this over the years. It was a chore to get through when I was reading it month to month, but I looked forward to it because it helped me kill some of the dead time between classes, what with taking a couple of hours to read per issue (between the Notes From the President, Aardvark Comment, the preview each month and, oh yeah, the actual comic). The second time around I thought the text was intrusive and unnecessary and, quite honestly, I skipped over chunks of it. This time, I actually liked the first part of the text. It didn’t fit in the story, granted, but it was a needed shift in momentum from all the action going on in the actual comic. But the text bits changed when the fight between Cerebus and Cirin started, and that’s when this whole thing became self-indulgent and meaningless in the extreme.
What’s that you say? You can say anything you want about Sim’s comments throughout this, but “meaningless” isn’t one of them? Sure it is. What did it do for the story? Absolutely nothing. The only reason he put this in the context of the story is so it would be in print for as long as the series was. Honestly, he’s addressed this issue since then, and it’s never been in the storyline since. Why? What makes it less intrusive now than it was then? I don’t know, and I’m among the many who can’t figure this guy out for anything. Even with what he believes in, the guy is still one of my heroes simply for what he’s done in comics and how high he’s raised the bar for anybody else who wants to do a continuing story. This could have easily been the best of the books. How can you go wrong when you start with Cerebus, Cirin, Astoria and Suentes Po all in a room? He could have changed the name of the book to “Revelations”, kept the text out of it (or at least kept it fictional), and he would have had a masterpiece. Instead he’s got a jumbled mess. People, if you’re asking my advice here, skip the text pieces entirely. That’s not what his story is and I have no right to tell you that, but when I read this thing again through the years, I’m not going to read the text again. It would improve the story immeasurably, that’s for sure. All that being said, this is still a crucial piece of the larger story. Much as you’d like to, you can’t skip reading this one. Don’t get me wrong, the comic part is fantastic. The fight scene between Cerebus and Cirin is one of the best I’ve seen, and I’ve been reading comics for a long time. He took a big chance with this one creatively, and I think he blew it. You’re entitled to your opinion, but after the third time through I just can’t see where this text helps the story in any way. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad to read otherwise, but we could have read it in the Aardvark Comment and everything would have been fine. It’s the mark of a great storyteller, though, that I can’t wait to move onto the next book.
OK, I’ve been looking around online for almost an hour now, trying to find an “intellectual” review of #186. I can’t find one. I’ve found a few that call it a “misogynistic rant”, but they’re really short on fact about that comment, and don’t offer much in the way of debate. Anybody out there know of any intelligent reviews of this issue? I know I’ve seen some before. Let me know, I’ll put a link to it up here.
Mitchell, Brian John – Worms #4 (with Kimberlee Traub)
Worms #4 (with art by Kimberlee Traub)
Bits and pieces coming to light, that’s what this series is all about. This time around our heroine has a dream in which her dead father tells her that it’s time to wake up, while she still can. Upon waking she sees that instead of a ceiling above her bed there are storm clouds and silent lightning. One bolt of this lightning hits her IV, which has the odd effect of making her fine with the worms that are coming through it and into her body. It also gives her the energy to try to escape again, which is when her nurse comes in to check up on her. There’s no sense of my telling you much more than that, as there are few things worse than a suspense comic with no surprises, but we do get to see a bit more about the people holding her captive and, perhaps, why that security guard from a couple of issues ago seemed to be bloodless. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: send the man a pile of money so he’ll send you a pile of tiny comics. It’s so simple! $1
Miller, Frank – Sin City: Hell and Back
Ah, the first computer revolt. I had this whole thing written, forgot to save it, and my computer locked up at some point after that when I was doing something else. Oh well. This volume is the story of a man who leaps off a cliff to save the life of a young woman trying to commit suicide and what happens to both of them after that. Wallace and Esther… not exactly names that inspire fear, but Wallace is probably the most capable of all the “heroes” in these books. It’s nice to see one of these books where the lead guy doesn’t almost die half a dozen times before the series is over with. This is also the largest of the series, clocking in at 9 issues (the longest one besides that was 6 issues, and this one also had one double-sized issue to boot). As for where this story fits in terms of quality with the rest of them, I’d have to say it’s right in the middle. For a lot of series that would be a bad thing, but there’s not a volume of this that’s anything less than slightly above average, so that still makes this a pretty damned good read.
The most disturbing thing about this volume, honestly, is all the talk that’s gone on about Frank Miller lately. I’ve heard for sure that he’s doing a Dark Knight sequel (and I mention my thoughts on it somewhere else on this page) and I’ve also heard that he’s doing more Daredevil stuff. That’s all well and good for Marvel and DC, but it sucks for anybody who’s a much bigger fan of his Sin City stuff than anything else he’s done. Sure, I liked the superhero stuff when I was younger, but I’ve outgrown almost all of that, mostly because a lot of it is just bad. Granted, this stuff will be better, but these are still guys running around in spandex. You kind of lose the ability to suspend disbelief about that sort of thing as you get older. It’s his life, and I’m sure the money is fantastic, but I think he’s making the wrong call. Unless he’s only doing this so he’ll be free to do whatever he wants with Sin City for the rest of his life, then I’ll be happy. Back to this volume. It’s always fascinating to see who you can recognize from previous Sin City volumes, and that’s certainly true for this book too. All kinds of familiar faces. There’s also a “trippy” segment that has to be seen to be believed. See if you can spot all the other characters he’s ever worked with, and it’s in color too. Like I said, not the best of these volumes, but any of them can be considered more than good enough to spend an afternoon reading.
Jeffrey, Nick – Hillbilly Sex #1
Hillbilly Sex #1
As you can see from the cover, this book is a treatise on the subtleties of the Middle East crisis… nah, just kidding. It’s a comic about squirrels being whores, killing children, hitting on anything with “grass on the field”, a video game about 9/11, Homeless Harry, old white ladies, Darwin Dong and some really silly superhero parodies. They’re in the minority though, so there’s nothing to worry about. Is it in good taste? No, not even close, but since when does something have to be in good taste to be funny? If you don’t mind being really grossed out by some things and even probably genuinely offended (hey, I’m sure it’s possible to make fun of 9/11 but the page strip in here was pretty tacky, unless you have thicker skin than I do, then it was hilarious), then this book is for you. I’m just gratified with the sheer number of funny mini comics I’m seeing these days. Keep them coming, poor cartoonist America! E-mail the guy to see what he has, there’s no address or website in the comic…
Jackson, Rob – Bog Wizards #2
Bog Wizards #2
I had a few doubts about this story coming out of the first issue, wondering a bit if it could hold up over the long term. All doubts have been smashed into teeny tiny chunks with this issue. First off, just look at that cover. That’s brilliant. Things pick up where they left off in the last issue, leading up to the second page of the story, and it’s the one I sampled below. Go ahead, take a minute to check it out. The reaction from the giant was hilarious, as was the reaction from our hero. The giant makes a deal with our hero in exchange for not eating him (even though this giant doesn’t eat people anyway), which causes our hero to remorselessly mess things up for everybody else to get himself out of trouble. So what gets him back on the side of right? The possibility of getting with the fairy queen, of course. From here we get some fantastic fight scenes, and here’s where Rob really shines: his depiction of the various monsters. Two full pages introduced the monsters a bit earlier (I particularly loved the vaguely Mr. Potato Head looking monster), and great glee is taken in taking these creatures out. There’s more, a lot more than you may think with a mini comic, but I’m gushing here, and I do have to save some praise. Why? Because this issue comes with a Bog Wizards board game. How is it possible to include a board game with a comic? Rob has broken the game down into two large color pages, along with three pages of cards to use in the game and a page of characters. If you wondered about the names of any of the monsters from the comic, the mystery is solved here (my favorite is called Yogblog). All of this comes in a plastic bag with simple instructions, ending with the following disclaimer: “Have cautious fun. Don’t expect too much.” I think the man’s selling himself short. This whole thing goes for about $6, and the arbitrary pricing system in my brain says that is just barely too much for a comic (even one that’s this good), but is a steal when you factor in the board game. He didn’t skimp on the details for it either, it looks gorgeous. Buy this from the man, we should all do our part to make Bog Wizards a phenomenon.
Consiglio, Tony – Envy
Envy
This says in the inside front cover that it’s an “attempt” at a 24 hour comic. Wonder how close it was? For one thing, it’s significantly less sloppy than your average 24 hour comic, which leads me to believe that he came up with idea and then redrew it later to make a decent mini out of it. Why aren’t I talking more about the comic? Oh, come on, you know I like Tony’s stuff. Is there some mystery to what I’m going to say about it? OK, fine. It’s about a man who has a twin brother who’s a superhero, but the other twin is stuck with an unbearably ordinary life. So the ordinary twin decides to kidnap his superhero brother, steal his costume and reap the rewards of fame and fortune himself. Along the way he finds out that he might have some superpowers after all… but the only way to get them is to do good deeds. Great stuff and, like I said, this sure doesn’t look like your average 24 hour comic. $2 maybe? I don’t know, that’s a pretty sweet cover, it might be $3. Ah, just check his website, it’s all over this page and I’m sure there’s info there.
