Ziggy

Passings | Tom Wilson Sr., creator of the long-running comic strip Ziggy, passed away Sept. 16. According to a press release from Universal Uclick, Wilson, 80, had suffered from a long illness and died in his sleep. For more than 35 years, Wilson served as a creative director at American Greetings. Wilson first published Ziggy in the 1969 cartoon collection When You’re Not Around. The Ziggy comic panel, syndicated by Universal Uclick (formerly Universal Press Syndicate), launched in 15 newspapers in June 1971. It now appears in more than 500 daily and Sunday newspapers and has been featured in best-selling books, calendars and greeting cards. Wilson’s son, Tom Wilson Jr., took over the strip in 1987. [Universal Uclick]

Awards | The Chill by Jason Star and Mick Bertilorenzi won an Anthony Award this weekend at Bouchercon, the annual mystery convention. The Vertigo Crime selection won in the Best Graphic Novel category, while Birds of Prey writer Duane Swierczynski took the Best Original Paperback category with his novel Expiration Date. [Examiner]

Comic strips | Ken Paulson, president of the First Amendment Center, comments on last week’s choice by The Chicago Tribune and other papers to not run a series of Doonesbury strips that featured excerpts from author Joe McGinniss’ upcoming biography of Sarah Palin. “The First Amendment guarantees that a newspaper can decide what to publish — or not publish. The Tribune is entirely within its rights, but it’s certainly an uncomfortable position for any news organization that aspires to reflect the full marketplace of ideas.” [First Amendment Center]

MetaMaus

Creators | The Montreal Gazette profiles Maus creator Art Spiegelman, covering the upcoming MetaMaus, his stint at the New Yorker and the state of the comic book industry. [Montreal Gazette]

Creators | Terry Moore discusses his latest comic Rachel Rising. [Suicide Girls]

Creators | Box Brown talks about his new publishing venture Retrofit Comics. [The Morton Report]

History | E. L. Bell explores the sources for the giant typewriters, cash registers, and other huge props that used to pop up in Batman comics (particularly those written by Bill Finger). [Oz and Ends]

History | Letterer Todd Klein looks back at a 1950s Famous Artists College cartooning lesson, specifically the chapter on lettering. [Todd's Blog]

Conventions | Sean Kleefeld recounts his adventures at the Cincinnati Comic Expo, including meeting Jim Steranko and chatting with a retailer who is concerned that sales of DC’s new 52 comics will plunge in January, when the story arcs all slow down at the same time. [Kleefeld on Comics]

Liar's Kiss

Courtesy of our friends at Top Shelf, we’re pleased to present the opening pages of Liar’s Kiss by Eric Skillman and Jhomar Soriano, which debuts tomorrow at New York’s MoCCA Festival. Skillman will be there to sign it.

Check out the preview after the jump; it contains nudity, so consider it NSFW and for mature readers only.

*****

The Sixth Gun

Hello and welcome to What Are You Reading? Today’s special guest is Jim Zubkavich, writer of the Image Comics series Skullkickers and a project manager at UDON Entertainment.

To see what Jim and the Robot 6 crew are reading, click the link below.

*****

Sean T. Collins

A Game of Thrones

This is a bit of cheat, because I didn’t read the books in question over the past week; instead I polished off one YA fantasy favorite, Susan Cooper’s The Dark Is Rising Sequence, and started revisiting another, Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain Chronicles. But with the HBO adaptation Game of Thrones on the way and some of my friends asking what the fuss is all about, I penned a spoiler-free run-down of why you should read George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series — fantasy books I think just about anyone will find enthralling. If you’ve heard of the books but aren’t sure if they’re worth taking the plunge, give the post a read and see what you think.

And oh yeah, comics — click the links for full reviews!

A Drunken Dream and Other Stories by Moto Hagio (Fantagraphics): This long-awaited collection of stories from shoujo manga pioneer Hagio is a thing of unearthly beauty and surprising guts.

FUC* **U, *SS**LE by Johnny Ryan (Fantagraphics): The fourth and final Blecky Yuckerella gag-strip collection by the cartoonist now best known as the force behind the action-horror sensation Prison Pit makes me regret there won’t ever be a fifth.

Monster, edited by Paul Lyons (available through PictureBox): The big Fort Thunder reunion anthology looks great — with contributions by Brian Chippendale and Mat Brinkman and a killer cover by editor Paul Lyons, how could it not — but it’s not necessarily a document of how vital the legendary underground comics collective’s work, and that of their Providence peers and heirs, can be.

Carla Hoffman

"Do you think this 'A' on my head stands for 'AVAILABLE FOR $2.99'?!?"

I read Ultimate Captain America #1 and I just want to go cook outdoors and change a tire. Maybe even spit. Jason Aaron writes these amazingly gritty, masculine books that brook no quarter and punch you in the face. Here, Captain America is a blatant American special forces operative facing down a man in a mask and international terrorism! I didn’t want to read another Captain America book because Brubaker’s been the gold standard and, let’s face it, the Ultimates line hasn’t been a smash hit like they used to. So that’s why I’m only getting to it now… and now I have to read the whole thing. There’s just something about the way Aaron presents a story that is so realistic, but yet not too real. Like a Tarantino film without all the artsy hoopla, maybe? I don’t know, but he’s certainly in a class all his own.

I also read Tiny Titans #36 because that’s how I roll. I may be a Marvel Zombie, but boy howdy do I love the Tiny Titans. Normally, it’s the first book I read the week it comes out and keeps me in giggles the whole month through. In this issue, people eat hot dogs and there’s a girl dinosaur. YEAH! Man, it is so refreshing, fun and unique that it makes reading books where people get their throats slit open enjoyable again. You can’t eat meat and potatoes all the time, sometimes you need a little candy.

Lastly but certainly not least..ly, I read Thor #619 slowly and lovingly. Every page was basked in and dialogue bubbles were read out loud in as big and booming a voice I could muster. And if I couldn’t do it, I’d get the Mister to read aloud some dialogue because this is the kind of story you have to narrate. Or at least share it with someone. I know Mr. Fraction’s new run may not be for everyone and with Journey Into Mystery coming up, this might seem like a vote of no confidence in his run. Personally, I don’t care. I don’t care if the internet hates this book and wants to form an angry mob about it. Sometimes, a book is written just for me. Sure, I do love sharing comics I like with as many people as possible (BLOODCOLOSSUS!!), but Pasqual Ferry’s art is so beautiful, dreamy and wide-scope and Matt Fraction’s voice for the Norse gods is so booming and mythic, I honestly don’t care if people don’t enjoy it anymore. I’m enjoying it enough for the whole Nine Worlds.

Chris Mautner

Dawn Land

Will Davis’ Dawn Land is an odd, interesting graphic novel that deals with a topic and culture rarely covered in comics. Adapted from a novel by Joseph Bruchac, it’s a story set in North America long before the Europeans’ arrival, about a young hunter — literally called Young Hunter — who goes on a lengthy quest to stop a tribe of giants that have been ravaging the countryside (and also happened to kill his parents) armed only with a super-special secret weapon that I wouldn’t dream of revealing. Obviously there’s a good deal of archetypical mythmaking on display here, enough to give the book a familiar air, despite being set in an unfamiliar (to me anyway) time and place. The book is at its best when it delves into the specifics of early Native American culture and mythos. Davis’ black and white, charcoal washes keep the story moving at a decent clip, but also give the book a subdued quality that I’m not sure jibes with the material that well. For all that’s at stake for the Young Hunter, Dawn Land feels like a strangely quiet and overly calm book. Still, for those who have an interest in or are curious about the subject matter, it’s worth checking out.

Tom Bondurant

Somehow I missed seeing that Chris Roberson and Jesus Merino’s Superman/Batman arc was only two issues. Not only was I expecting it to go past this week’s issue #80, I was hoping it would too. Call me a slave to nostalgia, but setting the bulk of the issue in the early ’80s, when Robin/Dick was still leading the pre-”Judas Contract” Teen Titans and Batman hadn’t quite gotten so scowly, really pushed a lot of familiar buttons. The climax, featuring World’s Finest teams from across the millennia, was similarly effective.

Amazing Spider-Man #652

I’ve also been picking up the “Big Time” issues of Amazing Spider-Man, in part because I like Dan Slott and because the book seems to have gotten past all of that “diabolical annulment” baggage. This week’s issue #652 kicked off a new arc (featuring the Spider-Slayer) with a new artist (Stefano Caselli). I like the fact that Slott has filled out the supporting cast with a lot of appealing characters, but this time the issue felt a little crowded. For example, I didn’t recognize Glory Grant until much later than I probably should have. Anyway, I do like the balance the book has struck between character moments and superheroics, and I thought the climactic scenes of Spidey trying to save John Jameson were very well-executed.

Finally, I was quite impressed with the debut of Supergirl‘s new creative team in this week’s issue #60. I know this was co-writer Nick Spencer’s only issue, but I’m optimistic that co-writer James Peaty is up to handling the book by himself. New artist Bernard Chang turned in a typically good issue, managing character elements (mostly
involving the new villain) and action sequences equally well. I thought Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle did a great job of “normalizing” Supergirl, after years of the book trying to figure out what it was going to be, and I’m hopeful that Peaty and Chang can build on that. This issue was a very promising start; and if it’s any indication, Supergirl‘s future could be very bright.

Brigid Alverson

Jacques Tardi’s It Was the War of the Trenches is pretty brutal. Almost everyone in the book dies, but before they die, Tardi gives you just enough of their story to make them seem human. Then boom, they get blown away right before your eyes. His clear-eyed view of the cruelties of war is also brutal, from the discomfort and indignity of life in the trenches to the truly grotesque, such as a man falling elbow-deep into the entrails of a corpse, to the morally repugnant, such as an officer killing his own men because they fail to do the impossible. It’s one thing to read about the brutality of trench warfare, another entirely to experience it in the way Tardi details it here. This wasn’t an easy read‹I alternated between anger and horror the whole time — but it was a good one.

Much easier, and ironically, less grim, is The Mammoth Book of Best Crime Comics. Despite the cheesy sounding title, this book really delivers the goods, and the fact that the publisher kept the price down by printing the whole thing in black and white doesn’t hurt it a bit. Editor Paul Gravett really knows his comics, and he provides a bit of context for each of the 25 short stories in this book. Many of the stories are classics — there’s a Will Eisner Spirit story, a tightly written con-artist story by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, and one of the original Secret Agent X-9 stories by Dashiell Hammett and Alex Raymond. And he includes a nice selection of comics from other countries as well, including one illustrated by Tardi. I picked up this book on a whim at Barnes & Noble and just a quick flip through it convinced me that I was going to like it — and I do. At $17.95 for 480 pages, it’s as easy on the wallet as it is on the eyes.

Jim Zubkavich

I just finished reading the newly released first volume of The Sixth Gun by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt. This supernatural Western odyssey is fresh and exciting with a richly textured mythology all its own. With each chapter you can see the synergy between writer and artist getting stronger as they build up an impressive cast of rogues and wild west freaks. I’m excited to see where the story progresses from here and am glad that Oni Press is continuing to broaden their offerings across so many genres and styles.

My good friend Jim Demonakos just sent me the advance proof for The Silence of Our Friends, a graphic novel he co-wrote with Mark Long that’s illustrated by Nate Powell. It’s coming out early 2012 from First Second and I was thrilled to get an advance look at it. Let me be first out of the gate to say that this book is going to knock people out with its quality and emotion. It’s a reflection on race in America during the late 60’s that grips you from start to finish. Even with the natural biases that come from looking at work from a friend I could not have been more pleased with it. I foresee this book getting quite a bit of mainstream attention and praise.

Absolute Sandman

Although I’d purchased them quite a while ago, I finally had a chance to sit down and read Absolute Sandman. Having the series remastered in such a fantastic archival format is a real treat. It’s not like anyone needs my recommendation to check it out, but it really is a tent post of quality and depth in this industry. Anyone who considers themselves a comic fan that hasn’t read Sandman has a hole in their understanding of the medium about as big as these books.

Back on the Image home front, Chris Yost and Scott Wegener’s Killer of Demons landed in my read pile over the holidays. It has one of those high concepts that’s easy to pitch yet still has layers worth of depth underneath it – an office drone has visions of demons and may be a slayer of evil destined to save us all, or he’s just a delusional psychotic justifying mass murder. As ugly and morbid as that sounds, Scott’s wonderfully expressive artwork and Chris’ snappy sarcastic script keep it rolling with black-hearted humour. Given the right exposure I could easily see it being another Chew or Preacher.

Parker: The Outfit

Welcome to another installment of “Food or Comics?” Every week we set certain hypothetical spending limits on ourselves and go through the agony of trying to determine what comes home and what stays on the shelves. So join Brigid Alverson, Michael May and Chris Mautner as they run down what comics they’d buy if they only had $15 and $30 to spend, as well as what they’d get if they had some “mad” money to splurge with.

Check out Diamond’s full release list if you’d like to play along in our comments section.

Chris Mautner

If I had $15:

The latest issue of The Boys is on my pull-list for this week ($3.99) and I’m anxious to see how Hughie reacts after discovering Annie’s big, horrible secret last ish. (sounds like I’m talking about a daytime soap, doesn’t it? If daytime soaps had more vomiting, cuss words and dismemberment.)

I’ll also likely pick up the fifth issue of James Stokoe’s Orc Stain ($2.99). I’m coming into the series a little bit late, but based on raves it’s been garnering across the Interwebs, I tried a random issue and dang if I wasn’t tickled with it’s wit and dense world-building sensibilities. Now I’m trying to track down the other issues I’ve missed.

If I had $30:

There’s a lot of good stuff this week, but (assuming I put aside my two previous purchases for a later date) what would easily top my list (and that of my fellow Robot Sixers I’m sure) is Richard Stark’s Parker: The Outfit, the second book in Darwyn Cooke’s ongoing adaptation of Donald Westlake’s (writing under the Stark nom de plume) series of hard boiled crime novels. I hadn’t been a Cooke fan previously, but the first book, The Hunter, made me a believer and the recent mini/prologue that IDW released earlier this year, The Man With the Getaway Face, sealed the deal. I’m very much looking forward to reading this.

But! There’s every chance once I’m in the store my eye might stray. For example, D&Q has the latest volume of Seth’s Palookaville out right now for a mere $19.95. And it’s the new, lengthier, hardcover version too. I already picked up a copy at SPX but I wanted to note it’s arrival since, if your tastes run more toward Peter Arno than Alex Toth, that’s what you’re going to be clutching at the cash register.

At the risk of weakening this weekly exercise even further, let me take a second to point out that D&Q also has the first trade collection of Doug Wright’s Nipper ($16.96), a charming, funny, warm and wordless strip that was big up in Canada back in the day but never really made any inroads here in the U.S. The strip evokes both Peanuts and Gasoline Alley in its attention to craft, observational slice-of-life humor and sweet but sharp wit regarding two rambunctious boys and the continual headaches they give their mother and father. Any parent will recognize the goings-on here with a smile and perhaps the occasional wince.

Splurge:

Back before it hit senior-citizen age, before Mr. Dithers and Daisy the dog were introduced, Chic Young’s Blondie was a slapstick soap about a lively, smart alec flapper, her uber-rich beau Dagwood and his snobbish parents, who continually fainted at the mere thought of their son marrying such a hussy. What’s more, back then, the strip was actually rather funny! Want proof? IDW has collected the first two-plus years in their ongoing attempt to convince modern Americans that strips that are utter crap today were really great long ago. Long, long, long ago. ($49.99)

Brigid Alverson

If I had $15:

Fish N Chips

It’s a tough week, and I’m going to have to stretch the budget a bit. I want to pick up the second issue of Scratch 9 ($3.95), by Rob Worley and Jason Kruse (with covers by Mike Kunkel), a fast-paced and funny comic about a cat who comes face to face with the rest of his nine lives. Then I’m going to have to steal two bucks so I can also pick up Steve Hamaker’s Fish N Chips ($12.95), another wacky-animals kids’ graphic novel that looks like it’s done in a similar spirit. To pay for it, I’ll just skip dinner and have a Happy Meal instead.

If I had $30:

I’d hold off on Fish N Chips for this week and go for some more adult fare: Darwyn Cooke’s The Outfit ($24.99), the second of his Parker graphic novels. The Hunter blew me away, as did The Man with the Getaway Face, which was the prequel to this book. These books aren’t just set in the 1950s, they practically embody it, with Cooke’s slick magazine-style art and a sensibility that comes straight out of pulp novels. This may be the best graphic novel of 2010.

Splurge: I read some of Vanessa Davis’s comics online a while ago and really liked them. Her memoir comics are good stories backed with a memorable cast of characters and a willingness to laugh at herself as well as others, and I’m looking forward to reading her new graphic novel, Make Me a Woman ($24.99).

But the true splurge this month would be the first volume of IDW’s Blondie collection ($49.99). I’m a complete pushover for books like this—I love classic newspaper comics, and IDW has been doing a really nice job with their collections. What’s more, this book promises to show the hidden history of Blondie—when it started out, it was more a soap opera than a gag strip, with Dagwood as a rich playboy who horrifies his upper-crust family by falling for carefree flapper Blondie. I’m dying to see this story and would cheerfully trade in all my week’s comics just to see Dagwood go on a hunger strike.

Michael May

If I had $15:

Frankie Stein

I’d pick up Frankie Stein ($14.99) from Image. I like Steven Seagle’s writing, I especially like children’s books, and I love Frankenstein. Seagle’s book about the trials of a green-skinned, bolt-headed kid encountering the world outside his castle for the first time sounds wonderful.

If I had $30:

I’d buy Fish N Chips, Volume 1 ($12.95). My son and I love the Fish N Chips stories from the Flight anthologies (David even made up a song about them) and are looking forward to a longer adventure. Then, because I’m a man with the compulsive need to spend every last cent of his budget, I’d grab Image Firsts: Haunt ($1.00) just for curiosity’s sake. I can’t imagine its being my thing, but it’s only a buck. That leaves me with a dollar for a candy bar or something.

Splurge:

There are a couple of collections I’ve been looking forward to. I bought Perhapanauts, Volume 1 a long time ago, but stopped reading it when I realized it wasn’t really the first volume. The long-awaited Perhapanauts, Volume 00: Dark Days ($17.99) is. I’m looking forward to finally digging into that series. Also, Phil Hester’s Anchor, Volume 2 ($16.99). I’m sad that it was canceled, but that’s not going to stop me from reading as much of it as exists.

Blood's A Rover

Welcome to What Are You Reading. I hope everyone had a nice Halloween and spent at least part of it reading comics.

Our guest this week is Chip Mosher, Marketing Director at Boom! Studios, publisher of such fine books as Irredeemable and The Muppet Show. As the image above hints, Chip’s been reading some rather interesting (and gritty) material, so click on the link below to discover what he and the rest of Robot 6 have been reading recently. Oh, and don’t forget to let us know what you have been reading in the comments section.

Brave and the Bold #10

Tim O’Shea: My son really enjoyed the reversal of Atom’s usual power in Batman: The Brave and the Bold 10. Meanwhile, I just loved the sheer infectious nature of the story. Landry Walker makes me yearn for more Johnny DC titles written by him. And Eric Jones’ two-page spread (as Atom and a Mutant Giant Batman fight) is a sweet tribute to the old Godzilla films (nicely timed for Halloween).

Astra #2 (of the issue Astro City two-part special event) was more entertaining than the cumulative dragging sensation of Busiek’s Astro City/The Dark Age work. Let me clarify, while reading certain issues of The Dark Age, I’ve been engaged and entertained–but seeing how much more ground that Busiek’s been able to cover in two issues makes me partial to this quicker pacing. In terms of scope, I agree it’s an apples and oranges comparison, but I still find myself craving more Astra-scale tales.

As Greg Rucka’s Batwoman origin starts to play out in Detective Comics I’m slowly starting to appreciate why Rucka was so interested in developing Kate Kane. The final pages of this issue are some of the strongest I’ve seen from J.H. Williams III’s already impressive run. Rucka’s dialogue, mixed with Willams’ use of darkness and panel layout, is elevated by Todd Klein’s lettering particularly on the third to last page of the story. Did I mention Dave Stewart’s colors? Because I really should. I’ll be curious to see if and how DC collects Rucka and Cully Hamner’s Question back-up feature down the road. As this particular arc wraps, I’m left wishing the Question pacing was different. The final installment opens with a great foot chase scene that I wished had more space to play out. And the story’s conclusion carries an emotional closure that connects to the opening installment four issues ago. I think it would pack more emotional punch if I could read it in one sitting — a situation that admittedly would still occur even if the story had the lead position and page number volume of the main Detetctive story.

Speaking of Hamner, I just reread Warren Ellis/Hamner’s 2003 three-issue miniseries RED — in preparation for an interview with Hamner. This is likely my favorite Ellis-written tale, mainly because of Hamner’s exquisite work.

Finally, previous WAYR installments have sported me struggling with Jonathan Hickman’s Fantastic Four. I struggle no more. Hickman’s conclusion, while a smidge rushed, strikes a convincing and winning tone with me. (Though I must admit, it cracked me up in the heat of battle on the world of Reeds, when one Reed would say address one of them as “Reed” and the others failed to all turn around in unison, and ask “which one?”…). I could have done without the Val and Franklin subplot, but you have to give readers something to come back for next issue I guess.

Cat Paradise

Brigid Alverson: It’s Halloween as I’m writing this, so it’s appropriate that I’m reading Beyond Temptation, a horror story told from a teen point of view. It’s horror lite—there’s a hawt demon and some vaguely drawn histrionics, but mostly it’s that more surreal kind of horror — a girl saves a demon’s life, and he must repay her somehow. When he hears she needs money, he makes money magically appear in her pockets. It’s sort of a modern version of the magic porridge-pot, with a bit of Twilight-esque forbidden romance. The drawing is rather rudimentary, and the script has some spelling errors and odd usage—the story is set in Europe and I think this is translated from another language. Usually these two things send me running from a webcomic, but this has an unusually good story, so I’ sticking with it.

Back on the printed page, I’m enjoying the first volume of Yuji Iwahara’s Cat Paradise. I absolutely adored Iwahara’s three-volume Chikyu Misaki, a gorgeously drawn manga that has a lot in common with classic kids’ films. Cat Paradise is more straightforward — you don’t stop to admire the art as much—but it’s still mighty pretty. The story is a schoolgirl’s delight—our heroine goes to a school where students are allowed to keep a pet cat, and it turns out that the students and the cats must unite to battle monsters that are attacking the school. Everything is imaginatively drawn, and all the cats have distinct personalities of their own—in fact, they are more interesting than the students. This is more than a cat manga, though. I am not particularly fond of cats, but I like a good story, and this one delivers.

Detective Comics #858

Tom Bondurant: The LCS had a sale today — 20% off without costumes, 25% off with — so most of us donned our costumes for a family outing. The “Let’s Be Friends Again” guys were signing copies of their new collection, but the line was a little long and we still had to buy Halloween candy.

As for what I’ve been reading, I think I’ll just stop counting the number of styles JH Williams III uses in Detective Comics. What a great series that is.

Amy Reeder Hadley returned to Madame Xanadu for this week’s issue #16, in which Betty Draper is the victim of some very disturbing magical pranks. I really liked her work this issue, because I think it is an excellent fit for the clean lines of the late-1950s setting. Matt Wagner’s script was tight and suspenseful too, in part because I wasn’t sure exactly who was working behind the scenes.

This week also saw the American-comics debut of Congolese artist Pat Masioni, drawing the first of a two-part Unknown Soldier story (in issue #13). I found his work very similar to regular series artist Alberto Ponticelli, but that’s hardly a criticism: it’s expressive and efficient, and it kept writer Joshua Dysart’s script moving. LIke Madame Xanadu #16, the story begins with a
peripheral character and takes its time to get to Moses. That helped draw me into the story, and I’m looking forward to the next issue.

Finally, appropriately enough, I worked my way through Showcase Presents Ambush Bug. I hadn’t read his early appearances in the Superman books, and as it turns out I hadn’t read the Nothing Special, so some of it was actually new to me, but all of it was entertaining. I think I appreciate Keith Giffen’s sense of humor better today than I did when these books first appeared. Back then I was probably looking for the kind of gags which are many bloggers’ bread and butter — not that there’s anything wrong with that — so it was good to realize Giffen (and scripter Robert Loren Fleming) were in fact going for something a little deeper. Now, thanks to my LCS trip, I can read the final issue of Year None with an informed eye.

JK Parkin: The third edition of Matthew Loux’s Salt Water Taffy series is, like the others, a lot of fun. In this one, Jack and Benny solve a century’s old mystery and help out an old ghost tied to the town’s history.

And since I’ve been loving Jonathan Hickman’s Fantastic Four, I picked up the Dark Reign: Fantastic Four trade. It’s a good intro to his work on the regular title, esp. the way he characterizes Reed. And the bits with Franklin and Valerie were worth the price of admission alone. Actually, there are lots of cool little touches in this, as Ben, Sue and Johnny are jumping through alternate universes where the FF are pirates, or cowboys or space rangers. Fun stuff.

Locke & Key: Crown of Shadows

Chris Mautner: Halloween seems like the perfect time to be reading Bernie Wrightson comics, so I’m glad IDW sent me an advance copy of the first issue of The Ghoul, his latest work with writer Steve Niles that I believe comes out in stores this week. Sadly, this issue feels a bit overly familiar. It’s basically Hellboy with a little bit of Goon mixed in — a trenchcoated police detective needs help solving a mysterious kidnapping, so he enlists the aid of The Ghoul, who works for a special supernatural, federal police force. Of course, it turns out the Ghoul is an actual monster, though quite the sardonic, kick ass tough guy as well.

It all has the feeling of walking down a well-traveled road. Certainly it’s nice to see Wrightson doing comics again, and Niles’ script is certainly breezy and competent enough. But unless there’s some major plot twists or change in tone in the next issue, there’s nothing here that isn’t in a hundred other supernatural detective stories that seem to be flooding the market these days.

IDW also sent me the first issue of the new Locke and Key series, written by Stephen King’s son, Joe Hill, and drawn by Gabriel Rodriguez. I’m not terribly familiar with the series, but if I’m reading it right, it’s basically a haunted house story with some fantasy elements thrown in. The first issue is basically a fight between the ghost of a dead killer and the astral projection of an apparently even worse bad guy. Rodriguez frames the sequence rather well. I like his characters’ burly, expressive faces. He throws in a lot of detail during the fight, but I never had a problem figuring out what was going on. The comic is a little too plot-heavy for me to start reading here, but I might go back and look at some of the previous trade collections.

American Tabloid

Chip Mosher: When I am not completely immersed in comics, I like to read crime and hard boiled mystery novels. Ross MacDonald, Jim Thompson, Carter Brown, Charles Willeford, Donald Goines just to name a few. And if you are familiar with those guys, well you know that all those authors have passed away. So… I like to read stuff by a bunch of dead guys about people getting dead, but, hey, when I want a change of pace and read books by someone who is living, I turn to James Ellroy. Ellroy is called the “Demon Dog” of crime fiction and he’s damn good. Right now I am making my way through his latest “BLOOD’S A ROVER.” I love Ellroy’s muscular, clipped, staccato prose style and his labyrinthine plots. Reading his later work is like reading Kerouac poems, but about crime instead “the road”, and cool instead of pretentious! Speaking, Ellroy’s latest book’s title is taken from a poem titled “Reveille” by A.E. Housman:

Clay lies still, but blood’s a rover;
Breath’s a ware that will not keep.
Up, lad; when the journey’s over
There’ll be time enough for sleep.

Which I thought was cool. (And, hey, might also be pretentious! Oh, well.) In any case, before I moved out to Los Angeles, Ellroy was fast becoming one of my favorite living writers, and since I have lived here I have had the opportunity to meet him several times; once doing a bus tour given by Ellroy himself! On that tour, we went around to the neighborhoods where he used to be do B&Es (that’s breaking and entering to the uninitiated), scenes of infamous murders that he works into his novels, and ending right at the spot where fifty year previous his mother’s body was dumped after she was brutally murdered (See Ellroy’s memoir MY DARK PLACES). The Ellroy bus tour was probably the best Christmas present my wife has ever given me. But I am weird that way. In any case, I am crime freak, a book freak, a conspiracy freak, and a history freak. If you’re freaky in the same way, I would highly recommend BLOOD’S A ROVER and the whole Underworld USA Trilogy, which includes AMERICAN TABLOID and THE COLD SIX-THOUSAND. It tracks the years from 1960-1972 and takes all the craziness of who killed JFK, RFK, MLK (but, hey, not MJK) and mixes it up in one blender of a bitchin’ series. And if you get the hardcover you can dig on those deckle edges. I love me some deckle edges. Did I mention I was a book freak? I think I did!

Crime writer Jay Stringer builds his review around what comics can do better, or at least more easily, than movies, television or prose:

Scalped, Vol. 4

Could this be a film? Yes. It could be a rushed and violent spectacle. It could cram the whole thing into two or three hours and barely scratch the surface of what this series has achieved so far.

Could it be a television show? Sure. The Wire has proved that this sort of thing is doable. But it would take the very best writers and directors, to say nothing of a cast who would be willing to sit out whole episodes at a time as the focus shifts.

What a comic book can do that doesn’t work on screen is to really get us into the heads of the characters. It can show and tell. And because of that, it only needs to do a little of each to hit home very powerfully.

The fifth collection of Scalped will be released in November. You can download the complete first issue from the Vertigo website.