Showcase: DC Comics Presents

It's old home week at What Are You Reading today, as our special guest is none other than Graeme McMillan, who,  before he became a writer and editor for the sci-fi blog io9, used to pal around with us back when we were at that other blog that shall not be named for fear of ... something, I dunno.

Anyway, to see what Graeme and everyone else is reading this week just click on the link below ...

JLA: Strength in Numbers

Tom Bondurant: This week I read a couple of stories from the JLA: Strength In Numbers paperback: an Adam Strange guest-shot written by Mark Waid and pencilled by Arnie Jorgensen, and the Starro/Sandman mash-up "It" from the regular team of writer Grant Morrison, penciller Howard Porter and inker John Dell. Plot-wise, the Adam Strange story hinges on (surprise!) a novel way of using Zeta-Beam teleportation; but it may be more notable for Jorgensen's expressionistic take on the World's Greatest Super-Heroes. His Orion literally froths at the mouth, and at one point he zeros in on Adam's half-crazed expression like Steve Ditko on crystal meth. I could (and might) do a whole post on the religious overtones in "It," but for now I'll just say it's a scary, suspenseful, and ultimately sweet two issues.

Big week for Batman in the regular books. I read Scott Shaw!'s "Oddball Comics" entry on Brother Power last week, so I knew a little about him going into Brave and the Bold #29, and I also liked the story right up until the end. With his lament about "what have we lost since the '60s," JMS's heart was in the right place, but in story terms it felt redundant and preachy. I'm with Tim overall, though -- this was a definite improvement over last issue.

I hadn't been particularly impressed by Christopher Yost's work on Red Robin, so I only bought the first issue. However, I did like the conclusion of his Huntress/Man-Bat two-parter in this week's Batman: Streets Of Gotham #6 (drawn by the regular art team of Dustin Nguyen and Derek Fridolfs). In fact, the issue worked pretty well on its own: Black Mask gives a goon an invisibility suit and doesn't care who he kills, so he tricks a priest into thinking he's the Voice of God and Huntress and Man-Bat are beasts from the Pit. Not a bad setup for the anyone-can-die-at-any-time atmosphere which must permeate Gotham City, and the twist ending also makes good sense in that context. I'm not sure how well the twist works in terms of story logic, but on the whole, it was a well-told tale.

Flash Rebirth #5

Big week too for Geoff Johns. Flash: Rebirth #5 didn't quite live up to its "this changes everything!" hype, mostly because its shocking reveal wasn't particularly unexpected, considering Johns' affection for continuity. The rah-rah moments made up for it, though; and I liked seeing the assembled speedsters. (Too bad XS couldn't join 'em, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time ... uh, so to speak.) I don't have any big complaints about Ethan Van Sciver's work either, except for that one forced-perspective splash page.

Meanwhile, I bought Adventure Comics #4 dreading the return of Superboy-Prime, since I thought Legion Of Three Worlds had given him such a perfect ending. Nevertheless, this was a very fun coda. Superboy himself is none too happy himself about being part of Blackest Night, and to make matters worse he's being chased by Black Lantern Alex Luthor. The result, co-written by Sterling Gates and ably drawn by Jerry Ordway and Bob Wiacek, isn't that subtle (Luthor calls the Internet "a conduit for ... rage, and you continue to evoke quite a bit of rage"), but that's part of its charm. I mean, it's not like I love the little punk now, but this issue was a good bit of rehab.

I also bought the first issue of Ian Edgington and Davide Fabbri's Victorian Undead, ostensibly a Sherlock Holmes story but more a steampunk horror tale with some Holmes in it. For one thing, Watson isn't the narrator. That's not a dealbreaker, but it's not what I was expecting. Still, it might have avoided some problems with execution, like with the doctor whose speaking style and general demeanor initially led me to believe he was Holmes. When our heroes finally do show up, Holmes looks and acts rather like Reed Richards, which is to say a little younger and more action hero-y than I might have thought. Fabbri's art is like a cross between Mike Wieringo and Chriscross, so it's bright and energetic, and that's not bad but it too is at odds with the darker elements of the story. I will say this, though: it
didn't remind me constantly of Blackest Night.

Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer

JK Parkin: As Sean and Kevin pointed out this week, SLG is having a sale over on their site through Monday. So I thought it might be a good time to talk about two books I recently read from them that would be worth your time and money, should you decide to take advantage of the 40 percent discount.

First up is Pinocchio Vampire Slayer by Dustin Higgins and Van Jensen ... just in time for New Moon! Well, not really. This is a book that received a lot of press and praise before it even came out because of the simplicity-yet-brilliance of the concept -- the wooden kid whose nose grows when he lies, taking on creatures who die when you impale them with a wooden stake. Sometimes high concepts can fall flat in the execution, and I was happy to see that wasn't the case with PVS, which I liked a whole lot. There are some fun twists and a lot of heart in the book, and I'm looking forward to the second one.

Second is Weird Fishes by Jamaica Dyer, which collects her webcomic. It's good stuff, but don't take my word for it ... go check it out for yourself.

(Sean pointed out that Buenaventura is also having a sale, and you couldn't go wrong with picking up Fight or Run, or The Aviatrix, or any of their other comics as well).

Underground #3, by Steve Lieber

Tim O'Shea: Steve Lieber continues to cram an amazing amount of action into the caves of Underground 3 (. I don't know how long it took for Jeff Parker and Lieber to do this five-issue miniseries, but if they can spare the time (and their family budgets can take the hit) I would love to see these two collaborate again. As much drama as they have in the caves, the creators have built a great parallel tale outside the caves. And the shift outside the caves to the vibrant colors of the outside (colored by Ron Chan) is quite distinctive (but Chan is to be credited equally for inking the dark cave interior scenes as well).

The cover to Flash Rebirth 5 (please god let there never be a Flash Afterbirth) is a twisted reworking of Flash 123's (1961) cover. And fortunately that's the only sour note in this issue's read. I think there's three schools of superhero comic fanthought: 1) Toss out the status quo--explore new ideas with the corporate property; 2) Keep the hero the same age, the character/story dynamics-give me what pulled me in, in the first place; 3) Toss out some of the status quo, keep the stuff I like.

OK, maybe there's more than three schools of fanthought. But the bottom line, I missed Max Mercury and am glad to have him back in the Flash Family. After the wringer that Bart Allen has been run through by DC editorial in recent years, it was nice to see Bart reunited with Max. I wonder if Max will be put back on the DC universe shelf after this miniseries has run its course or if they have a gameplan to utilize him going forward. I'll just have to wait and see, but in the meantime this miniseries has become immensely more enjoyable.

Paul Azaceta drawing Spider-Man (Amazing Spider-Man 612) reminds me of when Bill Sienkiewicz did a mid-1980s stint on Fantastic Four. It's jarring, but it works for me. In an effort to keep the book on its intense (three issues a month) schedule, editor Steve Wacker is taking some inspired risks--namely this issue's use of the I Kill Giants (Image) team of Joe Kelly and J.M. Ken Niimura on the second tale. Back to the first tale in the issue, however, did Mark Waid really sneak in a Jimmy Webb/Glen Campbell reference into his representation of Electro's origin? ("I was a lineman for the county." Nice, Waid, nice).

After my worship of Waid in last week's column, no one will be surrprised that I got a huge kick out of the beatdown that Plutonian received at the hands of Charybdis in Irredeemable 8 (BOOM). Waid is good at surprises and the character path with Charybdis has taken a great turn in recent issues.

Last month I fairly well tore down J. Michael Straczynski's Brave and Bold 28, so I was heistant to pick up B&B 29 which features a team-up between Batman and Brother Power, the Geek. I do not know a thing about BP, but as dated
a character he clearly is -- JMS set up a modern day setting for his return that runs the risk of being one-note but fortunately does not. Crazy as this may read, I think JMS could build a great BP the Geek ongoing. Stop laughing. It could work. Saiz does a great job shifting from the 1960s to present day with his art. JMS' examination of Batman's history played off his reaction to BP is a quirky, but effective way to go--and I'm glad I bought the issue. It's a nice recovery after the last issue.

O'Shea: Next Generation (aka my 10-year-old son) continues to enjoy Chris Giarrusso 's G-Man: Cape Crisis, which saw the release of issue 4 (out of 5) this week

X-Men Legacy: Salvage

Michael May: I just finished X-Men Legacy: Salvage and my main reaction is that it's about frickin time. Rogue's always been my favorite X-Man, but the tragedy of her inability to control her powers has gone on far too long. She was in danger of Wolverine-syndrome for me, by which I mean that Marvel kept Wolverine's true background a mystery for so long that I lost interest in whether or not they ever revealed it. By the time they finally did, I'd stopped caring. Fortunately, they got to Rogue in time and I'm thrilled that the woe-is-me part of her life is behind her. (Not that I expect her to be completely done with all drama, but you know what I mean...)

I also appreciate what Carey's done with Charles Xavier. I actually like Professor X again. I've been away from the X-Men a while, but I'm kind of excited about keeping up with their adventures again, if only in the collected versions.

Chris Mautner: Short and sweet this week cause I'm tired. I spent a good part of the week reading Goats: The Corndog Imperative, the second collected volume of Jonathan Rosenberg's Webcomic from Del Rey. I'm of two minds about the strip. On the one hand, I admire the attempt at world-building and extended storytelling Rosenberg is attempting here, even if it is more than a tad silly, and it's interesting to see him try to move beyond the traditional joke-a-day concept he began with. On the other hand, while he can be funny, I tire of the constant punchline/rimshot/punchline repartee that plauges the dialogue. No one can make any comment without someone offering a bit of surreal smartassery. It gets a little weary and it makes it hard to develop any attachment to anyone in the large cast. Still, he's trying something. God love him for that.

The Learners

Graeme McMillan: It's completely unintentional, but I've just gone through a few "real" books that've impacted how I'm reading comics these days. Two of them are kind of process books - John Ortved's "The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History" and Russell T Davies' "The Writer's Tale" - and the third is Chip Kidd's second novel, "The Learners," which is - like his first, "The Cheese Monkeys" - as much about graphic design as anything else. They've all got me thinking about how comics, especially mainstream superhero comics, are assembled, and
what their purposes are these days.

That train of thought has been helped by speeding through this week's "Showcase Presents: DC Comics Presents: The Superman Team-Ups Vol. 1," which was a really strange experience; I hadn't realized how many of the stories I'd read in reprints when I was growing up, so half the book had this unexpected nostalgia to it. It doesn't hurt that the book is full of the old school "Hello, chum!" quasi-professional, quasi-friends relationships between the characters that, were I somehow Geoff Johns for a day, I'd selfishly try and get back into the current line as quickly as possible. Also, that Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez art! Man, he's such a great artist.

What else have I enjoyed this week? The new issue of Phonogram, even though I think I read a different story from the one Kieron Gillen wrote, judging from his talk of villains in the backmatter.

The new Underground, which isn't just enjoyable on its own merits (Again, the book just looks wonderful, with Steve Lieber and Ron Chan doing some great work together; I love the limited palette in the cavern), but makes me feel like Jeff Parker is one of those Most Underrated Writers In Comics guys: Between this, Mysterius The Unfathomable and his Marvel work, he's put out some really, really good, and really varied, work this year, I think.

Superherowise, I was kind of disappointed by Flash: Rebirth #5, which seemed much lighter and stretched out compared with earlier issues, and Adventure Comics #4, which started like Ambush Bug and ended like... well, like a kind of generic superhero comic, really. That said, I'd still think about picking up DC Comics Presents: The Superboy Prime Team-Ups just for the cheap metatextual jokes, if someone wanted to make it happen.

Spider-Man 1602 #2

I've written a good deal at Robot 6 and elsewhere about comic-book cover art and design, but, unfortunately (for me at least), not so much in recent months. I hope "Comics, Covered" will remedy that, as each Saturday I select the six best covers -- the most striking, the most successfully executed, the most intriguing -- to grace the shelves that week.

This week's list is filled with three comics from Marvel, one from Image, one from DC's Wildstorm imprint and one that's technically not a comic at all.

To find out what made the cut, read on.

The Amazing Spider-Man #612, by Marko Djurdjevic

Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane aside, I'm not sure I could tell you when I last bought a Spider-Man comic, or even which one it was. But Marko Djurdjevic's stunning cover for The Amazing Spider-Man #612 would call to me from the store shelf; I'd be compelled to buy it. The close-up of Spider-Man's mask doubles as an ominous blood-red sky, disrupted by a lightning bolt striking the Empire State Building. Even without the logo in the upper-left corner or the reflection in the mask's eye we know the story involves the classic supervillain Electro, whom I presume has become more deadly since ditching the goofy mask.

Underground #3, by Steve Lieber

For the covers of Underground, the Image Comics miniseries set in and around a cave in Kentucky, artist Steve Lieber smartly has been toying with negative space. But it's not until this third issue that he's really nailed it, using a mass of flying bats to form a background against which he sets the silhouette of protagonist Wesley Fischer. I also like that not all of the bats are in black, providing another layer of detail.

Nomad: Girl Without a World, by Rafael Albuquerque

Artist Rafael Albuquerque set out limiting himself to the colors of the American flag for this unlikely miniseries about the female Bucky from Marvel's mid-'90s Heroes Reborn experiment. Like Steve Lieber with Underground, I think Albuquerque finally hits upon the right combination of composition, color and subject in the third issue: There's drama, white space, and a pop-art element that can be viewed as a reference both to Captain America's shield and to Jim Steranko's legendary cover for Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #4. (Oh, okay, the red circles could just be a simple target, or comic-book shorthand for a telepathic attack. But I like my idea better.)

The Fir-Tree, by Lilli Carre

I find it difficult not to smile whenever I see Lilli Carre's art, even when it's for an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's depressing Christmas-themed fairy tale The Fir-Tree. There's something about her illustrations that reminds me of children's books from the 1940s and '50s -- the ones my grandmother shared with me when I was young. I love Carre's use of elongated, rubbery arms and her choice of this delightfully macabre scene for the cover (Andersen's story is told from the perspective of the little fir-tree, so his felling signals the beginning of his slow demise).

Spider-Man 1602 #2, by Michael Golden

Michael Golden crams (by my count) 20 figures into this illustration, giving the cover a sense of excitement and urgency. The artist masterfully drives the reader's eye to the lower-right corner, where young Peter Parquagh, at the mercy of these ruthless pirates, dangles precariously close to the water. I also like how the logo blends the familiar Spider-Man font and the "1602" wax seal.

Victorian Undead #1, by Tony Moore

Say what you will about the popularity of zombie fiction and the recent spate of genre mash-ups, but you can't deny that Tony Moore can draw the heck out of the undead. What's more, he can convey the high concept: With the deerstalker, the cloak and the pipe, there's little doubt that we're looking at the cheerful corpse of Sherlock Holmes. Unfortunately, however, someone at Wildstorm apparently wasn't content to allow the illustration to sell the first issue of Victorian Undead. So a Victorian-style font is paired with cliche horror scrawl and topped with blood splatter. And if that weren't enough, we're hit over the head with a B-movie poster burst shouting "Sherlock Holmes vs Zombies!"

It's a shame, too, because all of that clutter obscures the lovely period wallpaper and works against a wry and, despite all of the maggots and worms, understated illustration: Our decaying detective, seemingly oblivious to his state, could easily be sitting for a portrait. It might've been nice for the cover designer to have played it straight with the cover dress, avoiding the stereotypical horror trappings altogether. (In a case of perfect timing, Colleen AF Venable just addressed Victorian-inspired design on the First Second blog.)

Blue Bloods: Masquerade

Publishing | Italian movie producer Domenico Procacci has purchased Bologna-based graphic novel publisher Coconino Press, adding it to his Fandango filmmaking and book-publishing company. In addition to its own titles, Coconino publishes the Italian editions of works by such artists as Charles Burns, Daniel Clowes, and Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi. [Variety]

Publishing | Young-adult novelist Melissa de la Cruz has signed new contracts with Hyperion, the Disney Book Group imprint that publishes her bestselling Blue Bloods series. The deal calls for three companion books to the teen-vampire drama, including Blue Bloods: The Graphic Novel. [Variety]

The Last Unicorn

Publishing | IDW Publishing will adapt Peter Beagle's bestselling 1968 fantasy novel The Last Unicorn as a six-issue miniseries. The comic, by writer Peter B. Gillis, artist Renae De Liz and colorist Ray Dillon, will debut in April. [ICv2.com]

Publishing | Simon Jones offers commentary about declining manga sales in Japan: "Some blame was again placed at the industry’s increasing focus on niche genres (just as comics is a spandex ghetto, manga is facing a crisis of the moe slum), but I think this is being overstated as a cause, when it’s really a symptom that is self-feeding.  Manga sales have gone down … it could be lower birth rates, or competition from other media, or internet piracy (come on guys, we don’t need to couch this in flowery language), or any combination of those.  But it all comes down to fewer companies being able to produce mainstream products, because a growing segment of mainstream audiences are no longer willing to pay for them despite increasing demand." [Icarus Publishing]

Publishing | Micha Hershman, former graphic-novel buyer and marketing executive with Borders Group, has joined Dark Horse as the company's senior director of marketing. [press release]

AOL

Business | Time Warner has set Dec. 9 as the date to complete its separation with AOL, ending one of the worst media deals of the decade. The spinoff, which comes just shy of 10 years after the merger, is expected to be followed by massive layoffs at AOL. [Variety]

Legal | Again? The heirs of Stephen Slesinger, the man who in 1931 signed a licensing deal with Winnie-the-Pooh creator AA Milne, are again taking Disney to court, this time over accusations of unpaid royalties. The moves comes on the heels of a judge's September ruling that confirmed Disney as the rights holder. [BBC News, via The Daily Cartoonist]

Retailing | Industry veteran KC Carlson takes a lengthy look at the early days of the direct-market system. [Westfield Comics]

Retailing | Did you know that Ryan Sohmer, co-creator of the webcomic Least I Could Do, opened his own comic store about a month ago in Pointe-Claire, Quebec? [The Chronicle]

Retailing | A comic-book store also has turned up in Old Bridge, New Jersey. CJ Comics will have its grand opening on Nov. 21. [MyCentralJersey]

Gunnerkrigg Court

Webcomics | El Santo compiles his list of the 10 best webcomics of the decade, including Hark! A Vagrant, Gunnerkrigg Court and High Moon. [The Webcomic Overlook]

Comics | At least once a year a newspaper in the U.K. declares one character or another "the first gay superhero." This time it's a gay super-team/comic named Spandex. [The Sun]

Comics | John Geddes spotlights Alien Legion, the early-'80s Epic Comics series whose Dark Horse ominbus edition hits stores this week. [USA Today]

Creators | George Gene Gustines profiles the legendary Joe Kubert, who's permitting "a large trove" of his original art to be auctioned on Friday. [The New York Times]

Creators | Robert Kirkman discusses his first exposure to Image Comics, the history of the company, becoming a partner, and writing Image United. [Techland]

Creators | Brian Heater continues a multi-part interview with Jerry Moriarty. [The Daily Cross Hatch]

Comics | Brandon Thomas launches a multi-part examination of the Morrison-Era New X-Men and Whedon/Cassaday-Era Astonishing X-Men. [Fiction House]

Cat Burglar Black

Welcome to another edition of What Are You Reading. Our guest this week is scholar and critic par excellance Craig Fischer, whose musings on comics can be regularly read on Thought Balloonists, the blog he shares with  Charles Hatfield.

To see what Craig and everyone else is currently reading, click on the link. And don't forget to let us know what you're reading this week as well.

Stumptown #1

Michael May: I enjoyed Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth's Stumptown #1 this week. It feels familiar in a couple of ways, but familiar can be good. Rucka is obviously fond of strong, but broken, women detectives and Dex certainly fits that description here. But I'm also fond of reading about that kind of character. It's one of the reasons I like Rucka's stuff.

But he hasn't exactly just renamed Renee Montoya or Carrie Stetko for this story. Stumptown doesn't feel as weighty and serious as those comics do. It's got a fun, Rockford Files/Magnum PI vibe to it that I didn't realize I'd been missing. Even down to Dex's relative whom she obviously loves, but is also exasperated by.

Reading it, I also realized that a well-drawn comic is my preferred way to take in a mystery story. Unlike books, where only the important details are described, or movies, where pictures move too fast for me to look for my own clues, comics allow me to explore the crime scene with the detective, pausing to stare at whatever I want; finding all sorts of things that may or may not be vital to the solution. I haven't had this much fun with a mystery story since the first arc of Fables.

Omega the Unknown

Matt Maxwell: OMEGA THE UNKNOWN: CLASSIC
Yes, I started reading this after buying it at SDCC. No, I didn't finish it. Got sidetracked. Picked it up again and marveled at how this book actually got published. 'Cause even for Bronze Age Marvel, this stuff is pretty out there. Gerber/Skyrene's caped superhero lives in Hell's Kitchen (long before Daredevil found it fashionable to do so) in a tenement storefront, occasionally crossing paths with villains like Electro (who's defused by a handicapped child) and El Gato (witch-man of the barrio), fighting for no reason other than to fight and generally questioning a lot of the assumptions that you have about superheroes. Oh, and there's a kid that Omega may or may not be. A kid raised by robots. The story here doesn't end so much as it concludes, written in another book by another writer altogether (though Steven Grant might've been working from notes/conversations with Steve Gerber, not sure on that) in an unsatisfactory manner, given the time that things had taken to get started. Still, for fans of Steve Gerber (and those who might want to get an inside glimpse into Gerber's HARD TIME, which had some relation to OMEGA, if not only obliquely), worth a read, though perhaps not the twenty five dollar cover price.

Also read BOB DYLAN REVISITED for the purposes of review. I'll just say there's a lot of very pretty and engaging art and leave it at that here. Finishing my re-reading of the remastered REBEL by Pepe Moreno. Some of the script revisions jump right out (but that's always the case when an older work is 'updated'), and I'm not in love with the remastered color, as part of the original's charm for me was the hyper-garish coloring, making the look unique (at least in comparison.)

Moyasimon

Brigid Alverson: Sometimes, it is good to be a comics journalist.

For instance, this week I am holding in my hot little hands an advance copy of the first volume of Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture, which will be released later this month. The premise is at once familiar and original: A young man has the power to see bacteria and other microorganisms. Happily, he has decided to go to agricultural school with his friend, who is the son of a brewer. The two of them quickly hook up with an eccentric professor who is probably up to no good, his hard-edged female assistant, and a pair of sophomores who start a rogue sake brewery that ends badly early into the story. Sawaki, the main character, uses his powers to figure out all kinds of things, and there’s a lot of talk of fermentation and rot in this book, which is educational in an icky-science sort of way. Also, it’s a little more hyperactive than most manga because the editors left in creator Masayuki Ishakawa’s marginalia and doodles.

I’m also reading Garen Ewing’s The Rainbow Orchid, a Tintinesque adventure comic drawn in the ligne claire style. This one is set in the 1920s and has the lead character, an adventurous young man named Julius Chancer, heading off to find a rare orchid in the company of a movie star, in order to preserve her family estate. It’s cheerily old-fashioned stuff, and the story moves along nicely with lots of complications. Ewing’s style is a touch more realistic than Herge’s and appears stiff in places, but his palette is spot-on, and he really creates a sense of place. You can read a large chunk of the comic online, but it’s only being published in the UK; happily, when I expressed interest, Ewing sent me a copy. The book is beautifully produced, with rich color tones, and worth seeking out if you’re a fan of period adventures.

Stuffed arrived with a set of almost random review copies, and I read it in one sitting. It’s like Driving Mr. Albert meets Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. The main character, Tim, is an ordinary suburban guy who has put an unhappy childhood behind him, until his father dies and leaves him a homemade museum of curiosities. One of the objects on display is a stuffed African warrior, and Tim has to figure out how to deal with that, both physically and mentally. It’s an interesting exploration of family dynamics and racial attitudes on both sides of the color line, as Tim negotiates his situation with both his aging-hippie brother and an African-American anthropologist. Happily, the outlandishness of the story keeps it from being too heavy, and the characters all ring true.

Captain America Reborn #4

Tim O'Shea: First off, I'll start with Paul Cornell's Black Widow. Why? Because I wished I had read it this week, but forgot to pick it up at the store. Saw it on the shelf, got distracted, did not snag it. I would love to hear if anyone read it among our readers? Should I be running out to get my copy?

There is a panel toward the end of Captain America Reborn 4 that I could have sworn Gene Colan stepped in do to a Cap facial reaction shot. I never notice that about Bryan Hitch or Butch Guice before. Maybe a little bit in Guice -- either way the art is the real asset to this story. I grow tire of Brubaker usig Sharon Carter merely as a prop to be bandied about in this story. Given how critical she is to the story's outcome, her perpetual victimhood undermines the appeal of the character and the strength of the story for me.

John Ostrander writing an issue of Secret Six? Interested. Story set in Gotham? More interested. The return of a great Ostrander character -- Father/Reverend (read the story it makes sense) Richard Craemer? Sold.

Assault on New Olympus One-shot with Hercules and Spider-Man is a fun story to me. I enjoy Van Lente's use of Spider-Man here -- and most notably the comedic homage to the Ditko/Spidey heavy machinery lifting scene of years ago.

Stumptown had me damn curious when I heard the Rockford Files comparison. And it is an apt one. I love reading Greg Rucka when he's unrestricted from corporate continuity. Dex lives in a rougher world than Rockford did, though--and fortunately she's smart enough to survive. Comics can always use more strong female leads and I'm grateful to Rucka for creating the character.

Secret Six

Tom Bondurant: One of my not-so-secret shames as a DC fan is that I'm woefully unfamiliar with the details of John Ostrander's Suicide Squad. I read a few issues here and there, but it was never a mainstay for me, and I didn't read his Deadshot miniseries from several years back. Therefore, I liked Secret Six #15 (drawn by Jim Calafiiore) for its standalone value: Deadshot's an antihero who used to be a Batman villain, and while he might not seem to care whether he murders everyone in a room, on the inside it's a constant struggle not to. (That reminds me -- I always think of Catman as the Secret Sixer who wants to be "good," but as this issue shows, Deadshot's actually had a taste of superherodom.) Given the people in his life, spotlighted herein, I can understand why he has these control issues. The Secret Sixers are each pretty fascinating on their own, and this issue shows why. Calafiore's art isn't a perfect match -- his faces and figures are sometimes a bit too stylized -- but it's helped mightily by Gregory Wright's colors. Still, if I weren't already reading the book, this issue would hook me pretty effectively.

Justiniano comes in as guest penciller of Doom Patrol #4, the Blackest Night tie-in (written by Keith Giffen and inked by Livesay), and I think he does a decent job. The book doesn't look terribly different, so I'd say Livesay and colorist Guy Major have a lot to do with that. The story is clever too: in what I thought was a darkly funny inversion of the DP's history, the "New Doom Patrol" of the '70s and '80s are all dead, and the formerly-martyred original DPers have to fight the new Black Lanterns. There's also a very clever Black Lantern who I really didn't see coming, so nicely done, Mr. Giffen. (When did Val Vostok die, though? I thought she was part of Checkmate.) It has a good capsule history of both teams, and the stars of the book react to Blackest Night with their by-now-
familiar jaded attitude. As always, the "Metal Men" co-feature is a joy, and I hope Giffen, DeMatteis, and Maguire hold those Old Navy mannequins in the same amount of contempt I do.

As with the Thanagarian "menace" of the past couple of issues, Superman: World Of New Krypton #9 (written by Greg Rucka and James Robinson, drawn by Pete Woods and Ron Randall) seems to promise a huge throwdown between the Kryptonians and the Saturnians -- including a couple of Faceless Hunters From Saturn (TM) -- but then Superman has to step in and be all diplomatic. However, there's more intrigue on Krypton and a locked-room mystery to boot, so it's not like the issue is dull. I can't tell, though, what the division of labor is with regard to the art. There didn't seem to be too many solo-Randall pages ... or maybe my eye's just not that discriminating. ("You got Woods in my Randall!" "You got Randall in my Woods!")

Finally, I've been enjoying the Let's Be Friends Again collection, which is basically fifty-odd pages of annotated strips and over a dozen pages of sketches, bonus material, and tributes from other cartoonists. Buy it just so you can have a print version of Kim Jong-Il in a Luthor battlesuit.

Zero Zero #2

Chris Mautner: Working on that big Collect This Now column on Al Columbia the other week had me rummaging through my back issues of Fantagraphics' late, lamented Zero Zero anthology. That in turn had me running to the company's Web site, where, lo and behold, the entire series was on sale for .99 cents an issue! I snatched up as many issues I was missing as I could and am only just now starting to delve into them. Re-reading this stuff, it really startles me just how good and how ignored this series was and continues to be. I mean, the level of talent in these pages is staggering. Kim Deitch's Search for Smilin' Ed! Dave Cooper's Crumple! Richard Sala's The Chuckling Whatsit! Joe Sacco's Christmas with Karadsic! Not to mention Max Andersson, Skip Williamson, Mack White, Sam Henderson, Michael Kupperman, David Mazzuchelli and so many more. This really was the best anthology of the 90s, bar none.

Children's author Michael Rosen pretty much gets a pass from me no matter what he does, having writing one of the most agonizing, astonishing and bittersweet picture books, Michael Rosen's Sad Book. His latest, Red Ted and the Lost Things, is nowhere near as impressive, but that doesn't mean it isn't amusing. Illustrated by Joel Stewart, it's a cute tale of a lost teddy bear who tries to find his owner again and succeeds, thanks to the help of a cat and a stuffed alligator. It's an amusing kids' comic; one I think small children will like. It's no Sad Book, but then I'm not sure any writer is capable of something like that twice in a lifetime.

The Summit of the Gods

Craig Fischer: So what am I reading?

Last night I finished Richard Sala's Cat Burglar Black (First Second). For the past week, I'd been limiting myself to only a few pages of Cat at bedtime, trying to stretch it out into serial-like installments. Which is only appropriate: Sala's story -- his signature mélange of creepy houses, suspicious characters, narrative double-crosses and cute girls (a cadre dressed in black, the cat burglars of the title) -- reads like it should've been produced as a zero-budget serial by a Poverty Row studio like Republic or PRC in the mid-'40s. Great fun, and Sala's art looks lurid and purple in the paperback-sized, full-color First Second format.

As soon as I polished off Cat Burglar Black, I started the first volume of Yumemakura Baku and Jiro Taniguchi’s The Summit of the Gods (Fanfare/Ponent Mon). I’m still in the early pages of the book (Fukamachi just bought the camera), and again I’m forcing myself to read slowly; I want to properly savor Taniguchi’s flabbergastingly detailed depictions of mountain vistas and Kathmandu streets.

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve also read and enjoyed a few floppies: Astro City Astra Special #2 (Homage/Image), Citizen Rex #4 (Dark Horse), The Eternal Conflicts of the Cosmic Warrior (Image) and Strange Tales #3 (Marvel). And I’m not even counting the comics I bought for my kids, Simpsons Comics #158 (Bongo) and Archie #602 (Archie, duh). Did you know that Archie and Veronica have twins named Lil Archie and Lil Veronica?

The funniest book I've read recently is Alan Aldridge’s The Man with Kaleidoscope Eyes (Abrams). Aldridge is an artist and graphic designer who began his career with book covers for Penguin UK -- I own a copy of J.G. Ballard’s The Wind from Nowhere (1961) with an Aldridge cover illustration of psychedelically undulating ocean waves and bending buildings. Then Aldridge helmed several landmark hippie-era projects: he snapped the picture of the band in silver suits for Cream’s Goodbye record sleeve (1968), he drew album covers for The Who (A Quick One, 1966) and Elton John (Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, 1975), and (maybe of greatest interest to Robot 6 readers) co-edited The Penguin Book of Comics (1967) with George Perry. Kaleidoscope Eyes is primarily a showcase for Aldridge’s art, but it also features Aldridge’s rambling, episodic, eccentric autobiography in prose between the pictures. He knew everyone, and has hilarious tales to tell. Maybe someday I’ll meet Aldridge in a dive pub in Wales, where I’ll ply him with Jameson and persuade him to give me more details about his inadvertently embarrassing interview with Paul McCartney and his drawing duel with Dalí.

Heeding the recommendations of Ed Brubaker and Darwyn Cooke, I've been plowing through Donald Westlake's novels, most recently Cops and Robbers (1972, though I read the Mysterious Press paperback from 1993). The blurb on the cover of Cops hypes Westlake as the king of “comic mystery novelists,” but I didn't find the book funny at all. Rather, it's a satisfyingly dour study of two NYC police detectives who turn to crime because they're fed up with their boring domestic lives and the carnage they see in their jobs. Here's a representative passage, told from the first-person POV of one of the detectives, Joe:

For a long time, it seemed as though there was always something else to take up the slack, keep me interested in life even when the job was dull. Getting married, for instance. Having kids. Moving out of the apartment out to Long Island. Those are like the mountains, and the valley is your dull everyday life.

It had been a long time between mountains.

Holy cow, is this a book for guys in mid-life crises ... which explains why I enjoyed it so much.

Finally, like everybody else, I have batters-up in a stack by my bedside table. Prose on deck includes Lucas Powe Jr.'s The Supreme Court and the American Elite and Stephen Prince's Firestorm: American Film in the Age of Terrorism. The new book on graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister (Made You Look by Peter Hall) looks insanely lavish. And my forthcoming GNs? The Brendan Burford-edited Syncopated collection, and Hannah Berry's Britten and Brülighty. Of the making of books there is no end...

Polly and Her Pals

• IDW announced over the weekend that it will be collecting the Sunday strips from the Cliff Sterrett classic Polly and Her Pals. The first volume, encapsulating 1925-27, will be in stores this coming August.

The strip began in 1912, but it was in the 20s that Sterrett's art really took off. Influenced by the modernist art movements, he started incorporating abstract and surrealists motifs into his Sunday pages, and many historians and critics have compared this period favorably to strips like Krazy Kat.

Kitchen Sink attempted to publish these strips back in the 90s before going under but they were only able to get two volumes out the door. Having managed to find those books in a back issue bin years ago and devoured them several times since then, let me say this is fabulous news and I'm really looking forward to seeing this release.

• IDW also posted about their intention to publish a four-issue mini-series about the Weekly World News' Bat Boy, which I imagine will be quite different from Polly and Her Pals.

• Writer Clifford Meth reports on his blog that Marvel will be publishing The Invincible Gene Colan in February 2010. The 128 page book will feature art work by the master as well as appreciations by folks like Stan Lee, Marv Wolfman and John Romita Sr.

• Apparently Erik Larsen (and his Savage Dragon) is featured in the latest edition of McSweeney's newspaper. That's kinda cool.

• Jim Woodring says he's finished Weathercraft, his first Frank story in several years and is already hard at work on a new one.

• Bluewater Productions has entered into an agreement with famed young adult author S.E. Hinton. The company will adapt several of Hinton's books into comics, with Taming of the Star Runner being the first. Hinton will also create a new title for Bluewater that will see print next summer.

• Here's the cover for Dash Shaw's upcoming BodyWorld book from Pantheon.

• Noah van Sciver is letting it be known the fifth issue of his comic, Blammo, is out.

• And, in case you haven't seen it yet, Kiel Phegley gets the dope on just about everything there is to know (at least for now) about the upcoming revamp of The Comics Journal.

Legal

Legal | Twin brothers in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, have been sentenced to three months in jail for possessing anime- and manga-style images depicting children in sexual situations.

David Scott Hammond and James Cory Hammond, 20, pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography after police discovered the images downloaded on their home computer last November. Although David Hammond's attorney said his client didn't realize it was illegal to download cartoon pornographic images of children, the prosecutor asserted that, "Every one of these images involves the victimization of children. The victimization wouldn’t happen in the first place if there weren’t people there to look at this material."

Earlier this month, lawmakers in Alaska began considering a bill that would expand the state's child-pornography laws to include cartoons. And in June a U.S. appeals court upheld the conviction of a Virginia man who was prosecuted, in part, under a 2003 federal statute outlawing possession of cartoon images depicting the sexual abuse of children. [The Chronicle Herald]

Viz Media

Publishing | The San Francisco headquarters of Viz Media was closed for two days this week after an unexpected downpour on Monday caused storm drains to overflow, flooding parts of the city. [Anime News Network]

Publishing | Just last week we were reporting that Villard had acquired the rights to Fated, a graphic novel written by Michael Jackson and Gotham Chopra. Now comes word that the Random House imprint paid $800,000 for it. Illustrated by Mukesh Singh, artist of Virgin Comics titles Gamekeeper, Devi and Jenna Jameson's Shadow Hunter, the black-and-white book is due out in June. [Crain's New York Business]

Publishing | On the day of the release of the 34th Asterix album -- Asterix and Obelix's Birthday: The Gold Book -- and just a week before the series turns 50, Hugh Schofield asks whether it's time for the little Gaul to hang up his helmet: "... While The Gold Book will doubtless sell as well as ever, the continuing commercial success of the Asterix series masks a painful reality that many fans prefer to ignore: For the past 30 years -- ever since [writer René] Goscinny's death in 1977 -- the books have been frankly second-rate." [BBC News]

Cla$$War

Publishing | Ben McCool talks to publishers Eddie Deighton and Ben M. Shahrabani about the return of Com.x, a company that launched with a bit of a splash in 2002 with Cla$$War and Razorjack before fading away a couple of years ago. [Publishers Weekly]

Retailing | Dragon's Horde, the only comics and used-paperback store in Danville, Illinois, will close on Nov. 20, a casualty of the recession and a 2007 fire that wiped out most of its inventory. "I decided two weeks ago that I could close the store now on my terms, or close it soon afterwards because I just couldn't pay my bills," said owner Richard Garrison. [The News-Gazette]

Retailing | The Village Voice has selected Brooklyn store Rocketship as New York's Best Comics Outpost. [The Village Voice]

Naruto, Vol. 46

Sales charts | I somehow missed the debut of the 46th volume of Naruto on last week's USA Today's bestseller list. But this week Masashi Kishimoto's wildly popular manga series slips 29 places from No. 110 to No. 139. [USA Today]

Conventions | The first Bellingham ComiCon will be held on Saturday at the Hampton Inn near Bellingham International Airport in Bellingham, Washington. Guests will include Paul Chadwick, Michel Gagne, Bob Smith, Brandon Jerwa and Eric Trautmann. [Bellingham ComiCon]

Conventions | Sarah Morean posts her report from last weekend's Alternative Press Expo. [The Daily Cross Hatch]

Creators | R. Crumb talks about his much-publicized adaptation of The Book of Genesis:  "I don't think Genesis is a good place to look for spiritual guidance or moral guidance. I don't believe it's the word of God. ... At the same time, I think the stories are very powerful. I'm not out to ridicule them or belittle them." [The Associated Press]

North 40 #5

Creators | USA Today gives a boost to Wildstorm's North 40 miniseries by way of a Q&A with creators Aaron Williams and Fiona Staples, and a seven-page online preview of Issue 5. I hate the interface -- the same one used for the serialization of the Superman strip from Wednesday Comics -- but the interview is pretty good. [USA Today]

Creators | Geoff Boucher profiles Adam Byrne, "producer"/cover artist of The Strange Adventures of H.P. Lovecraft. [Hero Complex]

Witchblade by Marc Silvestri & Wetworks' Dane by Whilce Portacio

Sure, Image co-founders Marc Silvestri and Whilce Portacio have teamed up in the past—most recently for the Robert Kirkman-penned mega-crossover Image United—but this is their noblest joint effort yet. The pair is auctioning off the above jam piece, starring Portacio's Wetworks character Drew and Silvestri's flagship heroine Witchblade, to raise money for flood relief in the Philippines.

The Southeast Asian nation was recently hit hard by back-to-back typhoons Ketsana and Parma, and the number of casualties and people left homeless by flooding is grim. But as reported by Comic Book Resources, the burgeoning Filipino comics scene—which includes such world-famous artists as Leinil Francis Yu, Francis Manapul, Philip Tan, and Carlo Pagulayan, plus a thriving national industry--is rallying to help raise much-needed funds for the victims. The effort has been led by Gerry Alanguilan, Yu's frequent inker and a writer-artist in his own right, and the Silvestri/Portacio jam is just one of several items that will be made available through benefit auctions on Alanguilan's eBay page. Go and bid, then check out Alanguilan's blog for photos of the live relief auction he helped conduct this weekend at Manila's Komikon 2009, plus more info on what else you can do to help.

Labor Days Vol. 2

Welcome once again to What are you reading?, the weekly column where the Robot 6 team runs through what comics and other stuff they've been checking out lately. As Chris is in Bethesda this weekend, I'm filling in for him as your host.

Our special guests this time are Philip Gelatt and Rick Lacy, creators of the Labor Days graphic novels published by Oni Press. Volume two, Just Another Damn Day, is now available in finer retail establishments everywhere. (You can check out a preview here).

See what they've been reading, as well as the rest of the Robot 6 crew, after the jump ...

*****

Underground

Tim O'Shea: The first issue of Underground by Jeff Parker and Steve Lieber hit the shelves this week. There's so much to like about this first installment of a five-part miniseries. But I find myself focusing one element of Parker's writing--his ear for dialogue. The core of the story has people of opposing views conflicting quite frequently and I love how the storytellers allow the word balloons to overlap and interrupt characters in mid-sentence.

I rarely read Bongo Comics, despite the fact I enjoy the show and typically respect the writers that work on the comics. But with the release this week of The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror 15 (edited by Sammy "Damn Wasn't the Last Book He Edited Huge?" Harkham) features an amazing collection of indy creators (including Jeffrey Brown, Jordan Crane, C.F., Tim Hensley, Ben Jones, John Kerschbaum, Ted May, Will Sweeney, Matthew Thurber, and John Vermilyea). Each creator takes a unique take on the characters, but for me the strongest off-the-grid comedic horror vibe is captured (not surprisingly) by Kerschbaum in a straightforward two-pager "Three Little Kids."

I'm struggling to fully enjoy Hickman and Eaglesham's Fantastic Four. In the positive column is getting to see a world of many Reed Richards (even one that's fully bald/half doom and half ZZ Top; another that looks like he's 1980s Atari logo Reed; and Reed as Morrison's Seaguy) and Eaglesham's ability to convey emotion in Ben Grimm's rocky face. In the negative column, the tagline on the front cover: "...This morning, I helped kill a Galactus on Earth 2012." Has the status quo of Reed Richards been made so "modern" he takes pleasure, or at least seeming indifference, in killing villains?

I've really appreciated Matt Fraction's take on many of Marvel's characters, and he's really seemed to hit his stride with Dark Reign:The List--X-Men (Lord that title is a mouthful though). There's three or four pages of the team in battle that is the closest to recapturing the finest rhythm and kineticism of Claremont and Byrne's definitive X-run (the kineticism is thanks to the never-disappointing art of Alan Davis [inked by Mark Farmer]). That being said, as great as Fraction is with the X-team, his Namor is cracking snide lines in the midst of a fight. A few WAYRs back I spoke highly of Jeff Parker's approach toward Namor. So, if anybody at Marvel is reading this, you're seemingly leading toward giving Namor his own book again, please consider Parker and Davis teaming up for it.

Wednesday Comics #1

With Wednesday Comics having finished this week, I have to go back and read them again. And that's not going to be easy, as my son took a liking to the Metal Men arc. And when I say take a liking, I mean he took the issues apart, as he read and reread them (leaving the pages he did not like behind) --leaving me with a disorganized mess. It was only when I started trying to reconnect the issues that I realized, after the cover pages--there are no page numbers or issue number identifications on the interior pages. But I have a newfound desire to reread Paul Pope's pages in particular after finding out through CBR's interview that he was aiming for something Ditko-esque--rooted in Jungian influence and inspired by McCay’s Little Nemo pages.

In terms of music, I've got Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers' Levitate in heavy rotation on my CD player, along with Death Cab for Cutie's The Open Door EP.

Dark Reign: Ms. Marvel

Carla Hoffman: Believe it or not, I'm reading things. I bought the Dark Reign: Ms. Marvel HC on a dare from a customer who wasn't sure if it was going to be good and I honestly couldn't give him an answer. But seeing how hard Mr. Reed has been working on the character, I thought I'd give the book that switched main 'heroine' thanks to the new status quo. First part of the book, we're thrown into a Alias-esque super spy style story in which we lose Carol Danvers due to the theme of Brian Reed's run of 'I can't control my wacky powers'. The middle of the book is Karla Soften dealing with her new role within the Avengers and actually gets to be kind of entertaining, watching her deal with the public, her crazy boss and the fact she might have the psychological edge on them all.

And then we get reality-altering MODOK babies.

Any sort of seriousness I had given the book was lost. The rather deux-ex-mutant of 'Storyteller' (seen in the Ms. Marvel annuals) was fused with MODOK's giant brain DNA and now 25 or so babies in jars can warp reality to AIM's will.Everything had been so personal until then, a really good read and clever character development for Karla that her sudden need to 'save the babies' just lost me. The New Avengers show up, hell, Deadpool shows up, everyone fights for the babies and in the end, Carol Danvers can't be kept dead for too long. Yeah, I'd say skip this aside from a couple issues in the middle, or at least don't buy it in hardcover like I did

Fantastic Four 571

Unlike My Pal Tim(tm), I adored the horizonless Reed Richards consortium of geniuses ( I swear one of them was in Starfleet) and could have easily read this issue spread out better into a couple more installments of the weird cross-time-caper Reeds and all their kooky high science plans plus some more with the family who almost always get wasted in the face of the super sci-fi. I hope this high adventure grounds Reed once and for all on this whole 'fix everything' kick he's been on since Civil War because I'm tired of him lording his big ol' brain around and Hickman might just blow the lid of this thing once and for all.

Dark X-Men: the Confession as the weirdest Gift of the Magi as guilt trip seen yet. Or ever. Yes, Scott now knows that Emma worked with the Cabal! Yes, Emma now knows that Scott has a kill-death squad led by Wolverine and has generally been unsavory. "I ruied the Dream!" "No, I ruined the Dream!" "Oh, kiss me you fool!" The end. Playing fair, this is actually a pretty good intro comic for anyone wanting to jump into the main X-Men storyline right now as they recap a lot of the past year. So... there's that for $3.99.

Superman: Secret Origins

Tom Bondurant: Some prominent commentators (including Chris Sims and our own Chris Mautner) have called Superman: Secret Origin #1 "unnecessary," or something similar. That was also my reaction at first. However, it got me thinking: so far this is the third, or perhaps fourth, account of Superman's post-Crisis origin, and that's getting into Gospel territory. (Think of the slipcased-hardcover possibilities!) I mean, we started with the Book of John (Byrne), and a while back we had the Book of Mark (Waid). If you count Superman For All Seasons, I suppose there's a Book of Jeph too. Now, though, here's the Book of Geoff, which apparently aims to be definitive.

And so far, it's executed well. I've always liked Gary Frank's Christopher Reeve-inspired Clark/Superman, both because it's a fitting tribute to another "definitive" interpretation and because it's a good mix of the character's power and humanity. In fact, this issue is a very pleasant contrast to Frank (and inker Jon Sibal)'s work on Supreme Power's Dark Smallville. I found that book sterile and calculating, but here Frank and Sibal are warm and pastoral. For his part, Geoff Johns obviously intends to show how Clark overcomes this issue's discomfort with his powers, especially those heat-vision "eyejaculations" (tm Television Without Pity). That was a nice lift from the "Smallville" series, and I also liked how Johns handled Clark's nascent football ability. Still, that tornado was awfully convenient.

Secret Origin's larger story remains somewhat unclear, though, and that I think is where the true measure of necessity lies. I tend to prefer Waid (and artist Leinil Yu)'s Superman: Birthright to Byrne's Man of Steel because the former actually tells its own story while the latter is more a collection of vignettes. Ironically, Secret Origin's purpose may vary inversely with its necessity. If it's meant to stand alone on the bookshelf, it must tell us something about Superman we don't already know. However, if it's just another part of the great Superman plot-puzzle (as the "Secret Origin" arc in Green Lantern was), then I'll wonder why this needed to be its own miniseries.

Planetary

Earlier last week, I stayed up for about two hours Sunday night reading all of Planetary. I don't have anything insightful to say about the series as a whole, mostly because I'm waiting for Ellis and Cassaday's final issue. However, I stayed up for those two hours because each issue practically dared me to read the next one. Now I can't imagine waiting months or years between issues, because the thing moves so quickly.

On a completely different note, I finished Essential Spider-Woman Volume 2 a few hours before picking up Planetary. ESW Vol. 1 started off on very shaky ground, thanks to the character's scattershot background: she's a freak of evolution! She's a HYDRA agent! She's got a Camelot connection! To his credit, once writer Chris Claremont came aboard for most of the series' last quarter, he tried to pull these threads together; and those issues (drawn with quirky charm by Steve Leialoha) are probably the series' high point. Writer Ann Nocenti then wrote the series' final few issues, including a fourth-wall-breaking goodbye to the reader. Those issues weren't bad, but I've read enough middle-of-the-road superhero books to know when a writer is just wrapping things up. I don't dislike Spider-Woman, although the series (thanks to its eventual SoCal private-eye premise) seems firmly rooted in the 1970s, and I'm content to leave it there.

Matt Maxwell:

Elric of Melniboné

Elric of Melniboné
Roy Thomas, P. Craig Russell and Michael Gilbert, Tom Orzechowski
Based on the books by Michael Moorcock

I'll admit to not having read the original books, which I should rectify, if they're half as good as this adaptation. The real star is the artwork, by both P. Craig Russell and Michael Gilbert. It's perfectly stylized, yet not sacrificing style for expression. There's a lot of fear and uncertainty, gloating and triumph on these pages, and the linework doesn't miss a step in relaying it to the reader. You could easily skip the text altogether and still follow the story clearly, perhaps leaving out only a few subtleties.

Before this, I hadn't realized exactly how influential Moorcock's take on fantasy had become. Certainly, Tolkien reigns supreme as high lord of fantasy. But Moorcock, with his blend of treachery and addiction, of magic that takes more than it gives, of graceful empires that are doomed by their very design, his dark vision has its fingers deep in modern fantasy (particularly influential in what is debatably the most popular fantasy today, that being World of Warcraft, though not strictly a book, but has a subscriber base that most books would kill for).

Elric presents a compelling story, last in the line of fabled sorcerer kings, ruling over a civilization slipping into slow decline, never brighter than the day that Elric takes the throne. Fighting off the schemes of his ruthless cousin Yrrkoon and becoming a pawn of the Lords of Chaos, Elric only barely begins to understand the powers at play in Melniboné, and will not fully grasp them in time.

Recommended, though I'm not sure of its status in print now, the graphic novel that is. I read it in the edition published by First Comics in the middle eighties (making it one of the first collected graphic novels, well before The Sandman and the like). Someone may have picked up the reprint rights to this, but it might require some sifting through the used bins as well.

Other reads this week, Batman and Robin #3 (I await the return of Pyg), Agents of Atlas #10 and #11 (M-11 is THE GREATEST) and the first issue of the new Dominic Fortune miniseries (Howard Chaykin is a very bad man.)

Far Arden

JK Parkin: Far Arden by Kevin Cannon starts off as a zany fun adventure comic, and at some point morphs into something a bit more serious. And somehow, it works really well, I've decided, after contemplating it for a couple of weeks. It's actually kind of shocking how well it works, too, and how much emotional investment you realize you have in the characters when, well, stuff happens. I should probably read it again.

I mentioned a few weeks back that I was reading Peter & Max, the Fables novel by Bill Willingham. Despite the ending being a little bit telegraphed (at least if you're paying attention), I thought this was an excellent outing for Willingham and the Fables characters into the world of prose. I recommend it for anyone who is a fan of the comic or just likes new twists on old fairy tales, and I hope to see more of these in the future. I've also started re-reading the first couple of Fables arcs, which are being issued as a hardcover, and it's interesting to see how far the book has come, both in terms of the plot and how the characters have developed. And the first Farm story, which was the second story arc, is still one of the book's best.

And finally, the second Guardians of the Galaxy trade was every bit as fun as the first. Although it's billed as being part of War of Kings, there were no appearances by Inhumans or Shi'ar ... just more zany fun cosmic adventures.

On Stranger Tides

Philip Gelatt: I made a promise to myself that I was going to read butt-loads of science-fiction and fantasy novels during 2009. Sadly, with the year wrapping up, "butt-loads" has kind of turned into the far less impressive "half-butt loads." But this quest of mine has introduced me to an author named Tim Powers and he is swiftly becoming a personal favorite. He specializes in well-researched historical action-fantasy-sci-fi pieces, that include a big dosages of both the surreal and the mad cap.

Yeah, that's right: his books use every cool genre ever, mixed into one. And somehow he makes it all work.

Currently, I'm reading his On Stranger Tides. It is a pirate tale filled with Caribbean magic, large-scale ship-to-ship combat and so much swashbuckling. It focuses on a young pirate named Jack Shandy as he is caught between the plots of three powerful pirate captains, each possessing strong voodoo magic and nefarious intentions.

The Secret of Monkey Island and Pirates of the Caribbean (the movie) are both said to be loosely inspired by its heady mix of adventure, fantasy and high seas chicanery. Plus I'm getting an actual overview of the end of the pirate era in the Caribbean.

Oh and it has Blackbeard in it. And at one point he says "More blood salt than sea salt in the water tonight." And that alone, my friends, is worth the price of admission.

King City #1

On the comic book front, I just took my sweet time savoring every last panel of Brandon Graham's first issue of King City. I didn't read this title in its previous previous printing, so this is my first exposure to this strange sci-fi world. The larger format really suits Graham's artwork and he's made excellent usage of every square inch of this book, filling it with amusing extras and add-ons.

I've been a fan of Graham's work for awhile (via Multiple Warheads and his amazing blog), and the first issue of King City is not disappointing me in the slightest. It is, to my mind, exactly what science-fiction should be: bizarre, charming, visually stunning and chock full of wild ideas that need not be fully explained. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Also I want a cat like that, god damn it.

Rick Lacy:

Mouse Guard #1

Mouse Guard: This is the book that's currently on my nightstand. I fell for this book like a hot girl on Facebook I never met. It 's exactly the type of book I want to create… only with more Conan's and Madmartigan's. Not that mice aren't dauntless and bold, it's just not where my mind dwells. That being said, David Peterson has really created some interesting and compelling characters that are only a few inches high. My favorite parts of these books are the world building elements he uses. Everything from the mouse city of Lockhaven to the myth of the black axe to the "Moria" like caverns of Darkheather are all fully realized places. Places that I believe actually lurked under the roots of the woods in my old backyard. The supplemental work in this book is also very fascinating. It outlines the different roles of mice in the kingdom. The apothecaries! The medicines and armories! The working mouse elevators and the hierarchy. All well put together and creative. WITH MICE!

The City and The City: This is the latest novel from one of my favorite authors, China Mieville, It's a departure (somewhat) from his normal genre of "new weird" and focuses on crime drama. Though it is mixed with a good hearty amount of fantastic creativity, by building a realm in a modern time that's dotted with an alternate world of mystery. By that I mean, the crosshatched existence of two symbiotic cities Beszel and Ul Qoma that live side by side, but hold a very prejudice but checked border. To describe the elements within would take pages on pages! In my opinion, The City and the City is a fairly exhausting read, but Mieville proves yet again that he's a master of word-smithing by dictating a slew of different dialects, personas and interspersed societal agendas. For more of his work I highly suggest his Bas Lag series. Start with The Scar!

Joan

Joan: I picked up this manga series for wicked cheap at my local comic shop on a whim. It's gorgeously illustrated by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko in pen ink and watercolor, which was the initial reason I bought it. The story is a retelling of the Joan of Arc saga only with a different woman in the lead role reliving the same experience. I don’t entirely understand why the author didn’t just retell Joan of Arc, herself. Perhaps he wanted to have his own voice. The story is a variation on standard faire with uman rights, religion and loyalty to country taking the main stage. The huge draw, as I mentioned, is the art. The vistas and use of water coloring are beautiful. E very page is a masterpiece. I'll definitely seek out more of Yasuhiko's art.

Labor Days Volume 2: Just Another Damn Day: Yes, I know this is my own book! BUT! we just released this edition this weekend and I haven't seen a copy until now. So this one just got bumped up to the top of the list. I hope it holds up! We definitely pushed the boundaries on our own title in the pages of Volume Two and it's become closer, I believe, to what we wanted in our initial design. Volume three should be the coup de gras!

Johnny's Resin figures

Legal | DC Comics has dropped its lawsuit against a Florida man who made and sold figurines based on the 1960s Batman television series. John Stacks, owner of Johnny's Resin, claimed he had agreements with the actors. Stacks apparently no longer produces the resin kits. A message on his website now encourages visitors to "buy licensed products only": "When you buy products not licensed by DC Comics you only hurt the hobby. Let's all work together to keep Batman alive!!!!" [The Tampa Tribune]

Creators | More details have emerged in the death of Crayon Shin-chan creator Yoshito Usui that seem to confirm his fall on Japan's Mount Arafune was accidental. The last picture on a digital camera retrieved near the body was taken looking down from Tomoiwa cliff. [The Asahi Shimbun]

Jack Kirby

Legal | Nat Gertler points out 10 "bad assumptions" being made about copyright, work for hire, Jack Kirby and his children's intentions to terminate transfer of copyright to some of his Marvel creations. [Nat Gertler, via The Comics Reporter]

Publishing | Capstone Press, an imprint of Capstone Publishers, is launching a line of kids' nonfiction graphic novels called Graphic Expeditions. [Publishers Weekly]

Business | The Syracuse University newspaper spotlights alumnus Diane Nelson, the recently named president of DC Entertainment. [The Daily Orange]

Retailing | Congratulations to Neptune Comics owners Craig and Lisa Lopacinski on the birth of their son Hudson. [Sequentially Speaking]

Underground #1

Creators | Steve Lieber and Jeff Parker discuss their separate comics work and their collaboration on Underground, which debuts this week from Image Comics. [Salt Lake City Weekly]

Creators | Johanna Draper Carlson talks with writer Robert Venditti about his Top Shelf limited series The Surrogates, whose movie adaptation debuts on Friday. [Comics Worth Reading]

Creators | Fall Out Boy lyricist/bassist Pete Wentz chats about his Image Comics miniseries Fall Out Toy Works. [Comic Riffs]

G.I. Joe #21

Comics | Shaenon K. Garrity examines G.I. Joe #21 -- the famed "Silent Interlude" -- as, in the words of Scott McCloud, "a kind of watershed moment" for cartoonists of a certain age. [ComiXology]

Manga | Katherine Dacey presents her "Manga Hall of Shame." [The Manga Critic]

Comics | With the much-delayed fifth issue of Image Comics miniseries '76 hitting stands this week, writer B. Clay Moore offers links to where you can read the first four issues online for free. [On Broken Radios]

Comics | Why do publishers keep churning out "untold tales" comics when they hardly ever do well? [Mightygodking]

Welcome once again to Send Us Your Shelf Porn. Our guest this week is Marc Mason, newly established PR guru for NBM and proprieter of the Comics Waiting Room Web site.

Remember, you too can be a featured Shelf Porn guest. All you need do is take some photos of your burgeoning comics collection and send them to me at cmautnerATcomcastDOTnet. Feel free to include as much or as little info about yourself and your collection as you like.

And now here's Marc ...

I enjoy this feature very much and thought I’d give it a shot. At this point in my life, I now have over 2000 graphic novels (not to mention plenty of regular comics). Thanks to being a reviewer, my shelves are overflowing! While plenty of these books weren’t review items, many were books I got in trade for comics I no longer wanted or needed. Not sure how this works, but I’ll try to hit some high points…

I don’t own too many action figures, but it just makes sense to have Steel guarding the S-Z shelf. Included here: all of the TRANSMETROPOLITAN, Y THE LAST MAN, STRANGERS IN PARADISE, and SHE-HULK volumes. This bookcase probably has more “mainstream” material than any of my others.

The front part of the alphabet for regular trade paperbacks. Things here include all of the JOHN BYRNE FF VISIONARIES, all the MADMAN trades, each of the volumes of FLIGHT… as you can see, I’m stacking right now because I have no room to add anything new. This problem is only growing as the months pass.

Hardcover land starts here. Plus, over-sized trades, some digest-sized collections and more. In the lower right, you’ll see a ton of minicomics as well. I also have all of the Minx line sitting here. And if that isn’t cool enough? How about statues of Merv Pumpkinhead and the Black Widow? I contain multitudes!

Top row, over-sized hardcovers. I’ll come back to those later. The regular shelves contain 6x9 and smaller books. This is easily the most eclectic bookcase in my collection. Lots of stuff from Oni, Fantagraphics, First Second, NBM, and Top Shelf to be found here. Bottom left you’ll see all the books I have from Lewis Trondheim’s DUNGEON series. I worship Trondheim. Massively. Upper right: statues of Spider Jerusalem (my personal hero) and Harley Quinn. Again- expecting consistency from me isn’t a good idea. J

Couple hundred manga volumes, anyone? Apparently I need to shelve that NOBLE CAUSES book- no idea why that’s sitting there.

The Marvel Essential is probably my favorite format running right now. Plus, it allows me to get the comics I had (and loved) as a kid back into my hands at a cheap price. Also living here: some of the COMPLETE PEANUTS volumes, as well as the complete BUFFY and ANGEL series on DVD.

I’m missing a couple of CEREBUS volumes. The guy I traded with to get 13, 15, and 16 didn’t have the others. Drat.

Top shelf here: the Grant Morrison NEW X-MEN omnibus hardcover. I am certain this is the heaviest book I own. Bright side: potential murder weapon (should I need one).

Back to the over-sized hardcovers. One of the things I love about comics (and my collection in turn) is the eclectic nature of what I enjoy. In a row here I have: the COMPLETE FAR SIDE, the ABSOLUTE edition of Warren Ellis’ AUTHORITY, Fantagraphics’ first POPEYE reprint, and a Chris Ware book. Fun!

Further down this shelf, THE PRO shares space with STRAY BULLETS, THE BOYS, COMIC BOOK TATTOO, and THE PHOTOGRAPHER. Anyone ever tells you that comics don’t have something for everyone, they’re lying. Or ignorant. Set ‘em straight!

A closer look at over-sized trades and the minicomics. Still waiting on one more volume of COMPLETE OMAHA. As for minicomics… they rock. The purest form of comics out there. Anyone can fold a piece of paper in half, write and doodle, hit Kinkos and put their work in front of people. How can you not love that? Even when they suck, you have to respect the effort.

Over-sized manga and the smaller omnibus format Dark Horse and IDW are using. Have I mentioned how much I love omnibus-type books?

Smaller hardcovers. The Ted McKeever books from Image came out really nicely.

So yeah, I have a lot of graphic novels. And running Comics Waiting Room, along with being the p.r. guy for NBM Publishing, means the collection is only going to grow larger. But I don’t see it as a burden- I’m really fortunate to have been able to read and own so many wonderful books. I wish the same for everybody out there reading!