Amazon

Retailing | Rumors have begun to swirl that online retail giant Amazon plans to open a brick-and-mortar store in Seattle within the next few months to help gauge the profitability of a chain. The store reportedly won’t just sell e-readers and tablets, but also books from Amazon’s newly launched publishing division. [Good E-Reader, Gawker]

Publishing | Japanese publisher Shueisha Inc. released the 65th volume of Eiichiro Oda’s pirate manga One Piece last week with a first printing of 4 million copies, tying the record set in November by the previous volume. [The Mainichi Daily News]

Retailing | Howard Ackler writes about the final days of Dragon Lady Comics, the Toronto retailer that closed last week after 33 years in business. [National Post]

Garry Trudeau

Creators | Garry Trudeau reacts to The Chicago Tribune’s refusal to run last Friday’s Doonesbury strip because it included a QR code that led readers to the charity DonorsChoose. The Trib ran a note that said it does not allow comics creators to “promote their self-interests.” Trudeau said, “I’m not sure ‘self-interest’ quite applies, since (a) DonorsChoose is a charity, and (b) I have no formal connection to it,” and he pointed out that the paper ran Thursday’s comic, which included a QR code that directed readers to Trudeau’s own website — “which actually was in my self-interest.” [Comic Riffs]

Creators | J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman discuss their approach to DC Comics’ Batwoman title: “We keep using this mantra of there’s no status quo in the book, and we want everything to continue moving forward and never have an issue where you read it and go, ‘Oh. Tomorrow everything can be back to normal.’ There is no normal,” Blackman said. [USA Today]

Creators | Jeff Parker has begun to post some of his comics scripts on his website, starting with several Marvel Adventures scripts. [Parkerspace]

Creators | J.M. DeMatteis shares an introduction he wrote for a Modern Masters edition focused on his Abadazad collaborator Mike Ploog. [J.M. DeMatteis's Creation Point]

Oyster War

Creators | Panel Bound talks to Ben Towle, illustrator of Amelia Earhart: This Broad Ocean and creator of the webcomic Oyster War: “I run into a lot of people who have ideas for this and ideas for that, but look: ideas are a dime a dozen. ‘A school for wizards.’ That’s a great idea. Lots of people have had that idea. Only one, though, had the perseverance to write Harry Potter while her mother died and her marriage collapsed—and then stick with it after seeing it rejected by twelve publishers.” [Panel Bound]

Commentary | Joy Kim ponders the difference between teams and team-ups. In a team story, such as the pirates of One Piece, the members work together and character development occurs in that context. “In contrast, in a team-up story, the individual characters always trump the idea of the team. While there’s a certain amount of entertainment value in watching the various members of the Justice League react to each other’s styles, that’s also often all there is to the story. The character-changing moments for the members happen, for the most part, within their own monthly titles, not in Justice League; even when they do happen outside the character’s main title (usually as part of some big crossover event), they are more about the character as an individual than about the team as a unit.” [Joy Kim]

Digital comics | Ryan Penagos, editorial director for Marvel Digital Media Group and Marvel.com, discusses Marvel’s digital strategy with host Peter Biddle in a recent episode of MashUp Radio. [MashUp Radio]

Digital comics | Sean Kleefeld sets out to review digital-first comics and finds the pickings are slim; almost all digital comics have a print version as well. So he takes a broader look at the state of digital comics and sees a market that is still in flux. [The Comic Book Bin]

Reviews | Paul Gravett posts a generously illustrated review of James Chapman’s British Comics: A Cultural History. [Paul Gravett]

Justice League #5

Sales | Sales of comic books and graphic novels to comic books stores through Diamond Comic Distributors increased 27.5 percent in January compared to the same month in 2011. Comics were up 32 percent while graphic novels were up 18 percent compared to 2011. DC Comics dominated all 10 spots at the top of the chart, with Justice League #5 coming in at No. 1. Batman: Through the Looking Glass was the top graphic novel for the month. [ICv2]

Passings | British comics artist Mike White, who illustrated Alan Moore’s The Twisted Man and numerous other stories for 2000AD, Lion, Valiant, Action and Score ‘n’ Roar, has passed away after a long illness. [Blimey!]

Publishing | Because the world demanded it, apparently, Random House plans to publish e-books of all the collected editions of Garfield newspaper comics. [Down the Tubes]

A Batmobile replica from Gotham Garage

Legal | Lawyer Jeff Trexler explains the ins and outs of copyright as it applies to the bits and pieces of the comics and movie world — the Batmobile, costumes, Stormtrooper helmets — and how a lawsuit over Mike Tyson’s tattoo could have put all of DC’s characters into the public domain. [The Beat]

Creators | For the past few years, the Pizza Island studio in Brooklyn has been home to seven of the brightest stars in comics these days: Kate Beaton, Domitille Collardey, Sarah Glidden, Meredith Gran, Lisa Hanawalt, Deana Sobel and Julia Wertz. Now they are turning in the keys and heading their separate ways, and Laura Hudson talks to all seven about what their plans are for the future. [Comics Alliance]

Creators | In a video of a presentation at the Fantagraphics bookstore, writers Mark Long and Jim Demonakos discuss the origins of their graphic novel The Silence of Our Friends (illustrated by Nate Powell), which is based in part on Long’s memories of his father, who was a white reporter covering the civil rights struggle in Texas in the late 1960s. [Graphic Eye]

Bucko

Creators | Jeff Parker and Erika Moen talk to Lauren Davis about the end of their webcomic Bucko, which wrapped up last week after a year. Here’s Moen on their collaborative process: “Parker asked me in the beginning what kind of story I’d like to draw, and I told him I enjoy drawing 20-somethings going on misadventures. And then, of course, Parker borrowed liberally from the flotsam and jetsam of my life, such as the name ‘Bucko.’ ‘Bucko’ is my nickname for my brother and has been ever since we were kids. I don’t even think about it, when I answer a call from him I start with ‘Hey Bucko…’ Parker liked that so here we are. The rest of the collaborative process was Parker giving me completed pages and me responding ‘Parker, I can’t draw that, people will lynch me!!’” [Comics Alliance]

Publishing | Tom Spurgeon talks to editor Michael Catron, who has just returned to Fantagraphics after several years’ absence and is already working on a variety of different projects. [The Comics Reporter]

The Amazing Transformations of Jimmy Olsen

Hello and welcome to What Are You Reading? This week’s special guest is Simon Monk, an artist whose “Secret Identity” paintings we featured here on Robot 6 not too long ago. Monk is actually selling limited edition prints of his paintings on his website now, so go check them out.

To see what Simon and the Robot 6 crew have been reading, click below.

*****

Michael May

Habibi

I finally finished Habibi (it wouldn’t have taken me so long if I wasn’t reading four other books at the same time. #WhenWillILearn?). As others have noted, it sticks with you long after you finish it. The sheer amount of time that I spent with Dodola and Zam means that I can’t just put them away and move on now that I’ve finished the story. Especially not after everything I watched them go through. It’s a manipulative book, and my natural reaction to noticing I’m being manipulated is to resist it, but Craig Thompson pushes through my defenses with the overbearing weight (in emotional terms as well as page volume) of his book. That sounds like a bad thing when I write it, but I suppose the important part is that it works. I felt strongly for these two characters and became invested in seeing how they turned out, even though I could see what Thompson was doing to make me feel that way.

I also read Howard Lovecraft and the Ice Kingdom. A friend of mine wrote the sequel, so I wanted to catch up on this before I check out his. There’s probably a way to turn HP Lovecraft’s C’thulhu mythos into an all-ages comic, but this wasn’t it. The tone is uneven, zipping back and forth wildly between disturbing horror and children’s cartoon. Ice Kingdom wants us to take its threats seriously (and is at its best when presenting disturbing monsters and their effects on young Lovecraft’s now-insane father), but it’s hard to do that when the boy adopts C’thulhu himself as a pet and insists on calling him Spot. On the other hand, I also could have bought into a fun lark through a tame version of C’thulhu’s world without the references to human sacrifices and child-eating elder gods. Ice Kingdom tries to have it both ways and doesn’t work.

Tom Bondurant

This week I caught up with one book about which I’d been morbidly curious, and another about which I just learned but knew I had to have.

Justice

The first was Justice, the 12-issue bimonthly miniseries from plotter/finisher Alex Ross, scripter Jim Krueger, and penciller Dougie Braithwaite. I read the first issue when it came out (back in 2006); and despite a somewhat compelling end-of-the-world teaser, it never quite grabbed me. Still, at worst I figured it would satisfy whatever desire I might have to see Ross’s take on the ’70s DC of my youth. First I waited for DC to collect the whole thing in one book, and then I waited a while longer for an acceptable discount. And it’s not a bad story, as far as semi-gritty evocations of “Challenge of the Super Friends” go — it’s just that whatever good story there is, is buried under Ross’s watercolor sentimentality. The plot involves Luthor, Brainiac, and a Legion-of-Doom-ish array of super villains turning to the good side (or are they?) in order to cast the Justice League as an insensitive pantheon who’d rather keep humanity down than solve the world’s problems. Much of the book involves the villains incapacitating our heroes and their friends and allies, including an extended subplot about Brainiac’s experiments on Aquaman. (Apparently, if you ever thought “Super Friends” needed more surgical torture, this book is for you.) Because the cast expands geometrically as the book goes on, it all gets busier and busier; and between double-page layouts which don’t initially read that way and finishes which literally blur away critical distinctions, Justice can be hard to read. There are also some sequences which just don’t pass the smell test, like Solomon Grundy (apparently, since it’s off-panel) taking out both Robin and Kid Flash. However, Green Lantern’s “imprisonment” pays off, despite looking at first like an indulgent foreshadowing of “Emerald Twilight,” and there are a few other odds and ends which make me want to give it another chance. Nevertheless, there’s a lot of fan service here for those in the know, like extended homages to the ’60s “Batman” show and gratuitous attempts to “prove” that Plastic Man is eternally superior to Elongated Man. To paraphrase another cartoon from my youth, of all the Alex Ross books in the world, this one may be the Alex Rossiest.

The second book was Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson’s adaptation of Alien for Heavy Metal, a graphic novel called Alien: The Illustrated Story (lettered by John Workman and I suppose colored by Simonson). At 61 pages, it tracks the movie pretty faithfully, but it neither adds to nor subtracts from the movie’s essential beats. Instead, it translates them almost effortlessly to the printed page, capturing everything from the sterile opening sequence to the eerie ancient spacecraft and the xenomorph’s brutality. Simonson also does a great job with likenesses, which seems trivial but really helps with something like this. Perhaps because of the format, or even the painted color palette, this comes across as entirely separate from Simonson’s other licensed work on Battlestar Galactica and Star Wars. This adaptation boils Alien down to its visceral horror-story core, and makes it something which could easily have appeared in a sci-fi anthology like Heavy Metal.

Oh, and I read Winter Soldier #1 (by Ed Brubaker and Butch Guice), which was as good as I was expecting from the team responsible for making Bucky’s revival both believable and sustainable. And yes, that means I was (once again) totally wrong about the predictive value of any similarities its promotional materials may or may not have had to a certain Stephen J. Cannell/Lorenzo Lamas syndicated TV series, and I am not just saying that because a guy named “Bonderant” (one letter off, but still) gets the crap kicked out of him halfway through the issue. In short, I’m on board for issue #2, okay? Okay?!?? (Sheesh!)

Tim O’Shea

Finally read the final issue of the Alpha Flight miniseries/ongoing/nope, miniseries. It’s a shame to see a creative team firing on all cylinders (as Greg Pak/Fred Van Lente and Dale Eaglesham were on this project) and for the sales not to follow in response. The writing team’s approach toward Puck is one aspect I will miss the most.

Fatale #1

This week two colorists really floored me with their work. First up is Dave Stewart bringing an outstanding cinematic sheen to the second issue of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ Fatale series (Image). Sidenote: I am bewildered at the thin paper stock that Image is using for the covers of this series. But that is a minor complaint. It does not take away from the overall unique noir look to the series. I say unique in that Stewart is using a diverse (and sometimes vibrant) color palette that surprisingly works in the noir setting (which is typically rather dark by nature).

The other colorist is someone I’ve raved about before–Bettie Breitweiser. On the first issue of Brubaker’s Winter Soldier, she works wonders with Butch Guice’s amazing art. There is one scene where James Barnes is videoconferencing with Jasper Sitwell. The layers of floating red video screens countered with the cool blue tones of James’ panels are just astounding. One panel had me just sitting there and wondering how Breitweiser did it. I appreciate when art gives me reason to pause. In terms of characters, Black Widow is as much a star of this series as James, which is a welcome approach for my money,

Hulk #48. May I officially beg writer Jeff Parker to keep Machine Man as a member of the Hulk cast? In this issue, Parker has Aaron thank someone, in the heat of battle, when they hand his cut-off arm back to him. Heh.

One question to the readers: The countdown banner to AvX–is anybody else reminded of the Toys R Us Shopping Spree banner (among other banners) in the 1980 Marvel Comics?

Brigid Alverson

The Unwritten

I jumped right in to Mike Carey and Peter Gross’s The Unwritten with the first volume of the collected edition, and I loved it from the start. It’s the story of Tom Taylor whose father used him as the lead character in a Harry Potter-like fantasy series. His father disappeared under mysterious circumstances when Tom was still a child, but his whole past is coming back to haunt him. The creators do a really nice job of weaving the Tommy Taylor stories in with their ongoing plot, and they bring in all sorts of other literary allusions as well. The first volume ends with a side story about Rudyard Kipling that is simply stunning. Unfortunately, as I near the end of the second volume, I’m starting to wonder how tight the plot really is. The stories are becoming episodic, but there are also a lot of questions left unanswered, and I’m not sure the authors know the answers. I certainly hate it when a character in a book refuses to share information with the hero for no good reason, as is happening here. Still, even as a series of episodes, Tom Taylor’s adventures are good fun and full of interesting literary trivia, so I’m in this for the long haul.

I spent some time in the Mignolaverse as well this week, with B.P.R.D.:Being Human and Hellboy: House of the Living Dead. The B.P.R.D. book is a collection of short stories, each focusing on different characters, and it’s actually a good first B.P.R.D. book as it touches on a number of origin stories. The first, and longest, story features Liz Sherman as a sulky teenager dragged along by Professor Trevor Bruttenholm to help out with the exorcism of a house and forest where a witch was hanged during the Salem witch trials. The Salem witch trials are a bit overdone as a topic, but I like the way the story showcases the young Liz in all her awkwardness. In the other stories, an older Liz and Abe Sapien discuss the ethics of killing their enemies, Roger the Homunculus and Hellboy do a little zombie-fighting in the Deep South, and we see the origin story of the Ectoplasmic Man. There’s plenty of horror and action in these stories, but the creators do a good job of mixing in the human side of the characters as well.

Hellboy: House of the Living Dead takes Hellboy south of the border and turns him into a luchador who is compelled to fight a latter-day Frankenstein’s monster. At only 56 pages, this story is short and pretty straightforward, but it’s well done and an interesting take on the Frankenstein story.

Simon Monk

Supergods

I recently read Grant Morrison’s book Supergods in which he sets out clearly his ideas about life, the universe and everything. Although I tend to be more attracted to street-level narratives such as Daredevil and The Spirit, I have always enjoyed Morrison’s work for its exuberance and extremity. Reading Supergods encouraged me to reread some of his classic stuff such as Zenith and Animal Man, but the biggest surprise turned out to be The Invisibles. On its initial publication I gave up on it about half way through its run so I had never read it as a single entity. It was far more coherent and exciting than I remembered it, despite fizzling a bit at the conclusion. I was struck at how Kirbyesque it seemed, thematically it is very Fourth World and the team/family interaction felt like a twisted version of the FF.

I love autobiographical comics such as Eddie Campbell’s Alec, and I recently discovered a self-published gem titled Many Happy Returns by Jan Wheatley. It turns out that Jan is the same age as me and had a very similar upbringing just 10 miles away from my home town. These coincidences gave the two issues published so far an incredible personal resonance for me, adding up to a pretty moving reading experience. Jan Wheatley is definitely a creator whose development I shall enjoy following.

I have a six-year-old son called William, and we tend to read a lot of comics together. I love testing out new stuff on him to see how he responds. Big hits so far include early Fantastic Four (started when he was three!), Bone, Jack Cole Plastic Man, ’50s and ’60s World’s Finest and Chip Kidd’s Bat-Manga book. Perhaps surprisingly the trade collection he can never get enough of is The Amazing Transformations of Jimmy Olsen featuring Elastic Lad, Human Flame-thrower, et al. Some of these crazy silver age tales have been read in bed on a Sunday morning a dozen times or more. He is a big fan of the Batman: The Brave and the Bold cartoon so I tried a few of the ’70s Bob Haney and Jim Aparo issues on him. Not a great response from William but I was surprised at how gritty they were: some of them read like a ‘Kojak’ episode with superheroes added.

One Piece, Vol. 46

Crime | An energetic thief stole all 64 volumes of One Piece from a Japanese bookstore by stuffing 10 volumes at a time in his duffel bag. As One Piece is the most popular manga in Japan, he could have gotten a good price for his booty at a used manga store, had the forces of law not intervened. [Kotaku]

Legal | Michael Cavna talks with cartoonist Susie Cagle about being taken into custody again over the weekend during Occupy Oakland protests. [Comic Riffs]

Creators | Kiss member Gene Simmons still remembers the postcard he got from Stan Lee as a kid. [Noisecreep]

Comics | Jeff Parker and Erica Moen’s webcomic Bucko has reached its last panel, but Parker says a book is on the way, and there will be “exciting news” at Emerald City Comic Con. [Parkerspace]

Creators | Patrick Smith interviews Jeremy Whitley, co-creator of Princeless, an all-ages comic that has been getting good word-of-blog lately: “I think you’ll see as story progresses that fight scenes especially get pretty comical. In fact, I think that things like the lampooning of outfits and fairy tales and princess culture are the important heavy lifting of Princeless. They make adults who have lived with this stuff go “YES! THAT!” but hopefully kids who are seeing this stuff for the first time will be conditioned to see those sorts of things as ludicrous from an early age. It’s hard to get bs past kids on stuff like that anyway.” [Spandexless]

Jill Thompson, by Seth Kushner

Creators | Jill Thompson reminisces about modeling for P. Craig Russell and talks about her work on Wonder Woman, Sandman, Finals, and the all-ages comic Scary Godmother in a wide-ranging interview with Christopher Irving. [Graphic NYC]

Creators | Mike Jasper, co-creator of In Maps and Legends, talks about his love of fantasy and his experience launching the comic on Zuda and then moving it to other digital programs when Zuda folded. Fun fact: Although they have been working together for two and a half years, Mike and his collaborator Niki Smith have never met in person. [Graphicly Blog]

Comics | Funky Winkerbean fans rejoice: Tom Batiuk will release the first volume of collected Funky strips earlier this year. Readers who are familiar with the current depressing storylines will be surprised by the earlier strips, which are much more light-hearted and in fact quite funny. [The Daily Cartoonist]

Lady Sabre & The Pirates of the Ineffable Aether

Comics | Greg Rucka discusses plans for the collection edition of the webcomic Lady Sabre & The Pirates of the Ineffable Aether, and with a variety of digital and print formats on the table, asks readers what they would prefer. [Lady Sabre & The Pirates of the Ineffable Aether]

Graphic novels | The American Booksellers Association has published a list of the best selling graphic novels in independent bookstores for the two months ending Jan. 22. [Bookselling This Week ,via Graphic Novel Reporter]

Graphic novels | Paul Gravett lists some tempting graphic novels due out in March. [Paul Gravett]

Webcomics | The collaborative site Act-I-Vate celebrates its sixth anniversary today. [Acti-I-Vate]

Review | Robot 6 contributor Christopher Mautner reviews Government Issue: Comics for the People, 1940s to 2000s, which he finds as dreary as its subject matter, despite a few high points: “Easily the best comic of the bunch is Walt Kelly’s “Pogo Primer for Parents”, a visual lecture on the importance of properly monitoring your child’s television habits that is so charming and funny that it only serves to underscore how drab and lifeless all the other excerpts are by comparison.” [The Comics Journal]

The Silence of Our Friends

Hello and welcome to What Are You Reading? This week our special guest is Ao Meng, who writes about comics for the Daily Texan, the University of Texas newspaper, as well as Novi Magazine.

To see what Ao and the Robot 6 crew have been reading, click below …

*****

Michael May

Planet of the Apes

I’ve read a couple of issues of BOOM!’s Planet of the Apes since the last time I contributed to this feature, and it’s still my favorite monthly series right now. It’s scary how good it is because experience tells me that comics this awesome are too good to be true and don’t last. Not that I have any reason to believe PotA’s going away; it’s just one of those irrational fears you get when you really love something and can’t stand the thought of not having it around anymore.

Something else I read recently was Pilot & Huxley: The First Adventure by Dan McGuiness. I’d never heard of it before and the deceptively simple art didn’t grab me right away, but I grinned and chuckled my way all through this thing. It’s about a couple of kids with an overdue video game rental that–unknown to them–contains the password that activates an alien Weapon of Doom. Unfortunately for the aliens, they don’t remember the password and need the game, so they hire Death to capture the boys, but Death sort of botches the job and sends the pair into an alternate dimension where swamps are made of bees and little girls turn into giant monsters. It…is…awesome.

Tom Bondurant

Aquaman

It may be perpetuating a stereotype to say that this week I read a pretty good issue of Aquaman, but, well … issue #5 was pretty good. Beginning with Aquaman literally dropped into the middle of a desert, it sets up the next big arc (the real reason Atlantis sunk) while serving nicely as a standalone survival tale. Geoff Johns’ script is efficient and well-paced, using a nonlinear narrative to good effect. There seems to be a little more pointed puncturing of Aquaman’s perceived inferiority, which at this point is a little old, so thankfully there’s not a lot. (Johns does get good use out of Aquaman’s telepathic powers, and that’s always nice.) Ivan Reis and Joe Prado’s art is straightforward as ever, conveying both Aquaman’s determination and his world-weariness.

The Fury Of Firestorm The Nuclear Men #5 (written by Gail Simone and Ethan Van Sciver, drawn by Yildiray Cinar) was also a decent standalone issue, reframing Ronnie and Jason’s continuing struggles with their powers in the context of a global Firestorm network. Specifically, when said network places our heroes in a too-good-to-be-
true planned community — a plot device which by this point should come with a “Ye Olde” prefix — you just know things are going to go horribly wrong. And so they do, but in a well-choreographed way which gives the reader some hope that maybe this time will be different. In other words, despite the predictability, this turned out to be a rather suspenseful issue, infusing the overall storyline with some necessary momentum.

This week I finally got a chance to check out Jeff Parker and Erika Moen’s Bucko, only about eleven months after everyone else on Earth, and just in time for it to wrap up. Still, not surprisingly, I liked this sprightly farce a lot. The combination of Parker’s energetic script and Moen’s endearing art is instantly appealing, and the plot is like “Three’s Company” on acid. (In a good way, of course.) I’m only through the first part, but I’m eager to see the rest.

In other better-late-than-never news, last night I was up late polishing off The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, so that my wife and I could catch David Fincher’s adaptation before it leaves the local theaters. The last half of the book took just under three hours to read, and at the risk of spoiling it (even obliquely), I thought the denouement was somewhat anticlimactic. I mean, I liked the book pretty well, but the first half is all about adapting to life on the frozen tundra, the third quarter jumps full-on into the mystery, and the last little bit is an extended wrap-up. I don’t doubt that the new movie will be fairly faithful, but I can’t imagine how the upcoming DC adaptation will deal with some of it.

Brigid Alverson

In Dotter of Her Father’s Eyes, Mary Talbot weaves her own growing-up story with that of James Joyce’s daughter Lucia. Tying the two stories together is Mary’s father, who was an eminent Joyce scholar. That meant less to his daughter, of course, than the way he treated her, warm and cold by turns, and sometimes unbearably harsh. Mary’s own story is an engaging tale of growing up in a large family in England after the war; Lucia’s is equally fascinating in a different way, as she led a more artistic and demanding life but was equally frustrated by her father’s needs and prejudices and, ultimately, her own mental illness. The book is skillfully illustrated by Mary’s husband, Bryan
Talbot, and it sits comfortably on the shelf next to Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home.

Friends With Boys

Mary Talbot grew up in a house full of brothers, and so did Maggie McKay, the heroine of Faith Erin Hicks’s Friends With Boys. In both cases, the boys add a certain madcap energy to the story, constantly fighting and breaking things, but in Friends With Boys, they also bring emotional depth. As the book opens, Maggie is starting high school after years of being home-schooled by her mother—who has just left the family, for reasons that are left vague. Maggie quickly makes friends with a brother and sister, but there’s a strange tension between them and her older brother, and the boys on the volleyball team. Hicks unfurls the backstory slowly, then brings it all to a head with a theft and a fight. While the plot itself is a bit improbable, the characters are well grounded and believable, and overall it’s an enjoyable read.

I also picked up Kate Beaton’s Hark! A Vagrant this week. It’s very hit-or-miss—sometimes Beaton makes me laugh out loud, other times the strips make me wish I knew more about Canadian history. Overall, though, there are more yuks than WTFs, and it’s easy to give a “read” recommendation on this one.

Chris Mautner

Mark Twain's Autobiography

Is there something wrong with me? Is my sense of humor on the fritz? Am I becoming too jaded? What could possibly be the reason for my completely “meh” reaction to Michael Kupperman’s latest book, Mark Twain’s Autobiography 1910-2010. I mean, I really like Kupperman’s work. I think he’s one of the funniest cartoonists going today. But Twain felt somewhat undercooked to me.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s still funny, just fitfully so. I didn’t greet the book with the sort of over the top vocal laughter that I usually do when reading his comics. Perhaps I’ve grown blase. Perhaps I’ve just become accustomed to Kupperman’s style and tics and it’s harder for him to get me laughing. Perhaps he’s better with comics than straight prose. Perhaps I’m just not a fan of all the Mark Twain jokes (I’m kind of not).

Whatever the case, any fears I had that Kupperman’s magic had ceased to charm me were swept away with the latest issue (that’s no. 7) of his regular series, Tales Designed to Thrizzle. Kupperman is back to his usually hilarity here, at least as far as I’m concerned, with a side-splitting parody/mash-up of Inception and Quincy, and a lengthy list of funny names for shower heads (I’m especially fond of “Mrs. Dallospray”). I take it all back. There’s nothing wrong with me after all.

Ao Meng

Spera

I’m actually pretty bad about finding time to go down to my local shops, but my last haul from a few weeks ago was pretty big: I picked up a copy of Josh Tierney’s Spera Vol. 1, mostly to see some choice web cartoonists make their leap from humble RGB to glorious CMYK. I especially loved the contribution from UK-based Nobrow Press mainstay Luke Pearson, whose two-color-on-cream-paper short sat nicely in contrast with the colorful explorations found in the rest of the book. I’m a big fan of adventure comics, and the energy on display here is infectious.

Speaking of adventure comics, Ryan Cecil Smith’s SF Supplementary File minicomics (I’ve only got #1 through #2B) are a whole lot of fun, and are a huge bang for your buck. #1′s contained origin story is a great continuation of that groove Smith’s been riding since the CCC#9 anthology. I really fell in love with the extended three-part #2— a”cover” of a 1979 space opera manga— one of a new trend of risograph comics that, to the best of my limited knowledge, have been sparked off by those noisemakers in the Ryan Sands camp. I also picked up Jonny Negron and Jesse Balmer’s Chameleon #2, which I believe contains the North American debut of Uno Moralez, whose pixel-art nightmares have been the best-kept secret of cartoonist livejournal rings for a couple of years now. Chameleon‘s two editors’s contributions are as on point as always.

Anyways, back to Mr. Smith’s minis— they are absolutely beautiful. They’re not nostalgic as much as interested in the techniques used by previous generations of cartoonists, and how much emotional heavy lifting they were capable of. To use terms from hip-hop, the other great American art form, It’s not quite a sample as much as an interpolation, where a producer or artist will re-record, re-sing and/or re-instrumentalize a melody, usually (but not always) because of sample clearance issues. Another very good interpolation by Kevin Huizenga is in the new Kramers Ergot, his being one of an obscure 1956 Charlton sci-fi short with an unknown writer. Who knows if this “interpolation comics” thing will eventually become another alt-comics trend, but this new type of dialog with comic’s labyrinthine history is incredibly interesting, and tickles a particular bone that classical reprints don’t quite scratch.

Let’s see, I also read The Silence of our Friends, a very readable and a great all-around First Second issue. Nate Powell’s art totally caries the book from it’s Oscar-awards-season material and towards something of real craft. I picked up the new King Kat #72, which is as good as always, but significantly more melancholic than the last issue. As one of the titans of the auto-bio genre, Porcellino’s commitment to the rawness and expression of his work is humbling to see. He’s a true living legend, that one.

Atomic Comics

Retailing | In the wake of the August closing of the Atomic Comics chain, Mesa, Arizona-area retailers are searching for ways to diversify in an attempt to keep their own stores afloat. Mike Banks, owner of Samurai Comics, has even opened a new location next to Atomic’s former flagship store to serve customers who suddenly found themselves without a comics shop. [East Valley Tribune]

Creators | Mike Mignola talks about his plans for next year’s Hellboy in Hell: “It’s a personal story about him, but with huge ramifications for the structure of Hell. I’m trying to get Hellboy free of the giant, Beast-of-the-Apocalypse storyline. That story has to get bigger before it can be put away. This first arc is the culmination of all the prophecy crap I’ve been trotting out throughout the years. We put a lot of things to bed.” Mignola also discusses his plans for B.P.R.D. and why he can’t watch the pilot of The Amazing Screw-On Head. [io9]

Creators | Tom Spurgeon continues his holiday interview series with a lengthy chat with Jeff Parker that spans his early comics-reading experiences, the influence of his artistic background on his writing, and his career at Marvel. [The Comics Reporter]

Creators | Geoff Johns reveals the thinking behind his transformation of Aquaman in the newly launched DC Comics series: “You have the fans, like myself, who always root for the character, and you’re always on the defensive immediately. And I wanted to take that approach in the book, that he’s the ultimate underdog of superheroes. He becomes much more human and relatable by being underestimated.” [TV Guide]

From American Vampire #22

Creators | Scott Snyder talks about the upcoming arc of American Vampire. [USA Today]

Creators | Writer Joshua Hale Fialkov discusses his work on I, Vampire. [FearNet]

Publishing | Torsten Adair offers comics publishers some advice for presenting their products online. [The Beat]

Comics | Yueh-lin Ma has a thorough overview of the Taiwanese comics scene, some of which may seem familiar: Japanese manga and American superhero comics are huge over there, but times are hard for local artists, and they are having a tough time getting a foothold in mainland China. [The China Post]

Comics | Paul Gravett mines the latest Previews for a handful of the most promising graphic novels due out in February. [Paul Gravett]

Daryl Gregory

The Avengers #4 (Not the comic stuffed in 'Lil Daryl's stocking)

Every Christmas, comics would show up in my stocking. They’d be rolled up, which I’m sure breaks the heart of every collector out there, but it didn’t bother me much. Comics were for reading. For some reason, my mother thought I liked Thor. I wasn’t a Thor guy, except when he was hanging out in the Avengers. I was, and still am, a Captain America super-fan. How could my Mom not know this? But every year I’d get a couple more Thor comics.

Fast-forward 35 years. I’m the official stocking-stuffer in the household. My wife is the queen of holiday organization, but the stocking assignment has always been mine, primarily because it’s the kind of job you can give to a procrastinator. I can run out on Christmas Eve and grab everything I need: gum, iTunes gift cards, candy bars, extra batteries… and comics. See, my son is 15, and he IS a Thor guy, so I usually try to round up something Asgardian for him, as well as a something with Atomic Robo or Axe Cop. I don’t understand the clothing my daughter is asking for (an “infinity scarf” sounds like something Dr. Who would wear), but by gum, I do know my son’s taste in comics.

And by the way? The comics never actually get inside the stocking, but sit there on the mantle beside it. Because Christmas tradition be damned, I’m not rolling them.

Jeff Parker

Okay fine, I’ll tell an embarrassing one. A few years ago I was renting a house here in Portland and indulged one of my vices I haven’t been able to shake: trash dumping. Not in the woods or anything horrible like that, but in any open dumpster that someone left unlocked- I can’t help it, I hate having lots of trash around and can’t wait for garbage pickup sometimes!

Anyway, I had just gotten rid of a bunch of boxes at a nearby apartment complex’ dumpster during the holidays and Christmas morning I answered my door where an angry apartment manager held up an empty box from Dark Horse that had once contained comps of something I’d done for them- with my name and address clearly labeled. I had to laugh at myself for getting busted by such a stupid slip up, and I told the guy I’d go back over there and pull my trash out. He let me off the hook because it was Christmas and a ‘don’t do it again.’ I wonder what other mysteries he’ll be out solving this holiday season?

Remember kids, using other people’s dumpsters is WRONG. (wink!)

Fred Van Lente

It’d probably be getting Watchmen under the tree the year the TPB came out and reading pretty much in one sitting (in robe and PJ’s) for the rest of Christmas Day. I don’t remember if I got to Exploding Vaginal Space Squid before turkey.

Young Romance

Colleen Coover

One year Paul [Tobin, her husband] gave me my favorite Christmas gift EVER. It was a medium-sized box, and when I opened it there was some packing material, beneath which were fifteen romance comics from the late 60s and early 70s! I thought I’d died and gone to cheesy comics heaven. But then under all those comics was more packing stuff, and under that: ANOTHER TWENTY ROMANCE COMICS!!! Just the best.

Jane Irwin

My best Holiday-related comics memory is from right after Thanksgiving 2002, when Paul Sizer, Pam Bliss, Matt Feazell, Layla Lawlor, Sean Bieri and I all got together during Mid-Ohio Con and created a “Comics Passport” minicomic where fans could collect autographs and stamps from all of us and end up with a neat little personalized book. Sean hand-pulled the covers with his Print Gocco, and we each contributed a sketch. It was a really neat concept — it got fans of one creator introduced to the rest of us, and we had a lot of takers — but the very best part was that working on the passport together caused Paul and I to finally notice each other, after about five years of attending the same conventions. The rest, as they say, is history — we’ve been happily married and making comics together for over seven years now.

Paul Sizer

Here’s my memory. Not as mushy as Jane’s, but hers was pretty good!

Age 10: the marathon experience that was the opening of presents at Grandma and Grampa’s house was well under way. Two hours (out of five) in, my brain was ready to explode from boredom. Then, I opened a present from one of my uncles; How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way. History was forever altered. I don’t think I actually saw any of my other presents that year. I still have that book somewhere in my stacks.

Chris Schweizer

Through most of middle and high school, my sister exhibited a distaste for reading.  When she was a kid, she read voraciously, as did the rest of the family; when we moved to Kentucky (I had just turned eleven; she was nine) she fell in with a group of girls for whom reading was a very low priority, and, being a preteen girl in a new place and in want of friends, she naturally followed suit.  What I assume began as affectation became character, and by the time she was in middle school you couldn’t get her to crack open a book unless there was a grade attached.

There was one clear exception – newspaper comic strip collections.

My dad and mom both had picked up comic strip books since I was very little.  Our house was stocked with Peanuts and Pogo books well before I was born, and it was my dad’s first Calvin and Hobbes trade, likely brought home within days of its release, that cemented my love of the form, and my desire to contribute to it.  My dad was an ardent C&H and Far Side fan, and my mom bought For Better of Worse and Cathy.  We had stacks of others, usually the 1950s minimalist humor strips that still run today, but these paperback-book jobs were haphazard and gathered in no particular order from garage sales, not like the pretty horizontal Andrews McMeel deals that lined our bookshelves by series and in order of release.  When Watterson and Larson retired, our influx of books didn’t halt; if anything, it increased.  My mom and dad both became big fans of Dilbert (which, though oft-criticized, I still quite enjoy).  My favorite contemporary strip when I was in middle school (and a chunk of high school, until Zits came along and gave it a close run for its money) was Bill Amend’s Foxtrot.

Wrapped-Up Foxtrot

Though it may not be evident upon glancing at my comics, Foxtrot has likely had more influence on my storytelling than any other comic.  I consumed Amend’s dialogue pacing with such fervency and regularity that writing dialogue in anything but an Amend-patter-pattern would be entirely unnatural to me, and my dialogue pacing determines everything on the page, including the composition of the images. Oh, yes, Foxtrot was my favorite.

My sister felt the same.

My dad couldn’t resist picking up the Dilbert books as they came out, but the Foxtrot books waited until Christmas.  Why?  My parents, ever eager to stoke the fires of advanced literacy in their daughter, ALWAYS GAVE HER THE MOST RECENT FOXTROT BOOK. Without fail.  Every year. Her.

This would not have been a problem, in general.  We were a fairly communal household when it came to books, and what belonged to one generally ended up being passed around.  But as she grew older, my sister became increasingly aware of my intense desire to spend time with Amend’s newest masterpiece, and she began to use this to her advantage.  I’d have to trade candy for the privilege.  I’d have to give up a gift of greater value.  When I became able to drive, chauffeur duties became a bargaining chip.  Sometimes, just to get my goat, she’d refuse me entirely and hide the book, leading me to search, sometimes for days, whenever I found her absent.

“Well,” you might say, “You could drive and likely had a job.  Why not simply go get your own copy?”  The idea truly never occurred to me.  Getting my own copy when my dad or mom or sister had one which I could (in theory, at least) read?  It made no sense.  Even now, away from home for a decade and more, I still don’t have duplicates of books that my dad has.  The new Fantagraphics Peanuts collection?  You’ll not find a one on my shelves.  The big Calvin and Hobbes collector’s set?  Nope.  I make do with my old A/McM paperbacks.

I have, to be fair, stolen a good number of my parent’s books for my own collection – I consider it a child’s prerogative, and will not begrudge my own children such luxury when they someday fly the nest.  But, though they sit not in my sister’s house in Alabama but at my parent’s in North Carolina, I have not taken the Foxtrot collections.  Whereas taking from my dad is hardly stealing (sorry, dad), taking from my sister would be.  So, by virtue of Christmas tradition, I live more or less Foxtrotless, save the occasional bumper compendium snagged at a Borders failsale.

Elizabeth Breitweiser

My husband, Mitch, has a good one. Christmas of 1992, Mitch age 13. His dad gave him his very first comic book, Spider-Man 2099 #2. As soon as he pulled it out of his stocking and flipped through the pages, he knew he wanted to be a comic book artist.

This year will also be one for the memory book. Mitch surprised me by sneaking our little family, fat cat and all, into the holiday issue of Journey Into Mystery #632. What a treat!

The Breitweiser Family in Journey Into Mystery #632

Erik Larsen

My recollections are both Marvel-related. I can remember having two different people give me a copy of Stan Lee’s Origins of Marvel Comics as a kid and I can recall getting money from my parents to buy gifts for other members of my family and blowing part of it on a copy of Rampaging Hulk #1 (the b&w magazine) and getting some grief for doing that.

Mike Allred

When I quit a career in broadcasting in exchange for a budding comic book career, the first few years were hard going.  But Christmas time brought a few moments of splurging, and Laura would justify getting me hard cover collections of classic comics.  I still have those, and they are every bit as priceless to me as the original pulpy beauties they reprint.  Later, after Madman started taking off, she started scoring me original comic book art for Christmas gifts.  The ultimate collectable from the ultimate wife.  Laura is the best thing about Christmas and comic books.

Van Jensen

G.I. Joe

When I was 4 or 5, there was nothing cooler in the world than G.I. Joes. It’s fair to say I spent months in the lead up to Christmas poring over the Sears and JC Penney catalogs looking at the Joe toys, trying to decide which ones to ask for (we lived far from any toy stores, so the catalogs were all I had). Christmas morning, I know I had a couple of Joes waiting for me under the tree. But despite all of my excitement for the toys, I can’t recall which ones I received. All I really remember is that I also got my first few comics: issues of MAD, Captain America and Larry Hama’s G.I. Joe. I still remember the stories from those issues—Roadblock was arrested!—even though hundreds of readings long ago disintegrated the copies into dust.

MK Reed

On a New Year’s Day about 10 years ago, I was working in a ski rental shop at a small ski slope in New Jersey with my bff. They’d been very insistent that we come in on New Year’s bright and early, but it was in the 40′s and the snow was all melted. With few customers and little to do, we started putting together the shipment of kid’s skis that were waiting to be assembled, and when rentals employees called to see if they should come in, we said yes, not realizing that at a certain point the managers made an announcement that the slope would be closed in the afternoon because of the weather. (There was no speaker in the rentals room, nor supervision, nor heat.) We accumulated some boxes from the skis & bindings, and so my bff & I decided to set up a city of boxes and live out a Godzilla/Rodin fight to break them down. Within a minute of the fight’s beginning, the laughter and cheering of a dozen onlookers alerted a manager who showed up to see what all the noise was about. As he yelled at us for not leaving, we protested it was impossible for us to hear the announcement, and that no one had told us to leave or stop more employees from coming in. During the entire argument, we kicked & stomped down boxes. We were then criticized for being inefficient in box-waste removal, which everyone jeered at. Then we got to leave work early!

John Arcudi

Terminator

It was long, long ago — right about when I became a full-time comics writer.  In fact, it was exactly then.

I was back in my home town visiting my father for the holidays when I got a call from Dark Horse publisher Mike Richardson.  I don’t remember how he got my father’s number (we had only communicated through my home # back in Brooklyn) but he did.   I’d been writing part-time for a few years, working a variety of day jobs, hammering away on scripts at night.  You can do that in your 20′s.  Just 8 page stories here and there, nothing regular.  Anyway, Mike was calling to offer me a series (Terminator) which would require a full time writing schedule from me, meaning I would have to quit my day job.  Seems like an easy decision in retrospect, but there was no “retrospect” then.   Still, I knew what I wanted, and so did Mike.  I remember what he said very clearly: “You want to be a comics writer, John, then be one.”  He was, of course, right.

Yeah, not something easily forgotten, to say the least.

Mark Andrew Smith

This is a Christmas story that happened to me last year.

Living in Taiwan they do not celebrate Christmas.  You’re on your own, and you try to make the best of things.

I went to a Taiwanese Bar with my friend Paul and we are going to order some hamburgers.  We sit down and there’s a drunk guy in the bar who speaks poor English that wants to talk to us and says the same thing over and over again, the guy is kind of scary, and I just nod to be polite, hoping he’ll leave.

In Taiwan there are street dogs everywhere. This black stray dog goes into bar and just starts humping the crap out of the guy’s leg.  He’s drunk and can’t do anything about it.

Meanwhile all of these Christmas songs are playing while the dog is going at this guy’s leg nonstop with his face so happy and his tongue hanging out of his mouth and it almost seems to synch up to ‘it’s the most wonderful time of the year’.  The dog would go away and then come back and hump this drunk and incoherent Taiwanese guy’s leg.

It went on for a good 30 minutes with the music playing like it was out of a film.

I turned to my friend Paul and said, “This is it, this is our Christmas Eve. Eating a hamburger and watching a dog go to town for 30 minutes on a drunk Taiwanese dude’s leg.  Merry Christmas Paul.”

Janet K. Lee

Duncan the Wonder Dog

Last year, I desperately wanted a copy of Duncan the Wonder Dog for Christmas, but could not find it in Nashville. My LCS couldn’t get it for me in time for the holiday; I had waited until too late to ask. So I tweeted about my great sorrow, my failure to acquire Duncan the Wonder Dog, to several hundred of my closest internet friends. Like you do.

Well, the amazing folks at Malaprops Bookstore in Asheville, North Carolina, were listening. They have one of the best graphic novel sections in the US—not only in my opinion, but according to the fine folks at Publisher’s Weekly—and they sent me a copy of Duncan. It was a Christmas miracle under my tree. I sent them a bunch of home-made ornaments as a thank-you. Best part: the book was every bit as wonderful as I wanted it to be.

Charles Soule

In March 2009, my first published work, Strongman, appeared on shelves (from SLG Publishing, a fine group of people if ever there was one.)  The Christmas before that, I was home to visit my family in Michigan – in Grand Rapids, specifically, at my dad’s house.  I had some advance copies of Strongman with me, and I intended to give a few to my siblings and my father as Christmas “gifts.”  Yes, I know that’s pretty dubious as far as gift-giving goes.  I might as well have given them a framed picture of myself.  Signed.  (Hmm… maybe I’ll do that this year.)

Anyway, I got everyone something “real” too, but I was (and still am) very proud of Strongman, and wanted to share it with them.  On Christmas morning, everyone opened up their stuff, oohed and aahed and thanked, and we moved on to the customary post-gift breakfast.  Good stuff.  Traditionally, my family will go to a movie Christmas afternoon, or do something else as a group.  That year, we trooped out to see The Spirit, god help us.  My dad declined to come with us, which was weird – we weren’t all together that much over the year, because my family is scattered all over the country, and normally he’d hang out with us the entire day.  He decided to skip the movie because he wanted to stay home to read Strongman (or possibly because he’d read a review of The Spirit, but I choose to believe he wanted to read the book.)

My siblings and I saw the movie, came home, and my dad and I talked about my first published book for a while.  He was a comics reader from childhood, and introduced me to them – my first comic was a Fantastic Four he bought me, and I use to read his tattered T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents issues in his old bedroom when we’d go to visit my grandparents when I was little.  So, he knew what he was talking about, and he had some good things to say and some critical points to make.  It was amazing.  One of my favorite Christmas memories of all time, not just comics-related.  Unfortunately (putting it very mildly) that was the last real Christmas we got to spend together, but that afternoon we had no idea that bad things were looming on the horizon, and we just talked.  I have a million memories of my dad and books, but it’s hard to top that one.

Ryan Stegman

Spawn #39

My comics-related holiday memory is the issue of Spawn that had “Santa Spawn” on the cover. That is easily one of my most remembered comic book covers ever. It hit me at the time when I had just decided that comics were what I wanted to do and I just stared at it forever wondering how the hell someone could draw something that cool.

I also remember reading that issue. It’s hilariously cheesy, but in the best way possible. It’s like every Christmas related kids movie with the sappy ending. But the stuff leading up to the ending was insane violence and Spawn looking badass. What more could you want?

Corinna Bechko

This time of year generally means two things at our house: comics-related presents and wicked deadlines. Usually the gifts are special edition books or maybe rare action figures, while the deadlines are always urgent and seldom as nice to look at.

Last year I wanted to get something extra special for my husband Gabriel Hardman though, and after much hunting I found an original page from The Tomb of Dracula #14, drawn by Gene Colan and inked by Tom Palmer in 1972. I carefully wrapped my treasure up, convinced that I had scored a great bit of comics history.

Meanwhile, Gabriel was hard at work penciling and inking Hulk. The holidays are always hectic when you’re a freelancer, so when he was asked to do an extra “point one” issue on top of his normal workload something had to give. He agreed to pencil the book, but wanted someone else to ink it. And who did that someone turn out to be? None other than the legendary Tom Palmer. So in a nice bit of symmetry Gabriel now has an almost 40 year old Palmer-inked page hanging on his studio wall as well as his name next to Tom’s on a book from 2011.

Nick Dragotta

My favorite holiday recollection was the time Howtoons went to the Kipp Bridge Charter School in West Oakland to teach 8th graders how to make snow globes through our comics. We projected the cartoon up on the wall and then just laid out the supplies. The kids were pretty stoked you only needed a peanut butter jar, water, and glitter. The decoration we left to their imagination. The results were pretty fantastic. I also remember it being freezing that day, and we all wore our winter coats the whole time while inside the classroom.

Shawn Crystal on The Cartoonists Holiday

It’s dark outside, and cold. My two kids, Zoe and Zac, are tucked snuggly into their warm beds. My wife, Stephanie, sits watching Family Guy while wrapping presents.

I wish I were there, home with my family… relaxing.

Instead, I am at my studio, working tirelessly under the relentless pressure of a tight… VERY tight, deadline. This is my life, the life of a cartoonist. We don’t get down time, vacations, or holidays. We work when we have work. We relax when we don’t. The lucky ones are constantly working.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. I’m just painting a portrait of what a cartoonist’s life is like.

Crystal art from Deadpool Max XMas

When I was a young wide-eyed child with a head full of dreams, my biggest wish was to be a professional comic book artist for Marvel. Every Hanukah, I asked for drawing supplies, comics, and Marvel related toys. As I grew older, I wished for books on storytelling, cinematography, anatomy, and photography. Always focused on the big wish, to draw for Marvel. Decades later, here I am, doing just that.

I didn’t just wish for this lifestyle, I worked hard to achieve it. I was focused and driven to draw comics. I don’t think many of us (cartoonists) truly understood the demands of this job before we had it, but that doesn’t matter. It’s a damn cool job to have.

It’s a bittersweet time for me.

I miss being with my family, but I LOVE that I am drawing comics.

On the day of Hanukah, I’ll be busy frying Latkes and grilling steaks. Passing out presents to my family while shoveling Belgian chocolate gelt into my mouth. I’ll be full, happy, and half drunk.

So, I’ll get some downtime…even if it’s just for a day. After that, I’ll promptly return to my studio, ready to grind while I listen to Marc Maron’s “WTF” podcast.

To my family, I love you. Without your support, I wouldn’t be able to do this. My job asks a lot of you. You work with me to make it all happen. I’ll see you soon, with a table full of food, and presents to pass around.

To all the cartoonists, my brothers in arms, fighting the good fight in the trenches of publishing…you’re not alone during these cold nights. You’re making comics, and you worked hard to be able to do this. Take a moment to enjoy your success. Soon you’ll be with friends and family, doing your thing. Only for a short while though, there’s a deadline waiting for you…. and he’s a nasty lil bastard.

Did I mention that I run the Sequential Art dept. for SCAD Atlanta as well? That’s another story for another time.

Wet Moon

Hello and welcome to a special holiday edition of What Are You Reading? Actually it’s just a normal edition of What Are You Reading?, because changing the font color to red and green, and adding twinkling lights around the border just made it harder to read.

Our special guest this week is Andy Khouri, associate editor over at ComicsAlliance, where he drops comic news and commentary on a daily basis.

To see what Andy and the Robot 6 crew have been reading, click below.

Tim O’Shea

Batgirl #4

Batgirl #4: While I’ve been generally pleased with the new Batgirl by writer Gail Simone, it has not impressed me to the degree of say Mark Waid’s Daredevil…until this issue. And oddly it was a simple line of dialogue that caused me to pause and stop to stare at the page. Batgirl had just saved a couple and when he checked on the victims, the man said: “Because of you, we get to see our kids again. Thank you.” Rarely in a comic these days do the folks that the heroes rescue get any lines. The fact that Simone devotes story space to a small moment like that speaks volumes to how great a writer she is. And then the end of this issue has a reveal that’s a doozy.

Avengers Academy #23: For the past half year or so, series writer Christos Gage has shown that no such thing as the status quo in terms of the Avengers Academy cast or infrastructure. This latest arc involves time travel and it is interesting to see snippets of Gage’s larger view of the Academy-verse. Added bonus? Gage taps into the old Rom series to use a character in the present Marvel universe.

The Shade #3: This is the last issue with Cully Hamner on art. I am so bummed, but wait-who is on the deck for next issue? Darwyn Cooke and J. Bone, wow. Nice consolation prize, I’ll admit. Robinson’s penchant for shifting from historical period bits to present day is in full effect (and to my enjoyment). The art of conversation is something that made the original Starman series so delightful, and that art is alive in The Shade. Another bonus that might entice longtime Starman fans that have not picked up this series yet? This month’s cover is by Tony Harris. Still not moved? Next month’s issue involves two words: Times Past.

The Ray #1

The Ray #1: This comic held me in its sway until the last panel, which had a blip of violence I just do not need to see in a non-mature readers comic. I say this as a warning, it’s likely that folks who play a lot of video games or have a penchant for horror films will not be shocked. But when the villain from this issue puts his fist through a human head and you get to see it from a side angle, it’s just too sickening for my tastes. It’s visceral and likely the exact impact the creative team wanted. Do not get me wrong, it’s one misstep in an overall strong first issue, I just do not wish anyone to be surprised. I am a huge fan of artist Jamal Igle (and an equally supporter for writing team of Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray). I am 99 percent positive on this book, however, particularly the impressive manner that Palmiotti and Gray establish a unique supporting cast with a few scenes.

Marvel Adventures #21: I really do not know the rhyme or reason of this current all ages book, a few recent issues were reprints, but best I can tell this installment has two new stories, one written by J.M. DeMatteis and the other by Jen Van Meter. Van Meter’s Hulk story very much had the Bill Bixby TV show vibe to it (which works in the limited space she had and for the all ages audience). As much as I enjoyed it, I found myself shocked at how great the Dr. Strange/Captain America team-up was. I never thought that patriotism and mysticism could be mixed in a story, but DeMatteis proved me very wrong. I really hope the Strange/Cap artist Wellington Alves has more assignments down the road for Marvel, particularly given his strong eye for layout.

Batman: The Brave & the Bold #14

Batman: The Brave & the Bold #14: I really appreciate when DC or Marvel does a story like this in the holidays. Rather than going with the Christian-themed tale (which as a Catholic, of course I dig), this Sholly Fisch/Rick Burchett tale partially focuses on the story of Chanukah and has the fate of a neighborhood shul (synagogue) as the center of the story. For parents, aunts and uncles looking for a small holiday gift that might interest a kid in comics—please snag this.

Resurrection Man #4: For Christmas, Santa, I would like this Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning-written comic series to have a nice long run. The fight scenes in this comic are intense, but not in a disturbing sense—and I just love how Fernando Dagnino utilizes distinct panel choices—as well as his approach to the book’s lead character, Mitch Shelley.

Black Panther #526: This book may be cancelled, but it is still entertaining the hell out of me. Last issue I complained about the murky qualities of the coloring obscuring Shawn Martinbrough’s art. I am happy to say this issue’s coloring of Martinbrough by Felix Serrano is much more complimentary. And writer David Liss is really hitting his stride pitting Panther against the Kingpin, which makes for great storytelling.

Brigid Alverson

Level Up

This is a rarity for a First Second book, but Level Up has a terrible cover. I know it relates to the subject matter, gaming, but it’s drab and plain, while the story itself is quite imaginative. Written by Gene Luen Yang and illustrated by Thien Pham, it’s a twist on the Asian-American stereotype of the pushy parents who only want their kid to go to medical school. The hero, Dennis Ouyang, just wants to play video games, but his parents don’t get it at all, and he never has a quarter to play Pac-Man, let alone the bucks to buy a Nintendo system. On the day of his father’s funeral, as Dennis is about to graduate high school, he buys a game system and becomes completely absorbed in gaming. What happens next made me think he was having a psychotic break, but it’s really a fantasy tale–a group of angelic creatures emerges from a card his father had sent him years ago and nudges him toward medical school. Yang and Pham do a nice job of teasing out the nuances of Dennis’s dilemmas, his changing friendships, and his slow realization of the right path–and how his past has unexpectedly prepared him for it. It’s a quick read and a good one.

It would be easy to miss the fact that Jim Henson’s The Storyteller, a new anthology from Archaia, is based on the television show of the same name. If, like me, you weren’t watching a lot of TV in the 1980s and never saw the show, you could read the whole book and not realize it. It’s true, one of the stories is based on an unproduced Storyteller script, but aside from that, there doesn’t seem to be any mention of the show, which is odd–I would at least expect to see an introduction explaining the genesis of the book. Never mind, though, because this is a great little anthology of folk tales adapted and illustrated by some of the most talented comics creators around: Roger Langridge, Colleen Coover, Jeff Parker, Marjorie Liu, among others. This being an Archaia book, the design and production values are superb, and while it’s an all-ages book, there’s a lot here for older readers to appreciate.

Andy Khouri

Wet Moon by Ross Campbell

Wet Moon

I’m a little ashamed to admit that I didn’t even know this existed before all five volumes showed up in the mail recently, but Ross Campbell’s Wet Moon became over the course of one rainy night one of my favorite comics series. There is no high concept hook to this story of variously gothic and geeky and gay girls (and some boys) attending art college in the American south, it’s just completely based on the fairly large cast and their complex relationships with each other. Light on melodrama but heavy on emotion, humor and character development, I’d say Wet Moon is a soap opera but in the best possible sense of that term. Campbell makes each individual truly that – an individual, and I found that as soon as I’d completed one volume (digest-sized paperbacks from Oni Press) I had to immediately start on the next one to see what happens next–not in the sense of a plot or cliffhanger, but just because I came to really enjoy hanging out with his characters. I read five books in just a couple of nights.

But what impressed me most about Wet Moon–and the sort of thing that I find myself caring more about with comics and film–is how Campbell created such an immersive world. From page one, you’re taken in. The uniqueness of the character designs, the details in the locations, the style of dialogue–everything about Wet Moon pulls you in, as opposed to being the sort of narrative you sort of observe and contemplate on some intellectual level. As much as I wanted to keep reading the narrative, I think I liked just sort of living in the world of Wet Moon even more. I can’t wait for the next book.

FreakAngels by Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield

FreakAngels

You’ve got 12 kids all born on the same day and all possessing increasingly amazing powers like telepathy and telekinesis and teleportation and so on, and they operate as a gang in a post-apocalyptic London. Each character as a specific talent–agriculture, mechanics, security, etc.–and they work together to protect the citizens of their neighborhood from marauders and other threats from around the city while insulting each other in the best Ellisian tradition.

FreakAngels is remarkable in part for Duffield’s great artwork, particularly his often gorgeous background renderings and ability to make you understand how something like a bicycle-pedal-based flying machine might work. Indeed, FreakAngels spends quite a lot of time exploring the notion of getting on with life in a post-apocalyptic society, where cleverness and innovation would be crucial to survival when there’s no electricity or other resources upon which the world has become dependent. Duffield is amazing at depicting these kinds of lever-and-pulley kinds of things in a way that’s easy to understand and actually quite nice to look at.

Like Campbell with Wet Moon, Duffield makes FreakAngels into a time and place that is utterly specific to itself, and I found myself getting a visceral thrill from visiting that world (the book’s leisurely, perhaps manga-like pace helps immerse you in it in a very cool way). But what keeps you there are the FreakAngels themselves, who’re among the most vivid characters Ellis has ever created, and of course the mystery at the heart of the series: who are the FreakAngels and what did they do?

FreakAngels has been completed and is available in six trade paperbacks or hardcovers.

BLAMMO #6

Season’s Greetings and welcome to another edition of What Are You Reading?, our weekly look at what we’ve been reading lately. Today our special guests are Geoffrey Golden and Amanda Meadows, editors of Devastator: The Quarterly Comedy Magazine for Humans. Their latest issue has a video game theme, with contributions from James Kochalka, Corey Lewis, Danny Hellman and many more. And if you head over to their website between now through Dec. 16, the code ROBOT6 gets you 20 percent off single issues.

To see what Amanda, Geoffrey and the Robot 6 crew have been reading lately, click below.

*****

Michael May

Amulet

I’ve been wanting to read Kazu Kibuishi’s Amulet for a while now and have finally gotten to the first volume. It begins a lot like so many other fantasy stories for young people: with a single parent taking her children to an old, secluded, family property because lack of money has driven them away from the city. There, the family’s dark history and a magic item or two involve the kids in an adventure to save their parent and possibly the world. It’s an old premise, but a powerful one. Every kid longs to discover that there’s something cool and powerful in their family history that will change their lives.

What separates the good versions of this story from the bad are the details and what happens once the secret is uncovered and the young heroes are engaged. In this case, Kibuishi unleashes his considerable imagination to plop his protagonists into a world of magic, robots, dark elves, and cephalopod monsters. It’s an exciting, visually impressive story with a great deal of heart.

Chris Mautner

Things I read recently:

Feynman

Feynman by Jim Ottaviani and Leland Myrick — As the title suggests, this is a basic biography of the famed physicist and Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman. Ottaviani attempts to mimic the scientist’s wayward, anecdotal manner of speaking, which can take a bit of getting used to, but once you do, it’s a pretty smooth ride. Myrick’s loose, wobbly style fits Feynman’s loose, haphazard manner rather well. This is a pretty basic biography, aimed clearly at readers who may have heard Feynman’s name, but are unfamiliar with his life and work. In other words, it’s a starting point, and not for someone whose already read one of the many biographies about the man. This graphic novel won’t replace any of those books, either, but as a “basic intro” guide, it suits rather well.

The Adventures of Herge by Bocquet, Fromental and Stanislas — Another biography, this time about the famous cartoonist George Remi, i.e. Herge, the creator of Tintin. Rather than attempt to completely chronicle the artist’s life, the authors instead aim for a “significant snapshots” approach, dramatizing every two pages or so a particular event in artist’s development. A picture does emerge of the artist as a conflicted, driven, relatively genial fellow, but it remains a rather cursory glance in the Herge’s life. The book is really best suited for Tintin fans or fans of Stanislas’ art, which is lovely.

Carla Hoffman

Defenders

I don’t know, man. I just don’t know. Defenders #1 has all the elements a gal like me should love: Matt Fraction (FRACTION 3:16), slick and stylish artwork, Doctor Strange and an assortment of quality characters who deserve a place in a book of their own, rather than a guest star role in an event tie-in. Betty Banner is here (kind of), Danny Rand is back, and oh my Lord there are tiny out-of-frame comments on nearly every page!

And then… we have two awkward hook-ups from guys who should be above making such freshman choices (okay, maybe not Danny Rand), the continual “I hate myself and want to die” theme from people who seem to be wallowing in it, the Silver Surfer seems to have powers that contradict his appearances in Thor (Fraction should talk to the writer of that book and get things straight!) … I don’t know. I’ll give it three issues, but it seems to me like (yet another) Doctor Strange mini-series might have been a better idea.

X-Club #1 is a better first issue, strangely enough, probably because I am not expecting it to blow my tiny little brain. It’s giving me what I want, the same quality of faux-Ellis techno-sarcasm I got from the past “X-Club” outings from Simon Spurrier, the snickering humor and delightful dance of characters that normally just bring exposition in the regular X-titles. A shady corporation builds a sky elevator with the help of Utopia and then monsters. This won’t be Sandman, but it will be funny, and that’s a rare quality in comics.

Which is why I continue to buy Deadpool MAX. It also confuses me as it makes me laugh, bringing an uncomfortable humor that makes me wonder if I’m a terrible person for finding any of it funny. Remember reading a MAD Magazine as a kid and finding it so unlike anything else normally marketed for kids that there was almost a thrill to getting an issue? Yeah, it’s a little like that. Grab a copy of the Deadpool MAX X-Mas Special and hide it in a copy of Grant Morrison’s Supergods.

Brigid Alverson

Habibi

I’m sort of all over the place this week. I read Craig Thompson’s Habibi yesterday–I picked it up thinking I’ll just attack it in small bits and ended up reading the whole thing in two sittings. I can’t do it justice here, except to say that after all the discussions I was expecting it to be all literary and boring, and it wasn’t. There were things I liked and things I didn’t like, but the story kept pulling me along.

Everything else was on the light side, though. I picked up BOOM! Studios’ Peanuts graphic novel, Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown, and while it’s very attractive, the opening sequence is basically a bunch of one-page gag strips, mostly about Linus and his blanket. I’m pretty sure some of them are old, because the gags seem very familiar, but at any rate, the structure makes for some disconnected storytelling. I’m hoping we get something closer to a linear story as the book goes on.

I’m also reading volume 17 of Osamu Tezuka’s Black Jack. I’m always reading Black Jack, because Vertical puts out a volume every two months, and it’s one of my favorite comics to just relax and enjoy–I don’t feel like I have to analyze Black Jack or find a deeper meaning, it’s just short stories about a bad ass surgeon. He starts this volume by doing surgery on himself, which is a pretty tough act to follow, but this is the last volume that Vertical is putting out. It does include a nice extra: A list of every Black Jack story, in chronological order, along with the volume of the Vertical edition it appeared in. That makes for a nice project for obsessive Black Jack fans–to read all the stories in order–except that there are a few that, on Tezuka’s orders, were never collected in English or Japanese.

Tom Bondurant

Manhunter

I started picking up Marc Andreyko’s Manhunter only after its first cancellation, so this week I finally started from the beginning. Maybe it’s the collected-edition effect, but I am through the first two paperbacks and didn’t want to put either one down. Andreyko and penciller Jesus Saiz tell Kate Spencer’s story in compelling fashion, with snappy dialogue and expressive artwork, making her transition from prosecutor to vigilante seem natural and seamless. What’s more, these stories take place on the margins of Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis, but Andreyko integrates those events into his narrative pretty well too. The same goes for various references to DC history, like Hawkman’s past with the Shadow-Thief, Cameron Chase’s knowledge of Checkmate, and Superman’s relationship with the (then-late) Firestorm. I thought Manhunter was good already, but I didn’t know it was this good.

Mr. Mautner will be delighted to hear that I also got a chance to watch the “Ultimate Cut” of 2009′s Watchmen movie. This is the one which incorporates the “Black Freighter” sequences, and some other previously-deleted scenes as well. Anyway, it turned out to be more of the same: faithful to a fault, except when it’s cranked-up with Zack Snyder attitude. I still didn’t hate it, though. I just think it’s ironic that it tried too hard to be a big-budget Superhero Movie! instead of the more subdued work the comics depicted. Snyder’s Watchmen is like Ralph Bakshi’s Lord of the Rings–enough of an effort that you hope someone gets it right later on.

Tim O’Shea

Action Comics #4

Action Comics #4: Not sure which annoys me more: writer Grant Morrison having Superman enemy Sam Lane ask Superman to save his daughter, or the fact that this storyline is delayed until issue #7. On the first point, a case could be made that the guy who was holding Superman prisoner in issue #2, is a pragmatic military man who will use whatever resources he has (even an alien he does not trust) to save his beloved daughter. But still, the shift in Lane’s demeanor (going after Superman to seeking Superman’s aid) was made more jarring by the fact I swear that’s Lane’s only speaking line (and second appearance [the first is him running alongside Luthor in a panic) in all of issue #4. As for the delay of story, I am unsure if I am interested enough (yes, I know it’s Lord Grant Morrison and all, but still) to come back with issue #7.

Stormwatch #4: I bought Stormwatch because Paul Cornell was writing it. Am the only one annoyed that after settling in for a nice long run, I just found out he is leaving with issue #6? I do not know all of the behind the scenes machinations, Cornell may have taken the assignment to help out DC editorial as a favor, never intending to write past issue 6. Maybe he barely had anything he wanted to say after issue #6 and if he stayed on the book, issue #7 would have sucked. I kind of doubt it. Cornell is a good writer. So as much as I enjoyed this latest installment (what I loved about old Authority stories? The team’s ability to pull a victory or at least gain an upper hand in the midst of chaos, but typically a worldscale chaos, even)—this issue reminded me of the best of the Authority in that regard. The lack of leadership in the team is an intriguing aspect that gets some major play (and allows Cornell to do some great character bits) in this issue. Before I forget, artist Miguel Sepulveda continues to impress me.

X-Club

X-Club #1: I almost did not buy the first issue of this X-Men miniseries because I thought it was a rave book (I am only 90 percent kidding on that point). I have never read writer Simon Spurrier before–and know next to nothing about the characters, but there was a humor amidst the action (particularly with Dr. Nemesis) that I enjoyed the issue. I am not reading all of the X books, but I am starting to see a pattern of Cyclops (jackass) and Wolverine (golden boy). Not sure if it’s that way across the board, but I wonder how many longtime Cyclops fans are feeling alienated by this approach (more informed X-Men readers, feel free to chime in in the comments with any counterpoints/info you may have).

The Amazing Spider-Man #675: I generally opted out of Spider-Island, no matter how much fun people said the event was gonna be, the folks turning into monsters did not look like fun to me. So I was glad to get back to Spidey fighting garden variety crooks (or in this case the seeming murder of crooks). What really hooked me to buy this two-parter (which wrapped in this issue) was the art of Giuseppe Camuncoli, inked by the great Klaus Janson. Many of the current Spider-Man artists seemed to have a sketchy quirky style to drawing the lead character. In the case of Camuncoli and Janson though, I get an element of Jim Mooney or Gil Kane. What I always loved about 1970s Spidey comics was when Spidey leapt into action, some artists would draw the progression of his movement from point A to point B, and that’s another element that Camuncoli works into a few scenes. Did I mention Spidey even uses a new and improved Spidey signal light in this issue? Yeah, I am a kid comic reader at heart sometimes.

Hulk #45: Writer Jeff Parker continues to give me an enjoyable supporting cast with this comic. In this issue, Machine Man uses his head to fight a foe. No really, literally just his head. Some might accuse this issue of being light on action, as Parker tries to connect the dots of the plot to position more action in the next issue. And yet, artist Patrick Zircher’s layouts are so dynamic there’s an energy to them that made me not care that a great deal of the story was flashback/background info. In fact, if you had told me I would be dazzled by a two-page spread of a microcosm, I would have doubted you… until I read Hulk #45. Zircher is enjoying himself on this arc, no doubt. Folks that bailed this title in the Jeph Loeb era should revisit this book ASAP, as it’s a different and better title under Parker and company.

Geoffrey Golden and Amanda Meadows

Hark! A Vagrant

Hark! A Vagrant – Kate Beaton signed her exquisite Drawn and Quarterly collection for us at a signing at Skylight Books in Los Angeles, and this week we’re revisiting all our favorite entries in her beloved webcomic. 80s Business Woman, Mystery Solving Teens, and of course, several AP classes’ worth of mocked historical figures, with equally funny margin notes accompanying the strips. Fun fact: every single guy we know wants to marry Miss Beaton. Good luck, gents!

BLAMMO #6 – First of all, it’s hard to argue against purchasing any comic with the title BLAMMO. Amanda found the latest comics collection from Denver cartoonist Noah Van Sciver at this year’s APE and it was a stand-out purchase from our yearly haul. Amanda liked the honest dialogue, artfully crude illustrations and realistic characters in the autobiographical strips. Geoffrey liked the comic called “Punks vs. Lizards,” in which a gang of 1980s British street punks murder a bunch of giant lizards and say things like, “anarchy and shit!” Van Sciver’s humor is versatile, offering something for everyone.

Club Wolverine #14 – Logan and his nightclub’s all-mutant staff continue to experience prejudice and pure ecstasy in mid-70s New York City. We love that writer Mort Bendis (not related to Brian Michael, though he keeps claiming otherwise) finally takes us into appropriately seedy territory as Mojo holds the club hostage for a swingin’ orgy, in honor of Dazzler’s new disco album, Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop, Oh My. Wolverine, warning Mojo that the club doesn’t have a proper orgy license, says our favorite line yet in the series: “time to do the hustle on outta here, bub.”

Buffalo Speedway #3 – Admittedly, we picked up the first Buffalo Speedway book at Meltdown Comics on a whim because Geoffrey’s from Buffalo, New York and we thought a graphic novel series about a pizza delivery boy sounded like fun. Though the characters are actually from Texas, this series by Yehudi Mercado “delivers” the goods (Mmm… pizza puns). Charming characters, snappy dialogue and a fun story involving the busiest day ever in pizza delivery history — the day of O.J. Simpson’s Bronco chase — the final volume was satisfying to the last bite. (Mmm… additional pizza puns.)

Pogo

Pogo Vol. 1: Through The Wild Blue Wonder – Geoffrey has been eagerly anticipating this collection for years, making it the perfect early Christmas gift! Walt Kelly’s classic comic Pogo was an inspiration for many brilliant cartoonists like Berkeley Breathed and Jeff Smith, in addition to a comedy magazine called The Devastator, which we’ve never heard of. Kelly’s illustrations are masterful, with expressive characters who are warm and friendly. Pogo‘s deft social satire makes this collection about Pogo Possum and friends a must own for humor comics fans and people who just like good things in general. “We have met the enemy,” and he is not getting this for Christmas.

Hello and welcome to What Are You Reading? Our special guest today is Andy Burns, editor-in-chief of the pop culture site Biff Bam Pop!, which is doing a holiday gift guide with giveaways through Dec. 24. You can follow them on Twitter for more information.

To see what Andy and the Robot 6 crew have been reading, click below …

*****

Tim O’Shea

Super Dinosaur

Super Dinosaur #6: I appreciate the fact that Robert Kirkman is writing a smart kids book with this series. What I mean is the villains are not easy cardboard stand-ins that get the crap kicked out of them by the heroes. The villains in Super Dinosaur, look in the metaphorical rear view mirror and actually say, “Hey, this guy is dragging us down, let’s dump him” as happens in this issue. It’s refreshing to see villains that conduct (off panel, thankfully) lessons learned meetings. Also, it is intriguing to see how Maximus poses more of a challenge to the heroes as their prisoner versus when he was free.

FF #12: In between Fantastic Four #600 and FF #12, apparently Dragon Man was transformed into a creature that thinks he’s part monkey. How else do you explain why new series artist Juan Bobillo (who loses an “l” in his name in the actual credit page, but they get it right on the cover) has Dragon Man walking on his hands and feet? In general, if I was not still interested in Hickman’s plot, I would not return for FF #13. Bobillo is a great artist, and in fact this issue he renders the kids with some great facial reactions and moments, but he just does not strike me as a good fit for this story. Case in point, the issue opens with Val translocating (Val’s word, not mine) part of the Baxter Building into the side of a mountain. A great visual storytelling opportunity for an artist, but with Bobillo, he went with a faraway shot to convey the scope of what had occurred…that just left me feeling unimpressed.

Wolverine #19

Wolverine #19: Anytime where I get to write “Logan saves a bar in this issue” is a win for me. I will be curious to see if in the next arc writer Jason Aaron maintains the whimsical tone prevalent in this arc. I hope so, but most may not see that as the proper vibe for the main Wolverine book. Time will tell.

Thunderbolts #166: Time travel allows writer Jeff Parker to throw this Thunderbolts cast into any era he wants to. And thus, placing the team in 1888’s London in a tale titled “The Ripper Tour” is fine choice. I have a sneaking suspicion that Parker and artist Declan Shalvey (the latter being perfectly suited to draw a story in this era) are leading us to think one thing about certain ‘Bolts that will be revealed otherwise in the next installment of this arc.

Herc #10: The series that I enjoyed (but sadly not enough folks joined me in the fun) comes to an end with this issue. As I read this issue, I found myself wishing I could read 10 issues of mortal/bloated Zeus serving as a sidekick to his son, Herc. Writers Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente try to squeeze in as much as they can (sans kitchen sink) with appearances by both Kingpin and Elektra. What I appreciated about the use of these two characters is that it made sense in the larger scope of current Marvel continuity to use these characters. Added bonus? You get to see Elektra smile in this issue, something I do not think I have ever seen. The end to the series is quite satisfying, if all too soon for my preferences.

Daredevil #6

Daredevil #6: I hope whomever replaces Marcos Martin on the alternating arcs understands as well as he did what Waid is trying to do with this series. When approaching Marvel characters in particular, Waid seems to like to consider the physical mechanics of the characters. I recall the writer discussing during his Fantastic Four days how it might sound when Reed stretched, or what the noise Ben would make when he walked (the stones of his body crunching against each other). In the instance of Daredevil, Waid is having a field day exploring the nuances of what the hero’s heightened senses can detect. Also,I think Waid is building Matt as a character going through recovery, trying to reclaim a great deal of what he has lost and regain the ability to smile again–and mean it (even though often he may not feel like smiling). If you are not reading Daredevil (and Waid admits in the must-read Tucker Stone interview with him that it is not selling as well as he would hope a critically acclaimed book would [“It's doing okay sales wise, but it's not blowing the roof off the joint.”]), you are missing out on the strongest, and most refreshing, approach to the character since Frank Miller.

Andy Burns

Morning Glories

Morning Glories – When it comes to this series from Image, I’m really just a raving fanboy. I was a little behind on picking it up, but I wound up getting the first 12 issues via a comiXology sale a few months back (note: I read the majority of my monthlies digitally at this point). By the end of that first issue, I was completely hooked on the story of the students entering Morning Glory Academy. Joe Eisma’s art is wonderful to look at, while Nick Spencer’s writing is seriously special. He’s got unique voices for all the characters and is clearly building his tale in each issue. The common refrain you’ll hear about Morning Glories is that it’s a cross between Lost and Runaways–I think it’s a fair comparison, but it’s also one that puts a hell of a lot of pressure on the creators to deliver monthly. Amazingly, Spencer and Eisma seem to be doing so with ease. Hands down my favourite series at the moment.

Ultimate Spider-Man – I consider myself a Spidey fanatic, but I’m not a fan so entrenched in the mythos that I get up in arms when great change occurs. For example, when “One More Day” went down I wasn’t screaming bloody murder (and I actually really enjoyed “One Moment In Time”). So when it was announced that we’d be getting a new Ultimate Spider-Man, well, that didn’t phase me either. Instead, I wanted to see what Brian Michael Bendis was going to come up with Miles Morales. Four issues in and honestly, I love the book. I love Bendis’ writing–the language just feels right. The conversations between Miles and his buddy Ganke sound genuine and real. Even better, Bendis isn’t rushing the story at all. It’s not just throw on a suit and instant superhero. He’s taking his time to make Miles Morales a believable hero, which means as a reader I’m becoming more invested in the character with every issue.

This Haunted World

This Haunted World – This apocalyptic supernatural thriller from Sea Lion Press is a digital exclusive, written by Mark Powers and illustrated by Rahmat Handoko. Something to consider for creators and companies working in the digital realm–make sure your descriptions for a given title are solid and evocative. I wound up taking a chance on This Haunted World because the description was really interesting and evocative. The 99 cent price point didn’t hurt either, mind you.

Legends Of The Dark Knight: Marshall Rogers – Just because I’m a digital comic geek doesn’t mean I still don’t enjoy holding a nice hardcover collection in my hands. A few weeks ago on our site, writer JP Fallavollita recommended our visitors check out this new hardcover compilation of artist Marshall Rogers’ Batman stories. I wound up picking up the book a few days after the recommendation and I’m glad I did. There’s some classic moments in the hardcover, including Hugo Strange auctioning off the secrets of Batman/Bruce Wayne and appearances by Rupert Thorne, all stuff I’ve never read before. Rogers’ art holds up nicely decades later, as does the writing of Steve Englehart, Denny O’Neil and others. It’s definitely of a certain moment in time, but one worth revisiting.

Dead of Night

Dead of Night – This is the latest novel from Jonathan Maberry, who has done lots of work the last few years with Marvel, including the two mini-series, Marvel Universe Vs The Punisher and Marvel Universe Vs Wolverine. Dead of Night is the story of a zombie outbreak that occurs in the small town of Stebbins County, Penn. It’s a quick-moving read that never sacrifices character development for cheap scares. I’ve known Maberry for a few years now and what amazes me about him is that as good as he was with his first novel (2006’s Ghost Road Blues), he legitimately keeps getting better with every piece of work he puts out.

Angel & Faith

Welcome to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy at our local comic shop based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on a “Splurge” item.

Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList, and tell us what you’re getting in our comments field.

Graeme McMillan

I have to say, this is an amazingly slow week for me in terms of new releases. If I had $15, I’d pick up the fourth issue of Dark Horse’s Angel & Faith series ($3.50), which has surprised me by turning out to be my favorite by far of the new Buffy series (due, in large part, to Rebekah Isaacs’ artwork, which is superb). I’d also grab the third issue of IDW’s Star Trek monthly ($3.99), in the hope that it’ll be as good as the first two issues; hardcore Trek fans, you should really be looking at this book, if you’re not already. Also on the list to grab: Thunderbolts #166 (Marvel, $2.99), continuing a great storyline from what might be one of the most underrated books from either of the big two publishers. One of the few nice things about Marvel’s recent Cancelpocalypse was seeing so many people speak up about how much they love Thunderbolts, and I’m right there with them; Jeff Parker’s done great things with this book.

If I had $30, chances are I’d put one of the above books – Angel & Faith, perhaps? – back for the week (or try and sweet-talk an extra 50 cents from the invisible budgeting gods who rule this column) and grab Rebellion’s Complete Alan Moore Future Shocks collection ($19.99), which collects all manner of (very) short stories from the Bearded One’s early days in 2000AD, with art by equally young masters like Dave Gibbons, Alan David, Steve Dillon and Brendan McCarthy, amongst others. Borag Thungg indeed, Earthlets.

When it comes to splurging, I’m taking that to mean double-dipping as opposed to buying insanely outrageously expensive items. I’ve already read Mark Waid’s wonderful Captain America: Man Out of Time, but now that it’s available in paperback (Marvel, $16.99), I might be tempted to buy it a second time.

Chris Arrant

Spaceman

If I had $15, I’d be all over the board but would start with the new Joe Casey/Nathan Fox joint Haunt #19 (Image/TMP, $2.99). I admit I didn’t jump onto the Haunt bandwagon when it first started, and despite seeing Greg Capullo on the book I never found the time to catch up. Seeing Casey and Fox jump on this gives me just the chance to do that. Next up would be Spaceman #2 ($2.99); I applaud DC for keeping the price point at $2.99, and seeing this dramatic divergence from 100 Bullets from Azz & Risso is something I eat up. Last up would be a pair of Marvel picks: Daredevil #6 ($2.99, Marvel) and Wolverine #19 ($3.99, Marvel).

If I had $30, I’d add to my stack starting with the new Thunder Agents Vol. 2 #1 ($2.99, DC). I enjoyed Nick Spencer’s first run on the title, and I’m a big proponent of artist Wes Craig and I’m excited to see what the two of them can do. Next up would be Uncanny X-Men #2 ($3.99, Marvel); stepping past my ambivalence to Greg Land and my appreciation of Kieron Gillen, I’m interested to see this team expand beyond the classic X-Men dynamic and turn into mutant ambassadors/enforcers in a political way. After that I’d get FF #12 (Marvel, $2.99). I love the transition of this book from being “The team formerly known as the FF” to being Marvel’s version of the Goonies, and seeing artist Juan Bobillo join it is invigorating as well as surprising. Lastly, I’d get Thunderbolts #166 ($2.99).

If I was to splurge like I did last Thursday at the dinner table, I would dig into The Complete Alan Moore Future Shocks ($19.99, 2000AD). I’ve read a majority of Alan Moore’s work post­-Swamp Thing, but his early British career is woefully underrepresented in my memory. I’m interested to see these stories from a younger Alan Moore, and I’d endorse more publishers to do more creator-centric collections like this in the future (hint hint, DC Comics, Alex Toth).

Brigid Alverson

Ernest and Rebecca: My Best Friend Is a Germ

If I had $15…

I would start with a graphic novel from Papercutz, Ernest and Rebecca: My Best Friend Is a Germ ($11.99), which Jim Salicrup pitched hard to me at NYCC. It’s an all-ages story of a girl who makes friends with a microbe, which helps her cope with her parents’ separation and various other problems. Since that’s likely to give me the sniffles, I’ll cheer myself up afterwards with Archie #627 ($2.99), the first issue of the Archie-meets-KISS arc.

If I had $30…

I’d toss the Archie comic and add in B.P.R.D.: Being Human ($17.99). I like the B.P.R.D. comics but I haven’t really read enough of them; this is billed as a stand-alone volume, so it looks like a good investment.

Splurge…

There’s a new book out from Archaia that caught my eye: Rust, an all-ages superhero story set on a farm during the Great Depression. At $24.95 for a hardcover copy, that’s a splurge, but it’s a manageable one. My other splurge would be Tintin: The Complete Companion ($35), a reissue of a book that came out a few years ago. And since I seem to be going for the Euro-comics this week, I’ll add in the fifth volume of the French fantasy story The Elsewhere Chronicles ($6.95), because I really like this series–it has more of an edge than most kids-in-a-strange-land stories.

Chris Mautner

Complete Alan Moore Future Shocks

If I had $15:

I’ve been reading the series as its been coming out in pamphlet form but if I wasn’t I might likely spend my $15 on the third RASL collection. Not many have said much about Jeff Smith’s current work lately, but it remains a slam-bang, captivating noir/sci-fi saga.

If I had $30:

I’d definitely pick up the Complete Alan Moore Future Shocks collection from 2000AD. I haven’t read much of Moore’s early work apart from Miracleman and really would like to become better acquainted with those stories, if for nothing else than for when I get around to doing a Comics College piece on Moore.

Splurge:

The new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, Cabin Fever, would make a perfect stocking stuffer for my daughter …

Harvey Comics Classics Vol. 1

Yesterday we kicked off our holiday gift-giving guide, where we asked creators like Jim McCann, Matt Kindt and more for gift suggestion and what they’d want to receive this year. Today we’re back with six more creators, and we asked them the same questions:

1. What comic-related gift or gifts would you recommend giving this year, and why?
2. What gift (comic or otherwise) is at the top of your personal wish list, and why?

So without further ado, let the joy continue …

Jeff Parker

1. If you have young children, you can give them hours of quality time with any of Dark Horse’s Harvey Comics collections. My kids have been poring through them repeatedly. I’ll be following up with old back issues of Casper, Dot, Richie Rich and Hot Stuff from the local comics shops; they’re always very cheap.

2. I would not sneeze at getting that Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes volume from Fantagraphics.

Jeff Parker is the writer of Hulk, Thunderbolts and the webcomic Bucko.

Tim Seeley

All-Star Superman

1. I’m a firm believer in buying comics for everyone on your list, even if they aren’t an avid fan. Make ‘em a fan! All-Star Superman for the superhero fan, Dungeons & Dragons from IDW for the gamer, Habibi for the sophisticated reader, and, of course, my Hack/Slash Omnibi for the horror fan. Or, if you’re planning on dropping a bit more, might I suggest an iPad, loaded with comics apps?

2. I want the collected version of the web strip OGLAF, which I thoroughly enjoy. I wouldn’t mind a CS Moore Witchblade statue to inspire me while I write.

Tim Seeley seems to be all over the place lately, whether it’s writing the new Bloodstrike series from Extreme or Witchblade for Top Cow, drawing issues of Marvel’s Generation Hope, or working on his own creations like Hack/Slash and Jack Kraken. There’s a good chance I forgot something, but you can follow him on Twitter to learn more.

Ross Campbell

1. Comic-related gifts I recommend:

Remake

• Remake/Remake Special by Lamar Abrams (AdHouse): This is the funniest comic I’ve ever read. The first Remake is awesome and the second volume, Remake Special, somehow managed to top it, ending up one of my favorite comics of all time.
• IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hardcover volume one: since the old Turtles collections are so hard to find, it’s cool IDW is reprinting the original Eastman and Laird material. This first book has issues 1-7 and the Raphael one-shot, and even though it would’ve been cooler if they put the first 11 issues and all four one-shots together like the original collected book back in the day, this one is a great place to start. I hope they eventually get to a “City At War” collection!
• Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol (First Second): one of my favorite comics of the year and also Brosgol’s debut book, i think this is probably a pretty good gift to new and seasoned comic readers alike. awesome art, charming characters, solid one-and-done story.

2. Personal gifts:

• A new computer would be nice; my current one sure is finicky.
• The new X-Force books collecting the old Fabian Nicieza/Rob Liefeld/Greg Capullo stuff would also be nice. I think there are three out so far with a fourth yet to be released.

Ross Campbell is the creator of the Wet Moon and Shadoweyes series of graphic novels, and is the artist on the upcoming relaunch of Glory for Extreme Studios.

Kody Chamberlain

CLiNT #6

1. For those with (or receiving) a digital tablet, I would take advantage of the ComiXology “Gift This Comic” feature to share some of the great comics you know and love with friends and family. Just pick out a few titles you think they might enjoy and get ‘em hooked! I think this is a great gift for savvy readers AND new readers. It’s also a great opportunity to introduce kids to some of the better young reader titles on the market.

A subscription to CLiNT magazine is also a great idea for savvy readers AND new readers. The magazine offers quality pop culture coverage and a steady stream of quality serialized comics that readers might have overlooked. So far, each issue has been fantastic.

2. The top comic-related gifts on my list are Richard Stark’s Parker: The Martini Edition by Darwyn Cooke and Genius, Isolated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth hardcover. Both from IDW Publishing.

Kody Chamberlain is the creator of Sweets: A New Orleans Crime Story, which is available at ” just about any quality comic shop or bookstore, including Amazon.com.” He and Joshua Fialkov will launch Punks: The Comic at MTV this month as a part of the MTV Comics digital imprint.

Ian Brill

The Storyteller

1. Jim Henson’s The Storyteller, Vol. 1: I was lucky enough to pick up an early copy at NYCC. It is one of the rare anthologies that delivers in both variety and quality. The format, based on the 1988 HBO show from Jim Henson, is based on exploring myths and folktales with visual flair. It’s a fantastic line-up of creators: Roger Langridge (being colored by the fantastic Jordie Bellaire), Colleen Coover, Paul Tobin, Jeff Parker, Tom Fowler, Katie Cook, and many more amazing talents. With its wide-ranging concept, all bound by a simple-to-grasp concept, I feel there’s something here to please all readers. I have experience editing anthologies before (the CBGB comic series) and I know the challenges therein. I feel editor Nathan Cosby did triumphant work here.

2. Evan Dorkin’s Milk & Cheese comic is an all-time fav. I discovered them pretty young, and they made a huge impression on me in terms of humor, storytelling, as well as how much you can jam into a short comic story. I wouldn’t mind the Milk & Cheese: Dairy Products Gone Bad collection from Dark Horse, which collects all of these little guys’ appearances under one cover.

Ian Brill, a former editor at BOOM! Studios, is the writer of things undead and feathered: he has three stories in Zombie Tales Omnibus: Outbreak and wrote the series Darkwing Duck and Chip ‘N’ Dale Rescue Rangers.

Jamaica Dyer

Batwoman

1. I would give the Batwoman graphic novel and first three issues of the new series. It is absolutely amazing to have a book with art this gorgeous, a story this strong, and such a complex cast of female characters. I love everything about it, and think I could turn a lot of my non-comic-reading friends on with the storyline.

2. A Winsor and Newton watercolor travel set. This is a vital tool for painting comics!

Jamaica Dyer is the creator of Weird Fishes and the upcoming Fox Head Stew, which will be released online in 2012. Follow the process at jamaicad.com.

Hiya kids, it’s time for What Are You Reading?, a weekly look into what the Robot 6 crew has been reading lately. Today’s special guest is Thom Zahler, creator of the delightful superhero/romantic comedy comic Love and Capes.

To find out what Thom and the Robot 6 crew have been reading lately, click below.

*****

Michael May

Baltimore

I didn’t get to Baltimore: The Plague Ships before Halloween like I’d planned. I had illusions about reading the novel it’s based on first, but I’m slow with prose and the graphic novel was just sitting there on my reading table; taunting me with its gorgeously gruesome Mignola cover and its peg-legged, harpoon-wielding hero. I’m sure that I would have gotten more out of it had I read the novel first, but Mignola and Christopher Golden did a fine job (as they will) of keeping the comic self-contained and filling in enough details to explain the world (an alternate reality in which WWI was cancelled on account of vampire-plague) and What’s Come Before (Lord Henry Baltimore may have sort of caused the whole vampire-plague and is hunting the Vampire-in-Charge for reasons having as much to do with Revenge as Saving the World).

Ben Stenbeck’s art has a great look (he’s got a special gift for fungus-zombies) and in the sketchbook part he explains how closely he worked with Mignola on creature designs. And thanks to Dave Stewart’s colors, The Plague Ships feels very much like part of the Hellboy-verse even though it’s not.

I wasn’t planning to say anything about Justice League #3, because I’m still frustrated by the price tag, but I have to mention how perfectly and succinctly Geoff Johns updated Wonder Woman’s mission for the post-Flashpoint DCU. “This place…is filled with so many wonderful things…but there is also a darkness that lurks here too. One I’m going to fight. That’s what I’m here for. That’s why I’m staying. To fight.” The post-Crisis missionary-of-peace/Amazon-warrior dichotomy never worked for me, but this essentially updates her Golden Age motivation for coming to our world and it’s awesome in its simplicity.

Brigid Alverson

Tesoro

Natsume Ono’s Tesoro is a collection of her short stories that were published between 1998 and 2008. Ono has a lovely, linear drawing style, and we can see it develop from scribbly to more controlled between the earlier and the later stories. Her storytelling technique improved as well. I like Ono’s work because her characters are so human; a lot of manga characters behave in stereotyped ways, almost like little person-bots, but hers have moments of real doubt, awkwardness, and silliness. Several of the stories are set in Italy, as were her manga Gente and Ristorante Paradiso, and others reflect small incidents in everyday life in Japan. The book is beautifully produced with French flaps and earth-toned inks, and it really feels like something special. While genre manga such as Naruto and Vampire Knight will always dominate the American market, it’s nice to see Viz bringing over more literary titles like this one.

It’s well known that Osamu Tezuka was an admirer of Walt Disney, and that shines through in his Princess Knight, which was originally published in 1953. The edition I am reading, published by Vertical, is actually a retelling of the story that Tezuka did in the early 1960s, but the Disney connection is still there; this is a children’s story, and it is filled with adorable animals and cutely rounded angels and villains. The pacing also makes me think of animated cartoons, with lots of short gags and asides. Princess Knight was one of the early shoujo manga that set the style and the conventions for many manga that followed, but it is quite enjoyable in its own right, aside from any historical significance.

Tim O’Shea

Supergirl #3

Supergirl #3: As I settled into the third issue of this series, I realized something I should have realized at the outset of this series. Why did DC set up a new universe where right out of the gates it’s clear that Superman is not the sole survivor of the destruction of Krypton? Why did the new Supergirl have to be so oddly related to Superman, essentially in the same way it was in the old DC universe? I was distracted in the first two issues as the new Supergirl gathered her wits about her. In this third issue, I just found myself bored, feeling like the series has settled into another Supergirl series that will suffer ultimately lackluster sales and tread on the brink of cancellation. But I am getting ahead of myself, for right now, with this issue #3, I realize I have no interest in returning for issue 4.

Blue Beetle #3: Again a new DCU retreading much of the same ground as the last Blue Beetle series. But in this instance, there’s a major difference in that I find myself still interested. And the reason likely is the supporting cast—namely Jamie’s strong family ties. In this issue, writer Tony Bedard allows Jamie’s mom (and her love of her son) to shine through with a really great, intense scene. Also the villains in this round of the Blue Beetle seem a bit more violent than the last one (not an asset, or a detriment, merely an observation).

Captain America #4

Captain America #4: For the first arc of a new Ed Brubaker Captain America title, this plot is sluggish and not engaging at all. What really astounded me in this issue was Steve McNiven’s art; more specifically his portrayal of Sharon Carter in one scene. Worried about the fate of Steve Rogers, McNiven has Carter nervously bite her lip. It would be understood she’d worry about Steve, but to have a longtime, accomplished SHIELD agent and a member of the Secret Avengers bite her lip? The helpless female lip bite is beneath Carter’s character, no matter how much she may care for Rogers. (Plus it shows minimal faith in a guy that just a year or so ago proved he could come back from the friggin dead)

Birds of Prey #3: This new incarnation of the Birds of Prey has little in common with the old one, but to my delight it continues to work for me. Writer Duane Swierczynski does a great job of juggling all of the cast members and giving them little moments to impact the storyline, while still moving it forward and engaging.

Avengers Academy

Avengers Academy #22: I was glad to read writer Christos Gage tweet that the book is not at risk for cancellation (unless the rumors of its cancellation negatively impacts the number of people buying it, then we have the infernal self-fulfilling prophecy), so I can respect his request for folks to pre-order the book. For Quicksilver fans wanting to know if he was ever going to talk to dad (Magneto) in this series, you get your answer in this issue. Clearly Gage had been loading up and looking forward to writing this issue, but in his haste to tackle the meet-up at every single angle, he dropped the ball slightly. I still love the series, do not get me wrong. But when given the chance to unleash a major character reveal, the reaction to the news is muddled and lost amongst the other action ongoing in the issue. It is my hope this reveal has rippling impacts. In the meantime, however, I still consider this the best Avengers book Marvel is publishing.

Thunderbolts #165: Regular WAYR readers will not be surprised. A book written by Jeff Parker? O’Shea loves it. Indeed, but this is an extra enjoyable Parker story (no really), because it is a time travel story. Parker getting to play in 1940s Marvel, with the Invaders is never a bad thing in my book. With this issue, Parker is at his best with the Namor and Satana scenes (though the dialogue and action from Moonstone is a close second).

Thom Zahler

Daredevil

Mark Waid’s Daredevil has been raking in its share of accolades. You now why? It’s fantastic! Everything they say is true. Mark’s writing a comic book in the very best sense of the world: long stories, short stories, overreaching arcs and yet ever 20 page issue is a satisfying chunk. What’s most remarkable to me is how quickly he manages to pivot Daredevil from the bleak character he’s been to a more shiny happy character, and yet it doesn’t feel forced but effortless.

Mark, along with his artists Paolo Rivera and Marcos Martin are also finding new ways to show and to use Daredevil’s powers. That’s not an insignificant task for a character who’s been around as long as The Man Without Fear has. They manage to visually illustrate Daredevil’s very non-visual senses in just a stunning way.

Really, I love everything about it. It’s Shakespeare the way it was meant to be seen.

Over at DC, I find myself loving Action Comics. That’s a superhuman feat in itself because the new telling of Superman’s early years is not the one I’ve gotten used to, or even the one I’d prefer. But Grant Morrison is harkening back to the early 30’s rough-and-tumble Superman and carrying me along for the ride. It’s a Superman with a bit of an edge, and if you’d pitched it to me that was I would have turned it down. But it seems to be working.

Grant Morrison has a way of embracing all the varied, and sometimes conflicting, facets of a character. He’s making this book one of the ones I have to read as soon as it comes out. And the art by Rags Morales is just beautiful. That guy must have gone to a good school. (Kubies rule!)

You may have missed it, but Dracula the Unconquered was one of the highlights of Halloween. The other was seeing the Tim Burton exhibition at the LACMA, but that’s not important right now. The book, written by Chris Sims with art by Steve Downer and Josh Krach is the type of comic I want to see more of. I think in complimenting Chris on it, I compared it to a Twix bar. It’s got all sorts of sugary goodness to it, but enough of a solid crunchy core to it that it’s not empty calories.

Dracula the Unconquered

Dracula the Unconquered takes place in 1901 as Dracula is freed from his imprisonment in the Tower of London by nefarious people for nefarious plans. I don’t want to spoil anything more than that. Here’s the thing: it’s an all-ages comic. My goddaughter will love it when I give it to her, and I love it to. It doesn’t make the common all-ages mistake of talking down to its audience. She will like the fun art and the frenetic pace of the story.

Most interesting to me is that Dracula here seems to have the bloody past from the novels, and yet the character is instantly engaging and likable. I’m looking forward to seeing how Chris straddles that line.

Also, the comic is embracing digital only. It’s a 24-page story all for just a dollar! (Listen up Big Two.) It’s the perfect price that you can’t say “no” to, and distributed in a way that wouldn’t be possible years before. I thing digital and print books can co-exist, and I’ going to enjoy seeing Action Age help carve this path.

The Dreamer

Lastly, while I haven’t finished reading it yet, I adore Lora Innes’s The Dreamer, published by IDW. The second collection of Lora’s time-traveling historical romance just came out this week, and so far it’s just as good as the first. Lora writes and draws the book, with colors by Julie Wright.

Lora excels at portraying very grounded, human characters doing grounded, human things. It’s an artist’s compliment, but I envy her ability to portray fashion and fabric in a way which eludes so many of us. Yet, her art is never overwrought and has a Disneylike quality to it. It’s just so… smooth.

It’s also a historical piece and Lora doesn’t skimp on the history. She’s clearly got a love for the American Revolution time period and it shines out of every inch of the book. She doesn’t sacrifice storytelling for accuracy or the other way around either, it’s very much a well-balanced approach. I find myself thinking “I wonder if that really happened” and then, more often than not, find out that it did indeed. It’s great to see someone who cares so much about the accuracy of the world they’re building and the story they’re telling.

The book also exists as a webcomic, too, so give it a look at http://www.thedreamercomic.com/.

Drunk Elephant Comics

Welcome to another edition of What Are You Reading?, your weekly look into our reading piles. Today we’re joined by special guest Jacquelene Cohen, director of publicity and promotions for Fantagraphics Books.

To see what Jacq and the Robot 6 crew have been reading lately, read on …

*****

Chris Mautner

Nuts

Nuts by Gahan Wilson — I’ve written at length about this strip before, but it’s worth reiterating I think just how goddamn wonderful this comic is, and how great it is to have a decent collection available after lying fallow for so long. Wilson captures the anxieties and traumas of childhood as few cartoonists have before or since. Never one to grow nostalgic, Wilson understood perfectly well what an utter hell childhood could be and he sets about reminding readers just what it was like to experience your first death, or to be really sick, or to have to deal with that rich kid in your class who always got better stuff than you did and rubbed your face in it. My only complaint about the book is that some of the strips seem to be out of narrative order, but it’s a small quibble. I’m just happy to see these comics back in print.

Pure Pajamas by Marc Bell — This is a collection of early strips and comic stories Bell did for various publications back in the 1990s though, except for one or two segments — it bears a pretty close resemblance to the sort of work he’s doing now. Bell’s comics always take place in a big-footed, anthropomorphic universe, where everything — pills, the broccoli on your plate, a pair of pajamas — seems capable of suddenly coming to life and doing a little song and dance. It’s a vibrant, cartoony impeccably detailed world to be sure, but not one devoid of darkness. The broccoli could easily end up being cut to pieces and served on a plate of rice, cute little drunks can get crushed to death by speedy security wagons, you could be a piece of toast looking for advice from a psychiatrist only to end up as his breakfast. There’s a bit of danger and savagery in Bell’s world, which gives the stories in Pajamas a nice bit of tension and keep the whimsical nature of his universe from getting too precious.

Tim O’Shea

Animal Man #3

Animal Man #3: The second issue had sold out at my local shop, so this week I caught up reading both issue #2 and #3. This is a title that I bet would have been a great success for Vertigo in the old DCU. But in the new DCU, I wonder if it will have sales levels that will make the bean counters happy. Had it been a Vertigo book, the lower numbers (that I speculate will greet this book eventually) would be fine. Anyways, as for the series itself, it really has turned Buddy Baker’s origin inside out (literally and figuratively), while still keeping the Baker family as a focal point (much like my favorite era of the character, when written by Grant Morrison). As much as writer Jeff Lemire is boring me on Sweet Tooth these days (though the latest installment of the Matt Kindt arc was substantially more interesting to me than the first part), he is delivering a strong script on this book. Meanwhile, I imagine that Travel Foreman’s art is earning him a plethora of new fans. The reason the art is so striking is the distinctive coloring efforts of Lovern Kindzierski.

Stormwatch #3: Again, issue #2 had sold out so this week found me catching up on two issues of the new Paul Cornell incarnation of the former Wildstorm property. Cornell approaches this title with his Doctor Who series writing sensibilities—and it works. There’s a solid balance of adventure and whimsy to the overall narrative. And artist Miguel Sepulveda is the ideal match for Cornell, as exemplified in the opening scene of the latest issue, where Jack Hawksmoor grabs a cup of tea (or is it coffee) mentally with the cities of Metropolis (a meter maid?), Paris and Gotham (a gargoyle). When I read that scene, the series most definitely clicked with me (unlike Cornell’s Demon Knights, I might add, which has failed to spark my interest to any substantial degree).

Batwing

Batwing #3: I cannot believe that Judd Winick is writing such an incredibly engaging title as this. I can only speculate part of the credit goes to him being properly edited, so kudos to Mike Marts. I hope that the series eventually builds a supporting cast beyond one or two folks. Unfortunately, so far, the mortality rate on folks that have appeared so far is fairly high.

Hulk #44: Damn you, Jeff Parker, for making Machine Man the perfect sidekick for Hulk. This comic never disappoints me.

Villains for Hire #0.1: Reflecting upon the strengths of the former Heroes for Hire series, the series had a good sense of humor amidst the characters, thanks to writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning . That sense of humor carries on in the initial installment of the new incarnation of the series. For example, the whole Stilt Woman going with the Stilt Man name was a great bit that worked for me.

Captain America and Bucky #623

Captain America and Bucky #623: Smarter Cap scholars than me will remember past issues where the topic of the WWII concentration camps were addressed (though I just recalled Chris Claremont/Roger McKenzie’s introduction of Anna Kapplebaum in Captain America #237). I have to give writers Ed Brubaker and Marc Andreyko credit for conveying the impact it would have on Marvel heroes (in this case Bucky and Toro) in realizing the full scale of the horrors of the camp. The strength of those scenes only works however, due to the effective collaboration between artist Chris Samnee and colorist Bettie Breitweiser.

Brigid Alverson

I read Jimmy Gownley’s latest Amelia Rules book, The Meaning of Life and Other Stuff, and I’m not ashamed to say it made me tear up a bit at the end. This is the seventh book in his series about Amelia McBride, who moves from New York to a small town after her parents divorce, and while the first books were all about adjusting and making friends, in this one, Amelia is seeing the new reality crumble a bit. Amelia is surrounded by warm, loving people, except for her bully of a principal, but that doesn’t mean there is no tension and emotion in this story; Gownley is a perceptive observer of the small moments and gestures that can strengthen or strain a friendship. He is also one of the best cartoonists around, and he stretches the medium in interesting ways, but only in the service of the story. The Meaning of Life is about kids, and kids generally like the Amelia books, but it’s a very satisfying read for a grownup as well.

Feynman

I’m about halfway through Jim Ottoviani and Leland Myrick’s Feynman. This is a book that is close to my heart: My father, a theoretical physicist, gave me a copy of the Feynman Lectures when I started college, and my husband, an experimental physicist, actually had Feynman as a professor at Caltech. The graphic novel does a nice job of balancing Feynman’s life and work, presenting him as the interesting, quirky guy that he was as well as explaining his work in simple terms (including summing up quantum electrodynamics in a single sentence). Feynman’s ego comes through as well, but subtly. Overall, it’s an enjoyable story, and Myrick’s wobbly line is well suited to the subject matter, keeping the many scenes of people sitting around talking or writing from becoming too static.

Jacquelene Cohen

My “to read” pile is totally bigger than my “currently reading” pile.  But, what would life be without an impending stack of books on your nightstand next to your bed, ready to crush your head if there was an earthquake? Lately I’ve been really digging dark humor comix.  My pal, Jason Miles, distributes a bunch of really rad mini comix and zines with Profanity Hill, and I’ve found a treasure trove of reading material there. Also, I have my webcomics that I read religiously.  All those have been taking up much of my non-Fantagraphics reading time. I could go on and on about Fanta books, but I figure that I’ll just ask Chris Mautner and Sean T. Collins to write about those books for Robot 6. They do a mighty fine job on that front.

A Matter of Life and Death

My current publicity intern, Tom Van Deusen, is a killer cartoonist. He self-published his first book titled A Matter Of Life And Death. It’s one of those “laugh so hard you peed a little” type of comics. It’s a book that’ll earn you strange glances from the people sitting next to you on the bus. Basically it’s a book about a really self-absorbed gross dude who is completely unaware of his disgustingness. Even though it’s presented as a comedy, the book actually deals with pretty heavy stuff. The main character goes into Planned Parenthood to get tested for HIV.  He encounters protesters on his way in and then unknowingly makes very uncomfortable conversation with everyone he talks to in the waiting room and doctor’s office. There is a grotesque level of consciousness that makes you feel for the guy.  The strength of the story really comes from the writing.

A cartoonist that I’ve been drooling over the past few months is Max Clotfelter. Many of his characters have a monster-like Woodringesque form, though Max’s strength is in his cross hatching. Seriously, this guy must spend hours hunched over a drafting table making millions of thin over-secting lines.  His comics have a demented logic that only makes sense when you read them.  I don’t even have the words to explain the contents of his stuff, but his style is visually explosive.  This guy really knows how to balance out a page.  There is always a lot going on, but never too much that you can’t enjoy the composition of each panel.  Max contributes to a lot of anthology zines, but the real pay off is in his mini comix.  Rough Grocery is the latest thing I read from him.  It made me feel like I just threw back two shots of well whiskey.  Burns when it goes down and makes your head swim.  I really like a comic that can make me feel dizzy.

Part of my daily routine is checking up on my favorite webcomics.  As of now, my two favorites are Nedroid and Drunk Elephant Comics.

Beartato and the Secret of the Mystery

Nedroid is a long-running gag comic about an anthropomorphic bird and his bear/potato hybrid buddy, Beartato. It’s funny and totally bizarre. The two main characters have crazy adventures that range from playing video games on their sofa to gallivanting around space.  There is a topical humor that exposes the intelligence behind the comic, and a cuteness that gives the satire a bit more of a bite.  The cartoonist, Anthony Clark, had been doing this comic for years.  I first encountered Nedroid at SPX 2010.  My friend Laura Hudson kept raving about Anthony’s book, Beartato and the Secret of the Mystery. I bought it and read it on the plane home.  I literally laughed out loud.  I overheard the jerks in the row in front of me get all annoyed and loudly exclaim, “Nothing she’s reading could be that funny!”  But it is that funny!  When I got home, I spent an entire Sunday reading through the archive.

I’ve been reading Drunk Elephant Comics since the beginning.  I love watching the style of the comic evolve and change as cartoonist Max Riffner grows as an artist.  The line work is fluid and each gag strip works both on its own and as part of the larger story.  I can tell this guy read a lot of Peanuts when he was a kid.  The story is centered around an alcoholic elephant, his best bud Marty and their bartender Kacy.  There is an extended “seeing pink elephants” metaphor that makes light of the rather dire situations most of the characters get themselves into. Reading this webcomic reminds me of the old Loony Tune shorts that featured the tiny elephant.  This comic is also kinda like the show Cheers.  The characters become your friend and it really does feel like you’re a regular at a bar and “everybody knows your name.”

B.P.R.D Hell On Earth: Russia #1

Hello and welcome to What Are You Reading? This week our special guest is Dark Horse assistant editor Jim Gibbons, who I spoke to about his new job on Friday.

To see what Jim and the Robot 6 crew have been reading, click below …

*****

Brigid Alverson

Snarked

Top of my stack this week was the first issue of Roger Langridge’s Snarked! His remained Walrus and Carpenter are con men with hearts of gold, and while neither of them is too bright, the Walrus has a certain practical ability to get things done. So when Princess Scarlett and her baby brother, Prince Rusty, are in danger because of scheming by the palace advisers, none other than the Cheshire Cat himself points her toward the rascally pair. It’s good, old-fashioned comedy with a familiar storyline and gentle humor that both children and adults can relate to.

I also enjoyed the second issue of B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: Russia. I feel like this is a very muscular story that sort of grabs you and drags you in. Kate Corrigan and Johann Strauss are in Russia investigating some sort of icky problem, and the plot moves along briskly in this issue with a bit of exposition and a nasty case of possession. There seem to be several strands to the story, and it will be interesting to see how Mike Mignola and co. tie them all up.

With the third volume of their Archie Archives, Dark Horse has found their formula — minimal front matter (this one features an introduction by Archie Comics president Mike Pellerito but no other historical information) followed by a solid collection of vintage comics. Volume 3 features comics from 1943 and 1944, and in addition to the odd look of the characters — Archie has prominent buck teeth, Jughead looks like one of the Dead End Kids and seldom opens his eyes‹there’s the strangeness of wartime Riverdale, where goats run freely and people worry about ration points. A bit of background on these comics would have been nice; a number were inked by Janice Valleau, whom David Hajdu highlighted in the opening pages of The Ten Cent Plague as an established comics artist who left the field during the dark days of the 1950s.

Tim O’Shea

Sweet Tooth

Sweet Tooth #26: I hate to agree with my pal Dugan Trodglen, but I suspect he is right when he feared writer Jeff Lemire’s involvement in the new DC52 would negatively impact the quality of this book. I am a huge fan of guest artist Matt Kindt, but this first installment of a three-issue arc bored me immensely, no matter how effectively Kindt drew and painted the story, Lemire’s script was heavy on narration and less engaging than what I come to expect on Sweet Tooth.

Huntress #1: Remember the whole new DC52 and how everything is starting from square one (unless you were connected to Batman [and were not Barbara Gordon])? Well Paul Levitz was writing Huntress in the late 1970s (albeit Helena Wayne back then) and Levitz is writing her again more than 30 years later. Way to shake it up, DC. I bought
this book against my better judgment because I have enjoyed artist Marcus To so much in the past. Huntress going against Italian organized crime…again. Yippie. Won’t be back for issue #2.

Action Comics #2: So Rags Morales and Brent Anderson split up art duties on writer Grant Morrison’s second issue. Anderson’s Lois Lane is distinctive (in a good way). Just wondering, am I the only person that tires of Kryptonian dialogue that no one understands? Small quibble, I promise. The book continues to be a fairly interesting read, though clearly rehashing the same Superman ground we’ve seen before. A great deal of the new DC52 smacks of high-end Elseworlds so far, but for now it’s selling quite well of course.

Thunderbolts #164: Modern day pseudo-Thunderbolts trapped in 1943 Austria along with the Invaders provides for some hilarious faux wholesome period dialogue (Boomerang saying “Aw, shucks” for example) from writer Jeff Parker. Artist Kev Walker looks immensely stronger on art (unlike last week’s complaint) when inked by Terry Pallot. Really hoping next week I will not have to stare at another Marvel house ad touting an Avengers Solo book launching October 2010 (really nice attention to detail, gang).

Hulk #42: Wonder what happens when Thunderbolt Ross starts dabbling in foreign policy as the Red Hulk? Nothing that makes Steve Rogers happy, but it does make me content (as well as set up the foundation for some interesting guest stars) in the first installment of the “Hulk of Arabia” arc. With the series increased publishing schedule, there’s no way that artist Gabriel Hardman can draw every issue. So I was pleased to see that Patrick Zircher’s artistic style (while not exactly like Hardman’s) in this issue is not a jarring transition to a style that clashes with Hardman.

JK Parkin

Ready Player One

I was traveling for the past couple weeks, visiting family and friends in Texas, which meant I had some down time to catch up on some reading — mostly on my iPad. Considering it’s setting and subject matter, I think Ernest Cline’s novel Ready Player One was written specifically for me. Dystopian future (check), virtual reality (check), a street-smart teenager (check) and more ’80s references than you could roll a 20-sided dice at (huh?). The story is set in a future where the real world is something everyone wants to escape from, but luckily there’s a virtual reality world, OASIS, that’s filled with various planets, quests and avatars of all kinds for someone like our hero, Wade, to dive into. Wade’s a poor kid in Oklahoma looking for a break, and when the creator of the virtual reality world Wade pretty much lives in dies, the kid goes on a quest to solve the riddle the guy left in his will. Fans of the old Atari game Adventure will remember the three castles you had to find the keys for; James Halliday set up a similar quest in the OASIS, and whoever can find the three keys, open the gates and solve the puzzles within will not only get the guy’s enormous fortune, but also control of the OASIS. Halliday was raised in the ’80s on John Hughes movies, TV sitcoms, video games, comic books, Dungeons & Dragons and Rush songs, and all of that comes into play as Wade tries to solve the puzzle before anyone else — including a shady corporation who wants control of the OASIS. Just following along to see what references Cline would throw in next was fun, but what really made the book was the main character, an underdog you can’t help but cheer for.

On the comic front, I downloaded a few on the road, including the first two chapters of the new Ultimate Spider-Man and the last two chapters of X-Men Schism. I haven’t read any USM since maybe the second or third story arc; I was always good with the first Peter Parker and never felt the need to follow the second, despite the fact that the book was well crafted. But I was curious enough about Miles Morales to see how they’d introduce him, and after reading the first two issues I can say I’m hooked, at least for a few more issues.

As for Schism, while the series read like a prologue to the upcoming X-Men relaunch, i.e. it didn’t feel very self-contained and didn’t introduce a lot of surprises, I dug some of the elements of it. One the new Hellfire Club, and second, Jason Aaron’s Wolverine. I never read his take on the regular Wolverine series, but I think I see some trades in my future. And I’ll at least be checking out the first few issues of Wolverine and the X-Men later this year.

Jim Gibbons

The majority of what I end up reading is directly related to my work as an assistant editor, but here are a few things I’ve been enjoying in my spare time…

The Coffin

Mike Huddleston’s work on Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan’s The Strain has been consistently blowing me away, so I’ve been checking out a bunch of Mike’s other work. I recently read the Phil Hester penned The Coffin after hearing Guillermo del Toro give it a personal recommendation at Comic-Con—that’s a pretty good pedigree as far as I’m concerned. It’s a very enjoyable and really great looking read about keeping souls on earth after death in robot “coffins.” Up next, I’ll be delving into Huddleston’s The Homeland Directive written by Robert Vendetti. I’ve flipped through it and the art looks phenomenal. I’m psyched to jump into that one.

B.P.R.D Hell On Earth: Russia #1 was an amazing first issue. Tyler Crook is really hitting his stride and I’m super excited to see how the Bureau interacts with their Russian counterpart. Given, B.P.R.D. is one of my favorite comic series of all time, so… not a hard sell for me there regardless.

Based on what little I’ve read, Green River Killer is shaping up to be one of the best graphic novels of the year.

In the realm of superheroes, I’ve been enjoying Rick Remender’s Uncanny X-Force. It’s much preferable take on the X-Men’s wetworks team than some comics in recent years, as far as I’m concerned—a lot less angsty and a lot more fun. Plus, the Age of Apocalypse nostalgia they’ve been throwing in there seems directed specifically at readers like me who grew up thinking AoA was one of the best things to ever happen in comics.

I’m always working my way through a few massive archival books. Right now I’ve got bookmarks in Marvel’s gigantic Howard the Duck Omnibus and the Jack Kirby’s Eternals Omnibus. And if I do things right, I’ve always got unread Stan Sakai comics around. Right now, I’m trucking through Space Usagi and starting up Fantagraphics’ beautiful Usagi Yojimbo omnibus. Sakai’s an absolute master, so I always aim to have some of his work on hand.

Wolverine: Debt of Death

Colorist Elizabeth Breitweiser‘s work can be seen in any number of Marvel comics these days. In fact this week sees the release of writer David Lapham and artist David Aja’s Wolverine: Debt of Death one-shot, featuring Breitweiser as colorist (Be sure to enjoy CBR’s preview of the one-shot). Regular readers of What Are You Reading? know how much of an unabashed Jeff Parker/Gabriel Hardman’s Hulk booster that I am–and it is that series where I really started to appreciate Breitweiser as a colorist. This email interview was an effort to discuss her work mostly in general terms, so admittedly I did not discuss the Wolverine one-shot, but focus on some of her ongoing series work. My thanks to Breitweiser (who can also be found on Twitter) for taking the time for this discussion, despite her continually heavy workload. I am also deeply appreciative, that when our conversation led to her discussion of recent specific work, she was kind enough to provide examples of the pages for us to use.

Tim O’Shea: What are the biggest misconceptions in terms of the demands with your job as a colorist?

Breitweiser: Probably just in people not taking my job seriously or not viewing it as a fulfilling way to make a living. Many tend to think of what I do as “easy”. Coloring to them is just an afterthought and not seen as an essential part of the storytelling. I’m pretty sure most of my family and friends still do not understand what it is I do and how I can make a successful living at it. Professional colorists in general seem to almost always be overworked and overstressed. A lot of it has to do with us being at the end of the production line, but it also has to do with people having unrealistic expectations due to an incomprehension of the effort it takes to successfully tell a story with color.

O’Shea: When did you first realize you wanted to be a colorist–and what first attracted you to the work?

Breitweiser: I really just stumbled into it a few years ago. I was teaching art lessons and working as a painter when I began dating my now husband, Mitch Breitweiser. He was working as an illustrator for Marvel and slowly started integrating me into his world of comics. We spent a lot of those early days traveling to conventions, meeting professionals, and comics enthusiasts. Until I met Mitch, like most people outside the industry, I had no clue you could make a viable living coloring comics. I really grew to appreciate the medium of visual story telling and wanted to become involved. After evaluating my strengths and weaknesses as an artist, it felt very natural to transition myself from fine arts into coloring.

O’Shea: Back in March, I interviewed artist Gabriel Hardman–and he said (of your work): “A colorist can have all the technical skills in the world but if they don’t have taste in choosing colors that work with the storytelling it could sink the book.” How did you reach a point in knowing what colors to use (and how to utilize light to the colors effectively)?

Breitweiser: Gabriel is right, being successful boils down to having good taste. As it is with many artists, part of that comes intuitively, but I did spend a great deal of my formative years studying color theory, design, and composition. I would like to think I had a competent grasp on these ideas before I dived into the comics industry and that is what set me on a successful path. I try to use that same foundation in fundamentals to get across the point as simply as possible using solid color and value choices and as minimal of rending as the art will allow. It is so incredibly easy to abuse Photoshop and all its fancy tools. A colorist really has to step back and make sure they aren’t hurting the illustration with too much rendering.

O’Shea: When working with artists like Butch Guice and Hardman, can you talk about what it is about both of their respective art styles that enable you to be an effective colorist for their work?

Breitweiser: These boys bring out the big guns. They very clearly know what they are doing and are masters of story telling. That is what really makes it for me. They are so good at visual story telling that all I really have to do is find the simplest way to accent the illustrations and help guide the reader though the story. It’s all about respecting their artwork and finding the best way to compliment their aesthetic without overrunning it. It’s a lot more challenging to work with an artist who isn’t quite as skilled in storytelling. A lot of the heavy lifting ends up in the hands of the colorist.

O’Shea: Do you ever look to the scripts or other clues from the writers when seeking on how best to approach an aspect of a scene?

Breitweiser: I always, always, always read the script. That is a must. The script provides so much information on the setting, time of day, emotion of characters, etc.. It really is essential that a colorist reads their script before starting. If possible, I always prefer to be in direct contact with both the writer and the artist so that we work together to get the best product possible. The last thing I want to be responsible for is destroying the vision of the creators. If I am working on an ongoing or a miniseries I always approach the writers and artists first to see if there is a specific rendering style they are looking for and if they have any specific notes. After that it’s a process of me finishing the page then, if needed, going back and forth until we get just what we want. That’s one reason I love working with Jeff Parker so much. He is very involved and I think our stories are all the better for it.

O’Shea: A March 2011 CBR/Doug Zawisza review (for Hulk 31) said of your work:  ”Elizabeth Breitweiser’s colors … bring out the emotion in the characters and settings.” How do you go about using color to convey emotion?

Breitweiser: Before I begin any project, I sit down to read the script and make notes of each scene; what kind of atmosphere and time of day is it? who are these characters? what are they doing? what are their motivations? What emotion and mood is the writer wanting to convey? where do I need to create focus? These are the kind of questions I ask myself before I start any of the coloring process. After that, it’s just a matter of utilizing color, lighting, rendering, and texture to convey the answers to my questions. Color can have a huge impact on the human psyche. I really try to play on that knowledge so I can help immerse the reader more deeply into the story.

O’Shea: Not everyone gets to collaborate with their spouse, as you and Mitch did on Captain America 615.1–do you two enjoy a rapport that allows you both to be more ambitious when you work together?

Breitweiser: There is nothing better than getting to work with your spouse on a project. It’s a hugely fulfilling experience and one that I wish happened more often! Since Mitch is right there in the studio with me, we really can sit down and hash out a wonderful product. When I first started in this industry I only worked specifically with Mitch. Now I’m lucky if I can squeeze him in between my monthly ongoings. Our ultimate goal is to flip things back around to where we can be more ambitious with the work we do together.

O’Shea: Can you recall a recent issue you worked on, where after you finished a scene or a page, that you took off your creator hat for a moment/forgot it was something you were involved in creating–and allowed yourself to just be lost in the beauty of the page? With me, for example, in Hulk 39, the opening scenes (in Western New Hampshire of 50 years ago) have a bucolic vibe to them–made all the more jarring/effective when it shifts forward to modern day and has Thaddeus Red Hulk Ross standing amidst all of this.

Breitweiser: Considering the guys I work with, it’s easy to see how that could occur quite often! It happens a lot just in my initial reading of the script. Especially when I work with talents like Ed Brubaker, Jeff Parker, Karl Kesel, Butch Guice, Gabriel Hardman, Chris Samnee, and Mitch Breitweiser to name a few! I could list at least a hundred of my favorite episodes from these guys, but maybe the most persistent in my memory is from the opening scene of Hulk #32 set in modern day India. It’s easy for me to look past the panel boarders and imagine myself pouring down the street through the bustling haze.

Hulk 32

Captain America 618

Captain America 617

I’d be amiss not to mention Captain America #617 and #618. As morbid as it may sound, I felt incredibly drawn into the miserable, icy atmosphere of the Gulag and the unsettling collages of terror. [Click on the images for larger views of the Hulk and Captain America pages]

O’Shea: Sometimes I see you listed as Bettie, other times you’re listed as Elizabeth, when working professionally do you prefer one name more than the other, or is it a non-issue for you?

Breitweiser: haha, yeah, it probably appears I’m having an identity crisis to my readers. I’ve also been listed by my maiden name, Elizabeth Dismang, which I originally wanted to keep (and still do use for gallery work). Production kept crediting me as Breitweiser, so I gave up. Bettie is just a nickname my husband calls me. Elizabeth Breitweiser is such a monster of a name that I decided to shorten it in credits to Bettie to save space. Occasionally production will send it through as Elizabeth, but it’s really not an issue for me. After all, Elizabeths are accustomed to being called a million and one different nicknames.

Spider-Man can be on every team!

So, yeah, it looks like Fantastic Four, one of the most important comics to come from the House of Ideas, will return for its 600th issue. A momentous occasion to be sure, as a little less than a year seems to be about enough time for people to understand Johnny Storm’s place on the team, what makes the Fantastic Four different without one of its founding members and, hopefully, we’ll all appreciate him a little more now that he’s … well, on the cover. Gotta wait for the issue to be super-sure, but let’s give the boys in the Bullpen the benefit of the doubt and say that the Human Torch is back to stay.

Technically, he’s been gone for nine months, an auspicious amount of time as the rest of his team has somewhat given birth to an absolutely new idea: the Future Foundation. A sort of in-house Illuminati, if you will; the same old adventuring team paired off with its greatest villains, looking to safeguard all their interests at once. The white-and-black uniforms don’t really do that idea justice, do they? That’s a lot of gray area to be working with. And in the end, it was all masterminded by a little girl named Valeria.

The Richards’ kids have their own plot, their own motivations and their own secrets to keep. These two supporting characters have taken a lot of the center stage, both in Future Foundation and even in Fear Itself (seriously, go read Book Five and tell me these kids don’t deserve their own title). Franklin’s been around for years, an interesting new generation that actually was born and grew into an independent character as we read. He’s like the child actor who grows up and gets his own prime-time TV show.

Tell me that’s not cool. Tell me that seeing background or supporting characters step into the foreground and, sometimes, even get their own books is not a masterful trick of storytelling. Writer Jonathan Hickman wasn’t telling the story of the Death of Johnny Storm, he was telling us of the Rise of Franklin and Valeria. And now when November hits, Future Foundation stories will have gotten their foundation, so to speak, and support themselves as their own title while the newly reformed FF can go have a different style of adventure.

More about character balance, the size of your supporting cast and M.O.D.O.K. fighting Nazis after the break …

Character balance is difficult to maintain, not just in writing or artistic display, but in editing and publishing a book. The guy whose name is on the cover better be in the book or readers have a right to be angry. But on the other hand, sometimes the name on the cover requires a lot of help to keep up his reputation. Take the Punisher: Without someone to punish, he’s an angry guy with a gun going nowhere. Peter Parker could take a day off and his everyday life and struggles are enough to keep me entertained for 28 pages or so. But with Frank Castle, no one wants to see him do laundry. We want uncompromising justice. Certainly this spreads out more on the Marvel characterization map and, as Ray Stevenson said at the Comic-Con before Punisher: War Zone, was released, “No one should want to be the Punisher, but you should be glad he’s there.” So some of my favorite Punisher stories have been from the perspective of the hunted, the cops who show up after the scene went down, the one wronged voice in the night looking for someone to punish those who have done them wrong. The Punisher flourishes in a supporting cast, as everything he can’t be is reflected in the lives of those he comes into contact with. We can see more sides to him if we get more perspectives and, through those perspectives, we come to relate to him more.

from Hulk #38

Have you ever read a book with a main character you hate? My guess would be yes and that it, at one time or another, was an X-book. Readers seem pretty divided on those, and the sheer abundance of characters makes for a variety of your favorite characters getting never enough screen time. So you pick up an issue from time to time, hoping that Character A is just on the cover and Character L is the guy who has all the panel time.

Personally, I just can’t bring myself to like the Red Hulk. Not only does saying ‘Rhulk’ make me feel like a bad episode of Scooby-Doo, but Jeph Loeb’s introduction of him and my fond memories of the real Thunderbolt Ross from pages past don’t jibe and makes the current story, while masterly crafted by Jeff Parker, still taste a little sour. On the other hand, I thought Hulk #38 was ingenious enough for me to purchase and take home. Surprise! It had very little Red Hulk actually in it, and the two villains of his current adventures, Zero/One and M.O.D.O.K., take center stage and all of this rests in the backdrop of Fear Itself. Pummeled off screen thanks to the events of Fear Itself (tell me you’re reading this), M.O.D.O.K. and Zero/One meet in the rubble of Washington, D.C., where Nazi mecha roam the streets. Seeing that they have a common enemy and would rather conquer the world themselves than let these old gods have their way, they band together to destroy everything for the new science regime. It’s a little wacky, to be sure, but honest: After all, villains never like anyone else stealing their show. M.O.D.O.K.’s glee at killing Syn’s mechatroopers, Zero/One’s stand-off, that weird Black Fog guy lurking in the edges, all get their time in the spotlight while the Red Hulk is off-screen. I may not want a M.O.D.O.K. ongoing (or so I tell myself), but seeing him get some great moments and further the plot is far better to me than watching the Red Hulk punch someone.

nope, not from an Iron Fist book, from Iron Man 2.0 #6

And then there’s the Fear Itself tie-ins in Iron Man 2.0, in which the Immortal Weapons head to China to try and stop the Absorbing Man and Titania from getting one of the hammers of the Worthy. Between everyone and the hammer is a mythological creature known as the Monkey King, a formidable opponent to them all. In fact, Iron Man 2.0 #7 ends trying to lure you into following this story in the new Monkey King #1, due out in September. I think poor Rhodey has been done a disservice in this one, as not only has his more traditional moniker of War Machine been kicked off the cover — Iron Man 2.0 does not make me think of James Rhodes, sorry folks — but he’s been bombarded with a sudden and certainly non-traditional supporting cast, facing a foe that has apparently already has won (Avengers Academy says that Creel got the hammer), and it looks to be promoting a book that has nothing to do with his modus operandi. So, to recap: An originally supporting character (Rhodes) who earned his own title joined another supporting cast (the Immortal Weapons) to fight villains whose victory was assured in other comics, all to introduce a guy who will be getting his own series in September.

Sometimes background characters can go too far and drown out their title’s star. It’s a shame, and speaks more to me of editorial than any specific writer’s faults; if a book isn’t doing well, a few guest stars might liven it up. Too many guest stars and you have no idea what you’re reading. Like I said, character balance is difficult for everybody in the creative department, so seeing Hickman, Steve Epting and Tom Brevoort find a smooth transition from major cast to minor cast, weigh them both equally and then find two different titles so that the most story can be told to all of us, well … it’s pretty fantastic.

Hello and welcome to another edition of What Are You Reading? Today’s special guest is Shannon Wheeler, New Yorker cartoonist and creator of the Eisner Award-winning comic book Too Much Coffee Man, Oil & Water, the Eisner-nominated I Thought You Would Be Funnier and the upcoming Grandpa Won’t Wake Up.

To see what Shannon and the Robot 6 crew have been reading, click below …

*****

Tom Bondurant

Superman Family #203

Last week my brother-in-law was in a used bookstore — actually, I guess “used-book store” would be more accurate — and called me asking what random old DCs and Marvels I’d like. One of the fruits of his labors was September-October 1980′s Superman Family #203, a decent little anthology inked mostly by Vince Coletta (so they all tended to look the same) and written and penciled by various DC stalwarts. The lead was a Supergirl story, “The Supergirl From Planet Earth,” written by Jack C. Harris and penciled by Win Mortimer. Seems there’s a formerly-comatose blonde teenager in Kara’s old hometown Midvale who suddenly starts manifesting Kryptonian powers and zipping around in a certain blue-skirted super-suit. Moreover, when questioned by Supergirl, the new kid pretty much recites Kara’s first speech to her cousin, about the destruction of Argo City, etc. Naturally I was reminded of Peter David and Ed Benes’ “Many Happy Returns” storyline, but Harris and Mortimer only have 12 pages to introduce another complication and then resolve everything — and resolve it they do, using X-Kryptonite, a medallion made of lead, and some conveniently-placed acid. It’s a neat little story which, although inconsequential in the greater scheme of things, is still entertaining.

Since I’m always interested in how a Lois Lane solo series might work (once more), I read “Lost,” another 12-pager, written by Marv Wolfman and penciled by Bob Oksner. As with the Supergirl story, there’s a lot of plot in these pages: Lois is kidnapped and mind-wiped, escapes, gets picked up by a helpful widower, falls in love with same, and then uses her (unwiped) martial arts skills to fight off the goons who eventually catch up with her. The story ends with an amnesiac Lois wandering off into the woods, Bruce-Banner-style, so I’ll have to seek out #204 to see how it ends. Here, I’m not sure the format does this story many favors (especially with regard to Ted, the widower). It might do better played out over a few issues of that hypothetical solo title. (That would also leave room to cross over and/or be mentioned in the main Superman books, too….)

Finally, “The Critic Killer” (written by E. Nelson Bridwell and penciled by George Tuska) is a tale of the Earth-2 Lois and Clark, set in the early ’50s when the two were newly married — and when TV was still new enough that the Daily Star didn’t have its own critic. Along comes Lana Lang, daughter of a professor Clark knew from Smallville, seeking to carve out some column space for just that purpose. Clark (editor of the Star, like you didn’t know) gives her the job, and she promptly goes all scorched-earth on the new sitcom from a notoriously thin-skinned writer. Lois realizes nothing good can come of Lana’s scathing review, and sure enough, the writer traps Lana and Lois in a specially-modified elevator car. Because Lois — in what strikes me as a bit of Earth-2 Superdickery — is wearing a “mood ring” which telepathically alerts Clark to sudden changes in her emotions, Superman saves them (of course). However, we learn that the writer bought his elevator-trap from Luthor, still in prison but still scheming about taking down Superman. Dun dun dunnnn! Again, it was a clever little tale whose eight pages were more concerned with establishing Lana’s bona fides (this was apparently the retcon introducing Lana to Lois and Clark) and maybe making Lois a little jealous, than with a straightforward adventure/suspense story. Along those lines, it laid the groundwork for future stories involving Lana and/or Luthor, and I’m now curious to see how fleshed-out the “Mr. And Mrs. Superman” stories got.

And speaking of Earth-2, I read Invaders Classic Volume 1, written by Roy Thomas (who else?), penciled mostly by Frank Robbins, and inked by Vince Coletta and Frank Springer. This paperback reprinted the first several issues of The Invaders, plus ancillary issues, and it’s pretty much non-stop action from page one. Essentially, the Invaders — Captain America and Bucky, the Human Torch and Toro, and the Sub-Mariner — fight Nazi super villains, as depicted by Robbins’ hyperkinetic pencils. What I took away from this book, though, was that even though he was working at Marvel, and even though DC was, at the time, doing contemporary Earth-2 stories featuring the Justice Society, Roy Thomas desperately wanted to write a wartime JSA book. I have no idea how much Thomas drew from those old Timely comics to come up with the various Axis bad guys and the heroic Liberty Legion (although reprinted text pages help out in this regard) — but there sure are conspicuous references to moving “faster than a speeding bullet” and being part of “seven soldiers” of something-or-other. Actually, I take part of that back — the first baddies the Invaders face are a trio of faux-Teutonic godlings, and I thought “oh, here’s a riff on Evil Thor.” Still, though, the Liberty Legion contains 1) a speedster, 2) a guy who stretches, 3) a superheroine with black hair and a red-and-blue costume, 4) the Blue Diamond, who kinda looks like Green Lantern if you squint, 5) a flying guy with big bird-wings on his back, 6) Jack Frost, an ice-based hero who looks like he’s got Aquaman-style scales, and 7) the Patriot, another red-and-blue-clad figure who’s the group’s moral center. Maybe it was just me, but I had more fun looking for those kinds of references than I did reading the stories themselves. Lucky for the series, though, the last couple of issues introduce Union Jack and Baron Blood, a British hero and his undead foe, and The Invaders starts to build its own little corner of Marvel history, instead of reminding readers of others’. Lucky for Roy Thomas, too, that it wouldn’t be long before he was writing DC’s All-Star Squadron — otherwise, I suspect his brain might have exploded.

(By the way, I’m not up on Marvel history as much as some — but doesn’t Union Jack’s debut in World War I make him Marvel-Earth’s first costumed hero, preceding the Human Torch by at least 20 years?)

Michael May

Lois Lane and the Resistance

As I said in this week’s Food or Comics, I wasn’t sure if I was going to buy Lois Lane and the Resistance or not. I flipped through it in the store though and decided to get it for its visuals and action sequences. It looked like fun. And there were some exciting parts, but unfortunately, this still isn’t the Lois Lane comic I’m waiting for. Lois spends the entire issue running around doing the bidding of other people. The story opens with Perry White’s sending her on a fluff piece instead of covering the impending war. The Lois Lane I want to read about doesn’t get sent to cover Fashion Week. She doesn’t have to whine and argue that she’s a serious reporter; everyone should know that she is and treat her that way. But this Lois…even when the story gets going she’s still acting as someone else’s agent, and not even a particularly competent one. This isn’t the story of a strong, empowered reporter that I’ve been craving.

I also read Mystery Men #2 and liked it, but it reminded me why I became a trade-waiter. The first issue got me all excited to continue the story, but now I’m growing impatient with its being rationed out in small chunks. Some cool stuff happens this issue — another masked hero joins the investigation and there’s a major revelation about the villain — but it’s hard to say that I enjoyed this particular chunk of the story as its own, self-contained unit.

Finally, I read the first volume of Jason DeAngelis and Aldin Viray’s Captain Nemo, a manga re-telling of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. There are some cool, imaginative things going on in it, like the story’s taking place in an alternate timeline where Napoleon won at Waterloo and has taken over the world. The 19-year-old son of the original Captain Nemo is operating the Nautilus II in rebellion against the French Empire, providing this version with an actual plot (something that Jules Verne’s novel lacks). Viray’s obviously had a great time creating the steampunk world for the story; the environment of the book looks great. And I like how it’s still hitting major beats in Verne’s story, but reworking them enough to keep them exciting and follow DeAngelis’ plot.

But the book falls victim to some standard manga tropes and the characters are boringly familiar. Nemo is the classic manga hero: handsome, but stand-offish, but really very gentle at heart. Camille Pierpont (who stands in for Professor Aronnax, Conseil, and Ned Land by ending up prisoner on the Nautilus II after Nemo saves her from drowning) is the traditional manga heroine: headstrong, judgmental, entitled, but supernaturally gifted with wild animals and really just one good kiss away from calming down into someone likeable. Even the characters’ designs are unimaginative; something that Aldin admits to in the sketchbook section where he says that he gave Nemo “the standard Harlock look” and Camille “the typical female lead character look.” The other crew members of the Nautilus II are just as immediately recognizable: Smart and Cocky Guy With Glasses, Bad Attitude Girl, Plucky Kid, etc.

Brigid Alverson

Treasury of Victorian Murder

This week was murder, at least in terms of what I have been reading. I got an advance copy of Rick Geary’s latest Treasury of Victorian Murder book, The Lives of Sacco and Vanzetti, which will be debuting at San Diego Comic-Con this year. Like all of Geary’s books, it’s cool, almost clinical, with the timelines and details carefully laid out in a heavy-bordered grid and a narrative voice straight out of a PBS documentary Geary’s objective voice suits the story well, because the guilt or innocence of Sacco and Vanzetti is a matter of some controversy, but it does make the book seem rather dry.

Also on the stack is The Green River Killer, written by Jeff Jensen and illustrated by Jonathan Case. Jensen’s father was a detective on the case, and the story is told from his point of view. The story gets rolling with Gary Ridgeway’s confession and skips back and forth in time as the police bring him to the sites of the murders and then flash back to their first encounters with the same scenes. The art is straightforward and linear, but there are some nice atmospheric moments.

And in the prose realm, I’m reading The Poisoner’s Handbook, which would be more aptly titled “The Toxicologist’s Handbook.” Set in 1920s New York, the book follows the work of pioneering medical examiner Charles Norris and toxicologist Alexander Gettler as they investigate various murders — grouped by the poison involved. Some they solve, some they don’t, and sometimes they are simply frustrated by the difficulty of proving their toxicological case in court. It’s a bit overly dramatic but a good read nonetheless, and I’m learning a bit of chemistry from it too.

Tim O’Shea

IDW’s Rocketeer Adventures #1

Rocketeer Adventures #1 and #2: OK, I have to admit, I completely missed the first issue’s release. So I picked up issue #2 this week, Mark Waid teamed with Chris Weston, Darwyn Cooke, Geof Darrow, Lowell Francis with Gene Ha (all colored by Dave Stewart) and realized: “you were a fool to miss issue #1.” Fortunately I snagged the last copy of issue #1 at my local store. And I am torn which is my favorite from that issue, it’s a close race between John Cassady colored by Laura Martin or Kurt Busiek teamed with legendary Michael Kaluta (honorable mention Mike Allred colored by Laura Allred). But after serious consideration I have decided that Kaluta (inked by Stewart) is my favorite. There’s not a bad story in either issue–and I am looking forward to issue #3.

Thunderbolts #159 is a double-sized issue with multiple creative teams on different tales. But all you need to know is this: Jen Van Meter writes a team-up (of sorts) between Ghost and John Walker. I really hope that Marvel announces some more work for Van Meter at San Diego, because she deserves a monthly assignment.

Captain America: Given Bucky’s current status quo (given the Fear Itself event), I am confused as to why I would care what happened to James in this issue. But all my annoyance washed away when I got to see Chris Samnee draw more Nick Fury in the second half of the issue.

Did you catch my interview with Roger Langridge about the preview of his new Kaboom book, Snarked #0, which will sell for $1 in August? Did I convince you to tell your retailer to get a copy for you? You have until June 30 for the Previews deadline (Diamond Code: JUN110963). I mean it when I commit to this series being destined for my best of 2011 books.

Shannon Wheeler

Paying for It

There’s a narrow road to success if a creator already has a lot of good books. If it’s too different from what came before, I’ll hate it, and if it’s too similar to what came before, then I’ll hate it, too. Chester Brown created my favorite comics: Ed the Happy Clown and The Playboy. So, of course, I was disappointed with Paying for It.

It’s an autobiographical book about Chester Brown’s decision to satisfy his sexual needs by being with prostitutes. The best part of the book is when he details his internal conflict and anxiety when he first hires women to have sex with him. Unfortunately, the book drags as he uses his friends as characters to stage pro and con arguments regarding prostitution. The books drags even more when he reiterates his beliefs for the third… and fourth time. He avoids talking about his final relationship in respect for her desire for privacy. This could have been an emotional resolution in the book — Chester finding a relationship that he’s comfortable with. They are both happy with monogamous, but independent, lives where he continues to pay for sex. Any editor could have trimmed 20 percent of the redundant ranting to make it a smoother read and then pushed for a conclusion with emotional depth and acute observations similar to the book’s beginning. Chester Brown could have had a book that matched or succeeded his earlier work. As it stands, the book is a vaguely interesting read as a political diatribe and an okay read as an emotional journey, but is redundant as one and unresolved as the other. Chester is still a great creator; it’s too bad his editor hasn’t kept pace. It’s a good book that could have been a great book.

Okko

Okko

It’s a solid read that takes place in old Japan with demons, ronins, monks and magic. The book is skillfully put together with natural storytelling, attractive drawings and pretty coloring. It’s not a book you’ll ponder much after putting it down. As a book in the same genre as the great Usagi Yojimbo, it holds up as a solid and entertaining read.

New Yorker: On the Money

I always grab collections of New Yorker cartoons. This one has the strength of being assembled by the New Yorker’s current cartoon editor, Bob Mankoff. By choosing financially themed comics from 1925-2009, Mankoff shows an economic history of our country through humor. It’s telling that the rich-screw-the-poor is a recurrent theme that doesn’t change from the earliest comics to the recent ones. The repetition left me a little cold. Maybe not cold – but depressed. If the economics of this country could change the way families, gender roles and race relations have changed, I might like the book better. But I guess that’s not really the book’s fault.

Cowboy Wally

Always funny. I’m constantly amazed at how well this book has held up. I consider it one of the best comics created.

Underground

I just picked this one up, but the first issue shows potential. I love the art and story. Jeff Parker and Steve Lieber are great comic creators. I’m sure they’ll deliver.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #50

Hello and welcome to What Are You Reading? This week our special guest is Ross Campbell, creator of Shadoweyes and its recent sequel, Shadoweyes in Love, as well as Wet Moon, Water Baby, The Abandoned and “Refuse,” a short story in the recent Strange Adventures anthology from Vertigo.

To see what Ross and the Robot 6 crew have been reading lately, click below.

*****

Tim O’Shea

Avengers Academy #15

Avengers Academy #15: As much as I love the teen stars of this series, Christos Gage is writing the best dang Hank Pym since the days of Kurt Busiek’s Avengers. At the heart of most comic book series I enjoy, there’s a soap opera element. And artist Tom Raney pulls off the soap opera angle in this issue, showing the anguish in Pym’s face, when faced with certain hard choices.

Last week I avoided contributing to WAYR, because all I could think to write about DC comics was “What the hell is the point of recommending these any DC main titles, given that the series–no matter how great they may be–will end in a few months?” Well, Bryan Q. Miller’s Batgirl coming to an end is a prime example of a comic and creator who I will hate to see go. I expect Gail Simone’s Batgirl will be a big hit with folks, but I was dismayed to see Miller has not been tapped (to date) to work on any new DC projects. Here’s hoping that’s not the last I will see of Miller’s writing in comics.

Hulk #35: I love Jeff Parker for writing a scene where Thunderbolt “Red Hulk” Ross opines on his admiration for George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant, Teddy Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Few other mainstream comics are as equal parts quirky and entertaining as Parker’s Hulk.

Michael May

Alpha Flight #1

My enjoyment of Alpha Flight #1 was unfortunately tainted by paying an extra buck for two story pages and a bunch of behind-the-scenes stuff I’d already seen online, but the story itself was a welcome return to what I originally liked about the team when Byrne created the series. I’m even digging Marrina’s new personality now. Van Lente and Pak sold me on it in three panels that simultaneously made me laugh and suddenly, totally get why Marrina would be exactly the way she is now. I’m still a bit sad about innocence lost, but they’ve found the silver lining in the storm clouds of Marrina’s history. Also, hell of a cliffhanger.

I don’t know what it was, but I just couldn’t stop adding periodical issues to my stack this week. I’m a stubborn trade-waiter by nature, so that surprised me. Cullen Bunn’s (The Sixth Gun) writing a Defenders vs Atlantis story in Fear Itself: The Deep was too tempting to pass up and I wasn’t disappointed. It’s gotta be hard to make a team starring Doctor Strange, Namor, and a Hulk feel like underdogs, but Bunn pulls it off and makes it look easy.

I also read Kelly Sue DeConnick and ChrisCross’ Supergirl #65 and it reminded me that there are still great comics being published by DC that don’t tie into a larger story. This is the first of three issues that have Supergirl going undercover for Lois Lane at a college to investigate some student disappearances involving robots and possibly faeries. Maybe even robot faeries. It’s a lot of fun, and it’s only going to cost $12 to read.

I did pick up another event-related comic though: last week’s Flashpoint: Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown #1. (I think it was last week. Two weeks ago?) It’s sort of the perfect Flashpoint tie-in because it starts during WWII and drops its heroes into the present, Captain America-style, so that readers can learn about the Flashpoint world along with them. Unlike Grodd of War, which I also read, I didn’t feel like I needed to have purchased Flashpoint and World of Flashpoint and three other mini-series to understand everything that was happening. It’s just Frankenstein and a bunch of monsters whooping up on some bad guys and trying to figure out what’s going on. Cool characters, great action, and a nice mystery.

Carla Hoffman

Batgirl #22

I gotta go with Tim on this one: I love Batgirl so much. Batgirl #22 was just as good as the issues that came before it and was totally bittersweet because I just don’t know if we’ll ever see its like again. The art was clever and fast paced, the writing was swift and adventurous, never leaving you too long to explain anything but connecting all the dots along the way. Stephanie Brown is fun, funny and confident in her role, a fantastic female character without having to be The Best Female Character, if that makes any sense. However, this is the killer part: you get a full story in that one issue. It’s one of the reasons I’ve kept up with Batgirl as much as I have: each issue tends to give you the most bang for you buck and requires very little from me but to kick back and enjoy. I kind of want to go back and read the Knight and Squire mini-series thanks to the fun I had with this book.

To show my true colors, I also read X-Men: Prelude to Schism #3 and have deemed it the best of the prelude books out thus far. I still don’t know what’s going on plot-wise besides the obvious (there is a threat! there is a decision!), but this week we took a peek inside the head of Scott Summers as he makes the decision to fight … something. Jenkins hasn’t been this on for personal storytelling in awhile, at least for me; I enjoy a good quiet moment where we really look at the motivations of why a particular hero is the way they are and he nails it for one of the quietest load-bearing characters of the X-Universe. Scott, even in his new souped up position as the leader of Utopia, remains reserved and thoughtful and it’s easy to see why in this issue. He is, in effect, a blind man leading people who are in a whole new phase of existence, which is a neat little way to look at this event, whatever this event may be.

I also read Avengers #14 because I have a streak of masochism. It’s embarrassing how much I don’t enjoy a book I actively seek out every month, like I should have learned by now not to do this because I’m just not the person Brian Michael Bendis is writing these books for. There are plenty of people who enjoy this flagship book of the Marvel Universe, its sales are consistent and the story is popular, so they don’t need me as a reader. But yet, here I am. Whereas X-Men: Prelude to Schism #3 is giving me one quiet character moment, this tries to give me several with a variety of talking heads, some living, some dead, being interviewed. At the same time, the main point of the story is that the Thing fights the Hulk. Not only that, but the Godly-Hammer-Chosen Thing fights the nigh-unstoppable Red Hulk! And it’s drawn by John Romita Jr. who, from his work on World War Hulk, kind of sort of declared himself Artist King of Hulk Fights(tm) in my humble opinion. Why didn’t I like this? Why won’t you let me love you, Avengers!? Because it’s slow. There’s a whole lot of tell-not-showing in the issue, some beautiful shots that have these little head shot boxes dotting their margins telling you how awesome this picture is. Because they destroy Stark Tower and I can’t say I’m worried for where the Avengers will live now, nor is Stark Tower so endeared to our hearts as the Avengers Mansion was when it also was destroyed by Bendis. Because at the end of the book, Jarvis tells us that this moment was more terrifying to him than having his life threatened in front of Captain America in the classic “Under Siege” story line. This is just, what, two issues in? He tells me this point blank, instead of showing me a moment that tops the classic panels from the Avengers’ past and, as a reader, I don’t feel like that’s really happening between the panels.

Ross Campbell

Remake Special

Remake Special by Lamar Abrams: The first Remake is hilarious but this second book is without a doubt the funniest comic I’ve ever read. Being a connoisseur of poop humor, I was delighted to see that Remake Special features hero Max Guy and his pals Magma Boy and Sick Rick going up against people made of poop.

Happyface by Steve Emond: Emond is most known for his comic Emo Boy from SLG Publishing, but he really shines in his first novel. It does include artwork, though, which is interesting, I’ve never read a book quite like it. Anyway it’s really good, I saw a lot of my younger self in the main character, a self-absorbed, angsty, whiny, sometimes delusional hopeless romantic high school boy, which isn’t something I look for in fiction but which turned out to be entertainingly embarrassing. It starts off kind of superficial seeming but it unfolds really interestingly and unexpectedly, and ends up being honest and unflinching.

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor: I only just started reading this the other day but I had to include it! I’ve been reading Nnedi’s books for a while and they’re all great, and her last book Who Fears Death, about a powerful mystic girl in post-apocalyptic North Africa, was amazing but it looks like she may top it with Akata Witch, which is about an albino black American girl, Sunny, living in Nigeria, who discovers she has magical powers.

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson: Man, this book sucked me the hell in, I was so absorbed in this. It’s about a girl dealing with anorexia and it’s brutal and sad and compelling.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: City At War by Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird and Jim Lawson: I grew up on the old Mirage TMNT comics and felt like reading City At War again, and I’d forgotten how awesome it is. Issue #50, all wordless, is super awesome. I love when Leonardo says of Splinter “I would gladly die for him… but I don’t know if I can give him my life.” DANG.