Peanuts #1

Hello and welcome to What Are You Reading?, where every week we recap what comics have been on our nightstands recently. To see what the Robot 6 crew have been reading, click below.

Tim O’Shea

Sweet Tooth #29

Sweet Tooth #29: Am I the only one to feel like this is the first issue to have any narrative forward progress in a long while? It just seemed to be spinning its wheels for awhile, but definitely not this issue. And I love the surprises that Lemire threw in this issue.

Secret Avengers #20: For readers, writers and editors wondering what is the great appeal of the done in one comics? Look no further than this issue. Writer Warren Ellis loves pushing storytelling boundaries in his work, but this is a stretch even for him. I’m not sure who had the hardest job in this one-shot time travel story. The writer, artist Alex Maleev or the editorial team of John Denning and Lauran Sankovitch. I have never been a fan of Maleev’s work—until the middle of the tale—when he pulls off a page and a half of Black Widow daily comic strips. (Extra points to Mayela Gutierrez for her production work on those pages). Even if Ellis had not written this issue, I would have bought it for the Steranko-esque cover by John Cassady and Paul Mounts.

Peanuts #1: As I said in my intro to this week’s Paige Braddock interview: “ Anytime an all ages title like this new release from the KABOOM! gang (in partnership with Peanuts Worldwide) comes out, I want to shout it from the rooftops.” The appeal of this new series is captured best by Braddock herself: ‘There hasn’t been a Peanuts comic book series since Dell published comics back in the 1960s. As a fan of both comic books and Peanuts, I’m glad that comic shops will once again have Peanuts on their shelves. As a comic reader, I think Peanuts will be a breath of fresh air in terms of material that’s suitable for all ages.”

Captain America #6: Not sure which I enjoyed more, Alan Davis drawing an Ed Brubaker Captain America tale or the fact that Brubaker worked in some quality Hawkeye/Cap time in the tale. I gotta add though, I hate the new Hawkeye costume that he’s sporting to match the upcoming film.

X-Club #2: OK, Simon Spurrier makes me laugh. I think he is a writer I should keep my eye on. Not sure why Dr. Nemesis chose to kept the empathic starfish on his head, but it made for some incredible comedy in this issue.

Villains for Hire #2: Amidst the cancelled series and aborted miniseries in the Marvel universe, I am pleasantly surprised at how Marvel editorial is enabling writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning to keep telling the struggles of Misty Knight, initially through the ongoing Heroes for Hire, now with this Villains for Hire miniseries.

Thunderbolts #168: Jeff Parker teams with artist Matthew Southworth for a quirky examination of Luke Cage’s fears. The story itself (mostly a mental battle thanks to this issue’s villain) allows Southworth to do some quirky and intoxicating layouts. Kudos to Frank Martin Jr. for his ability to strongly color the art.

Hulk #47: OK, I am starting to accept the fact that Gabriel Hardman is not going to be drawing Hulk anymore (moving on to assignments like Secret Avengers). Not sure if Marvel editorial is auditioning different artists for the book, but if Elena Casagrande is in the running for a permanent assignment (she has done previous arcs on the book), I would be happy. Parker continues to allow a simmering flirtation between Annie and Ross. Also loved the moment where Ross comically gave a brief on Zero/One to Machine Man (who he has taken to calling Aaron, another element of Parker having the hero view these partially mechanical entities as his trusted friends).

Brigid Alverson

Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly’s The New York Five replicates the feeling of being young and in New York so well that one scene, the entrance to a subway station, triggered a flashback to my own New York days. It’s not just the visuals, although they work very well, it’s the story–four young women sharing an apartment, each dealing with their own issues, all of it magnified by the fact that they are in New York. Wood and Kelly cram love, death, betrayal, and loyalty into this slim volume, mixing the big issues skillfully with the minutiae of daily life. Like New York itself, it’s crowded and bustling, with multiple plot threads and panels that are crammed full of details, broken up with little travel-guide vignettes that introduce changes of scene. This was a followup to The New York Four, which Wood and Kelly created for DC’s Minx line, but it’s anything but a teen book–I would think adults like me, who have been through some of what the girls experience, would enjoy it a lot more.

I got an advance look at Best Shot in the West: The Adventures of Nat Love, a YA graphic novel based on the autobiography of the most famous black cowboy of the 19th century. Known in rodeo circles as Deadwood Dick, Nat Love was born a slave in Tennessee and headed west as a teenager. He turned out to have a knack with horses and with guns, at least according to his autobiography, and the book moves rapidly through a series of thrilling adventures involving cattle rustlers, runaway horses, and hostile Indians, as well as personal encounters with Buffalo Bill Cody, Bat Masterson and Billy the Kid. The art is lively and very attractive, done in a painterly style with a palette that shifts as the story moves from one setting to another. My one quibble would be that the faces are extremely inconsistent, to the point where characters can look totally different from one panel to the next. That aside, it’s a great book; Love sure could tell a story, and the creative team has done a great job of bringing his words to life.

Chris Mautner

Studygroup Magazine

After paying for my copy but leaving it at the booth, Zack Soto was kind enough to to mail me a copy of Studygroup Magazine, the new biannual mag he is putting together with former Comics Journal editor Milo George. And I’m so glad he did because Studygroup is fantastic–a smart vibrant amalgamation of TCJ-like critical essays and interviews and comics anthology featuring work by some of the more interesting people laboring in the trenches these days. This issue, for instance, not only features a lengthy talk by Craig Thompson that’s heavy on process (inking, lettering, which paper is best, etc.) and a nice essay on Brecht Evens by Greice Schneider, but also contains some stellar comics from people like Michael DeForge, Johnny Negron, Aidan Koch and T. Alixopulos. Really, it’s a fantastic package that I can’t recommend enough.

It’s not comics, but I also read–or at least gazed at–Rivers Forgotten by Jeremy Kai from Koyama Press. This is basically a slim photo book of the sewer system underneath the city of Toronto. That descriptions sounds dull or gross (or both) but Kai manages to capture some astoundingly breathtaking images of vast, immense tunnels and other structures. Kai’s work shines a literal light on the hidden world that lies underneath much of our urban world and I was surprisingly grateful for the tour.

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 …

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/.

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.

Elf World

Hello and welcome to What Are You Reading? Today our special guest is Fantagraphics’ Marketing Director Mike Baehr, who runs their indispensable company blog, Flog!, among other duties.

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

*****

Tim O’Shea

Thunderbolts

Thunderbolts 162: Holy crap, Jeff Parker. How long have you been holding onto to the Giant-Sized Man-Thing card? Best Thunderbolts moment in a long time. In the increased publishing schedule dynamic, I do not think I will ever see a more jarring shift than when the story shifts from Valentine De Landro to Matthew Southworth.

Supergirl 67: Really ashamed that we do not get to read more of Kelly Sue DeConnick’s Supergirl. But good lord, Chriscross’ penchant for drawing ugly-as-hell bone structured faces almost killed any enjoyment I had in this story. It astounds me how such an accomplished and talented artist utterly fails to make any effort to consistently draw character’s faces the same way. Extra points to DeConnick for ending the issue on a note that would have been a mild series gamechanger (a secret revealed) had the series continued beyond this point.

Venom 6: OK this whole Spider Island event. Am I the only person that sings Spider Island to the melody of that 1970s rock classic by Jay Ferguson, Thunder Island, whenever I see the phrase? I have one question was it writer Rick Remender or artist Tom Fowler who decided to have the Venom symbiote bond with a dog? Visually a great bit. There’s always a fun horror-vibe whenever the issues are drawn by Fowler.

Gladstone’s School for World Conquerors 4: The issue opens with a great battle scene (with beautifully vibrant colors by Carlos Carrasco), leading to, of all things, a study group session? (This series is like 1960s X-Men comics, but on acid, which is a good thing for me [the comic, not the acid, that is]). But what makes this issue a must buy for me is writer Mark Andrew Smith and artist Armand Villavert’s dead-on riff on Scott McCloud’s storytelling approach in Understanding Comics (special thanks to my friend Dugan Trodglen for pointing this out to me). An aside, the issue is dedicated to Scott McCloud (“one of the greatest teachers in comics”).

Power Girl 27: Matthew Sturges tells a 60-second story. With Power Girl’s speed, of course, there’s a lot to cram in that 60 seconds. But honestly, it must be hard to understand all that she says in that 60 seconds, because she says a lot. Matthew Sturges, another writer who writes females well. Curious to see where he’ll end up in the new DCU.

Cloak & Dagger: Spider Island 1: This actually came out last week, but my pal Dugan convinced me to pick it up this week. Glad I did. Writer Nick Spencer and artist Emma Rios clearly are taking a swing at an ongoing series with this miniseries. So far, the Spider Island connection is fairly mo’s second dular, they could have just as easily plugged in a Fear Itself moment and run the same story. I am not complaining, as the dual (Cloak & Dagger) narration that Spencer employs is really effective. Much of the first issue is a rehash of where the characters have been before, but the life recap actually served to draw me into the tale. I look forward to seeing what issue 3 brings. I’m really impressed with how much more confident and effective that Rios’ art has gotten since the Strange miniseries (with Mark Waid) from a year or so back.

Hulk 39: So my good pal (and I must add, damn fine writer) Carla Hoffman does not feel the love for Red Hulk (as documented in this week’s always must read Fifth Color) that I so clearly possess. This issue perfectly exemplifies why I find Parker and artist Gabriel Hardman’s Hulk to be a great exploration of Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross. Despite the fact that he cannot currently change back to his human form, Red Hulk is very much defined by the human that Ross is. No one else creates as cinematic-like and dynamic layouts as Hardman. The flashback to Ross’ childhood in this issue is some of the most compelling storytelling I’ve read in months. I want a whole damn arc with Thaddeus and his childhood pals. Hoffman, please read this issue.

Daredevil 2: In this issue, writer Mark Waid subtextually reveals that he wants to marry Captain America’s shield. But seriously, I think spending time as BOOM’s big editorial honcho gave Waid a chance to sit back and look at the dynamics of the Marvel universe (something he obviously had mulled prior to BOOM admittedly) and is allowing that inform his approach to this book. Dating back to the days of Waid’s second run on Captain America, I have clearly appreciated his basic concept of seeing Marvel heroes and their weapons as props to be explored (remember when Cap lost his shield for that run?). As issue 2 opens, Daredevil quickly gains control of Cap’s shield and Cap snags DD’s billy club. To see the way the two tacticians wield the weapons is a storytelling treat, particularly given artist Paolo Rivera’s complete commitment to the scenes. DD uses Cap’s shield as an urban boogieboard, for Pete’s sake. When Waid has DD say: “That thing (the shield) is beautifully balanced, by the way. It’s like touching a Stradivarious. High point of my evening.” I giggled in delight like my 10 year old self. In two issues this creative team has given me the DD I have not seen since the days of Karl Kesel’s short run (#353-357, 359-364 [thanks very much manwithoutfear.com])–a fun to read comic. Added bonus, editor Steve Wacker runs a letter column with letters from the 1960s issues.

Tom Bondurant

2001: A Space Odyssey

Finally, the magic of eBay has delivered unto me Jack Kirby’s Monolith-sized adaptation of 2001: A Space Odyssey, and the combination of Kubrick, Clarke, and the King was pretty engaging. I had read some of the regular-series 2001, and of course I have seen the movie (and read the books) many times over, but this felt much more like ’70s Cosmic Kirby — much more in the spirit of The Eternals, say — than a straightforward adaptation. In fact, Kirby’s dynamism is diametrically opposite Kubrick’s cool, meditative style. Thus, the Dawn Of Man scenes are beefed up with insight into Moon-Watcher’s thoughts and feelings. Dr. Floyd and his colleagues get a little more attention. The Star-Gate sequence is translated into a series of breathtaking double-page spreads. Kirby does a pretty faithful version of the famous bone-to-satellite jump-cut, but he modifies the look of the Pan Am clipper to more closely resemble the (then-experimental) Space Shuttle orbiter. Ironically, the characters who suffer the most are Bowman and Poole, both of whom come across fairly generic. In a way, this was in keeping with Kirby’s plans for the regular series, in which a procession of ordinary humans were transformed by the power of the Monolith. Still, Kirby’s 2001 and Clarke/Kubrick’s 2001 share the same basic cautions about humanity’s development, and in the end that’s what matters.

I’ve also been catching up on John Ostrander and Jan Duursema’s Star Wars Legacy series, having bought a couple of paperbacks from the emptying shelves at the local Border’s. So far I’m through volume 3, and I like it pretty well. Cade Skywalker does have a somewhat predictable “you can’t make me” attitude, although I guess that’s one way of following in his ancestors’ whiny ways. Also, I can’t quite get past his relentlessly-coiffed appearance, which threatens to be more monsters-of-rock than a Star Wars character should be. Overall, though, it’s a good next-generation take on the Galaxy Far, Far Away, and it stands alone well enough that the occasional ties to the movies are just a bonus.

There’s something of an unfinished aesthetic to the first few years of “New Look” Batman stories (reprinted in color in Dynamic Duo Archives Vols. 1 and 2, and in the black-and-white Showcase Presents Batman Vol. 1). Mostly this is due to the relative lack of Carmine Infantino pencils. The Bob Kane studio (including Sheldon Moldoff) still drew the bulk of the stories, with Infantino only on covers and pencilling every other issue of Detective. (Inker Joe Giella gave everything a consistent feel.)

Among the memorable stories so far are November 1964′s “Zero Hour For Earth!” (Batman #167) and “Hunters of the Elephants’ Graveyard!” (Detective #333), and “Partners In Plunder!” from February 1965′s Batman #169. “Zero Hour” was written by Bill Finger, with pencils credited to Bob Kane, and features Batman and Robin on a globetrotting mission to stop the nefarious organization known as Hydra. (Yes, this predated Marvel’s Hydra by a couple of years, but the Bat-office might already have taken a shot at Marvel a few months earlier, when a megalomaniacal mutant threatened the world in “The Man Who Quit The Human Race!”) Anyway, “Zero Hour” is the kind of story that the hairy-chested love god of the ’70s would have found familiar; although Kane/Moldoff’s Batman was hardly hairy-chested. “Hunters” was written by Gardner Fox and pencilled by Infantino, and it is probably the last word on Batman vs. a herd of rampaging pachyderms. Specifically, it’s very effective at setting up the elephants as noble creatures, and then turning them into a giant mass of stampeding trouble. Most clever of this bunch is “Partners In Plunder,” written by Ed “France” Herron and pencilled by Moldoff, which finds the Penguin deciding simply to create random chaos with trick umbrellas, and then basing his future capers on Batman’s subsequent speculation. It’s a neat idea which plays perfectly off of the “Batman is never fooled” trope, and in fact it ends with the Penguin in prison and Batman never realizing he’s been duped.

Finally, I enjoyed the Batman and Wonder Woman ’90s Retro-Active specials, mostly because the creative teams of Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle and William Messner-Loebs & Lee Moder produced stories which didn’t miss any beats from their earlier work. The Wonder Woman story especially made me wonder why DC wouldn’t turn to Messner-Loebs and Moder more often. Sure, it was a quiet, character-oriented piece about Wonder Woman bonding with a group of mallrat girls, but the reprint was the start of Messner-Loebs’ outer-space saga, and that was plenty action-oriented. If anything lasting comes out of the Retro-Active experiment, I really do hope it involves more work for Messner-Loebs, who clearly still has the chops to handle these characters.

Brigid Alverson

21

I have started reading Wilifred Santiago’s “21″: The Story of Roberto Clemente several times, but I always wandered off: This time I pulled it off my stack and read it most of the way through. I love Santiago’s style and his depiction of Clemente’s childhood in Puerto Rico, but the story is hard to follow for a number of reasons. One is the huge cast of characters, who simply appear and start having conversations as if they had known each other forever, with no background on who they are. The story also moves around in
time in a confusing way, especially in the beginning, and seems to skip important events‹how did Clemente go from being voted 8th in the Most Valuable Player poll to having Roberto Clemente Day at Three Rivers Stadium ten years later? Still, Santiago really captures the feeling of listening to a ball game on a hot summer day, and his story is rich and complex, if flawed. I’m glad I read it.

Also on the stack this week was an advance copy of The Last Dragon, a gorgeous fantasy graphic novel written by YA author Jane Yolen (Foiled) and illustrated by Rebecca Guay, who is probably best known as one of the illustrators of the card game Magic: The Gathering. Guay’s style is a throwback to the Golden Age of children’s books, reminiscent of Maxfield Parrish and Arthur Rackham in its combination of pseudo-classical styling and luminous color. I usually find books like this boring, but Yolen pairs up a smart young woman with a blowhard Fabio look-alike to accomplish the central task of the story, killing a dragon that has been terrorizing a small village. It’s a fairy-tale type story that manages to feel fresh despite its traditional setting and tropes. It’s due out in early September, and it’s definitely something to watch for.

Finally, I picked up Doctor Who Volume II: The Ripper on a whim and I really enjoyed it. The book collects four of IDW’s Doctor Who comics featuring the Eleventh Doctor. In the first story, Rory uses a cell phone in the Tardis and as a result all his (and Amy’s) spam and social-networking contacts come to life. It’s very well done, and some of the anthropomorphized spam made me laugh out loud. The second story comprises three arcs of the comic and it’s a Doctor Who take on Jack the Ripper. You really don’t have to be familiar with the television program to enjoy these stories‹I have been away from Doctor Who since the 1970s, and I still could follow them. In fact, it
worked the other way for me: I started watching the show with my daughter and I actually knew who the characters are. Incidentally, all the stories are available via IDW’s digital app, for less than the cost of the trade paperback, and if you have an iPad, the two bucks you spend on that first story will be the best money you spend all week.

Mike Baehr

My to-read pile contains about 12 feet of graphic novels and comics right now, with about half of that being Fantagraphics stuff — we’re literally putting out books faster than I can read them. I’ll try not to be too much of a shill for my employers, but what kind of Marketing Director would I be if I didn’t love what we put out?

I just finished plowing through my stash of minicomics from the Stumptown Comics Fest. Elf World from Family Style is a fun anthology series of fantasy stories by independent and small-press artists, and the first 2 issues of the 2nd volume have the nicest production values I’ve seen in minicomics, with gorgeous letterpress covers illustrated by Sammy Harkham and Daria Tessler. Salad Days by Minty Lewis is another standout — no one depicts awkward conversations and the minor humiliations of life quite like her, and all with a cast of talking fruit, which gives it a sense of absurdity but somehow heightens my empathy for the characters at the same time. Too Dark to See by Julia Gfrörer is chilling for the way it depicts how the damage that we do to ourselves and each other is far greater than any supernatural threat. And after one issue I’ve completely fallen in wuv with Ed Luce’s adorable and hilarious Wuvable Oaf (soon to be seen in Fantagraphics’ forthcoming queer comics anthology No Straight Lines), which stars a big hairy metal-and-Morrissey-loving gay dude and his friends, plus a bunch of kitties. I definitely need to pick up the rest of that series.

The Box Man

At Comic-Con last month I finally picked up a copy of The Box Man by Imiri Sakabashira, published by our “Distinguished Qompetition.” It’s like a mashup of a Jim Woodring Frank story, Hans Rickheit’s The Squirrel Machine, and a Mat Brinkman comic (with maybe a dash of Brian Ralph) as the protagonist and his animal companion journey through an incredibly detailed detritus-strewn urban underbelly on a mysterious mission, encountering various forms of peril and bizarre debauchery along the way. It’s part maximum weirdness, part straight-up thrilling action, all depicted with breathtaking skill. I’m surprised I didn’t hear more about this book when it first came out.

My current favorite ongoing webcomic is Steven Weissman’s Barack Hussein Obama, which I have the privilege of posting on the Fantagraphics website every week. Steven’s work has undergone a really interesting transformation over the last few years, and he really cuts loose with this sketchbook strip, mashing up old-fashioned gag humor, Lovecraftian horror, bizarre nonsequiturs and absurd interpersonal drama. It’s a combination that could only come from Steven and it makes for a dizzying and thrilling reading experience. I also enjoy seeing the remastered reruns each week at What Things Do (the best webcomics site out there bar none), and I’m excited that we’ll be putting out a book collection of the strip next year.

There’s a ton of recent and upcoming Fantagraphics books that I’m chomping at the bit to read (Prison Pit 3, Michael Kupperman’s Mark Twain book, Gahan Wilson’s Nuts, Willie & Joe: Back Home, The Man Who Grew His Beard) but one that leaped to the top of the pile was the new 4th issue of the Hernandez Brothers’ Love and Rockets: New Stories. I actually first read this as a printout a few weeks ago but it’s been hard to stop picking it back up now that I have a bound copy. Pretty much everyone who’s read it has said that it moved them to tears, and I’m no exception. Jaime’s stories in the issue are some of the most emotionally powerful fiction I’ve ever read — as devastating as “Browntown” was in the last issue, Jaime takes it to the next level here. Brace yourself because Jaime takes you on a rollercoaster ride. So many “oh my god” and “holy crap” moments. And Gilbert is absolutely at the top of his game here too. The metafictional world he’s been building over the last few years is super-fascinating to me, and the new directions he pushes himself within that world are exhilarating.

To continue in shill mode for just a bit longer, another thing I just read is the Fantagraphics Spring/Summer 2012 distributors catalog, with all of our books slated for April-August of next year, which we just sent off to the printer. People tell me all the time that we put out too many good books, all I can do is agree and say HOO-EE, that’s not about to change anytime soon!

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.

Lost Girls

Hello and welcome to Wha Are You Reading? Today our special guest is illustrator, photographer, writer, filmmaker and jazz musician Dave McKean, whose works include Cages, Mr. Punch, Signal to Noise, The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, Violent Cases, Coraline and many, many more. He has a new book with writer Richard Dawkins, The Magic of Reality: How We Know What’s Really True, coming out in October, as well as a graphic novel called Celluloid coming out from Fantagraphics in June. Special thanks to Chris Mautner for asking him to participate this week.

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

*****

Michael May

Alpha Flight

It’s rare that I read a periodical issue anymore, but as I said in this week’s Food or Comics? I’m making an exception for Alpha Flight. As much as I hate the nonsensical 0.1 numbering, the introductory issue to Fred Van Lente and Greg Pak’s series was mostly what I hoped for. Guardian is worrying, Vindicator’s mothering, Aurora’s heart-breaking, Northstar’s scowling, and Sasquatch is having a grand old time (though he’s drawn slightly off-model by Ben Oliver). Snowbird is suitably alien (and has added some cool animals to her usual menagerie of shape-changing forms) and Shaman is calmly confident.

The only characters I didn’t recognize as being themselves were Purple Girl (Woman, now) and Marrina. I’m sure that there are reasons for both of those changes though. Purple Woman’s violent protest of an election could be an act of desperation motivated by knowledge of the fascist political party that’s about to take over Canada. Whatever it is, she’s certainly found a cool, new way of using her mind-control power.

We’ll have to wait and see what’s happened to Marrina, though I’m certain that being murdered by her husband a couple of times and genetically manipulated by the Green Goblin has something to do with it. I miss the innocence of Marrina as John Byrne introduced her, but maybe Van Lente and Pak have a journey they want to take her on and I’ll be happy with the end result.

I also recently read the first Secret Avengers collection, Mission to Mars. I’ve been interested in this team because some of my favorite Marvel characters are on it: Black Widow, Valkyrie, and (not appearing until the next collection) Shang Chi. Ed Brubaker takes them on an enjoyable, high-concept adventure to Mars to fight an evil organization set on getting its hands on the Serpent Crown (a serendipitous objective since I’m also currently working my way through the Atlantis Attacks Omnibus). My complaint is that the plot moves too fast to spend any time on the characters, most of whom could be switched out for any other, similarly-powered hero without affecting the story. That’s forgivable in an introductory tale, but I’m hoping that it changes in future installments.

Finally, I read Vera Brosgol’s Anya’s Ghost from First Second. I might should have led with this one, because it was easily the most enjoyable, surprising comic I’ve read lately. I expected sort of a First Second spin on the classic manga plot of a plucky, but unpopular girl who learns the true meaning of friendship thanks to a supernatural companion. That’s nothing like Anya’s Ghost though. For one thing, Anya isn’t plucky. She isn’t even very likable at the beginning of the story. She resents her Russian heritage to the point of being mean to the one other Russian kid in her school (it brought American Born Chinese to mind, but it’s done in a very different way) and her only friend is a smoke-buddy who’s just as mean-spirited as Anya is.

Anya’s relationship with her ghost is as dysfunctional as the rest of her life. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I won’t go into detail, but it’s darker than similar stories in the genre. Not that the entire novel is dark. Characters change and grow in positive ways, but any positivity at the end is felt more keenly because of what they had to go through to get there. Highly recommended.

Carla Hoffman

Batman & Robin #23

So, I read Batman & Robin #23, which is weird because I had promised myself I’d stay away from the Batman books until they’ve all calmed down a little. But there was something about the variant cover with Jason Todd’s clever little smirk and a quick flip through that got me hooked in for some reason. And I’m glad it did, because this issue made sense and my mediocre knowledge of current Bat-Dramas allowed me to enjoy the start of a murderous tale. The Red Hood in his entirety is kind of ridiculous, and there’s a nod to that there, Mr. Winick admitting all of this “metaphysical bullcrap” is kind of silly and then delivering on a tale anyways. Comics, be ridiculous, just understand that you are and I’ll follow you anywhere.

Speaking of ridiculous, I bought and gleefully took home the X-Men: Age of Apocalypse Prelude trade, which collects the Legion Quest story and several others that end in a big messy crystalline To Be Continued. Man, this story is ridiculously melodramatic, but moves the story quickly when you just understand that people are going to stand arms akimbo or just outright declare expository dialogue, but hey! All of this is going somewhere super-fast so maybe we need to explain somethings on the run? The extras in the back are fun as the house ads for the Age of Apocalypse were pretty compelling. It’s old and rough around the edges, but there is totally something to old ’90s X-Men comics that I’m just not sure can be replicated in this day and age.

Lastly but certainly not least…ly, I kept having to check the cover of Amazing Spider-Man #661 because it read like an issue of Avengers Academy. Not surprising, thanks to Christos Gage’s handiwork, but I also kept having to check my room for listening devices because this is an issue of Spider-Man that might have been stolen from my brain. The first clue was the Peter Parker’s longing to return to his teaching days, a plot point I always felt should have had more time in the comics. Next, he’s talking with the kids at Avengers Academy, an interaction that is expertly timed for comedy and experience. Yeah, this is Spidey’s book but these kids are trained by Avengers. The last was the heartfelt explanation behind Spider-Man’s mask that, no matter how scared you are, no matter how many of your fears pile up in front of you, you should always keep fighting. If not for yourself, then you fight for the memory of your loved ones who carry you through the hard times. With a couple of punch-up pages, Christos Gage is my personal hero once more as he has written just the Amazing Spider-Man comic I had been longing to read.

Also, he just ended the idea of Fear Itself, so go home, everyone! And I was so looking forward to that Thing-Hulk-Thor dust-up…

Tim O’Shea

Alpha Flight #0.1: I gave special event comics a pretty hard knock last week, no doubt. So our readers might be confused to see me praise a book spawning out of the current Fear Itself series. The return of Alpha Flight (the original line-up) is only feasible thanks to the last Marvel special event (Chaos War). This point one issue is a prelude to an eight-issue miniseries that launches in early June (CBR previewed the first issue last week). Looking at the history of Aurora, the characters go-to aspect in past writers’ approach was to portray her as suffering from dissociative identity disorder. I am pleased to see the current writers (Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente) seem to be moving away from using her as a mental health foil, having sought therapy. It’s also pleasing to see Northstar’s homosexual life not being ignored in this issue.

Spirit #14

The Spirit #14: A solid done-in-one story that indirectly pays tribute to Kirby, Gil Kane and Wally Wood, written by Matt Sturges with art by Victor Ibanez. This is one of those issues where, while I don’t normally read The Spirit, I was glad I bought it. Namely, Sturges writes a scene that allows the characters into the sewers of Central City. This mere transition scene allows Ibanez to do a very Eisner-influenced layout.

Thunderbolts #157: Writer Jeff Parker fooled me with the last issue’s cliffhanger in many ways. And that’s revealed quickly as this issue opens. Normally I don’t like being fooled, but the surprises he throws into the mix were entertaining. I am particularly intrigued by the seeds he is planting with Ghost and Juggernaut’s character paths.

Zatanna #13: Thirteen seems to be a lucky number for the creative team of Paul Dini and Jamal Igle. As a writer, Dini has struck a great balance of entertainment and adventure for Zatanna. As Dini gears up to take Zatanna up against Brother Night again, Igle is the perfect artist to render this issue’s guest star, Spectre. The key to striking Spectre scenes (where he is typically meting out punishment) is an artist with an active imagination, Igle fits that bill. For readers wondering what larger role Detective Dale Colton has in this series, this issue provides a surprising answer.

Heroes for Hire #7: This issue was a tad uneven for me, which surprised me as I usually enjoy the book. It’s a shame, as a great deal of elements laid out in past issues came together quite nicely in this issue. The uneven nature is squarely on the odd insecure tendencies that the writers give Paladin in this issue. Hopefully it’s a temporary crisis of confidence due to his injuries (and working with someone like Spider-Man). Despite this quirk, I really am happy to see how the creators continue to evolve the role and actions of Misty Knight, who is the backbone of this book on many levels. I hope this series is around for the long haul, because ultimately I think Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning is giving readers another unique strong female lead.

Chris Mautner

Koyama Press debuted a number of books at TCAF the other week. While I didn’t get to attend the festival, Anne Koyama was nice enough to send me a couple of review copies.

Lose #3: The latest issue in Michael DeForge’s ongoing series that will catapult him to greatness. This issue features a flying squirrel/dog thing that has very poor social skills and makes horrible faux pas and just generally embarrasses himself in front of his co-workers, ex-wife and children. It’s wonderful in that sort of cringe-y, off-kilter sort of vein that DeForge mines so well This sort of one-man anthology series is the sort of thing every aspiring cartoonist did back in the 90s in order to get a foothold in the alt-comix world. Now it’s all graphic novels and book deals, so kudos to DeForge for keeping it old-school.

Root Rot

Root Rot: This is a rather interesting anthology of Koyama-funded artists and like-minded souls. DeForge did the cover. The most well known name here is probably Dan Zettwoch. The interesting thing about this booklet is each artist is only given two pages to work with, so the book almost takes on the feel of a college-type portfolio/sampler at times. Still, quite a few contributors are able to cram a lot of great work in their two pages, like Zettwoch, Hellen Jo, Joseph Lambert, Angie Wang, T. Edward Bak and Chris Eliopoulos. Enough to make for a worthwhile purchase.

Monster Party by Chris Eliopoulos: A bunch of monsters are hiding in the basement of a little boy’s house because he never cleans it up. Then they come out of hiding and a rather gleeful bit of mayhem ensues, but it’s all in good fun. A good comic to share with your kids, especially the messy ones.

Cat Rackham Loses It by Steve Wolfhard: An amusing little tale about a cat who loses his woodland home (such as it is) when another cat, with a gun strapped to his back, seizes it by force. No, I didn’t mistype that last sentence. Wolfhard draws in a cute, appealing style and has a knack for quiet, wordless humor that makes the comic appealing, even though it is a rather quick read. Recommended.

Color Me Busy by Keith Jones: This is the only comic in the bunch that left me cold. Like the title suggests, it’s basically designed as a coloring book, only of nattily dressed, anthropomorphic dogs (or dog-headed humans, whichever you prefer) and various lumpy, cylindrical or phallic objects that litter the page. That’s really all there is to it. There’s just pages and pages of this … stuff with no narrative or structure or seeming forethought put into it other than a seemingly obsessive compulsion to draw lumpy bread dough again and again. If this were a little cheaper or printed on actual coloring book paper I could possibly grok it a bit more, but for now I’m just kind of scratching my head and moving on.

Brigid Alverson

Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maiden

It seems like I’m reading a lot of manga lately, and despite the demise of Tokyopop, there’s plenty of good stuff coming out. At the top of my stack at the moment is the first volume of Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maiden, from Bandai. It’s like Oh My Goddess lite: A high school student releases a goddess from her host tree (which has been cut down) and gently humorous complications ensue. I’m not finished with the volume yet, but so far the dynamic seems to be that the human male gets bossed around a lot, rather than having his every wish catered to. It’s simple, sweet, and funny, and the art has a nice linear style that makes it easy to read.

I also picked up the first volume of Dark Horse’s Archie archives and was pleased to see that it starts with the very first Archie comic, which features Betty and Jughead, but no Veronica. This is a really nice way to read these early comics‹the book is the same size as the originals, and the color quality is good. Unlike a lot of archives books, it lacks a scholarly essay to put the comics in context — there’s just a cheery note from Archie CEO Jon Goldwater — but that leaves room for more comics. And it’s fun to see how much, and how little, has changed — Jughead’s “Girls! Ick!” attitude is there from the very first episode, but Archie prefers to be called Chick rather than his given name, and the characters’ faces are very different from the modern versions.

Dave McKean

The Ancestor’s Tale by Richard Dawkins

I tend to read non-fiction most of the time. At the moment I’m reading The Ancestor’s Tale by Richard Dawkins and The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens and the Search for the Good Life by Bettany Hughes.

The last comic I read was, appropriately, the Lost Girls by Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie. I was really drawn into the story, a completely different, and much wordier, view of pornography than my book. The effect was interesting. By the third book, much like the malaise of the times, and the dread of war in the background, I’d really had enough of the sex scenes. I felt over-sated. I’m sure this is what Alan wanted. Very effective.

A God Somewhere

Happy Easter and welcome to What Are You Reading?, our weekly look back at the comics and other stuff we’ve checked out recently.

Today our special guest is Chris Schweizer, creator of the Crogan Adventures series published by Oni Press and a professor of sequential art at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

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

*****

Tim O’Shea

Invincible #79

Invincible #79: Earlier this week, in a CBR News interview with writer Robert Kirkman, he said of this issue ” I just wrote a scene at the end of #79 that I don’t think you’d ever see in a corporate superhero comic.” And he is right about that. The plot reveal of a decision that Eve chose to make in Mark’s absence is an interesting direction for the book to take with the characters, but I’m curious to see if certain social issue groups take umbrage at the creator’s plot choice. I don’t want to reveal the ending, but I will comment that I appreciated how Kirkman had both characters react to the news. Superhero comics rarely attempt real character moments like this, and I admire Kirkman’s effort to do it.

Super Dinosaur #1: I was really struck by the difference in tone between the adult issues dealt with in Invincible, versus the full-out fun in the launch of Kirkman’s all-ages Super Dinosaur. Kirkman does an impressive job of introducing the cast quickly and building the most unique father-son dynamic I’ve seen in an all-ages adventures ever (basically the child becomes the parent). It’s an interesting element to attempt, but one hopes it’s a plot element that is temporary and not status quo for the entire series. Here’s hoping the female kid characters will be utilized as more than potential crush interest for Derek Dynamo (the book’s kid lead). An aside, Stan Lee must be overjoyed to see Kirkman introducing a lead character named Derek Dynamo, son of Doctor Dynamo. The 11-year-old son found the book to be a solid read as well.

Justice League of America #56: I keep reading this title hoping a glimmer of old James Robinson will reveal himself. Is there any chance that Robinson was only a really strong writer when he was edited by the late Archie Goodwin? Longtime Titans fans let me know something, has Dick Grayson at any point in his friendship with Donna Troy ever called her “Don”? And kudos to DC editorial for shoehorning Doomsday in this Eclipso plotline (where Shade appears to be uncharacteristically weak-willed for the sake of the plot). Meanwhile, the Alan Scott family gets used as props in a very crappy plot (at least we’re spared the odd costume that Scott is sporting in the JSA). Both the JSA and JLA keep throwing characters at stories with very little attention to how or why they are there.

Avengers Academy

Avengers Academy #12: Christos Gage continues to write the best Avengers title that Marvel publishes currently. This issue though I was really struck by the character moments that Tom Raney is working into the tale. For instance, in the opening splash page–after the team is granted access to future versions of themselves, I love how Raney has Finesse looking at her future self by using Mettle’s surface as a mirror. But Raney’s best work does not occur until the final pages of this issue, where Raney attempts (and succeeds) at showing Mettle’s non-moving facial features with emotion. It’s amazing what Raney accomplishes merely with Mettle’s eyes.

Hulk #32: Jeff Parker’s ability to capitalize upon Thunderbolt Ross’ military instincts (and problem-solving ability) makes a different kind of Hulk than you get with Bruce Banner. I really love the use of Annie in recent issues and am curious to see what he does with this almost human character over the long haul. Plus artistically there are few books that beat the combo of Gabriel Hardman colored by Elizabeth Breitweiser.

Thunderbolts #156

Thunderbolts #156: I’m not sure who is having more fun: me reading this series since the introduction last issue of Satana or Parker getting to write it. The effort to develop a B-Team for the Thunderbolts (the Underbolts) is already bearing some great narrative fruit as well. But back to the new team member, the one panel where Satana “greets” Moonstone will have word balloon placement scholars talking for decades, I tell ya, decades! Be sure to see Erika Moen’s alternate take on that scene –as well as see the latest installment of Parker and Moen’s Bucko. Did I mention that Parker is my favorite Thunderbolts writer since Kurt Busiek?

Zatanna #12: Matthew Sturges pinch-hits for regular series writer Paul Dini–and reveals he’d be a great replacement should Dini ever want to quit the series. The scene that won me over was when Mikey quizzes Zatanna with flash cards, practicing backward versions of words. Extra bonus, Amanda Conner’s cover where Zatanna’s morning commute has her magically juggling an iPad, her coffee and a muffin just stolen by a bird.

Brigid Alverson

The Sky Over the Louvre is the latest in NBM’s series of translations of graphic novels about the Louvre, and I think it’s the best so far. It is set in the French Revolution and the two main characters are Maximilien Robespierre, architect of the Terror, and the painter Jacques-Louis David, who was sort of the art-propaganda arm of the Revolution. The story revolves around Robespierre’s desire to create the Cult of the Supreme Being, a sort of secular religion, and to make a martyr of a young boy, Bara, who had chosen to die rather than hand over two horses to the enemy, and David’s attempts to create paintings for both. The backdrop of all this is the Terror, and David’s struggles are contrasted with Robespierre’s seeming obsession and the madness of accusations and death. It’s a great read and left me wanting more.

I returned this week to Dylan Meconis’s Family Man, another historical comic about a wayward theology scholar at a university in the hinterlands of Germany. It’s a great story that wraps up bits of scholarship and history with a supernatural tale in a really beautiful setting. The romantic action is heating up right now, and there’s nothing I love more than a love story between brainy people‹moments of passion interspersed with witty dialogue. I continue to be in awe of the way Meconis composes a page, using panels and pictorial elements to set the scene and move the action, and her characters have gotten even more solid and real as the story goes on.

Chris Schweizer

It’s been a little bit tough to squeeze in comics reading for the last couple of weeks. I’ve been engrossed in Patrick O’Brian’s first two Aubrey/Maturin novels, Master and Commander and Post Captain, and have just started the third, and I’ve been scrambling to get the files to the printer for a large sketchbook that I’ll be debuting at HeroesCon. Nevertheless, I read any time I’m not actively doing something where I can’t be reading – in bed, in the bathroom, eating, at stoplights, in line at the post office, etc. so I do have a few that have slipped through my schedule barrier.

Blacklung by Chris Wright: I’m incredibly lucky, in that I was citing this book for a paper about the rise of genre in art comics, and asked Wright if he could give me a page or panel to use while presenting. He obliged by sending me the entire book as a PDF, which I printed out and bound, and have read four times in two months.

Though I’d read and been very impressed by the Wright’s short stories in his Inkweed collection a couple of years ago, I could not have imagined how impressive a work Blacklung would turn out to be. It’s a graphic novel, both in its vernacular term and in a more literal sense, violent and horrible and poetic at the same time – the sort of thing McCarthy might write if he were more interested in pirates than cowboys or Appalachians.

Our medium has had many excellent works, and usually I tend to be an ardent cheerleader for ones that I feel best epitomize the form. Segar’s comics, for example, are excellent in the larger context of the comics medium. But they don’t necessarily hold up against the great works of Western literature. They do to me, but I’m a toon-head, if I might borrow a phrase from Jeff Smith.

Blacklung is different. While trudging through it (and it IS a trudging read – the hatchwork is so heavy as to anchor one’s eyes to each panel, and the story forces regular pauses for contemplation), I couldn’t help but compare it to Conrad, as the reading experience seemed virtually identical – I expect he influenced the work, though I don’t know this for certain. And I genuinely believe it to be on par in quality with his best works. Blacklung is a great book; canonically great.

It does not have a publisher.

It had one, from what I understand, one of the more respectable GN publishers, but my impression is that this is no longer the case. Wright’s meticulous and minutiaed inkwork doesn’t allow for any reduction in scale from the original to the finished book, which means that the book must be large – 10 by 14 inches or so, I reckon – and for a book which the average comic reader will likely find difficult this may be a real stumbling block for publishers, financially. But I hope against hope that somebody who can give it the design treatment that it deserves will carry it to shelves.

It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read. Do I enjoy reading it? No. It hurts me to read it, both my mind (which I’m the first to admit is not nearly as quick as I’d like) and my sensibilities. But it’s a damn good book. I hope it becomes available very, very soon. It’ll make everything I do look like the Boxcar Children, but that’s a small price to pay for the elevation of our medium.

A God Somewhere by John Arcudi and Peter Snejbjerg: I can be kind of a snot regarding collaborative comics – I don’t mean to be, and I’ve got nothing against them, but it’s a rarity that I pick them up, the same way I tend to avoid books with two authors on the byline (Black House or Peter and the Starcatchers, for example). I enjoy reading comics, but I’m always analyzing them, and not knowing from which end, artist or writer, a decision comes is frustrating to me. I like having a clear sense of how the narrative was conceived and delivered, and it’s much harder to do that with team comics. I read the ones my friends make because I can gain that insight through conversation, but otherwise I don’t unless something comes highly recommended, and as a result I miss a lot of really good titles.

A friend sent me A God Somewhere, by John Arcudi and Peter Snejbjerg. I love Arcudi’s work on B.P.R.D., but haven’t read much of his other stuff – after this I plan to. Like Blacklung, it’s an emotionally uncomfortable read, a superhero story without any costumes and a terrifyingly account of the consequences of absolute power – real absolute power, Superman-level absolute power. Arcudi delivers this horror with the same approach to scale that he handles so deftly in B.P.R.D., consequences so far beyond my capacity for imagination that trying to fathom them puts me in the same state of panic and fear as his characters. Snejbjerg’s art is well-suited to the story, and he doesn’t pull any punches in depicting the human consequences of the events. It’s graphically violent without glamorizing the violence. It has to be shown vividly for the story to work. I’d like to see more works like this and less degradation of existing or iconic superheroes, as per the suggestions Roger Langridge made last week.

Moonshine by Falynn Koch: Also, another in-progress one, but at least this one you can read so far on the web. It’s Falynn Koch’s alcoholic werewolf coming-of-age western, Moonshine. I love seeing stuff as this is being developed, and Falynn’s an amazing storyteller. I can’t wait to see it all finished and in color (she’s a heck of a good colorist).

Borders

Retailing | A bankruptcy judge is expected to hear arguments today from the bankrupt Borders Group, which is seeking to pay $8.3 million in bonuses in a bid to retain key corporate personnel. The struggling bookseller says that 47 executives and director-level employees have quit since the company declared bankruptcy on Feb. 16 — two dozen just this month — leaving only 15 people in senior management positions. In a court filing last week, U.S. bankruptcy trustee Tracy Hope Davis objected to the bonus proposal, characterizing it as “a disguised retention plan for insiders, which also provides for discriminatory bonuses for non-insiders.” [The Detroit News]

Publishing | Todd Allen looks at sales estimates for the first issues in Marvel’s “Point One” initiative, which featured self-contained stories designed to serve as a jumping-on point for new or lapsed readers: “With the sole exception of Hulk, retailers ordered less copies of the ‘jump on’ issue, than the regular series.  If you figure people picking up the title would also pick up the ‘.1′ introductory issue, this is a flaming disaster and there aren’t going to be a lot of these comics finding their way into the hands of new readers.  It smack of very low buy-in from the retail community.” [Indignant Online]

Conventions | Heidi MacDonald wraps up last weekend’s MoCCA Festival. [Publishers Weekly]

Comic-Con | The deadline for contributions to the 2011 Comic-Con Souvenir Book is April 29. [Comic-Con]

Retailing | Michael Waddell spotlights Memphis, Tenn.-area retailers Comics and Collectibles and Comic Cellar Cards, Comics & Games. [Memphis Daily News]

Daniel Clowes

Creators | Robot 6 contributor Sean T. Collins talks at length with Daniel Clowes about his new book Mister Wonderful. [The Comics Journal]

Creators | This Q&A with Lynda Barry covers a fascinating range of topics, from nervousness and figure skating to brain function and how art works. [The Boston Phoenix]

Creators | Mike Carey discusses his Vertigo series The Unwritten. [The Associated Press]

Creators | Jeffrey Brown chats about The Incredible Change-Bots, and the possibility of more installments: “I think there will be a third and possibly final book, although I don’t want to rule anything out. I still haven’t done any kind of parody or tribute to my other favorite toy growing up which is G.I. Joe. I had a bunch of ideas for a G.I. Joe parody and as I was finishing the second book and then doing some of the drawings and things for the compilation of odds and ends. I realized that I could very easily fold the G.I. Joe parody into the third Change Bots book. So it won’t be too specifically G.I. Joe, but there will be a third book where the Change Bots are now living on Earth and fighting with each other and humans as well. I haven’t quite figured out all the details yet. It would be down the road a couple of years before I get to that.” [Topless Robot]

Creators | Jesse Schedeen looks at the essential comics of Stuart Immonen. [IGN.com]

Creators | Eva Volin interviews Alexis Fajardo at WonderCon. [Good Comics for Kids]

Comics | Ben Morse compares and contrasts Marvel’s Thunderbolts and DC’s Suicide Squad. [The Cool Kids Table]

Here at Hogwarts

Welcome to What Are You Reading?, our weekly discussion about the comics we here at Robot 6 have been checking out lately. Today’s special guest is Lauren Davis, who blogs about webcomics at Storming the Tower and io9, and is the editor of the San Francisco comics anthology The Comic Book Guide to the Mission.

To see what Lauren and the Robot 6 gang have been reading lately, click below …

*****

Tim O’Shea

Knight & Squire #6

Good lord. When I read Paul Cornell’s final text piece for Knight and Squire #6 I was astounded to learn that 130 new characters had been introduced in the six issue miniseries. I still cannot believe the narrative curveball that Cornell threw readers in the last issue, but the whole damn thing comes together quite nicely in the conclusion. And even though I read all the single issues, I have a feeling the extras that Cornell is gonna toss in the collection will make that worth picking up as well. Page 2 of this issue is worth the purchase alone for the classic comics writer names that are plastered in graffiti on the wall.

Xombi #1: Not much of a fan of supernatural, unless it’s classic material by Archie Goodwin or current stuff by Jason Aaron. But DC Comics was kind enough to send me an advance copy of Xombi #1. Not to sound like a total idiot, but Fraser Irving is perfectly suited for supernatural tales like this material. And any writer like John Rozum, who references NC Wyeth in the first panel of a story draws me in with pop culture fun. I’ve not read any of the past Xombi material–and the nice news about that is even though I did not know a damn thing about David Kim before this story, I was interested in the character by the fourth page. Plus there’s talking coins at one point in this story. Kudos to Rozum (a longtime friend of Dwayne McDuffie) for dedicating this first issue to the recently departed writer.

Superman #709: Kevin Melrose has already documented one of wacky, enjoyable aspects of this issue. Roberson’s ability to work little elements into the story, like the fact that Supes and Flash have a conversation at superspeed in the time that a waitress almost trips and falls (as the scene ends, of course, Flash saves her from a fall). Until DC makes an official announcement, I will keep writing: “Give Chris Roberson a permanent assignment as writer of Superman. This guy turned a floundering arc into something entertaining.” Small smarky aside: When all is said and done on this Grounded storyline, I am going to check and see how many issues featured a scene with a white picket fence.

Avengers Academy #11: Christos Gage remains the most engaging writer on an Avengers-related title at present. And in the current arc, he gets to use a hell of a lot of Avengers, not just the academy students. How many, you may ask? Tom Raney draws characters I never even recognize, that’s not a complaint. I still remember back in the 1970s when I first read the Avengers and there would be a character I would not know about. That would not make me feel left out, quite the opposite it would leave me wanting to learn more. And that’s the feeling I get when I read Gage’s writing. Some writers when they use Jocasta characterize her as nothing more than a high-quality PDA, Jocasta by Gage is an asset to the Academy staff and the book’s cast (though you always have this suspicion fomented by the Gage that she can go Ultron on the team at any point). After this pivotal issue, I’ll be curious to see where the creative team takes Veil, in particular.

Thunderbolts #155: Jeff Parker’s affinity for Dr. Strange (who lends a hand in this single issue only) is clear from the issue’s outset. Getting the voice of Stephen Strange just right is no easy feat, but Parker does it. To me, the sign of a good writer in a team book like the Thunderbolts is when they can make the guest stars shine in an ensemble cast without taking away from the title’s core group dynamics. That’s what Parker achieves with Dr. Strange–and Kev Walker gives Strange almost a Russian look to a certain extent. It’s an immensely iconic tone to a certain extent. While it may be too early for another Dr. Strange miniseries, I would love for Parker & Walker give it a go.

Chris Mautner

Noche Roja

Noche Roja by Simon Oliver and Jason Latour is the latest entry in the Vertigo Crime, and like previous efforts it’s a rather enjoyable effort, though it slips easily from your mind once you put it down. It’s about a former, washed-up cop now private detective who heads across the border to a small factory town in Mexico where young women are being rather gruesomely killed. It’s well done, I particularly like Latour’s just-cartoonish-enough art style, though the cheap paper it’s printed on does it no favors, particularly when Latour uses as much ink and ben-day dots as he does.

I suppose my big problem with Noche and much of the Vertigo Crime line is that it’s so plot-heavy that there’s little room for style or characterization. I realize that this genre tends to be rather plot-heavy in general anyway, but for me the pleasure usually resides in the character studies and little flourishes, and Noche Roja doesn’t have too many of those.

A more satisfying crime book to me, by far, was The Terrible Axe-Man of New Orleans, the latest entry in Rick Geary’s ongoing Treasury of 20th Century Murder. This time Geary tackles a rather obscure — nay, all but forgotten — tale of random and rather ugly murders that occurred in the Big Easy around 1918. Here the thrill exists in Geary laying out the various strands of the story. The case was never solved, adding an unsettling tone to an already grim story, and Geary’s methodical detective work makes the tale even more deliciously eerie.

Tom Bondurant

Welcome To Tranquility

This week I re-read just about all of Welcome To Tranquility (everything except the “Worldstorm” crossover) and I’d like to think there’ll be more from Gail Simone and company even with WildStorm gone. Eighteen issues (twelve of the regular series and last year’s 6-issue sequel) is a good bit of space in which to build a world, but Simone and artist Neil Googe got much of it done right out of the gate. The rest is mostly character studies — the revenge-driven gunslinger, the undead rockabilly star, the lawmen with unconventional backgrounds — which prove immediately engaging. Especially in the One Foot In The Grave miniseries (drawn by Horacio Domingues), I could see the same kind of dark streak which powers Secret Six, butting against the tenacity of Birds Of Prey. Moreover, since the villain of OFITG is a “forgotten character” from Tranquility’s past since turned into an unstoppable evil, I can see the sequel miniseries as something of a reaction to the Superboy-Prime style of stories. While some of OFITG‘s plot elements steer awfully close to women-in-refrigerators-type moments, I don’t think they’re meant to have the same effect; and in any case, the end of OFITG suggests that such things should never have happened to begin with. I’m eager for another sequel because OFITG seems to leave one plot thread dangling, and since it affects a couple of major characters, I hope it has a chance to play out.

I also picked up a few of Titan Books’ Star Trek reprints, specifically the first several issues of DC’s 1983 series and the first year or so of the ’89 relaunch. In a nutshell, while the first series (written by Mike W. Barr, pencilled by Tom Sutton, inked by Ricardo Villagran) was both entertaining and true to the spirit of Kirk-Movie Trek, I have to say that Peter David and James W. Fry’s work on the ’89 relaunch is zippier and more witty, with more detail-oriented art. (I do think Paramount should have let David and Fry use M’Ress, though.) The ’89 relaunch started off with a mega-arc about Kirk running afoul of The Salla, unquestioned charismatic ruler of his eponymous fanatical race. Kirk’s unconventional tactics in dealing with the Salla land him in hot water with both the Federation and the Klingons, naturally, and at the end of the issue I just finished, he’s assigned a “protocol officer” to keep him out of trouble. Then it gets wacky, with Kirk battling a bounty hunter “played by” John Cleese, and there’s a trial, and it’s a whole big thing. Still better than Star Trek V.

Anyway, I did want to mention one of the Barr/Sutton stories, “Mortal Gods” from the first series’ issue #5. This might have been the only one of Sutton’s issues not inked by Villagran, and by his absence he demonstrates how much his style sometimes overwhelmed Sutton’s pencils. In fact, Sal Amendola’s inks are practically delicate in comparison, bringing out the detail in faces and technology that Villagran often didn’t. The story is familiar Prime-Directive stuff — a stranded Starfleet captain changes the course of an alien society’s history — but this time it’s one of Kirk’s students, and he’s using his “alien powers” to stop warring factions from killing each other. That’s all well and good, and Kirk’s solution is, as you might expect, is about as radical as the original “fix.” However, I was surprised, and then a little amused, at one minor plot point. Captain Hodges’ ship was destroyed in the war with the Klingons which took up much of issues #1-4. Regardless, he had time to a) demonstrate his “godlike” powers to his new neighbors, b) impose his will on them, and c) fall in love, all in maybe a week to ten days. Either the war lasted a lot longer than I thought, or Hodges was just as good, if not better, with the ladies than his old professor….

Lauren Davis

I’m not a huge fan of the Harry Potter series, but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying Lucy Knisley and Nora Renick-Rinehart’s Here at Hogwarts. I adore Knisley’s comic essays at Stop Paying Attention, so a 36-page Knisley comic is a real treat. She and her studio mate decide to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – with detours through Disney World and even a Jesus theme park. Knisley manages to take a clear-eyed view of the parks without being overly cynical. She investigates the ploys the parks use to keep visitors happy and spending money, but decides that, ultimately, trips like these are about recapturing joy.

from Spacetrawler

Moving from Orlando to a solar system far, far away, I’m reading (or, more accurately, re-reading) the first collected volume of Chris Baldwin’s webcomic Spacetrawler. Space opera comics are a tricky thing to pull off – as are comedic space operas – but Baldwin nails it with his tale of human abductees roped into an alien activist mission. The characters have such remarkable chemistry, and there are some genuinely shocking moments where I still laugh out loud.

The webcomic I’m most excited about this week is Tom Siddell’s Gunnerkrigg Court, which is back after a brief hiatus. The underlying tensions of Gunnerkrigg Court are set between the Court, the technologically advanced boarding school Annie and her friend Kat attend, and the mystical Forest ruled by the god-like Coyote. After two years at Court, Annie decided to spend her summer break in the Forest. Now that she’s back at school, that decision is having powerful repercussions for her friendship with the scientifically minded Kat – and likely her larger life at Court. Siddell has done a beautiful job aging up the characters, and I find I’m dying to know how Annie spent her summer vacation.

Even though I picked it up at my local comic book store, To Timbuktu, by Casey Scieszka and Steven Weinberg, isn’t exactly a comic. Scieszka provides the words and Weinberg the illustrations for this post-collegiate travelogue about their journey from China (as English teachers), through Asia, and eventually to Mali for Scieszka’s Fullbright grant study. I’m obsessed with the minutiae of other people’s lives, and To Timbuktu delivers on a number of fronts: a formerly long-distance relationship that becomes suddenly intimate, the daily routine of life in a foreign country, two people trying to grow into who they are as adults. I suspect that if I’d read this in college, I would have dumped all my grad school plans and run off to China.

Marvel Two In One #86

So for a few days now Marvel.com has been running a poll asking folks which villain should join the Thunderbolts. Choices include a lot of great classic villains, like the Absorbing Man, Batroc, Mr. Hyde and The Shocker, as well as some that aren’t quite so classic, like Dr. Demonicus.

I’ve changed my vote several times now, as I keep going back and forth on who really deserves the kind of redemption being a Thunderbolt could bring:

• I started out backing Sandman, because I always thought Flint Marko got a raw deal when they turned him back into a villain. The now-classic Marvel Two-in-One #86 was a quiet story where Sandman and The Thing hung out at a bar, trading tales and becoming friends, that set up the Sandman as the ultimate case of redemption. Marko eventually moving on to work for Silver Sable and even became an Avenger. I mean, look how happy he is here — doesn’t he deserve a second second chance?
• But then I started to remember that the Absorbing Man also had some desire to get away from his life of crime, so I started backing him. Plus, he was ahead of Sandman and probably had a better chance of winning. I always thought Crusher Creel was an awesome bad guy; I still remember an issue of the Avengers where he pretty much took apart the team by himself, until he turned into glass or smoke or whatever substance was around him that he accidentally touched. But he showed his softer side later on, marrying his insane girlfriend Titania and even becoming a follower of Thor, before eventually being portrayed as a villain again. But hey, maybe this time redemption will finally stick.
• Or maybe not. The more I thought of some of those classic fights he’s had with Avengers and Thor, the more I decided maybe I didn’t want him redeemed. And you know who else might be even more deserving? Madame Masque. Sure, she’s been the Hood’s right-hand woman most recently, but she started her career as someone more misguided than evil. Let’s see, she’s the daughter of an evil super villain, she’s got a scarred face, she’s the former lover of Tony Stark … she even had a “bio duplicate” who hung out with the Avengers for a time. So there’s a nice redemption story there that’s been set up by past events. She’s also taken the lead this morning, knocking the Shocker out of the top spot.

Could any of these guys or gals be redeemed? I was holding out hope that one of them just might make it, like Songbird and Atlas and Techno, er, and MACH-V. But who really knows, except for Thunderbolts writer Jeff Parker.

“And hey, don’t worry about which villains are redeemable when you write in- I sure don’t,” Parker said on Twitter.

Rats.

Smile

Happy holidays and welcome to What Are You Reading? Today’s special guest is Caanan Grall, creator of the webcomic Max Overacts and the Zuda strip Celadore.

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

*****

Tim O’Shea

Thunderbolts #151

In Thunderbolts #151, writer Jeff Parker accomplishes two things I did not think were possible:

1) Gives Ghost a backstory that makes me interested in the character
2) Rattles the unflappable Moonstone

Parker is one of the top three writers at Marvel presently working.

I’ve not read any of David Liss’ past prose or comics work, so I had no idea what to expect in the first installment of Black Panther: The Man Without Fear (aka Daredevil #513). I am unwilling to commit to the series with this first installment, though I’m unabashedly intrigued by the core premise (Black Panther sans his wealth/advanced technology) becomes Hell’s Kitchen main protection. Liss does a solid job of laying down a foundation of a premise, but artist Francesco Francavilla does not provide the spark to make the art engage me.

After interviewing Avengers Academy scribe Christos Gage last week, I was struck by the number of readers (in our comments section) who mentioned it was their favorite series of the Avengers franchise. After some consideration, I have to agree with them. The redemption (or whatever one considers it is) of Hank Pym is examined front and center in issue #7.

Chris Mautner

Things I’ve read:

Nipper 1963-1964

Nipper 1963-1964 by Doug Wright. Utterly charming, inspired cartooning, done with a sharp eye for detail and drawn enough from real life to make it seem utterly familiar without ever being bland or too cute for words. Guaranteed to knock the socks off ya.

Eden by Pablo Holmberg. Holmberg has a nice, simple, thin-lined style, but this collection of four-panel strips is just too terribly twee for me to appreciate. It’s like John Porcellino or James Kochalka’s work, but without any of the bite or self-deprecation that makes the more precious moments worthwhile. File under “trying too hard.”

Fuc* **u *ss **le by Johnny Ryan. The fourth and final collection of Blecky Yuckarella strips. As with Ryan’s more recent work (including the just released New Character Parade) the jokes become have become more outrageous, absurd, disturbing and just plain odd. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing depends upon your appreciation for Prison Pit, not to mention your appreciation for Johnny Ryan’s comics in general. Me, I thought it was swell.

Odd Is On Our Side by Fred Van Lente, Dean Koontz and Queenie Chan. Even the addition of a smart writer like Van Lente can’t make me appreciate this contrived, tiresome series about a boy who solves murders with the help of dead people. Everything about it just rings false with me, from the set-up to the dialogue to Chan’s stiff art (though, to be charitable, she’s improved considerably since the last Odd book). For Dean Koontz fans only I suppose, wherever they may happen to be.

Sean T. Collins

With LOVE AND ROCKTOBER in my rear-view mirror at long last, I’m catching up on some of the more prominent releases from the last quarter of 2010. Click the links for full reviews!

If ‘n Oof

If ‘n Oof by Brian Chippendale (PictureBox): Chippendale’s latest is a breeze to read — every page is a splash page! — which suits its rollicking action-movie buddy-comedy sci-fi tone…at least until that haunting ending kicks in.

X’d Out by Charles Burns (Pantheon): Burns refines his already emotionally rich and unnerving approach to surrealism to a now-laserlike focus in this story of a young punk artist haunted by dreams and memories he can’t control, throwing in stunning color work to boot.

Ex Machina Vol. 10: Term Limits by Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris (DC/Wildstorm): I always preferred this to BKV’s other long-running high-concept science-fiction series Y: The Last Man, but this final volume threw me, with strange art hiccups from the normally consistent Harris and an ending that depended on our attachment to Mitchell Hundred, a character who ideologically and emotionally has always been something of a cipher.

And oh yeah, one last LOVE AND ROCKTOBER review–

Love and Rockets: New Stories #1-3 and “Dreamstar” by Gilbert Hernandez (Fantagraphics/Dark Horse): Beto’s ingeniously intertwined contributions to the latest incarnation of Love and Rockets (and to MySpace Dark Horse Presents) comprise a complex, unforgettable career peak for an artist whose career is festooned with them.

JK Parkin

As I mentioned earlier this week, I thought Vertigo and the creators of Fables #100 really blew the roof off for their big anniversary issue. I thought the duel was well handled, the main story sent off in a completely different direction than I expected and all the extras, from board games to short stories, really made the 100 plus pages something special.

With the end of the year approaching and Kiel contacting us about CBR’s annual best-of-the-year list, I’ve been catching up with and re-reading a bunch of comics from this year. This week I’ve hit American Vampire, Morning Glories, Scarlet, the Sixth Gun, Fantastic Four and Acme Novelty Library, with Wally Gropius and a re-reading of Duncan the Wonder Dog on deck, and hopefully time for Orc Stain and Joe the Barbarian again before I make my final list.

Caanan Grall

Mal and Chad

First, I want to say to the Robot 6 guys, thanks for having me! Second, I only get to a comic shop once every few months when I can make it to Halifax, so I’m not exactly up to date on the periodical comic world.

Living in the middle of nowhere, I have finally taken to the web for some of my comic fix, and boy, why did I wait so long? I’ve been going through Mal & Chad from the beginning and while I’m not very far along, so far it’s a real charmer, with Mal being a very earnest young genius in hiding, pretending he’s normal to stay near his lady love, Megan, and Chad being his actual talking dog (as in, not imaginary, Mal made him able to talk) and together they get into mischief and ponder the world. There is a collection coming later next year which I will be all over.

Also, on the web, I read That Monkey Tune, which I first learned of at NYCC this year. It’s an old school type comic strip – about monkeys! – with retro stylings, and blends a nice mix of character comedy, with irony-laden cynicism about modern society and pop-culture trends (without being too specific, which I like.)

Cleopatra in Space by MIke Maihack is also a fantastic webcomic I keep up with. It’s a fun, energetic ride, and the addition of colour really makes it pop.

In the print world, by far the best thing I’ve read recently is Smile by Raina Telgemeier. It’s a coming of age type story centered around Raina losing her two front teeth in an accident, but it’s the way it’s told that is truly remarkable. Each page is essentially a one page gag. They all string together to tell a complete story of course, but you could take each page on its own too, and get a complete vignette. It’s over 200 pages so that’s a LOT of vignettes! An absolute achievement in storytelling.

Being a massive Roger Langridge fan, and enjoying Chris Samnee’s art on The Mighty, I also recently picked up the first five issues of Thor: The Mighty Avenger. I have never read Thor before, I don’t care for Thor. Never have. Having read these comics though, now I do. Which just goes to show what the right creative talent can do with any characters given to them. Great fun.

Batman Incorporated #1

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

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

Graeme McMillan

If I had $15, at least $9 of it – okay, $8.98 – would be already spoken for. The first issue of Batman Incorporated ($3.99) and one-shot lead-in Batman: The Return #1 ($4.99) offer up the first glimpses of what Grant Morrison has in mind for his new Batus-quo and, after the way he brought the RIP/Return of Bruce Wayne storyline to a close, I’m pretty much on board no matter what. The remaining money…? It’s a tough one, but I’m going to go for Spider-Girl #1 ($3.99), pretty much because I like Paul Tobin’s writing, I like the Twitter gimmick (Somewhere, Joe Casey’s going “I did it first in Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance!” and I know, Joe), and, most importantly, the Spider-Girl short was my favorite part of last week’s Amazing Spider-Man relaunch issue. Who could’ve seen that coming?

*****

If I had $30, I’d add the sixth issue of The Sixth Gun ($3.99) to the pile, because it’s been a fun ride so far and I want to see what happens next, and also Vertigo Resurrected: The Extremist #1 ($7.99), because I only vaguely remember Peter Milligan and Ted McKeever’s kink-centric series from the early ’90s and want to happily relive Milligan’s golden age, back before he broke my heart with that X-Men run (although Greek Street was a partial return to form, I’d argue).

ShockRockets

If I could splurge, I’d be torn. IDW is reissuing Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen’s Shockrockets as a $24.99 hardcover, and I really, really want to read that, having missed it the first time around but being someone who enjoys the work of both creators quite a bit (It doesn’t help that the book will probably look beautiful; IDW doesn’t mess around when it comes to production value). But at the same time, Jim McCann and Janet Lee‘s Return Of The Dapper Men is also out this week, and from everything I’ve read and seen about this fairy tale OGN, it looks like something I’d enjoy quite a bit. To make matters even worse, Marc Bernardin and Adam Freeman have a new OGN out this week as well, Kickstart’s Hero Complex ($14.99). Dammit! How much am I allowed to splurge, again…?

Brigid Alverson

If I had just $15…

I’d blow it all on the trade paperback of CBGB, BOOM! Studios’ anthology of comics about the famed New York punk rock club. It’s odd to think of anyone being nostalgic for the punk era—”nostalgia” and “punk” being polar opposites—but the stories manage to be wistful and head-banging in equal parts, so it’s all good.

If I had $30…

I’d give it all to Fantagraphics in exchange for the second volume of Castle Waiting, the long-awaited continuation of Linda Medley’s story. I’ll confess I haven’t read the first volume yet—maybe that should be my splurge—but my librarian friends strongly recommend it, and their description of an updated fairy tale with a modern sensibility makes me want to give it a try.

Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories

Splurge item:

It’s jumping the season a bit, but IDW’s Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories is just what I need to get into the holiday mood. It’s a perfect fit—I always used to find a big book of some sort of stories under the Christmas tree when I was a kid, and with comics by Walt Kelly and John Stanley, this collection can’t miss.

Chris Mautner

If I had $15:

There’s a lot of good comics out this week, but the item I’m most excited to see is a new $11.99 edition of Hewligan’s Haircut, a new edition of Peter Milligan and Jamie Hewlett’s ultra-loopy saga of a man whose coiffure has the ability to warp space and time. Also features a female lead named Dali Scarlet O’Gasmeter. And if that’s not enough to send you out to the comic book store, I don’t know what is.

If I had $30:

I’m a sucker for anything French artist David B does, so I’ll be sure to snatch and grab a copy of The Littlest Pirate King ($16.99), his latest entry on American shores, an all-ages titles about a young boy who leads a group of undead pirates. Part of Fantagraphics new Eurocomics for kids line. (Speaking of which, Eurocomics fans should note that Joann Sfar’s adaptation of The Little Prince comes out today as well, and stands every chance of being quite good.)

Splurge:

Shazam!: The Golden Age of the World's Mightiest Mortal

I’ve been a longtime fan of The Big Red Cheese, so my splurge item for the week has to be Shazam! The Golden Age of the World’s Mightiest Mortal ($35), a Chip Kidd-edited hardcover that looks at the history of Fawcett’s major superhero property, photos of toys and other ephemera included.

I’m also quite curious to check out Sophie Crumb: Evolution of a Crazy Artist ($27.95), a collection of the youngest Crumb’s artwork from childhood to today. I’ve yet to see Crumb do anything that really knocked my socks off, she’s got incredible chops, but her stories themselves have always seemed two steps shy of true inspiration and insight. Maybe this book will change my mind though. I’d like to give it the chance to.

Michael May

If I had $15:

I’d start with the Hellboy Double Feature of Evil one shot ($3.50), because you know…Hellboy. I’d also be sure to check out Osborn #1 ($3.99) because it’s written by Kelly Sue DeConnick and she’s awesome. Finally, I’d check out Dynamite’s Warlord of Mars #2 ($3.99).

If I had $30:

Return of the Dapper Men

I’d trade-wait for Osborn and Warlord of Mars, and add Jim McCann and Janet Lee’s Return of the Dapper Men ($24.95) to my Hellboy fix. I’m happy with McCann for writing an Alpha Flight one shot, but my interest in this is mostly due to my predisposition to like anything with the word “dapper” in it.

Splurge:

I’m very tempted by the new volumes of Batman: The Brave and the Bold ($12.99) and Castle Waiting ($29.99), but they’re both trumped by David B and his ghost pirates in The Littlest Pirate King ($16.99). Still, since I’m splurging, let’s just get all three.

JK Parkin

If I had $15:

Batman: The Return #1 ($4.99) and Batman Incorporated ($3.99) both get my money this week as well, as does the fourth issue of Morning Glories ($3.50). That leaves me with roughly $2.50.

If I had $30:

Thunderbolts #150

Zatanna has slowly but surely made its way up to the top of my reading stack each month, so let’s grab issue #7 ($2.99). And the Thunderbolts meet up with the Avengers in issue #150 of their title, an extra-sized issue ($4.99). Then I’d add the latest issue of The Sixth Gun ($3.99) and Northlanders #34 ($2.99) to round out my week.

Splurge:

It’s hard not to just repeat what my distinguished colleagues have said above about pirates that are little or men that are dapper, but it’s been an awfully long time since I read the Legion of Super-Heroes Great Darkness Saga, comics my brother owned and I could only borrow on occasion, so I’ll go with the deluxe hardcover DC is releasing as my splurge item this week.

Atlas 5

Any interview in which I can ask a question that prompts Jeff Parker to damn me is a good interview in my estimation (read on to find the “damn” moment, it’s a fun-loving damn). We initially conducted this interview before last week’s announced demise of Wildstorm, but I gave him a chance to adjust his response when discussing the likelihood of a second Mysterius miniseries. I’m sad to see Parker’s series Atlas come to an end this week with the release of Atlas 5. It’s not often that a writer gets to end a series on his own terms, and yet that’s what happened for Parker with Atlas. While the Atlas series takes its final lap, last week marked the start of Parker and artist Gabriel Hardman on the Hulk monthly (and I loved their first issue [25]).  While this interview does not cover all of Parker’s Marvel work, we definitely work in a discussion of his Thunderbolts work.

Tim O’Shea: You ended the ATLAS series on your own terms. When you wrote the final scene of the last issue was it upsetting, or was it fine, as you realize you can always find ways to work aspects of these characters into future Marvel books?

Jeff Parker: No, I was actually pretty happy as I wrote it, because I felt this was one of the most “Atlasy” of all the stories. It did its own thing and was exciting and defied expectations, which is what that book should do. I can probably have them pop up in other things, but I really prefer them in their own corner of the Marvel Universe.

O’Shea: In Thunderbolts, you really threw me by naming former US Agent/John Walker as the warden and making him (gasp, for once) an interesting character. Did you seek him out for the Thunderbolts cast, or was he part of the deal when you took the assignment?

Parker: It looked like he wasn’t ‘needed’ anywhere else at the end of Dark Reign, it just made a lot of sense to me. I asked if I could A: maim him horribly and B: make him the warden. I like the idea that he was ready to get back to work after such a catastrophic personal event (losing almost half his body, for those who don’t read it). Even though really, it was probably way to soon. But he certainly asserted himself during the prison blackout, didn’t he?

O’Shea: At Baltimore Comic-Con, you acknowledged you were going to be changing the cast up a bit in a few issues. I’m not gonna try to beg who will be joining, but I am curious if other than Luke will there be other constants to the cast?

Parker: Yes, but I can’t say and rob the surprise factor, you know that! Damn Tim.

O’Shea: What is the backbone to the Thunderbolts to you, what is it that made you want to write a series that has been through many incarnations over the years?

Parker: I’ve been getting into writing unlikable characters lately. Characters who you don’t identify with -or DO you?- but still want to watch do what they do. Bill Rosemann kind of primed me for it by asking me to do The Hood mini before that, and I really enjoyed it.

O’Shea: The Raft is a fairly large writer’s playground, but you’ve made it an even larger landscape by incorporating Pym space management technology? What’s been the most fun you’ve had to date playing with the Pym technology?

Parker: The most fun comes up in 150, when Ghost figures out how to screw with it! It’s a double-sized issue too.

O’Shea: I’m still having a hard time grasping how Thunderbolt Ross went from trying to end the threat of the Hulk because he’s a monster, to becoming a monster himself. What is your take on how things came to this point and how does it shape how you write the character?

Parker: I see as standing too close to the flame and getting burned. Eventually he became the thing he hated, and now he’s starting to see what it was like on that side of the coin. There’s no way around the idea that part of what fueled Ross’ Ahab-like obsession with Hulk was that it was power he couldn’t have. And now he does- so what does he do from this point on?

O’Shea: Judging by this preview, Hulk artist Gabriel Hardman likes drawing monsters. Will you give him a chance to draw more monsters, or are you going to capitalize on Hartman’s other artistic affinities in the series?

Parker: In the first arc, Gabriel will give you monsters beyond your wildest dreams! We start getting into the subtle stuff Hardman can do in the next arc, the first is very much pure confrontation.

O’Shea: As Iron Man and Red Hulk meet, does Stark know who Red Hulk actually is, or is that a character dynamic you don’t have time or space (plot-wise) to capitalize upon?

Parker: No. The only one outside the main Hulk players, your Bruces and Betties and Ricks and such, who knows Red Hulk is Ross is Steve Rogers. And he’s keeping it to himself, he doesn’t want to see Ross pursued for court martial any more than Ross does. Ross had his funeral with honors, his Army-Airforce career is over, and now he has to find new purpose. It’s really the crossroads that many military lifers find themselves at upon retirement.

O’Shea: What kind of supporting cast do you plan to nurture in Hulk?

Parker: At first, a very small and familiar one. Bruce Banner is almost the entire supporting cast! We expand in the next storyline though.

O’Shea: I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how much the word of mouth on the Mysterius TPB seems to grow (I read and enjoyed the series when it first came out). Latest example? Evan Dorkin: “Really enjoyed Mysterius The Unfathomable by Jeff Parker and Tom Fowler … It reminded me a great deal of Steve Gerber’s work, and I mean that as a compliment — fun genre stuff with pulp overtones, social satire, well-delineated oddball characters, solid plotting, and — holy shit — an actual story.” First off, Dorkin’s not the type of fellow who throws out compliments very often, so how gratifying was that? Secondly, what are the odds there’ll be another Mysterius mini?

Parker: That was very gratifying for exactly the reason you say- Evan is a tough audience. And I’m a fan of his, so I really appreciated that.

Boy, that [odds for another Mysterius mini] could go anywhere now! [Because of the demise of the series publisher, Wildstorm] Tom and I are certainly ready to go, we know the next story. Pray to whatever Seussian Demon you think will work.

Starman Omnibus

Welcome to another edition of What Are You Reading? Today’s special guest is STORM, who works at San Francisco’s Isotope Comics, is the creator of Princess Witch Boy (the second issue of which will be available at APE this year), reads Heroic Tarot with X-Men cards and is a member of Writers Old Fashioned.

To see what STORM and the Robot 6 crew are reading this week, read on …

*****

Tim O’Shea

Any comic that sports Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez inked by Dave Gibbons warrants first mention in my stack of reads for the week. I’m starting to doubt I will stick around for all 10 issues in the Len Wein-written miniseries, but issue 4 of Legacies does probably sport my favorite page so far. Imagine a page in which Garcia-Lopez first 30+ villains
(some of which despite reading DC Comics since the late 1970s I cannot ID). I’ve never been a big reader of DC’s war comics, but I have to admit I got sucked into the “where are they now/character reunion” setting of a 1976 Easy Company gathering. I found the back-up story with Joe Kubert art to be far more engaging than the main tale.

Thunderbolts #147

It stinks that two Jeff Parker books come out in the same week, because it restricts the number of times I can praise the writer in a month. This month marks the second to last issue of ATLAS I get to enjoy–and Parker’s throwing a few surprises in the mix. I have to admit I have not taken the time to appreciate Gabriel Hardman’s striking sense of layout–until this issue. Thunderbolts 147 blindsided me with some unexpectedly great all-out brawl scenes. Anytime Luke Cage and Purple Man end up in the same room, John Walker/U.S. Agent’s always been a pretty lame character over the years (read his Wikipedia entry and I think you’ll agree) but I think Parker has perfectly cast Walker as the warden of the Raft, allowing him to narrate this issue in particular.

Request to CBGB editor Ian Brill, I’m loving issue 2 of CBGB as much as the first one, but given that I’m not well-versed in CBGB history–I don’t recognize all the musicians. Sure I recognize the Ramones and Blondie, but I’m really dying to know who the guy performer in a tutu was. Any chance for some footnotes, Ian, or is that intentional for some reason? I don’t know if Scissor Sisters’ Ana Matronic has an interest in writing more stories for this project, but I hope she does as I enjoyed her debut.

Pouring through the used copy of Essential Avengers 4 that I recently picked up, even though I’ve read many of these tales in different 1970s reprints over the years I still had a blast. Getting to see the artists of this period (Avengers 69-97) you are treated to alternating runs of the Buscema brothers (Sal and John) as well as a few issues by Neal Adams. Seeing these issues in black and white allows me to appreciate the art on another level. John Buscema may have been partial to non-superhero stuff, but damn was he good. Also I’ve always been a fan of the Vision and this run of issues offers a lot of him–including the wacky premiere of his rarely used synthetic mask (aka human disguise) in issue 79. Reading the Thomas/Adams stories, I find myself wondering why Adams and Thomas never re-teamed again more recently for a limited series at Marvel or DC. I imagine it may be that Adams prefers to write and draw his own stories, but who knows.

Sean T. Collins

This week I took a look at a couple of short story collections from the small press and a pamphlet with a sordid past. Click the links for full reviews…

Curio Cabinet

Curio Cabinet by John Brodowski: A compellingly creepy blend of the intimate and the epic, the horrific and the sublime.

The Airy Tales by Olga Volozova: I’m not sold on the shaky, overly ethereal art here, but these made-up fairy tales capture the weirdo illogic of the stories you remember from childhood.

Al Burian Goes to Hell by Al Burian: Student work by a longtime zine-maker gets unceremoniously and unauthorizedly re-released by his unscrupulous former publisher. The weird story behind the book is a lot more interesting than the book itself.

Tom Bondurant

Like Tim, I enjoyed the backup story in DC Legacies more than the feature, and the feature was pretty good on its own. However, the backup highlights the main problem with an official retelling of DC-Earth’s most current history — namely, the degree to which the story is faithful to what “really happened.” Personally, I thought the final fate of Sgt. Frank Rock was a clever way to appease both those who prefer he died in battle and those who liked his later superhero-universe appearances. The “Rock of Easy Company” did die by the last bullet fired in World War II, and his son went on to interact with Superman et al. In fact, my continuity-oriented concerns with the story had to do more with seeing the Losers as old veterans, because they were killed off twice in the summer of 1985. Crisis On Infinite Earths did it with shadow-demons in war-torn Markovia, and the more traditional Losers Special revealed their (apparently post-Crisis) battlefield deaths. Wikipedia says Gunner and Sarge were brought into the present in Birds of Prey, but that would still be after Legacies’ Bicentennial reunion.

Still, all that is beside the point to a great extent, because DC can use about half-a-dozen cosmic events to claim that history was reordered thusly. What matters is the story, not the continuity, and this was a nice little vignette. Indeed, one of Legacies‘ larger goals has to be the establishment of an overall theme for DC’s super-characters, and as long as it hits the high points I think it can take a mulligan or two on the fringes.

I’ve been big into the phone books again — I read the first few issues of Essential Captain America Vol. 5, just to see how the book got from the Falcon/Red Skull subplot to Jack Kirby’s last hurrah; and it was OK, nothing special. I have all the Kirby issues in color, so I can wait on Vol. 6. I’ve also been reading Essential Defenders Vol. 5, featuring J.M. DeMatteis/Don Perlin stories from the early ’80s. Mostly these are standalone issues or short arcs featuring a classic team of Dr. Strange, Nighthawk, Valkyrie, Son Of Satan, and occasionally the Hulk and/or Namor. Again, nothing special, although I did like issue #92′s “Eternity … Humanity … Oblivion!”

Now I’m going back and forth between Essential Defenders and Showcase Presents The Doom Patrol Vol. 2. So far the latter is very deeply invested — almost painfully so — in “hip lingo” from the mid-to-late ’60s. I remember some of that from Vol. 1, but I don’t remember it being that bad. I expect the dialogue will improve before too long, because (as Legacies reminds us) the book won’t exactly have a happy ending….

STORM

MEATCAKE COMPILATION by Dame Darcy (Fantagraphics)

Meatcake Compilation

Dame Darcy is an enchantress. Whether she is singing sea shanties in her band (Death by Doll) or making handmade dolls, this amazing comics creator weaves a magick spell on you! Nowhere does she do this better than in her amazing creator-owned comic book Meatcake!

Meatcake is a tour de force showcasing the most primal of passions! It is an issue of Creepy edited by Edward Gorey! It is a Gothic soap opera as written by Victorian lolitas! It is a celebration of love and hubris, beauty and decay! There is no other comic in the world that offers a titillating parade of mermaids, ghosts, sailors, sirens, faeries, witches and wolfmen in intriguing and compromising situations! You will be dazzled, you will be entertained, but above all, you will be enchanted!

The Meatcake Compilation features selected stories from Meatcake issues #1 through #11.

STAR WARS: LEGACY by John Ostrander and Jan Duursema (Dark Horse)

I have a healthy amount of love for the Star Wars franchise (meaning I like the movies with which I grew up) and I think it’s great that there’s a title out there for almost everyone (I know quite a few 7 year olds who think that Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures is the coolest thing ever), but none of them grabbed me until this one. The reason for this sudden selective Star Wars obsession? The art of Jan Duursema. Two years ago, I glimpsed an image of Cade Skywalker on the cover of Star Wars: Legacy and took it home. After devouring that issue, and falling in love with yet another anti-hero, I searched out back issues that week.

Star Wars: Legacy gave me a universe with which I was already comfortable and pushed it 125 years into the future. The story (plotted by both John Ostrander and Duursema, with script by Ostrander) was fresh and I grew to know and love the characters and political intrigues as much as the art. However, if an issue was without Duursema’s pencils, my enjoyment diminished greatly.

Star Wars: Legacy ended last week with issue #50. It was a bittersweet issue because the cancellation came rather abruptly and more than a few plotlines were left dangling. My sadness was somewhat alleviated by the news in the letter columns of a new six-issue series titled War which will continue where Legacy left off, but I need to know if John Ostrander and Jan Durrsema will be a part of it before I get too excited. At any rate, I recommend checking out the trades of this fantastic series.

AVENGERS ACADEMY by Christos Gage and Mike McKone (Marvel)

Avengers Academy

This book is getting overlooked in the sudden onslaught of new Avengers titles and it deserves more attention than it has been getting. When I first heard about the concept I was intrigued. Sure, a training program by “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” for upcoming superheroes sounded cool, but what about the Young Avengers, New Warriors, Young Allies or all those kids that were in the Initiative? Why weren’t they being used? Why did we need a bunch of new characters? And seriously, what was up with their names? Hazmat? Mettle? This is a joke, right? Mostly, I was just upset that all the new kids I had just gotten to know in Avengers: The Initiative were being scuttled.

Well, after three issues I can assure you that the Powers That Be knew what they were doing. This book is a gem. Thanks to the deft writing of Christos Gage (whose Avengers: The Initiative was quite the pleasure to read) and the stunning artwork of Mike McKone, I am happy to say that Avengers Academy is an entertaining and enticing read.

Thanks to rotating narrators each issue, I have been getting to know the new characters and Gage has been winning me over with their respective challenges and perspectives. Gage’s decision to combine established heroes with new characters seems similar to how George Pérez and Marv Wolfman approached working on New Teen Titans in 1980. While Tigra, Quicksilver, the Wasp (Hank Pym), Speedball and Justice don’t have quite the cachet that Robin, Wonder Girl and Kid Flash had, they certainly have enough years of continuity between them to mine for future stories. In particular, Quicksilver has already become morally compromised to the wiles of one of his students.

Marvel comics have always explored the gray area between good and evil and Avengers Academy is receiving the full inheritance of that tradition. Now if only former guidance counselor Trauma could show up as a series regular. Gage, you hear me? Make it so!

STARMAN OMNIBUS VOLUMES 1 – 4 by James Robinson and Tony Harris (DC)

Call me late to the party if you must, but I never read Starman in single issues. There were a few times I picked it up out of curiosity (like the issues where the Mist’s daughter hunted down random members of Justice League Europe and when the Will Payton Starman returned) but I never had a chance to read the full tapestry of Starman until now.

What a great yarn by James Robinson and what beautifully rich artwork by Tony Harris! I am awestruck by the complexities that Robinson manages to give each character, especially with such a large cast. Everyone gets a chance to shine in Starman (That was an accidental pun, but now that I’ve caught it, I’m leaving it). One would expect that a story that weaves together aspects of every age of comics together in one telling would, by nature of the beast, collapse in upon itself. However, one would be wrong.

Yes, this is a superhero book. There is punching and fighting and elements of the supernatural and pseudo-science. You can just as easily learn about the past and present of the DC Universe by reading this book as you can about analyzing the relationships between fathers and sons. However, at its essence, Starman is an exploration of human choices, an investigation into free will and destiny, and a celebration of life from generation to generation. Kudos to DC for presenting this modern day classic in such handsomely vibrant volumes. They make reading this masterpiece all the more enjoyable.

The Man with the Getaway Face

Welcome to a special holiday weekend edition of What Are You Reading?, as we take a break from hot dogs and street festivals to take a look at what comics we’ve been reading this week. Our special guest this week is Vito Delsante, writer of FCHS and the upcoming Stray. When he isn’t making comics, he’s selling them at Jim Hanley’s Universe, located in New York near the Empire State Building.

To see what Vito and the rest of the Robot 6 crew are reading, click below …

*****

Michael May

The Anchor

I read the first volume of Phil Hester and Brian Churilla’s The Anchor. It’s a lot more complicated than its simple concept about an immortal, demon-fighting Viking suggests. Of course, that’s no surprise because Phil Hester wrote it, but the specific complications are a lot of fun. Like how the Anchor is actually in two places at once, fighting demons in Hell as well as keeping them off the Earth. And how what happens to him in Hell is reflected on his physical body. And how he uses that to his advantage while protecting humanity. This is also the most overtly Christian book I’ve read from Phil, not only in its mythology, but also in its themes and the attitude of its hero. In a time when that belief system is under a lot of justifiable attack, I find the focus on love and peace-making refreshing and fascinating.

Sean T. Collins

Here’s what’s been on my nightstand and in my backpack for the past couple weeks:

Trigger #1 by Mike Bertino: A variety of familiar altcomix styles get a workout in this one-man anthology of the sort this entire segment of the industry used to consist of.

Weathercraft by Jim Woodring: Psychedelic funny-animal alternate-reality torture porn? Jim Woodring is a one-man subgenre.

The Mystic Hands of Doctor Strange

The Mystic Hands of Doctor Strange #1 by Kieron Gillen, Peter Milligan, Ted McKeever, Mike Carey, Frazer Irving, Frank Brunner, and Marcos Martin: This is how Doctor Strange comics ought to be done.

Snow Time by Nora Krug: “A short, achingly lovely-to-look-at story of weather and murder” is how I describe this comic in my review. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Held Sinister by Conor Stechschulte: Inky alt-horror of the Edgar Allen Poe school from the Closed Caption Comics collective.

Big Questions #14: Title and Deed by Anders Nilsen: Twelve years and thirteen issues worth of scattered plot threads and dark philosophical musings entwine in a violent climax in arguably the most powerful funny-animal story this side of Watership Down.

Brigid Alverson

Fairy Navigator Runa is a very typical magical girl shoujo manga, with all the requisite elements, from saucer eyes and an extravagance of screentones that fairly burst off the page to the usual storyline—clumsy girl with low self-confidence finds out she has a Special Power! Because she’s a Princess! There are a few moments that lift this one above the standard issue, though, like the raccoon with scythe blades instead of paws, and the couple from the fairy world who not only turn into an owl and a cat to evade detection, they turn into a super-cute owl and cat so they won’t scare her. This is the kind of book everyone likes to make fun of, and it’s not great literature, that’s for sure, but I can see a girl enjoying the basic story and the flashes of wit.

How I Made It to Eighteen

Shifting to an entirely different emotional key, How I Made It to Eighteen, by Tracy White, is a semi-autobiographical story of the author’s stay in a mental hospital after a nervous breakdown at 17. It’s a hard story to read. The main character, Stacy Black, is not very likeable, in part because her depression flattens her out and makes her hostile. Plus she has that teenage I-know-everything attitude that drives grownups (me) nuts. It’s hard not to get irritated with her and just want her to get on with it and get well; I felt like the book dragged on, but at the same time, that’s what depression is like. The art is done in a naive style that I assume is at least partly deliberate, but White does a good job of using the art to illustrate and amplify Stacy’s mental states.

Tom Bondurant

I read Darwyn Cooke’s two Parker adaptations, The Hunter and The Man With The Getaway Face. Both were gripping and immersive, and just about everything you’d want from a crime novel. Perfect examples of the ideal fusion of artist, subject, and medium. I loved The New Frontier and his other DC work, but this leaves it all in the dust.

(Not that I didn’t read any superhero books this week, of course….)

War of the Supermen #4

The final issue of War of the Supermen did a fine job wrapping up the various “New Krypton” storylines, but not before delivering some good old-fashioned superhero fights. In this age of dismemberments, eye-gouges, decapitations, etc., it was kinda nice to see Zod piledrive Superman with a battleship. The Supergirl/Ursa fight was a little rougher, and of course the eventual disposition of Zod’s army was a little too neat, but by then I felt like the miniseries had done its job. I found one early panel, where Superman is pleading with Zod’s men to find some peaceful resolution, to be particularly effective, because it reminded me of all the diplomatic groundwork he’d so carefully laid throughout the World Of New Krypton series. Still, it was never going to end that way, so in that respect at least it used its villains — Brainiac, Luthor, and now Zod — very effectively.

I can’t remember who said that Johnny Ryan’s Prison Pit was (probably paraphrasing) “Salvation Run without all the nuance,” but … yeah, pretty much.

All of the books I’ve mentioned so far have, in their own ways, been fairly violent, so it’s probably fitting that the last one is Unknown Soldier. I’m very sorry that this series is ending, because I think the past couple of issues have been excellent introductions to the character. Dr. Moses Llwanga is a disfigured surgeon trying to right innumerable wrongs as he makes his way through Uganda. Writer Joshua Dysart and artist Alberto Ponticelli don’t hold back on the brutality, but they don’t glorify it either. Instead, for the past two years they’ve done their best to put human faces on the kinds of tragedies we can otherwise easily ignore. Unknown Soldier has been a very smart series. It challenges me constructively every time I read it, and it always leaves me wanting to know more.

Tim O’Shea

I’m happy to say that this week saw the release of the Hero Initiative/Marvel 128-page benefit project, The Invincible Gene Colan. For only $19.99, you get a hardcover collection of Colan’s work for Marvel (as well as some of his pre-Marvel work). Net proceeds from the sale of the book will benefit Gene Colan. Given Mr. Colan’s current fiscal struggles (and recent injury), this is a simple as hell way to show your appreciation for the years of amazing entertainment the artist has given us over the years.

Secret Avengers

My stack of other buys for this week was big, but I only want to single out two books. Jeff Parker wrote an issue of Thunderbolts where he takes us in a new direction and gives readers a genuine surprise (for me, while not approaching the surprise of Busiek’s first issue way back when, but still a damn fun surprise). And Ed Brubaker made the inner child fanboy scream with delight when he had the Beast rejoin the Avengers (albeit the Secret Avengers) in Secret Avengers #1. It’s the first Avengers book I have bought in several years (pre-Bendis). Oh OK, three books–Jim McCann delivered on his hype in our interview and the standalone Dazzler one-shot was a fun retro/yet present day read. He lays the groundwork for a good ongoing or mini if sales and Marvel gives him a chance.

Did I say I wanted to single out two comics from my pile? I was kidding myself. I always put my favorite/most anticipated reads at the bottom of my pile. And this week the Amazing Spider-Man Annual #37 is at the bottom. Why? Editor Stephen Wacker went the untold tales route–leading with Karl Kesel writing the first team-up between Captain America and Spidey. Until Kesel is a writer on a regular basis, I will shout from the rooftops: “Get Kesel writing on an ongoing basis, Marvel!” I’ve never heard of artist Paulo Siqueira, but if the guy is consistently this strong, he’ll be a name we’ll be seeing more of–hopefully. The other title is Kurt Busiek and Pat Oliffe (yea the original, bona fide, thank you Steve Wacker Untold Tale creative team) doing what they do best. I am a sucker for nostalgia tales. What can I say?

Vito Delsante

Atlas #1

Atlas/Thunderbolts – Of all the Heroic Age restarts, these two have, so far, captivated me the most. No slight meant to any of the other books (I’m digging the oral history of the Avengers back-up so far) but Jeff’s take on the T-Bolts has me hooked. And Atlas was always good…should have never been canceled either time.

Batman & Robin – I rarely read comics to try to solve a bigger mystery than what’s presented, but Grant is taking us for a ride, and I don’t want to miss the sights. He’s so damn smart when it comes to visual language of comics, but also how to use the dialogue to further that same language. Always the last book I read because it doesn’t get any better.

Hark! A Vagrant and Let’s Be Friends Again – Too many of my friends do webcomics, so when I want to read something that I don’t feel any pressure to read, I go to these two. Kate Beaton was talked up to me by so many people, I prepared myself for disappointment. It never came, happily. I can’t get enough of H!AV. And Let’s Be Friends Again says everything I want to say…and says it meaner than I can.

The Man With The Getaway Face – Darwyn’s next Parker book can’t come soon enough! A friend of mine picked this up for me at WonderCon, so I’m constantly reading this…what he does in this…distills an entire book down to a 30 odd page comic is nothing short of a lesson in economy. If Darwyn ever teaches a comics making class, I will be in the front row.

Research – I have some books I’m working on currently, so I’m always doing research. Some of the topics of the books: the Kentucky Derby, the theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911, New York in 1977, Grand Central Terminal, and cloning. I’m kind of all over the place.

Submissions – I’m working with Mark Andrew Smith and a few others on a new project (shhh!) as the submissions editor and I’ve received a few pitches that were good, and some that are dynamite. I can’t wait for folks to see these.

A map – I’m getting ready to head down to Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC this week, so I’m getting the maps and GPS ready for the drive. Rachel Freire and her fiancee will accompany me on the drive, so pray for their souls. I have a lead foot.

FCHS – I keep reading this, preparing for the sequel! 1/8 of the way in on the script, and I’m hoping that by the time I finish the script, everyone will actually get to read the book and want to see where we go with it. I’m very proud of this book.

Underground #1

Getting to talk to Jeff Parker and Steve Lieber about their upcoming  Underground project, I discovered one shocking revelation: Lieber is immensely funnier than Parker. I learned a great deal more than that in our email interview. Before starting the interview, here are the book’s vitals: “UNDERGROUND is a five-issue color series beginning in September from IMAGE COMICS. Written by Jeff Parker, drawn by Steve Lieber, and colored by Ron Chan, the story follows Park Ranger Wesley Fischer as she tries to save Stillwater Cave– and then has to save herself.” My thanks to Parker and Lieber for the interview.

Tim O’Shea: At what point did you pitch this to Image, had an issue already been drawn or was it still in proposal mode?

Jeff Parker: We showed the complete black and white art for the first issue to Eric Stephenson this year at Emerald City Comicon.

Steve Lieber: They said yes and we were off and running.

O’Shea: How much did the two of you enjoy the flexibility of revision, given that you work in the same studio?

Lieber: It’s a very natural collaboration. Everything’s done in the same room — script, line art, letters, and color. I love the sense of freedom that comes from being able to tweak things at any step.

Parker: And I love changing what Steve thought was right. On a whim!

Lieber: Obviously.

O’Shea: Speaking of revision, can both of you point to a character or story element that drastically changed thanks to the rapport you were able to enjoy as studiomates?

Lieber: Nothing drastic I can think of, but we’re working from a very tight outline Parker wrote several years ago.

Parker: Steve fleshed out some of the supporting characters more, and it helps make the whole environment more convincing. Really, since we talk out each part several times, almost everyone got some nuance they may not have had originally.

O’Shea: Not all caving scenarios are cramped per se, but a good number of them are–when the characters are literally tight for space, layout wise and dialogue-wise how challenging is that for the artist and writer?

Lieber: Shameful confession time: it can be a lot of fun crowding a panel. And with Photoshop, it’s no problem to move things around — push a balloon over a bit, expand a figure, shrink a sound effect — to get exactly the compositions the story needs.

Parker: I often doodle out what I’m going for, which I just don’t do that much with most artists. But since Steve is in the next room I can do that, act a panel out, hold maquettes in the right positions, everything that gets the action and feel across. Similarly, he’ll come back and suggest more appropriate action or dialogue or point out something I didn’t consider. It puts an energy on the page that’s hard to get collaborating from a distance.

O’Shea: This is a five-issue miniseries, as opposed to four or six. Was it economics or the story’s parameters that drove the decision for that number? And was it a number you two arrived upon or was it suggested by Image?

Lieber: I think it was just the way the story broke down best. Parker’s the man to answer that one in greater detail.

Parker: When I outlined it, five seemed right for the structure. Sure, I may get to a part that really takes hold more than I expected and we suddenly bump it up to six issues, but usually I stay close to my original plan. Eric Stephenson at Image seemed up for almost anything we came to him with — they are all about working with what we give them and letting us take the space and time to tell the story we want.

They didn’t even ask for any Walking Dead zombies to come shambling through at any point.

O’Shea: Jeff, how refreshing is it to swim in the creator-owned waters again?

Parker: You know, it doesn’t pay any better than it did a few years ago, but it is some darn beautiful water. The freedom to take things where we want is nearly intoxicating. I can pace Underground in a way I might not with Agents of Atlas or now Thunderbolts. I can stay with a scene at least as long as Steve feels like drawing it. In issue one, we do a pretty thorough set up of all the players, the town they’re in, where our protagonists Wes and Seth work as Rangers, where in a work for hire book, I would have felt compelled to say, show someone get shot by page eight. But the kind of story we’re doing should feel close to your actual life, so you can appreciate how one minute things are normal and then a couple of bad choices later, everything is dire.

Ultimately we’re going for making you the reader feel like you’re down in that cave system, not that you’re watching two action heroes going through the paces.

O’Shea: Steve, seeing the experience Jeff is enjoying in the corporate-owned character world, do you ever get an interest in dabbling in either the Marvel or DC world or are you partial to creator-owned projects?

Lieber: I like switching from one to the other. Marvel & DC comics can be incredibly fun to work on. Civil War: Frontline with Paul Jenkins, Gotham Central with Greg Rucka– these were great experiences. I’d hate to give up the thrill of telling one little piece of the big collaborative story of those fascinating shared universes. But there’s a deep, deep satisfaction that comes with creating your own characters and your own world. You get to make something funny and scary and exciting and real that nobody else possibly could, because it’s personal. It came from you.

Parker: Actually it came from me.

Lieber: Okay, my work is personal because it came from Parker.

Parker: No, Steve’s right, that’s exactly how I feel about it too.

Lieber: Underground is all about the irrevocable consequences of a few bad decisions. You can do a lot of things in a shared superhero universe, but irrevocable consequences? No such thing. For that, you’ve got to tell your own story.

Parker: In issue one, Wes tries to tell the people of Marion how one wrong move in a cave can destroy a delicate crystal formation that took fifteen-thousand years to develop. She’s right, but their community’s fragile, too, and if they don’t take action to save it, it’s gonna fall apart. There are moments like that in every life, where the wrong choice can send things spiraling out of control, changing things forever. You can’t tell that story in a world where Superman can spin the earth backward, in clear defiance of Marlon Brando’s sternest warnings.

O’Shea: Which character did you either of you appreciate even more at the end of the project versus your attitudes at the outset?

Parker: We’re not at the end yet.

Lieber: “This… Ends…NOW.”

Parker: How can something so big move so fast?

Lieber: That does remind me — I’m actually enjoying Winston Barefoot way more than I anticipated. He’s a larger-than-life local entrepreneur who stands to benefit the most if Stillwater Cave becomes a show cave, making the town of Marion a tourist destination. He took on a life of his own. I’d love to do another story with him.

Parker: He’s based on several colorful Southern wheeler-dealers I’ve known; very charming, always tend to come out on top, getting away with overtly crooked stuff, and always sporting the power-belly.

O’Shea: Did any of your other studiomates chime in with constructive feedback in the development of the story (ie There can be no car chases in caves!)?

Lieber: Everyone in the studio feels free to lean over my shoulder and criticize. I pretend to ignore them, or just flat out tell them they’re wrong. Sometimes I lose it. “Take your weak shit somewhere else. I’m Steve Fucking Lieber.” Feelings get hurt, but I shut that nonsense down. Then when no one’s looking, I incorporate their suggestions.

Parker: Steve does shut their banana asses down right fast. Our studiomates tolerate a lot of feedback from us and rarely give it back. This could have something to do with us being egomaniacal prima donnas.

Lieber: Sometimes they’re right.

O’Shea: Looking at this post, how much has Twitter boosted your ability to market the project?

Lieber: Hard to say. It feels like we’ve gotten a ton of attention from Parker’s Twitta Skillz.® When I was working my table at Comicon, he was sitting at home in a patio chair drinking mojitos and hosing off his kids. But he’d tweet at his readers to come by Artists Alley and pick up the Underground ashcan, and I’d suddenly get a huge flood of people at my table, all saying “Parker sent me.” If those people all ask for the book from their local comic shop, Underground is going be a big, big hit.

Parker: Which makes me question the notion of ever going to shows again, really.

Lieber: At Home- it’s the new There!

Parker: I’m glad Steve pushed for putting the whole first issue online free. That’s gotten a lot of interest.

O’Shea: Steve, what do you think is Jeff’s greatest strength as a writer. Jeff, what are the positives of Steve’s artistic skills?

Lieber: I don’t think it’s any one thing that makes Parker one of the best writers out there. I think what makes him great is his unique combination of a first class imagination, a wicked sense of humor, and an unerring feel for how real people act and talk. Maybe that last part’s the key — no matter how wild Parker’s material gets, everything he writes is informed by a life spent paying close attention to the real world and the people in it.

Parker: It helps that instead of writing in my house I do it in a studio full of chatterboxes all day. I tune them out, but I still get a strong and constant sense of what real people say and how they say it.

Lieber: You were supposed to talk about me.

Parker: Oh. Steve’s right, I am pretty awesome.

O’Shea: Which of you ended up doing the largest amount of research for the story?

Lieber: I front-loaded a lot of the research before we ever got started, just reading lots and lots about caves. But Parker grew up an easy drive away from where our story takes place, so it’s fair to say his research started early in Nixon’s first term and carried on in the background for a few decades.

Parker: Steve really had read and viewed tons of material beforehand, and since we talk about whatever we’re reading, he shared oh, ALL of it with me as he was ingesting this caving material. So by the time he suggested I come on board, of course I had plenty of story ideas about it. It’s really a tricky way to force a collaboration, should you ever find yourself wanting to do that.

O’Shea: The film adaptation of  Whiteout is also being released in September, do you hope to get some runoff attention to Underground, thanks to the movie release buzz?

Lieber: I certainly hope so. San Diego was funny that way. I’ve done several Whiteout interviews where it was clear the interviewer wasn’t even familiar with the comic. I was just a name they’d been given. Now I’m very excited about the movie, but I’m not a filmmaker; I’m a comic book artist. And the comic I’m working on is UNDERGROUND. In the end, my enthusiasm for Wesley and Seth and a dangerous Kentucky cave must’ve been bewildering to some poor journalist looking for a good one-sentence quote for their piece on the new Kate Beckinsale movie.

That was mainstream entertainment media. Will any of what I said will make it into their Whiteout coverage? Hard to say, but let’s face it — to a lot of them, the only thing interesting about comics is that sometimes they get made into movies. What excites me is the attention we’re getting in the comics-savvy media. That’s been way, way better than we ever could’ve hoped: dozens of wonderful reviews from critics, and just about every site out there has asked us for images or an interview. Best of all, I don’t get the sense it has anything to do with the movie. All this great Underground coverage is coming from people who actually read comics. They liked what we did on Agents of Atlas and X-Men First Class and Whiteout. Now they’re getting behind this one.

Parker: I do think the scene where Carrie Stetko lifts the body and UNDERGROUND is spelled in blood on the snow underneath will help a bit. They better not have cut that part out!

O’Shea: Is there anything you’d like to discuss that we did not cover?

Parker: There is a scene with bats in it that we are very happy about!

Lieber: All the meaningful story stuff aside, I think our readers are gonna be sweating hard and writhing in claustrophobic discomfort. I am very proud of this.

Thunderbolts #137

As I’ve been following the current Thunderbolts run by Andy Diggle, particularly the subplot involving Songbird and her mission to take down Osbourn’s team, one of the questions that’s been on my mind is, “Where the heck are the rest of the original Thunderbolts?” It’s been awhile since we’ve seen Atlas, MACH-IV and the rest of that crew, and you figure if Songbird’s going to ask someone for help, wouldn’t it make sense to give her old friends a call?

Well, in issue #134, that call goes out.

As revealed in yesterday’s Cup o’ Q&A with Joe Quesada over at the main CBR site, the original team is coming back to help Songbird. Two other fans apparently had the same question that I did, and asked Marvel’s Editor in Chief about Baron Zemo — the team’s original leader — and the rest of his crew.

“It’s a great question, Steven and Mike, and I guess you can say you heard it here first,” Quesada responded. “Old school T-Bolts fans rejoice! Songbird is actually going to begin to assemble the original TBolts in issue #134. Her mission basically is to destroy Norman Osborn and his crazy pack of killers who have taken the good name of the original T-bolts. And yes, Zemo has been discussed internally, so stay tuned. We haven’t decided just yet… or maybe we have and I’m just not going to tell you. [laughs]”

From the artwork above, it looks like at least MACH-IV and Techno are back, teaming with Songbird and … well, if you’ve read the most recent issue (or even if you just recognize those bracelets) you know who they’re standing with …

Longbox

This past weekend Philadelphia welcomed Wizard World, while Charlotte hosted HeroesCon. Two East Coast conventions, separated by more than 500 miles and a couple of states. If you were away from your computer, then you may have missed some of the announcements that sprang from both venues:

• For years people have been asking for an “iTunes for comics.” Well, it looks like we might actually get one. Rantz Hoseley’s Longbox will be a free download available later this year for PC, Macs and Linux. Comics can be download for a suggested price point of $.99 per issue, with the potential for block and subscription pricing. BOOM! and Top Cow have already signed on.

• Marvel had a lot of announcements at the show. Spinning out of the Uncanny X-Men/Dark Avengers crossover that kicks off any day now will be a series of one-shots that fall under the heading of Dark Reign: The List. Basically Norman Osbourn starts making a list of everyone standing in his way who he needs to do dirty, nasty things to.

The eight one shots and the creators working on them are:

Dark Reign: The List – Daredevil by Andy Diggle and Billy Tan
Dark Reign: The List – Wolverine by Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic
Dark Reign: The List – Hulk by Greg Pak and Ben Oliver
Dark Reign: The List – Amazing Spider-Man by Dan Slott and Adam Kubert
Dark Reign: The List – Avengers by Brian Bendis and Marko Djurdjevic
Dark Reign: The List – Uncanny X-Men by Matt Fraction and Alan Davis
Dark Reign: The List – Secret Warriors by Jonathan Hickman and Ed McGuiness
Dark Reign: The List – Punisher by Rick Remender and John Romita Jr.

The project was announced at around the same time both in Philadelphia and in Charlotte. For more info, check out CBR’s interviews with Bendis, Fraction and Remender, as well as Pak, Hickman and Aaron. Also, Aaron talks a little bit about his Wolverine one-shot on his blog; it will feature both Marvel Boy and Fantomex, as well as a new Weapon XVI.

• Several of Spider-Man’s classic villains, like Electro, Rhino and Mysterio, are returning in a storyline called “The Gauntlet.” It also looks like the Black Cat is back for some Spidey lovin’.

Astonishing X-Men

• Creative team shuffles … Andy Diggle and Roberto De La Torre are the new creative team on Daredevil with issue #501. Rick Remender and Mahmud S. Asrar are doing a guest issue of Thunderbolts, which will feature Luke Cage and Iron Fist. Phil Jimenez is the new artist on Astonishing X-Men, joining Warren Ellis as of issue #31. And apparently Sean McKeever’s exclusive contract with DC is up, as he’s working on a new series for Marvel called Nomad: Girl Without a World, starring the Bucky from the Heroes Reborn comics.

• The new Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Voodoo, gets his own series in October written by Rick Remender, while the old Sorcerer Supreme gets a mini-series by Mark Waid.

• Marvel is launching another Moon Knight ongoing series by crime novelist and Punisher writer Gregg Hurwitz, with art by Jerome Opeña.

• Daniel Way and Richard Corben are working on a Starr the Slayer mini-series for Marvel MAX.

• Psylocke will star in a mini-series written by Christopher Yost. “The mandate on this series was ‘Tell us a story that reminds everyone of why she’s so kick ass,’” Yost told Kiel Phegley.

• Kieron Gillen and Cary Nord are working on an Ares mini-series.

• Gregg Schigiel and Jacob Chabot are doing an X-Babies mini-series that will feature the return of several Star Comics characters.

• There’s more Marvel Zombies coming.

• DC Comics used both conventions to show off their new Wednesday Comics title. Check out this picture from HeroesCon:

Wednesday Comics

That’s editor Ian Sattler, showing off a copy.

• In Philadelphia, Dan DiDio announced a new Jonah Hex hardcover by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and Tony DeZuniga. He also announced a new Doc Savage series by Brian Azarello and Rags Morales set in an alternate universe where he’ll interact with the Spirit and the Blackhawks.

• Andy Runton’s Owly, published by Top Shelf, is now available on the Kindle.

• Jeff Katz revealed the first four titles for his American Original company.

• Former Wizard employee Steven Hoveke, who now runs Square 1 Press and has published convention sketchbooks by both Walt Simonson and Howard Chaykin, was barred from re-entering Wizard World Philadelphia on Saturday. He tells the story of what happened on his company’s blog and posted on Twitter that he was barred because of his affiliation with the Long Beach Comic Con. (Via Bleeding Cool)

• Artist Michael Cho was upset to find out someone was walking around HeroesCon wearing a shirt featuring his art. (Via the Comics Reporter)