Published on his blog, Quinones says this commission was done as an art exchange for a piece of Mike Allred art owned by a comics fan. A year in the making, this X-Men pin-up seems definitely worth it. Go to Quinones’ blog to see more about this, including an animated graphic showing the different stages of this project.

Joe Quinones is a relative newcomer to comics — he made his official comics debut on the “Green Lantern” strip in last year’s Wednesday Comics, and has gone on to do work on Marvel’s Spider-Man and some covers for Dark Horse’s Star Wars titles. He’s currently working on a graphic novel for DC that I hope is announced soon. And I take more than a little bit of pride in the fact Joe debuted on the comics scene over at the Project: Rooftop site I co-founded.

Kill Shakespeare

Hello and welcome to What Are You Reading? Today’s special guests are Johnny Zito and Tony Trov, writers of Black Cherry Bombshells, Moon Girl, Lamorte Sisters and D.O.G.S. of Mars.

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

*****

Michael May

Aquaman #16 (1964)

I’ve been absent from What Are You Reading? for a few weeks while I’ve been working my way through Showcase Presents Aquaman, Volume 3. I’ve already shared some of my thoughts on these Silver Age stories and finishing this volume hasn’t changed my mind. These are some awfully silly comics where characters’ personalities change dramatically from issue to issue as the plot demands. But I can’t make myself hate them either. The art by Ramona Fradon and Nick Cardy is fantastic and the plots themselves are inventive and exciting.

The first appearance of Black Manta in Aquaman #35 is especially awesome. Bob Haney opens the story with a sudden attack by Manta and his terrifying manta-men on Atlantis and doesn’t let up for the entire issue. Aquaman and the Atlanteans try various tactics to defend themselves, but Black Manta keeps adapting. And then Ocean Master shows up. Other stories feature Aquaman on loan to the US government in Bond-inspired stories as he goes up against a criminal organization called O.G.R.E.

For the most part though, Aquaman stays beneath the waves, defending Atlantis and his family from various aliens, monsters, and invaders from the surface world. It’s great fun as long as you take a very relaxed attitude about characterization. Something I wasn’t always able to do.

Chris Mautner

Krazy & Ignatz

I’ve been delving into a number of classic comic strips lately, thanks to a bundle of new books from Fantagraphics.

First up was the latest Krazy & Ignatz book, “1919-1921: A Kind, Benevolent and Amiable Brick.” What stands out for me here, other than George Herriman’s usual artistry, is the subtle jokes about race — Ignatz becomes dirty after rolling around in soot and Krazy doesn’t recognize him and refuses to have anything to do with him; Krazy ends up covered in white paint and suddenly becomes irresistible to Ignatz. Considering Herriman’s own ethnic and racial heritage, I find moments like this fascinatingly telling.

I also read the fifth volume of Popeye, “Wha’s A Jeep.” I’ve gone on and on about my love for Segar’s Thimble Theater here and elsewhere countless times before, so I won’t bore you by listing the all the numerous reasons this strip tickles my fancy so well. Suffice it to say I think it’s an American classic and earns my heartiest recommendation, whatever that’s worth.

Finally, I read the third volume of Prince Valiant, which covers the years 1941-1942. I still can’t quite get over just how much fun Hal Foster’s medieval epic is. Far from the dull, staid, storybook slog a first glance would suggest, the strip bursts with life and adventure, and not a little bit of bloodsport. I lost count at a certain point how many evildoers Val killed, although the highlight (violence-wise at least) has to be the viking who gets his hand lopped off by Val on the last page, itty-bitty, graceful splurt of blood included.

Carla Hoffman

Ultimate Comics Doom #2

Ultimate Doom #2 isn’t half bad. On the whole, I would think more fondly of the Ultimate universe if we had read all of this instead of Ultimatum. Think of that for a moment, wouldn’t you? Yeah… Anyways, the action isn’t as slow or as startling as in, say Bendis’ Avengers work, and I would guess he is far more comfortable writing with the Ultimate characters than the ol’ 616 universe. But that’s me. I also know that it might be my gut feeling, but the whole villain of this particular arc of the Ultimate Secret/Ultimate Enemy/Ultimate Doom series is kind of disappointing. I understand their motivations and all, but without a reasoned and engaging explanation, I’m still down-hearted. I’m sure that’s even the point of naming this character a huge threat to their friends, loved ones and even the multiverse at large, so I’ll wait and see how it all develops.

I’ll totally admit to having not read Ultimate Secret or Ultimate Enemy before this, but it tells you how good a comic is if you can pick an issue up, read through it and understand the basic plotline enough to want to read more. In the same spirit, I also read Action Comics #897. The fancy character spotlight covers did not help me in this as I had to check the cover several times to remember what this issue was for later, but it also helped as Lex Luthor looking evil with Superman’s cape destroyed is pretty cool. Again, I haven’t read anything before it, but Paul Cornell is a pretty cool guy and the title’s been getting a lot of positive press from friends, so why not see what all this is? The good news is that it’s incredibly well-written. While the idea of a robot Lois Lane is lost on me, I caught quickly on to the fact that she was a robot and believed that Luthor want to create such a thing for his understandably nefarious needs. The black hole problem and his main reason for action? No clue. But the very idea of Lex Luthor taking his robot Lois Lane in to see the Joker at Arkham Asylum? Count me in. The exchange was engaging, fascinating and appropriately weird (“Jazz hands!”). Not sure if I’ll remain just as interested to pick up the next issue, but I might go back-issue hunting tomorrow and see if the last issue was as good as this one.

Last but not least, I read Infestation #1 because I need to know if Abnett and Lanning can make ANYTHING GOOD. Short answer: yes, yes they can. Long answer: you know when someone comes up with something so bizarre or unreal that you have to see it? Dynamite books and the internet work on this idea; we find strange and uncomprehendable YouTube videos and put them on Facebook. Infestation leaves your jaw open the whole time and you know it’s going to end in ZOMBIES in STAR TREK comics. That’s unheard of, but even on your way to getting to ZOMBIES in TRANSFORMERS comics, you’re not only given a fairly decent premise but throw in terms like Hofstadtian Strange Loop whi, if you Google odd words like I do, find out that it’s an ACTUAL THING. Not only did they jump on to a rather ludicrous idea of onvolving major properties in a current horror fad, but bothered to look up a Nobel Prize winning heirarchical theory. That’s right, you just learned something in a book that has robots, zombies and zombie-robots.

Sean T. Collins

Johnny 23

Still bouncing between prose and comics this week. On the prose end, I’m knee deep in Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain fantasy series, which in terms of their underlying theme as they chronicle the life of a young pig farmer turned unexpected hero can be summed up as “put in the hard work necessary to learn how not to be a jerk.” As various people I’ve described them to have put it, it’s like the anti-Ayn Rand — something we need even more now than we did when Alexander wrote the books in the ’60s.

As for comics, click the links for full reviews!

Johnny 23 by Charles Burns (Le Dernier Cri): Burns “remixes” his own book X’d Out to stunning effect, reformatting its pages and reshuffling their contents to further emphasize their surreal, gorgeous images.

AX: Alternative Manga Vol. 1 by various artists, compiled by Mitsuhiro Asakawa, edited by Sean Michael Wilson (Top Shelf): The incredibly wide range of comics in this compilation culled from one of Japan’s most prominent alternative-comics anthologies guarantees that you’ll find something you really like — you just have to make it past some frustrating production choices involving the translation and lettering to get to them.

Uptight #4 by Jordan Crane (Fantagraphics): One all-ages comic, and one very adult one, comprise the latest issue of Crane’s impeccably crafted one-man anthology series.

Johnny Zito

Outside of a few webcomics I don’t think I’m reading anything that comes out regularly right now. As I’ve gotten older I like to sit down with a collection, a celebrated run or self contained graphic novel. I’ve been reading a lot in the last few weeks.

Batman: Knightfall

Batman: Knightfall – When they cast the next Batman sequel earlier in the month I dug out my old Knightfall trades. Bane is a great villain because unlike so many who came before him he was BOTH the physical and mental equal of the Dark Knight. They juxtapose his methods with the crazies that Bane breaks out of Arkham. Honestly I forgot how tight the plotting is; tons of fun to watch Bane marshal his forces and legitimately take down the Bat… The art is vintage 90′s; scratchy, inconsistent and full of splash pages but that stuff can be fun with the right material.

Kill Shakespeare – I lied. I do read Kill Shakespeare month to month. However, it’s new so it didn’t immediately spring to mind. It fills the void that Fables and X-Men used to, full of drama and romance and fighting. Comics are at their best when they aspire to be Shakespearean. Men and women running around the night, wearing masks, fighting for love or revenge or whatever. Kill Shakespeare has all of that for obvious reasons and capitalizes with clever twists on old standards. The art lends a real gravity to the source material, it feels real. Or better yet it feels like a play, a world built out of set pieces and cardboard trees. It’s a surreal brain treat that I can’t recommend enough.

Wednesday Comics – Finally got to crack the spine (Bane reference?) on my Christmas present to myself. The collected Wednesday Comics are just FANTASTIC. Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and Batman immediately jump out as gloriously crafted love letters to those characters. The Flash, Metamorpho and Adam Strange got experimental and these stories took chances. There was such a variety of talent on the series that all 12 stories feel completely unique. I dig anthologies in general, there’s something very ‘comic-book-y’ about a bunch of people coming together to tackle a project no one of them could handle on their own.

Tony Trov

I have been crazy busy and haven’t had as much time to read since the Holiday.

Wonder Woman Archives, Vol 1 – I was never really into the Wonder Woman series until recently. I always thought of her as a campy TV show from the 70s… not that I don’t love Linda Carter, but you know what I mean.

These Golden Age stories are straight up weird and trippy. All, of course, in a good way. I do find them to be oddly fetishy, too. Which is pretty awesome considering when they were being published. I haven’t counted, but I think someone is bound and tied up on just about every single page.

Thanks for including us, come hang out on our website at SOUTHfellini.com.

DC's VP – Art Direction & Design Mark Chiarello (photo by Brian Walters)

Rumors began to swirl about a sequel to Wednesday Comics as soon as DC’s weekly anthology debuted in July 2009. But now we finally have confirmation from a contributor that something’s in the works.

Bleeding Cool picked up on word from the Facebook page of Steve Rude that the Nexus artist is working on a New Gods strip for a new Wednesday Comics. Years ago Rude and writer Mark Evanier were in line to do a New Gods series but it fell through (although they did do a Mister Miracle Special sometime back). For Wednesday Comics 2 there’s no word yet whether Rude is writing and illustrating or working with someone else.

The book’s editor Mark Chiarello confirmed last June, as the collected edition was released, that thought has gone into a sequel. All this  begs the question — who else is in the book? Let’s put some pieces together …

Earlier in this year Jill Thompson told Newsarama she was approached to do a Wonder Woman strip for the first series but had to turn it down due to working on Beasts of Burden. However, she asked to be considered if Wednesday Comics came back.

During a panel at Baltimore Comic-Con in 2009, Chiarello and some of the contributors to the first series spitballed some ideas of what they’d like to see in the sequel. Read Comic Book Resource’s full report, or follow on for who recommended who:

• Kevin Nowlan recommended Adam Hughes
• Joe Kubert recommended his other son Andy Kubert
• Brian Stelfreeze recommended Mike Mignola, Bernie Wrightson and George Perez
• Chiarello recommended Tim Sale, Darwyn Cooke and Walt Simonson, returning not as a writer but as an artist
• Simonson recommended Frank Miller, Stan Sakai, Sergio Aragones and Perez

Chiarello even said he had a conversation with Harlan Ellison about wanting to do a Doctor Fate strip with Simonson.

That’s who the pros would like to see in a Wednesday Comics sequel, and back in 2009 Robot 6 weighed in — but what creators and characters are on your wishlist?

This got me thinking. I know there are any number of logistical and financial reasons why such a thing doesn’t exist for comics. But we comics readers are an imaginative bunch, no? And today I choose to imagine a world where I can load up pretty much any book I can think of and read to my heart’s content. So here’s what my imaginary “Read Instantly” queue would look like, circa today. Check it out, then let us know what’s on your queue in the comments!

1. Powr Mastrs 3 by C.F. (PictureBox)
2. H Day by Renée French (PictureBox)
3. Duncan the Wonder Dog by Adam Hines (AdHouse)

This trio of eagerly anticipated alt/art-comix releases have been generating best-of-the-year buzz for weeks now, if not longer. I can’t wait to see what the fuss is about in all three cases.

4. Thor: The Mighty Avenger by Roger Langridge and Chris Samnee (Marvel)

I’ve heard nothing but good things about this all-ages-yet-not-kids’-stuff comic, from sources of the sort I wouldn’t normally expect to say good things about this kind of comic. Seeing as how I’m a big fan of a lot of “off-model” Marvel stuff, color me intrigued.

5. Twin Spica by Kou Yaginouma (Vertical)
6. Ax: A Collection of Alternative Manga Vol. 1 by Mitsuhiro Asakawa (compiler), Sean Michael Wilson (editor), and various cartoonists (Top Shelf)
7. A Drunken Dream by Moto Hagio (Fantagraphics)

My manga reading has been absolutely woeful this year — my short attention span (seriously, I don’t call my blog Attentiondeficitdisorderly for nothing) makes reading long series only after their completion more or less a must for me, while I’ve got a shelf full of prestige projects from American art-house publishers waiting for me to crack their spines. These recent releases are at the top of my manga must-read list.

8. The ACME Novelty Library #20 by Chris Ware (Drawn & Quarterly

I already read this the day I got it, then picked it up and read it again the next day. But it’s so chillingly good I want access to it 24/7.

9. Achewood by Chris Onstad

Now here’s where it gets a bit embarrassing: I’m literally years behind on Onstad’s much-beloved webcomic, which is especially galling considering that I was an early and vocal supporter. But for a while there I just didn’t have the wherewithal to follow any comic on a daily basis. This strip’s been going on for so long that maybe this is the equivalent of all those Mad Men and Breaking Bad DVDs that have cluttered up my queue waiting for the right time for literally months now, but someday…someday…

10. Wednesday Comics by Mark Chiarello (editor) and various writers/artists (DC)
11. Scarlet by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev (Marvel/Icon)

These are two titles to which, despite the presence of creators whose work I’d greatly enjoyed over the years, I found myself less warmly disposed than I’d have otherwise thought. In Wednesday Comics‘ case, it was my suspicion that nostalgia might be too heavy a presence; in Scarlet‘s, it was disappointment with the pair’s previous collaboration on Spider-Woman. But on a rainy weekend afternoon it might be fun to see what, if anything, I missed.

12. Berserk by Kentaro Miura (Dark Horse)

This long-running action-adventure serial has stealthily but steadily become one of the most influential books around in artcomics circles — Johnny Ryan’s Prison Pit wears its influence on its sleeve, for example. I can’t see myself buying all 30-odd available volumes, but in my imaginary “Read Instantly” world, finding out whether Berserk is as berserk as everyone says would be irresistible.

13. The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller (DC)
14. The Diary of a Teenage Girl by Phoebe Gloeckner (Frog)
15. Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth by Grant Morrison & Dave McKean (DC)

A trio of all-time favorites to which I never grow tired of returning. Yes, one of these things is not like the others.

16. Jack Kirby’s Fourth World Saga (DC)
I read these in those gray-toned trade paperbacks ages ago and still feel the impact. The time has just never been right for me to plow through the four gorgeous Omnibus collections DC put out back-to-back. But I’ll get a chance at some point!

17. The Incal by Alexandro Jodorowsky and Moebius (Humanoids)
18. Phoenix by Osamu Tezuka (Vertical)

And now the really embarrassing bit: I’ve never read so much as a panel by the masters of two of the world’s three major comic book traditions. Deeply, deeply sad. Well, now that I’ve outed myself, there’s no place to go but up, and I understand these are the books to start with.

19. Or Else #2 by Kevin Huizenga (Drawn and Quarterly)

The short story “A Sunset” in this issue of Huizenga’s series is the best comics short story I’ve ever read, I think. There’s nothing else like it. I want to be able to study it whenever the mood strikes me.

20. Boy’s Club #4 by Matt Furie (Pigeon Press)

I also want to be able to laugh at dick jokes until my sides hurt.

Well, there you have it — my imaginary “Read Instantly” queue in all its glory. I’ve showed you mine, now you show me yours!

Yesterday editor Eddie Berganza also shared some artwork and details on an upcoming project, this one being Superman/Batman‘s 75th issue, and I’m starting to think maybe funkygreenjerusalem was right about the first teaser. Here’s what Berganza has to say about the issue:

Superman/Batman #75

Now under that icon, some very impressive talent has made its way through its pages. And this couldn’t be more true of the book that will be coming out soon. Starting with an awesome cover by Frank Quitely, the lead story is by Paul Levitz, who finally gets to team the Legion of Super-Heroes with Batman as well as Superman and Superboy, all lusciously illustrated by Jerry Ordway, no stranger to Strange Visitors. But this is just the beginning. What follows is a special section featuring 2-page strips. My homage to WEDNESDAY COMICS.

It starts with Steve Seagle and Teddy Kristiansen doing the only sequel they ever will to IT’S A BIRD… with “It’s A Bat, ” a story of how an editor tries to get a special section like this going. It continues with Billy Tucci and Peter Tomasi with Gene Ha each playing up the grand adventures of our heroes, while Adam Hughes, David Finch, J.T. Krul, Francis Manapul, Duncan Rouleau, Jill Thompson, Michael Green with Mike Johnson and Rafael Albuquerque and Shane Davis all show us how the Superman and Batman families have been inspired by these two icons. From Supergirls to super-pets, and a wild take on a Lex Luthor and Joker teaming by Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo, it has it all, but don’t just listen to me. Go check it out!

The issue goes on sale Aug. 25.

Viz Media

Publishers | Viz Senior Vice President and General Manager Alvin Lu discusses the state of the company after the layoffs that occurred in May, as well as the overall manga market. “We continue to get great support from our retail partners. They do see that these very popular series continue to do well. They are getting up there in the 40s and 50s of the volume count, and there is the challenge of bringing in newer readers, to catch them up. I was looking though a calendar from several years ago when we were looking at Bleach Vol. 5 or something. That is a conversation we’ve been having with the bookstores, and they’re being very responsive on how to work with us, to continue to drive the category. They’ve been very supportive of helping us launch new series as well. So it’s a balancing act of getting the space to launch new series while nurturing the more mature series that continue to enjoy a loyal readership.” [ICv2]

Events | Brian Heater from the Daily Cross Hatch and Sarah Morean from Blog Chicka Blog Blog have declared Aug. 28 “International Read Comics in Public” Day. They’ve started a blog that features, as you might guess, people reading comics in public. [Daily Cross Hatch]

Wednesday Comics

Publishing | Ada Price talks to DC Comics art director and Wednesday Comics editor Mark Chiarello about the project, asking if there’s any word about a sequel. “There’s some talk about it. I think the only reason to do it would be to do it as good, if not better than the first series, and that’s going to be difficult,” Chiarello said. [Publishers Weekly]

Publishing | A profile of Richelle Mead, author of the Vampire Academy series of books, reveals that a graphic novel version is due in August 2011. [Kansascity.com]

Conventions | Gregory Schmidt talks to companies like Mattel and Warner Bros. about how they market to girls at Comic-Con International. [New York Times]

Digital comics | Todd Allen talks to Robert Jacobi, an example of a “lapsed comics reader that the iPad apps were supposed to connect with.” [Publishers Weekly]

Steve Englehart

Creators | Writer Steve Englehart continues to share stories from his early days as a comics writer in a new column for Tor.com. “Many people today are amazed at this. ‘They gave you an established icon like Captain America and said do whatever you want?’ Yes, they did. And when I did make the book sell and did meet my deadlines, they gave me The Hulk and The Avengers and a whole lot more. I’ve talked about how writing periodicals teaches you to write. I should add that complete freedom lets you explore anything that seems like a good idea without once looking over my shoulder or second-guessing myself. So when I wrote comics, I lived in the moment, letting my stories tell me what to write about, riffing off the zeitgeist month by month.” [Tor.com]

Creators | Jesse Blaze Snyder talks about his family, reality TV and his comic book writing. [The Beat]

Creators | Robot 6 contributor Brigid Alverson talks to Rob Worley about creating the all-ages comic Scratch9. [Publishers Weekly]

Creators | Douglas Wolk interviews Scott Snyder about his upcoming run on Detective Comics. [Techland]

Comics | David Brothers offers a detailed analysis of previous Top Cow Pilot Season winner Genius by Marc Bernardin, Adam Freeman and Afua Richardson: “Richardson’s approach to violence is both matter-of-fact and highly stylized. Richardson’s freeze frames of violence aren’t sensational or overly gory, but her just-shy-of-realistic art makes ‘Genius’ look almost like a really high quality animated movie. While the big bangs are what push the plot forward, Richardson renders lower key moments just as well. Destiny’s way of thinking is presented in an inventive visual shorthand that is instantly understandable and worthy of poring over. [ComicsAlliance]

Comics | Jeffery Klaehn names the greatest comic-book super-teams. [Pop]

1. Flex Mentallo and Rick Veitch Swamp Thing announcements for “Vertigo Resurrected”: With the announcement that the Warren Ellis/Phil Jimenez Hellblazer story “Shoot” will finally see print under the just announced “Vertigo Resurrected” banner, one can hope that plans are in the works for the DC imprint to finally print Rick Veitch’s aborted Swamp Thing meets Jesus story and collect the Flex Mentallo mini-series into a trade paperback. One can hope. (JK Parkin)

2. Wednesday Comics 2: We’ve already listed what we’d like to see in it a few months back, so it’s about time that DC Comics announced the follow-up to their successful Wednesday Comics series from last summer. With a ‘Mazing Man strip, of course… (suggested by Tom Bondurant)

3. What’s next for Alvin Buenaventura: Alvin’s got a lot of history with San Diego–his publishing imprint basically launched with an art exhibition during SDCC ’03–and even though you don’t get a lot of “announcements” for alternative and arts comics at the show, it’d be great to hear what’s next for what has been a cornerstone of contemporary cutting-edge comics. (Sean T. Collins)

The Thanos Imperative #3

4. Cosmic Avengers: After teasing it in a promo image for the Thanos Imperative, it only make sense that Marvel would continue their ongoing space saga, by architects Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, with an ongoing Cosmic Avengers series. Heck, use the team from the promo, throw in Rocket Raccoon, Moondragon and Mantis, and let them run wild. (JK Parkin)

5. A collection of Dick Giordano’s “Meanwhile” columns: Tom mentioned these some months back; a collection would make a nice remembrance of one of the industry’s greats. (suggested by Tim O’Shea)

6. New Hulk actor announcement: Not only should we find out the contender for the role of Bruce Banner in the Avengers film, but he has to defeat Edward Norton in one-on-one, no disqualification Last Man Standing match. If Norton wins, he gets to play Bruce Banner. Also, I get a pony. (Carla Hoffman)

Fantastic Four

Welcome once again to What Are You Reading? This week our special guest is Justin Aclin, editor of ToyFare magazine and writer of Hero House and S.H.O.O.T. First, which you can read on MySpace Dark Horse Presents. To see what Justin and the Robot 6 crew have been reading lately, click below …

*****

Chris Mautner

Wednesday Comics

DC was kind enough to send me a copy of the new collected edition of Wednesday Comics, though It took a bit longer to reach me as my office space moved to a new location. Anyway, reading through the anthology for a second time, I found myself being a bit more forgiving and generous to most of the stories I had previously dismissed or disdained. Overall, I think having the chapters bound together and printed on glossy paper actually rewards the contributions a bit more. That’s certainly the case with Ben Caldwell’s Wonder Woman story, which is the most formally daring and interesting piece in the book, though not necessarily the most successful.

No, I think my favorite piece by far is the Flash story by Karl Kerschl and Brenden Fletcher, which manages to reference both silver age superheroics and the soap opera strips of the same time period and use them to not only create a stirring adventure but connect on a more emotional level regarding Barry and Iris’ relationship. It’s a smart, invigorating work with flashes of genuine genius.

As for the rest of the book, it mostly exists on the level of “beautiful to look at, story isn’t much.” Some, like Paul Pope’s Adam Strange and Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner’s Supergirl, rise above this, but most — the Deadman story, the Batman tale, the Green Lantern bit — don’t. That’s not necessarily a deal-breaker. These entries are certainly enjoyable on an immediate “eyeball” level and make good use of the larger page (only the Demon/Catwoman mash-up and the Teen Titans tale sink like a stone), but there’s no getting away from the fact that most of these stories play in the shallow end of the story pool. I’m grateful for both the book and the experiment, but I hope if they do a sequel the writers take a few more chances as well.

Sean T. Collins

I was on the artcomix end of the street this week. Click the links for reviews:

Lose #1-2 by Michael DeForge: You can see why DeForge won the Doug Wright award for promising new talent in the first two issues of his one-man anthology title, featuring very funny comedy and very creepy horror.

Gags and Sloe Black by Michael DeForge: Weirder, more lo-fi zines from DeForge–still very funny.

New Painting and Drawing by Ben Jones: This may be the most viscerally exciting-to-look at art book I’ve ever seen.

Tom Bondurant

Captain America #606

Captain America #606 (written by Ed Brubaker, drawn by Butch Guice) was a good start to a new storyline featuring Baron Zemo and a Bucky/Cap who’s feeling a little, shall we say, conflicted about gunning down ’50s Cap last time around. (That last bit, by the way, is recapped in a psychedelic flashback panel whose choice of homage was a very pleasant surprise.) So yadda yadda yadda, it’s Zemo Jr. vs. Cap Jr., and it gets those preliminaries out of the way efficiently by incorporating the adversaries’ character issues into the plot. That leaves just Zemo vs. Cap in the proverbial deadly came of cat and mouse, and that sounds like a pretty entertaining arc.

It was good for Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, and Chris Batista to get the Justice League International comparisons out in the open in their second issue of Booster Gold (#33). Those scenes take up most of the issue, and of course they hit all the notes and beats of the JLI style … but at the same time, they work pretty seamlessly with the rest of the issue. (One difference which doesn’t feel that different is J’Onn’s first-person narrative captioning, which in the old days would have been a series of thought balloons.) The banter between Rip Hunter and his “granddaughter” Rani, and Booster’s battle with Brigadoom, both echo those JLI rhythms. However, “our” Booster’s interactions with his friends and colleagues demonstrate pretty clearly that (gasp!) he’s more mature, and Booster Gold doesn’t rely exclusively on previous work. This issue came out the same week as the latest Generation Lost, so the combination sends the message that Giffen is moving
on, even if he’s not quite done with these characters.

Finally, I liked a good bit of Batman #700, although I have to say it’s not my favorite Batman centennial issue. That remains the first one I read, issue #300′s “The Last Batman Story,” by David V. Reed and Walt Simonson. (And it still comes in second to Detective Comics #500.) Set in the not-too-distant future, when Bruce’s temples are grey and Dick has graduated to Neal Adams’ “adult Robin” costume, it finds the aging Dynamic Duo going into action one last time to stop a color-coded conspiracy. Subsequent centennials were tied into ongoing storylines: issue #400′s gauntlet of villains, with Ra’s al Ghul at the end; issue #500′s takedown of Bane by Jean-Paul Valley; and issue #600′s “Bruce Wayne, Murderer” installment. So this issue #700′s story of time travel and Batmen Through The Ages was a nice change of pace, if a bit uneven. For example, I’m not sure why Scott Kolins went for a quasi-animated style when everyone else’s artwork was more “realistic.” I would also have preferred more story to the pinups, or at least more veteran Batman artists on the pinups. The Batcave map was a nice touch, though.

Michael May

Mystery Society

This week I got caught up on a couple of friends’ projects that I’ve been meaning to read. The first issue of Mystery Society was a lot of fun. When I wrote about looking forward to it in an old Gorillas Riding Dinosaurs column, I mentioned that it sounded similar in premise to John Rozum’s Midnight, Mass (which is not at all a bad thing since I loved that concept and think there’s lots of room to play with it). It’s not surprising that Mystery Society takes a different angle to the Thin Man meets X-Files idea, but I didn’t expect the larger team approach that Steve Niles is apparently taking. Instead of just having a witty, wealthy couple solve supernatural crimes by themselves, there seems to be an actual “society” forming with the first member being Secret Skull from the mini-series that Niles did with Chuck BB (Black Metal) a few years ago. As a sucker for crossovers and universe-building, I love that.

I also read The Perhapanauts Special: Molly’s Story written by Scott Weinstein and illustrated by my pal Jason Copland. I’m not that familiar with these characters (I mistakenly bought the confusingly titled Perhapanauts, Volume 1: Triangle from Image thinking it was where the story began and haven’t yet gone back to buy Perhapanauts, Volume 1: First Blood from Dark Horse to correct my error), but I didn’t need to be to enjoy the creepiness and heroism present in Molly’s Story. It’s a standalone tale that makes me want to track down the collections I’m missing and read more about its main character.

Finally, I read Agents of Atlas, Volume 3: Turf Wars and I feel sort of the way I do after a great meal: comfortably satisfied and already starting to think about the next one.

Brigid Alverson

The Treasure of Peg-Leg Wilson

At the top of my stack this week is the Muppet Show graphic novel The Treasure of Peg-Leg Wilson. I’m probably not a good candidate for these books, as I never watched the show, but I get it, and it’s pretty funny in places. Roger Langridge’s art is sweet. All the characters have a lot of personality and even though he crams the pages full of figures and action, the threads are always easy to follow. I have a hard time seeing this as a kids’ comic, though. It’s crammed full of dated allusions—a line from Casablanca, a mock Gilbert & Sullivan skit, and the Electric Mayhem band, which is straight out of 1967. Do kids these days get that? The story is pretty nonlinear—there’s a treasure hunt, a Kermit impersonator, and a mad scientist who is trying to raise Monster’s evolutionary status, and the different storylines all get tangled up with Star Trek skits and odd little jokes. I think a lot of kids would have trouble following it, but I can also see kids getting a real belly laugh out of the goofy jokes.

After blogging about Ed Piskor’s Wizzywig, I downloaded the first two volumes of the graphic novel. He has a fascinating topic—the misfit who becomes a phone phreak and an early hacker—and I like the ingenuity of his protagonist, Kevin Phenicle. I’m only a few chapters in, but my biggest criticism so far is that there is too much narration. Big chunks of the exposition occur in text boxes at the top of the panels, or in thought balloons. Piskor is reformatting the comic as a webcomic now, and I’m looking forward to seeing how he refines it. His art is a classic underground-comix style, fairly realistic with a decent amount of detail, and you can see the R. Crumb influence, especially in the original, where he uses a lot of hatching. He’s using toning in the new comics, and his style is a bit more sophisticated—I think it’s a big improvement.

Justin Aclin

Secret Six #22

Thanks to the Robot 6 crew for letting me rant about comics in a public forum. The best thing about working in Wizard central is that you get access to every major release, every week. So I read a whole lot of comics, but these are a few of my recent and ongoing favorites.

Secret Six: I think Gail Simone is a criminally underrated writer. She’s one of the best things DC has going right now, and this is her best book—it’s hilarious and hardcore and unpredictable in a way that very few continuity comics manage to pull off. The way that she gets you to root for the bad guy, then pulls the rug out to remind you how bad they really are, it wouldn’t be a stretch to call it The Sopranos of superhero comics.

Fantastic Four: Marvel’s the spot for a lot of really exciting new-ish writers right now like Jason Aaron and Jonathan Hickman, and the fact that they’re able to put out work that’s so idiosyncratic and plays so much to their strengths says a lot about the way things are run over there. I’ve enjoyed a lot of FF runs over the years, but in just a few issues Hickman’s run has become my defining Fantastic Four. I don’t care if Thing never throws another punch, I’d read 100 issues of Reed Richards being the smartest guy in the room if Hickman was writing it.

Beasts of Burden: I’ve mentioned this in interviews, but Beasts of Burden is what inspired me to create S.H.O.O.T. First, just by virtue of how awesome it is. Jill Thompson’s artwork is clearly gorgeous, but what really floored me was how emotionally affecting Evan Dorkin was able to make it (translation: I cried) without it feeling like cheap manipulation. All that, plus monsters and magic and cute animals.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man: This is my favorite Bendis book right now by a country mile. The shared universe has always been my favorite part of superhero comics, and I love the fact that they didn’t try to rebrand this book as “Ultimate Young Super-Allies” or something. It’s a book about Spider-Man, but Spider-Man happens to live with Human Torch and Iceman and a girl who used to be Carnage and down the block from Nova. It’s just so damn fun.

Axe Cop: This webcomic was hot poop on Twitter a couple of months ago, but I want to give it a special shout-out because it managed to do something amazing: the joke has not worn out at all. And you can entirely chalk that up to the fact that it’s written by a 6-year-old (Malachai Nicolle, and drawn by his much older brother Ethan). You never think, “Ho-hum, a gun that shoots a tornado of unicorns and bullets. He’s trying too hard now.” Because a 6-year-old has unlimited enthusiasm, and it will never feel like he’s trying too hard. His plot twists are brilliant. Please, keep reading Axe Cop.

Tara Normal

Welcome once again to What Are You Reading? This week our special guest contributor is comics writer Dwight L. MacPherson, who you might know from Sidewise, currently running on Zuda; the pirate story Dead Men Tell No Tales; or Kid Houdini and The Silver-Dollar Misfits, among other works.

To see what Dwight and the rest of the Robot 6 crew have been reading, click on the link …

*****

Tom Bondurant

Final Crisis

Final Crisis came out in paperback this week, so I picked up a copy and read through it in a few big chunks. The last time I read the miniseries from start to finish was when issue #7 came out, over a year ago. Much of it was familiar, because it’s so full of “moments” — Turpin’s transformation, Supergirl vs. Mary Marvel, the Green Lanterns fighting through collapsing spacetime, etc. I’m not prepared to say it made any more sense as a collection, mind you, but I was able to follow the plot a little better. Of course it is very dense, because not only are Morrison and company constantly bombarding the reader with all manner of ideas, they’re pulling those ideas from various other series. For example, it may help to think of FC as a semi-sequel to Crisis On Infinite Earths by way of the reviled Countdown miniseries, at least with regard to the “final fate” of the Monitors.

However, Final Crisis is most effective when it’s scary, and boy does it get scary. Not so much with Mandrakk the Vampire Monitor, maybe; but with the people of Earth turned into Apokoliptian pawns, and the other sorts of horrors created by Darkseid and Libra. Fortunately, FC is also good at happy endings, and particularly Superman’s role therein.

Otherwise, I am now caught up with both Scott Pilgrim and Empowered, and I’m eager for the next volume of each.

Brigid Alverson

Scratch 9 #1

Kid stuff! Rob Worley sent me a PDF of Scratch 9, an all-ages comic that is coming out in August. It’s a great Saturday morning cartoon-style comic with a lot of potential. The first issue doesn’t stray too far off the reservation—Scratch, an independent-minded cat, escapes from his owner, Penelope, who is trying to give him a bath, and winds up in a cage at some evil scientific lab. The mad scientist, Dr. Schrodinger (heh) wants to transfer minds between bodies so that he can become immortal, but of course the experiment goes wrong, leaving Dr. Schrodinger’s mind trapped inside a rickety prototype robot and Scratch suddenly capable of conjuring up his past selves (cats have nine lives, remember?). It’s all basically setup, so by the end of the first issue you have Scratch and his alter ego (a saber-tooth tiger) roaming the streets, Penelope and Dr. Schrodinger out looking for him, plus a dog and a chicken from the lab and some evil rats who presumably are going to play bigger parts as the story continues. The art is lively, the characters have a lot of personality, and this looks like it will be a really fun series; I can totally see it as an animated cartoon as well.

I’m not too far into Scott Chantler’s Tower of Treasure, but it strikes me as the kind of book that works very well as a graphic novel. It’s a fantasy tale of Dessa, a plucky girl who is a member of a traveling circus troupe whose members moonlight as thieves. Dessa doesn’t care much for this aspect of the job, and furthermore, she is preoccupied with finding her twin brother and the man who abducted him. All this plays out in a knights-and-peasants kind of setting in which the art economically describes the surroundings and the characters. If this were a prose novel, the reader would have to content with pages of description, whereas the graphic novel establishes the motley cast and the setting quickly and allows the author to get straight to the business of telling his story. The art is classic kids’ style, dynamic and cartoony, making this a timeless and pleasurable read.

Sean T. Collins

Mr. Cellar's Attic

Here’s the stuff I read this week. Click the links for reviews!

Mr. Cellar’s Attic by Noel Freibert: A finely creepy EC Comics homage with a gorgeously colored cover.

Monstrosity Mini by Jorgé Diaz: A tiny comic about giant monsters, with some hits and misses inside.

Wally Gropius by Tim Hensley: It’s a silly parody of ’60s teen humor comics! It’s a scathing satire of 21st-century robber capitalism! Stop, you’re both right!

Matt Maxwell

THUNDERBOLTS 142, 143
Jeff Parker and company wring some entertainment from the peripheries of a kind of non-event event book. Always nice to see the Paladin get some play. Solid one-liners, but really all of this feels like the lead-in to what he really wants to do with the book, which started last week with #144, which I haven’t gotten to yet.

WEDNESDAY COMICS
Got the collection, after only getting the first four issues or so in the tabloid format. Nearly all of these are exquisitely beautiful, but most of them don’t really do much of anything past that. As fun as they are, there’s not a lot of there there, if you catch my drift. There’s a huge canvas to work on, and really, nostalgia seems to strangle a lot of whatever interesting could be going on. DEADMAN with art by Mike Bullock, WONDER WOMAN by Ben Caldwell and ADAM STRANGE by Paul Pope are a solid antidote to this, doing things either with story or form that the others don’t really match. Don’t get me wrong. There’s some beautiful art, and great cartooning (Amanda Conner on SUPERGIRL is so underrated as to be painful), but the stories don’t often match up to the promise. Still, my admiration to the teams for even getting something so anti-commercial out there to enjoy in the first place.

TORPEDO v. 2.
What’s to say? This is review-proof. Either you’re ravenously waiting for this or you don’t know about it (or you’re never going to care.) Jordi Bernet delivers on every single page, with actual honest to gosh cartooning, not simple draftsmanship. Enrique Abuli spins humorous tales so dark that I hesitate to call them comedy, and yet bust out laughing every single time, even if doing so marks me as possessing a soul so warped and twisted that perhaps I’m not fit for polite or even impolite company. Even if IDW never did another worthy thing as a publisher (and that’s not likely), the TORPEDO collection (which dialogue by Jimmy Palmiotti) would make them a publisher worth honoring. Is TORPEDO that good? Yes. Yes it is.

Michael May

I’m loving the hell out of Dynamite’s Adventures of Red Sonja reprints (having just started the third volume). I’m not sold on Frank Thorne’s blow-up doll face for Sonja, but the guy really knew how to design a page and show fluid action. And Roy Thomas, Bruce Jones, and Claire Noto’s plots are a lot more fun than Thomas’ Conan the Barbarian stuff I’ve read (which, admittedly, is only the earliest issues), probably because they’re freed from trying to make stories fit into a pre-existing outline of the hero’s career. The Red Sonja stuff feels a lot more loose and spontaneous for that reason. I could do without the flowery “Hyborian” prose and dialogue, but the stories are fun and imaginative enough that I can put up with no end of “Tarim’s Bloods” and “polyglot populations.”

Amazon

Dark Horse’s hardcover edition of Steven T Seagle and Tim Sale’s The Amazon is a good-looking book. Sale fills the jungle and its cities, villages, and rivers with lots of gorgeous details that pulled me right into the story. I was a bit put off by the overly clever device of using two different documents (the main character’s private journal and his final, printed, magazine article) to narrate the story, but it’s an interesting – if not entirely successful – experiment. One of the things I like most about Seagle is his willingness to try new things, so I can’t fault him for it. It was just a bit too much for me this time. I really do appreciate though that he was able to tell an important, sadly-still-relevant story about what’s going on in the Amazon and make it about something other than just a sermon. Impressive.

I also read Gene Luen Yang’s Animal Crackers collection from SLG. I loved American Born Chinese, but I agree with Chris Mautner that Prime Baby felt like more of the same and I was curious to see how Animal Crackers compared. It’s more complete than Prime Baby (which seems to just sort of end without resolving anything), but not as profound or tightly crafted as ABC. It certainly has its moments though and I loved its thoughts on how the world can be interpreted in different ways depending on how you squint at it.

Finally, I read Ryan Kelly’s Funrama #1. After seeing Kelly do so many “realistic” stories, it was a blast to see him cut loose with some goofy (in a good way), X-Men-esque villains like the Mutant Punks. I’m a big fan of Kelly’s highly-detailed, literal style and it’s fantastic to see him render a cartoonishly designed character like Bombcat and be forced to stick to profile shots because the design just doesn’t work in three dimensions. Actually, “forced” isn’t the right word, because a) Kelly’s a talented enough artist to figure it out if he needed to and b) instead of being restricted by the limitation, he’s obviously having a great time with it and finding ways to make it funny.

Chris Mautner

Zeus: King of the Gods

This week I started to get caught up on my review pile by reading a couple of First Second books, starting off with George O’Conner’s Zeus: King of the Gods and Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess, part of his new, ongoing series of Greek myth adaptations, Olympians.

For the most part I agree with Michael May — these are attractive updates of the tales that hew close enough to the original myths, and keep just enough of their disturbing undercurrents, to make for an enjoyable read. Part of me wishes that O’Conner had taken a different, less “comic bookey” (for want of a better descriptor) visual style — the “gods were the original superheroes” seems a bit cliched and obvious to me, and O’Conner frames a lot of the big action sequences in that manner, with Zeus and company leaping into the fray a la the Avengers. D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths remains my personal high water mark where these stories are concerned, especially in terms of conveying awe and mystery. That all being said, these remain excellent introductions into the mythical canon for younger readers, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to an interested kid.

I also read City of Spies by Susan Kim, Laurence Klavan and Pascal Dizin, but was less taken with that book. I’m a sucker for the ligne claire art style, of which Dizin is obviously a devotee. But while his renderings were lovely to look at, the story itself is more than a bit overly familiar, with plucky kids stumbling into a Nazi spy plot during WWII-era America. The whole thing just felt a bit too lockstep and reliant on similar tales I had read before. I kept waiting for it to surprise me and annoyed that it didn’t seem interested in doing so. Kids will no doubt like it, but grown-ups might tire of it quickly.

JK Parkin

I received a nice package in the mail from Joey Weiser, which included the recently released Cavemen in Space (which I haven’t read yet) and two issues of a mini-comic called Mermin. It’s about a merman, hence the title, or actually a mer-boy, who washes up on a beach and befriends a group of kids. He ends up moving in with one of them and starts going to school; it’s a classic fish out of water story, as Mermin tries to adapt to life on land, all the while trying to avoid being found by the denizens of the undersea kingdom he escaped from. It’s an all-ages story that has a lot of fun moments in it, such as Mermin learning to play tetherball and what happens when Mermin steps into the school swimming pool. And the underlying mystery of why everyone’s after him helps build the anticipation of what’s going to happen next — I hope the third issue comes out soon. You can order online here.

Dwight L. MacPherson

I would like to start off by thanking John Parkin for the invite—and for his patience. I have been extremely busy completing my first young adult novel, so it’s taken me a month to get back to him.

Without further ado, here’s what I’m currently reading:

100 Cupboards

100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson: An amazing coming of age story with interdimensional travel, strange worlds and being, and mysteries galore. This gem is one of the most imaginative and entertaining young reader books I’ve read in quite a while.

According to the publisher, the book is for 8-12 year-old readers, but if your young reader is easily spooked, you may want to wait until he or she is 11 or 12. There is some pretty intense imagery that may haunt them in their dreams. Literally. (Boo!)

The Little Country by Charles de Lint: A book with mysterious magical powers is awakened by an unwitting musician named Janey Little. Aware of the awakened magic, a secret organization of immortals will stop at nothing to possess it. Even if it means killing Janey, her grandfather or her friends.

An excellent fantasy adventure thus far. Plenty of magic, music and mystery in the coastal city of Cornwall, England.

Dare I say it? It’s a smashing fantasy adventure.

(You knew I would.)

Tara Normal by Howie Noel: Outrageous fun with wonderful art. If it doesn’t make you laugh out loud, there’s something wrong with your squeak box.

You never know who will pop up in this witty, audacious strip. We’ve already seen Baby Cthulhu, Abraham Lincoln’s ghost, a Dr. McNinja cameo, David Bowie, John Cusack, and–go see for yourself, why don’t ya? New pages are posted every Wednesday.

Enter the Heroic Age

Welcome once again to What Are You Reading? where we ask, “If you were stuck on an island with the smoke monster, what would you bring to read?” Yes, that was my lame attempt to make today’s edition topical. Sorry. Let’s just write that off as me being really excited to see the end of Lost.

This week our special guest is comics retailer Randy Lander, who you can find selling comics at Rogues Gallery Comics & Games in Round Rock, Texas or blogging over at Inside Joke Theatre. To see what Randy and the rest of our merry castaways have been reading, click the link below …

*****

Brigid Alverson

Foiled

Just by chance, I’m reading two books about high-schoolers that mix real life and fantasy elements. Foiled, written by Jane Yolen and illustrated by Mike Cavallaro, is the slicker of the two; it is published by First Second and is in full color, with a very deluxe feel. Yet I think the other book, Gene Luen Yang’s Animal Crackers, has the better story.

Foiled is clever and elegantly carried out—it’s the story of a girl who is a misfit in school but very into fencing. When she winds up with a super-cute new guy as her lab partner, she thinks of their budding relationship in terms of fencing moves. Aliera, the lead character, is the sort of independent, self-confident girl that grownups like me like to read about; she’s a good role model, a comfortingly mature teenager. The problem is that the story shifts halfway through from a fairly realistic high-school drama to a fantasy tale: Aliera goes on her first date with Avery, the cute guy, and as she is standing in Grand Central Station, she puts on her fencing mask and suddenly sees a host of fantastic creatures. Unfortunately, Yolen has given the reader no hint up till then of what will happen. It’s simply too abrupt a break, and in a deeper way, it doesn’t make emotional sense. Aliera is a great kid, but a hero? I didn’t see enough to convince me of that.

Animal Crackers also mixes an imaginative fantasy world with high school life, but the fantasy elements come in early and are better integrated. The book consists of three of Yang’s early works, all loosely connected by overlapping characters and situations, plus a bonus story at the end explaining how these comics came to be in the first place.

I like it that Yang’s characters aren’t the stereotyped good kids of young-adult literature; in the first story, a bully and a nerd team up to fight animal crackers that have come to life. Yang moves beyond the standard archetypes and makes his teens quirky enough to be interesting. He also invents fantasy creatures who send spaceships up people’s noses in order to tap into the unused portions of their brains. The other long story in the book is about a girl who meets a mysterious stranger in her dreams, but the spaceship-up-the-nose motif continues as well. Yang touches on a lot of common themes—hatred, forgiveness, elitism—but he doesn’t treat any of them simplistically. His fantasy characters are an integral part of each story from the beginning. While Foiled threw me for a loop halfway through the book, with Animal Crackers I knew what I was dealing with from the beginning—a witty blend of fantasy and high school life.

Michael May

Ex Occultus: Badge of Langavat

Ex Occultus: Badge of Langavat is an occult-investigator comic by Robert James Russell, Jesse Young, and Sandra Lanz. It’s cool that they’ve done a lot of research into the creatures and legends that appear in the book, but the thing about occult-investigator stories is that it’s not the creatures and legends that make them good. It’s the investigators. I’ve seen plenty of werewolf stories, what I haven’t seen is Your Characters fighting werewolves. And unfortunately, I didn’t get to know the hunters in Ex Occultus enough to learn if I like them or not. The two Scot highlanders trying to rescue a bunch of kids from a castle full of werewolves certainly know what they’re doing and are really tough in a fight, but I got little sense that they were real people with personalities. It’s a cool concept; it just needs a lot of work in the execution.

I picked up the first collection of Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! to read for bedtime stories, but decided that first we’d need to read Jeff Smith’s Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil. The language was a bit more than I was ready for (not awful, but “ass” – for instance – isn’t a word that gets used a lot in our house), but it was a lot of fun introducing these characters to my son. He was totally fooled about Sivana’s being a good guy and the revelation that Mr. Mind was a tiny worm was shocking to him. There’s a lot to love about the story: talking tigers, crocodiles, and bugs, weird monsters, giant robots; a mysterious wizard. I wasn’t sure how I was going to like Mary Marvel as an elementary student (I’m so used to her as a pre-teen), but Smith had great instincts about that too and Mary’s completely adorable. David and I were both sorry to reach the end of the book, but we’re happy to have Mike Kunkel’s version to follow it up with.

Chris Mautner

Like Brigid I also read Foiled. If anything, however, I liked it even less than she did. Which is a shame and a bit surprising, considering the talent involved.

Artist Mike Cavallaro tries hard to maintain reader interest — mixing up layouts and perspectives — and he has a nice, cartoony style. But it can’t overcome Yolen’s awkward, leaden prose. Her heroine speaks like no teenager — or really person — I know, or would want to know for that matter. She seems less like a person than an amalgamation of character traits. The late third act intrusion of fantasy into the material doesn’t do much to jazz up the material either. If anything, it upsets the applecart even more — all that only to have the revelation be yet another “you are the chosen one who must save the magical world of ZiderZee crap?”

The whole time I read this book I kept thinking to myself, “You know what I’d really like to read? A manga about a young girl who knows nothing about fencing, but joins her school club on a whim, finds out she really likes the sport, and through pluck and determination becomes one of the best in her school and goes on to compete the big national finals.” I’d much rather have that slate of cliches than what’s presented here.

Tom Bondurant

First Wave #2

This week I finally caught up with a couple of DC’s “First Wave” titles, namely Doc Savage #s 1-2 and First Wave #2. Having read the Batman/Doc Savage Special and First Wave #1, I found the idea behind “First Wave” appealing, but in practice it’s hit or miss. For one thing, I am not that familiar with Doc Savage or the Avenger beyond just knowing that they exist — so to me, these books cry out for the basic expository grounding an omniscient narrator (for example) might have provided. The Doc Savage issues (written by Paul Malmont, pencilled by Howard Porter, inked by Art Thibert) tell a decent story about an old enemy of Doc’s using lightning to attack him and his infrastructure, but it might have been more meaningful had I known how all these things fit together. I’m also finding Porter’s storytelling to be more challenging than it was on JLA, and I say that as someone who genuinely liked his JLA work. Art is not a problem on First Wave, because Rags Morales is doing some really great work. However, issue #2 also suffers from who-is-that?-itis. I will probably stick with First Wave, but I don’t feel like I missed much with Doc Savage.

Last week’s War of the Supermen #2 featured some really ugly art (especially the faces) from Eduardo Pansica and Wayne Faucher, so I was not especially looking forward to this week’s issue #3. And indeed, it’s not perfect, because Zod’s army comes across as this unstoppable force which essentially brings Earth to its knees. It may
therefore be a stretch to show them beaten back in just 22 pages, as must happen next week. Even so, I thought this issue (written by Sterling Gates and James Robinson, pencilled by CAFU, and inked by Bit) was an excellent piece of setup, specifically for the last page. This whole miniseries is essentially a larger-scale version of Superman II, and issue #3 ends on its version of “would you like to step outside?”

Finally, I’m pretty pleased with Phil Jimenez and John Wells’ updating of the old Michael Fleisher Encyclopedia Of Comic Book Heroes Vol. 2, here called The Essential Wonder Woman Encyclopedia. It’s the same format (and approach) as Bob Greenberger’s Essential Batman Encyclopedia from 2008, but it may be more comprehensive and — with no disrespect at all to Mr. Greenberger — more readable. Now, that might be because I don’t know as much about obscure WW characters, and (ironically) I don’t know as much about the Earth-1 Wonder Woman. I’m tempted to say there’s just not as much Wonder Woman material as there is for Batman (or for Superman, whose Essential Encyclopedia comes out in August). Still, it’s the kind of book I can open to any random page and find something interesting. The one drawback, which was true as well for the Batman volume, is that it only cites first appearances, and not specific issues beyond that. This surely cut down on its length, but it makes it less than ideal as a reference work. Still, I’d rather leaf through this thick book than spend all my time looking up comics online….

Tim O’Shea

Origins of Marvel Comics

I bought Origins of Marvel Comics for some of the exquisite art (such as Lee Weeks’ Hulk and Marcos Martin’s Daredevil), but also to amuse myself with how Fred Van Lente summarized characters in the span of one page (and Fred does a great job). Believe it or not, this comic marks the first time I have ever gotten Wolverine’s full origin. I skipped all those infernal and myriad “origin” tales that Marvel has done over the years with Wolverine, because they never seemed to interest me. So now, more than 10 years after everyone else, I know that Logan is really a guy called James Howlett. My life is complete. Thank you, Marvel. Oh, but back to the Hulk origin–does anyone get the impression that Bruce Banner has been looking for a way to cure himself of being the Hulk (as his origin page says). The last time I remember that being a focus was when the Hulk was a TV show with Bill Bixby.

While I’m partial to issues of the kids Batman: The Brave and the Bold written by Landry Walker, this month’s issue by Sholly Fisch is a blast. Fisch gives us a week of Batman’s team-ups which includes appearances by Metamorpho; the entire Green Lantern Corp; Merry, Girl of 1,000 Gimmicks; Jonah Hex; Bat Lash; Hawkman; The Demon; The Inferior Five; The Creeper–plus (and I don’t know if this character has shown up in this comic series before) a cameo by Chief Miles O’Hara (a character from the 1960s TV show).

Kurt Busiek back in the Marvel universe is a nice treat–his take on J. Jonah Jameson as politician in the Age of Heroes #1 (of 4) is as good as Mark Waid’s (that’s a compliment). He even gets to write the Avengers for a second. This issue also has Paul Cornell & Leonard Kirk on a Captain Britain & MI:13 two-pager (anyone else think there might be a miniseries with this team down the road? I hope so). And while it’s only a one-pager, anytime Dan Slott and Ty Templeton team up on anything I am happy.

Girl Comics #2 is a great read for the Colleen Coover art by itself. But you also get a comedic crank call by the Thing to Doctor Doom in a two-pager by Stephanie Buscema in which she’s a great writer as well as an artist. I almost bristled at the $4.99 price tag, but I reminded myself that the Trina Robbins text pieces alone make the buy worth $5. If I haven’t convinced you its worth reading, I’ll just give you one more good reason: Jill Thompson drawing the Inhumans–and it’s funny.

Sorry to see that Phil Hester’s Anchor came to an end with issue 8 this month. But by Hester’s own admission he had originally conceived the project as a six-issue miniseries or standalone graphic novel, so it actually in a sense went beyond his initial expectations. Kudos to BOOM for giving the story a try and providing Hester a chance to wrap up the tale in the way he wanted.

Graeme McMillan

Wednesday Comics

I’m having one of those weeks where I feel very lucky to be on the DC comp list, having received and now working through the collected edition of Wednesday Comics, as well as the reissued Stuck Rubber Baby and an advance copy of Dark Rain, the new New-Orleans-Heist-During-Katrina graphic novel from Vertigo. The hardcover Wednesday Comics is amazing, and almost overwhelming in terms of size (The pages are actually slightly smaller than the original newspaper, but the hardcover format somehow makes up for that. Don’t ask me to explain it), but the glossy paper really makes the artwork look amazing and the collected format makes stories that seemed underwhelming in the original run read very differently this time around: the formalist play of Gaiman/Allred’s Metamorpho is more obvious, and Ben Caldwell’s Wonder Woman is much more legible, which’ll hopefully help people realize how good it really was all along. I know it’s almost $50, but it’s a really, really great book. I’m only partway into both Stuck Rubber Baby and Dark Rain, but enjoying both very much – which I expected from Howard Cruise’s memoir, but Mat Johnston and Simon Gane have happily surprised me with Dark Rain, which is fast-moving, funny and not even vaguely as exploitative as I’d feared.

Randy Lander

Enter The Heroic Age
This is a great teaser for Marvel’s new books, a bunch of short stories that serve as prologue for the new Thunderbolts, Hawkeye & Mockingbird, Atlas, Black Widow and Avengers Academy. In particular, my second favorite story here was Jeff Parker’s take on the Luke Cage-led Thunderbolts, which looks like a lot of fun, taking into account the character’s jailhouse roots as well as his modern-day Avenger mainstay status. Since Hawkeye & Mockingbird are my two favorite characters at Marvel, and I loved what Jim McCann and David Lopez did with them in New Avengers Reunion, my favorite story here was their teaser intro for their new ongoing Hawkeye & Mockingbird book, picking up where New Avengers Reunion left off. I can’t believe I’m actually getting this series, I’ve been waiting for something like it since about 1985, I think.

The Killer Modus Vivendi by Matz & Luc Jacamon
If you haven’t read the gorgeous European comic The Killer, published by Archaia Studios, do yourself a favor and pick up the two hardcovers. It’s one of the best crime comics I’ve ever read, a story of a hitman told from the point of view of the hitman, and while it’s got plenty of violence and anti-social behavior, it’s really about the psychological underpinnings of someone who kills for a living as much as it is the details of how he does his jobs. Fans of The Professional in particular should check this one out, as it has a similar vibe, and the artwork is just spectacular. This series picks up where the two hardcovers left off, with the Killer coming out of retirement for what looks like a messy, politically-connected job.

Orc Stain by James Stokoe
Speaking of gorgeous artwork in the European vein, James Stokoe mixes European lush backgrounds with the frenetic energy and detail of manga to create one of the best fantasy comics I’ve ever read. His invented language for the orcs is a lot of fun, his lead character is a roguish misanthrope and it’s really a perfect cross between fantasy and crime capers, with an off-beat sense of humor and some of the best chase sequences I’ve ever seen in comics.

Codename Knockout

Codename Knockout by Robert Rodi, Louis Small Jr., Yanick Paquette, Amanda Connor & Al Rio
A blast from the past, I’m not entirely sure why DC decided to print this Vertigo series from the early 2000s back in print, but I’m going to speculate it might be because of some similarities to F/X’s hilarious Archer cartoon, and regardless, I’m not going to complain. Rodi’s sexy, funny series about the agents of G.O.O.D., represented by the gorgeous Angela Devlin (whose mother is head of G.O.O.D.) and her handsome gay partner Go Go Fiasco as they battle the forces of E.V.I.L. (run by Angela’s dad) only ran for about 24 issues, but it was good for plenty of laughs and sexy spy action at the time. I’m glad to finally get the chance to revisit it, and would highly recommend that anyone who is a fan of Archer or Danger Girl do the same.

The Question by Dennis O’Neil & Denys Cowan
Volume 6 reprinting this gritty series from the ’80s just came out, and now, one of the holes in my ’80s comics reading is finally plugged in. These six volumes reprint 36 issues of reporter and crimefighter Vic Sage and his battles against the thoroughly corrupt Hub City, O’Neil tackles crime, politics, mental illness and corruption among various other social issues. Since it’s comics, these heady issues come with kung-fu, sex and shootouts. With a great cast of supporting characters, including an embattled mayor who is Vic Sage’s on-again, off-again lover, and a backdrop that makes Gotham City look like Metropolis, The Question is melodramatic noir and social fable all that the same time, and it deserves its great reputation as one of the best comics of the late ’80s.

The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard
My prose reading habits are shameful these days, I only manage to read about a dozen books this year, but thanks to Justified, my innate love of Elmore Leonard’s work and the recent Red Dead Redemption, I finally ponied up the cash to pick up this anthology of Elmore Leonard’s western stories. It includes the famous 3:10 to Yuma, but there are 30 stories total in here, representing Leonard’s short story work in the western genre. I can’t wait to dig in.

Wednesday Comics

Over at the Source blog, DC’s Alex Segura posts some info that was released at the Baltimore Retailer Summit today on the upcoming hardcover edition of Wednesday Comics.

“The hardcover collection of the series, which will retail at $49.99, will clock in at 11 x 17 inches, which will present the series in a deluxe, big-screen format befitting the series, which was originally printed on broadsheet newspaper pages,” Segura writes.

This great news for anyone who was waiting for the collection or just wants a more permanent means of keeping it around. Now when does it come out?

Paul Pope draws Dune

“I wanted to try applying the lessons learned from the Wednesday Comics experience to a different subject, here finding a source which would be difficult to illustrate as a page of comics, given that there is very little suggested action. I find that with the format of Wednesday Comics (which is really the traditional Sunday Comics page), one must condense the plot and action to the briefest yet most vivid bursts of information available– there is a lot of space on the page for the illustrations to really overwhelm the reader/viewer, but there isn’t a lot of space for story development in the sense of how we’d develop a plot or work up dialogue for a typical comic book page. In a comic book, one page may be well drawn or well written, but it is still just a single facet of a larger whole. One page can be preceded or followed by another, but no one page carries the entire weight of the sustained narrative. The Wednesday Comics single page format forces the artist to create a story unit which may well be part of a larger storyline, however it still must be able to stand alone.”

–Paul Pope

(Also, click the link to check out his really awesome Dune artwork).

Labor Days Vol. 2

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

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

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

*****

Underground

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

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

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

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

Wednesday Comics #1

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

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

Dark Reign: Ms. Marvel

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

And then we get reality-altering MODOK babies.

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

Fantastic Four 571

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

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

Superman: Secret Origins

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

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

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

Planetary

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

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

Matt Maxwell:

Elric of Melniboné

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

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

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

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

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

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

Far Arden

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

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

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

On Stranger Tides

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

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

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

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

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

King City #1

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

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

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

Rick Lacy:

Mouse Guard #1

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

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

Joan

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

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

Asterios Polyp

• The great and all-powerful Ng Suat Tong provides one of the most comprehensive and detailed critiques of Asterios Polyp I’ve seen online yet. Seriously, Tong’s one of the finest critics comics have ever had. The fact that he’s writing again, even if it’s just a one-time thing, is cause for joy.

• Frank Santoro reviews issues #1-4 of Richard Sala’s Ignatz series, Delphine: “The story surrounded me and carried me away to a very real world. It’s a cartooned, exaggerated world, but a real world nonetheless.”

• Johanna Draper Carlson reads a whole lotta vampire manga.

• Graeme McMillan offers 25 thoughts on Wednesday Comics. He also admits to liking X-Men Forever. That’s very brave of you Graeme.

• Similar to our Collect This Now feature is David Welsh’s License Request Day, where he picks manga that haven’t been translated yet, but should. This week he recommends something called Paros No Ken.

• It’s been up for a few days now, but I have to point an arrow towards Katherine Dac’s review of Children of the Sea, which is one of the best takes on the book yet.

• J. Caleb Mozzocco takes in the This Is A Comic Book exhibit in Columbus, Ohio.

• Derik Badman examines Alex Baladi’s Petit Trait, which is about “the voyage of a short line through a series of encounters with other lines of various size, shape, and density.” I’m sold.

• Marc Mason liked the Dan Dare Omnibus: “I felt like a kid again as I pored through the book, and that may be the best endorsement I can give it.”

• Karen Green reads Alice in Sunderland and declares “This book makes you work hard.”

• Noah Berlatsky can’t stop blogging about Wonder Woman. And he even throws in a Twilight reference, just for good measure.

• Finally, Rob Clough reviews a whole bunch o’ minicomics.

In San Diego, there was some discussion at the Wednesday Comics panel about a second edition of the weekly series, and a few creators even talked about other people they’d like to see work in the format and what characters they might want to tackle next time. So I asked the Robot 6 crew what they’d like to see in the not-yet-announced-but-hopefully-inevitable Wednesday Comics II. Here’s what we came up with …

1. ‘Mazing Man by Bob Rozakis, Stephen DeStefano, and Karl Kesel: ‘Mazing Man‘s characters and subject matter are fairly well-suited for the “newspaper” format. It wouldn’t even have to be a continued storyline, just 12 standalone pages. Maybe Maze interacts with Denton one week, Guido the next, and Brenda and Eddie the week after that. (Tom Bondurant)

2. Oracle by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake: Tapping into the fact that Ostrander revamped Barabara Gordon’s character path, in conjunction with the late great Kim Yale, plus Mandrake’s style makes him perfect for noir. (Tim O’Shea)

3. Jonah Hex by Sergio Aragones and Darwyn Cooke: We’ve seen Aragones tackle DC’s western characters with the recent Batlash mini-series, and readers of the current Jonah Hex series have already seen what Cooke can do with the character. But I’d love to see Cooke simply go to town on the larger canvas offered by the Wednesday Comics format. (JK Parkin)

4. Blackhawk by Greg Rucka and Chris Samnee: Blackhawk is a time-honored DC feature that could be done quite convincingly as a Steve Canyon tribute, and I think Rucka and Samnee (who worked together on Checkmate) could pull that off while bringing their own sensibilities to it. (Tom Bondurant)

5. Doom Patrol by Charles Burns: I believe Mike Allred suggested Charles Burns at the Wednesday Comics panel in San Diego, which would be awesome. In Black Hole, Burns examined the anxieties and alienation of being a teenager through a sexually transmitted virus that mutated a group of high school students. His work is both creepy and cool, which would work perfectly on something like Doom Patrol. (JK Parkin)

6. Elongated Man by Mark Waid and Rick Burchett: It’s another strip which could work well as a newspaper-style serial. I’m thinking specifically of Rex Morgan, M.D. (which by the way is drawn by ex-Bat-artist Graham Nolan), but that’s just because it features married leads. Waid is a no-brainer to write it, and I think Burchett’s style would fit the characters. Actually, though, Graham Nolan wouldn’t be bad either…. (Tom Bondurant)

So what would you guys want to see in the next Wednesday Comics?

Kurosagi Delivery Service Vol. 9

Is it Sunday again already? Time for another What Are You Reading then. Our guest this week is blogger and Bleach fanatic John Jakala. Has John been reading Bleach this week? Click on the link to find out. Oh, and don’t forget to tell us what you are reading in the comments section below.

Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps

Tom Bondurant: Boy, that Prince Valiant hardcover looked great, didn’t it?  The color is just stunning.  The stories (what I’ve read so far, at least) are fun as well, with a nice mix of realism and fantasy.  I’m looking forward to future volumes, both to see how Hal Foster’s style and Val’s character develop over the years.

I liked Blackest Night:  Tales of the Corps #1 more than I thought I would.  The lead story (written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Jerry Ordway) was a somewhat odd duck, like “The Twilight Zone” meets the Old Testament.  It’s the origin of Saint Walker, leader of the Blue Lanterns, and I suppose it’s a superhero-ish take on the Book of Job, except without all the smack-talk from God.  The second story is about the early years of today’s Mongul, leader of the Sinestro Corps. (Remember, his dad was the Mongul of “For The Man Who Has Everything,” the Superman-in-space storyline, etc.)  Written by Peter Tomasi and drawn by Chris Samnee, it shows Kid Mongul emulating his dad by making a group of marooned extraterrestrials his conquered subjects.  Dad shows up at the end, leaving Junior with a fairly ironic life lesson. It’s disturbing in a darkly funny way — more EC sci-fi than “Twilight Zone.”  The last story introduces the Indigo Tribe, an inscrutable quasi-Lantern-Corps who speak in an untranslatable language and who do some mysterious things to a mortally wounded Green Lantern and his similarly-situated Sinestro Corpsman foe.  Overall, I thought the issue was entertaining, and it will probably provide some relevant insight into the various rival Corps.  (Well, the Mongul story not so much — I suspect we could have figured that out about him on our own.)

Seems like there must have been some behind-the-scenes shenanigans surrounding Steve Englehart’s departure from the ’70s Doctor Strange, because finishing up Essential Dr. Strange Vol. 3 felt like jumping through a series of corrective hoops.  First Englehart wrote two issues of “The Occult History Of America” before that arc was completed by editor Marv Wolfman.  Wolfman then introduced the Creators and the Quadriverse as another challenge to Strange’s (and the reader’s) understanding of reality.  Then, Jim Starlin came aboard for a few issues, and finally Roger Stern wrapped it all up with the In-Betweener, who apparently was related to Adam Warlock, Thanos, and a recent Avengers storyline.  Thus, over about ten issues, the book went from Englehart’s quirky take to a more mainstream, shared-universe-friendly status quo.  Not that Stern’s story was bad — it seemed more reasonable than both Wolfman’s and Starlin’s take — but it purported to show what was “really” going on.

I’ve started reading the new Madame Xanadu paperback, written by Matt Wagner with art by Amy Reeder Hadley.  After two issues I like it quite a bit, especially Hadley’s art. The cameos from various magical DC characters (and the one artifact) are fun too.  On deck are Showcase Presents Bat Lash and a couple of ’70s Marvel series in Essential form.

Wednesday Comics #1

Tim O’Shea: Last week, I had one minor beef with Wednesday Comics — and that was the Simonson & Stelfreeze credits with the Catwoman/Demon story. Did I mention it was a minor quibble? Well, minor or not, I was pleasantly surprised to get an email from WALT Simonson last weekend — explaining quite simply why the credits are the way they are. “Sorry. Didn’t want to screw up the symmetry of Simonson/Stelfreeze.” Makes sense to me. Thanks for the explanation, Walt.

Now on to this week — and Wednesday Comics again. Karl Kerschl’s framing of two “strips” (Iris West/The Flash) in one with Flash Comics is delightful. It would have been my top story of the Wednesday Comics collection this week, were it not for Kyle Baker. Kyle Baker gave readers a scene with Hawkman, a child and a smile. Four simple panels in the midst of a frenetic adventure that reminds me yet again why Baker is one part artist/one part cinematographer in his storytelling.

Mark Waid finishes up the first major arc with The Incredibles this week. My son is loving the book and so am I, but for different reasons. For me, I’m loving it for the comedic moments that Waid works in, almost as asides it seems (and that’s a compliment). My favorite bit in The Incredibles 4 is the “heights” that Violet’s boyfriend goes to get in a good cell zone to call her.

Any week I get to type the name Gene Colan is good for me. Go get Captain America 601, sure it’s a filler issue to a certain extent, but it’s Gene Colan.

Finally I greatly appreciated Jess Nevins’ analysis of Fu Manchu in the back of Incognito 5. Kudos to Brubaker for working in content like this into his Icon series.

Batman & Robin #2

Matt Maxwell: Light comics week reading this week.  (Mostly books from last week anyways).

WEDNESDAY COMICS #1
There’s some great pieces here, but Ben Caldwell’s WONDER WOMAN is the standout.  Okay, SUPERGIRL is a standout too.  And Risso…well, it’s  Risso. I mean, you can’t pass that up.  Oh, and Garcia-Lopez on METAL MEN. Everything he does is a master class in storytelling.

But Caldwell’s take on WONDER WOMAN is a real gem that actually does something intriguing with the space he’s been given.  Don’t get me  wrong. The others are nicely done.  But they don’t jump out as really exceptional.

I’ll probably buy all of these as they come out, but I would be lying  if I said that I didn’t want to read all the stories collected instead of  anthology style.

BATMAN AND ROBIN #2
Morrison and Quitely make this seem like it’s so easy.  Like it’s a  breezy little jaunt through the back alleys of Gotham City and it all just came off  the tops of their heads.  But it didn’t.  There’s a real weight and substance and insight at play.  Instead of working with the ultra grim “I must become a bat” school, Morrison and Quitely instead play up “I’m an actor playing a role” angle.  And giving the role of Robin to Damian allows him to be a  great foil for Dick Grayson’s Batman.  It’s a far better book than I thought it would be and I figured it’d be pretty good (and I lost interest in Morrison’s run on Batman when it became BATMAN RIP).  But this book is something else entirely.  I don’t want Bruce Wayne back as Batman.  Let him vacation
for awhile.  He’s certainly earned it.

AGENTS OF ATLAS #7
At least I think it’s #7.  I’m not used to keeping track of numbers in the comics I’m reading, since I switched over to mostly trades.  You know why I like this book so much?  Because it’s not about characters that I was reading thirty years ago.  This is uncharted territory in the Marvel U.  And who better to set course for it than Jeff Parker, who has a sense of history, but isn’t enslaved by it (as well as a sense of adventure but isn’t interested in breaking toys just to break them.)

Research reading?  Who has time for that?  I’ve got kids out of school and they need entertainment, dammit!  HERE WE ARE, DAD ENTERTAIN US.

The Ice Wanderer

Brigid Alverson: I always loved classic comic strips as a kid, so I was delighted to see NBM’s collection of Frederick Opper’s Happy Hooligan strips from the early 1900s. The book is beautifully produced, with an essay summarizing Opper’s professional work and very nice reproductions of the strips themselves—not an easy feat when you’re talking about yellowing newspaper comics. They probably look a lot better on these pages than in the original. Every strip turns on the same device: Happy, a well-meaning hobo, tries to help someone, is misunderstood, causes all sorts of chaos, and winds up being hauled off by a truncheon-wielding policeman in the final panel. Opper tells each of these stories in six panels with an ascending degree of mayhem and lots of side comments. The similarity of the storylines make this a book that’s better to dip into than to read cover to cover, but it’s a great summer diversion.

Speaking of summer, it’s finally getting hot and sticky here on the East Coast, so I’m escaping with Jiro Taniguchi’s The Ice Wanderer, which comprises six short stories that all share a certain sensibility with the works of Jack London. The first story is a ghost story that is old as the hills, but Taniguchi makes it fresh and ties it so tightly to the place, it’s hard to believe he isn’t from the North himself. His art is crisp and clear, with little of the stylization people usually associate with manga; this is a good example of manga that an indy comics lover can enjoy.

Finally, Alan’s Letters is not a comic but an illustrated nonfiction book, the story of Alan W. Lowell, a World War II soldier who died in combat in 1944. The book, by his niece Nancy Rial, collects his letters starting with basic training and presents them alongside photos of army equipment, vintage postcards and flyers, and modern photos of the sites in France where Alan fought. It all adds up to a very complete and moving picture of army life, as seen through the eyes of an earnest young man.

Crime!

Chris Mautner: I recently finished Darwyn Cooke’s adaptation of The Hunter and will have a full review up next week.

I’m also reading a couple of books for The Comics Journal, including the latest (and presumably final) For Better or for Worse collection, Just a Simple Wedding. I have a love/hate affair with creator Lynn Johnston. I think she’s one of the most talented cartoonists working in newspapers today, but she lays on the sentimentalism with a trowel. And don’t get me started on Anthony.

One book I just started was Larry Gonick’s Cartoon History of the Modern World Part II: From the Bastille to Baghdad. The book’s not out until October, but HarperCollins sent me an advance review copy to read. I’ve been a big fan of this series since it started waaaaaaay back when, and am eager to read this final volume, if a little sad that it’s finally ending.

Bleach Vol. 27

John Jakala: I’m perpetually behind in my comic reading, but this past week I actually managed to read several books that have been sitting near my bedside for weeks.

Bleach 27: The latest installment of one of my favorite shonen manga series. It’s mainly a series of downtime vignettes before the next multi-volume fight scene kicks off, but there are some satisfying moments for long-time Bleach fans. I loved finally seeing Urahara in action, especially when he frustrated his opponent by finishing his sentences. It was great to see Chad and Uryū get some screen time hopefully they’ll be able to pull their weight and not merely serve as punching bags before Ichigo steps in to save the day. And although Orihime’s abduction by the Arrancars reeks of the same damsel-in-distress syndrome that befell Rukia in the never-ending Soul Society arc, I’m hopeful that Orihime will be a more active protagonist than Rukia was because Kubo is upping her powers in interesting ways.

Slam Dunk volumes 3 & 4: I’d already read the material in these volumes back when Gutsoon published the series (first in the Raijin Comics anthology and then in the TPB collections) but I still bought the Viz editions because (1) I want to support the series and (2) I find the differences in translation fascinating.

Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service 9: KCDS is the series that received my vote for best ongoing series of 2009, and this volume is a great example why:  In addition to the usual ghastly and gruesome scenarios the gang finds themselves in, we also learn a bit more about the tragic personal backgrounds of two members of the Delivery Service. Combining pathos with horror makes for a surprisingly rich reading experience.

Pluto 3: There is so much I love about this book. I’ve been enjoying the series, Naoki Urasawa’s reworking of Osamu Tezuka’s classic Astro Boy storyline “The World’s Strongest Robot”, since the beginning, but this volume is where things really started to click for me.  Come the end of 2009, I have a feeling this series is going to be sweeping a lot of critics’ “Best Of” lists.  In fact, this single volume alone could pretty much lock up all the “Best Of” categories as far as I’m concerned:  Best (and Most Adorable) Character:  Uran; Best (and Most Sympathetic) Villain (TIE): Adolf Haas, Pluto; Best Social Commentary; Best Visualizaiton of Futuristic Society; Best World-Building; Best Remix of Older Material; and Best (and Most Surprising) Use of Limited Color
Printing in a B&W Book.  In fact, one of the only awards that Pluto wouldn’t win would be “Best Series Title” because that would go to…

Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu:  Again, this has got to be one of the best book titles ever.  Coming next month from Last Gasp, Little Fluffy Gigolo Pelu is the latest surreal, psychedleic manga from off-beat artist Junko Mizuno and it details the exploits of Pelu, a strange, cottonball-shaped alien who escapes to Earth in search of a mate so he can fulfill his dream of making a baby.  (Pelu himself is kind of a sentient space sperm ripped from the womb before he could copulate with his egg-like wombmate to produce an alien baby, so he’s feeling a bit lost, alone, and incomplete on Earth.)  The book is filled with bizarre, disturbing, but utterly engaging adventures, like the chapter where Pelu’s friend the Space Hippo arrives on Earth, eats too many unfamiliar foods, and ends up vomitting an acid-like substance all over the town’s local poodle ranch.  The “Vol. 1″ in the title makes me hope we’ll see more imaginative tales featuring Pelu and his quest for love (or at least reproduction) in the near future.

Otto Porfiri: Drama on the Cliff and Red Moon: These two books were entries in Dark Horse’s short-lived Venture … venture, where DH worked with Strip Art Features to release European GNs in the US several years back. I picked up these two books for 80% off during one of TFAW’s big Nick-and-Dent sales almost a year ago and am just now finally getting around to reading them. These stories of a portly private eye bumbling through one bizarre case after another are short, self-contained, and a little thin, but they’re saved by artist Franco Saudelli’s wonderful art, which alternatively reminds me of the styles of José Luis García-López and Steve Pugh.

Finally, I’ve been slowly picking away at the mammoth Luba for the past couple weeks. I keep feeling like I should go back and re-read Palomar to reacquaint myself with the characters and settings from the Gilbert-o-verse, but I know that if I do that I’ll never get around to actually reading Luba.  It is interesting to go back and see how Gilbert Hernandez’s art style has evolved over the years, though.

Prince Valiant Vol. 1

Welcome to another round of What Are You Reading. Our guest this week is blogger, critic, Comics Comics editor and expectant dad Tim Hodler. To find out what Mr. Hodler and the rest of us are reading this week, click on the link below. And be sure to let us know what you’re currently reading in the comments section.

Samurai 7

Michael May: I’ve tried, but I’ve not been able to become a manga fan. I’m just not fond enough of the specific things that make a book qualify as manga. I am, on the other hand, fond of great stories regardless of the way they’re presented, so it thrills me that I’m reading two manga right now that I’m digging the hell out of.

Samurai 7 was sent to me by the publisher, which is how I get most of the manga I read. Unlike most of the manga I get though, this one’s written above a middle-school level in terms of dialogue, characterization, and – well – just general sophistication. But it’s still a lot of fun too. It’s got fighting and humor and I’m loving the Seven Samurai plot with sci-fi trappings (like how one of the samurai is the disembodied head of a robot).

The other book, Anne Freaks, is something that I bought for myself. I was intrigued by the characters (a mysterious girl-assassin, a boy who’s just killed his mother, and another boy who’s just had his family murdered by someone else) and the plot (stopping a secret terrorist organization) that brings them together. I haven’t been disappointed. It’s a darker story than Samurai 7, but like that book it’s also very smart. I have no idea why the girl-assassin is gathering her emotionally wounded team, but going through the possibilities in my head is a delight. The translator has done a particularly excellent job of reducing the language barrier too, giving the characters Western voices that I can relate to without Westernizing what they’re actually saying, if that makes sense.

Children of the Sea

Brigid Alverson: Welcome to the fold, Michael! The range and sophistication of manga is constantly increasing, and I have high hopes for Viz’s Signature line and their Ikki website as sources for source of manga for grownups. They launched the Ikki site with Daisuke Igarashi’s wonderful Children of the Sea, which is worth taking a look at for the art alone. I’m not too far into it yet, but it is a supernatural story about children with a mystical connection to the sea. Igarashi’s art is wonderfully detailed and evocative — he really puts you into the scene.

I have spent more time writing than reading this week, but I’m really enjoying Warren Pleece’s webcomic Montague Terrace, on the Act-I-Vate website. It’s a familiar format—a series of short vignettes about the inhabitants of a single building. It has a bit of a Twilight Zone vibe to it, but it’s not as moralistic. He only has a few stories up right now, and each is only a few pages long, but the characters keep wandering through each other’s stories, which is kind of funny. There’s an ongoing story about a magician with a talking bunny that they keep coming back to, and the current story, about an elderly
former spy resisting relocation, is a hoot.

Bayou

John Parkin: This week I read Bayou vol. 1, which I’ve had sitting on the nightstand for awhile. It was kind of by accident, as I was just planning to look at the first few pages and see how the transition had worked from screen to print. But I ended up reading the whole thing, and had a hard time going to sleep because, well, it’s quite disturbing. Especially when you sit down and read it all at once, versus reading it on the screen as it’s released every week.

Also, Wednesday Comics … it seems like everyone’s made a comment about it, but just to reiterate … it’s a lot of fun. The format is cool, the stories are well done … I can’t wait for the next one.

Essential Dr. Strange Vol. 3

Tom Bondurant: I’ve been reading Essential Dr. Strange Vol. 3, which reprints the early-to-mid-’70s issues written by Steve Englehart and drawn by Frank Brunner and (later) Gene Colan. It’s really engaging stuff — Doc fights his way through a couple of different otherdimensional realms, often deprived of his magic, but with Wong and Clea always there for help. I’m almost to Englehart’s last two issues, the “Occult History Of America,” and I’m looking forward to them.

Because I got a haircut on the way back from the comics shop, I actually read the Superman strip from Wednesday Comics in the pages of USA Today. That was satisfying, although I know it was only a one-shot deal. The Batman strip might have been a better “first taste,” since it describes more of a plot, but I thought the Superman strip represented the book pretty well.

I’m not sure what to think about the big revelation at the end of House Of Mystery #15. Matthew Sturges hinted at such a thing ‘way back when the series was first announced, but it was still a little weird to see — kind of like when something similar happened in a recent Unknown Soldier. I liked the issue overall — I’ve always liked Luca Rossi and Jose Marzan Jr.’s art, and I enjoy the “embedded story” format — and I am liking the series more and more, but I don’t know if I’m responding to the mythology reaching a critical mass.

Finally, I have to say that I was shocked, in a good way, by that one page of Green Lantern #43. Generally speaking, I think Geoff Johns has eased up on the gratuitous dismemberments and other grisly fates over the past few years, and I think it’s served him well (vomiting Red Lanterns notwithstanding). Accordingly, he’s been due for some gore, and this issue was as good a place as any. Besides, Doug Mahnke and Christian Alamy draw a right creepy Black Hand. I like Ivan Reis as well as the next person, but I don’t think he could have pulled this off like Mahnke and Alamy did.

Batman & Robin #2

Tim O’Shea: I was on vacation last week, so I missed out on chiming in my two cents about Batman & Robin 2. The scenes between Dick and Alfred made this issue for me. Morrison has an understanding of Dick Grayson that is on par with Peter Tomasi’s work. Plus I really appreciated Morrison’s utilization of Grayson’s carnival knowledge in the story. Reading Morrison’s approach on Alfred, I find myself wishing that Alfred could get his own miniseries, written by Morrison.

What can I say about Wednesday Comics that hasn’t been said? OK, one minor complaint. As a longtime fan of Louise Simonson, I found it rather annoying that we were supposed to assume it was written by Walter Simonson, when they listed Simonson & Stelfreeze (last names only) on The Demon/Catwoman one-page installment. My favorite one-page of the astounding first issue, no doubt, was the art team of Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and Kevin Nowlan (colored by Trish Mulvihill) on Metal Men.

As much as I miss Jeff Parker writing the adventures of the X-Men in their early days, I’m pleasantly surprised at how successfully writer Scott Gray juggles the cast of the Uncanny X-Men lineup (Nightcrawler, Banshee, Storm, Cyclops, Wolverine and Colossus). But Roger Cruz’ art is the real highlight for me, particularly the fact that the Inhumans (plus in-law Quicksilver) feature prominently in this first issue of
Uncanny X-Men: First Class.

Last but not least, Molly Crabapple draws exquisitely beautiful burlesque entertainers amidst late 19th century New York landscapes in her first graphic novel, Scarlett Takes Manhattan. If you have not checked out her work, be sure to visit her site.

Blazing Combat

Tim Hodler: Okay, well, like Don Quixote, I love books more than is healthy, and it’s damaged my brain. I’m always reading about a dozen or more things at once, so this will be a selective list, and my remarks brief will be brief.

In terms of prose, I’m going through a history kick at the moment. On Ta-Nehisi Coates’s blog, I learned that David Blight’s lectures on the Civil War era are available on Yale University’s Open Courses Web site. Because I will always jump at the chance to follow along with any reading plan or list, I started watching the lectures and reading along using the syllabus. Currently, that includes two books: James McPherson’s Battle Cry of Freedom and Bruce Levine’s Half Slave and Half Free. Battle Cry is amazing and actually often manages to get me really angry while thinking about various historical figures! This doesn’t usually happen to me when I read history. People are stupid in all times and places, but usually their particular vein of stupidity doesn’t seem quite so shockingly familiar. The Levine book is also good, and thought-provoking, but not quite so pleasurable in terms of style, and I wouldn’t recommend it to those who weren’t already interested in the subject already.

I’m also partway through book 8 of The Landmark Herodotus. This is my third attempt to get through Herodotus, and the first time I’ve made it past the halfway mark. I am going to do it this time, I can feel it. The Landmark edition makes the going relatively easy, as it includes a ton of maps and supplementary text. Herodotus is a tremendously enjoyable writer, even in this relatively staid translation, and his history of the Persian/Greek wars almost reads like an epic fantasy. (The part about the battle of Thermopylae—and the book as a whole, really—makes 300 seem kind of ham-fisted. I know: big surprise.)

I have also been reading E.H. Gombrich‘s art criticism, mostly just for his prose style. This all makes me sound more resolutely highbrow than I actually am, but it’s just a brief phase I’m currently going through: usually I read a lot more fiction, most of it not nearly so highfalutin. Lots of pistols and bricks and dimwitted behavior.

Humbug

My recent comics reading list has been boringly conventional. I am slowly making my way through three recent reprints from Fantagraphics. I’m making a concerted effort to control my comics spending, but that company is making it hard for me this year. This fall will bring some difficult choices. Anyway, the three books in question are Humbug, Blazing Combat, and Prince Valiant. Humbug’s easily the best of the three, as it includes so many all-time great cartoonists (Kurtzman, Jaffee, Elder, etc.) at the peak of their powers and ambitions, but the other two are worthwhile, too. With people like Wood, Toth, and Heath involved, I knew the art would be fantastic in Blazing Combat, but I’ve been surprised at the quality of Archie Goodwin’s writing. I mean, it’s still got a bit of Twist Ending Theater to it, but it’s much more satisfying than expected. I’ve barely begun with Prince Valiant, which I’ve always avoided previously, mostly because it looked so stiff and proper and wordy. So far, it’s much more fluid and enjoyable than I would’ve guessed — beautiful work — but I’m still not sure it’s really my kind of thing. I need more time with it. I am also partway through Frank Hamson’s “Operation Saturn” storyline from Dan Dare, published by Titan. American comics fans who enjoy pulp sci-fi should be more familiar with this strip.

In terms of current corporate comics, I’ve been following and enjoying the fluffy but fun Grant Morrison Batman stuff, as well as the debut issue of J.H. Williams III’s Detective Comics run. There isn’t much to say about these two titles that hasn’t already been said by a hundred other comics internetters, but I will echo what someone else already said about Williams in this issue—it’s pretty impressive when you can draw so well that you make Greg Rucka’s writing seem (almost) sophisticated.

I also picked up the first issue of Wednesday Comics, and mostly liked it. Most of the stories aren’t really breaking any new ground, but some of the art is gorgeous, and it’s definitely the kind of experiment the big companies would attempt more often in a better world. Kyle Baker in particular really kills it. He keeps getting better and better. Paul Pope’s Adam Strange strip is another favorite.

What else? I’ve more been just looking at it than reading it (I already read it when it was serialized in the Times), but Seth’s new book version of George Sprott is beautiful. I used to not really been into his work, but ever since Wimbledon Green, I’ve been really digging his comics. I’m not sure if he got better or I got smarter (or easier to please). Or all three. He and Adrian Tomine give a presentation at the Strand bookstore in New York, and Seth’s talk was really good and surprisingly funny. He gave a speech in thirteen parts or something like that. Every part he read was good, but in my humble opinion, it was still about two parts too long, and I started to zone out. But that’s petty. Eleven out of thirteen parts held my attention and I should be more adult about it.

Asterios Polyp

I am also planning to begin a re-reading of David Mazzucchelli’s Asterios Polyp. People are hyping this like crazy, and it’s not really a perfect book (what is?), but it’s the richest, most formally engaging one I’ve read in a long long time. That’s what everyone else is saying too, and it’s starting to get annoying. If it’s so great and complicated, maybe you should just say why instead of saying you need to re-read it. But Chris Mautner has explicitly instructed me NOT to write real in-depth criticism here, but just to talk off the cuff, so I would be breaking the rules if I tried to be more specific. Also, apparently there is some kind of pact everyone has taken and we all need to be mysterious when we discuss this book.

In terms of manga: I will eventually read A Drifting Life, but haven’t had the energy yet. I look at it for a few minutes sitting on my shelf before I go to bed every night though, and that must count for something. I am still following Kentaro Miura’s Berserk, and it’s still very good and wonderfully inventive, but 29 volumes in, it’s starting to feel like the right time for him to move towards wrapping things up. I’m not sure swords and monster stories are really meant to be this long. (The bookstore fantasy section would seem to prove me wrong.)

I think it’s time I wrapped things up too.

Glenn Walker thought it was amazing:

Wednesday Comics #1

Kyle Baker’s Hawkman is stunning. Neil Gaiman and Mike Allred have recreated the Silver Age Metamorpho perfectly. The Flash is the peak of sequential storytelling. Great to see a jet age Green Lantern, it’s the era he was created for. Father and son Kuberts do Sgt. Rock, just as husband and wife Palmiotti and Conner give us a delightful take on Supergirl, Krypto and Streaky. Dave Gibbons and Ryan Sook pay homage to Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant with Jack Kirby’s Kamandi just as Paul Pope does the same for Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon with his Adam Strange. It’s just beautiful.

And for those of you for whom that last paragraph means nothing, don’t worry. The best thing about Wednesday Comics is that it’s non-continuity. In English, that means it’s mainstream – it’s accessible to any readers new or old. If you’ve been reading these things forever or if you wouldn’t know a Teen Titan from Tony the Tiger, you’ll still enjoy this.

Kelvingreen didn’t think it worked:

First off, despite the “normal” appearance, this is still being sold through Diamond’s distribution monopoly, and, as far as I can tell, is only being sold through comic shops. As a result, the intended audience becomes a little murky. The format seems to be aimed at people who once read comics, but haven’t in a while, or who don’t read superhero comics, but do read the humour strips in the Sunday papers, but then, once again, it’s only being sold through the specialist shops those people will never, ever, visit. All the new formats in the world will do no good if you’re stuck with such an exclusive distribution method, and it may even be counter-productive to try anything new because the audience served by that method may by now be trained so that they don’t want anything different.

Distribution is one thing, crucial to the success of the project, but the contents are just as important, and are just as bungled. The storytelling is abysmal, okay on its own grounds but completely wrong for a one-page-a-week format, with acres of wasted space, a distinct lack of actual things happening, and a disturbing tendency toward limp “cliffhangers”. DC have assembled a group of writers and artists here who often excel in the usual twenty-two pages of a monthly US comic, but seem to have no idea whatsoever how to pace a single page of storytelling; they seem to be writing with an eye to a full story, but have neglected how the single page reads. A lot of these creators are really good, and should be able to figure out how to tell a one-page story, but none of them have managed it (although Paul Pope comes very close); Neil Gaiman and Dave Gibbons should have an idea, at least, from their experience in the UK weeklies, but even they stumble, as if they, like the audience, have been conditioned to not understand how single page storytelling works. There are about fourteen billion webcomic creators out there, all of whom could do a better job than this A-list collection of writers and artists has managed.

While The Crosspatch explains why he passed on the issue:

1. It’s only 16 pages.

2. It’s $3.99/week.

3. It’s odd-sized.

4. It’s $3.99/week.

5. It’s a collection of 16 stories, and you know some of them are going to be crap.

6. It’s $3.99/week.

Yeah, no thanks, DC. Tell you what, collect the stories that are actually worth a damn into a TPB or (this might sound crazy) a regular freaking comic book, and I might pick some of them up. In the current format — no way in hell.

so what do you think?

Wednesday Comics #1

Wednesday Comics #1
by lots of people
DC comics, $3.99.

Wow.

OK, that’s clearly not enough. How about this: Wednesday Comics is a candy-colored delight. A pop-art extravaganza that both evokes the past while offering something distinctly modern and unique at the same time.

Still want more?

You probably know the drill by now. This is a weekly, folded-over pamphlet that goes from 7 by 10 inches to 28 by 20 inches, with each of the 15 stories (by such noted comics luminaries as Neil Gaiman, Paul Pope and Kyle Baker) getting its own 14-inch by 20-inch page, all the better to evoke the classic Sunday comics section of the 1930s and ’40s.

There’s really not a clunker to be found here, and the few contributions that do come off as too cute or muddled at least hint at broadening their vision down the road. To an extent hinting is really all these stories are capable of right out of the gate, but more on that in a sec.

Hawkman, by Kyle Baker

Reading Wednesday Comics, I can’t help but think it shares more than a few qualities with a certain oversized art-comix anthology that came out last year. Kramer’s Ergot 7 was, after all, equally inspired by the Sunday comics of yore, the idea also being to see what certain cartoonists could produce given a larger canvas. As Jog noted yesterday, the art is the main focus here, a not-insubstantial shift considering how writer-centric superhero comics have been of late. It’s a shift that’s made abundantly clear in the opening Batman comic by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso, which tries to get by on a minimum amount of dialogue, save only what exposition requires.

So the main interest with Wednesday Comics then is getting to see what various artists do with the larger field they’ve been given to play in. Some, like Kyle Baker, expand their panels, to an overly dramatic size, all the better to heighten the dramatic import of the moment. Others, like Ben Caldwell’s distinctly original take on Wonder Woman, opt for density, packing the page in tiny panels that threaten to overwhelm the reader.

The best contributions may be the ones that deliberately harks back to the comic strips of yore. Dave Gibbons and Ryan Sook come at Kamandi by way of Hal Foster, providing a Prince Valiant-like take on the character that perhaps suggests Kirby’s ties to his comic-strip forebears may be stronger than surface glances would suggest. Joe and Adam Kubert pull a brutal nine-panel sequence that nevertheless evokes Roy Crane and Milton Caniff. Karl Kerschl and Brenden Fletcher’s Flash strip attempts the clever hat trick of offering two strips — one a straight-up adventure, the other a Juliet Jones-style soap via Iris West. And, of course, there’s Paul Pope, whose pulpish Adam Strange delivers Alex Raymond-like thrills while still being delightfully weird.

Adam Strange from "Wednesday Comics," by Paul Pope Jose Villarrubia

At the same time, a certain sameness does tend to crop up. Many contributions offer the same basic introductory scenario with surprisingly little variation. Establish hero, introduce menace, deliver cliffhanger — perhaps it’s just the nature of the particular genre, but it does seem odd how each tale seems to hit the same opening notes. It’s not that I expect these stories to contemplate the nature of man, mind you, but I am curious to see how they’ll strive to be different from each other, at least narratively, as the weeks wear on. And I might become a bit peeved if they fail to convince me of their own uniqueness.

Of course, there’s a good deal of ripe self-awareness going on here, and a great opportunity for a lot of fourth-wall winking that, thankfully, goes ignored for the most part. Having said that, though, I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if these stories started referencing and spilling over into each other in some way, though I would imagine such a concept would require more work than editor Mark Chiarello could bear.

But really, I don’t need any of that frou-frou modernism here. This is a book designed expressly to revel in the joys of serial reading, and the pleasures it offers are simple but vast. There are some missteps (the coloring job on the Titans page seems muddy and gray), but overall it’s hard to to see the debut issue as anything but a success. I can’t even begin to guess if regular DC readers will latch on to a book of this nature — the superhero audience is much too fickle for me to gauge — but if they value artistry, originality and good design, they’ll pick it up in a heartbeat.

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)