Comic Review: From Hell

Despite being completely disgustipated by Alan Moore's most recent comics effort, Neonomicon, I'm still a fan of the guy's comics work thanks to stuff like Watchmen and Top 10. The guy is quite capable of some very solid writing.  I mean, people don't consider the man a comics genius for nothing right?

When I received From Hell as a nifty-gifty last year, I was a bit daunted by the size.  Make no mistake, this is a tome.  For works of such girth, I typically wait for when the time feels right to dig in.  With Winter coming, and the city firmly in Fall's grasp, I figured the time was nigh for this tale of murder.

From Hell isn't just any old tale of murder, its the story of Jack the Ripper.  Jack the Ripper might be the most famous of killers, but there is no definitive text, or account of who he really was, and how all the killings were pulled off, or reasons why.  Its a mystery that to this day remains unsolved.  What you get with From Hell is Alan Moore's take on how it all went down, and by the end, you also get the strong sense that the guy might just have solved the damn mystery.

The story begins a few years prior to the murders with Prince Albert falling in love with a common shop girl named Annie, who has no clue as to Albert's true identity.  He soon fathers a child on her, and the two are secretly wed.  When Queen Victoria discovers the marriage, she sends Albert off on extended holiday, and has Annie relocated to an asylum and instructs her royal physician, William Gull to handle things.  Gull does so, by performing an operation that renders Annie insane.

For a while, it seems like all is well, but a few years later, Annie's friends, now forced into prostitution due to a variety of reasons, decide to blackmail the Prince's pal William Sickert in order to pay off a gang of thugs who demand protection money from the ladies.  Once again, the crown calls upon William Gull to handle the situation, and we all know how that ends.  The catch here is that Gull is a high ranking member of the Free Masons guild, a secret society that strives to control the order of the world from the shadows and from behind closed doors.  It is through Masonic and Royal connections that cause the police investigation to go awry and the case to go eternally unsolved.

In From Hell, Moore approaches the story from multiple angles.  Not only do you see things from the deranged mind of the killer, William Gull, but also through the eyes of the er, ladies of the night who get killed, and also via Inspector Abberline of the police.  In that sense, From Hell is more than just a tale of murder.  You also get an interesting police procedural plot, a taste for the day in and day out existence of an Victorian era Londoner, and a tour of the city as it stood way back when.  These aspects all breathe life into the narrative and help present a full picture of the events surrounding the murders.

Moore does a great job of not only presenting the known facts of the murders, but also adding his own ideas as well.  What makes From Hell work is that Moore is able to put it all together into a story that is interesting and engaging to read.

Accompanying Moore in this epic comics endeavor is artist, Eddie Campbell.  At first glance, Campbell's art is not exactly remarkable.  Many pages feature seven to nine panels with lots of long, thin vertical lines providing the only background.  It wasn't until I becomes fully immersed in the story that I was able to appreciate Campbell's work.  From at a casual glance what looks like sloppy/busy panel work is actually part of the atmosphere.

Yes, when the focus is solely on characters and what they are doing or saying, Campbell's art also focuses on the people. He essentially cross hatches out the setting, and instead focuses his energies on facial expression and body language. A concept that goes a long ways towards giving the reader a strong sense of the character's emotions or inner thoughts.  That said, Victorian Era London is very much a character of it's own in From Hell and Campbell hits the mark with his depictions of the city, and it's architecture, not to mention the nature of people's dwellings.  The furnishings, clothing and other every day items are all there and help depict the time the story is set in and brings life to the story.

For the completist, there's a significant appendix with detailed information on what is happening on nearly every page of the graphic novel and where that information came from.  I found it more useful to use the appendix as a reference tool when I wanted more information on a particular page, rather than something I read all the way through after I was done with the story.

All told, From Hell is an impressive piece of work.  There's folks out there who consider this the most significant work of comics ever, and while I'm not sure I'd go that far, I will say that it is one damn fine example of how incredible the comics medium can be.  Moore is able to present the reader with an insider's view of the Jack the Ripper murders, delving into the mind of the killer himself, all while keeping the many other details and intricacies of the story in focus.  This is a must own/must read for any comics lover.

Grade: A

Comic Quickies or Superior Double Shot

Superior #3: Okay, so Simon Pooni, the quadriplegic kid whose body has been changed into that of Superior, the mightiest hero of them all, has figured out his powers, figured out how to fly, and now all he's got to do is start saving the world.  Enter one of Mark Millar's customary "big ideas" and before you know it, Superior is saving an entire flipping space station from crashing into a busy New York City street.

In this issue we also get to meet Lois Lane Madeline Knox, a news anchor who apparently likes to hide two giant kick balls underneath her shirt.  Oh, wait, upon further inspection, those appear to be her ridiculously ginormous breasts. I was totally blown away by how crappy this character is.  Yes, there are a couple panels with Ms. Knox that don't  highlight her um, divine assets, but those are few and far between.  Doesn't Millar know that there is a little thing called the internet? If the teenage boys that read Superior wanna see some boobs, they sure as hell aren't gonna have Superior as their fix.  To make this issue even more fanTAstic, (emphasis on the T&A) , there's a beach scene, where all the chicks are either bending over provocatively... in thongs, or on the flip side, morbidly obese and wearing water wings.  To add "hilarity" to this scene there's also lots of fat dudes and an old man putting sun screen on his wrinkly, saggy wife.  Wow.  So fucking lame.

Despite all this lame shit going on, this issue doesn't manage to totally suck.  Simon/Superior manages to perform his most amazing feat of all and rescue this issue from the depths of despair.  The one thing that Millar seems to get is that no matter how amazing and super Superior is, there is still a twelve year old kid trapped in that muscle bound body, and Simon's humanity, innocence and uncorrupted desire to just be a good guy is what makes me able to root for Superior the character.  The guy can bench press a nuclear submarine, but he's gotta be quiet when he secretly crashes at his friend's house so that the parent's don't find out.  There's just enough of that wholesome stuff to keep me going, because I really like Simon and I wanna know what happens to him. 

Superior #4: This issue is all about Madeline Knox getting the first exclusive interview with Superior.  I gotta say, the way she goes about it is pretty ingenious, and ballsy. Compared to the last issue, this one is actually quite a bit better.  There's only one blatant shot of Madeline's boobage, and the interview scene is somewhat interesting.

The latter half of the issue, (ok, I lied, so the issue isn't all about an interview), delivers some more solid character development on the part of Simon and his friend Chris, who is pretty much a real-deal super hero for sticking by his buddy through all the tough times.  Chris gets hassled by some dick head ginger-kid and his cronies on the way to basketball practice and returns home to find Simon/Superior on his couch, chowing down on junk food, watching his own interview on TV.  When Superior gets wind of what happened, he and Chris deliver some satisfying pay back to the bullies.  We also get some insight into what exactly Simon wants to achieve with his new powers, and we get a glimpse of his potential nemesis.  It is nice to see this comic finally take a direction.  This could possibly get better.

Dracula the Company of Monsters #5: Yep, they're still cranking out the cheesy vampire magic covers.  This is another fairly solid installment in this ongoing series.  The main protagonist, Evan Barrington-Cabot is still a bit of an ineffectual character, but I think that is by virtue of him being stuck firmly in the middle of the whole Dracula resurrection scheme.  The poor guy is in way over his head now, and I think he is starting to realize that he has reached the point of no return.  He just needs to decide which side of the conflict he wants to support.

This issue was a bit of a set-up issue, as most of the pieces on the board did some recuperating or consolidating.  It seems like things are poised to blow up and get really interesting, but the pacing in this comic isn't the fastest, so there might be a bit of a wait before this title gets really interesting.  Though I shudder to say it, I think this comic would actually benefit from a bit more vampire mayhem.

Neonomicon #4: This issue was extremely tough to read, and probably the most disturbing thing I've ever read.  I understand that this is meant to be an extremely complex comic, and is meant to do lots of meta-textual things that will boggle your mind and play with the very fabric of the medium, but does it need to be so god damned off-putting?  I can appreciate the artisan-ship that has gone into creating such a complex and unique thing, but I can't tolerate the subject matter at all, to the point that I dropped this one from my pull-box.  I have a lot of respect for Alan Moore and the high quality comics he creates, but this one is not for me.

If you want a detailed,  in-depth analysis of what went down in this issue and what it all likely means, check out Bleeding Cool's review. But this is just one comic I can't support any longer.

Graphic Novels of the Year

2010 was the year of the graphic novel for me. I read 50 graphic novels in all, and had to retrain myself from reading more. After some serious flirting in 2009, I definitely fell in love with the comics medium this year. After a year of reading widely across the medium, I feel like I've covered many of the comics bases quite well. I read a few super hero tiles, I read works from the big names like Ellis, Ennis, and Moore, and I read some lesser known indie titles as well. Each read taught me a bit more about comics in general, while my interest in the medium mounted, my tastes became more refined. There's a mountain of comics reading ahead of me in 2011, but for now,I give you my Top 5 Graphic Novels of 2010


#1 Preacher: Until the End of the World: Such an easy pick for the top spot in my Graphic Novels reads. The second volume in Garth Ennis' masterwork is amazing on all levels. At the heart of this volume is the love story between Jesse and Tulip. Ennis does a great job portraying their shared love. There are some seriously lovey-dovey lines that might come across as extremely cheesy in any other setting, but somehow coming from the mouth of a tough-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside Texan it just sounds right, and genuine. These soft and somewhat sentimental moments only make the rest of the book better.

The graphic novel would fall flat if it only had a love story to stand on. Luckily, there is a great conflict as well. Is there a great conflict than battling the demons of your past? For Jesse these demons are flesh and blood. Jody and T.C. are their names, and they are just about the two most evil, sinful, despicable fuckers in the history of the world, and they want nothing more than to make Jesse's life as miserable as possible. The result is a story that is literally mind blowing and amazing. I'm a softy for a believable love story and a sucker for jaw dropping moments, and this graphic novel delivers both with style.


#2 Scott Pilgrim volumes 1-6:
For a week back in August, Scott Pilgrim took over my life. I had recently given up on a book I was reading, and needed something easy to get into. I picked up Precious Little Life and there was no looking back from there. Sometimes a book just strikes all the right chords with me, and that was the case here. The right graphic novels at precisely the right time.

It isn't just that I see a lot of myself in Scott Pilgrim, but to deny that would be a lie. Scott Pilgrim and I are similar in some alarming ways, which caused an instant connection to the character and the books. But, I was also able to relate to many of the other characters that populate these stories as well, and because of that I was able to connect to these books as a whole, and the themes represented in the story. In the end, the six part story was extremely engaging, and gave me things to think about and analyze about myself, which I think is part of the magic of reading.


#3 All Star Superman: As a kid Superman was always my least favorite hero. The guy was just too good, and too powerful. I'd take a darker more conflicted character like Batman, who relied on his own smarts to get by, over Superman any day. As an adult, I still think Superman is pretty lame. His character is just so boring and he pretty much represents everything I dislike about capes and tights comics. So what the hell is this title doing on my Graphic Novels of the Year list? Well, I guess miracles do happen every now and then.

It helps that this is a Superman story written by Grant Morrison who breathes new life into the character, takes a guy who is probably the most complex, loneliest, most difficult to understand person on the planet and uses those qualities to make Superman sympathetic, and a character the average reader can relate to. Not only that but Morrison creates a Superman story that you might care about reading. To add to the stellar writing, is the absolutely beautiful artwork by Frank Quitely. All Star Superman is lovely to behold. The artwork is great, and combines with the story seamlessly. This is really a beautiful package and my surprise read of the year.



#4 Street Angel: This is a graphic novel that is just sheer fun. First off, it stars a homeless 12 year old girl who is a bad-ass skater and kung-fu master...instantly different than anything else on the shelf. Street Angel also features some memorable bad-guys like Dr. Pangea, MegaPute, and hordes of ninja gangs. To make it all the more sweet, there's a character named Afrodesiac...he's pretty much how you are picturing him in your head: totally awesome.

Compared to some the other titles on this list, Street Angel isn't as flashy, or fancy to look at, but it has a bit of a diamond in the rough quality to it. The story telling is quick paced, and snappy, the stories are funny with a healthy dose of action and violence mixed in, and the characters are hilarious. Reading should be fun, life should be fun, and Street Angel is just that: lots of fun.


#5 Top 10: I had the first volume of Ex Machina lined up to go in this final spot, and then I remembered that I read Top 10 this year.

Top 10 features the perfect harmony of great writing and great art. The magical thing about this graphic novel is the cast of Police Officers that work at Top 10. Moore had a pretty large cast for this story, and instead of focusing in on one of two cops, he gave equal treatment to each, or more accurately, focused on characters when the story demanded it, as they reacted and interacted with the plot and the events of the overlying story. I thought this was a unique way to go about telling a story but it really worked out well.

There are some cool sci-fi elements at play in the story as well, and having it all take place in a city where every citizen has some type of super-power actually made it even more interesting. As far as police dramas go, this is a great story; add in the other elements like the superheroes and parallel universes, and you get something even better. It helps that it is expertly written and has some beautiful art.

Review: Top 10 Book 2

Picking up the story from where Top 10 book one stopped off, book two continues to follow Neopolis' finest in their mission to serve and protect.

Following a lead on a drug delivery, King Peacock travels to Grand Central, a parallel universe where the Roman Empire still reigns supreme. Though he is supposed to be following a lead, he unwillingly gets drafted into an inter-precinct gladiatorial tournament that pits him against super-cops from other dimensions. Meanwhile, back at Top 10, the crew is trying to keep their suspected "libra killer" under lock and key, while they tidy up shop in preparation for a visit from the commissioner.

While busy with housekeeping they also must contend with the Seven Sentinels, a world renown super hero team, who aim to free M'rrgla Qualtz, a former porn-star, and former member of the Seven Sentinels...however, around Top 10 they just call her the Libra Killer. To further muddy the water, Slinger and Smax investigate the suicide of a former pop-prince who also may have ties to the Seven Sentinels.

Top 10 book two is a continuation of the awesomeness that got started in the first book. I wasted no time in digging into this concluding volume, as I was totally hooked after reading book one. Top 10 has the feel of a great crime TV show along the lines of The Wire, yet with a science fiction twist. Moore does a great job of building up the case, and showing all the hard work and dedicated police work that it takes to break open a major case.

It was cool seeing "super heroes" use their brains as well as their powers to try and defeat the bad guys. Moore blended the super power aspect and the meticulous, painstaking attention to detail aspect of detective work well in this volume and the end result is another great graphic novel.

Top 10 is a two book, 12 issue, graphic series, so the story line gets completely wrapped up in this volume. Though this volume only contains five issues while the previous volume contained seven, there is no skimping on greatness here. The characters that I came to know and love in the first volume get further developed here. Moore adds in a few unexpected twists and character traits that add layers to many of the characters. Though Moore took time to develop each character quite well, I always wanted to see more of them, and learn more about their powers and what makes them tick. I think that constant sense of interest and intrigue was a large part of my enjoyment of this series.

Again, the artwork was great. The art team of Zander Cannon and Gene Ha prevail again. They skillfully filled each page with cool looking art, and brought the city of Neopolis and the world of Top 10 to life. A city filled to the brim with super heroes, robots and monsters would be a weird and strange place, and Cannon and Ha do a great job of crafting a bizarre, yet futuristic and fancy city that fits perfectly with the story.

Top 10 is an awesome cop/crime drama, and the science fiction twist is a great one. It never comes off as a cheap gimmick or a lousy mash-up of two tried-and-true genres. The world of Top 10 mirrors our own in many ways and thought it contains a heavy dose of the fantastic, it never loses touch with reality, and that is what makes it so special. This is a great example of how great comics can be. I strongly urge you to read this. You've been urged.

Grade:A+

Review: Top 10 Book 1

Imagine a city, that is completely populated by folks with super-human abilities; From the lowliest bum all the way up to the highest of high rollers. That's the city of Neopolis. It's a city where everyone has some sort of special power, and a costume and alter-ego to match. The city was built by the world's greatest minds, as a place to house the burgeoning amounts of super-powered people after World War II. A city full of supes is eventually gonna be in need of some serious law and order, and that's were the folks of the Tenth Precinct, AKA Top 10, come in.

This well crafted graphic novel follows the day-to-day lives of the cops who work at Top 10. Though there is no true "main character" in this story, we first follow new recruit, Robyn "Toybox" Slinger as she starts her first week on the job at Top 10. She's met with cold indifference by her partner, the massive, blue-skinned Smax, as they investigate a homicide. From there Slinger, Smax, and the rest of the diverse group of police at Top 10 investigate a series of crimes, murders, and evil scientists that all seem to be strung together somehow. While putting the pieces of the current mystery together, they must also deal with the return of a serial killer know only as the Libra Killer, and an the Ghostly Goose, an invisible specter fond of fondling unsuspecting women.

Top 10 is a fantastic crime story with a nice sci-fi twist. It's easy for superhero stories to cop out and not deal with reality at all, and serve simply as an escape to a fantasy world where good and bad stand out and the complexities of real life are swept aside. Top 10 is not that kind of superhero comic. In Alan Moore's Neopolis, robots, and monsters face bigotry, prejudice, and inequality and serve as a clear allegory to real world minorities.

The police that serve Top 10 are a diverse group and utilize a wide range of skills and strengths to keep crime at bay. There's King Peacock, a Satan worshiper who can find and exploit any weak-spot, Irma-geddon a one woman arsenal, the nigh-invincible, power-beam shooting Smax, electo-zapping Shock-head Pete, and many others who make up the team. Initially, it was somewhat difficult to keep track of all the characters, but since, as the reader, you initially follow Robyn Slinger on her first day, you get the experience of feeling like it is your first day at Top 10 as well. Eventually, the characters come to be familiar faces, and Moore fleshes them out quite well. Moore cleverly shows the reader the human side of his super-powered characters and through that I got to know them as people. This served to make them not only easy to relate to, but also quite interesting, and very memorable.

On top of being written by Alan Moore, Top 10 features an all-star art team up of Zander Cannon and Gene Ha. Cannon did the "layouts", and Ha was the "finishing artist" for this graphic novel...Since I'm pretty much an idiot, and I'm slowly learning about comics as I go, I'm gonna guess that Cannon penciled everything out, and Ha inked it. Does that make Ha a... tracer? I don't know.

What I do know is that Top 10 is pretty glorious to look at. Each panel is exquisitely detailed, and nuanced. Not only that, but there's a bunch of little references to other comics stuff in the art. Great art, and a great compliment to the wonderful story.

Top 10 is easily one of the finest graphic novel's I've read this year. So far everything I've read by Alan Moore has been a hit with me. In fact, I loved Top 10 so much that I instantly started reading the second book immediately after I finished this volume. So be on the look out for that review soon enough! While you're waiting, go out and pick up Top 10 book one.

Grade: A+

Comic Quickies

Liberty Annual 2010: This extra big annual supports the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a group of folks who defend the first amendment rights of the comic community. The comic itself features comic shorties and pin ups from some of the biggest names in the industry. There's stuff from Garth Ennis, Fabio Moon, Gabriel Ba, Gail Simone, Geoff Johns, and lots of others.

The actual comic material all seems to follow a theme, something about anti-censorship or freedom of speech...Seriously, the creators all come up with some pretty cool, and interesting ways to make their points. My personal favorites were Chain Gang by Moon, and Ba, and Milk and Cheese by Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer. A pretty cool way to get a taste of some great creators.



Superior #1: Boom! The latest from comic giant Mark Millar. Simon Pooni was a great basketball player and popular kid, until multiple sclerosis hit and he lost most of his motor skills. Now he's wheel chair bound, the subject of ridicule, and his favorite pastime is watching flicks with his best friend Chris. As you can imagine, the shift from all-star athlete to being wheel chair bound has been tough on Simon, but things can change. A visit from a space monkey turns Simon into Superior, comics' and film's greatest superhero.

I'm a little on the fence about this one. It started out pretty well, but the space monkey was strange, to say the least. Also, it seemed really short, I felt a little cheated that the issue was only 22 pages. I'll likely stick around a bit to see where this one goes.



Sweet Tooth #14: Sweet Tooth is easily one of my favorite on-going comics. I love Jeff Lemire's style, and story telling skills. The story of Sweet Tooth is a real slow burn, but lots of important things happen in this one.

Gus and the other hybrid kids make a break from captivity, while Jeppard seeks the aid of the psychopathic tribal leader, hoping to pit the tribes against the men of the militia. It is amazing to me how Lemire manages to raise the stakes and increase the drama with each issue. There are some great, tense moments in this issue and a tantalizing cliff-hanger ending.



Neonomicon #2: Hoo-wee, easily winning the election for most fucked-up and disturbing comic of the year is Neonomicon #2. This comic will not give you the warm fuzzies. Moore ratchets up the intensity, the weird, and the discomfort as the two government agents chase down a lead in Salem, Massachusetts. The hunt opens up a few doors and ushers in a very explicit orgy-rape scene that was absolutely shocking, and terrifying. Very little is left to the imagination. The nightmares wont stop!

This one is filled with lots of metatextual stuff, and is heavy on the H.P. Lovecraft mythos. I'm a little afraid to see where this one goes.

Review: The Courtyard

The Courtyard is an Alan Moore work, with a handful of H.P. Lovecraft influences and grace notes. This dark and moody two issue comic starts out in the run-down apartment of F.B.I. agent Aldo Sax. Sax is working on a special case, fifteen murders, all the victim's midsections have been carved open to resemble what looks like a flower. Here's the kicker: There are at least four different murderers, and no direct links between the killers. Furthermore, none of the details have gone public, so there is no chance of these being copy-cat killings. Which is why Sax is on the case, he specializes in Anomaly Theory; scrutinizing the evidence, parceling out the troublesome details, and finding obscure bits that don't typically fit into F.B.I. murder profiles.

One such obscure detail leads Sax to Club Zothique, there he meets with an informant called Joey Face, learns about a mysterious new drug called "Aklo", and is aimed in the direction of the lisping, bandanna wearing, Johnny Carcosa, a reputed aklo dealer. Sax soon finds out that nothing is what it seems...

The Courtyard is an awesome piece of work done by a true master of the comic medium. The story was initially a prose story of Moore's and it was expertly adapted for the comic medium by Antony Johnston. Though short, this is a story that feels very big. That's probably because of the massive amounts of hints and foreshadowing that seemingly fill the pages. As the reader you get the sense that you are really only getting a small slice of the entire pie. I felt like I was in on the investigation, searching for clues, and trying to read into what certain characters said, to get more meaning or to find hidden clues. This made for a really fun read.

The main character and narrator, Aldo Sax, is interesting. For starters, he's totally racist. So, needless to say, he's more of an anti-hero than a guy you cheer for. Sax is a pretty sharp detective though, and it is interesting to be inside his head for the entirety of the story. Being in his head does get weird at times, but it is always interesting.

The comic itself utilizes a seldom seen panel format. It is really basic: two long, vertical parallel panels side by side. This format is present on each and every page, aside from a couple of splash pages. Though it is uncommon, I really liked the format. It gives the story a consistent flow, which I think is important given the pacing of the story. It also adds to the eeriness and tension, as events move at the same rate no matter the page.

The artwork of The Courtyard is also pretty great. The artist, Jacen Burrows, does a fantastic job of giving this story some grit. The art and the story fit together like puzzle pieces. Burrow's work compliments the creepy feel of the narrative, and gives life to the settings. There is a lot of repeated imagery, which I found interesting, because despite being the same drawing, it could have different meanings given the contexts. Really great work by Burrows, I think he's a perfect artist for this piece.

There is so much hinted at, and seemingly so much more to find out after reading The Courtyard, which is why I'm excited to be reading its sequel, the miniseries Neonomicon. The first issue of the follow up mini-series can be found in your local comic shop now. Despite it being short, there is a lot to be found in The Courtyard. This is a great example of how amazing the comics medium can be. Check it out, you will not be sorry.

Grade: A+