JLA Earth 2:  Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely. Two of my most favorite comic creators. This duo tends to really step their game up when they work together. They're a recipe for a golden comic.... right?  Well, that has been the case in the past.  See: Exhibit A, B, and C.

Uh, but there's been a couple less than stellar offerings from them too, see: Item One and Two.  But it's been awhile, since I've read ones that I would rate as a miss rather than a hit...until JLA Earth 2.

Not only does this one rate as a miss, I'd rate it as an all-around dud of a comic.  In fact, there's very little I can say positively about this comic.  Here's the premise:  The Earth that all our fave Justice League heroes live on is "good" planet. Good guys like Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Batman, and all the rest, take care of the people and the planet.  Well, what if there was another Earth out there in a parallel dimension where everything was the exact opposite?!?!  Whoa!

On this anti-matter planet bad dudes like Ultraman, Super Woman, The Owl, Power Ring, and Johnny Quick are part of the Crime Syndicate of Amerika and they pretty much rule their depraved and corrupt planet with an iron fist.  So when Lex Luthor, who is a good guy on this other planet, travels across dimensions to enlist the help of the JLA our heroes have to decide if they stand for justice in our world or on all worlds.

Maybe I shouldn't have based my purchase of this one purely on the creators...had I at least read the back blurb I might have let this one pass me by. But I didn't.  I read the whole damn thing too, despite this being a wholly uninspired work from two creators who appeared to be simply phoning this one in.  The fact of the matter is, there is nothing really special about this one at all.

Morrison's plot is entirely too predictable and lacking in anything that could be referred to as an interesting plot development.  The one twist, which came late in the game, seemed like it was just thrown in there as a way of giving the story a bit more life, but it didn't really work.  I guess I could interpret this story has having a somewhat hidden message about the nature of mainstream comics and how the good guys always win, how it is a pretty much pre-ordained thing that is taken for granted.  Yeah, that's great and all, but isn't that why people read superhero comics, so they can see their heroes win?

Though I was disappointed with Morrison, I was even more disappointed with Quitely. This is easily my least favorite work of his I've seen so far.  The whole time I was reading this I got the feeling that he must have been bored with the work, because even the characters in the comic seem bored.  There's little to no life in any of these characters.  Additionally, Morrison dials up a bunch of full page and double page splashes for Quitely, who responded by delivering some incredibly dull pages of art. There's Green Lantern creating giant hand constructs that hold the moon, a tombstone, a giant space base that looks silly, and the old burnt out stand-by: heroes flying through the air.  I love Quitely's art because he has the ability to make things look fresh and new, and he manages to breathe life into his characters, but that ability is completely AWOL in JLA Earth 2.  This stuff is just flat out weak.

I wish I could say something positive about JLA Earth 2, but I really can't.  I was completely let down by this comic, and the two creators who in the past have delivered some amazing stuff.  Based what I know Morrison and Quitely are capable of, and the lack luster product they produced here, I just can't recommend JLA Earth 2.  I've come to expect far greater things from this team, and they completely failed to deliver here.  This is one to pass by.

Grade: F

Graphic Novel Review: Flex Mentallo: Man of Muscle Mystery

It is hard enough for me to resist anything that has to do with the team-up of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, so when Flex Mentallo: Man of Muscle Mystery was re-released (in deluxe hardcover none the less) it should come as no surprise that I immediately bowed under the pressure and bought this lovely item the day of release.

On the surface, Flex Mentallo is about a muscly man named, uh, Flex Mentallo, who is living in the real world, and trying to solve a mystery that seems to involve a completely fictional character operating in real life.  This may sound far-fetched, but Flex himself was once nothing more than a work of fiction until he was somehow written to life.  While Flex is doing his detecting thing, we meet Wallace Sage, a suicidal writer/musician/artist who has recently taken a deadly overdose of drugs and is retelling his life story to a suicide helpline worker on the other end of the phone.

Though it is hard to tell exactly how in the early stages, it is clear that these two stories intertwine, and sure enough, as things go on, they begin to interact with each other.  The how, and why of it all are tough to explain, and equally hard to understand.  Frankly, I'm not totally sure I completely "get" everything about Flex Mentallo.  The story is so clearly about more than just a strange mystery and some guy committing suicide, but after one read through, I can't confidently say exactly what "it" is.

I've read a few other places that each of the four issues is meant to represent an era of comics: the golden age, silver age, modern age, and future. When viewing the story through this "era" lens, I can definitely see the distinction, but there are other layers to be had here as well; layers I hope to discover as I read though this thing a few more times in the future.  I don't often come across a comic that lends itself to such close scrutiny, but that sure is the case here.  This story pretty much flat out demands to be read a few times over.

As far as the writing goes, this is some primo Grant Morrison material.  It definitely lies on the weird side of things, but things aren't so weird as to be unpalatable or off putting.  Morrison managed to instill a strong sense of "what the hell is going on here?" in me as I read Flex Mentallo which made me want to read more in hopes of uncovering some secrets.  As I said, this is a story that will benefit from further readings, so even though I enjoyed my first read-through, I get the feeling I'll like this even more upon future reads.

On the artistic front, the art in Flex Mentallo is simply wonderful.  Frank Quitely is easily one of the best comics artists in the business, and one could make a strong case for him being the best period.  Like Flex Mentallo, Quitely flexes his artistic muscles here and delivers some absolutely beautiful art.  I am always impressed with Quitely's art, but there were a few panels in this one that stand out as some of my all time favorite Quitely art.  I always feel like I'm holding something truly special when I have a comic drawn by Frank Quitely in my hands, probably because it is special.  The guy can really make a story come to life.

It is typically a special occasion when I read a Morrison/Quitely comic, and Flex Mentallo is pretty damn special too.  I would have bought this and enjoyed it no matter what, but to be treated to something that is not only exciting to read, and lovely to look at but also demanding of the reader's scrutiny is a nice rare treat.  This is a truly special comic.  Highly recommended.

Grade: A-

Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely, and Shaky F@$king Kane!

Great news for my fellow comic nerds out there! Flex Mentallo is coming!  After years of being tied up in legal limbo, this never before collected work that combines the talents of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely is finally being printed here state-side for American consumption.

The story is spun out of Morrison's work on Doom Patrol, and follows body builder Flex Mentallo on a journey of self-discovery and meta-fiction weirdness...I'm down.

Not only does it feature the talents of my favorite writer/illustrator duo, but it comes in a snazzy hard cover OVERSIZED format.  Bonus!

From the looks of things, this beautiful piece of work will be hitting shelves sometime in February.  Something to look forward to.

Props to Multiversity Comics for helping me notice this...they got it from Vertigo: Graphic Content.

Another thing that has me quivering with excitement:  Coming in November we have a sweet looking work of mad-cap genius from Shaky Kane.

I've had Monster Truck on my radar for a while now, but Comics Alliance just released a sneak preview, and it looks insane, and insanely awesome.   


This uncouth graphic novel has a neat little twist to it: The art is 100% continuous; The edge of one page bleeds onto the next, so what you see at the right edge, will become the left edge of the following page.  Technically, this is an 108 page piece of sequential art.  I fully expect Monster Truck  to be one crazy hallucinogenic voyage.  Check out some of the preview pages below, and you can see what I mean about the sequential art.

Robots and Barbie dolls.

Clowns really creep me out.  

Preview pictures courtesy of Comics Alliance.  

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: Batman Reborn

Did you know that Bruce Wayne is dead?

Well, I didn't until I picked up the first issue of Batman & Robin. The day-glo yellow cover with beautiful artwork by Frank Quitely caught my eye and I started to flip through the comic, and it turns out there is a different dude under the bat-cowl and Bruce's son (also a surprise to me) is Robin! Dick Grayson, the original Robin from back in the day, A.K.A. Nightwing, has taken over as Batman and along for the ride is Damian Wayne as Robin.

Ok, so now you are somewhat up to speed on what's been happening with The Caped Crusader. At the very least we're on equal footing.

Batman Reborn picks up on Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne's first day on the job as Batman and Robin. To make the first day all the more sweet, they have a brand new, pimped out Batmobile to cruise around in...or fly if they want, yeah, the new Batmobile can fly.

The graphic novel opens with a sweet chase as the Dynamic Duo pursue a Toad-like criminal through the streets of Gotham. Mr. Toad is eventually captured, but his apprehension and subsequent shake-down don't really give the detectives too many solid clues to go on. The Toad is part of an all new cadre of circus freak criminals infesting Gotham, who all appear to be connected to bigger and deadlier things.

The new Dynamic Duo soon discovers that the job of vigilante crime fighters is pretty tough, as they also have to contend with a nutty professor who performs nightmarish facial surgeries to his victims, and another set of deadly costumed vigilantes looking to clean up the streets of Gotham once and for all.

I want to make it clear that you do NOT need to know all of what has gone down in the Bat-world to enjoy this graphic novel. I haven't read an issue of Batman in years, and found that this was a pretty solid starting point. Granted, I sort of feel like I opened a very large can of worms, but this is definitely a place to start.

Not only is it a good, and logical place to start but it is also a very good looking, and well written place to start. The comic powerhouse team-up of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely easily smash the first three issues of this graphic novel out of the park. The plot and the new bad-guys are cool, and interesting, and Quitely's artwork is top-tier as always. Halfway through the book, the art duties shift to the capable hands of Phillip Tan. His art style is quite different looking in comparison to Quitely, but it is still very high quality. This is one of the better looking graphic novels out there.

All in all, this is a pretty enjoyable graphic novel. This volume has a bit of a cliff hanger ending and definitely foreshadows mysterious things to come, so there is a bit of a lack of closure. That's not a bad thing though, it will leave you wanting more.

Grade: B

DC Shuts down Wildstorm

I just read this over at Comics Alliance. Turns out DC Entertainment is shutting down the Wildstorm imprint and folding all the characters and such into the DC universe to be relaunched at a later date.

I haven't read much from Wildstorm lately, but they are responsible for my favorite super hero team ever, The Authority. There was a sweet run where The Authority was penned by Warren Ellis, then Mark Millar, and Frank Quitely drew a few issues during that stretch as well. It'll be lame to have such great characters, and ones that deliberately poked fun at certain well-loved DC heroes, get relaunched by DC sometime down the road. Sad.

Review: New X-Men: E is for Extinction

Hot off my successes with All Star Superman and We3, I thought I'd give another Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely collaboration a try. Emboldened by a capes and tights story that I actually enjoyed, I snagged a copy of New X-Men: E is for Extinction off the shelf at my local library. My thinking being that perhaps the Morrison/Quitely combo is just so damn good that they can make capes and tights not only palatable, but highly enjoyable. Well...this one came close, but it wasn't quite what I had hoped for.

For this X-Men tale, Morrison did a bit of revamping: Gone are the spandex uniforms and in their place are "stylish" leather ensembles that really only Wolverine can pull off...but I got sick of seeing that guy with his leather coat unzipped and no shirt on underneath. The X-Men team is also slimmed down, for reasons I'll get to in a bit, which is potentially nice because then there is no extra bodies clogging up the panels, or extra characters clogging up the narrative just because they are on the team.

The story goes like this: A creepy looking bald lady named Cassandra Nova has discovered an unknown Sentinel factory in the middle of the jungle. She uses that factory to create new, highly adaptable Sentinels that are hell-bent on terminating all the mutants of the world. And they damn near succeed. In a violent act of genocide, Nova manages to kill around sixteen million mutants, leaving a scant few hundred left on the planet. Too bad for Nova, but six of the remaining mutants just happen to be Proffessor X, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Wolverine, Beast, and Emma Frost. Six folks you do not want to piss off.

This concept initially struck me as one that I would enjoy quite a bit, but though the idea was there, I felt that the execution was lacking. Morrison didn't hit any emotional chords, which I thought, realistically, should have played a larger role. There were also times when I felt like the story jumped around in illogical ways which took away from the flow of events and made things feel sort of cobbled together.

Quitely's artwork was quite good, but it was decidedly lacking in eye popping moments. I never once found myself staring at a panel or a splash page in amazement. That doesn't mean that the art was bad, it just wasn't nearly as high a standard as I've come to expect with Quitely.

All in all, this was a pretty much a swing and a miss for me. The whole thing felt uninspired and lacked the magic that usually graces the pages when Morrison and Quitely team up. If anything it just goes to show that I've more or less grown past the super-hero tales, and left the spandex behind. As much as I wanted to like this one, it just didn't do it for me.

Grade: C-

All Star Superman 1&2

Let me start this by saying that I am NOT, nor have I ever been, a fan of Superman. I think he is boring. The guy is just too powerful. Nothing can really hurt him, he's the fastest, the strongest, and probably also the smartest. All of which makes him a blue and red bore. So why did I read All Star Superman? Well, it features my favorite comic creative team-up: Grant Morrison, and Frank Quitely, that's why.

Despite the creative team behind All Star Superman I was still a bit skeptical about reading a Superman story, but I'm happy to say: these two graphic novels are solid gold.

In the early pages of the story, we find out that Superman is dying. A space mission set to study the sun, is sabotaged by a genetically enhanced super-clone created by Lex Luthor. Superman, of course, saves the astronauts, but in the process totally overwhelms his cells with solar radiation. This overdose of sunlight causes Superman's white blood cells to start attacking and destroying his cells, a process which will ultimately lead to his demise. However, what with sunlight being the source of his powers, and getting such a heavy dose, Superman triples his strength and intelligence, not to mention gains a new power: the ability to emit electric pulses...pretty sweet.

Superman knows he is dying, and knows it was Lex that planned the whole thing, and he sets out to do as much good as he can for the world before he is gone. In the process he forgives Lex, while trying to convince the guy to do some good with his genius, cures terminally ill children, saves a suicidal girl, makes some scientific/genetics breakthroughs, and also battles beasts monsters and bizarros.

The moment where Superman saves the suicidal girl is probably my favorite moment from these two graphic novels. As she is gearing up to jump, Superman appears behind her, rests a mighty hand on her shoulder, and tells her: "It's never as bad as it seems." Then in the next panel he is gently pulling the startled girl back away from the edge and he says: "You're much stronger than you think you are. Trust me." Then the final panel shows Superman giving her a super-hug. This struck me as not only a very touching moment, but also a very heroic one too. With a few simple words Superman gave strength to someone who needed it badly. Not something you see everyday in capes and tights comics, and I loved it.

One of the reasons I think I liked All Star Superman so much is that it put more focus on Superman's more human qualities than his crazy powers. Free of those pesky DC Universe continuity rules, Morrison, instead of remaking Superman, origins and all, remodels Superman, and presents a stripped-down Man of Steel that focuses on his quietly noble qualities that make him a true hero.


Added to top shelf writing is Quitely's Amazing (capital A!) art work. Superman has never looked better. He isn't the most muscle-rippling superman ever, not by a long shot, but he looks relaxed and heroic and noble. It was the relaxed look that got me. Superman seems so chill in many of the frames, and then it hit me: if virtually nothing can hurt you, (not even kryponite, thanks to his sun overdose), you'd be one laid back person. I love the cover of the first graphic novel where Superman is just chillin' on a cloud looking out over Metropolis. I think that cover gives some good insight into the qualities Morrison and Quitely instilled in their version of Superman.

I can't believe I'm saying this: but I loved All Star Superman. I'm not usually a fan of the capes and tights comics stuff, but these books are definitely an exception. Superman has never been better, and possibly never will be. This is a must for any and all Superman fans, and a must for grumpy tights-haters like me too.

Grade: A

Review: We3

Animal Weapon 3 is a top secret U.S. Air Force project in cybernetics. They've taken three household pets, a dog, a cat, and a rabbit, and turned them into killing machines. These cyborg/animals have enhanced nervous systems, and sport mechanical exoskeletons complete with more firepower than some small nations. Each of the three animals are tweaked to be specialists within a team; The rabbit is a demolitions expert, the cat a stealth killing machine and the dog acts as the heavy artillery or tank.

The book opens with the team eliminating a terrorist leader, yet despite the success of the mission, this cybernetics project is nothing more than a prototype, and they are promptly decommissioned. Part of their enhanced nervous system is enhanced instincts, and their natural instinct for survival is greater than anyone could have expected. Soon the three animals are on the run from the might of the U.S. government, using all their cybernetic skills to stay alive, and to find someplace they can call "home".

We3 is unlike anything I've read before. Through life I've been a fan of anthropomorphic stories like the Redwall books, and Watership Down, and even Dr. Rat was a good read, however this is unlike any of those in many ways. I think the big difference is that the animals of We3 have only a few human qualities, and despite their cyborg shells, maintain a large degree of the cute, fluffy traits that make them animals we humans keep as pets. This was an endearing quality of the book, and while it felt kinda creepy to care about a cyborg animal, I did care, and like the soppy guy I am, and despite the odds stacked against them, I really just wanted them to find a safe, loving home.

We3 benefits from both fantastic writing and art. As a fan of Joe the Barbarian I was interested to read some of Grant Morrison's other works, and I was not disappointed. His writing and scripting is top notch, and this story packs a lot of punch on multiple levels. We3 has action, and explosions, but it also has some very touching and emotional moments.

Working in perfect harmony with Morrison's writing, is the eye-popping artwork of Frank Quitely. This book is full of great art. Each panel demands scrutiny because Quitely's art is so nice to look at. His illustrations have a simply clarity about them, yet are still extremely detailed. I really loved the occasional double-page splashes. There's also some less conventional pages where Quitely would draw a large illustration, showing the action at a basic level, then overlay it with smaller panels that show micro-shots of smaller aspects of the given scene. This was a really cool element, and it worked well within the story. Quitely is one of the best comics artists out there and he is on top of his game here.

We3 is a pretty short graphic novel. It collects only three issues, but there is a lot packed into book. Tight writing, great art and an interesting story make this a great read.

Grade: B+