Awesome Announcements from NYCC

Photo from comicsalliance.com

One of the bigger comic conventions around was held this past weekend in New York City.  NYCC is one of those conventions where publishers actually make big announcements for things that are down the road, and after a San Diego Comic Convention where almost nothing interesting was announced,  I was happy to see that some exciting news come out of NYCC.

Up first is the most promising tid-bit, and one that soothes the pain of Sweet Tooth having only two issues left...

Vertigo announced a new Jeff Lemire series titled Trillium.  It's plugged as "The last love story ever told", and since it is written and drawn by Jeff Lemire, that means it will be poignant, heart wrenching and will probably make me cry.

It follows a space-botanist from the far future and an explorer from the 1920's who manage to fall in love despite the separation of space and time. Trillium is set to be a ten issue series, which is good news given that there'll be a gaping hole left in my comics reading when Sweet Tooth comes to an end.  I'll be hard up for some new Jeff Lemire comics come 2013, but I do wish this was an ongoing rather than a limited series...either way, it sounds awesome. This one is published by Vertigo and is set to hit the shelves sometime in 2013.  I'll be there for it.

Photo courtesy of comicsalliance.com

Next up is another Vertigo title, this time from two of the comics industry's biggest up and coming dudes, Scott Snyder and Sean Murphy.  The Wake is a sci-fi horror epic which begins when something terrifying is discovered in the depths of the ocean.  (My fingers are crossed for Cthulhu!)  Snyder and Murphy have worked together before on an American Vampire mini-series.

I personally have fairly limited experience with these two creators.  I've read a year's worth of Snyder's DCnU Batman, but I recently gave that title the drop when DC announced that there'd be a giant sprawling crossover story with the Joker where I'd have to buy a shit load of other Batman-family books just to keep up.  I've also read the first five issues worth of American Vampire, and wasn't that interested, but that's likely more due to that fact that I'm bored by vampires. Anyway, I've only been moderately impressed with Snyder's writing, but I'm willing to give the guy another shot.  He seems to be writing everything these days, so hopefully he isn't spreading himself too thin, and can put together a good run on The Wake.

The big draw here for me is that fact that Sean Murphy will be doing the art.  I have to give a lot of credit to Murphy, his art on Joe the Barbarian was a big reason I got back into reading comics as an adult.  To put it simply, the guy is a phenomenal artist, and I can't wait to see what he does with a sci-fi horror story.

The Wake is set to hit shelves in Spring of 2013.

Photo courtesy of http://scottkowalchuk.blogspot.com/

Last up, comes a slew of announcements from Oni Press.  The publisher who brings me my monthly dose of The Sixth Gun announced a whole bunch of stuff that has me excited.  First off, in January, Oni Press will relaunch it's website and feature new webcomics serials.  Once these webcomic serials finish up, they'll be collected in print as graphic novels.  One of these webcomic serials will be Down Set Fight which will feature the art of Scott Kowalchuk, an artist I'm a big fan of, and a guy who was cool enough to create this sweet birthday commission for me a year ago.  I've been wondering what the dude has been up to for a while now, it's all been a secret, so I'm happy to finally have something tangible to look forward to.

Also on the webcomic-serial front, Oni has a science-fiction-romance meets Blade Runner story
 coming from Jamie S. Rich and Natalie Nourigat. It features the rather drab title, A Boy and a Girl.  Nourigat got her start writing and drawing her bio-comic Switching Gears, and I really like her art, so I'll be checking this one out as well.

photo courtesy of
comicsalliance.com

Rounding things out come two announcements regarding Cullen Bunn, the writer of The Sixth Gun.  Up first is a spin off of that very same series titled The Sixth Gun: Sons of the Gun.

This six issue mini series will feature origin stories for General Hume's four lieutenants from the series' first story arc.  I have always hoped for more Sixth Gun material featuring these villains, and I'm finally getting my wish.  These four were some bad-ass dudes, so this should be one dark and compelling story.  I always like a story about villains.  Also, it should be cool to learn more about the guns of power and the effect they have on their owners.

Brian Churilla will be handling the art for this one.  He's pretty much an unknown for me, but that teaser image looks pretty cool, so hopefully he can do justice to the series and the material.

photo courtesy of
comicsalliance.com

The other Cullen Bunn related piece of news regards another six issue mini series.  Helheim is a dark fantasy featuring Joelle Jones on art.  Bunn describes the series as "Frankenstein in the viking era".  The story follows a hero who is brought back from his peaceful and honorable death and thrust into a war between two witches.

Based on the strength of The Sixth Gun I'll be more than willing to give this series a shot.  Bunn has impressed me with his ability to deliver some awesome fantasy elements in The Sixth Gun, so I'll be interested to see what he does in a more standard fantasy setting.

Jones is another unknown artist for me, but her art from the teaser image looks pretty cool.  It reminds me a bit of Becky Cloonan, which definitely isn't a bad thing.  I'll be looking forward to this one.

Judging from all these great announcements, it looks like 2013 is shaping up to be a solid year on the comics front.  Lots of cool new stuff to check out.  I'm sure most, if not all, of these comics I mentioned above will get some attention here in the future.  Keep an eye out.



Also, this post would not have been possible with out the continually amazing comics coverage of http://www.comicsalliance.com.

Lastly, thanks to Scott's Snazzy Sketchblog for the Down Set Fight art.

Graphic Novel Review: It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken

About a year ago, at the Emerald City Comicon, Scott Kowalchuk told me I should check out some of the comics works by a writer/artist that goes solely by the name of Seth.  Kowalchuk is an incredibly solid dude, and I figured his comic recommendations would follow the solid trend, so I filed the name away in the back of my head, and kept my eye out for Seth's stuff anytime I was browsing the shelves in various shops around town.  It took a while to track something by Seth down, but I eventually wound up with a couple of his titles, and decided to read It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken first.

In this semi-autobiographical comic, Seth tells the story of himself and his obsession with tracking down comics by an obscure cartoonist from the 1940's by the name of Kalo.  Seth's compulsive search takes him on a journey of both distance and time and while on his search to find obscure comics, finds a bit of himself as well.

One of the things that most impressed me about this graphic novel was Seth's ability to tell an engaging story in a way that seems simplistic, yet upon further scrutiny, proves to be quite detailed.  Seth's art style is definitely on the cartoon side of things, but his buildings and locations all have a great power to evoke a strong sense of time a place.  His small towns, railway stations, living rooms, bookshops and cafe's all have an air of familiarity and warmth to them, which helped me feel right at home in the narrative.  This comfort opens up the door for the reader to pay more careful attention to the juxtaposition of Seth's personal development and his search for Kalo's comics.

Another impressive aspect about Seth's art is the amount of emotion he is able to portray in his panels.  To put it simply: his stuff is moody.  He achieves this through a combination of what the character is doing in a given panel, and what the character's surrounding environment is.  It seems like a simple feat to derive emotion in this way, but it's not something I've seen done very often or done as well.

Seth sort of lures the reader in with a slow burning start to the story, and maintains a relaxed pace throughout.  To be honest, the writing here didn't impress me nearly as much as the art.  I didn't relate so well to Seth's character, and didn't care too much about whether or not he found more Kalo comics either.  I more or less just cruised along reading the story, but was never very engaged by it. Still, the cruise was a comfortable one, and relatively pleasing as well.

It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken is more about the journey than the destination, and it's an artful journey for the reader.  The illustrations here will most likely provide the lion's share of entertainment value as the story itself is not as strong.  Still, this graphic novel is a fine example of how comics, and the art side of the medium can really tell an evocative story.  Trust me, or trust Scott Kowalchuk, Seth's work is worth a look.  Definitely something different from the mainstream norm.

Grade: B

2011 Comics of the Year

TOP 5 COMIC SERIES of the YEAR:


In a year where I was still finding my feet in the comics medium, discovering what I like, and don't like, the battle for the Top 5 Comic Series of the Year had some stiff competition.  Last year I only featured two titles in what was a tie for my top comic, but this year I read way more titles, and it wouldn't be fair to only cover one title, so this year I'm giving you seven!  Damn, I'm nice.  With last year's co-winners Sweet Tooth and Chew still cranking out issues on a monthly basis, will any fresh contenders be able to unseat the champs? (I'll give you a hint, one of them slipped completely out of the rankings all together...) What am I waiting for?  Let's find out!

#5.  Rocketeer Adventures:  This title was an absolute blast.  Basically, a bunch of the industry's best writers and artists got together and cranked out a bunch of short comics and gorgeous pin-up tributes to Dave Steven's Rocketeer.

Each issue of this four issue mini featured some of the best comics creators in the business. The first issue was pretty astounding, but with each issue, there seemed to be a theme of each creator trying to out-do the others.  The result is some absolutely wonderful comics that offer a wide variety of Rocketeer action.  High caliber writing and art is pretty much standard across the board in this Top 5 list, but Rocketeer Adventures offers more variety and plenty of bang for your buck.

Probably my favorite comics moment of the year came when I discovered Geoff Darrow's lovely double-page spread pin-up.  Jaw Droppingly awesome.

#4. Batwoman: In case you've been living under a giant rock all year long, you know by now that DC relaunched all it's titles and started all their shit over at #1.  This provided me with the opportunity to jump onto a bunch of their titles that looked worthy my attention.  Out of the 52 titles they released, I deemed 7 of them worthy of my time and money.  Of those 7, only one gets the glory of being a Battle Hymns Top 5 comic of 2011. That title is, of course, Batwoman.

Batwoman doesn't spend her time battling classic villains like her compatriot Batman, but she seems to have carved out her niche in Gotham's caped and cowled crime fighting community: the supernatural.  In her most recent adventures she finds herself up against a ghostly child stealing wraith; with lots of personal and professional distractions going on amid all the action.  The writing is solid, Kate Kane's sexuality is maturely handled, and issue after issue, this seems to get better and better.  Oh, and the art?  J.H. Williams III is at the top of his game.  Absolutely beautiful work.

#3. The Sixth Gun: I love westerns, and I love fantasy so it should come as no surprise that I love The Sixth Gun, because those two elements have never been so wonderfully intertwined.

Sometimes I feel like the creators, Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt had me in mind when they came up with this concept, because it is very much geared to my tastes. I've been loving this title since issue #1 and have gladly been hooked for the whole journey so far.

The most recent story arc, Crossroads has been extremely entertaining and full of tense, shocking moments.  This comic is pretty much guaranteed to deliver engaging characters, fun western-style action like train hijackings, and crazy supernatural moments like re-animated evil spirits each and every month.  The art seems to just be getting better each go-around too, so there you go.  All around awesomeness.

#2. The Intrepids: The Top 5 list would be sadly incomplete if I failed to mention the awesomeness that is The Intrepids.

Mad science, a tech-ed up teen team battling crazy creations like cyber bears, battle baboons, and robo-squids are all involved in this crazy fun, crazy awesome 5 issue mini series.

Series creators Kurtis Wiebe and Scott Kowalchuk definitely delivered the goods here.  The writing by Wiebe is fantastic, and he delivers action, drama, tension and jokes with equal aplomb.  Kowalchuk's art is some of my favorite from the year.  He draws mad-science creations extremely well, and makes them look incredible...oh, and the rest of his art is great too, but those mad science creations...*sigh*

What astounded me the most about The Intrepids is that the story delivered on multiple fronts, and even packed in some emotional moments, and still managed to be the most fun comic to read on the shelves.

If you still haven't checked this title out, do so immediately.


#1. Sweet Tooth:  You're still the one Sweet Tooth.

Impressively, despite some stiff competition, Sweet Tooth manages to find itself at the top of the heap once again, and really, it was an easy decision to put it at number one once again.  The reason is simple: Sweet Tooth gets better with each issue.  Not only that, but writer/artist, Jeff Lemire continues to explore new ways of telling the story, and by doing so, stretches the boundaries of the comics medium.

Not only is this my favorite on going comic, but it is steadily creeping up the list and becoming one of my favorite all time stories, period.

For as much as I think, discuss, and gush on and on about this series, I still have almost no idea how this will all turn out.  So much of the bigger picture is still shrouded in mystery, but Lemire has done an excellent job off hiding his cards and slowly revealing them one at a time.  I can't wait to see what the next year of Sweet Tooth will bring.

Runners Up:


Who is Jake Ellis?: Wonderful action packed espionage thriller.  Great writing, satisfying ending to the series, and really cool art.

Blue Estate: A seedy Hollywood crime story with plenty of ins and outs.  Crafty, twisty crime writing at it's finest.


BEST SINGLE ISSUE of the YEAR:

Who is Jake Ellis? #1: In a year where I read more comics than I ever have in my entire life, one issue stands out from the crowd, and that is Who is Jake Ellis? #1. When I read it, I felt like I was reading something completely new and unique, which is very rare these days.  Both the writing and the art had a very fresh feel to them.

This issue pretty much did everything perfect.  The writing by Nathan Edmondson was captivating, it introduced the primary characters, set up the plot, and delivered some great action and chase scenes.  The art by Tonci Zonjic has an incredible vibe and personality that gave the series a signature style that is one of a kind.

This issue pretty much stormed the gates... and the whole damn castle fell with the following issues.  In a year bulging with "#1" issues, this one easily takes the cake.

Runner Up: The Intrepids #1: I've got two words for you: Cyber Bear.

Welp, there you go, my favorite comics from the year.  Are there titles I completely overlooked?  What were your favorite comics from the year?

Comic Quickies: A Fond Farewell

The Intrepids #6:  We begin this Comics Quickies with a fond farewell to what has steadily been one of my favorite comics for the past six months, The Intrepids.

I couldn't ask for much more in a comic; The Intrepids pretty much has it all.  From skilled, twist-filled, and fun writing, to art that gives the series a unique feel, and makes each page feel like a little gift, this is truly a wonderful comic.

If mad scientists, cyber bears, robo squids, attack monkeys, high-tech body modifications, action, humor, adventure, spy/special agent hi-jinks and dark pasts hold even a flicker of interest for you, then I urge you to give The Intrepids a shot.

If The Intrepids were a Batman, it would be the Adam West Batman.  If The Intrepids were James Bond it would be Roger Moore.  If The Intrepids were a wrestler it would be The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase, and if it were a car, it would be a Delorean.

It may be too late to get your hands on the single issues, but there will be a trade collection coming soon so just keep an eye out and then give it a read.

I think this video captures how I feel about the end of The Intrepids.

Loose Ends #1:  This one bills itself as a '4 issue southern crime romance'.  The first issue, which takes place almost completely at a roadside dive bar, mostly delivers on that billing and acts predominantly as a set up for what is to come in the following issues.

I enjoyed the seedy setting, flawed characters, and dangerous regulars of Bobbi's Hideaway.  The story that takes place at the bar is quite interesting and filled with an interesting twist that has me intrigued for the next issue. There are still a few elements that are so far, unexplained but I expect, more shit will come to light in the coming issues.

On top of what looks to be some strong writing, Loose Ends also offers some great art, and comes in a slightly oversized format, with thick, high quality pages.  This is a comic that looks good, feels good, and reads uhm, good...shit, I couldn't make that work. You get the idea.

Mystery Men #4: Mystery Men is a comic series that started out pretty solid, with a moment or two that made me cringe, and has sadly, slowly deteriorated from there.

The biggest contributors to the decline has been the addition of the two latest team members, The Surgeon, and Achilles.  These two guys have pretty much ruined the comic for me.  Every time The Surgeon speaks it's in cheesy medical lingo.  For example, after he dispatches a cop with a syringe full of green...stuff, he declares: "My diagnosis: a feeble mind, leading to faulty detective work.  This operation is concluded...let's scrub down and compare notes."  Yeah, so bad, and there's others, that's just the first one I came to.

Achilles is a pain with the dialog too, but in his case, it's his conflicted inner dialog that drives me nuts.  Nothing has been done to make me care if he is a killer or not, so when he mentally whines about deciding to take someone's life, I find that it just annoys me.

Yeah, there's stuff to like about the comic, like other characters who are pretty cool, and interesting, there's some pretty great art as well, and the plot of the series is interesting, but I just flat out cant stand that there are guaranteed to be at least two groan inducing moments per issue.  Long story short, I wont be buying the fifth and final issue to this mini-series.

Comic Quickies or Sea Creature Double Feature

The Vault #1: Undersea treasure hunting doctors, Gabrielle Parker and Michael Page think they know the location of a massive treasure trove.  They've assembled a team, and acquired the financial backing of a man named Kirilov, who not only can put up the needed money to fund the remainder of their expedition, but can also supply some sweet digging technology.  However, as they near their treasure trove, and start hauling out some booty, a hurricane threatens just over the horizon.

I came into this one hoping for some sweet sea creatures, and monster attacks, and from the way things panned out in this first issue, it looks like my wishes will be granted.  I gotta say though, this first issue was a bit shaky.

There was a lot of information unloaded on the reader, and the learning curve of getting to know the cast of characters, and what is going on is a bit steep.  On top of all that, writer Sam Sarkar packs in a lot of plot development and even the plotting is a bit garbled.  There is a lot of in and out of the water stuff going on, with a character submerged underwater on one page and on the ship in the next.  It is also pretty fucking hard to tell who is who in the diving gear. 

This is only a three issue mini, so I can see why a lot was packed into one issue, but it did feel awkward.  The art is handled by Garrie Gastonny, an artist I found hit and miss during his work on Warren Ellis' Supergod.  The man can draw some sweet beastly creatures though, so I'm hoping for a bit of that in The Vault.

Witch Doctor #2:  So, I was a little skeptical after the first Witch Doctor issue, and though I'm still a bit skeptical after #2, I'm feeling a bit better about things.  This issue kicks off what is intended to be a 3 issue story arc, and has the Doctor investigating a baby who is possessed by a Cuckoo Faerie, a creature that mimics humans, while the brood mother feasts on the human babies her hatchlings are switched out for.

While Dr. Morrow is searching for the Cuckoo Mother, he is contacted by Absinthe O'Riley, a woman who seems to have past connections to the good doctor and is searching for a creature called a "Dagon Lure", a ghastly looking beast if I do say so myself.

The creepy, fucked up looking life-sized Barbie thing that is the Cuckoo Mother is a horribly freaky looking thing, and provided some solid entertainment for this issue.  I get the sense that the real story for this arc lies with Absinthe O'Riley, and her weird sea creature though.  Looking forward to where this is headed. 

Elephantmen #33: There was only one reason I bought this comic...the artwork of Shaky Kane.

Shaky filled in on art for, uh, someone else, in this stand-alone story set in the Elephantmen universe, which I happen to know pretty much next to nothing about.  The story is about a creepy plastic surgeon and his wife/canvas upon whom he tries his most elaborate and daring augmentations upon.  His latest quest is to completely replace her skeleton with an all new ivory one...harvested from dead Elephantmen.

Um, so I didn't pay super close attention to the story, I sorta used my Steven Erikson reading technique where I skim parts that don't seem to matter, and read what is important.  Via this technique I was able to get the gist of what was going on, then sit back and enjoy the insanity that is the art of Shaky Kane. 

Kane's art definitely made this one worth the purchase.  There is some amazingly weird and visceral imagery.  Crazy shit, but totally worth it if you love the work of Shaky Kane.

The Intrepids #5:  As I type this, there is a single, solitary tear leaving a wet track down my cheek...Why? Because it's pretty sad to think that there is only one issue of The Intrepids left to read. 

From the very first issue, I have been in love with this series.  Not only has it featured sharp story telling, some solid humor, great art and some epic battle scenes, but it has, by far I might add, the absolutely best mad-science constructs I've ever encountered.  Though I have a soft spot for the Cyber Bear, Carbon Calamari the robo-squid who terrorizes the pages of this issue, is amazing and is in the running for the Best Creature of the Series.

The Intrepids is truly one of the great comics on the shelves.  I realize at this point, if you aren't already reading it, then it makes sense to buy the trade, however if you aren't reading it, be sure to buy the damn trade when it comes out.  You will not be disappointed.

I can't wait to have the final issue in my hands, and re-read the whole series start to finish.  Great stuff and worth every penny.

The Sixth Gun #13:  I mentioned this last time, but this latest arc of The Sixth Gun is shaping up to be the best one yet.

Every aspect of this comic has shown marked improvement, which is saying a lot 'cause it was pretty damn awesome to begin with.  Hurtt's art is climbing to new heights, and the writing has not only provided some great new characters, but has delivered some great new twists as well.

Though I've enjoyed this series quite a lot, through each issue, I've never had much fear for the safety of the two main characters Sinclair, and Becky Montcrief.  That being said, those two seem to be well and truly effed in this arc.  They are seemingly surrounded by enemies, and their friends seem shaky at best.

This issue had a great cliff hanger of an ending and I'm pretty much drooling for more.

Comic Quickies A Mixed Bag of Greatness

Rocketeer Adventures #1: This amazing ode to Dave Stevens' Rocketeer is a glorious comic that should be owned by all.  This issue features stories and pin-ups from some of the biggest and most talented artists and writers in the field.

First off there's the beautiful cover by Alex Ross, plus a story written and drawn by John Cassaday, a Mike Mignola pin-up, a story by Mike Allred, and another story written by Kurt Busiek...along with many others.  Along with the field of wonderful talent comes a few great Rocketeer stories.  It was cool to see each creator's unique take on this classic character.

Despite the bevvy of talent I was most taken by the art of Michael Kaluta, a guy who was an unknown to me prior to this comic.  His artwork on the Dear Betty story was nothing short of amazing and his Robo-Squid and Samurai Gorilla were wonderful additions to a couple of sweet black and white panels.  One of the most entertaining and high quality comics I've read this year. I highly recommend picking this up, along with the other three Rocketeer Adventures issues that are forthcoming.

Strange Adventures #1: First things first, I'd like to point out how awesome that Paul Pope cover is.  As much as I like looking at it, the actual copy of the comic I own is not nearly as pretty to look at due to a GIANT Green Lantern movie banner that runs across the top cover.  Thanks DC.  Why the fuck would I want to look at Ryan Reynold's face when I'm reading a Vertigo title?  Keep your lame DC hero movie ads on your lame DC titles please. Ok, moving on...

Strange Adventures is a collection of sci-fi themed short comic stories.  I openly admit that I pretty much only picked this up based on the fact that I knew there'd be a Jeff Lemire story in it.  His entry Ultra the Multi-Alien  was pretty wonderful.  Like all great Lemire stories it was tinged with a heavy dose of tragedy.  In the span of eight pages the guy nearly had me in tears.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Lauren Beukes had a story in here also.  All the Pretty Ponies was pretty damn good, and I'd love to see her idea get fleshed out in greater length.  Of all the stories, the Lemire, and Beukes tales stood out as the best, and I was pretty underwhelmed by the Brian Azarello and Eduardo Risso story Spaceman which gives readers a first look at their new series.  I don't think I'll be diving into that one anytime soon.

 The Strange Case of Mr. Hyde #2: The plot thickens in a big way here in this second issue as we see Detective Adye team up with Dr. Jekyll in hopes of putting Jack the Ripper in cuffs.  There's some incredibly tense and nerve wracking moments as the two work together and get into and out of trouble.

I was happy to see Dr. Jekyll get some more page time, as he struck me as a very interesting character in the first issue.  Jekyll more or less stole the show in this issue, and looks to be a major player in the next two issues.

Somehow Cole Haddon, the writer, manages to pack plenty of story into one issue.  I definitely feel like I'm getting my money's worth.  The art of M.S. Corley is also quite good again, and I'm definitely looking forward to the next issue.

The Intrepids #'s 3 and 4: I know I'm way behind on my comic reading/reviewing when I lapse and have to double up on one of my favorite comics.

I'll try to put this simply: The Intrepids is one of the most entertaining and fun comics out there.  I'm pretty amazed by how many awesome/crazy ideas Kurtis J. Wiebe has managed to pack into this series so far, and I get the sense that the best is yet to come.  Scott Kowalchuk's artwork continues to be some of the most unique and visually interesting art in the business.  I truly believe he's the perfect guy to draw Wiebe's mad science imaginings.

As this story progresses, I find myself getting further invested in the characters.  Most of the character development attention is given to Crystal, the team leader.  My only gripe with the series is that I wish there was more attention given to Doyle, Rose, and Chester, the other team members.  Still, even though they don't get as much character development, those characters still have unique and interesting qualities that make them stand out and add more depth to the story.

With only two issues left, I'm starting to feel pretty depressed that The Intrepids is coming to a close.  I know I've gushed about this series before, but I highly recommend it, as I think its an accessible and high quality story for just about anyone out there. 

Green Wake #2: Kurtis J. Wiebe's other comic effort is the dark mystery story Green Wake.  This comic takes a definite slow-burn approach that fits the plot well, and I personally really enjoy.  In this day and age of instant gratification this drawn out style of story telling may be a turn off for some readers, but I think it makes the mystery element of this comic more intriguing.

Though things move slow, and important information is kept obscured, hidden and slowly revealed, there is some important reveals and clues in this issue.  That being said, there's a plenty of further mysteries and questions that result from those little nuggets that are revealed.

Green Wake is another example of great story telling and art in the comics medium.  Each issue so far has demanded my full attention and I've had to force myself to take my time with Rossmo's art which can take some adjusting to.  I'm looking forward to the next installment which hits stores today.

 Who is Jake Ellis? #4: Rounding out this mixed bag of comic awesomeness is the latest WiJE?.  I've discussed the hallmarks of this series before but I'll reiterate: if you like fast paced espionage action and a story that is paced perfectly with a clean no-frills, no-waste plot this is your comic. 

I really try to avoid gushing like a depraved fanboy around here, but shit, Who is Jake Ellis? is really fucking good.  The writer, Nathan Edmondson does a great job telling the story, but I also appreciate how he'll let Toni Zonjic's art take over at times and do the heavy lifting.  These two guys seem to work really well together, and it shows in how flawless the connection between the art and story is in each issue.

There's a great twist/plot reveal at the end that'll probably have me pulling my hair out until the next issue lands in my pull box.  Really great stuff, and so worth checking out if you haven't done so already.

Thirty Flirty and Thriving

This past week something pretty fucking epic happened to me. 

I turned thirty. 

For much of the past month, I've lived in fear of that infernal number, however, the day came and went and shit doesn't seem that different. 

I did have a sweet party.  One filled with great friends, great food, a awesome pinata, and an epic amount of cornhole.

Lucky for me, I have some very awesome people in my life, and many of them were thoughtful enough to hook me up with some sweet gifts.  Getting an entire fancy beer, pie and cake on your birthday is hard to top, but I also got a big ass stack of metal CDs loaned to me from a friend for listening and iPod uploading purposes.  My busted air hog got replaced with a shiny new one.  (Pay no attention to the suggested age appropriateness...these things are super fun!)  My brother sent me walkie-talkies which come in handy when some of your buddies live just up the street. 

The gift that takes the cake though came from my very thoughtful and loving lady.  Using some crazy stealth/stalker techniques she conspired with Intrepids artist Scott Kowalchuk on a commissioned sketch of a sweet Adam West Batman taking on Scott Waggoner as the Shade.  (That's the sketch up in the corner!)  The sketch is also the featured post at Scott's Snazzy Sketchblog at the moment, a site worth checking out if you wanna see what one of the great up and coming artistic talents in comics is up to. 

Oh, and P.S. or whatever...I know things have been sorta slow post-wise around here lately, but I'm on summer break after tomorrow, and my "stuff to review" pile is loaded with, well, stuff to review.  So things should pick up around these parts.  Peace!

Comic Quickies or Comics with Guns on the Cover

Undying Love #1:  I gonna sound like a broken record here, by Undying Love is another great looking new comic from Image.  Is it just me, or is Image the only company cranking out new stuff?

Undying Love is set in China, and tells the story of John and Mei, a couple who appear to be on the run.  When the comic begins, they are hiding out in a small secluded temple, and are attacked by the sword and spear wielding minions of a talking fox and a Geisha.  From the ensuing battle two important details are learned: John appears to have some special forces training, and Mei is a vampire.

John and Mei are in love, and they want to share a life together, but the whole vampire thing causes a lot of complications. John wants to free Mei from the vampire curse, but to do that he must destroy the vampire that made her.  The hang up is that Mei was made into a vampire by Shang-Ji, the oldest and most powerful vampire in China.  If John can take down Shang-Ji, he can cure Mei.  Simple as that.

From the way things are set up, there should be some bad-ass vampire slaying going down in this comic, and that sounds like a recipe for awesomeness.   I'm looking forward to what this one has in store.

The Mission #2: Our hero, Paul, knows he fucked up.  He was supposed to kill Neal Corman at the behest of God, but didn't, then innocent people got killed and Corman kidnapped his own six year old daughter.  You can't really blame Paul, it is hard to kill someone based on the word of some sketchy aggro old dude claiming to represent the word of God.  However, from the looks of things, Gabe, God's messenger, seems to be right, and Paul, fearing the repercussions of not completing his mission, decides to do the deed.

I'll be straight up, I'm not a fan of the art in this comic.  Compared to other titles I read, it doesn't measure up.  Since The Mission doesn't look as sexy as some other titles, I feel like I instantly down-grade it to second rate...but that would be doing this title a great disservice because I love the writing.  It took me about 10 minutes to read through this issue.  I was totally sucked in from the first page and enjoyed it to the very last.  The character of Paul is such a regular dude, stuck in such an irregular situation that it makes for some compelling reading.  The sharp, gripping writing is top notch, and a great reason to check this comic out.

The Intrepids #2: When we last left the Intrepids team they were about to get the drop on Darius Dread.  Too bad for the Intrepids,  but this issues starts out with Dread's battle baboon whoopin' some Intrepid ass.  It turns out Dread is a much more gracious host then the baboons initially let on, and he hooks the team up with some valuable intel.  Dread's info puts the team on the tail of a mysterious man named Jonah.  Like Dante, the mysterious benefactor for the Intrepids, Jonah appears to have some sort of background in mad science.  The team can only hope that Jonah will lead them to Dr. Koi.

As I was promised by both Kurtis J. Wiebe and Scott Kowalchuk, this second issue definitely kicked some serious ass.  Not only that, but it provided some great moments of humor, especially when the team was getting their asses handed to them by the baboons.  Aside from providing some great entertainment, this story also delivered some solid character development and dropped some valuable info on the various scientific power-ups each Intrepid member possesses.  So far most of the character development has focused on team leader Crystal, but the other team members have distinct personalities, and seem to be strong characters in their own right.  Hopefully more development will be given to Doyle, Rose and Chester in the coming issues.

The awesomeness of the second issue proves that The Intrepids is no one-hit wonder.  I could gush more about this comic, but I'll spare you, and just say that The Intrepids is a comic that deserves to be read.

Who is Jake Ellis #3:  In the last issue of Who is Jake Ellis? Jake Ellis, the man inside our hero Jon's head, got Jon exposed.  Now Jon is on the run and he needs to get the hell out of France, preferably on the sly. Aside from the switch of locales, Jon is also looking to score some information regarding the whereabouts of the secret facility that performed the procedure that linked him to Jake Ellis. 

Jon and Jake make a pretty slick and efficient spy team, but what is the most compelling to me is how easily Jake can convince Jon to do things a certain way, and how Jon is so willing to listen to Jake Ellis.  As a reader, I am definitely beginning to question not only Jake Ellis' motivations, but also his methods.  Jon is a pretty likable character, and I definitely wonder how everything is going to turn out for the guy.

Not only does Who is Jake Ellis? continue to feature great writing, but the art is great too.  I really enjoyed the "club" color palette  that added vibrancy to the opening scene of this issue. 

Who is Jake Ellis continues to be one of the most entertaining comics on the shelves.  With each issue I get even further sucked into the story, and further invested in the characters.  The story is unfolding at a nice clip, and each issue leaves me yearning for more.  Who is Jake Ellis has solidified itself as one of my favorite monthly comics.

Comic Quickies or Clash of the Titans

The Intrepids #1:  I know I've been saying this a lot lately, but The Intrepids is another awesome debut brought to us by Image Comics.  This one is sort of a spy thriller, with a healthy dose of mad science mixed in.  The team is comprised of Doyle, the strong man, Rose, a rocket pack wearing daredevil, Chester, the computers expert, and Ms. Crow, gunslinger, and team leader.

This issue kicks it into high gear early on with a mission set in Russia where we get a taste of the team's abilities as they battle it out with henchmen, and my comic reading highlight of the month: a battle with a cyber-bear!  The battle is awesome, and there's a nice little nod to Stephen King's cyber-bear, Shardik in there as well.  From there The Intrepids gives some more back story, and sets up the teams next target, the awesomely named Darius Dread, and what looks to be the main bad-guy, Doctor Koi.  From the looks of things there's some bad blood between Doctor Koi, and Dante, the team's handler and backer.  The issue ends with everything set up quite nicely for the second issue.

Overall, this was an exciting debut issue complete with solid writing and some unique and cool looking art.   I spoke to both the writer, Kurtis J. Wiebe and the artist, Scott Kowalchuk at comicon, and they're super nice dudes, and were excited to hear I'd picked up their comic.  They both warned me that though the first issue is quite awesome, the second issue is off the hook.  I can't wait.  Definitely one of my most eagerly anticipated comics.

Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth #1: Speaking of eagerly anticipated: new Axe Cop comics, and in full color glory!

There's a new planet in the solar system, and Axe Cop and Dinosaur Soldier are pretty sure it's a bad guy planet.  Before they can head back to the Axe Cop station and do some tests, they get held up by the normal cops for speeding.  One faint bomb and some stolen tires later, they are at Axe Cop Station, and discover that the new planet is growing super duper fast and that it'll soon squish the earth.  It seems like a simple fly to space and explode the planet mission, but the normal cops, the army, and a couple of psychic bad guys who, have stolen a powerful machine, and can shape shift are messing up the plans.   It looks like the fate of the earth depends on Axe Cop, and his team.

This first issue was pretty much exactly what you'd expect from the brother creative team of Ethan and Malachai Nicolle.  Lots of crazy and weird things happening, and little to no idea where this thing is going, but you know it will be awesome.  Bad Guy Earth is shaping up to be yet another awesome comic.

Chew #17: This issue of Chew finds FDA agents Tony Chu and John Colby investigating a food fight that turned deadly at Tony's daughter's school.  The food fight massacre seems to be the doing of one Peter Pilaf, another character with some food related powers.  Pilaf has the ability to whip up recipes that give him the power to control people...which might somehow tie him to the space station Okroshka, which blew up recently under mysterious circumstances. 

Three really great things happen in this issue, the first, that I already mentioned, is the revelation of a new food-power.  The second is the fact that John Colby really gets to shine in this issue, and it is absolutely hilarious.  The way he goes about cracking a case is unorthodox to say the least, but incredibly effective.  The final great thing is that we get to see a bit more of Olive Chu, Tony's daughter.  She was a great surprise addition to the series and I'm looking forward to learning more about her and her backstory.

Not too surprisingly, another great issue of Chew. 

Sweet Tooth #19: This issue serves as a prelude to next story arc and the narrative focuses on the ladies of Sweet Tooth, Lucy, Wendy, and Becky.  The story starts out with the three women going for a walk in the woods near their party's campsite, and as they walk, each character talks a little bit about their past.  The really nifty thing is that each little piece of back-story is drawn by a guest artist to the series.  Nate Powell draws the Lucy vignette, Matt Kindt draws the Wendy story, and Emi Lennox draws the Becky section.  While these tales are being spun, the intervening, present day sections are drawn by Jeff Lemire, and the girls get lost in the woods, then run into even bigger problems...

It was nice to see a little bit of character development on the part of the ladies as they had only been side characters up till that point.  It'll be pretty interesting to see how their story turns out.  From the way things are set up, the next story arc looks to be quite awesome.

Emerald City Comicon

My 2011 Emerald City Comicon experience was pretty much the polar opposite of last year's visit.  Whereas last year I was an awkward, uncomfortable comic newbie and pretty much directionless, attending mostly for the spectacle, this year I was a man on a mission. 

It's crazy how much can change in a year.  Last year my comic reading consisted of a few scattered titles here and there, and you could fill a library with everything I didn't know about comics.  A year later and I could still fill a library with my major lack of comic knowledge, but I certainly am much more well read in the medium, and I have a much better grasp on my comic likes and dislikes.  As a result, my comicon this year was a much more focused endeavor.

A couple nights prior to the con, I eschewed my pending schoolwork in favor of scouring the con guest list and taking note of all the writers and artists I wanted to see, and meet.  You could've titled the list: Who's Awesome Work Will I be Drooling Over on Saturday.  I even mapped out where their booths were.  Despite my awesome planning, I knew the droves of comic fans were equally, if not even more hyped than myself, so I got there early.

Being the planner that I am, I prioritized my list, starring the must-see names.  It should come as little surprise that John Layman and Jeff Lemire, were tops on that list.  I'm proud to say that every last Chew related item I own is now signed by John, (who actually remembered talking to me at a comic shop signing last December!) and a good chunk of my Jeff Lemire collection is not only signed but sporting some awesome original art by Jeff.  In the signature department, I also got the full Joe the Barbarian run signed by the super friendly and skilled artist Sean Murphy, and I got my Axe Cop graphic novel and the ultra new Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth comic signed by both the Nicolle brothers.  Getting my stuff signed by a six year old was pretty awesome, and my Axe Cop trade is sporting a sweet red lightning bolt along with Malachai's signature.  The signing aspect of the con was a complete success, as I got everything I brought with me signed.  I wish I could have lugged more around, but a backpack can only hold so many comics!

Aside from getting lots of stuff signed, I also got to talk to a lot of great comic writers and artists.  It was cool talking westerns with Brian Hurtt, the artist of The Sixth Gun, and talking about the pressure of working with Marvel characters with indie artist/writer Farel Dalrymple.  I had an interesting talk with Mark Rahner, the writer of Rotten, about how his gritty zombie comic set in the post Civil War era draws on some of the hot new items of our recent history.  Mark puts a lot of research effort into the comic, and it adds nice hidden nugget element to the comic.

I found myself spending a good chunk of time at the Image Comics booth, which was loaded with cool creators.  Probably the biggest highlight of the con for me was meeting Kurtis J. Wiebe, Scott Kowalchuk, and Nate Simpson, three young dudes who have some sweet looking comics already out or on the way this spring.  All those guys were incredibly easy to talk to, super nice, and grateful for my interest in their material.

Kurtis and Scott work together on The Intrepids a sort of science-gone-wrong action comic. Kurtis also works on the upcoming horror comic Green Wake, which looks pretty sweet, and Nate is writing and drawing the beautiful looking Non Player which is looking absolutely amazing.  Three dudes who have some great looking comics on the horizon.

I was totally pleased with my con experience.  Getting to talk to people who entertain and inspire me is always a treat, and it gives me greater appreciation for their work, but lets face it:  Part of going to comicon is to see people dressed up, so here you go, some con pics!

Ramona Flowers

It's sorta scary how much he looks like the real deal!

Wonder Woman might wanna keep an eye on Freddy.

The last unicorn.

These guys were doing a cool pose, but my camera is slow to turn on, so instead of a cool Darth Maul attack, I caught the post-battle hug.