Comic Review: Criminal Vol. 3 The Dead and the Dying

I figured since I was on such a hot streak with the Criminal series, I might as well keep plugging away at it.

This third volume, The Dead and the Dying is a bit different in format from Coward and Lawless as it eschews that straight narrative focusing on one character.  Instead, this volume gives the reader three different character studies; and boxer trying to escape his father's shadow and have a life outside of organized crime; A vietnam vet who returns home to find that the mental and physical survival skills he developed in the war are simultaneously quite useful and quite terrible when put into action in his civilian life; and lastly, a young woman with a bleak past who is trying to steer her life away from a dark path.

The most impressive thing about The Dead and the Dying is how these narratives all overlap, dovetail, and in some cases, clash with each other to create one grand narrative.  The end result is both heartbreaking and an impressive piece of writing.  I gotta say, I liked this separate-but-connected story telling technique. I didn't know this technique would be in play until I started reading the Vietnam Veteran story piece and I noticed the first piece of overlap.  I got that light-bulb effect, and upon flipping back a few pages to the previous character study, pieced a few things together to make the whole story all the more interesting.

Not only do all the stories in The Dead and the Dying interweave with each other, but again, are all threads in the tapestry of the whole Criminal world that Brubaker has created. There were many moments where I made connections from this comic to the other Criminal comics, and I'm really enjoying how each volume builds upon each previous volume to create a decades-spanning mosaic crime story.  I don't often mention world building outside of epic fantasy reviews, but the world building that Brubaker is laying down in these Criminal comics is as impressive as anything I've seen in the fantasy genre.

I do have a major gripe about this volume, and that is how the character Danica is portrayed.  To start things off, I was very much put-off by the cover here.  I feel that it's a classic case of an over-sexualized comic cover. The fact that it's an exotification of a black woman makes it doubly bad.  Then there's this piece of interior art:

Again with the over-sexualization. And it's not even all that relevant to Danica's story. It seems to say that her sex is the only thing relevant about her. Sure, a ton of comics do this same thing month in and month out, but  it's still a shitty inexcusable trend of the medium, and I just don't see the point here. Especially when Criminal has been a series that, to this point, has been so far above the standard comic fare.

Additionally, there's a lot of violence towards Danica in this comic and I found that it was very upsetting.  Yes, Brubaker and Phillips have crafted a violent and dangerous world in this Criminal series, but Danica's story ended up making me uncomfortable to the point that it jarred me out of the story completely.

Though the writing technique used to tell this story was unique and well done, The Dead and the Dying loses some big time points for it's sexist cover art, and extreme violence towards women that was very disconcerting.

I should note that I haven't experienced anything like this in all the other Brubaker/Phillips comics I've read and I hope I don't experience it again. I was feeling so good about this comic series until things got weird and uncomfortable in the final third of this volume.  I can kinda see how these events could be steered towards developing a certain character as a total fucking prick for the coming story arcs, but if that's the case, I just don't agree with how Brubaker and Phillips went about it. You can show how a guy is a total asshole, sleazeball in other ways.

In the end, I'm pretty damn torn about this third volume of Criminal.  If you're gonna give this one a go, be forewarned that there are highs and lows.

Grade: D

Comic Review: Criminal Vol. 2 Lawless

Tracy Lawless has returned home after a couple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan; back to the world he was raised in, the crime ridden streets of the city.  Tracy probably would have preferred to stay away, but someone killed his brother, and he wants to find out why.

Despite lots of family history behind the Lawless name, Tracy has an advantage in the criminal underworld in the fact that he's been gone so damn long that no one remembers his face.  Tracy's first step in finding his brother's killer is linking up with his brother's old crew, and though that might bring him one step closer to the truth, the truth might be uglier than not knowing.

Once again, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips deliver gold standard hard-bitten crime comics.  These guys are just flat out scary good at this stuff.

Though it's predecessor, Coward was an impressive feat of crime comics, I was more impressed with Lawless due to the fact that it has been cleverly crafted to fit into the world that Brubaker and Phillips created in the series opener.

Even though both Coward and Lawless can be read completely as stand-alone stories, there are little subtle touches that stand out to the reader. Side characters who seemed like throwaways take a more prominent role, familiar faces are back in familiar roles, and names just barely mentioned become leading roles in this volume.  Brubaker and Phillips have crafted an impressive, multi-layered world that I feel like I'm just now starting to get a grasp on.

With masterful craftsmanship and impressive world-building it is easy to rate this one pretty high, but there's more goodness to be had in Lawless.  Brubaker and Phillips again deliver the goods in terms of writing and art. I really think Phillips is the best possible artist for this series, as he is just really flippin' good at bringing dark and gritty to life.

Brubaker is no slouch either. Sure, crime plots can often seem a bit recycled, but Brubaker somehow gets readers to care for his criminal, low-life, unsavory characters.  That ability to make readers care about the characters makes the plots more gripping the the tension more palpable.

As impressed as I've been with this comic makin' duo in the past, I was even more impressed here. The material that I've read from the Criminal series is definitely their best work in the comics medium thus far, and it appears to be only getting better.  Not convinced yet? Do yourself a favor and go read Criminal.

Grade: A+

Comic Review: Criminal Vol. 1 Coward

I've been hoarding my volumes of Criminal for a while now, waiting for the right moment to uncork and savor these crime stories from the modern crime masters, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips.  However, I've been enjoying their latest, Fatale so much, that my will power cracked and I decided instead to go for a Brubaker/Phillips binge and read me some Criminal.

Sometimes it's nice to have wimpy willpower.

In Coward, we follow Leo, an expert pick-pocket and a guy with a deft hand when it comes to planning a heist too.  The thing is, he has a rep for bailing on a job at the first sign of things going south.  However, sometimes a job can be worth the risk, and when Leo is approached by an old friend and a crooked cop to help orchestrate an armored car diamond heist he sets his rules aside in favor of a large pay-off.

If I had any doubt that Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips are the modern masters of the crime story, I threw all reservations out the door with Coward.  These two guys are truly at their best when working in the crime genre.  Not only was Brubaker able to deliver a great story with all the twists, backstabs, and drama that are the staples of the genre, but Phillips was able to bring it all to life with his fantastic art.  The settings are seedy, the characters are unsavory, and Phillips makes it all seem so real.

The synergy that Brubaker and Phillips share is incredibly impressive and their great rapport makes it incredibly easy for the reader to completely fall into this world of crime and mayhem.  It's pretty easy to gush about how solid the Brubaker-Phillips collaboration is, these guys have worked together extensively, and it shows in Coward.

One aspect that made Coward stand out for me was Brubaker's choice of Leo as a main character.  In pretty much every crime story I've come across, the main dude is usually a tough-guy type who won't back down from a fight, or hesitate to whip out a gun and shoot it out with some cops.  Leo, on the other hand, is the polar opposite and when the going gets tough, Leo hits the road.  The use of a non-standard character in this very standard urban crime setting was a nice touch, and one that makes this story stand out from the crowd.

As I've come to expect when Sean Phillips is involved, the art in Coward is great. Phillips can flat out draw the hell out of a crime story. As I mentioned earlier, he has a great knack for bringing the world, and the characters that fill it to life with his art.  Phillips can deliver action scenes and dramatic moments where body language and facial expressions tell the tale with equal aplomb, which is no small feat.

If you like your crime with a nice layer of grit, and are in the mood for a crime comic with fantastic writing and pitch-perfect art, than Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' Criminal is the place to go.  This is top shelf stuff from two of the very best.  I expect I'll be reading the rest of the Criminal volumes sooner than later.

Grade: A+

2012 Comics of the Year

2012 was easily my best year of comics reading yet.  Not only did I read a ton of great comics, but I honed my tastes further and branched out in new directions. The result being that I was rewarded with some amazing gems.  Scarily, my comics reading pile continues to grow; I think I have enough comics to last me the next couple years...

As always, I read my fair share of both floppy single issues and collected editions, or as they're more commonly known: graphic novels.  My 2012 Comics of the Year list covers just the former, the single issue stuff, and there was so much good stuff it was pretty hard to choose just the top five.

TOP 5 COMICS OF 2012:

#5. Prophet: Prophet has been one of my favorite monthly titles this year and a big reason is the sheer variety of talent that Brandon Graham has brought together for this title.  Ever since issue one (or technically issue 21), there's been a smorgasbord of talented artists associated with this comic.  Though the main players have primarily been Graham, Simon Roy, and Giannis Milonogiannis, there have been plenty of other awesome folks getting credits for this title. The result is that I've had the wonderful pleasure of being exposed to some amazing talent along the way.  Farel Dalrymple stands out as an artist who has worked on this book and impressed me greatly with his talent.

On top of all the great artistic talent associated with this comic, the story has been incredibly entertaining and intriguing.  Any week where there's an issue of Prophet is a special week.  Graham and company have created an absolutely fascinating universe to set their story in, and I love the feeling of discovery and exploration that comes with each issue.

The icing on the cake for Prophet is that each issue comes with a back-up short comic, and all of these have been fantastic. The back-up Shock Post by Malachi Ward and Matt Sheean stands out as one of the best comics I read all year.  Awesome, awesome stuff.

#4. Fatale: The combo of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips is one of my favorite comic creating duos.  When these guys are together they create fantastic comics.  They did a couple of super powered spy stories in Sleeper and Incognito, then some straight up crime with their Criminal stories.  Their latest work is Fatale  a sort of crime-Lovecraftian mash up.  

I'll admit I wasn't totally enamored with this comic from the get go. I liked what I was reading, but I wasn't totally feeling it. I had enough faith and past experience with Brubaker and Phillips to keep plugging away and sure enough, everything congealed in the fifth issue.  We're two story arcs in now, the second of which was fantastic, and Fatale was an easy pick for this top five list.  

There's an awesome blend of horror and crime going on in this comic, a mix we don't see too often, and I think fans of both genres will find plenty to like here.  

#3. Godzilla The Half Century War: Despite the fact that I love monsters, I can't say that I've ever really been a Godzilla fan.  Well, that all changed earlier this year when James Stokoe started working on Godzilla The Half Century War.  

This is one amazing comic.  

It's amazing for lots of reasons, but one of the biggest reasons is that this is almost completely Stokoe's vision.  He does the writing, art, and lettering.  The only thing he doesn't completely himself is the coloring, and he gets "coloring assists" from someone, so he still has a hand in that aspect of the book as well.  That's an amazing amount of work to put into a comic, but the pay-off is great as there is no loss of vision along the way.  

This is one absolutely gorgeous comic too.  Stokoe is definitely one of my favorite artists, and his work here is some of his best.  His stuff is always hyper-detailed, and that skill is put to amazing use here as you really get a feel for the destruction and mayhem Godzilla can cause when he wrecks shop.  Add in some fucking phenomenal monster fights and Godzilla The Half Century War is probably the best treat for your eyes on the shelves. Oh, the story is pretty flippin' great too! A must read for any comics fan.

#2. Multiple Warheads: 2012 was the year of Brandon Graham in the comics world.  His King City stuff got recollected and republished, His amazing re-imagining of a Rob Liefeld comic, Prophet came out, and to top it all off, he started releasing his Multiple Warheads mini-series.  That's a pretty impressive output, but even more impressive is the incredibly high quality of it all...most impressive of all though is that fact that Multiple Warheads makes this list with a mere three issues worth of material on the shelves.    

Multiple Warheads, is completely a Brandon Graham entity as he handles all the comic creating duties: writing, art, colors and lettering.  To put it simply, Graham is a comic creating powerhouse of unique vision and artistic talent.  His comics simply aren't like anyone else's.  In fact, it almost seems like a deliberate effort is being made by Graham to not be like anyone else.  

And I love it.  

His stories meander, follow interesting paths until they are no longer interesting, then find another path to follow until something else comes up.  Along the way the reader is treated to some really beautiful art, and a boat-load of puns and jokes.  The misogynist parlor joke being my favorite so far.  Multiple Warheads is a shining example of how much fun comics can be, and I love and am grateful for every panel of every page.

 #1. Saga: It's not often that my most anticipated title becomes my most favorite, but that's exactly what happened here.  Saga stepped onto the scene back in March, and it has been absolutely top of the line ever since.  Frankly, I'm a bit surprised that a space opera about star-crossed lovers on the run could impress me so much, but it did. I love this story and I love these characters...with the exception of The Stalk, she scares the shit out of me!

What's impressive is that I can't point to either the writing or the art as the primary culprit of quality.  Both aspects are so wonderfully connected and work so well together that they seem to flow into one another. Granted, both the writing and the art are top of the line, and Fiona Staples has got to be the best discovery of the year for me, but it is impossible to talk about one without the other working the way into the conversation.  Simply said, Saga is a great example of how comics should work, how the art and the writing should be a combined effort.  

Month in and month out this has consistently been the best written and best looking comic on the shelves, and honestly, despite so many other really great comics, an easy pick for the number one spot.  

Most Honorable Mention: 

Sweet Tooth: Despite all the nice things I said about the comics above, Sweet Tooth is still my favorite monthly comic.  It hasn't had a dip in quality either, I simply didn't put it in the top five because I've covered it so extensively here at Battle Hymns.  I will be really fucking sad when the last issue comes out in January.  

The Sixth Gun: Another flat out fantastic comic which only gets better as the issues go by.  The fantasy-western combo has found it's home here.

Best Single Issue of 2012:

Stumptown Vol 2. #4: Holy fuck, this is an amazing comic!  This beauty gets top billing for one big reason: the best flippin' car chase scene in a comic ever. 

First, a little side story: Seattle has a bunch of drawbridges, which are really cute looking but it sucks to be stuck at one in your car while the wings raise up to let some rich prick in his yacht motor through on his way to a day of sailing. I've always thought about how cool it would be if someone just said "fuck it" and used the raising wings as a ramp to jump to the other side rather than waiting. 

It turns out Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth have had the exact same thoughts, because that very scene, among many others that were amazing, plays out in this comic.

Ahh, wish fulfillment, even vicarious wish fulfillment, can be a wonderful thing

This issue would not have been such a success without the talents of Matthew Southworth. He not only made me feel like I was watching cars scream by me at break-neck speeds, but he also played around with the format of the comic so that when the cars turned, you had to physically turn the comic in order to continue on with the story.  This was a really cool concept, and brought me closer to the action. 

I don't think I've ever had such an overwhelming sense of fun and excitement while reading a comic.  A singularly great issue and an easy pick for best single issue of the year.

So there you go, my best comics of the year. Image almost completely swept the category.  What stuff did you folks read that you thought were deserving of mention?  

Graphic Novel Review: Noir a Collection of Crime Comics

Let's see here...I love crime comics,  more specifically, I love noir crime comics.  So I walked into my local comic shop one day and what do I see? Noir a Collection of Crime Comics! As if anything could make me want to read this more, they go ahead and feature some of my favorite comic creators like Jeff Lemire, Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, Fabio Moon, and Gabriel Ba.

On the surface, this seems like it is pretty much the perfect graphic novel for a guy with my tastes.  However, as any good reader and dermatologist knows: you gotta get below the surface to find out what is really going on.

What you get in this slim little number is a bunch of comic shorts written and drawn by a plethora of creators, all working in black and white, pouring on that India ink to achieve the right atmosphere.

Its a pretty cool concept, and it works for some of the stories, but not all the stories.  The biggest problem that I had, was that many of the stories that were included in this collection walked a very fine line between being a crime story and being a horror story, and on a couple occasions, were pretty much straight up horror.  Now don't get me wrong, I don't have any problems with horror, but when I'm reading a collection of crime noir comics, I want the comics to actually be crime noir, not horror.

The highlights here were the stories by Lemire, Brubaker, Phillips, Moon and Ba, but I enjoyed a few others as well, most notably, The Last Hit written by Chris Offutt, and drawn by Kano and Stefano Guadiano.  The remainder of the tales ran the gamut from good to bad, and everywhere in between. As much as I enjoy the short form, and love checking out new comic writers and creators, both of which were amply provided for here, overall, I'd say this one was a bit of a disappointment; Mostly because it didn't really deliver on the crime noir as advertised.

There's definitely some mini treasures to be found here, but not enough of the good stuff to warrant my full recommendation.  If you like your crime with a healthy dose of horror, and want to read some short comics and feel out some creators, this is a good quick read.  If you are looking for some hard boiled crime noir, this doesn't quite cut the cake.

Grade: C-

Graphic Novel Review: Incognito Bad Influences

When we last left Zack Overkill, he'd been working for the good guys, the S.O.S., a group of government backed science heroes.  He's been with them for over a year, doing their dirty work, earning their trust and now they want him to take on a mission that will take him back into the criminal underworld he thought to be behind him.

Overkill is tasked with the job of infiltrating a criminal organization in order to extract another S.O.S. agent who they think may have gone over to the other side. Overkill has to use his frayed old connections to get back in the good graces with the people he's been busting, maiming, and imprisoning for the past year, and try to infiltrate one of the biggest crime organizations in the world.

When I began to read the second Incognito trade, I was shocked to see that the plot was eerily similar to that of one of Brubaker's and Phillips' earlier works, Sleeper.  It felt a little cheap that they would basically re-do the plot but with different characters.  Being the trusting and patient guy that I am, I figured I'd stick around and see if they'd take the plot in any different directions this time around.  For the most part, things stayed mostly the same, except for one major difference: The ways in which Zack Overkill and Holden Carver (the main guy in Sleeper) handle being a bad guy.

While Carver was very much reluctant, Overkill is just the opposite, and instead pretty much lives it up in a way that only a super powered baddie can.  Whether its hard core drinking, prostitute orgies, or just enjoying cracking some skulls, Overkill seems to be back in his element.  Though I thought there was more tension with Carver in Sleeper, it is sorta fun to revel with Overkill in his return to the uh, dark side.

Getting mixed up with the bad crowd isn't all fun and games, as Overkill quickly learns.  He soon uncovers a nefarious plot, and is torn between doing the right thing, trusting his allies, and saving his own ass.

Once again, the high quality of storytelling and art was evident in Incognito Bad Influences, but it didn't really deliver too much in terms of new material, which for me, was ultimately disappointing.  This was basically well written, well drawn rehashing of the plot from a previous title by the same creative team.  Not exactly what I was hoping for.

The ending seemed to leave the door open for more adventures with Zack Overkill, so we'll have to see what the future holds.  It appears that any more Incognito stories are on the back burner for now because  Brubaker and Phillips will be concentrating on their creator owned Image title, Fatale.  In terms of quality and entertainment, you can't go too far wrong with Incognito Bad Influences, but if you have already read Sleeper, you will probably enjoy this one less than someone who hasn't.

Grade: C

Graphic Novel Review: Incognito

In the world of comics there are a few dynamic duo's.  Dudes, (Or should I say "epic bros"?) who, whenever they get together on a project, bring out the best in one another, and raise the bar.  No, I'm not talking about Batman and Robin, or whoever else, I'm talking about comic creators who, whenever they work together, bring the thunder.  In this particular situation, I'm talking about the creative team of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips.

I've dipped my cup into the Brubaker/Phillips punch bowl before and enjoyed the flavor, and have been hounded by other comics readers to get my ass on the Incognito ride.  So I did.  And you should too.

Incognito stars, of all things, a dude named Zack Overkill.  Zack was once a super villain, and is now in the witness protection program because he ratted out his old boss, an evil, powerful and connected man by the awesome name of The Black Death.  The problem is that Zack, who formerly never played by the rules, is now forced to live out his life as a member of the 9 to 5 rat race.  As Zack goes about his duties as a file clerk, he pines for his old days of terror, death and destruction.  As Zack sinks into depression, he starts in on the drug abuse, and soon enough he realizes that the recreational drugs in his system have messed with the drugs that for the past few years have blocked him from using his super-abilities.

With his super strength back, Zack once again dons a mask, and goes around town tearing it up like the good ol' days.  The difference is that this time he's more of a vigilante than a villain.  It doesn't take long, before The Black Death's organization discovers that Overkill is still alive, and assassins are sent to finish him off.  Now, Zack finds himself allied with his old enemies, the good guys; A tenuous allegiance at best.

If I had to point to one aspect of this graphic novel that stands out above all else, I'd point to the noir feel that Brubaker achieves with his writing, and is aided and abetted by Phillips' art.  With Incognito it isn't just the visual style, there's a darkness to the characters, the dialog and the settings that fully delivers the noir feel to the title.  There's a level of seediness, grit and sexiness that you don't often find in any kind of story these days, but Brubaker and Phillips drag it up from the depths and give it a home here, to great success.

In terms of writing, Brubaker is one of the best working in the comics medium.  His characters are engaging, and his plots are full of all the things I love: twists, back-stabs, and double crosses.  I couldn't ask for much more.

Phillips has an art style that is all his own, and stands out as unique and instantly recognizable.  For my money, he's the perfect guy for super-powered crime story.  Each panel is brimming with atmosphere, giving the reader a great sense of setting.  On top of that, he can draw some pretty great super-powered battles too.  Want to feel like you are being cornered in a dark alley?  Phillips can deliver.  Want to see what happens when a guy with super strength punches someone in the face?  Yeah, he can handle that too.

Though I feel like overall, the writing and art in Incognito is more polished and sharper than my previous Brubaker/Phillips reading experience, Sleeper, I think I enjoyed the story more with the original.  That said, Incognito is still great stuff, and definitely worth checking out.  This is a great title for someone trying to bridge the gap between superheros and creator owned indie-style comics.

Grade: B

Comic Quickies: In With the New

The Activity #1: When I heard that Nathan Edmondson, the author behind the awesome Who is Jake Ellis? had a new spy/espionage series coming out, did two things: 1) fist pump  2) immediately add the comic to my pull list.

When The Activity finally arrived in my pull box, I took it home, pulled it out and began to read. From past Edmondsonian reading experiences I was fully expecting to be completely hooked by around page two or three.  Sure enough, I was pleased to see things get off to a nice start with a slick little spy-team mission.  Sadly, that early momentum wasn't sustained throughout the entire issue.

Once the opening sequence is over, you meet the cast of characters, learn about their job: a soldier and civilian team of covert operatives who use the fanciest technology and handle the most high-stakes operations.  You also learn that one of their team was recently killed in action, so with their new recruit in tow, the team heads to Rome to clean up a botched mission by another agency.

It's sad to admit, but as far as first issues go, I found this one to be pretty boring.  The cast introductions were pretty standard, and the clean up mission was dull and lacking in any kind of tension.  My hope is that with introductions and introductory missions out of the way, things will pick up from here.  I have pretty high expectations for this considering how great Who is Jake Ellis? was, hopefully The Activity will deliver.

Sacrifice #1: Completely self published and self distributed, Sacrifice is a title that is probably pretty hard to come by, especially considering the hype surrounding this title prior to it's release. Admittedly, I bought into the hype, and even went to a rival comic shop (the only one in town to carry copies) to secure my copy.  With illicit comic in hand, I dove in.

Your basic package is this: some time travel, Aztec sacrifice ceremonies, and some trippy ass art.  Apparently there's some Joy Division references or something in there too, but if they were, they went right over my head.

Basically, what happens is a dude named Hector eats some fast food, then mysteriously time travels back 700 years or so to the time of the Aztecs.  Next thing you know he's caught up in some sort of political struggle between rival religious factions and literally trying to keep his head on his shoulders, and hopefully avoiding getting killed once the Europeans come.

Though there was a degree of guilty pleasure involved in getting this title into my possession, I can't say that I was really drawn in by the story, which is a bit confounding to me, because I'm usually a sucker for time travel, and things trippy.  The art is sorta bipolar; great one moment, then ugly the next.  Sadly, there was nothing here to hook me, and without the power of being written or drawn by a trusted creator, I probably wont give this another shot. Just not my flavor.

Fatale #1: Crime, magic, horror and a story-within-a-story all rolled into one?  Without a doubt, Fatale, the latest from super duo Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips is right up my comic reading alley. As you can imagine, I was hooked quite early in this one, and then Brubaker and Phillips continued to set the hook, and reel me in as the issue progressed.

There's a lot going on in this first issue, a lot to take in, but the gist is this: the godson of a recently deceased crime writer discovers an unpublished manuscript, and winds up running for his life from would be killers.  He is saved from being gunned down by a mysterious woman he's only met briefly once before at the writer's funeral...only to nearly die in a fiery car crash.  When he awakes in the hospital, he begins to read through the manuscript, further unveiling more mysteries, and questions for the already beleaguered reader.

With points of view that alternate between the mystery woman, a crooked cop, and a reporter who's in over his head, Brubaker definitely throws the reader in at the deep end.  Plenty of seeds were planted here in the first issue, and from the looks of things, this is gonna be an incredibly entertaining comic to read in the coming months.  A very promising start to a new series from two of my favorite comic creators.

Comic Quickies: Big Names

Rachel Rising #1: I was so excited when I saw the solicits for Rachel Rising.  I've never read a thing by Terry Moore, but I've heard lots of good things about his work on Strangers in Paradise and Echo and I had a good feeling about this comic as soon as I laid eyes on some of Moore's interior art.

The comic begins with nine wordless, art filled pages which take place in the woods with a mysterious woman watching on from a distance as another woman literally digs herself out of a shallow dirt grave.

The buried woman is the title character, Rachel Beck, who can't remember what the hell happened to her last night. As the reader, we are as clueless as Rachel, and can only search for clues in the art, and try to make meaning out of the small things she discovers.  The first issue offers up a scant amount of information: a strangely bruised neck, three missing days since she last remembers a thing....and there's something wrong with her eyes.

Not a lot to go on, but I was completely sucked in by this comic.  Moore's art, which completely carries the story for the first few pages is lush and gorgeous.  The mystery element of what the hell happened hooked me, and there are a lot of things that happen or are seen in through the course of the issue that left me with some seriously burning questions.  Like: who the fuck was that lady watching Rachel dig herself out of a shallow grave?

Awesome stuff, and easily the best comic I've read all month.

Gotham Noir One-Shot: Before I even flipped open the cover, this comic had all the hallmarks of greatness: A Gotham City/Batman story set in the 40's featuring Jim Gordon as a down on his luck P.I., a noir-style crime story, and the creative team of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, which has been a money combo for me in the past.

Unfortunately, this comic failed to impress me.  I was pretty underwhelmed by the story, I found that I couldn't make myself care about what was going on.  It was sort of interesting to see how Brubaker placed classic Batman characters like Catwoman, and the Joker into the mid-century narrative, but the whole time I sort of felt like I was reading a What If? type story, that was lacking in authenticity.

I can't say that this was a bad comic, it just didn't strike me as the quality I've come to expect from Brubaker and Phillips.  It's so sad when things don't live up to expectations.

The Red Wing #2: This four issue mini-series started out incredibly well, and I had high hopes that the second issue would live up to the quality of the first.

It did...for the most part.  In terms of writing, the story took a much appreciated leap forward. This issue developed characters, delivered some important back story, moved the plot along nicely, and delivered a sweet twist at the end.  All in all, an epic win for any piece of writing.  Hickman is clearly a top-level writer working at the peak of his game.  So, yeah, in that regard, this was a great issue.

The art was a slightly different story.  Nick Pitarra was a complete unknown prior to this comic, and then he came out the gates strong with a brilliant looking first issue.  The dude set the bar pretty damn high for himself, and I felt like he didn't quite nail it on this issue.  Though most of the time Pitarra did manage to recapture the artistic glory of the first issue, there were a few times the art looked flat to me.  There also weren't any mind-blowing art sequences here like there were in the first issue.  That might sound pretty nit-picky but I guess I just have damn high expectations from the previous issue.

My petty complaints aside, this is still a great comic, and one that I'm very much looking forward to reading for the next couple months.

Sweet Tooth #24: This comic gets continual mentions here on the Comic Quickies feature because Jeff Lemire continues to not only write an amazingly captivating and emotionally gripping story, but he also continuously experiments and push the boundaries of his art.

In this issue, for the first time ever, Lemire handled some of the coloring duties.  Why? Especially when he's got Eisner Award winning colorist Jose Villarrubia on colors?  Well, it worked out perfectly on this issue as Lemire's colored pages matched up with a particular character's journey between the worlds of the living and the dead.  Lemire used watercolors, and they gave a very creepy, other-worldly feel to the pages he worked on.  Obviously, the other-worldly feel was perfect for a story that took place on err...other worlds.

This isn't the first time Lemire has tried some new things artistically with Sweet Tooth.  He's done a story-book style issue, and even an issue where three different guest artists tell the back story of three different characters.   Each time, the unique approach has made for a great comic reading experience.  This isn't the end of the art experimenting either...Matt Kindt is a guest artist for three straight issues coming out in the very near future.

Review: Sleeper

*Note that this is a review of the entire Sleeper series. It can be found two volumes: Season 1 and Season 2.


Sleeper is a graphic novel series that stands out as unique. Devoid of costumed heroes (unless they are getting pounded on by the main characters), it instead chooses to focus on the bad-guys (and gals). The series has a very distinct film noir feel that gives the comic an edge. This dark, gritty motif sets the stage for a great spy-thriller where the spies have super-abilities and trust doesn't exist.

The series' protagonist is Holden Carver. Codenamed The Conductor for his ability to transfer any pain he has absorbed into another person by touching them. Carver is a deep cover agent, who is posing as one of the bad-guys. When we meet him, Carver has managed to work his way up to rungs of the criminal organization, getting ever closer to Tao, the mastermind who pulls all the strings. Carver's success seems like a good thing until we find out his only contact is in a coma and Carver is now stranded with the bad-guys, while his old employers are actively hunting him. Now Carver must employ his spy skills and his powers to survive in a twisted game of cat and mouse.

Sleeper stars some other very memorable characters. Most notably, Carver's love interest and fellow Prodigy, (the highest ranking members of Tao's criminal organization), Miss Misery, a deliciously evil and sexy lady who needs to commit acts of violence in order to stay alive. Miss Misery inspired very little sympathy from me, she is an evil, evil woman, but as a character, I admired her. Brubaker uses a fairly small cast of characters, but they all stand out as well constructed, without feeling like spy genre cliches. For example, on the surface, Tao is just a shitty Bond villain, but Brubaker fleshes the character out, and I actually found myself admiring his guile and scheming.

As with most graphic novels that I enjoy, Sleeper has fantastic artwork. The artist, Sean Phillips does a fantastic job of matching the art to the tone of the story. Sleeper is a dark tale and the art matches up nicely. Phillips certainly has his own art style, and often each page is a full page drawing, with smaller panels showing the action. Having never really seen this done before, I thought it was cool, stylish way to tell the story. Another thing about the artwork that stood out for me was Phillips' ability to portray human emotion in facial expressions. He often had panels of close ups on a character's face, and with out words or narration, I was easily able to tell exactly what was on that character's mind. This may seem like a minor thing for an artist to be able to draw faces well, but I thought it stood out as exceptionally well done.

As a series, I thought Sleeper was quite good, but I felt that Season 1 was stronger than Season Two. This is likely a case of personal taste, because in Season 2 there are so many back-stabs, and double and triple crosses, that I often had a hard time keeping everything straight. For that reason I had to go back and reread pages to make sure I knew what the hell was going on, which broke up the flow a bit. But really, I can't complain too much, because in the end, I was very much satisfied. Sleeper makes Jason Bourne look like Hello Kitty, and packs enough action and intrigue to stand with any of the great spy thrillers.

Brubaker and Phillips team up in a few other graphic novels as well, and I look forward to reading more of their material in the future.

Grade: B+