This was a pretty small week for new comics, which is a good thing, both for the bank account, and for the ever-growing backlog of graphic novels and trades I need to work through.
Best Comic of the Week:
Unknown Soldier #18
Written by Joshua Dysart
Art by Alberto Ponticelli
I really love this book. Dyart’s story has hit the year and a half mark, and is just getting better all the time. Since he first began hearing the voice in his head, Moses has been mostly reacting to what happens around him, and has not exactly been questioning his situation. With the revelation of last issue, he is now forced to look within and try to figure out what is happening to him.
Is this voice an external thing? Does he have a dissociative disorder? It is clear now that this voice represents something much more than training, insight or conscience, but is instead its own entity. And Moses is starting to crack up under the stress of his situation. There is an great scene where he meets the new doctor of the refugee camp he’s been staying in, and the doctor points out that he is walking barefoot across broken glass. There is another scene where Moses realizes that he is no longer talking out loud. Clearly, he’s not well.
This issue wraps up the ‘Dry Season’ arc, as the various plans involving trading medicine for illegal weapons come to their conclusions. More importantly, Moses says goodbye to Paul, the former child soldier he had been helping, and who was in turn helping him to hold on to his humanity. It is a touching scene.
Ponticelli’s art continues to look great, and that cover is awesome.
Other Notable Books:
Gødland #31
Written by Joe Casey
Art by Tom Scioli
You can’t read Gødland without smiling throughout these days. Casey’s just going nuts with this story, as he gets closer to the end of the series. I get the feeling that he is not so much attempting a clean resolution to the various plot lines that have developed over the years, as he is just loading them all into a gigantic Conceptual Hadron Collider, and waiting to see if they will form new little baby universes, or a black hole that will wipe all of his characters out.
This issue has: a new look for Basil; a stirring speech by Nickelhead; sibling rivalry at the edge of the universe (again); more “winged horseheads”; a lengthy diatribe by R@d-Ur Rezz; another posthumous visitation from a gigantic cosmic dog-thing; and the revelation that the butterfly smokes a cigar.
Also, how wonderful is that cover?
Rasl #7
by Jeff Smith
This series keeps improving with every issue. This time around, the focus is on explanations, as the motivations for Rasl’s stealing of his equipment are explored, along with some more Tesla history, including the cause of the Tunguska Incident, which has been mined in other comics as well (I remember first hearing about it in a Warren Ellis Ultimate mini-series for Marvel).
Two things stood out in this issue for me. The first was the changing relationship between Rasl and his partner in science, Miles. It had previously been established that the two were childhood friends, so it was more poignant to see them drift apart due to scientific ambition.
The other thing that really stood out was Smith’s art. This book is by far the best work he’s ever done. When he drew Bone, I assumed that his main characters were so simple because they’d be easier to draw. Now, in a title populated only by humans (even if one of them is pretty lizard-y), Smith is showing that he is quite masterful at portraying a range of expressions. Where before I found Rasl kind of strange-looking, he now seems more realistic than most comics characters for his visual idiosyncrasies.
The Sword #23
by The Luna Brothers
There’s not much that can be said about the penultimate issue of The Sword without spoiling the end of the series. Dara faces off against Malia on the mountain where she was born, and there is a surprise twist ending that I did not see coming at all (although I feel like I need to go back and read the earliest issues to see if there were hints that I over-looked).
One of the things that I have always liked best about this title is the way that, when faced with adversity or a challenge, Dara flashes back to moments with her family where she either learned from them or gained their strength. I hadn’t noticed that her flashbacks had always featured her mother or sister, but never her father until now. While fighting her toughest opponent, she turns to her memory of him, and it helps add an emotional level to what is going on.
I’m really looking forward to next issue’s conclusion.
Quick Takes:
Adventure Comics #9 – I want to like this ‘Last Stand of New Krypton’ story better than I do, but it’s not working for me. The book has three stories. The first has Brainiac 5 talking about his family for a few pages before coming back in time to help fight Brainiac. If the Legion never traveled to our century, this would feel like a big deal, but seeing as how this has happened every time they’ve appeared for the last few years, this is pretty mediocre. In the next story, Supergirl and Tellus get all upset because, in the middle of a giant battle, the Kryptonians are sticking to their guild lines, instead of working together, which they’ve done at least four times since ‘New Krypton’ came to happen. Read your recent back issues before writing new stories please. Finally, the Science Police officer that has joined General Lane but is a Kryptonian is sad that she has to kill her friend. Paul Levitz can’t get here quickly enough.
Blackest Night #8 – This is probably the most talked-about book out there this week, as DC takes the ‘anti-House of M’ approach to their universe. I wonder if the characters shown in this comic are the only ones that came back, or if Didio’s going to give writers carte blanche in playing with this. It could turn out pretty badly, I fear. Still and all, this is a decent issue, and it has me interested in Brightest Day, which is probably what they were hoping for. But really, Max Lord? Hank Hall? I’m guessing there are potentially a dozen people who were excited by that.
Detective Comics #863 – With the end of the Cutter story, most of the plot points became a lot more clear (I don’t think I was paying much attention when I read the first two issues), except for one thing: Who ever decided that a good fill-in artist for Jock would be Scott Kolins? There are a lot of artists with a similar style, but instead, they’ve gone with this hugely jarring substitution. The Question back-up is looking great though – so nice to see regular Cully Hamner art.
Fantastic Four #577 – Hickman is doing some wild stuff with this title. I’ve liked the one-off nature of each issue of this current arc, as the Four actually work as explorers, and keep discovering strange new cities. This month they head to the moon, where they meet a new group of Inhumans, made up of four different races long-known to Marvel readers. And with the Dire Wraiths appearing, could Rom be far behind? Or is that too much to ask for? There’s a lot of pseudo-scientific gobbledygook, but Hickman does that quite well.
New Mutants #11 – Helping to prove my theory that this book only exists to cross-over with other books, this issue touches on Marvel’s big event of the moment, Siege. Dani (one of the best Chris Claremont characters ever, even with the weird Valkyrie stuff) has to pay back Hela for the loan of power back in the Utopia storyline. For some strange reason, Hela needs help harvesting the souls of dead Asgardians, and sends Dani in to do the job. It’s not a particularly momentous issue, but guest writer Keron Gillen does a nice job, and Niko Henrichon’s art is fantastic (I wish he would appear more regularly).
Punisher #15 – Even though his style is drastically different from Tony Moore’s, Roland Boschi is a good choice to replace him on this title. He has a frenetic style that matches what Remender is doing with the story, and his Japanese monster-hunting army guys look more plausibly dressed than they did in Moore’s issues. The thing is, I think I’m getting bored with this story. I don’t care that it doesn’t fit within the usual spectrum of Punisher work, I just find it a little drawn out. I’m not sure I’m going to pick up the next issue.
X-Force #25 – The Necrosha arc finally ends, just in time for Second Coming. I’d be happier with a couple of in-between issues, as this series has been best when focusing on some of the individual characters. There’s not much to say about this issue, except that it sort of felt like the last issue of the series, even though it isn’t. That might be a mistake, as it gives me no reason to pick up the title after the crossover…
X-Men Second Coming #1 – The next X-Event starts here, and as is often the case with these things, it starts off well. Cable’s back in our time, and is still protecting Hope, the possible mutant messiah child. Within seconds of showing up, they are attacked by the old Smiley soldiers, and then the Sapien League. It looks like all the long plotlines that Kyle and Yost started in X-Force are going to come to fruition here, as Bastion moves to exterminate all mutants (I know we’ve seen this before). Kyle and Yost have a good handle on these characters (love the scene with Cyclops and Nightcrawler), and Finch’s art looks nice. I hope this is one crossover that delivers on its promise.
Comics I Would Have Bought if They Weren’t $4:
Astro City The Dark Age Book 4 #3
Realm of Kings Inhumans #5
Bargain Books:
Brit: Cold Death – While I’ve been enjoying Kirkman’s Invincible for years, I’ve never read an issue of Brit. This black and white story has art by Tony Moore, and features Brit fighting a bunch of American soldiers with high-tech gear, his ex-wife and her new partner, who can divide into lots of little bodies, and a giant that is rampaging through Anchorage. It’s Kirkman/Moore craziness, so it’s all good, if lacking any real meat to it.
First Wave #1 – I like Brian Azzarello, and I like Rags Morales (very fond memories of his Black Condor run), but this book isn’t doing much for me. I know that Azzarello is all about the slow build, but I found this issue a little hard to follow, and not all that compelling.
Wolverine Weapon X #11 – Another great issue. Logan takes Steve Rogers bar-hopping to celebrate his return to life, while Deathlok wanders around the city killing people who are supposed to grow into heroes (or have kids that will) in the future. Garney’s art looks really good, and as usual, Aaron has a good handle on the characters. It’s a quick read though, and I refuse to spend $4 on it…
The Week in Comics Sets:
Human Target #6 – 13
Written by Peter Milligan
Art by Cliff Chiang and Javier Pulido
I was going to continue reading this book in trade after enjoying the first volume so much, when I came to the realization that it was never collected past the tenth issue, and have instead started to hunt down the single issues. I recently came across a small sequential pile of issues at a nice price, and jumped at the chance to dive back in to Peter Milligan’s take on the classic character.
These eight issues contain four stories, varying in length from one-off to three-parters. The first story involves Christopher Chance protecting a priest with some secrets in his past. It’s kind of a brutal story, but very well told.
The second story, ‘Which Way the Wind Blows’ has Chance get involved in the problems of some ex-60’s terrorist Weathermen. One of the would-be revolutionaries killed a cop back in the day, and has been hiding his identity ever since. The task of impersonating a person that doesn’t really even exist is fitting for Chance, since he increasingly is questioning his own existence.
The next issue finds Chance being contacted by an old friend who has busted out of prison to meet up with his wife, and who needs Chance to run interference for him, staying in the media’s eye, and helping to restore his reputation. This story has a nice twist to it which I didn’t see coming.
All of the previous issues were drawn by Cliff Chiang, who is a master comics artist. His work is wonderful throughout, and I would usually be quite sad to see him leave the book, except that his replacement for the last three issues in this pile is Javier Pulido, who is probably even better than Chiang.
Pulido’s first issue, which serves as both prologue to the next story and as a mostly self-contained character piece, does not have any panel borders. One picture bleeds into the next, and between that style and the brightness of the colouring, looks a little like an issue of Hawaiian Dick. It’s great.
For the rest of the arc, about Chance’s girlfriend’s activities with illegal immigration and Mexican child traffickers, is more traditionally laid out, but still fantastic to look at.
The stories here tend a little towards the brutal, with the sheer quantity of abused children that Milligan keeps trotting out. That however, is the only note that bothers me, the rest of the series is incredible. It’s a shame that the producers of the television series didn’t bother to really understand the rich psychological possibilities of this comic, opting instead for yet another mindless action show.
The Week in Graphic Novels:
Krash Bastards
Written by Joe Casey
Art by Axel #13
Joe Casey is a pretty interesting writer. He can handle mainstream comics, but is best known for playing with genre conventions and trying new things in a manner that is respectful of what has gone before. The perfect example for this is Gødland, his post-modern Kirby on steroids series.
With Krash Bastards, Casey has created a post-modern English language manga comic. The Bastards are a group of celebrity superheroes (a recurring theme in his work – see Youngblood or Final Crisis Aftermath Dance, which is basically the same series) in some future world. They have been together for a while, and fit the usual archetypes for Japanese comics and films like this. There is the good looking leader, his girlfriend, some annoying kid character (his little brother), the mysterious spooky character (female in this case), and some older guy who takes on a mentor role.
They fight against a ‘Giant Gekko God-Being’, a bunch of S&M leather bad guys, some Minotaur-type, and eventually the main Bastard fights some Shogun Baron Karza figure named Kau Death. None of it makes much sense, but it does move quickly, which I think might have been the goal here from the beginning. Axel #13’s art works in this setting, but is nothing too spectacular.
This is a fun read, but the story only takes up half the book, while the remainder consists of script pages and sketches. When one attempts to ape manga, one should at least create as meaty a reading experience…
Kissing Chaos
by Arthur Dela Cruz
I don’t know, I think I’m missing something here. To read the creator’s back matter, this book was a relatively popular comic when it was originally published as an eight-issue series by Oni, and it warranted a sequel. I just don’t see why.
Kissing Chaos is about a trio of teenagers who are on the run. Raevyn has hooked up with some guy for a one-night stand, and steals his laptop and cash. When she is attempting to steal a car, she gets carjacked herself by Damien and Angela, two more teens on the run. Damien has maybe just killed someone, and Angela seems pretty messed up. She’s sorta the narrator for the book, but she doesn’t speak to the other characters.
So, the three of them head out of town, where they drive around, argue, and keep running into the guy that Raevyn stole from, although no one thinks it weird that he keeps finding them. Even though they are running away. But the cops can’t find them, even though they are plastering Damien’s face on the news, and NO ONE recognizes him.
Angela is obsessed with Damien, and insanely jealous of any time he spends talking to Raevyn. Raevyn is portrayed as pretty over the top; she is like the worse character traits of Marvel’s Jubilee, jacked up to eleven. She is always looking for a reason to argue. Damien doesn’t seem to have a personality. So they drive around, and almost get caught.
The book is kind of boring, and is made harder to understand because of the muddy gray tones Dela Cruz uses throughout. I liked his art on Skinwalker, the De Filippis and Weir Native American horror book he did, but here, it’s just too hard to follow. It’s kind of like reading a manga book that got wet in a dark room.
I won’t be getting the second volume.
Alien Legion: Slaughterworld
Written by Alan Zelentez
Art by Frank Cirocco, Terry Austin, Chris Warner, Whilce Portacio, Randy Emberlin
For a long time, I’ve been curious about the Alien Legion, but have never read even a single issue, until I found this long out-of print trade paperback for only $5, and figured it was well worth the risk. The book is really good. It is rare to find science fiction that is this action-oriented without the need to either over-emphasize the technological aspects of things (ie. almost any episode of Star Trek or Stargate or their spin-offs), or to add ‘cute’ story elements to appeal to a wider audience (Star Wars).
To be fair, Alien Legion is more of a war comic, with science fiction trappings than it is anything else. The Legion, modeled I assume on the French Foreign Legion, contains a bunch of rough and undesirable folk from different worlds. They are at war with the Harkilon, a single-minded group of ugly aliens. Not much more is explained, and it doesn’t really need to be. We’re well programmed to know what to do with a set-up like this.
Strangely, this volume collects the first issue of the original series, from 1984, and then the seventh through the eleventh issues. I don’t know why, but 7-11 provide us with a complete story arc, and I liked getting the first issue introduction to the characters, so I’m happy with this choice. The fact that the first issue has a lot of plot similarities (with its crashed ships) is odd, but the first story depicts a military mission, while the second is about survival.
A group of Legionnaires, tasked with protecting a couple of Magistrates and the data they carry, get attacked by the Harkilon, and end up crashing a shuttle onto some planet, as do their enemies. Slowly, the two groups realize that they need to come to some sort of truce in order to get rescued and fight off the hostile indigenous life forms on the planet, although their mistrust is not easy to get past.
What makes this book really work is the strong character work done by Zelentez. While many of these characters are basically cannon fodder, there are some, such as Jugger Grimrod, a salty old soldier with a tendency to get in trouble.
The art on the book is really nice, especially considering its age. The first issue, by Cirocco looks fantastic, while Chris Warner’s issues look really good. There is a lot of creativity put to work in creating these worlds, and some of the character designs (such as Captain Sarigar, the snake-guy) are awesome.
I’m pleased to see that Dark Horse has been giving these books the Omnibus treatment, as I feel the urge now to track down everything and read it….
Street Angel
Written by Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca
Art by Jim Rugg
I think I am in awe of this comic. In five individual issues, with a few short stories tossed in for good measure, Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca create a whole urban environment with its own pantheon of strange villains, aging heroes, and accepted weirdness.
Twelve year old Jesse Sanchez is a homeless middle school student, expert skateboarder, kung fu master, and champion for justice. She lives in Wilkesborough, the toughest ghetto in Angel City, where she squats in various abandoned buildings, and hangs out with some older hobos or her sometime crime-fighting partner the Bald Eagle, a multiple-amputee with only one arm.
As Street Angel, she fights evil geologists, time-lost Spanish Conquistadors, Satanic cults, evil robots, and a truckload of ninjas. The action and mood of most of the stories here are quite lighthearted and fun, with appearances from characters such as Cosmick (an Irish spaceman fluent in Australian), Inti, the Incan Sun God, Jesus, and a past his prime Aphrodisiac (a nice mix of Shaft and Luke Cage).
Then you get to the fourth story in the book, which is basically a typical (ninja-less) day in Jesse’s life. She wanders the ghetto looking for food, hangs out with an old bum, and gets embarrassed that a classmate might see her dumpster-diving. There is a poignancy to this issue that I didn’t expect. Rugg’s art, which has leaned towards the cartoonish so far in the book suddenly becomes much more realistic, as he fleshes out his backgrounds with architectural details that make Wilkesborough look like Hamsterdam in The Wire. This is a quiet, surprising issue in the middle of a quick and funny book, and it’s what is going to stick with me after reading it.
I really enjoyed this book, and wondered if it was an influence on Mark Millar when he started writing Kick-Ass, as the character of Hit-Girl is not far off from Street Angel in terms of her violence. The big difference is that while Street Angel doesn’t curse much, she does drink and smoke, which I imagine would cause movie audiences an even bigger fit than anything else.
Album of the Week:
