Were Money No Object on Feb. 16 Featuring Noche Roja, Human Target, And Morning Glories

Columns, Top Story

The Book I Want to Buy:

Noche Roja GN

by Simon Oliver and Jason Latour; Vertigo, $19.99

By this point it’s becoming routine – there is a new entry in the Vertigo Crime series of graphic novels, and so I want to check it out.

I don’t know much about this one, except that it is set along the Mexican border, and is touted in the solicitation text as being a noir story featuring a private eye.  It sounds like pretty standard stuff, but writer Simon Oliver is the man behind the late, lamented, and brilliant Exterminators series from Vertigo a couple of years ago, and that’s enough for me to want to check this out.

The art is by Jason Latour, whose work has caught my attention on titles such as Scalped.  The preview pages, which have been in the back of new Vertigo books this month, looks to be heavily zip-toned, but atmospheric and interesting nonetheless.

I find the Vertigo Crime series to be 50/50, but as this book is by two creators I like and respect, I figure it’s a safe bet.

The Books I Think You Should Buy:

Human Target Second Chances TP

by Peter Milligan, Cliff Chiang, and Javier Pulido; Vertigo, $19.99

Regardless of what you may think of the TV show that is supposedly based on DC’s Christopher Chance, the ten issues collected in this trade paperback are excellent.

Peter Milligan updated the character for the post-9/11 world, and started to really explore the psyche of Chance, a man who didn’t just disguise himself as his clients to protect their lives, he became them inside and out.

This volume has him covering for a movie exec, a baseball player, a priest, and immerses him in the world of ex-Weathermen (not the meteorologist kind).  These stories are very intelligent, and often twist in unexpected ways.

The best thing about this series though, and that’s saying a lot considering how good Milligan is on this book, is the art.  Cliff Chiang and Javier Pulido are both incredible artists, who put in some terrific work on this title.  It’s a shame the series didn’t last too long, but it’s nice to see that Vertigo is giving these books a new lease on life.  I hope they print the entire run.

Morning Glories Vol. 1: For A Better Future

by Nick Spencer and Joe Eisma; Image, $9.99

Morning Glories has become another one of those Image series that comes out to little or no advance marketing or buzz, but suddenly becomes incredibly hot, selling out everywhere and going back for second and third printings.  A lot of the credit for that happening here must go to Nick Spencer, who has become an incredibly hot writer of late, working on a few obscure Image creator-owned books before starting to work at both DC (THUNDER Agents) and Marvel (Iron Man 2.0).

Morning Glories is a deeply strange comic, held together by some solid character work.  There are a group of six teenagers who are invited to attend the exclusive Morning Glory Academy, a private school.  When they get there, they come to realize that they all have the same birthday, and quickly learn that the school is not what it appears to be.

They find themselves cut off from their families and the outside world, and are trapped in an institution whose goals are no more comprehensible than the third through last seasons of Lost (something about this series reminds me of that show in every issue).  The book could quickly decay into nonsense, but for the way Spencer writes these characters, and paces the strangeness of their situation.

Eisma does a good job on the art, but the draw here is definitely the writing.  This is a $10 trade, collecting six issues of the comic (and the first one was double-sized).  You have absolutely no excuse to not check this thing out.

So, what would you get Were Money No Object?

Get in touch and share your thoughts on what I've written: jfulton@insidepulse.com