Were Money No Object on May 25 Featuring Green Lantern, DV8, American Vampire, And Unknown Soldier

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The Book I Want to Buy:

DC Comics Presents: Green Lantern Willworld #1

by J.M. DeMatteis and Seth Fisher; DC, $7.99

I’ve never read DeMatteis and Fisher’s 2001 graphic novel, and love the fact that DC is republishing it in time for the Green Lantern movie.  I’ve never been a huge GL fan – I got swept up in Geoff Johns’s run around the start of the Sinestro Corps War, but had had enough of the characters by the time Blackest Night ended.  What drives my interest in this book is the Seth Fisher artwork.

Fisher, an amazing artist with a style similar to Frank Quitely on acid, passed away in 2006 after having done too-few comics.  His style was unique and always interesting, and I hope that this book finds him a few new fans.  He really is good.

As to the story, I don’t really care.  It’s written by JM DeMatteis, which means it could be goofy and fun (an artist like this makes me think it will be), or kind of morose.  I can’t really stand Hal Jordan, but want to finally plug this particular gap in my collection, and look forward to checking out the art.

The Books I Think You Should Buy:

DV8: Gods and Monsters

by Brian Wood and Rebekah Isaacs; DC, $17.99

This book is a bit of an oddity.  It seems that DC was going to have Brian Wood revamp the Wildstorm line, but then decided to just cancel it outright.  So what we have here is an interesting, eight-issue look into these characters originally created by Warren Ellis and Humberto Ramos in the 90s.

The members of this black ops team that don’t like each other find themselves dropped on a primitive world, inhabited by some warring tribal types.  Each of the DV8 crew respond to their new environment differently, and either work with, or take advantage of, the locals.

The comic is an interesting study in group dynamics, with some truly lovely artwork by Isaacs.  There are hints throughout the series of big things to come, but of course, with Wildstorm shelved for the time being, we’ll probably never find out what those things were going to be.  It still stands on its own though, and familiarity with the characters is not needed to enjoy the story (I couldn’t remember anything about them).

American Vampire Vol. 2

by Scott Snyder, Rafael Albuquerque, and Mateo Santoluco; Vertigo, $24.99

This volume of American Vampire collects the first of the Stephen King-free issues of the title, and once you’ve read it, you’ll never miss the man.  Scott Snyder is becoming a huge name at DC, with his highly acclaimed run on Detective Comics actually increasing the book’s sales month after month, but this title remains his showcase comic.

In this second volume, the action shifts to Las Vegas in the 1930s, during the construction of the Hoover Dam.  The city is awash in crime and vice, and we meet the local sheriff, Cash McCogan, who is trying to hold the place together in the wake of his adopted father’s (and former sheriff’s) sudden death.  Of course, all of this involves vampires, and our old friend Skinner Sweet.

This is a very intelligent take on vampires, and the story is firmly grounded in some good character work.  The art in this comic is incredible.  Also, the character of Cash is returning soon in an American Vampire spin-off, which will feature art by Sean Murphy.  You won’t be sorry with this purchase.

Unknown Soldier Vol. 4: Beautiful World

by Joshua Dysart, Alberto Ponticelli and Rick Veitch; Vertigo, $14.99

Before reading over the solicitation text for this trade paperback, I’d forgotten just how much I miss this comic.  Dysart took the old DC war character of the Unknown Soldier, and revamped it, setting a new ‘soldier’ in the Ugandan Civil War of the early 00’s.

This was one of my favourite monthly titles, usually ranking with Scalped and The Walking Dead as one of the books that I was getting the most pleasure out of each month.  Sadly, it didn’t survive for long, but Dysart was able to bring the story to a logical and satisfying conclusion, which is collected in this trade.

It’s hard to talk about the story events in this particular volume without spoiling much, except to say that the connection between Moses Lwanga and the original Unknown Soldier is revealed, and the book ends very well.  Also included in this trade is the excellent one-off story, drawn by Rick Veitch, and told from the perspective of an AK-47.

This was a very cool comic, deserving of much more recognition and credit than it got.

So what would you buy Were Money No Object?

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