The Best (and Worst) of 2009

What a year 2009 was!

The comics industry continues to experience an unprecedented enthusiasm and expansion that is both exciting and overwhelming. There's simply so much great stuff - from breakthrough mainstream books to original graphic novels to self-published minis to repackaged classics to international translations to webcomics - that it's impossible to keep up with everything anymore.

Yet I did read a ton of good comics and graphic novels (both new and old) in 2009, and I believe that my choices of reading material, at least in part, reflect conscious, if somewhat impulsive critical distinctions I made in order to decide how to allocate my limited time and money.

All this is to say that this year's list reflects ten of the very best books I read, but should be considered with all the usual caveats that come with these sorts of lists.

10. Stitches: A Memoir (published by WW Norton) - David Small's highly personal account of the artist's struggle to overcome childhood trauma and abuse was tailor made for "best of the year" lists like this one. Small's simplified art manages to convey a tremendous depth of emotion as he recreates all the painful memories of his childhood in excruciating detail. Stitches is an extremely quick read, and is told in a pretty straight forward, chronological manner, but the book feels overstated, as if Small were, in some way, romanticizing his own struggles. Parent-child relationships are vastly complex and Small’s childhood was undeniably difficult, and I do applaud him for creating a successful and happy life for himself despite his hardships (and I have no doubt creating Stitches was incredibly cathartic), but I found the presentation of the story to be emotionally lop-sided and frustratingly over-simplified. Still, it’s a great book, beautifully illustrated and deeply moving.

9. The Stuff of Legend #1-2 (published by Th3rd World Studios) - This was the surprise of the year for me. I bought the first issue on an impulse based solely on the art of Charles P. Wilson III, but was very impressed with Mike Raicht and Brian Smith’s imaginative story as well. Part Toy Story, part Alice in Wonderland, The Stuff of Legend is original and visionary in its own right. Set during 1944, it's a dark spin on a classic children's story – a boy is kidnapped by the Boogie Man, and his loyal toys form a group to go rescue him - but the world-building, largely due to Wilson III's incredibly rich, detailed artwork, is transporting. I can't wait to see where the creators go with this and I only hope they don't get pulled onto other, higher profile projects before finishing this story.

8. Waltz With Bashir by Ari Folman and David Polonsky (published by Metropolitan Books) – With all the other great memoirs released this year, this book flew under the radar a bit, but it shouldn't have. Adapted from the film of the same name, Waltz chronicles Folman’s compelling journey into his own repressed memories of the 1982 massacre in Lebanon. Through a series of interviews and recollections, Folman eventually pieces together the string of events which lead him to be present during the atrocities. The real draw, however, is Polonsky's stunning visuals. Anyone who’s read the latest Actus anthology, How to Love, knows that Polonsky is an extraordinarily gifted illustrator, but the images in this memoir, captured as still images from the animated film, are striking. Starting with photographs or film, Polonsky draws characters and objects over the scenes, then uses an incredibly vibrant palette to add color and textures atop the images. The resulting panels are as rich as Moulin Rouge stills, and as stunningly detailed as Miyazaki’s Nausicaa.

7. A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge (published by Pantheon Books) - Three years ago I met Josh Neufeld briefly at MoCCA and we traded minis. At the time, I was shopping around a photo-travel memoir I'd made based on a two-week trip I'd taken to Sri Lanka with my wife. When I approached Josh, he showed me a similar photo-mini (Katrina Came Calling) that he'd compiled with several months-worth of blog posts he'd written during his time spent volunteering for the Red Cross. A couple years later, when I first heard about this new project he was working on (through Smith Magazine), I wrongly assumed he was adapting his blog posts into a graphic novel. While that would have made for an interesting project, it would not have been nearly as impactful as the graphic novel that resulted. The tragedy of Hurricane Katrina was a crisis that dominated the headlines, but Neufeld's book takes a much more personal approach, offering six vastly diverse, first-hand accounts of the days leading up to and following the hurricane. There's a lot to love about A.D. It sheds light on the human side of the tragedy; it's personal without being preachy. It also avoids taking cheap shots at the government (not that it wouldn't be justified, but it’s like beating a dead horse at this point) and, by the way, it's incredibly beautiful.

6. Scalped by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera (published by DC Comics) - Scalped has replaced The Walking Dead as my favorite mainstream series. I have been a fan of Vertigo from the beginning, and am usually curious enough to read any new series, but I'll admit it took a while for this book to settle on me. The praise it's garnered seemed grossly exaggerated after reading the first two trades, and my inclination was to just chalk it up to the fanboy culture, which is prone to over-praise any mainstream book with a semblance of depth and characterization. But the reality is, this book just keeps getting better, and, starting with the "Dead Mothers" storyline (vol. 4), Aaron has moved past the setup phase and plunged into the deep end of his epic story. "High Lonesome," the fifth collection, featured far and away Aaron's best writing to date, and lead artist R.M. Guera has grown by leaps and bounds in terms of his panel and page compositions, as well as his overall draftsmanship since the early issues. The setting - an Indian reservation - was always at the heart of the story's appeal, but at this point, the narrative has moved beyond clichéd noir stereotypes and intelligently incorporates the heritage and harsh political realities of Native American culture in a respectful and interesting way. The lead characters, particularly Dashiell Bad Horse and Lincoln Red Crow, continue to become more rounded and interesting as the series continues. Aaron also has a knack for dialogue that's up there with Brubaker and Ellis. Even if this series peddles in human misery more than most, the tangled plot threads and fascinating characters have won me over. I'm in for the long haul.

5. Tales From Outer Suburbia (published by Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic) –There's something magical about the stories in this book. Reading them is like reading a Steven Millhauser collection; the language is exquisite (in Tan's case, the language is largely visual), and there's an undercurrent of mystery flowing through everything, yet it's so beautiful, one just stares in awe without questing the nature of the vision. Tan alternates text and visuals in a wholly original way, sometimes relying on prose to carry the story, other times using silent sequences of comic panels to conjure his spectacular worlds. There's no one even close to doing what Shaun Tan is doing, and this book, like The Arrival before it, is simply wonderful.

4. 3 Story: Secret History of the Giant Man (published by Dark Horse Books) - Matt Kindt is really becoming an elite creator. Super Spy was on my Top 10 list last year, and this latest effort, in many ways, is even better. In 3 Story, Kindt’s writing is sharp, wistful and full of poignant character moments and heartache, while his pages display a broad range of storytelling techniques and art styles. It’s a more focused story than Super Spy, exploring the life of a single character. Also, the wonderfully designed die-cut cover on the hardback version, which shows the Giant Man’s eye peering into an apartment, sets the table perfectly.

3. Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli (published by Pantheon Books) - It's been interesting following the mixed reactions this book has received after the initial flurry of overly effusive praise. On the one hand, most critics and fans seem to agree that the artwork is first rate. Mazzucchelli's compositions, storytelling flow, and formal experiments with figures, depth, colors and printing are well-documented and extraordinarily beautiful. I suspect students of the medium will look to this book for inspiration and ideas for years to come. On the other hand, the story itself has received more of a mixed reaction. Personally, I think it’s a fine story, although it deviates into more of a character study in its second half. But what I think is troubling to many people, including me, is that Asterios Polyp himself is just not a very likable character. He's distant, bland and somewhat arrogant. Where readers want him to open up, to cast off his cold, drab exterior, instead he remains frustratingly aloof. I don’ think that this, in and of itself, makes the story a failure, but it does explain why so many have found the book less than satisfying. Yet despite these flaws, the artwork alone is so masterful, it definitely merits inclusion as one of the ten best books of 2009.

2. Studs Terkel's Working: A Graphic Adaptation (published by the New Press; edited by Paul Buhle, adapted by Harvey Pekar) - It's a crime how overlooked this excellent anthology has been in the comics press. I did a lengthy review of the book for the Comics Journal, and in so doing, I rediscovered Terkel, whose The Good War and My American Century I had read long ago. This collection features dozens of stellar interpretations of everyday people, from migrant farm workers to jazz musicians, barbers to hookers. While not perfect (what anthology is?), its hit rate is in the 80-90% range, and many of the stories are so powerful, they'll forever change the way you view certain occupations. The book, on the whole, paints a fascinating portrait of blue collar America, and is also a study in the deep and meaningful ways that our jobs impact our identities. It's also a reminder that Terkel is a national treasure and one of America's great writers. Working is unquestionably 2009's overlooked masterpiece.

BOOK OF THE YEAR:
1. You'll Never Know: A Graphic Memoir - Book One: A Good and Decent Man (published by Fantagraphics) – I recently went back and re-read “Migrant Mother,” a short story by Carol Tyler that appeared in Twisted Sisters #1 (Kitchen Sink Press) way back in 1993 (and was also included in Late Bloomer) and one thing immediately hit me – Ms. Tyler has a been an exceptional cartoonist for a long, long time. Yet, for some reason, unlike many of her peers, it seems like Tyler never gets enough credit for her long and impressive career. Hopefully that will change with this book.

Although this is only the first volume (and it’s unclear how many more are planned), You’ll Never Know feels like Tyler’s masterpiece, the crowning achievement that she’s been building toward. It’s at once an autobiography, a family history, and a historical exploration of World War II. While Tyler’s work in that old story was solid, there’s no doubt that her skills have improved over the years. Her artwork here is much sharper, her figure work has improved, and the way she approaches page composition is something that was absent in her earlier work. And her use of watercolor in her more recent stories is stunning.

You’ll Never Know is laid out to read like a scrapbook, which means that Tyler sacrifices some of the narrative continuity for the more authentic and scattered feel of a family album. But, while this may frustrate some readers, it also gives the book an intimate feeling that other memoirs lack, almost as she made this for her father without any intention of showing it to anyone else. Hopefully it won't be too long before the next volume.


Honorable Mentions (in no particular order):

A Mess of Everything (published by Fantagraphics) - Miss Lasko-Gross’s follow-up to Escape From Special is absolutely wonderful. This was the eleventh book on my best of list; a really excellent, funny, beautifully drawn autobiography of growing up in a very unconventional environment. Highly recommended!

Johnny Cash: I See a Darkness (published by Abrams ComicsArts) – I won’t say too much here since I have a review of this book forthcoming at the Comics Journal’s website, but if you’re a fan of the Man in Black (or even if you’re not), you definitely won’t be disappointed by Reinhard Kleist's book.

The Comics Journal #300 (published by Fantagraphics) - I'm still plowing my way through this book, but so far, the interviews I've read I've mostly enjoyed. My favorite is probably the discussion between Dave Gibbons and Frank Quitely on the way each uses technology in their artwork, but Sammy Harkham's discussion with Jean-Christophe Menu also offers insight into the French comics scene (it was fascinating to learn that pull quotes on books are a uniquely American phenomena).

Syncopated (published by Villard Books) – I reviewed this for TCJ here. Although technically the fourth volume of the anthology, this was the first volume published by a major book publisher (the other three were self-published). This fourth volume is also the strongest overall. Like its predecessors, Syncopated focuses on “non-fiction picto-essays” by a range of artists, and this volume includes at least three gems by Alex Holden, Sara Glidden and editor Brendan Burford, as well as strong contributions by several others.

Unwritten #1-8 (published by DC Comics) – This may shape up to be the next major Vertigo series, though it’s probably too early to call. However, Mike Carey and Peter Gross are certainly off to a great start, and the fifth issue, a standalone story, was a particularly strong effort all around.

Sleeper Car (published by Secret Acres) - New Theo Ellsworth always gets consideration for my best of the year list, but I thought this single issue of short comic stories was stronger than his last couple books. I especially liked the surreal and hilarious story, “Norman Eight’s Left Arm” which showed Ellsworth at his most playful. In a perfect world, Ellsworth would be appreciated for the genius that he is, and his name would be mentioned in the same breath as Panter, Woodring, etc. but until then, he’s alt-comic’s best kept secret.

Supermen!: The First Wave of Comic Book Heroes 1936-1941 (published by Fantagraphics) - This was actually far more enjoyable than it looked at first glance. Featuring an eclectic assortment of rare, long-out-of-print American superhero short stories, the highlight of the book was actually editor Greg Sadowski's mini-essays about each piece in the end notes, which shed light on the formative years of the industry. Sadowski also did a great job selecting an all-star cast of early work from luminaries including Siegel and Shuster, Simon & Kirby, Fine & Eisner, Wolverton, Cole, Hanks, etc. The reproduction of each story is top notch, with bright, vivid colors, slightly oversized pages and thick paperstock. It's the kind of book that would only appeal to the hardcore geek like me (the casual fan of literate graphic novels like Maus, Persepolis, etc. would likely be bored), but for those fans interested in the early years of the industry, it's a very well-done collection.

I Am Legion #1-6 (published by Devil’s Due) - I wanted to like this series more than I did. I think the artwork, the production quality and even the writing in the first several issues were top notch. But eventually the story lost me. Not that I didn't understand it, but that it just came back down to earth a little, retreating into familiar genre formulas and climactic battle scenes. It's still a cut above the typical horror/adventure series, and John Cassaday's artwork is always worth a look.

Reich #1-6 (published by Spark Plug Comic Books) - Inspired by my research for my Birdland essay, I purchased and read all six issues of Elijah Brubaker's ongoing biography of Wilhelm Reich. I admire what Brubaker is doing here, hitting all the highlights of Reich's life, while trying to keep perspective on the man himself, not just his crazy ideas. So far, it's working, even if Brubaker has yet to reach any of the truly controversial aspects of Reich's later work. It's also worth noting that Brubaker has a stylized and highly appealing way of drawing figures. His characters almost look like grown up Peanuts characters, and it's this charming linework that makes this series a must read. I predict, once finished and collected (which is likely years away, based on how much of Reich's life remains unexplored), that this will stand with Louis Riel (an obvious influence) as one of the great graphic biographies.

Jonah Hex #50 - I have never, in my life, bought a Jonah Hex comic before (even though my own son is named Jonah), and knew absolutely nothing about the character, but the obvious draw of Darwyn Cooke on art was enough for me to at least take a look. The fact that it arrived during a particularly light week led me to buy it, and I'm glad I did. It's a wholly accessible, self-contained story, and Cooke's artwork, which features some great inking experiments, was enjoyable. But what truly surprised me was how satisfying a story it was. Palmiotti and Gray really turned in a solid script, and it almost made me want to go back and read back issues. Almost.

Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? (published by Abrams ComicArts) - I've seen a few negative or lukewarm reviews of this book, which I think are pretty unfair. The story is a little light, I'll admit, but Fies is a cartoonist with tremendous range. I love the way he varies his style in this book to reflect the maturity of his lead character, and his use of digital tools, from embedded photos to digital coloring and effects, is impressive. There's also a sweetness to this book that I found refreshing. So many graphic novels these days focus on human tragedy and violence. It was a pleasant change of pace to read about a boy who loved and idealized his father, even if the end result was a little sappy. Not quite a top 10 book, but far better than the criticism it’s received.

Mome (published by Fantagraphics) – Although there was no single standout piece for me like in past years, this anthology continues to impress.

Zegas (published by Act-i-vate) - My favorite webcomic of the year, though I am hardly the best person to judge since I still prefer good old paper and ink.

Low Moon (published by Fantagraphics) – I reviewed this book for the Comics Journal. I didn’t think it was Jason’s best, but it was still very, very good, and Jason’s style remains eminently appealing.

The Walking Dead (published by Image Comics) - I still enjoy Robert Kirkman's post-apocalyptic zombie serial, but this year the series has stagnated a little. The plot increasingly relies on uncharacteristic violence, strange coincidences or the arrival of unexpected characters to drive it forward, and focuses less on the psychology of the small band of survivors that made it so compelling in the beginning. I also feel like the artwork has felt more rushed this year, possible due to the monthly deadlines which the book has done well adhering to, and as a result, it relies on larger and fewer decompressed panels. I'm still invested enough to keep reading, but it’s starting to feel like your favorite show in season four or five; the things that made it so wonderful those first few seasons just aren't fresh anymore.

2009’s Biggest Disappointments:

Not surprisingly, all mainstream superhero books…

Wednesday Comics (published by DC Comics) - This series had everything going for it. The oversized dimensions, the high profile creators, the sense of excitement and anticipation. But by the third issue it was clear that despite the unique concept, it was more of the same, bland superheroics. Sure, there was some nice artwork - Sook's Kamandi and Pope's Adam Strange being the two standouts - but these single pages hardly justified the price.

Batman and Robin #1-6 (published by DC Comics) - I just don't get the big deal over this series. It's not even in the same league as All Star Superman, and instead of waiting for Frank Quitely to finish each issue, DC is making the same mistake Marvel made with Morrison's New X-Men run by rotating one artist after another, making the whole series feel rushed and inconsistent. I am looking forward to Cameron Stewart's upcoming stint on the book, but really, this is hardly Morrison's best work.

Strange Tales #1-3 (published by Marvel Comics) - I was kind of hoping for more serious takes from some of the creators here, but instead, they all took the parody and lowbrow route. It still had some highlights, including Peter Bagge's Incorrigible Hulk, which was really the lynchpin of the whole series, but the high sticker price was frustrating, especially for the ultra-thin glossy paper which made the whole thing feel like a cheap catalog.

Daily Breakdowns 050 - Stitches

Stitches
Written and Drawn by David Small
Published by W.W. Norton. $24.95 USD

Memoir, as far as I'm concerned, sometimes receives easier treatment, critically, because the events within really happened and the author isn't allowed to invent what he needs to make the story work better. This is true as far as it goes, but there are no memoirs that don't edit the subject's life into a narrative, a thread of important events with the boring stuff cut out.

Make no mistake, the events in Stitches are as harrowing and bleak as they come. A young boy grows up in a repressive household with an ineffectual, often absent radiologist father and a mother prone to rage and long silences. His grandmother is insane, his older brother mean as older brothers are, and drawing provides his only escape and brief comfort. Heavy radiation exposure as a child as a means to cure a sinus condition leads to a growth on his neck that goes untreated as his father instead spends the money on a new Cadillac. When David finally has surgery, the growth has become malignant, and costs him one of his vocal cords as well as giving him a long scar down his neck.

No child should ever go through such horrors as David does. How he endures them and turns his bitterness into a career as an award-winning children's author is a miracle, but a miracle left largely unexplained to the reader. How the parents who put their own luxury ahead of his health were convinced to pay for his therapy is also unknown. Small has a vivid imagination and the reader sees examples of it but mostly in images of horror or suspicion. The image of a fetus in a jar, glimpsed while he wanders the forbidden floors of his father's hospital, becomes an implacable tormentor. A fascination with Alice in Wonderland only leads to other children chasing him and questioning his sexuality. The Alice obsession continues into adolescence as he visualizes his psychiatrist as the White Rabbit, hardly a trustworthy character, despite his apparently being instrumental in Small's maturation and recovery.

The cover, taken from an interior image, is instructive in understanding Small's approach. The characters loom over him, their spectacles making them appear soulless, the grandmother possibly ravenous, zombie-like, while the rest of his family are disapproving. The art inside is all washes and thin lines, even the lettering is skinny. When David is old enough to get out of the house on his own and experience some of the city, it's depicted in vague shapes, his time spent all day in cinemas, his most vivid imagery reserved for his nightmares. Even as his rage towards his parents gives him the strength to defy them, he's still a prisoner of their parched minds. That cancer hasn't been removed.

That may be the most disturbing aspect of the book, that despite the facts of Small's life suggesting he has found a way to overcome this adversity and bring joy to children through his work that he was denied in his own childhood, he really hasn't grown that much. We are told briefly that art has brought him everything, with the clear indication that his art has gotten him women, but the rest of the book tells us that the only woman who owns him is his mother. Although it must have been a particular kind of agony, he doesn't pass up a chance to draw one more picture of her pinched, disdainful face glaring at him or spitting out more mean words. He never yields in depicting her as hateful and loveless, with only a token attempt at trying to understand her own torment as a closeted lesbian. His father, at least in the biographical sketches at the end, gets off much easier, despite his callousness and his likely causing David's cancer. His brother remains a cypher.

Maybe it's too much to ask. Maybe it's grotesque and unfeeling to criticize the book on this basis. But by not finding a way to depict the humanity of his parents, to try to understand the series of horrible things they did, or even to mix in some small moments of joy and kindness, the reader is left with the feeling that this is not a story of triumph, not the coming-of-age story it purports to be because Small has not really come of age. He's gotten older, he's become successful and apparently happily married. But too much of him is still the bitter child, now finding a way to get back at his parents with the strongest voice he has.

Daily Breakdowns 049 - Blessed of '09

I write this on a Christmas night, a bit groggy from an inadvertent not-that-long winter's nap on the couch while watching football. It's been a really busy December at work for me, with long hours that leave you exhausted and short-tempered and physically unable to write much. It's been a tough year financially and emotionally, but I know others have it worse so I'm not here to complain. In fact, it's not difficult to come up with some really positive things about this year. At my day job, I got a bit of a raise and also have found my current management is receptive to my thoughts and ideas. That's really important to me, because obviously I'm someone who has some kind of need to have people know my opinions, but also because I really do want the place at which I work to improve.

I want to talk about some other good things to happen this year in a bit, but first let's talk about the notion of Best Of lists. I like reading those of others, but I never really do them. I find it too difficult, and generally have only gotten involved at the behest of others. My sitemate, Marc Sobel, had a proposed Best of the Decade comics roundtable thing, and while he'd obviously put a lot of thought into it, I just couldn't wrap my head around that amount of work in the limited time I've had this month. I did manage to respond to an interview request with Tom Spurgeon about one of my favorite comics of the decade, because you just can't turn down Spurge, you know? That was fun because it was just focused on one book, Brian Michael Bendis' and Michael Avon Oeming's Powers, which wasn't just a good book but for me was a real catalyst and the starting point for a whole scene at the beginning of the decade. What it means now is something I'm looking forward to finding out as it tries to adapt to a new decade. Go read the interview here, and I thank Tom very much for asking me. There are a lot of other great interviews on a wide range of other great books of the '00s as well.

But as far as my own Best Of list, my mind is generally just too scattered to remember all the important works of the past year, plus there are always many that others have liked that I haven't gotten around to reading yet. Getting back to trying to find a positive aspect, I recently picked up or received as gifts Stitches: A Memoir, Low Moon, The Squirrel Machine, The Complete Essex County, Blazing Combat and The Complete Toon Treasury of Classic Children's Comics. I've also begun the first 20th Century Boys and Rip Kirby, so 2010 should hopefully find me getting out reviews of those works, and maybe before it's "too late," The Best American Comics of 2009, probably my favorite volume of the series thus far. Alec: The Years Have Pants will have to wait until I get over the blows from my Xmas shopping.

2009, for me, was a transitional year in that I struggled with the expense of buying just about everything in which I had a mild interest. I like Silver Age comics just fine, but I don't know when I would have the time to read 500+ pages of Phantom Strangers stories, or any of the other Showcase volumes I have. A long-overdue project to put bookshelves up in my bedroom led to my opening up dozens of boxes of graphic novels and collections to stock the shelves, with the discovery of a lot of good books I'd forgotten about, a lot of crap I'd held onto from when I first started reviewing and it was cool just to get any kind of free stuff, and a shocking number of duplicate copies of books. That project was ultimately a positive one, in that reassessing the books and getting them out and on the shelves sort of woke me up a bit to comics and my history with them. The negative side effect was that it made me want to fill out parts of the shelves with new books, and I spent too much on that end, but that's something to work on in 2010.

As a de facto Best Of, I did want to briefly mention some books I enjoyed or that meant something to me this year. I was happy to catch up with Los Bros Hernandez in their latest Love and Rockets efforts, as well as the big collections, Locas II and Luba. I'm trying to think of any other brother acts whose merits are so hotly debated and yet at such a similar level of skill as far as I'm concerned.

I always like Seth's work, and George Sprott was no exception. I guess I didn't get around to reviewing that yet. One thing I can say about it is that although a lot of perfectly fine work goes right out of my memory after the first read, I can still picture some scenes from this one.

When it was first announced, I was one of those who were put off by the cost of Kramers Ergot 7, because it obviously would put new work from some of the best cartoonists working today out of financial reach of many. But while that is true, well, what of it? I mean, it's unfortunate, but at the same time, there are plenty of things I would like to have that I can't afford. Some time this year, I was able to afford this book, and at the moment I wouldn't be able to, but even as good as it is, it's not such a big deal if you missed it. It's a success, don't get me wrong, and there's something pretty cool about editor Sammy Harkham and publisher Alvin Buenaventura, and the creators involved, going so big on this. I don't think it will probably end up being a particularly important event when we look back, but I commend them for doing it.

David Mazzucchelli's Asterios Polyp is probably the book of the year, just a tremendously impressive piece of work. Tatsumi's A Drifting Life did have some flaws but still seemed somewhat underrated given all the good stuff it did have. Darwyn Cooke's Parker: The Hunter was skillful and fun. I had a great time with Criminal and Incognito, The Muppet Show, and have also been pleased to reenter Marvel Universe waters with Fantastic Four, Agents of Atlas, Incredible Hercules and the revolving creative teams of the weekly Amazing Spider-Man.

It's also really nice that as the Jack Kirby collections keep rolling out, we're also finally starting a similar run of books celebrating the wonderful Steve Ditko, with IDW's The Art of Ditko and Fantagraphics' Strange Suspense both collecting horror, suspense and science fiction stories from the '50s and '60s. Maybe we can have some affordable, lush and not-CD-ROM-based collections of Alex Toth before too long.

I really loved that first collection of restored Hal Foster Prince Valiant. I wasn't surprised, but I did like it better than I expected. I was quite surprised how good the first Family Circus collection was. I was also very pleased to finally read some Jacques Tardi with West Coast Blues. I understand that was an adaptation, but I still found a voice and style I really want to follow.

As far as discoveries this year, I'm glad I read Inio Asano's What a Wonderful World Vols. 1 & 2. That's a major talent developing right there.

OK, I'm writing the rest of this the day after Christmas, after a very realistic dream in which some sort of spirit lifted me off my bed and having awakened with a terrible pain in my jaw. I'm going to try to keep positive, though. This year, I also finally got into the comedic talents of John Stanley, with the Nancy and Melvin the Monster. One thing that I find difficult in digging into old work is that creators didn't move around as much and the longevity of runs on a title can be really intimidating and expensive. I mean, I know there are dozens of Stanley's Little Lulu in print, but even in relatively cheap paperbacks it's a lot to dig into, and sometimes it takes the imprimatur of a Seth, and his design panache, to help sell you on an old cartoonist. Me, anyway.

My biggest discovery this year, and clearly by this point you can tell I make no claims to be on the cutting edge of anything, is Frank Santoro's and Ben Jones' Cold Heat. I know my pal ADD recommended it to me a while back but I had no idea what he was talking about. But one day I just went on PictureBox and ordered the #5/6 bumper issue, knowing nothing about the series. I know a lot of people would tell you this is one where you really need to start at the beginning, and it does help--but to me it felt just like I was a kid again, reading a stray old Marvel comic and being as intrigued by what I didn't know as the cool stuff in front of me on the page. I did go back and get the other proper issues, a couple of the specials, and the latest, #7/8, and this really is one of my favorite comics going. I find the pink and purple coloring restriction so distinctive and attractive, and the story and art both...well, it just seems so difficult to execute that perfect blend of naive and yet obviously very knowing, that blend of the intellectual with the passionate dood, Really excellent work.

That's sort of my Best Of, but honestly, the best comics-related event for me this year is this very blog. It came about as Alan David Doane and I were reminiscing about Comic Book Galaxy and thinking of maybe doing some sort of collection of the best stuff from the days when it had a lot of contributors vs. its incarnation as ADD's personal blog the past few years. Reading some of my old stuff frankly kicked me in the ass to do more than the once-a-month review or whatever I was doing on my own blog, so as a spur-of-the-moment thing I revived my old Breakdowns column as a daily occurrence, or at least several days a week, and then that quickly led to the idea of doing a new site with other talented writers.

TWC, as we tend to call it, came about rapidly, with ADD doing the majority of the work of recruiting people, designing the look of the thing...I think I maybe came up with the name, or something close to it. I was actually really upset when we first launched, because I really wanted us to have a nice backlog of material so we could update frequently and get some early momentum, but my worries were for nothing. I have to say, I really couldn't ask for a nicer group of writers, but more importantly for our purposes, they all really "brought it," and required very little guidance or editing. One thing I've really enjoyed is how personal some of the pieces have been, and admittedly that's because I'm similarly pretty open to putting those kinds of things into my own reviews. I also have found that I really enjoy the pressure, even if it's self-imposed and not really existent, of having to read and write about comics quickly and frequently. Essentially I don't want to let anyone down here.

I really am so grateful to ADD for getting me involved, and for the rest of the Trouble with Comics gang, for making this such a pleasurable addition to my life. It's also, I hope, made me push myself a little more and get a little better. I should also thank Tom Spurgeon again, this time for all the support he's shown me and the other TWCers with links to our pieces, as well as Sean T. Collins, for granting me that interview a few weeks back, which wasn't just interesting and fun but truly made me think a little differently about how I do things. So, if I'm somewhat less of a dick in '10, it's Sean's fault.

Have a good New Year's. More comics hijinks to come.

ADD's Quick and Dirty Best of 2009

I started off apologizing for not writing a year-end best-of, then kinda-sorta did one anyway. Funny how that works!

Click here to read 2009: The Year without a Best-Of.

And happy holidays!

Alex Ness on Hatter M

I apologize for my absence. What the world pours stuff upon me that I cannot avoid I tend to shut down. My mother is in poor health, my friend died of lung and brain cancer, I learned that two projects that were promised by the publisher to come out in July were now not coming out at all. I have been sick with diverticulitis, and all my work has been creatively aimed as it is as least, a release of emotions.

People asked me, upon reading my latest works why I’ve begun to be or am negative or pessimistic about comic books. Here is a quick answer, one that deserves being explained but not beaten to death. I’ve been depressed. Over many things, but, amongst them, comics. I have tried to work in comics, and, what I write and am interested in, is not the same as the interests of publishers, and perhaps the readers of comics. I’ve had works get through some hoops, but, frankly, they aren’t like anything most publishers have seen or publish, and with the market being in such woes, they aren’t likely to be published. I am not bitter, mind you, I think being published would be nice but isn’t my end all goal in life, plus I’ve been published. So I am not trying to be negative but, I think I am trying to understand the market, and system and the readers, just for my own peace of mind.

I plan to cover a number of books in review, which won’t be as painfully wrought. Also there will be some interviews to focus on talents in the world of comics. Any publishers are welcome to send product for review, but I am trying to aim at first two volumes of a collected series. And perhaps, if after doing that there are more books in the series and a publisher sends them sure, I will consider them too.


REVIEWS

Hatter M: The Looking Glass Wars Volume 1
by Frank Beddor, Liz Cavalier, and Ben Templesmith

Hatter M: Mad With Wonder Volume 2
by Frank Beddor, Liz Cavalier, and Sami Makkonen

This series is part of a broader story told in Frank Beddor’s The Looking Glass Wars books. The world considered is on the surface the world of Alice in Wonderland, of Lewis Carroll, but Beddor has argued/discussed the fact that Lewis Carroll was mistaken, and told a story wrongly about a person, named Alice as a fantasy, and surreal even nonsensical place called Wonderland. Beddor suggests that Wonderland is real, that Alyss, spelled thusly escaped to this world, told her story, and Carroll tried to tell it, but presented it as fiction when in fact, it was an oral history. However that all plays out, Hatter M follows the story of Alyss, by extension but primarily through the eyes of her bodyguard. Following a coup d’etait Alyss, Queen of Wonderland is chased into exile with her bodyguard Hatter Madigan. He is equipped for battle, with a suit of weaponry, and expertise in combat. And the two become separated, while escaping from the evil new Queen’s rage.

In Volume One Hatter Madigan arrives on our historic Earth separated Alyss Heart, crown princess of Wonderland. Travels through the historic past lead him to France, as part of a 13 year exile and journey, Hatter Madigan tries desperately to find and protect Alyss. His hat takes a life of its own through out. The reader learns that the only hope we see, is the “white imagination” that powers Wonderland is a clue to how to help find Alyss, in the largely dark and violent world of the 19th century. Volume Two, takes Hatter M to the American Civil war, and the world in chaos from the conflict. Deeply tragic, and without ability to utilize his best warrior’s instinct, Hatter M is soon driven to madness, and his namesake, the mad hatter becomes reality.

Throughout the first book you marvel at the ability of Ben Templesmith, and you wonder how much of the wonder and beauty, however dark, is all the majesty of his artistic talent and genius. The story, however important as an ancillary work to the Looking Glass Wars, doesn’t take a lot of form until the near end of book one. With book two and artist Sami Makkonen you can see more of Beddor’s story, and the art, while different, is nonetheless still brilliant. And I have to say, as someone who has read the book series that this is a chapter of, the story is both important and well done.

As any creative work must succeed upon its own merits, do these two books entertain and offer a complete work to enjoy? That is, could a person unfamiliar with the book series enjoy these? Yes, but admittedly, I think less so. However, the books are really enjoyable, so go read them too.

LEARN MORE AT:

The Looking Glass Wars homepage, Another view of the Looking Glass world, Watch Frank Beddor discuss Alice/AlyssMy review of the books the series is drawn from

I do have a mailing address for the publishers interested in sending hard copy review products

Alex Ness
Box 142
Rockford MN
55373-0142

Alex Ness is a writer, a poet, and reader. You can find links to all his work: here

BATMAN ALWAYS WINS: My Batman Christmas List

Does Batman celebrate Christmas? I know he's been in Christmas stories over the years, and I'm sure some enterprising fan out there can point me toward an instance where he's been seen reclining next to a little fake tree in the Batcave, sipping egg nog while Dick Grayson runs around with a new puppy. Still, it doesn't seem to fit, somehow.

But that doesn't mean we can't celebrate the season Batman-style! It's not too late for your loved ones to make 2009 a very Bat-holiday. What should the enterprising Bat-fan hope to see under her tree, menorah, or non-denominational symbol of seasonally appropriate joy? Here's a few ideas...

The Batcave Companion
If there is one essential reference-type book on the Caped Crusader's history, this is the one. A terrific TwoMorrows publication in the tradition of their many other comics history and culture volumes, The Batcave Companion dives deep into two of Batman's most popular and acclaimed eras: The "BAM! POW!" sixties and the "Dark Knight" seventies. Co-writers Michael Eury and Michael Kronenberg clearly know their stuff and provide tons of fun and juicy background details, along with an issue-by-issue overview of every Batman comic published during the timespan covered. My favorite parts were the in-depth Q&As with key figures such as Carmine Infantino, Neal Adams, and Dennis O'Neill. I've been meaning to write a true full-length review of this great book for a while but in all honesty, I'm still reading it, and I've had it a month. That should give you an idea of the depth and breadth of the information covered. (FYI, it's also a terrific companion read to the Showcase Presents: Batman series, which starts off right where Batcave Companion's coverage starts and tracks pretty much right alongside the book.)

Batman: The Brave and the Bold Action League Toys
I'm pretty much out of the whole toy collecting scene; too expensive and requires way too much space. But every once in a while, something in a Target toy aisle will grab my eye and tempt me to uncork my wallet. I haven't broken down over these AWESOME minifigs from the new Brave and the Bold cartoon series, but it's just a matter of time. They're small and slightly poseable in the style of the Marvel Superhero Squad figures and feature characters who've been depicted on the show. Since the series is plenty quirky, this means you can actually own a GENTLEMAN GHOST ACTION FIGURE. This is an astonishing fact.

An "Official" Burt Ward-Authorized Batman Googaw
The sixties Batman TV series is a controversial era for some, but as I've probably mentioned, I grew up on it and totally bought it as "serious" drama until I got older and started to recognize the camp. I sorta love it for both reasons. Anyway, Burt "Robin" Ward has his own extensive website and collection of Batman-related merchandise. You gotta love some of the splashy bright pop-art images selected for these items, most of them taken from the show's opening and closing credits. Honestly, the items are a bit pricey, but there's no denying their coolness. Well, their relative coolness, as compared to other ceramic coffee mugs depicting comic book characters and sold by aging teen idols from sixties-era television shows.

The Batman Annuals, Vol. 1 (DC Comics Classics Library)
There's gotta be at least one actual honest-to-goodness Batman comic book on this list, right? I've been slowly working my way through this volume of classic Batman reprints, and it's a technicolor high-contrast jolt of pure pop effluvia, bringing together the first three Batman annuals which themselves reprinted a bunch of classic stories from the forties and fifties. This is full-on Batuniverse expansion time, with all the crazy alternate costumes, the full Bat-family in effect, and the occasional bodily transformation, I expect. The reproduction is magnificent and it really has the feel of a nice archival volume. Plus Amazon will knock a few bucks off the cover price and throw in free shipping.

The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told
If you or your loved ones are invenerate cheapskates, what better way to shop than through Amazon's authorized used booksellers? This is an even BETTER sampler of Batman comics than the Annuals volume above, and if you're okay with a used copy, it's available for 79 CENTS plus shipping. That's under five bucks, folks. I read the covers off this thing when I was thirteen. Its initial release was right around the first Batman film, and it's packed with good stuff--not just stories from every era of the Batman's career, including the critical members of his supporting cast and rogues gallery, but informative essays detailing the key points in Batman's history and discussing some of the stories that didn't quite make the cut.

The Hero Initiative
Batman would no doubt highly approve of a donation to The Hero Initiative, the first-ever federally chartered not-for-profit corporation dedicated strictly to helping comic book creators in need. Even better, buy a T-shirt and get sweet threads AND help others. I myself am hoping Santa brings me this Tom Scioli winner.

Giving is truly what the holidays are all about, and not just for Batman, but for everyone who wears T-shirts. Merry Crimble and have a gear new year!

Daily Breakdowns 048 - Act-I-Vate

The Act-I-Vate Primer
By Various
Published by IDW Publishing. $24.99 USD

A truth and a confession: It's good to be in a club, and reviewing anthologies kind of sucks. Let's talk about the club thing first. In our lives, almost everyone goes through different times when we're part of some kind of club, team or posse. It's reassuring and empowering and a lot of fun, strength in numbers and making up your little rules and signs and lingo. I envy these Act-I-Vate folks that, although this Trouble With Comics thing is its own kind of fun club. Putting together a website and figuring out how it's going to look and what you're going to put on it--we're not all that different, but these men and women are making comics and we men and woman are (just) writing about them.

The problem I have with reviewing, or really, reading, anthologies, is the variety. It's the spice of life and all, but for the most part, they're the equivalent of that cheap buffet you go to for lunch or dinner one day with some buddies. There's a helluva lot of different kinds of food--a lot of which you like, in theory--but it's a lot for a group of cooks to do well with, and so after that first plate where you try a whole bunch of it, you go back for only a few of the successful items on your second plate. That dumpling thing filled with a sweet brown paste in a banana leaf? One bite and out. Tiny octopi in a Tabasco-based sauce? You can now say you tried it. Once.

I'm not saying the work here is like spicy octopi or sweet brown paste, but on the other hand, the buffet I was writing about above was one I went to for lunch six months ago, and I was able to remember it instantly, while I can't tell you much about the stories inside this book I just read without opening it again. Actually, let's try that. I'll just look at the names of the creators and stories from the back cover and see what I remember.

Nick Bertozzi's "Persimmon Cup" is beautifully drawn, and I'll follow Bertozzi just about anywhere, but I couldn't penetrate this one. Pedro Camargo's "Glam"? No. Mike Cavallaro's "Loviathan" was kind of interesting, an underwater science fiction/fantasy thing that had a good setup and great coloring. Molly Crabapple's and John Leavitt's "Backstage"? Mannered, dull. Mike Dawson's "Jack & Max"? I think this was drawn as an homage to the famous children's book, Goodnight, Moon but while it looked a lot like it, there didn't seem to be much of a reason to do it other than to disguise that there wasn't much of a story there. Jim Dougan's and Hyeondo Park's "Sam & Lilah" was, I think, a kind of low-key science fiction thriller. Not very memorable. Ulises Farnias' "Motro" looked a lot like Sammy Harkham's style, a sort of mythical spirit quest thing that doesn't really come off. Nice looking, though. Michel Fiffe's "Zegas" is one of the more memorable pieces, very Art Deco and elegant, a little precious but certainly memorable. Maurice Fontenot's "Ghost Pimp" was labored. I don't remember Simon Fraser's "Lilly Mackenzie" at all. Jennifer Hayden's "Underwire" seemed to want to be kind of Lynda Barry but damned if the panel-to-panel transitions were really awkward most of the time. I knew there was a story in there but it didn't come out right. Tim Hamilton's "The Floating Elephant" was almost there. Really nice period art but the ending needed work. I think some people get so fascinated by stories set around the beginning of the 20th Century but very few of them have actually succeeded in comics. Dean Haspiel's "Billy Dogma"...well, Haspiel's always memorable. I can't say this was the best Dogma outing, but his brio is appealing. Joe Infurnari's "Ultra-lad!" illustrates a certain rule about comics anthologies in that, where you least suspect it, i.e. indie comics, someone's always got to do their version of superheroes. The production on this one was nice, as he did a great job making it look like an old, beat-up, four-color comicbook. But the production works against it a bit in that it's kind of hard to read, and it's not the most gripping story to begin with, being basically a narration of a selfish, immature man failing to evolve over the course of decades. Roger Langridge--maybe the hottest name among the collective--gives us one of his "Mugwhump the Great" silent clown comics, and you know, although Langridge is undoubtedly talented and I like his Muppet Show stuff, he kind of blew it here. The line weight is so uniform that the art is really off-puttingly flat. I literally had to squint and work to read what was intended to be a series of effortless gags. It was one of the least pleasurable reading experiences here. Finally, Leland Purvis, whom I last recall doing something unintelligible for Dark Horse called Pubo (although that's fun to say), brings us a better-drawn but still hard to parse, "Vulcan & Vishnu."

The production values are top-notch, the cover's terrific, and I sincerely wish all of these creators well. At the same time, I can't say I have any interest in following any of these stories, aside from maybe "Loviathan," which wasn't great but had a clear lead-in to more, on the website. So in that, this primer failed for me. And as a stand-alone object, well, obviously from the test above the stories within left anywhere from no impression to a mildly good impression, but nothing very compelling. I wish that wasn't the case, but there it is.

Daily Breakdowns 047 - I Have The Neediest Cat In The World

Welcome back. Today I thought I'd write about three books that have nothing to do with each other. First, though, I was thinking. I couldn't wait for 2008 to end. It was a bad, depressing, lonely year. 2007 as well. 2009 has certainly had some low points for me, but something seems a little different, a little better. I know part of it is just that I got involved with TWC and have been writing regularly. I don't know, maybe it's just another escape mechanism and it's not like I feel I'm doing something very important, but it feels pretty good to be doing this.

No credit goes to my cat, though. She's like the worst girlfriend, always flopping down in your path when you're trying to walk, meowing incessantly. And stupid? She can't figure out how the push-in door of the litter box works, so she'll pee on your dirty clothes while you're taking a shower, or take a crap on the bath mat.

Where was I? Oh, yeah. Reviewing comics is fun.


Starr The Slayer #1-4
Written by Daniel Way
Art by Richard Corben
Published by Marvel Comics. $3.99 USD ea.

This was a pretty bad miniseries. I don't want to belabor this, because what's another bad miniseries? There are lots of better comics to talk about, and indeed I'm getting pretty backed up already. There are probably fourteen people who care about Starr the Slayer, and I'm not sure half of them would enjoy this. Corben fans probably will, as he gets to draw some odd, alien faces and big breasted women without having to try to tone things down for our reality, or a superhero universe.

Not sure how Way fans will feel, as I don't know much of his work. Here, he takes the original premise--a hack writer comes up with stories of a sword-and-sandal warrior who really exists in another dimension--and uses this mainly in the first issue and then gets away from it for increasingly annoying rhyming narration (think Mark Evanier trying to write Groo while on Vicadin from his stomach-stapling), and a haphazard, let's-beat-him-again-and-again-until-he-fights-back storyline for Starr. Starr is not interesting, nor is his Spartacus-like rebellion, nor is his enemy. After the first issue, I kept buying the rest and only read them after the last came out. If I'd been reading every week, I would have stopped at #2. The miniseries exists only so that a trademark is maintained, in case anyone had ideas of writing their own stories about a blond barbarian named Starr.


Batman: Unseen #1-5
Written by Doug Moench
Art by Kelley Jones
Published by DC Comics. $2.99 USD ea.

Ostensibly a miniseries existing so people who like the Bruce Wayne Batman have something to read until he's inevitably brought back, this is actually a little more narrowly focused towards those who remember the '90s Moench/Jones Batman run (plus a few one-shots/graphic novels) fondly. The majority of those stories took advantage of Jones' gift for grotesque anatomy and high contrast images. There was often a horrible looking character involved, like Black Mask or Dracula, because that's what Jones does best. His normal characters, like Bruce Wayne, are flat and not interesting to look at, but give him a chance to draw Batman's six (eight? twelve? pack framed by a flowing, apparently 30 foot cape, and he's on-point. Moench knows what to give him, and here Jones has the opportunity to draw a deranged scientist in various stages of invisibility--sometimes there's muscles with no skin, sometimes just some organs and eyes, sometimes a skeleton, based on his continued ingestion of a special formula of his devising. As a villain he's not that clever, and his patron Black Mask doesn't get much to do, but Jones' art is always fun to look at, and Moench seems to be having a good time, giving new chapter headings every couple pages like it's an old horror novel. A pretty good time.


Tre Tarino
Art by Ashley Wood
Published by IDW Publishing. $35.00 USD

I've always enjoyed Wood's artwork, and have reviewed a few of these books before. It's not easy to do when you're not an artist. They're interesting books in that they're big and glossy, and yet sort of sloppily put together. That is, they're just a bunch of representative images from the past year or two of Wood's comics output. This time around I see some World War Robot in one section, some of his 48 Nudes in another. Maybe some of it is new to this collection, I dunno. Wood briefly explains at the start that this is a map of where he was and where he's going, and from that point the reader is on his own. From what I can tell, Wood has gotten away from a brief fascination a while ago with depicting female genitalia as mechanical and dangerous. He still has some interest in the contast between the soft, curvy feminine form contrasting with the blunt angles of dull metal robots, but it seems to be cooling a bit based on the selections here. Women are soft and playful and with the body tone of the '70s or '80s rather than the hardbodies of today. Sometimes faces are realistic and sometimes they're cute and cartoony girls atop realistic bodies. Robots still tend to be like darker versions of the ones from Disney's The Black Hole. One example of growth is the murky, oppressive quality he brings to the WWR settings, as well as the horrific quality of their gas masks. Wood's pretty easy to take for granted, as he does a lot of covers and comics art and these art books come about once a year or more, but there's really no one doing anything like him right now.

Daily Breakdowns 046 - Siege: The Cabal

Siege: The Cabal One-Shot
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils by Michael Lark
Inks by Stefano Gaudiano
Published by Marvel Comics. $3.99 USD

I'm not really a comics event guy, but I thought I'd give this a try and see if I want to continue. This is a one-shot that apparently will lead into an actual Siege miniseries as well as affect a lot of the Marvel Universe titles starting in January. I guess the reason for the one-shot is...well, I'm not quite sure. I don't know why the events here wouldn't just comprise the first issue of the miniseries. I'm guessing it might have something to do with the high level art team of Lark and Gaudiano maybe pulling in guys like me who wouldn't necessarily jump into this miniseries if it had art from more typical superhero artists. The events in the story are significant enough, but at the same time it seems like they can be recapped very easily without losing a lot. Norman Osborn, head of H.A.M.M.E.R. and his own team of Avengers, thinks Thor's relocation of fabled Asgard to a few feet above Idaho is a threat he should deal with, so he can give it to his ally Loki, Norse god of Mischief. Nothing actually happens along these lines yet.

It's not that this is a bad comic. I'm not that convinced that Norman Osborn would be able to amass the power he has, and I think it's kind of silly he's ripped off Iron Man's armor and calls himself Iron Patriot. It's an affront to the originality and poetry of the Green Goblin, at least for this old-timer. I hadn't read any Bendis comics for a while. I still find his style charming even when the work lacks any emotional connection. Anyone who's seen Norman Osborn before knows he's nuts, but Bendis gets two pages out of him talking to himself before the unsurprising reveal that his Goblin mask is giving the orders. You just know that as a little kid, Bendis held the shiny red apple behind his back until the teacher practically grabbed it from him, exasperated by the show he was trying to make of something so expected.

Bendis really seems to like scenes where people sit around a table and bust each other's balls. This time it's Norman, Loki, The Hood, and Taskmaster, before Dr. Doom shows up and he and Norman argue about Norman wanting to go after Namor for insulting him. Doom being Doom, he expected retaliation, so he sent a robot version of himself filled with nanotech wasps that appear to destroy Avengers Tower in a very 9/11 type of shot, but later pages contradict this, making for a confusing story. Seeing the (I think) Dark Avengers only in a panel or two, with heavy hitters like Wolverine not even getting a line, while others like The Sentry fly around, eating up panels, gave the feeling that Bendis lost focus on his cast here in favor of too much Norman. Loki also seems way too mellow, and maybe Bendis and Lark could have come up with a less cliched gesture of vanity and condescension than having Loki regard the condition of his fingernails. Do gods really care?

Based on the Siege #1 preview at the back of this issue, Olivier Coipel sees Norman as looking a good deal like Hugo Weaving from The Matrix, except with his left eye about half an inch higher than his right, and Loki looks like Genghis Khan. When you want to show a preview that gives the impression of epic scale and import, maybe you don't feature Volstagg and the U-Foes?

Daily Breakdowns 045 - Incognito

Incognito
Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Sean Phillips
Published by Marvel Comics. $18.99 USD

With Incognito, Brubaker and Phillips attempt to put a spin on their classic deep cover superhero/villain epic, Sleeper. Instead of a basically good guy finding his morality eroded by undercover work with supervillains, we have a supervillain forced to turn on his boss and put into witness protection, a target for the bad guys if they ever discover he's still alive. To keep him under the radar, Zack Overkill has to take powers-canceling drugs that make him just like any other shlub. Brubaker emphasizes this by making Zack a mailroom guy in a corporate office, a low level peon until he just can't take it anymore. It's not so much that this is a specific riff on Sleeper; it's actually similar to most of Brubaker's work as far as having the lead character be a guy who (like Holden Carver or Tracy Lawless) just likes to turn his brain off and make a big fucking mistake, often followed by another, and another.

In those scenes of Zack among the normals, it's most similar to Mark Millar's/J.G. Jones' Wanted in how the reader identifies with the character's life of joyless drudgery and wants him to have the opportunity we don't have, to break out of it and bust things up. It is pretty fun when Zack gets to do this.

Unlike Sleeper, Brubaker doesn't try as hard to give nuance to the villains. The leader, Black Death, is pure evil, and the eternally youthful Ava Destruction is a total psychopath. Even the characters on the "good" side, like Zoe Zeppelin, are manipulative and pretty flat. As the names suggest, Brubaker is working with a broader, more pulp-influenced style here on the edges, although again the main character is written in standard Brubaker style, with lots of terse but self-examining inner monologue.

There's a good deal of copy in the collected edition that tries to tie the story to the pulp traditions of Doc Savage and others, but those elements aren't much more than window-dressing in the execution. That is, some of the peripheral character names and back stories are fun and all, but while I'm not complaining, there is not much in the way of growth or stretching for Brubaker here. Nor is there for Phillips, though it's appealing to see him draw more outlandish characters and his painted covers are excellent. Oddly, I was a little disappointed that nothing in the story itself gave me the same feeling the cover of the collected edition did, which has a very American Psycho feel. Whoever that guy is on the cover probably has a good story to tell. I liked the story here fine, though, and there are some fine scenes as Zack deals with the humans and post-humans in his life, and how he handles the revelations of his past. If they do more, I'm in, but as Brubaker has set a high standard with past Phillips collaborations, I'm hoping he digs just a little deeper next time.

Thursday Link Party: Alan Moore Leftovers

Yep, that's the man singing with the Retro Spankees. Nice number. Someone get that guy a recording contract! (via Bleeding Cool)

I'm an absolute sucker for theme park concept art, especially if the theme park or attraction has yet to be made, or will never be made. So these concept images for Marvel's proposed theme park in Dubai make me drool. If only the Dubai real estate market could recover simply to satisfy my own pathetic desire to someday walk into a real Baxter Building!

Also, via the same excellent blog (Disney and More) and pretty much NOT COMICS, Disney's plans for a theme park on a super tanker. Insane.

More video, this time of the great Douglas Wolk, explaining the central tenets of Kant in five minutes using superhero comics. (via Comics Alliance)



The LA Times' Hero Complex blog uncovers a new candidate for the First Superhero: Japan's Golden Bat.

More holiday links, I suspect, as the Day of Christmas approaches. Here's a cute Santa story by John Stanley; link via the ever-reliable Super I.T.C.H.

It's a bit chilling, the way this Dinosaur Comics strip on Batman reads the precise contents of my own brain.

Finally, an excerpt from the upcoming (and as yet untitled) Grant Morrison documentary, slated to premiere at Comic-Con 2010. I count the days.

Daily Breakdowns 044 - The Bloom County Library Volume One

The Bloom County Library: Volume One 1980-1982
By Berkeley Breathed
Published by IDW Publishing. $39.99 USD

I wonder how my kids will look at the '80s. I mean, I like a lot of things from the '50s. There's a corny charm to black-and-white TV shoes like Leave It to Beaver and The Andy Griffith Show, but also you had Kerouac and the Beats and James Dean and some edgy stuff that's still iconic and cool now. I was 10 years old when Bloom County premiered and I can't recall it making too much of an impact on me. I read newspaper comics but don't remember if ours carried it. At any rate, it wasn't until I was a freshman at college before I read one of my roommate's collections--probably Billy and the Boingers, and by then the series was probably around its peak of popularity.

This collection is, well, it's like a lot of first volumes of famous comic strips. It's not that good. In fact, it's often irritating, but with enough basic craft, a wealth of enthusiasm substituting for vision, and such a degree of care in the presentation that it's easy to keep going and feel a bit of Breathed's triumph as he starts to hit his stride.

The creative debt Breathed owes to Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury is well-known, and includes not only the basic drawing style but comedic rhythms, punchline delivery, a familiar character or two and even some specific ideas such as giving dialogue to inanimate objects like mirrors. Breathed cops to all this in the helpful sidebar commentary alongside the strips, and this rather shrewdly wets down a critic's ammunition. He's already admitted to it, so why beat him up about it? Certainly he brings a different setting and different comedic aims to his strip. Bloom County quickly acquires a wacky ensemble of characters like precocious Milo, gentle, simpleminded Billy, preppy lout Steve Dallas, cantankerous, senile Major Bloom, wheelchair-bound cool guy Cutter John and others. A good two-thirds of the first two years of strips give up to a week to let one of them have the spotlight, although by his own admission Breathed started doing the strip without having a clear idea what he wanted to do with it. So, we get Milo having a crush on the fictional advertising image of Betty Crocker and going on a quest to meet her, with dubious results. Bobbi Harlow is presented as a feminist schoolteacher, arrived to shake up the county, but she's not particularly feminist. Cockroaches talk and form a kitchen rebellion, because that's supposed to be funny, as is an out-of-control wheelchair, a local Moral Majority leader who frequently fondles women's legs, a macho dad who's not just ashamed of his son's interest in dance but also a prude, a drunk, corrupt old politician, and an insane old man who wants to nuke 'em all. We also get an inordinate amount of strips devoted to newlyweds Prince Charles and Princess Diana and their supposed home life, with Charles alternating between ninny and out-of-touch elitist and Diana basically wearing the pants. Well, at least Breathed seems to have gotten that one right. Basically, he's just casting around for funny ideas and probably figured he'd have better luck with a large cast or with inoffensive pop culture stuff of the moment.

It's not until 1982 when Breathed starts to figure out what works, i.e. what he finds amusing. This is when the talking penguin Opus enters the picture. He doesn't take over the book right away, but his confident, if totally out-of-touch, interactions with the people around him are funny and unlike anything else. This is where Breathed really starts to find his voice, and while there are still plenty of Charles & Di strips and other less interesting stuff to go in this volume, one feels Breathed is on the right track and that the success of the strip just might prove to have been deserved.

The presentation deserves some mention. The jacket design is pretty standard, but the notes from Breathed really help put in context that despite being a hit-and-miss, rural Doonesbury in its early days, the strip was notable for its many pop culture references (a lot of Star Trek), which was pretty much unheard of in comic strips of the time, as well as having animals talking to people. Both these elements have informed countless comic strips since, so clearly Bloom County has had an impact. The notes also point out some jokes that would not have been approved by today's well-meaning, overly sensitive newspaper editors, such practices probably driving away the next Breatheds and Trudeaus.

Daily Breakdowns 043 - Blood and Fortune

Dominic Fortune #1-4
Writer & Artist - Howard Chaykin
Published by Marvel/MAX. $3.99 USD ea.

Trade paperback due for release 03/03/10, $19.99 USD

I was kind of up and down on this miniseries. I found it kind of embarrassing at first. I mean, how many blowjob jokes does fifty-something Chaykin have to tell before he's had enough? It felt self-conscious, like he's trying to give readers what they expect, but I'm sure most readers just wanted a good story. And that's the problem with a lot of Chaykin work, in that his shtick and his obsessions get in the way of some decent plotting and nice setpieces.

This story finds Chaykin reviving a Marvel swashbuckling character Chaykin first depicted in the '70s. Fortune is like most Chaykin characters, a rogue who operates on the side of good but outside the law and with a healthy disrespect for authority. He's at least as horny as James Bond and at least as successful at scratching that itch. And of course, his face is the same as every Chaykin male lead. And that's not the worst thing. I mean, all the Ed Brubaker/Sean Phillips male leads are basically the same guy, too. It's okay to have a type, but you're always risking diminishing returns when you don't mix it up.

Anyway, Chaykin's other obsession is Nazis, so there's some of those, as well as some sort of splinter fascist group planning to overthrow FDR's government and take over the USA. Like a Bond film, Fortune gets to travel and sleep around a bit, and clues fall at his feet until it's time to stop the bad guy's big move, in this case a coup d'etat that pretty much every character admits is clumsy and ill-conceived, though at least Chaykin gets a good, bloody action scene out of it.

At this point, Chaykin is kind of like Clint Eastwood. Not politically, just in the way they both have moments of range (many more in Eastwood's case), but always come back to try to please the old fans. Dominic Fortune is Chaykin's Gran Torino, a technically sound, flashingly affecting but predictable work which relies quite a bit on familiarity with the star for its success. The slickness of Chaykin's art as colored by Edgar Delgado takes a little getting used to, but is quickly appealing and occasionally dazzling (love the herringbone suit!) . Chaykin has had an interesting life and it seems like he might have some great, personal stories inside him. But it's unfair to criticize a work for something it doesn't aim to be, so I'll just say this was okay and forgettable.


Angel: Blood & Trenches TPB
Writer/Artist - John Byrne
Published by IDW Publishing. $17.99 USD

We all have our biases. Critics aren't objective and aren't supposed to be. But at least we should be able to identify our own biases and preferences. I want John Byrne to succeed. Whereas another critic of my age group might root more for Chaykin, or Miller, or Simonson, I want Byrne to deliver some kick-ass comics and show people he's still got it. It's been tough sledding for the decade, give or take, that I've been reviewing comics. Some pretty good stuff, some books with flashes of the old magic, and some total misses. And listen, I'm not holding my breath for a good John Byrne comic, as there's tons of other talent out there, and he's certainly got a good body of work whenever I want to dip into the past. But it sure was nice to see what he's done with this book.

It started backwards for me, as I recently read Byrne's Angel vs. Frankenstein one-shot, which I found in a back issue rack but assume it was released to coincide with this past Halloween. A fun enough story, and Byrne did a nice job with the Gothic period, but pretty light. But it did whet my appetite for more, and so I soon had this collection of the four issue miniseries.

What sets this apart from all other Byrne work of recent years is the art, which is left in pencil form, the only color being the blood in this story of Angelus fighting a relatively obscure Buffy demon during WWI. As any visitor to Byrne's message board can attest, Byrne's penciled artwork is still really sharp and lively, but it has seemed like the work he does in commissioned sketches is superior to the inked pencils of his comics. But here, Byrne's art is in nearly a pure form, and he's obviously having a ball depicting not just vampires but period uniforms, vehicles, ocean liners, lush libraries, biplanes, armaments, cottages, submarines, fortresses...He holds his own with almost anybody here.

The script itself is strong, aside from a wonky plot mover or two. Like, would a newspaper of the day actually have printed a depiction of the symbol found on the dead soldiers, which Angel needs to see in order to know the killings are vampire-related? Seems like newspapers were much less sensationalist then, but okay. Byrne does have a good handle on Angel's hunger and guilt, and the machinations of the plot keep things moving and prevent Angel from bemoaning his fate. And hey, there's a clever bit at the end involving real monster, Adolf Hitler. It's not a deep work, but it's better than most licensed "lost tales" stories have a right to be, and Byrne is clearly fired up by the creative challenge. Very good stuff, whether you're an Angel fan or not. And it's also nice to read Byrne's Afterword, where he explains the genesis of the project and how it's one of the most fun and challenging projects of his career. One hardly ever reads Byrne that enthused about one of his books anymore, so take the hint and get it. He seems to have found a comfortable home at IDW.

A copy of this book was provided for the purpose of review