OWLY

My love of OWLY is nearly uncontainable. This is a nifty little interview with Andy Runton about how he got this wonderful series off the ground. If you haven't read OWLY, you're missing out.

If you've read it and don't like it, I may have to get Doane on your ass.

/Mason

SIBAM #101… PART TWO!

HERO SQUARED #1
Written by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis and Drawn by Joe Abraham
Published by Boom Studios

This is the first issue of a miniseries follow-up to last year’s one-shot of the same name. Keith and J.M. bring the same wonderful lunatic zeal to this book that they brought to their JUSTICE LEAGUE collaborations, telling the story of a superhero displaced to an alternate world where his counterpart is an annoying slacker. Unfortunately for him, his nemesis from his home universe has followed, and in the new world his counterpart is dating her counterpart. It may sound silly and confusing, and it is. It’s also damned funny. I never read the one-shot. Now I have to go find it.

100 GIRLS #5
Written by Adam Gallardo and Drawn by Todd Demong
Published by Arcana Studio

Picking up from the trade paperback, we jump right back into the story of young Sylvia and her search for her super-powered clone sisters. The issue is solid enough, and there’s some plot movement in the reactions of her pursuers, but the book sticks pretty tight to its formula of finding a new sister and absorbing her. While the segment works fine, the book is going to have to be careful to not become too repetitive in its efforts. The cliffhanger ending points towards the thought that the creative team realizes this as well.

BOOKS FROM VIPER COMICS

RANDOM ENCOUNTER #4
Written and Drawn by Nicc Balce

I didn’t like the first issue of this mini, but I thought it picked up nicely the rest of the way, delivering a solid action story and climax here in the finale. Balce’s art was the real star for me, his ameri-manga style easy on the eyes and simple in its storytelling. There were some genuinely intriguing experiments attempted by the author here, as he joined the select few artists attempting to complete a real melding of sequential art and the video game world. Not completely successful in that effort, mind you, but close enough to suggest he’ll do even better next time.

ODDLY NORMAL #4
Written and Drawn by Otis Frampton

On the flip side, I fell for this mini right out of the gate, but I’m a little disappointed in the ending. We get a lot of exposition and no true resolution to Oddly’s main problem (the disappearance of her parents). Instead, we get the pieces put in place for further Oddly adventures, and an ending that offers resolution rather than resolve. Couched within the exposition and furtherance of the plot is a good message about believing in oneself, and in the end, I believed that ODDLY was more than worth my time and I was ready to read more of her journey right away. Good enough.

BOOKS FROM IMAGE COMICS

STRANGE GIRL #2
Written by Rick Remender and Drawn by Eric Nguyen

I was hesitant when I picked up this book to read it. I had really enjoyed issue one, as I had enjoyed the first issue of Remender’s RED SEA. However, that book fell apart early in issue two, so I could only cross my fingers and hope for better results here. Happily, issue two of this book was a dandy, even more exhilarating than the first. Young Bethany, left behind after the biblical rapture, must navigate the new world of demons and insanity very carefully, and it doesn’t help when she pisses off her boss, her prime protector against the rest of Hell’s hordes. Nguyen’s art is simply gorgeous and would be worth the price of the book even if the story sucked. It doesn’t.

THE ATHIEST #2
Written by Phil Hester and Drawn by John McCrea

With two issues now out, this has immediately become a top ten book for me. Hester’s protagonist, the ultimate debunker, travels to visit a man slowly turning into living cancer, as he tries to unravel why a number of people are heading for Winnipeg and claiming to be the spirits of the dead returned to posses the living. Full of sharp ideas and characters you can’t help but want to read about, THE ATHIEST may just well be the frontrunner for next year’s “Best New Series” Eisner.

BATTLE POPE #1
Written by Robert Kirkman and Drawn by Tony Moore

Kirkman’s first comics work returns, now in color, in an attempt to find it the larger audience it lacked the first time around. POPE is, by turns, foul, disgusting, blasphemous, sexist, and grotesque. I recommend it highly. If you can’t laugh at Jesus wearing a t-shirt that says “What Would I Do?” then you’re probably already stocking up on holy water to throw on Kirkman next time you go to San Diego. Here’s a hint: he won’t melt. Tony Moore’s art is pretty rough here, but you can see in spots that he’s going to develop into the amazing artist who co-created THE WALKING DEAD and made it look so pretty.

GIRLS #3
Written and Drawn by the Luna Brothers

This has blossomed into a full-blown sophomore slump of mammoth proportions. We’re threw issues in, and not only is there not a single believable character, there’s still absolutely no clue as to what the fuck the plot is. Besides naked women hatching from eggs, that is. Yes, it looks pretty, but if you’ve asked someone to spend nine bucks at this point, they should have inkling as to what the story is. ULTRA laid it out in issue one: Pearl saw the psychic and was told she’d find love within the week. One more issue like this, and GIRLS is officially a disaster.

ZOMBIE KING #0
Written and Drawn by Frank Cho

See the zombie. See the cow. See the zombie fuck the cow slowly and gently. Moo, Bessie, moo. See Frank Cho having a good laugh at how much he can get away with. Laugh, Frank, laugh. Actually, ignoring the cow-fucking, this is a decent enough start to Cho’s next big project. He’s always had an appreciation and desire to draw monsters; you can see that in LIBERTY MEADOWS when he meanders in the Sunday-sized strips. So this is quite lovely to look at. The only downside is that it lacks balance, as we suddenly shift to an exposition-laden scene at the end of the issue that nearly drags the rest down like an anchor. Will be keeping an eye out for issue one, no doubt.

STUPID COMICS #3
Written and Drawn by Jim Mahfood

Loves me some Mahfood. As a Tempe resident, I’ve been privileged to follow his work for a long time, and this issue of STUPID COMICS is even a bit more fun, because most of the material originally appeared here in Arizona in the PHOENIX NEW TIMES. Still, many of Mahfood’s themes are universal, whether it’s his pokes at the stupidity of government or his tirades against manufactured pop culture. He isn’t for everybody, but he’s pretty much always for me.

FERRO CITY #1
Written and Drawn by Jason Armstrong

“THE MALTESE FALCON with robots” best describes this tasty little slice of cyber noir. Armstrong gives us a protagonist we’d have no problem seeing Bogey playing (though Brian Dennehy is the more modern choice) and a murder mystery wrapped around the civil rights movement of Circuited-Americans. Densely plotted and told, this is a nice antidote to the number of new books that seem to ship and decide they don’t need to tell you anything right away and you’ll still come back. Armstrong gets a nice pat on the back and thanks from me on that one.

PVP #0
Written and Drawn by Scott Kurtz

I happen to really enjoy PVP, and it’s hard to quibble with the $0.50 price tag, but this brief collection of highlight strips to introduce the characters and background of the book feels a little haphazard and not as tight as it should. The strips Kurtz chose are good, but they leave a certain lingering sensation that something is missing, and I can’t help but feel like a pointer to where the original strips could be found would be a solid idea. Since they’d been plucked from storylines, the new reader could have known right then where to go and read the full story. The brand new strip featuring the origin of Skull is dandy, though.

GUN CANDY #1/THE RIDE: MARDI GRAS #1
Written by Doug Wagner and Chuck Dixon and Drawn by Brian Stelfreeze and Sanford Greene and Jason Pearson

GUN CANDY is a prequel to the adventures of Laci, the teenaged assassin made infamous by Stelfreeze’s art the in THE RIDE trade paperback (see part one of the column), and given room to play, Stelfreeze completely cuts loose in gonzo fashion. Absurdist layouts, over-the-top violence, gratuitous sexuality, you name it… Stelfreeze has found a way to put it in here and make it look glorious. The pure neo-porn cover for his side of the flipbook adds to that dimension as well (trust me- go find it and look at it). I almost felt sorry for Dixon having to share with this stuff; his story is really very good, his artists do an amazing job of bringing a very dark and cynical story to life, and it damned near gets swallowed whole by its companion. On the other hand, maybe the pervs picking up the Stelfreeze cover will discover the excellent stuff awaiting them on the other side when they would have ignored something of this quality before. Looking forward to issue two.

SEASON OF THE WITCH #0
Written by Jai Nitz and Drawn by Kevin Sharpe

It’s gorgeous to look at. Has solid action. A good heroine. But once again, I say: tell the reader something in your story. Apparently, if you read the notes in the sketch section, etc, the heroine of this book slides back and forth between our world and this fantasy one, but nothing in the sequential pages would explain that, not even her mentioning of Missouri. It’s all well and good for Nitz to note that he’s putting some time between the solicits of issues zero and one so he can use this one to get orders and interest up, but he’d have been better off actually explaining what the story is going to be about. And if it’s supposed to be a book that appeals to teenaged girls, maybe it would be a little less icky for them if an orc didn’t call the heroine a whore, huh?

/Mason

YAY! MINI-COMICS!

Alrighty… time to start digging through the San Diego pile.

STRANGEWAYS
Written by Matt Maxwell, Drawn by Luis Gurana, Cover by Steve Lieber
Available from the Author

The horror-western genre will add a new face this fall when the first issue of this book hits the shelves via Speakeasy Comics. In the meantime, you can easily enjoy and appreciate this nifty preview of what looks to be a darkly entertaining story.

STRANGEWAYS brings together cowboys and werewolves (where most stories in this genre seem to have an affinity for cowboys and vampires). That means a different type of action being brought to the page, and a different depiction of the western landscape, one moodily developed by Gurana in shadowy, scary tones.. Maxwell’s story finds us focused on the travels of a carriage and its occupants, and as the genre demands, they find themselves traveling in lands that maybe they should have avoided.

Of course, if they did, the story would be damned dull, and over quite quickly.

We’re given just a glimpse here of what’s to come, but it’s made apparent that there will be thrill, chills, and gore aplenty to give the reader a visceral experience. Matt’s a friend, and I know how much time and effort he’s put in to making this book a quality read, right down to the beautifully gruesome cover by the great Steve Lieber. It’s cool to read this and see how it’s all paying off for him. I’m expecting big things from STRANGEWAYS once the pamphlets start shipping in November.

FLYTRAP #1
Written by Sara Ryan and Drawn by Steve Lieber
Available from the Artist

If this were the only thing I had returned from San Diego with, I would still consider that trip to be a huge success.

I’ve made no secret about it: Steve Lieber is my favorite comics artist, and if I had my choice, he’d be the first person I’d hire to draw just about anything I’d want to write. There’s very little he can’t do, from high-level action heroics, to quiet, talking heads. Few people have his level of versatility, and few ever will.

This little book finds him working with his (very) talented wife, Sara Ryan, again. Their first effort, ME AND EDITH HEAD, was a supplemental project to her excellent novel EMPRESS OF THE WORLD. This time out, they start fresh, introducing us to public relations ace Maddy. Maddy is a nice normal woman with a crazy job, an asshole of a boyfriend, and too much to do with her life in too little time. However, the intervention of an alternative circus starts a tumble of dominoes that leave her with a new direction in life.

FLYTRAP is just about perfect. In fourteen pages, we get a well-rounded portrait of who Maddy is, what moves her as a character, a feel for the “world” she lives in, and a solid step towards who she is going to become in the next phase of her life. If this were published by Marvel, it would have taken six issues to get to this point. Wonderful stuff.

COOL JERK 2005 SAN DIEGO SAMPLER
Written and Drawn by Paul Horn
Available at the Cool Jerk Website

I picked up Paul’s 2004 effort last year and was immediately smitten with his sharply wicked sense of humor and lack of reverence for, well, everything. I even put myself on his mailing list, and now I get the weekly strip e-mailed to me. So I guess you’d call me a fan.

COOL JERK follows the denizens of Spittle Beach, primarily wiseass Armpit and his superior-in-every-way girlfriend Puppy as they roll through their normal lives battling the forces of stupidity, inanity, and pop culture horror. Horn has been doing the strip for about fourteen years now, so he’s solidly found the voices for his characters. He also only does a strip a week, so you don’t get the sense of burnout or exhaustion that you find in many other long-running strips.

Paul does real-world artistic stuff and does JERK for fun at this point, but I’d like to see him roll the dice and start talking to Image or Speakeasy or someone about finally starting to collect the JERK strips in trade paperback. He deserves to find a larger audience for the work, and I think it’s out there; besides, once in a while, it’s nice to get paid for doing what you love.

ASTRONAUT ELEMENTARY #5-7
Written and Drawn by Dave Roman
Available from the Author

ASTRONAUT ELEMENTARY is a book I always look for when I go to a show. Dave Roman’s “mini-manga” is one of the few being produced in this format that has an all-ages reach in its storytelling, and I like being able to pass it around to the younger set in my life.

The titular school is located on a space station somewhere out in the far reaches of the universe, and its student body is comprised of the best, brightest, and oddest that the galaxy has to offer. The primary story here in this triple-sized effort focuses on a robot named Cybert who has been sent to the school to destroy another student. Amusingly, this doesn’t get him sent to the principal; instead, he is given a far worse fate: a trip to the guidance counselor, whose job it is to make him see how limiting his career goal is. It’s even funnier than it sounds.

Other stories follow the Cybert’s target, a young gay student named Spike, and Team Feety Pajamas (a group of kids who believe they’re bullies who run the school). Each segment is drawn in Roman’s wonderfully whimsical style, and those segments are packed with story. Previous issues were eight pages each, but this one is truly triple-sized, with 24 pages of packed-to-the gills goodness. I hope Roman soon finds the opportunity to publish all the AE stories together in a nice collection.

WANNABEE #1
Written by Rich Johnston and Drawn by Thomas Reidy 3rd
Available from The Vicious Circle Project

When I saw this on the table, I couldn’t resist it. I swear, I actually heard a booming voice say, “The power of Satan compels you to buy Johnston’s book!”

Just so you know.

So what has comics’ biggest rumor monger done this time? WANNABEE is the story of a time traveler who has come backward to live out his dreams of becoming a big-time comic book writer. His conveyance draws him to an ambitious young woman named Julie who shares that dream. Together, they work to try and find success by bringing together Alan Moore and Marvel Comics for a dream project.

Nah… that’s the end of trying to describe this thing in serious terms. Fuck that.

WANNABEE is really just Johnston taking the odd crap he’s heard and absorbed over the years and living out a personal parody and fantasy of himself and his quest to write comics. Roberto kidnaps Alan Moore, shaves him bald, and tries to use him to get a series of his own greenlit by Joe Quesada. And you’re telling me Rich hasn’t tried this already?

Sell me another one.

Still, it’s mostly harmless and inoffensive, and Rich doesn’t try and play it too broadly. Reidy’s art is too inconsistent to do the book any favors, but it could have been worse: Johnston could have drawn it himself. WANNABEE isn’t anything great or fantastic, but it settles in for pleasantly dumb and diverting, and that may just be enough to call it a success.

/Mason

I AM AN IDIOT

My final take home tally from the con:

25 minis
9 small sized graphic novels and trades
3 oversized items
5 standard sized trades
36 floppies

Plus: 5 extra floppies (dupes or actual copies of things publishers sent me electronically), 2 novels, and 5 samplers.

I was supposed to shrink my haul this year. 7 books doesn’t really significantly fulfill that goal.

/Mason

MIDDAY REPORT: THURSDAY

News and notes: have had a good time so far. Thank God.

Ross Richie of Boom Studios has some cautiously ambitious plans, and I’m intrigued to see where they’ll lead.

Bumped into old pal Tom Spurgeon last night, and he’s growing facial hair. It’s somewhat disturbing.

A man larger than me is walking around the con wearing a Harry Potter costume. This is surely a sign of the apocalypse.

Not enough anime girls so far. Dunno what’s up with that.

Brett Warnock of Top Shelf has sent me back to my room to unload my bag, as he is a pro at getting you to look at their books, Glad to see Alex Robinson’s follow-up to BOX OFFICE POISON is finally ready and out. TRICKED is huge, by the way.

One thing I left out of the previous audio post: at 4:30 this morning, my hotel room phone rang, and a whispering caller claiming to be a comics pro of my acquaintance was on the other end of the line offering me oral sex. I politely declined, as the caller was not a woman.

Everyone has their deal breakers, after all.

/Mason

FEELING GOOD

God, I love being in San Diego.

Sure, Nerd Prom can be insane, but what can’t you know? All I know is that I’m sitting in my hotel room right now with the window wide open, enjoying the weather. It will be four months before I can open a window back home.

Four long fucking months.

I got up this morning, worked out, cleaned up, and then headed out for breakfast and a nice walk. One thing I see in SD guides is recommending that people shop at the downtown Ralph’s grocery store, but as coda, I’d go further and recommend getting a Ralph’s shopper’s card. I acquired one about five years ago, and I’ve done well with saving money since then. If you come to the show every year, it just makes good sense. It was certainly helpful today as I bought Gatorade, Propel water and Power Bars. It knocked $7 off of my bill.

The show kicks off at 5:30pm this evening, and I’m thinking I’ll head down there sometime around 4:45. By the time I finish the walk, and get through the press badge line, I figure I’ll get inside around 6pm, hopefully missing some of the madness of the initial geek rush. The nice thing about going as press is that I’ll avoid being in the attendee line, period; what a scary place that can be. Last year it was particularly bad, as the con was slow to get the hall open on Preview Night, and there was a near riot.

My goal for this year is to come home with less stuff. Last year I returned to Arizona with 85 items in my bag for review. My suitcase could have held a dead body and been lighter. It took me until November to get through the pile. Part of it was my intent on getting the MPS column a little bit more out in front of people (which was very successful), and part of it was my sorority girl-like inability to say no. But this year, I’m gonna be a rock. A rock, dammit!

Anyway… audioblogging will probably start tomorrow. I’ll drop in with impressions of Preview Night, etc. Until then, adieu!

/Mason

SOLID ADVICE

More brilliance from the Comics Foundry gang: a guide to doing San Diego. My fave advice, from Marvel editor Andy Schmidt:

"Please don’t get drunk and harass the female editors in particular. Cons are often sort of seen as a boys’ club, but, man, that’s a mistake you don’t want to make."

Go read and enjoy!

/Mason

HEY KIDS! COMICS!

Speakeasy Comics

ATOMIKA #3
Written by Andrew Dabb and Drawn by Sal Abbinanti

I wasn’t particularly sold on the first two issues of this series. I felt like they didn’t do a good job of explaining the alternate timeline, and the stories suffered from confusion because of it. However, this is a much better effort. The story is stripped down to essential components, the setup is quick and effective, and there’s a sense of completeness to the proceedings. If ATOMIKA could continue to improve in this manner, I think it’d have a good chance of becoming Speakeasy’s “flagship” title.

THE HUNGER #1
Written by Jose L. Torres and Drawn by Chris DiBari

Instead, this book immediately leaps to the top of the Speakeasy reading pile. Zombie books are all the rage these days, but this one does a fine job of standing out as something different. A poor bastard makes a wrong turn during Mardi Gras and winds up as a zombie in the control of a very bad group of men. But when a torture session goes bad, and his controller dies, suddenly the undead fellow finds himself possessing a small bit of his life’s memories… and an unquenchable thirst for brains. Now he’s on the run with blood on his hands and a bag full of drug money. Believe me, it sounds cool, and it reads even cooler. More books like this, please.

THE GRIMOIRE #3

Written by Sebastien Caisse and Drawn by Djief

This tale of a young witch on the run from her mother and the raccoon who protects her hasn’t gotten much love from the critics, but I’m continuing to enjoy it well enough. It’s beginning to suffer from plot overload; I’d like to see Caisse pull back and put some focus on the main character and her mother rather than continue to throw new mystical threats at her every other page. That’d go a long way towards keeping this book accessible to new readers. That, and a front cover recap of what’s happened previously. I cannot emphasize enough how important that is for a new book in this crowded market.

BEOWULF #2
Written by Brian Augustyn and Drawn by Dub

The first issue of BEOWULF was a nice setup for the series, though it could have been a little tighter in the plotting. Decompression is the last thing a new book from a new publisher needs. This second issue is a far stronger effort, as the title character meets a potential love interest and invades a prison for super-freaks and kicks a lot of ass. Really, when your lead character is an immortal warrior of legend, that’s where the focus needs to be. Give the reader some top-notch action, and you’ll satisfy every month. I hope Augustyn stays on this path.

Viper Comics

RANDOM ENCOUNTER #3
Written and Drawn by Nicc Balce

This issue is sort of a rarity: too many mini-series these days have a poor sense of pacing, and don’t have good structure as far as the acts play out, but RANDOM executes itself perfectly. We’re heading for a climax in this story of strange invading monsters and the teen heroes battling them in their small town, and the battle reaches a nice crescendo in these pages. I still don’t have a great idea of what exactly is happening here, but that’s what issue four should provide: the solution to the mystery. I wasn’t fond of this book out of the gate, but each issue has improved steadily. I’m definitely curious how it will end.

ODDLY NORMAL #3
Written and Drawn by Otis Frampton

On the flip side, as much as I’ve enjoyed this series, ODDLY has suffered from some really odd pacing. We have one issue left, and the uber-plot of the book (Oddly’s home and parents vanishing) seems to have completely faded from the book. Now, maybe I’ll be surprised, and next issue will be very tidy; I don’t know. Maybe this is just the first of many planned minis, and that plot has taken a backseat on purpose. But you’d sort of expect some sort of indication. Still, what’s here is really enjoyable. Oddly is a terrific protagonist, and this is a perfect book to give to a younger girl who might be interested in trying comics.

Dark Horse Comics

HELLBOY: THE ISLAND #1
Written and Drawn by Mike Mignola

It’s Mignola. He’s written and drawn a new HELLBOY story for the first time since before the film came out. It’s really fucking good. If you need me to tell you that, you need help. Or you ride a very short bus to work every day. Yummy, yummy, yummy.

Image Comics

GIRLS #2
Written and Drawn by The Luna Brothers

I dug ULTRA. Issue one of the Lunas’ follow-up series was, on the other hand, damned near a complete disaster. The protagonist was obnoxious, the dialogue was clumsy, and the pace was horridly languid. Issue two is so much better, that you wish they’d scrapped issue one and started the story in media res. In fact, after I thought about it, I went back and read the book again, and there was really nothing stopping them from doing so. I found myself wishing for firmer editorial guidance. However, as I said, this issue really works well, and the ending was a doozy. Now the book has my complete attention. Good job, boys.

IRON GHOST #2
Written by Chuck Dixon and Drawn by Sergio Cariello

The first issue of this series felt like Dixon was basically transplanting Alan Moore’s V FOR VENDETTA into a Nazi Germany milieu. That problem lingers, but Dixon does a better job in creating more interesting characters for the Ghost to kill. In fact, the radio man spotlighted in this issue was so compelling, I actually forgot about the title character/serial killer and was genuinely surprised when he reappeared in the book. Full credit to Dixon there. Cariello’s art is pretty sweet as well. IRON GHOST gets a little more rope from me.

NOBLE CAUSES #11
Written by Jay Faerber and Drawn by Fran Bueno

I’ve talked at length about my enjoyment of Faerber’s superhero soap opera, and of my enjoyment of it, so I’m not going to in this review. Instead, I’d like to take special note of the end of the back-up feature OPPOSITES ATTACK. I’m a longtime fan of Brian “Hollywood” Joines, the writer, and I’ve enjoyed his witty and entertaining work on this strip. He and his artist, Chad Thomas, got the most out of their four-to-six pages every issue, and I hope to see their work collected in a square-bound one-shot of some sort. Barring that, I’d like to see Joines’ promised return to THE 7 GUYS OF JUSTICE happen. It was due a couple of years ago, but has been in a holding pattern since. Image? Speakeasy? Somebody help the dude out.

/Mason

Why I Love Neil Kleid

"It isn’t a bad thing. Stephen King makes a very good living being sinister and creepy, as does Rich Johnston."

Go check out this beauty.

/Mason

Plasm-Boy

I love David Lapham's work, and I love even more that he's perfectly willing to discuss his early work without equivocating. STRAY BULLETS is a timeless masterpiece, and MURDER ME DEAD is well worth your time to check out.

More good stuff from the Foundry crew.

/Mason

The Surrogates

I reviewed this book over at The Shoot a couple of weeks ago. It's good. Read it.

This is another terrific interview from the Foundry gang. It's good. Read it.

That is all.

/Mason

QUICK HITS

FAILURE, INCOMPETENCE
Written and Drawn by Tom Pappalardo
Published by Standard Design

Creator Pappalardo refers to this book as a retrospective of the last ten wasted years of his artistic life. While he’s being a bit facetious, I do wish he’d have been a bit more judicious about presenting the best of his material, rather than seemingly all of it. The inconsistency here is enough to drive you insane, and it exposes his weakest ability, which is finding a solid ending to a story or gag. It’s like watching an episode of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE made up solely of material presented in the last 30 minutes of the show. There’s talent here; they key is for the artist to mine through his stuff and find 20-22 pages to put out a really solid comic.

IMAGE BOOKS

STRANGE GIRL #1
Written by Rick Remender and Drawn by Eric Nguyen

I was sort of looking forward to this one, and I didn’t feel let down. What starts as an amusing look at the adventures of a misfit little girl takes one of the great left turns in recent memory: the true biblical rapture occurs, leaving the girl behind on Earth with demons and assorted other baddies. The character is appealing, the scenario wide open for just about anything, and Nguyen’s art looks nifty to boot. Good stuff.

FLAMING CARROT #3
Written and Drawn by Bob Burden

More ingenious madness from the mind of Bob Burden. I don’t know if I could easily persuade a newbie to dive into the Carrot’s world, but anyone out there with a warped sense of humor is missing out on comedy genius. Telling you about what happens in the issue misses the point; but if you really must know, an evil giant chicken wing is on the loose, and the Carrot and his buxom former lover Dynamite Girl are on its trail. If that doesn’t make you giggle, don’t buy the book. If it does, welcome to the club.

SEA OF RED #3
Written by Rick Remender and Kieron Dwyer and Drawn by Salgood Sam

Issue one of this series was damned near brilliant. Issue two killed just about every last bit of goodwill that issue one built up. Issue three gets the book somewhere back close to the middle. There’s still another twist in the middle of the book that’s enough to make you want to throw the book across the room, but the last half of the story begins to work again. I wish I knew what this really was: either there’s something really amazing brewing here, or the book is using the reader as a bukkake target. Your guess is better than mine.

HERO CAMP #2
Written by Greg Thompson and Drawn by Robbi Rodriguez

The second issue of this title is even more quaintly amusing than the first. A young boy, the child of two superheroes, has been sent off to a camp for super-powered teens. Unfortunately, no one believes that he doesn’t have powers. This time out, one of the girls in his class uses her personal elves (formed when she spits them out) to keep an eye on our young hero. Hilarity ensues. Good stuff that reminds you of comics’ simpler and more fun days.

NYC MECH: BETA LOVE #2
Written by Miles Gunter and Ivan Brandon and Drawn by Andy Macdonald

This is developing into one of the more interesting love stories I’ve seen in a while. Set in the creators’ world, which is populated by nothing by sentient machines, there are philosophical opportunities here, but they never overwhelm the basics of the story. Plus, Macdonald’s art is a gorgeous revelation with each passing page. I’m gonna have to hunt down the first series in San Diego.

BATTLE HYMN #3
Written by B. Clay Moore and Drawn by Jeremy Haun

This book seems to really be finding itself. I didn’t find myself thrilled with issue one, but last issue and this one have really begun taking the story and characters in directions I wasn’t anticipating. What started out looking like a darkened take on THE INVADERS has found it’s own unique hold on the iconic characters it’s examining. I’m officially hooked.

INVINCIBLE #23
Written by Robert Kirkman and Drawn by Ryan Ottley

Last issue was the “0” one which recapped the character’s origin and set him on the path to losing his virginity. This issue takes the focus away from the character completely, focusing on the background plots that have been brewing for almost a year now. It’s a risky move, having just given new readers a perfect jumping on point, but it works. The key is in making the character Kirkman focuses on, Allen The Alien, fleshed out well and interesting in his own right. Big things are promised for issue #25, and at this point, I’m not exactly sure what they’ll be. That’s a good feeling when it comes to comics.

WALKING DEAD #19
Written by Robert Kirkman and Drawn by Charlie Adlard

Kirkman’s other creator-owned series picks up from last issue’s cliffhanger and resolves it nicely. We also get the introduction of a new cast member, a great battle against the zombie hoards, and even more secrets to be buried. Good stuff. And congrats to Kirkman on his kudos from ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY. He deserves it.

NOBLE CAUSES #10
Written by Jay Faerber and Drawn by Fran Bueno

Faerber’s super-soap opera continues plugging along nicely with this issue. I think what he’s done is rather wise in this day and age: every issue, Faerber provides the reader with a number of solid twists and turns, shifting directions on the fly, and keeping the readership guessing. I’ve seen some critics say that NOBLE CAUSES is nothing but a “b” level comic that never seems to aspire to make a statement or aim for greatness. My response? That’s exactly why the book succeeds. Sometimes, people want to know exactly what they’ll get and Faerber doesn’t disappoint them.

FLAK RIOT #1
Written by Robert Napton and Michael O’Hare and Drawn by O’Hare

I was pleasantly surprised out how this book came out of nowhere to capture my attention. Set in the near future, we meet the klutzy and put-upon Zoe, getting ready to face another shitty day at a job she hates. That’s about to change however, because she decides to answer a strange ad in that day’s paper. Zoe, you see, has decided to become an inter-dimensional bounty hunter. Equal parts comedy, science fiction, and adventure, it’s easy to get behind the protagonist and cheer her on. Plus, O’Hare’s art is absolutely gorgeous.

CASE FILES: SAM AND TWICH #17
Written by Marc Andreyko and Drawn by E.J. Su

Our dynamic police duo continue their investigation into a string of crimes seemingly committed by vampires as the tale begins a downhill race towards what looks to be a violent and bloody conclusion. This continues to be a strong, well-written title, and E.J. Su’s art is perfectly suited for this kind of material.

SMALL GODS #9
Written by Jason Rand and Drawn by Juan Ferreyra

The current storyline draws to a close in this book, and it feels long overdue. The second time around just didn’t have the joy and zest that the first story did, and none of the characters clicked for me. Too much here just doesn’t work, although the morally ambiguous climax holds promise that the creative team will have this book back on target soon. They’re too good not to.

COMMON FOE #1
Written by Keith Giffen and Shannon Denton and Drawn by Jean-Jacques Dzialowski

1944. Germans vs. Allies. Standard World War II setup. Then the writers throw the curve: an ancient demonic evil rises on the battlefield, and suddenly killing one another must be put by the wayside: there are more human concerns to be dealt with. There’s a metric ton of kick-ass potential in these pages, and Giffen is a guy I have always trusted to come through for me. I’m looking forward to seeing how this one plays out. It looks lovely, too.

GIRLS #1
Written and Drawn by the Luna Brothers

Notable out of the gate for introducing its lead character while he’s masturbating, that still doesn’t stop the disappointment from creeping in as you get through the story. I’m all for having an unlikable lead character, but Ethan is such a waste of space that the Lunas are going to have to cover some ground to make him redeemable. On the bright side, their work continues to grow, artistically. Worth watching.

EXPATRIATE #2
Written by B. Clay Moore and Drawn by Jason Latour

Unlike BATTLE HYMN, I really liked the first issue of this Moore production. Happily, nothing changes my mind this time around. This is a unique looking book, with a warm (yet noir) texture to the proceedings, and there’s an unpredictability at play that makes it a real joy to read. Jason Latour is a true find, and I’m excited about the idea of watching him grow and develop.

DEATH JR. #2
Written by Gary Whitta and Drawn by Ted Naifeh

This charming little series continues as Junior’s innocence has let loose an unspeakable evil that may cost him his father forever. There’s a surprising level of pathos and sadness in this second outing, but it never feels icky or inappropriate. Instead, the book takes on the feel of a classic Brothers Grimm tale or other pre-Disneyfied fable. The dialogue has charm to spare, and Naifeh’s art is sweet perfection. I can’t wait for the next one.

DEVIL’S DUE BOOKS

G.I. JOE: RELOADED #14
Written by Chuck Dixon and Drawn by Grafiksismik

This alt-universe story of the Joes draws to a tidy close as the company begins clearing the decks for the Joes’ re-launch next month. The inevitable problem with this book was never its quality; it was always reasonably well produced. Instead, the problem was market saturation; there’s really only room for one G.I. JOE, and fans wanted the original. They knew it, and they knew the characters. Re-imaginings should be done after long periods of gestation (see: GALACTICA, BATTLESTAR). That makes them go down easier with the fanbase.

G.I. JOE #42Written by Brandon Jerwa and Drawn by Tim Seeley and Drawn by Emiliano Santalucia

This is the penultimate issue of the regular title, and it looks to be going out on a high note. Rather than having to close everything down, Jerwa looks to be setting the table for Joe Casey’s new version by wrapping up some outstanding plot points and putting some pieces onto the board for Casey’s pleasure. While there’s plenty of action in this issue, Jerwa does a nice job of reminding the reader that the Joes are addictive reading because you like the characters.

BLADE OF KUMORI #5
Written by Ron Marz and Drawn by Grafiksismik

This has been the best of the Aftermath titles, and the one that I’ll definitely miss reading. Marz’ modern samurai tale has mixed action, drama, and romance in matching amounts, and remains the book with the most long-term potential (depending on how the series ends in issue six). Marz did a lot to damage his reputation in the 90s, but over the last five years, with his Crossgen work and this book, he’s been through comic-writer rehab. Keep it up, Ron.

DEFEX #6
Written by Marv Wolfman and Drawn by Giancarlo Caracuzzo

On the flip side, this was the weakest of the Aftermath launch, and this final issue does nothing to change my mind about that. Even the art falls down this time around. Marv Wolfman is a legend in the field, and has produced some of the best comics ever. But I suspect that this book will slide quietly off his resume, never to be seen or mentioned again. I’m okay with that.

BREAKDOWN #6
Written by Chuck Dixon and Drawn by Dave Ross

This ran a clear second in my list of how I felt the Aftermath titles ranked in quality. Dixon and Ross created a solid action saga/family drama that held my attention and didn’t let go. Dixon sends the series off with a bang, delivering a climax straight out of a Bruckheimer movie, and Ross doesn’t let him down with the visuals. Dixon and I may never agree on political philosophy, but I’ll always agree that he’s one of the great action writers in comics. Good job, gents.

/Mason

Enter And Be Worthy

Like R. Crumb's work? Old friend Alan David Doane is running a spiffy new contest. Go forth and place your name upon it.

/Mason

Now Back On His Meds: Neal Adams

Almost.

Neal makes a lovely attempt at humility, and it comes very close to taking hold, but he narrowly escapes it in the end. Good stuff by the Foundry crew.

/Mason

From The Man Who Brought Us SKATEMAN And MR. T AND THE T FORCE

It looks like Neal Adams is the latest comics legend to come out of the crazy closet. Fun!

The Comic Foundry is doing some terrific work. Go check this one out. It's a hoot.

/Mason