POTTER’S FIELD #1

I’m mixing things up a bit with the Weekend Blog Extra, bringing you two new reviews, and on Friday to boot! Let’s tackle number one, shall we? From Boom Studios:

POTTER’S FIELD #1 is written by Mark Waid and Drawn by Paul Azaceta. This book has achieved near-legendary status before ever shipping, giving it a lot to live up to. Originally announced as JOHN DOE, it was supposed to be in stores over a year ago. Ads for the book kept running in the back of other Boom products, but the JOHN DOE remained an unknown. However, with Waid’s arrival as EIC of Boom, the perfect time has arrived to get the comic on stands.

FIELD follows the exploits of a man known only as John Doe, and Doe’s mission in life is a fascinating one: he investigates the identities of those buried anonymously in New York’s Potter’s Field, ultimately working to give the dead a name and a story, and hopefully allowing the living to mourn their losses. He is aided by a network of operatives throughout the city, using their connections and talents to supplement his own intuitive gifts. Issue one puts its primary focus on a young girl who seemingly committed suicide. But there was much more to it than that, which allows Waid to take a poke at one (disgustingly) popular member of today’s media, and Doe must dig through a case cold enough to be frozen solid in order to put the girl at rest. But what surprises is what occurs when he displays his own sense of justice in resolving the issue.

The book looks terrific; Paul Azaceta gets better and better with every book he draws. Waid’s poke at the aforementioned media member is the book’s biggest weak spot, as it’s an awfully easy target. But it works better in its setup, as the concept is very solid. In fact, it’d make for a perfect TV procedural drama, and considering Boom’s efforts in development, I’d be shocked if that weren’t where it was headed.

/Mason

Closing it out... Henry Chamberlain wraps up ALICE IN NEW YORK and does a solid job of it.

It's been a huge week around here, and it's only going to get bigger next week as we add ANOTHER new columnist!

/Mason

Heading for the weekend... Wes Molebash's excellent YOU'LL HAVE THAT gets the one-shot floppy treatment. So spend a little to get a big smile!

Trust me.

/Mason

This bit of PR from me just went out:

THE COMICS WAITING ROOM PROUDLY WELCOMES MATT MAXWELL TO THE SITE!

Longtime Comics Columnist and Graphic Novel Writer Brings His Column to a New Home!


TEMPE, AZ, Wednesday, September 12, 2007-

The Comics Waiting Room (www.comicswaitingroom.com) is proud to announce the addition of graphic novel writer Matt Maxwell to the site. Maxwell, whose STRANGEWAYS: MURDER MOON will hit shelves this winter, will be resurrecting his column “FULL BLEED” for the site, and using it to discuss his thoughts about the comics industry, the process of creating and publishing his own graphic novels, and other topics of note.

“FULL BLEED” will appear on Wednesdays on a weekly to bi-weekly schedule, and the column will be archived at www.comicswaitingroom.com/fullbleed.html so that anyone who has missed an installment can easily catch up.

Comics Waiting Room owner and Editor-in-Chief Marc Mason had this to say about the addition of Maxwell to the site: “I’m ecstatic to have Matt on board. He’s one of the smartest and most insightful guys out there, and I’m thrilled to be giving him some of my cyberspace. This second year for the Waiting Room is all about adding more content to the site, and Matt’s arrival is just the first of some exciting announcements I’ll be making in the next few weeks!”

About Matt Maxwell:
Matt’s blog and the trailer for STRANGEWAYS: MURDER MOON can be found at www.highway-62.com.

About The Comics Waiting Room:
Established by Marc Mason in July 2006, after working for a number of other comics-related websites, The Comics Waiting Room has consistently added new content five to six days a week. The site offers reviews of comics, graphic novels, and media, as well as occasional media and entertainment features. After producing 99.9% of the content himself in the first year, the second year will see the addition of three new columnists to the site.

What are you waiting for???? Go read it already!!!!

/Mason

It's Tuesday, and I'm kinda excited. It isn't just because a review of STORM SHADOW #2 was just posted and because that book has been surprisingly good. Nope, it's because tomorrow is the biggest day for the site in many a moon.

Go read the new review and then make sure you come back tomorrow for the first of THREE huge additions to the site!

/Mason

Manga Monday! Kia Asamiya's JUNK begins to show some steady improvement! PLUS: a brand new AISLE SEAT review! TORCHWOOD sets the world on fire right out of the gate!

What are you waiting for? Go read!

/Mason

CWR WEEKEND BLOG EXTRA

Here I am, back again with another Blog Extra. And even though I tend to spread out the publishers I cover here, I’m talking about another book from Arcana Comics. Why? Because it’s so damned odd… but kinda good.

The book in question? HELEN KILLER #1, written by Andrew Kreisberg and drawn by JLD Rice. That title isn’t meant to just be a clever pun; the lead character is indeed Helen Keller! Taking a cue from Keller’s youthful assertion of an identity of “Phantom”, the creators have whipped up a scenario about a Helen later in her life. Aided by her real life famous friends like Alexander Graham Bell (again, great use of historical research by the creative team), she is given implements that allow her to use her natural gifts to become a great warrior in her own right. And that prowess draws the attention of the U.S. Government, desperate for help in protecting the President from anarchists.

Presenting Keller as a warrior might sound like a dumb idea, but the story takes it so seriously that it actually elevates it up to “quirky” and fun. And honestly, the story itself isn’t solely responsible. At the end of the comic, Kreisberg offers up an essay on the origins of the book and Keller’s life, and they illuminate his intentions and point of view, and help you take the book a bit more seriously on its own merits.

HELEN KILLER is a book that probably shouldn’t have worked, and that could have come off as offensive. But neither of those turns out to be the case. Who’d have ever guessed?

See you here throughout the week for site updates, or you can friend me on MySpace. And please return next weekend for an all-new Blog Extra!

/Mason

Shaun Tan's THE ARRIVAL presents the immigrant experience in a new and fantastic way.

A real gem, I say.

/Mason

Lat is a terrific cartoonist, but TOWN BOY doesn't grip the reader on an emotional level...

Damn shame, that.

/Mason

Hitting the hump... THE LAST CALL offers up the strangest train in recent comics memory...

All aboard!

/Mason

Andi Watson's GLISTER isn't quite gold, but it's good enough for at least a bronze.

Dead novelist's ghost haunts teenage girl. No film at eleven.

/Mason

CWR LABOR DAY BLOG EXTRA

Taking advantage of the long weekend, I get an extra day to run the Blog Extra so here I am on a Monday. Don’t like it? Suck it, fanboy.

Now that I have my grump out of the way, I’m more than happy to talk about a new book hitting the scene from the folks at Image Comics.

MICE TEMPLAR #1 is written and drawn by Bryan Glass and Mike Avon Oeming, and is also one of those projects that has taken its own sweet damned time getting to the shelves of your local comic book store. Set in a long ago society of mice, the story follows a group of younger mice that begin exploring the legends of those who came before them. Now almost forgotten, the Mice Templar were a group of great warriors who eventually came to blows against one another and whose ranks dissipated soon after. But when a new threat rears its head, one mouse discovers that he has a different destiny than he could have imagined, and death comes to take its toll on young and old alike.

So let’s talk about the good stuff that’s here. Oeming uses a far different artistic style here than he uses on books like POWERS, and it’s extremely attractive to the eye. The characters are written with some verve, and exposition, which is a major must for a story like this one, comes across smoothly instead of clunky. The biggest plus around the book, though, is that it has 50 pages of story, in color, for four bucks. Few comics on the stands give you as much for your money as MICE TEMPLAR.

What doesn’t work? Let’s back up for a moment. Oeming first conceptualized the book almost a decade ago. A couple of short stories have appeared in the meantime, but no serious run at telling the tale has been undertaken until now. However, in the meantime another book built on similar myth, MOUSE GUARD, has hit the shelves and been a huge hit. Now, one has nothing to do with the other, but as a creator, I might have given thought to changing my approach in telling my own tale. Honestly, Glass and Oeming are putting together a classic “hero’s journey” here, but nothing about it screams that it has to be mice in the title role. When the biggest battle turns out to be against rats, the rats refer to the mice as “short hairs;” you could make that same difference with cats, when you think about it.

Again, that’s a value judgment about that choice, not about the quality of what’s on the pages of this book. Ultimately, the only real flaw is that the characters, by look, are difficult to tell apart, which is always an issue in any book starring animals. In fact, MOUSE GUARD had the exact same problem. This is a pretty solid effort with some speed bumps, and it’ll be interesting to see how smoothly the creators can roll over them.

Be back here through the week for site updates and/or friend me on MySpace. See you soon!

/Mason

Closing out the week... Chris Wisnia's classic monsters parody, DORIS DANGER, is back for another round.

Go stomp a city, won't you?

/Mason

Thursday brings the all-ages goodness of Joey Weiser's THE RIDE HOME.

Learn what a van gnome is. It's cute.

Honest.

/Mason

Hitting the hump... THE SADHU is an East-meets-West tale that plays fair and even-handed with all sides.

Pretty rare, that is.

/Mason

Jason Burns brings THE EXPENDABLE ONE back for another amusing turn...

Good, nasty fun.

/Mason

Manga Monday! GACHA GACHA THE NEXT REVOLUTION has the chance to really say something about gender politics and sexual identity...

...but it doesn't. Ah, well.

/Mason

CWR WEEKEND BLOG EXTRA

Welcome back to another Blog Extra! This week, the spotlight falls on a graphic novel from our wacky neighbors to the north, Arcana Studio. The graphic novel in question? BANZAI GIRL, written and drawn by Jinky Coronado and Wilson Tortosa. Let’s dig in, shall we?

The basics: Coronado herself is a model, beauty queen, and has developed quite a following on the web. Her abilities at the first two jobs put her in a position to develop her talents as an artist and writer, leading her to create this book. The plot: Jinky, based on herself, has dreams of herself in other worlds and eventually discovers that she’s a legendary heroine. Which is good, because all sorts of nasty creepy-crawlies are rising in her neighborhood, and her gifts will be needed. Armed mainly with her wits and a skirt three sizes too small, she’ll save her friends and show the world she wears only thongs, or die trying.

And therein lies the true rub about BANZAI GIRL: this isn’t just a fanservice book of biblical proportions. It’s a flat-out fetish book wrapped in a very thin layer of story.

Asian schoolgirl in short skirt? Check. Skirt WAY too short? Check. Parents inappropriately give her stripper heels to wear with skirt? Check. Creepy villains made of tentacles that wrap around nubile schoolgirl flesh? Check. (Shh- Joe Quesada still doesn’t know there’s such a thing as tentacle porn- don’t wake him.) Schoolgirl’s friends also wear thong undies and way too short skirts? Check. Every page has at least one ass shot or crotch shot? Check.

Look, I know there’s a market for this type of book. And I genuinely respect the fact that Coronado has developed her talent as an artist and writer. Honest-to-God, she can work a pencil on the page. But I am so NOT the audience for it- I felt dirty reading it, and I’m not making that up. Underage girls just aren’t my thing, and even though I read mangas which feature fanservice, they’re nothing compared to the heaping amounts of jailbait flesh on display here. No one’s naked, but it doesn’t matter- it’s close enough.

I can appreciate good erotica, no question. And if Ms. Coronado were to revisit her characters after they turn 21 or so, I’d be more than willing to take a look. This is her niche, and it’s one she knows how to work well. But for now, it can’t include me.

That’s all for this week. Be here through the week for site updates and friend me on MySpace, and back here next weekend for the next Blog Extra!

/Mason

Two for Thursday! Why? Because I get a day off Friday, and that means the site does, too! So enjoy new reviews of Pete Bregman's THE TRAP DOOR MAKER and NBM's collection of classic MUTT & JEFF strips.

See you Monday!

/Mason

The midweek stride... the 24/7 anthology returns, though with rather different results.

Go see what I mean.

/Mason