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[Mar. 24th, 2005|07:49 pm] |
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If you're wondering why 7 comics a week hasn't updated in a few days, it's for a good reason. My reviews are jumping to a new site hopefully starting Monday, and I'm stockpiling material for the launch. I'll be back to you with a url and an update as soon as things are finalized. I will be maintaining this journal to let you know when the site updates... exciting things are in the offing! |
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| Negative Burn: The Best From 1993-1998 (Image) |
[Mar. 21st, 2005|10:48 pm] |
Story and Art by Various
Between 1993 and 1998 Caliber comics published 's Negative Burn , a black and white anthology with no real discernible theme. What it did have, in spades was top flight creators. Having not read I'm not sure how comprehensive this "best of" trade paperback is, seeing as the it only represents a small number of the staggering number of writers and artists who worked on the title. That said, it does have a hell of a lot of good odds and ends from some very big names. Say what you will, but it's always interesting to see what a creator gets up to without any real constraints on what he or she is allowed to do.
Okay, I should say something first off. Some of the creators who's material is collected herein isn't exactly groundbreaking. You may have heard that there is some Alan Moore to be had, and there is. Three stories in fact. But all three are cute little throwaways. That may sound dismissive, and it's not my intention to belittle anyone's work. But my overall feeling upon reading this collection is that Negative Burn was a place for weird little creator odds and ends. Taking that into account, there are some really neat pieces found between the covers. One of the best things about this collection is that it gives us a convenient window into the recent past, letting us see the development of some of the artists represented. Paul Pope for example has three stories, and it's fascinating to see his particular style in a less polished prototypal form. Similarly Phil Hester's artistic contributions show him experimenting with an almost Sienkiewicz like style, wild and inky. Also neat is getting to see artists really do something different from what they're known for. I don't associate Brian Bolland with cartooning, but his featured "Mr. Mamoulian" strip. There's a great deal of variety here, some autobiographical tales, some humor and some plain old oddball stuff. It makes the book read a little unevenly as it careens off in all kinds of different directions. I guess the whole unthemed anthology is something of a double edged sword. It gives freedom, but makes for something of a disjointed reading experience.
The big treat for me in Negative Burnwas finding a bunch of work from the team of Darko Macan and Edvin Biukovic. The team was behind one of my all time favourite storylines in any comic ever, Grendel Tales: Devil's Choices and although they did a few other odds and ends their collaboration was tragically cut short by Biukovic's passing away in 1999. Finding a bunch of work from them in the pages of this trade paperback is both a sad reminder of how amazing these guys were and a treat for those of us who so loved their unique collaborative style. Their story "The Immortals" is the highlight of the book for me, a darkly humourous tale of revenge. I suppose that's the true value of Negative Burn, getting little bits and pieces from creators that we may have never seen otherwise.
Okay, I'll try to make this as clear as possible. The Negative Burn collection has some truly talented people in it's roster. But nothing in it is likely to blow you away. It's great if you want to see a bunch of neat odds and ends from said creators. Provided that the reader goes in with the right expectations, it is a treasure trove of material for the right person. Have a flip through and see if any of the names in the index pop out at you. That'll probably be the key to whether or not this collection will be of interest to you. |
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| Shaolin Cowboy #2 (Burlyman) |
[Mar. 20th, 2005|08:02 pm] |
Everything by Geoff Darrow
Oh Geoff Darrow, how we've missed you. After spending a number of years using his ultra-detailed style to to do design for The Matrix films. His return to comics is in the pages of Shaolin Cowboy, which he writes and draws. Or more accurately, he writes and draws the hell out of. The first issue featured one of the most ballsy illustrative stunts I've ever seen and although there isn't really a set piece of that calibre in the second issue it's still an incredibly funny read with art like you wouldn't believe.
At the finale of the previous issue, we discovered that the gang of murderous revengers out for the Shaolin Cowboy are headed up by King Crab. Who is literally a crab. In an extended origin sequence narrated by the vengeful crustacean we learn that he is out to get our hero for devouring his family at an all you can eat seafood buffet, to the point where he travels to train at the very temple where Shaolin Cowboy learned his kung fu. This is of course leading up to a fight between the Cowboy and King Crab as the crab busts out his 12 forms of animal ju-jitsu. Cue another all out fight scene in the way that only Darrow can do. The fact that it's all being played pseudo serious (in spite of the asides from our hero's companion Lord Evelyn Dunkirk Winnieford the Ass) is what makes the whole elaborate gag work so well. It's not so easy to make something as ludicrous as this issue of Shaolin Cowboy work, but it's so genuinely funny throughout that one doesn't even stop to think about it. It's sublimely ridiculous, and makes perfect sense within it's own weird little universe. Oh yeah, and the zingers are great. All of the bon mots from King Crab's gang and the references to other comics ("Revengers Dissasemble" ) are chuckle worthy, adding to the feel good nature of the book. Some might not get it per se, but I have hard time imagining anyone not being at least amused by it.
And the art. Oh the art. Would that I could do the artwork in Shaolin Cowboy justice with my clumsy words. Suffice to say that there is NO other artist in comics capable of this level of insane detail and over the top action. Oh, people have come close, but none can aspire to match Darrow on this playing field. Who else could draw a pudgy Japanese cowboy fighting a Kung Fu Crab to the death? He has it all sewn up. End of story. I can only imagine the level of work that goes into each and every page of his work, and it's mindboggling. Try to not be drawn in by it... I dare you.
If you haven't picked up Shaolin Cowboy yet, I encourage, nay insist that you do so. It's it's own kind of quirky weird funny, and I daresay that there is nothing else in comics like it. It receives 7 out of 7 on the Seven Comics a Week seven-o-meter. What else do you need to hear? |
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| Black Panther #2 (Marvel) |
[Mar. 20th, 2005|06:28 pm] |
Written by Reginald Hudlin
Pencils by John Romita Jr.
Inks by Klaus Janson
Colours by Dean White
The first issue of the new Black Panther was a promising read, really playing more with the concept of the nation of Wakanda than anything else. In fact the Panther himself only appeared in brief flashbacks in the issue itself. I guess that's why I didn't really catch on to the idea that this series seems to be a straight up reboot of the whole Black Panther mythos. I suppose it's possible that a large portion of this issue is in flashback but there's no indication that it's not all supposed to be going down concurrently. That points to reboot. That also means that every previous version of the character from the original Lee/Kirby rendition through Priest's fan favourite take are now obsoleted. Maybe Reginald Hudlin (fresh to the comics field from B-list hollywood screenwriting) felt it would be the easiest way to relaunch the title without bogging everything down in continuity. Or maybe he just couldn't be bothered to work out a way to tie in all the recent work on the character into the story he wants to tell. One way or the other, it seems that Black Panther is now a blank slate with a new status quo being established.
Much of the issue is dedicated to a ceremony where the role of the Black Panther ("sort of like being Pope, President and Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff all at once..") is up for grabs in an annual contest of strength. It's a neat idea that fleshes out the culture of Wakanda a bit, sort of a survival of the fittest crossed with gladitorial combat. Although anyone can participate, our focus is on various challengers from the royal family itself. Hudlin is clearly setting up some family feud action between the various princes and princesses who come to the challenge. The foreshadowing is none too subtle, but being that this is thus far a book about the nation of Wakanda itself, the premise of a feud between royals seems like it would fit nicely. We're also introduced to T'Challa, considerably younger than when we last saw him. He's still a cypher pretty much (with one whole line of dialogue in the whole issue) so it's still up in the air how close he'll end up being to past versions of the character. Regardless, the other two sub plots from the first issue are brought up, but moved forward only ever so slightly. The US government continues to worry about the super advanced Wakandans being a rebel nation, and Klaw takes the fella he busted out of some kind of super jail last issue to get laid. I'm not terribly keen on subplots that develop so slowly that they seem almost motionless but I'll cut these some slack on the assumption that they're going to develop into something big. Still, why move things along so slowly on a new book?
John Romita Jr. has never been one of my favourite artists, but I certainly can't fault most of his work here. His action is always big and dynamic and he seems to have gone back to some of Kirby's original designs for the look of Wakandan clothing and weaponry. Maybe not so politically correct with al lot of people wearing headdresses and the like, but still fun to look at. Also I rather liked his use of the classic Kirby Black Panther design, complete with short little cape. It seems unlikely that Romita will be on the title for much longer than the opening arc, but I certainly wouldn't complain if he stuck around for a while.
The more I think about it, the more Black Panther seems like an Ultimate universe take on the character. I must admit that I'm not a fan of retconning away large portions of shared universe history, but it doesn't intrinsically affect the quality of the story. Which is pretty decent really. With a little adjustment in the pacing department it has the potential to being a solid superhero book with some political overtones. Which ironically was what Christopher Priest was doing on his now superseded take on the title. You know what they say about how the more things change. |
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| Bigfoot #2 (IDW) |
[Mar. 19th, 2005|06:39 pm] |
Written by Steve Niles and Rob Zombie
Art by Richard Corben
Colours by Tom B. Long
In my review of the first issue of Rob Zombie, Steve Niles and Richard Corben's Bigfoot I tried to make it clear that this comic is not for everybody. I would like to reiterate now, for the sake of clarity: If you don't want to see Sasquatch messing up a lot of innocent people in a particularly savage fashion, I advise you to not pick up Bigfoot. With that out of the way, I'd like to actually commend the title for being the best example I think I've ever seen of a schlocky horror movie by way of a comic book. That feel was present in the first issue, and it gets driven home hard in the second. From the structure and pacing and the way the whole thing is laid out there can be no doubt. Bigfoot is a nasty seventies monster movie that never got made.
I'm afraid though that the title may have be an example of a recent phenomenon that has been bothering me. It's a 4 issue mini-series that seems at least from the first two installments, to be geared for reading in one sitting. It's not uncommon, but the amount of plot development in this issue doesn't exactly make for a terribly engaging read on it's own. Summarizing it all is quick, and doable in two sentences. Bigfoot has re-emerged in 2004 and is killing campers and drivers in the viscinity of Shadow Hills National Park. Billy, who was orphaned by the crazed beast in the first issue gets a gun and goes out to hunt the monster down. The majority of the page count is taken up with Bigfoot's insanely vicious attacks. That's all well and good as the murderous set pieces really add to the monster movie feel. But it makes the issue fly by awful quick. In the context of the full length of the story I have no doubt this won't bother me. But having shelled out $3.99, I was hoping for something a little more meaty to read. Obviously it's a lot easier to get people to sample a four issue mini-series than to just release it as a graphic novel, but it ends up being a little frustrating for the monthly readers. Especially when we know that it'll likely be collected anyways. At the halfway point of this story I can honestly say that I'm interested in where it's going, but that I'm frustrated at the fact that it's going to take at least another two months to get there.
No complaints about Richard Corben's art though. The man draws horror comics with the skill and grace of someone who has been doing it for a long time. Which he has. He pulls off some really memorable tricks here, illustrating a sequence where Bigfoot maniacally chases an ATV in such a way that it has the slowmotion feel of being pursued in a nightmare. Of course there's more than a little gore to be had and it's uncommonly vicious.. make no mistake Corben is not about your easily digested cartoon violence. What he does is visceral and shocking, and not for the faint of heart. Fans of gore should be happy with it, and I must say it's nice to see someone who can still get a rise out of us doing this sort of thing, considering how jaded we've become to violence in our entertainment.
I am not the sort to recommend waiting for trade paperback collections of series. Bigfoot is testing my resolve in that department, I honestly feel that it will likely read it's best in one sitting instead of divided up. I suppose it may have a lot to do with the successful evocation of horror movie style. I wouldn't watch a movie in four half hour segments, and I'd prefer to digest Bigfoot in one big chunk. That's not a knock against the book, it's just a suggestion to achieve maximum enjoyment. |
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| Mora #1 (Image) |
[Mar. 19th, 2005|04:53 pm] |
Written and Drawn by Paul Harmon
I feel sad that many people may take a quick glance at Mora and mentally relegate it to the endless stream of so-called "goth comics" that litter up the stands of many comics shops. It's much more than that, and although it might superficially resemble the glut of post-Vasquez cutesy gloomy books, it's got a lot more to it than that. It's clear from his little afterword that creator Paul Harmon has poured his heart and soul into the creation of this book, and the effort has something substantial and very pretty to show for it.
Mora is one of those timeless faerie tale sorts of stories, set in an indeterminate time and vague sort of place. Narrated by the somewhat worse for wear duo of Rabbit and Tortoise. Through their narration, we see the birth of Mora, Anandra and an as yet unnamed Lion cub, all whom are tied together by some greater destiny. That's of course pretty vague at this point... so suffice to say that things are pointing to Mora being some kind of witch, and that she can see little gnome creatures that escape the gaze of her neglectful parents. As much as this might sound a little, well airy-fairy there's also a very genuine wry humour and palpable darkness to the proceedings. Harmon has done an excellent job establishing the tone for Mora in one short issue that he can flow naturally from a lighter more fable-ish feel to a sinister scary one. The birth of the young Lion's lust for blood and the horrible transformation of the Owlen-Man are both excellent examples of how fluidly the change can take place. Strong storytelling is the key to be sure, and Harmon's writing and art in that regard are quite seamless. Being a writer/artist means being able to play to your own strengths, but one gets the impression that Paul is not satisfied making things easy on himself, he wants a challenge. That all goes back to how much work he's obviously put into this comic. Any minor problems I had with the lettering and spelling are easily dismissed by the sheer enthusiasm inherent in this project. Labours of love can be self-indulgent and impenetrable to the outsider but Mr. Harmon has managed to balance his own love for what he's doing with accessibility. I'd compare it to Scott Morse's Soulwind, in that it presents it's own fantasy world, childlike and adult at the same time.
I'm happy to recommend Mora to anyone interested in something a little funny, a little dark and a a little fantastical. I'm sure fans of Tim Burton will find it an enjoyable read, but beyond that it has a lot of appeal for those of us looking for bright new creators to follow. Harmon has set himself up quite nicely, I hope to see his efforts rewarded. Anyone willing to dedicate this much to comics deserves it. |
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