TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
Mudman #2 was a good issue, tight and brisk, allowing for us to find out a little info on the people in the house from issue #1. I do like the dry humor on display here, as the villains screw it up themselves
by thinking a cop was on to them being robbers when he just wanted to ask about the graffiti he saw
.
It also has one of the weirdest celebrations from a new hero's debut, where it's both embarrassment for the reader yet joy for Mudman himself, good stuff.
This issue of Mudman was more what I expected from Grist. The first felt a bit tame and by-the-numbers, I thought. Issue #2 feels more experimental and interesting, spending the whole issue focusing on a pair of nitwit criminals, each oafish in their own way. We really only get a bit of the titular Mudman, and it's all right at the end.
I also enjoyed the back-matter, which had Grist talking about logo design, and showing off a few of the ones he ultimately rejected. I always like creative process junk like that.
TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
I think I'm done with PIGS now. #5 was just too much of the same, almost Millar levels of violence. It almost feels like Cosby is taking out all this aggression he built up editing the kids books at Marvel and putting it in this book. And the main characters just aren't that interesting, and feel interchangeable. #1 had a great ending, 2 and 3 were fine, 4 went overboard again and tried to have another twist ending that wasn't that good, and here we are.
I think Pigs could have been better, with a different artist. Cosby seems to want to write something a bit crazy and irreverent, but his artist is a Michael Lark/Alex Maleev kind of guy, who's unable to convey that tone. Look at the covers by Amanda Conner or Humberto Ramos. They make the book look like kind of a fun, crazy action book, the kind of thing I'd want to read.
The same way I think Chew wouldn't be as good if someone like Guillory wasn't drawing it, I think Pigs could be better if it had a different artist, someone able to add more character and dynamism to the pages. Of course, I only read two issues, so what do I know?
In indie comics news, Luther Strode #4 had a big revelation this month, along with a cliffhanger that actually surprised me.
Heart #3 was a bit uneven in terms of pacing, but the abruptness actually kind of worked, in setting the main character up for a fall you didn't see coming.
Oh, and the art's just as fantastic as ever. Tradd Moore's hyper-kinetic art's just wonderful, especially for a fight-heavy comic like this. But, he's also displays a real flair for facial expressions and character acting, which sells both the horror and humor. I'd be really surprised if someone from Marvel doesn't try to snatch him up in the next year or so. Seriously, check out this dude's Fin Fang Foom. Pair this guy with Rick Remender, and you'd have mad comics gold.
Meanwhile, Kevin Mellon's art on Heart shows an almost Sean Murphy-level ability to display complex forms and textures, through a variety of inking methods. It's rougher, sloppier than Murphy's work, but there's a similar level of facility. There's pen, brush, white-out, spatter effects, dry brush, and I'm not sure, but I think the dude's using his fingerprints on some of the pages.
And Gredavin's Peter Panzerfaust #1 debuts nicely, although it really does end on the weirdest note with nothing saying it's the end of the issue.
Glad I'm not the only one who felt this way. I hit that last page, saw the preview for Riley Rossmo's new book, and then flipped past the preview to make sure there weren't more story pages following it.
Overall, PP's a pretty solid book; the concept has a ton of potential, Tyler Jenkins' linework is mostly solid, with a few hiccups here and there, and Peter comes across as a pretty fun character.
That said, I did have some issues with it.
1) The weak ending. I don't know if the, "Ahrooo!" cry was a big thing in the original Peter Pan. I remember the Lost Boys in the movie Hook shouting some kind of warcry, so maybe it's a big part of the mythos. But for a layman like me, it just seemed kind of anti-climactic. I don't think you need a big, "To be continued!" at the end of a book, but you do need some kind of exclamation point.
2) I actually think the image of Peter 'flying' could have been a great endcap, or even a reveal for later in the series. As is, sandwiched into the middle of the book as it is, it kind of feels like Wiebe blew his wad early. When people think Peter Pan, they think of a kid flying around. It's the thing about Peter Pan that everyone knows about. That moment should be saved for a special occasion, not just jumping from one building to another, in a relatively minor scene.
3) The coloring really hurt this book. Don't get me wrong, the technique's fine, actually reminding me a bit of Frank Martin and Kev Walker's collaboration on Thunderbolts; it's that mix of cartoony linework, and a smooth, painterly color job.
But the palette's just really, really boring. It's all brown, grey, and a bit of dirty yellow. But, none of it goes to convey any kind of mood or atmosphere, things are just colored as the color they're meant to be.
Look at the first appearance of Peter in the book, standing amid wreckage with a cocky grin and windswept hair. Or the page where he flies. These should be the two big turning point moments in the book, where a bit of color and brightness are allowed to enter this grey, sullen world. Instead, it's a brown guy against a grey background, like much of the rest of the book. Nothing about the coloring says it's important.
Heck, throw some bright red on that last page, something that says, "Yeah, it's war, bitches!" and I think it'd solve that problem of the anticlimactic ending. It'd be a visual cue that promises some action in the next installment.
Look at the cover of the book, even. It's really striking; you've got a lot of white, a red plume of smoke, and some olive green hinting at the Peter Pan connection. This book needs more of that, and less brown guys with brown hair in brown clothes against a grey background.
I'm not trying to come down on it too hard, because I did enjoy it. But, some of it just feels a bit poorly put together. Still, congrats to Wiebe, because I just saw it's going into a second printing.
Also out this week, was Glory #23 (aka #1), from Ross Campbell and Joe Keatinge. I don't have much to say about the art or dialogue; I've always enjoyed Campbell's art, and this is no different. He draws a lot of really diverse characters, with nobody sharing the same body type. His Glory looks powerful, like she could break Jim Lee's twiggy Wonder Woman over her knee, but still feminine. And his page layouts are simple and no-nonsense, conveying all the information you need, in a clear manner.
Meanwhile, Keatinge's dialogue is just as diverse as Campbell's art. No two characters talk the same; Glory is straightforward and no-nonsense, Gloria West's words drip with melancholy, and audience viewpoint character Riley is the kind of spunky, alt girl that Campbell draws so well.
The plot and overall construction of the issue, is where things begin to break down.
To be honest, the issue just suffers from trying to do too much, too soon. In the course of 24 pages, we 1) see Glory's origin as the offspring of demons and Amazonian warriors 2) observe her leaving her homeland to become Golden Age, Nazi-slappin' Wonder Woman 3) meet Riley, who dreams of the missing-and-presumed-dead Glory's adventures 4) have an interlude where glory repeats her origin to Supreme 5) see Riley travel the world in search of Glory, just to write her thesis 6) see Glory leave her homeland again, this time to live as a human 7) meet Gloria West, who was apparently the Donald Blake to Glory's Thor and 8) finally meet present-day Glory, who's unconscious and in a coma.
And there's some monster-punching sprinkled in there, as well as view of Golden, Silver, and 90's Age Glory, in the form of dream sequences.
It seems like Keatinge was way too preoccupied with telling us who Glory is, through a whole bunch of flashbacks and exposition, rather than just telling a really compelling story. I mean, you could probably lose half the stuff in this issue, play up the whole dreaming-Riley/missing-Glory connection a lot more, and have a much stronger issue. In particular, Gloria's whole story just seems like a pointless echo to Riley's, which could have been covered in a later issue, to show Riley the danger of pursuing Glory.
Again, I don't want to make it sound like I didn't like the issue. When one of my biggest complaints is that it's too dense, that's a pretty good problem to have. But, it was just weighted too heavily in favor of setup, than storytelling. I'm hopeful that, with the exposition out of the way, Keatinge and Campbell can really get into the meat of things with the next issue.
Just finished Astro City: Life in the Big City and Habibi. Astro City was not what I'd hoped. Habibi, on the other hand, is accomplished at a level that - even after reading it - is hard to imagine. Unbelievable book.
Just finished Astro City: Life in the Big City and Habibi. Astro City was not what I'd hoped. Habibi, on the other hand, is accomplished at a level that - even after reading it - is hard to imagine. Unbelievable book.
I just started reading Habibi. It's amazing. I was all set for disappointment because I love Blankets so much. But so far, Habibi is living up to everyone's praise. At the very least, you can tell how much time and effort Craig Thompson put into it.
TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
Manhattan Projects #1 was a really, really good read, a comic hasn't surprised me like this since Snyder's first Detective issues.
The story flows nice and clean, and it really has fun with the idea of the US and Japan stocking up on scientists and far out discoveries to wage war. And it has these out of the blue bizarre concepts that don't feel fake or forced because it's trying to appeal to comic fans and being absurd to be cool, etc. Where the US uses science to pull fictional artifacts out of spacetime and is trying to create AI, the Japanese use zen and Buddhists to fight us, and Soichiro Honda creates gas powered robot samurai. Oppenheimer works, and in the first issue you get the implications of the cover and the book's tagline, which I liked.
Pitarra's art is really nice too, almost like Burnham's style. Easy to follow, enough caricature in human bodies to go with the absurd elements of the story, but not enough to take away from the drama.
Where as SHIELD was something you had to read all at once to almost understand where Hickman wanted to go with the story, this seems much more refined.
Just typing about it now, I think this is easily in the best issue of the year category for me so far.
The best part about Manhattan Projects, to me, is how Hickman and Pitarra just embrace the over-the-top level of insanity and run with it, playing it completely straight. All the insanity is just normal, and somehow that makes it all the better. Cannot wait for more of this book.
While the hook is definitely more like SHIELD, it does feel like Hickman's other indie books. Has the same feeling of throwing you right in and hoping you can keep up that Red Wing had.
Man, I really wish I had the money to pick up Hickman's Test Patterns. Comixology has been helping me burn through all my spare cash lately, so I'm gonna have to wait on it.
For some reason I would expect @Munch to be into Francavilla's upcoming Black Beetle stories in Dark Horse Presents.
Crimsondude on
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
Wow, Saga #1 was a real let down. I would say it's the most out there of Vaughn's work I've read so far, dating back to Swamp Thing, but there are things about it that just don't feel right. I don't want to call it this but I don't know any other word after reading it, but it kind of feels like a hipster space comic. Let me explain:
I like the general idea of the story, how it's a war that has dragged on for no real reason and everyone chose a side, and the daughter's ongoing narration is the highpoint of the issue, yet at the same time Marko and Alana are just not interesting at all and rather annoying. Marko in particular
as he's this rather beta male soldier who swore he'll never unsheath his sword again, no matter what, even using his teeth to cut the umbilical cord. If you aren't going to use your sword (more like a knife) for common things needed to survive, just throw the sword away then, right?
There was only one character I thought interesting, The Will, mainly because he has a pet sidekick.
And there's so many little twitches that try to connect to our world that fall flat, like an app on a cellphone screwing up with auto update, or a very out of place, almost obnoxious analogies to circumcision and gun statistics. BKV has always had a habit of putting in useless facts in his stories, from every series he's worked on, and they're usually fine because it's one line that connects to the story being told, and you move on. Here, because it's not an earth setting, it seems like he tried to sneak these in any way he could, and it doesn't make the world he created any more detailed, it just creates a break in the suspension of disbelief you allow for the comic.
The art is fine, good character faces but a bit boring and weak in places, particularly a big double page splash reveal in the end that doesn't look that impressive for what it was supposed to lead to, only after reading later pages did I get why it was supposed to be a big thing, because the art just didn't sell it.
The general feeling of the book is this nihilistic "gee, our universe sucks, oh well" that just doesn't click with me. And there's so many things that feel unnecessary (there's some pointless T&A for what feels like just showing rude alien titties) and rather lazy. It's a new world, yet it borrows a lot in terms of what we know from our world. There's alligator people who look just like a gator, no real changes, a Wizard of Oz monkey people, and a race of robots that seriously look like Awesome Andy. They don't change enough to fit into this world, so it feels like a grab bag of things from other fiction put in here just to make you think "wow, that's so wacky and weird, therefore it has to be cool."
I don't know, I wanted to love the book, as I've liked pretty much everything else BKV has written, and you get a good value for your money for $3 and 44 pages of story, it just wasn't that good.
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AriviaI Like A ChallengeEarth-1Registered Userregular
Okay, sell me on Womanthology. The concept is really cool, I guess I'm just worried I might not like any of it/it might suck.
Wow, Saga #1 was a real let down. I would say it's the most out there of Vaughn's work I've read so far, dating back to Swamp Thing, but there are things about it that just don't feel right. I don't want to call it this but I don't know any other word after reading it, but it kind of feels like a hipster space comic. Let me explain:
I like the general idea of the story, how it's a war that has dragged on for no real reason and everyone chose a side, and the daughter's ongoing narration is the highpoint of the issue, yet at the same time Marko and Alana are just not interesting at all and rather annoying. Marko in particular
as he's this rather beta male soldier who swore he'll never unsheath his sword again, no matter what, even using his teeth to cut the umbilical cord. If you aren't going to use your sword (more like a knife) for common things needed to survive, just throw the sword away then, right?
There was only one character I thought interesting, The Will, mainly because he has a pet sidekick.
And there's so many little twitches that try to connect to our world that fall flat, like an app on a cellphone screwing up with auto update, or a very out of place, almost obnoxious analogies to circumcision and gun statistics. BKV has always had a habit of putting in useless facts in his stories, from every series he's worked on, and they're usually fine because it's one line that connects to the story being told, and you move on. Here, because it's not an earth setting, it seems like he tried to sneak these in any way he could, and it doesn't make the world he created any more detailed, it just creates a break in the suspension of disbelief you allow for the comic.
The art is fine, good character faces but a bit boring and weak in places, particularly a big double page splash reveal in the end that doesn't look that impressive for what it was supposed to lead to, only after reading later pages did I get why it was supposed to be a big thing, because the art just didn't sell it.
The general feeling of the book is this nihilistic "gee, our universe sucks, oh well" that just doesn't click with me. And there's so many things that feel unnecessary (there's some pointless T&A for what feels like just showing rude alien titties) and rather lazy. It's a new world, yet it borrows a lot in terms of what we know from our world. There's alligator people who look just like a gator, no real changes, a Wizard of Oz monkey people, and a race of robots that seriously look like Awesome Andy. They don't change enough to fit into this world, so it feels like a grab bag of things from other fiction put in here just to make you think "wow, that's so wacky and weird, therefore it has to be cool."
I don't know, I wanted to love the book, as I've liked pretty much everything else BKV has written, and you get a good value for your money for $3 and 44 pages of story, it just wasn't that good.
I agree with a lot of your points, but still think that I overall liked the book enough for me to pick up the next issue. But that's also because I think for the amount of pages, along with the creators and hype, this could have been a 4 dollar book but wasn't, so I want to support that.
I'm wondering which scene you found to have the pointless T&A. Is it the
breastfeeding scene?
Cause that also struck me as unnecessary, seeing as there's a whole panel just devoted to a close up of her breast. I wouldn't be surprised if it was added after the whole thing where a blogger made a big deal of the cover.
Like I said in the MOTW thread, my biggest issue is how BKV decided for everyone to speak modern, almost pop infused modern language. I'm wondering why he did it.
And the whole grease monkey thing felt fucking lazy and lame.
TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
Not only that scene, noir blood, but the
way the robot sex scene was shown/drawn felt a little ridiculous. Compared to the nudity in Y The Last Man, this felt much more juvenile I guess. Oh look people who have robot heads doing it, yeah that's cool. It didn't even really get the point across that the guy was having problems because he had just come back from a long deployment, and that the tv screen going white then a rhino horn was the crux of the scene, being played for a joke.
It just felt like a scene where if drawn better, or framed differently, it wouldn't be out of place.
Ya I'll stick with it as well, but definitely wasn't omg BKV I was hoping for, hopefully it's just a first arc finding it's footing type thing, and we'll look back around issue 30-40 and go , oh ya I see why now.
I do agree both with the
Breastfeeding Scene/Robot sex scene both feeling forced , as Texi said, Rude Alien Titties. The pop culture references as well , feel really out of place, a fringe universe in a multi cultural universe, so of course they have iPhone Apps? wtf!
I think I'm done with Conan. Cloonan's art is beautiful, but there's something that just feels off about the whole book. There's a dry, stiffness about it. Every page is bogged down by Wood's narration, which explains in painful detail all the things we're seeing happen on the page, and all the characters talk with the same abrupt, clipped voice. It's a shame, because Cloonan's drawing Conan with a ton of character, and none of that's coming through in the writing, at all.
Glory was again too heavy on the exposition, telling us more about Glory's past, than explaining why we should care about her present. And unfortunately, the past stuff isn't terribly interesting, nor is the big last page twist reveal. But, there is some fun stuff in there; Campbell draws excellent gore-soaked mayhem, and the reveal of Glory's "Batcave" is pretty cool. I'd like more plot movement here, but the art, dialogue, and general tone are enough to keep me on board for now.
The conclusion of The Strange Talent of Luther Strode kind of soured me on the whole book, which I'd been greatly enjoying up to this point. An admittedly cool fight scene, stretched over the majority of the book, it's certainly a lot of fun to look at. But, the plot goes in the least interesting direction I could imagine, essentially burning down everything interesting that the past five issues had built.
I want to go back and read the whole thing in one sitting, to better appraise it. But right now, I'd say it was a pretty interesting story, that didn't move the plot as much as it should have, and ultimately ended in a way that closes more plot doors than it opens.
That said, the creative team did make a cool choice, as far as the big, last-page reveal.
Pretty sure I'm done with Haunt, too. I'm not sure why Joe Casey thinks I want to read about Jeff Bridge's the Dude, wildly out of character versions of the character's I'd followed for eighteen issues, and tepid retreads of stories the previous creative team already did, but I don't. Nathan Fox's art is wonderful (though not present for most of this issue), but this direction just isn't working for me. I can't even remember what the past three issues were really about, in terms of the villains' motivations. It's all just a bunch of white noise.
Thief of Thieves is shaping up to be really interesting, even if it reads like an attempt by Kirkman to get another TV show made. Shawn Martinbrough's art is gorgeous and slick, offering something different from the gritty noir stylings of your Maleevs, Larks, and Phillipses. The characters quip back and forth in a way that's really fun and engaging, the featured heist in the book has a cute payoff, and the whole thing's just a fun take on the espionage/crime genre.
Again though, and this is becoming a common refrain; there's not enough plot movement in the book. This is the time when Kirkman and Spencer should be doing their best to hook the reader with some kind of longterm plot, and show that they have a plan for this story, not spending pages on flashbacks and failed romances.
Peter Panzerfaust built nicely on the previous issue. The kids are all starting to differentiate themselves from one another, a few characters get cool action moments, and the issue had a clear plot and motivation for the characters, which was resolved, while still driving the larger story forward.
If I had one complaint, it'd be that enough thought didn't go into designing the characters. Given the rather large cast, Jenkins' minimalist style, the muddy color palette, and the chaotic nature of the story, it's pretty hard to tell anyone apart.
The only two that are immediately recognizable, are the titular Peter, and the curly-haired Julien.
So, not really a super-great week for me and comics. A lot of these books are only on their second issues though, so I'm willing to give them some breathing time, to see if they can build on their strengths.
It's on my list of stuff to buy, but you can look at some previews at their Tumblr.
It counts Ming Doyle, Colleen Doran, Stephanie Buscema, Jill Thompson, Kelly Turnbull, Fiona Staples, and a bunch more among its many contributors though, and I'd buy it for those creators alone.
Personally, I'm not a huge fan of the colors in the preview pages. After seeing the Scott Pilgrim movie, these colors actually look pretty drab and unremarkable. And I've enjoyed Fairbairn's coloring in the past, most notably on the Starlord mini-series.
But, something about these pages just isn't clicking for me.
AriviaI Like A ChallengeEarth-1Registered Userregular
yeah, that's just lacking. Especially in the fight scene in the end, stuff won't pop as well, which has huge potential problems down the line in #5 and #6.
yeah, that's just lacking. Especially in the fight scene in the end, stuff won't pop as well, which has huge potential problems down the line in #5 and #6.
Unless the comics industry is the one industry that doesn't go in for April Fools related shenanigans, I don't know if I'd put too much faith in any news stories that come out this weekend.
Just saying...
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AriviaI Like A ChallengeEarth-1Registered Userregular
yeah, that's just lacking. Especially in the fight scene in the end, stuff won't pop as well, which has huge potential problems down the line in #5 and #6.
Unless the comics industry is the one industry that doesn't go in for April Fools related shenanigans, I don't know if I'd put too much faith in any news stories that come out this weekend.
Just saying...
It's from the 30th, and was publicly announced at a convention. I think it's pretty legit.
The thing is, Steve Buccellato did an amazing job on volume four, coloring the prologue. I'm assuming there's a reason he wasn't brought back, but his colors definitely looked "right" to me, whereas Fairbairn's immediately put me off.
Oh man, Stokoe art! I will have to feast on that for several months, I guess. That guy is probably my favorite artist in the history of comics, but man is he slow or does he just pick slow writers or is it both?
Fairbairn did the colors for the Rocket Raccoon and Groot backups in Earthfall, but he also did the colors for Mystic. The cosmic ones seemed fine, but Mystic was flat as a board (and then the trade was apparently FUBAR in printing). So I get what you're saying. Looking at his work on Swamp Thing and Batman Inc. compared to these previews is disappointing, but pretty clear that he works best with very detailed pencils and/or inks.
Oh man, Stokoe art! I will have to feast on that for several months, I guess. That guy is probably my favorite artist in the history of comics, but man is he slow or does he just pick slow writers or is it both?
Well, he writes, draws, inks, hand-letters, and colors his own stuff.
And when you look at how detailed his work is, it's not hard to see why it takes him a while. Apparently he's still very fast, though, and is sitting on a pretty huge body of unpublished work. It's been mentioned that he has a few completed graphic novels, just sitting on his hard drive.
Oh man, Stokoe art! I will have to feast on that for several months, I guess. That guy is probably my favorite artist in the history of comics, but man is he slow or does he just pick slow writers or is it both?
Well, he writes, draws, inks, hand-letters, and colors his own stuff.
And when you look at how detailed his work is, it's not hard to see why it takes him a while. Apparently he's still very fast, though, and is sitting on a pretty huge body of unpublished work. It's been mentioned that he has a few completed graphic novels, just sitting on his hard drive.
I keep reading that, but I keep waiting for more stuff! Brandon Graham mentioned in one of his updates that Stokoe pretty much draws constantly when he is awake, and I get the feeling a lot of is super awesome "fan" art that is just waiting for the OK to be published in some anthology or for someone to see it and support it, such as the Galactus and Silver Surfer thing that showed up in Strange Tales, those two or three things with the weird alien demon dudes that eventually sort of showed up with printing errors in Popgun, his Godzilla stuff that was pretty much a pitch which has now been picked up, Spider-nam which is waiting to be spotted for the next Strange Tales...
I want more!
Did any of you guys get Sharknife Double Z, aka Sharknife volume 2? I ordered King City and SHIELD for this month's purchases, so maybe next month. I was in sort of a perfect place to love the shit out of Sharknife 1 when I got a hold of it in... 2004? 2005? I was playing a lot of video games that involved awesome dudes killing awesome monsters (Ninja Gaiden on xbox, Devil May Cry, etc) and watching Kamen Rider and Super Sentai and working on a thing that was pretty much Ninja Gaiden + Blade + Kamen Rider + FUCK THE POLICE
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AriviaI Like A ChallengeEarth-1Registered Userregular
So, responses to indie stuff today:
Fatale #4 is really setting into a good place. I'm really enjoying the Lovecraftian twist - not of unknowable horrors but instead wheels within wheels within wheels of endlessly horrific cults and their repercussions for people. Fun times!
Danger Club #1 didn't really do anything for me, though. The basic concept's interesting, but none of the characters clicked with me. There were some fun twists (Yoshimi, for example), but there's no overall verve or spark that makes it stand out. I think I'll be passing on future issues, just because I don't really care about what happens to any of these people.
I thought Danger Club actually took a pretty interesting tack, by resolving a plot that would normally be dragged out over an entire mini-series, in one issue.
The heroes show up, tell their turn-coat, ego-maniacal Superboy Prime that they've had enough of his shit, and proceed to ruin him beyond repair. That's when the actual plot of the story is exposed; not that the protagonists have to depose a super-powered Prince Joffrey, but that they have to get him out of the way, so they can absorb his followers into their fold, and deal with the real threat bearing down on them.
It seriously surprised me, which almost never happens nowadays.
I agree with your criticism of the characters, but at the same time, I think it's clear that the creators were using archetypes, to express who these characters are, without having to devote a lot of exposition to it.
I mean, they're mini-Nick Fury, Robin, a kid with a magic wand, and a Japanese Janet van Dyne, who also pilots a giant mecha. At this point in the story, that's all the exposition required. Now, they can devote some time to showing how these characters are different, and more nuanced.
King City is really, really good. The trade is really nicely done. And you can see Brandon improve a little with each issue.
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
America's Got Powers #1 was just boring and derivative. It leans heavily on Hunger Games, along with the reality TV idea, and Hitch's art was really rough and had some meaningless cross hatching in spots, almost to distract you from faces and eyes not looking correct. You get 30 something pages, but there's very little meat in the story, which mainly comes from the first few pages establishing how so many people got powers.
It also has an evil senator who looks like Sarah Palin, woweee. How original, totally edgy, and not dated at all! There was even a completely unnecessary jab at her son, where the senator is talking about taking over the AGP show with an Army General (because they're evil, see, and want to kill them off), and she has these brainless slaves waiting on her and she goes "I'm happy with my little no-brainer right here," empahsis on the bold was in the comic itself, along with how the panel makes it look like she's looking at a child. It's one of those scenes that just makes Ross come across like an ass.
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It also has one of the weirdest celebrations from a new hero's debut, where it's both embarrassment for the reader yet joy for Mudman himself, good stuff.
I also enjoyed the back-matter, which had Grist talking about logo design, and showing off a few of the ones he ultimately rejected. I always like creative process junk like that.
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The same way I think Chew wouldn't be as good if someone like Guillory wasn't drawing it, I think Pigs could be better if it had a different artist, someone able to add more character and dynamism to the pages. Of course, I only read two issues, so what do I know?
In indie comics news, Luther Strode #4 had a big revelation this month, along with a cliffhanger that actually surprised me.
Heart #3 was a bit uneven in terms of pacing, but the abruptness actually kind of worked, in setting the main character up for a fall you didn't see coming.
Oh, and the art's just as fantastic as ever. Tradd Moore's hyper-kinetic art's just wonderful, especially for a fight-heavy comic like this. But, he's also displays a real flair for facial expressions and character acting, which sells both the horror and humor. I'd be really surprised if someone from Marvel doesn't try to snatch him up in the next year or so. Seriously, check out this dude's Fin Fang Foom. Pair this guy with Rick Remender, and you'd have mad comics gold.
Meanwhile, Kevin Mellon's art on Heart shows an almost Sean Murphy-level ability to display complex forms and textures, through a variety of inking methods. It's rougher, sloppier than Murphy's work, but there's a similar level of facility. There's pen, brush, white-out, spatter effects, dry brush, and I'm not sure, but I think the dude's using his fingerprints on some of the pages.
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I recommend The Activity, which is a great espionage book.
it isn't really "indie" but it is Dark Horse so I am putting it here
buy it
Glad I'm not the only one who felt this way. I hit that last page, saw the preview for Riley Rossmo's new book, and then flipped past the preview to make sure there weren't more story pages following it.
Overall, PP's a pretty solid book; the concept has a ton of potential, Tyler Jenkins' linework is mostly solid, with a few hiccups here and there, and Peter comes across as a pretty fun character.
That said, I did have some issues with it.
2) I actually think the image of Peter 'flying' could have been a great endcap, or even a reveal for later in the series. As is, sandwiched into the middle of the book as it is, it kind of feels like Wiebe blew his wad early. When people think Peter Pan, they think of a kid flying around. It's the thing about Peter Pan that everyone knows about. That moment should be saved for a special occasion, not just jumping from one building to another, in a relatively minor scene.
3) The coloring really hurt this book. Don't get me wrong, the technique's fine, actually reminding me a bit of Frank Martin and Kev Walker's collaboration on Thunderbolts; it's that mix of cartoony linework, and a smooth, painterly color job.
But the palette's just really, really boring. It's all brown, grey, and a bit of dirty yellow. But, none of it goes to convey any kind of mood or atmosphere, things are just colored as the color they're meant to be.
Look at the first appearance of Peter in the book, standing amid wreckage with a cocky grin and windswept hair. Or the page where he flies. These should be the two big turning point moments in the book, where a bit of color and brightness are allowed to enter this grey, sullen world. Instead, it's a brown guy against a grey background, like much of the rest of the book. Nothing about the coloring says it's important.
Heck, throw some bright red on that last page, something that says, "Yeah, it's war, bitches!" and I think it'd solve that problem of the anticlimactic ending. It'd be a visual cue that promises some action in the next installment.
Look at the cover of the book, even. It's really striking; you've got a lot of white, a red plume of smoke, and some olive green hinting at the Peter Pan connection. This book needs more of that, and less brown guys with brown hair in brown clothes against a grey background.
I'm not trying to come down on it too hard, because I did enjoy it. But, some of it just feels a bit poorly put together. Still, congrats to Wiebe, because I just saw it's going into a second printing.
Also out this week, was Glory #23 (aka #1), from Ross Campbell and Joe Keatinge. I don't have much to say about the art or dialogue; I've always enjoyed Campbell's art, and this is no different. He draws a lot of really diverse characters, with nobody sharing the same body type. His Glory looks powerful, like she could break Jim Lee's twiggy Wonder Woman over her knee, but still feminine. And his page layouts are simple and no-nonsense, conveying all the information you need, in a clear manner.
Meanwhile, Keatinge's dialogue is just as diverse as Campbell's art. No two characters talk the same; Glory is straightforward and no-nonsense, Gloria West's words drip with melancholy, and audience viewpoint character Riley is the kind of spunky, alt girl that Campbell draws so well.
The plot and overall construction of the issue, is where things begin to break down.
And there's some monster-punching sprinkled in there, as well as view of Golden, Silver, and 90's Age Glory, in the form of dream sequences.
It seems like Keatinge was way too preoccupied with telling us who Glory is, through a whole bunch of flashbacks and exposition, rather than just telling a really compelling story. I mean, you could probably lose half the stuff in this issue, play up the whole dreaming-Riley/missing-Glory connection a lot more, and have a much stronger issue. In particular, Gloria's whole story just seems like a pointless echo to Riley's, which could have been covered in a later issue, to show Riley the danger of pursuing Glory.
Again, I don't want to make it sound like I didn't like the issue. When one of my biggest complaints is that it's too dense, that's a pretty good problem to have. But, it was just weighted too heavily in favor of setup, than storytelling. I'm hopeful that, with the exposition out of the way, Keatinge and Campbell can really get into the meat of things with the next issue.
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@oldmanhero .programming .web comic .everything
I just started reading Habibi. It's amazing. I was all set for disappointment because I love Blankets so much. But so far, Habibi is living up to everyone's praise. At the very least, you can tell how much time and effort Craig Thompson put into it.
The story flows nice and clean, and it really has fun with the idea of the US and Japan stocking up on scientists and far out discoveries to wage war. And it has these out of the blue bizarre concepts that don't feel fake or forced because it's trying to appeal to comic fans and being absurd to be cool, etc. Where the US uses science to pull fictional artifacts out of spacetime and is trying to create AI, the Japanese use zen and Buddhists to fight us, and Soichiro Honda creates gas powered robot samurai. Oppenheimer works, and in the first issue you get the implications of the cover and the book's tagline, which I liked.
Pitarra's art is really nice too, almost like Burnham's style. Easy to follow, enough caricature in human bodies to go with the absurd elements of the story, but not enough to take away from the drama.
Where as SHIELD was something you had to read all at once to almost understand where Hickman wanted to go with the story, this seems much more refined.
Just typing about it now, I think this is easily in the best issue of the year category for me so far.
While the hook is definitely more like SHIELD, it does feel like Hickman's other indie books. Has the same feeling of throwing you right in and hoping you can keep up that Red Wing had.
XBL: JyrenB ; Steam: Jyren ; Twitter
But yeah, it's really fun. A lot of action, cool ideas, humor, drama, great art, and a clever twist at the end.
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I like the general idea of the story, how it's a war that has dragged on for no real reason and everyone chose a side, and the daughter's ongoing narration is the highpoint of the issue, yet at the same time Marko and Alana are just not interesting at all and rather annoying. Marko in particular
And there's so many little twitches that try to connect to our world that fall flat, like an app on a cellphone screwing up with auto update, or a very out of place, almost obnoxious analogies to circumcision and gun statistics. BKV has always had a habit of putting in useless facts in his stories, from every series he's worked on, and they're usually fine because it's one line that connects to the story being told, and you move on. Here, because it's not an earth setting, it seems like he tried to sneak these in any way he could, and it doesn't make the world he created any more detailed, it just creates a break in the suspension of disbelief you allow for the comic.
The art is fine, good character faces but a bit boring and weak in places, particularly a big double page splash reveal in the end that doesn't look that impressive for what it was supposed to lead to, only after reading later pages did I get why it was supposed to be a big thing, because the art just didn't sell it.
The general feeling of the book is this nihilistic "gee, our universe sucks, oh well" that just doesn't click with me. And there's so many things that feel unnecessary (there's some pointless T&A for what feels like just showing rude alien titties) and rather lazy. It's a new world, yet it borrows a lot in terms of what we know from our world. There's alligator people who look just like a gator, no real changes, a Wizard of Oz monkey people, and a race of robots that seriously look like Awesome Andy. They don't change enough to fit into this world, so it feels like a grab bag of things from other fiction put in here just to make you think "wow, that's so wacky and weird, therefore it has to be cool."
I don't know, I wanted to love the book, as I've liked pretty much everything else BKV has written, and you get a good value for your money for $3 and 44 pages of story, it just wasn't that good.
I agree with a lot of your points, but still think that I overall liked the book enough for me to pick up the next issue. But that's also because I think for the amount of pages, along with the creators and hype, this could have been a 4 dollar book but wasn't, so I want to support that.
I'm wondering which scene you found to have the pointless T&A. Is it the
Cause that also struck me as unnecessary, seeing as there's a whole panel just devoted to a close up of her breast. I wouldn't be surprised if it was added after the whole thing where a blogger made a big deal of the cover.
Like I said in the MOTW thread, my biggest issue is how BKV decided for everyone to speak modern, almost pop infused modern language. I'm wondering why he did it.
And the whole grease monkey thing felt fucking lazy and lame.
It just felt like a scene where if drawn better, or framed differently, it wouldn't be out of place.
Ya I'll stick with it as well, but definitely wasn't omg BKV I was hoping for, hopefully it's just a first arc finding it's footing type thing, and we'll look back around issue 30-40 and go , oh ya I see why now.
I do agree both with the
Glory was again too heavy on the exposition, telling us more about Glory's past, than explaining why we should care about her present. And unfortunately, the past stuff isn't terribly interesting, nor is the big last page twist reveal. But, there is some fun stuff in there; Campbell draws excellent gore-soaked mayhem, and the reveal of Glory's "Batcave" is pretty cool. I'd like more plot movement here, but the art, dialogue, and general tone are enough to keep me on board for now.
The conclusion of The Strange Talent of Luther Strode kind of soured me on the whole book, which I'd been greatly enjoying up to this point. An admittedly cool fight scene, stretched over the majority of the book, it's certainly a lot of fun to look at. But, the plot goes in the least interesting direction I could imagine, essentially burning down everything interesting that the past five issues had built.
I want to go back and read the whole thing in one sitting, to better appraise it. But right now, I'd say it was a pretty interesting story, that didn't move the plot as much as it should have, and ultimately ended in a way that closes more plot doors than it opens.
That said, the creative team did make a cool choice, as far as the big, last-page reveal.
Pretty sure I'm done with Haunt, too. I'm not sure why Joe Casey thinks I want to read about Jeff Bridge's the Dude, wildly out of character versions of the character's I'd followed for eighteen issues, and tepid retreads of stories the previous creative team already did, but I don't. Nathan Fox's art is wonderful (though not present for most of this issue), but this direction just isn't working for me. I can't even remember what the past three issues were really about, in terms of the villains' motivations. It's all just a bunch of white noise.
Thief of Thieves is shaping up to be really interesting, even if it reads like an attempt by Kirkman to get another TV show made. Shawn Martinbrough's art is gorgeous and slick, offering something different from the gritty noir stylings of your Maleevs, Larks, and Phillipses. The characters quip back and forth in a way that's really fun and engaging, the featured heist in the book has a cute payoff, and the whole thing's just a fun take on the espionage/crime genre.
Again though, and this is becoming a common refrain; there's not enough plot movement in the book. This is the time when Kirkman and Spencer should be doing their best to hook the reader with some kind of longterm plot, and show that they have a plan for this story, not spending pages on flashbacks and failed romances.
Peter Panzerfaust built nicely on the previous issue. The kids are all starting to differentiate themselves from one another, a few characters get cool action moments, and the issue had a clear plot and motivation for the characters, which was resolved, while still driving the larger story forward.
If I had one complaint, it'd be that enough thought didn't go into designing the characters. Given the rather large cast, Jenkins' minimalist style, the muddy color palette, and the chaotic nature of the story, it's pretty hard to tell anyone apart.
The only two that are immediately recognizable, are the titular Peter, and the curly-haired Julien.
So, not really a super-great week for me and comics. A lot of these books are only on their second issues though, so I'm willing to give them some breathing time, to see if they can build on their strengths.
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It counts Ming Doyle, Colleen Doran, Stephanie Buscema, Jill Thompson, Kelly Turnbull, Fiona Staples, and a bunch more among its many contributors though, and I'd buy it for those creators alone.
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Wow, Sharknife 2. My mind is blown.
Has a very HR Geiger/Shirow feeling to it.
Looks like all the Prophets may be markedly different too, seeing as how this one has a tail.
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Stokoe's a noted fan of Godzilla, and his art's a terrific fit for the property. Can't wait for this.
Additionally, Scott Pilgrim is being re-released, with colors by Nathan Fairbairn.
Personally, I'm not a huge fan of the colors in the preview pages. After seeing the Scott Pilgrim movie, these colors actually look pretty drab and unremarkable. And I've enjoyed Fairbairn's coloring in the past, most notably on the Starlord mini-series.
But, something about these pages just isn't clicking for me.
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Just saying...
It's from the 30th, and was publicly announced at a convention. I think it's pretty legit.
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Well, he writes, draws, inks, hand-letters, and colors his own stuff.
And when you look at how detailed his work is, it's not hard to see why it takes him a while. Apparently he's still very fast, though, and is sitting on a pretty huge body of unpublished work. It's been mentioned that he has a few completed graphic novels, just sitting on his hard drive.
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I keep reading that, but I keep waiting for more stuff! Brandon Graham mentioned in one of his updates that Stokoe pretty much draws constantly when he is awake, and I get the feeling a lot of is super awesome "fan" art that is just waiting for the OK to be published in some anthology or for someone to see it and support it, such as the Galactus and Silver Surfer thing that showed up in Strange Tales, those two or three things with the weird alien demon dudes that eventually sort of showed up with printing errors in Popgun, his Godzilla stuff that was pretty much a pitch which has now been picked up, Spider-nam which is waiting to be spotted for the next Strange Tales...
I want more!
Did any of you guys get Sharknife Double Z, aka Sharknife volume 2? I ordered King City and SHIELD for this month's purchases, so maybe next month. I was in sort of a perfect place to love the shit out of Sharknife 1 when I got a hold of it in... 2004? 2005? I was playing a lot of video games that involved awesome dudes killing awesome monsters (Ninja Gaiden on xbox, Devil May Cry, etc) and watching Kamen Rider and Super Sentai and working on a thing that was pretty much Ninja Gaiden + Blade + Kamen Rider + FUCK THE POLICE
Fatale #4 is really setting into a good place. I'm really enjoying the Lovecraftian twist - not of unknowable horrors but instead wheels within wheels within wheels of endlessly horrific cults and their repercussions for people. Fun times!
Danger Club #1 didn't really do anything for me, though. The basic concept's interesting, but none of the characters clicked with me. There were some fun twists (Yoshimi, for example), but there's no overall verve or spark that makes it stand out. I think I'll be passing on future issues, just because I don't really care about what happens to any of these people.
It seriously surprised me, which almost never happens nowadays.
I agree with your criticism of the characters, but at the same time, I think it's clear that the creators were using archetypes, to express who these characters are, without having to devote a lot of exposition to it.
I mean, they're mini-Nick Fury, Robin, a kid with a magic wand, and a Japanese Janet van Dyne, who also pilots a giant mecha. At this point in the story, that's all the exposition required. Now, they can devote some time to showing how these characters are different, and more nuanced.
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It also has an evil senator who looks like Sarah Palin, woweee. How original, totally edgy, and not dated at all! There was even a completely unnecessary jab at her son, where the senator is talking about taking over the AGP show with an Army General (because they're evil, see, and want to kill them off), and she has these brainless slaves waiting on her and she goes "I'm happy with my little no-brainer right here," empahsis on the bold was in the comic itself, along with how the panel makes it look like she's looking at a child. It's one of those scenes that just makes Ross come across like an ass.