[Zacharie]

Title: Superman - Birthright (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Mark Waid (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Grovel (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

Whether you’re a fan of superheroes or not, chances are you know the background story to Superman. Launched into space from his doomed home planet as a baby, the toddler Superman crash-lands in the tiny farming community of Smallville, where he’s discovered and adopted by the Kent family and named Clark. Taught traditional American family values, he learns to control his super-powers (courtesy of Earth’s reduced gravity) so he can later use them to fight for justice, hiding his real identity behind his bumbling reporter alter-ego. It’s an iconic story that needs little clarification, despite the fact it was constructed over 60 years ago.

Superman: Birthright - SupermanHowever, things are different now and given that the Superman we now read about has aged little, let alone turned into a geriatric 80-year-old, someone obviously decided it was a good time to re-jiggle Superman’s story, bringing his early years into the present day. Enter Mark Waid, perhaps most famous for his imagining of Superman’s future years in Kingdom Come, brought in to modernise the myth. With the help of his talented artists he creates a new basis for Superman that’s based in a modern era, with internet technology and a shorter skirt for Lois Lane.

Fans of the Superman-as-a-teenager TV show Smallville have seen all this before, but it’s worth mentioning that Waid’s version is more true to the original, though he still borrows the concept of Clark and arch-villain Lex Luthor crossing paths as young men. However, there’s little time for teenage romantic interest as this version really picks up from when Clark has left Smallville, only returning for the occasional flashback or spot of home cooking.

Most of the book deals with how America comes to terms with Superman. These aren’t accepting times, and with Luthor trying to twist Superman into a scout for an inter-planetary alien invasion force, the American public take some persuading from Lane and, ironically, Kent in his reporter role, to truly persuade them who is the good guy.

Whether all this was strictly necessary is infinitely debatable, but Waid, Yu and Alanguilan have created a thoroughly enjoyable piece of Superman memorabilia that is at least worthy of the myth. It brings together a number of strands, creates a few more questions in the mean time, but is ultimately a good read that’s mostly respectful of its source while still adding some new twists.

More info:

Written by: Mark Waid
Art by: Leinil Francis Yu, Gerry Alanguilan
Publisher: DC Comics (US), Titan Books (UK)
First published: 2004
Originally published as: Superman: Birthright 1-12

[Zacharie]

Title: Fax from Sarajevo (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Joe Kubert (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: N. Smith (Review 1) and A Customer (Review 2) (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

Review 1 - I heard about this book when it first came out and I simply had to check it out.

Why would a well-known artist like Joe Kubert abandon the hum-drum of fictional comics to produce a full-length journalistic book...? How could he expect it to even sell?

When the Cranberries wrote a song about Sarajevo, comparing the hatred there to that of Northern Ireland, the topic of Joe's book made me sit up and listen. And I am so glad I did. Joe's connection to the subject matter is personal, and I think that this one fact makes this book a classic work of literature in its own time. Despite his bias because of his closeness to the situation, Joe takes the time to present the complexity of the situation in Bosnia with his art and editorial commentary. And for this I am very thankful.

When I traveled to Croatia in 1997, this book gave me an emotional "frame of reference" from which to speak to the people I met, and I was met with passionate affirmations of the fear, frustration, and outrage that the people there were feeling, being threatened by people who hated them, not for political reasons, but for their ancestry or religion.

Imagine: You walk outside one day and suddenly people on the street are drawing lines between people where they never drew them before. They taunt, persecute, even shoot at people who look just like them, went to school with them, and live across the street from them. This is not a phenomenon limited to Bosnians. It's a human phenomenon, and it's happening right now, in the U.S. between narrow-minded Americans and people who they fear for illegitimate reasons.

Kubert succeeds in framing, accurately, how, given the right chain of events, the seeming tight knot of trust and brotherhood in society can quickly unravel.

Review 2 - I mistakenly picked this book up, thinking it was "Safe Area". I had heard about a graphic novel about the atrocities in Sarajevo, but wasn't sure of the title. The story is amazing, but many times I feel like I'm seeing the Hulk or Captain America in the role of the protagonist. There is a gaping lack of realism to the book, primarily in the way the characters are drawn. The subject is dark, but the characters look like they popped out of a Disney film. One reviewer compared this to Maus. This doesn't even come close. Maus is a masterpiece, while this book almost seems like hardly any work or research went into it.

First of all, Maus is in black and white, almost drawn in a woodcut style, to deepen the impact of the story. Art Spiegelman really researched the project, and it shows. He interwove his complicated relationship with his parents and mother's suicide with the Holocaust. He made us see how he was affected by the Holocaust. Kubert is in the States the whole time, reading faxes. He really didn't have any significant role in the story. So, what does this have to do with what happened in Sarajevo?

Then he admittedly took liberties with the dialogue and obviously embellished parts of the story. The admission by the author of improvised dialogue automatically lessens the impact of the story...This project should have been left to its protagonist, Mr. Rustemagic to write and realize. I will be checking out "Safe Area" instead.

I do give the book 2 stars because it, despite its flaws, serves as testimony to a horrifying chapter in world history. For that, the author definitely deserves kudos.

More info:

Creators: Joe Kubert
Editor: Bob Cooper
Designer: Brian Gogolin
Genre: Non-Fiction

[Zacharie]

Title: V for Vendetta (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Alan Moore (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Mark Thwaite 'Review 1) and Lawrance M. Bernabo 'Review 2) (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

Review 1 - V for Vendetta is, like its author's later Watchmen, a landmark in comic-book writing. Alan Moore has led the field in intelligent, politically astute (if slightly paranoid), complex adult comic-book writing since the early 1980s. He began Vendetta back in 1981 and it constituted one of his first attempts (along with the criminally neglected but equally superb Miracleman - by all accounts copyright wrangling continues to prevent this peerless take on the suberhero genre from appearing in a collected/graphic novel form) at writing an ongoing series.

It is 1998 (which was the future back then!) and a Fascist government has taken over the UK. The only blot on its particular landscape is a lone terrorist who is systematically killing all the government personnel associated with a now destroyed secret concentration camp. Codename V is out for vengeance ... and an awful lot more. V feels slightly dated like all past premonitions do. The original series was black and white and that added to the grittiness of the feel while the colouring here in the graphic novel sometimes blurs David Lloyd's fine drawing. But these are small concerns. Skilfully plotted, V is an essential read for all those who love comics and the freedom, as a medium, they allow a writer as skilled as Moore. The graphic novel contains all the V series plus two additional stories concerning V that were originally considered "interludes". This edition also contains an essay from Moore dating from 1983 explaining the creation process. For any comic fan it's a must-have.

Review 2 - It is perhaps simplistic to declare that "V for Vendetta" is Alan Moore's version of George Orwell's "1984." Orwell came up with his "prophetic" title by reversing the last two digits of the year in which he wrote his book. Moore began his story in 1982, picturing a future that was around the corner and setting his tale in then late 1990s in a Britain that had become a fascist state. Moore worked from the assumption that in 1983 the Conservatives would lose the elections and that the Labour Party would remove American missiles from the British Isles, which meant that England would no longer be a target during a nuclear war. In the post-holocaust Britain of the 1990s, Moore posited a Fascist takeover. The title character of V is a one time victim of a concentration camp medical experiment who is now an enigmatic hero wearing a grinning Guy Fawkes mask; Fawkes was one of the conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot that was an attempt to assassinate King James I of England. In the opening chapter V sets his sights on The Voice of Fate, the official voice of the government's propagandistic lies. From that small but significant initial victory, the battle continues.

There is something decidedly "English" about "V for Vendetta," and not simply because of the setting. Moore can talk about Harlan Ellison's "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman" and "Fahrenheit 451" being among the elements he drew upon to create his own brave new world, but it is clear that he owes more to Orwell and Huxley, to Robin Hood and "The Prisoner," than American manifestations of the same impulse to freedom. V is not a superhero, even if the medical experiments have somehow made him more than human. Sometimes we forget that a lot of our heritage, both culturally as well as politically, comes from England, and on one level this work reminds us of our English roots.

It is ironic that Moore tells his story as a graphic novel because traditionally your comic book superhero is essentially a fascist vigilante. However, Moore succeeds in finding the perfect context to turn the traditional approach on its head. Most people have no conception of what is meant by the term "Fascism." They equate the idea with Hitler, although it was coined by Mussolini, and Hitler means Nazis, Anti-Semitism and Concentration Camps. Of course, Moore knows better. Fascism is based on the "struggle" for "order" wherein the ends justify all sorts of means. This dynamic clearly runs counter to the democratic ideals of "liberty" and "property." Historically, then, we are confronted with the monumental irony that although the Fascists lost World War II, the Cold War was on one level the triumph of Fascism, a period where we allowed all sorts of travesties, from the McCarthy witch hunts to Nixon's executive orders in the name of "national security." Moore brings the idea of fascism home. If you cannot recognize it in England's green and pleasant fields then you are never going to recognize it when it walks down Main Street in your hometown, U.S.A. Don't you think you should?

David Lloyd is the artist for the "V for Vendetta" series, although Tony Weare did the art for "Vincent" and some additional art on "Valerie" and "The Vacation." Notice the pattern? All of the chapter headings in each issue begin or at least include the letter "V." Lloyd's peculiar style is particularly well suited to this particular storyline. It is odd and a bit off, just like the world it is depicting. Lloyd, Siobhan Dodds and Steve Whitaker did the coloring, and I give them special mention because there is a carefully constructed style that also fits the mood and tenor of the tale.

More info:

Writer: Alan Moore
Artist: David Lloyd
Pencillers: David Lloyd, Tony Weare
Inkers: David Lloyd, Tony Weare
Letterer: Steve Craddock
Colorists: Steve Whitaker, Siobhan Dodds, David Lloyd
Creators: Alan Moore, David Lloyd
Editors: Karen Berger, Scott Nybakken

[Zacharie]

Title: Crysis (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Richard K. Morgan (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Eric Whitman (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review: Crysis #1

Adapting video games into other media is an endeavor that rarely bears quality fruit and adapting one whose graphics take notice over story like Crysis proves not to buck the trend. It's not that the comic is unreadable. It's just uninteresting. There is nothing to care about about amidst a generic military protagonist and an alien invasion with little sense of scale. The script actually further diminishes the latter with a diatribe about human greed, pollution, etc. being worse than any outside threat. After that, one might wonder if the extraterrestrial occupation isn't some righteous punishment and feel sorry for them once they are blown to bits. There are explosions and action, but it never obtains any type of resonance. In essence, they did adapt everything about a first person shooter leaving out the most vital interactive element. For the most part, these games are given a pass in the story department because the player is in direct control of the main character, which automatically gives it extra weight. Take that away and you get this very basic comic book. Also, there is almost an entire page that consist of the words “Threat Detected” repeated seven times. While the purpose is clearly to convey that many enemies are hidden in the woods, reading the same phrase reiterated ad nauseum gets annoying fast.

The visuals by Peter Bergting are good and it's evident that he could do much more if given more interesting material with which to work. With this issue, he is mainly relegated to presenting fire/explosions in a jungle environment. Like the text mentioned above, it can become redundant. There are some solid bits that get to seep through, such as representations of the depths of human (or American) depravity, which has a visual reference to the classic Uncle Sam “I Want You” poster and shows a good use of page economy. These just aren't able to pull the script out its utter blandness.

More info:

Story: Richard K. Morgan
Art: Peter Bergting & Michale Madsen
Cover: Peter Bergting

[Zacharie]

Title: Punisher MAX: Born (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Garth Ennis (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Dr. Boogie (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

Plot: Capt. Frank Castle has been stationed in a quiet firebase in the heart of Vietnam. The base is facing an impending attack from the Viet Cong, but no one seems concerned about the lax security, rampant drug use, and overall ennui permeating the camp. Will everything be ok?

Review: I had always imagined the character of The Punisher as having been a product of Castle's family being killed by the mob, but writer Garth Ennis paints a different picture in "Borne". Therein, you see that Frank has always been the same cold, calculating guy even as he was a soldier among "friends". On the one hand, I see the point in showing that Castle's mind for strategy and efficiency wasn't something that emerged as a result of becoming The Punisher. At the same time, seeing how brutal and ruthless he could be makes you wonder how the guy could have even gotten himself a family in the first place. I guess what I'm saying is that you can have the guy learning how to be a good soldier in the military, but that doesn't mean you have to make him look like a sociopath (at least not until he puts on that skull t-shirt of his).

Another thing that bugged me was the art for the book. Darick Robertson does some decent work on the whole with the story, but there were a few times when a panel would look just a bit more cartoonish than you would expect from such a serious story. The one instance that sticks out most in my mind is a panel where Castle is shouting to his troops, and it looks like some replaced his lower jaw with one belonging to a crocodile. It was supposed to be a very tense moment, but I just found myself chuckling at the sight. Also, there was another panel where, with his slicked back hair and a brooding look on his face, Frank Castle looked a lot like Christopher Walken. Nothing against Walken, but it was still a strange moment, seeing that on the page.

The thing that bothered me the most about Born was the book's big reveal. The previews talk about a "grim decision" that Castle has to make in order to survive, and though it won't be that unexpected if you read the book from the beginning, it will still come as a surprise to anyone familiar with the Punisher. For me, it was a surprise and a disappointment. I can't really describe it without giving away the big finale, but suffice to say, it casts the rest of The Punisher's adventures in a different light. One that kind of cheapens the character.

Other than, you know, cheapening the character with the ending, the book isn't that bad. It's definitely not my favorite Punisher story, but you could do worse.

More info:

Published by: Marvel Comics
Written by: Garth Ennis
Artist: Darick Robertson

[Zacharie]

Title: Last Day in Vietnam (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Will Eisner (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: A Customer (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

"Last day in Vietnam", the graphic novel by Will Eisner. This book constituted a series of short stories. An anthology. However, peering through the same wavelenght, it is indicative to another denotation-- a collections of short stories gleaned from factual encounters by the author, during those indelible memories of his life of actually in more than one war. The book title, explicitly pinpointing to the feature story that runs from the opening pages & as well endowed with the most abundant pages, with 32-page allotment.

"The last day in Vietnam", the installment, was one of best anthologies played out in this graphic novel, along with the poignant last anthology. This feature was told with a first-person narrative technique. As one of the military authority escorting a press agent, whose whole individual per se, in no way & none anyhow, could be chance upon by the readers, to their war camp. In short, the military man was chattering to akin in front to a virtual hand-held camera. The artwork veritably confirmed this take, clearly depicted this proposition.

Overall, "the last day in Vietnam" feature is a prolific, little short anecdote. Although, I suspect, it is obligatory to re-read the story more than once like I did, to contemplate what the author, Will Eisner, furnishing to say. A slightly suspenseful & chilling effort.

In my perspective, this book is not one of the author best of endeavors. However, the stories constituted here are wholly allegorical in nature, they are symphathetic & relatable in real life. The core genre of these stories are pertinent to war. More than once, Will Eisner was indeed drafted & participated with other novice draftees, as he was hurled into the horizon of war to fight for his mother country.The whole presented here are pleasant, heartwarming, some funny, some tragedic. This book was crafted during the latter years in the 1990's.

The last story is one of the best, if not the best composed here. It was a story of a draftee who was a recidivist of a drunkard, hankering to vault from working a desk job to a full-blown military combatant, one who will actually tread into the wilderness & shall brazenly endures a real-life nightmare amidst with others. His friends, like a clockwork, doggingly showed earnest concern for his person by frequently like a ritual, tearing off his application to shift duty. However, one day his colleague, unfortunately, did not salvaged this inopportune circumstance, thus, their worst fear came to life.

This particular short yarn turned out, surprisingly, a poignant & fulfilling story. They were as well evocative, pleasant & allegorical. It portrayed to us the unrevealed dimensions of war. Superior story.

Will Eisner, one of the pioneers who help shaped the tumultuous maelstrom of the graphic novel industry. His name is a legend in the comicworld. I muse,in my opinion, as a token of appreciation, buying a copy from each one of us like this particular book, shall certainly reciprocated to "the man" whose cinch to become one of the legendary names in the industry for decades to come, as a homage.

The size of the book is appproximately, 8.5" X ll" (width to lengh), virtually commensurating to an oversized graphic novel book. The paper quality is sepia tone (light brown color), good thickness & coarse paper, softcover & inked (drawn) in brown color, 80 pages. Overall, good production quality.

If you will like this book, perhaps you will also love other graphic novels I'm extremely fond of. Such as "To the heart of the storm" by Will Eisner; A Jew in communist Prague vol. 1-3 softcover by Vittorio Giardino; "Age of bronze" by Eric Shanower; "Four women" by Sam Kieth; "Batman: Absolution" by J.M. DeMatteis; "Green Lantern: Willworld" by J.M. DeMatteis.

An astounding book to buy & add to your collections.

Highly recommended !

More info:

Creators: Will Eisner
Editor: Diana Schutz
Designer: Cary Grazzini
Cover Artist: Will Eisner
Publisher: Dark Horse
Genre: Fiction

[Zacharie]

Title: Footnotes in Gaza (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Joe Sacco (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: A. Ross (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

The genre/form known generically as "graphic novels" has exploded across the publishing industry over the last five years or so. While most of this is fiction, there is a rich vein of autobiography, and a few other experiments with history and biography. What Joe Sacco has been doing since well before this trend emerged, is graphic journalism. He is a foreign correspondent, albeit one who works in cartoon panels rather than the pure written or spoken word.

This latest book of his is his biggest and most ambitious. His first book, Palestine, came out around 15 years ago and was an astonishing look at the lives of Palestinian life in the occupied territories and back into the start of the first intifada, with flashbacks to 1948. He then spent some harrowing time in Bosnia in the mid-1990s, resulting in his books Safe Area Goradze and The Fixer, which are vividly raw look at the horrors of that conflict. In 2001, he returned to Gaza with fellow journalist Chris Hedges (War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning), looking into a reported massacre from the time of the 1956 war that he had seen mentioned in another Noam Chomsky's Fateful Triangle. A few lines in a U.N. Report from the era subsequently sparked his interest in another incident in Gaza, so he returned in 2003 to try and track down the truth of that incident and see what role, if any, it played in the collective memory of the town.

What results is a sprawling, complex, multifaceted work that demands attention and engagement from the reader. Broken up into short sections/chapters/scenes of a few pages, it tells the story of the 1956 Suez Crisis, the Khan Younis massacre and "incident" in nearby Rafah at the same time, and Sacco's own contemporary quest to trace survivors of both and record their oral histories, against a background Israeli army destruction of Palestinian houses along the border of Gaza. It's a challenging mix of his own observations, quotes from historical documents, eyewitness accounts, and more -- all of which combine into a sad story of how quickly time can erase the past.

Unfortunately, whether or not you find the book compelling probably depends on your existing views toward Palestinian-Israeli relations. Readers sympathetic to the plight of Palestinians will find in the book yet further evidence of past Israeli atrocities and contemporary Israeli brutality. Readers sympathetic to Israel will seize upon discrepancies in the memories of those recalling events 50 years past, the lack of an irrefutable paper trail, and Sacco's positioning the story from the Palestinian point-of-view, to dismiss the work as a smear job. Of course, neither reading is complete, and part of the whole point of the book is to demonstrate how time takes its toll objective truth.

Personally, I'm not sure what steps Sacco could have taken to placate those demanding the "Israeli side" of the two incidents: perhaps placed a newspaper ad saying "Were you involved in massacring Palestinians in Gaza in 1956? If so, please contact me so I can make your involvement a public part of the historical record." However, it does seem a little odd that he doesn't give the unit numbers or anything like that for the Israeli army forces involved. There are also one or two points in his recreation of the story where some officers and possibly foreigners take steps to mitigate the brutality, and I wished that more archival detective work had been done to try and track down these figures. It's not clear to me whether he tried and the IDF archives just didn't have that material, or what. However, ultimately, it seems pretty clear that some despicable actions were taken against unarmed civilians, including murder. It's telling to me that at the time, a few opposition members in the Knesset attempted to raise inquires into the incidents and were blocked.

Graphically, the book is another Sacco masterpiece -- from detailed facial portraits of those he interviewed, to several stunning two-page spreads of sweeping scope from a raised perspective. The ramshackle feel of the towns and refugee camps of the 1956 period stands in stark visual contrast to hustling, bustling, built-up modern Gaza. Sacco's hand-lettering isn't the easiest to read, and here it's chopped up into so many small boxes that it can be a bit of a chore to read. But this is a minor quibble for a book that is so amazingly immersive. I've lived throughout the Middle East and have been to the West Bank, Gaza, and Israel, and Sacco captures the urban and natural landscape wonderfully. The one disappointment is the cover, which is very bland and doesn't give much of a sense of the contents.

If you have any interest in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or the present-day situation in Gaza, I definitely recommend picking this up and challenging yourself to grapple with it. The format and discursive style offer a different lens on events and issues that will always be controversial. Even if you disagree with the approach or perspective, I think there's a lot of humanity display in the pages, and that alone is worth engaging with.

More info:

Written and illustrated by Joe Sacco

[Zacharie]

Title: Our Cancer Year (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Joyce Brabner and Harvey Pekar (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Bryan Erwine (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

Within the comics world, Harvey Pekar is one of the most famous underground comic artists who chronicled his life in a series of comics and graphic novels called American Splendor. Harvey, who died last year, was a file clerk in a Cleveland area veteran's hospital and his stories were known for bringing to light the life and times of a lower middle class neurotic. To the best of my knowledge, he was a pioneer in the now ubiquitous comic memoir genre and a key figure in getting the American public to accept comic books as a serious art form.

I first became aware of Pekar back in the 80's when he was a semi-regular guest on Late-Night with David Letterman. Because of those TV appearances, I initially thought Pekar was nothing more than an entertaining crank, but over the years I saw enough of his comic book work to get a good sense of Pekar's earnest and innovative work. American Splendor never really appealed to me, but I appreciated what Pekar was doing. I also enjoyed the film version of American Splendor very much.

This past year, I found out that a close relative was diagnosed with cancer. We were lucky that she was was able to get treatment at a world class cancer center, the Cleveland Clinic. As a result, I ended up spending a week in Cleveland and had a lot of idle time on my hands. While taking a trolley tour of the city, my mind flashed back to the film American Splendor, which depicted Harvey's bout of cancer in 1991. Soon after, I ordered Our Cancer Year, Harvey's detailed account of his battle with lymphoma.

"Our Cancer Year" is written by Harvey Pekar and his wife Joyce Brabner, and illustrated by Frank Stack. I think Pekar and Brabner deserve a lot of praise for being so open and honest about a very difficult time in their lives. They effectively convey the pain and brutality associated with cancer. I don't want to reveal private details of my own family's experience, but I will say there were a lot of familiar situations in the book and I found it easy to identify with Harvey and Joyce's pain. I think Harvey and Joyce had a much tougher time, both mentally and physically, with cancer, and I am grateful the book put my family's own struggles in perspective. Anyone dealing with cancer should read this book.

I could see where some reviewers might have complaints about the narrative being rambling and distracting. In their defense, I think the Pekar and Brabner are attempting to chronicle their life as it happened. Their choice to keep the story loose and unfocused is important because it conveys the sense the world around you does not stop just because somebody in your family has cancer.

Despite of my appreciation of the work, I have two major issues with this book. Frank Stack's muddy facial representations convey very little emotion and make it difficult to identify characters. Combined with some odd panel layouts, the artwork frequently took me out of the story. Thank goodness for Pekar's heavy use of dialog and captioning because Stack has a hard time visually conveying a story. In the hands of another artist more familiar with comic illustration, this might have been a truly great book.

My other issue is with the depiction of Joyce's group of online friends, an assorted mix of troubled teens from around the world who come together because of Brabner's work documenting the victims of war. I think they were supposed to provide some sort of metaphor or counter point to Harvey's struggle with cancer. Significant space is used to convey the circumstances of these teens, but aside from the fact that Joyce's interactions with the group were a drain on her time with Harvey, I don't see the point of including them in this story. Harvey's emotional connection with group is never firmly established, and because of that, the closing scene has very little resonance. The emphasis placed on these characters is a distraction that ultimately dilutes the impact of the story in a negative way.

More info:

Writers: Joyce Brabner and Harvey Pekar
Artist: Frank Stack

Publisher:

[Zacharie]

Title: The Bible – Eden (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Dave Elliott (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Graham G. Garrison (Review 1) and Robert Markham (Review 2) (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

Review 1 - Visually stunning, and with text taken straight from the Bible, this book is an amazing read. However, with that said, The Bible: Eden is not a book for everyone. It relies a bit too heavily on the nudity, sexuality, and "intimacy" between Adam & Eve at times. If you are easily offended by such content, it would be best to steer clear from this collection. On the other hand, these instances are presented in such an honest, innocent, and realistic approach, that the content does not seem pornographic.

We get to see the creation, innocence, seduction, and fall of Adam & Even live and in color in the photo-realistic paintings provided in this collection. I would definately recommend to anyone, just bring an open mind to this interpretation of this classic Bible tale.

Review 2 - This stunning take on the Biblical account of the garden of Eden provides a way to make a very familiar story seem incredibly fresh. This account focuses on things less touched upon in other readings, and the implications of the loss of innocence in human relationships, sexuality, and relationship to the world, and in that way brings out some of the rich layers implicit in the tale.

Scott Hampton's art is lush and sumptuous. His rendering of the story is for the most part beautiful to behold. My only real gripe is that his Adam and Eve are white and modeled after very contemporary standards of beauty, instead of subverting the typical anglo representation of Biblical characters and providing a more ethnic, earthy take of Adam and Eve.

It's a shame that this team didn't get to continue their takes on the Biblical stories - there's a bit of a tease towards the end dealing with stories they never got to complete, including a lovely full-page picture of the crucifixion). Highly recommended.

More info:

Writer: Dave Elliott
Script: Scott Hampton
Art: Keith Giffen

[Zacharie]

Title: The Stranded (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Mike Carey (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Nix (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review: The Stranded #1

The Sci Fi Channel is venturing out. No longer satisfied with just lame monster movies on Saturdays and recycled sci-fi flicks from the ’80s and ’90s, they’ve now gone into the comic book business by partnering up with Virgin Comics, which have been responsible for some pretty good comics in the last few years, including John Woo’s “7 Brothers”, which I really liked. The cable channel and Virgin’s latest effort is “The Stranded”, a sci-fi themed comic book series.

“The Stranded” is written by Mike Carey, with art by Siddharth Kotian, and is described as such:

In The Stranded, the first Virgin/SciFi book, five ordinary people must face a terrifying question: What if your entire world – your childhood, your family, all your memories – was a lie? For The Stranded, it’s true; they’re all, secretly, from another world. And now a deadly, otherworldly force has returned to try and kill them, operating through a twisted, altered human called Janus. Their only hope: Tamree, a dark, mysterious woman sent to Earth as their protector. One by one, Tamree must awaken the buried memories of The Stranded – along with their powerful, unique psychic and physical abilities. But even if they can defeat Janus, they must also deal with a deadly threat from one of their own.

The first issue doesn’t waste anytime setting up the premise: a young man is talking to a psychiatrist about a superhero dream he keeps having; moments later, the young man is killed by a mysterious man dressed in very alien-like armor carrying a box that he talks to, and talks back to him. Or, to be precise, seems to be ordering him around.

We also meet Tamree, a woman who is dressed in the same manner as the killer (“alien-ish”). We learn that Tamree is some kind of alien warrior whose job it is to protect a group of alien “sleepers” who doesn’t know they are aliens, but are living on Earth as humans. She has psychic powers, and have been blocking their powers for the right moments (since they’re “sleepers”, I guess they’re either alien invaders or what-have-you; I guess we’ll find out in future issues).

The thrust of the first issue is meeting Tamree and getting a “feel” for her job — which is to protect all these disparate humans that are actually aliens with superpowers, only they don’t know it. In the background, another alien is trying to waste them all. It all culminates in a battle at a church where one of the sleepers is getting married, and where the aliens attack.

All in all, I liked the first issue of “Stranded”. There are things I’m not too fond off — the art, for one, isn’t really that great. It’s not bad, mind you, but I don’t see a whole lot of people buying “The Stranded” comics for Siddharth Kotian’s artwork. The scripting by Mike Carey is better. Carey throws around a ton of new jargon at us, and makes them work within the first issue. Right away we jump into the story and get a feel for what’s happening, what to expect, etc.

The aliens themselves are pretty interesting, a combination of high-tech and magic that will be fun to explore.

My overall grade for The Stranded #1: B-. Intriguing storyline, so-so art, and a great cliffhanger at the end of the issue.

More info:

Written by Mike Carey
Art by Siddharth Kotian

[Zacharie]

Title: Vietnam Journal (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Don Lomax (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Jason E. Aaron (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

One of the Absolute Best War Comics EVER!!, May 17, 2003

Don Lomax was drafted into the Army in 1965, and during his tour of duty in Vietnam, he made notes that would later serve as reference for his comic book work. In the early 90s, Lomax worked as writer for the tail-end of the Marvel Comics series The 'Nam, but it was with his own series, Vietnam Journal, published through obscure Apple Comics, that Lomax really got to shine. This is, without a doubt, the most graphic, realistic and emotionally powerful portrayal of the Vietnam War that's ever been seen in comic form. It's also the best overall war title since EC's Frontline Combat in the 1950s (and that's saying a lot). Lomax's art is gritty and detailed, and his stories are well-researched and honest. This book never glorifies war, but instead shows it just the way it was: complicated, brutal and disturbing.

Vietnam Journal is the story of journalist Scott "Journal" Neithammer, a veteran of the Korean War, who comes to Vietnam in February 1967 to write about the average American soldier. This trade paperback collects the first six issues of the series:

Issue one: The Field Jacket (Journal relates the story of a tattered filed jacket that's supposed to be a good luck charm.)

Issue two: The Dogs of War (Journal gets lost, alone in the jungle, and comes across a wounded grunt and his dog, sitting among the dead in an overrun compound, waiting to die.)

Issue three: Scorched Earth--By the Numbers (A heartless network journalist, who cares nothing for the common soldier, leaves a trail of destruction in his wake, searching madly for a sensational story.)

Issue four: Birds of Prey (Journal encounters a dangerous CIA operative.)

Issue five: Hawks of the Darkhorse (In the midst of a daring helicopter rescue, Journal learns that he can't always remain a "noncombatant".)

Issue six: Tradition (Amid the remains of an ancient Buddhist temple, an American squad faces desperate odds.)

This trade also includes a few short stories that have apparently never been published before. Let's hope ibooks will published the rest of the series. It's definitely worth it.

More info:

Script and art: Don Lomax
Lettering: Clem Robins
Cover: Bob Larkin

[Zacharie]

Title: The 'Nam (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Doug Murray (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Cubist (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review: The 'Nam Vol 1

I can remember when this title came out in the '80s right at the height of renewed interest in the Viet Nam War. Along with Oliver Stone's movie, Platoon and the TV series Tour of Duty, there was the comic book, The 'Nam.

Written by actual Viet vet Doug Murray and beautifully illustrated (for the first 13 or so issues) by Michael Golden, this series followed the one year tour of duty of PFC Ed Marks. Murray dedicated one issue to one month of Mark's tour and crammed in all kinds of period speak and slang that the troops used while in country. This gives the stories and the characters a real feeling of authenticity that was missing from war comics for a long time.

The 'Nam was one of those rare comics that wasn't afraid to address death (even major, beloved characters died during the series) in an unflinchingly honest and touching way or present unlikable characters. It covered all sorts of aspects of the war, from going on R'n'R, to the death of a close friend to the dangerous jobs of Tunnel Rats. I am hard-pressed to think of any other comic exclusively dedicated to this war before The 'Nam or since.

Michael Golden's artwork is another thing that made The 'Nam so good. His stint was the finest work of the series and was never equaled after he left. Even though his style is a bit on the cartoonish side, he made it work perfectly by giving each character their own distinctive look that was important so that one could distinguish who was who in all those similar green uniforms. What I liked so much about his style of illustrating is the cinematic quality to it. I could easily see his artwork transformed into a movie as he employed all sorts of moody, atmospheric lighting techniques and colours that really brought the action on the page to life.

Sadly, this collection is a bit of a bust as it only collects the first four issues. Murray and Golden were a team for at least the first 12 (maybe 13?) of the series. They are definitely worth tracking down as this was one of the finest war comics ever published.

More info:

Writer: Doug Murray
Illustrator: Michael Golden

[Zacharie]

Title: The Other Side (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Jason Aaron (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Dave Richards (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

In 1968, American soldiers were engaged in a conflict that still haunts the country's collective consciousness to this day today: The Vietnam War. This summer, writer Jason Aaron and artist Cameron Stewart will take readers back to 1968 and explore the conflict through the eyes of two young men on opposing sides, in the five issue mini-series "The Other Side," from Vertigo. CBR News spoke to Aaron about this surreal, dark, psychological horror story.

Aaron's interest in the Vietnam War springs from his late cousin, writer, Gustav Hasford. "Gus was an eccentric guy, to say the least," Aaron told CBR News. "Unfortunately, he's probably best known for having stolen 748 library books from libraries across the country. Gus tried to say they were merely 'overdue,' but the judge didn't buy it, and Gus had to spend a few months in the San Luis Obispo Country Jail. Beyond that whole mess, Gus was quite simply one of the finest writers to ever tackle the Vietnam War in fiction. Any scholar worth their salt will tell you that 'The Short-Timers' ranks high on the list of the most important Vietnam War novels ever written (in addition to being the basis for one of the best film versions of the war, 'Full Metal Jacket'). Gus's little known second novel, 'The Phantom Blooper', which details Private Joker's eye-opening stint as a prisoner in a Viet Cong village, is a work of equal intensity and importance. Unfortunately, Gus died in 1993 of complications from untreated diabetes, so I never got to know him as well as I would've liked, even though he was one of the reasons I always aspired to be a writer. About six years ago though, I put together a website devoted to Gus at http://www.gustavhasford.com, and through that site I've been lucky enough to meet the First Marine Division ISO Snuffies (1967-1968), the group of Marine Combat Correspondents to which Gus belonged. They're a fascinating bunch of guys, and I'm proud to have attended a few of their reunions. 'The Other Side' is dedicated to them."

As a winner of the Marvel Talent Search, Aaron's first published comic work was released in 2002, that same year he began work on what would become "The Other Side." "It just took a long time to find the right home. When I first contacted Editor Will Dennis at Vertigo, he repeatedly told me he wasn't interested in a war book," Aaron said. "Yet somehow or another I convinced him to give the project a closer look, and here we are. It was Karen Berger's idea to bring Cameron Stewart on-board, which was a real thrill since I was already a fan of his work from 'Catwoman' and 'Seaguy.' This project means a lot to me, so even though it took a while to get here, I really couldn't be happier with how things worked out."

"The Other Side" is the story of two young men, one from America, and one from North Vietnam, each swept up into the conflict for different reasons. "Private Bill Everette was raised on a quiet, little farm in Winston County, Alabama, but in the fall of 1967, he finds himself being drafted into the service and sent to fight a war in a country he couldn't even identify on a map," Aaron explained. "As you might expect, he's terrified. And it doesn't help that his rifle keeps urging him to shoot himself. Everette's hunger for personal survival far outweighs any sense of patriotism he might have. As my cousin Gus once said, 'In an unnecessary war, patriotism is just racism made to sound noble.' Still, Everette is a Marine, so he'd best get squared away most ricky tick, or else he'll wind up just another tagged and bagged pile of nonviewable remains. And if he's lucky, he'll only get killed."

"Vo Dai's family has been farming the same spot of land in the Red River Delta of North Vietnam for hundreds of years, and for even longer, they've been fighting to keep their country free and unified," Aaron continued. "Vo Dai volunteers for duty in the People's Army of Vietnam because he feels it's the right thing to do, even though it means he must leave his village and family behind, possibly forever, and undertake the treacherous march south along the Strategic Trail, through the most heavily bombed area in the history of human warfare."

"The Other Side" follows its two protagonists on a bizarre, frightening and surreal trek through training and onto the battlefield. "The story begins with their respective training and ends with their brief confrontation during the bloody siege of Khe Sanh," Aaron stated. "Along the way, Private Everette encounters demonically vicious Parris Island drill instructors, talking maggots, voiceless ghosts, jaded grunts, man-eating pigs, maniacal rats, leeches that quote William Blake, a rifle that begs him to shoot himself and occasionally even the enemy. Vo Dai must undertake the long march south down the Strategic Trail, through black forests and bloody swamps, over pockmarked earth and fields of fire, past tigers and dragons and mounds of the dead, past exhaustion, beyond endurance. And for Vo Dai, all of that is merely precursor to the actual war."

"During the course of their journeys, Everette and Vo Dai each encounter plenty of beings, both real and surreal," Aaron continued. "But we really focus hard on these two guys. Just a couple of grunts, caught up in a very ugly conflict, a war that when it's over will have taken the lives of 58,193 Americans and perhaps as many as 851,000 Vietnamese."

It will be up to the readers to decide the source of the surreal beings and phenomenon that the two soldiers encounter in their journey. "There's no twist at the end, like 'The Sixth Sense' or 'Jacob's Ladder,'" Aaron said. "Nothing like that. It's far more ambiguous."

Another decision readers of "The Other Side" must make is who they feel is the actual hero of the series. "What you get in 'The Other Side' is really the same type of archetypal hell descent we've seen in everything from 'Beowulf' to 'Apocalypse Now', except here we have two men in direct opposition to one another, each undertaking his own heroic-quest. In the end, it's hard to say who the real hero of the book might be. Maybe both. Maybe neither."

Like other descent into hell war stories, "The Other Side" will be a dark toned and horrific tale. "I don't think you can do a war story without some gallows humor, but for the most part, this is a psychological horror story and an epic tragedy about America's most haunting war," Aaron said. "Yes, there are surreal elements, including ghosts and a talking pig's head and such, but this is definitely not "The Haunted Tank meets The Creature Commandos in Vietnam." Nothing against those old characters ('Weird War Tales' was actually one of the first comics I ever bought). We're just going for a darker, more serious tone."

Aaron also wants to make clear that the only war he's writing about in "The Other Side" is Vietnam. "I don't want anyone to think I'm writing 'The Other Side' as some thinly-veiled statement on the current war in Iraq. As a matter of fact, I first pitched this book back in 2002, before there even was a war in Iraq. Plenty of people more qualified than me have already compared and contrasted those two conflicts, so that's never been my goal. However, it has been interesting in the last few years, to be reminded just how powerful the legacy of the Vietnam War remains. It was an important issue in the most recent presidential election, and it's a buzzword that still rattles politicians and military leaders, none of whom want to see 'another Vietnam.'"

Artist Cameron Stewart surprised Aaron with his level of commitment to "The Other Side" by observing the legacy of the Vietnam War first hand. "I was a little worried what Cameron would think, going from working with Grant Morrison to working with me, some nobody fresh off the banana boat, but things have been great from the get-go. All you need to know about Cameron's level of commitment to this project is the fact that he actually traveled to Vietnam," Aaron said. "For two weeks last year, he roamed the countryside, crawling through tunnels, firing off AK-47 rounds and braving the madcap traffic of Hanoi. What more could I possibly ask for from an artist? Cameron seems to have embraced this project as a challenge, and I think his work on 'The Other Side' will really open the eyes of anyone who associates him solely with the superhero genre."

"The Other Side" is a story that doesn't lend itself to a sequel, but Aaron would definitely like to return to the topic of Vietnam in future stories. "No, I don't foresee there being a direct sequel to 'The Other Side', but the Vietnam War is definitely a subject I'd be up for revisiting someday. It might be interesting to explore the war from the perspective of the REMF (or rear-echelon motherfucker); especially since only one in ten Vietnam vets ever saw any actual combat. And I'd be more than happy to help tear down that long-running stereotype of the Vietnam vet as a hair-triggered, shell-shocked whack job, who's liable to flip out at the drop of a hat and embark on a massive killing spree."

Aaron already has another project in the works at Vertigo, and is proud that 'The Other Side" is being published by Vertigo/DC Comics, which has a long tradition of publishing outstanding War Comics. "It's really an honor to be writing a war book for DC, which has published so many classic war titles over the years, by legends like Joe Kubert and Robert Kanigher. I'm also proud of the fact that 'The Other Side' will be the first full-fledged Vietnam War book that DC has published since 1967, if you can believe that. Back then, when Captain Hunter "smashed through the blazing Viet Cong battleground" in the pages of 'Our Fighting Forces', it represented one of the very first portrayals of Vietnam in comics. Since then there have been some really great Vietnam War books, most notably Warren's short-lived 'Blazing Combat' and Don Lomax's brutal masterpiece 'Vietnam Journal'. Marvel's 'The 'Nam', as written by Doug Murray, was obviously the most popular of the bunch, but I actually prefer Murray's graphic novel 'Hearts and Minds: A Vietnam Love Story', which was published by Epic and drawn by the legendary Russ Heath. As I said, it's an honor to be following in the footsteps of these guys, and hopefully Cameron and I can put our own spin on this classic genre.

More info:

Written by Jason Aaron
Art by Cameron Stewart
Colors by Dave McCaig

[Zacharie]

Title: Blazing Combat (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Archie Goodwin (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: bythefirelight (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review: A Review of Banned War Comics

I have a penchant for reading these things, especially if it was banned in some way or another as Blazing Combat was when it was published in 1966. Of course I wanted to see what would get it banned, but also how war is represented. Can something interesting be said in the comic form that hasn’t been said already. While I read with relish the works of Joe Sacco or Spiegelman’s Mouse, it has been a while since I’ve read a war comic that follows the more traditional format of a war comic: short vignettes about soldiers, usually with heavy interior monologues, noting the hardship but at the same time the purpose as something hideous, but necessary.

Perhaps half of the stories fall into that category: soldiers in combat fighting a surviving because that is what one does. Usually the tension is not about glory in a campaign, but about entering action as a cocky youngster and coming out a humbled survivor, or a veteran doing what he has to do and hoping to survive once more, with the understanding that it is the enemy who cannot survive. While it is possible to inject a note of triumphalism that suggests glory is one’s goal, comics often, because of their lower profile, can question this more than movies (here I’m specifically thinking of films and comics between 1945 and 1980). Blazing Combat, to its credit, avoids that trap and there is seldom a note of triumphalism. Instead, as the editor notes in the interview at the end of the book, it is more about soldiers talking to soldiers, the phenomenon I’ve noticed in survivor accounts where one does not dwell on the horrific, instead it is the shared experience, which the survivors know were horrific, that is the means of understanding. When I read the description of the book as banned for its anti war stance I thought I wouldn’t see anything that suggested dutiful ambivalence. But it is that shared expression that can have its own power. Unfortunately, too, it can come across as triumphal.

What got the book banned, though, are the stories of futility that show nothing in war has any value. One story shows takes place during the Spanish American War and shows two Americans are shown talking about how they can’t wait to see combat, which is juxtaposed with an American killing a Spaniard in hand to hand combat and walking away in horror. In another, the WWI British ace William Bishop is not noteworthy for his skill as a pilot. There were others such as the Red Barron who were as good and are remembered still to this day. What sets him apart is he survived the war. In other words, fame is pointless if you don’t survive. And in the most scandalous for the time, a story follows a Vietnamese villager who tries to save his land from an American patrol. The outcome does not make the Americans look good. It is especially prescient since it was written in 1965.

As a work of comic or social history it is interesting. As something to read and enjoy it is a little tedious. How many times can you read a five page story about a youngster learning the hard way what war is? If you want to see an approach to war in comic form that tried something different, this is your book. However, if you want entertainment (or great insight), not so much. But I think that its name says it all: Blazing Combat. Typically this has a connotation of excitement and adventure, and sometimes that bleeds into the stories, because it is difficult to create a war comic that even in its most nihilistic, is not partly about glory. If humans are capable of saying, Vive la Muerte (Long Live Death) as they did at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, it is possible to enjoy the action of Blazing Combat, even if the name is ironic.

I will say the art for a comic is actually quite interesting and shows and good range of styles, though it is still in the comic vein.

More info:

Written by Archie Goodwin
Drawn by Gene Colan, Russ Heath, Alex Toth and John Severin
Covers by Frank Frazetta

[Zacharie]

Title: Spontaneous (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Joe Harris (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Nick Hanover (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" All that's left is for you to go take your dollars to your retailer of choice... "
Review:

Just one of the many beautiful things about comics is that by their very nature they allow for the kinds of big ideas that just aren't always fiscally possible in film. Coming from Oni Press, Joe Harris and Brett Weldele's Spontaneous is technically an indie, both in regards to its release and its storytelling techniques, but when it comes to concept and special effects it's a blockbuster. Because in comics, blockbusters aren't limited to the majors, in fact they're quite often most successful when they're divorced from the endless sequeldom that is modern Big Two storytelling. And as blockbusters go, Spontaneous is a doozy.

In case you missed Issue #1 on Free Comic Book Day and are just now tuning in via the regular release, Spontaneous is the story of a boy named Kelvin, who is a private investigator of sorts. But Kelvin's focus isn't spouses straying away from the obligations of marriage or poor saps attempting to cheat disability-- no, Kelvin's focus is "burners," or victims of spontaneous human combustion.

The first issue is a rather brilliant introduction to the concept and Kelvin, presenting the idea without allowing it to overstay its welcome, instead using it as dressing for the real meat of the story, which is Kelvin's attempts to deal with his father's combustion-based death by investigating the causes of that phenomena. The exposition we're all so used to in these kinds of things even has a point and a tether, it coming naturally through dialogue between Kelvin and the sidekick/agitator he never asked for, Emily Durshmiller, an "investigative reporter at large," according to her business card, at least.


Better still, Joe Harris' partner-in-crime is the peerless Brett Weldele, whose scratchy expressionist style feels perfectly at home in a story about people bursting into flames. Weldele showed a talent for this kind of story when he was working with Nathan Edmondson on The Light but there's something more natural and organic about his pairing with Harris. It could be that Harris keeps the combustion scenes tight and focused whereas in The Light the light explosions were often drawn out and sprawling; the effect here is one of tension and awe rather than horror and skiddishness.

By Issue Two, the combustions are kept strictly to flashback and we're treated to a glimpse at more of Kelvin's past and also given a potential explanation for the "burners." Throughout the issue, Weldele imbues certain panels with intense blots of light that threaten their surroundings, reminding us of the narrative stakes and the overall threat. It's a trick in a lot of ways, teasing you with the promise of the book's title on one hand and invoking a kind of menace that doesn't come in the form you expect it to. Like music in a horror film, Weldele's coloring trick puts readers on edge, distracting them from what's really coming.

Harris and Weldele are smart to infuse the book with the twist they give here, which conveniently disposes of some of the potential problems the book may have had if the creators had chosen to pursue a more fantastic route. Issue #2 even makes great use of Emily, who had previously threatened to be a prop rather than a character. This time around she's as annoying as before but does some genuinely smart reporting and arrives at a conclusion Kelvin himself may never have gotten around to.

That element is a clear sign of the character-driven storytelling Harris and Weldele have taken from indie filmmaking, proving that blockbuster ideas work best when they aren't dumb or shallow. All that's left is for you to go take your dollars to your retailer of choice and make the moneymaking aspect of the blockbuster genre come true for Harris and Weldele as well.

More info:

Writer: Joe Harris
Artist: Brett Weldele

Publisher: