[Zacharie]

Title: The Dreamer (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: thebookbag (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

So, who else on the burgeoning Bookbag database has created a whole literary artform, almost single-handed? Not just added something to a genre, or tweaked a style to her own, but done so much towards inventing a format of literature? The name of Will Eisner is legend in the world of graphic fiction, and this book, starting as a thinly-veiled autobiography, is almost as iconic as its creator.

It shows Eisner (sorry, Billy Eyron) as being a young artist with the industry, foresight, huge talent and most importantly the business nous needed to do just what he did. It starts with Eyron scratching around trying to make a living of some kind from his artwork – a commercial design here, a funny strip there. This causes a slightly bitty piece of chaptering, but the flow is there. Eyron soon is able to invest in a company to produce his own comics, turning it into a factory of characters, each formulaically doing what they have to in the USA of the 1930s to use their skills and keep being employed. And for those of us who know Eisner's history, there is no surprise that it ends with him poised to launch off with his own product, ready for national syndication to millions of newspaper readers – and, of no small consequence, full artistic ownership, which was a great rarity for years to come.

The images of the book might appear a little naïve to some – although one can't deny the fine characterisation brought to everyone's faces, and the anatomical skill the pen and ink drawings employ. A lot of the pages are laid out in the formulaic nine-panel grid, whether that outline shows or not, and as such it can seem the detail in the image is forsaken for what seems over-sized lettering for the speech.

But all of this was Eisner's style, and for a man of his stature we can forgive anything. He did the most to realise, and prove, that rather than people knocking out rubbish for a few pennies a day for strips presented by publishers of dubious business standing, there would one day be a market for original fiction, presented not in bits but in complete book form. Hence the story of Eyron/Eisner harking back to the mid-to-late 1930s, but only being created in the 1980s.

And still there is a change between then and now. Nowadays there would be more firmly affixed chapter breaks – whether regarding the side-story or otherwise, and a whole sense of an artist trying harder. Here Eisner does not need to try hard to create his individual sense of style, and was at liberty to do just as he liked. Hence the picture biographies of his friends and colleagues that interrupt the story and make their own narrative form midway through.

There is a small sense that a graphic novel about graphic novelists is not the best place to start for a newcomer to the format. I would suggest the novice invest in The Rough Guide to Graphic Novels by Danny Fingeroth, and see just why Eisner is so feted, and then return to these pages with more knowledgeable and discerning eyes. Then it would be very clear why I give this book four and a half stars and a strong recommendation.

Eisner's work is slowly coming to the attention of yet another generation – spurred on partly by the release of a movie of his The Spirit character in January 2009. To me, the most artistically accessible republication in W W Norton's lists that has come my way would be The Building, which shows a lovely subtle spread of story, with a pictorial story-telling ranging from the brash to the wisp of a dream.

Elsewhere, his New York: The Big City is a masterpiece, building up a detailed picture of Eisner's hometown through, contrary to what I said above, snappy one-to-three page strip cartoon vignettes. The artwork is a cut above practically anyone else's – I fell in love on page 26 – and charm, humour, subtlety and nasty darkness all come across in five-star fashion.

More info:

Writer(s), Artist(s) by Will Eisner
Published by DC Comics, 1985

[Zacharie]

Title: Runaways (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Terry Moore (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: mookychick (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

Move over, manga - Runaways is a fantastic manga-fusion American comic (Joss Whedon is a die-hard fan) featuring a group of children who hate each other but are forced to live together on the streets us runaways when they discover their parents are supervillains. From Gert the cynical anti-capitalist to Alex the funky computer nerd and the group's leader, Nico Minoru the loli goth, discover Runaways and open your eyes to a bright new future of American graphic novels.

* Runaways: Volume 1 - Pride and Joy
* Runaways: Volume 2 - Teenage Wasteland
* Runaways: Volume 3 - The Good Die Young
* Runaways: Volume 4 - True Believers Digest

The premise of Runaways is simple: 6 kids in Los Angeles find out that their parents are supervillains, and they run away from home and try to find ways to defeat them.

Alex Wilder, Gertrude Yorkes, Chase Stein, Karolina Dean, Nico Minoru, and Molly Hayes are six kids, ranging from 12 to about 17, living in LA. They exist within the established Marvel universe, meaning that heroes like Spider-Man, Captain America, and Wolverine, as well as supervillains like Dr. Octopus and Dr. Doom live in their world as well. But these kids also live in our world. There are many references to pop culture and these six kids have never experienced super hero reality The closest iPod-loving Alex ever got was when he played online games with his friends.

Every year, six families get together so the parents can get stuff done for the charitable organization that they work for. At least that's what they tell their children. On these annual get-togethers, the six kids, who aren't big fans of each other, are forced to hang out together and find ways to pass the time.

Gert is a cynical girl who can't stand capitalist culture (if you've ever read/seen Ghost World, she's very much like Enid) while Chase is a lacrosse player with not much between her pretty ears. Nico is a Victorian lolitat goth and tiny tomboy Molly is a young firecracker. Karolina is an outgoing daughter of two movie stars living the American Dream while Alex is a calm and collected, somewhat shy boy who's most comfortable with the world of music and computers.

One year, the kids decide that they are fed up with waiting for their parents to finish their business, so they decide to spy on the group, only to witness their parents murder a young woman. Terrified by the act, the group decides to run away. Soon, each child learns that they have received some sort of ability or gift from their parents. Gert, whose parents are time travellers, finds a genetically modified raptor that she can telepathically communicate with, Chase steals some gadgets and weapons from his inventor parents, and Nico learns that she, along with her parents, are sorcerors. Meanwhile, Karolina and her family are aliens with powers drawn from the Earth's sun, and Molly learns that she comes from a family of mutants. While Alex doesn't have any hypernatural abilities, he, along with his parents, is a master strategist.

Using their newfound abilities, the Runaways vow to atone for their parents' sins and become a West Coast-based team of superheroes while living on the streets.

Despite being about a group of teenagers (and one pre-teen), this isn't kids' stuff. The interplay between the kids as they forced themselves into adult situations with only their teenage education and experience to help them makes for brilliant reading. Runaways gets dark and occasionally quite adult at times, and issues associated with real teenagers are twisted to fit the storyline. Nico is a self-harmer, for instance - not to release her anger, but in order to get access to her magic staff, much to the disgust of the other five kids who rely on her self-harming to get them out of trouble.

The characters in Runaways are well developed with beautifully natural dialogue. Karolina may seem like a perky Hollywood girl on the outside, but there is a lot more going on under the surface. Molly may be the most powerful Runaway but as a pre-teen she's also the youngest and frustrated by the others' attempts to shelter her. There are tons of pop culture references in this book, old and new. The Who, The Beatles, and James Dean's Rebel Without A Cause are all worked into the story, but that doesn't mean that things like The Matrix, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Smallville (a show involving a DC Comics character, mind you, even though this is a Marvel universe) also make the book.

A mix of American comic book art and anime, each character has their own distinctive look to them, and artists Takeshi Miyazawa and Adrian Alphona create illustrations so beautiful that each panel on the page could be framed and turned into a Gorillaz album cover. You won't feel like an idiot reading this book on the train - it's not all men in tights. Streetwise and hip young gentlemen will ignore their mobile phones and skateboards and crane over your shoulder to try and read Runaways too.

Let's not forget the writing. Brian K Vaughan is one of the best comic writers working in the comics industry today. Neil Gaiman? Alan Moore? These names are rightly revered, but for the last five years, Brian K Vaughan has been one of the shining lights in comics, with his intelligent writing and consistently great and innovative ideas.

Originally, Runaways was cancelled after the 18 issues chronicled in this volume (Runaways Vol.1). However wild fan support, including massive public support from Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer) helped get the book revived, and Runaways is currently in its second season or story arc.

Even if you aren't a comic book fan, you should definitely check out Runaways. And manga fans need not fear - one of the artists, japanese Takeshi Miyazawa - brings manga fusion to this edgy clean American style. There will be a few references you might not get involving characters within the Marvel universe but overall, it won't hurt your understanding or enjoyment of the story.

Runaways. Cool. Gripping. Wonderful. Go read.

More info:

Writer: Terry Moore
Artist: Humberto Ramos
Inker: Dave Meikis
Colorist: Christina Strain

[Zacharie]

Title: Echo (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Terry Moore (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Ray Tate (Review 1) and Eric Sunde (Review 1) (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

Review 1 - Echo #1 - The government betrays a woman pilot testing an experimental rocket pack and a bodysuit. The betrayal leads to an explosion seen in the desert by Julie. Caught in the fallout, Julie begins to experience some strange side-effects.

Terry Moore made a name for himself with Strangers in Paradise. This was really the only drama that didn't involve action heroes that ever hooked me. Initially, Moore's crisp, clean black and white panels attracted my attention and served as an oasis. The '90s symbolized by the rise of Liefield and his imitators were the comic book equivalent of disco. Ultimately though, Katchoo's relationship with Francine is what kept me coming back.

Moore works best with character interaction, and these are the scenes that really standout in Echo. You're more involved in the dialogue involving the betrayal. The matter of fact voice of the subhuman who perpetuates the crime fascinates as does Annie's realization that she has been betrayed. The interplay between a park ranger and the military is another scene of interest. The rest of the book reads like a decent but dismissible television pilot that depends on too much slow-mo direction.

The trouble lies in Moore's adherence to the decompressive paradigm of comic book storytelling popularized in the DC and Marvel books of today. I hate that paradigm. Strangers in Paradise moved faster than Echo, and I always enjoyed that quickness because each issue felt complete while contributing to the ongoing broader tapestry. With SIP, I always felt that I read something meaty.

Echo feels very empty because of the second by second paneling that Moore institutes to tell his story. This technique slows down the pace, and the lethargy mitigates the impact of the action sequences.

At three-fifty a pop, though benefiting from zero advertisements, I can't say that I'm ready to put Echo on my pull list. It certainly bears watching, but if Terry Moore wants more of my money, he's going to have to cut to the chase.

Review 2 - Echo #5 - This issue marks the end of the arc that will make up the first trade paperback, and did a great job of easing my fears about the initial direction this book was taking. I had high hopes for the book based on the subject matter and my love of Strangers in Paradise, but it didn't take off right away and I was a bit concerned. Instead, Terry Moore chose to spend time developing the characters a bit more, and while it started to pay off in Issue 4, the action really took off in this issue, and made for a great end to the opening storyline.

This issue's story picks up immediately following the rather... explosive cliffhanger from last time, and makes for an intense first third of the issue, starting with Julie going on the run. I particularly enjoyed the scene with Ivy Raven demonstrating not only what she was able to figure out about Julie, but how she figured it out. The end of the issue ties up this opening storyline with Julie getting assistance to literally send her off into the distance.

Normally, I don't like revealing specific events in my reviews, but this book is so different in that it isn't about what happens, but instead, how it happens. The best part about this issue for me is that I now feel comfortable enough to recommend and gift the first trade paperback to friends who would enjoy the subject matter. It certainly is not for everyone, but it is wonderful seeing how Terry Moore has taken his strong characterization and brought it to a government/science fiction conspiracy storyline.

While I might be giving the idea that the first arc tied itself up in a neat little bow, there are plenty of dangling subplots to be dealt with in future issues. I look forward to seeing the lengths the government will go to in order to bring Julie back in. I look forward to seeing what decisions she will have to make, since it seems certain her friends and family are going to be placed in jeopardy as a result of her actions. And of course, I look forward to seeing what her powers exactly are, and what will come from the mysterious character at the end of Issue 3...

More info:

Story and art by Terry Moore

[Zacharie]

Title: Blood of the Demon (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): John Byrne (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Ray Tate (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review: Blood of the Demon #1

John Byrne has before written and drawn the Demon for DC. In fact, it's a character to which he frequently returns. First teaming up Etrigan with Superman in Action Comics Byrne also had him guest-star in Wonder Woman. Byrne with Will Pfeiffer now takes the Demon into his fourth solo-flight.

Byrne characterizes the Demon and Jason Blood as well as he did in Action Comics, which I felt was truer to the spirit of the character than the tampered version in Wonder Woman. Jason seems more at ease with the Demon's presence. He readily calls for him, and even without the Demon at his command; Jason fights with the experience an immortal should possess.

Blood of the Demon strongly adheres the Kirby series. Time has certainly passed. Things have changed. Others--such as Randu's wife--have come into the lives of the Kirby cast and make nice additions. Jason Blood still lives in Batman's town and from Gotham fights the supernatural all over the world. This time the threat comes close to home, and the occult master nesting in Gotham takes on a Lovecraftian air that makes him otherworldly rather than eldritch and hokey.

Batman's reliance on logic and rationality gives Jason Blood a niche to fulfil that Byrne and his writing partner Pfeiffer deftly elaborate. Neither of them wastes time. After being removed from the occult master's clutches, Jason strategically and in defiance of modern day comic book convention gets medieval on the occult master's ass within the issue held in the reader's hands and within a day of his release. Things get even worse for the vile magic-user when Etrigan fully arises and tantalizes the reader with an intriguing cliffhanger.

Blood of the Demon does not retread old territory. The series differs from the Jack Kirby original in one very noticeable way. The tone Byrne and Pfeiffer evoke is more mature. This aspect of the book allows for demonic grue to be spilled and a terrified woman to be nude sacrifice. While the nudity of both male and female characters is tastefully concealed, the presence of skin places Blood of the Demon in the Hammer realm of horror. Byrne and Pfeiffer very easily persuade you that it belongs there.

My only caveat comes from the "vamp-faced" Jason Blood action figure. He and Angel seem to be separated at birth. The "vamp-face" hasn't been previously seen in any of the other Demon series and really just seems to be an unnecessary reminder of Joss Whedon's show not an allusion to previous Demon work.

More info:

Writer: John Byrne, Will Pfeiffer
Artists: John Byrne(p), Nekros(i), Alex Bleyeart(c)
Publisher: DC

[Zacharie]

Title: Bakuman (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Tsugumi Ohba (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Chris Mautner (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review: Vols. 1-3

At first glance, Bakuman doesn’t seem to have much in common with Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata’s other manga series, the astoundingly popular and highly influential Death Note. The latter, after all, is a black humored, plot-heavy fantasia about a boy who uses the murderous powers of a supernatural book to become the most powerful person on Earth, while the other is about a pair of doofus teens who want to make comics for a living.

Closer examination, however, suggests that the two works share more than one might initially think. For example, Death Note can be viewed an impish twist on the classic “Jump Manga” structure, in which the protagonist decides to better himself by taking on a task of heroic proportions, and finds success through perseverance—though in this case perseverance simply means being more ruthless and evil than the other guy.

But if Death Note is a clever perversion of an overly familiar structure, Bakuman is the flip side of the coin, a manga so firmly planted in the shonen genre that its feet threaten to sink in the ground. As with Prince of Tennis, Hiraku No Go, and just about every other Shonen Jump manga published by Viz, Bakuman follows a familiar, set path. To wit: two crazy, wet-behind-the-ears kids who have nothing but talent and a dream—in this case the chance to become all-star manga-ka—face off against a series of increasingly difficult challenges and worthy rivals before reaching success.

The catch here is that while Bakuman plays by the rules much more closely than Death Note did, its authors are no less self-aware. And that self-awareness allows the series to transcend its cookie-cutter-like structure.

The central figure in Bakuman is Moritaka Mashiro, a teen-age boy who is coerced by a classmate, Akito Takagi, into joining forces and making manga. At first Mashiro demurs, because, while he may be a pretty good artist, he’s well aware of manga industry’s cutthroat nature, especially since it drove his late uncle to an early death.

The chance this presents for him to impress a cute classmate (who, it just so happens, has her own dream of becoming a popular voice actress) is too much of an incentive to resist, however, and he signs on with Takagi.

From there Bakuman is off and running. The two naturally prove more talented than first appearances would suggest, and they catch the eye of a young editor at Jump magazine. They show a lot of promise and work extra hard, but success is far from a sure bet, especially when challengers like the Eiji Nizuma show up, an oddball genius only a year older than them who seems to produce great material with an ease that takes everyone’s breath away.

What I find especially fascinating about the series is there’s no concern or discussion of art. These guys aren’t in it for the love of the medium, they want fame and fortune—a frustrated Takagi even screams “I want to be popular” on a city street in volume three—and in Mashiro’s case (which I’ll get to in a minute), love and sex. While they devour classic manga and talk about character development, story structure, and what makes for a good read, they never really seem to enjoy making comics or feel much in love with manga as an art form—it appears as nothing more than a tool for them to achieve their dreams. It’s as though their naked ambition has snuffed out any pleasure they could derive from the process of making comics, which, Ohba and Obata not so subtly hint, is exactly how it’s supposed to be. There’s no room for the weak in the manga industry—not if you want your own series.

More to the point, there’s little room for self-expression and experimentation. That’s for the suckers selling their XXX-rated dojinshi at Comiket. “Think of the readers” is the mantra repeated again and again in Bakuman. Mashiro and Takagi routinely agonize over winning various contests, surveys, and awards, because they know that getting, say, third place instead of first can be the difference between getting a regular series (and, by extension, making a living), or becoming a permanent assistant to a more popular author.

Again, it’s interesting to compare their attitude and demeanor to that of Nizuma, the one, true “arteest” of the cast and a complete flake. He talks to himself, makes sound effects while he draws, and is completely unreliable—at one point he abandons a series for a completely different one, screwing over his editor. If anything he’s more flaky and borderline autistic than L, Death Note’s antagonist. It is clear he lacks the sort of discipline and drive that Mashiro and Takagi have. On the other hand, while the boys must constantly conjure up scenarios they hope will be popular with readers, Nizuma is able to rely solely on his own intuition. All the same, the true path to success lies in plain view, and by volume three, Nizuma grudgingly agrees to start using storyboards and meet with his editor in the hopes of fine-tuning his craft. The message is clear: there’s little room for the rugged individualist in this comic-book world and “following your muse” will give you nothing but a one-way ticket to obscurity and poverty.

And yet, what a penetrating and fascinating look at the manga industry Bakuman is. Some of the most engaging, involving sequences in the series thus far involve not personal moments of introspection but simple shop talk, especially in the scenes where Mashiro and Takagi meet with their editor, Akira Hattori, a big-eared, open-mouthed schlub of a man who nevertheless doles out astoundingly good advice time and again. (“I don’t want you to just do whatever I tell you to,” says Hattori. “You need to try and surprise me.”) Mashiro and Tagaki are mostly ciphers so far, but the ways in which they discuss and learn their craft make the series enjoyable.

A word or two should be said about the cast’s female characters. Death Note was roundly (and rightly) criticized for this, as most of the women in the series seemed to function as little more than plot contrivances, window-dressing, or comic relief. (Critic Shaenon Garrity dubbed supporting cast member Misa the “stupidest creature on planet Earth,” and she had a good point.) At first glance, Bakuman seems to be following a similar path. The gender issues—or should we say the sexism—are writ pretty large. For instance, after Mashiro’s mom objects in volume one to his decision to pursue a career in manga, she is voted down by her husband, who says (off-camera), “Men have dreams that women will never be able to understand.” Later on in the same volume, the boys comment on how “a girl won’t look cute if she’s overly smart,” and that “the best thing for a girl is to get married and become somebody’s wife.”

And then there’s Azuki, Mashiro’s object of desire and sort-of girlfriend, though she’s too busy being placed on a pedestal to actually interact with anyone. I’m not kidding: Azuki refuses to even hang out with Mashiro—this girl’s idea of romance is that the pair must stay apart until they realize their dreams, communicating only by cell-phone text. Takagi and other characters frequently mock Mashiro for this ridiculous, neutered relationship, which suggests that the authors find it a bit silly as well, though it’s hard to tell how firmly in cheek that tongue is planted.

One of the things that suggests to me that Ohba and Obata are playing with shonen’s sexist clichés and not simply reveling in them—though they may just be trying to eat their cake and have it too—is their depiction of Takagi’s girlfriend, Miyoshi, an athletic, aggressive young girl, who, to some extent, resembles the archetypical force-of-nature/tough girl found in these sorts of manga. Her desire for a genuine relationship with Takagi—even though he clearly isn’t as interested in her as she is in him—along with the way she obviously feels like a third wheel whenever the boys start delving into their work, gives her a poignancy and depth that the rest of the cast tends to lack.

But if Bakuman doesn’t have particularly compelling characters, the narrative itself is propulsive enough to keep readers moving forward. While I do think the authors are winking at the readers — there’s too many reflexive moments to suggest otherwise — it can be difficult at times to determine just how self-mocking Bakuman is intended to be. It is easy to believe that the stone-faced tone of each volume must convince at least some readers to take it purely at face value. But then consider scenes where an assistant rails at an editor about the the magazine’s rigged survey system. This seems like a minor thing until you remember that Bakuman is serialized within the real-live version of the very magazine the assistant is criticizing. Is this manga meant to be a sly critique of the industry, or a wallowing celebration of it? I can’t quite tell at this point, and it’s not knowing that answer yet (savoring the tension as it were) that has made Bakuman one of my favorite new comics so far this year.

More info:

Story by Tsugumi Ohba
Art by Takeshi Obata

[Zacharie]

Title: Echoes (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Joshua Hale Fialkov (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Jackie Krah (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" about the darkest, scariest thing I’ve ever done, and I’m sure you’ll all love it"
Review:

Joshua Hale Fialkov is the author of Echoes, the new successful comic title from Top Cow Productions. He is also a writer of other popular works such as the anime film Afro Samurai, and the comic books Tumor, Rampaging Wolverine, and the critically acclaimed Elk’s Run. Mr. Fialkov has sat down to give readers at Lytherus this look into his writing process – his inspirations, his research, and his future plans. This interview comes at a great time considering that this Wednesday will be the release of Echoes #2. Wednesday will also see the second printing of the first issue of the series, which completely sold out the first time around. If you missed reading Echoes, or this interview makes you curious as to what the story is about, check out our review.

First off I want to thank you for the pleasure of being able to interview you. Echoes was probably one of the creepiest and certainly the most psychologically interesting comics that I’ve ever read. I believe I read that the inspiration for this series was influenced by some of your favorite movies and stories. Could you talk about some of those sources of inspiration?

I’m a big fan of the weird 70’s psychological thriller. Stuff pioneered by guys like Scorsese, Roeg, Polanski, Lumet, and Pollack, off the backs of the work that Hitchcock was doing with Psycho and Marnie. The idea of telling stories where the heroes and villains are just, well, us. Sure, they’re arch versions of us, but, y’know, imagine going out for coffee and coming back to your office to find everybody murdered… How would YOU react? Well, if your office is a CIA data center, and you’re Robert Redford’s character, you’d probably do what he does in 3 Days of the Condor. Or, with something like Don’t Look Now, where you have characters who are emotionally scarred in such a raw way that they’re more or less oblivious to everything around them except for their pain and passion, till it leads to… well, what it leads to.

These movies (Rosemary’s Baby is a good example) where you’re stretching credibility in terms of what actually happens, but, it’s executed with so much humanity and reality, that it feels that much more visceral and real. I mean, Mia Farrow gets fucked by the devil, and the movie is still this achingly grounded, painfully real feeling story about someone being totally alone.

In fact, all three of Polanski’s apartment movies (Repulsion, The Tenant, and Rosemary’s Baby) are like that, and were huge influences on me and on ECHOES.

You say on your blog that Echoes is “about the darkest, scariest thing I’ve ever done, and I’m sure you’ll all love it.” Schizophrenia is quite the deep topic to take on for exploration. What kind of research did you do to capture Brian’s mental state so well?

I’m lucky on the research front for two reasons. First, my wife is a librarian, and is amazing at finding the obscure things I’m looking for. Secondly, my dad is a forensic psychiatrist who focused primarily on those with serious mental disorders. So, I’d spend a lot of time talking to my dad, getting a sense of journal articles or books to find, and then having my wife actually find them. It’s like having a research service that’s related to me!

That being said, there’s a story about Polanski’s Repulsion where it was going to be rated the UK’s equivalent of an X rating, and to prevent that, the studio submitted it to a panel of psychiatrists who watched it and said, “This movie is factually correct. This is what mental illness looks like!” and the movie was approved and released. Polanski later would say that all he did was imagine what it would be like to be a damaged person alone in a room going crazy.

To some degree, that’s what writing really is. We do our best to know what’s doable and possible and factual, but, really, you just need to tell the story that you need to tell, and hope that if the facts don’t get you there, the fiction will.

With mental illness, it’s a very singular experience. Every one experiences their illness in a different way, so, there’s also a lot of flexibility in how it’s portrayed.

As deep and intense as this series was, did you still enjoy the writing process? Would you be willing to go to this level of dark tones again with other stories in the future?

Oh, absolutely. The whole experience of doing this book has been immensely fun. I mean, it’s awful to do terrible things to characters you like so much, but at the same time, it’s a bit like exorcising your own demons.

I do terrible things to my characters so that I can be my sweet regular self in real life.

The book has been doing spectacularly. Echoes #1 has completely sold out and demand is high enough for a second printing this week. What’s your reaction to this success?

It’s great, but, it’s not enough. I mean, the truth of the matter is that not enough people are reading the book, sell out or no. Comics are such a powerful medium, and just nobody reads the damn things. We’re working on some more out reach things to get outside the confines of the direct market, because it’s nearly impossible to really make a dent in a market built entirely on 70 year old characters fighting each other.

But, the fact that the book has gotten all of this attention, to me, means that there is an audience for this kind of book, and it’s just up to us to find it and deliver the book to them in an acceptable fashion.

Though Echoes is still hot off the presses, are you looking forward to your next project yet? What can we look forward to seeing from you in the future?

I’ve got a bunch of things in the hopper, and I’m not sure what’ll hit first. I’m working on two series for MTV Geek’s online comics initiative, including a book I did with the amazingly talented Kody Chamberlain called PUNKS that’s sort of an abusrdist joke book, and then I have a historical noir about the formation of Los Angeles called HELLTOWN with the brilliant Steve Bryant. I’m also working on a sci-fi adventure comedy book over at Oni Press that I co-wrote with (and will be drawn by) Tony Fleecs. We’re hoping that hits before the year’s end.

Echoes is not the only of your successes that we’ve mentioned on Lytherus. You were also a writer on the American release of Afro Samurai mangas #1 and #2 as well as a writer for the Afro Samurai: Resurrection anime film. Are there any future plans with Afro Samurai?

I haven’t talked to those guys in a while, but, what I love about Afro is that it’s such a great skeleton. You can do so much with the core concept and really just make some balls to the wall awesome that’s neither American nor Japanese, wholly. It’s this great melting pot of an idea, and, the movies in particular, I think are just amazingly awesome.

You are planning on attending San Diego Comic Con 2011, will you be participating as an author in any events?

I will indeed. I think the complete trade of ECHOES may actually be out by then, and of course, I’m still promoting my last book TUMOR. I’m also attending Emerald City Comic-Con in Seattle in a couple of months, and Wizard Anaheim which, I think is in April. For those in Los Angeles, it looks like I’ll be participating in a Mystery Writers of America event at Meltdown Comics talking about crime and noir comics. People can follow me on Twitter @joshfialkov or my website http://www.thefialkov.com for more on where I’m gonna be. And, if they’re just interested in ECHOES, they can check out @echoescomic on twitter or http://www.echoesthecomic.com for more, too.

More info:

Author Joshua Hale Fialkov
Artist Rahsan Ekedal

Publisher:

[Zacharie]

Title: Vampirella and the Scarlet Legion (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: Ryan K. Lindsay (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" It’s not terrible, but it’s not giving much of a reason to be noticed."

Review: Vampirella and the Scarlet Legion #1

This Vampirella offshoot title sees Vampirella infiltrating some sort of vampire sex club and then liaising with a Catholic vampire kill crew. Every extreme base is covered, but I’m not sure either side goes far enough. This book is mildly amusing, fun in parts, but it needs to define itself and not just be another Vampirella story. This has to be the one that stands out.

Have you ever wanted to see Vampirella wrapped around the pole? This comic is going to come as close as we might ever get as a Vampirella clone-type works the pole just to lure men into the ‘Champagne Lounge.’ No matter the rules, some touching goes down back there. But this time it’s the woman touching the men, with her fangs on their necks. It’s the sort of sequence that someone obviously thought was cool but could not be done with Vampirella, herself, so a thin substitute is used to give us the same visuals with half the calories.

The Sisterhood is an interesting concept, and the strongest thing in this book, as a bunch of ass kicking religious hotties mask up and shoot crucifix styled wooden stakes at vampires’ chests. They also shoot these goofy devices, in a more painful looking panel, at faces. These lasses wear a cross on their uniform and don’t even use that convenient design element to show any skin. These girls are nothing if not consistent.


A trio of horny teens enter the tale to get us to the sexed up creep club and offer up innocent victims. I would care for these guys except one, who would appear to be tech savvy enough to hack a site, says “Someone sent me a link. I thought it was just spam, but then I clicked on it.” That is not the method to work out if what you think is spam is actually the harmful virus or Trojan you feared. I both hate and love when people write technology into their scripts when they just don’t get it. Based on this level of computer security I think these idiots deserve whatever vampires want to do to them.

The artwork is interesting because so much of the T&A that people pay for when they crack the covers on Vampirella comics is covered with shadow or sound effects or conveniently hidden with a turn of the character. I think with a tale centered on a sex club and knives penetrating throats and crucifix stakes into faces you can just acquiesce and draw the female form like the audience wants it. Go all out and see what happens. The sketchy image of an ancient text showing Vampirella as some sort of prophesy, red bikini and all, is awesomely laughable like seeing Bruce Campbell referenced in holy texts.

“Vampirella and the Scarlet Legion” is an interesting comic in parts, but doesn’t feel like anything astoundingly creative. It has the air of average about it when anyone doing a Vampirella tale either needs to make it insane and metal and awesome, or they need to pack up and go home. Dynamite loves to get a character and then flood the market with content for that character, but they need to enforce quality control instead. Not that this comic is bad in any way, it’s not terrible, but it’s not giving much of a reason to be noticed.

More info:

Story by Joe Harris
Art by Jose Malaga
Colors by Renier Petter
Letters by Marshall Dillon
Cover by J. Scott Campbell

Publisher:

[Zacharie]

Title: A Contract with God (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: The Masked Bookwyrm (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

Comic books have been around since the early part of the 20th Century -- magazines telling stories in sequential pictures and words. First, as reprints of newspaper strips, then with original material. The origin of the "graphic novel" is a bit harder to pin down, with various creators claiming parenthood of that sub-medium of comics -- true provenance hard to ascertain, in part because people can argue over what, exactly, constitutes a "graphic novel".

So though not really the first, as some might claim (Arnold Drake's "It Rhymes with Lust" was published decades earlier!), nonetheless one of the most influential -- or at least, most frequently cited -- is Will Eisner's A Contract with God. Eisner was already a respected and influential figure in comics, both for his studio work (in days when comics were often turned out by artistic collectives) as well as for his signature creation, the crimefighter, The Spirit -- a rather bland, non-descript concept that nonetheless became a touchstone in comics for Eisner's gradually evolving execution, playing around with visuals and narratives so that some of the tricks and experiments Eisner employed in his mix of tongue-in-cheek and film noire remain cutting edge decades later.

But Eisner clearly began to lose interest in the action-hero formula that was comics bread and butter (as evidenced by the experimentation with the Spirit which saw it move more in a human drama direction, with the Spirit himself frequently a peripheral figure). In fact, despite the Spirit remaining Eisner's signature creation till the day he died...I don't think he'd actually written or drawn a full Spirit story since the 1950s! Anyway, as mentioned, by the 1970s Eisner was clearly looking for some new challenge, something to restart his creative fires.

And a Contract with God was it. Still playing within the inner city, seedy, film noire milieu of the Spirit, but now the focus was fully on human drama -- kitchen sink realism -- as Eisner crafted an anthology of tales supposedly inspired by memories of his youth, all revolving around a New York slum, the fictional Dropsie Ave. And instead of being published in a comicbook periodical, the stories were collected in book form. Of course, one of the reasons one can question whether A Contract with God warrants the "graphic novel" label -- although most would say it does, clearly -- is the fact that it isn't, in fact, a novel, but a collection of four short stories.

The result is interesting, somewhat effective...but also a bit disappointing for something that is cited as such a seminal work.

Eisner throws himself into his milieu with passion and authenticity -- and a mature readers bent -- effectively conjuring up this Depression-era Jewish ghetto. His art style, like in the Spirit, applies a decidedly cartoony, caricaturist style to what is, essentially serious, dramatic material, for generally good effect. And his evocation of the streets and shabby tenements of Dropsie Ave. are full of mood and atmosphere -- particularly in black and white.

But the stories themselves are rather thin and even simplistic. In a sense, that's not untrue of a lot of "literary" stories, where "slice of life" can go hand-in-hand with "shaggy dog" stories, and where crafting stories that are too cleverly, or complicatedly plotted, can be seen as too crassly Hollywood. But it's also a reflectuon of the very slightness of the tales. Though a couple of the stories are as long as 60 pages -- Eisner indulges in lots of big panels, sometimes only one or two per page, so that actual story content is considerably less than the page count would suggest.

The title story itself, A Contract with God, though not uninteresting, is ultimately a rather simple -- and obvious -- parable about a pious man whose brush with tragedy causes him to lose faith in god. Even its telling is a bit reduced to its essence as Eisner relies a lot on captions -- describing the events almost more like a picture book than a comic where the narrative is played out in sequential panels.

The story that seems the most complex, the one that most feels like a "graphic novel" is Cookalein, as Eisner expands his focus from just a few core characters (as was the case in the other stories) to a much broader cast as summer hits Dropsie Avenue and we cut between various characters as they prepare to leave the city for a vacation in the country. We follow the various characters, become privy to the secrets and subterfuge, and watch as their various stories end up intertwining. But it too feels a bit anti-climactic when we reach the end, as if, given all the build up, more could've been done with it. As well, it too is a bit obvious in its twists and turns. Heck, when a character proclaims his love for another character who he'd barely exchanged a few words with, there's definitely a feeling we're getting the condensed version of a tale.

There is nothing that unique about the ideas or milieu of A Contract with God that hasn't already been explored by a zillion authors and filmmakers -- which is, of course, part of the appeal. The whole idiom of Jewish working class New York life has been so chronicled, there's an engaging familiarity to it. What made A Contract with God unusual was to tackle that world in a comic book format, and with a mature readers sensibility of nudity and adult subject matter.

Though a problem with the book is that, ultimately, it remains somewhat...depressing, as Eisner peoples his stories of hopeless desperate lives with deliberately flawed anti-heroes, cheaters, and reprobates. It's hard to entirely care about a lot of the characters. In The Supper -- a kind of uncomfortable tale where Eisner seems to see no distinction between adult lust and paedophilia (as a character who plasters his wall with nude pictures of adult women, is none the less teased on by a ten year old girl!) And as an example of my point about unsavoury characters, in a story focusing on the two...the girl actually seems even more loathsome than the adult!

But ultimately, A Contract with God is an eminently readable collection, full of Eisner's striking, idiosyncratic visuals and a seeming conviction on the part of the story teller. If the stories seems a bit simple, almost vignettes at time, that's not much different than a lot of literary stories -- albeit, literary anthologies would probably offer a dozen or so tales to Eisner's four.

More info:

Written & Illustrated by Will Eisner.
Recommended for Mature Readers
Published by various publishers over the years...

[Zacharie]

Title: Warlord of Mars: Fall of Barsoom (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Robert Place Napton (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: icv2 (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

In July Dynamite Entertainment will launch Warlord of Mars: Fall of Barsoom, its third series based on the Martian science fiction novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Fall of Baroom is a prequel, set 100,000 years before the John Carter’s adventures. Mars/Barsoom is a dying world with its atmosphere thinning and its oceans receding. The civilization of the Orovars is on the verge of descending into chaos.

Robert Napton, who adapted Terry Brooks’ Shannara fantasy novels, is scripting the Fall of Barsoom series, while ERB artist extraordinaire Joe Jusko is providing the covers and Roberto Castro is penciling the interiors.

Dynamite launched its ERB Martian line with Warlord of Mars , which debuted in October of 2010. Written by Arvid Nelson, Warlord of Mars has been a consistent top 5 Non-Premiere title since it was launched. In March of this year Dynamite added a second Warlord of Mars series, Warlord of Mars: Dejah Thoris, which was also written by Nelson and which debuted as the #2 Non-Premiere title in March (see “Dejah Thoris Gets Her Own Series”).

Dynamite’s Fall of Barsoom series is an extrapolation of hints about the history of Mars (Barsoom) in ERB’s Mars novels. As is the case with Dejah Thoris series, which is based on what Nelson referred to as “tantalizing breadcrumb trails left by Burroughs in the first few Mars novels that he never followed up on,” the Fall of Barsoom expands the historical mythos of Burroughs’ Mars novels in a logical way that ERB fans should enjoy.

All of Dynamite’s Warlord of Mars titles should get a major boost in the coming months as excitement builds toward the debut of the live-action Pixar/Disney John Carter of Mars film directed by Andrew Stanton, which is slated to debut early next year on March 9, 2012.

More info:

Writer: Robert Place Napton
Penciller/Inker: Roberto Castro
Covers: Joe Jusko

Publisher:

[Zacharie]

Title: The Prisoner - Shattered Visage (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Dean Motter and Mark Askwith (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Matthew Kresal (Review 1) and The Masked Bookwyrm (Review 2) (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

Review 1 - Twenty years after it ended, the classic 1960s TV series The Prisoner got what is perhaps the closest thing it will ever get to a proper, authorized sequel. It got in the form of Shattered Visage, a graphic novel that collected the four part comic book mini-series published by DC Comics, signed off on by not just the company that owns the series (ITC) but by Patrick McGoohan himself. But given the reputation of the original TV series, how well does Shattered Visage hold up?

Shattered Visage is a sequel to the original TV series and thus features both characters and elements from it. Both Patrick McGoohan Number Six and the Leo McKern version of Number Two appear, and clearly are the same characters played by McGoohan and McKern in both characterizations and in the artwork. Both are men changed by their experiences in the Village and the subsequent twenty years that followed. By meeting them again, we learn not only their fates at the end of the TV series (and with it are given something of an explanation for the oddness that was the series finale Fall Out) but also see a final confrontation between them and see how they tie into the Village's eventual fate. Together they make for an interesting character study and are believable future versions of the TV characters.

The story uses various elements from the TV series, some better then others. The Village itself has long since been abandoned and is in a state of decay when we first arrive at it and thus retains all of its menace from the TV series, if in a different form so to speak. All the familiar hallmarks are still there though: Number Two's office inside the green dome, the marble busts that house security equipment in them, and even the mysterious balloon like security device Rover. Some of the artwork heavily echoes (and at times actually are) iconic images from the TV series itself (especially from the opening credits) Some of the elements aren't quite as well used or even unnecessary such as the mentioning and later cameo appearance of Mrs. Buttersworth (from the episode Many Happy Returns) or the cameo appearance of the mute, diminutive butler (whose never seen clearly) which really distract from the main part of the story. For the most part though, the re-used elements from the TV series are put to fine use and gives this sequel an air of authenticity all its own.

Shattered Visage though, it could be argued, really revolves around a new cast of characters. In particular the story revolves around the estranged married couple of Alice and Thomas Drake. Alice is a former British intelligence agent who, after leaving her husband behind at his job and putting their daughter Meagan in a boarding school, goes off on what she plans to be a computer guided record breaking around the world sailing journey and instead finds herself in the Village. Thomas, on the other hand, still works for British intelligence and has recently finished editing the memoir of Number Two and has begun his own investigations into the Village. Thomas works on this not only for his superiors Ross and the Colonel (who may or may not be the character Colonel J from the TV series) but with the mysterious American operative Lee who heavily echoes Joe Don Baker's character from the BBC thriller mini-series Edge Of Darkness that was aired a few years before Shattered Visage was written though more in characterization then physical appearance. Together they add to the mythology of The Prisoner and offer a new way of exploring it.

Above all, it is the story itself that makes Shattered Visage so compelling. While it is a sequel to the 1960s TV series, it does so while being set in the late-1980s. The story therefore ties in heavily with the late Cold War and the events of the time. Examples include the controversy surrounding Number Two's memoir (based on the controversy surrounding the book Spycatcher, which written by a former MI5 agent, that the British government tried to ban publication of), mentioning of the SDI "Star Wars" defense system and the political climate of the time. There's also references to other pieces of spy fiction as well including a reference to a "Mr. Smiley" (aka George Smiley from various John le Carre novels) as well as appearance's in the artwork of characters such as John Steed and Emma Peel in one sequence. These elements help to ground the story in the "here and now" of when it was written which is both a good thing and a bad thing as it does date the story a bit. Perhaps this is unavoidable, though if you know your stuff it shouldn't be much of an issue.

But it is how the story ties into, and of course acts as a sequel to the TV series, that's more important. Various elements have been previously mentioned throughout the review such as the return of characters, settings and echoes of the iconic pieces from the series. Yet Shattered Visage is much more then just that. It offers its own explanations and theories about the Village, what it was and what it really hid. It also, as previously mentioned, explores the fates of both Number Six and Leo McKern's Number Two and offers up a compelling explanation for the final episode Fall Out, itself perhaps the most controversial finale of any TV series and the source of much speculation over the years. Yet despite doing all this, some things are still left unanswered right up to the twist in the final pages. It is only when these elements are combined with the late-1980s setting the result is a true sequel to the series.

With the passing of many of those who were in the original TV series, and given the lukewarm at best response the recent re-imagined mini-series has received, Shattered Visage is the closest we will ever get to a proper sequel to The Prisoner and it is a fitting one. With its fine use of characters and elements from the original TV series while, all the while, infusing the story with new characters and elements. It helps to explain some things, yet leaves the big questions unanswered and it does all that while be just as entertaining yet thought-provoking as the TV series it was spawned from. What more can you ask of it?

Review 2 - This is the only comic inspired by the cult British TV series about a secret agent trapped in a seemingly idyllic village, unsure who ran it -- his side, imprisoning him to keep the secrets he knew secret; or the "other" side, hoping to get him to divulge those secrets. Actually, Marvel was apparently going to do a version in the '70s (by Jack Kirby) but pulled the plug before the first issue was published.

Firstly, this story is not simply a comic book version of The Prisoner (ala Star Trek, Star Wars, etc.), but rather a sequel, set some 20 years later. So although Number 6, the hero of the series (played by Patrick McGoohan) is here, as is one of his Number 2 opponents (the version played by Leo McKern) there are also younger characters central to the story: an unnamed woman who has just resigned from her intelligence position, and her ex-husband, Thomas, who hasn't. She plans to sail around the world, solo, only to crash on the now-deserted island where the sinister village once resided. He, meanwhile, is caught up in the shadowy world of espionage, manipulating, and being manipulated, as he investigates the very notion of "the village" as alleged in a book written by the man known as Number 2.

I think.

See, the first problem with The Prisoner: Shattered Visage, is that, frankly, I didn't understand a lot of it. Now, that may seem like an odd thing to say. After all, the Prisoner TV series practically defined the notion of obscure and cryptic. But the series wasn't that obscure. It was weird, surreal, and heavy on the metaphors, and could be bewildering...but it wasn't confusing (too often). You generally knew what was going on, it was just a matter of working out the subtext. But there's stuff here that seems obscure simply for the sake of seeming obscure -- like mentioning in the fourth and final "chapter" that there have been global incidents, assassinations, etc. that seem to be the work of guiding intelligence...when nowhere earlier were we told such things were occurring. It's as if it wants to wear the mantle of sophistication, but not the substance.

As well, The Prisoner was a mix of cold war espionage, science fiction, parable, satire, whimsy, and surrealism, with the spy trappings quickly being revealed as a metaphor for the broader world and broader issues ("I am not a number," roared Number 6, "I'm a free man!"). This mix led to a kind of tug-of-war in the series as to what it really wanted to be, usually with the more memorable elements rooted in the fantastic and surreal rather than the espionage idiom. With Shattered Visage, Dean Motter and Mark Askwith seem to want to pull the Prisoner back to the spy game, even to the point where the premise in the comic seems a bit at odds with how the series (surrealistically) ended. Although this is cryptic and confusing, it's also far less strange and eccentric than the series.

The decision to shift the focus onto new characters is also odd. That's the decision you'd expect in a movie, where a Hollywood executive might grumble "Hey, these guys are too old -- let's get some younger characters in here for the kids to relate to." But in a comic, a character is only as young or as old as you want him to be.

Lacking the focus of Number 6, and the charismatic intensity of McGoohan's performance, the story meanders. In fact, the story doesn't entirely capture the spirit of the series, despite the fact that Motter and Askwith clearly know their source material. The series was dark, but also whimsical and satirical...Shattered Visage is largely without wit. The series could be energetic, with experimental editing tricks, but this is leisurely. Like a lot of comics these days, Motter feels the need to detail every gesture -- in one 3-panel sequence, a character throws a leg over a railing, dangles from the railing, then drops to the ground. The action could as readily have been conveyed in two panels, omitting the middle one. There's lots of wordless panels, making the book a somewhat briefer read than you'd expect.

Motter's pencil and ink style is reasonably effective, affecting a rough, unfinished style that reminds me of Turn-of-the-Century French impressionists.

Ultimately, the story was sort of interesting, but ultimately less-than rewarding.

More info:

Written by Dean Motter & Mark Askwith. Illustrated by Dean Motter (with assist from Robert Walton)
Painted by David Hornung, Richmond Lewis. Letters: Deborah Marks, John Workman. Editor: Richard Bruning

[Zacharie]

Title: Civil War (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Mark Millar (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: wrdnik3 (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

Let's be clear: as a civilian, life in the Marvel Universe can be pretty crappy. Sure, you get lots of amazing technology being invented by smartypants like Tony Stark and Reed Richards that make that iPad look like an abacus (suck it, Jobs!). Spider-Man and Daredevil are around to stop you getting mugged, and it's got to be inspiring seeing Captain America throwing his shield, or Thor soaring across the sky. But you've got to weigh that against the fact that costumed superpowered maniacs are always plotting to take over or destroy the world, taking hostages, robbing banks – and the good costumed superpowered weirdos stop them by trashing prime real estate, mindwiping cities, or altering reality or the past or whatever. There are mutants walking around that can read your thoughts, or kill you by looking at you hard, and they can look just like you or me. And every couple of months there'll be an alien invasion, or the Beyonder will kidnap your suburb, or Galactus will stop by looking for a snack.

To be a civilian in the MU, in other words, is to know that you have very little control of your own life, and to have no idea who the folks are that hold your life in their hands, or whether you can trust them. That's gotta make you a little unhappy. So when some superpowered kids trying to be bigshots screw up a mission and allow a bad guy to blow up an entire neighbourhood, including a busload of kids, it's no wonder that the regular folks have had just about enough. They're mad as hell, and they just won't take it anymore, and they want someone to do something about it. That someone is the US government, and that something is the Superhero Registration Act: every masked hero must register with the government and receive training before they can operate, or else.

Of course, not everybody is keen to place their identities – and their lives – in the hands of the government. Some heroes are willing to fight to maintain their freedom and individuality. And some are willing to fight to enforce the new law and make sure that their fellows obey it. So the heroes start to line up on two sides, and declare war on their misguided fellows...

That's the plot of Civil War, one of the biggest (and best-selling) Marvel stories of all time, and it kicked off a new direction for the next half-decade or so at the House of Ideas (that's basically ended now, but the old status quo hasn't really been restored, though that's okay – five decades is a bit long to read the same recycled fights-and-fixes stories, and a change, they say, is as good as a rest). It features pretty much all of the non-cosmic heroes (they were all busy in their own series, and really, the US government has no right to try to tell the Silver Surfer what to do, and wouldn't like the consequences if it did). The Avengers, the Fantastic Four, Doctor Strange, She-Hulk, Black Panther, the Punisher, Tiggra, Daredevil, the Falcon, Nighhawk, Luke Cage, etc. - they all appear in these pages, in roles of varying importance.

But the main focus here is on three heroes, representing the heart and soul of the Marvel U. There's Tony Stark, Iron Man, leading the pro-Registration forces; Steve Rogers, Captain America, heading up the anti-Registration forces; and Peter Parker, Spider-Man, stuck in the middle, between two of his personal heroes, trying to do the right thing, like he always does (and having about as much luck with that as usual). Between them, they determine the fate of every hero in America.

Which makes it a real shame that writer Mark Millar's characterization is really at a minimum in this series. Partly, that's down to the nature of mega-crossover events – so many heroes, so little space for them all to shine. Partly that's because the dialogue is often pretty terrible, and interchangeably so, with many characters speaking with more or less the same voice. Moreover, some of the characters don't quite seem right here (and yes, different writers have different takes on individual heroes and villains, but there's still some kind of baseline that usually persists from creative team to creative team, which is why Doctor Doom never displays cowardice and J. Jonah Jameson hasn't yet declared his undying love for that friendly neighbourhood webslinger). Millar's Spidey is pretty good, I guess – confused, a little scared, but smart and decent and sort of a regular guy with a heart of gold. Iron Man, though, is just a dick. Straight up. He's brilliant and all, but he's also arrogant and obnoxious and manipulative and just not exactly dun to be around. And Captain America seems to be a little more speechy and self-righteous and angry and military than usual, and his behaviour at the very end of the story is just ridiculous. Reed Richards is a pathetic shadow of the man he should be – he tries to justify his pro-Registration stance with a story that shows it's always better to obey the law (does he not remember that his own illegal starship launch got the Fantastic Four started?).

Penciller Steve McNiven's art is pretty kewl (the inks are handled by a bunch of folks, so I'm commenting on the consistent factor here). He draws very expressive faces (even if those expressions are mostly just grim and angry) and very heroic figures, placing them in appropriate dramatic poses and awesome splash pages. He's not really good with motion, though, and that's a shame – it makes many of his scenes seem a bit lifeless, or flat and awkward. But when he does get it right, he gets it right big-time: this is especially noticeable in an early scene where Cap hands in his resignation in style (and also surfs a jet, which is ridiculous but fun).



Even More Thoughts
Nowadays Mark Millar is one of the biggest names in comicdom, especially as far as Hollywood is concerned (he's the guy who wrote the comics Kick-A$$ and Wanted were based on). He's known for his big and brash and “realistic” approach to superheroics, and for hectic action, and for espionage and intrigue and double-crossing and triple-crossing and cool technology and so on, all of which makes an appearance here. What he's not known for is subtlety.

Like I said, it's understandable that the non-superpowered folks would be quite fed up. But why this incident would be such a big deal to them, I have no idea. After all, just a few months or years before (Marvel timeline time is weird) more folks were killed in the September 11 attacks, which all those superheroes inexplicably failed to prevent (Thor or Iron Man or Doc Strange could easily have stopped those planes). Before that, Ultron – a robotic monster created by a superhero – wiped out an entire country all by his lonesome, one by one. And the Silver Surfer used to go around trashing cities just to prove a point, and he was a close friend of the most famous super-family in the world. So why is this incident the final straw?

Now as to the whole Registration thing: in our world, this is a no-brainer. If people are going to wield powers and technology far beyond those of mortal men, we'd want to know that they're going to wield them responsibly. Or at least, we'd want to be able to hold them accountable. So yes, we'd be totally pro-Reg (though we'd still want to ensure these people were pretty safe, so we might not want to trust any particular government with their secrets – some sort of UN-like body would probably have to be involved). But in the MU, these folks have been wielding their powers sort-of-responsibly for decades, and they've saved everybody's butts a million times – they're a part of life. Captain America's approval rating is off the charts, and there are already structures in place to channel their actions. So we might expect at least some nuance and proper debate about the matter, dagnabbit. But both sides put forward such ludicrous arguments for their positions in this book that it's hard to take them seriously – and one of them is really presented in a sort-of comicbook villain way (you know what I mean) and totally acts like a bunch of Nazis (with much cooler tech). Subtle stuff.

Of course, the main attraction is the fighting, the hero vs. hero fun, and there are some major punch-ups in here, where massive groups of heroes beat up on each other. There's Iron Man and Cap going mano a mano, Hercules vs. Thor (sort of), Spider-Man kicking butt. Sadly, though, the big fights aren't really all that exciting – just a panel or two per couple combatants (for good reason, sure, but still). Ah well.

One more thing: there are some parts of this book that make no sense at all. Some of it's explained in tie-in issues (the whole event ran through over 50 issues, from Black Panther to Avengers to Cable & Deadpool), some of which were actually very good indeed. Some of it's explained on Marvel messageboards and the like (but anything that needs to be explained outside of the actual story itself is, I think, a clear flaw in the writing). And some of it's never been satisfactorily explained. That's just poor storytelling. Come on, guys, you're better than that.

The Final Word
If you're a Marvel fan, or you're trying to make sense of the Marvel U in the 21st century, this is pretty much indispensable stuff. And if you like to see heroes beating up on each other, you'll find plenty of that in here. It's just not very good, though, so keep that in mind, okay?

More info:

Writer: Mark Millar
Penciller: Steve McNiven
Inker: Dexter Viner

[Zacharie]

Title: Death-Defying Devil (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Joe Casey (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: The Masked Bookwyrm (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

I find myself a bit amazed at how awful Dynamite's super hero line is.

Yeah, that's harsh -- and, obviously, subjective. I've certainly come across some reviews of their comics that were more favourable. But for me, there's a bizarre, well, amateurishness to what I've read. And the reason I'm "amazed" is because Dynamite is a glossy, professional comics publisher, one that got its foot in the door producing decent enough comics licensed from other mediums like TV's Battlestar Galactica. When they decided to finally jump into the super hero market -- the genre that largely dominates mainstream comics -- they didn't go about it tentatively, instead creating an instant universe of characters by resurrecting dozens of Golden Age comic book characters that had fallen into the public domain. And to oversee it, they recruited Alex Ross, the artist whose fully painted art (along with some plotting credits) had made him a fan favourite for his involvement with such seminal works as Marvels (for Marvel Comics) and Kingdom Come (for DC). Ross doesn't provide art for Dynamite's comics (other than covers) but he is clearly the guiding force -- which is why I tend to think of Dynamite's line as a single entity, rather than a product of different creators, with the potential for highs and lows.

Dynamite's super hero line begat with the first Project Superpowers mini-series, in which a bunch of 1940s heroes found themselves resurrected in (more or less) modern times. It was used as the launching pad for a bunch of mini-series, including this one featuring the original Daredevil -- here generally referred to as 'Devil so as not to get into copyright entanglements with Marvel Comics who have owned the name for decades.

And this four part story (plus a sixteen page prologue released as part of the annual Free Comic Book Day) is, like Project Superpowers, a strangely muddled, confused effort that fails to satisfy as a story...or to convince you it'll get better if you stick around for future adventures.

Part of the problem is that the Dynamite Universe is based on resurrecting decades old characters that most readers have barely heard of...yet in which little effort is made to explain things for the newer readers. I mean, I have some passing familiarity with Golden Age comics, and even I found a lot of the background poorly articulated.

The story has 'Devil, who is mysteriously mute ever since his re-appearance in Project Superpowers, and Justine, a female French agent, tackling minions of The Claw, an old war time super villain who seems to be at the centre of some global terrorist cult. They also team up with the super fast Silver Streak and the masked aviator, The Ghost. Which is a little what I mean about lack of explanation. The Silver Streak is easy enough to get -- he's just a Flash/Whizzer/Quicksilver type. But the Ghost isn't as clear who/what he is or the extent/limits of his powers (and one suspects they've completely re-invented him from his Golden Age stories, given how different he looks in a one page flashback).

Anyway, thrown into this mix is Dragon, a guy who dresses in a similar costume to 'Devil, and attacks him -- insisting that 'Devil's not the true 'Devil, but an imposter who has usurped a great man's legend.

The art by Edgar Salazar is reasonably good -- arguably more consistent than the art in Project Superpowers. It perhaps helps that Dynamite gave up on the faux-painted colours of the Project Superpowers series, which tended to just look muddy, for more conventional colouring. But though the art is certainly good, viscerally it left me mixed. The action and talky scenes both tend to be a bit stiff, and there aren't too many striking images or panels (save a few shots as we see the Ghost's plane looming overhead).

But it's in the writing where the saga is let down. I mentioned near the beginning that it occasionally seemed "amateurish". In a way, it's as if Ross hasn't quite shaken off his fanboy roots when it comes to plotting, as it almost seems like something a kid would do. The focus is mainly on the action/fight scenes, as if he and co-plotter Casey see story and characterization as being like panel borders -- just a necessary evil to be squeezed in around the cool pictures.

The "reality" in which the characters exist is a bit confused, which is the problem with creating a "new" universe as opposed to DC and Marvel's long established ones. The Superpowers world isn't quite like ours, but it's not always clear what are the rules. There are also technical questions, like why is a French agent running around on U.S. soil, using lethal force? Isn't she out of her jurisdiction? And despite her clearly having authority and government resources...when she and the heroes go to thwart the Claw's next scheme, they have no back up. And during a briefing she announces the Claw is using brainwashed operatives -- "sleepers" who might not know they are the Claw's operatives. But, um, we didn't see this earlier. Well, except one scene where a Claw operative starts murmuring to himself, but it wasn't clear this was the result of brainwashing -- he could've just been spouting dogma (blame Salazar's visuals? Or Casey's script?). Me, I prefer a story where we see when the heroes come to their realization...not where they toss off an explanation after the fact.

Likewise, how the characters make deductions is basically just left up to the French agent announcing information derived from unseen and unknown contacts as opposed to anything depicted in the pages. And the Claw's plan remains, well, non-existent, with even the heroes left to speculate about why the Claw is doing what he's doing. Again, it's a bit like a kid who's just trying to get to the cool scenes, and doesn't really care how or why he gets there.

Which then gets us to the characters...of which there aren't any. Not really. I mean, the 'Devil is mute, so remains a pretty blank slate, with Justine (the French agent), The Silver Streak, and The Ghost pretty non-descript, generic personalities. There to utter a line or two, but not really to be people through whom the scenes are filtered. The closest we get is a scene where, during some particularly anarchic violence, The Ghost cheerfully says it's like "old times" (referring to their war time exploits) and Silver Streak grimly echoes him, evincing less enthusiasm. But that's about it.

And even the fight scenes are pretty bland and generic, as 'Devil fights Dragon a couple of times, and the heroes fight the Claw's minions a couple of times. But you could pretty much mix and match the panels to little discernable effect.

And to top it all off, this is yet another mini-series which isn't really a mini-series -- that is, a stand alone, beginning-middle-and-end sort of affair. By the end, the Claw is still loose, still with (or without) a master plan; Dragon is still running about; we are left to infer Dragon was right -- 'Devil isn't the original, true Daredevil. But we have no hints or clues as to who he might be...nor do Silver Streak and the others really care. And there's another, sinister, sub-plot introduced that is left dangling.

So, let's recap: it's a not very interesting, poorly developed plot featuring not very interesting, nor well defined heroes that, after a lot of page consuming fighting, doesn't really take you anywhere or resolve much. But it has okay art.

Man, I think I'll tell the guys at my local comic shop that if I try to buy another Dynamite super hero comic co-plotted by Alex Ross, that they should refuse to sell it to me. Better yet, they should just shoot me.

More info:

Written by Joe Casey
Art: Alex Ross and Jim Kreuger.
Illustrated by Edgar Salazarand Andy Smith.
Colours: Romulo Fajardo, Jr. and Debora Carita.
Letters: Simon Bowland.

[Zacharie]

Title: Flashpoint: Secret Seven (Click to go to the release post)
Writer: Peter Milligan (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: IGN comics (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

It's hard to jump into a book that hinges on the reader's acceptance of a brand new world without any previous knowledge of it. Secret Seven focuses on the Flashpoint versions of Shade the Changing Man and Enchantress as they bounce between magical planes and struggle to establish a team of seven, the last group of which Shade may or may not have killed. Why these things are important is never fully articulated. We see events happening but are given no real reason as to why we should care.

To its credit, Secret Seven stands alone with no need to be familiar with Flashpoint proper. DC seems to have made good on their promise to deliver standalone tie-ins that can be enjoyed, or not. However, this also means we're treated to a cliche opening news broadcast to familiarize readers with the situation quickly before diving into the madness of the plot. As cool as some of the bizarre magical ideas are, it's hard to feel any sort of connection to this book with the Flashpoint universe feeling like a still-to-be lived in barren apartment.

George Perez, Fernando Blanco, and Scott Koblish share art duties on this issue, all of whom do a commendable job. In fact, the art is the saving grace for this purchase. Remarkably, the book doesn't feel as disjointed as one might think with three different artists contributing. Granted, the story is so chaotic that it could be distracting from the finer details of the artwork, but I was surprised at how cohesive this issue is. You'll get the expected insanity from Perez (what's a DC event without some semblance of Perez detail?) plus really cool new designs for Shade and Enchantress. It's just a shame that it couldn't all feel more worthwhile than a lot of cool imagery with nothing threading it together.

[Zacharie]

Title: Moon Girl (Click to go to the release post)
Writer: Gardner Fox (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Broken Frontier (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review: Issue #1

Billed across the Net as “Mad Men meets The Dark Knight”, Red 5 Comics’ newest creator-owned offering Moon Girl would seem to have a lot going for it – or a lot to live up to. Those properties place Tony Trov and Johnny Zito’s reboot of the short-lived EC Comics character in some pretty heady company, maybe too heady.

First appearing in Fall of 1947, Moon Girl was the brainchild of comic book giants Max Gaines, Gardner Fox, and Sheldon Moldoff. Lasting a short, turbulent twelve issues, a run in which the title changed no less than four times before settling on A Moon, a Girl…Romance (!?) for the final four installments, Moon Girl finally left the series when it became known as Weird Fantasy with number thirteen. From Moon Girl and the Prince to Weird Fantasy in the space of thirteen issues…Damn, the Golden Age of Comics was a rockin’ ride!

Trov and Zito snagged Moon Girl after she faded into the obscurity of the public domain and have adroitly set their stories of her career in the mid-1950s. This would be where the Mad Men comparison comes into play. I’ll let the Dark Knight analogy lie where it will. Overall, the decision to push the setting into the fifties is a sound one. It allows Moon Girl a distinctiveness that sets it apart from other nostalgia projects that typically take place during World War II. As we’ve all presumably learned from Mad Men, the 1950s in America wasn’t all baseball and apple pie. Apparently, just like every other period of human history, there was a lot drinking, smoking, and fornicating going on.

Unfortunately, this storytelling mother lode of sexual and emotional repression goes largely untapped in Moon Girl. Oh, it’s all in there but it reeks of apple pie and the bubblegum you get in baseball cards. The conflicts in the book are overt, lack emotional weight, and most often come in the form of physical confrontation. Despite the hype, Moon Girl is very surface-level stuff and devoid of the technical, emotional, and stylistic sophistication of Mad Men. Or The Dark Knight. Even the lush, fully-painted panels of The Rahzzah (What are we, twelve?) only reinforce the superficial similarities between Moon Girl and the aforementioned properties.

All of this confounds me even more, when I consider Trov and Zito’s Moon Girl first appeared early last year on Comixology. With such a publishing lag between Web and print, why not take the opportunity to tweak the book a bit? Moon Girl quite obviously isn’t in the same league as either Mad Men or The Dark Knight, so if you’re intent on using those comparisons as a marketing ploy, put your mad money where your mouth is.

Hell, they could’ve at least found poor Rahzzah a name…

Additional info:
- Words: Tony Trov and Johnny Zito
- Art: The Rahzzah
- Publisher: Red 5 Comics
- Release Date: May 4, 2011

[Zacharie]

Title: Gears of War (Click to go to the release post)
Writer: Various Authors & Artists (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Noel (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

I have only recently started being what you would call a comic book collector. While I had a few lying around I wasn’t what you would call a true fan of the medium. It was cool and stuff but I was a little intimidated by the depth that they go into and I honestly didn’t know where to begin. I also have an addictive personality so I was worried about where collecting comics might take me. So I invested my nerd money in beer and games. Much better says my bloodshot eyes and beer gut. That all changed recently. A little older now I’m a bit more responsible with my cash now. I had a totally nerd moment the other day however. Watching season 6 of Buffy: the Vampire Slayer, I was putting the cardboard inserts in my comics and plastic bagging them for safe keeping and storing them in ridgy didge the proper box I bought from out local comic book store. Sad stuff really.

Anyway, one of the comics I am collecting is the DC Wildstorm Gears of War comic book series. Now some more experienced connoisseurs may scoff at this choice as not being a particularly great choice to begin a collection (I’m also collecting anything to do with Hellboy from B.P.R.D to Abe Sapien). I’m sure there is far better out there for me to collect. The thing is the mythology and cannon with much of well known comic book characters and series are still beyond me and still overwhelm me. Fuck, until 3 moths ago I still though Barry Allen was the Flash!

One thing I do know is Gears of War. I frigging love the game. Sure it has its detractors but it also has its fans. It also has a universe ripe with potential. I emphasise the word potential here. Note: During the course of this review I will make many references to the game as well as the actual thing I’m reviewing- the comic. But hell, I was more proud of the non review part of my review of Sesame Street Volume 2 than the actual review (cheap plug- I made my boss and Q-dog cry when they read it. Read it). Back to the review.

Set in between games one and two, penned by Gears 2 writer Joshua Ortega and like the second game, the comic series tries valiantly to broaden the Gears universe. It was a valid criticism of the first that here was an apparent back story but we didn’t really know much about it beyond- pasty muscular monsters from underground and guys with guns with chainsaws fighting them. Take cover, kill the buggers¦ Look- yellow fuel, take cover, kill the buggers, ooh chainsaw bayonet! Repeat. There was an implied history there that I wanted to know more about. It just did very little to explain any of it.

While the second instalment did dig deeper it had an equally frustrating element, in setting up more plot devices than it actually answered. Why are there no children Locust? Why are the only females a human looking Queen and the Berserkers? What were the Pendulum wars? What happened to Tai and Dizzy? There are a lot of characters referred to by name: Jayce for example. How is Marcus’ farther involved? What the hell are the Sires? There is a back story however and if the series takes a typical trilogy format in regards to storytelling- establish, evolve and resolve, then ultimately neither games have done anything wrong and we just have to be patient.

The comic book¦ oh yeah the actual comic book. I found myself appreciating this series probably more than the average fan. This is based upon my appreciation of the game. I had some connection with the source material that made emotionally investing in the story easier. I don’t think it’s going to increase in value a great deal and I don’t think it’s not particularly collectable. I don’t care, it’s cool to me.
Jayse fights a big bug!

The first six episodes deal with Jayce a relatively green Gear and his brief connection with Delta squad fighting its way back to Jacinto after a mission kind of went FUBAR. It was kind of cool to remember that we see Jayce (from a distance) and talk to him in the second game. It enables some connection with the character that we simply pass in between all the bullets and chainsaws. That arc takes 6 issues and includes flashbacks to Jayce being saved as a child by a Gear and transferring that emotional recall into taking a guardian role for the little girl whom the squad encounters and rescues.

In playing co-op the second game where we are separated from Tai and Dizzy my mate asked me what happens to them? I didn’t know. The game does little to answer that question apart from meeting a broken Tai who kills himself when found my Marcus. Issue # 7 answers that question and from here the series takes a different turn. The focus is now one off stories filling in the gaps about Tai beginnings and what happened to him and why the nearly superhuman Tai kills himself. It’s not Citizen Kane but it’s probably the best in the series up to this point and gives some nice background to a character you were screaming to want to know more about. He dies. Bugger.

Issue 8 is one I am looking forward to above all the others. All though the second game you collect info for your War Journal many of the collectables involve a Gear called Sgt. Jonathan Harper who is captured, escapes and helps a family escape before dying. You never meet him in the game but he is well known if you take the time to read his part in the story. # 8 fleshes out his story and you get to know an engaging character that you don’t actually know but you know of and his selfless sacrifice to save a family of innocents. I don’t know what follows but it is pleasing to see that hey are giving the universe more scope so you are able to make these connections in game.

The next two issues appear to streamline the Aspro Fields story and has this redhead female gear with alancer and tight bum on the cover. Sing along: These are a few of my favourite things!

The writing is better than I initially feared- generally lacking clumsy exposition I was dreading from a game come comic book. That being said much of the story in #1-#6 is a tad repetitive- shoot the drones, shoot the Theron, shoot the Bloodmounts, kill the Brumark, run away from the Berserker, but after 6 issues it was bound to repeat itself a little. This predictable anvil tied to its feet hamstrings the whole series. There is a story here but being confined within an action game hampers it, so the story could never be anything within the same hemisphere as say The Watchmen for example. It’s not trying to be that either. It’s taking a universe that has the potential for an engaging mythology but storytelling viewpoint limited by its very nature and core concept. It is what it is: guns, bullets and blood. Just like the game.

The art is pretty good. I think. Different perspectives and angles remove it from being one dimensional. This is one part of the review process where my inexperience with comics is obvious. It looks cool but I couldn’t name the style for you or anything about the artist. I could research it but I think that stuff is poo boring and I’m not going to do lots of research to try and fool you into thinking I’m this expert in the visual medium- ask QDog- that’s his bone. (Besides I currently really should be writing my school reports!) The style is not overly stylised, it is a cartoon rendering of relatively accurate (albeit heavily scarred and muscular) faces and features from the game. Yeah so the artwork is fine¦ I think. NEXT.

Maybe in 10 years when I’m a more enlightened with what’s hot and what’s not with comics I’ll be more judgemental with my opinion of this series. Until then and as someone who has some investment in the mythos I’ll give this a COOL judgement. For some it may be a COOL+ for many I may just be a MEH. Make your own judgement. It’s also not a bad starter for a comic book collector just to get into when the next issue is coming out and bugging the local comic book store owners.

Still I’m sure they’re going to look all nice in lined up together in their plastic enveloped and cardboard inserts. Man that bum was nice¦ I think I’ll go hire Buffy: the Vampire slayer season 7.