I loved this. so spooky, so emotional. and heartwarming! the stories intrigue, the setting is richly developed, the morals of the tales are wise ones.I loved this. so spooky, so emotional. and heartwarming! the stories intrigue, the setting is richly developed, the morals of the tales are wise ones. the first arc is particularly compelling, as only a story about a little witch hunted by the people she loves most can be. I love the forgiveness at the end of that story, and demonstrated through later arcs. I loved (both of) her horrible-wonderful familiar-mascot(s), an endearing little skinless (or body-less) fellow. I loved the visuals as much as the story! using watercolors was such a great choice. it's easy to see why this comic was so beloved by audiences and acclaimed by critics. adorable and horrible in nearly-equal measures - adorable wins, by a hair.
Otto Binder, co-creator of Supergirl, wrote this story "The Unwanted" back in 1962. It really should have been left there. This adaptation is a sciencOtto Binder, co-creator of Supergirl, wrote this story "The Unwanted" back in 1962. It really should have been left there. This adaptation is a science fictional tale about two census takers, representing a brutally colonialist empire populated by beings literally called Mastermen, who have come to Earth to assess whether or not our planet is worthy of joining intergalactic society. Kudos to Binder for writing so forthrightly about race, racism, and injustice back then. Unfortunately, read now, the story is sadly laughable due to its basic ideas that (1) alien beings would be racist against black people in particular, and (2) humanity would be judged negatively due to their lack of "Intolerance! Bigotry, cruelty, selfishness, exclusivity, arrogance..." Although I admire Binder's political rhetoric when it comes to former (especially when keeping in mind when the original was written), the latter idea is so simple-minded that it's not even worthy of being critiqued. Rather embarrassing that - of all stories out there that could be unburied - Fantagraphics chose this tedious, strenuously allegorical dud to revamp. Virtue signal much?
This would be 1 star, but the art is actually dazzling. I think it is computer-generated but I don't care.
the art by Nicola Scott is the main draw: a striking monochromatic color scheme with the occasional splatters of red and purple; expertly-rendered facthe art by Nicola Scott is the main draw: a striking monochromatic color scheme with the occasional splatters of red and purple; expertly-rendered faces; the occasional hallucinatory splash page(s). superb work! the writing by Greg Rucka is nearly as enjoyable. he's a fun writer who is working at a high level with his characters and his narrative. enjoyable mysteries that aren't quite figured out in this volume; a realistic yet enchanted atmosphere; a narrative that centers noir-ish hardboiled detective tropes within a storyline about magic, witches, secret societies, and demons. the only minus (half-star removed! LOL) is the poor characterization of our heroine's cat familiar. I mean really, cat familiars shouldn't talk like the neighborhood butcher. I've had a cat familiar and she was quite subtle and eloquent. stop mischaracterizing cat familiars, Rucka!
"Rain and thunder and lightning Crumbling Buildings falling, hurricanes Earth-shattering Membranes scattering Insane happening Souls keeps burning And the sk"Rain and thunder and lightning Crumbling Buildings falling, hurricanes Earth-shattering Membranes scattering Insane happening Souls keeps burning And the sky keeps plummeting down..."
The sky is falling on our femme fatale, our misunderstood woman, our perpetual sacrifice on the altar of our gods, our lure, our bait, our guy-magnet, our projection of our deepest desires, our our our our our, she is ours, she rules us, we own her, she owns us, our eternal goddess. Anyway, she's on the run. Brubaker keeps her on the run for most of this sequel, her unasked-for powers of fatal attraction creating death and destruction everywhere she flees. But then she decides to fight back. Why should the world rise or fall on the destiny of one woman, why does she deserve such a fate? The author continues his deconstruction then reconstruction of the femme fatale archetype, examining the misogyny implicit in such a template, the actual woman behind that facade so often lost, villainized, demonized. He gives her a history. He gives her antagonists a history as well, of sorts. The dragons demand a sacrifice, they always will, we wake them and they hunger, we wake them again and again. The cultists chase, their bishop plots, the men love and then are destroyed, the woman seeks rescue, the cycle repeats.
The art by Sean Phillips is phenomenal, the dark and shadowy film noir stylings shapeshifting into bloody horror, heads exploding and infants hanging from a tree, and finally transforming into full-blown hallucination in the last chapters. All the better to capture the true nature of this immortal temptress, victim, and heroine; all the better to capture the horror that has made her. There is a timeless legend of a kingdom under siege by dragons; the king puts forth a sacrifice, always a woman; the knights ride to her rescue, always men. The cycle continues; the dragons continue to destroy, they are the sky falling down on humanity with every atrocity, war, or genocide. How can one woman, one sacrifice, stop the sky from falling? How can her death save the kingdom, the world? The book provides answers: she can't, it can't. There be dragons, and she is just one woman against them. But in the end, to even have an end, perhaps she can rescue herself, at least....more
ugh this was beyond terrible. I had such high hopes for my second Tom King book after his brilliant The Vision. hopes smashed. I wonder if I loved hisugh this was beyond terrible. I had such high hopes for my second Tom King book after his brilliant The Vision. hopes smashed. I wonder if I loved his prior book so much because The Vision is one of my favorite characters? I certainly appreciated that story's sensitivity towards the all-too-fallible robot. turns out that King's sensitivity as a writer is both strength and weakness.
the story here manages to be both incredibly pretentious and unbearably dumb, quite a feat. the cavalier way that King massacres a bunch of superheroes (who have all since been resurrected, of course), in service of a narrative that mistakenly assumes it has depth simply because it is tackling deep topics such as PTSD, depression, and isolation... I was constantly rolling my eyes at the shallow, tryhard execution of it all. my God, the facile pop psychology on display. my God, so much fucking hugging. and what a bizarre way to treat Wally West, a vibrant character with a fully established personality that King decides to turn into some kind of depressive, suicidal dullard. he does the same diminishing nonsense with nearly every other character, especially during the various portraits of brief, taped therapy sessions. the lauded art by Clay Mann is technically accomplished but soulless, forgettable, and anonymous. although there are some nice images of flowers, fields, and Flash in a field of flowers; he also knows how to draw some toned asses. LOL gotta enjoy the small things when dealing with this catastrophe of a book....more
the series continues to be a lot of bright, saucy fun, primarily concerned with relationships and sexuality, but with a low hum of sociopolitical critthe series continues to be a lot of bright, saucy fun, primarily concerned with relationships and sexuality, but with a low hum of sociopolitical critique always present in the background. and sometimes taking up the foreground, usually when the nefarious Sex Police are featured. I wish there were more of that, the sociopolitical critique and the Big (Narrative) Picture, rather than the tracking of the various ins & outs of the primary couple's relationship. that relationship is certainly well-done, very realistic even grueling at times in how fair Matt Fraction is to both protagonists' wants and needs, and in their spontaneous expressions of love and irritation. but in this volume at least, their relationship started to bore me a bit, alas. too microscopic in its details, maybe? the series is juggling relationships with villainous conspiracies and I think I wanted more conspiracies? none of that is to say that I didn't really enjoy this, because I did! and it is an unfair critique as well, because that relationship and the very individualized sexualities on display by the protagonists and the many supporting characters are the entire point of this series.
Fraction is such a cheeky, generous writer (including during one meta sequence featuring writer and artist discussing how to deal with a rote scene about sex-shaming). Zdarsky is wonderfully talented and creative (and as in the prior volume, balances the occasional surreal flights with an absolute realism in depicting how bodies actually look). this series is pure pleasure, despite my whining.
Lando brings a precise attention to detail in this collection of mainly wordless mind-stretchers. the black & white art is strange, spidery, delicate,Lando brings a precise attention to detail in this collection of mainly wordless mind-stretchers. the black & white art is strange, spidery, delicate, and distinctive; the perspective on life is bleak and nihilistic. although Lando employs surrealism in both style and (anti-)narrative, the overarching purpose of all of these stories is clear: humans and the way they go about their lives suck. capitalism, competition, warfare, lack of caring for our surroundings, and why we follow orders all come under severe scrutiny. this is not my kind of political art by any means - too dour and hopeless - but I can admire a stringently critical point of view that remains consistent from beginning to end. it is ironic that these stories first appeared in a publication called "Decadence Comics" because these stark, scouringly moralistic allegories are quite the opposite of decadent.
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the above pages are from the story "Pyramid Scheme" which is about what the title says it is about....more
I became a big fan of Adam Warlock when I was a kid and it started with that name, Adam + Warlock. the Bible and witchcraft were two of my great interI became a big fan of Adam Warlock when I was a kid and it started with that name, Adam + Warlock. the Bible and witchcraft were two of my great interests as a lad and so how could I possibly resist. it also helped that before he became known as Adam Warlock, his name was simply Him. the more I read about this character - and I didn't read all that much, having maybe two or three dozen comics that I just read repeatedly - the more I became fascinated. his nemesis with lavender skin and a giant white afro - Magus, god-king of a galactic empire - was actually Adam Warlock from the future, and that boggled my mind. his sidekicks were an earthy troll who I found to be surprisingly attractive and a deadly female assassin named Gamora. he was often hysterically yet regally melodramatic, shouting monologues into the void about Fate and the horrors of being alive. he was literally insane, having spent an eternity with himself while trapped in some kind of inbetween dimension. best of all, he had a "vampire soul gem" embedded in his forehead that devoured and absorbed the souls of those he had vanquished, which reminded me of the magic blade Stormbringer, held by my personal hero Elric of Melnibone. there was just so much to love about this amber-skinned, ultra-powered weirdo dressed in scarlet, gold, and skulls and apparently addicted to eye shadow.
Jim Starlin redeveloped Adam Warlock from Stan Lee's and Jack Kirby's original creation, taking Him away from Counter-Earth (and away from another favorite complicated character, the High Evolutionary) and into space to fight evil empires and Himself. this is a fun, breathless, vividly colorful book chock-full of dumbass action sequences, equally dumbass quips from Adam's dumbass, cigar-chomping troll sidekick (still sexy yet also repulsive), adventures spanning time and space full of trippiness and sturm und drang, a surprising supporting turn from Gamora's dad Thanos, and Adam Warlock being the incredible drama queen and Jesus figure that he was literally designed to be thanks to Science. it's all very screamingly psychedelic, especially when the Warlock turns green.
the MCU universe brought out Adam Warlock as a sort of b-villain turned ally in Guardians of the Galaxy III. although they kept his name, they clearly decided the childlike, just-born boy in a man's body persona of Him was the way to go, rather than the galactic god-hero of future adventures. I didn't mind this version and he was a fun part of the film. I did miss the insane monologues about Destiny though.
someone needs to tell Mark Millar to stop being such a damn hack, he's wasting his already limited skill set by not thinking things through, getting ssomeone needs to tell Mark Millar to stop being such a damn hack, he's wasting his already limited skill set by not thinking things through, getting so enchanted with his basic concept that he forgot to build an actual story around that concept, let alone characters. this is basically a slaughter of Good Wizards by Bad Wizards but why should I care when I don't have any understanding of who these supposed good guys are? there's the gay one, the Asian one, the Italian one, the black one, the old lady, the dad, am I missing anyone? it's just a buffet of kill shots and I'm not hungry for that.
someone needs to tell Netflix that they shouldn't be producing comic books like comics are some sort of factory farm where their tv series are birthed. well someone may have already told them, and they listened, because apparently production on The Magic Order isn't happening. which is a wee bit sad because this would probably be better as a show than a comic. and while I'm on the topic, fuck you Netflix for not renewing 1899!
someone needs to tell Olivier Coipel that his formidable talents are wasted on drek like this. his art is the only thing good about this weak nonsense.
someone needs to tell someone, somewhere, that "The Magic Order" is just about the blandest title one could imagine, but I guess it fits this anonymous so-called story.
someone needs to tell me, remind me, maybe stick a post-it on my forehead, that it's a real waste of energy writing these bitchy rants because all they do is raise my blood pressure and who needs that?...more
I thought the 3 seasons of the most recent Doctor Who were okay. some great ideas, an aborbing season-long arc for the third season, and an excellent I thought the 3 seasons of the most recent Doctor Who were okay. some great ideas, an aborbing season-long arc for the third season, and an excellent actor playing The Doctor helped ameliorate the faddish, annoying identity politics of new showrunner Chris Chibnall (so glad he's moving on). my favorite part of this particular run was the introduction of Fugitive Doctor. and so here I am, just finishing my first Doctor Who comic book about that very Doctor.
much like those 3 season, this was okay. not bad and not particularly good. Fugitive Doctor's backstory was nicely fleshed out and there was a lot about the corrupt Division that she worked for. I did get a better understanding of this intriguing character. there was an entirely annoying Companion, but that's not too different from the tv series. Jody Houser's dialogue was ocassionally witty but often obvious. the art by Roberta Ingranata was bright and shiny and angular, often lovely, and in the modern style (and so also kind of anonymous). strongest part of the art was Fugitive Doctor herself - very true to the tv character. all in all, this was polished but forgettable. dumb cover....more
poor Archie has been sitting on my shelf forever! all he's been wanting to do is give me guilt-free happiness and all I've done is ignore him, year afpoor Archie has been sitting on my shelf forever! all he's been wanting to do is give me guilt-free happiness and all I've done is ignore him, year after year. despite that winning smile on the cover.
Mark Waid is a cheerful, upbeat writer, and so a perfect fit for Archie adventures. unfortunately for me, these adventures are all about the Archie-Betty-Veronica love triangle and I just don't find that to be particularly entertaining. but it wasn't too painful either, mainly because Waid does know what he's doing as a writer, keeping the story moving and the characters fun and the milieu amusing. I was happy that the best character, the extremely malevolent Reggie, was front & center in the last couple issues. this is a very modern update and so the background cast includes a bunch of races, which was a little eye-rolling but overall it was okay by me, even welcome. America is multicultural and so it rarely bothers me to see that portrayed in comics and elsewhere, as long as it's not artificial box-checking. a little of that here but it wasn't too bad. I'm much more of a class-based progressive and so was pretty happy that class analysis made a strong showing alongside multiculuralism. and if all of that sounds like this is a political tract of some sort, sorry for giving you the wrong impression. the book is like a hug, not a lecture.
the art by various artists was all fine, but Fiona Staples' first three issues particularly popped....more
the camera movements of the mind take it in but not all at once, a shot here, a shot there, swing left swing right, zoom in zoom out, cut. edit. try tthe camera movements of the mind take it in but not all at once, a shot here, a shot there, swing left swing right, zoom in zoom out, cut. edit. try to put it all together as a narrative, as something that makes sense, some kind of sense, any kind of sense but nonsense; but there is no sense, all of the senses may be working overtime, one two three four five, but nothing is making sense, sense has stopped making sense. in this nice house on the lake.
the fragmentation the fragmentation, alas! 'tis the human conundrum! 'tis how the alien in this nice house on the lake thinks and perceives reality, 'tis why the humans in this nice house on the lack construct their own experiences, their own lives, their own selves. they fragment and they try to put back together, they try to create linearity.
the intersections of structure, the intersections of body and mind and time and place and space both outer and inner... they trap these guests in this nice house on the lake. will there be an escape possible, in the secret places in this superstructure, in its shadowy spaces, its angles and substructures? they can only hope, these permanent residents of this nice house on the lake.
all abstractions, all generalizations, treat words and images and people and thoughts as units existing in some matrix of comparison. the doctor, the pianist, the politico, the artist(s), etc. et al, all the participants in this study taking place in a nice house on the lake... all treat the story as substance. all treat their own selves as having some substance, a genuine identity, rather than a label or title to be fulfilled. all attempt to communicate. all fail. their last communication, for now, for when, is a bullet. it fails. but that was the plan all along, to fail. to fail is to keep living?
I liked this sequel, it worked for me.
❦
read this amazing essay "Fragmentation of the Self" that has nothing to do with a nice house on a lake, but I stole some phrases and ideas from it anyway:
French author Antoine Maillard writes and draws some kind of story that is apparently trying to combine the teen slasher genre with noir tropes. This French author Antoine Maillard writes and draws some kind of story that is apparently trying to combine the teen slasher genre with noir tropes. This is small town America viewed through a misanthropic French eye and the results are somehow both laughable and grueling. Mon Dieu, the implicit condescension of the author, the lack of empathy. Très irritant! These aren't characters, they are human shadows on a page. This isn't a story, it's a sketch. There isn't an ending, there's just more nothingness. Apparently a mysterious and brutal killer armed with a baseball bat isn't sufficiently unnerving; may as well throw in some animal mutilation and a Mrs. Bates-level repressive mom for one of the supposedly sympathetic teen protagonists. Oh and how about a set-piece featuring a gratuitous gang rape. One might ask: to what narrative end is this sympathetic supporting character drugged, stripped, and victimized? What was your rationale, author? Je ne sais quoi, he replies with a gallic shrug. Such are American lives. Quelle horreur!
The killer felt ripped off from the infinitely superior Paranoia Agent, which dealt with similar themes of alienation and repression and projection. Plus baseball bat.
The celebrated black & white pencil art is fine. Certainly effective in creating a noir mood. Blobby faces though....more
a follow-up to Mœbius' excellent The World of Edena. a few thin stories that don't add much; a shoehorning in of Mœbius avatar Major Grubert from The a follow-up to Mœbius' excellent The World of Edena. a few thin stories that don't add much; a shoehorning in of Mœbius avatar Major Grubert from The Airtight Garage. because the stories are uninteresting, one is left to contemplate the art. which is of course amazing. the use of primary colors and pastels, the linework, the vistas both simple and intricate, the whimsy, the beauty, the eeriness - so much to enjoy! so many doors to walk through.
one can also contemplate the greater story behind those images. The World of Edena is about the clash between two forces, two visions: ...they each share the same goal: the quest for perfection. Tension springs from the fight for survival on Edena- a secret planet at the center of the universe, also called the "Perfect World." Both factions deploy their forces on every possible plane: reality, dream, and waking dream.
in this addendum to that strange, visionary "narrative" I learned that World of Edena began as a commission in 1983 for a Citroën car advertising campaign. of all things!
I really need one of these vehicles to make my travels through the space-time continuum more comfortable:
it was a wonderful experience returning to two of my favorite worlds: Joe Hill's Locke & Key and, in the last story, Neil Gaiman's Sandman.
this is an it was a wonderful experience returning to two of my favorite worlds: Joe Hill's Locke & Key and, in the last story, Neil Gaiman's Sandman.
this is an omnibus featuring chapters in the lives of an earlier Locke family from the first half of the 20th century.
"Small World" - into a dollhouse and out as a giant. a giant pencil and a giant booger and a giant spider that captures the entire family and a giant catspaw that saves the day. this was hilarious.
"Open the Moon" - a terminally ill child and the world of wonder his dad makes for him to live out his days, forever. very, very moving.
"Face the Music" - the Locke cat is featured again, but this time its paws don't save the day, they cause a massacre, trauma, and the need to wipe some memories away. this was also hilarious.
"...In Pale Battalions Go..." - the stupidities and horrors of war are detailed. this was DARK. our boy soldier, runaway from the Locke family and turned magically older, is far from a hero; certain of these German enemies are far from villains. it ends in death, death, and more death.
"Hell & Gone" - after the horrors of the prior story, one of the Locke children decides to do what she can to ameliorate the tragedies that have occurred. and so off she goes to the Sandman's land of Dreams, and other places, including Hell. I'm so glad this story exists! the prior tale needed some empathetic resolution. and the melding of Hill's world with Gaiman's world was ingenious.
the art by Gabriel Rodriguez is typically brilliant. what an artist, so much talent...more
he dreamed a little dream of a perfect place where everyone got along. there was no war or nuclear weapons or chemical weapons, no capitalism or even he dreamed a little dream of a perfect place where everyone got along. there was no war or nuclear weapons or chemical weapons, no capitalism or even money, none of those dirty grubby things. imagine that, as the song goes. sadly, the only way for humans to achieve such a vision is if Übermenschen do as they will with us, because God - or some such being - only knows that we dirty grubby humans could never put our differences aside to create such a place on our own. the "he" is Alan Moore and his vehicle for humanity's uplift is Miracleman and his miraculous allies.
this is a surprisingly hopeful book, especially in comparison to books 1 & 2. not much of a plot: a journey to an alien place, a horrifying massacre of thousands, and then humanity gets uplifted. plus lovemaking in the sky by Miracleman & Miraclewoman (bystanders applaud). I'm not used to seeing forever-nihilist Alan Moore, king of closed circles and downward trajectories, in an optimistic mood, detailing the steps to creating his perfect world. although I suppose it is a sort of nihilism if Moore thinks such a place could only exist after an imperial takeover by godlike beings. I think I may agree with Moore on that.
after a 4-year hiatus, Busiek returned to his beloved series Astro City in a relaxed mood, confident in what makes his world unique. namely, its focusafter a 4-year hiatus, Busiek returned to his beloved series Astro City in a relaxed mood, confident in what makes his world unique. namely, its focus on the non-heroes. various super-powered types function as oft-discussed but seldom-met Famous People, stratospheric beings to the normies. life among the gods just goes on for the majority of Astro City's residents, be they intrepid call center workers or maverick film crew or mid-level mob boss. after the epic scope of prior volumes The Dark Age and the deeply emotional focus on superheroes in Shining Stars (all excellent stories), this return to where the series started was a welcome, minor note reset. Astro City began by being all about the minor notes in a grand symphony. as always, I love the nonchalant diversity of this city and its stories' frequent focus on women. my jury is still out on a new Grant Morrison-esque, vaguely Lovecraftian meta-narrative that looks like it will continue throughout future volumes.
the hiatus helped to improve Brent Anderson's often sloppy art, because he's at his most focused and polished here. he does especially well illustrating Lady Progress, a steampunk heroine in 1903 Astro City, and the gate-creating hero The Assemblyman....more
she wears a mask in the Other Place and then she wears it here, in our world, as she enters the nice house on the lake. and then she takes it off, hershe wears a mask in the Other Place and then she wears it here, in our world, as she enters the nice house on the lake. and then she takes it off, her temperature checked, she's in the clear. but is this our world? and does the mask ever truly come off? all the other guests in this nice house on the lake have their individual labels, their own individual masks, the Comedian & the Consultant & the Doctor and all the rest so titled, so masked. but only an alien could see these individuals as just their titles and masks. an alien collector of human types, human friends upon whom it has bestowed titles and safety, a refuge from a world on fire. this alien loves its little humans, its circle of friends and types, gathered together in its nice house on the lake.
this is a pandemic drama, born of that era, this era. an era of communication breakdown and bodies sick and changing, transforming, and minds seeing through a glass darkly. an era of isolation from each other, isolated by space or by time or by the masks and titles put on, as protection. protection from chance, from death, from each other.
4.5 stars. the art is incredible. the story and the mysteries, equally so. it can only go downhill from here...
Detective Rowan Black is an accomplished witch, her sigil her badge. things aren't going right for our sardonic heroine: a hostage-taker who knows herDetective Rowan Black is an accomplished witch, her sigil her badge. things aren't going right for our sardonic heroine: a hostage-taker who knows her "true name" attempts to burn her alive and she is forced to magick that burning right back 'atcha pal. and that's just the start of what looks to be a compelling series that will be about witch and witchfinder societies, a satanic adversary, cop life, and lots of gory murders. Nicola Scott's black & white art (with brief flashes of witchy color) is splendid. Greg Rucka is a frequently employed but often underrated writer and his skills with pacing, character, and dialogue are on full display here. I liked this fun, spooky read ('tis the season) and I bet I'll enjoy this even more as the series progresses. I should have bought the collected edition, damn it....more
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