Nothing is More Dangerous Than a Comics Artist: Jog knew the truth on 12/4

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on December 8, 2008

Categories: Reviews

Criminal Vol. 2 #7 And so another tale from Ed Brubaker (writin’), Sean Phillips (drawin’) & Val Staples (colorin’) crashes to its close, as does another run of Criminal itself. It’s going on hiatus until May 2009 or so, while the team works on the creator-owned supervillain-in-witness-protection series Incognito, although it won’t relaunch or anything once it’s back (so, next issue will be vol. 2 #8). In case you’re getting tripped up by the pamphlets/trades numbering, vol. 1 of the Criminal pamphlet series covered the first two trade paperbacks (Coward and Lawless), while the newish The Dead and the Dying trade hits issues #1-3 of the second pamphlet series. I like the pamphlets, myself; if you’re gonna charge $3.50, it…  Read More…

Light the Lanterns of Triumph: Jog finally bought and read a comic from 10/22

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on October 29, 2008

Categories: Reviews

Unknown Soldier #1 This is the newest ongoing series to come out of Vertigo, a reimagining of the Robert Kanigher/Joe Kubert concept as a saga of violence in Uganda, circa 2002. It’s bloody, tense and not a little pulpy, something a bit more bombastic than what we’ve been getting lately from the publisher. It does bring to mind an older Vertigo project, though, and I’m not talking about the 1997 Garth Ennis/Kilian Plunkett take on the same property. No, this thing really brings to mind Congo Bill, as in the 1999-2000 miniseries from writer Scott Cunningham and artist Danijel Zezelj. It was also an Africa-set revival of an old adventure comic — specifically the late ’50s/early ’60s Congorilla iteration of…  Read More…

Hooray for Cheer: Jog on a non-beginning from 10/8

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on October 10, 2008

Categories: Reviews

Crossed #1 (of 9) I wish I was 12 again so I could beg my beloved great aunt to buy me this comic solely on the basis of its cover. She’d go “oooh, that’s a scary one,” and purchase the hell out of it, because that’s just how we rolled in that wing of my semi-immediate family. One of the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics she bought me was the start of the Michael Zulli run, where Splinter is puking up mystic rock totems and having a psychic war with Shredder while the Turtles — snarling, indistinguishable monsters all — literally rip Foot ninjas to pieces left and right. Sure beat Saturday morning. But I am older now, and…  Read More…

God’s in his Heaven – All’s right with the world!

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on September 18, 2008

Categories: Reviews

All Star Superman #12 This is the last issue of this series, barring future specials or two-issue story bursts from writer Grant Morrison and various unknown possible artists – regardless, it surely is an ending. A GOOD one, as a single issue, if sapped of immediacy by Morrison’s rigorous prior explorations of his themes, in more interesting single issues (I’m thinking #10). Frank Quitely & Jamie Grant do keep the pace nicely — which means some fine physical poise and a few helpfully low-detail clouds of dust in various backgrounds — although this isn’t so much a grand finale as a concluding step off the ledge into inevitability. But then, the issue is titled Superman in Excelsis, so maybe a…  Read More…

An added day before the new comics means another day with which to file my review from 8/27: Jog Enjoyed His Holiday

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on September 1, 2008

Categories: Reviews

Kick-Ass #4 (of 8) Say, did any of you hear about that one comic book writer and the video he put out? I did too, and I’ve thought of absolutely nothing this week other than creator-owned comics by popular Marvel/DC writers. No wonder I lost all that money at the casino – I need to concentrate to get those random number generators on my side. I was obsessed, readers, and it soon became plain that the only way out was to conduct an investigation into an actual, real-live creator-owned funnybook by a top superhero scribe. And this very week had not only one of those, but no less than the current best-selling creator-owned pamphlet-format series in the Direct Market: I’ve…  Read More…

This review is light on pictures because the book’s the same way: Jog on the oddest release of 8/20

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on August 25, 2008

Categories: Reviews

Faust Vol. 1 Boy, Tim Vigil sure has changed. No, no wait – this is something else, in every sense of the phrase. Faust, just to get one thing out of the way right up top, is not primarily manga – it’s an irregularly published Japanese literary journal, albeit one with a comics section, founded in 2003 by editor-in-chief Katsushi Ōta and published by book giant/Big Three manga publisher Kodansha. It’s fashioned as a squarebound ‘mook’ — a supple book with the glossy design and continuing features of a magazine — and runs anywhere from 500 to 1200+ pages per volume. Vol. 7 was just released in Japan a few weeks ago. The particular item we’re looking at today is…  Read More…

A History of Punishment for Adults: Jog reaches the last, black page on 8/13

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on August 17, 2008

Categories: Reviews

The Punisher MAX #60 I think it’s useful to compare this comic — the last of writer Garth Ennis’ run on the series — with another thing Marvel released this week: The Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe, a reprint of material from 1995. That was Ennis’ first work on the character; he was 25 years old, though already a professional comics writer for over than half a decade. It’s not a very good comic. The What If…? type concept is that Frank Castle’s family is accidentally killed in the middle of a superhero battle (instead of a gangland firefight) and the opening pages do have some nasty kick, with various Marvel superheroes standing around in their rainbow-hued spandex regalia, annoyedly…  Read More…

Jog Bought It: Apologies from 7/30

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on August 1, 2008

Categories: Reviews

Narcopolis #4 (of 4) This cover gets a lot more amusing if you take the nosebleed in the manga sense. Rarely has the struggle between liberty and ruinous desire been so aptly rendered! And you sort of have to work to make a Jamie Delano comic even less subtle, don’t you? It’s one of his endearing traits as a writer, I think – not every book is going to be outstanding, but you can generally count on a uniquely loud experience. It’s not white noise either – Delano frequently mixes similar tones into distinctly linked compositions, heavy things, ringing with dim portent. Frequent listeners will recognize many of this project’s particular clangs and booms, as if Delano’s first work-of-the-form in…  Read More…

Here’s a few manga I liked (or sort of liked).

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on July 29, 2008

Categories: Reviews

Although you should keep in mind that I’m the kind of guy who thinks the best publishing news of the whole San Diego con is that Pluto — Naoki Urasawa’s Ultimate Astro Boy!! — will be coming to US shelves in February 2009. Granted, it’s still an ongoing series in Japan (a somewhat irregular one to boot), and only up to Vol. 6 as of this week, so it’s likely to hit a production wall around Spring 2010… but still, PLUTO!! And 20th Century Boys at the same time! But here’s some back-to-front funnies you can buy right now. Real Vol. 1: Oh is it? This one’s gonna need some context. The writer/artist of this thing is Takehiko Inoue, who…  Read More…

Jog Liked the Mekon: Dan Dare still doesn’t know it on 7/24

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on July 24, 2008

Categories: Reviews

Dan Dare #7 (of 7) Good lord, who’d have figured Garth Ennis could be so… traditional? This is the last issue (FOR NOW) of Ennis’ and artist Gary Erskine’s revival of the beloved Frank Hampson creation, an extra-thick pamphlet with 44 pages of story and a $5.99 price tag. And it’s exactly what you’ve come to expect, if you’ve been following the story thus far: vast clashes between warships on the sea of stars, gallant adventure in hostile territory, several noble struggles against impossible odds, and plenty of dialogue balloons pertaining to the spirit of England, its cooling embers, suffocated beneath the ash of avarice and indifference, slowly, heroically reddening to life once more under the stalwart breath of Daniel…  Read More…

Jog seems much more himself on 7/17: Yes. Quite.

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on July 17, 2008

Categories: Reviews

Omega: The Unknown #10 (of 10) This is as good a superhero comic as any I’ve read this year. It’s an EXCELLENT ending to a VERY GOOD series, throwing all of its might behind Farel Dalrymple’s drawings and Paul Hornschemeier’s colors, with a few callbacks to the (still-uncredited) guest art of Gary Panter. There’s exactly eight words of dialogue in this whole issue, but every story beat is clear as a bell. Each page seems dipped in some distilled essence of all the melancholy, eccentricity and droll humor dealt heretofore by writer Jonathan Lethem (“with” Karl Rusnak, as always); little is concluded (yep, it’s one of those endings, True Believer), but all is evoked, climactically. Still, I’d strongly recommend you…  Read More…

The Shops Got It On 7/10: Jog’s late post

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on July 12, 2008

Categories: Reviews

The Goddess of War Vol. 1 (of 4?) This is an impressive new project from Lauren R. Weinstein and PictureBox, the 32-page debut of a continuing series (or possibly a four-issue miniseries, if you believe Diamond); you’ll know pretty quickly if your local shop happened to stock it this week, since I can’t imagine a 14.5″ x 10″ comic is that easy to miss, even if someone tries to hide it. And at $12.95 you’ll be paying for that extra room, though I can assure you that content is packed right in – if anything, I occasionally felt overwhelmed. Weinstein should be pretty well known to constant alternative comics readers; she’s had two strip collections out, 2003′s Inside Vineyland (from…  Read More…

Not as good as finding the lost Metropolis footage, but within launching distance: Jog’s Beautiful Hell of 7/2

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on July 3, 2008

Categories: Reviews

Hellboy: The Crooked Man #1 (of 3) This is the second Hellboy miniseries teaming of creator/writer Mike Mignola and artist Richard Corben, and it might wind up better than the first (2006′s Hellboy: Makoma, or, A Tale Told by a Mummy in the New York City Explorers’ Club on August 16, 1993) – that’s something, coming from me. I think what really got to me about this issue is how it seems especially tuned to Corben’s strengths; ragged, scraggly-looking people abound, branches jut above an environment coated in leaves, grass and dirt, and much of the horror comes from bodies twisting and cracking into odd, exaggerated forms. It’s seemingly tailor-made for Corben’s idiosyncratic approach to humans and nature, everything always…  Read More…

One day The Winter Men will finish and my collection of Russian superhero epics from Wildstorm will be complete at last: Jog’s Hopes, 6/25

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on June 27, 2008

Categories: Reviews

The Programme #12 (of 12) Hmm. Well that sort of ended. Really, the last issue of this Wildstorm series is fairly appropriate, given the series’ premise: USSR superheroes wake up in our modern world of seemingly greater nuance of conflict, prompting the US to try and get its own Cold War superfolk back in order. The clash of the superpowers is back, and it quickly gets to scraping at tensions and contradictions — racial, martial, political — that always existed in that time, and yet endure today. There’s plenty of endurance at the end of the story. A few characters die and a few things get smashed, but nothing much is accomplished beyond radicalizing the most powerful players a few…  Read More…

My Life is Choked with Comics #17 – The Horrorist

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on June 23, 2008

Categories: Reviews

“I’ll tell you the ultimate secret of magic. Any cunt could do it.” So said John Constantine to Alan Moore on one particular occasion. Sure, Constantine was (and remains) a fictional character, and Moore was (and, desire of attribution aside, remains) his mortal co-creator, but, you know, Glycon the snake puppet wasn’t a real god either, and Moore’s worship continues unabated. I suppose when all ideas are real, to some extent, it takes only a cloud of smoke duly puffed across the porch of corporeality for the idea of a working-class magician to personally impart his authentic proletarian message. But I’m here to go on about stories, imaginary things all – and don’t sweat it DC, we didn’t need to…  Read More…

Jog’s Frogger: 6/11

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on June 12, 2008

Categories: Reviews

B.P.R.D.: War on Frogs #1: This is the first of a planned four B.P.R.D. specials to spin out of a two-part story that ran in the MySpace version of Dark Horse Presents, although I wouldn’t get too concerned about accessibility; right now they seem connected in concept only, all of them being set a few years back in the midst of the Bureau’s war with the frog monsters. Also notable is the lack of a writing credit for creator Mike Mignola – I presume this series-within-the-series will be something of a showcase for frequent co-writer John Arcudi. As such, it’s a little disconcerting that this comic reminds me of nothing more than a typical Hellboy short, albeit with much of…  Read More…

Those Old-Time Haunts: Jog on the vast, Polyphemus-like and loathsome of 6/4

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on June 5, 2008

Categories: Reviews

Haunt of Horror: Lovecraft #1 (of 3): Back in 2006, Marvel put out a three-issue miniseries titled Haunt of Horror: Edgar Allan Poe. It was an odd project for the publisher, reviving the brand of a mid-’70s line of digests and magazines as a literary adaptation showcase for veteran artist Richard Corben. It was all in b&w, perhaps to better evoke the feel of old horror magazines; certainly the stories hearkened back to the short shockers through which some memorable stylists thrived, not least among them Corben himself (though he did much color work at the time too). Yet each tale was also helpfully followed by its prose or verse original, loose as the adaptation might have been – it…  Read More…

Jog Presents: Grant Morrison’s best comic from 5/29

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on May 30, 2008

Categories: Reviews

All Star Superman #11: Yeah, Morrison’s best this week. I mean, Final Crisis #1 was OKAY and all; it basically read like the start of one of Morrison’s old JLA storylines, only with the very slick stylings of J.G. Jones backing it up. More humor than expected, along with a couple character deaths that’re abrupt enough that I’m not sure we’re supposed to feel shocked. I smiled at Dark Side wiping his face, since I’m a Seven Soldiers nerd. But it also came off as firecracker-thin as JLA sometimes did, particularly while the stories were still in the setup stage. And Batman #677 was as EH as Morrison’s Batman tends to be in single-chapter form, packed with tense, prodding conversations…  Read More…

New Returns, IDW: Jog got his return long ago but is still waiting for his rebate as of 5/21

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on May 25, 2008

Categories: Reviews

IDW: where the paper quality is high, the licenses run free, the ads always sit in back, and it’s $3.99 for a drive. IDW: what have you this week?  Tank Girl: Visions of Booga #1 (of 4): This is the publisher’s second Tank Girl miniseries, from original writer and co-creator Alan C. Martin. You might recall the first issue of the last series (Tank Girl: The Gifting) being a strikingly odd bit of work, with Martin’s happy-go-lucky short-form gag stories being wrung onto the page via the art of Ashley Wood. It really did look a bit like that old MAD parody with Bernie Krigstein drawing Bringing up Father, except as a wholly intentional bit of franchise reinvention rather than…  Read More…

Format Chit-Chat: Jog and a 5/14 pamphlet

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on May 16, 2008

Categories: Reviews

Sky Doll #1 (of 3) This is the first product of Marvel’s new comics venture with French publisher Soleil Productions. It’s a quasi-miniseries of sorta new work that will kind of run for three issues, more-or-less unedited in a relatively nice format. Essentially. Soleil has been around since the ’80s, in case you’re not familiar, and currently publishes a fairly international line of books, mixing European originals with French translations of English, Japanese and Korean-language works. They specialize in action/sci-fi/fantasy series — although their partnership with book publisher Gallimard in reviving Futuropolis, a defunct, influential purveyor of avant-garde comics, has had them deemed bandits of cultural capital by sectors of the French small press — and they’ve been enthusiastic in…  Read More…

I am the beauty of 4/30; hooray for beauty.

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on May 2, 2008

Categories: Reviews

glamourpuss #1: This is Dave Sim’s new series, in case you hadn’t heard. Your $3.00 will get you 24 b&w pages, with future installments to appear bimonthly (with Dave Sim, that’s a promise) until the thing’s finished. Sim estimates there’ll be 20-25 issues in total, but I wouldn’t be surprised if changes occur – unless Sim’s got a blueprint pinned up somewhere, this is just the sort of project that could flow any which way. The image above does a pretty good job of teasing the book’s concept, but a little extra fleshing-out is warranted. At its core, glamourpuss is a comics-format essay on the ‘photorealism‘ type of newspaper comic strip art, as exemplified by the individual styles of Alex…  Read More…