Check This Out! – Comics Pick of the Week: The New Deadwardians #5

July 29, 2012

The New Deadwardians #5

Writer: Dan Abnett

Artist: I.N.J. Culbard

Vertigo Comics

 

The last time I talked about The New Deadwardians on this blog was just after the release of issue #2, at which point the nature of this alternate history had just begun to take shape and the political machinations and their consequences were slowly being hinted at. Now with five issues under their belt, Abnett and Culbard have arrived at an extraordinarily well realized and highly complex world of class division, political posturing, repression, and general unease.

In issue #5 Chief Inspector Suttle and his wry, “bright” assistant, Bowes, have arrived at the country estate of the new lord Hinchcliffe (the former Hinchcliffe being the “young” (vampire) aristocrat whose mysterious death is the subject of the investigation) in order to explain the situation to the widow Hinchcliffe and see what he can learn from the rest of the family. The issue plays out like an Edwardian era game of clue, populated by an eccentric cast of characters, each of whom has a curious relationship to the deceased lord and the rest of the family. Even though each character only enjoys a bit of page time, their characters are developed with a thorough efficiency. We have the Lord Hinchcliffe, the “young” snooty heir to the family title who is noticeably unconcerned with his father’s death and very cavalier about his newly acquired nobility.

Next we meet the Widow Hinchcliffe, also “young” (though social mores required her to wait until she passed child-bearing age to take the cure). She is smart and cynical, though well versed at projecting a more acceptable image of herself in social settings. This social veneer is presented quite nicely during her interview with inspector Suttle. The inspector is instructed to find the widow in her chambers where she is applying her “tears.” Because the “young” cannot cry, the widow Hinchcliffe expresses her mourning by painting pitch black tears on her cheeks. The widow apparently feels no need to put on a front for the Inspector and, consequently, her grotesque make-up contrasts poignantly with her defiant attitude.

Then enters Lady Celia, the former Lord’s daughter. She is a hard-headed young woman who cuts an imposing and impressive figure. It is revealed that she did not get on well with her late father, mainly because he did not support her political leanings, namely this alternate England’s version of the suffragette movement:               Throats for Women. She believes that women should be entitled to the same privileges of immortality as men and fears that if her father’s death proves “the cure” to be flawed, it will put an end to her pet cause.

The issue ends with the introduction of yet another character, Lord Falconbridge, a family friend and politician. Falconbridge’s motivations are unclear, but he offers some very intriguing theories about the case that will clearly influence Suttle over the coming issues.

Many an ironic commentary on early 20th century values and social customs have been written, both at the time and over the years since, while many a story that exploits the respective tropes of the zombie and vampire story has also been told. It’s worth acknowledging that part of the reason that so many stories have been told in these modes is because they are rich and relevant, though it’s also worth  acknowledging that sometimes enough is enough. By using the designated horror genres, however, to tell a story of Edwardian manners, Abnett and crew effectively lend a new set of rules to old territory, ones that are just similar enough that the world is recognizable, but just different enough that it feels fresh and all of a sudden old critiques and commentaries are given new significance and are ready to be looked at in a slightly different light.

I have sung enough praises for the world building and supporting cast but the series would not have the same impact or resonance if the protagonist were not as layered and multidimensional as he is. Like many literary detectives of note, Suttle is an outsider who, as a member of the undead ranks, cannot relate to the mortal working class, but he cannot share the ignorant acceptance of the new status quo that his fellow aristocrats do either. More than just a misfit, however, Suttle is a character in transition. Once a Military hero who happily took “the cure” in the name of queen and country, he is struggling to come to terms with the consequences of his war efforts that he will now have to live out in perpetuity. Suttle’s struggle is summed up very concisely on the last page of issue #5 in a conversation with Bowes which reads as follows:

Bowes: Were you looking for something sir?

Suttle: Meaning, Bowes. I was looking for meaning.

Bowes: We’re all looking for that, sir.

Suttle: Indeed, and I think someone wants me looking in the wrong direction entirely.

This remark refers to the case specifically, but it is also a compelling metaphor for the misdirected repression and complacency of Edwardian society, a metaphor that, ironically, is given new life through its undead messengers.

In my last review I commented on the issues one flaw, a lack of consistent visual rhythm. Here in issue #5, however, Culbard seems really to have found his narrative voice. He demonstrates a powerful sense of visual composition that works on the level of individual panels, as well as cohesive page layouts. He makes use of tight shots and wide angles, shot / reverse shots, and contrasting points of view in a way that allows each page to develop and explore a fully realized idea, mood, or question, which then leads fluidly into the next page.

Detective narratives, when told through the comics medium, have a unique ability to place the reader actively within the mystery. Our ability to see everything the detective sees, while also having a privileged view into their internal monologue, allows the reader to actively work with all the pieces of the puzzle in a way that the limited perspective of prose and the forward moving nature of film do not. Pure detective comics are fairly rare and do not all rise to the aforementioned potential, so it is a joy to see this one hit the mark so absolutely. I had mixed emotions at the end of this issue, on one hand I was eager for the next installment, but I was also slightly saddened that the story will draw to a finite close in just 3 more issues.

 

 

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Check This Out! – Comics Pick of the Week: Wonder Woman #11

July 23, 2012

Wonder Woman #11

Writer: Brian Azzarello

Artist: Cliff Chiang

DC Comics

 

There has a been a lot of positive buzz circulating about Brian Azzarello’s Wonder Woman re-launch, and rightfully so, it is a fresh and exciting take on the classic hero. However, the true significance this series carries with it is rarely touched on. Wonder Woman has always been a franchise character and even though her books have never regularly sold in Batman or Superman quantities, her licenseability has always kept her series alive. That being said, this is a character that has really struggled to find a stable place in the DC Universe. Is she characterized by her role as Amazon royalty? Her allegiance to humanity? Her skills as a warrior? Her status as a female hero? She has been characterized through all of these things at different times but due to constant revisions and re-imaginings, was never really allowed to obtain the depth of character that other comics mainstays have. Furthermore, each of these characterizations is somewhat outdated and, I believe, doesn’t effectively mesh with contemporary values and attitudes. I would contend that Azzarello and company have done a remarkable job at reinvigorating the character in a way that makes her relevant as both a hero and a woman, while maintaining an iconic representation of the character that easily convinces the reader that it is as timeless a portrayal of a classic American character as any.

I mean to review issue 11 of the characters self-titled series, but I am going to do so by way of comparison with the character’s portrayal in Geoff Johns’ Justice League re-launch, the other major venue for Wonder Woman in the new DCU.  Johns takes a more traditional approach to the Amazon, characterizing her through two main qualities: her innate warrior instincts and her tragically impossible relationship with Steve Trevor, the liaison between the Justice League and the U.S. Government. This characterization works within the context of the superhero team book. On one hand the character’s warrior heritage determines how she will react when faced with a violent threat and the fact that she is just a touch more ruthless than her more idealistic teammates adds some dramatic tension to the team dynamics. On the other hand, her relationship with Colonel Trevor lends emotional sympathy to the character and has been used to drive significant aspects of that story’s narrative so far. This representation also poses problems for the character’s ultimate depth and relevance. By focusing on her Amazon heritage, her motivations are called into question – can she really be an uplifting symbol of justice and righteousness if her actions are inspired by a thirst for war and the thrill of adventure? More troubling, however, is her relationship with Steve Trevor. Much of her actions are inspired by the guilt she feels for the emotional strife she has caused the colonel. This relationship runs the risk of defining her more by the emotional emptiness of one of her male counterparts than through her own agency. To be fair, Johns is no hack and these aspects of the character are explored with some degree of subtlety; for instance, we are meant to empathize with Wonder Woman’s situation and to understand that her actions toward colonel Trevor were not done out of malice and that she does care for the man, but knows that a relationship with him would be impossible. Still, this approach straddles a very unstable line and runs the risk of identifying Wonder Woman as a product of her ancestral and social circumstances rather than a master of her own destiny.

Of course an effective foil is a necessary tool when creating a deep and lasting characterization and all major superheroes come loaded with them: Batman has Alfred, Robin, Nightwing, The Joker and countless more, while Superman has Lex Luthor, Jimmy Olson, and Lois Lane, to name a few. It could be argued that it is the dearth of a similar supporting cast that has prevented Wonder Woman from similarly taking root as not just an icon in the DC Universe but as a character with a self-contained mythology and aura. Azzarello seems to think so because he has surrounded her with such an intriguing cast of characters and built such a convincing mythology around her that it is hard to believe that they are not the result of decades of character development. In Azzarello’s series Wonder Woman’s heritage and relationships do define her, but unlike her depiction in Justice League, it is the abnegation of her heritage and her unwavering love for, and commitment to, her companions that contribute to her characterization. Azzarello has done three things that I believe create substantial depth in the series and place Wonder Woman as one of, if not the most relevant books about both women and heroism currently in publication.

First, he reimagined Wonder Woman’s origin placing her as a daughter of Zeus, thereby establishing her as an outsider to the Amazon culture but also a pariah of the Olympic realm, recently under the authority of Zeus’ spiteful wife Hera. Her skills as a warrior and her attachment to her deceased mother provide meaningful connections to her heritage, but allow her to distance herself from a society whose idiosyncratic values based on war and gender supremacy fail to hold-up as a utopia against thoughtful consideration.

Second, he populated the landscape of Wonder Woman with strikingly modern representations of Greek mythology used the way they were meant to be: as personifications of the various aspects of the world as a whole, including the sun, the moon, war, strife, and hell. One thing that pagan belief systems do particularly well is create accessible representations of complex systems and by virtue of this have been implicit in the creation of some of the most enduring, subtle, and complex pieces of literature for thousands of years. The same phenomenon allows Azzarello to place the events of Wonder Woman within the context of a larger world landscape without having to use precious space for exposition. More importantly, the characterizations of these different immortals are reflected in Wonder Woman’s own responses to them, both positive and negative.

Finally, and most meaningfully, the character with whom Wonder Woman most strongly identifies and to whom she feels the greatest

Cliff Chiang’s interior art from WW #11

commitment it is not a god, a demigod, or even a man, instead it is Zola, a self-reliant and plucky girl in her twenties from a broken home in a poor rural area who has recently learned that the baby she is carrying is the most recent of Zeus’ bastard spawn. The unborn child is believed to be prophesied to claim the throne of Zeus so naturally Zola has fallen under attack from various deities who hope to use the child as the means to their own ambitious ends. Wonder Woman has taken it upon herself to protect her unborn sibling and the brave young woman carrying it. Azzarello and his collaborators have treated this relationship in a way that brings out the best in both Wonder Woman and Zola. It allows the creators to humanize Wonder Woman as a loving and nurturing figure in the midst of an unforgiving world as represented by the gods, but also as a woman who has no qualms about fighting to protect those close to her. Despite remarkably different backgrounds and upbringings, Zola and Wonder Woman are in many ways cut from the same stone. As strong women in a world shaped by masculine power struggles, their shared status as outsiders gives them a profound respect and understanding towards one another. They are able to feed off of their shared audacity and strength and both are capable of rising to selfless heroism, even when the men around them are more concerned with playing it safe.

In this issue Wonder Woman and her allies have insisted that Zola see a doctor to make sure that there are no problems with her pregnancy. True to her nature, Zola insists on seeing her small town doctor who she trusts. Wonder Woman supports this decision but Hermes and Lennox don’t. There is a beautiful piece of dialog during the scene when Zola is visiting with her doctor. Wonder Woman and her friends are waiting outside and Lennox says “but you ‘ave friends, access to better medical –“ Lennox, who is cut off mid-sentence, is presumably referring to the Justice League. Wonder Woman responds “ I do have friends, true… and right now one of them is seeing the doctor she’s chosen to right now.” Later in the issue Zola returns the favor by trying to run Apollo, the sun god, over with a pick-up truck!

Wonder Woman by David Finch from Justice League #1

This issue was illustrated by the main series artist Cliff Chiang. All of the artwork on this series has been of high quality, but I am always particularly excited when Chiang is back behind the pen. His style is so classic and emotive that it is a perfect match for this book. His presentation of Wonder Woman is particularly powerful. There are two main approaches to wonder woman – beauty, and strength. The former tends to sexualize her a la the ridiculous David Finch cover from Justice League #1, while the latter emphasizes physicality, drawing attention away from her intellect and compassion. Chiang manages to create a Wonder Woman who is both strong and beautiful, but in a less tangible sense. Her beauty comes across in her powerful gaze and her strength is made manifest in her body language and expressions. Azzarello uses her costume sparingly; she dons a trench coat for a good chunk of this issue and other issues have foregone it completely, allowing Chiang to put it to good dramatic use when it finally does make an appearance.

Despite the rich character development and world building, this series has not been without its bells

A particularly buff depiction of the Amazon princess

and whistles. Issue #11 is no exception, giving Wonder Woman the opportunity to show off her acrobatics in a showdown against Apollo that comes complete with stunning pyrotechnics in addition to the spectacular automobile antics previously mentioned. The ongoing story has been full of twists and turns; our hero has already been to hell and bested Hades himself and the story is just beginning. Issue 11 marks the beginning of the latest chapter of this saga so it is as good a jumping on point as any. Azzarello’s run, which is hopefully far from over, will surely be an instant classic for the character and the medium so get on board now!

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MonkeyBrain Comics: Worth Your Money!

July 22, 2012

On this blog I’ve spent a bit of time talking about the potential for web-based comics, but also my personal romanticism for print media. I’ve even stated that I can’t yet bring myself to pay money for a digital product. That has all changed, however, with the recent introduction of Chris Roberson and Allison Baker’s MonkeyBrain Comics. MonkeyBrain is a creator owned digital comics line that currently has 6 comics for sale through ComiXology. Initially, I thought that all of this emphasis on digital delivery for sale was misdirected and that the industry should be focused on unique digital presentation and production; that was because the trends had been to offer digital comics same date and price as their print counterparts.  The real genius of MonkeyBrain comics is that they are delivering original creator owned comics in a digital-only format, but one still based around traditional comic design paradigms, for only $.99 -$1.99. What this does is enable creators to more or less have total freedom over content and deadlines, receive 90% of the profits, and yet still find publication through a venue with substantial marketing and administrative clout. It’s so simple a model that it’s astounding that it hasn’t been created before.

Most of the six titles that have been released so far fall under the literary fantasy category, with a little bit of superhero and sci-fi thrown in. In general the titles are fun and intellectually stimulating, but accessible to young adult audiences and up. MonkeyBrain came to my attention after I read a whole slew of rave reviews for Roberson’s own comic Edison Rex. I didn’t get the “digital-only” memo so I pored over the shelves at my local comic shop, confounded by its absence until I got home and did a Google search and found out what was up. I wound up on the MonkeyBrain website, read the descriptions for each of the other comics and, to my own surprise, decided to try out all six. I’m glad I did and I am certain that I will continue reading each series.

Edison Rex is a clever and emotional take on the supervillain / superhero relationship that asks the questions: What would happen if the villain won? How would they find purpose? And how would they deal with their newfound responsibility? It is an intriguing treatment of a relationship nearly as old as comics and it is excellently drawn by Dennis Culver. Four of the books fall squarely in the literary fantasy genre: Aesop’s Ark, in which animals on the ark exchange fables during the flood;  Amelia Cole and the Unknown World, in which a teenage girl splits her time between the magical world and the non-magical world, only to be catapulted into a new and unfamiliar world from which she can’t return; Wander: Olive Hopkins and the Ninth Kingdom, in which a failed grad student goes on a bender and wakes up in a world built out of fantasy clichés; and October Girl, in which a girl meets her imaginary friend, for real. If some of these premises may seem unoriginal or overused, don’t be fooled, each issue is well crafted and was clearly a labor of love. I continue to be amazed by how easily a creator’s genuine enthusiasm transfers on to the page. My personal favorite is Bandette a sleek and sexy espionage / action story about a modern-day robin hood and her network of accomplices. This title was written by the husband and wife team of Paul Tobin and Coleen Coover. The story is action packed and filled with delightful lighthearted fun while the artwork radiates an electrical excitement.

I think the approach that Roberson and Baker are taking here is quite commendable. Roberson has said that they aren’t really listening to pitches or requesting particular projects, rather talking to creators they admire and asking them what they want to do. I think it’s also worth noting that 4 out of the 6 titles so far feature female lead characters and about a quarter of the credited creators are women. Though I haven’t actually researched this, I feel pretty certain that those statistics put MonkeyBrain far ahead of most other publishers in terms of gender diversity. Apparently they have an impressive 30 projects already in different stages of production and with that kind of volume you can bet that MonkeyBrain will be a force to be reckoned with.

 

Check out MonkeyBrain’s official website at: http://www.monkeybraincomics.com/

And read the transcript of MonkeyBrain’s San Diego Comic Con Panel here: http://www.newsarama.com/comics/sdcc-2012-monkeybrain-comics.html

 

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Check This Out! – Comics Pick of the Week: The Shade #10

July 17, 2012

The Shade #10

Writer: James Robinson

Artist: Frazer Irving

DC Comics

James Robinson’s The Shade epic, now in the home stretch at the end of a year-long run, has been a very rewarding experience for readers. This title has delivered up a format that is less common in comics these days. The 12 issue run contains a complete overarching narrative in which The Shade pursues lord Caldecott, his great-grandson, whom he believes is tarnishing the family name, while also aware that he is on the verge of some new revelations concerning the origin of his powers. This story, however, is broken up into several self-contained arcs of varying lengths, including two standalone “times past” issues. The series has featured a rotating cast of artists, each of whom have brought a unique style and tone to their issues. Robinson has taken the reader from familiar Starman territory in opal city to Victorian era Paris, to modern day Barcelona, complete with vampires and swashbuckling. He has mixed DCU mainstays like Death Stroke with original creations like the idiosyncratic villain The Inquisitor. It has been a wild ride that has maintained a consistently high level of storytelling and artwork throughout.

Issue 10 finds The Shade held captive by the Lord Caldecott and a masonic cabal known only as “the group,” unable to exercise his shadow powers due to the influence of Egyptian gods that have been held captive by “the group” for nearly a century.  Many issues of The Shade have been saturated with action and adventure, but this penultimate arc was virtually devoid of any such thing, consisting mostly of a dialog between the bound Shade and “group” leader Miles St. Aubrey; in fact, at the onset of the issue The Shade says of St. Aubrey, “egads, the man likes to talk even more than I do.” This type of story, however, is one in which both Robinson and his protagonist are quite at home, and the back and forth between the St. Aubrey and The Shade is truly delightful as the pedantic droning of the former is a nice foil for the wry wit of the latter. The war of words becomes a stand-in for The Shade’s literal, albeit invisible, struggle to regain his own powers. It is that much more triumphant to see The Shade’s knowing sarcasm overtake St. Aubrey’s similarly pomped-up, but ultimately self-important, prattle.

The real hero, one could argue, is artist Frazer Irving. I have been a fan of Irving’s work since he worked with Grant Morrison on Batman and Robin and The Return of Bruce Wayne, I absolutely adored his work on the tragically short-lived Xombi  series and had been waiting patiently for some new work from him since the DC re-launch last September, but the wait was truly rewarding. Irving’s style is difficult to describe. It is characterized by hyper-detailed precision line-work that one is tempted to refer to as realism, though it is that brand of extreme realism that, by this very virtue, crosses into surrealism. He combines his unique pencils with colors that are so saturated and vibrant that at times they almost glow and the overall effect verges on the psychedelic. One of the challenges of realism in comic art is that it tends to feel static, creating distance between the reader and the illusion of movement, feeling more like a Norman Rockwell painting with captions and dialog balloons. I’ve noticed this phenomenon in the interior art of Alex Ross, for instance. There is a static quality to Irving’s artwork as well, however the way that his realistic pencils clash with his ethereal coloring style constantly threatens movement, creating a tension that heightens drama in an unusual and unsettling way. This effect gives unexpected life to the verbal rhythm of Robinson’s script. That same tension also dramatically highlights this issues turning point; as The Shade regains partial control of his shadow power, the misty rendering is such a divergence from the precise lines we had been used to that we are as shocked as St. Aubrey must have been.

I think it is safe to say that this Shade series will find its niche in comics history and makes a fine and worthy companion to Starman. The trade collection doesn’t see release until March so I recommend heading to your local comic shop and picking up as many back issues as you can while you can still find them.

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Read Creator-Owned Heroes!

July 12, 2012

I am in many ways a romantic when it comes to print media, though I try to fight this tendency knowing that our society is making an unstoppable forward march into a digital world. Even I, through my clouded perception, can honestly see so much of the positive potential this shift has in store. I was, however, still surprised and excited when I first caught wind of, Creator-Owned Heroes the new collaborative project from Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, and Steve Niles, along with others, being published through Image Comics. I first heard about this project, not through Comic Shop News, or from my local retailer, or even in an advertisement in another monthly book, I heard about it on some comics website or another (though I can’t remember specifically which one), which really brings me to my point: despite the fact that it is backed by an established publisher and has a decidedly pro-look, this magazine is essentially a throwback to the indie fanzines of yore, which the wide reach of the blogosphere has more or less eradicated with a few remarkable exceptions.

The concept is straightforward, but enticing. Each issue features two 11-page ongoing creator-owned comics, along with a slew of other material ranging from interviews to op-eds all with the intention of promoting and supporting not just the creators themselves, but the whole concept of creator-owned comics. Last week marked the second issue of Creator-Owned Heroes and already, I am pleased to say, I see substantial growth in the content and execution of this magazine. First I am going to take some time to review the non-story content of the magazine.

First up is the interview. An interview with a noteworthy member of the comics community has been a staple of the first two issues and the creators seem to view it as a cornerstone of the publication since it is has been the only content, other than the comics featured prominently on both covers. Issue number one included an interview with Neil Gaiman. I certainly see the benefit of putting the name of such a rockstar of the industry on the cover to help boost some first issue sales, and it was a fun interview, but I did find myself asking, “OK, so it’s Neil Gaiman, but what’s the point of putting an interview with him in this magazine? What comics fan is not already acquainted with his work and why should I pay $3.99 for it rather than read one of dozens of interviews I could easily find with a simple Google search? This is really the important question that this magazine’s success hinges on: what can it provide, in this day and age, that can’t be found for free and immediate consumption all over the World Wide Web? This issue, I think stepped it up a notch by featuring an interview with Paul Pope, an indie comics maverick responsible for Heavy Liquid, 100%, and one of the less conventional, more memorable Batman interpretations Batman: Year 100. Pope is an underexposed writer/artist who’s every word is not instantly reported through sites like Bleeding Cool and Newsarama.  He is a creator who I had never read an interview with and who fits the spirit of the book exceptionally well. The interview itself was a nice mix of nuts and bolts comics industry fair about his working habits and inspiration with some more “out of left field” type questions not found as frequently in your typical interview. This makes for a fun read, but it’s also fair to say that some of the non-sequitur style questions posed gave nice insights into Pope’s personal values and attitudes.

Much of the content of both issues has been made up of opinion pieces written by Palmiotti, Niles, et. al. that I don’t want do injustice to by calling rants, but have lacked a certain focus and have seemed a little bit pre-occupied with hammering home the idea of creator-owned work. I think it’s typical of new publications to spend some time emphasizing their mission statement and it can be difficult to bring outside voices into a publication that hasn’t fully taken root yet. I also appreciate the fact that much of the comics reading public may have a genuine need for some creator-owned comics 101 to help them fully understand the concept and the value of this approach. That being said, I hope the content continues to branch out to other writers and that the focus in individual articles begins to narrow within the context of creator-owned publishing.

My favorite piece in each issue has been what I am going to call the “outside of the box” article. Issue number one featured an interview and photo-shoot with a cosplayer who had put together a costume based on Trigger Girl 6, the titular character from the Palmiotti / Gray / Noto comic. This article was fun for the geek in me who loves to see comics characters come to life in all their black-leathered glory, but I think it was also successful in exploring a comics-culture phenomenon that is not often looked at from the creative end, and hopefully encouraged readers to exercise their own creative muscles when it comes to cosplaying. Issue number two went in an even less conventional direction by featuring an interview conducted by Jimmy Palmiotti with his friend Victoria Pal, an LA area personal trainer. I will admit when I first saw this piece I thought “boy, they’ve already run out of material so they’re calling in personal favors to fill space.” I really shouldn’t be so cynical, but I learned my lesson and it won’t happen again, at least not in relation to Creator-Owned Heroes. The interview fit because it was predicated around the idea of recognizing those who have taken risks to make alternative career choices that have paid off. In addition to learning about a very interesting person, the interview left me motivated and inspired. That’s what I like most about the tone of this magazine, despite at times drifting dangerously close to desperation and crankiness, it manages to, on the whole, create an atmosphere of excitement and encouragement. It is all about empowering readers to be active members of the comics community as consumers, of course, but also as creators, cosplayers, spokespersons, and essentially as fans. This is the real answer to what this magazine can deliver that the internet cannot, or at least has not so far. Fan-interaction sites exist, and people are certainly talking about these topics, but there is also something to be said for the solitary experience of reading a print magazine and being given the space to let these ideas percolate without the constant presence of message boards and user-comments that can quickly turn a good thought into a divisive battle before anybody has really internalized what’s being presented.

The comics aren’t bad either. I was already familiar with most of the creators involved before reading their stories in the first issue. I’ve enjoyed their output and respect them as creators, but most of what I have read was in a mainstream context so it was exciting for me to read some of their more personal output. Both stories are a lot of fun so far, and I have really enjoyed them equally, though they are very different. This publication is first and foremost about the unadulterated fun of engaging with the comics medium as both creators and readers so it is fitting that both stories are visceral off-the wall thrill-rides. American Muscle, written by Steve Niles and illustrated by Kevin Mellon is a post-apocalyptic road adventure about a band of runaways who have fled the closed compound in which they live in hopes of finding something else for them in the wide-open world. So far they have found only devastation and radioactive mutants! The artwork is gritty and minimalist with just the right splash of gore and camp. Though it treads well-worn territory, the well-developed characters, break neck pace, and unbridled enthusiasm lends a freshness to the execution. The second story, Trigger Girl 6 by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, and Phil Noto is an espionage thriller set in either a near future or alternate world. This story features a cool aesthetic that mixes spy motifs, science fiction, and a twist of social satire. This story hits the ground…err… glass…err… undercarriage of a jet… running with no exposition or background. The reader is immediately mesmerized by the high stakes of the action and by a dozen questions including: who is Trigger Girl? Why is everyone either terrified of her or infatuated with her? And why does she want to kill the president? Eagerly awaited answers seem to be coming next issue. With two short stories that feel like issue-length narratives and loads of extra content, Creator-Owned Heroes is really a steal at $3.99. This book is a spark that comics needs right now and I look forward to watching it grow in the coming months.

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Check This Out! – Comics Pick of the Week: Action Comics #11

July 8, 2012

Action Comics #11

Writer: Grant Morrison

Artist: Rags Morales

DC Comics

 

I like Superman. I realize that this statement is something that hardly needs to be qualified, that Superman is arguably the most iconic character to come out of American popular fiction of the last century, and arguably ever, however at the same time I think there is a noticeable dearth of really great Superman stories. Superman works best as an idea, a cultural archetype, but he doesn’t work terribly well as a vehicle for drama. He is most useful in the various team books he has appeared in throughout his history, as a foil for other heroes, most notably Batman, or as the cultural symbol of perfection that resonates throughout the fictional DC universe, much as it resonates throughout the real one. The only Superman story that has really excited me as such was Grant Morrison’s All-Star Superman published from 2005-2008. That book worked so well because it revolved around the idea of what Superman represents rather than what he does. Unfortunately, the typical approach to developing a Superman story seems to be to come up with a villain that somehow circumvents Superman’s powers, and then to figure out how Superman will defeat them anyway. In All-Star Superman, on the other hand, Morrison completely embraced Superman’s limitless potential and allowed the story to explode wide-open with outrageous concepts and an epic scope that was merely a backdrop for a character study. Instead of a traditional conflict and action approach Morrison chose to let Superman’s relationships with Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, and his parents, his status as a role model, and his Kryptonian past define the flow and rhythm of the narrative. Naturally I was thrilled when I first learned that Morrison would be taking on the man of steel once again under the ongoing Action Comics banner, but what is really impressive is how he has managed to use entirely different means to achieve a very similar end.

Morrison’s current run on Action comics strips Superman of the ages of lore and continuity that he used to his advantage in All-Star, it portrays a burgeoning Superman as a blue-collar brawler rather than a Zen master, and much of the setting has an authentic street level feel that is rare in any superhero comic, much less Superman. Yet, the story is still about what Superman means – as much to the average Joes and Janes of Metropolis as to us as readers, while the villains, which in true Morrison fashion are spectacular and powerful, serve as the narrative frame, but stay out of the driver’s seat.

So far Morrison’s most significant achievement with this title has been to reclaim Superman’s moral compass for a more nuanced and contemporary audience. Superman’s unwavering moral fortitude has long been a trademark of the character, sometimes earning him the snide nickname “the big blue boy scout.” Somewhere along the way Superman’s sense of right and wrong came to be synonymous with a fairly reactionary and conservative unquestioning sense of Christian-American family values. So much so that a micro-controversy erupted when a bitter comic shop owner interpreted Superman’s grunt, expressed in issue #1 of Action Comics as “GD,” as a profanity. The idea of Superman cursing, or appearing to curse, was so distressing to a handful of aging and disconnected comic book fans that they called for a boycott of the title. The “boy scout” nickname has come to represent the problems with the character more accurately than the virtues as the term itself is quickly losing cultural relevance as a relic of a world no longer dominated by reactionary white men. Recent comics creators have been trying to undue this paradigm for years, however, the constraints of continuity and cultural tradition prevented the character from breaking out of the Boy Scout bubble in which he was trapped. Though this aspect of the character appeals to nostalgic fans from a bygone era, it has also kept new stories from resonating with a younger audience. Morrison, however, has seized the opportunity presented by the “new 52” initiative to reinterpret Superman as a people’s champion, a sort of super-powered Bruce Springsteen. One could argue that this Superman is more driven than ever by “doing the right thing,” however the right thing is much more closely aligned with real world social issues; this is a Superman who actively challenges big business and stands up for the poor.

This new approach, relevant as it is, would still fall flat if it weren’t for the way that Morrison threads it through the relationships and challenges faced by the man of steel, and more importantly, Clark Kent. In Issue 11 Superman has abandoned the secret identity of Kent (presumably temporarily) after Clark was seen to have been killed in an explosion, but we quickly learn that there is more to this decision than meets the eye. Clark has also recently left his job at the Star to take the job at the more familiar Daily Planet a paper that in this iteration of the story has a less wholesome history. During a private conversation he admits that “it felt like I was betraying my editor by accepting this job offer… I felt compromised. The explosion at the Star gave me a chance to retire Clark Kent. It felt like I’d outlived him.” This is a Superman who is not perfect. He is a man who understands the complex way in which individual decisions and actions interact, and the impact that those interactions have on the world. His moral fortitude does not come naturally to him, but he will work as hard as he has to in order to maintain it, which ultimately makes him more heroic. Yet, he is also confronted quite frequently by the fact that there are no easy answers and he is quickly learning that his decision to let Clark Kent rest in peace will have unintended consequences.

This introspective moment is only a small piece of the story in issue 11, but amidst multiple catastrophes that include an attack by a sentient piece of construction equipment, a tenement fire, and an invasion by a neurologically advanced future human, it serves to ground the otherwise wild narrative on a personal emotional level that therefore provides the sharp, focused direction which allows Morrison to do what he does best which, for lack of a more eloquent term, is to go nuts.

I will admit that I’m not as wowed by Morales’s artwork as I was by that of All-Star Superman collaborator Frank Quitely, however, it is consistently tight and does shine under certain circumstances. His main strength is creating a sense of movement. It’s not necessarily fight sequences where this quality comes through the most, but in the transitions (speeding to and from the scene of a crime, rebuilding a leveled tenement building), and what I’ll call the peak-urgency panels (fleeing from a fire with a shoulder full of rescued children, Lois Lane diving out of the way of a speeding fire engine). He achieves this effect by combing fine, light line work with dynamic perspectives and poses, effectively complimenting the fast, visceral nature of Morrison’s story.

I almost always recommend new readers to pick up single issues from their local comic shop, and I won’t change that advice now, but I will throw in a caveat that shouldn’t surprise readers familiar with Grant Morrison’s work: this story is complex and cumulative and I recommend reading the entire run from the beginning. As is usually the case with Morrison epics, the story does not merely continue from issue to issue, but is a collection of plot strands and concepts that are picked up and stored away at unpredictable times and in unpredictable ways, thus making the casual read a challenge. That being said, it may be tough to get your hands on the first few issues now and the first collected volume comes out next month, so It may be worthwhile to wait for that release and then pick up in single issues where it leaves off, knowing Morrison’s style, there will probably never really be a good jumping on point now that the wild ride has begun, but the race to catch up can certainly still be enjoyable.

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