Quick Alt-DCU Comic Reviews

Superman/Batman; Teen Titans; JLA



Three comics out this week, each featuring an alternate version of the DCU, all designed to appeal to a long-time DC Comics fanboy such as myself. Each even ends similarly, with a full-page splash revealing surprise characters. It's a super-hero geek-o-rama!



Superman/Batman #14

by Jeph Loeb, Carlos Pacheco & Jesús Merino

So, how big of a comic geek am I that I recognized immediately who the forces behind this alternate reality were? Loeb's captions are still in abundance, though at least at times they're actually narrating story & background information instead of just prattling on. Like the stories in this title that preceded it, I'm sure that "Absolute Power," an alternate reality tale wherein Superman & Batman have taken on the role of world dictators, will fall apart if looked at too carefully, but will be a fun ride if we all just go along with it. Those who disliked Turner's art on the previous story (which seems at times to be every single pundit on the Net, although it sold tons of copies to presumed Turner fans) will appreciate Pacheco's art, which is still dynamic but without many of Turner's tendencies to, um, exaggeration.

Rating: 3 (of 5)




Teen Titans #18

by Geoff Johns, Mike McKone & Marlo Alquiza

We learn more about the world of ten-years-hence and some about how the Titans grew so dark, especially Tim/Batman. (Hmmm, wouldn't Bats have wanted to show Robin his father's grave along with all of the others?) This is another of those 'don't think about it too hard' stories, but it still has me interested and wondering how it's going to get wrapped up in just one more issue.

Rating: 3 (of 5)




JLA #108

by Kurt Busiek, Ron Garney & Dan Green

Then opening part of this book, where we get a good look at the Crime Syndicate's world and what makes it tick, is interesting; but the later part, page after page of boring politics on Qward, could and should have been shortened. Thankfully the CSA show up to raise a little Cain (in a wonderful full-page splash with maniacal laughter, exploding sound effects, and the dude in the bottom corner looking back at the reader--it's just like the old days!), and then some kind of cosmic reset button gets pushed and we end up with a slightly different CSA. I don't recall when exactly I encountered the Crime Syndicate--it may have been in DC Comics Presents Annual #1, with the Earth-1 & Earth-2 Supermen teaming up with Earth-3's Alexander Luthor to defeat Ultraman, but maybe it was in an earlier comic. Anyway, it's always fun to see them again, and Busiek's story looks like it won't disappoint.

Rating: 3 (of 5)

Quick Comic Reviews

Cyclone Bill & the Tall Tales; Cenozoic; Wild Girl; Ocean; Kabuki: The Alchemy



Cyclone Bill & the Tall Tales #1

by Dan Dougherty

This is the story of rock and roll sensations Cyclone Bill & the Tall Tales, telling the story of their rise and fall through the lens of a documentary filmmaker. Bill was a little known but critically loved singer/songwriter/guitarist and the Tall Tales--Dave, Dan and Kevin--were a Chicago bar band going nowhere until their fateful meeting in 2004 led to their rise to superstardom in 2005 when they released a collaborative album that shot straight up the charts. Most bands in this position face a backlash, but the Bill & the Tales's come personified in the form of Oscar Burden, a punk rock renegade who believes that everyone should be a rock star. Three years later, Bill is dead and the band is disbanded, but the documentary, haunted by the ghost of Elvis, is looking to uncover the truth. It's all fictional of course, but it has the air of authenticity even if it is at its core a rock and roll myth. This is helped greatly by Dougherty's art, a photo-realistic style that is reminiscent of Gary Spencer Millidge. It's also interesting to note that the Dan in the Tall Tales is Dan Dougherty himself--the artist has slyly inserted himself into the work, giving it yet another level of pseudo-reality. Dougherty packs a lot of story into this first of six issues, and I definitely want to see where he goes next.

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)




Cenozoic #1

by Mark Fearing

A couple of fun stories set at the dawn of mankind. "Monkey Toruble" features Jerry: Caveman Inventor, as he tries to rid his cave-mates from being terrorized by mud-throwing monkeys. The second story features Cave Bear & Duck, two anthropomorphically modern friends dealing with the encroachment of humans. It's fun but slight, and the stories are more likely to bring a smile than out-loud laughter. Fearing's drawing seems a bit crude, but it's deceptively so; there's actually a good deal of craft and he's quite able to tell his stories effectively.

Rating: 3 (of 5)




Wild Girl #1

by Leah Moore, John Reppion, Shawn McManus, & J. H. Williams III

The art by McManus (with a two-page dream sequence by Williams) is great, but that's to be expected. Most importantly for a title like this, McManus can draw animals quite well, imbuing them here with much the same combination of realness and personality that Masashi Tanaka does in Gon. The story however, while not bad by any means, is very slight, serving as the barest introduction to Rosa, a young teenage runaway who is somehow haunted by the animal kingdom. With the great art there's enough to keep me around for a bit, but just barely; hopefully the story will pick up soon.

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)




Ocean #2

by Warren Ellis, Chris Sprouse & Karl Story

Like the first issue this second installment is told in a decompressed style, but At the same time Ellis packs it so full of information it doesn't feel like it's being stretched out needlessly. Inspector Kane has made it to the science outpost at Europa, where he gets introduced to the crew and the fantastic find that they have made beneath the ocean's surface. This has all the makings of a hard science fiction story, the kind that I like in novels but that we seldom get to see in comics. It's very typical in these sorts of stories for the first third of the book to be spent setting up the world and the story, and so far Ocean seems to be following form. Now that all of the pieces are in place, the plot kicks into gear in the closing pages of this second of six issues, right on schedule. The story is helped greatly by Sprouse's art which is quite well suited to this near-future scifi story.

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)




Kabuki: The Alchemy #2

by David Mack

It's gorgeous, but at this point that's to be expected from Mack and Kabuki. Not much actually happens in this issue (Kabuki gets her wound patched up and acquires a false identity), but we do get an interesting meditation on the relationship between art and biotechnology, along with Mack's typical themes of memory and identity. Despite the slow-moving narrative, each page is a visual treat, packed with information. With Kabuki, it's not really about the plot anyway, it's all about the journey, and Mack doesn't disappoint.

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

Quick Indy Comic Reviews

Citymouth

by Hunt Emerson

This has got to be one of the strangest comics I've ever read. Citymouthes--'Bouchevilles' in French--are giant mouthes, each with a city inside. In the many one to four page comics that appear in this collection, Emerson uses the Citymouthes to make humorous and oftimes insightful comments about urban settlements. All of the cartoons are wordless, so Emerson's cartooning has to carry the whole weight of the narrative, which it does with seeming ease. It's the wildest, wackiest comic about urban planning that you'll come across.

Rating: 4 (of 5)




A Fine Mess #2

by Matt Madden

This 32-page comic contains several stories by Madden, each of which is an experiment in comics narrative. The opening story, "Prisoner of Zembla," is structured around the roman alphabet, while another, "The Six Treasures of the Spiral," makes use of artistic and dialogue repetition in adopting the style of a sestina poem. Each of the stories employs a different artistic style as well, giving this comic much visual variety, and Madden shows that he is skilled in all of them. A good comic to entertain and stretch your comic-reading mental muscles at the same time.

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)




Or Else #1

by Kevin Huizenga

Another collection of short stories done in a variety of styles by a single artist, Or Else, for me at least, is not quite as successful. "NST 04," is a purposely disjointed story, with events from panel to panel being seemingly unrelated. "Chan Woo Kim" juxtaposes text from adoption papers with serene nature scenes done in a classical Japanese style, but to what end I'm not sure. The best story of the bunch is the conclusing story, "Jeezoh," which supposedly draws on a legend from the midwest regarding the fate of the souls of aborted, stillborn and miscarried babies (though having lived in the midwest all my life, I have to admit that I've never heard of the legend before this. Huizenga has a lot of talent, and in a book like this there's bound to be stuff that works and stuff that doesn't, and reactions will vary from reader to reader. So give it a look.

Rating: 3 (of 5)




Titus von Götheborg

by Ulf K.

In this collection of one-page strips, Titus von Götheborg is a German composer whose cleverly humorous adventures center around the physical manifestation of music. Though wordless, there is dialog of sorts in the form of musical notes and images in thought and word balloons. Ulf K. has an enjoyable cartoony style that is easy to follow, and he packs a great deal of story into each four or eight panel strip. It makes for a quick but enjoyable read.

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

Cheap Manga

Thanks to Shawn Fumo, I've learned of a Webstore called DollarManga.com, which appears to be where ComicsOne is getting rid of their excess inventory.



True to its name, DollarManga.com has many of ComicsOne's older series for $1 each, not-so-old series for $3 each, and relatively recent items for 25%-50% off.



I ordered the following at $1 a piece: Joan vols 2 & 3; Goku: Midnight Eye vols. 1-3; Tomie vols. 1 & 2; Weed vols. 1-3; Crayon ShinChan vol. 1; and Sarai vol. 1.



The catch is that the shipping is somewhat expensive. For the twelve books above, the shipping was $19. That works out to a total of $31 for 12 volumes of manga, which is still a good deal.

New This Week: November 17, 2004

Based on the NCRL list for this week's comics shipping from Diamond, here are a few things to look for at the local comic shop tomorrow:



The Pick of the Week is Plastic Man: On the Lam, the trade collection of the first six issues of Kyle Baker's Plastic Man. It's got super-heroes, and it's got the funny. You've been good this past week: you deserve to read a good comic and laugh.



Also from DC this week are the fourth Y: The Last Man collection; the second The Losers collection; Ed Brubaker's last issue of Catwoman (#37); the start of a new arc in Ex Machina (#6); the final issue of H-E-R-O; and the second part (though actually the first real part) of the CSA story in JLA (#108).



Marvel have Brubaker's first issue of Captain America; the start of a new arc in The Pulse (#6); a new Daredevil collection (vol. 10); the last X-Statix collection (vol. 4); the hump issue of Madrox (#3); and Chuck Austen's final issue of X-Men (#164).



NBM have a third Boneyard collection and the first issue of the mangafied Hardy Boys; Antarctic have a new Gold Digger (#57), a new Quagmire USA (#5), and an I Hunt Monsters pocket manga. El Capitan have a new Stray Bullets collection (vol. 8); Image have the third Invincible collection; and Penny Farthing have the penultimate issue of Para (#5).



Still have some change left in your pocket after all of that, then pick up last week's pick, Bugtown #1. Even if you haven't been following the Bugtown comics for the past 25 years, it's still new reader friendly.

'Real' Comics

Some of my favorite parts of (postmodernbarney.com) are the times when Dorian shares anecdotes about his comics retail business. They are generally amusing in pointing out the insanity that comics retails must face on a daily business.



In his latest installment, this exchange jumped out at me:



"Do you have any real comics?"

Uhm...as opposed to the millions of "fake" comics that currently surround us?

"No, real comics, like The Far Side!"



Now, aside from the silliness of thinking that newspaper strips are the only 'real' comics, it does point out something that I have always thought to be curious: Why don't comics shops stock collections of comic strips?



A look at the Bookscan top 'graphic novels' of 2003 seven strip collections in the Top 25, including collections of Get Fuzzy, Calvin and Hobbes, The Boondocks and Foxtrot. After manga, they're the next largest category in the list. Yet the typical comic store has none of these.



If comic shops are trying to appeal to an audience wider than comic book geeks, shouldn't they have in stock what a majority of the people think comics are; what they are exposed to on a daily basis? There should be collections of The Far Side, Calvin and Hobbes, Peanuts, Dilbert, Mutts, Foxtrot, For Better or For Worse, and others. If anything else, they would bring people in off the street and into the store, where they could even be enticed to buy 'real' comics.



Oh sure, there are a few, like Liberty Meadows, Jane's World, and The Norm, which get collected into comic book form, but aside from the recent Fantagraphic Peanuts collections (and maybe some of the other Fantasgraphics offerings) how often do you see any mainstream strip collections in a comic store?



A good portion of the blame can be laid at the feet of Diamond, who don't offer these books in Previews for the retailers to order, but surely there are other distributors for books, yes? And if there was enough presure from retailers, one would think that Diamond would make an effort to start making them available.



I'm sure that retails have their reasons for not stocking strip collections. Heck, some of them may even be valid. But wouldn't it be great if, in the situation that Dorian cites, a retailer could point the customer to a rack of strip collections and say: "Here they are. Not only do we have The Far Side, but we have others as well. Please let me know if I can help you with anything else."

Ringo's Sketches

As most probably know by now, it was recently announced that Mark Waid & Mike Wieringo are leaving Fantastic Four for another yet-to-be-determined project. It'll probably involve super-heroes.



However, as anyone who has visited Mike's Sketch Blog knows, Wieringo has talents far beyond being a super-hero artist. Judging by the many sketches that involve kids and animals, he would make a great artist of kids comics. Of course, there isn't much money in kids comics these days, but it would seem that he would also make for an excellent illustrator of children's books. Maybe he and Mark could collaborate on something along the lines of the combination kids books/comics that Gaiman and McKean do (e.g. The Wolves in the Walls).



Just thinking out loud here (okay, not actually 'out loud'...); but I'd love to get a chance to see Wieringo stretch beyond super-heroes.