Archive for February, 2005
February 21, 2005 | Trades
Bone Vol. 1: Out From Boneville
Jeff Smith
Graphix/Scholastic
$12.99 (Paperback)
**** (out of five)
Bone has only been mainstream for about 14 years, but it’s already time for a facelift.
One of the most lauded and best-selling independent comic series of all time, Bone, the story of three cousins lost in a valley filled with magic and monsters, is being reissued in colour by Scholastic’s new Graphix imprint and aimed at tweens and teens.
Targeting young people is a brilliant move, as Bone might be the most accessible comic book of all time. It’s simple, yet elegant, art, complex, but familiar, characters, and magical sense of wonder combine to form a book that anyone can enjoy.
The colour, while not necessary, adds another dimension to creator Jeff Smith’s world of Bone. The use of earthy tones really gives a feeling to the valley and its inhabitants.
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February 21, 2005 | Trades
PVP Vol. 2: Reloaded
Scott Kurtz
Image Comics
$11.95 US (Paperback)
**** (out of five)
Who says geeks can’t laugh at themselves?
On the surface, PVP, a popular daily web comic strip, seems to target video game-playing, comic book-reading, Star Wars fans — otherwise known as geeks.
But when you have over 250 consecutive strips to read, as in PVP Vol. 2: Reloaded, the truth becomes evident: PVP isn’t a niche strip, it’s a strip for anyone who likes funny.
PVP’s creator Scott Kurtz is blessed with a gift for subtlety and uncanny comedic timing that will have you laughing out loud at the day-to-day lives of the staff of his fictional video game magazine.
Reloaded features sidesplitting strips on alien abduction, feminism, Mac vs. PC, gorillas in heat and the death of a superhero.
For a free sample (or a daily fix) check out www.pvponline.com.
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February 21, 2005 | Comics
Wet Moon Book 1: Feeble Wanderings
Ross Campbell
Oni Press
$14.95 US (Paperback)
*** 1/2 (out of five)
It is appropriate that the word ‘wandering’ is in the title of Wet Moon Book 1. That’s just what it does.
Ross Campbell, whose gift for capturing facial expressions first caught readers’ eyes with last year’s Spooked, takes up both writing and drawing chores this time and the results are mixed.
Revolving around the lives of a group of Goth kids in the town of Wet Moon, somewhere in the southern U.S., this book does the complete opposite of most comic book series. Instead of rushing into the plot, without giving readers a chance to care about the characters, Campbell gives us page after meandering page of characterization and the plot be damned.
In the end, it’s easy to like many of the people in Wet Moon. They are complex and interesting. While there are allusions to some sort of murder mystery, it’ll probably take another volume before you’ll be able to tell if anything interesting is going on in their lives.
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February 21, 2005 | Trades
Seaguy
Grant Morrison, Cameron Stewart
Vertigo/DC Comics
$15.25 (Paperback)
** (out of five)
What do ancient Egyptians, talking tunas, women with beards and a chocolate-covered polar ice cap all have in common?
Apparently enough to cram them together in the latest “what the …?” effort by off-beat writer Grant Morrison (JLA, New X-Men).
In the simplest terms, Seaguy is a story of a man in a world without heroes, who sets off to do a brave thing to impress a girl.
But in another effort that is somewhere between so eccentrically genius that it’s inaccessible to the common reader and just plain nonsensical, Morrison departs from any kind of logic and just vomits random ideas out for three issues.
Toronto’s Cameron Stewart does his best to bring all this together with his usual excellent art, but not even the best drawing of a flying, talking tuna can save the notion that it’s a flying, talking tuna.
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February 21, 2005 | Trades
Bizarro World
DC Comics
$45.95 (Hardcover)
**** (out of five)
There is an inherent level of silliness to the idea of superheroes — people who crash land from an alien world or get bitten by something radioactive and decide to strap on some tights, put their underwear on the outside of their clothes and fight crime.
Unlike most books, especially those by DC and Marvel, Bizarro World is all about embracing that, well, bizarre idea, and having a little fun.
Brought forth from some of the top talents in alternative comics today — creators such as Harvey Pekar (American Splendor), Tony Millionaire (Maakies), Eddie Campbell (From Hell), Evan Dorkin (Milk And Cheese) and Craig Thompson (Blankets), to name a few — the nostalgic love for DC’s classic characters is evident in this original collection of illustrated short stories.
From Superman crash landing at the North Pole instead of Kansas and the origin of the Batman Christmas song (Jingle Bells, Batman smells…), to Aquaman seeking catharsis as a folk musician and Justice League starring in Bring Your Kids To Work Day and even appearances by Krypto The Super-Dog and Beppo The Super-Monkey, this book is uproarious.
Perhaps the best two, however, are the brilliant Batman Operetta by Paul Grist and Hunter Emerson and the perfectly paced how to shop for Batman by Kyle Baker.
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February 21, 2005 | Trades
Small Gods Vol. 1: Killing Grin
Jason Rand, Juan Ferreyra
Image Comics
$9.95 US (Paperback)
**** (out of five)
Det. Owen Young has a choice: sacrifice his principles or himself and his friends.
In a world were one in 100 people have some proven psychic abilities, Young uses his ability to ‘see’ the future to help catch criminals and, if he’s lucky, save lives.
When a telepathic bank robber catches a glimpse inside Young’s mind during a bust, the crook learns a dark secret that puts not only Young’s career in jeopardy, but those of several of his fellow officers.
But how far will Young go to prevent that from happening?
A terrific and engrossing concept, well executed by writer Jason Rand and beautifully illustrated by the talented Juan Ferreyra, Small Gods is as perfect a mix of sci-fi and crime fiction as you’ll ever read.
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February 21, 2005 | Trades
Noble Causes Vol. 3: Distant Relatives
Jay Faerber, Fran Bueno
Image Comics
$12.95 US (Paperback)
*** 1/2 (out of five)
Liz Donnelly-Noble’s life is a mess.
Her husband, world-renowned superhero Race Noble, is dead and now Liz is left to deal with his family — the most famous bunch of heroes on the planet.
But the truth behind the scenes isn’t what the public and the media think.
As Liz stumbles upon a rather unusual way of coping with Race’s death, her brother-in-law Frost (whose power is controlling the cold) is searching for his birth father, her other brother-in-law Rusty (a human consciousness in a robot body) is going through a messy divorce and her sister-in-law Zephyr (who can control the air) is dealing with the repercussions after getting pregnant by her would-be boyfriend’s evil father.
And you think your family’s got issues?
This collection of a four-issue miniseries, the first Noble Causes series in colour, is yet another illustration of the strong characterization readers have come to expect from writer Jay Faerber.
Packed with bonuses including a heap of short stories, one featuring art by Toronto’s own Valentine De Landro, detailed character bios and an introduction by writer Joe Kelly, Distant Relatives shouldn’t be kept a stranger.
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February 21, 2005 | Comics
Batman: The Man Who Laughs
Ed Brubaker, Doug Mahnke
DC Comics
$10.75/$6.95 US
**** (out of five)
Bru, we hardly knew ye.
The release of this stand-alone tale of the first meeting between Batman and his arch-nemesis, the Joker, hurts, because it shows why writer Ed Brubaker is so damned talented and why his departure from DC is going to hurt so bad. Brubaker, who also writes the outstanding Sleeper and The Authority books for DC’s Wildstorm line, announced earlier this month he has accepted an exclusive contract with Marvel Comics.
Working with talented regular Bat-artist Doug Mahnke, Brubaker examines the motivations of the Clown Prince Of Crime in an eloquently told story written from the perspectives of the Batman and Gotham City cop, James Gordon.
A novice Batman (and get ready for a lot of those type of stories headed into Batman Begins this spring), trying to understand the nature of the criminally insane and to save an entire city from destruction makes Who Laughs Last so good it may bring a tear to your eye.
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February 21, 2005 | Comics
Concrete: The Human Dilemma #1 (of 6)
Paul Chadwick
Dark Horse Comics
$3.50 US
*** 1/2 (out of five)
Never a series to shy away from the issues, Concrete is back and is now thinking about that pesky human problem.
Concrete, was a normal man named Ron Lithgow who was captured by aliens and had his mind transferred into a hulking stone body. Since then he has gone on to worldwide notoriety.
When a powerful U.S. pizza magnate decides he wants to help make the world a better place, he develops a program to subsidize sterility for young people in an effort to curb global overpopulation. To aid him in his cause, the businessman attempts to enlist Concrete’s support.
Creator Paul Chadwick gives readers another delightful moral dilemma to chew on.
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February 21, 2005 | Comics
Lions, Tigers And Bears #1
Mike Bullock, Jack Lawrence
Image Comics
$3.60/$2.95 US
*** 1/2 (out of five)
Being a little kid is tough stuff sometimes, especially when you’re separated from the ones you love.
Joey’s mom has made him move away from his friends, his grandma and everything familiar. But his grandma gave him a going away present: a quartet of stuffed cats — a lion, panther, and two tigers — that she says will protect him and help him be brave.
On Joey’s second night in his new house, he is shocked to discover that he really does need protecting — something in the closet is trying to get him — and then the Night Pride leaps into action: as real animals!
A cute, fun and original new series by writer Mike Bullock, with polished, cartoon-style art by Jack Lawrence.
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