Archive for October, 2007
October 28, 2007 | Comics
Suburban Glamour #1 (of 4)
Jamie McKelvie
Image Comics
$3.75/$3.50 US
*** 1/2 (out of five)
Astrid is your average teenage high school girl, living that normal and ever-so-boring suburban life and hoping for something truly interesting to happen.
Well, be careful what you wish for.
She’s been having some pretty weird dreams of late, but Astrid isn’t going to let that keep her from having a good time with her friends.
After getting her drink spiked with speed at a house party, she’s helped home to sleep it off, only to be awakened by two of her imaginary friends from her childhood, who warn her that something big is about to happen in Astrid’s boring little English town.
When she wakes up the next morning she can’t help but wonder if she’d simply had a drug-induced reaction — until she and her friend Dave go on a shopping trip and find themselves face to face with a trio of monsters!
Created by gifted writer/illustrator Jamie McKelvie (Phonogram), Suburban Glamour is eye-catching and alluring stuff.
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October 15, 2007 | Comics
Shortcomings
Adrian Tomine
Drawn & Quarterly
$22.95/$19.95 US (Hardcover)
**** (out of five)
Ben Tanaka, like many men, has a wandering eye.
When his girlfriend, Miko, insinuates that he always seems to have that eye out for white girls and not Japanese ones like her, he blows up her about it, because, well, the truth hurts.
When Miko announces she’s accepted an internship on the other side of the country and will be gone for four months, suggesting that a relationship break might be good for them, Ben can’t help but take the opportunity to test Miko’s theory.
So, with the help of his friend, Alice, he heads off into the dating scene in search of the blue-eyed blonde of his dreams.
But will the dating pool be refreshing or a cold splash of reality? And while Ben thinks he’s the mouse playing while the cat’s away, he may be shocked to find out what Miko’s been up to in New York City.
Acclaimed graphic novelist Adrian Tomine (32 Stories, Sleepwalk) crafts a bittersweet and clever look at relationships and racial issues, filled with compelling and well-developed characters that are sure to resonate with many readers.
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Drawn & Quarterly creators Rutu Modan (Exit Wounds), James Sturm (America: God, Gold And Golems) and Adrian Tomine (Shortcomings) will be guests at the 2007 International Festival of Authors at the York Quay Centre, 235 Queens Quay W., Toronto.
Rutu Modan & James Sturm — Saturday, Oct. 20, 12 p.m., Brigantine Room
Adrian Tomine — Saturday, Oct. 27, 3 p.m., Studio Theatre
Cost: $15
For more info, check out www.readings.org or call 416-973-4000.
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October 15, 2007 | Trades
The Nightly News
Jonathan Hickman
Image Comics
$16.99 US (Paperback)
**** (out of five)
Being tried and convicted in the media instead of a court of law is, sadly, becoming more and more commonplace.
A man is arrested and accused of committing a heinous crime. He is on every newscast, website and newspaper cover and the crimes he is accused of become branded to his image. It doesn’t matter if, months or years later, he is acquitted or the charges are dropped — the damage is done and that person’s life is often ruined.
In Jonathan Hickman’s The Nightly News, a group of people who have lost everything they held dear under the weight of media scrutiny are brought together to form “The Cult of the Voice” — whose mission is to repay the press for their treatment with a reign of blood, bombs and bullets.
Led by Brother John Guyton, the Hand of the Voice (and the only one who is allowed to hear the leader’s instructions directly), the cult starts taking out members of the media at a shocking rate, while politicians and billionaire media owners bicker over what can be done to protect the press.
Can anything stop this cult before they critically hamper journalists’ ability to do their jobs?
Hickman sheds a telling light on the perils of modern media and, better still, does so with a gripping narrative that will have you on the edge of your seat.
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October 15, 2007 | Trades
Supergirl And The Legion Of Super-Heroes: Dominator War
Mark Waid, Barry Kitson, Mick Gray
DC Comics
$17.99/$14.99 US (Paperback)
*** 1/2 (out of five)
The Dominators have declared war, the Earth is in shambles and the Legion of Super-Heroes is stretched razor-thin to prevent total catastrophe.
Just another day in the 31st century.
After being hinted at for several years, the Legion finally find out who’s been behind the attacks on the outlying United Planets settlements as the Dominators launch a surprise attack on Earth — beginning with a techno-virus that stops all technology from working, thus throwing the world into chaos.
Even the Legion, who depend on their futuristic rings for flight and transmatter gates to get from place to place, are not immune as they attempt to hold the line against the vicious and brutal alien race.
Just as important as stopping them is the question: Why? And the answer ties together millennia of DC Comics continuity in a rather interesting bow.
The Dominator War is writer Mark Waid and artist Barry Kitson’s last hurrah as the creative team on Legion and they sure do go out with a bang.
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October 15, 2007 | Trades
52 Vol. 3
Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid, Keith Giffen
DC Comics
$23.99/$19.99 US
*** 1/2 (out of five)
It sure isn’t easy living in a world without Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman.
While DC’s big three took a year off to get themselves together after the events of Infinite Crisis, many other, lesser-known, heroes stepped up to fill their shoes in the pages of the weekly series, 52.
But this third of four volumes sees The Question entering the final stages of cancer and his friend Renee Montoya powerless to help; Will Magnus, creator of the Metal Men, trapped on an island with some of the world’s top evil scientists making weapons of war; reformed villain Black Adam’s young brother in law Osiris trying desperately to prove he’s not evil by proxy (in spite of having killed a man); and John Henry Irons, A.K.A. Steel, attempting to prove Lex Luthor’s “Everyman Project” —which gives super-powers to anyone who wants them — is a dangerous sham.
But nobody’s perfect and hundreds will die before the last page is turned on this penultimate volume of this groundbreaking series co-written by the incomparable group of Geoff Johns (Green Lantern), Grant Morrison (Batman), Greg Rucka (Checkmate) and Mark Waid (The Flash) and illustrated by Keith Giffen (Justice League) along with a host of other top artists.
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October 1, 2007 | Trades
Elephantmen Vol. 1: Wounded Animals
Richard Starkings, Moritat, Comicraft, Ladronn
Image Comics
$24.99 US (Hardcover)
**** (out of five)
They tower over even the tallest man and could kill any one of us if they chose to — after all, that’s what they were made for.
The general public calls them “Elephantmen”, in spite of the fact they are human-animal hybrids of many varieties — from elephants and rhinos to crocodiles and camels — and even though they live among us now, they can’t exactly blend into the crowd.
Engineered by a mysterious and sinister corporation called Mappo as soldiers to fight humanity’s battles for them, these creatures have finally found a different life after being integrated back into society.
Some have become famous and wealthy, others are content, like many of us, just to get by, while still more have found there’s money to be made by continuing to do the dirty work that many humans won’t.
Wounded Animals follows a private detective “elephantman” (actually a hippoman, truth be told) named Hip Flask, who’s on the trail of a valuable missing item; his old friend Ebenezer, who actually is an elephantman, who’s looking for a friend; and a “rhinoman” named Obadiah Horn, who’s got some big plans and even bigger secrets.
Elephantmen, the brainchild of comic book lettering master Richard Starkings, has something for every reader with its great blend of sci-fi, action, crime noir and humour.
It’s perfect pulp fiction.
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October 1, 2007 | Trades
DMZ Vol. 3: Public Works
Brian Wood, Riccardo Burchielli
Vertigo/DC Comics
$15.99/$12.99 US (Paperback)
**** (out of five)
Matty Roth has been called a lot of things during his time as a journalist in the DMZ, but he never imagined one of them would be “terrorist”.
As he continues his efforts to report on the challenging lives of the people of New York City, which has become the DMZ following a tumultuous second American civil war, Matty takes on his toughest test yet: Going undercover.
He hides his press badge, one of the few things that can keep you alive in a city where violent gangs rule neighbourhoods with blades and bullets, and takes a job with a shady corporation that has moved into the city to help rebuild many of its landmarks.
After a series of attacks and explosions threaten to derail the corporation’s plans, Matty thinks he know who’s behind it, but when they come to him with an offer of stacks full of cash to keep his mouth shut, or even to help, will he cross a line from which there’s no going back?
Written by Brian Wood and drawn by Riccardo Burchielli, DMZ continues to be one of the most gripping, gritty and gratifying series around.
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October 1, 2007 | Trades
100 Bullets Vol. 11: Once Upon A Crime
Brian Azzarello, Eduardo Risso
Vertigo/DC Comics
$15.99/$12.99 US (Paperback)
**** (out of five)
It’s hard to know whom to root for sometimes in 100 Bullets.
All the characters are killers. Most are unrepentant and even cruel bastards.
And worst of all, whenever someone shows a glimmer of humanity and you think you’ve figured out who to get behind, writer Brian Azzarello kills that character off!
As this series spirals towards its 100th, and final, issue in 2008, all these lovely dominoes that Azzarello and artist Eduardo Risso have been setting up are ripe to fall.
Agent Graves has rounded up his band of former Minutemen and is set to take them to war against the houses of the Trust, the killers’ former employers.
There’re just a few bits of housekeeping to do first — including a mission that will take out yet another starring cast member.
Even after seven years, every twist 100 Bullets takes still catches you off guard and with the war on the horizon faithful readers are sure to be in for a bloody good time seeing who’ll survive.
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October 1, 2007 | Trades
Manhunter Vol. 3: Origins
Marc Andreyko, Javier Pina, Fernando Bianco
DC Comics
$21.99/$17.99 US (Paperback)
*** ½ (out of five)
Someone’s kidnapped Manhunter’s son and ex-husband and there’s going to be hell to pay.
Surely any villain should know the old adage about coming between a homicidal costumed vigilante and her family.
But what if the crook is family, too?
A man claiming to be lawyer Kate Spencer’s dad has been lurking around her and her family for a bunch of issues (or one trade paperback, depending on your perspective) and now he’s made his move.
When Kate, in her guise as Manhunter, tracks him down he’s got lots of explaining to do — including a shocking revelation about her family that will shake the DC Universe itself.
And if that’s not bad shocking enough, how about Manhunter fighting for her life against an evil robotic monster or worse: Having to defend one of the vilest super-criminals on earth in court!
Manhunter, written by Marc Andreyko and drawn by Javier Pina and Fernando Bianco, never disappoints and it’s great to know that the series will continue thanks to yet another reprieve from cancellation by DC.
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