Archive for the ‘Comics’ Category
May 5, 2008 | Comics
DC Universe #0
Grant Morrison, Geoff Johns, George Perez, Doug Mahnke, Tony Daniel, Ivan Reis, Aaron Lopresti, Philip Tan, Ed Benes, Carlos Pacheco, J.G. Jones
DC Comics
$.50 CAN/US
**** (out of five)
Something big and probably bad is about to happen in the DC Comics universe.
How can you tell?
There’s a really inexpensive and compelling new teaser issue written and drawn by some of the company’s best on the stands and it looks like the (Barry Allen) Flash is back.
Every DC Comics fan knows the much-anticipated summer blockbuster miniseries, Final Crisis, begins in just a few weeks, but there’s so very much more to get excited about — as we learn by reading DC Universe #0.
In addition to FC, we’re going to see writer Geoff Johns (Infinite Crisis) and artist George Perez (Crisis On Infinite Earths) team up for Final Crisis: Legion Of Three Worlds; Grant Morrison (JLA), in addition to penning FC, will team with artist Tony Daniel (Teen Titans) on Batman: R.I.P.; Wonder Woman will find herself with some man trouble thanks to writer Gail Simone (Birds Of Prey) and artist Aaron Lopresti (Incredible Hulk) in Whom The Gods Forsake; Johns and Ivan Reis (Superman) continue to build Green Lantern’s momentum towards the Blackest Night; and Greg Rucka (Checkmate) and Philip Tan (Spawn: Godslayer) tackle the Spectre in Final Crisis: Revelations.
But what was that about the Flash, you ask?
While Barry’s never actually depicted in DCU #0, the story concludes with a trademark lightning bolt across a white moon (the Flash’s logo) and it appears the Silver Age Flash — who died saving the universe in the 1986 classic Crisis On Infinite Earths — will have a key role to play in the Final Crisis.
All in all it looks to be one hot summer for DC Comics.
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May 5, 2008 | Comics
Noble Causes #32
Jay Faerber, Yildiray Cinar
Image Comics
$3.50 CAN/US
**** (out of five)
The Noble family was the world’s best and brightest: True heroes.
Then it all came crashing down.
It’s been five years since Gaia Noble, the family matriarch, confessed to committing crimes to help her celebrity family remain popular and in the public eye. Now a new Noble family defends the world against the forces of evil — one still led by super-scientist Doc Noble, but with his new wife Olympia and step-kids, Surge and Minutiae, along with Doc’s kids Rusty, Zephyr and Frost and Zeph’s husband, Slate Blackthorn.
But this new-look team still faces the same old problems and the first one they face could just be their last as a nasty new foe infiltrates the family.
Creator Jay Faerber reboots comics’ best soap-opera/action title, alongside new artist Yildiray Cinar, and sets the stage for an exciting new era for the Nobles.
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May 5, 2008 | Comics
Screamland #1,2 (of 5)
Harold Sipe, Héctor Casanova
Image Comics
$2.99 CAN/US
**** (out of five)
Ever get tired of the good guys always getting the best of the monsters?
So does Frank.
Of course, he’s not going to let that stand in the way of the fat paycheque he’s been promised to appear in Hollywood’s latest monster-slayer epic alongside all his old friends: the Count, the Mummy and the Wolfman.
In case you haven’t figured it out yet, Frank is short for Frankenstein’s Monster, long past his terrifying beast days and now just trying to make ends meet.
Screamland, from the minds of writer Harold Sipe and artist Héctor Casanova, is a wonderfully biting satire along with a melancholy remembrance of a lost era all in one great package.
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May 5, 2008 | Comics
Pigeons From Hell #1 (of 4)
Joe R. Lansdale, Nathan Fox, Dave Stewart
Dark Horse Comics
$2.99 CAN/US
*** ½ (out of five)
The title alone makes you want to pick it up and read it: Pigeons From Hell.
Master storyteller Robert E. Howard (Conan) posthumously first brought the world the idea of these evil rats with wings way back in 1938 as a short story in Weird Tales magazine.
Now, modern horror master Joe R. Lansdale (The Bottoms, Conan And The Songs Of The Dead) and artist Nathan Fox have brought this nasty tale — about a group of teens and their unfortunate adventures in a decrepit old southern plantation house full of evil — to comics.
Five teens will enter, but how many will survive?
Pigeons From Hell!
Hard to resist, isn’t it?
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May 5, 2008 | Comics
All We Ever Do Is Talk About Wood
Tom Horacek
Drawn & Quarterly
$9.95 CAN/US
*** ½ (out of five)
Two beavers leaning against a stand of trees and a caption that reads: “All We Ever Do Is Talk About Wood.”
Such is the simple genius of the one-panel cartoons of Canadian Tom Horacek.
With a wonderfully black sense of humour, Horacek, a former Toronto resident now living in B.C., makes light of death, dating and day-to-day life in this quick-but-compelling little tome that will have you in stitches.
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April 21, 2008 | Comics
Essex County Vol. 2: Ghost Stories
Jeff Lemire
Top Shelf Productions
$14.95 US (Paperback)
**** (out of five)
Lou Lebeuf is an old man and his hearing is all but gone, but the voices from his past are as loud and clear as ever for him.
As he whiles away his remaining days on his family farm in Essex County, down in southwestern Ontario, Lou reflects back to better times, back to when he and his brother, Vince, played pro hockey in Toronto and they felt like kings of the world.
Of course nobody’s life is perfect and Lou’s trip down memory lane takes him to a bunch of different places, both good and bad — from the glory of raising his stick in the air with thousands cheering him on, to the hearing his knee snap and knowing his career was over, to falling in love with the perfect girl to the sound of Chet Baker records and that one amazing night in her arms that cost him dearly for the rest of his days.
Talented Toronto cartoonist Jeff Lemire continues his Essex County trilogy, which he started last year with the moving Tales From The Farm, with Ghost Stories, a thoughtful and emotional reminisce that intertwines the love of hockey, the love between brothers and the deep love of home into one thoroughly engaging read.
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April 21, 2008 | Comics
Wonderlost #2
C.B. Cebulski, Matt Santolouco, Ethan Young, Tony Fleecs, John Amor, Jason Meek, Rafael Albuquerque, Seth Frail, Alina Urusov
Image Comics
$6.95/$5.99 US
**** 1/2 (out of five)
Nobody in comics does a better job of humiliating himself than C.B. Cebulski.
The first volume of Wonderlost saw this longtime Marvel Comics editor deliver six stories from his youth that were sometimes touching and often tragically humbling.
Now this glutton for punishment is back to lay even more awkward teen experiences on the line, including his first (truly scary) experiences with oral sex, his first (and only) experience with magic mushrooms and the revelation of a rather specific interest in dating blondes.
With the help of a very talented team of artists, Cebulski truly captures the fumblings of youth perfectly and delivers another masterwork of self deprication.
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April 21, 2008 | Comics
Serenity: Better Days #1 (of 3)
Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews, Will Conrad, Michelle Madsen
Dark Horse Comics
$2.99 CAN/US
**** (out of five)
They’ve been scraping by on the edge of civilization for so long that the crew of the Serenity really wasn’t prepared for things to go… right?
When yet another grand scheme by Captain Malcolm Reynolds and his ragtag bunch of space pirates actually comes together, they might just find their days of living hand to mouth finally over with. But are they really ready for life on easy street?
Co-written by Firefly/Serenity creator Joss Whedon, Better Days finally brings this cult-classic universe back to comics in an adventure set prior to the cataclysmic events of the feature film (which saw a couple of crew members die) and puts the crew into an interesting scenario that ought to pay off big time.
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April 7, 2008 | Comics
Skim
Mariko Tamaki, Jillian Tamaki
Groundwood Books
$18.95 (Hardcover)
**** ½ (out of five)
The biggest problem with many books, films and TV programs that deal with what it’s like to be a teenager is that by the time a writer finally gets around to telling it, they rarely seem to remember what it’s actually like to be in that dreaded age group.
Being a teenager, with few exceptions, frankly sucks. Even for those precious few who enjoyed popularity all its trappings, would likely later confess to dancing on a knife’s edge most of the time.
Being able to tap into that visceral experience, warts and all, is what makes Skim such an amazing read.
Talented Toronto-based writer Mariko Tamaki, in melodious partnership with gifted ex-Albertan artist cousin, Jillian, deliver the illustrated personal journal of Kimberly Keiko Cameron, a.k.a. Skim, a teen battling against society’s expectations of her, her parents’ and peers’ perceptions, and, most definitely, her own feelings of displacement and inadequacy.
As she strives to survive each harsh high school day, Skim is confronted by a number of challenges, from dealing with the death of a classmate’s boyfriend, to trying to decide if her best friend is everything she appears, to falling in love for the first time.
All these subjects are brought to life with such an identifiable pain that it’s hard not to find something in Skim’s experiences that doesn’t give you a somewhat unpleasant twinge in the back of your mind.
A powerful and poignant story that is as perfect a synergy of words and art as you’re likely to find in comics, Skim is a true gem.
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April 7, 2008 | Comics
Little Things
Jeffrey Brown
Touchstone (Simon & Schuster)
$16/$14 US (Paperback)
**** (out of five)
Jeffrey Brown’s already shown us how he lost his virginity, revealed how he’s gotten his heart broken on numerous occasions and how he’s capable of falling in love five times a week. It’s about time we get to see if Brown can find a happy ending for himself.
The creator of the graphic memoir classics Clumsy and Unlikely, returns with Little Things, a collection of short stories that are a pleasant blend of humour, melancholy, introspection and small doses of tedium. Subjects range from a trip from his Chicago home to the wilds of the Pacific Northwest, dealing with the angry ex-boyfriend of a new girlfriend, having his gallbladder removed, witnessing a crime, how to break into comic books and, in the end, finding the right person and starting a family.
Longtime readers of Brown’s unabashed autobiographical exploits are sure to enjoy this thoughtful collection of tales as only he can tell them, while Little Things is also a brilliant book to introduce readers to the creator and his odd-yet-lovable personality.
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