Comic Books and Hip-Hop

Essential Reading: Daybreak

2008-06-03T20:06:41Z

Daybreak started out as a big mystery to me. I picked-up the second issue, recognized that the art was obviously my style, and so I bought it, at the same time ordering the firs issue. I waited till I had both to read them, and I was glad for it. These two issues have left me ready for more.

Brian Ralph lives in Baltimore, Maryland with his wife, Megan, and their son, Miles. (That's what I want to name my son.) (Someday.)

Ralph posts various illustrations on a blog he shares with 12 other talented people. Daybreak, which has had two physically published issues, is a story he's been posting in pieces. Those two issues get you through part 38, which ends with a cliffhanger. If you dig through the blog (seriously, guys, a little navigation help, please), you'll find he's up to #53 thus far.

]]> Daybreak is distributed by Bodega, and Fantagraphics published by favorite recent zombie story, The Living and the Dead, by Norwegian uber-talent Jason.

Jason's book was distinguished not only by his unique techniques, but also by its complete silence. Daybreak is highly unusual for the genre as well. First of all, it's drawn by Brian Ralph, who's illustrations are very friendly. Like Kevin H., he often represents entire faces, even writ large, with 4 or 5 well-placed lines. The book is monochromatic as well. The ink's not black, I don't think, it's sort of a dark brown.

The most distinguishing characteristic of this very unusual zombie story is, though, that it's entirely from a first-person perspective. That's right, you're in the story. Each panel represents the view through your eyes. The characters talk to you, but apparently you don't say anything.

This allows for all sorts of fun. Characters zip in and out panels, sometimes the action gets chaotic and all you see are falling boxes or rocks. There's a dog in the book, and occasionally he sticks his snout right in your face, filling the panel.

The effect, thankfully, really works. I went from curious to just plain creeped-out in about 10 pages. I also got really attached to my one-armed companion and maybe even moreso to that dog, who pops in and out of the story "lik a bad penny", as is said in the book.

It's great to see how Ralph's doing more with less here. Like the great low-budget time travel movie Primer, Ralph creates an effective genre book without the splashier, flashier trappings you'd expect. He pushes the limits of his creativity and story-telling abilities, and the result is an engrossing comic and, in its first-person technique, a definitive example of something comics can do better than a most other forms.

Huizenga Follow-Up and Ganges #2

2008-05-22T01:11:17Z

Isaac Butler's diablog response to my Essential Reading post on Kevin Huizenga's work is right here.

In it he details not only some of the reasons he digs Kevin H., but also the one major shortcoming he finds in Huizenga's work. A couple of quotations from his post sum it up nicely.

What happens in one issue has only cursory bearing on another. Glenn Ganges is in many ways like a bulletin board that Huizenga uses to pin whatever he wants to talk about to.
...
I'm unsure what the stakes are within Huizenga's world, and I'm unsure what my relationship to his characters are supposed to be.

Isaac then asks...

Is it wrong for me to have this quibble while enjoying rather profoundly each individual Huizenga story? ... Should I just relax and quit my bitching and enjoy the riches that are there? Do you think Huizenga is deliberately playing with how character is represented in narrative? Do you think I've totally got my head up my ass here? And weren't we supposed to talk about Ganges #2 which Douglas Wolk called "the kind of thing I want to hand to people who ask 'what kind of comics do you like?'"

So, in order ... No, maybe, sometimes, kind of, and yes we were.

]]> pretty well here.

Maybe we'd all enjoy stuff more if we stop looking for fault. But that's hard when you're in the art business and used to questioning reality, right?

I do think that Huizenga deliberately plays around with the rules of narrative sometimes. After all, his stories rarely end-up being about what they seemed to be about at the beginning. He's liable to give pages upon pages over to what would otherwise be a tiny moment, giving that moment twice as much weight as the rest of the story. (As in "The Moon Rose" in Or Else #2.)

Wolk uses the term "gradual narrative" to talk about the Glenn Ganges stories. I think he's alluding to the fact that the stories are so rarely really about Glenn & Wendy, so only with a lot of diligent reading and after-thought can we piece together the story of Glenn & Wendy's lives. We learn much more about the world around them than we do about their stories. Sometimes this seems deliberate, and sometimes Huizenga does seem to be using Glenn as a vessel to talk about whatever's on his mind. (Or, maybe he's just a tease. Check out the last page of Ganges #2. Who is fuck is Uncle Louis? That seems like a detail he threw in just to be ridiculous.) Would you like Huizenga's oeuvre better if it were a whole bunch of stories about people with different names, but similar faces and lives? Abe Abbot, Brian Billingsly, Carl Compastner, Dave Diggler ... and so on?

So, no, your head is definitely not up your ass. Maybe Huizenga's just not interested in writing the book you wanna read. Or put it this way ... Wouldn't we all like to know a little bit more about that Godot? Sure, but that's not the play Beckett wanted to write.

Ganges #2
Ganges #2 is all about video games, kinda.

The first "story" appears to be basically an exercise in abstraction and riffing on a couple of basic elements who happen to have appeared in several of Kevin H.'s previous books. What starts out quite clearly as a Tekken-style fighting game in comic form becomes a competition to see which character can produce the most complex and impressive variations.

The art is beautiful to look at, and in the end the white one wins. Sweet

As it turns out, Glenn Ganges was playing the black one, and he lost. Thus the theme of video games takes us into the only other story in the comic, "Pulverize". And, as is Kevin H.'s way, he uses this theme to draw us into a personal story about his time in the dot com boom, a bit of history about video games, some ruminations of the nature of video games and the effects they have on the players, and commentary about on-the-job relationships. We also meet Bob Bilson, who already returned for one panel in Ganges #1, and who is exactly the type of lovable loser that Huizenga loves to spend time thinking about and giving his due.

Check out Huizenga/Glenn exploring the nature of video games - "Underneath, it's just dots shooting at dots" - and at the same time using it as justification for his fixation. While, at the same time, Huizenga inserts a sly assessment of the effect these video games are having on Glenn & Wendy's relationship by never letting us see Wendy's face in the whole story (or even on the back cover).

(Hey, what's this snazzy shirt Glenn's wearing? I don't think you could get away with this in real life. Could you? Note how it matches his long-sleeve t-shirt, shown above.)

What's great about this issue is the way Kevin H. manages to do all the things he loves - he mixes in some fiction, tells a good story, gets in a lot of commentary, uses the comics form to his best advantage, breaks out of the panels, and shines some light on an unexpected hero - and yet it doesn't feel forced. It all fits in one long form and it flows in a completely natural way. The symbolism of the images gets layered as the story gets longer, and it takes all of the foundation he's spent 19 pages laying out to create that incredibly moving ending.

If you had told me I'd read a comic book about video games and that something that occurred in the game would be the key emotional moment of a brilliant story, I'd have laughed in your face and suggested you stop reading Super Mario Adventures.

And maybe that's the best way to sum up what's great about Kevin Huizenga's work: No matter what you get from it - a history lesson, a lesson in empathy, or a great story - it never happens in anything like an expected way. He always comes in through the side door. Remarkable.

Essential Reading: Kevin Huizenga

2008-05-20T04:41:20Z

Isaac Butler of the Parabasis (theatre, comics, the universe, and everything) blog knows I'm a fan of Kevin Huizenga, and invited me to have a diablog with him about the latest issue of Ganges, Huizenga's occasional series for Fantagraphics about Glenn Ganges, Huizenga's possibly somewhat-semi-autobiographical stand-in and everyman.

Well, I'm happy to oblige. We'll be talking about Ganges #2 tomorrow some, so I thought I'd get a jump on it by talking a little bit about what I admire so much in Kevin H.'s work.

We are fortunate in that Douglas Wolk included a review of the Huizenga collection Curses in his wonderful tome Reading Comics. I've taken a good deal of notes myself, but I'll be referencing Wolk often, I'm sure.

There are several hallmarks to Huizenga's comics of which I'm particularly fond.

His penchant for layering stories within stories (and sometimes within another layer or two of stories).

His formal experimentation.

His mixing of fiction on non-fiction.

His concern for everything.

]]> His Concern for Everything
By his concern for everything, I'm referring to the attention he gives to everyone - from birds, to the lonely souls of his life, to the missing children on the flyers that arrive in Glenn's mailbox. As Wolk puts it, "everything has an intrinsically interesting story of it's own."

In Curses' "Jeepers Jacobs", Kevin H. devotes most of the story to a devotedly Christian friend of Glenn Ganges' brother. Huizenga spends about 14 pages looking deep into Dr. Jacobs' psyche, and giving real attention to figuring out the man's motivations. Dr. Jacobs is writing about hell, and so we also get a brief foray into the orthodox version of hell's principles. The fact of the matter is that in most indie comics, Dr. Jacobs would more likely be the butt of a few jokes. In Kevin H.'s work though, this kind of character is a likely subject of exploration and empathy.

There are examples of this kind of empathy and curiosity throughout Huizenga's oeuvre. In "Lost and Found", also in Curses, Ganges starts out pondering the lives of missing children and the junk mail their faces occupy. This leads to a couple of pages on the so-called Lost Boys of Sudan. Or Else #4, sub-titled "Glenn Ganes in The Wild Kingdom," is largly without dialogue and is almost entirely concerned with stories and scenes of Glenn's interaction with wildlife in the suburbs - squirrels, birds, bigger birds, insects, cats, and what appears to be a boll weevil.

Ganges #1, published by Fantagraphcs in 2006, contains one of my favorite examples of Huzenga's incredibly un-self-contered viewpoint. In "The Litterer", Glenn sees a kid on a bike empty his pockets on the ground. Enraged, Glenn starts to consider what the kid could possibly have been thinking at the time. He considers the child's possible future at the "CEO of a big company that dumps waste in the river" and then he devotes a couple more pages to figuring out how the kid got to this point and how he might turn into a giant, a politician, or a murderer. The whole time, Glenn never imagines his face, we only see the side of his face, and always with his biking helmet on. In a lovely turnabout, Huizenga points the finger at Glenn, though, when his wife realizes that for all his outrage, Ganges didn't bother to pick-up after the kid.

Stories within Stories (within Stories)
The first story in Curses is called "Green Tea" and it has, by my count, 27,729,847 layers of story.

To start with, it's a story that Huizenga is telling to us, so there's one. It begins with Glenn telling us a story, and that's 2. Within that story Glenn is sorting through some papers that his landlord's brother wrote, and comes across the story of the Rev. Mr. Jennings, which he proceeds to quote at length.

So, now, we've got Huizenga telling us about Glenn telling us about the landlord's brother telling us about Mr. Jennings. Four layers. So, guess what happens next ... Mr. Jennings tells us a story - a couple of them actually. Five layers. Wow.

Huizenga does this kind of layering often, though not usually to this extreme. In the Ganges stories, he also plays with the role of the narrator, sometimes letting Glenn tells his own stories, sometimes using a narrative voice in captions and placing Glenn as the subject.

In a couple of stories in Ganges #1, Huizenga starts telling one story, only to pull back and have us realize that that story is being imagined by Glenn and Wendy in the context of a story about their slice of life.

In Or Else #2, in a story titled "The Groceries," Glenn and a pregnant Wendy (his sometimes wife/sometimes girlfriend) put away the groceries. That's all that really happens. However, during the course of this story, the couple imagines their varying visions of the future together with their child. Once the groceries are put away, and Glenn and Wendy are eating what appears to be watermelon, Wendy treats us to a long story about her sister.

This layering is used to a great effect in Ganges #2, as we'll discuss soon.

Hey! You Got Your Fiction in My Non-fiction
Kevin H. obviously takes some pleasure in facts and figures. No big surprise, considering the amount of sheer wonder he seems to feel in the face of the world. And so, he frequently takes a tangent in his narratives for the edification of his audience. We'll start with Curses once again and work our way out.

We've already mentioned the short dissertation on hell to be found in "Jeepers Jacobs. In "The Curse (Based on a True Story)," another Glenn Ganges piece, starts with a simple problem - a flock of starlings have moved into the tress on Glenn & Wendy's block, making it impossible for anyone to hear, to sleep, or to walk around outside without gagging from the smell of bird droppings.

Well, before Glenn can get to a solution, Huizenga decides to give us a quick run-down on the starling's introduction to America, a well-known but oft-mis-understood Shakespearean reference, the history of farmers' attempts to deal with the pests, and the reasons for their evolutionary success. Huizenga follows this with a beautiful page of illustrations of the birds flying in formation.

Back in Or Else #2, in "The Moon Rose," Glenn finds his (Sudanese, I believe) neighbors staring at the large, bright, red, moon, and one of them utters, "It means the end of the world." Glenn, in an attempt to help, replies, "there's a scientific explanation for all this." And then, he gives it to us, complete with 11 pages of tiny, detailed drawings of lunar eclipses and the science behind their huge, red appearance. After which he says, "So don't worry, okay?"

Formal Experimentation
The fact is, I could write a week's worth of posts about the ways Kevin H. twists and turns the comics form from time to time. His deceptively simple style (Wolk calls it "spare, whimsical, almost old-fashioned") lulls the reader into thinking this is another friendly, expectations-meeting slice of life comic (which would be fine), but then Huizenga suddenly turns everything on its head with stuff like this. Look at this amazing work from "Time Traveling" in Ganges #1.

Amazing. Somebody (McCloud, Eisner, maybe) said that comics are time. Here, Huizenga proves it and uses it in several fantastic new ways. Look at Glenn moving diagonally in time. WOW.

To really understand what I'm talking about here, however, you're going to have to go out and get the books. Curses is wonderful, and a beautifully designed book at that, but at $22, it ain't cheap. If you want to get started with Huizenga's work, I suggest you seek out Ganges #1, which is widely available, especially online, and at $7.95 it's a steal. Furthermore, it contains my favorite Huizenga piece, it's the last one in the book. Here's a tiny, tiny taste of that.

More on Kevin H. very soon.

Kevin Huizenga's website is here.

Over to you, Isaac ...

Grant is God?

2008-05-18T12:59:53Z
New X-Men by Grant Morrison - Ultimate Collection Vol. 1
Okay, now I'm starting to get why they call him the "God of Comics". I wasn't that much of a fan before, I must admit.

These comics are amazing, though. Highly recommended.

Spaceman West: Live and even more Daft

2008-05-17T17:55:56Z
I hope Kanye pushes his music as far "out there" as he has his stage show.
See pictures of half-naked astronautettes here.

R+B 5.15.08: Sky Doll, War is Hell, El Zorro

2008-05-15T22:01:58Z
Sky Doll #1
I wanna start with this one, both because I enjoyed it so much, and because it's so, so unusual.

I tend to think of the guys at Marvel as being much like the guys that hang-out too much at my local comic shop - under-sexed, over-stimulated cretins. Marvel makes so damned many cash-grabs per month that's it's difficult to believe that they occasionally artists.

How did it come to pass that Marvel is publishing a bunch of French comics? And comics with nudity and mature thought at that?

I may never know the answer, but for the moment I'm grateful.
As it's creators note in the helpful comments near the back of this 54-page, almost adless monster, the art is a combo of manga, European, and American comics. Let's put it this way: The faces are manga, the pizzazz is American, and the colors are European. But let me tell you - the grace is all French. As is the fact that this cute, cartoony book, full of bouncing boobs and bare bottoms is actually trying to get to deep philosophical territory by talking about religion, of all things.
This first issue is a hefty 44 pages of solid story, but it's a page-turner. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting the characters, figuring out the dilemmas the series is meant to explore, and I'm happy to report that the sky doll herself is a likeable figure capable of well-earned joy but providing glimpses of real loneliness and frustration as well.
We know Marvel couldn't possibly be doing this for the money, but it can't hurt if this book turns out to be a minor hit. So, support the cause and pick-up your copy today.

]]> War is Hell #1, 2
The first issue of this book just the right combination of action, mystery, unique characters, and witty banter to get me really excited. And it doesn't hurt that the names Ennis and Chykin or on the book. (Hey, don't those American Flagg reprints start soon?)
The story so far involves an American pilot in a British squadron. He's not exactly well-liked by anyone in his group, and it doesn't help that he won't tell anyone anything about his real life.
For some reason though, they allow him to stay on (I guess they just really need good pilots) and so adventure and hilarity ensue. He can fly really, well, but his lack of attention to detail is going to cost someone their life. It's only a 5-issue series, so no doubt all the secrets will be revealed just in time for us to realize we're witnessing the awe-inspiring "First Flight of the Phantom Eagle."

Zorro #1-3
So, it's taken me three issues to get excited about this series again. Not really a good sign, eh?
Well, I love me some Zorro. Old-school, Antonio Banderas, even the Gay Blade. So, I was pretty excited to see this series coming out, and with Matt Wagner's name attached, it couldn't be too bad, could it?
It's been a slow start, which was used to great - and similar - effect in Ultimate Spider-Man. Stretch the well-known origin story out over a few issues, giving just a glimpse of what's to come. And I admit that it has worked in the long run. For whatever reason, I stuck with the book until issue 3, and when El Zorro appears in all his glory at the end of issue 3, it's a pretty big thrill. I got a little bit of a chill and felt inspired to get my whip back out and ride my horse around town searching for bad guys. (Luckily, I never owned a horse, the whip broke in 7th grade, and my plum-colored Zorro mask is much to small to fit anymore. What you've never seen Zorro the Gay Blade?)

Dyme Def's tight

2008-05-15T21:49:42Z
You know about these dudes, right?
Yeah, that track ain't the bomb, but they agreed, so it's not on their album.
Try Clap Clap instead.

R+B 5.7.08: Secret Invasion, Ultimate Human, Avengers/Invaders

2008-05-07T21:19:54Z
Secret Invasion #1, 2
The best thing about Secret Invasion so far is that Mockingbird is in it. I have the entire run of West Coast Avengers and she's totally great. Hawkeye totally went downhill after she died.
In #2. See Captain America call Iron Man "shellhead" was great too. It immediately lets you know what era these folks are supposed to be from. There's a missed opportunity here, though. On that big double splash-page, Cap says "damn." The Captain America of the time he's supposed to represent wouldn't have said damn in a comic. So, Bendis, one step forward, two steps back.
Anyway, this plot gets more dark and twisty with every passing moment. I hope it actually makes sense in the end, and that Bendis manages to avoid a Civil War-style anti-climax.
It's also interesting to see how the Avengers books have basically become Secret Invasion extensions. No Avengers appeard in this week's. Heck, I couldn't even tell you which book it was.]]> Ultimate Human #3, 4
Ultimate Human 3 didn't have any fighting between the Ultimate Greeg Goliath and Ultimate Shellhead. Grrrr.
Instead, it was the issue-long origin story of the Ultimate Leader. A pretty good origin, really. But couldn't Ellis have broken this story up into chucks along the way? I wonder how it'll play in trade form.
Anyway, the story suddenly shifted gears in the 3rd issue to be about the Leader and his plan to be the Ultimate human. Go figure.
The last issue featured very little. Tony tells Bruce he has to give up the Hulk-cure, and then the Hulk yells and throws people around. Tony's sorry at the end.
Meh.
Avengers/Invaders #1
I haven't read it yet. I'm about to. I'm pretty excited. I've read the entire Invaders series from the 70s. You used to be able to pick-up stacks of issues in quarter boxes at the cons. I grabbed those along with Shogun Warriors, believe it or not. The team was really fun, the historical setting made the book a little more interesting, and they have a killer rogues gallery. I hope some of the baddies make it to this series, too.
However, I've not been fond of Ross and Kreuger's Project Superheroes. Like the incredibly similar The Twelve, it's an overly-serious serious that is deeply reverent of a by-gone era. Yes, Ross's covers are beautiful, and they may turn out to be well-wrought stories. For the moment though, they're no fun to read.
Okay, now I'm gonna read it.
(Time passes ...)
Okaythatwasprettydamnedgood.
I'm right at the end of the book, looking at the splash-page. I had just been thinking, "Is this how they're going to bring Steve Rogers back?" Lo and behold, Iron Man seems to be thinking the same thing. Spidey's emotional response to seeing Cap was great, too.
At first, I thought having the Thunderbolts in here made no sense at all, but when I see that they actually are going to tie this in with current events (Well, sorta. I notice no one's called them Skrulls yet.) it makes sense.
The art's pretty good. A little sketchy for my taste. I notice there's no inker listed. Does that mean the colorist is doing the blacks, too? That would explain a little.
Is Steve Sadowski the first guy to try to show Spider-Man's ears through his mask? It looks odd. I hope he stops.
The intro from Bucky worked really well. A decent bit of exposition that was useful even for me, but not too heavy-handed. It was actually really fun.
So, my one hope for the next issue is that they don't waste too much time with fish-out-of-water jokes, and just get to the good stuff.
Oh, and I hope that Iron Man doesn't use his nanites to upload all of Cap's post-1943 memories into Steve's brain.

An Image reunion courtesy of FCBD

2008-05-05T19:13:52Z
My feelings for Image Comics are very similar to my feelings for Kevin Smith movies. I generally don't like them, but I do like what they represent - championing the independent spirit of artists everywhere. I remember being extraordinarily excited in 1992 about what Image Comics could do for the world. Turns out, not a whole hell of a lot. But still, it was a defining moment in my adolescence, and I look back on it fondly. So big BIG props go out to the folks at Atomic Comics for organizing an event (publicity stunt?) that, for me, ranks right up there with a Beatles reunion. The founding members of Image Comics gathered together again, signing autographs for fans young and old during Free Comic Book Day. Remember that issue of Wizard where Todd McFarlane went on record as saying "Rob Liefeld is dead to me"? Holy smokes. But here we have photographic evidence of McFarlane and Liefeld not only sitting next to each other in the autograph line, but actually breaking bread at the same dinner table. Full details are at Comic Book Resources. Thanks for the great coverage, CBR.

Who is The Nobody?

2008-04-30T17:50:40Z
Coming from Jeff Lemire and Vertigo.

And yes, I will gladly shill for Jeff Lemire.

Blueprint VS Funkadelic

2008-04-24T18:12:48Z

Blueprint is a hometown hero here in Bustown, and he's a genuine talent behind the boards and on the mic, and anytime he releases new music, it's an event.

So, imagine my excitement when I received this email yesterday afternoon.
We are starting the preorders for the Blueprint vs Funkadelic CD. There are only 500 copies of the actual CD version of this release. The CD is $7.99 and will come with a 11x17 poster of the artwork and all the instrumentals. Pre-orders will be shipped out Thursday night (or first thing Friday depending on the order volume) and should arrive 2-3 days later depending on how far from Ohio you are.
For those of you wondering how you will get a copy of this release with when there's only 500 copies of it don't worry, starting next week on the release date there will be select websites that will make this album FREE to download on Tuesday, April 29th (specific sites to be announced later). The downloadable version will not include the instrumentals.
Exactly 8 minutes later I received an email receipt from CCNow. So, there are definitely not more than 499 copies left. Better act fast.

To order, CLICK HERE.
(There's even a YouTube preview right here.)

Queen & Country Vol. 2 is hot hot hot

2008-04-23T20:49:00Z
I got this today. If you're not reading these, I assume it's because you already have the whole series. I finished the first collection what seems like years ago and I've been salivating uncontrollably ever since.

It's maybe the best looking collection of it's kind of ever seen. And the comics are the bomb. Yes, I think that's the perfect word for them - the bomb.

The Roots will return

2008-04-23T17:15:21Z
Their last album displayed amazing musicianship, but was kinda weak on the song-writing front. Black Thought sounded like he was sleeping through some of the sessions. This sounds much better.

R+B 4.20.08: Narcopolis, Kick-Ass, Echo, FF

2008-04-21T02:13:43Z
It's an interesting moment for me in my comic reading-ness. I've got this little list of the titles I'm enjoying a heck of a lot, and it seems that most of that list is made up of titles that weren't around 3 months ago. How'd this suddenly happen? Did I luck out? Is it a publishing co-incidence. I had been pretty unhappy with my pull-list for the few months before this, and I kept weeding things out of it. Suddenly though, I'm more excited about going to the comic shop again. What are the titles that are pulling me back it? Read on.
Fantastic Four (Millar & Hitch version)
I was really into FF until the end of the Civil War. In fact, I thought they had some of the best issues of that whole darned Civil War thing, but then Dwayne McDuffie took over and they totally lost me. (Not to mention those horrible covers by Michael Turner. Lord!)
However, now FF is near the top of my must-read list again. It feels like a real comic book to me. It doesn't feel written for the trade. You get a nice taste of what everyone's doing each issue, and it's fun. And a storyline that features a second Earth really is appropriately sized for this group. I'm not sure I agree with Millar's assesment that Reed is the coolest guy on Earth, it's great to see him acting like a hero and a scientist.
Anyway.
It's fun every month, that's why I'm into it.
]]> Echo
Terry Moore is one of the all-time greats. Should we say "under-recognized"? Well, I'm going to. He's totally under-recognized. Strangers in Paraidse was an amazing series. His ability to create full-formed fictional characters with unique personalities, quirks, and realistic fears and drives, both as a writer and an artist is probably unmatched in comics. I certainly can't think of anyone else off-hand, and I've got a big o comics to look at while I think about it. Ah - the Hernandezes. Good company. But no one else comes close.
So, Echo is the story of girl who gets some odd, gooey-yet-steel-hard stuff dropped on her out of the sky. (Come to think of it, that could be one really big horrible phallo-centric metaphor. Try to put it out of your mind as you read it.)
She's pretty, but not bizarrely so, she's got real problems with an ex and her past (which is only alluded to at this point) and her response to having part of her torso covered in this strange substance is totally normal. She doesn't put on a costume, she goes to the doctor.
And it's all drawn with Moore's usual combination of detail and clarity with fantastic inkwork.
I figure your options are pretty much 1. Buy it monthly, starting now or 2. Grab the collected editions when they begin in a year or so.
Don't wait.

Kick-Ass
Yes, second Millar book on this list. It just happens to be next in my little stack.
Well, I know this book is getting a lot pans, so I'm on the defensive for liking it right away. But I gotta be honest with you, I'm really into it. That first issue did kind of kick-ass.
Look on JR Jr.'s art to start with. He always does great work. One of the things I love about him is that his work looks a little unique for each title he draws and he makes an real impact whenever he takes over a title. Remember his 1990 run on Iron Man. How did he make the armor look that chunky and yet so good? And was the Manadarin ever scarier? What about his Daredevil?
So, John Romita Jr.'s art looks great, and Dean White's colors really spice it up. It doesn't look like this book takes place in the Marvel Universe. I'm sure that's intentional and it's really cool. There's a different kind of detail, sometimes lack of it, to the look of Kick-Ass.
So, there's that. The writing in Kick-Ass is great too. Certainly, it's really unrealistic. But if we waited around for the kid to heal, we'd have nothing to do for a few issues. I guess the story really tapped into my pre-adolescent super-hero fantasies. I identified with the character as soon as he said, "We all planned to be a super hero at some point in our lives." Well, I sure did.
Lastly, I'm just happy to read a super-hero book that's not weighed down by the continuity BS in the Marvel and DC universes.
I do find it odd that they emphasize the "sickening violence" on each of the covers. That doesn't really seem to be what the book's about. Is it helping the sales? (As if they need it.)

Narcopolis
Here's another indie-spirit trailblazer putting out an exciting new work. It's just too bad this one is only 4 issues. Maybe they'll do a sequel.
Delano really pulls out all the stops in establishing this dystopian world and establishing its rules and patterns. The characters speak in a peculiar dialogue that often mashes worlds together (badeveil, mindcops, cleanlimbed) to make what are apparently codified and common terms in the world Narcopolis. They talk about squirtstuff and the methods their government has of keeping the populace under control, and yet Delano never panders by taking the time for exposition. What little of it he does usually happens during moral debates after sex, for example, so it's not so unsubtle as would usually be the case.
The artwork will be familiar to anyone who's been keeping up with Avatar's recent releases from Warren Ellis, Garth Ennis, and the like. Jeremy Rock draws in the relatively stiff, not to hard, not to light way that seems to be Avatar's house-style for these books.
It's an intelligent story, and unusual in that it's fun, and intriguing, and doesn't just come-off as a harangue against TV and civic participation for people who haven't heard of Naomi Klein (like Hickman's highly disappointing Nightly News). I'm not sure it'll take me any deeper into those ideas, but for two issues so far, I lease feel the comic's engaging and teasing with those ideas, rather than preaching to my choir.
Okay, more tomorrow.

The shelf life of Cerebus

2008-03-25T17:58:33Z
Fact: Measuring approximately 13.25" across, the entire collection of Cerebus phonebooks will fit perfectly within one of the shelf spaces in an IKEA Expedit bookcase. Coincidence? Or a sinister Swedish-Canadian conspiracy to foist Abrahamic monotheism and misogynist philosophy upon consumers of inexpensive minimalist home furnishings?