The Stunning Continuation of John Buys Comics

World’s Finest No 4 (of 4)

I liked this series. I can completely get behind a relatively uncomplicated yarn featuring the various members of the Superman and Batman families teaming up, with giant robots, yet. Sure there were some tie-ins to the interminable ongoing shouldn’t-have-been-stretched-out-this-long stuff going on over in the Superman books, but hey, how could they avoid that? The only real sour note was that they revisited that fun trend whereby since Stephanie Brown theoretically isn’t built like a supermodel then making cracks about her being fat or having small breasts or whatever is fair game. I think that I wouldn't be quite as enraged by it if she wasn’t drawn with exactly the same body as Supergirl, but how will I ever know?. Of course, if I started basing these reviews on realistic depictions of the female (or even human) form then I would quickly go mad.

I was going to say that it would have been really neat if they’d made this series quarterly and had the fourth issue be the triumphant return of both Superman and Batman, but I think that Superman might be coming back in a month or so, whereas Batman’s still a caveman, so that might be troublesome, scheduling-wise. I’ll take a Superman/Dick “Batman” Grayson team-up, no problem.

Several hours later, a thought occurs: they should have done a Jimmy Olsen/Commissioner Gordon team-up.

Demonic No. 1

This is the second of the “Pilot Season” books that Rober Kirkman and Mark Silvestri are doing at Top Cow. Last week was Murderer, about a man who has to kill to silence his telepathy and who kills to help people. This week: Demonic, about a man compelled to either murder criminals or to kill his wife and daughter. Once the other three books (Stealth, Stellar and Hardcore, presumably about people who are afflicted by how quiet, bright and eXtreme they are, but manage to do good anyway) have come out then you’ll be able to vote for them on the Top Cow website, with the winner becoming a miniseries. So far, my money’s on Murderer, not only because it’s got the best name of the bunch but because the protagonist of that book spent most of the issue carefully selecting someone bad enough to kill before carefully killing him, while Demonic mostly carved up police officers, and precision is a lot more fun to read about than Demon Wolverine.

Batman and Robin No. 7 - Morrison’s collection of British super-villains are pretty great - here’s hoping that they all don’t just end up as crowd scene death fodder in a year or two. Even better is the sheer ballsiness of the dues ex machine that he pulled to get Batwoman on the scene. I must applaud it for its blatancy. Also: the Beefeater finally has a semi-dignified appearance.

Chew No. 8 - I had honestly never considered how a ban on chickens would affect the sport of cockfighting. Come, join me. Weep for the cockfighters (Don’t worry: all of the cockfighters get beaten up).

Victorian Undead No. 3 - Moriarty, eh? If Irene Adler shows up next issue then we’ll know that someone else has gotten ahold of the Sherlock Holmes Cliches Checklist.

Superman: Secret Origin No 4 (of 6) - Man, that is both the worst Jor-El design I have ever seen and the worst Fortress of Solitude design ever. I know that the Fortress is one of those instances of movie continuity creeping into the comics, but what about poor old Jor? I say bring back the headband model.

Afrodisiac: Whoops, I didn't get to read this before self-imposed presstime, but Dave reviewed the hell out of it earlier this week so I don't feel as bad as I might. I do have to say, after reading the categories listed on the back of the thing:  “Hip Hop”? Afrodisiac is about Hip Hop?  Or is it that this is the new “urban”?

Batman defaces a dude

Are you ready for this?

Batman punched that dude's face clean off!!! American style!

Panel taken from Batman #270 by David V. Reed and Ernie Chua.

No Jive Suckas Allowed

 Filmmakers have found a wealth of material to make great sport of in the Blaxploitation genre; the Wayans Brothers spoofed Superfly, Shaft, Black Belt Jones, and the like in 1988’s I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, and Spawn and Dark Knight star Michael Jai White had a go at Soul Cinema in last year’s must-see indie Black Dynamite. Leslie Nielsen even got in on the act in a Seventies flashback segment of the third Naked Gun film, sporting an afro the size of a medicine ball. However, despite the prominence of afro-wearing superheroes in the 1970s (Luke Cage, Black Lightning, Black Goliath), most comics creators are eager to jettison the stereotypical baggage of that era, simultaneously updating and mainstreaming the characters (hence, Cage drops the tiara and ‘fro and joins the Avengers, etc.). Thankfully, cartoonist Jim Rugg and co-writer Brian Maruca have decided to embrace the tropes of the genre in their new AdHouse Books graphic novel Afrodisiac, and the result is a delicious throwback with a striking visual style and plenty of laughs.

 

The book’s titular character (spun off from his appearances in Street Angel) is a bell-bottomed, jive-talking, street-fighting superpimp endowed with trouble-alerting “Street Smarts”, as well as a way with the ladies. In a series of short strips (bookended by scarily accurate retro cover spoofs and pinups), Afrodisiac does battle with Dracula, Hercules, Richard Nixon, and a crazed supercomputer, even finding time to indulge in a sexy encounter with Death herself. Rugg and Maruca mock Marvel’s origin recaps in a series of first-page captions that offer an array of increasingly ridiculous and contradictory alternate origin stories for Afrodisiac, and at times, they even provide asterisked translations of the character’s street dialogue (much like Marvel did in a 1983 Falcon miniseries).

 

Rugg’s art recalls other indie favourites like David Lapham and Farel Dalrymple, but with its own easily recognizable idiosyncracies (Rugg has a gift for three-dimensional sound effects that fly like rubble during fight scenes, for instance). The lo-fi colour scheme evokes 1970s comics in a way that is not unlike Dan Clowes’ work on Eightball, and the spoof covers done in the style of Harvey and Gold Key comics for kids, romance books, and even Saturday morning cartoon intros, are dead on. Afrodisiac may not be for everybody—much of the dialogue and situations are not exactly politically correct—but if that doesn’t bother you, and you have a taste for retro silliness, throw on some Curtis Mayfield and enjoy this outta-sight gem.

Sweater Vests Never Really Caught on Like Capes Did

Consider this a companion piece to Rachelle's post on rejected Batman costumes from the depths of the 90s. Back in 1969, Dick Grayson finished high school - after only 25 years! take that, Archie! - and moved away to attend an institute of higher learning. A few readers took this opportunity to point out that maybe it was time for Robin to finally graduate from the hot-pants-and-pixie-boots look into something more... grown up. As Robin himself put it:

Yes, it was time for

So sit back and enjoy these fine examples of cutting-edge costume design, as determined by an earlier generation of comics fan.

I think that the upper right design on each page is my favourite. What about you?

A Gem From the Bottom of a Long Box

My boss at Strange Adventures suggested I read Deadline, this four issue mini-series from 2002, which was in with a huge collection someone sold to the store. I was wary of the cheesy cover by Greg Horn (who is only slightly more tolerable than that other Greg), but once I dove in, I found an awesome little book, with a story driven by an enthralling mystery and an irresistibly like-able main character, Kat Farrell. Kat's a reporter for the Daily Bugle in Marvel-New York. She works the superhero beat, where she's assigned to report mostly on hero gossip, since any of the exciting stuff is left to the crime division of the paper. While she's a brilliant reporter, she's a rookie, so she's stuck writing puff pieces about Spidey and the Avengers, who she sees as self-centered celebrities, too wrapped up in their own superhero drama to notice when they bust up property all over town.

Kat's got her eye on the prize: a position in the crime department, and when villains start dropping dead all around town, she figures that breaking this story could land her that dream job. But when Kat encounters Judge Micheal Hart, who was murdered, then brought back from the dead in a spooky new form, she ends up embroiled in a supernatural mystery that she has to solve.

 

Kat is that rare sort of female character who is totally cool and compelling, but still entirely relate-able. Bill Rosemann writes her to be intelligent and driven, but fallible, like how she's trying to quit smoking for the whole book. And Guy Davis is on right on point—Kat is that nerdy sort of cute—adorable, but not boobilicous. She's like Gert from the Runaways, if Gert got to grow up and live a (semi) normal life.

There are hints of romance in Deadline, but this story is about Kat's job, and her solving this mystery. She's the everyman who manages to be heroic which is a refreshing role for a female character.

I like seeing normal people in a superhero world. I loved Gotham Central, and the idea of the how a regular precinct has to deal with extraordinary crimes. Deadline is a lot lighter, but along those same lines. It's always fun to get a different perspective (really, what would be our perspective) on a superhero story, where the superheros all seem sort of annoyoing, and they screw stuff up for us normies.

If you can get your hands on this series, do it. And who knows? Maybe Kat will show up again? In Girl Comics? Please?

John, how you say, Buys Comics

No reviews last week and here’s why: everything I bought was good-as-usual. The Unwritten, The Anchor, Daytripper, Age of Reptiles, R.E.B.E.L.S, Booster Gold… everything I bought was from a series that I liked and everything was just peachy. The only real standout was Adventure Comics, not because of any shift in quality but because it was the last Johns issue and now there’s the question of whether it will crash and burn under new management or keep on keepin’ on. Only time will tell.

Oh, and that First Wave preview made a return appearance and I noticed something that I’d missed the first time around. In the Batman portion, and I quote:

“In this world, Bruce Wayne is new to the game. He’s young (early twenties) and inexperienced. He’s not the brooding man that we’ve come to know…”

Well, yay. There’s the fun of a whole new universe, right? You can get away from the tired old clichés like Batman’s navel-gazing assholery and try something new. Good job oh wait there’s more.

“… but trust me, what we’ll put him through will get him there.”

Oh. Never mind then. This is going to be one of those reimaginings that slowly reverts to the standard interpretations of the characters. Or maybe I’m being too cynical. Probably not, though.

This week: lots of new developments!

Solomon Kane: Death’s Black Riders No 1 (of 4)

Just in case you’ve never been to this website before: Solomon Kane is one of my very favourite characters, a Puritan-style blend of the violence of Conan and the worldview of Rorschach. I think that he’s neato.

Death’s Black Riders follows immediately after Castle of the Devil (and there’s even a little note on the inside front cover saying that it’s number 6 in a series) and finds Kane still trying to get out of the danged Black Forest. Big surprise: he runs into a whole new pack of monsters, this time in the form of crazy many-limbed torso beasts, some of whom wear hats. Sadly, there’s no sign of roguish Englishman John Silent but I think that maybe roguish Frenchman Gaston l’Armon will be an adequate replacement.

I am 99% certain that Guy Davis did some of the monster design on this series. Woo!

Incorruptable No. 2

SECOND ISSUE OF JUDGMENT

Hooray! I like the second issue a lot more than the first! Max Damage's change of alignment starts to cause him some difficulties, which is great - if he'd kept walking through the series like a messiah I don't think that I could have taken it. There was a little bit of ham-handed exposition, but at least it was about Max's powers, which are cool. So yeah: there wasn't as much of the stuff that made me pooh-pooh the last issue.

Plus, this series is set in the same world as Irredeemable, which sets up a lot of really neat situations. Most of the action in Irredeemable is centred on the Plutonian and the super-humans that are fighting him, which makes for some good story, but the ground-level devestation and terror that's on display here is almost more interesting. People are terrified of the Plutonian, to the extent that they're paying mad scientists for back-alley super-powers and killing themselves before he can do so. So long as things continue in this vein, it's thumbs-up from this guy.

Streets of Gotham No. 8

Man, the main feature on this one was kind of ass this month. So you got a story that’s going to be dealing with non-standard sexual preferences in a judgmental way, that’s always painful. You got Dick “I was made Batman as part of an attempt to get away from the one-dimensional asshole characterization that Bruce had fallen into” Grayson acting like a one-dimensional asshole. You got Dick “had a mental breakdown over my role in indirectly causing the death of a mass murderer” Grayson giving a tacit thumbs-up to the murderer of a safe cracker. You got another month to wait until that actually-interesting Mr Zsasz story gets resolved. Bleah.

Manhunter was good, though.

Joe the Barbarian No. 1 - Diabetic kid with a troubled life lapses into a blood sugar-related hallucination and ends up interacting with an effed-up fantasy land populated by his toys, many of whom are lisenced DC characters? Plus it looks really really nice? I am fully on board.

Cowboy Ninja Viking No. 3 - I know that there are probably a lot of people who are skeptical of a series based around the fact that the main character is a cowboy, a ninja and a Viking, and that exclaiming over characters who have a single three-role shtick isn’t really doing much to convince you that it’s worth picking up, but… Sniper/Chef/Black Belt! Sergeant/Demolitions Expert/Amish Guy! How much fun is this book?

Power Girl No. 8 - This is such a good series. Vartox’s courtship of Power Girl was completely endearing.

The Zombies that Ate the World No. 8 (of 8) - More Guy Davis fun. This book was a very good time and now it goes out on the same note that it lived: sacrilegious ultraviolence. I will miss it.

Green Lantern Corps No. 44 - How come Red/Green Lantern Guy Gardner isn’t constantly barfing blood? Also: if the Red Lanterns ever get an equivalent to Mogo, will it be covered in active volcanoes? Also also: man, they really lovingly rendered Soranik’s boobs on the cover, huh?

Well, that's it. Oh, I also got Murderer this week it was fun but my brain is broken at this hour, so I shall speak of it when the next of the Kirkman/Silvestri Pilot Season things comes out.