Posts filed under "reviews"
It’s been a while since I read a proper Authority story. Last time it was the one issue found in the Coup D’etat mini-series which effectively sets the scene up for this story. Just finished reading Volume 1 of The Authority: Revolution (the mini-site also provides a little video interview with Dustin the artist of the book, more on him later) The Authority now control America and are making a better world, or so they would like to believe.
The Story - Ed Brubaker
The book is written by the supremely talented Ed Brubaker. Part of me is very disappointed that Wildstorm lost this guy to Marvel, as he’s proven that he’s a person who truly understands and appreciates the history of the Wildstorm Universe, with his brilliant Point Blank and Sleeper series
Unlike many people out there reading comics, I’m much more an Image boy, rather than a Marvel or DC boy. That’s not to say I will buy everything by Image, but explains my reading habits. I hunt down stuff by creators, and not a company, with the sole exception of the Wildstorm Universe. It’s the one set of books that has always been one step ahead of the rest. I doubt I’ll ever do work for hire (although never say never) but if I did it would have to be in the Wildstorm Universe and with a writer that actually was a fan of the Universe, as Ed Brubaker so clearly is.
In the latest trade paperback in the Authority series (Volume 7 apparently, I’m thinking 2 for the Warren Ellis run, 2 for the Mark Millar run, and 2 for the Robbie Morrison run), is easily back to the exceptional form established by the first 2 creative teams. This is some of the best Authority fare, where each issue has got memorable moments, dialogue and artwork. The structure is very different to previous incarnations. Previously Ellis and Millar structured their stories into groups of 4 issue arcs. Brubaker is doing a 12 issue mini series.
What I love about this story is that it allows the characters to grow. The status quo is not stagnant; the structure and details are constantly being questioned. For anyone thinking that everything remains the same throughout the life of the story to preserve the status quo is dead wrong. It’s playing out in a very unorthodox fashion, one I’m very keen on following through to with the next book.
One thing I’ve noticed however is that the first half of this story is a Midnighter story, while the second half will be a Jenny Quantum story. You can tell this is who Ed’s favourite is, and to be honest he is the coolest member of the team. In previous incarnations of the book it was more of team book, and all the characters got equal airtime, however Ed doesn’t seem to balance that. This isn’t so much a criticism as I like the fact that he’s concentrating on a few characters and giving them time to grow and develop. He does provide key moments for the other characters, however he is playing to his strengths as a writer.
The Wildstorm Universe has always had a single writer who defines the direction for many of the books for a given period of time. We’ve had the Brandon Choi era, followed by the Alan Moore era, Warren Ellis took over not long after that and set the tone for things to come for a while, then Joe Casey tried his hand, but he didn’t really get the Universe in my humble opinion, and now we’re slowly drawing the curtain on the Ed Brubaker era. I’ve enjoyed the Ed era the most (after the Alan Moore era). Ed has a complete understanding of the history of the WS universe and gives all faithful readers lots of gratification as he links in characters and situations perfectly. He provides continuity, while masterfully making it completely accessible for people that haven’t read the stories before. He has a respect for what’s come before which is very rare in the current comic book market. The twist he’s provided in the 5th issue however will have to be properly explained, but it’s an explanation I’m really looking forward to.
Like I said it’s a shame that it will also mark the last work that Ed will have done for Wildstorm (as he’s completed Sleeper which is the other must read book of the Wildstorm Universe).
The Art - Dustin and Rich
The art is provided by the dynamic team of Dustin Nguyen and Richard Friend. I remember when Dustin first broke onto the scene. He got lambasted on the WS message boards, which I thought was supremely unfair and defended him, we had a few email conversations after that, and to say I’m not slightly biased towards the guy would be a lie. The fact that he’s got talent however is no lie. Since his early days he’s handled Batman, Wildcats and The Authority several times. The design of the book and the covers has dropped in quality significantly since the Wildcats 3.0 series. The difference with that series was the fact that we had the amazing Rian Hughes on the book design. Each cover was a lesson in how to be innovative in design and art. This series lacks that design edge. Dustin however makes his mark by giving Jenny Quantum her own special look.
Side note, I love Jenny Quantum. She’s easily turning into my favourite character right now, and I can see her becoming more and more prominent in future Authority stories.
His carrier interiors are very consistent and his designs for the Sons of Liberty were exceptionally well done.
So to recap if you stopped reading The Authority after the Millar run, do yourself a favour and pick up Revolution, you’ll remember why you liked these characters in the first place.
Artistically David Mack is one of my biggest influences. In fact he’s such an influence that my first foray years ago into actually colouring my work using water colours can be landed squarely on his lap. The man escapes the boundaries of traditional art and elevates everything he does to a level few can ever see, and even fewer can ever reach. What I find amazing is the lack of recognition this man deserves in the real of both contemporary artwork and graphic design. Oh sure he’s got loads of fans from all regions of the world and all coming from different backgrounds, some design, some traditional art, some comic book art, but I still think he deserves much more.
And not to be completely cliched about the whole thing the guy is an exceptionally nice person as well. I’ve had several e-mail correspondences with the man and bought several books and what not off him in the past. I was even contemplating saving up to buy a piece of his artwork. It was going to cost me an arm and a leg, at $1500 but I was seriously thinking about it; luckily he didn’t actually have the particular piece I wanted as he’d already sold it. Luckily simply because I really couldn’t afford it even though I wanted it more than anything. Throughout our conversations he was such an approachable guy, which made me even more of a fan of the man as he earned my respect. It’s more than can be said of a lot of creators that let things go to their heads.
Every Thursday used to be a religious journey to get my weekly fix of my favorite books. I’ve since stopped doing that and rather like going into the store and waiting for things to jump at me. This week I was pleasantly surprised by the fifth installment of Mack’s fantastic Reflections series, which effectively is his collection of artwork that never saw print, sketches and other Mack related goodies. It’s not the most powerful one in the series, however Mack on a bad hair day is better than 90% of the ‘artists’ out there working in a professional environment.
I can acknowledge that his stuff might not appeal to everyone, but if it doesn’t then it’s that person’s loss. I’ll be writing about his epic series Kabuki in the coming months as it’s a series that deserves to be read by everyone who’s even mildly interested in a good story, in ANY medium.
I just finished reading this seminal work by the great Amin Maalouf, who is a fellow Lebanese. See before reading this book and researching into the other books that the man has written, I used to think that one of the greatest things to come out of Lebanon of Gibran Khalil Gibran (he of ‘The Prophet’ fame). I’ve read ‘The Prophet’, and honestly I wasn’t all that enamored. I remember clearly the first time I heard talked in depth about ‘The Prophet’ was in the most unlikely places with the most unlikely person. That’s a story for another time. After completing Leo the African, I can easily say that Amin Maalouf is the heir apparent for the best literary voice to have come out of that tiny little country.
One of the most important things that elevates a writer to becoming truely exceptional in his readers eyes, at least this is how I see it, is educating the reader. Not trying to show the reader how many longer words he knows, but showing him the depth of knowledge he pocesses in a way that doesn’t insult the reader. The obvious outcome is that the reader comes away actually having gained something more than simple entertainment.
Amin Maloouf writes historical fiction. However this isn’t the history I learnt at school. I would have killed to have these books when I was in school or in University. To study the time period discussed in this book would have been a dream.
Leo the African is written as though it’s the autobiography of Hasan al-Wazzan. This is a true story, with the obvious embellishments by Maalouf. Hasan was born in Granada during the fall of the Muslims from Spain. It tracks his life as he goes from one country to the next, experiencing the wonders and the horrors of the world in front of him. Leo the African is the story of travelling and discovery. It’s a story about religion in the hands of man.
Reading this book you get attached the characters in such a profound way. You feel his pain, and Maalouf uses a trick I only noticed clearly in storytelling terms when I was watching Babylon 5. The most interesting part of a story isn’t what happens, but rather the path or road to get there.
Even though the writer has already told you what the final outcome is, you can’t help but feel like you’re hoping the characters come out of it unscathed. Maalouf uses this technique to great effect during the entire book.
This book was not published in 2005, and even though it’s still relatively early to be thinking about Book of the Year type of thing, Leo the African is the one book I think I’ll remember in years to come as the stand out book I read this year.
I wrote this about ‘After the Empire’ and while both deal about completely different subjects I’m extremely lucky to have read them, and I honestly believe that everyone should at least have them on their shelves, with the full intent of reading them some day. You owe it to yourself.
What the fuck? Was I sleeping at the wheel when this happened? So go check this little link out will you. Apart from the very nice Optimus Prime right in the front and centre of the image, check right behind, oh yes is that the cover to Northern Lights? I think it is.
The Fantasy Comes to life in 2007.
I personaly can’t wait. I’ll have to write a much more in depth post about my love for His Dark Materials. It deserves several posts in fact. A little research and we’ve got the following site. Once I’ve got a bit more time I’ll investigate further.
No I didn’t but it would be nice to experience that. However I’ve been reading Inoue Takehiko’s SLAM DUNK. This was a manga done in what it would seem the early to mid 90s. The series ran 31 volumes in Japan (each volume having around 180 pages). It was originally published in the US and subsequently shipped to the rest of the Anglophone countries by Raijin Comics sometime in late 2003. The company stopped it’s publishing program about a year ago and with it Slam Dunk stopped being translated, at Volume 5. Needless to say by that stage I was COMPLETELY hooked on this series, which is one of the best selling manga’s in Japan.
With no translation around I just gave up on the series, not because of choice but what was I supposed to do, learn Japanese?
Little did I know that the internet and more specifically Bit Torrent would come to my rescue. I never ever download comics. I’m a book nut. I like the smell and feel of a book. I like picking it off the shelf and flicking through to have a look and be inspired. Never got into it, even though there seems to be masses of series available for illegal download on the net.
I was talking to James and he mentioned that the entire series was available in English online if I really wanted to read the series. I’m up to volume 14 and I can’t seem to get enough of this series.
The story centres around Hanamichi who’s been rejected 50 times, and then meets this girl who’s into basketball, in order to impress her he decides to join the bastketball team. Thing is though, he HATES basketball. And so it begins.
It’s easily one of the most addictive series I’ve ever read. The thing that really comes across fantastically is the humour which is absolutely brilliant. It’s been a while since I laughed out loud on my own reading something. The art is superb, but there is a bit of rawness in the work that Inoue’s later offering (the great Vagabond, which I’ll hopefully get round to reviewing properly in the near future). Having said that it’s still tighter than most manga on the stand, and he’s easily becoming one of my absolute favourite Japanese creators, and that’s saying a lot.
What makes me wonder however is which country translated the series and published it in english, and if so can I buy it online or not? That’s how much of a fan and idiot I am of this series. Also I’d really love to sit down and watch the anime series of this, except I don’t think it’s available in english. Again I could be wrong in this subject.
Ages ago, when I finshed Grass for his Pillow I said that I’d write a better more full review of the great trilogy, Tales of the Otori. This set of books caught my eye in an ad on the tube in Camden. I remember the poster clearly since it’s also the cover of the first book. What attracted me to the actual story wasn’t soo much the poster, but the name of the book.
The first book as called ‘Across the Nightingale Floor’. I remember standing there thinking what a fantastically lyrical name for a book that was. I read the blurb which was something about forbidden love etc, and thought ok, it’s got samurai’s, and a fantastic name, let’s give this book a shot. Needless to say I wasn’t disappointed. The books are written by one Lian Hearn, which is a pseudonym. A friend a work, who we used to talk about books all the time, mentioned the writer was originally a children’s author from Australia, and decided to go for another name to prove that she shouldn’t be categorised as a children’s author alone.
The books are set in a world that resembles Feudal Japan in many ways. The thing is though, it’s not set in Japan. I think this was because Japanese History buffs are fanatics. They’ll remember every minute detail about everything, and call you up on it when/if you go wrong. I guess it would also restrict the story a great deal, as there are some elements of the supernatural in here as well. These are very subtle but add another great layer to the story itself.
The main characters are Takeo and Kaede. It shows their struggle to being with one another in a world mired in tradition, rules and regulations. The story fuses all the ingredients of a good story, mystery, love, war, betrayal and revenge.
There is serious talk of the movie being made, but personally I think you should get these books first. They are very well written books, with a lot of great twists and turns. Now that I’ve finished them I’m a bit sad because I’ve got to wait a while before I find the next set of books that will take my imagination away.
Tales of the Otori:
Book 1 - Across the Nightingale Floor Book 2 - Grass for his Pillow Book 3 - Brilliance of the Moon
Just finished reading this volume, and it’s part of my new scheme, to write a review straight after I’ve finished reading the book. Now for those in the dark, Fables is a fantastic series by Bill Willingham and the excellent Mark Buckingham (who’s such a nice person as well). What’s it about? It tells the story of what happens to all the fables of children’s stories after they’ve ended, but there’s a twist. They’ve been run out of their ‘homeland’ and are now living amongst us in downtown New York. They’ve got some magic to help prevent the ‘mundies’ (that’s me and you) from seeing their true form. King Cole is the Mayor of ‘Fabletown’, Snow White actually runs the show, and well the Big Bad Wolf is called Bigby Wolf and he’s the Sheriff of the town within a city. Did you know that Snow White has a sister? Apparently this is true, she’s called Rose Red. The main mystery here is that the ‘Adversary’ is the person that effectively drove them out of their homelands, but we don’t know who the adversary actually is. His identity is a mystery. There’s an emmense amount of backstory involved here and Willingham is adding layers to the story. What’s great for me is that I know what his style of writing actually is. Nothing stays the same. Time actually passes, months, years whatever the story calls for. He’s not scared to off characters, or change characters. Constantly introduces new characters that you just completely forgot about, and that adds yet another amazing layer to the already great cast of characters. This book started 1 year before the release of Shrek, so don’t think this is cashing in on that story. It’s very different with a great deal of maturity involved here. It’s a Vertigo comic book series so there’s bound to be an edge here. The covers are provided by the SPECTACULAR James Jean, who’s my favourite artist of the past 2 years, easily. Never ceases to amaze me what the guy comes up with month in, month out. The Art. With volume 5, Mark’s not as on form as he was in volume 4 where it showed how much fun he was having illustrating every page. Don’t get me wrong there’s nothing bad with the art but if you compare the two you’ll know what I mean. I got the feeling in volume 4 that he finally found his groove on the book. Knew every single character, and was experimenting with the page layouts every single page, and it was great. Added such a personal touch and essentially for me made it his completely. In this volume, not sure if it was something intentional (ie handed down by the editor) or due to lack of time, but that experimentation just wasn’t there to be found. Still certain ‘little’ aspects of the story were just too cute to mention (and I’m not going to because that would be a MAJOR spoiler and I hate spoilers). I keep giving this series to friends of mine that are girls. They seem to love it more than I do. There’s something in this series that strikes a cord with female readers more than it does with male readers, but it’s a brilliant read for any gender. If you’re looking for something that will remind you of your childhood and then turn it on it’s head, I highly recommend you check out Fables. Chances are very high that you’ll come back for more.
I’ve not read a Superman comic since 1993. This was after the end of the Reign of the Supermen storyline, the one that followed Death of Superman storyline, and effectively got me into superhero comics and by extension into comics again. I say again because I was subscribed to MAD magazine, and had a massive Archie Comics collection before that. The point is my buying anything Superman related means something fishy is going on. Oh sure I’m a smallville fan, but then again most people I talk to can find something appealing with that show. The GN (Graphic Novel) in question is called Superman: Secret Identity, and it’s crafted by the great team of Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen. The last time I can remember these two gents got together and actually did a story together was for the great but ill-fated Shockrockets. I’ve read the odd story by Kurt, a bit of Astro City, the great Marvels, Shockrockets, but I don’t hunt everything he does, only stuff that I think could probably interest me. I absolutely love Stuart’s work, and he’s elevated his game a complete level with this series. He’s on another plateau, and I already thought the guy was an exceptionally talented artist. This book has been released a while now, but I bought it on the basis of great reviews it’s gotten both from Augie over at CBR and Randy and Don. I’ve got to say it really doesn’t disappoint in any way. The story follows a real life Clark Kent. He lives in our world, where Clark Kent is the character from the comics. He lives in Picketsville, and his parents thought it might be a good idea if they called him Clark. The irony of course is that he does have Superman’s powers. What really shines in this book is the singular and completely distinct voice that Kurt has given Clark. He’s meant to be real, and the skill involved in making him sound real is honestly amazing. There are loads of little details that I really appreciated in this book as well, I’d rather not say them because it’s better when you read them in the book. I absolutely love the Lois in this version as well. I’ve generally got a thing for Lois’s (except the movie version, not such a fan), and she doesn’t disappoint in this version either. The colours are muted and yet vibrant when they have to be. Stuart’s done everything, drawn, inked and coloured this book and it’s an amazing body of work, worth the entry cost alone. Add the fantastic story and character development that’s been weaved into the story and it’s a book that is seriously deserving of your attention.
A few weeks ago I picked up Larry Young’s True Facts collection of internet articles, around the topic of how to publish your own comic book. The articles were originally published on the now defunct Savant Mag website. The book is a pocket guide, so you can guess the size of this thing, and it collects twenty-one articles and an introduction from Matt Fraction. Since there was a bit of time between when the articles were written and when Larry finally got round to compiling the book itself, he’s gone back in and offered commentary on various topics he raised at the time, giving the news after the fact. As an aspiring comic book creator, that will probably have to self publish my wares to the world, books like this are basically essential reading. If I come out with even a nugget of information that I deem useful it will have been worth the cover price. There were a couple of articles in there that were exceptionally useful to me. Some articles where very amusing to read, while others went no absolutely nowhere. I guess this isn’t exactly a detailed guide of what you have to do to write, draw, letter, colour, distribute, promote, sell your comic book work. What this book essentially is a checklist of sorts. It’s meant to bring certain topics to the fore for you to remember that your job as an independant creator of work does not end with the writing and the drawing. It’s a light read and I guess that was the point, but if you’re interested in publishing on your own I guess True Facts is a nice primer on what you’re getting yourself into.
I’ve not read an Alan Moore book in a very very long time. Too long by my standards. I went through a massive Alan Moore phase 6 months back. Would buy something that had just come back into print every week, but I kinda wanted a bit of a breather. Not because Alan Moore got too much for me, but because I usually give a lot of attention to Alan Moore. His works work on soo many layers, and are really clever works, that you have to go back and digest and try and understand and discover. You won’t get everything the man’s trying to get across to you on your first pass in one of his stories. Even on a shit day Alan Moore writes circles around 95% of ‘writers’ working in comics today.
I guess that’s what I really love about the man in that he’s actually giving you value for what you’re buying, and ultimately he’s smarter than you. Yes I’m looking at you. Or at least it seems that way. Whatever topic he’s choosen to write about, it always seems as though he’s an expert in that field. Well it does to me at least. You can attribute that to a lot of research etc, but Alan Moore doesn’t do Computers. He doesn’t have a website, and he still faxes things through to his artists.
Anyway, Smax the Barbarian shows a rare side of Alan Moore. The humourous side. The flavour of the absolutely amazing and superb Top Ten is still apparent. It’s as if he didn’t miss any clicks between the long time since he last touched these characters. Smax the Barbarian has a lot more in common with Terry Pratchett than Lord of the Rings, so don’t be coming into this story looking for the serious. Oh sure there are serious moments but they don’t occupy centre stage.
The story focuses on Jeff Smax and Robyn going off to Jeff’s homeworld, for the funeral of Jeff’s uncle. Think of this line as the opening sequence of a Simpson’s episode, it’s just a vehicle for a different story entirely. Turns out it’s a bit of a fantasy world, and that’s when the fun starts, as Jeff’s past starts comig back to bite him on the ass, and the real reason why he left his homeworld in the first place start coming through.
I loved Jeff’s lines. He never really talked in the earlier series Top Ten, and it’s apparent in this series the reason behind that. He’s not the sharpest pencil in the box, and that quality makes him a lot more likable. His singing sword is genius as well. This is a Smax story. You get his origin told, it’s centered around his world, and the people in it. Rexa is a good character addition to the Top Ten mythos.
Cannon Zander takes on the artistic chores. No offense to the man but he’s no Gene Ha. Cannon was the original breakdown artist for Top Ten, but it’s apparent that the real star of that show was Gene. The artwork works well with the story I guess, but the characters weren’t as expressive as I’d have liked them to be, and the character designs weren’t that spectacular. I guess the artwork didn’t really captivate me, it told the story competently, which I guess is always a good thing.
Would I want to see more Smax? Not really, I think this series said everything there is to say about the character, and I mean that in a good way. It gives you a really fun adventure, full of clever little twists and lots of chuckles. Having said that there is an absolute mountain, literally of characters in the Top Ten arsenal, and it’s nice to see that some of them are going to shown in the upcoming Graphic Novel The 49ers.
The verdict is Alan Moore never disappoints. Ever; however this is a much lighter affair, that will make you smile, and is just a really well put together mini-series and ultimately it’s fun.
The story was initially released as a 5 issue mini series. It’s now collected in hardcover format, although I’m sure if you wait a little while ABC/Wildstorm will bring out the softcover version. The hardcover as is standard with the ABC collections doesn’t have much in the way of extras etc. (Yeah like the couple of sketches in the original HC really counts, they’ve been sorely lacking in recent collections).
It was one of the things I on my new year’s resolution list, so this is the first in hopefully a long line of comic book reviews, or as I like to refer to them Graphic Novel reviews. The first to receive the proper treatment is The Technopriests.
Alexandro Jodorowsky is a creative genius. Now I don’t give such a title easily. In fact in terms of writing, the only other man to completely take my imagination away is a certain Alan Moore. The thing is though both these distinguished gentlemen approach sequential storytelling from COMPLETLY different angles.
Alexandro has a mad idea on every page, sometimes several mad ideas. At the same time he explores an enormous breadth of topics in which his stories are based,…and they’re all well developed worlds where his character live.
The Technopriests is based in the same Universe as The Incal and Saga of the Metabarons. With Saga of the Metabarons his approach was to instil drama into the work. A sense of serious sci-fi in the air. Obviously so as to not make it too serious he put 2 robots who tell the story (I’ll stop talking about SOTM, I need to leave something for that instalment); in The Technopriests he utilises a similar method of story telling. Except this is a digital autobiography, by the main character Albino and his sidekick rodent Tinigrifi.
It’s Albino’s story and how he gets to be like the moses, however the twist is he’s leading 300,000 technopriests to a galaxy where healthy human relationships are valued more the scientific achievement.
The Good. The setting is amazing. He’s created a world, very far in the future to ours, and he’s extrapolated certain aspects of our lives and blown them up to great degrees. Within the story he offers social commentary that point fingers at people now. However I feel that Jodo is best at when he’s describing:
In the same manner, I saw myself approaching the end of time, roving between galaxies…I had become an immense and sublime angelic being.
Trust me absolutely not even a hint of a spoiler there. What makes this work special is just how much happens in the space of 150 pages. It’s the scope of the work and rather than what is going to happen, you’re always wondering, how the hell is that going to happen. This is a trademark Jodo trick. You think you know what’s coming around the corner because he’s put you in that situation, then he pulls the rug from under you.
The Bad. The thing about Jodo’s here is that at times he’s trying to make it a bit more fun, by way of the dialogue which sometimes comes off a bit wrong in my opinion. Sometimes the characters fall in love at first sight thus declaring their undying love etc and to be honest it just doesn’t ring true. To me that’s the only weakness of this story, I’d love to blame it on the translation, but I respect Justin Kelly as he was responsible for the immaculate translation on The White Lama (more on this fantastic series in the future for sure). No this is a story driven issue, which fits in with the style established with the earlier work The Incal.
The Artists: Zoran Janetov & Fred Beltran. In terms of artwork, these two men have done an amazing job elevating their previous collaborations. For me seeing all the creatures and planets and vehicles this man created was enough to earn him a great deal of respect from me. His work on Avant L’incal (Before the Incal) was less polished. This work shows some serious maturity in form, ranging from facial expressions to backgrounds to body language.
Format Originally this story was presented in 3 hardcover books, oversized. I wouldn’t trade my White Lama books for anything, and I’m buying the Metabarons books in French since that’s the only way I can get Juan Gimenez’s work at that scale. Having said that, 3 books for 10 quid (that’s roughly $15 since you guys don’t pay a lot of rubbish we have to pay for over here), it’s pretty good value for money. The paper is top notch. It’s slightly larger in format than your traditional comic book size. All 3 covers are reproduced at the back which again is a very nice addition, DC generally tend to screw this aspect up whenever they can. So I’ll be buying other Humanoid Books in this format without much fear in the future over production values, and would recommend it be adapted by other publishers as well.
On the web: DC Comics Humanoids Publishing