Too Much Awesome: More comics in March

Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth

Dark Horse

Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth #1 (of 3) - I didn't pick up a copy of the collection that came out recently, but the webcomic is always a lot of fun. For those who don't know, this is the work of 29-year-old artist Ethan Nicolle and his five-year-old brother Malachai. There's a good interview with Ethan on iFanbook, where he talks about the creative process. This mini-series is the result of a full month of playtime between the two brothers, during which the storyline emerged. Ethan wrote all three issues based on his brother's ideas before he started drawing it. I'm guessing this will result in more cohesive story than the webcomic, which tends to move all over the place, as you would expect anything coming from the mind of a five-year-old to do.

IDW

Genius, Isolated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth - There was a bit of a controversy recently when a writer for the A.V. Club fabricated a review of this book and it was posted on the website... before the book was even completed! The writer was fired and the A.V. Club issued an apology, emphasizing that the publisher had absolutely nothing to do with it. Meanwhile, this biography of the artist expanded until it couldn't be contained in a single volume. This book will detail his life story and work through the early 1960s, with a second volume expected for October.

Image

Butcher Baker: The Righteous Maker #1 - The cover is outrageous and the three-page preview is hilariously covered with big red CENSORED boxes. It's a pretty good marketing stunt, but the real reason I'm looking forward to this is that it's written by Joe Casey.

Halcyon #5 (of 5) - The first four issues of this were solicited as an ongoing. Now, unexpectedly and without explanation, it's been changed to a mini-series. I don't understand how that works. Does it have anything to do with sales? Only two issues have come out, so you'd think they'd give it a bit more of a chance. Or did the creators just lose interest? I just wish there were a little more transparency when these kinds of changes happen. I find it rather insulting that they just announce this as the "MINISERIES CONCLUSION," as if nobody would notice that what it really is is a prematurely cancelled ongoing.


I'm also going to pick up Infinite Vacations #3 and Orc Stain #8.

Avatar

Caligula #1 - David Lapham writing a comic about Caligula for Avatar? I don't think I'm going to buy this, but somehow it makes perfect sense.

Boom!

Hellraiser #1 - This is apparently "Clive Barker's long-awaited return to tell a new chapter in the series' official continuity." This might be worth a look, though I think I'm going to pass.

Soldier Zero #6 - Paul Cornell's last issue, with Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning sharing writing duties with him before taking over next month. I'm still not sure if my interest in this new series is going to be maintained long enough to make it past the first story arc, but the change of writers makes me want to stick around for a few more issues to see where it goes. (Not that I dislike Paul Cornell. I just wasn't completely sold on this yet, but a different creative team means I need to re-evaluate it. I guess.)

Stan Lee's two other new series, The Traveler and Starborn, also continue.

Fantagraphics

The Comics Journal #301 - This is a massive new 600-page format for this long-lived periodical, filled with "criticism, interviews, debate, commentary and history to inspire love from the comics cognoscenti and scorn from the philistines." I'm tempted to get it just because of that hilariously pretentious description. The only thing I'm worried about is that I already have a hard time keeping up with the multiple blogs about comics that I follow. Adding 600 pages of reading material to that just sounds completely overwhelming. But tempting.

12-Gauge

Magus #4 - The main reason why I bought the first issue of this was Rebekah Isaacs' art, so I was a bit worried when I saw that a different artist was listed in the solicitations for this issue. However, writer Jon Price has apparently confirmed that she is still on the book and that there was a mistake in the solicitation text.

Marvel - addendum

Finally, earlier this month when I looked at Marvel's solicitationss, I somehow completely missed out on this amazing cover by Mike Mignola:

It's a variant for the first issue of Annihilators #1 (of 4), written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. As with most Marvel solicitations, I can't really make sense of the blurb. But, man, that's a nice cover.

Too Much Awesome: Comics in January

Time to look at the January 2011 solicitations, as listed in Previews #266.

DARK HORSE

Hmm, there's not a single book from Dark Horse I'm interested in this month.

DC

The DC solicitations start with a bunch of random one-shots, none of which look all that interesting to me. Depending on whether or not Krul's Teen Titans gone south by then, I might check out the Wonder Girl one-shot that ties into it, otherwise I think I'm going to pass on all of these.

The new anthology mini-series Weird Worlds features "a kind-hearted monster called Garbageman." I think that speaks for itself, but you can read more about that wonderful creation in this interview with Aaron Lopresti, who will be writing and drawing that story.

Batman: Europa is a new mini-series based on a story by Brian Azzarello and Matteo Casali, with painted art by "many of the industry's top talents. This first issue is by Jim Lee, and if that cover is any indication, it's going to be really, really ugly. Not interested.

I'll probably be getting the new issues of Batman Inc, Batman and Robin, Knight and Squire, Red Robin, Birds of Prey, Action Comics, Superboy, The Flash, Adventure Comics, Legion of Super-Heroes and Teen Titans, all of which are on my regular pull list at the moment.

Superman/Batman #80 is the conclusion of a two-part story by Chris Roberson and Jesus Merino, taking place in the 853rd century, and I'm looking forward to that as well.

In the collected editions section, I noticed that the first collection of Paul Cornell's Action Comics run is going to be titled Superman: The Black Ring. Now why would they put "Superman" in the title when the character is not even featured in the story? I know, I know, the answer is probably just that his name sells better than Lex Luthor's, but that seems really disingenuous, even by DC's low standards. Is it possible that Superman does make an appearance at the end of the story Cornell has planned? I'm also confused by the fact that there's no "volume 1" attached to the title, since that collection only includes issues #890-895 and the story will not have concluded by then. Very weird.

Notice a bunch of Wildstorm titles at the end of the DC Comics section. Mostly these are mini-series that haven't yet concluded, but it's nice to see a seamless transition into DC's main imprint instead of a bunch of abrupt cancellations.

VERTIGO

Daytripper gets a trade paperback collection. I bought all the single issues, so I won't be getting this, but I highly recommend this beautiful story by Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon.

I'm going to be picking up the new issues of Northlanders and Sweet Tooth. It seems like there are fewer and fewer Vertigo books of interest. I hope they're going to announce some new titles soon.

IDW

I'm not going to get sucked into this Infestation mega crossover event, featuring zombies across IDW's various licensed properties (Star Trek, G.I. Joe, Transformers, Ghostbusters), but I'll admit it's a pretty clever marketing stunt. Of course, it would maybe have a bit more impact if we hadn't seen major zombie crossover events at DC and Marvel recently. Coupled with the surge in popularity of Kirkman's Walking Dead due to the new TV series, I'd expect most people to be really sick of zombies by January. I'm pretty sure I will be.

I bought the first issue of Steve Niles and Kelley Jones' Edge of Doom mini-series this month and didn't think much of it, so I'm dropping this one.

There's a trade paperback of something called Off-Road, written and drawn by Sean Murphy. I'm assuming this was previously released as a mini-series, although the solicitation doesn't say. It's the first time I notice this title, but I'm probably going to look into it, since I really love Murphy's art.

IMAGE

I dropped Morning Glories after issue #3. I don't understand where all the positive reviews are coming from, as I found both the art and the writing to be mediocre.

And yet, here I am looking at Nick Spencer's new series, The Infinite Vacation, thinking it looks pretty cool. Art is by Christian Ward and it looks a lot more up my alley than Joe Eisma's work in Morning Glories. I'm intrigued, if not completely sold on this one.

And depending on how I like the first issues of Halcyon and Marineman (coming out in November and December, respectively), I may or may not continue reading them in January.

MARVEL

I will be getting the new issues of Avengers: Children's Crusade, Secret Avengers, and Thor. I think that's it. I dropped Avengers Academy because it hasn't been very good (and the last issue, to put it politely, sucked cock) and I'm not really tempted by anything else at the moment. Which is not a bad thing, considering my budget is already stretched thin as it is.

There's a Magneto one-shot written by Howard Chaykin and pencilled by "TBD." Awesome.

ICON

Casanova continues, with Fabio Moon taking over art duties from Gabriel Ba. They're both amazing artists, so that's cool.

I'll also be getting Mark Millar and Leinil Yu's Superior, unless something goes horribly wrong in issue #2 or #3.

BOOM!

By January, all three of Stan Lee's new series will have launched: Soldier Zero, Starborn and The Traveler. I read the first issue of Soldier Zero this week and I'm currently working on a review of it. I haven't decided yet whether I'm going to continue reading it or check out those other two books when they launch, but for now I'll just say these are worth keeping an eye on.

RED 5

I have Atomic Robo and the Deadly Art of Science #3 on my pull  list.

12 GAUGE

I'm picking up the first issue of Magus in December. Depending on whether or not that's any good, I may or may not pick up the second issue in January. The premise is interesting.

And that's all for January, folks.

Comic Book Carnage #002

Yes, boys and girls, it's time for another edition of Comic Book Carnage, in which Mike and I talk nonchalantly about a few comics we've read recently. There may be spoilers involved.

AVENGERS: THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE #2 (Marvel)
Written by Allan Heinberg; art by Jim Cheung and Mark Morales.

Yan: Let's start with Children's Crusade. What's your general impression of the series so far?

Mike: I think it's an interesting plot but the execution is just not for me. I think it has a lot to do with Wiccan being the main character. Heinberg doesn't make him the most appealing character. There's little things he does, like how he's always making these "cute" comments to himself, that make him annoying to me.

Yan: Yeah, I think for me it's not really a problem with the characterization but more the dialogue. A lot of the humour that's thrown in falls flat for me. Like those "cute" asides you mention.

Mike: Also I don't really get a good feel for the other characters. They're just kind of hanging out playing the role of a Greek chorus.

Yan: I can't say I get a good feel for them either, but I'm always wondering if that's just because I'm such a Marvel noob. I do like the story, though. I started reading this because Quicksilver's quest to find Scarlet Witch was mentioned briefly in Avengers Academy. So I'm interested in where this is going. I'm definitely willing to give it a few more issues. I also have to confess an interest in the gay romance thing. There's not a lot of that in comics, so I want to know if they're going to take it any further. Like that interrupted kiss in issue #1 kinda pissed me off. I want to see them make out on panel.

Mike: I'm glad you brought that up. I think that Hulkling and Wiccan make a terrible couple. Maybe it's because one of them is a big green monster with who can grow veiny bat wings but I just don't feel any chemistry.

Yan: Really? I think they make an all right couple. I mean, this is the first time I read about any of these characters, so I don't really know where they're coming from or anything.

Mike: I don't know, maybe Heinberg did a great job of establishing a relationship with these two characters that he sees no need to flesh it out anymore in this series.

Yan: So you haven't read anything featuring these character before either, then?

Mike: Nope, this was all new to me.

Yan: I just assumed there was some history that I wasn't familiar with. But I do want it to get developed. So far it's been little more than a tease. And I also kind of wonder what's up with all the other couples forming in the team. In the space of a few pages it seemed like everyone was going to be involved in some romance with another member of the team.

Mike: Yeah, what's up with that? I guess that's just how it is with team books.

Yan: Especially teen ones, maybe. The art's pretty nice, though, I think.

Mike: Yes, I can agree with that. Jim Cheung is yet another example of Marvel's strong pool of artists.

Yan: I would even say it's the art that makes the relationship between Wiccan and Hulkling work for me. Somehow the fact that one is a big green monster doesn't seem that big of a deal. Although, I keep wanting to see Wiccan make out with his twin brother. But I guess that's 'cause I'm a perv.

Mike: Haha. Oh, who hasn't toyed with a twincest fantasy?

Yan: Maybe you can tell me a bit about what's up with Magneto. He always seemed like an interesting villain to me, because there are shades of gray to his morality. Do you think he's going to turn out to have evil motives in this story, or is he genuinely trying to find Scarlet Witch 'cause he cares about his daughter?

Mike: I have no idea, I almost wonder if he showed up just so there could be some wacky, over the top fight between him and Dr. Doom (since Doom shows up at the very end of #2).

Yan: Yeah, I don't know. I like how charismatic Magneto is (and again, I think this is mostly due to Jim Cheung's art). But once again I feel like my understanding of the character suffers from the fact that I haven't been following the Marvel universe at all.

Mike: You haven't missed much. It's just the DC universe with different costumes, that's the industry's big secret.

Yan: Ha!

Mike: This comic read like a bad TV teen drama but was drawn well enough to make me not wish death upon it.

Yan: Does that mean you're not going to keep reading?

Mike: Probably not.

MORNING GLORIES #1 (Image)
Written by Nick Spencer; art by Joe Eisma and Rodin Esquejo.

Yan: Let's move on to Morning Glories. I'm going to take a guess that you hated this even more.

Mike: Haha, you know me so well. Let's start this one off a little less negatively and have you talk first.

Yan: Well, I have pretty mixed feelings about it. It's pretty stereotype-heavy. So blatantly so that I kind of wonder if maybe it's intentional. But it's hard to care about any of these characters, 'cause they're all stereotypes of annoying little brats we've seen in a thousand TV shows and movies.

Mike: Yes, exactly. Worst of all is how blatant Nick Spencer is about showing who the hero is. I mean showing the last character introduced playing with his little brother and promising to give him Grant Morrison comics was quite the eye rolling experience for me.

Yan: Yeah.

Mike: Morning Glories is one of the comics that takes a great premise and ruins it in execution.

Yan: Yeah, well, you kinda said the same thing about Children's Crusade. Which I guess says something about how common this is.

Mike: Okay, then add the word "another" to that previous statement. But this book is worse because even the art didn't try!

Yan: The art pisssed me off. I find it insulting to have the same panel copy-and-paste 8 times in two pages.

Mike: Like that dinner scene with the frigid upper class family?

Yan: Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. That's bullshit.

Mike: The same thing is done a couple of pages later with that limo scene. Oh, well, on the bright side if you have a copy of #1 you can sell it on ebay for $20 these days. Oh, god, I would feel like a horrible person if I tricked someone into spending $20 on this comic.

Yan: Maybe I'm a masochist, but I kinda want to give this series another issue before taking it off my pull list. I think I'm curious enough about where it's going to give it a chance. It's really the art that makes me hesitate though.

Mike: Suit yourself.

Yan: I guess I just want to see if Nick Spencer is going to attempt to make these characters feel more human, or if he's just satisfied with relying on stereotypes. I'm giving it another issue to convince me, but that's it.

Mike: As for me, if this comic were a person I would be writing mean spirited things about it on the walls of some bar.

Yan: Instead, you can just write mean-spirited things about it on my blog.

SWEET TOOTH #13 (Vertigo)
Written and drawn by Jeff Lemire.

Yan: We saved the best for last. At least in my opinion. Sweet Tooth #13. Please tell me you didn't hate this.

Mike: Oh, thank God, an opportunity to prove I don't hate everything.

Yan: Good.

Mike: I know you felt differently, but I was not a fan of #12's format, which came off to me as a little too light on plot. #13 is the exact opposite and further develops a good deal of the cast.

Yan: Well, about #12, I just don't think it's necessary for every issue to drive the plot forward. I don't have a problem with taking a break if the issue is still going to do something interesting and provide nice art and good storytelling. And we did get a lot of history about Singh that we didn't previously have, so there was that too. But otherwise, I agree, now we're back into the action, and you can see shit's about to go down in a big way. And that's exciting!

Mike: One thing I feel never gets mentioned is that Jose Villarrubia's coloring really brings this book to life.

Yan: Good point. I was noticing it a lot in this issue. That dream sequence in particular. And that cover! Another thing that's amazing, actually, speaking of the copy-and-pasting in Morning Glories. How many times have we seen the almost exact same panel of that close up of Gus's eyes in this series? But Jeff Lemire actually draws it every time and puts some thought into how it's used. It becomes a visual motif.

Mike: Yeah, and I think it's Lemire's firm grasp of imagery that helps this book.

Yan: And sense of pacing, too. He uses these visual motifs to create interesting transitions and parallels between characters. And that page with the helicopter blade. It might seem crazy to devote a whole page to that when you only have 22 pages to tell a chapter of the story. But it seems so essential to his storytelling style. Those panels look like they were probably copy-and-pasted, too, but there are variations in the colouring, which makes it work.

Mike: It's one of those pages that could only exist in this book. Sweet Tooth is one of the last mainstream books willing to take risks.

Yan: I don't really know how mainstream it is. It's kind of an oddity even for Vertigo. It kind of blows my mind that Lemire is now writing DCU stories. As an aside, have you seen his preview of Superboy in Action Comics?

Mike: Yeah, it's what I was hoping for from him. Stuff like those weird Parasite looking frogs, the pig men hiding in the earth. It somehow got me excited about a book starring Superboy.

Yan: I'm really looking forward to it. After his shaky debut on the Atom Special, I was a little afraid that he just wasn't the kind of writer who can crossover into mainstream DCU from indie comics. But this restored my faith in his abilities. I think Superboy's going to be a great book. And personally, I like the character anyway, so...

Mike: All right, now that we've finished gushing about Jeff Lemire, any final thoughts?

Yan: Just that this was another great issue of my favourite book and this new story arc promises to get really intense over the next few months. Anybody who's not reading this is missing out big time. I guess that was still kind of gushy.

Mike: Jeff Lemire, I am proud of you and I always leave a space for you at my dinner table in case you want some ramen to eat or whatever.

Yan: Aw, that's nice. I hope he's reading this.

October solicitations (Previews #263) – part three

Concluding my look at this August issue of Previews. Now with images! (By the way, I need to come up with a better title than "Comments on Previews" for this feature. I suck at titles.)

IDW

Steve Niles, author of 30 Days of Night, has a new series called Edge of Doom, co-created by artist Kelley Jones. Niles describes it as a five-issue series, in which all the stories are stand-alone but connected, and compares it to The Twilight Zone. The first issue is about a man who discovers that "his garden contains a world of little demons that have picked him for their next sacrifice!" Sounds very promising. (October 6)

I wasn't familiar with The Coffin, by Phil Hester and Mike Huddleston, but it's getting a 10th Anniversary Edition hardcover reprint with a bunch of bonus features. The premise of the story alone is enough to seriously pique my interest: A scientist invents "an impenetrable cybernetic skin that will trap the human soul after the body within has died – a walking coffin." Sounds both creepy and thought-provoking. (October 6)

IMAGE

Jonathan Hickman has two new trades coming out on October 13: Pax Romana and Red Mass for Mars. While both look good, I'm mostly interested in the latter, illustrated by Ryan Bodenheim and set in a distant post-apocalyptic world.

Morning Glories #3. Whether or not I pick this up will depend on how good the first issue, which comes out next week, turns out to be. (October 20)

Also looking forward to new issues of Bulletproof Coffin, Meta 4 (both October 13) and Orc Stain (October 27).

OTHER STUFF

That picture of Paul Levitz holding a copy of his ridiculously oversized book, 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking, is hilarious. It sounds like a fascinating read, but holy shit, did it have to be that big and expensive? People are actually going to pay $200 for a book so huge you can't even hold it? Of course they will. (October 27)

Neonomicon #3. I enjoyed the first issue, but I need to take another look at it after watching David Smart's excellent and very insightful two-part video review. Very much looking forward to the next issue to see whether it supports Smart's analysis so far. (Avatar, October 27)

I'm pretty excited about Charles Burns' X'ed Out, which apparently draws inspiration "from such diverse influences as Hergé and William Burroughs." The cover's homage to L'Étoile mystérieuse is already a classic. The only other work of Burns that I'm familiar with is Black Hole, which is in black and white, so I'm curious to see what he does with colour. (Pantheon, October 20)

The Horror! The Horror! Comic Books the Government Didn't Want You to Read! sounds like a must-have collection for fans of horror comics from the 1950s. I have a few friends who I'm sure would be interested. Maybe I'll bully one of them into writing a review for this blog. (November 3)

Finally, I noticed there will be new printings of Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics and Will Eisner's Comics and Sequential Art and Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative, all of which are classics any serious comics fan/blogger/wannabe-critic should have in his or her collection.

COMING SOON TO THIS BLOG: Reviews of actual comic books, instead of a way-too-long review of a comic book catalogue!

Comic Book CA-CA-CAAARNAAGE! #001

Welcome to the first edition of a new semi-regular feature where Mike (from It's a Bit of a Shame) and I talk about some comics we bought. This week, we're looking at Legion of Super-Heroes #3, Neonomicon #1 and Meta 4 #2. There may be spoilers.

Let the ca-ca-carnage begin...

Yan: Good morning.

Mike: We're all professional, getting up before 1:00.

Yan: Yeah.

Mike: I guess we can get right down to business. Oh, and don't worry if we get off topic.

Yan: No, I'm not worried. If it gets really bad, we can edit later. Or just throw it all in. It's not like anyone's gonna read this. Except maybe Gail Simone. So how are we going to do this?

Mike: I guess we name a comic and then start talking about it until we get bored and then move onto the next.

Yan: That sounds like a pretty good plan.

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #3
Written by Paul Levitz; art by Yildiray Cinar, Francis Portela and Wayne Faucher.

Let's start with Legion of Super-Heroes #3 then. This one should be interesting, because you're an experienced Legion reader, whereas I'm a total noob.

Mike: Yeah, and after reading this most recent issue, I was left wondering if any casual reader could enjoy this.

Yan: It's a bit overwhelming.

Mike: It's like this explosion of characters that never really get fleshed out. I mean, how many friggin' characters have shown up in this issue?

Yan: A lot. I think it was Johanna at Comics Worth Reading who said something about how if you want to be a fan of the Legion, you have to do a lot of work. But I kind of like that it's a challenge, even just in terms of the ridiculous number of characters.

Mike: Yeah, but I don't know if it's much of a reward. Like, this book continues the tradition of having the Legion books get saddled with the most average artwork possible. Also, the two artists on this book do not resemble each other in the least.



Yan: I guess the art is sort of average. But it hasn't bothered me too much so far. Maybe because I'm too busy trying to figure out what's going on and who these characters are. But I do like is that there is so much happening, and while Levitz keeps a fairly quick pace in terms of the action, I also get the sense that he's very carefully putting a lot of story elements in place that are going to pay off later. I mean, there's a lot of different plot threads going simultaneously.

Mike: Thoughts on that last page?

Yan: Some jerkoff blogger spoiled it for me. I took him of my RSS reading list. But I'm excited. I just wish I had read Great Darkness Saga already, but I'm waiting for that Deluxe Edition to come out. Is it next month?

Mike: I have no clue as I possess the actual issues and therefore have no need for a luxury priced hard cover. Yes, that sounded as catty as I had hoped for.

Yan: Oh, yeah, I forgot we were supposed to make this catty.

Mike: You can always play the role of the guy who gets befuddled by my sassy remarks and mumbles "Oh, jeez" to himself.

Yan: I don't like that role. I'll come up with a better one. Anyway, what's your take on the last page?

Mike: It's cool. Definitely had me excited about the next issue, but at the same time I was rolling my eyes because Levitz is already going back to that story.

Yan: Yeah, I guess it's a bit obvious.

Mike: Any final thoughts before we move onto our next book?

Yan: Maybe just a few comments on how the Green Lantern power ring ties into all this. That was an odd choice, I thought, and I'm wondering how it's all going to come together. It seems like the Green Lantern mythos ties into this story in a big way. Even the thing that triggers the destruction of Titan at the beginning is tied into Oan mythos and their ban on witnessing the beginning of the universe.



Mike: I didn't even think of that!

Yan: I can't remember the character's name... Who was it again?

Mike: The one who received the ring?

Yan: No, the guy who wanted to study the birth of the universe and 'caused all that shit to happen the first time around.

Mike: Krona.

Yan: Yes.

Mike: Ugh, how do I know this?

Yan: 'Cause it's important.

NEONOMICON #1
Written by Alan Moore; art by Jacen Burrows.

All right. Let's move on to Neonomicon #1.

Mike: It makes me think of a friend I had who looked just like HP Lovecraft. He used to carry around a cigarette case which he used to store his coke straws.

Yan: LOL. Was HP Lovecraft a cokehead?

Mike: No. I doubt there were any coke dealers in Providence.

Yan: That's a shame.

Mike: I see him being all about absinthe, probably thought that would make him look like a rebel in front of the ladies.

Yan: Yeah, that seems more his style.

Mike: I liked this comic. It was scary, which is such a rarity in comics.

Yan: True.



Mike: But I was not down with the artwork. I felt like Jacen Burrows wasn't getting Alan Moore's script, like certain character actions weren't emphasized correctly and there were scene transitions that didn't work.

Yan: I'm not a fan of the art either. I'm not even sure I understand what's going on with the location. Are they in some kind of domed city? Is the city underwater?

Mike: Yeah, that was pretty weird. I guess we're just supposed to roll with it.

Yan: The page where you see the dome for the first time is confusing as hell. I think it's meant to be the equivalent of a crane shot, with the camera pulling back until you eventually move out of the dome. But when I saw it, I thought the dome was a completely different location and it took me a while to put it together. Aside from the art, though, I was really surprised by how much of a Law and Order feel this book has. I didn't really expect that from a Lovecraftian story. But it's an interesting start.

Mike: So that Cthulhu punk band singing in that...uh, squid language. Were you also more amused than scared by that?

Yan: Yeah, that part was hilarious. I don't know if it was meant to be scary. I mean, "I want my thing on your doorstep." I'm totally stealing these lyrics for my punk band.



Mike: I really don't see R'lyeh bands ever getting popular though. They'd probably all come off as extremely nerdy, kind of like Nile and their Egypt thing.

Yan: To get back to the police procedural feel... I'm not sure how well it's working for me. I like the mystery that Alan Moore has set up, and the creepy scene with the Michael Jackson lookalike in the mural painting was my favourite part. But the police work seemed kind of amateurish. I didn't find it very believable the way they botched the club raid at all. Why would they spot the guy, immediately call in back up, and let him run out of the building? If they were after him specifically, the first thing they would have done would've been to arrest him before blowing their cover. I don't know how much of that is the art and how much is the script, though.

Mike: Naw, that's probably 100% Alan Moore. I'm sure he thinks Americans do things exactly like they do in 24 and Law and Order.

Yan: But look at the panel where the guy escapes. Every cop in the club has his back turned on him. You'd think they would since he was their #1 target they would pay some attention to him instead of letting slip out the back door. And then Gordon's like, "Don't worry about it. We've got cops in the back. They'll take care of it." It's like they don't even give a shit.

Mike: They live in a domed city that's either at the bottom of the ocean or on the moon. Things don't work the same in there!

Yan: My guess is that this is still on earth. They mention Washington DC and Brooklyn. Maybe the air has become unbreatheable, or the ocean levels rose and covered the continent. Underwater would make sense, since that's where Cthulhu sleeps. What did you think of the "money shot," the naked old woman with her throat sliced and her genitalia exposed. Gratuitous?

Mike: For an Avatar book I thought it was pretty tame. Did you catch the spent strap-on dildos in the corner of that panel?

Yan: OMG, no, I totally missed that.

Mike: Oh man, and they only had one bed in that house!!

Yan: Yeah, that part I did catch. Anyway, I'm going to keep reading and see where this goes. How many issues are planned for this?

Mike: No clue.

META 4 #2
By Ted McKeever.

Now for Meta 4 #2! I picked this up because you were fond of the first issue, so why don't you start us off?

Yan: Okay. Did you read the first issue?

Mike: I did. I rather liked clip art speaking Santa woman.



Yan: Yeah. I have to confess I have no idea what this comic book is about. It's pretty hard to say anything about it without having read the full 5-issue run, I think.

Mike: Totally. Will you feel cheated if those police transcripts add up to nothing?

Yan: Um, I don't know. I don't necessarily expect them to be directly tied to the main narrative. I'd like to think they're not just totally random, but I don't know how they relate yet. The cover calls this an "allegorical series" which seems like a big clue as to how one should read it. The police transcripts in this issue hint that they are from some kind of school shooting, which adds a new dimension to it all. I haven't had a chance to go back and re-read the first issue with that in mind.

Mike: Yeah, I got a Columbine feel with this issue's transcripts as well.

Yan: Oh, actually, a quick Google search led to this. This matches the address given in the transcript. So I guess it's not a school shooting. [EDIT: For more on the Binghamton shootings, see here.]

Mike: I guess those transcripts really don't have anything to do with the story. So have you read much else by Ted McKeever?

Yan: No, nothing.

Mike: All of his comics are like this. Really ugly looking people doing weird stuff.

Yan: I'll probably try to write about it once it's done, but it seems kind of silly at this point to say anything more than, "Huh?"

Mike: Very true.

Yan: Well, this was fun. Next time we'll try to keep it down to an hour. Maybe if we're more focussed or something.

Mike: Yeah, we'll get better at this.

Yan: Might even prepare for it with some specific things to bring up for discussion.

Mike: Bluh. I'm going to go fall asleep now.

Review: Meta 4 #1

META 4 #1 (of 5)
Written and drawn by Ted McKeever.

I knew, from having read a little bit about Ted McKeever, that this was going to be weird. But it was ever weirder than I expected. Nice, though. I like weird things.

This is the kind of comic that everyone loves to call "pretentious," that ugly word that closed-minded, ignorant people always use. "I don't understand this, therefore it is pretentious." That's a lazy and dishonest response, in my opinion. It implies a kind of malicious intent on the part of the creator of the work, as though artists actually plotted against their audience, trying to come up with something that looks really complicated but actually signifies nothing, so that people will feel inferior because of their inability to comprehend it, while simultaneously being tricked into thinking it's brilliant.

That's a lot of horseshit. I think the people who imagine these types of scenarios have a very poor understanding of how the creative mind works. They also have a very limited view of what art can be, and the different ways that one can appreciate it and respond to it. Not everything has to "make sense," and the value of a work of art doesn't always depend on whether or not it can be "understood."

When faced with a work that I don't immediately understand, my first reaction is never to assume that there is something wrong with it. I don't blame the artist for not allowing me to understand the work. Instead, I at least consider the possibility that either (a) I am missing something and I should try harder to understand it, or (b) the work is not meant to be understood on a literal level, and I should look for a different kind of meaning. Of course, there's also the possibility that the creator of the work somehow failed to convey meaning. Maybe the work was just poorly executed and that's why it doesn't make sense. But I think usually it's not that hard to tell the difference between someone trying to produce a coherent work and failing, resulting in a jumbled mess of ideas that don't quite hold together, and someone crafting a work that is meant to be appreciated on a different level.

I did not "understand" the first issue of Meta 4. Who are these characters? Where do they come from? Where does this even take place? And what are these excerpts from police radio transcripts pasted all over the place? I'm not sure. But I'm enjoying this. I want to find out more and see where this is going, how (or if) it's going to all come together in the end. The illustrations are nice to look at and the narrative is intriguing, so this works for me.

There's four more issues of this coming up. I'm looking forward to them.

(Sorry if this was more of a rant than a review.)