One-paragraph reviews: Flashpoint, Flashpoint tie-in, Superboy and Sweet Tooth

(Reviews are spoilery.)

Flashpoint #2
Written by Geoff Johns; art by Andy Kubert and Sandra Hope; DC

Four things happen in this issue: 1. Deathstroke sails into Atlantean territory and meets a very pissed off Aquaman. 2. A very pissed off Batman beats up Barry Allen until Barry manages to convince him that he's telling the truth. 3. Steve Trevor, who's a member of the resistance, gets ambushed by a group of Amazons led by a very pissed off Wonder Woman. And 4. Barry Allen tries to recreate the accident that initially gave him his powers and apparently gets fried in the process. None of this is very exciting or interesting or pleasant to read, though some of the art's nice. I'm getting really sick of seeing characters with clenched teeth, though. I kind of wish all these people would just lighten the fuck up. The variant cover for this issue shows Wonder Woman holding the decapitated head of Mera. Since this doesn't happen in this issue and, in fact, Mera does not even appear in it, I can only assume that the cover was produced for the specific purpose of pissing people off. Basically, that's the theme here. All the characters are angry and clenching their teeth, and DC seems to expect fans to do the same. Pissed off fans vent on the internet and apparently that gets people to buy more comics. I don't understand how any of this works.

WEAK SAUCE

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Flashpoint: Batman: Knight of Vengeance #1
Written by Brian Azzarello; art by Eduardo Risso; DC

There's Batman with his clenched teeth on the cover. But otherwise, I have to say this was a lot better than the main series. Maybe these mini-series are where all the good stuff is going to happen in this crossover event after all. Still, this feels a bit empty. Solid script and nice art, but I'm not sure yet where it's going.

OKAY

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Superboy #8
Written by Jeff Lemire; art by Pier Gallo; DC

It really pains me to admit this, but I don't think Jeff Lemire writes very good super-hero comics. I've been very lenient on this title since it started, because I like Lemire's work so much that I managed to convince myself that this would get good. But I think I have to finally accept that it's not good and it's probably not going to get any better before it ends in a couple of months. Every story beat feels artificial and calculated. The exposition is incredibly clumsy and all of the dialogue sounds awkward. I don't get it. There's no sign of the grace and seemingly effortless storytelling and quiet, reflective beauty found in Lemire's work outside of the super-hero genre. There are two possibilities: either he's not feeling comfortable in this format or he's phoning it in. There are only two issues left, and I'm not even sure I'm going to bother picking them up.

DISAPPOINTING

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Sweet Tooth #22
Written and drawn by Jeff Lemire; Vertigo

See? This is what I'm talking about.

AWESOME

One-paragraph reviews: Superboy, Sweet Tooth, Astonishing Thor, Godzilla

Superboy #7
Written by Jeff Lemire; art by Marco Rudy and Daniel HDR; DC.

I saw someone on Twitter describe this as "absolutely perfect. I couldn't read it fast enough. Perfect art. Best single issue of 2011 so far." And I seriously have to ask myself whether they read the same comic book I read. Not that this was terrible, but with the exception of last issue (the pointless Doomsday crossover issue), this was probably the weakest in the series so far. So this is not even the best issue of Superboy in 2011, let alone of all comics. As for the art, "perfect" is the last word I would use to describe it, no matter how talented I think Marco Rudy is. The problem is we have two artists whose styles are constantly at war with one another, and even though the different looks are sometimes use to separate what's real and what's not, it still makes for a very inconsistent visual narrative. I'm just sick of having multiple art styles in a 20 page book, which these days is almost becoming the norm on DC books. In addition, I thought a lot of the layouts were ugly, and a few pages were so confusing that I wasn't even sure what order I was supposed to read the panels in. I know that Lemire likes to experiment with layouts, and when he draws his own books, the results are wonderful (see my review of Sweet Tooth, below), and with regular artist Pier Gallo, who seems particularly good at following his instructions, it can still work. But in this issue, I thought it ended up looking like a mess. Gallo is back next month, just in time for the four-story arc that's going to conclude the Hollow Men plot. I'm looking forward to it.

OKAY

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Sweet Tooth #21
Written and drawn by Jeff Lemire; Vertigo

As much fun as Lemire's superhero comics can get when they're on, for me they'll never compare to Sweet Tooth. When he's in full control of the writing, art and direction of the story, we see just how strong he is as a storyteller and artist. This issue reuses a technique that Lemire first experimented with in #12, where we had a narrated story in a continuous strip at the bottom of each page, while a separate world-less story was shown in the rest of the page. In that issue, the technique doubled as a kind of homage to Crisis on Infinite Earths #10, whereas in this one he seems to have developed it into a unique style all his own. I almost wonder if he took a cue from Frank Santoro's fascinating Layout Workbook column at TCJ.com, as he divides each page in such a way that the top narrative occupies a near-perfect square, which gives the book a particularly harmonious feel. I loved issue #12, but I think this one is even better. What's truly remarkable is that in spite of this fairly rigid grid being followed throughout the book, Lemire still finds additional ways to experiment and play with this form. There's something cool and different happening with the layout on literally every page, and it's always in the service of the story and never feels gratuitous or gimmicky. It's just brilliant. Plus there's a panel where Gus and Jepperd hug that is so sweet and moving that it almost made me cry.

EXCELLENT

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Astonishing Thor #4
Written by Rob Rodi; art by Mike Choi; Marvel

Thor is fighting against a living planet. It's pretty cool.

GOOD

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Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #2
Written by Eric Powell and Tracy Marsh; art by Phil Hester and Bruce McCorkindale; IDW

I thought this issue was better than the first one. I was so happy to see the fisherman who was looking for his kids in the first issue return, as one of my biggest concerns was whether the story would follow up on any of the characters who only appeared in a few panels last time. I still think some of Phil Hester's layouts are a little bit...messy?, but less so than in the first issue. I think it's mostly just a personal preference anyway. More and more I realize that I don't favour comic book art that constantly spills out of the panels. I like gutters. I like things neatly contained within grids. So that on the rare occasion that this neat order is broken it has a big impact on the narrative. On the other hand, I suppose you could argue that this is a comic book about giant dinosaur-like monsters fucking shit up all over the world, and subtlety is not exactly what it's going for. So perhaps it's fitting that the art refuses to be contained into those neat borders that I crave. Maybe the chaotic layouts are part of the chaos of the story.

GOOD

One-paragraph reviews: Superboy, Hellboy, Dr. Strange

Superboy #4
Written by Jeff Lemire; art by Pier Gallo; DC

Another entertaining issue by Lemire and Gallo, moving the various plots forward with a good mix of action, mystery and character development. Lots of really cool layouts, including a few pages where Lemire's mark can clearly be felt (widescreen close-up of character's eyes!), but credit is due to Gallo for pulling them off in style. The plot thickens with a not-completely-unexpected twist on the last page, which I won't spoil here. My only complaint is that the regular cover is kind of ugly, and the variant by Stanley Lau is only slightly better, since Superboy looks like he's about 30 years old on it. I don't usually care that much about covers, but the first three issues were so nice that it would've have been nice to see the series continue in that direction. Also, when are we going to get a Jeff Lemire variant? -- GOOD.

Hellboy: The Sleeping and the Dead #2
Written by Mike Mignola; art by Scott Hampton; Dark Horse

There's nothing really earth-shattering about the conclusion of this two-part mini-series, but it's a good horror story with a classic feel and some really nice art from Scott Hampton. I guess I don't have much to say about it, except that it delivers what you expect from a Hellboy story about vampires, without any big surprises or revelations. -- GOOD.

Doctor Strange: From the Marvel Vault #1
Written by Roger Stern; art by Neil Vokes; Marvel

Since I'm not a big reader of Marvel comics, I don't have a lot of context for this early adventure in Dr. Strange's career. It includes some flashbacks to his origin story, which was all new to me, but mostly deals with his first night in his NYC mansion and his battle with some creepy entities that dwell within it. I don't really understand why his cape is red on the cover, but blue inside the comic. Nevertheless, it's a good story and the art is nice. As a rare $2.99 one-shot from Marvel, this is worth picking up if you're a fan of the character. -- GOOD.

(new rating scale)
 

Jeff Lemire at Drawn and Quarterly Bookstore

Last week I went to Drawn and Quarterly to catch an interview and panel discussion with Jeff Lemire to promote his book Essex County, which is currently on the shortlist of CBC's Canada Read contest. This is the first graphic novel to make it this far in the competition, so in order to celebrate this landmark, they recorded a portion of the Homerun radio show at the D+Q bookstore. Lemire was first interviewed by host Sue Smith, then there was a brief Q&Q from the audience. Finally, there was a panel discussion with Montreal comics creators Sherwin Sullivan Tjia and Matt Forsythe, and Drawn and Quarterly head publisher Chris Oliveros.

You can listen to the interview and discussion that followed on the Canada Reads website.

About 12 minutes into the first audio clip, you'll hear me very awkwardly asking the first question in the Q&A. If I could go back in time, I would definitely rephrase that question and get to the point much quicker, but I think it was a good question. Lemire had mentioned during the interview that he'd gone to film school, so I asked him how much that background informed his storytelling. I was thinking mostly of the pacing of his stories, which (to me at least) often has a very cinematic feel, with brief scenes or "shots" dedicated more to establishing mood than advancing the plot. I was thinking in particular of this page from Sweet Tooth #13, where all you see is a helicopter blade moving in and out of the frame:

Lemire replied that while cinema probably does have a big influence on his style, more and more he's looking for ways to tell stories in a way that is specific to the medium, for example by experimenting with layout to do things that you just couldn't do in film. He brought up these two pages from issue #16 as an example:

I also got a chance to talk to him briefly during the break and to ask him about something else that I was very curious about. Ever since the first issue of Superboy, I've been wondering how detailed his scripts are and whether he provides any specific layout instructions to artist Pier Gallo, because I'd noticed some striking similarities with Lemire's own style in books like Sweet Tooth. Lemire confirmed my suspicions and said that he is very specific in the scripts and that he even provides layouts for the artist in some cases. "You can probably tell which parts," he said. I asked if Gallo ever surprises him with the art in those cases where Lemire hasn't asked for something super-specific, and he said no. One of the things he specifically looked for when they chose an artist for the book was someone with a very straightforward storytelling style, but with the skill to get more experimental when the script called for it.

My only regret is that I didn't ask Lemire for a sketch. Somehow it didn't feel like the right context, this being a "literary" event more than a "comic book" one, and I didn't want to come across as an annoying fanboy. Maybe next time.

Review: Superboy #3

Superboy #3
"The New Adventures of Psionic Lad, Part One"
Written by Jeff Lemire; art by Pier Gallo; colours by Jamie Grant; cover by Phil Noto; DC

I like that Jeff Lemire seems to be focusing on short story arcs, while gradually setting up clues to a larger story. I know that this is how most ongoing series work, but I think Lemire is doing a particularly good job of interweaving the immediate story with long-term concerns. In this issue, Superboy is dealing with the aftermath of the conflict from the first two-issue story arc. His proposed solution - a race between Superboy and Kid Flash to raise money for the farmers who lost their crops - sets up the story that's been solicited for issue #5 in March. Meanwhile, Conner's personal drama with classmates Lori and Simon continues to unfold, all of which is wrapped around the main plot of this issue, which is the arrival of Psionic Lad.

Psionic Lad is a kid from the future who shows up through a time portal in Smallville High. As far as I know, he's a completely new character. We only get a few pages of dialogue with him before the issue ends on a cliffhanger, so I'm not sure what his deal is yet. He seems like a pretty likable character, though, so I look forward to finding out more about him next month. I was also glad to see a new non-white face in the DCU. His real name is Sajan Mehra and he I'm guessing he is of Indian descent. I wonder how old he is, as he looks much younger and smaller than any of the high school kids.

A couple of criticisms about the script: First, I'm not sure how well the back and forth between "then" and "now" works in the issue. Lemire (or the editor?) probably decided to structure the story that way for pacing, as otherwise all the action and excitement would be stacked at the end of the book. Personally, I think I might have kept the first page as foreshadowing, but then told the rest of the story in chronological order leading up to the fight at the end. I don't know, maybe that says more about my own tastes than what's best for the story. I don't need to be "entertained" with a little bit of action in between each dialogue-driven scene in order to maintain my interest in a comic. 

Second, I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that only three issues into the series, two of Connor's classmates have already figured out his secret identity. It's already asking a lot of readers to stretch suspension of disbelief and ignore how obvious it is that Connor is Superboy. I mean, Superboy doesn't even wear a costume! I'm pretty sure that wearing a different T-shirt doesn't affect people's ability to recognize you. But, whatever, that's just part of the deal and readers have learned to accept it. The problem is that having two characters figure it out just draws attention to the implausibility of the conceit. Not to mention that having Connor change into his costume in plain view at the school just moments after bitching at Simon for not being discreet enough makes him seem like a bit of an ass.

These are two fairly minor points, though, easily ignored when the story is good enough, which it is.

The art in this series seems to be the biggest point of contention among fans. At least, that's the impression I get from the comments and reviews that I've read so far online. Personally, I like Pier Gallo's art. His layouts are neat and used to great effect in the service of the story. For example, at the end of the scene where Connor tells Simon they can't be friends at school if they're going to be seen together when he is Superboy, Gallo draws a huge panel of Simon taking this in, alone in the empty washroom. Since Lemire is a great artist himself with a very distinct style and a great sense of layout, I always find myself wondering how much of visual elements are present in the script and how much of it is left to Gallo to come up with.

My only real complaint with the art is that Gallo has a tendency to draw Connor/Superboy sort of on the chubby side. He often looks like he has a lot of baby fat, reminding me a bit of Brian Wilson. A more likely influence is of course Frank Quitely's All Star Superman (also coloured by Jamie Grant). But in ASS, this look worked because it added humour and pathos to the character, especially as Clark Kent. I'm not sure this gentle roundness works as well on Connor. It doesn't seem to match his personality as well, not to mention that he's supposed to be a hot young athletic teenager (see Phil Noto's gorgeous cover for comparison).

Speaking of the Jamie Grant's colouring, I noticed that everyone's teeth are yellow in this book! It was very noticeable on that first page of this issue, so I flipped through the rest of book and even looked at the first two issues, and it seems this is a consistent artistic choice throughout. Weird.