What I Buy Wednesdays PRE-SDCC TURBO EDITION

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Pretty pumped for my virginal voyage to San Diego for Comic-Con International. It kind of feels like my comics equivalent of a sweet sixteen party. I’ve ironed my t-shirt tuxedo and everything. Okay, I might not have. I mean, who irons? Really.

Anyway, the comics’ pulse has risen to a cardiologist- alerting level in the time leading up to the Bi-Mon-Sci-Fi-Con. It’s even evident from the books. The publishers are rolling out the summer moneymakers. Everybody’s booked and stressed about whatever they stress about. It’s worse on Twitter! There have been dust ups that are honestly something straight out of the heat wave in Do the Right Thing.

That all goes a long way to say that this is a highly anticipated stack of comics for me, so dig up on what I bought Wednesday.

Blackest Night #1 (DC): I think only Geoff Johns fans get how good Geoff Johns is. I say this because I know people who don’t love his work, but do enjoy the spandexed genre fare, and it leaves me at a total loss. Because for my money, he does superhero stories as well as they’re done. His stories have scale and ethics and inventiveness and, frankly, spark. He just tells stories that matter, and the precision with which he manages the long-form stories of his universe’s corner amazes more and more with each installment. Blackest Night looks like a pretty solid bet to be the most fun story of this Green Lantern run, and it’s great to see the remarkable Ivan Reis getting a break on an “event,” book. It feels like, and is, his story to tell. This book is a totally innovative horror blockbuster that really makes for good comicery. Johns shows absolutely no remorse in killing his darlings, or, in this case, bringing them back. It’s always authentic, and it always matters. While this team has made a lot of this Green Lantern issues, they decidedly step up in the bright light of the moment. Both the imagery and the story are at a feverish pitch. Honestly, I’m just glad a comic this rad is coming out at all.

Creepy #1 (Dark Horse): I was pretty excited when Dark Horse announced this book at New York Comic-Con. It’s a shame they couldn’t convince Gene Colan to get involved, (more on him in a minute), but no matter, this comic’s friggin’ ill. Uncle Creepy brings the terror, tension, and, ah, terror in this horror anthology. Nothing I’ve read has ever made me feel more like a kid reading my uncle’s weird, seemingly dangerous comics. And Angelo Torres is fucking AMAZING. You’ll recognize his style immediately from pretty much every MAD spoof ever done. His story stands out as the high water mark for this inaugural issue, and the rest of the issue is pretty solid in and of itself. Basically, I’m just glad this comic exists. It’s throwback comics in the best ways.

Captain America # 601 (Marvel): It’s a shame Colan didn’t draw Creepy, but at least we got a horror story out of him this week. This was a beautiful out of time WWII horror story, and it’s my pleasure to report that the old dude’s still slick with a pencil in his hand. It was a big break from the recent hulabaloo surrounding this title lately, as it had little to do with the Captain America: Reborn issue that dropped as near to the 4^th of July as you can in comics, or the unconventional release of Captain America #600, both of which I covered for Best Shots. Ed Brubaker has got some real mojo going right now, and as much as I’ve loved Captain Buckmerica, this issue did well to whet the appetite for the real Star Spangled Avenger. It really was a special issue, as the cover promised, as Gene Colan showcased his historic talents for a totally different generation of comics’ fans. If the Captain America title has to go away for a few months to make room for Reborn, this was a worthy send-off.

RASL #5 (Cartoon Books): It’s as if Jeff Smith is flipping off everybody who wouldn’t try Bone because of its “childish,” trappings. This book is smart, sexy, and only growing. Smith’s proclamation that it will be moving from vaguely quarterly to vaguely bimonthly is just about the best news I’ve heard yet, because I just want more of this book.

Wednesday Comics #2 (DC): I didn’t really get a chance to celebrate this awesome new series’ debut last week, but what a success this book is in the early going. Stripping the “books” away, leaving us with the high-grade purity of comics as the world was first introduced to them looks like the most inspired move by DC in recent memory. It’s a funny bit of reverse-engineering, as the first comicbooks were folded up newspapers bound on their spine, and now the process has come full circle. The format is a story unto itself, but the real meat of this project is the talent. The comics market is, generally speaking, character driven. Even when it isn’t, it is “name” driven by highly marketed talent. The point is, it is almost always “brand” driven. There’s always recognized commodity at the center. Now, there are names on this book as big as any in comics, but due to the format, Wednesday Comics is uniquely art-driven. The canvas is the artform, in a way. The ambition alone is worthy of tremendous praise, and the story’s aren’t too shabby either. This is basically like mainlining awesome comics.

Deadpool #12 (Marvel): Daniel Way has successfully transmogrified Bullseye and Deadpool into the Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny of the Marvel U. And it is very much duck season. All told, I think this series has leaned a little heavily on Dark Reign as it’ guiding light through these 12 issues, but I’m still enjoying it. Penciler Paco Medina has had his ups and downs as far as I’m concerned, but with his comedic range on full display here, he shows why he makes such a complementary cohort for the slapstick wit of Way. And trust me, the last page of this issue will bring out your inner Luke Wilson-in-Anchorman with an exclamatory “I did NOT see that coming!”

Incognito #5 (Icon): Well Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, I hope you’re happy. Thanks to your tremendous work on Criminal, and the masterfully repackaged Sleeper series, you’ve fully addicted me to your wares. The only problem is, (and I mean this in the best possible way), all the other stuff you’ve done has left me feeling coolest on Incognito. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with this book, it’s got all the grit and tone of the other masterpieces. My issue is that, frankly, superheroes are the least interesting aspects of the collaborations. It’s the true-crime, the human element, that I find so fully engrossing. I suspect that, among other reasons, part of the intentions with this book is that it is somehow more commercially viable than, say, Criminal- it’s always going to be easier to get comicbook readers to buy stories with superheroes, or, in this case, supervillains. I’m all for anything that will get more eyes on Criminal, though, so I begrudge them nothing. Don’t get me wrong, this is still one of the best comics you’ll find on the stands today. But it’s not my fault Bru and Phillips have set the bar so neck-strainingly high. Also, I absolutely loved Jess Nevins’ essay on the history and influences of Fu Manchu. Like a true nerd, I love comics where I learn.

Amazing Spider-Man #599 (Marvel): American Son was the first story in the thrice-monthly era of Spidey that I felt completely tied to reading as it came out. The Joe Kelly/ Phil Jimenez teaming looked like it had the all makings of a modern classic. It was timely and current, sporting a mean Dark Reign masthead, and promising to fully utilize the premier Spidey villain’s standing as king of the world. It promised payoff for long-form post Brand New Day plots, marking a huge step for Parker BFF Harry Osborn. And it had even longer-form consequences, as Harry and Norman Osborn are the biggest Spider-Man characters that don’t wear webs, and it’s fair to say that their relationship will never be the same after this storyline. It was a big story, and it didn’t need to work too hard via marketing or tie-ins to convince you. Story-wise, I really loved it. Joe Kelly wove a great summer blockbuster for the Amazing title here. I couldn’t help but notice that his take on the cast is a tad more adult than his Web-mates, but that’s something I have no issue with. The only drawback to American Son was that after the promise of Jimenez’ outstanding lead issue, he was pulled from the project, I guess to step in for Simone Bianchi on Astonishing X-Menwith Warren Ellis. You can never blame anyone for taking up an X-project, never mind an Ellis collabo, but it did end up making this story a little less than it could have been. It pretty clearly showed the drawbacks of a near-weekly comic, as a horde of artists were required to keep the training running on time. In this issue alone the chores were split between Stephen Segovia, Marco Checchetto and Paulo Siqueira. Everyone held the line, and there were no poorly executed pages, but it’s always better to have a single artist tell a story than a team of them, unless there’s some in-story framing that makes it work. Anyway, such is the nature of the beast. Nobody bats 1.000.

And that’s where we’re at! Stay tuned, the next WIBW will be broadcasting live from San Diego, likely trapped under a pile of comics or something.

An Untimely Mystery in Space part 1

NOTE: A few months back, (okay, a lot of months back), I got the chance to catch up with upcoming Rage of the Red Lanterns artist Shane Davis about his last foray into the intergalactic, Mystery in Space. Through a series of flubs, the article was never published as intended. It'd be a damn shame to waste a conversation about comics, though, so here it is; represented for the first time.

Mystery in Space took the relatively low-profile character of Captain Comet out of the pages of the wildly successful 52 series and put him in a solo adventure full of intrigue, corruption, self examination, telekinetic future mutants, and talking dogs. The Jim Starlin collaboration also gave fans their first monthly opportunity to check out the work of artist Shane Davis. Refining a jagged style perfect for moody action stories, Davis proved up to the task of handling monthly chores, and was only taken off the book in order to work on the high profile Lightning Saga crossover in the pages of Justice League of America. With the release of the Mystery in Space trade paperback, as well as the solicitation for Shane’s upcoming Superman/ Batman story arc with writer Michael Green, we took the opportunity to get some final thoughts from Davis on the science fiction escapade.

Brendan: Your story was ultimately about building a better Comet; how did you set out to achieve that? Besides a younger, more action ready body, how is the character different that the previous iterations?

Shane Davis: Captain Comet's back story was that the character left Earth because he was so advanced he didn't fit in. Going into this project, I felt he should have an almost alien feel. He also has the ability to teleport. Tackling that, I wanted to give him an organic teleportation effect. For example, I love Nightcrawler and that "bamf" effect. So I went with lightening, which is also related to the characters telekinetic comet field. The discs on his outfit were added there for this reason. As well as, the addition of the strip down his spine to visually link it to his nervous system.
Brendan: This book was clearly more of a sci-fi book than a superhero one. When last we spoke, you talked a little about how you tried to emphasize that aesthetically, but specifically, what sort of visual tricks and cues make one genre different from other?
Shane: I went in saying it had to look sci-fi and not just like superheroes in space. Looking at a lot of sci-fi movies and games, I noticed scale played a big part in creating that feel. I tried to incorporate that scale into the project, and still find myself using that process in my current project. For example, with the space station I had the idea to have a star/sun in its center. This was to show that this civilization was advanced enough to harvest a sun and use it as a weapon. Major praise goes to Bob Schreck and Brandon Montclare for allowing me to do this!

Brendan: This series marked your first opportunity on a regular assignment. Not only that, but it was a launch of a new title. What sort of challenges did that pose, and what do you feel you got out of it?
Shane: I was thrilled at first to have an almost clean slate. I ended up putting a lot of heart into it; possibly too much at times. The biggest challenge it posed was to need to see things in a different perspective. Not only were the characters being updated, the whole environment needed to feel sci-fi, yet still believable to the audience. The majority of this updated transition sat mainly on Comet's design. What audiences may accept or would want to see today. Imagination was key!

Brendan: Working with Jim Starlin, did you notice anything different in working with someone who is both a writer and artist? Did it make his script any more or less specific?

Shane: Jim is a great storyteller, in my opinion. There was nothing visually confusing about any of his scripts.
This made storytelling more fluid. You can really tell that he had the visual in mind while he was writing it.

Brendan: With Mystery in Space, you were sequestered to your own corner of the universe. Your upcoming work will be on Superman/ Batman, two of comics' most recognizable icons. What freedoms are you afforded in the relative obscurity that the spotlight doesn't allow?
Shane: I have had to do variations on their costumes for story moments, so I've had a few chances to play with
their costumes. Superman and Batman are icons, and altering the basic design is just wrong. You really
can't design them better, so I went in knowing that. I don't expect people to love me for the variations, but
hopefully they’ll say that I did them well with what I had to do. In their normal gear, your liberties lay in interpreting the basics. The attitudes and contrast in their capes. The fact one wears a mask while the other takes off glasses is priceless. It's all contrast when you get these two together. It is for me, at least, especially when dealing with postures and shadows. I definitely have been leaning towards the creepy Batman. However, even though drawing these two icons is fun on its own, Comet offered a liberty of interpretation that is not all too well accepted when messing around with Batman or Superman.