Wednesday's New Thing: Saga! Hickman! Hickman!

1) Boy oh boy, Saga is back. I sort of like that Brian K Vaughn and Fiona Staples take a break every six issues. I understand that it gives the time to do better work, but what I mean is that I like it from a reader's perspective-- the six months on two months off schedule gives the book the feel of a real serial, reinforcing the idea that this potentially infinite story comes in finite chunks, each one with its distinct beginning, middle, and end. It's a neat sort of way of taming the series, inflicting the one benefit of a collection on that section of the reading public too enamored of Saga to trade wait it. Preview here.

2) One of Jonathan Hickman's many ongoing projects, East Of West is flawed, a little hard to follow. My hope is that this opacity is purposeful, and that all will be revealed in time to the readers who are paying close enough attention. It may be that each issue East of West is more rewarding on the second read than on the first; I haven't tried rereading any of them but, lest you be scared away, Nick Dragotta's art should be enough to keep you satisfied on that first go round.

3) Speaking of Hickman, today sees the release of the first issue of his Infinity crossover for Marvel. Given the fetid mediocrity that was Age of Ultron, I'm keeping my expectations for this one low; with that said, and although the last issue of the otherwise sterling New Avengers was basically incomprehensible, I figure that, if anyone can do this well, its Hickman. It'll be interesting to see how he pulls together the unrelated impending destruction of the world threads from Avengers and New Avengers, and what Thanos has to do with it. That Jim Cheung's on the art here helps, as does the setup of the series, which only asks me to buy three books outside of my normal pull list, and those over the course of only two months. Preview here.

Me Gusta Indeed

Well, here's our answer to yesterday's mystery:

Welcome to Panel Syndicate, where artist Marcos Martin and writer Brian K. Vaughan deliver original comics directly to readers around the world, who pay whatever the hell they want for each DRM-free issue. Our first new storyline is THE PRIVATE EYE, a forward-looking mystery we created with colorist Muntsa Vicente. Set in a future where privacy is considered a sacred right and everyone has a secret identity, The Private Eye is a serialized sci-fi detective story for mature readers. You can download our 32-page first issue right now, for any price you think is fair. 100% of your payments go directly into our greedy mitts and will help fund the rest of a story that we're both very proud of (we hope there will be around 10 issues total; an old-school "maxiseries!"), so thanks for reading...
                                                                                          BRIAN & MARCOS

Me gusta indeed. Its nice to see that I was about 75% right yesterday. More once I have some time to click through it, probably tonight or tomorrow. 

Me Gusta

Earlier today, David Aja tweeted links to three promo images for Brian K. Vaughn and Marcos Martin's mysterious new project. The first, courtesy of Zone Negativa, is below, and others were posted to Spanish outlets RTVE (also, at Comicsbeat in English) and Entrecomics (all of this via Comics Alliance).

With teasers like this, unlike, say, with the mostly meaningless monthly solicitations from big comics companies, it's sort of fun to play "guess what this is going to be." This one is particularly interesting-- is there some reason that two thirds of them are exclusively in Spanish, other than Marcos Martin is Spanish himself? Is the series set in Spain? And why the free font? Marcos is a helluva designer, so that choice is probably meaningful, somehow. And what's going on with the people in the subway car? There are a bunch of human-looking folk, including the only character facing us, (the main character?) but also what look to be two mummies, a medusa, on the left, and a Greedo looking dude on the right. Then there's the funny steampunk helmet being worn in the compartir image, and also the slightly sci-fi cityscape of the seguir one, all of which adds up to... a monster sci-fi steampunk story?

More helpful, perhaps, are the words themselves: "like" (literally "I like"), "share," and "follow," which all have ubiquitous social media implications. That being the case, it may be Martin screwing with us a little bit, "like" and then "share" the images on Facebook, "follow" them via whatever outlet you please. But its also possible that they're actual hints, that the plot of whatever monster sci-fi steampunk he and Vaughn have cooking is social media related in some way, and that could be very interesting indeed. Martin's work is always good, and Vaughn's work with Fiona Staples on Saga has been consistently great for a year now. Whatever it is they've got going together, and there's no telling what it is just yet, I'm very excited.

"Not in this world." But in others?

"Ex Machina" #47 from Wildstorm Productions (an imprint of DC Comics)

The noir drama Sci-Fi superhero action political thriller's last arc continues! It's noir in style, but thriller in pace. Political, Sci-Fi, and superhero in genre. Action in content. Drama by definition.

Another great issue on the heels of the last month's! If you're not reading this, you're silly.

Tony Harris' work on this issue has a much more fleshed-out (and much appreciated) 3D look to it, because cross-hatched shadows give his thick line-work more definition and volume, a bit more weight, while losing none of the pop and drama he'd regained in the previous issue.

Vaughan brings the Sci-Fi element (established in issue #44) of the source of his main character Mayor Mitchell Hundred's powers being potentially extra-dimensional back to the fore in this issue by making reference to yet another element of DC Comics lore that a comic-book fan like Mitchell Hundred would know all about: the infinite Earths of the Multiverse!

The issue opens with Mitchell at twelve years old debating about DC Comics character's different incarnations from different Earths with his friend Max. Upon the moment Kremlin says to Mitchel's mother "Not in this world" we cut to a hallucination in the present in which Mayor Mitchel Hundred sees an alternate Earth and meets an alternate version of himself. He comes to (after last month's first cliffhanger) thanks to loyal bodyguard Bradbury giving him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. This is followed by a great joke reminding us of the Mayor's successful effort of many, many issues ago to legalize gay marriage in New York!

Soon we learn of Mitchell's real reason for squashing the 'abortion pill' suggestion of his closest aide in issue #45 during a conversation with Mitch's lawyer, the grown-up Max. (Who looks strangely like comic-book character Clark Kent...) There's an amazing and really fucked-up scene referencing the surprise ending of the first issue. The new 'villain' of the series Suzanne Padilla floating next to the single standing tower of the World Trade Center complex. Terrifying. Almost as terrifying as the moment of sudden shocking bloody gore Padilla perpetrates later in the issue. (Which was, I thought, a bit tasteless and off-tone for the series.) After the moment at the left, seeing her own reflection in a pool of blood, Suzanne says: "I'm... I'm doing the right thing." "Right?"

As the series gets closer and closer to concluding, I'm reminded of the opening Brian K. Vaughan wrote of the first issue. It depicted Hundred after all the chaos of his mayoral term broken and miserable, but willing to tell the story to... someone? Us? How close to that moment is Vaughan going to go, I wonder?

Most comic-books don't touch this stuff. Not in OUR world. And I don't mean the gore. The cohesive superhero universes that have been slowly built since the Thirties are too sensitive and too corporate-controlled. Not that superhero characters don't run for office. Captain America tried it once and I believe Green Arrow not only ran, but won the office of mayor of Star City in fairly recent years. But any stories wouldn't have had the latitude to tackle issues like emergency contraception and gay marriage even if they were in that position. Even most indie and underground comics are tame in their political stances compared to this. DC Comics (and its imprints) HAS been pushing these boundaries for years and years. (See: "Watchmen".) Is "Ex Machina" closer to our universe (i.e., the quote-unquote real world) or closer to the worlds of superhero fantasy presented by parent publisher DC Comics? It's up to Brian K. Vaughan. That is the beauty of all fiction.

"Not in this world", they can say.
But in others?, we reply.

THE LONG AND SHORTBOX OF IT?
This stuff is great because it is art that explores the worlds of possibility like Sci-Fi, while maintaining a real connection to the topical horrors of our world through political comment like CNN. A potent mixture on an increasingly epic scale. That's good fiction.

Have No Fear, True Believers!

Please do not take the relative quietness of the blog as sign of our demise for we are hard at work creating new and intriguing posts for you, the Long and Shortbox Readers!

Some things coming up on the horizon for 2o1o...

Our personal best comics of 2oo9 lists!

Compendium lists of what The Long and Shorbox Of It! loved in 'o9. We have got a LOT of sifting through OUR shortboxes to do...

A retrospective on Spider-Man: Brand New Day, two years in!

The pros, the cons, the ret-cons! The blank-faced surreality of the strange 'New' experiment one of the most popular superhero characters in America has been set into for the past two calendar years.

An article on the evolution of comics coverage in national periodicals!

Where does comics criticism begin and comics reportage end? Is the language used to describe comics in the wider world evolving and is it helping or hurting?

The end of series wrap-up review of "Ex Machina" #50!

A final farewell post to Mayor Mitchell Hundred and Brian K. Vaughan's remarkable series about his former life as a superhero and current life as mayor of New York City.

And (probably) tag-team reviews of "Strange Tales" #3, "Daytripper" #1, and our first triple review of the "Sugarshock" one-shot!

Plus more pull-lists, news, and reviews of comics of all kinds!

So you have good reason to stick with us yet!

P.S.

You don't want to miss the sale happening at St. Mark's Comics in the East Village right now. Every back issue $10 and under... is a buck. And all the ones over $10 are half off.

You can't beat that. You just can't.

The sale lasts until Tuesday, Jan 5th.

Raising The Stakes

"Ex Machina" #46 from Wildstorm (an imprint of DC Comics)

If I believed that Tony Harris and Brian K. Vaughan read this blog (which I don't, I'm sure they have more important things to do like writing and drawing "Ex Machina") and if I was uninformed enough to believe that writers and artists don't begin their work on a new issue until after the previous issue is in stores (which I'm not, I realize that production of an ongoing series happens on a ongoing basis) I might think that they actually read my review of the previous issue for this blog. Why, you ask? Because it's almost as if they took every word of advice I had for them. Is that possible? No. Just means we're on the same page. Or something...

Stiff figure poses? Gone. Lack of story development? Gone. In their place is some awesome work!
The confrontation between the super-powered mayor of New York City Mitchell Hundred and the newly super-powered crazy reporter Suzanne Padilla has come MUCH earlier than the last issue had me set to believe. And it was damn exciting too. She grabs Hundred and suddenly flies ("SHE FLIES!?" said the collective readership of "Ex Machina" last month) with him up and over the East River and drops him in! Cliffhanger 1! Then we see Hundred's former sidekick, Kremlin arriving at the home of Hundred's mother and announcing that she's in danger. When she informs him that she has some 'protection', Kremlin asks "You bought a gun?" to which she replies "No... My boy gave me one of his" and produces the green and purple taser-gun-thing that Padilla seems to want so bad! Cliffhanger 2!

But again, this series does not skimp on the politics! Before the confrontation, we also got further development on the 'abortion pill' question Mayor Hundred is wrestling with. Can (or should?) a mayor officially and financially support something as controversial as the 'morning after' pill? Can (or should?) a mayor do something unpopular, but healthy, on his way out of office since no one can stop him or do something unhealthy, but popular, in hopes of a future presidential campaign and thus more chances to help more people? Mayor Mitchell Hundred still has much to think about if he survives the drop to the river and the swim back to shore!


Harris' art has regained that OOMPH! that was missing (for me anyway) from last issue. The posing is smart, the framing is smart. The faces feel real again. Some of these panels are gorgeous! Dynamic tension rules the day! There's visual tension all over these pages and it works with the story wonderfully! The pose Padilla strikes as she drops Hundred into the river is all angles in her arms thrown akimbo in joy at defeating him. (The devilish smile on her face is priceless.) Those same angles are playing beautiful music in the shadows behind Mitchell Hundred's mother on the final page.

It's like a superhero comic made by Fritz Lang.

Jonny likey.

The only thing I'm missing is the resolution of that awesome flashback from last issue! We get a different and unrelated (at least by all accounts, it SEEMS to be unrelated) story of Hundred's super-hero past as The Great Machine. It sets up something VERY IMPORTANT about the aforementioned purple taser-gun-thingie, but I do hope we get to see if and how The Great Machine delivers that woman's baby on the Roosevelt Island tram.

Suffice to say, I am even more excited for the upcoming issues and the seres' conclusion! Vaughan and Harris are doing good work here for sure. As always, if you enjoyed Vaughan's "Y the Last Man", if you think superheroes and politics can and should mix, or if you just like drama, you should be reading "Ex Machina". And that's THE LONG AND SHORTBOX OF IT!

The Beginning of a Political Fall

"Ex Machina" #45 from Wildstorm (an imprint of DC Comics)

(I haven't read more than a random smattering of issues of this series and the previous one, #44.)

This is the first issue of the last story-arc of Brian K. Vaughan's "Ex Machina". The series that presented a superhero stopping one of the planes that struck the Twin Towers on September 11th 2001, the series that has an ex-superhero mayor of New York City, the series that showed a fictional mayor choose to legalize same-sex marriage in the five burroughs of NYC, is coming to a close in four months.

How will this beautifully ordered insanity end? Reporter Suzanne Padilla was imbued with the third formerly unknown 'superpower' in the last issue: Mayor Mitchell Hundred the 'superhero' can psychically control machines, Phearson the 'supervillain' could psychically control animals (before his death), and now we have a new wrinkle in the form of Ms. Padilla now being able to control people. Scary.

Honestly, not much happens in this issue. It's mostly set-up and drum-beating. Mayor Hundred and his main aide Dave speak about abortion and whether or not a government has the right to openly support any form of birth control. Tony Harris's art isn't at its best in these pages. His figures look stiff and his scenery blurry. The flashback? An especially brilliant one. 'The Great Machine', Hundred's nom-de-tights from his short time as a crime-fighter, flies out to the Roosevelt Island tram-car stuck over the river and discovers... a woman about to give birth! Trapped on the Roosevelt Island tram, how will the Great Machine get out of this one? As always the flashback story could be a great story all by itself, but is made relevant when tied-in with the main storyline. The art is also really solid in these pages.

In the middle, a conversation between Mayor Hundred and the Police Commissioner of NYC about the (very, VERY) unusual activity of last issue. Read my review to get a better idea.

Suzanne Padilla then shows herself and when asked: "The Mayor. You're... you're gonna kill him, aren't you?" she replies "Don't be ridiculous. I'm going to kill everyone on the planet."

Then we see the title of this final arc of the series: "Pro-Life" Part One. Is Brian K. Vaughan a smart wanker or what? Just look at his smug little smile. He knows it. In the physical comic, this statement is immediately followed by the preview pages for Wildtorm's upcoming "Planetary" #27, that series' final issue. What more could you want?

(Brian K. Vaughan and his little smile.)

Well, a bit more story to begin with. I never realized until reading this how badly Vaughan is guilty of 'writing for the trade' as they call it. I have no doubt that by the end of this arc everything will be wrapped up pretty well. But as someone coming off of the crazy action conclusion of an arc and to find myself thrown into the slow-moving nothingness of a beginning of an arc... You have to understand. I HAD TO DIG JUST TO HAVE SPECIFIC EVENTS TO WRITE ABOUT FOR MY REVIEW. Last month I could barely contain all the information I had to give you. This is a problem in my mind. If you want to tell 150-page-sized stories. Do that. Write a series of small "Ex Machina" graphic novels. GO STRAIGHT TO THE 'TRADE'! I'll read them if they're good! Don't split a big story into little parts with a huge imbalance of story elements. Judd Winick does this too, only worse. An issue of meat- followed by an issue of fluff- followed by an issue of meat. An issue of character work- followed by an issue of action- followed by an issue of character work. Is it so hard to build your plot with multiple spikes of rising action? Jeez.

And Harris needs to be more careful. His style leans toward stiffness in the way the characters stand. They need to have a flowing dynamic pose (like he usually does) to look alive.

THE LONG AND SHORTBOX OF IT? This is pretty good, slightly uneven material. I hope BKV has the plan to carry this out smart and exciting and Harris's work will be fluid and striking, like most of "Ex Machina" has been! I'll be reading and reviewing the last four issues here.

UPDATE: 9/20/2oo9

I bought a copy of "Ex Machina" #34 on the street the other day and read it on the train. It is an excellently constructed issue giving us a quick version of the life story of the very interesting character, Commissioner Amy Angotti. And I only paid a buck for it! That is perhaps the single best thing about living in New York. Comic-books sold on the sidewalk. Amazing.

Oh, more importantly, it gives great illumination to me about the scene in which Hundred talks with her. I now see that some long-term threads were added to there, and I enjoyed it more. It made the whole issue feel less... empty.

So my ignorance shouldn't account for the quality of this issue. This is the final story-arc of a four or five year-old series. Not everything is going to make perfect sense to me since I haven't read every issue of the series. I revise my statement to "very good, if slightly uneven material".

That is all.

Vaughan and Harris Ring In the New!

"Ex Machina" #44 from Wildstorm (an imprint of DC Comics)

I just bought and read the latest "Ex Machina" yesterday. (I forgot it on Wednesday!) And it is excellent.

(I only wish that I had read issues #33-43! For you should be aware of this up-front.)

This series has finally broken through the barrier into a full-fledged Sci-Fi and I couldn't be happier! I'm not going to give away the first clues as to the origins of Mayor Mitchell Hundred's powers revealed in this issue. But be forewarned! They are SCI-FI. With a capital S and F. Unless they merely seem to be. Which is possible. This is not a simple cut-and-dried superhero book. It is a political superhero story about an engineer who suddenly gains the ability to communicate with machines under strange circumstances and becomes a superhero for a year before deciding it was dangerous and stupid and parlays the celebrity into a winning bid for the office of the Mayor of New York.

Weird, yes? Good also!


The first thing we see in issue #44 is Mayor Mitchell Hundred's faithful bodyguard Bradbury in flashback on the eve of Hundred's victory as mayor staring at some off-panel glowing thing and saying: "What the hell is it?" and there are a few times over the issue where the reader is in the same position. But, you know, in an enjoyable way: the head of a mechanical-looking man explodes to reveal a sentient, talking purple box. That kind of Sci-Fi-I-can't-yet-tell-what-is-going-on-but-I-like-it.

The really weird thing is that it involves a color spectrum of super-powers in a similar manner to what Geoff Johns has done with Green Lantern over the past few years. Far be it for me to call a professional out on cribbing from another's work. That IS after all part of how we all get better at what we do. I'm certainly guilty of it. Well...

Tony Harris' art is gorgeous once again. His smooth as liquid line-work gives every page great life and movement while the judicious use of that line allows every shape a weight and realism that escapes most comic-artists. Somehow only drawing the rough outline of lips (and sometimes not a completely enclosed outline) creates a more realistic rendering. Most shading is left up to the colorist, which is a smart technique that the comics industry should have picked up on sooner as quote-unquote 'fine' artists have been making portraits in oil paint that way for centuries.

As always the flashbacks (a hallmark of the series) are smart and fit in perfectly with the rest of the story.

The promise in this issue of a new direction and focus for the book (which coincides with the New Year's celebrations occurring in this issue and implied in the arc's title "Ring Out the Old") has me very excited about "Ex Machina" for the first time in several years!

You can be sure I will be picking up and reviewing this book next month!