On the one hand, the heirs of Jack Kirby really do deserve the money. The King really got screwed by both Marvel and DC over the course of his illustrious career and, of course, some kind of compensation should be rendered.
On the other hand, though, the Kirby heirs probably would only have the rights to the aspects of those properties which Kirby had a direct hand in creating- that's one of the few things that seems to be clear coming out of a similar trial involving the heirs of Siegel and Shuster- so they might not be entitled to everything they think they're entitled to.
Furthermore, and rather selfishly, I'm worried about what it means for my future comics purchases. If all of this were to get tied up, what would happen to Captain America? Thor? Spider-Man? Could you imagine how crippling this could be for the Marvel and the American comics industry on the whole? If anything, it's proof that Kirby was just as influential as his heirs say; but it also means that the outcome could be disastrous.
From here on out, I hope everyone treads carefully- the health of a whole industry and the sanity of an entire fandom depends on it.
DVD Comics Talk: "Marvel Then & Now: A Night With Stan Lee & Joe Quesada"
While I was in Japan for a short period in the Summer of 2oo4, I flipped through the channels on the TVs in the various hotel rooms I stayed in at night if I didn't feel like reading the Japanese history books or komiksu and manga (Japanese words for American and Japanese comics) I'd brought with me. Usually the best thing I could find was a prime-time samurai drama or a Hollywood movie in English with kanji subtitles. Mind you, at this time I knew maybe... ten phrases of Japanese? "Hello." "Goodbye." "Thank you." "Excuse me." "Good morning." "Good night." "Where are the comics!?" (DOKO MANGA KA!?) Stuff like that, you know, the important stuff. So I barely understood any of what I was seeing.[The awesome promotional logo for the recorded event I'll be talking about later is above!]
To my excitement, one afternoon I changed the channel and I saw a panel of people sitting behind a table across from a person seated in a slightly-goofy-looking throne-like chair. Each of these people had a small stack of mass-market paperback-sized books next to them. After watching for a little while, the scene switched to a young man standing in front of a screen with a digital pointer pointing out random bits of a page of manga. Upon returning to the other side of the room, I realized that each person had an identical small stack of paperback-manga reprints of the work of the creator, or mangaka, sitting in the 'throne'.
Holy crap. A talk show about manga. A talk show about comics.
This is something America needs! Indeed, this is part of why I talk to everybody I meet about comics, why I wrote my senior thesis about comics, and why I was absolutely ready to sign-on to write this blog. The medium of comics doesn't get a ton of exposure and, when it does, it tends to be dismissive or commenting on how SURPRISING it is that it's not easily dismissed.
I assumed this show was a one-time thing but I was even more excited to discover that the same show came on a few days later with a different mangaka!! It wasn't pure promotion. It wasn't pure academia. It was a pleasant, normal (for Japan) TV show that featured different comics creators each week talking about their work like it was no big deal. (Now I wish I could direct you to the website for this show, but I have forgotten the name and lost the browser bookmark I made years and years ago. If anybody reading this has an inkling about it, please let me know.)
One of the closest things in the Western world is this:
"Very, Very, Live: Marvel Then & Now. A Night With Stan Lee & Joe Quesada" - 2007. Single Disc DVD. The Hero Initiative. Maverick Interactive.
On December 2, 2oo6 on the UCLA campus Kevin Smith interviewed Stan Lee (Marvel Comics' Editor-in-Chief from 1941 to 1972) and Joe Quesada (Marvel Comics' Editor-in-Chief from 2ooo to the present).
I watched it recently and LOVE, LOVE, LOVED it.
The atmosphere is shockingly laid-back as these three media giants sit in front of a crowd and pontificate about the history of the company called Timely, Atlas, and then Marvel Comics. Stan Lee comes right out and lays down on the couch. Kevin Smith stands up or turns the chairs around as he feels comfortable. Plus the fact that they're playing to a live audience at UCLA makes everything even more alive. As a result of the live audience and the friendly presence of Smith and Quesada all of the OLD Stan Lee stories that he's told a million times feel much fresher here than in other places.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Description of what Stan Lee did as "creating" the universe, and what Joe Quesada does as "managing" that universe and the varying difficulty of both tasks.
Smith asks Quesada about the iconic nature of the Marvel's characters and whether or not new ones are being made now.
Stan Lee: "I didn't want them [the Fantastic Four] to have secret identities. Mostly because I'm conceited. ... I would want the world to know!"
Joe Quesada: "The way I see it is: we tell the story of extraordinary people doing extraordinary things under extraordinary circumstances and triumphing over evil. As long as we kept to that mission statement I felt like we were okay."
Smith lovingly calls Stan Lee "the biggest flim-flam artist there is!"
Quesada asking Lee about the Black Panther, in regard to his ground-breaking status.
Guest appearances from Reggie Hudlin, Brian Pulido, Jeph Loeb and Tom DeSanto no less.
Reggie Hudlin thanks Lee for creating the Black Panther.
Quesada referring to what would become "Brand New Day" as a Spider-Man revolution.
Lee: "For the villain, I thought the greatest power -really my greatest invention- I said he had the power of magnetism! ... I called him Magneto! If he had a different power, I would have given him a different name."
Quesada recounting how the Marvel Knights line was started by making a crazy bid for control of the entire line of Marvel comics to insure that he would get his childhood favorite: Daredevil. And then how Smith came to write, and Quesada to draw, that hugely successful comic.
Quesada tells the story of the 'saving' of the "Spider-Girl" title.
In fact, the only negative things I could say about the film is that the atmosphere is a bit too loose as the evening wasn't tremendously well-organized, although everyone admits this over and over again to hilarious effect. That and the production values on the recording: the cinematography and the sound mixing are a disaster. Audio levels change when camera angles change sometimes. It's distracting.
The DVD can be bought here. Also available from Amazon.com.
It's quite informative and the whole damn thing makes me laugh.
As you can see from these quotes, there's a great deal of self-ego-puncturing and mockery from Smith that keeps things light.
"government cheese" "the gay X-Men, again" "I didn't have a clue" "burn that fucker down" "it could be Brainiac" "until he takes off his mask" "almost lost my job then and there" "dudes in tights" "see Daredevil call somebody a cocksucker" "they gave Captain America tits" "we did something cool"
It's kind of a three-way comics roast. I could watch it over and over again.
At the end Stan says a basic 'we gotta do this again'. I wish they did. America needs some capital-M-Media celebrating, and commenting on, the medium of comics. So I will be reviewing other DVDs on which you can see comics writers and comic artists (and comicsmiths!) talking about their craft (or themselves) in the future, both full-length feature documentary kind of stuff like this and big budget movie DVD special features. Look forward to them!
This is something America needs! Indeed, this is part of why I talk to everybody I meet about comics, why I wrote my senior thesis about comics, and why I was absolutely ready to sign-on to write this blog. The medium of comics doesn't get a ton of exposure and, when it does, it tends to be dismissive or commenting on how SURPRISING it is that it's not easily dismissed.
I assumed this show was a one-time thing but I was even more excited to discover that the same show came on a few days later with a different mangaka!! It wasn't pure promotion. It wasn't pure academia. It was a pleasant, normal (for Japan) TV show that featured different comics creators each week talking about their work like it was no big deal. (Now I wish I could direct you to the website for this show, but I have forgotten the name and lost the browser bookmark I made years and years ago. If anybody reading this has an inkling about it, please let me know.)
One of the closest things in the Western world is this:
"Very, Very, Live: Marvel Then & Now. A Night With Stan Lee & Joe Quesada" - 2007. Single Disc DVD. The Hero Initiative. Maverick Interactive.On December 2, 2oo6 on the UCLA campus Kevin Smith interviewed Stan Lee (Marvel Comics' Editor-in-Chief from 1941 to 1972) and Joe Quesada (Marvel Comics' Editor-in-Chief from 2ooo to the present).
I watched it recently and LOVE, LOVE, LOVED it.
The atmosphere is shockingly laid-back as these three media giants sit in front of a crowd and pontificate about the history of the company called Timely, Atlas, and then Marvel Comics. Stan Lee comes right out and lays down on the couch. Kevin Smith stands up or turns the chairs around as he feels comfortable. Plus the fact that they're playing to a live audience at UCLA makes everything even more alive. As a result of the live audience and the friendly presence of Smith and Quesada all of the OLD Stan Lee stories that he's told a million times feel much fresher here than in other places.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Description of what Stan Lee did as "creating" the universe, and what Joe Quesada does as "managing" that universe and the varying difficulty of both tasks.
Smith asks Quesada about the iconic nature of the Marvel's characters and whether or not new ones are being made now.
Stan Lee: "I didn't want them [the Fantastic Four] to have secret identities. Mostly because I'm conceited. ... I would want the world to know!"
Joe Quesada: "The way I see it is: we tell the story of extraordinary people doing extraordinary things under extraordinary circumstances and triumphing over evil. As long as we kept to that mission statement I felt like we were okay."
Smith lovingly calls Stan Lee "the biggest flim-flam artist there is!"
Quesada asking Lee about the Black Panther, in regard to his ground-breaking status.
Guest appearances from Reggie Hudlin, Brian Pulido, Jeph Loeb and Tom DeSanto no less.
Reggie Hudlin thanks Lee for creating the Black Panther.
Quesada referring to what would become "Brand New Day" as a Spider-Man revolution.
Lee: "For the villain, I thought the greatest power -really my greatest invention- I said he had the power of magnetism! ... I called him Magneto! If he had a different power, I would have given him a different name."
Quesada recounting how the Marvel Knights line was started by making a crazy bid for control of the entire line of Marvel comics to insure that he would get his childhood favorite: Daredevil. And then how Smith came to write, and Quesada to draw, that hugely successful comic.
Quesada tells the story of the 'saving' of the "Spider-Girl" title.
In fact, the only negative things I could say about the film is that the atmosphere is a bit too loose as the evening wasn't tremendously well-organized, although everyone admits this over and over again to hilarious effect. That and the production values on the recording: the cinematography and the sound mixing are a disaster. Audio levels change when camera angles change sometimes. It's distracting.
The DVD can be bought here. Also available from Amazon.com.
It's quite informative and the whole damn thing makes me laugh.
As you can see from these quotes, there's a great deal of self-ego-puncturing and mockery from Smith that keeps things light.
"government cheese" "the gay X-Men, again" "I didn't have a clue" "burn that fucker down" "it could be Brainiac" "until he takes off his mask" "almost lost my job then and there" "dudes in tights" "see Daredevil call somebody a cocksucker" "they gave Captain America tits" "we did something cool"
It's kind of a three-way comics roast. I could watch it over and over again.
At the end Stan says a basic 'we gotta do this again'. I wish they did. America needs some capital-M-Media celebrating, and commenting on, the medium of comics. So I will be reviewing other DVDs on which you can see comics writers and comic artists (and comicsmiths!) talking about their craft (or themselves) in the future, both full-length feature documentary kind of stuff like this and big budget movie DVD special features. Look forward to them!
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Shortboxes: DVD Comics Talk, Editorial, Jeph Loeb, Joe Quesada, Kevin Smith, manga, Reginald Hudlin, Stan Lee
Quick Announcement and Quick Note on Semantics
If I may be allowed a small plug, I have recently re-branded my old personal blog
"Gorga's Thoughts" into "The Comicsmithy" A Place Where Comics Are Forged(TM... not really).
"Comicsmith" is the only word I've ever come up with to adequately describe what we do. We who make comics.
Writers write, painters paint, filmmakers make films, but people always seem to stick to "comics creator" or "comics artist" to sum up the position of a person who makes comics. We're ALL "artists". None of these do it for me. The nearest one is "cartoonist", but that word technically refers to a style and not a medium according to Scott McCloud; "an approach to picture-making" as he puts it in "Understanding Comics", (McCloud, 21) and I agree. I heard a discussion of this problem just a few weeks ago at a panel on "Brooklyn Women in Comics" (on which there is an article covering it coming, I swear) and I wanted to say it out loud... but I didn't. It would have been obnoxious of me.
"Comicsmith" is great because it resolves the "s" at the end of the word "comics" with a word that denotes creation: "smith", like a "blacksmith", a "metalsmith", or, more importantly, a "shipsmith". A shipsmith makes ships so a comicsmith makes comics. I also feel like it's, therefore, a better translation of the Japanese word mangaka. A bit antiquated, yes, but after realizing that comics is, more often than not, a "forging" of disparate elements into a work, I've fallen even more in love with the word. I'll even go so far as to say that if my word (or one better, but equally unique to the medium), gains enough popularity it would help to consciously/subconsciously affect the way people treat comics as a medium.
So I'll be putting a bigger effort at putting my simple photo comics up for all to see. Soon I hope to include more elaborate comics written by me and drawn by others as well!
"Gorga's Thoughts" into "The Comicsmithy" A Place Where Comics Are Forged(TM... not really).
"Comicsmith" is the only word I've ever come up with to adequately describe what we do. We who make comics.
Writers write, painters paint, filmmakers make films, but people always seem to stick to "comics creator" or "comics artist" to sum up the position of a person who makes comics. We're ALL "artists". None of these do it for me. The nearest one is "cartoonist", but that word technically refers to a style and not a medium according to Scott McCloud; "an approach to picture-making" as he puts it in "Understanding Comics", (McCloud, 21) and I agree. I heard a discussion of this problem just a few weeks ago at a panel on "Brooklyn Women in Comics" (on which there is an article covering it coming, I swear) and I wanted to say it out loud... but I didn't. It would have been obnoxious of me.
"Comicsmith" is great because it resolves the "s" at the end of the word "comics" with a word that denotes creation: "smith", like a "blacksmith", a "metalsmith", or, more importantly, a "shipsmith". A shipsmith makes ships so a comicsmith makes comics. I also feel like it's, therefore, a better translation of the Japanese word mangaka. A bit antiquated, yes, but after realizing that comics is, more often than not, a "forging" of disparate elements into a work, I've fallen even more in love with the word. I'll even go so far as to say that if my word (or one better, but equally unique to the medium), gains enough popularity it would help to consciously/subconsciously affect the way people treat comics as a medium.
So I'll be putting a bigger effort at putting my simple photo comics up for all to see. Soon I hope to include more elaborate comics written by me and drawn by others as well!
2oo9 in a Shortbox!! Best of the Year
My marathon reading and re-reading of the comics of last year is finally over!! And as last night was Oscar night, here's my Personal Best Comics of 2oo9 List.
Quick important notes: To qualify, a work must be comics and must have been published in its entirety, in English, and for the first time either in print or on the web, between 1/1/o9 and 12/31/o9. The selections are presented by category, but not in any ascending or descending order.
BEST MINIS
"Luke Cage Noir" #1, #2, #3, #4
written by Adam Glass and Mike Benson; drawn by Shawn Martinbrough
One that flew under most people's radar as far as I can tell. Racism is just one of the many themes among class, crime, betrayal, legends, hearsay, and hope at play in this mini-series.
Collected edition has also become available in 2o1o.
"The Life and Times of Savior 28" #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 and the collection.
written by J.M. DeMatteis; drawn by Mike Cavallaro
Possibly the most important work done in the superhero genre in a decade, this mini-series challenges one of the long-standing, most-odious elements of the genre: violence.
BEST GRAPHIC NOVELS
"Asterios Polyp"
written and drawn by David Mazzucchelli
A torturously beautiful narrative of love and loss and realizing how much love it was you really did lose. Mazzucchelli broke the mold on utilizing style in visual narrative here. Brilliant. Although it is, in this writer's opinion, almost made a mess by a sudden and inappropriate shock ending. Making it the polar opposite of the following work...
"365 Samurai and a Few Bowls of Rice"
written and drawn by J. P. Kalonji
379 pages of splash-pages drawn by a Swiss man actually make this surprising graphic novel like a steady rhythm of blood pounding in your ears slowly building toward a fittingly beautiful surprise ending. The end result is a beautiful work of art about life, love, and enlightenment.
BEST GRAPHIC NOVELLA
"The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen" Vol. 3 "Century: 1910"
An amazing continuation of Alan Moore's crazy work of historical/fictional fantasy. Characters narrate their own story in period songs they sing as they go about their work. The background items in the League's headquarters get even more outrageous. Horrifying and beautiful.
BEST STORY-ARC IN AN ONGOING SERIES
"Red-Headed Stranger" Prelude in "Amazing Spider-Man" #601, Parts 1 through 3 in #602, #603, #604, and (epilogue) #605
written by Mark Waid, Fred Van Lente, and Brian Reed; drawn by Mario Alberti, Barry Kitson, Robert Atkins, Javier Pulido, Luke Ross, and Yanick Paquette
Issue #601 by Mark Waid and Mario Alberti gets special mention for being funny, action-packed, romantic, working as a stand-alone story, and being gorgeously drawn by Alberti to boot! The prelude and epilogue material by Mark Waid, Fred Van Lante, and Brian Reed is excellent humorous/romantic stuff that connects thematically to Van Lente's main drama/action story in the three issues between them. Mary Jane returns from a long hiatus from Peter's life and Spider-Man's first supervillain, The Chameleon, gets a fantastically creepy overhaul that allowed Van Lente to examine the role of fear in how we shape our identity.
BEST INDIVIDUAL ISSUES
"Counting Up From Zero" from "Invincible Iron Man" #20 and "Digging In The Dirt" from "Invincible Iron Man" #21
ongoing series issues written by Matt Fraction; drawn by Salvador Larroca
My god. If you told me six years ago that "Iron Man" would be one of the best series Marvel was doing, that it would be the MUST HAVE, the book that had you most excited about comics... I would have laughed in your face. Along came Fraction and Salva (although a great debt is owed to the work done a few years ago by Warren Ellis and Adi Granov, too) and completely blew my socks off with these issues. Following on the heels of some great issues in the "World's Most Wanted" story-arc.
"Sandman: The Dream Hunters" #3, #4 and the collection.
mini-series issues written and drawn by P. Craig Russell; adapted from a short story by Neil Gaimen
This mini was mind-blowing, most-especially for someone, such as myself, who has never been fully immersed in the world of Neil Gaimen's "Sandman". I gave the collection to Clare for Christmas and it turned out to be the best Christmas gift I ever gave US.
"Blackest Night" #1
mini-series issue written by Geoff Johns; drawn by Ivan Reis
Strange, I know, to include the first issue of a mini-series and none of those that followed. Never before in a superhero comic-book had I seen so many characters in such a quick succession of pages be re-introduced, re-invigorated, and made respectably realistic. Johns is a master storyteller on an epic scale.
"Ring Out The Old" Conclusion from "Ex Machina" #44
ongoing series issue written by Brian K. Vaughan; drawn by Tony Harris
On a equally epic scale, if with a smaller number of characters, Brian K. Vaughan continues to bring new dimensions to the story of his ex-superhero mayor of New York City. This issue blew my mind with its kooky SF creations mixed with religious terminology.
"The Great Silence" from "Jonah Hex" #50
ongoing series issue written by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti; drawn by Darwyn Cooke
A smart, fast, heart-breaking story by Gray and Palmiotti breathtakingly realized by Darwyn Cooke, the sequential art master of our times. One of the only western genre titles out there today, and a damn good one.
"A Battle Within" from "Batman" #687
ongoing series issue written by Judd Winick; drawn by Ed Benes
Batman stories narrated even partially by Alfred have ended up being my very favorite Batman stories. When asked if he's okay after Bruce Wayne's death, he replies: I'm not okay. My son is dead.
"Saviour" from "Atomika" #8
mini-series issue written by Andrew Dabb; drawn by Sal Abbinanti
After four years of publishing, we finally see Atomika turn that moral corner, realize he is a monster and become a mature... god. It is at this point he embarks on the road to heroism that we will see him complete when the last, twelfth issue comes out.
"That Which Does Not Kill Us" from "The Infinite Horizon" #4 of 6
mini-series issue written by Gerry Duggan; drawn by Phil Noto
Excellent adaptation of "The Odyssey" recounting a soldier's moments of weakness. Circe's magic is replaced by a morphine addiction. Tough choices are made, as the road back home can only continue if the Captain breaks his own leg so that the previous unsuccessful bone setting can be re-done. Holy jesus.
"Planetary" #27
ooooooongoing series' final issue written by Warren Ellis; drawn by John Cassaday
The major work in the superhero genre in the past fifteen years come to a close. The final hurrah was worth the wait. Science fiction at the intersection of hope and history.
"32" from "Daytripper" #1
mini-series issue written and drawn by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Bá
This extremely talented team of twin brothers present their first mini-series. And it is a very auspicious start. We are introduced to their main character, Bras, at 32 years old.
"Comic Book Comics" #3
mini-series issue written by Fred Van Lente; drawn by Ryan Dunlavey
The men behind this comic are the unsung heroes of the comic-book medium right now, because they are attempting to create a history of the comics medium in the comics medium and they're having fun doing it! Honestly, they deserve props for the concept of the comics industry's self-infantilization (which they label the "Logan's Run Effect") alone.
BEST SHORTS
"Photograph"
mini-comic written and drawn by Nicholas Breutzman
A simple story in simple xeroxed pages without so much as a staple between them. A boy and a girl wake up in bed next to each other and through narration from the fella's point-of-view we slowly get a picture of who these people are and how they ended up in so intimate a position.
"...And Call My Lover MODOK!" from "Strange Tales" #1
short graphic anthology story written and drawn by Nick Bertozzi
Awkward, ridiculous, yet moving portrayal of a supervillain and his... concubine? Done in FOUR PAGES. Amazing.
"The Black Widow" from "Strange Tales" #2
short graphic anthology story written and drawn by Matt Kindt
A great, quick spy story set against the Marvel universe. Apparently, superheroes get in the way of your job when your job is being a secret agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. Great use of text, great characterization, all in so few pages!
"Martha" from "MySpace Dark Horse Presents" online Issue 19
webcomic written and drawn by Dave Chisholm
A remarkable little tale of highway violence and familial re-connection. The surprise ending makes this the best thing I read on the web last year.
Here's hoping 2o1o is as good a year! Or better!
and finally...
The Comics I Would Probably Have Put On The List Had I Bought Them and Read All Of Them
"Stiches" graphic novel written and drawn by David Small
"3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man" graphic novel written and drawn by Matt Kindt
"I Kill Giants" #7 of 7 mini-series final issue written by Joe Kelly; drawn by J. M. Ken Niimura
Quick important notes: To qualify, a work must be comics and must have been published in its entirety, in English, and for the first time either in print or on the web, between 1/1/o9 and 12/31/o9. The selections are presented by category, but not in any ascending or descending order.
BEST MINIS
"Luke Cage Noir" #1, #2, #3, #4
written by Adam Glass and Mike Benson; drawn by Shawn Martinbrough
One that flew under most people's radar as far as I can tell. Racism is just one of the many themes among class, crime, betrayal, legends, hearsay, and hope at play in this mini-series.
Collected edition has also become available in 2o1o.
"The Life and Times of Savior 28" #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 and the collection.
written by J.M. DeMatteis; drawn by Mike Cavallaro
Possibly the most important work done in the superhero genre in a decade, this mini-series challenges one of the long-standing, most-odious elements of the genre: violence.
BEST GRAPHIC NOVELS
"Asterios Polyp"
written and drawn by David Mazzucchelli
A torturously beautiful narrative of love and loss and realizing how much love it was you really did lose. Mazzucchelli broke the mold on utilizing style in visual narrative here. Brilliant. Although it is, in this writer's opinion, almost made a mess by a sudden and inappropriate shock ending. Making it the polar opposite of the following work...
"365 Samurai and a Few Bowls of Rice"
written and drawn by J. P. Kalonji
379 pages of splash-pages drawn by a Swiss man actually make this surprising graphic novel like a steady rhythm of blood pounding in your ears slowly building toward a fittingly beautiful surprise ending. The end result is a beautiful work of art about life, love, and enlightenment.
BEST GRAPHIC NOVELLA
"The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen" Vol. 3 "Century: 1910"
An amazing continuation of Alan Moore's crazy work of historical/fictional fantasy. Characters narrate their own story in period songs they sing as they go about their work. The background items in the League's headquarters get even more outrageous. Horrifying and beautiful.
BEST STORY-ARC IN AN ONGOING SERIES
"Red-Headed Stranger" Prelude in "Amazing Spider-Man" #601, Parts 1 through 3 in #602, #603, #604, and (epilogue) #605
written by Mark Waid, Fred Van Lente, and Brian Reed; drawn by Mario Alberti, Barry Kitson, Robert Atkins, Javier Pulido, Luke Ross, and Yanick Paquette
Issue #601 by Mark Waid and Mario Alberti gets special mention for being funny, action-packed, romantic, working as a stand-alone story, and being gorgeously drawn by Alberti to boot! The prelude and epilogue material by Mark Waid, Fred Van Lante, and Brian Reed is excellent humorous/romantic stuff that connects thematically to Van Lente's main drama/action story in the three issues between them. Mary Jane returns from a long hiatus from Peter's life and Spider-Man's first supervillain, The Chameleon, gets a fantastically creepy overhaul that allowed Van Lente to examine the role of fear in how we shape our identity.
BEST INDIVIDUAL ISSUES
"Counting Up From Zero" from "Invincible Iron Man" #20 and "Digging In The Dirt" from "Invincible Iron Man" #21
ongoing series issues written by Matt Fraction; drawn by Salvador Larroca
My god. If you told me six years ago that "Iron Man" would be one of the best series Marvel was doing, that it would be the MUST HAVE, the book that had you most excited about comics... I would have laughed in your face. Along came Fraction and Salva (although a great debt is owed to the work done a few years ago by Warren Ellis and Adi Granov, too) and completely blew my socks off with these issues. Following on the heels of some great issues in the "World's Most Wanted" story-arc.
"Sandman: The Dream Hunters" #3, #4 and the collection.
mini-series issues written and drawn by P. Craig Russell; adapted from a short story by Neil Gaimen
This mini was mind-blowing, most-especially for someone, such as myself, who has never been fully immersed in the world of Neil Gaimen's "Sandman". I gave the collection to Clare for Christmas and it turned out to be the best Christmas gift I ever gave US.
"Blackest Night" #1
mini-series issue written by Geoff Johns; drawn by Ivan Reis
Strange, I know, to include the first issue of a mini-series and none of those that followed. Never before in a superhero comic-book had I seen so many characters in such a quick succession of pages be re-introduced, re-invigorated, and made respectably realistic. Johns is a master storyteller on an epic scale.
"Ring Out The Old" Conclusion from "Ex Machina" #44
ongoing series issue written by Brian K. Vaughan; drawn by Tony Harris
On a equally epic scale, if with a smaller number of characters, Brian K. Vaughan continues to bring new dimensions to the story of his ex-superhero mayor of New York City. This issue blew my mind with its kooky SF creations mixed with religious terminology.
"The Great Silence" from "Jonah Hex" #50
ongoing series issue written by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti; drawn by Darwyn Cooke
A smart, fast, heart-breaking story by Gray and Palmiotti breathtakingly realized by Darwyn Cooke, the sequential art master of our times. One of the only western genre titles out there today, and a damn good one.
"A Battle Within" from "Batman" #687
ongoing series issue written by Judd Winick; drawn by Ed Benes
Batman stories narrated even partially by Alfred have ended up being my very favorite Batman stories. When asked if he's okay after Bruce Wayne's death, he replies: I'm not okay. My son is dead.
"Saviour" from "Atomika" #8
mini-series issue written by Andrew Dabb; drawn by Sal Abbinanti
After four years of publishing, we finally see Atomika turn that moral corner, realize he is a monster and become a mature... god. It is at this point he embarks on the road to heroism that we will see him complete when the last, twelfth issue comes out.
"That Which Does Not Kill Us" from "The Infinite Horizon" #4 of 6
mini-series issue written by Gerry Duggan; drawn by Phil Noto
Excellent adaptation of "The Odyssey" recounting a soldier's moments of weakness. Circe's magic is replaced by a morphine addiction. Tough choices are made, as the road back home can only continue if the Captain breaks his own leg so that the previous unsuccessful bone setting can be re-done. Holy jesus.
"Planetary" #27
ooooooongoing series' final issue written by Warren Ellis; drawn by John Cassaday
The major work in the superhero genre in the past fifteen years come to a close. The final hurrah was worth the wait. Science fiction at the intersection of hope and history.
"32" from "Daytripper" #1
mini-series issue written and drawn by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Bá
This extremely talented team of twin brothers present their first mini-series. And it is a very auspicious start. We are introduced to their main character, Bras, at 32 years old.
"Comic Book Comics" #3
mini-series issue written by Fred Van Lente; drawn by Ryan Dunlavey
The men behind this comic are the unsung heroes of the comic-book medium right now, because they are attempting to create a history of the comics medium in the comics medium and they're having fun doing it! Honestly, they deserve props for the concept of the comics industry's self-infantilization (which they label the "Logan's Run Effect") alone.
BEST SHORTS
"Photograph"
mini-comic written and drawn by Nicholas Breutzman
A simple story in simple xeroxed pages without so much as a staple between them. A boy and a girl wake up in bed next to each other and through narration from the fella's point-of-view we slowly get a picture of who these people are and how they ended up in so intimate a position.
"...And Call My Lover MODOK!" from "Strange Tales" #1
short graphic anthology story written and drawn by Nick Bertozzi
Awkward, ridiculous, yet moving portrayal of a supervillain and his... concubine? Done in FOUR PAGES. Amazing.
"The Black Widow" from "Strange Tales" #2
short graphic anthology story written and drawn by Matt Kindt
A great, quick spy story set against the Marvel universe. Apparently, superheroes get in the way of your job when your job is being a secret agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. Great use of text, great characterization, all in so few pages!
"Martha" from "MySpace Dark Horse Presents" online Issue 19
webcomic written and drawn by Dave Chisholm
A remarkable little tale of highway violence and familial re-connection. The surprise ending makes this the best thing I read on the web last year.
Here's hoping 2o1o is as good a year! Or better!
[2oo9: The best to the right, the rest to the left! Not quite a shortbox, is it?]
and finally...
The Comics I Would Probably Have Put On The List Had I Bought Them and Read All Of Them
"Stiches" graphic novel written and drawn by David Small
"3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man" graphic novel written and drawn by Matt Kindt
"I Kill Giants" #7 of 7 mini-series final issue written by Joe Kelly; drawn by J. M. Ken Niimura
Perhaps Grant Morrison Has Finally, Truly, Totally Lost His Mind...
...and no one noticed.
Go see the covers for "The Return of Bruce Wayne" here at Newsarama.com
I saw them and said: "There's no way I'm looking at what I'm looking at."
This looks ridiculous.
Go see the covers for "The Return of Bruce Wayne" here at Newsarama.com
I saw them and said: "There's no way I'm looking at what I'm looking at."
This looks ridiculous.
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