Moloch Whose Comics Are Judgement!

I have to say that, of all these silly Before Watchmen books, the surprise solicited J. Michael Straczynski and Eduardo Risso Moloch is the second most tempting, after that one that I already bought an issue of.

Moral issues and problems with the premise aside, its always good to see Eduardo Risso's name on a comic book, particularly since Spaceman, which had some high quality issues, seems to have fallen off of my pull list for one reason or another. His drawing, when he takes his pen to characters that are not his own, has a revealing, almost transgressive, quality, one that I think is perfect for the Before Watchmen project. And to apply it, of all the Alan Moore creations that have been so far violated in this manner, to Moloch? Moloch, who was more of a cancer-ridden plot device than a real character? Moloch, who, even under Dave Gibbons's steady hand, already looks like something from Risso's sketchbook? This new mini is suddenly the most interesting of the lot of them.

Of course, that doesn't make the Moloch book interesting or in any real way necessary, and it certainly doesn't make the project any less toxic. Although it's hard to look at the preview art and not be tempted to deal with the demon, Alan Ginsberg seems apropos:

What sphinx of cement and aluminum bashed open
      their skulls and ate up their brains and imagi-
      nation?
Moloch! Solitude! Filth! Ugliness! Ashcans and unob
       tainable dollars! Children screaming under the
       stairways! Boys sobbing in armies! Old men
       weeping in the parks!

2o1o in a Shortbox: The Best of the Year

The Oscars were last night, so here's the best comics I read last year. Pretty simple.

The deal is: To qualify, a work must be comics and must have become publicly available in its entirety, in English, and for the first time, either in print or on the web, between 1/1/1o and 12/31/1o. The selections are presented by category, but not in any ascending or descending order.

BEST GRAPHIC NOVELS
"Superman: Earth One"
written by J. Michael Straczynski(@straczynski); drawn by Shane Davis
Like a Hollywood action movie, the first of the "Earth One" graphic novels delivered on action, excitement, and most importantly: gravitas. A 'superhero in the real-world' story for the first half and a classic, smart, grandiose superhero/supervillain battle for the second half with strong character work throughout.

"To Teach: The Journey, in Comics"
drawn by Ryan Alexander-Tanner (@ohyesverynice); adapted from a prose-book by Bill Ayers(@BillAyers)
A documentary-comic, Alexander-Tanner deftly cartoon-ed his way through Ayers' theories about education to clear, informative, humorous, and, occasionally, thrilling effect! Truly it is a work that any aspiring teacher should read. Quite a few healthy life lessons in general are spelled out on its pages.

"Ghostopolis"
written and drawn by Doug TenNapel (@TenNapel)
If "Earth One" is the 'action flick' and "To Teach" the 'documentary,' this is the 'animated movie'. A fully-realized world of familiar archetypal Halloween characters used and combined in unexpected ways, portrayed with fine cartooning and lush coloring. Some pages are laugh-out-loud funny (although some jokes are childish 'potty' humor), while other pages are truly moving. The words AND the pictures are moving, both in concert and separately. (I don't play the numbers game, I list no 'number 1' graphic novel here, but if I did...)


BEST GRAPHIC NOVELLAS (under 100 pages)
"Serenity: The Shepherd's Tale"
written by Zack Whedon(@ZDubDub); drawn by Chris Samnee(@ChrisSamnee)
Truly beautiful and truly unique is this 'life flashing before his eyes' sketch of the television/film/comics character Shepherd Book. The overlapping phrases and motifs that run through the life of the main character serve as bullet-points by which the reader is allowed to drop into further and further back stages of Derrial Book's life.

"Pterodactyl Hunters in the Gilded City"
written and drawn by Brendan Leach (@iknowashortcut)
Sharp drawing and even sharper writing makes this strange comic an exciting and engrossing reading experience. Brotherhood and the passing from one era into another are its themes, the ink-lines combined with ink-washes make for a glowing, bleary, period-accurate feeling. Not to be over-looked is the awesome faux-newspaper-front-page that makes the comic's cover.

"Falling for Lionheart"
written and drawn by Ilias Kyriazis (@IliasKyriazis)
The 'indie- film' comic for the year. (Okay, that analogy's done with now, I promise) Emotional, but with action, sex, and humor; alternative lifestyles are presented as well as mainstream ones; comics is depicted as a medium capable of expressing emotion within the narrative, "Falling for Lionheart" is among the finest graphic novellas I have ever read. And furthermore, it uses different visual art styles to VERY smart narrative effect.

"Portrait of the Cartoonist as a Woman" on NarrativeMagazine.com

written and drawn by Liza Donnelly (@lizadonnelly)

Human and honest, like the best memoir comics are, these 32 pages speak volumes about childhood, womanhood, body issues, sexism, motherhood, and creative energy. The inherent sweetness of the small moments ("I was launched as a cartoonist. ... And most importantly, I made my mother laugh.") support a sense of life and narrative.

BEST MINI-SERIES
"Bullseye: Perfect Game" #1 and #2
written by Charlie Huston(@CharlieHuston); drawn by Shawn Martinbrough
This clever short series tells of murder on the baseball diamond. A certain supervillain-assassin masquerading as a home-town baseball player to carry out a hit. A big baseball fan solves the murder and narrates the story to the reader while walking around an apartment. Only at the last page, does the POV shift and we see that the baseball fan has been talking to a certain superhero.

"Phantom: Unmasked" #1 and #2
written by Martin Powell; drawn by Hannibal King
Again, this series' strength lay in a unique POV: the sultry, intelligent, hard-as-nails, lady private investigator Laughton Brice hired to find The Phantom, through which we see 'The Ghost Who Walks' anew! (The character of The Phantom has been around since 1936.) The Ghost Who Walks never even makes a clear physical appearance until more than halfway through the first issue, only shadows and stories. And, to boot, the courageous choice a character makes in the second issue tops it off nicely.

Seriously, these are both worth checking out and only two issues-long. Ask your retailer for where you might find them. I have little doubt most American retailers didn't sell many of these two series AT ALL.

(LATE ADDITION)

BEST STORY-ARC IN AN ONGOING SERIES

"Metal" from "Northlanders" #30, #31, #32, #33, and #34

written by Brian Wood(@brianwood); drawn by Riccardo Burchielli

One of the best stories of any medium was told last year in Brian Wood's series "Northlanders". Cross-cultural viking-era action/romance. Unique, smart, and cool.

BEST INDIVIDUAL ISSUES (either from a mini or ongoing series)
"41" from "Daytripper" #4
written and drawn by Fabio Moon(@fabiomoon) and Gabriel Bá(@Gabriel_Ba)
A tremendously emotionally affecting chapter in the haunting life of Bras, the main character of the series by those talented brother comicsmiths: Moon and Bá. The loss of a father, the birth of a son, and the moment in life at which a precarious level of security-like adulthood is attained... then swept away like all the others.

"M.I.A." Parts 1, 2, and 4 from "DMZ" #51, #52, and #54
written by Brian Wood(@brianwood); drawn by Riccardo Burchielli
Matty Roth, the main character of Wood's long-running futuristic love-letter to NYC, makes some achingly hard decisions to regain his lost honor. LOOK at that cover on the last issue of the arc!

"Collective Punishment" one of five: "five hours under fire" from "DMZ" #55
written by Brian Wood(@brianwood); drawn by Andrea Mutti

A shocking, smart, compact story about the horrors of war, both the ones perpetrated on human bodies and those perpetrated on human minds.

"Collective Punishment" four of five: "A Decade on the Wall" from "DMZ" #58

written by Brian Wood(@brianwood); drawn by Danijel Zezelj
A harrowing and beautiful issue narrated by the first "DMZ" character I ever encountered: the graffiti artist known as Decade Later. After imprisonment, during which he wasn't allowed to draw, this man creates a graffiti autobiography in the ruins of a New York City art gallery. Incredible.

"Electric Ant" #1 and #3
adapted from a Philip K. Dick prose novel by David Mack(@davidmackkabuki); drawn by Pascal Alixe
Crazy mind-altering sex between a self-aware organic-robot and a human... or is she? Visually stunning color and shape choices are made to represent Dick's psychedelic verbiage. Very cool.

"The Sixth Gun" #1, #2, #3, and #6
written by Cullen Bunn(@cullenbunn); drawn by Brian Hurtt
Fun, striking, exciting, funny, and unique all describe this new ongoing series. The most wonderful sound effects melt into the artwork in wonderful ways. The scope is huge, while the human-scale dangers never feel lost. The first arc's conclusion in issue #6 is perhaps the best: mostly double-page spread layouts.

"Never Say Die" from "The Shield" #10
written by Eric S. Trautmann(@mercuryeric); drawn by Marco Rudy
The surprise delight of my year. I received this issue in a pile of free comics. The superhero concept at the core of this series (American soldier is gifted with abilities by the government to better serve) is a very, very old one to which nothing new is brought here, but the characterization seems more genuine than most. The winning element is Rudy's storytelling panel layouts, which are the best I have seen since those of the supremely talented Steve Rude or J. H. Williams III.

"the brave and the bold." from "Superman/Batman" #76

written by Judd Winick; drawn by Marco Rudy

In fact, I shouldn't have been surprised by Rudy's skills as he had already shown me what he can do. More wonderful page compositions here. Judd Winick brings emotional gravitas to Superman's reaction to Bruce Wayne's death. It was also a wonderful compliment to this Batman issue...

"Batman's Last Case" from "Batman" #702
written by Grant Morrison; drawn by Tony Daniel
Despite the fact that this issue makes no sense without the context of a mini-series from two years ago ("Final Crisis") it does an excellent job of gifting that mini-series retroactively with more sense. Most specifically and remarkably it explains Batman's actions and makes them emotionally powerful: "I survived an encounter with something bigger than me".

"Grounded" Part One from "Superman" #701
written by J. Michael Straczynski(@straczynski); drawn by Eddy Barrows
Any story in which Superman is put into realistic morally complicated situations is usually interesting. Stories in which Superman is put into realistic morally complicated situations and finds a way to triumph are usually going to get me. A single issue that does that over-and-over again was guaranteed to win me over.

"Night Gods" from "The Brave and the Bold" #32
written by J. Michael Straczynski(@straczynski); drawn by Jesus Saiz
This Cthulu-inspired, genuinely scary comic, stars Etrigon the Demon and... Aquaman. Aquaman does a series of bad-ass things and Straczynski put in the effort to write all of Etrigon's dialogue in rhyming verse. All good things.

"Ladies' Night" from "The Brave and the Bold" #33

written by J. Michael Straczynski(@straczynski); drawn by Cliff Chiang(@cliffchiang)
A return to the moment-in-time just before a young heroine's defining tragedy laid out in sharp relief. Just beautiful.

"A Batman's Work is Never Done!" from "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" #17
credited as written by Sholly Fisch; drawn by Robert W. Pope
Kids' comic: Batman has a busy week. Calls his friends. Hijinks ensue.

BEST SHORTS (under 22 pages)
"Comic-Converts" on Jillian Tamaki's Sketch Blog

written and drawn by Jillian Tamaki (@dirtbagg)

It's a diary entry, a comics news report, a food review, a showcasing of friendly faces, and an ethnographic statement all at once. The mix of geek/indie, human/inhuman, private/public elements in this comic about SDCC really shows how much a comics convention can be and how much a comic can show.

"Culture POP" #14 "The Aerialist" on ACT-I-VATE.com

reportage and photography by Seth Kushner (@sethkushner)

The way Kushner laid-out photographs here to bring the reader through a narrative while maintaining the beauty of the photographs themselves is nothing short of remarkable.

"Acidopolous" number one

written and drawn by Nathan Bulmer (@natemorebikes)

A fun, trippy little mini-comic. Reality melts into a world of cartoony horror for one acid-tripping punk rocker. The first chunk can be read here.

BEST STRIPS (one page each)
"Angel" in OVERFLOW Magazine #6, Summer 2o1o; and on ACT-I-VATE .com here!
written and drawn by Dean Haspiel
Hapiel's work always feels RIGHT to me, but rarely so much as when the main figure of this double-page comic falls-- no SLAMS-- into the ground and the textbox reads: "I'll miss you." A pseudo-Kirby, action-representation of emotion in line and color, this may be his best work to date. (Again, I don't make this a numbers game. But if I did...)

"Flying Restrictions 1" and "Flying Restrictions 3" (The Adventures of The Man Who Can Only Fly When He's Sad) on cowbirdsinlove.com

written and drawn by Sanjay Kulkarni (@cowbirdsinlove)

I especially like 3 because it is positive and beautiful in its resolution, but 1 serves as excellent set-up. 2 left me cold by comparison. Doesn't really need to be there.

"The Tell-Tale Beat" on XKCD.com
written and drawn by Randall Munroe

A hilarious piece that reminds us that yes Randall Munroe can, in fact, draw.

"Porn For Women" on XKCD.com
written and drawn by Randall Munroe

Honesty = excellence. And, in this case, hilarity.

"Spirit" on XKCD.com

written and drawn by Randall Munroe

Oh god! I can imagine few things as simultaneously funny and horrifyingly sad. Except maybe the next webcomic:

"SuperMutant Magic Academy: Wufflefluff" on Jillian Tamaki's Sketch Blog

written and drawn by Jillian Tamaki (@dirtbagg)

Creepy, sad, but so true.

"SuperMutant Magic Academy: Pickles" on Jillian Tamaki's Sketch Blog

written and drawn by Jillian Tamaki (@dirtbagg)

Funny but also sort of sad, and feels right to me somehow.

"Domestic Men of Mystery" on JillianTamaki.com

written and drawn by Jillian Tamaki (@dirtbagg)

Father's Day, indie-webcomics style. This one is really beautiful and sad and happy and I can imagine few better ways to go out for 2o1o.

~ @JonGorga

P.S. ~

Comics that very well might have made it had I bought/read them in entirety:

"The Playwright"

"Jonah Hex: No Way Back"

"Revolver"

"Smile"
"Stigmata" (in translation)

"Artichoke Tales"

"Return of the Dapper Men"

"Special Exits"

(Truly, this one is in need of more attention. Amazing.)

"Market Day"

"Foiled"

The market for graphic novels either swung wide, wide open this past year, or I just never noticed the volume already coming out. They also take a lot longer to read...

I carry with me at all times a near-perfect recipe for making new comics readers:

Good comics.

That is the best way to convince people this stuff is worth their time. By showing them. But a random confluence of events has brought together some particular comics in my shoulder bag. These comics together represent many of the talking points I think might help people to recognize comics as the separate, viable, wonderful art medium it is. And as I walk the streets of New York City I thought I would share with you what they are and why I think they might work as somebody's 'first comic'.


Some of these I bought just recently, some of them were given to me as birthday presents, some of them I have because I'm reading them, some of them because I am or was reviewing them, or both the former and the latter:

"Electric Ant" #1
From Icon (an imprint of Marvel Comics), David Mack's and Pascal Alixe's adaptation of Phillip K. Dick's prose novel

Opening a comic such as this one can lead to thoughts like: Oh, a smart adaptation of a prose novel? It's really not a new edition is it? Comics isn't just illustrated prose. It's a different experience of the same story. Not a translation, an adaptation. Just the idea that a book can become a comic in the same way a book can become a film encourages one to think of it as smart mass media entertainment instead of junk. And it's by David Mack (@davidmackkabuki), of "Kabuki" fame. So you know it's good.

"Captain Swing and the Electrical Pirates of Cindery Island" #2
From Avatar Press, Warren Ellis' and Raulo Caceres' steampunk crazy time

Well... This one's crazy and perhaps not great for most new readers. Shocking an old lady with bloody violence and guns that shoot tiny light bulbs for bullets probably won't endear her to my beloved sequential art. But someone who digs steampunk, someone who likes things off the beaten path. Pirate ships flying on electric oars? They should see this stuff. The imagination owned by Warren Ellis (@warrenellis) has few equals in the field of comics. The evidence of vibrant imagination in the art-form is priceless to an argument that it should be appreciated. I bought issue #1 on a whim and I'm glad I did.

"Superman: Earth One"
DC's experimental graphic novel written by J. Michael Staczynski and drawn by recent L & S interviewee Shane Davis

This one has blown not only individual brains but the entire industry straight to the ground. A depiction of Superman as a 20-year-old young man with the problems of the average modern American 20-year-old: what the fuck do I do with my life? how the fuck do I do it? why am I doing it? To see a superhero character made so simply and easily relatable would no doubt be a major eye-opener to many who see superheroes (most particularly ones like Supes) as dumb jocks in a cape. No, the main genre found in the medium isn't only punching and explosions. My review of this just went up days ago.

"Captain America: Man Out of Time" #1
A new series from Mark Waid and Jorge Molina about one of Marvel's first superheroes

Speaking of recent comics re-telling a superhero's story from their own point of view, this is another great-looking work. Captain America is, in the perception of the mainstream, probably the only more prissy superhero than Superman. But, as usual, the mainstream is missing the new trees because it is expecting to see an old forest. I was sold on this issue the moment I saw the way Waid (@markwaid) brought Cap from World War II through his frozen state to the present in two successive splash pages. Someone who doesn't know what mainstream superhero comics are actually like will be amazed to see so 'goofy' a character as Captain America presented with such imagination and gravitas.

"Amazing Spider-Man" #648
With a three-year debacle behind him (mostly) Marvel's Spider-Man moves on to the "Big Time" with Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos

Well... I haven't read this yet. But it ISN'T "Brand New Day". So it might be more new reader-friendly than Spider-Man has been for a few months to a few years, depending on your point-of-view. Dan Slott (@danslott) has a great ability with humor. Anybody with a funny bone would probably enjoy Slott's writing and thus prove that the Joss Whedon style of dramedy can be found in comics, further proving that it's capable of anything.

"Falling for Lionheart"
A glorious mash-up of the two worlds of American comics by Ilias Kyriazis, released on the same day as "Superman: Earth One" from IDW

Not having actually read this, I can only comment on what it looks like. But it looks like one of the best graphic novels of the year and maybe the best 'first readers' graphic novel I have ever seen. It tells the story of Lionheart, a super-powered man on a state/corporate-approved team of superheroes. It is also the story of a man who feels that something about this life is hollow and chooses to make autobiographical mini-comics to express his ennui. None of that is new material (superheroes beholden to centers of authority, characters who make comics about their lives), except of course the brilliant twist that these men are one-and-the-same! Yes, "Falling for Lionheart" is about a superhero who is also an underground comicsmith. A tortured artist superhero love story. The two strongest arms of American comics re-introduced in one slim volume. I'm going to LOVE it. Look for a review soon.


I hope this silly list serves a few purposes for you, dear L&S readers:
1. I hope it has laid out just a little bit more of the incredible variety available in the medium of sequential art.
2. I hope you now know that you can ask me for reading material, if you ever see me on the street!
3. I hope you have some ideas about how to get that special STUBBORN someone in your life to give comics a chance. Lord knows there's plenty of them left out there...

~@JonGorga

21-Year-Old Clark Kent "had to save the Earth. And at the end it's believable."

"Superman: Earth One" from DC Comics

Penciler Shane Davis said that to me when I interviewed him early last month at New York Comic-Con. I suspect that we, as humans, are designed to only believe that which we see before our eyes. That is why the promotional tagline for the 1978 "Superman: The Movie" was "You Will Believe a Man Can Fly". But Superman is a do-gooder. He makes the choices we all think we would make thrown into extraordinary circumstances. Often without reservation or hesitation. As Bradford Wright said in the History Channel documentary "Comic Book Superheroes Unmasked": "We couldn't accept a goodie-goodie coming down and doing things just because they were good, but we could accept somebody who felt some twisted emotional need to fight evil." The question has been raised: 'How believable is that "goodie-goodie"?' J. Michael Straczynski's and Shane Davis' graphic novel "Superman: Earth One" attempts to give us new answers in a new story unburdened by either old Superman stories or the 22-page monthly comic-book format. Possibly even as a first step toward an ongoing series of graphic novels with the gravitas of something like a big-budget film franchise.

The scope is certainly cinematic, in fact it's more like a Hollywood action movie than any comic I've ever read. That means it's exciting, action packed, smartly structured, and visually stunning, with just a splash of powerful emotion but it also means it all moves too fast leaving a few emotions, circumstances, and characters without full development. Clark Kent is introduced on page 1, he displays superpowers on page 5, we have a threat introduced on pages 37 to 45, fighting begins on page 74 and lasts until page 104. This threat, an alien invasion with ties to Clark's original home planet of Krypton, is (mostly) resolved and a status quo is established by the final page clocking in at 124. The people who interpreted the promotion and design to indicate a 'sensitive' Clark Kent, an emo Superman, just about couldn't have been more wrong: BIG explosions, punching, flying, and dramatic hero vs. villain talking moves along, broken only by flashbacks, for 60 pages. A little bit under half, but a little bit too much for my liking.

That leaves only about 35 pages of pure character development. Just a third of the book, and a little bit short for my liking. 'How sad,' I thought when I hit the 40th page of the graphic novel, flipped ahead, and saw that the quiet scenes were mostly behind me. We get 30 pages of character, 60 pages of fighting, and 20 pages of set-up for the sequel? Or so I thought. Amid those pages of superhero fighting in the skies of Metropolis there's 13 pages of very emotional flashback to Clark's babyhood on Krypton or Smallville-style teenage years of being raised by Ma and Pa Kent in images and highly effective dialogue. OKAY, ENOUGH NUMBERS NOW. All of that should not stand against the simple fact that there is still more character moments than the average superhero comic.

The beauty of the story is in those flashbacks to Clark's conversations with Jonathan Kent. We're given some wonderful, sad, meaningful dialogue about growing-up, taking risks, and choosing your path in those snippets. "That's when we wake up. That's when we know who we are. That's when people will show up and take your side-- When you decide what it is you stand for, when standing is the hardest." Straczynski with all the headlights on, forging ahead into darkness. This is what I was looking forward to for the past year.

The beauty of the book itself is in the art: there are moments in here where Shane Davis' pencils and Barbara Ciardo's colors are at a caliber second to none. I compare it to John Cassaday and Laura Martin's work on "Planetary". (Yes, THAT good.) The splash page of the little ship holding baby Clark as he shoots past collapsing buildings in the last moment before Krypton's destruction. Davis and Ciardo firing on all cylinders, making other worlds appear. That is the thing I didn't predict I would love so much.

And the moments in which the storytelling synergy of script and pencils come together: Clark flies in a series of relative POV panels all the way into the stratosphere, the moment Superman wakes up in free-fall remembering his father's words encouraging him to "fly". They are magnificent.

But there are moments where it didn't all come together for me. Moments that were a little too easy. Dramatic, but over-played. Clark becoming a reporter for The Daily Planet at the end, putting on the suit for the first time in the middle:


That said, I think the final effect is that we do have the most believable Superman we have ever seen in a comic. And, as a direct result, the most heroic. He does make difficult decisions about his purpose and you can imagine a young man in his position making his choices. He must make a choice with the possibility of sacrificing what he wants personally for what he perceives is needed in the world according to his ability. And when he puts his own needs aside to make those choices, a financial, social, and emotional sacrifice is made. My generation is making that decision every day. Clark Kent really becomes a SuperMAN. Jimmy Olsen is replaced with James Olsen and this new grown man of a character speaks some inspirational words. (This is amazing if you've seen enough 1940s-50s Superman comic-book covers.) Olsen almost steals the show. Perry White is a newspaperman in a world of dying newspapers. He refuses to give up. Lois Lane seems, to me, to be the owner of the short end of the stick. She seems the same.

The question of whether an out-of-continuity graphic novel implying a series of new-continuity graphic novels featuring a well-known superhero could sell enough to warrant those sequels actually being greenlit has been answered. Another Superman Earth One graphic novel will arrive and the sales numbers have been clearly stated as the reason. [via DC: Source blog] And the Long and Shortbox Of It would like to congratulate J. Michael Straczynski and Shane Davis for those sales and being allowed to continue this project together because of those sales numbers.

But is the comic good?

There is no question that what has been created here is a full-length work, a movie on paper, a novel in pictures: a graphic novel by just about any definition you can throw at it. It's over 100 pages. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end. It was created and published in one push by a single creative force consistantly responsible for what is on the page. It depicts a character in a moment of true emotional difficulty and growth. It stands as a work by itself, but with the potential for sequels and prequels. My answer to whether or not the graphic novel was good is: Yes. It is in fact, great. But no, it is not exceptional. Being a graphic novel, it competes on a different playing field against things like last year's "Asterios Polyp", "Blankets", and the Scott Pilgrim series but it opens up new worlds of possibilies.

More high quality graphic novels from Marvel or DC, either with superheroes or other genres, featuring established characters or new ones, in-continuity or out-of-continuity?

Possibilities I look forward to. And in the meantime, we have a beautiful Hollywood-style graphic novel in "Superman: Earth One".

~ @JonGorga

Talk Over Balloons: artist Shane Davis

In a medium that was (and in some ways, still is) so dominated in America by stories of men in skin-tight leotards there is still a perception that comics aren't capable of emotional storytelling. And yes, there is still a slight shortage of human connections between human characters in mainstream comics. That is changing as the mainstream comics world changes and that change is coming with professionals both from comics and from outside comics. But left behind in some ways in this process are the old company flagships that once loomed so large on the comics reading populace: Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, Superman. DC is once again attempting to make Superman relevant by 'rebooting' him in another universe, but doing so with the new-er format of the full-length graphic novel. With a treatment from long-time uber-fan and scripting genius J. Michael Straczynski (who started his career in film and television), all that was needed was a penciler. The man chosen for the job is Shane Davis. As he said in an interview with CBR, "I wanted it to look classy and not flashy". In his interview with Newsarama.com Davis' statements reflected my thoughts about the project: "If you care about comics and you care about the property of the character of Superman, you realize how important something like this is." Now, here at The Long and Shortbox Of It, Shane Davis gives us the very human story of drawing something so huge and important as the first graphic novel to tell Superman's story anew, attempting to make a human figure out of the Last Son of Krypton.

Jon Gorga: Hello readers, this is Jon Gorga for The Long and Shortbox Of It. I'm here today at the New York Comic-Con (@NY_Comic_Con) in the Jacob Javits Center in New York City. I'm interviewing Shane Davis, who is the artist of the upcoming graphic novel "Superman: Earth One", a really exciting new initiative from DC Comics (@DC_NATION). So Shane, my first question is: Mike Cotton (@MichaelCotton) interviewed you for Wizard Magazine recently and one of the things he said was: "Earth One" is "a huge, possibly paradigm-shifting project in terms of format and storytelling" for the medium and for the industry. So I'm wondering whether you agree and your thoughts on that in general?

Shane Davis: You know, I would love for "Earth One" to be a game changer as far as superhero comics go. But that's a very bold risk, I think. I still like the floppies.

JG: I love 'em too.

SD: But where "Earth One" allows advancements (as in any original graphic novel) is not having to rush what people want, like a money shot of Superman. You don't have to jump the gun in the first 22 pages to show that big dynamic shot of the character. And I think that's the advancement and the game-changing part. It's more of an advanced storytelling in that you're kind of knocking the shackles off. It gets a lot of the luxuries of a movie, in that sense.

JG: Cool, that's actually almost exactly what I've been thinking and what I'm hoping for it.

SD: I think that's what a lot of people are going to come out of Earth One with. More of a: 'Wow, I feel like I maybe watched a Superman 'movie' and I can't wait for the next Superman 'movie'! Because [monthly] comics is great but if you took a two-hour movie and you have a character like Batman and you have to open up with a money shot of Batman and then, you know, another couple minutes you have to do another shot of Batman and next thirty minutes you have to have this other big shot of Batman, that can limit you in the actual storytelling in the movie itself.

JG: So you would say that the format has definitely allowed you to stretch your legs as a storyteller, pencil on paper?

SD: Well, "stretching my legs"? I wouldn't use that term. I was more-- It did, but it also allowed me to advance as a storyteller, I think. It allowed me to tackle situations in the fashion that was best for that scene, not what was the quickest way to show a nice big open shot of the character.

JG: Sounds good! What was it like working with J. Michael Straczynski as a writer?

SD: Joe's a great guy, he's a great collaborator. Working with Joe we talked a lot back and forth, working on stuff. It seemed like at least designing stuff, everything I designed was good off the bat. I think we talked a little bit back and forth about Clark's [space] pod a little bit. But that was the only thing that was like: 'Well how do I handle this? How do you see it?' Pretty much from every robot, spaceship, or bad guy to Clark and Superman. Everything I pretty much knocked off the bat. There was never any question. I don't know what everybody else's working situations were. I'm sure not everybody had great working situations with me, but I had a great working situation with Joe.

JG: Good. That's the thing that's hardest to control at the end of the day, right? In any business.

SD: Yeah, but we got along great so it was a great ride. The challenge for me now is: What do I do next?

JG: The next thing on the horizon is always the scariest and most challenging element of anything.

SD: Yeah. Yeah, it is

JG: So I'd like to ask you a question that's a little different from the others. Because the format that some people think of under the term 'graphic novel' is different from what other people think of and there's been a lot of argument about whether people like it, whether people don't like it, what it means, I want to ask you what 'graphic novel' as a term means to you, and what you think of it?

SD: After working on and producing what I just produced, I know and I see a really distinct difference between a graphic novel and a trade[paperback collection]. With that, I think what might shake-up people a little bit on this is maybe people have read a graphic novel, but how many have they ever read with a superhero that was just straight up done like this? Even things like "Dark Knight" and "Watchmen" were done in sections.

JG: Absolutely. And a lot of people don't know that.

SD: No, they don't... well they forget it. They're like: 'Oh, here's this awesome splash page of Batman in every chapter' and there's a reason for that. It was broken up into sections.

JG: You gotta sell the product.

SD: You know, you did. I don't know those circumstances with the editors, but they were selling the book. Kids were buying Batman or adults who wanted their Batman, you know? "Watchmen" is a different one I think. I think everybody kinda looks at "Watchmen" as its own thing. I don't want to go there.

[muffled question]

SD: ... It's $25, and you get either a free print or a comic.

[muffled statement]

JG: Pause for Con stuff.

SD: ... Thanks, thanks. Do you want the book or do you want the print?

JG: Speaking of selling stuff.

SD: Sorry.

JG: No! No, it's cool. It's reality, someone's buying a comic right now from Shane Davis. He's signing a sketchbook and a comic. I love comic conventions. I really do. I've been going to cons since I was like 8 years old.

[muffled question]

SD: ... That's not for sale yet. It's a story I'm working on now. I actually wrote that story and I'm drawing it right now.

guy: Really? Because this is absolutely amazing. When do you think it's going to be coming out?

SD: Don't know, I'll be going into the second half of it this month.

guy: Because that is one of the coolest Clayfaces I've ever seen.

SD: Yeah, everybody says that, everybody loves my Clayface. I just had this idea for a cool Clayface story. It was a twist on Clayface and they liked it.

guy: That's really cool.

SD: Thanks a lot man.

JG: That is cool!

SD: Thanks, thanks.

JG: Actually, my next question was going to be: ' "Superman: Earth One" comes out on the 27th of this month, October, but what's next?' You were saying that's the scarier thing, but it sounds like you've got a really cool new project where you're both the writer and the art storyteller?

SD: Dan [DiDio] was nice enough to let me write an issue of Batman that has a story on Clayface I wrote with a writer. He's writing some stuff for Marvel right now with, I think, the "Chaos War"?

JG: Greg Pak and [Fred] Van Lente? They're the two writers on that, I believe.

SD: Yeah, but he's dong a one-shot with [Michael William] Kaluta: Brandon Montclare. He's co-writing with me on this. It's a nice fun ride. It has a good angle and idea on Clayface and it was a one-shot story, it wasn't anything too long. I was like: 'Dan, what do you think of this story?' and he was game and so I'm drawing it up now. Don't know when that's going to release, but hopefully sooner than later.

JG: That must be a nice change of pace after doing a full 136-page graphic novel.

SD: It is. It's a short ride and it's got an ending that once you get to page 20, 21, 22 you flip back to the beginning and you're like: 'ohh...!' So it really couldn't have been more than one issue. It was just a quick idea: Well, if Clayface can do all this can Clayface do that?

JG: That's the fun of playing with the sandbox of a universe of shared characters.

SD: It's weird, I picked probably a character that's hardest to write a story with-- and what I mean by 'write a story with' is I didn't just use Clayface for something, I actually wrote a 'Clayface story'.

JG: Yeah, I got you.

SD: He's one of those characters that just kind of get used to get in and out of a tough situation, you know? A lot of writers have used him to get out of corners. 'I just need some guy to impersonate this and do this and who can do that' and that's Clayface. And you don't even know why he's doing it! Why's he doing it? Somehow Clayface hopped into a graveyard and is Jason Todd?! You know? WHY? What if I just had to pick this character that nobody seems to write a good story with and said 'hey what if I wanted to do the character justice for a minute.' I felt bad for Clayface. He's always used. I wanted to do a good Clayface story.

JG: I've had the same thought about certain Spider-Man villains. They just never got a serious treatment from their point of view.

SD: It's like: I don't think he's going to rob a bank today... what's he going to do, you know?

JG: No that's great. Pushing the medium and the format forward on lots of different fronts. That's great.

SD: Thanks, thanks. You had a question we were interrupted in, about the 'graphic novel'.

JG: Oh, the 'graphic novel', what the term means to you?

SD: When I went into it, I really did go in with a bold determination on it. Because it was a hell of job.

JG: I'd imagine.

SD: Yeah and when Dan told me, I never believed it. I was really trying to wiggle off the hook and go somewhere else and I ended up with the script in my lap and I was, like: 'I can't believe you guys did this to me,' you know? Somebody says: 'Hey, you're going to have to do this, Shane!' You know, I have more percentages of failing at this than I'll ever have to succeed. So why am I doing it?

JG: But more to gain in the long run, right? It could be a whole turning point for the genre?

SD: Yeah, I hope so, I hope so. I really have no idea what it's really going to do for me and my career, I have no idea what it's going to do for the genre. I hope people at least look at the character in a different, exotic, high-brow light. Maybe with more sensibility, more heart to the character. I mean, some of the quotes on the book... I'm just going to read some of these quotes off the back. ["Superman: The Movie" director] Richard Donner: " 'Superman: Earth One' balances the character, the mythos, the action that defines a great Superman story. I believe every moment. I know Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster would have thought it was awesome." I think David Goyer's was most important: "humanistic." HUMANistic.

JG: Interesting that it's Hollywood guys.

SD: A lot of them were Hollywood guys, yeah. But I think this is who it appealed to the most.

JG: I find that exciting.

SD: [Harlan Ellison:] "this is an absolute imperial piece of work". You know, the trick with this for me was: I did go in and I said: 'Okay I have to do it, here it is in my lap.'

JG: That's about 6 months-- 8 months of your life on one story? 136 pages.

SD: It was about 9 months. 9 months. But there were some delays in the middle with script. JMS had some other commitments he had to tie up. I set out to draw the All-American graphic novel and that's how I treated it since day one. I didn't really worry about trying to draw a very iconic, commercial Clark Kent. I kinda tried to do the character justice, you know. I drew every scene TO the character, in light of what was best FOR the character. And talking about what makes this different, what I hope made it different, I really hope people will come away feeling like the character was done justice... Not so much justice but they felt like he was real. You know, like Clark Kent was real.


JG: That he was a human being.

SD: Yeah, that we treated him like it. What I felt-- and this wrapped into what I had to do on the graphic novel-- I felt like Superman became a very cardboard-cut-out character, you know?

JG: The Big Blue Boy scout. Yeah.

SD: He was very iconic. So iconic that he was so not realistic. I was thinking about this the other day. What did we do here? I always get on these things and I try not to look down. That's my motto: 'Whatever I do, don't look down.'

JG: A good philosophy.

SD: Yeah, I try to remember and learn from the past. I'm looking back at it now after it's done and it's printed and I start noticing things like: Okay, I drew a guy walking down the street carrying his groceries and he drops tomatoes out of the bag as a fire truck rushes by him and he notices his place is on fire. Real-life stuff, you know? A guy dropping some of his groceries. A guy dressing like a guy. Trying to get a girl's attention. Having a conversation with his dad which was really heart-breaking. In those scenes, if it was a sad scene, I tried to really make it as sad as possible and draw it in a composition and make you feel sad, you know? And somehow with all these human moments with Clark, in the end we end up with him in a costume with primary colors fighting a bad guy and I think that was the magic of the book and where a lot of people are giving the great response who have read the book. You really take a normal dude and we built up and made you care about a normal dude and then slapped him in a costume and he had to save the Earth. And at the end it's believable.

JG: Awesome.

SD: Where Richard Donner made you believe a man could fly, I think what we set out to do and ultimately did accomplish is that we made you believe Superman can be real. And I think that's something that means a lot to people. And I think it might be something that people have forgotten. I think me or you or a lot of people, we were born, we grew up and we were introduced to Superman. We never saw Superman come onto the scene.

JG: He was here before us and he'll be here after us, as some people have said.

SD: I think he becomes like a Santa Claus icon.

JG: Yeah I follow you. God, that's a really good way of putting it because it feels equally empty the way he's often portrayed: No personality.

SD: Yeah. And I think where we're at now with "Earth One"... I think we took him for granted in the average Superman book. We always remember where Batman came from, you KINDA remember Superman's origin story. And that's where people who are like: 'How many times are we going to re-tell these origin stories?' I told somebody we really didn't retell his origin story because this isn't about him rocketing to Earth as a baby, it's about him deciding to be...

JG: It's an untold chapter.

SD: It is. It's the in-between chapter. But it's weird, it's one of those most important chapters of anybody's life is that moment when you decide who you're going to be the rest of your life. People are like: 'Oh we've seen this story' and no, you haven't. I haven't. Maybe he did reflect on it but you didn't feel it, you didn't live it, you didn't actually read it. He contemplates it. He doesn't just jump in the costume. He's like: 'Why would I do this?' Who would? Because once you do it once, you're going to do it the rest of your life.

JG: Yeah. Of course! That's great.

SD: It's expected of you, you're going to expect it of yourself. And that's what drew me to the script and why I'm HAPPY I did it. I'm really happy I did it.

JG: Good.

SD: I don't know if I could ever do it again! I'll be honest, I went into this project weighing 269 pounds and I came out weighing 196.

JG: DAMN.

SD: I don't know if I could do it again. I hope to one day. I'm going to pack away some cheeseburgers first. I'll try to get back on it. I put a lot into it and I was really stressed the whole time I was working on it and I was really concerned about the quality of the book and despite that I'm sure I'll have negative criticism and I'm sure I'll have great criticism. I've only been met with great criticism so far. But for all the negative? I really did try and at the end of the day I can tell myself that. That's enough for me, you know?

JG: It sounds like art, Shane.

SD: It's art!

JG: No, it sounds like serious art, it sounds like serious storytelling. It just happens to have a guy in a blue suit and that's what a lot of people are waiting for, Shane, I think.

SD: Honestly, I came out a different person than the person I went in. It's something I'm always going to remember, this book. It's something you're not going to forget, you know?

JG: Cool. Clark comes out changed, you came out changed, and hopefully the readers will come out changed! And it will be something that people will remember for the rest of their lives.

SD: Earth One is the best diet plan out there, man.

JG: Yeah, apparently!

SD: Everybody needs to do one. Forget Jenny Craig, man.

JG: Draw a 136 page graphic novel and you WILL lose weight?

SD: Go work an Earth One project, you'll be alright.

JG: I've been joking for the past year that the metaphor of the starving artist? It's not a metaphor.

SD: No, no.

JG: It's not a joke. It's for real.

SD: It's a losing your appetite artist, that's what it is!

JG: Well I should let you get back to your fans, Shane. But thank you so much for making the time for this!

SD: Thank you, and it's been a pleasure.

JG: This is Jon Gorga for the The Long and Shortbox Of It.

__________________________
I wish Shane Davis, DC Comics and Joe Michael Straczynski (and Clark Kent as well) all the luck possible in this new chapter of their lives. This massive undertaking of making the Man of Steel feel like a man of flesh and bone while attempting to jump-start superhero serial graphic novels will arrive on shelves next week: October 27th, 2o1o.

I'll be buying a copy of "Superman: Earth One" for myself and reviewing it here on The Long and Shortbox Of It, come by for the continuation of this story!

Shane has just recently begun maintaining a website called simply ArtofShaneDavis.com! Not much there yet, but check it out!

A Convention By Any Other Promoter Would Smell As...

This past weekend was the Big Apple ComicCon, a Wizard Magazine sponsored con, and I must tell you -looks left- -looks right- I didn't expect to have as much fun as I did! 

There was some disparaging talk about this con on the net (I'm looking at you @rickmarshall) and I feel the need to say up front and honestly: this con was not polished, this con was not slick. But this con was small enough to allow me to get one-on-one time with several industry giants and many talented unknowns. That's what I care about: comics people. 

Yeah, there were guys dressed as vampires running around making fools of themselves. There were industry creators getting drunk and blowing off steam. There were overweight men in their forties dressed ridiculously. But you know what? All of that is going to be at the bigger polished cons too. It's all in good fun and done by people who love to do it. More importantly, I didn't see even the smallest maliciousness or misogyny. Everybody was having a nice time. 

There was a nice mix of big names like Ethan Van Scriver (who was hilarious), Mark Millar (@mrmarkmillar - who was equally hilarious), J.G. Jones, Leinil Yu, Joe Madureira, guys you may not know like Rodney Ramos, Michael Golden, and Javier Cruz Winnik and some new faces: I met some very excellent and talented young comicsmiths like Brendan Leach (@iknowashortcut - who you WILL be hearing more about from us), Jungyeon Roh (@JungyeonRoh), the team at Pronto Comics (@prontocomics) and ShapeShifter Comics! 

I got really excited when I read Jungyeon's pre-press example of "Miss Eggplant's American Boys" and since it isn't really published yet and I can't review it or link somewhere you can buy it, I took a photo of her with it! 

It's a really cool piece combining the lyrics of the song "American Boy" with the immigrant experience and Jungyeon's character Miss Eggplant, a representation of veganism! It sounds ridiculous and... well it is, but it works thanks to her gorgeous illustration style and sense of fun. She has a site where you can see more here. 

Most importantly all of this meeting and greeting was done at an event of the perfect size! It really wasn't much bigger than MoCCA Fest, but with a few big names mixed in. 

ALERT -- ALERT -- soapbox moment! 

In the con wars, bigger is not necessarily better. I don't want to have to push through a crowd of Twilight fans to have multiple quality one-on-one conversations with a comicsmith. That said, I also believe there's room for everybody and every passion with proper planning. Big Apple Comic Con was well planned in this respect: the film/TV celebrities were on one floor, the comics dealers/artists/writers/comicsmiths were on the other one, and they shared the panel space on the third. SMART. 

Soapbox moment over. Thanks be to the spaghetti monster. Amen. (Can you tell I went to Catholic school?) 

One of those big names was Shane Davis, and I got a chance to speak to him quickly about "Superman: Earth One", the upcoming Superman graphic novel drawn by him and written by J. Michael Straczynski. Hopefully we will have much more for you about that after next weekend! 

I wrote about this project a long time ago on this blog when it was first announced so it's really exciting to see it so near fruition now. 

Wow. A children's book-style comic about a sentient traveling eggplant and an action graphic novel about Superman. Can I get a HELL YEAH for the diversity of material in the medium? 

You know, as weird as this sounds, I think a big part of why this con was so good for me is because this is the first big comics event I've been to since joining Twitter. Being able to immediately THAT NIGHT on an iPhone before even getting off the train home(!) connect with the people I'd met during the day was great. 

Next weekend will be another of these things: the huge New York ComicCon! 

~ @JonGorga 

Also... the batmobile was there! tee hee! 

Thoughts on Digital Comics and Higher Price Points, Masquerading as an Iron Man Annual #1 Review

I really dug The Invincible Iron Man Annual #1. First and foremost, Matt Fraction here is at the top of his game- his hero is tragically brave, his villain is believably ego-maniacal, his story is dark and subtle, his facts are his fictions and his fictions are facts. All that, despite featuring one of the most flamboyant characters in comics- The Mandarin.

It would be easy to play up the villain, easy to make him overbearing and long-winded but Fraction resists that temptation. Instead, he gives us a villain aware of his own past but unwilling to remember it or, perhaps more relevantly, willing to rewrite it. This may very well be a reference to Fraction himself- this is something that the writer does very well and to great effect, particularly in his run on Immortal Iron Fist from a couple of years ago (incidentally, the book is littered with Iron Fist references and call backs. I'm hopeful that this foreshadows Fraction's return to the character, at the very least in a limited capacity). More likely it's a reference to the way in which certain writers feel free to retcon a character rather than to reinforce core principles.* Either way, it's a vicious piece of plotting, and it hits its mark beautifully by reminding us that no man is the villain of his own story, even if he knows that he is.

In fact, The Invincible Iron Man Annual is, in almost every way, more of a long Mandarin one-shot than an Iron Man comic. Tony Stark (or, at least, the real Tony Stark) makes only one, brief appearance- in a flashback. This is why it's so odd that Marvel choose this comic to try same day and date retailing with- this is a damn good comic (in fact, maybe the best all year), but anyone who's been observing the business for any length of time realizes that quality does not necessarily lead to sales. Recognition leads to sales. Iconography leads to sales. Sure, people who know comics know The Mandarin- but would a guy off the street (or dude with an iPad) looking for something more after Iron Man 2?

It's not impossible, certainly, but it is extremely unlikely. Why this comic, then? There are plenty of other Iron Man comics they could have tried, plenty of others more likely to hold the interest of a casual comics fan.

I think this is the key. I don't think that they're aiming for the casual comics fan- I think the comics companies are looking to hook people who were already into comics into digital readers. It's the only thing that makes any sense. Otherwise, DC would have published Batman #700, Superman #700 or Wonder Woman #600 rather than that JLI comic they've started out with. Marvel would have begun with an X-Men comic, or an Avengers one. In fact, they might even be trying to hook people who think they've outgrown comics- people who would be interested in JLI or the Mandarin.

People who might not otherwise be interested in paying $5 for a comic book might be willing to read about a character they remember fondly at a much cheaper price of $2 for the beginning of the story.

I understand why the Annual cost so much- it's a big comic book, and the ads are relatively unobtrusive- but I bet if we did a page by page analysis we would find that it's actually relatively inexpensive for the amount of story- I'm going to guess somewhere around 45 pages?- that we actually get. Not only that, I'm glad parts of it are accessible cheaply; it's a damn good story, and I suspect that no one who buys the first third will be able to resist buying the rest. What I don't understand is why today's issue of Thor costs so much for a normal sized comic. Or why Marvel insists on putting those lame "oral history" pages in the back of new Avengers issues.

I have a theory, though. I think we're paying for respectability.

It's true that, in purely physically aesthetic terms, the quality of comics has shot up over the last 20 years or so. Higher quality paper, more colors, etc. Although we're also paying for those things when we buy a comic these days, I think what we're really paying for is the right to look at something that might be high art. Consider this- things that are considered "great art" have limited accessibility. Plays and classical music cost money. So do movies. Literature, until very recently, we severely limited by the number of people who were capable of reading. This has always been comics' problem- too many people had access. Too many people could appreciate them, so they couldn't possibly be fine art- except now they can be, because they're expensive. Because they aren't as accessible as they used to be.

I have no idea if this is actually true, and the thought clearly needs some development, but it's curious, isn't it? And what if I'm onto something? How does that change the way we, as comics readers and intellectuals, understand our passion?

---------------------
*Consider the differences between JMS's attempts at the former (Spider-Man) rather than the latter (Thor).

Who's excited for tomorrow's Brave and the Bold?

I'm excited for tomorrow's Brave and the Bold.

For those of you who don't know, J. Michael Straczynski has been knocking Brave and the Bold out of the park month after month, pairing together characters that you would never imagine teaming up. Green Lantern and Doctor Fate? The Atom and the Joker? Aquaman and the Demon? Each better than the last in my opinion.

Last month, we saw Aquaman and the Demon teaming up in a quest to save the world from Cthulu- I mean, The Old Gods. I was highly impressed by JMS's ability to channel Lovecraft so well, while still keeping his unique voice. It was one of the best one shot comics that I had ever read, and I was really unsure how he was going to top it.

Oh wait. He'll write a new one shot with three of my favorite characters and have it be drawn by one of my favorite artists. Duh. Why didn't I think of that?

While, the team-up roster is a little more predictable than the usual team-ups on JMS's Brave and the Bold run, I'm stoked for a great ride and another fun issue.

Thanks to DC's blog The Source for posting the preview pages. You can check them out here!

I'm Not Much Of A Superman Fan...

...but the combination of the above John Cassaday cover and JMS as the writer may make me try a few issues. Solicit information is below:

J. Michael Straczynski begins his highly anticipated run on SUPERMAN! After the devastating events of WAR OF THE SUPERMEN, how can Superman possibly continue his battle for Truth, Justice and the American Way? Find out here in “Grounded” part 1 and get in on the starting line of a modern-classic SUPERMAN story!

Gorga's Looking Forward to Wednesday 1/20/2o1o!

Hellooooooo.

And thus follows the perfunctory pull-list post of what I'm thinking of getting this Wednesday in my weekly comic-book store visit:

"the Amazing Spider-Man" #618
"Amazing" has been consistently good for about four months now. And that means a lot more than usual because it comes out three times a month. That's really more like a year's worth of stories from any other title. I ain't complaining.

"Web of Spider-Man" #4
It's the Spider-Man title that doesn't really feel like a Spider-Man title. Yeah his name's on it and yeah he shows up sometimes, but basically it's the villain of the month book now. I'll probably pass on this again.

"Avengers vs. Agents of Atlas" #1 of 4
I think this looks delightful. I haven't read much of Agents of Atlas, but Josh speaks well of it and I'm really getting even more into the Avengers as "Siege" ramps up.

"Incredible Hercules" #140
Continuation of "Assault on New Olympus", Marvel's other-other-other crossover 'event'.

"Spider-Woman" #5
So the new Avengers might be in here... or they might be more skrulls or whatever. We'll see.

"Dark Avengers" #13
Like Josh, I feel the siren song of the crossover 'event'. I want to know what Bendis will feel the need to hide in "Dark Avengers" that he doesn't put in "Siege".

"The Brave and the Bold" #31
The idea of the Atom and the Joker quote-unquote teaming-up makes little to no sense, but since JMS is writing it that actually means it's probably going to be remarkable.

"Cowboy Ninja Viking" #3
or
"Cowboy Ninja Viking" #4?
Or nothing. Both issues have been solicited for this week. Between the erratic release schedule and erratic tone of this title I'm falling further and further out of love with it.

"RASL" #6
"RASL" #6 might be coming out. This is another series that arrives when it feels like although it's far more worth the wait than "Cowboy Ninja Viking".

"Joe the Barbarian" #1 of 8
I can't help thinking "neato!" Because I'm sure twelve-year-old Jon Gorga would be absolutely enthralled by this title. We shall see what twenty-three-year-old Jon Gorga thinks of it.

Mind you I have no idea what I will really be able to afford... Check back here to find out!


UPDATE: 1/22/2o1o
So... this past Wednesday was a job searching day. I went to some of the comic-book shops in NYC I hadn't been to yet and as I wanted to make it clear that I read comics and love comics I bought a few at every store I visited while I dropped off resumes.

Long story short I'd spent more than I usually do on a Wednesday before I even got around to buying my new books. Mind you, I got some good deals. But money being tight I scaled back my purchases for the week to:

"the Amazing Spider-Man" #618

It was really the only essential buy for me this week anyway. Next week perhaps will be more exciting.

Already Tired of Tuesday... Late Edition

I know its Wednesday folks, sorry about that. I'm in the midst of Finals, so I'm afraid blogging gets short shrift, but in return for my being unable to fall asleep, you get new posts.

Which I guess is a fair trade.


This week's featured issue is Fables #91, the conclusion to the Witches storyline. Witches, on the whole, has been pretty unbelievably cool, with just the right level of intrigue, adventure and butt-kicking flying monkey. That's right, Bufkin, the flying monkey, has been playing a major role in Fables for the past five months and, in my humble opinion, it's one of the most satisfying character arcs that Bill Willingham has ever written. Furthermore, in between Frau Totenkinder's quest to discover the origin of Mr. Dark, Ozma's take over of the Fable spellcasters and Gepetto's quest to regain a little power, there's a lot going on here- and it's all building up to something huge. If you haven't been reading Fables, this is not a very good place to jump on- but, as the book is by far one of the best currently on the stands, you really should wait until next month, when a brand new storyline starts.

Also on the pull list for this week is Captain America Reborn #5, which may or may not be the last issue of a mini that I had high hopes for, but has been incredibly inconsistent, as well as Daredevil #503 and possibly Brave and the Bold #30. Daredevil is, I think, one of the most underrated comics on the stands these days, and if you aren't picking it up you should at least take a flip through. I haven't heard great things about JMS' Brave and the Bold run, however, the cover caught my eye, so maybe Dr. Fate is enough to bring me on, if for just one issue. We'll have to see, I guess.

Earth One... For the First Time All Over Again?

DC is going to be up to some crazy tricks next year.

DC announced their new "Earth One" project this morning.


So: Who wants to see a new comic about Batman becoming Batman? Again.
I'm not sure I do.

But: Who wants to see new stories about established superhero characters in the full-length graphic novel format?
That I'm pretty sure I do.

Apparently the first of these graphic novels (fittingly featuring the first superhero character) will be "Superman: Earth One" and will be written by the excellent J. Michael Straczynski and drawn by Shane Davis (whom I've never heard of but, if this Superman image is any real indication of his work, he'll be welcome in my brain) and will soon be followed by "Batman: Earth One" by drum rolllllll... Geoff Johns and Gary Frank!

(from DC: The Source blog, via the "Comics Books" program wall)


I have been saying for years now that the future of superhero comics could be in graphic novels.

Sci-Fi books and films gained huge readership and slowly got established as a part of the cultural canon where Sci-Fi television never did.

Superhero films have pretty insane box office clout these days where superhero comics are being ignored by comparison.

Graphic novels are becoming the darling of 'literary' types where comic-books are left by the way-side (most obscenely in the occasions where the story was serialized as a comic-book before it was a collected trade-paperback).

See, people are doing this silly thing called 'trade waiting'. We'll hear more about this later, but basically it's the comics equivalent of 'Who has time for television? I'll wait for the DVD season set.' (Which, by the way, I do. Television is much harder to follow for me than monthly comics.) They don't pick up the monthly individual issues of an ongoing comic-book, they instead wait six months or more for the paperback collection. People like the feeling that they've gotten their money's worth, that they can hold a meaty consumer item, something that looks nice on a shelf. I'm as guilty of that as anyone. Although I have rarely, rarely, rarely waited for the trade on an ongoing series, I certainly feel the pull. I did twice decide to wait for a trade of a mini-series and I have bought paperbacks of stories I already owned entirely in single issues. Some series are built for it and some aren't.

I do believe there is a certain weight, a certain power, to complete 'full-length' works of art.

I think the film "Citizen Kane", the novel "Invisible Man", and the graphic novel "Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth" attest to this.

Do I think they're actually categorically BETTER than short-form serial fiction? No. Do I think it's right to squish a random chunk of short-form serial fiction together and pretend it's a complete single work? HELL NO. I think that's a mess. I've written to that effect elsewhere on this site.

This is not the first effort to do graphic novels with established superhero characters. The excellent "Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth" stands as proof. What the "Earth One" graphic novel project might signify is a shift toward graphic novel series, i.e. long-form serial fiction. Something more like the James Bond films. Okay. Maybe that's a bad example?

When Straczynski was asked in this interview on Ain't It Cool News conducted by columnist "Ambush Bug" with both writers Straczynski and Johns what he thinks of this possibility, his answer is wonderful:

BUG: The graphic novel format has been a preferred reading experience for a growing number of fans. Trade-waiting is a pretty common term I hear thrown around these days. What do you think; does the release of such a high profile product in a graphic novel format signify the end of the monthly single issues?

JMS Not at all. It's like saying that the production of movies signifies the end of dramatic series TV. Each serves a different need, and fills a different niche. If there's anything that is signified by trade-waiting, it's that we need to write better stories. If a reader can wait until it's all done to buy it, then we're not doing our jobs right. We should be writing stories that the reader can't wait to buy as soon as the next installment hits the stands, and then at the end, wants to gather together for ease of re-reading. If a reader can wait it out, then we as creators need to re-evaluate our work. Seriously.

And here's the more optimistic side of the coin from Johns:

BUG: Apart from event books and maybe the occasional guest appearance or team book appearance, this is the first time I recall you doing a Bat book. What was it about this project that finally attracted you to Gotham?

GJ: Three words: “Gary Frank” and “freedom.” Obviously, I love long form storytelling. ... BATMAN: EARTH ONE allows Gary and I to break the restraints of any continuity and focus on two things: character and story. Add to that the idea of working on a line of graphic novels instead of being limited to twenty-two pages, it’s a challenge and I love a challenge.

Sounds good to me.

When Writers Put Back Their Toys

Because I go to a shop that's sort of far away from the place where I live, and also because I was home last week due to Thanksgiving, I hadn't gotten to read the Giant Size Thor Finale until yesterday, when I went to Millbrook to pick it up from my shop.

As the title of the issue indicates, it is JMS's last issue on the book, which is both a good thing and a bad one. On the one hand, maybe now that Kieron Gillen is writing the title, it'll ship on time. On the other hand, JMS's run was unbelievably fantastic- each time I thought it couldn't get any better, it did. The Giant Size Finale isn't his best issue of the series, but it is still pretty good (the highlight, by the way, is Volstagg being badass, something which will never cease to delight me). Unfortunately, JMS saw fit to end his run in a way that always makes me cringe: he decided to put his toys away before he went home.

When I say that, what I mean is this- JMS decided that, in the last issue of his run, he was going to reintegrate certain parts of the status quo before he started writing the title a few years ago. Now, this is his right, but I don't understand why writers feel the need to do this. By killing one of the most interesting characters he introduced during the course of his run, he prevents us from seeing where another writer would have taken the concept (one that was, by all means, worth developing further). Additionally, I think I wouldn't be quite so pissed about the whole thing if Kieron Gillen hadn't sort of mishandled the fallout (which is in the preview for Thor#604 at the end of the issue)- although I suppose it could still have the dire consequences for the book's villians that I think it should have.

I understand that the above paragraph is nebelous, and it was the less egregious of the two examples anyway- what really makes me wonder why unwriting of this sort is necessary is that JMS gives Donald Blake his limp back.

I know, I know, it doesn't sound like a lot, but it is- he couldn't have just let Donald Blake keep walking normally? Why not? I mean, it's not like it's essential to the character, or anything- if it were, the run wouldn't have been nearly as successful. The whole half-cripped-guy-turns-out-to-have-superpowers thing is pretty played out at this point, so I'm not sure it's actually going to bring anything to the comic that wasn't already there.

The only concievable reason why any writer should unwrite him/herself like that is because they don't trust whoever is coming up next to play with the new status quo very well (or, at least the first writer thinks the second one won't). Quite honestly, it's kind of arrogant, and it brings a run of issues that should have ended with a bang (Volstagg being badass and associated dick joke notwithstanding) out with a little bit of whimper.

I understand that this is, in the end, a very small complaint. The book is a good book, and I certainly recommend reading it if you want to get into Thor, but this sort of writing frustrates me to no end because it nullifies ideas that make comics interesting- something that we're always a little short on.

Already Tired of Tuesday 11/24/09

AHA! Finally a big week of things for me to report on Already Tired of Tuesday!

First off we've got the final story in JMS's fantastic run on Thor- its sad to see the writer leave the God of Thunder as the stories he's told have been unbelievable. He's taken Thor and Asgard to entirely new places and while many of the comics that the Big Two produce seem to be recycling themselves Thor has been blazing its own trail for as long as JMS has been writing it. I did, however, really enjoy Kieron Gillen's first issue of SWORD, so I'm hopeful that the series will remain fantastic, although I'm certainly invested enough in it that I'll probably keep pulling it, even if it blows.

Staying in the realm of the divine, the second of part of Assault on New Olympus comes out tomorrow too- if you're interested, check out this interview over at CBR- and, seeing as I've been digging Incredible Herc so much recently I'm excited to see where Pak and Van Lente take this.

Matt Fraction is keeping the trouble coming for the X-Men in Uncanny #517, Tracy Lawless is sure to find some of his own in Criminal: The Sinners #2 and the JSA is going to tear itself to shreds in #33, the last issue before Matt Sturges takes his team and splits it off into JSA: All Stars.

Additionally, there are two more things I'm going to take a good look at: the new trade dress for The Invincible Iron Man is fantastic, and I've been waiting for a good point to jump on Fraction's Tony Stark story, so I'm going to try it out for a few issues and see what happens. Also, I've been hearing really good things about Jonathan Hickman's Fantastic Four, so I might be picking that up as well.

Anything else I should take a flip through?

Already Tired of Tuesday 09/29/09

After a one week break filled with some pretty decent comics, I'm back in action this week for what looks to be the second pretty small week in a row; after two big weeks in a row, it is something of a relief.

In fact, there looks to be only one Marvel book I'll be picking up this week-

Thankfully, that book is the epic, the mighty, the finally assembled THOR #603. I'll be sad to see JMS' run end, but maybe it means that the book will ship on time one of these days. I certainly hope so, anyway.

Other than that, well, I'm getting JSA #31 and... that's pretty much it.

In other news, I already miss Wednesday Comics.

Looks Like I Was Wrong

The presence of Loki in the image above suggests that this is, in fact, the part of the event that drove JMS off of Thor; I can only hope it's awesome as it looks, and furthermore that it represents more than just a Dark Avengers issue.

Whatever Happened to the God of Thunder?

It used to be that I thought Thor wasn't very interesting. I used to believe that the most compelling superheroes were those with whom we could identify, those that we see ourselves as. This is a variation on the oft-stated opinion that Batman is the most compelling super-hero because he doesn't actually have any super-powers (which, incidentally, is untrue: Batman's superpower is being as rich as God. I suppose the argument might work with Nightwing, or maybe a character like Hawkeye or Green Arrow but in the context of what I'm about to say and recent events its mostly a moot point).

Both of those suppositions are wrong*.

The latter is wrong mostly because no-one says it about Iron Man (who is a much better Marvel analogue to Batman than Moon Knight, mostly because the basic character type is the same). The reason that no-one makes this argument on Tony Stark's behalf is that, mostly, Tony isn't as interesting as Bruce Wayne, because his hook isn't nearly as fantastic. Iron Man really is just a dude with a lot of money and training; Batman is a dude with lots of money and training whose parents were killed by criminals, scarring him into becoming a psychopath, albeit an awesome one.

I discovered that the former isn't true because of J. Michael Straczynski's run on Thor. I love JMS's Thor. I love it so much that I'm willing to throw out one of my core beliefs about what makes a good superhero concept simply on the basis of a series that I've been reading backwards, from #602 back to #8 (which is far, far less impressive than it sounds, considering the renumbering). I love it so much, in fact, that I have since bought (and fallen in love with) Matt Fraction's Thor One-Shots**, and some Walter Simonson Thor issues out of a fifty-ceny bin.

So, basically, Thor is by far one of the best superhero comics being released at the moment. The problem is, of course, that I have to use a term like "released" loosely, because the timeline between issues seems to roughly consist of forever, and this is extremely frustrating.

Unfortunately, JMS is leaving Thor, apparently beacuse of the big upcoming "Siege of Asgard" event referenced here. Rich Johnston has a couple theories about what this might be, here and here, and although the former has been discredited, the latter seems to be within the realm of possibillity.

That is, until one considers that the most recently announced Marvel Event is called Assault on New Olympus, which sounds sort of similair to "Siege of Asgard" insofar as it involves attacking a new representation of an old home for ancient gods. Now, Marvel is sort of notorius for appropriating ideas from elsewhere (take that Identity Disc miniseries from a few years back or the upcoming Necrosha event, which is basically Blackest Night featuring mutants) but stealing from yourself is a little absurd, even for the House of Ideas.

So, True Believers, the question is this: Is it Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente who are going to bring the God of Thunder back into the Marvel U. proper? Will it be Bendis and Copiel, as Rich proposes? Or is it something else entirely?

For what it's worth, my allowance is on the first option: given both Herc's status as a former Thor supporting character and Amadeus's previous history with helping out heroes in need, as well as the title similarities pointed out above, and the dots seem to connect in all the right places. Still, the second option isn't inconcievable and (despite my modest bashing of Bendis earlier this week) would probably be quite wonderful.

Whatever happens, I'm excited to see where Thor goes- although JMS's issues were so few and far-between, he concocted a great setup for the next guy, and I can only hope that that guy is someone equally as talented.

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*This is a sweeping generalization- the kind I should have learned my lesson about with the sweeping generalization made in the introduction- and, as is usually true of such statements, it is incomplete. There are two sets of comics characters who are compelling because they are identifiable, and a third who sort of fits the bill. The first two, are, of course, the X-Men and (if my limited knowledge is correct) The Doom Patrol, both of which are made of heroes both hated by humanity and sworn to protect them. Spider-Man sort of fits the bill, except I suspect we like Peter Parker mostly because we like him, not because we feel like we are him.

**Now, Fraction's work makes me suspect that my first sweeping generalization wasn't so wrong after all- what he makes clear is that Thor exists as we know him in the Marvel comics because he was flawed. Thor was, essentially, cursed to be bound with a mortal because he was a holier-than-thou ass, which rubbed Odin the wrong way. Perhaps if the sweeping generalization is modified into "The only heroes that aren't compelling are those heroes that aren't flawed" which would, of course, mean that Superman may be the least interesting cape of all time- as near as I can tell (despite attempts by people like Brian Azzarello, who's Superman run is fantastic) Supe's only flaw is that he's got this moral code that no one can live up to but him, which maybe the least realistic flaw of all-time. I have no problem with suspension of disbelief (I am blogging about comics, after all), but that's just absurd.