There’s nothing more pathetic than a website that hasn’t been updated in months (or years), so in the interest of jump-starting this stalled endeavor, here is a little something I like to call… “NEW COMICS–NOV.9″
DMZ #1
Finally–a Brian Wood fix. If I grow up, I want to be just like Brian Wood–fantastic design sense, mature level of political reponsibility, indie cred, and his own line of screen-printed t-shirts–and now, an ongoing series from Vertigo.
The only disappointing thing about picking this up was that I had been looking forward to grabbing both this and the first issue of Brian’s other new project, LOCAL (Oni Press) on the same day, but LOCAL has been delayed a week at the printers…
DMZ is going to be really good, you can tell from the first issue. Not only is Wood always good (I didn’t read more than one or two issues of Generation X, so I can say that with a straight face), but Italian artist Riccardo Burchielli is a find. Sort of a mix between Biukovic & Risso, with definite moments of Brian Wood mixed in–the lead female character Zee looking almost as if Wood was drawing her himself–hair, facial structure, piercings, and most noticibly, large, outlined freckles. Brian does contribute both the cover art and the interior art for photos and other news footage.
The story itself revolves around an embedded journalist (well, photo-intern) in war-ravaged Manhattan. The backstory is apparently the possible outcome of the U.S. government’s continued emphasis on commiting money and troops to situations overseas, while ignoring the internal problems of the country, including, in this case, revolutionary militias. But don’t worry about the politics–worry about the story. Go buy it and read it now, then you and you friends can waste your time having political flamewars on some messageboard later.
Desolation Jones #4
After a few years of miniseries or micronovels or sequentialartalbums or whatever new cutting-edge catchphrase Warren Ellis was coining at the time, it seems like he’s suddenly sprouting a new ongoing project every time I browse the internet. Since I have been a comics hermit lately, this may or may not truly be the case, but it seems like I’ve seen his name attached to an awful lot of things lately…
But really, that’s good news. Desolation Jones is strong. For awhile there, it seemed like Ellis’s protagonists were really all the same balls-to-the-wall, nastier, harder, more-connected-with-security-clearance-50-levels-higher-than-the-president, guy, just wearing a different finely-tailored suit coat or trench than the last incarnation. And while some of that may be true of Mike Jones (and all of it is true about Jack Cross), he’s different. Like when Transmet first came out, and Spider didn’t really remind you of any other character you already ahd in bags and boards–that’s how Jones is.
I won’t pretend to quite know what’s going on with the plot yet (aside from the same old tired homemade-Hitler-porn storyline you’ll find in practically every Claremont X-Men), but the main character is intriguingly different, and the setting is fantastic–L.A. as the mandated retirement spot and possible safe haven for an entire community of ex-intelligence operatives from around the world.
On top of it all, you’ve got J.H. Williams doing some fascinating stuff with the stortelling and panel formats. If you’re as interested as I am in new ways of using the sequential art tools to tweak the communicative side of comics, you’ve got to be checking this out.
ShadowPlay 1&2
Picked this up because of my new infatuation with Ashley Wood. It’s weird, because sometimes it’s not event the art I’m drawn to–it’s the type of projects he’s doing, and his apparent ability to do such a wide range of just whatever he wants in such a short period of time. He’s like the artist we all want to be–fast, edgy, experimental, and getting paid to do pet projects right and left. [POPBOT RULES!]
Each issue is split into two main parts, with a short prose story in the back, like I’m finding in a lot of the IDW books I pick up. The two ongoing stories are by Amber Benson (apparently from one of those Buffy TV shows) and Ben Templesmith (fastest artist since Jae Lee on Namor), and Christina Z and Ashley Wood. Although I haven’t been much of a Templesmith fan in the past, his work here, and on the new ongoing series from Warren Ellis (Is it called FAKKEN? I can’t remember–oh, it’s FELL) is winning me over… packs of vampire children… one with an eyepatch! The Christina Z story, “Shunt” is apparently some sort of vampire-related white slavery piece of bdsm erotica… I say “apparently’, becaus as much as I love Ashley Wood, the artistic storytelling on this one is so opaque that it feels more like having a nightmare–you catch disturbing visuals here and there, and then your mind’s left trying to string together the dialogue into some coherant narrative. Still–it’s entertaining in a pleasantly uneasy sort of way. The prose pieces are nice added content for the money, too, as well as a good way to be exposed to new writers.
Uncanny X-Men 465
Why, you ask? No, this was not yet another attempt to reconnect with the Claremont-penned X-Men of my youth (I gave that up with disgust a few years ago after one final attempt ended in me throwing the book away)… instead, it was me thinking, “Hey, I haven’t seen any good Bachalo art in awhile…”
Still haven’t. Bachalo’s mailing it in (or all 16 inkers on the book suck), and aside from his other problems, Claremont has completely lost any bit of pacing or cadence in any of his writing. It could have been left without words, and it would have been just as understandable. And interesting. This book sucked. I should have just superglued my $2.50 to the floor at the mall, so I could watch little kids try in vain to get rich quick.
Anyway–don’t buy it. If you already did–try to donate to an orphanage for the blind. Just don’t let anyone read it aloud to them.