I was not going to write a review of this issue. I had told myself over and over that it wasn’t going to happen, that everyone on the net was going to be writing about this book, and to top it off I REALLY wanted to read the new Justice League first this week, (mostly because of the amazing David Mack cover,) but I just couldn’t help myself, I had to read it.

Cover image The Avengers #1

So what should I say. It is a first issue, and the team was pretty much already known by the world. There was a clear threat that moved the story forward and there is one hell of an awesome cliffhanger that will get me buying the next issue. Yeah, Mr. Bendis knows how to write.

It is more than that though. There is an intangible quality about this issue, as if, for the first time since Mr. Bendis began writing the franchise, I was reading an AVENGERS book. Sure the presence of Steve Rodgers, Thor, and Iron Man help convey this feeling, but it was more the way Hawkeye and Spider-man were used.

Hawkeye was portrayed in a manner that he was the old vetran. Like the pitcher who has been in the majors for fifteen years, and after a long strike, is finally back where he belongs. Spider-man is cast as the rookie. As the guy who should have been in the Show a while ago, so he isn’t totally green and no one thinks he has anything to prove, but who, because of the strike is finally getting his shot. It is really a wonder bit of casting, and of finding a way to put the right characters in the right situation to move the story, yet allow Relatability and access to the situation the character find themselves. In a sense Mr. Bendis is talking right to us through these characters. As if he is Spider-man, and he is where he has always wanted to be, writing the Avenger stories he has always wanted, and like Spidey, he is excited.

The art in this book can not be over looked. Mr. Romita Jr. does his usual best.  He is a brilliant sequential storyteller, and there is an interesting looseness to his like work, almost like there is a sketch quality, that I have never seen before in his work, and I like it! (And of course, the master inker that is Klaus Janson heightens this feeling and deserves his own props.)

Jack Kirby pinup found in the text section

But all of this is not what made this issue awesome. That award goes to the text section in the back of the book. Mr. Bendis has crafted a sudo-book about the history of the avengers. It is structured like the recent SNL history, where the story is told through a combination of interviews with anyone who might have been involved.

For example, in this issue, we are retold the story of how the Avengers first assembled, and while I don’t want to spoil anything, I’ll say that I love the voice that Bendis gives to the one and only Rick Jones.

This text issue is worth the price of admission, and I really hope that it lasts for a while, and is not rushed threw. (I hate to admit this, but I would buy a book that was just the text section.)

So to sum up, go get this book, it is full of fun, and great twists and turns.

Oh… and one quick last thing. Bellow I have posted a picture of the David Mack JLA cover, go take a look…..

Cover to JLA 45 By David Mack

Now tell me that doesn’t make you want to read the issue.

Sandman #2, what can I say. This is very much a continuation of the story form issue one, and it works hard to answer some of the questions that the reader had from that issue, but in a lot of ways it is just a lot of set up, and is pretty boring.

Cover of Sandman #2

Now the stuff  with Cain and Able is cool, and Gaiman does a nice job of interducing them, and some other characters that will be very important to the series as we move on like Lucien, the librarian of the Library of Dreams, and the Hecateae (the Kindly Ones). All of this is very well written and beautifully illustrated, but that just can’t change that it is dull.

Morpheus comes across as a whinny Emo kid, which is impressive give that this book came out YEARS befor that was even a term. As a reader I just want him to do SOMETHING but mope.

Luckily all hope is not lost, the issue maps out what Morpheus is going to do for the rest of the story arc.  He is off to get his things back, and hopefully (I have read this before, so maybe I should say I know,) that things will happen in upcoming issues.

there is one really interesting thing to me in this issue that I couldn’t figure out. As a good English Major, I know that almost everything put in a story has a purpose, and has some symbolism. What I find myself wondering about is the birth of Goldie the Gargoyle and Abel’s interactions with her in the second half of the issue.

Now I think that the sequence where Abel gets up after being killed again by Cain serves as a mirror to the way Morpheus must get up after his imprisonment, but the rest of the interactions I am still curious about, so I will be keeping this in my mind as I read on.

Next week, number three…

I was WAY excited to get this; the return of Gail Simone and Ed Benes to Birds of Prey, and while the jury is still out, I have to admit I don’t think it lived up to the expectations that I had built up in my mind.

Cover image from Birds Of Prey #1

See, I don’t mean to say that it wasn’t a good issue, in fact it was just fine. The introduction of the Hawk and Dove characters adds a nice twist, and I am happy to see that Ms. Simone has picked up where she left off with Lady Blackhawk, (a character I think has a ton of potential, but is entirely under used,)  it is just when they came on the book during its last run, they totally stripped down the characters of Black Canary and Oracle, and got to the root of what these characters are, where as this issue is just another, “Let’s get the band back together,” (actually in the comic,) first issue.

I guess though that this is my own expectations not being met. Again, Ms. Simone has a better grasp on these characters, especially Huntress and Oracle, then any other writer out there, (and i hope as the series progresses, we can hope that the time is taken to really probe the Huntress character, I have always felt there was a TON of potential, yet very little execution with her,) and Mr. Benes still draws some of the sexiest woman around, and since his first go round with these characters, he has grown tremendously as an illustrator. His attention to backgrounds and detail, along with a beautiful color job by Nei Ruffino, makes this argueably the most stunning book Mr. Benes has every produced.

There is one thing that really bugged me about this book, I hated the lettering. The caption boxes for Black Canary are overly complicated, and frankly, if the reader ever notices the lettering, then the lettering is over done.

All and all, it was a solid first issue, I am oddly intrigued by Hawk and Dove, two characters that I have never cared for before, and it was good time issue (though I do want to know where Misfit is,) and, I am totally on board for the foreseeable future.

I first saw “Capote in Kansas” (by Ande Parks and Chris Samnee,)  back when the movie “Capote” (which is not related to the graphic novel in any way except that they both deal with the same historical subject,) was about to hit at a bookstore, and I mentally placed it on my list of books to read. Saddly when I went back a couple of weeks later I found that it was no longer on the shelves of my bookstore, and I then soon after I watched the film and was turned off enough by that, that I soon forgot about my search for the graphic novel.

Cover Image

Fast forward a few years to my desire to become a better inker (a work in progress) and so I started to look around at inkers whose work I liked, and one of those was the author of “Capote in Kansas,” Ande Parks. As I was poking around, I stumbled across Mr. Parks blog, and I have been a reader of it for a while now, and then one day it hit me, I realized he was the guy who had written that thing on Capote. I decided to pick it up whenever I next saw it, and was able to get a copy at C2E2, and am I glad I did.

Now I have to confess that I am a fan of Truman Capote, I think he is on of the finest American writers, and I think that he is often not given the respect he deserves, but instead treated as an excentric clown with a funny voice who some how, over happenstance, created a great book. This seemed to be the way the move treated him, and it is often the version of Capote that shows up in biographies of the man. This is NOT what happens with “Capote in Kansas.”

Capote is treated as a real person in this work. His character is a round one, and his motives are complex. Mr. Parks never dwells on the idea that Capote was not serious about what he was doing, and more importantly, he instills a work ethic into his Capote that is often over looked, and he gives real motivation to Capote’s fasination with Perry Smith and his reliance on Harper Lee.

In a truely breathtaking sequance, (made all the more powerful by Chris Samnee’s art, and the choice to make the charaters of young Truman and Harper look like their analogues, Dill and Scout,  form Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird”) Mr. Parks explains the sense of abandonment that was a theme throughout Capote’s life, and to see that from an early age he had relied on Lee as a crutch for dealing with his own emotions.

Samnee's Capote

Chris Samnee’s contribution to this work can not be over stated. I quickly fell in love with his line work, and the line choices he made. He does nothing fancy with his layouts, choosing to use strong fundamental storytelling techniques, which is entirely appropriate for the subject matter.

His renditon of Capote is also a welcome change to what we usally get. He draws Capote as a dashing and charming man, who while short, is in no way a characture. He also provides a depth to Capote with the way Samnee has Capote’s figure emote, and with the thoughtfulness he puts into Capote’s eyes, we see a character that is being effected by the events that he is learning about.

It was the effect that the  journey to learn about the murder of the Clutter murder had on Capote that makes “In Cold Blood,” (the book Capote ultimately wrote about the crime,) such a riveting read, yet too often, people in retelling the story, whether in biographies of Capote, or in the movie “Capote,” focus on the feelings that Capote develops for on of the killers, Perry Smith, and ignore the other things that effected Truman as he crafted his book, namely that Capote learned more about the victims, the Clutter family, then any other living person knew, and that this must have taken it’s toll on him as well.

While Mr. Parks and Mr. Samnee don’t ignore the romantic feelings that Truman developed for Perry, they almost put them on the back burner to Capote’s feelings for the Clutters. Our Authors decide to introduce the spirit of Nancy Clutter, the young teenage girl who was killed, by Perry, along with the rest of her family. This introduction could have been handled poorly, but instead of acting as a cheesy hinderance, her spirit becomes the focusing point for the whole graphic novel, and give purpose to Capote.

This graphic novel is one of the best things I have read in the last little while, and I strongly recommend that you find and read a copy.

For real, it’s that good.

I need to confess, I love serialized fiction in whatever form I can get it, (hell, I am watching General Hospital as I write this,) and in this age of collected editions, I wonder sometimes if the experiance of reading a series episodically, with pauses between each issue doesn’t change the reading process.

For a while now I have wanted to go back and revisit some comic runs and read them one at a time, and I have decided, now that I am writing this blog, I have the reason to read one of my favorite comic runs of all time, The Sandman by Neil Gaiman and a lot of other artists through the course of the series, with breaks inbetween each issues, and this becomes even easier because for my birthday, my wonderful girlfriend bought me the Sandman in issue form.

My original intent was to read one issue a month, but then I got to thinking that it would take around seven years to make my way through the whole series, so I have decided to read one a week. So without further preamble….

Cover to Sandman #1

Sandman #1 is where this great series all begins, and while I originally set out to try to read these issues with virginal eyes, I quickly realized that this was an impossibility, and that I should embrace the knowledge that I already had of this series to appreciate what is happening in this issue.

The first thing that jumped out at me was the “Johnny DC” column that was on the interior cover of the issue. While it is a very cheesy little column, it really helped to place the comic into its proper time. The headline was all about the filming of the Batman movie, you know the one staring Micheal Keaton.

When it actually came to the comic, what really blew me away was the art. Sam Kieth really does an amazing job in this issue, and in many ways, as much as I love the Maxx, a comic he would do later, I actually find this to be his most impressive issue. I love the way he subtlety mixes his more stylized figures with a some more photo realistic panels. His images of Unity Kincaid show this wonderfully.

Heck, that Gaiman had the game plan to HAVE Unity in this issue, and to have her raped and have a child, is just wonderful, and as an aspiring fiction writer myself, I must take off my hat to the man.

The other really neat thing I noticed about the art, is that Dream is basically a black and white character, and Kieth uses this to his advantage very nicely, by pulling in close to the characters face and having whole panels that are in black and white, amid color all over the rest of the page. it helps to visual reinforce the isolation the Dream must have felt in his cage.

Unity Kincaid by Sam Kieth

Gaiman actually peppers in another idea that I know runs through the whole series, and this is the idea that all of the Endless have dual purposes. He hints at this when, in a caption speaking about the elderly in a nursing home, writes “The elderly wait for death, as they’d wait for an old friend.” Freakin’ brilliant

As far as first issues go, I have to admit that if I was to have bought this new, the only thing that would have brought me back would have been the end. The punishment dished out by Dream, Eternal Waking, may be the creepiest, most horrifying idea I have ever come across.

Interestingly, I am not really excited to read the next issue, and in a lot of ways I want to just skip ahead to issue eight, but I am going to hold out, and read issue two next week, I think it is only right thing to do.

(all scans are from the Absolute Sandman edition, and so the color has been digitally remastered and is not indicative of the original coloring from the comic.

So I watch a TON of documentaries. Movie, series, mini-series, or one off, it doesn’t matter as long as it is almost entertaining. With that all said, it should come as no surprise that I was excited to watch the mini-series, “America: The Story of Us” on the history channel (new episodes air Wednesday, Sunday on the History Channel at 8pm est.)

The excitment died after about twenty five minutes of the show. I have to say that I find this show absolutely discusting. So far, in the 4 episodes I have watch, I have been floored by how much they are sweeping under the rug. There has been VERY little mentioned about the injustices suffered by the Native Americans and the African Americans at the hands of the European Americans.

Very often, the horrid treatment of those two groups are justified, as in the case of the Pilgrims slaughtering a whole camp of Natives, and the statements about the horrors of slavery are barely mentioned, much less is the origins of this horrible practice discussed.

I know, I know, these subjects have been covered ad nauseam, but they deserve to be talked about again. Hell, the trail of tears is give only a few moments of screen time, and that was an event that killed thousands of the Cherokee people.

This white washing of our history is not th only problem I have with this show, I REALLY want to know when Michael Strahan, and Sheryl Crow became experts in American history. I mean come on History Channel, do you really think that having them in this show adds a level of street cred? Heck, I know a little bit about history, and I can read prepared statements, why don’t you get me to say some stuff so you can get an everyman perspective.

Now I don’t like to be one-sided, and there is some interesting things in this series.  When ever they start talking about how new technologies changes everything, the show hits it stride, and I have to admit, I was riveted by the segment on the creation of barbed wire, and how it changed the west.

So now we are at the point where I need to sum up this post, and I don’t exactly know how to do it with any grace, so I will just get right to it, this series has very real problems, and it ignores or tragic history with race, one of the most important problems or country has had to deal with, but all of that acknowledged, I am sure that I will end up watching all of the series, but as I said at the beginning, I watch a lot of these types of shows.

This week I finished reading a trade that has been sitting on my shelf for almost a year, Rocketo Vol. 1 by Frank Espinosa.

(The edition that I have i a trade published by Image collecting the first six issues of the series by the same name, originally published in 2006.)

I don’t really know the reason that it has taken me so long to get around to this book, it has everything that I normally like, (highly sylized art reminisant of animation, high action adventure with a Sci/fi twist,) but I think that it is the size of the trade (approx. eleven inches long and seven wide) that made me ignore it for so long, and while it was annoying to read, it was worth it.

Rocketo is the story of a man by the same name, Rocketo Garrison, who lives two thoudsand years after dooms day on an earth that looks nothing like ours. Rockto is what is called a Mapper, one of the few people in the world who can navigate the new world with the help of the compass that he was born with in his hand. See, in this new  world, there is no magnetic force to point to north, so there can be no man made compasses.

young Rocketo and his mother

Through one of the many maps that Rocketo has made over his long career, he tells us the tale of “The Journey to the Hidden Sea.” He begins in his youth, of his life with his father and mother, through his involvement in a war, and finally to his teaming up with his old partner, the dog man Spiro, to go to the fables hidden sea.

This book does have it’s problems. At time Espinosa brings the story to a snails pace.  I found myself bored with the story here and there, wishing that we could get to the next bit of adventure, but these moments were saved by the absolutely STUNNING art work. I found that in these dull moments I could take a moment and just love the beautiful page laid out before me.

Not only is the line work here just stunning, but the color is plain mind boggling. The pallet used in this book, mostly light pastels and washes, adds a wonderful sense of other worldliness the really fleshes out the story.

One of the things here that did take some getting used to was the way that Espinosa chose to letter the book.

example of word balloon

As you can see by the picture on the left, often there were no balloons at all, only tails.  This really took some getting used to, I found it jarring for the first chapter or so, but once I became used to it, the book suddenly read a lot smoother.

In the end though, the biggest problem I had with this book was that it was only volume one. I have gotten used to trades that have self contained stories in them, and so when I got to the end of this volume, only to find one heck of a cliff hanger I was a little shocked, but it was good enough to make me order the second volume from my local comic book shop (I try to always support my local businesses,)  and I will talk more about the story once I have read volume two.

I do have to say that this is one of the more enjoyable books I have read in the last little while, and I really do recommend picking it up if you see it anywhere, and I advise you don’t do what I did and leave it on your shelf for a year, but dive right in and become immersed in the world of Rocketo.

Every Wednesday, when I get home from my local comic shop, I always have at least one book that I am just DYING to read. Sometimes it is because the cliff hanger the issue before was just that good, or sometimes it is because I know that if I don’t read certain things by Wednesday night, I will have to stay away from the web until I get around to it. And then there is the third reason a book is at the top of the pile, habit. Habit is why I read Uncanny X-men 524 while I was still in the parking lot. This title has always been a first read for me since I first bought X-Men 1 on my first real trip to a comic book store. The sad truth is, I there is only one reason why I bother anymore.

Cover of Uncanny X-men 524

Now I didn’t plan to make a big case out of the state of the X-men in this post, but I don’t really have a choice; this issue is the half way point in the most recent X-universe crossover “Second Coming.”  This is the event that I am told, I have been waiting for for a while, and it sees the character Hope return to this time.

I have to confess, I have been reading the majority of the X-titles for a while, and I have read all of this cross over, and I have NO IDEA what is going on, and quite frankly, I haven’t since Matt Fraction, the writer of this issue, and the captain of the x-universe lately, came on board.

His stories often seem to be a lot of really cool stuff (like Magneto bringing Kitty Pryde back to earth, AWESOME,) but I truthfully have no real understanding of how that, or any of the last dozen issues fit into any real story, and I was hoping that I would start to understand it better with this cross over, but sadly that is just not happening, (but I am still keeping my fingers crossed.

All my whining though, does not do this issue justice. The art, by the Dodsons, lives up to their usual standard, and the events, (and I am going to resist spoilers here,) really propel the “Second Coming” story, and set the stage for the second act of the story. the only complaint I would have in regards to the art, is that sometimes I am not sure who is who, and I find myself jolted out of the story.

I have just reread the above, and I find myself saying, “I get it, you are all whinny about the X-books, now please, what is the reason you even bother to read them?” (and if I am saying that, then I am sure you are.) The answer is simple, Hope.

There is just something about this character that intrigues me. I don’t think that she is the reincarnation of Jean Grey (as I have seen here or there speculated,) but I just find the idea that she is raised by Cable, and is to be mutantdoms salvation and interesting combination. To top it off, I have loved the way she has been written since her inception, and there is some of the best moments so far here when she finally meets Cyclops (and Magneto for that matter.)

All in all, I would say that this is an alright issue, seeing as it is the sixth issue in a twelve issue crossover, but I would only tell you to buy it if you are up to date with what has been going on in the X-books.

Till tomorrow,

John

[have anything you would like me to review, just email me your suggestions, and I'll get to them sooner rather then later]

[This review originally appeared at www.pointe-east.com on 07/14/2009]

Before I get into this, the goal of this review is not to spoil anything, but I will not say that there is no spoilers to follow. I promise to not spoil any plot points, or to tell you the end, but I am going to get into my feelings on “Asterios Polyp”, so if you want to say totally clear minded on this book, do not read what is below.

There are a few comic creators that seem to only pop up every so often, lay out an amazing work, then go back to ground for a while. Creators like the late Will Eisner, or Blanket’s Craig Thompson come quickly to mind, but there are others, like the author of Asterios Polyp, David Mazzucchelli.

You may or may not remember David Mazzucchelli, artist of two of my all time favorite comic stories, “Batman: Year One,” and “Daredevil: Born Again” (both with writer Frank Miller.) These two stories came out in the mid 1980’s and soon there after, Mr. Mazzucchelli seemed to vanish, appearing here and there with a story, but for the most part he fell completely off the radar. Then earlier this month he put out the new graphic novel “Asterios Polyp”.

Book Cover

“Asterios Polyp” is the story of a man by the same name, who is a renowned “paper architect” (meaning he has never actually built a building, just designed amazing works) and academic, whose life has recently changed. Asterios Polyp then embarks, after a well placed lightening bolt, to examine himself, where he has been, and where he is going all of which Mr. Mazzucchelli handles amazing skill.

While the story is a meditation on change, Mr. Mazzucchelli is using “Asterios Polyp” as a meditation on graphic storytelling. In fact it is Mr. Mazzucchelli’s skills as a storyteller which makes this book so amazingly good. He uses the art of this book to tell us as much about all the characters as their actions do. Each character has their own color pallets, and there own art style, and Mr. Mazzucchelli puts this all seamlessly on a page, making sure the reader only realizes these differences when he wants them to. In many ways it feels as if Mr. Mazzucchelli has thrown this book on a table and said, “here everyone, this is what you can do with graphic storytelling.” This polite slap in the face to all creator’s may be the most wonderful things about the book.

There is one other amazing thing about this book though, and that is Asterios Polyp himself. This curmudgeon of a man is almost instantly relatable, and his journey is one that anyone who has ever felt a moment of melancholy can relate with. The very personal moments, like when he admits that he has always felt like he is being watched, make the reader feel as if they are no longer reading a graphic novel, but rather are looking at a fellow person bearing their soul.

While the third act of the book falls some what short, seeming to offer very little resolution (though the argument can be made that life itself offers very little in the way of resolution), the storytelling of this piece more than makes up for it, and this is a must read for anyone who likes a good character study, or a masterfully crafted graphic novel, or both.

John K.

American

[This review was originally posted on www.pointe-east.com on 1/07/2010]

THESE REVIEWS HAVE SPOILERS, YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!

During the holiday My girlfriend, my brother, and I went and did a create-your-own double feature.  We watched the Imax 3D version of Avatar, then went straight to see Sherlock Holmes.

Avatar is amazingly beautiful.  There are just some really striking colors and really the 3D is the best EVER! All that said, it is one of the dullest stories I can remember in a movie in recent memory.

There is no character growth.  All the characters end being the same as they were when they showed up. This could have been solved easily by braking this movie up, having it be three films.  this space could have been filled with the real reasons that the general hates the natives, or why Giovanni Ribisi’s character always has this goofy face, like he has sympathy but is a slave to the shareholders.

But all of that has already been talked about, to death.  What hasn’t been talked about is the HUGE flaw in the storytelling. (AGAIN SPOILERS)  In the big climatic battle, one of the secondary avatars, (and avatar is an alien body created for a human to have their consciousness transferred to for periods of time.  They are made form human and alien DNA, and they look like the aliens, but have four fingers instead of 3,) is killed in battle.  The avatar’s “driver” awakes in a shack and is then shown lurking outside with a big freaking gun.

This is all well and good, but when the main character ends up back at the shack, in his avatar, battling to big bad general, the dude with the gun is nowhere.  This is the definition of sloppy storytelling.  As Anton Chekhov once said, “if you have a gun in the first act, it better go off by the third act.”

I mean, really, if they just wanted him out of the shack, just show him running away without a gun.

As for Sherlock Holmes, well once I got over the idea that it wasn’t really Sherlock Holmes, I enjoyed myself.

Robert Downey Jr. gives a stellar performance.  He is charming and witty, the banter between him and Jude Law as Watson is fun, and the moments where he breaks down how he is going to beat someone up totally should have been in a batman movie… wait… that is basically…. holy crap… the whole thing is Victorian Batman, and I love Batman.  Well done Guy Ritchie!

Speaking of Guy Ritchie, may I say that I was rather impressed.  I am of the belief that he has only done two movies.  He did Swept Away (which is good in that awful kinda way,) and he did Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels five freakin’ times. I mean really, Snatch is like the same movie (visually).  Holmes though was something new, something fun. It was as if Ritchie added a quality of real fun, not violent fun, into his energetic style, and produced something good.

At the end of the day, I would recommend both of these films.  They are both far from perfect, but they both do a good job of entertaining, which is what you go to movies like these for.

John K