Entry tags:
Chicago haul, part one
Slowly working my way through the stack of books I got in Chicago:
PAN-GEA ONE SHOT: This full-color fantasy comic is one of the most gorgeous-looking things I've seen in a while. Creator James West is like the love-child of Vaughn Bode and Frank Thorne... his stuff is earthy, sexy, moody, funny, violent, and everything else you could want in a swords 'n sorcery yarn. Highly recommended.
"Time to me is a curse. It jumps like an insect on a hot stone."
A DIFFERENT PACE: A collection of short stories by David Hedgecock and Tetsu Liew featuring a crew of bumbling space pirates. There's a nice balance of humor and drama here, clever plots and very sharp dialogue. Liew's artwork is very good, although having seen Hedgecock's earlier solo work, I kind of wish he were drawing it himself.
"My boys. Aren't they a cute bunch?"
APE OMNIBUS #2: A solid anthology mag with good artwork throughout, and mostly pretty good stories. The James West and Hedgecock/Liew stories are the highlight. The superhero spoof "Possum At Large" is pretty funny (I especially like Men's Room, the walking restroom icon). The rest -- a quickie hero origin story, a by-the-numbers crime yarn, and a couple of sci-fi pieces I didn't really "get" -- didn't do much for me, but all of them are decent efforts. There's definitely a lot of variety here.
"Piss off, crack-whore."
THE DEVIL'S PANTIES: A collection of Jennie Breeden's online strips. Very cute slice-of-life stuff (autobiographical, I'm assuming), with lots of nerd-specific themes: working at a comics shop, going to conventions, LAN parties, etc. The art's a bit rough in spots, but it gets the job done and has a certain frenzied charm about it. Awful lotta typos, though. Bottom line, it's funny stuff.
"For the love of God woman, I'm fucking adorable!"
LAWDOG COMICS PRIMER: A bunch of short stories and previews of what I assume are upcoming new series, although there's no information on when any of them are coming out. "Athena Voltaire" is a very slickly-drawn female Indiana Jones type -- derivative, but nicely done. "Ram vs. Bull" is some kind of kung fu thing -- couldn't really follow what was going on. "Daddy's Little Ghoul" -- yet another "cute little goth girl" strip with atrocious artwork. Will this genre please die already? "Mecka" is another super-slick entry, a sci-fi thing about robots coming to life. "Super Real" has a goofy premise -- a reality tv show where contestants are given superpowers -- but the art's really interesting. Sort of J. Scott Campbell meets Kyle Baker, if you can imagine that. None of these really jumped out and screamed "Buy Me!", but it's worth a look.
"Edward... get your skinny English ass moving!"
KABUKI - REFLECTIONS #5: More odds and ends from David Mack: sketchbook drawings, unused covers, works in progress, candid photos, and so on. If you're not already a Mack fan, this probably won't change your mind, but if you are, it's a neat little peek "behind the curtain".
"I painted the hair and flesh tones with watercolor. Then I applied scraps of fabric for the clothing. I added fabric and a cut up letter for the background, and I stitched it all together with thread. Part is hand stitched, and part is by sewing machine."
UNSEEN ON TV: A collection of two-page strips, spoofing various television genres. It's a cute idea, but most of them just aren't very funny, and the artwork mostly ranges from ok to awful. Jen Feinberg's surreal contribution is a blast, but otherwise, it's pretty blah.
"A high school full of classic movie monsters. What a stupid idea."
FOUR-LETTER WORLDS: An outstanding anthology, with short stories grouped under the broad categories of "love", "hate", "fear", and "fate". Steve Lieber, Chynna Clugston, Andi Watson, Scott Morse, Jim Mahfood -- it's an all-star cast at the top of their game, not a stinker in the bunch. Go get this.
"It's just... it's better that we don't speak."
CATWOMAN #44-45: Some nice work here by Will Pfeifer and Pete Woods. It takes a while for the main plot to get going, but there's some fun stuff in the meantime with Clayface and the Ventriloquist (the way the latter is dispatched is a hoot). The notion of a bunch of random villains moving into what they think is unprotected territory is potentially very cool -- are there any DC villains left who aren't tied up in the current mega-crossover? I guess we'll see. The art's pretty nice, what you can see of it beneath the too-dark coloring.
"You're just a guy in a trench coat and some bandages. You're no super-villain."
SUPER F*CKERS #1: Admittedly, 7 bucks is a lot to pay for something this frivolous, but it's funny as hell (and Kochalka's work does look great in color). It's basically the Legion of Super-Heroes as a bunch of asshole slackers (which, if you've read the early Legion stories, is not as much of a stretch as you'd think). All the aspiring superheroes want to be on the cool team, and meanwhile the cool kids are busy stabbing each other in the back. I love all the odd little sci-fi touches -- the bottle containing a perfect moment in time, the alien blob who's slime trail is narcotic, the heroine who charges up her powers by brushing her hair. DC wishes they could be this hip.
"Get ready for a cum explosion of hate & pain, mutherglunkers..."
JUSTICE LEAGUE ARCHIVES VOL.4: More classics from Fox & Sekowsky, including the first appearances of the Crime Syndicate and the Queen Bee (you can tell Sekowsky is enjoying drawing this curvy femme fatale, in contrast to his somewhat mannish Wonder Woman). There's also return bouts with Amazo, Despero, and Kanjar Ro, as well as various one-shot alien invaders. There's more cool ideas in any one issue than in a whole year of a current superhero title. This is the real McCoy.
"I have won! I and I alone have destroyed the Justice League as no other before me could do!"
PAN-GEA ONE SHOT: This full-color fantasy comic is one of the most gorgeous-looking things I've seen in a while. Creator James West is like the love-child of Vaughn Bode and Frank Thorne... his stuff is earthy, sexy, moody, funny, violent, and everything else you could want in a swords 'n sorcery yarn. Highly recommended.
"Time to me is a curse. It jumps like an insect on a hot stone."
A DIFFERENT PACE: A collection of short stories by David Hedgecock and Tetsu Liew featuring a crew of bumbling space pirates. There's a nice balance of humor and drama here, clever plots and very sharp dialogue. Liew's artwork is very good, although having seen Hedgecock's earlier solo work, I kind of wish he were drawing it himself.
"My boys. Aren't they a cute bunch?"
APE OMNIBUS #2: A solid anthology mag with good artwork throughout, and mostly pretty good stories. The James West and Hedgecock/Liew stories are the highlight. The superhero spoof "Possum At Large" is pretty funny (I especially like Men's Room, the walking restroom icon). The rest -- a quickie hero origin story, a by-the-numbers crime yarn, and a couple of sci-fi pieces I didn't really "get" -- didn't do much for me, but all of them are decent efforts. There's definitely a lot of variety here.
"Piss off, crack-whore."
THE DEVIL'S PANTIES: A collection of Jennie Breeden's online strips. Very cute slice-of-life stuff (autobiographical, I'm assuming), with lots of nerd-specific themes: working at a comics shop, going to conventions, LAN parties, etc. The art's a bit rough in spots, but it gets the job done and has a certain frenzied charm about it. Awful lotta typos, though. Bottom line, it's funny stuff.
"For the love of God woman, I'm fucking adorable!"
LAWDOG COMICS PRIMER: A bunch of short stories and previews of what I assume are upcoming new series, although there's no information on when any of them are coming out. "Athena Voltaire" is a very slickly-drawn female Indiana Jones type -- derivative, but nicely done. "Ram vs. Bull" is some kind of kung fu thing -- couldn't really follow what was going on. "Daddy's Little Ghoul" -- yet another "cute little goth girl" strip with atrocious artwork. Will this genre please die already? "Mecka" is another super-slick entry, a sci-fi thing about robots coming to life. "Super Real" has a goofy premise -- a reality tv show where contestants are given superpowers -- but the art's really interesting. Sort of J. Scott Campbell meets Kyle Baker, if you can imagine that. None of these really jumped out and screamed "Buy Me!", but it's worth a look.
"Edward... get your skinny English ass moving!"
KABUKI - REFLECTIONS #5: More odds and ends from David Mack: sketchbook drawings, unused covers, works in progress, candid photos, and so on. If you're not already a Mack fan, this probably won't change your mind, but if you are, it's a neat little peek "behind the curtain".
"I painted the hair and flesh tones with watercolor. Then I applied scraps of fabric for the clothing. I added fabric and a cut up letter for the background, and I stitched it all together with thread. Part is hand stitched, and part is by sewing machine."
UNSEEN ON TV: A collection of two-page strips, spoofing various television genres. It's a cute idea, but most of them just aren't very funny, and the artwork mostly ranges from ok to awful. Jen Feinberg's surreal contribution is a blast, but otherwise, it's pretty blah.
"A high school full of classic movie monsters. What a stupid idea."
FOUR-LETTER WORLDS: An outstanding anthology, with short stories grouped under the broad categories of "love", "hate", "fear", and "fate". Steve Lieber, Chynna Clugston, Andi Watson, Scott Morse, Jim Mahfood -- it's an all-star cast at the top of their game, not a stinker in the bunch. Go get this.
"It's just... it's better that we don't speak."
CATWOMAN #44-45: Some nice work here by Will Pfeifer and Pete Woods. It takes a while for the main plot to get going, but there's some fun stuff in the meantime with Clayface and the Ventriloquist (the way the latter is dispatched is a hoot). The notion of a bunch of random villains moving into what they think is unprotected territory is potentially very cool -- are there any DC villains left who aren't tied up in the current mega-crossover? I guess we'll see. The art's pretty nice, what you can see of it beneath the too-dark coloring.
"You're just a guy in a trench coat and some bandages. You're no super-villain."
SUPER F*CKERS #1: Admittedly, 7 bucks is a lot to pay for something this frivolous, but it's funny as hell (and Kochalka's work does look great in color). It's basically the Legion of Super-Heroes as a bunch of asshole slackers (which, if you've read the early Legion stories, is not as much of a stretch as you'd think). All the aspiring superheroes want to be on the cool team, and meanwhile the cool kids are busy stabbing each other in the back. I love all the odd little sci-fi touches -- the bottle containing a perfect moment in time, the alien blob who's slime trail is narcotic, the heroine who charges up her powers by brushing her hair. DC wishes they could be this hip.
"Get ready for a cum explosion of hate & pain, mutherglunkers..."
JUSTICE LEAGUE ARCHIVES VOL.4: More classics from Fox & Sekowsky, including the first appearances of the Crime Syndicate and the Queen Bee (you can tell Sekowsky is enjoying drawing this curvy femme fatale, in contrast to his somewhat mannish Wonder Woman). There's also return bouts with Amazo, Despero, and Kanjar Ro, as well as various one-shot alien invaders. There's more cool ideas in any one issue than in a whole year of a current superhero title. This is the real McCoy.
"I have won! I and I alone have destroyed the Justice League as no other before me could do!"