Comics

-- Publishers Weekly, 3/19/2007

Boxed and starred reviews indicate books of outstanding quality.
Boxed, unstarred reviews indicate books of special interest.

Dogs and Water
Anders Nilsen. Drawn & Quarterly, $19.95 (96p) ISBN 978-1-997-299-08-1

A young man wanders a war-torn tundra accompanied only by a stuffed bear. As he wanders, he encounters various animals and humans who all prove inferior to the lifeless bear as a real companion—imaginary friends are the best ones in a world where everyone competes for meager resources. Nilsen has crafted a haunting fable of humanity and loneliness, confronting tropes about journeys and destinations. "I know this whole venture is not about having a goal," he tells the bear at one point. "But doesn't the whole idea of a journey become kind of meaningless if there's not a sense of some destination?" Each encounter is more troubling than the last: a bus shows up but a passenger shoots at the narrator. A pack of reindeer try to steal the bear. In return, the narrator blinds one of the majestic stags with a rock. A human who shows up in the bleak terrain tries to steal the narrator's pack. The narrator is finally accepted by a pack of wild dogs that lives off the remains of both the humans and animals already encountered. Nilsen's open, simple yet graceful art captures the eerie, empty sense of loss that permeates this unsettling, memorable story. (May)

James Bond 007: The Phoenix Project
Ian Fleming, Jim Lawrence and Yaroslav Horak. Titan, $19.95 paper (120p) ISBN 978-1-84576-312-2

As the '60s gave way to the '70s, 007 had more difficulty reflecting changes in tastes in the adventure genre than he ever faced from the likes of Goldfinger or Dr. No. This latest collection of the British newspaper strip gives readers a Bond more in tune with the then-contemporary film interpretation rather than adaptations of Fleming's Cold War works, and having exhausted the source material. This volume features tales penned by Lawrence. Eschewing the straight espionage found in Fleming, Lawrence goes for the quick fix found in sci-fi gadgetry prevalent in the films of the '70s era, along with the requisite beautiful damsels in various states of distress and undress. The featured women in these stories are topless for much of the action, a novelty that swiftly wears thin, much to the detriment of the narratives. Globe-spanning locales, fiendish schemes of criminal masterminds and everything else that became rote about the franchise is on hand, and that familiarity creates a sense of apathy bolstered by Horak's crisply well-drawn yet lifeless illustrations. (May)

Mister I
Lewis Trondheim. NBM (www.nbmpub.com), $13.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-56163-486-7

Judging his talent by this newest bit of wan and cackling morbidity, Trondheim is certainly a standout, even amid his talented fellows in the vaguely defined nouvelle vague wave of French cartoonists (David B, Joann Sfar, etc.). Mister I is a barely rendered grade school doodle of a figure (sausage-shaped, stick limbs, pinhole eyes) who trips through one poorly reasoned page-long adventure after another, which all end up the same—with him dead. Each of Trondheim's pages is hacked up into 60 postage stamp–sized panels, which follow Mister I as he assays various doomed tasks, most of which involve playing pranks or stealing food (a pie cooling on a window sill is a recurring and deadly temptation). Somehow, even though the end of each story is known well in advance—Mister I dead in the bottom right-hand panel, a small splurt of blood haloing his head—the book doesn't become repetitious but engenders curiosity. As with Wile E. Coyote, the reader is not bored by knowing the conclusion, but is dragged in to see how Mister I manages to get himself dead this time, whether it's by starting a fight with the wrong guy or by trying to outsmart his inevitably cleverer opponents. (Mar.)

Loveholic Volume 1
Toko Kawai. Digital Manga (www.dmpbooks.com), $12.95 paper (232p) ISBN 978-1-56970-847-7

Nishioka is an immature photographer; Matsukawa is an advertising executive who books him for photo shoots. Instead of fighting crime, they fall in love, because this is yaoi. When the two men work together, the result is successful projects, although they fight all the time. Just as boy/girl sparring is TV code for attraction, so is the arguing here. During their business dinner together, Nishioka finds himself ignoring Matsukawa's statements in favor of staring at his hands. It takes the photographer's assistant pointing out how considerate Matsukawa is to get Nishioka thinking about changing his own behavior. Author Kawai succeeds above genre standards in delineating the characters. Her men are three dimensional in motivation and attitude, and they're drawn with distinction. Matsukawa is more traditionally handsome to Western eyes, while Nishioka resembles a cute boy. The men have background, interests and work conflicts outside of their feelings for each other, which makes this seem more like a story, less like killing time until they get together. The result is a very enjoyable romance, as two people obviously meant for each other figure that out. The backup story is a flashback to one of Matsukawa's earlier love affairs. (Mar.)

Warcraft: The Sunwell Trilogy Book 3: Ghostlands
Richard Knaak and Jae-Hwan Kim. Tokyopop, $9.99 paper (192p) ISBN 978-1-59532-714-7

Knaac and Kim's manga-styled trilogy, set in the world of the massively multiplayer online game World of Warcraft, wraps up in kinetic fashion with this volume. Blue dragon Kalec is sent to investigate a mysterious surge of magic; it could be the Sunwell, the pool of energy that exploded when the dark elf Dar'Khan tried to steal its powers for himself. Trapped in human form by a collar placed on him by the elf in battle, Kalec is befriended by a young girl named Anveena, who loses her parents and home in an attack aimed at the dragon. Anveena, who holds a key to the mystery of the Sunwell, is kidnapped by Dar'Khan; Kalec and his crew journey to recover her, in the process gaining the aid of the elf Lor'themar and his men. There is a massive showdown battle, with the requisite posturing and bravado banter, Dar'Khan being the worst offender—"My power shall spread beyond Azeroth, to realms merely whispered of! It will be glorious!" In its wake is an optimistic finale that leaves the drawbridge wide open for sequels to this trilogy. Kim's artwork is intricate and busy, virtually every page packed with detail. Action scenes are big and intense, often filling pages or entire spreads to make for a satisfying read. (Mar.)

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