Comics
Wonder Woman, Vol. 1: Blood
Brian Azzarello, Cliff Chiang, and Tony Akins. DC, $22.99 (160p) ISBN 978-1-4012-3563-5
Yet another reboot of an iconic character who has eluded the grasp of most comics producers. Azzarello gives Diana (Wonder Woman) a new origin, not as a baby her mother, Hippolyta, molded out of clay but as the illegitimate daughter of Zeus. As such, she’s a target for the jealous rage of Hera, Zeus’ wife, but she finds a new role as protector of a waifish young woman who’s currently carrying Zeus’ baby. The king of the gods, meanwhile, has vanished, and the other deities of Greek mythology are weighing their chances of grabbing more power, while brutally stomping on anyone in their way. Azzarello’s script moves briskly along, and Chiang and Akins’s art is suitably vigorous and moody without pandering. Although much of this book consists of dismantling Wonder Woman’s old framework and just hinting at what the new structure may be, the fresh look is promising. (June)
Reviewed on: 06/11/2012
Permalink: http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-4012-3563-5 (978-1-4012-3563-5)
Comics
Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde: The Happy Prince
Oscar Wilde and P. Craig Russell. NBM (www.nbmpublishing.com), $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-56163-626-6
While best known for The Picture of Dorian Gray and his plays, like The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde also penned popular fairy tales, which the Eisner Award–winning Russell has adapted into graphic novel form. “The Happy Prince” uses Wilde’s own words for the text, so readers can still appreciate his elegant style. The melancholic story follows a swallow who befriends the statue of the Happy Prince, who was indeed happy when he lived a sheltered life. Now, however, the prince stands over the city as a statue and sees all the suffering. With the help of the swallow, he breaks down the pieces of himself, his rubies, sapphire, and gold, to feed the starving people. While much of the story is pensive or even outright sad, Wilde still pops in with some sharp satiric wit now and then. This is not a fairy tale with a happy ending, or at least what we would normally think of as a happy ending, but it certainly makes its point. Russell’s sensitive, belle epoque–inspired artwork brings the story to life with a matched sensibility that makes other comics adaptations look clumsy. (June)
The Furry Trap
Josh Simmons. Fantagraphics, $24.99 (140p) ISBN 978-1-60699-536-5
The 11 horror stories in this collection showcase Simmons’s possession of a dark and capable imagination, one that has discomfort down to an exact science. Subjects include Christmas gift giving gone wrong, a deranged and overexcited movie theater patron, a retelling of a certain disturbed bat-oriented superhero, and a simpleton in possession of a very special member. Simmons (House; Jessica Farm) is at his best in stories like “Mutant” and “Demonwood,” where rash decisions and chance encounters lead to nightmarish consequences, with terrifying demon children and reborn mutants wreaking havoc on the lives of the ignorant. There are stories that feel flimsier than others, like “Jesus Christ” and “Mark of the Bat,” but Simmons’s brand of deep unease permeates all of them, even in the opening story, “In a Land of Magic,” which features a scene of sexual and physical violence that could lead to sleepless nights. The book is also filled with illustrations and short comics that just add to the pile of evidence that Simmons has a wide-ranging talent, with an artistic sense that brings to life his most ghoulish creations. These stories are, hopefully, harbingers of even stronger and more sinister work in the future, with fewer wizard-related sexual assault scenes. (July)
Getting Married and Other Mistakes
Barbara Slate. Other, $14.95 trade paper (160p) ISBN 978-1-5905-1535-8
When Jo Hudson’s husband leaves her, she falls into a downward spiral of depression that has her lying in bed crying and re-examining her choices in love from childhood until now. Through this examination and through the support of her many painfully quirky friends, Jo discovers that her choices have always been guided by other people and learns to move according to the drive of her voice. Slate’s attempt to present an insightful message of empowerment through a light and ostensibly funny narrative is flattened by art that is, even for the undemanding genre of chick lit comics, overly simplified. In addition, Jo’s level-headed handling of her earlier life crises—a cheating older lover, parental disapproval of her artistic bent—leaves the reader little doubt that she’ll bounce right back from a crap marriage with a cute lover and a rediscovery of her talent. Slate has been writing comics for girls for decades, but this one isn’t quite the deeper scrutiny of a woman’s experience she might have hoped. (June)
Our Valued Customers
Tim Chamberlain. Perigee, $11 trade paper (96p) ISBN 978-0-399-53752-3
Anyone who’s worked in a comics store will confirm that some patrons are odd enough to provoke snickers as a survival mechanism. Making these moments public in a cartoon humor book is a trickier business. Chamberlain has gathered quotes, some hilarious, from his stint as a comics store clerk, and these cartoons run the gamut of typical conversation—being annoyed with females, leering at females, taking criticism of your favorite superhero too personally, making sweeping statements about how stupid some other superhero is, bickering about hypothetical situations that involve superheroes as though they were real, wishing super powers were real, and revealing a lack of knowledge in areas beyond comic books. As funny as any individual panel might be, the succession of bizarre and ignorant statements have the unintended effect of piling up into something both alarming and depressing. Chamberlain goes to great pains in his foreword to stress that his book is not representative of the typical customer. Though the reader understands that intellectually, reading the book ends up feeling like one has endured an irritating work day in the comics shop, and that couldn’t have been the author’s intention. (July)
The Mighty Alice
Richard Thompson. Andrews McMeel, $12.99 trade paper (128 p) ISBN 978-1449410223
This fifth collection from the newspaper strip Cul de Sac continues the adventures of four-year-old Alice Otterloop as she copes with preschool, her grandma’s dog Big Shirley, the threat of volcanoes, and her neurotic older brother Petey. Especially playing against Petey’s glum inertia, Alice’s creative imagination sometimes makes things more intimidating than they are but also always much more cheerfully weird than anyone would have guessed—as when she and her friends speculate on what lives in the mountains of dirty snow in the back of a supermarket parking lot. Closer in spirit to Calvin and Hobbes than Peanuts, the strips actually work better here than in the daily paper, since it’s easier for readers to appreciate Alice’s zigzag, grandiose thinking as it moves through a week’s story arc. The results are both mind-boggling and laugh-out-loud funny. Thompson won the Reuben Award as cartoonist of the year in 2011, and he continues to be an insightful poet of the comics page. (May)
Batman: Death by Design
Chip Kidd and Dave Taylor. DC, $24.99 (112p) ISBN 978-1-40123-453-9
Eisner Award–winning designer and novelist Kidd teams with veteran Batman artist Taylor for a fantastic period piece about architecture, politics, and murder. Bruce Wayne is preparing for his father’s condemned Old Wayne Central Station to be torn down and replaced by a new design. A falling crane signals that there are those opposed to the plan willing to take action. Wayne, as himself and as Batman, must square off against the beautiful and dedicated Cyndia Sil, who wants to see Old Wayne Central Station restored; Exacto , a costumed figure hoping to bring down corrupt union boss Bart Loar; and the Joker. While the story is enjoyable, what really shines is Taylor’s art, mostly done in black-and-white, but with flares of pastel color that bring the pages to life. Taylor frequently uses alternate panel sizes to tremendous effect, from dramatic two-page spreads to a tiny eight-panel sequence along the bottom runner of a page. Only some slightly illogical storytelling at the end mars a beautiful effort that is clearly a labor of love for both creators. That aside, it’s a solid, stand-alone adventure that Batman readers will love. Reviewed from a black-and-white galley. (May)
The Odyssey
Homer, adapted by Seymour Chwast. Bloomsbury, $20 (128p) ISBN 978-1-60819-486-5
The latest in an unofficial series of graphic novels based on the classics (The Canterbury Tales; The Divine Comedy), veteran illustrator and graphic designer Chwast interprets the Greek epic in straightforward but whimsical line drawings that invest the familiar tale with droll energy. Plot and language are simplified, but this is a funny and engaging take on the story of Odysseus’s return from the siege at Troy. Our hero is cast as a Buck Rogers–like space traveler, bouncing from planet to planet (instead of island to island) in Deco-inspired rocket ships. Dynamic page layouts (no two spreads are alike) and helpful chapter headings and text labels help keep the story moving with the energy of a Saturday matinee serial directed by Michel Gondry. Chwast’s charming line drawings are deceptively simple. Scenery evokes the aerodynamic lines of the ‘20s and ’30s, while character designs emerge from the classical ideal of beauty. With its rich cast of characters and wealth of dramatic incident, it’s a wonder that The Odyssey hasn’t seen more visual interpretations; Chwast’s is enjoyable, if lightweight. Illustrations are printed in two colors; reviewed from a black-and-white galley. (Sept.)
Drawn Together
Aline and R. Crumb. Liveright, $29.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-87140-429-9
Since the 1970s, pioneering underground comics creators R. Crumb and Aline Crumb (nee Kominsky) have been drawing comics together, their distinct art styles sharing the same panels. All these works—stand-alone comics as well as shorts featured in Weirdo and the New Yorker—are now collected together in one volume. Semi-autobiographical, the stories reveal sordid details about the romantic relationship of the Crumbs, from their active (and somewhat violent) sex life in their youth to their still deviant sexual life in their sixties. Plagued by self-hatred, the creators spend most of each panel in dialogue with each other about how awful the world is, how self-deprecating they are, or how much they want to have sex. The best moments are when the Crumbs draw themselves discussing the panels they’ve already drawn together, or make notes about each other’s drawings. The thematic cohesion, despite the two very different styles, is an achievement, one further enhanced by guest illustrations from daughter Sophie and cameos from Art Spiegelman and Charles Burns. A must for Crumb fans, but these somewhat self-indulgent looks at a quirky couple may be an acquired taste for others, regardless of the high level of cartooning. (Oct)
The Comic Book History of Comics
Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavy. IDW, $21.99 trade paper (300p) ISBN 978-1-61377-197-6
Tracing comics from the late 19th century through the next 100 years, and covering the creative, business, and social factors that shaped them, this is a thorough and ambitious history. Though it boasts exceptional scholarship and vision, any work this expansive is bound to show a few cracks. While Dunlavy’s crisp artwork mostly furthers historical anecdotes into larger points, some panels descend into cheap gags. With the wider brushstroke, the book is usually on target, rarely mining comics-history-as-usual. It takes well-executed detours that trace the flow of underground comics, explaining the economics of the direct market and the speculative implosion of the 1990s with a clear sense of how these affect content, and delving into the histories of European, English, and Japanese scenes with affection. The defensiveness in the coverage of Lichtenstein and pop art is unfortunate, especially given the bravado in the portrayal of the Air Pirates’ appropriation of Disney properties. The history ends just before the indie boom of the ’90s, including self-publishers and mini-comics makes the history feel incomplete, given these cartoonists’ direct effect on the rise of the graphic novel and the embrace of comics in wider culture. Still, Van Lente knows the territory and how to present it; this book should become a standard reference in the field. (May)
Animal Man, Vol. One: The Hunt
Jeff Lemire and Travel Foreman. DC, $14.99 trade paper (144p) ISBN 978-1-4012-3507-9
In this thrilling reconception of the classic DC character, Animal Man and his daughter attempt to combat the Rot and its representatives—a hideous trio of ravenous otherworldly hunters intent on annihilating all life. Foreman’s masterful artistic execution makes for truly engrossing and even terrifying reading. His demented and evocative creations, be they the hideous hunters from the Rot or the Totems—animalistic avatars that inhabit the universal life force called the Red (that are credited with giving him his original powers, rather than aliens)—come to life thanks to a limitless imagination and an inspired flair for horror imagery. The one slowdown to the tale is a damaging feature-length filmic intermission to the story—a collective effort by multiple artists illustrating Buddy Baker’s burgeoning acting career—which comes off as trite compared to the main story line. Otherwise, this is an unusually suspenseful and scary comic. Lemire, an award-winning graphic novelist for his Essex County trilogy, has reimagined Animal Man in a way that actually comes close to doing justice to the wicked originality and avant-garde ethos of Grant Morrison’s groundbreaking revival, which made the series such a critical success in the late ’80s. (May)
Kiki de Montparnasse
Catel Muller and José-Louis Bouquet. Abrams/SelfMadeHero, $24.95 trade paper (416p) ISBN 978-1-906838-25-6
This award-winning French graphic novel presents a story as vibrant and mesmerizing as its famed bohemian subject. Kiki de Montparnasse, born Alice Prin, starts life as a poor, uneducated illegitimate French country bumpkin, but upon moving to Paris’s iconic Left Bank in the 1910s finds that a bright, ambitious young woman who understands the power of her own beauty and sexuality can follow her own path. A muse to nearly every artist in Montparnasse—Utrillo, Modigliani, Fajita, and Picasso are among the many who pass through these pages—Kiki settles down with American photographer Man Ray, posing for his most famous photos. Although Kiki’s life as an actress, singer, artist’s model, and occasional artist herself is mostly a series of hooking up with more powerful and/or functional men who can support her, it can be argued that she was one of the first “emancipated” women of the era, following her own muse and making her own decisions. Alas, many of those decisions are bad ones toward the end, as she dies a forgotten, bloated alcoholic in 1953. Muller’s intimate art captures every bar brawl and tryst along that path, while Bouquet summarizes the eternal heartbreak of art and life: “An artist should really avoid alcohol and lasting relationships,” says Ray at one point. (May)
Marathon
Boaz Yakin and Joe Infurnari. Roaring Brook/First Second, $16.99 (192p) ISBN 978-1-59643-680-0
This graphic novel opens with the first triumph of the legendary Greek courier (in this case renamed Eucles) over the tyrant king Hippias’ own son, the death of his parents at Hippias’ hands, and the tyrant’s exile a decade later. With that bit of backstory nimbly taken care of in the first few pages, the tale jump-cuts ahead to the day before the legendary battle, the Persian army ready to land at Greek shores, with Hippias at its side. If this is familiar to readers (or viewers) of 300, it should be, since the setup is essentially the same. But Yakim and Infurnari take a distinctly different angle, casting the Persians as worthy opponents for the Greeks to engage in battle. The focus is on strategy, which allows heroics to come out of the characters’ wits and will, rather than displays of rippling muscle. However, this focus on character is damaged by a sketchlike visual aesthetic that renders the characters’ faces looking nearly identical. This is frustrating early in the book, when the action focuses more heavily on the efforts of the army than on Eucles. As the book progresses, and Eucles takes center stage, the book rights itself, and by the end, it is easy to feel oneself racing alongside him toward Athens. (June)
Dogs of Mars
Johnny Zito, Tony Trov, Christian Wieser, and Paul Maybury. Image (Diamond, dist.), $15.99 trade paper (120p) ISBN 978-1-60706-550-0
Originally published as a digital comic, this science fiction tale mixes hope and paranoia into something dire. On a mission to transform the red planet into a livable habitat, the crew of Mars Base Bowie prepares to drop an atom bomb into the core of the planet in order to create a magnetic field. One power failure later, followed by an ill-considered command by the gung-ho Captain Zoe, things fall apart. The attacking monsters don’t help much. Though it sometimes threatens to be more than a bit reminiscent of Alien, the story manages to avoid being too derivative. This is partially thanks to First Officer Turk, a counterpoint to Zoe whose constant questioning of her decisions incites a battle of the alpha females on top of the struggle against Martian monsters. The source of their enmity turns out to be more than a little trite—that revelation could be skipped—but the personalities and interaction of the characters elevate the sometimes by-the-numbers plot. Slick artwork typical of the genre might have doomed the book, but Mayberry’s illustrations add mystery and atmosphere to the plot, giving just the visual panache it needs to stand out. (May)
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath & Other Stories
H.P. Lovecraft and Jason Bradley Thompson. Mock Man (www.mockman.com), $25 (184p) ISBN 978-0-9839893-0-1
Yet another in the surprisingly growing shelf of comics adaptations of Lovecraft. This one features a radically quirky art style and four stories united by the theme of voyages and dreams. The major part of the book is taken up by the title novella of the collection; it sees a determined Randolph Carter braving the complex dangers of the dream lands in his attempt to reach a perfect city that may forever be out of his reach. Although at first glance crude, Thompson’s crosshatched stick figure illustrations prove surprisingly well-suited to Lovecraft’s stories, adding to the air of dreamlike unreality. Lovecraft’s works are a cornucopia of inspiration for a modern creator; this striking work is evidence of that. (May)
Stormwatch: Vol. One
Warren Ellis and Tom Raney. DC, $29.99 (296p) ISBN 978-1-4012-3420-1
A team of superpowered men and women tasked with protecting the world take a more aggressive, confrontational approach to ensuring global peace. Ellis (The Authority, Planetary) tells the story of Henry Bendix, the Weatherman, and the Stormwatch team he commands as they decide to stop reacting to the world’s problems and start dealing with them before the most dangerous threats can emerge. A series of short adventures follow, as the team faces challenges ranging from the murder of a former ally, a corrupt superpowered police force, biological super-science terrorist attacks, and invaders from other worlds. The characters inhabit an engaging world of powerful people given a near-impossible job, and often unsure if they’re up to the task. Raney’s art brings a fitting mix of muscles and high-tech sci-fi, but also adds a dose of the weird and the grotesque whenever the story demands. The standout issue, visually, tells the story of 100-year-old heroine Jenny Sparks with stylistic homages to all the comic book styles of the past century. Originally appearing in the late ’90s, this is an early, influential example of the superhero story set in a world where the stakes are high, the solutions are not easy, and the heroes are often conflicted and uncertain. (May)
Wizzywig
Ed Piskor. Top Shelf, $19.95 (288p) ISBN 978-1-60309-097-1
In his solo graphic novel debut, Piskor does more than write a fascinating account of hacking, phone phreaking, and hi-tech hijinks. He gives us some very real insight into the peculiar motivations that define a subculture. Inspired by tales of real-life hackers like Kevin Mitnick, Piskor’s narrative follows the story of Kevin “Boingthump” Phenicle, who gets his start tapping into telephone lines as a teenager and works his way up to infiltrating the phone company and its database. At his side is his best (and indeed only) friend, Winston, who goes from helping Kevin with his hacking to defending him on the radio when Kevin is eventually caught and incarcerated. What stands out is the clarity with which Piskor is able to show us a protagonist whose mind is governed by an insatiable curiosity. Piskor also does a nice job using comics storytelling, periodically inserting radio and television broadcasts to comment on events or using an extended sequence of panels, each featuring a different character, to show the various attitudes toward his protagonist from those within and outside of the hacking subculture. Piskor superbly balances action and insight, and gives us a unique window through which to view the ingenious mind of a hacker. (July)
Abstract City
Christoph Niemann. Abrams, $24.95 (256p) ISBN 978-1-4197-0207-5
If OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) were an art form, Niemann would be Michelangelo. He does best concocting a graph to illustrate his fluctuating coffee cravings; a pie-chart to isolate the components of that slippery beast, the Really Great Idea; or even a photomontage designed to underscore the difficulties of combating lint. His undeniable graphic prowess becomes diluted when he focuses on the Berlin Wall over 10 pages, as well-meaning as his intentions may be. “She was the wall’s first official victim,” writes Niemann, about Ida Siekmann. “And here I was, pitying myself because I had slept only a few hours and couldn’t get my DSL connection up and running.” Indeed. There’s nothing really abstract about Abstract City, a compilation retracing Niemann’s often self-aggrandizing New York Times blog, but he does have an uncanny knack for encapsulating those anecdotal-yet-unavoidable moments that constitute the background chatter of a New Yorker’s existence, like shopping at Fairway. He does almost equally well describing the more serious vagaries of metropolitan life, such as the subway system and the weather. Most satisfying is the section Niemann devotes to “unpopular science,” in which his linear art and his fastidious, analytical wit mesh perfectly, distilling some wicked good humor. (Apr.)
Infinite Horizon
Gerry Dugan and Phil Noto. Image (Diamond, dist.), $17.99 trade (184p) ISBN 978-1-58240-972-6
Dugan and Noto’s Eisner-nominated miniseries sets Homer’s Odyssey in a postapocalyptic near future with fantastic results. The unnamed narrator, called variously Captain and Nobody, fights a losing war; with orders to hold the last airport out of Syria, he and his men are abandoned by the rest of the army and must find a way home themselves. On the home front, wife Penelope faces enemies trying to steal her land, her water, and her son, and reacts with a spine of steel. The recasting of other characters from Homer’s epic works beautifully without ever betraying the new setting. Both art and text create an uneasy tone; the story is not a comfortable one, and Noto’s elegant but disturbing art reinforces how askew the world can feel, particularly in the colors chosen to represent various landscapes. The bleak tale ends, like the epic that inspired it, with both triumph and hope, making for a satisfying and thought-provoking story. (Apr.)
Justice League, Vol. One: Origin
Geoff Johns, Jim Lee, and Scott Williams. DC, $24.99 (192p) ISBN 978-1-4012-3461-4
As a part of DC’s global reboot program, the New 52, these first six issues of Justice League serve as a fast-paced if dramatically inert origin story. Writer Johns resets the time line to “five years ago,” when the world at large fears and mistrusts Batman, the Green Lantern, and Superman. Beset by infighting, these three are joined by Wonder Woman, Aquaman, the Flash, and Cyborg to battle ever-multiplying emissaries sent by Darkseid to collect and recycle human beings. The plotting and character dynamics are mechanical and cautious: our heroes haven’t really changed, but their costumes have. Cocky quips (the Green Lantern to Batman: “You’re not just some guy in a bat costume, are you?”) abound, but do little to change or develop readers’ decades-old familiarity with these characters. The artwork by Lee and Williams reflects the industry standard for superhero tales: dynamic action is masterfully staged, while bodies suffer from anatomical hysteria. These first issues’ major objective is persuading readers to again recalibrate their imaginations so that future stories are less burdened by continuity concerns. It’s entertaining, but has the staying power of a stick of Juicy Fruit. (May)
Metro: A Story of Cairo
Magdy El Shafee. Metropolitan, $20 trade paper (112p) ISBN 978-0-8050-9488-6
Young software genius Shebab longs to escape the social constraintsof modern Cairo while also trying to avoid an irate a loan shark. A way out comes when a local businessman offers him work, but that hope is snuffed when Shebab and his friend Mustafa witness the man’s murder. The man’s cryptic dying words set the two friends on a trail of political corruption and intrigue, while they also commit a bank robbery in a desperate effort to fund a reboot of their directionless lives. El Shafee strives for an insightful look at modern metropolitan Egypt, but even the best fiction can be a tough read when its characters are unsympathetic bores, perhaps this work’s greatest failing. The characters are just not engaging enough to care about, so Shebab’s nonjourney leaves the reader with a disappointing narrative. The inconsistent art varies between the occasional accomplished illustration, but a majority of images are so confusing they warrant backtracking a few panels, or maybe a page, in order to understand what’s being communicated. (June)
The Silver Streak Archives, Vol. 1
Edited by Phillip R. Simon. Dark Horse, $59.99 (288p) ISBN 978-1-59582-929-0
This collection of the golden age title from issue 6 through 9 at its strongest point, in the fall of 1940, like any collection of the era, is a mixed bag of innovation, tradition, and kitsch, and the stories are often at their best with humor in the mix. That’s the case with the titular Silver Streak, a speedster hero whose standout adventures are played more for laughs. The breakout star is Daredevil, no relation to the Marvel version. Following a unexceptional debut, Daredevil is coupled in permanent conflict with Fu Manchu–style villain the Claw. Those entertaining stories are by a pre-Plastic Man Jack Cole, editor for the series starting with issue 7 and creator of the two shining gems of the collection: “Dickie Dean, the Boy Inventor,” a madcap and often surreal outing involving futuristic gadgetry, and “The Pirate Prince,” which gives a sophisticated comedic bent to swashbuckling adventures. The latter story also provides the most progressive moment in the archive, a story line involving the freeing of slaves, although so many other stories in the volume are marred by the casual racism too common in that era. Cole’s energy saves the day creatively, and admittedly the racial biases have historical value. (July)
