Comments on: Doctor 13: Architecture & Mortality — Best of 2007

By: The DC New 52: Reviews of the Rest of the Week Four Books » Comics Worth Reading

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 12:22:14 +0000

[...] on a eight-part Dr. Thirteen back-up in Tales of the Unexpected, collected under the title of Architecture & Mortality — a much-heralded deconstruction (or is it?) of the DC Universe (and possibly of comics [...]

By: Controversy LinkBlogging » Comics Worth Reading

Controversy LinkBlogging » Comics Worth Reading — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 13:00:57 +0000

[...] versions of other mystical heroes; Traci Thirteen, a magician I liked reading in Blue Beetle and Doctor 13: Architecture & Mortality; and Zachary Zatara, Zatanna’s cousin, become the Coven. Ok, the name’s cheesy, but the [...]

By: Joker » Comics Worth Reading

Joker » Comics Worth Reading — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:10:56 +0000

[...] the package from DC, I knew this original graphic novel wasn’t for me. I’ve only ever liked one book by writer Brian Azzarello; most of his work is too violent and too aggressively [...]

By: Unreal Estate - Superman Beyond, the Book of Sand and the Harlequin « Mindless Ones

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 16:23:09 +0000

[...] recently, Brendan McCarthy’s Lord of Limbo from his Solo issue and Azzarello/Chiang’s Doctor ThirteenÃ‚Â - returns as cicerone of theÃ‚Â trash-heap hinterland.Ã‚Â A symbological masquerade, leadingÃ‚Â to [...]

By: Best of 2007 » Comics Worth Reading

Best of 2007 » Comics Worth Reading — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 11:59:02 +0000

[...] Doctor 13: Architecture & Mortality by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang [...]

By: Johanna

Johanna — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 23:34:35 +0000

Thank you for making that great point — whether or not you agree with Azzarello’s take on things, it is very refreshing to see a story with a distinctive point of view.

By: Kurt Busiek

Kurt Busiek — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 21:00:59 +0000

The “architects” are just the writers of ’52,’ actually. Greg was off WONDER WOMAN by that time, and Mark wasn’t back on FLASH yet.

I enjoyed the book, and thought it made good points — though I agree that pointing at those four guys as people who want to discard the goofy and charming aspects of DC history is a missed shot in service of a surface gag.

I also have to note the mild irony of a story that makes an impassioned case for “history is what happened, not what changes you make” that ignores the history of the characters it uses to make the argument and changes them — to name just two: Anthro was a human-looking Cro-Mag, not an apelike Neanderthal, and Captain Fear never talked like that before — so it winds up making the same kind of casual alteration in service of telling the story the writer wants to tell rather than getting the history right that the story’s criticizing. The main difference being, I expect, that Brian doesn’t want to try to make everyone who follows him use his particular changes; he’s just doing it because it’s funny.

And what the hell, it was a dizzyingly fun adventure, and it makes a solid argument for something, which is unusual right there.

kdb

By: Johanna

Johanna — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 19:27:52 +0000

Sometimes the ones who love something are the ones most dangerous to them. Love doesn’t mean that you’re going to take the right approach or cause you to avoid overly restrictive rules.

By: Brian Lockhart

Brian Lockhart — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 17:08:34 +0000

I’ve flipped through this book. It’s an interesting premise but, I think, flawed because it is targeting some of the very DCU writers who over the years have time and again proven their love for comics in general and for DC and its fantastic array of characters in particular.
I mean do any comics readers really feel that Grant Morrison, Mark Waid and Kurt Busiek are these evil “architects” trying to narrowly define the DCU and do away with it’s more interesting and quirky characters? Come on! That’s what taints this book for me. If Azzarello is frustrated with comics, he appears to be picking the wrong targets. Some of his commentary is dead on, but to be going after some of the current comic superstars who have, for years, proven their love for the original source material is just so wrong as to render this book unenjoyable.

By: David Oakes

David Oakes — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 01:57:57 +0000

Nazi. Vampire. Ape.

And still Azzarello has the chops to turn in a meaningful story, rather than just coasting on that!

By: Alan Coil

Alan Coil — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 01:33:18 +0000

Sleeper hit of the year!

Excellently written story with SWEET Chiang art. Great list of ‘B’ characters. How can a story go wrong if it has an ape? Clearly Azzarello’s best writing.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 16:33:03 +0000

Charles, I think it was more meant to indicate the hip, cool, popular kids (in the sense of whom DC was giving work to and allowing to set policy).

By: Charles RB

Charles RB — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 13:41:29 +0000

Bit odd having a stand-in for Grant Morrison as a being that wants to erase the goofy and weird characters, isn’t it? He generally seems to like bringing them back in some form or another, or making some new ones.

By: Dwight Williams

Dwight Williams — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 13:33:38 +0000

For all my continuity-fixation, I happily admit that I enjoyed this one. And when I laughed at jokes in this one…I tend to think it was “laughing with” rather than “at” the characters involved.

And for those who think this was the last hurrah of Terrence Thirteen, I’m a little skeptical about that, given his home ficton…