Parker: The Hunter
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I haven’t read any of the original books myself, but since Cooke clearly has a great affinity for retro-styled works, and since crime/noir stories of this type work best with that kind of timeless feel, I expected an excellent match. This brief interview says that Donald Westlake (the writer’s real name) was involved, and Cooke aimed to use as much of his original dialogue as possible, while descriptive passages were replaced with images to use the comic format effectively.

Parker begins his time in New York forging a driver’s license and writing bad checks to buy nice watches he pawns for money. He wants revenge on those who double-crossed him on a robbery gone bad, and he’ll do anything to get it — including berating his ex-wife into suicide. He’s got to trace back a trail to the man behind it all. (Because it’s always a man. The women are just prizes or status markers or plot devices. And it’s not any man, either, only the strong, individual one who matters and who survives.)

There are two ways to read this book: fast, as the page-turning pulp it started as, or slow, savoring Cooke’s skill, his beautiful lines and the single-color cyan wash that provides such atmosphere. For me, it was a pleasant distraction when things got harsh. I could study the face of the blonde, well-done with shading and relatively few lines, ignoring that she’d just been slapped to the ground.

As with most genre fiction, there aren’t many surprises here. A hard-boiled man who wants payback on the wrong side of the law comes to town and gets it. No subtleties, no what ifs, just a single-minded mission. Normally, a straight genre tale where the only point is how many people Parker can kill before he gets what he thinks is coming to him wouldn’t be for me, but although I’m not the audience, I can see the appeal. And the art is beautiful.

(A complimentary preview copy for this review was provided by the publisher.)

The Amalgam Age of Comics
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Todd Klein analyzes the Amalgam Comic logos. Just talking about Amalgam brought back memories — I was DC’s webmaster during one of the rounds. I recall Marvel’s attitude as being “isn’t this cool? what do you mean both companies have to approve anything related to the project?” Anyway, genius letterer Klein shows how the combined logos were created based on existing influences. There are three follow-up posts. The titles involved are a great reminder of a different time in comics.

This may be the best review ever: First Second Editorial Director Mark Siegel draws a story about reading Scott Pilgrim in the style of Scott Pilgrim. Funny and insightful.

IDW has posted a preview of The Hunter, a Richard Stark novel adapted by Darwyn Cooke. The book will be out in July, and it looks like a wonderful match between Cooke’s retro style and the anti-hero crime story.

Also surprising to me is that this is her second DCU appearance. She previously voiced Iris West, the Flash’s fiancee, in Justice League: The New Frontier.

QUESTION: When you read the Wonder Woman script, what was your first impression of Persephone?

VICKI LEWIS: I’ll be honest, I knew nothing about the mythology of any of this. I got the script, and often times I just kind of look at my part, but this is a fascinating story. I ended up spending half a night on Wikipedia going through the real mythology of the character. Persephone is a very fascinating character in Greek mythology and the comic books. I wasn’t a great student, so I love any opportunity at my age to learn something new. So that’s how I prepared.

[JDC: I'm unfamiliar with a Persephone in the Wonder Woman comic, and so is Wikipedia.]

QUESTION: What endeared you to the role of Persephone?

VICKI LEWIS: I do a lot of animation, and mostly I get cast as the whacky character. I play a lot of kids, or the strange neighbor next door, or the really off-the-wall person in the script. But this was really enticing because Persephone is a solid, commanding woman. It was an interesting process to find and place her (vocally) — she’s a powerful character, and the direction was ‘less is more’ in the grand scheme of this Greek tragedy. I’m very rarely asked to play the powerful, centered part of myself. It’s always there, but I don’t get to use it often (in performance). I played Velma Kelly in “Chicago,” so I think I drew mainly on that character. But this was a great experience. I expected to come in and they would ask me to act like an idiot, which is what I usually get paid to do. So this was an interesting recording session.

[JDC: And that's a good part of what interests me about her in this role -- it is very different from the performances I've seen her in.]

Wonder Woman
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QUESTION: Was there a favorite moment for you during the recording session?

VICKI LEWIS: When you have 900 people staring at you through the glass of the recording booth, and whispering but you can’t hear them, you really want to make sure you give them what they want. And I felt like I got it, because I understood the emotion. This character, Persephone, has some very heartfelt and sad moments, and it was really vulnerable and really human. It wasn’t cartoony — it touched something somewhat real. So I was actually affected by it in a way I didn’t expect to be.

QUESTION: Was it fun playing the bad girl?

VICKI LEWIS: It’s always fun being the bad girl. When I was young, I had Barbie dolls and I made them fly. And then my friends deserted me because I turned them into witches. I was always THAT kid. I didn’t even know what a comic book was.

[JDC: Thank you, Vicki, for pointing out how silly that question is. Trust a PR person to stick with the obvious.]

QUESTION: Much of the fanboy populus is into gaming. Are you a gamer?

VICKI LEWIS: I’m not into the games like the kids play today, but I was addicted to Tetris. I had the Trio, and the Tetris was on it and then my fiancé got me the iPhone for my birthday and I love it. But it doesn’t have Tetris. So I’ve kept the Trio’s battery alive to play Tetris. I used to be addicted to Pacman. We were doing “The Wizard of Oz” at the Kansas City Starlight Theatre, so we were stuck in the middle of Kansas and we would go to the House of Pies every night because they had a Pacman machine in their lobby. And we were obsessed with it.

[JDC: I believe that should be "Treo", like the Palm smartphone. And I don't know what this question has to do with the Wonder Woman movie, unless someone said "isn't there ANYTHING geeky she can talk about?"]

QUESTION: You glide smoothly between stage, film, television and animation voiceover performances. All three require different techniques. What’s the trick to making the transition for voiceover work?

VICKI LEWIS: I started out in theatre in New York and then I did movies and I’d been out (in Hollywood) for nine months when I got NewsRadio and it was all a really interesting transition. Somebody who’d been around for a long time came up to me and basically said that the difference between stage and film and television is that on stage the proscenium is where you can see it. Film and television, it’s really got to be here (spreads her arms wide). In terms of turning that into voice work, sometimes the voice is very subtle, and sometimes I’m so loud they have me move away from the mike. So in voiceovers, you learn where the proscenium is in your voice. As far as acting, I’ve been working for so long that I can basically tap into any emotion. I’m like a little trained monkey at this point. So it’s just a matter of finding that place, and adjusting vocally as you would onstage or in film.

For voiceovers, like Wonder Woman, I feel really blessed that I’m able to do this and that Andrea (Romano) continues to hire me. She always lifts my spirits, she always makes me better, and she’s always so gracious. I keep thinking, ‘When is she going to see through me, that I don’t have any of this talent she’s thanking me for?’ She’s just so great, such an amazing director.

And now, here’s the reason I wanted to run this: an adorable picture of Vicki Lewis with New Frontier author Darwyn Cooke at WonderCon 2008.

Nick Cardy: Behind The Art
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But KC and I had the pleasure of meeting Darwyn Cooke and his wife Marsha, where we got one of the few last copies of his sketchbook Retroactive. We’d brought our copy of the Absolute New Frontier to get signed, the only book we dragged along from home. We were praising it to him, when he responded that it was a shame that it had been out of print for over a year, including when the DVD adaptation came out. That seems foolhardy on DC’s part, but believable.

I greatly enjoyed congratulating Nick Cardy on his Lifetime Achievement Award. The actual award has a Hero Initative logo on one side and an embossed version of a classic cover done by the artist on the other. In Nick’s case, it was Bat Lash #2, the image of Bat Lash hiding behind a tombstone. When he saw it, he said he wanted to take it home and make cookies with it.

He’s a wonderfully charming man; it’s hard to believe he’s almost 90. I also had him sign a copy of the upcoming Nick Cardy: Behind The Art, a gorgeous book that TwoMorrows had advance copies of. Here’s a picture of him with my friend Roger Ash, showing off a Bat Lash sketch he’d just drawn.

Elsewhere, I did finally get to meet Scott Kurtz, who with Kris Straub, Brad Guigar, and Dave Kellett, was very fun to talk to. Scott was kind enough to do me a quick sketch of his Savage Critic character as a momento.

Sunday was a wind-down. We had a lovely lunch with Tim O’Shea and his new wife Ellen. After that, I started saying goodbye to people. I realized how tired I was when I kept saying “Top Shelf” when I meant “Top Cow”. That’s a pretty weird mistake to make. Got home safe, still enjoying the warmth of the show, can’t wait ’til next year.

The Harveys, named after the legendary MAD founding editor and master storyteller Harvey Kurtzman, recognize outstanding achievements in over 20 categories. They are the only industry awards both nominated and selected by the full body of comic book professionals.

The winners this year were diverse, ranging across publishers and even media, with webcomics and online outlets successfully competing against traditional print publishers. All Star Superman was a favorite of voters, taking home three awards for Best Continuing or Limited Series, Best Artist, and Best Single Issue or Story for issue #8. Nicholas Gurewitch’s Perry Bible Fellowship won both Best Online Comics Work and Special Award for Humor.

Nick Cardy was honored with the Hero Initiative Lifetime Achievement Award after a touching speech by friend and writer Todd DeZago. The Harvey Awards also thanks Brian Michael Bendis for his keynote address and Kyle Baker for serving as Master of Ceremonies.

Here is the complete list of winners:

Best Writer: Brian K. Vaughan, Y: The Last Man, Vertigo/DC Comics
Best Artist: Frank Quitely, All Star Superman, DC Comics
Best Cartoonist: Darwyn Cooke, The Spirit, DC Comics
Best Graphic Album – Original: Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together, Oni Press
Best Graphic Album – Previously Published: Captain America Omnibus Volume 1, Marvel Comics
Best Domestic Reprint Project: Complete Peanuts, Fantagraphics Books
Best American Edition of Foreign Material: Eduardo Risso’s Tales of Terror, Dynamite Entertainment
Special Award for Humor: Nicholas Gurewitch, Perry Bible Fellowship, www.pbfcomics.com
Best Online Comics Work: Perry Bible Fellowship, Nicholas Gurewitch, www.pbfcomics.com
Special Award for Excellence in Presentation: EC Archives, edited by Russ Cochran, Gemstone
Best Single Issue or Story: All Star Superman #8, DC Comics
Best Biographical, Historical or Journalistic Presentation: Reading Comics: How Graphic Albums Work and What They Mean, Douglas Wolk, Da Capo Press
Best Cover Artist: Mike Mignola, Hellboy, Dark Horse Comics
Best Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos, Daredevil, Marvel Comics
Best Colorist: Laura Martin, Thor, Marvel Comics
Best Inker: Kevin Nowlan, Witchblade, Top Cow/Image
Best Syndicated Strip or Panel: Doonesbury, Garry Trudeau, Universal Press Syndicate
Best Continuing or Limited Series: All Star Superman, DC Comics
Best New Series: Umbrella Academy, Dark Horse Comics
Best New Talent: Vasilis Lolos, Last Call, Oni Press
Best Anthology: Popgun Volume 1, edited by Joe Keatinge and Mark Andrew Smith, Image Books

And now, the editorial comments.

I was disappointed to see Jeff Kinney (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) shut out of the awards after being nominated for eight. I don’t know that his work was more deserving than the others that won, but he’d brought a lot of his family to see him. And I suspect the voters’ unfamiliarity with the work might have been a disadvantage, since many of the winners are “big names” from big traditional comic publishers.

I was also suprised to see so few winners attending the awards. I can maybe understand why a small publisher like Oni Press, located across the country from the show, wouldn’t send a representative, but someone like Mike Mignola, who was appearing at the show, not coming to the ceremony when nominated, I don’t get.

All I remember about Bendis’ keynote speech was him saying “Lawyer up” when Hollywood comes calling. Oh, and the cursing was completely unnecessary, especially since there was a kid in the room (who promptly left with Mom when he started). If these kinds of events are to be taken seriously, people participating in them need to act like adults, with a sense of decorum. At least Bendis didn’t wear shorts, like he did to the Eisners the last time I went.

Overall, though, it was a lovely evening, with a great group of people. The dinner was delicious, and it’s so nice to have that chance to relax and dine with industry people. (I sat next to Kyle Baker! Not for long, though, since I kept popping up to check on presenters.)

“Gray & Palmiotti’s ongoing series about sexual assault in the Old West…”

Have they done an issue yet that doesn’t include rape?

They’ve managed to get some wonderful guest artists, though, with Darwyn Cooke having drawn an issue, and J.H. Williams III illustrating the latest.

My husband KC and I are huge Darwyn Cooke fans, so I was thrilled to get a set of the promo cards (limited to 500) in the mail. (You can see one of the images with this CBR writeup; I’m surprised I haven’t seen the others online yet others are online. And I’m really pleased not to have to chase around for them — one of the benefits of being “press”.)

You know, with this genre suddenly being hot in the comics field (Vertigo also announced a spinoff imprint called, unimaginatively, “Vertigo Crime”), I’m thinking that Andy Helfer’s Paradox Graphic Mystery line (1997-1998) was significantly ahead of its time. They only published four titles, but they had the small size (very unusual for graphic novels in that era) that made for handy reading and the emphasis on unusual, character-driven crime fiction.

• Green Candles
• A History of Violence (also reissued with new movie tie-in cover)
• Road to Perdition (once again apparently out of print, even with the movie)
• The Bogie Man

Boom! Studios moves into family-friendly licensing in a big way with today’s announcement that they will be putting out Pixar comics. I’m excited! I love those characters, and I’m sure many other people do too.

Boom! Editor-in-Chief Mark Waid will write The Incredibles (and can you think of a better choice?) with a cover by Darwyn Cooke. Additional comics will feature characters from Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., Cars, and Wall*E.

Waid was quoted as saying that this was Boom! making “comics for kids again!” That’s a laudable goal — but I hope these are truly all ages books, with something for the adult reader, too, because that’s what makes the Pixar films so great.

Pictured is a special sneak preview book available at the San Diego convention.

I should have known that I’d like the “spokes” of Final Crisis better than the core book itself.

Requiem is the belated memorial to the Martian Manhunter, who was so brutally done away with in a couple of panels of Final Crisis #1. Writer Peter Tomasi and artists Doug Mahnke, Christian Alamy, and Rodney Ramos do an admirable job of filling in the details that weren’t presented previously. It shows us, among other things, that at least J’onn put up a fight before being mercilessly slaughtered by Libra and his crew. Had this book been shipped the same week as FC #1, there would have been less of a to-do raging across the internets about the inadequacies of that book, but then again DC would have had to actually plan ahead for that eventuality. As it is, this book seems more like a “Whoops! We better explain this better!” make-up story, something that shouldn’t be laid at the feet of the creative team, yet they rise to the occasion anyway.

The heart and soul of Requiem is the realization of the massive effect that J’onn J’onzz had on the DCU, and of how tragic is his loss. Unfortunately, what is presented here wasn’t always present in the Martian’s other appearances in other DC titles, where lesser writers couldn’t get past the Superman-like qualities of his powers or presented him as a bundle of inconsistent weaknesses and neuroses. Outside of the late, lamented John Ostrander/Tom Mandrake series and this one-shot, most of the character development of J’onn in the past decade or so took place in the Justice League animated series and Darwyn Cooke’s New Frontier. Requiem does much to rectify that shortcoming and presents J’onn’s legacy in great style and warmth.

Rogues’ Revenge #1 (of 3), on the other hand, is a total superhero romp with nary a superhero in sight. It’s the story of the Flash’s Rogues Gallery (what’s left of them) and all the crap that they went through in the last year or so, from the killing of Bart “Flash” Allen to the horrors of Salvation Run and Countdown. Because of the Flash’s death, they are on the run from the heroes of the DCU, but because they chose not to stand with Libra and his plan (currently unfolding as a part of Final Crisis), they may be in even greater — and more immediate — danger. Plus, never the most psychologically stable bunch anyway, a few of the Rogues are dangerously close to completely unraveling after what they’ve been through.

Writer Geoff John’s acclaimed run on The Flash was largely based on “reclaiming” the Rogues — both in creating strong new characters, but re-making the old ones, with never-before-seen origins and motivations. Artist Scott Kolins joined him for the majority of the run, creating a dynamic “no solid black” art style which revolutionized the title. They’re both back for Rogues’ Revenge, picking up where they left off and setting up all the pieces for what may be the ultimate Rogues story. And they’re just the guys to do it!

Johns has done a masterful job of recapping all of the various (mis-)deeds of the Rogues in the last few years and has us cheering for the least likely protagonists in comics with Captain Cold, Heat Wave, Mirror Master, Weather Wizard, and Pied Piper, as well as checking in with the new Trickster, Inertia, and Zoom. And if Iris Allen is here, “you know who” can’t be far behind. What will the Rogues do when they encounter the return of their longtime adversary, Barry “Flash” Allen? And who wants to miss that? Not me!

Comments on The Twelve #3, Justice League: The New Frontier Special, and Teen Titans: Year One #3 follow.

The Twelve #3 — Still good, still exploring the culture clash that happens when original mystery men from a simpler age wind up in modern times. Most of this issue is an ethnic pride lesson that’s delivered with a bit too much sledgehammer, but I can’t argue with the different attitude that comes with different generations, and the anger of those left behind is plausible enough.

The narrator gets a job offer from someone who lays out the premise of the series nakedly, just in case you hadn’t noticed. One of the heroes turns out to be a Joker-like psycho, and others explore their places in the current era. I’m still interested in reading more, and eager to do so.

Justice League: The New Frontier Special — Can you believe I still haven’t watched the DVD movie? From the opening page, where an aggressively suburban Rip Hunter says “Who cares what world we’re on?” while some Jackie O-lookalike sets out patio furniture from a time bubble, I’m in for this tie-in special regardless.

The first story, Batman vs. Superman, seems to be the showdown every creator wants to do, but Darwyn Cooke gets the characters to feel exactly right. Although my favorite part was when Wonder Woman stopped the projector reel by hand while taking her righteous stand. And I got a giggle out of noticing her bullet bra under her toga. True to the era, but goofy nonetheless.

The Robin story has art by David Bullock and Michael Cho and a version of the character who sounds like Eric Von Zipper, all faux tough guy slang. J. Bone draws the Wonder Woman/Black Canary teamup, a Playboy club parody that isn’t funny and isn’t insightful. Shame, that, because it ends the stories on a bum note. There is an additional section of design sketches to cleanse the palate, though.

Teen Titans: Year One #3 — This series is brilliant because the teens act like youngsters. Especially too-weird-for-words Aqualad. His oddity is hilarious.

What I liked about this issue, aside from the kids saving the day through old-fashioned teamwork and hard work, is that we’re halfway through the miniseries and the main challenge of the first three issues has been resolved. Which leaves plenty of room for the group to bond and develop. Yay for more!

If the upcoming Justice League: New Frontier animated movie sounds good to you, you’ll want to enter this contest. I am very excited to announce that I have three copies of the regular edition DVD (as shown here) to give away. Here’s the publicity description:

Inspired by the best-selling graphic novel by Darwyn Cooke and produced by the multiple Emmy Award-winning animation legend, Bruce Timm, The New Frontier is the epic tale of the founding of the Justice League. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are all here, of course, and so are Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, and Flash — whose incredible origins will be told for the very first time. Strangers at first, these very different heroes must overcome fear and suspicion to forge an alliance against a monster so formidable, even the mighty Superman can not stop it. If they fail, our entire planet will be “cleansed” of humanity.

Winners will be announced Tuesday morning, February 26, the day of release.

To enter, simply respond in the comments before 6 PM Eastern US time on Monday, February 25. You don’t have to say anything more than “I want to enter.” I will randomly select three of the entries as winners. Please make sure that the email address attached to your comment is valid, because that’s how I’ll contact you for your mailing address. Your contact information will be used for no other purpose.

Check out the official DVD site for more information or read KC’s review of the DVD. Also, Blog@Newsarama is holding a similar contest, only with a more creative entry; they ask you to name your favorite Justice League story.

Review by KC Carlson

There must be crazier things to do than trying to adapt a critically acclaimed — as well as beloved — 400+ page graphic novel into a 75-minute animated film, but I can’t think of any. But that’s exactly what has been done with Justice League: The New Frontier, the seminal work by artist and writer (and occasional animation creator) Darwyn Cooke, which will be released in a myriad of DVD formats next Tuesday, February 26.

And the crazy thing is that it works! It’s “different,” but …

Spoilers follow.

Due to budget and production limitations, the animated version of Justice League: The New Frontier is missing several elements from the graphic novel, including the opening sequence with the Losers on Dinosaur Island, the sequences with John Wilson (aka John Henry), all of the scenes featuring the Challengers of the Unknown and the Suicide Squad, and the interlude with the supernatural characters on the moon. But despite this, this film still works as a powerful document on heroism and as a reflection of how things were in a long-ago time where every adventure was still new. You don’t really miss these scenes — most are given a reference or two in the new narrative — and the movie has been carefully structured to include dozens of heroes in non-speaking supporting roles as part of the final battle.

The stunning opening sequence features graphic elements from the 1950s emulating the great movie title designer Saul Bass and featuring many of Cooke’s cover images from the individual issues of the series. And the filmmakers take advantage of their PG-13 rating right up front. There is a suicide (off-camera) and a brutal heat-of-the-battle killing (in silhouette, but still shocking) within the first five minutes. (Parents should check out the movie before letting younger children watch.)

Justice League: The New Frontier
(Two-Disc Special Edition)
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The entire film is a visual treat, and it’s obvious that everyone involved with the animation and design worked far beyond their usual fine standards. If you can tear yourself away from the astounding character design and animation, check out the background elements — every one true to the letter of their 1950s origins — and the color palette used to the fullest to evoke mood and atmosphere. (I think the Las Vegas sequence is the brightest, most colorful sequence I’ve ever seen in a DC/Warner production.) The animators really tore it up in the three major sequences of period jets in flight. The opening Korean War battle sequence takes your breath away. And then they top it. Twice!

I always cringe at the attempt to “stunt cast” the vocal parts in these movies, as the voice actors used in the original Justice League series were, for the most part, excellent as well as familiar to regular fans. But — again — here it works. There’s a certain “warmth” to Kyle MacLachlan’s voice as Superman that sets him apart from the guttural Jeremy Sisto (Batman) and the craggy Miguel Ferrer (Martian Manhunter). Neil Patrick Harris is spot-on as a slightly overwhelmed, but determined to step up, Flash, as is Lucy Lawless as the lusty warrior Wonder Woman. But the standout actors of the film are David Boreanaz, as the cocky (but not overconfident) swingin’ flyboy Hal Jordan, and Brooke Shields, who manages to make Carol Ferris a strong, multifaceted woman in very few lines of dialog.

If you only have time for one commentary, choose creator Darwyn Cooke’s solo track. He really gets down to the nuts and bolts of how his work was transferred from one medium to another, and he details the work that he did to help ease the transition. With a reputation of being a harsh critic, Cooke does point out a couple of scenes that just “don’t work” for him, but he is full of praise and gratitude for most of the people involved in getting his story to the screen. (He indicates his “special thanks” to at least 40 individuals while the end credits roll.) And in places he sounds absolutely giddy — “Wow! Look at that!” he exclaims at a key Green Lantern shot during the film’s climax.

The other commentary, featuring six of the key filmmakers, had about three too many voices in the mix. There was a lot of good material there, including Bruce Timm informing us that besides arguing with Cooke over story and character points, he didn’t have that much “hands on” to do with the film; director David Bullock was the go-to guy. Also, screenwriter Stan Berkowitz talked about the struggles to get as much material from the original book into the film.

Justice League: The New Frontier (Blu-Ray)
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Voice director Andrea Romano (who should have gotten her own mini-doc with the stellar voice talent she lined up, a missed opportunity) told a wonderful anecdote about how she got the Vietnamese background voices in the Wonder Woman scene. I also got a kick out of Timm frequently exclaiming some variation of “you guys are crazy” when commenting on the amount of detail in the animation and background elements. The most interesting thing to come out of this commentary was the revelation that if enough people bought the DVD, an Extended Edition with extended and additional scenes might be a possibility.

Also on the the disc is an excellent documentary on the history of the Justice League in the comics, including comments from Denny O’Neil, Mark Waid, Paul Levitz, Dan Didio, Stan Lee (!), and many others. Plus, there’s a lengthy sneak peek for the next DC Warner Premiere project: Batman Gotham Knight, an anthology of six different Batman stories by different creators and directors that looks really wild.

Not available for review was the special feature “Comic Book Commentary: Homage to the New Frontier” in which Cooke explains in greater detail the changes between the source material and the animated film, including elements that either evolved or were truncated for the film. That sounds like essential viewing for the hard-core New Frontier fan. Buyers who want this particular feature should look for either the two-disc Special Edition or the Blu-Ray format (which includes all of the special features).

Find out more at the official site for the DVD release.

Will Eisner’s Spirit Book One
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The book itself stands apart from the usual collection. The hardcover binding consists of images instead of plain color boards, and the dust jacket has the Spirit letters cut out to show the art beneath. It’s a beautiful job of design, just like the material it contains.

Or rather, re-design. Cooke reinvents the decades-old characters for modern readers, keeping all the excitement while ditching some of Eisner’s more embarrassing, dated elements. Obviously, these changes are most noticeable when it comes to Ebony, the young black cab-driving sidekick, but the women also benefit. They’re still femme fatales, but with additional backstory, they’re more three-dimensional and less stereotypical, with motivations that don’t solely revolve around the title character.

Everyone’s gorgeous, or at least gorgeously drawn. There’s exoticism and glamour and danger and tortured histories and a handsome, rugged man in the middle of it all. Individual panels are marvelous in their construction and subtleties. P’Gell is just as seductive and slinky as she needs to be to snare a foreign prince, while Silk Satin is a CIA agent with endurance and determination to spare.

The cover promises “Action – Mystery – Adventure”, and that’s what you’ll get here in spades. Whether it’s rescuing a kidnapped television anchor or crashing an embassy party, the Spirit does everything with style and verve, capped off with Cooke’s wonderful expressions and gestures. It’s pure comics: imagination and skill put down in words and lines.

This is high escapism in the classic mold, and Cooke was the best possible choice for caretaker of the Eisner legacy. His work is true to the concept and the roots of its appeal while he brings creativity to his work with the characters.

Sadly, the last issue of this series with these creators will be #12. Here’s an interview with the author. (A complimentary copy for this review was provided by the publisher.)

Which brings us to She-Hulk. As with other comics, there are many reasons people like to buy She-Hulk comics, and again not all of them are the best intentioned. She-Hulk is a character that some fans latch on to because she is: a) a woman, b) very tall, c) very busty, d) green, e) tends to occasionally “fall out” of her ripping clothes, and f) some pleasant (or unpleasant) combination of some or all of these. But let’s not talk about that.

The main reason that most people that bought (and read) the most current incarnation of the character, was for one reason only: Because Dan Slott was writing it. Dan’s She-Hulk stories were, of course, incredibly funny, but they were also occasionally powerful, moving, sad, touching, sometimes odd, but always fun. But the main deal was that Dan wrote his characters “real” — you cared for Jen, you rooted for She-Hulk and you fell in love with Awesome Andy (basically, a big dumb lump of clay — think about that!). And now (sniff) Dan is off to write Amazing Spider-Man.

And this is what new writer Peter David has chosen to step into. He alludes to it on the text page of his first issue, explaining that the series has experienced a couple of runs by creators who have brought their “unmistakable… and, more to the point, inimitable… brand of storytelling” to the series, invoking both Slott and John Byrne.

So, how is Peter’s first issue? Well, it’s… um… strange.

Some amount of time has passed since the previous issue. When we first encounter Jennifer Walters, she is no longer working as a lawyer for Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg and Book, although she is still a part of the legal world food chain, albeit on the grimy, dropped-the-egg-on-the-floor lower level. She is now a bail enforcement agent, or as better known in the pulp media, a bounty hunter. Her current case: a poor schlubb by the name of Rocky Davis (no, not the Challenger of the Unknown. That’s another company…) who goes by the super-villain name of “Hi-Lite.” Before attempting Davis’ capture, Jen sets a wager with a mysterious voice huddled in the back of the camper that Jan has been using as her stakeout vehicle. The wager? Jen bets the voice that she can take Davis without “turning green,” i.e. turning into She-Hulk. Unfortunately, the bust goes bad when Crusher Creel, the Absorbing Man (who is Davis’ cousin), shows up, grabs Jen from behind, and violently snaps her neck.

Creel is there to gain revenge against She-Hulk for her constant assault of his wife, Titania. Thinking that he’s killed Jen, Creel goes to check out the camper as a possible getaway vehicle, only to be attacked by She-Hulk (?!?) who comes leaping out of the camper. The fight destroys a good portion of the neighborhood and comes to a temporary halt when Creel is struck by a bus. Meanwhile, back at the house, Davis is deciding if he should enter the brawl to help his cousin, when he finds himself at gunpoint by the recently deceased Jen Walters, who is back on her feet and somehow continuing to function with a broken neck. To which all I have to say is … “Ewww.”

So, Peter has presented us with a big puzzle — or several interconnected puzzles, to be exact. Have She-Hulk and Jen been separated somehow? Or is She-Hulk now somebody new? Or is Jen? But if Jen is now “human,” how can she possibly be alive and functioning after a broken neck? Plus there’s the mystery of how all this happened and why Jen is no longer a lawyer. Beyond this, Peter has deliberately shifted the tone of the book away from the kind of humor that Slott was known for, to more of a serious action/adventure feel (something that Slott was already beginning to work towards). The odd thing about it is that, with this change, Peter’s script is also consciously (but not completely) moving away from his natural tendency for humor, although, obviously, black humor is still much in evidence. Is this good or bad? Actually, I think it’s still too soon to tell. This was a good, solid, fast-moving issue, but I walked away feeling I needed just a bit more. Which means — in the long run — that Peter accomplished his job.

It’s really up to you to decide whether the new direction is to your liking. For me, Peter has been pulling surprizes out of his word processor for a long time now and I’m willing to keep checking in, if he’s willing to keep things moving.

ACTION COMICS #857-855 (DC Comics) — Good-Bye!

Just in time for Halloween, perhaps Superman’s weirdest adversary, Bizarro returns, in a 3-part story entitled “Escape from Bizarro World.” But instead of a scary story, full of angry and destructive monsters, writers Geoff Johns and Richard Donner and guest artist Eric Powell (The Goon) serve up a sweet — if bizarre — fairy tale about fathers and sons.

The tale begins quickly — with the kidnapping of Jonathan Kent by Bizarro — and, as in all the best Bizarro stories, barrels along frantically and haphazardly. The creators wisely know that if you stop to take time to explain Bizarro — basically explaining the unexplainable — it tends to undo the whole story. But here’s what we do know: Thanks to help from Superman’s “other” dad, Jor-El, we learn that Bizarro has taken Jonathan to a world under a Blue Sun and that said sun may enhance Superman’s powers, possibly in unusual ways. Oh, and that it may affect Bizarro as well.

In a wonderful sequence of mostly silent pages, Superman travels to the world under the Blue Sun — a perfectly cubic world — where Superman slowly comes to learn that Bizarro has remade Metropolis in his own twisted vision. Discovering this planet’s version of the “Dayli Planet” (topped off with a cubic “globe” and a sign which reads “Is here Dali Planit. Dilivrees in reer or punch in face”), Superman also discovers that the planet has been somehow populated with twisted duplicates of his coworkers, including Perry, Jimmy and Lois. The usual misunderstandings occur and a fight ensues, climaxing with Superman setting Bizarro on fire with his heat vision (“Call Gasoline Company!” cries Bizarro Lois.), unintentionally revealing that Bizarro Clark Kent is actually Bizarro — which in Bizarro-logic makes Bizarro the newly christened Bizarro World’s “worst enemy” and the population turns against him! Managing to escape the crazed mob, Bizarro flees, only to encounter Superman, who he quickly defeats by spontaneously generating several super-powered duplicates of himself — which is apparently one of the strange Blue Sun powers that Jor-El predicted — indicating exactly how Bizarro managed to populate Bizarro World. Bizarro then travels to his Bizarro Fortress, where he tells the captive Jonathan Kent that he needs his help in destroying Bizarro World.

The middle chapter gives up a flashback glimpse at the actual construction of Bizarro World by Bizarro, as well as propelling the story forward with the machinations of Bizarro Lex Luther’s “sekret weapon” to defeat Bizarro, making him Bizarro World’s Greatest Hero. Unfortunately, Bizarro Lex’s plans are literally crushed by the arrival of the Bizarro Justice League, who, being Bizarros, pretty much defeat themselves. During the fight, Superman accidentally strikes Jonathan with an unknown Blue Sun-derivied vision power, but instead of injuring Jonathan, he is temporarily given super-powers, which he quickly uses to defeat Bizarro Luther’s “secret weapon,” bringing the action to a temporary halt.

Superman, tired of dealing with a planet of Bizarros, just wants to grab Jonathan and fly home, but Jonathan insists on staying. “We have to help them all,” he contends. “It’s not their fault they’re different, is it?”

“They’re more than different,” says Superman.

“Some would say that about you, too,” replies Pa Kent.

Together, the two hatch a plan that enables Bizarro to save face with his people, embarrasses Bizarro Lex (Dali Planit headline: “Luther am jerk!”) and sets Bizarro into his rightful and deserved position of “Bizarro #1,” complete with the traditional prestigious emblem — a rock on a chain! Remarkably, Bizarro somehow understands what has occurred and, in gratitude, presents Pa with a homemade Superman suit.

Eric Powell was the perfect choice to illustrate this story, his rocky, blocky style evoking the very best of Superman creator Joe Shuster (and yes, there’s even an homage to the cover of Action #1). His Superman, like Shuster’s, is physically small, but tenacious, obviously having to fight for every inch. And to my way of thinking, this is how it should be. I get so tired of seeing the shoulders-six-feet-wide steroid freak that Superman often becomes in the hands of lesser artists. Obviously a guy who looks like that is gonna win most of his battles without breaking a sweat. Give me a scrappy little guy fighting the big monsters any day. And, yes, this is my way of saying that I’d welcome the return of Eric Powell to the pages of any Superman book!

Hello!

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS #5 (Marvel Comics) — Y’know, I often get really angry when I read kids comics today. I guess I’m spoiled by the fact that the kids comics I read as a kid were done by the likes of Carl Barks, John Stanley, Sheldon Mayer, Dan DeCarlo, Warren Kremer and many, many others. And maybe it’s unfair of me to expect work like that out of today’s kids books (at least at the “big-time” publishers who only seemingly put any effort into their “kids lines” unless they are pushed.). But let me say this:

The work that Jeff Parker and Roger Cruz put into this series easily stands with the work of the gentleman mentioned above. Maybe not quite the VERY best of their work — at least not yet — but they could at least have dinner at the same table. Because they understand the cardinal rule of good kids comics — they don’t talk down to their audience!

The basic premise of X-Men: First Class is about as basic as you can get: These are stories told about the first six mutants that we were introduced to in the Marvel Universe — The original X-Men. Scott, Jean, Hank, Warren, Bobby and their professor, Charles Xavier — or better known as Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, Angel, Iceman and Professor X. This is not the first time this has been done, but it is most certainly one of the best.

Most issues to date have been stand-alone, single-issue stories, mostly revolving around the students being sent on a “mission” by the Professor. Some of these are just actually just “training missions” designed by Xavier to make the kids learn teamwork and how to think on their feet in order to control their often dangerous powers. But occasionally, they are sent out on a real mission, often requested by Xavier’s old FBI liaison Fred Duncan. And this is one of the key elements in my enjoyment of the series — the fact that the mutant kids are actually working alongside of — and cooperating with — various government and law-enforcement agencies, instead of constantly being hunted down by them in the “more mature” books.

In issue #5, the team has been called in to assist the army in finding The Hulk! Of course, they’ve been lead into thinking that he’s an uncontrollable, mindless beast, a presumption that isn’t helped by the Hulk’s attack of the team early in the issue. They learn right off that he’s one tough customer, but come to understand that his anger is mostly being fueled by the constant hounding by the army. This is reinforced by meeting the Hulk’s friend, Rick Jones, and eventually they learn the truth when the Hulk calms down and reverts back to his Bruce Banner personna, whom Hank recognizes as a leading nuclear scientist. In the end, the kids decide (with the Professor’s help) that the Hulk is best left alone.

It’s a pretty basic plot, actually, as are most of them. But the true enjoyment of the series is in the details and the personalities of these well-known characters. Bobby, the youngest, is charmingly annoying in that “Hey! look at me!” obnoxious younger brother way. He’s constantly chattering away about being the “King of Bobbyland.” Warren is headstrong and impatient, and his powers and his wealthy background set him apart slightly from the others. I love the way that Warren’s dresser is covered with piles of money, there for the taking of the other kids to enable the completion of important missions… or an unexpected road trip. Hank is the complex big brother and the heart — and anchor — of the team. Scott, as usual, is the stoic leader, secretly struggling with not only powers that he fears, but the fears of young romance with his teammate Jean. And it’s with Jean that the creators shine, with Jeff writing her as the cool and confident (but not too) emotional center of the team, and Roger depicts her as the determined — yet awkwardly cute — young woman that she is developing into. In issue #5, Jean faces down the Hulk alone after he effortlessly swats the boys aside in the issue’s defining moment.

Roger excels in drawing all of the kids — as kids (as opposed to muscle-bound midgets). They are awkward and gangly and you can imagine them all falling all over themselves in private, just managing to pull themselves together when needed to impress their teammates that they’re not totally hopeless. Well, maybe not Warren…

Every so often, a short back-up feature appears, illustrated by Colleen Coover in her gloriously cartoony style, and the tale in this issue features Jean secretly manipulating an Ouija board to freak out the guys, just in time for Halloween. Hey, Marvel! Next time regular artist Roger Cruz needs a break, why not give Colleen a chance on a longer story!?

Don’t let the stigma of being “just” a kids book prevent you from taking a look at this great title. X-Men: First Class stands with the best, even if it isn’t all angsty or dark or moody. That’s what sets it apart from all the rest!

SERENITY: THOSE LEFT BEHIND HARDCOVER (Dark Horse Comics) — Dark Horse Comics’ 3-issue Serenity miniseries, bridging the story-gap between Joss Whedon’s beloved Firefly TV series and the then-forthcoming Serenity major motion picture, sold out so fast that a collection had to be pulled together practically in seconds. Accordingly, the Serenity: Those Left Behind trade paperback was an okay collection, but seemingly quite workmanlike in its execution due to the speed that the market demanded it be produced. This week a deluxe Hardcover edition has appeared and was truly worth the wait.

The biggest improvement, for me anyway, is its increase back to comic book size proportions. The 3/4 size of the trade paperback (not as large as a comic collection, not as thick as a manga) seemed to lessen the impact of the work, despite the wonderful story by Whedon and Brett Matthews and art by Will Conrad, as well as the evocative cover painting by Adam Hughes. The larger format restores the “epic” to the story.

New to this hardcover edition is creator Joss Whedon’s Serenity pre-production memo, “A Brief History of the Universe Circa 2516 A.D.” which is illustrated with several pieces of pre-production art for the film by Leinil Francis Yu and Joshua Middleton. There is also a brand new cover by Adam Hughes which is very serene indeed. Also, I am happy to report that all of the things that were cool about the original publications have been included, especially the original 9 covers from the comics — which are much enhanced by the book’s larger format — as well as Adam Hughes’ original cover for the trade paperback collection. The evocatively nostalgic Introduction by Nathan Fillion (“Mal”) from the original collection is also included.

THE SPIRIT: BOOK ONE HARDCOVER (DC Comics) — Not many people could take on the task of reviving Will Eisner’s landmark masterpiece The Spirit and do it justice. First off, it’s one of the most revered (and therefore, most reprinted) projects in comics. Secondly, its innovations were borne of some of the most serious restrictions of the medium — restrictions that Eisner put into play himself when inventing “The Spirit Section” for newspaper circulation in 1940. The Spirit ran as the lead feature of the “Section,” 6 or 7 pages each and every week for close to thirteen years. And most all of them were stand-alone stories.

Enter Darwyn Cooke. A man who knows what he’s doing. And he does it very, very well.

Darwyn’s been kicking around the industry for a number of years now, having snuck in through one of comic’s backdoors — the animation industry — where he storyboarded for the acclaimed Batman, Superman and Batman: Beyond animated shows. (He more-or-less created the stunning opening sequence for the latter show.) The usual pattern is that comic book creators, having been burned-out (or burned-up) by the comic industry, find their way into animation and into a second creative career. (Hey, it worked for Jack Kirby!). Typically, Darwyn did it a different way. And because he entered the comics field relatively late, he needed to make an impact immediately. And he did, with Batman: Ego, the redesigning of Catwoman, some remarkable one-shots for both Marvel and DC and his magnum opus (to date) DC: The New Frontier. Darwyn’s deft handing of the personalities of the heroes behind the masks in DC: The New Frontier led him to be chosen to re-launch Eisner’s classic character into the DC Universe.

This hardcover collection includes Darwyn’s first six issues of the series, along with his now classic collaboration with writer Jeph Loeb on the stand-alone Batman/The Spirit. All the right notes were hit with this team-up from the chumminess of the two Commissioners, Gordon and Dolan (and isn’t it warmly comforting how Eisner grew into looking like Dolan in his later years, something that the great team of Cooke and Bone are gently nudging along in the series?), to the big splash pages with the incorporated “logo” of the main characters (a Spirit tradition!), to the handling of all the gorgeous, powerful women in both the heroes’ circles.

In the regular series, Darwyn starts off with a bang, effortlessly pulling the 65+ year-old characters into today’s world of TV tabloid journalism and the internet, as well as strengthening the roles and personalities of the core supporting characters. Dolan is tenacious, soft and flinty, all in the space of a handful of panels and Ebony is re-imagined so matter-of-factly in the last three pages, shrugging off any kind of potential controversy over the past portrayal of the character. And wisely, instead of reintroducing one of the old Eisner femme fatales, Darwyn creates one of his own, the feisty NNN news anchor Ginger Coffee.

Ellen Dolan pops up in issue two — helping to solve the case with her knowledge of the internet — as does the always mysterious P’gell — two of the absolutely strongest females in comics.

Issue three spotlights some wonderfully imagined flashback sequences, which handily show off the massive contributions of inker J. Bone and colorist Dave Stewart to the series. If you want the back story of The Spirit, it’s all laid out for you right here.

Issue 4 is my favorite of the bunch, as it reintroduces Eisner’s classic character Silk Satin and instantly makes her one of the most complicated and intriguing characters in the cast. Plus, Hussein returns, and we get a glimpse of the always mysterious Octopus (or at least his three-striped glove.)

The Spirit sells Pork and Beans in issue 5, in an amazing satire of consumer culture and how quickly the Spirit has been absorbed into it, at the hands of classic Eisner character Mister Carrion (and his vulture companion, Miss Julia).

And issue 6 is devoted to the kind of tale that Eisner excelled at — the story of how the world exists for society’s outsiders and how they cope with a world that often cannot cope with them. The most remarkable thing about most of these stories is that The Spirit is often not involved at all. Here, Darwyn tops the charts with the tale of a mysterious musician called Blue.

The Spirit: Book One represents some of the absolute best of what current comics have to offer, by one of the Modern Masters of the field. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never encountered The Spirit or know anything of the 65+ year history of the character. You don’t even need to know Will Eisner or Darwyn Cooke. All you need to know is: This is remarkable work, and you will come to know these incredible talents through this work. This book deserves to be on your bookshelf.

At this year’s Baltimore Comic-Con I had the honor of serving, for the second time, as Harvey Awards assistant. My tasks were to confirm all the presenters before the show, answer any of their questions, and bring them up to the stage area just before they were due to go on. That pre-staging may be part of the reason the Harvey ceremony takes less than two hours, an enjoyable timespan often remarked upon.

This year also saw the debut of attendee giftbags, heavy red plastic totes that contained

• the first volume of the EC Archives: Two-Fisted Tales, which reprints classic war stories by Harvey Kurtzman, provided by Gemstone Publishing
• the attendee’s choice of Harvey character toon tumblers: Wendy the Good Little Witch, Little Dot, Richie Rich, or Hot Stuff (clearly the favorite)
• a foil cover edition of 30 Days of Night: Red Snow from IDW Publishing
• a Jericho trading card set from Inkworks
• an exclusive AdHouse logo pin on a Hey Look! card
• and the 2007 Harvey Awards etched keychain from LaserMach.

That was all in addition to a delicious dinner of filet mignon and baby crabcake. Each table also received a dessert platter of miniature eclairs, cream puffs, tiny cake pieces, and other bite-sized treats. It’s a great way to prepare to recognize the best achievements in comics and sequential art, as chosen by fellow professionals.

After opening remarks by cherubic organizer Paul McSpadden and Master of Ceremonies Kyle Baker (who was particularly tickled by the gifts, since he mentioned that he’d just bought the second EC Archives volume as research for his upcoming war comic), Sergio Aragones had the crowd laughing with his keynote address. He began by reading the program notes to us, as a pretend summary of his preparatory research, before sharing stories about the times he’d been up for awards in the past and how every one is meaningful. He noted that winning one inspires better work as the recipient seeks to live up to the recognition, so where he would “draw 10 soldiers before, now he would draw 20.”

Next, artist Timothy Truman presented Best Letterer, won by Stan Sakai for Usagi Yojimbo, and Best Colorist, Lark Pien for American Born Chinese. Jose Villarrubia presented Best Syndicated Strip or Panel, awarded to Keith Knight’s K Chronicles, and Best Online Comics Work. Dustin Harbin accepted that award on behalf of Nicholas Gurewich for Perry Bible Fellowship. Gurewich had dictated the following haiku to be read, beautifully performed with pauses by Harbin:

Trees reach … for the sun.
Little do they know … the sun.
Who needs an Eisner?

Chris Pitzer, publisher of AdHouse Books, presented Best Inker, won by Danny Miki for Eternals, and Best American Edition of Foreign Material, a tie award to two Drawn & Quarterly publications: Tove Jansson’s Moomin and Abandon the Old in Tokyo by Yoshihiro Tatsumi. Next, Kyle Baker introduced presenter Dean Haspiel as best known for his “topless MySpace photos”, leading to Haspiel walking on stage while unbuttoning his shirt. Haspiel presented a double recognition of Darwyn Cooke, with The Spirit winning Best New Series and Absolute New Frontier winning Best Graphic Album — Previously Published.

Presenter Paul Pope accepted on behalf of Bryan Lee O’Malley when Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness won the Special Award for Humor in Comics. Pope then awarded Best New Talent to Brian Fies (Mom’s Cancer). Many of the presenters had minimal remarks of their own, preferring to leave the focus on the nominees. Rich Koslowski was a notable exception. Walking on stage to Everlast’s “White Boy Is Back”, he analyzed the lyrics to support his contention that Best Biographical, Historical, or Journalistic Presentation was all about “presenting facts with flair”. The winner was Abrams’ Art Out of Time: Unknown Comics Visionaries. Koslowski also presented Best Anthology (awarded to Flight Volume 3) by checking prices for Action Comics #1, Marvel Comics #1, and Mad Magazine #1 (all anthologies) in the Overstreet Guide. The punchline was his own Geeksville anthology, valued as a back issue at cover price.

Michael Golden awarded Complete Peanuts as the Best Domestic Reprint Project and James Jean as Best Cover Artist (after stating that there should be “only one nominee, me”). Tom Brevoort gave the Special Award for Excellence in Presentation to Lost Girls, from Top Shelf, and the Best Graphic Album — Original to Pride of Baghdad by Brian K. Vaughan and Niko Henrichon.

After that, the Hero Initiative recognized Joe Kubert with their lifetime achievement award. Baker noted that for anyone drawing a war comic, as he was, the two artists to steal from were Harvey Kurtzman, the awards’ namesake, and Joe Kubert’s Sgt. Rock.

Chris Staros presented Best Continuing or Limited Series to Marvel Comics’ Daredevil before Jim Shooter awarded Ed Brubaker Best Writer for the same title. Shooter’s remarks mentioned how out of all the participants in a comic’s creation, only the writer faced the truly blank page. The next presenter, Mark Wheatley, talked about how the real storyteller in comics was the artist, the equivalent of a movie director. I wasn’t sure whether he was explaining the importance of the Best Artist award or responding to Shooter. Frank Quitely won for All-Star Superman, and Jaime Hernandez was recognized as Best Cartoonist for Love & Rockets by dual presenters Fletcher Chu-Fong and John Cunningham of DC Comics.

The last award of the night, Best Single Issue or Story, was presented by Erik Larsen. Kyle Baker had been introducing presenters with a running joke about allowing his daughter to braid his hair between awards. (Eventually, she got to the point where dinner napkins were featuring in her creations.) The bald Larsen got up and said we might not recognize him because last year he had long, flowing blond hair. He didn’t want to talk about it, paused, and then shook his fist and threatened Superboy in a reenactment of Lex Luthor’s Silver Age origin. In an unexpected result, the award went to Civil War #1 over Fun Home, Ganges #1, Mom’s Cancer, Pride of Baghdad, Schizo #4, and Solo #11 (featuring Sergio Aragones).

After the awards, attendees mingled in the lobby, where a loop of Baker’s animation was playing. A good time seemed to be had by all.

Reportedly, business was very good, with attendance up (based on anecdotal reports) and the larger space well-used. One guest expressed pleasure at the amount of energy in the room, while another experienced exhibitor guessed that attendance might have been double the prior year on Saturday. The Kids Love Comics group booth was also very busy, and one of their participants told me that he suspected that he might be doing better at this show than he did at San Diego, which is pleasant news.

Speaking of which, check out this way cool poster that group did with all of their representative characters:

I spent most of my time doing one of the following things:

• meeting guests at the airport to guide them to the show shuttle
• working the press registration booth
• selling show exclusives

I’m always happy to help the show any way I can, and that last task was particularly eye-opening. I suspect some of the increased attendance came from new visitors drawn by some of the Star Wars show exclusives. I was really glad we had a tall, strong-voiced volunteer experienced in the collectibles game running that particular booth, because I could never have anticipated some of the schemes the very few bad apples tried to pull to get multiple editions of the limited-to-2000, only-at-Baltimore bust of Commander Bacara.

It’s a shame that something that should make people happy winds up making others miserable. I really wanted to tell one that being a jerk to us wasn’t going to get her the item we sold out of five people before she got there. I didn’t, of course, but the impulse was there.

So I only saw a very little of the actual show. I did have the pleasure of catching up with Patty Jeres, who’s currently providing her valuable experience to Prism Comics. I also met Valerie (the Occasional Superheroine) just after having a long, insightful chat with old internet acquaintance David Gallaher. At her blog, Valerie has some on-target analysis about the show makeup. Like her, I enjoyed catching up with old friends (and new ones) and I found myself pondering just how one defines a “comic-focused” convention these days.

I enjoy the Baltimore show, in large part because I have the opportunity to make valued contributions to making it happen, even though there are several areas of comics interest of mine — notably manga, webcomics, and “new mainstream”-style indies — that aren’t well-represented or included much at all. (On the plus side, that means much less temptation to buy, which helps the budget.) I know the organizers have been working on including some additional publishers (such as Fantagraphics and Oni, two non-attendees whom I’d like to see choose to exhibit, especially when they’re represented among the Harvey Award nominees, although the show is the opposite coast from them).

As for manga, Baltimore is also home to Otakon, and I suspect many of that audience are already happy with that larger show more focused to their interests. Valerie also makes the point that “indie” comics have their own show circuit these days: SPX, MOCCA, APE, and SPACE. And yes, I agree that many of the convention attendees weren’t looking for new titles or projects, although I came home with several new comics to try that I hadn’t previously been aware of. (One of them, The Ride Home by Joey Weiser, was from local publisher AdHouse, which made me feel like a real idiot for missing it. It looks great, about a van gnome who gets lost and has to find his way home.)

For panel-based “news”, try the Newsarama blog. I’m most excited by the return of Bat Lash, as written by Sergio Aragones with covers by dear friend Walt Simonson. Sergio will also be co-writing The Spirit with Mark Evanier after Darwyn Cooke departs. (That link, to Evanier’s blog, also mentions the upcoming Groo/Conan crossover, which may be the weirdest yet most intriguing pairing since Archie met the Punisher.)

Let’s see… let’s talk about things I got I’m very happy with.

1. I have a troll. Like my Oscar dog, it’s from a comic strip I don’t regularly read (for the same reason, I think they’re both not particularly friendly to girls), but I think the plushie is adorable. And when the exclusive customers got a little too much, he loved me no matter what. :)
2. For Perhapanauts, Todd and Craig have done a lost covers portfolio with faux covers from different eras plus fake letter pages. I was thrilled to hear that the team is working on another story, because this series keeps growing on me — I enjoy it more and more.
3. There’s a new In His Likeness minicomic I will be covering shortly.
4. I found out that new Wahoo Morris pages (beyond the first book) are being serialized at the book’s website.
5. My one geek moment: telling Jim Shooter I was looking forward to his run writing Legion of Super-Heroes.

Also picked up but not yet looked at:

1. Antiques: The Comic Strip, by JC Vaughn and Brendon and Brian Fraim. JC’s a great guy, and I’ve liked the Fraims’ work since The Waiting Place, so I’m looking forward to browsing this Harvey-nominated collection.
2. Captain Clockwork, a retro/futuristic superhero by Glenn Whitmore, who worked with KC way back in the day.
3. The great guys at Ape Entertainment (who are preparing to celebrate their fifth anniversary, can you believe it?) suggested I try White Picket Fences and Subculture, both of which look intriguing.
4. AdHouse’s new series Johnny Hiro, an action-adventure-comedy book that’s being compared to Street Angel.
5. Dave Manco’s All-American Comics,a self-anthology anchored by a rhinoceros and penguin.
6. Archaia Studios Press has a ton of nifty-sounding titles coming up, including The Many Adventures of Miranda Mercury.

Whew! I’m tired just thinking about all this stuff. Next year, the Baltimore Comic-Con will be held September 27-28, 2008. I’m with Heidi — it’s important to remember moderation.

There’s the hero left behind vowing to find out what really happened to Captain America, shot dead; telepathic erasures; and a sadistically violent robbery (welcome only because it provides some red to the comic’s dark color palette). Mostly it’s talk, talk, killing time until it’s time for the next sales-spike gimmick event, which we all know will be the hero’s return.

It’s one of the few superhero titles I read, because it is as well-done as it can be, but it still seems to me a bad match in attempted content and trappings, like forcing a nuanced political debate into a Harlequin. Long-time readers may find the variety intriguing, but for those looking for lighter entertainment, it’s visually dull. (Art is by Steve Epting and Mike Perkins with gloomy color by Frank D’Armata.) I give it an Okay, although that would drop if we’re rating for non-direct market fans.

The Order #1 — Previously “The Champions”, until Marvel was forced to realize they no longer had the trademark. (Given how often they’ve been legal bullies, seeing them knocked down a peg tickles me more than it ought, especially since this particular battle is meaningless in the bigger scheme of things.)

Matt Fraction introduces a new superhero team (because there aren’t enough of those already). I gave it a try because I hoped it’d be a good starting point for someone not particularly interested in the bigger universe. (Although the Initiative banner across the top was a turn-off … I don’t know what it means other than “we want you to buy more comics you may not be interested in just because of this label”.)

The premise is that a group of volunteers are turned into heroes with a huge publicity budget. Others have compared it to X-Statix already, although it doesn’t have that sense of parody and ironic reserve.

I agree with the commenter who got a Strikeforce Morituri vibe from it. I don’t think death is as certain as it was in that series (where it was part of the premise), but I do think they’re aiming for that “anything can happen to these characters because they’re not franchised” feeling. The marketing slant also reminds me of the Conglomerate from Justice League Quarterly because I was a DC girl.

It starts with some guy who “played Tony Stark on TV” narrating, in a way very reminiscent of Max Lord. A writer can’t help it, really — everything looks like something else given the amount of history they’re struggling under. Here, the pantheon idea is explicit, with the young heroes given codenames of particular Greek gods.

Barry Kitson’s art is less stiff than it was on The Legion of Super-Heroes and attractive (inked by Mark Morales and colored by Dean White). The book’s biggest problem is that 20-something pages aren’t enough to introduce a team and all the many supporting characters, pull a switch, set up the premise, and establish a cliffhanger we care about. To launch a team effectively, you need double or triple the space, but who’s going to take a chance on the extra cost when there are known and familiar quantities out there? It got an Eh and two Goods from other Critics, and I’m afraid I’m leaning towards the Eh myself.

With the conditions Fraction’s working under, it’s neat that he does as much with it as he can here, but there’s no reason driving me to buy another issue, no character I’m interested enough in to want to see more of, nothing that flips that “I’m looking forward to reading more” switch (especially with so many other options out there).

The Spirit #8 — Now this is the kind of superhero comic an adult can read. No continuity needed, although if you remember previous stories the events will have more depth. Otherwise, everything’s on the page, and the jokes work because of human nature, not because of shared reading lists. Action, adventure, suspense, romance, comedy — all the biggies, all included by incredibly skilled craftsmen with an unique look (Darwyn Cooke, with finishes by J. Bone and color by Dave Stewart).

Through some machinations it’s not necessary to go into (because really, this kind of thing happens all the time in this world), the Spirit and the way-cool spy Silk Satin are trapped with a nuclear bomb counting down to detonation. As if that isn’t enough of a nail-biter, the government wants to destroy the whole thing — with the two inside — and Satin’s the worse for wear after a blow to the head.

It’s such a pleasure to see talented work tell a story that wraps up in one issue and still shows key qualities of the characters with significant emotional impact. This is a Very Good comic.

(These reviews originally appeared at the Savage Critics.)

X-Men: First Class #7

So what was good? First rule: look for Jeff Parker’s name. Even though it’s issue #7 of 8 of X-Men: First Class, he provides a story that means something on its own, without reference to previous issues. And it’s a classic type, one that most people can identify with, based on young love from opposite sides of a deep-seated divide.

It seems that Angel has been sneaking out of class to meet the Scarlet Witch. Her brother, the speedster Quicksilver, accidentally attacks the X-Men while looking for her, leading to misunderstandings and eventually a shared search. Meanwhile, the two dating heroes are in that “should this go any further?” phase of getting to know each other.

Through well-chosen scenes and bits of business, I was reminded of the characters’ personalities, motivations, and powers, such that I didn’t have to look elsewhere to put names with costumes. I know this seems like congratulating a master chef on making sure the salad’s cold and the entree’s hot, but you’d be amazed at how many comics come out from DC and Marvel where those basics aren’t established. Or worse yet, other comics can pay so much attention to emotional drama that they forget “hey, these kids have powers, maybe they should use them!”

Marvel Adventures: The Avengers #11

Artwise, I knew what was happening (again, covering the basics admirably), thanks to Roger Cruz. They seem like teens in their attitudes and dialogue, too. I think this title was meant to “fill in the blanks” around previously published stories, but I didn’t much care, because enough was happening “present day” that the occasional “remember when” didn’t bother me even though I didn’t.

I was also glad to see something to take away at the end I agreed with, when they address the issue of how controlling family members should be, even out of good intentions. I wanted to call up a friend of mine, one with a daughter about to graduate high school, and read it to him, because it was a message that could have important meaning in real life, too.

Also by Jeff Parker, the fun and even silly Marvel Adventures: The Avengers #11. How can you not have fun with such classic villains as It the Living Colossus and a bunch of guys with snakes? And I loved seeing Spidey say “Will anyone ever remember that I’m really, really smart?”

The Spirit #4

On the other side of the aisle, I’m still enjoying Darwyn Cooke’s Will Eisner’s The Spirit #4. He’s so creative in his updating — Silk Satin becomes a CIA agent chasing the terrorist Octopus. It’s pure comics: imagination and skill put down in words and lines. I can get lost in individual panels, marveling at their construction and subtleties.

(If you want to know more about his modern take on the classic character, be sure to find issue #3, which retells the Spirit’s origin.)

I never got the appeal of Eisner’s women — they were nicely drawn stereotypes, in many cases, and maybe it was surprising just seeing them be smart and devious in that era — but this one, in this version, I am with 100%. She’s tough, beautiful, and still a three-dimensional character. She even saves the day — just check out that cover! Bless you, Cooke.

Update: I see that this issue is getting plenty of blog attention just because Girl Hero Saves Day. Which is cool, but disheartening, that such a basic role reversal is still so unusual as to be worthy of widespread comment.