Since this is #1, the cryptozoology characters are reintroduced in unique fashion. First, ghost Molly welcomes us in and catches us up. The team plus Karl the Mothman have been traveling through time, and Karl’s people aren’t too pleased about it. That leads to a creatively told section that’s made up of both insight and hints. Instead of giving each character an origin flashback, we get glimpses into their possible futures, which show what each dreams/fears.

I love seeing Arisa’s leadership. She always seems very human, trying to figure out what’s best for her and her team, but she’s still someone who comes through in times of trouble and can always be relied upon to protect her people. She’s a real hero, but not a cardboard one, and still sympathetic.

New in this series are short backup stories by different artists. In this issue, Dave Tata and Bob Almond illustrate a piece about Choopie in church. Also included are the pencils for Art Adams’ alternate cover and a pinup by Matt Wieringo featuring a giant shark.

If you enjoy this, look for the Annual and the collections of the first two series. The website has character profiles for more on specific team members. A five-page preview is available online. A complimentary copy for this review was provided by the creators, whom I’m proud to consider friends.

It comes through. The book doesn’t take itself too seriously, even while keeping you hooked with the mystery of why Doug doesn’t die. He’s not your typical laconic gunslinger, either. He’s a former schoolteacher who was hired to give the boy some schooling, even before the tragedy that struck the family. There’s a strong sense of companionship between the two characters essential to demonstrating their growing bond. And the dialogue’s Western-style, for a strong sense of setting, without being laughable.

mpMann, the artist, has previously illustrated several other titles for Archaia, including The Lone and Level Sands and Inanna’s Tears. (That one was written by CWR contributor Rob Vollmar.) I don’t know how to describe his work. It’s easy to read, the key determinant, but distinctive, with an edge. He can draw both emotive closeups and the bare horizon of the West. There are previews at all of the links so you can see for yourself. I don’t recommend reading too much about the book’s description, though, because it’s more entertaining the less you know.

You can order #1 with Diamond code FEB08 3472. The first issue is setup, mostly establishing the two’s relationship and their quest for justice, but I’ve had the pleasure of reading the whole thing. All the typical Western conventions — the gunfight, the hanging, the importance of one’s hat — make an appearance, but they’re funny. Not slapstick, not too-clever sarcasm, just honest humor. (An online preview for this review was provided by the creator.)

Mavis #5

In this story, “Weird Eye for the Normal Guy”, three ghosts are being sued. They promised to teach someone how to be scary, and he’s dissatisfied with the results. But the real story is how Mavis is going to balance her support of the case, the chance to get some long-delayed time with her boyfriend, and the obligation to attend a friend’s birthday party. By the end, the elements have interacted in surprising ways (some would say coincidental, although the author addresses that by having a character remember the warning to “not let any strange coincidences throw you”) , and everything’s been tidily resolved. As is the theme of these stories, we’re reminded that humans can be the biggest monsters of all.

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I adore this series (and its creators), so I was thrilled to get an advance preview of the Annual, the first issue since the book moved from Dark Horse to Image. (Just to get my bias out of the way upfront.) It’s an extended 32-page story with no ads, due out February 20 to kick off the ongoing series to come.

The premise is the same, a group of paranormal investigators who are themselves paranormal. This time, they’re taking on the Jersey Devil, which under Craig’s pen looks like a horse-headed red dragon, quite impressive. Although he eats the doggie, boo. (I know, how predictable. There are at least eight people killed in the comic (not on-screen), but all I care to mention is the pet.)

I apologize, I don’t mean for this to devolve into a play-by-play, but that’s how this comic makes me feel. I am totally sucked in and along for the ride, enjoying the excitement and dying to find out what happens next.

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Written by Barbara Randall Kesel, art by Renae De Liz, inks/colors by Ray Dillon, IDW Publishing, $3.99, February, Diamond code DEC07 3714

Annja Creed is Tomb Raider with a more realistic wardrobe, Buffy as an archaeologist, star of a novel series by the folks who put out the Executioner books. In this story, she’s come to Virginia City to help out a grad school friend with a Mark Twain fixation. The friend is researching the roles of people of color in the Old West when she comes across evidence involving new sources for Twain’s works.

The art has a European feel, with faces resembling caricatures at times to convey more emotion. It’s strong, maybe a little over-rendered occasionally, but readable. I didn’t need the white-light glow spots on the heroine’s forehead and breasts on the splash page, though that’s an aberration. Although she’s stacked, she’s not excessively exaggerated, thankfully. That’s true even when she should be. She can conjure a mystical sword, and even with magical help, her arms seem a little too twig-like for swinging that weapon of choice.

This is the kind of comic where the two leads tell each other facts and then say “I already know that” as a way of both cluing in the reader and making the characters look more competent. It’s hard to tell where the story’s going, but this issue sets up a lot of adventure and it’s very modern.

As with most IDW projects, I recommend waiting for the collection, which will likely include the entire miniseries as well as the variant covers. Anyone looking for female-friendly adventure comics should take a look at this — with a female writer, artist, and believable star, it avoids many of the pitfalls of its competition and should be quite satisfying.

Hazed

Written by Mark Sable, art by Robbi Rodriguez, Image Comics, $14.99, February, Diamond code DEC07 2052 (No link because Image’s site rarely has useful material on their comics, which is a shame)

A supposed dark comedy set in a sorority that the publisher compares to Heathers and Mean Girls, but it’s not nearly as pointed, clever, or funny as those (although the writer has stolen some plot points directly from the latter). Simply portraying date rape or hazing doesn’t count as parody, comedy, or a statement about the issue. The cartoony, big-round-head style keeps the tone light, which helps when you’re drawing your characters vomiting while talking about binge drunkenness.

This story doesn’t demonstrate any understanding of what really motivates girls who join a sorority or struggle with body image issues or want to belong while hating what keeps the popular crowd popular. By the end, it’s incoherent and repulsive.

Noble Causes #32

Written by Jay Faerber, art by Yildiray Cinar, Image Comics, $2.99, March 26, Diamond code JAN08 2050

The long-running (for an indy superhero book) relaunches with this issue, set five years after the events of the previous #31. With the characters’ lives jumping forward, both old and new readers get a fresh start.

The first half of the book is a big fight scene in which the family’s being covered by the media while rounding up some bad guys, which allows for convenient “TV screen” captions that give character names and powers. I wasn’t particularly involved, since I have little connection to these characters.

I remember reading the book when it launched, when it was about normal girl Liz in love with family golden boy Race. Now it seems that the viewpoint character will be normal girl Amy, who’s involved with family wild child Surge. Faerber even has a demented old man confuse Amy for Liz, allowing him to acknowledge the plot repetition and promise something different, which he lives up to. With the last page cliffhanger, it becomes clear that she’s not just Liz mark 2.

I liked the book originally for soap opera mixed with superheroics, but now it seems to be superheroes 90% of the time. That’s probably better for the direct market, but if I wanted convoluted action stories with characters that feel familiar but I no longer know, I’ll stick with DC — they’re doing the same thing these days.

This is a great option for someone who wants more superhero stories and isn’t satisfied with what they’re getting from DC or Marvel. I’m just not sure how much of an audience that is.

Astrid is a suburban teen with a couple of friends, and all three are generally bored with school and the options available to them in town. The premise isn’t particularly unusual — outsider finds out that they really are special and their actions have global consequence — and it’s executed competently. What drew my attention here was the lovely art.

McKelvie’s clean linework and gorgeous people are quite attractive, and he draws realistic, complex expressions. His figures tend to look posed and static at times, but many talking panels make that into a strength. His dialogue is similarly plausible for the characters and their ages, so while there’s a lot of it, it’s enjoyable to read.

Guy Major’s colors are of particular note, with pastels and muted shades. It’s the furthest from the traditional solid four colors of comics you can get. He also gives dimension to McKelvie’s world through shading, beautifully supporting his strong design sense.

As the fantasy elements develop, they serve as tangible symbols of Astrid’s struggles growing up. She’s going to have to embrace her heritage in order to defeat the foes seeking her.

The first issue sold out, so look for the collection in May. Or read it online. The author has also been interviewed at PW.

When I heard that, I rolled my eyes… but after actually reading it, I was crying. Gownley does a tremendous job capturing the fear and uncertainty and pain of the kids left behind to wait and wonder. It’s very powerful stuff, backed up by input from a real Army Major.

On the lighter side, this issue also captures Amelia’s first date, charming and yet uncomfortable, as real life is. The realistic dialogue is what sells the kids’ behavior as they live through a gamut of excitement and concern for their friend. The art is well-cartooned, with Gownley’s signature open panels punctuating more traditional sequences and his excellent control of pacing drawing the reader through the story at the intended pace.

There’s also a lesson plan included, as well as more information on the real-life soldier who inspired this issue. The comic can be read online for free at the title’s website. I’ve reviewed two previous collections.

Northlanders #1

If I say “Brian Wood’s Viking comic”, you’ve likely already made your decision on whether it sounds like something you’d like. But there’s more to it than you might suspect.

The preview copy I saw was uncolored, which put me at a disadvantage. Artist Davide Gianfelice has a very European look to his linework, and I think the density will be easier to parse in color. That’s a compliment, actually, that he has very full pages with plenty happening. Reminds me of Walt Simonson’s work. Plenty of violence, too, as suits the material.

Our hero Sven has just found out his uncle has claimed his birthright upon his father’s death. (Very Shakespearean.) Uncle Gorm represents the old way, ruling through fear and old magic sacrifices. Sven’s more cosmopolitan, better traveled, but now a stranger to these people.

Prediction: the people will learn to engage with the larger world without fear, and Sven will learn not to despise his homeland and to value more than money as he claims his birthright. It’s a Very Good match between theme and setting that makes this comic about much more than bearded men swinging swords at each other.

More information at the book’s website. Due December 5 at $2.99 from DC/Vertigo.

Afterburn #1

A solar flare changes all life on earth, creating a post-apocalyptic world. An oil-rig worker becomes a mercenary, capturing objets d’art from depopulated zones for the rich. It’s a postmodern take on Indiana Jones, only the artifacts sought after are those we’ll recognize, like the Mona Lisa, and the dangerous environments are former world capitals populated by mutated zombie-like humans and animals.

It’s a clever concept, immediately intriguing, and professionally done, impressively so for a small publisher. (Caveat: I don’t know about print or paper quality, since I viewed this on-screen. I don’t expect them to cheap out at those points, given the impression I’ve gotten about the company so far, but I’ve seen people make stupider decisions.) Some of the staging could be a little clearer. For example, if the hero’s going to jump neither right nor left when confronted, but 90 degrees to the middle, the corridor that exists in that direction should be established beforehand, so his escape doesn’t seem like deus ex machina.

There’s a lot of fighting, too much for me to really get into the series, but it makes for fun action if that’s your thing. I’m concerned that four issues, bimonthly, asks too much of the reader, though. That’s a long time between hits for an adrenaline adventure, and by the time the next issue’s out, you’ve forgotten the previous. I give it a Good.

Due in January at $2.95, can be ordered with code NOV07 3786 from Red 5 Comics. Read a preview at the publisher’s website.

(This review originally appeared at the Savage Critics.)

It’s written by Tony Lee with art by Dan Boultwood. The plot starts with a home-town girl, gone 20 years, returning home and pondering what’s changed and what hasn’t. It’s only after we begin wondering why she’s so strange that we find out that she was murdered by men who are now town leaders, and she’s back for vengeance.

That’s an intriguing change on the usual setup, especially given the warnings she receives about how much her plans will harm her. In stories of this type, usually it’s the protagonist who’s moved on and grown, but here, she’s the one fixated on the past, and she’s still the same person (physically) she was then.

The art is sharp-edged but simple in the Oeming style. It tells the story well, and the flashback inserts of what happened then are suitably shocking and sudden. The theme, that some choices can’t be apologized for or reversed, is unusual and full of potential.

It’s twisty, so it’s hard to recommend the entire series with confidence, because who knows where it might end up? The writer compares it to “Twin Peaks meets The Crow by way of the Da Vinci Code”, but it strikes me as a layered tale best suited to comics. I admire the protagonist’s determination even as I’m shaking my head that she’s making the wrong choices.

Use code SEP073850 to preorder, or visit hope-falls.com to learn more. It’s a good read, with the potential to be more once the whole story is revealed.

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

Kevin Freeman writes and Stan Yan draws the story of a depressed retail-rat comic reader. He hates his nowhere job. He hates his demanding boss. He goes to the comic store to complain about the books he buys. His friends there speculate on which superheroines don’t wear underwear (and there’s only one girl, a fat manga reader obsessed with our “hero”). His roommate does nothing but play video and card and role-playing games.

Then a new girl with multiple piercings enters the shop. She’s an artist, opening a gallery, and she’s got her own taste in indy books. She asks him out (good thing, or there’d be no series, since he has no initiative). She’s perfect for him, pursuing him, talking comics with him.

The problem is, there’s no sense of these characters beyond the surface. I do think it’s well-meaning, an attempt to realistically capture the kind of characters the creators know or have known, but they’re all different shades of unpleasant to look at and read about. I hope they get their happy ending, but I felt vaguely dirty after finishing the comic.

What’s the point when we’ve all seen these stereotypes ourselves? And done better, in comics like Dork! or Box Office Poison? What insight is this book showing us about these character types? “I know people like this” isn’t enough.

Find out more at the comic’s website.

(This review originally appeared at the Savage Critics.)

Drafted #1 made me wonder how fair it is to consider the publisher when evaluating a comic. The premise is intriguing — massive earthquakes around the world have killed hundreds of thousands, and as people struggle to cope with the aftermath and the uncertainty of the cause, aliens appear and instruct everyone to work together to go to war.

The Americans rally everyone together to resist, hoo hah!, and a convenience store clerk and some kind of office worker/intern are also introduced, presumably to play roles in later issues. The art is adequate, barely so at times, and the dialogue-heavy scenes are often visually unexciting. The quakes are staged in key political areas, including Jerusalem, which allows the writer to comment on current hot topics. I found myself wondering if the writer had speculated what the next chapter of Watchmen would be like and going on from there, but it’s only the most casual of resemblences.

I’d be a lot more excited about the next issue if the publisher hadn’t been built on schlocky licensed titles, horror, and Buffy-wannabe goth girl art. (Edit: Thanks to readers for pointing out I forgot to say that this is from Devil’s Due.) I just don’t have any faith that a serious exploration of sociocultural development and aftereffects of tragedy can come out from them. Instead of giving the artists credit for a good try, I find myself thinking that it’s a shallow attempt at relevance, because of who they’ve chosen to release and brand their story.

On the other hand, it kept my attention enough to finish the issue, rare for this publisher. Find out more at The World Needs You Now, a promotional worklog.

(This review originally appeared at the Savage Critics.)

Toupydoops #6 is the best issue yet. Kevin McShane’s characters are as distinctively animated as ever, but new co-writer CJ Julian brings extra snap to the proceedings.

Toupy’s an alien-looking aspiring actor in a Hollywood based around comic books instead of movies. (I previously reviewed the first series collection.) Teetereater is still his slick best friend, a hit with women and a conman player. This issue, however, when the two head to a premiere party, Toupy’s the one who hits it off with a gorgeous lady. I’m glad the lug finally got a good night out.

The opening scene sets up the opposite expectation; Teeter’s all slick and “oh, yeah, lots of hot women will be inside this hip gathering”, while Toupy’s tired of expecting yet another night of being ditched by his friend and being turned down, like has happened every time before.

The story involves more than just typical patterns of male hunting and dating interactions with women, although those are funny enough to see. In the character of Ashley, Toupy’s date, Julian and McShane tackle the compromises aspiring actors may have to make in order to get a toehold in an appearance-focused industry, whether it’s contemplating radical body changes or showing up somewhere they hate just to be seen. Toupy has more in common with Ashley than he thinks, only she’s obviously been in town (and shaped by it) much longer than he has.

Toupy’s often the naive youngster in attitude, putting what would otherwise seem normal in sharp relief. He’s also charming in his innocence when it comes to dating, especially in comparison to Teeter (who’s fun to watch getting his commupance, given his smarm). Typical of the series, some existing Hollywood elements are simply translated. In this issue, they introduce the Walk of Fame, only in their world, the stars are for Archie or Robin or touchingly, Betty Boop.

There’s an unfortunate whiff of gay panic in some of the comedy scenes, which takes an otherwise Very Good issue to Good. It’s no different from a sitcom to have the two men show up at a “hot new club” that turns out to be a gay bar and then run away in fear when they realize their mistake, but it’s not right there either. And it’s not just a one-off joke; it’s echoed at least two other times in the issue. In one of those other scenes, it’s taken even further in suggesting being thought gay would be the most terrible thing ever. I don’t understand how someone involved in Hollywood could be so retrograde on this particular subject.

Find out more at the publisher’s website. This review originally appeared at the Savage Critics.

I can’t help but compare Mice Templar to the earlier (and well-lauded) Mouse Guard. After all, they’re both about mice with swords and spears. David Petersen’s art is much more attractive, though, lending a storybook/fairy tale quality to the premise that helps with suspension of disbelief.

Michael Avon Oeming’s mice, on the other hand, have outsized ears that look like satellite dishes with strange tiger-striping inside them, and everything’s spiky, not just the weapons. Unlike Mouse Guard’s emphasis on its characters fitting into a natural environment, these mice have humanoid body language, with long arms and legs, and they wear torso-covering armor. It looks like someone redrew a Japanese war story or a version of King Arthur by giving the characters mouse heads.

It’s also the kind of fantasy story where various made-up names pepper the text in order to give the requisite exotic flavor. An early caption reads “It was upon the once-sacred
field of Avalon where Templar fought against Templar–beneath Kros Cur Onnor Da, that now-desolate tree of grace where the noble dream of Kuhl-En finally came to its end.” That kind of thing really turns me off.

Mice kids inspired by the legend of the now-departed Templar dream of being heroes while playing. When confronted with real danger — a giant spider — one of their townsfolk is revealed to be surprisingly heroic, and one of the children thinks he’s been selected for a special destiny. It’s a familiar plot, and the dressing in this case didn’t interest me enough to continue or care. I quit paying attention halfway through. Ultimately, I didn’t see any reason for these characters to be mice. And there’s way too much violence and death for my taste, even for its setting. That gets it an Eh.

(This review originally appeared at the Savage Critics.)

Pictures of You
Order this book

In that comic, two teenagers skipped school to buy the new Cure CD. This story, set one year earlier, looks at what made them the characters we’ve already met.

Miles is jealous of his friend Sarah’s boyfriends, kids that aren’t as mopey as he is. He’s trying to maintain their relationship as close as it used to be, which is impossible, now that she has other people she cares about in a different way. But he’s always there for her, because that’s what she needs, regardless of what it does to him.

Anna’s parents are fighting terribly pre-divorce, and she’s looking for escape. When the music doesn’t work, she tries drinking, or the older, wannabe musician next door.

Hurd has always been skilled at storytelling through realistic dialogue, and here he continues to demonstrate that strength. Gill’s loose, black-lined art is an excellent choice for stories that depend on emotional resonance. During Anna’s fight with her mother, as tempers flare, so does the lettering, until the thick letters take over the panels the same way her hatred drives out the rest of their relationship.

It’s a story of moments, and the reader’s involvement will depend on how plausible they find the incidents, or even how much they’re reminded of something similar in their own lives.

This graphic novella is due out in September. It can be ordered from Diamond with code JUL07 3229.

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

Unfortunately, this will be the last individual issue published in print format since Diamond distributors have decided to drop the title. Have no fear, for we will continue to produce the remaining four issues online. We will then publish the complete series in trade paperback form in early 2008.

I’m glad to hear that — not about them being dropped, although that’s unsurprising for any small press comic series these days — but that they’re going to continue in alternate venues, because the story has grabbed me.

The reality show challenge this issue involves scuba diving, which allows for some gorgeous underwater art. One team demonstrates their lack of loyalty, while another chooses saving a life over winning the task. Plus, there’s more insight into what motivates one of the competitors.

This story is action-packed enough that any issue is too short. When I read one, I want it to keep going, so a longer collection will be just the thing. I’m looking forward to seeing that next year.

It’s the first comic by Joshua Hagler, a painter who’s moving from fine art into creating a “serialized graphic novel”; this is promised to be part one of twelve (which may be overly ambitious for today’s market). A small-town boy becomes deaf after falling into a river, and the publicity talks about him gaining the ability to cause people to “switch places”, although that wasn’t indicated in the first issue I read.

On the other hand, maybe it was, and I just missed it. I didn’t understand a lot of what I read. I found a few of the painted images gripping, but taken as panels, I too often didn’t know what I was supposed to be looking at. The writing alternates between dialect and pretension. The book debuted at APE, which might have been the perfect place for it. At $6.50 for 38 pages, the author will likely have better luck selling it as an art object than a standard comic.

As part of the press kit that arrived with the review copy, he sent along a sheet of “Twenty Questions for the Author and Illustrator”. Some are obvious choices (”Where did you first get the idea? What are some of the other projects you have worked on? When will book two be available?”), but others invite the press to explore artistic motivations and character development. It was a cross between “interview made easy” and notes for a book club discussion. If he’d only included the answers, several PR comic sites would have had a whole article ready to go.

Gold Sponsors: The “Big Three”

Gold books are required to be purchased by participating retailers, so these are the titles you’re most likely to see. They represent the major American comic publishers — or those who want to be considered top-tier by direct market retailers. Content is often chosen based on what’s got mass-media exposure, which makes sense. The whole event is supposed to attract and hopefully keep customers new to comics. A TV or movie tie-in provides a great, familiar starting point.

DC’s got a reprint of their newest cartoon-inspired comic, Legion of Super-Heroes #1. I didn’t like the story as much as I’d hoped, since it retold the origin from the cartoon and downplayed story in favor of introductions. The multiple-character-perspective structure was unnecessarily confusing, and I reached the end without ever knowing who everyone was supposed to be talking to.

Marvel’s Amazing Spider-Man is all-new by Dan Slott and Phil Jimenez, a great team and an obviously terrific subject choice. Can’t say that I like the latest twist, but at least making that character a superhero as well is unexpected. The first story is much better than the second, a six-pager trying to interest us in the bigger continuity picture, something about Iron Man and Spider-Man fighting. It didn’t work.

Archie’s putting out a brand-new Little Archie comic. Based on my experience in past years, the Archie giveaway always makes moms and grandmothers say “oh, I remember reading Betty & Veronica.” I’m surprised they didn’t do something around their redesign of those characters. The story we do get is a simple camp exploration, well-suited for younger kids for the summer.

DC, Marvel, and Archie also have additional Silver-level titles available to better demonstrate the range of their lines. Archie’s got a new Sonic the Hedgehog (their bestseller, I’m told); DC reprints Justice League of America #0 (a talky mix of continuity clips that I fear new readers may find confusing instead of compelling); and Marvel Adventures contains an Iron Man, a Hulk, and a Franklin Richards story. They are what they are, but I like the take on Pepper, Tony Stark’s assistant.

Gold Sponsors: The Rest

As usual, Gemstone has a Disney comic, which is a helpful choice, familiar to parents and kids and good for all ages. IDW has Transformers, and Dynamite has a Battlestar Galactica/Lone Ranger flipbook. I’m not interested, but I’m sure many will be.

I’m glad to see Tokyopop in the gold tier, since at least one manga publisher should be included in the day to demonstrate the diversity of modern comics. Their “Choose Your Weapon” sampler I already have from their appearance at the New York Con, but this version has been reprinted with the FCBD banner. It’s a new direction for the company that first gained success with shojo, girl-targeted manga — now they’re into the fighting series.

Image launches a new title written by Robert Kirkman, sticking to what he does best: gory horror. Instead of zombies, this one is the Astounding Wolf-Man. The gimmick is that the guy becomes a superhero. Typical of Kirkman’s writing, it’s pedestrian and perfunctory. I like the art by Jason Howard, though.

Last, Dark Horse has the fuzzily reproduced Umbrella Academy. It’s notable for being written by Gerard Way, of the band My Chemical Romance. There are also previews of Pantheon City and Zerokiller included. What’s not included, and should have been, is information on what these series are, who they’re intended for (who might enjoy them), and where to find more. These books are supposed to be ads, sales pitches to convince readers to buy. If I don’t even know whether there’s going to be more or what to look for, I can’t put out money… and then why are publishers and retailers going to all this effort?

One of the other big questions I have, and why I’m reading these early, is: who should I give them to? You only have a few moments to size up a new customer and match them up to the books they’re most likely to be satisfied by. By this criteria, the Dark Horse book is also a failure. There’s no obvious target audience, and due to the content, it’s something we’re going to have to be careful giving out. (The same is true of Image’s book, which has a tad too much blood for kids.)

Silver Sponsors: The Best

Look for these terrific reads at your local shop:

Owly (Top Shelf) is always wonderful, and his gardening fable in “Helping Hands” is charming encouragement to experience nature, be creative, and not mind getting dirty. The non-verbal nature of the story provides a slight challenge, some mental chewiness to engage the brain, on top of the lovely drawings. There’s also a Korgi backup, although I’m not as sure what happened there. But it’s cute, too.

Unseen Peanuts (Fantagraphics) presents, to quote the front cover, “over 150 classic, previously lost strips from the 50s and 60s”. It’s an eye-opening exploration of creative decisions due to Kim Thompson’s explanatory essay and comments on individual strips. The cartooning, of course, is amazing, even reproduced at such small size. It’s an attention-getting package and a great ad for the Complete Peanuts line. Plus, nicely substantial paper stock.

Love and Capes (Maerkle Press) is my favorite superhero series. Since the issues are normally $4 (and worth it!), getting one for free is a great deal. How apropos that this issue (#4) opens with the Crusader (in his civilian identity) and Abby (his girlfriend) going to see the new Arachnerd movie. Picking on a spider-character is timely and a good choice to demonstrate the series’ humor. The book also explores how a superhero in his secret identity puts up with his girlfriend’s family picnic and follows Abby to a theater audition. Aside from the funny, I love the way the two leads seem like they have a real, loving relationship.

If you haven’t read them before, Whiteout (Oni Press) and Wahoo Morris (Too Hip Gotta Go Graphics) are good books. They get bonus points for including information on how to read more of the story and other titles readers might enjoy as well.

Everything so far here has an easy pitch, a one-line description to tell the newly interested what the book’s about and why they might like it. (”Superhero romantic comedy”, “life and loves with a rock band”, “murder mystery in Antarctica”, etc.) First Second’s The Train Was Bang on Time by Eddie Campbell is nifty but gruesome, which always makes that more difficult. This is a beautiful package well-suited for the growing audience of readers interested in well-reviewed, artistic graphic novels — but we don’t tend to get many of those on FCBD, and I’m not sure it’s really aimed at them. The typical direct market comic shop still relies on the habitual series customer.

Last in this section is Comics Festival, the anthology sampler out of Toronto.

Silver Sponsors: The Worst

These titles, in my opinion, missed the point of the day:

Keenspot and Comic Genesis are webcomic samplers, so there’s nothing from them for retailers to sell the rest of the year. They’re riding the coattails to get low-cost advertising. Looked at uncharitably, they may even be trying to poach comic shop customers. I don’t know why a retailer would choose to give these out. (They’re also wildly varying in quality and printed on cruddy newsprint.)

Impact University, Wizard’s How to Draw, and Comics 101 (TwoMorrows) are samplers of instructional material. They’re accurate representations — I especially like the musculature lesson in the Impact comic — but in my experience, the new customer isn’t interested. They want comics, picture books, not how-tos. The audience for how-tos already reads comics and knows where to get them.

I guess I’m never going to get Nexus (Rude Dude Productions), or maybe it’s that this “greatest hits” sampler doesn’t bother to explain why a new reader would want to start reading it. It gave me the feeling of being left out of one of those “remember when we did this together?” conversations. I’m sure long-term fans are thrilled by the upcoming “first new Baron and Rude comic in 10 years”, but the rest of us… like I said, maybe I just don’t get it.

Much as I love them, Amelia Rules (Renaissance) and Buzzboy/Roboy Red (Skydog Press) fall in this category, even though I’m quoted on the back of the Buzzboy issue. Again, the point is to drive sales. If you put out only two comics a year and one of them is a FCBD edition, then retailers don’t have much incentive to promote your works when they can instead put their time and energy into books that arrive more regularly. Use the money you spent on creating a cheap comic to get your work out more frequently and consistently, and then worry about promoting it.

There are other, even more forgettable, icky titles that this also applies to. At least these two have nice collections that interested customers can be directed towards.

Silver Sponsors: The Rest

Oh, forget it. I’m not going to go over the rest of the books, many of which are aggressively mediocre. Although I did get a laugh from Boom’s promo piece, which read in part, “You’ll find the full range here: horror, comedy, science fiction, and adventure.” While Boom’s line is professionally done, they all give off the whiff to me of serving as movie pitches, and I wouldn’t exactly hold them up as a model of excessive diversity.

Why does Antarctic’s book have a 50-cent price tag on it? Someone not clear on the concept?

I’m going to have a hard time giving some of this away, but maybe we’ll get some Witchblade readers looking for something new (Aspen) or someone who wants a comic that looks just like what he read in the 70s (Liberty).

7 Days to Fame #1

A TV host and his producer are going nowhere in late-night TV until a woman kills herself on their program. Suddenly, they’ve got the next great reality show concept (although they air it online instead of on TV, to avoid legal problems) — every week, someone with a fatal disease will explore their life over the series of the show, ending their seven days with suicide.

The three-issue length is just right. The first sets up the concept, its justification, and introduces the characters. Issue #2 works out the premise, demonstrates its potential for impact, and sets up a cliffhanger by involving a famous person. Issue #3 resolves the above and makes its statement about the disease of seeking fame and what’s wrong with the media that feed it. (Although obvious by that point, through its exaggeration.)

This is a dynamite concept in so many ways, and Scalera does an excellent job setting up the premise — making it plausible that characters we can sympathize with would do such a thing — and exploring different elements of it — how do they react to the fame? to the legal challenges? to the moral quandries?

Sadly, the art is terrible. Nick Diaz drew issue 1, and he isn’t ready yet for professional work. A lot of the story revolves around passionate conversations, which requires an ability to drew both people (especially faces) and entertaining talking scenes. He creates laughably gargoyle-esque expressions and misshapen heads, so much so that “just WHAT am I looking at?” risks becoming a distraction from the multi-layered material. Dennis Budd takes over for 2 and 3. He’s better than Diaz, but the work is still subject to distortions.

The concepts are solidly thought-provoking, but I almost wish that Scalera had written prose instead, because then I could have focused on the ideas without the distraction. I’m not sure why it was a comic, beyond Scalera knowing the field.

Read preview pages at the website.

(Complimentary copies for this review were provided by the publisher.)

Here’s the premise: at a Las Vegas comic convention, internet gossip Rich Johnston is killed, electrocuted when he touches a rigged microphone while standing in salt water. So many creators have reason to kill him that the CSI team has trouble sorting them all out, not to mention the work they have to do to determine whether Rich was the intended victim. He grabbed the mike away from Joe Quesada, who had just as many people displeased with him.

CSI: Dying in the Gutters
Buy this book

Artistically, the series pointed out just how many similar-looking white guys there are in comics. Certainly, the writer was restricted by how many people would grant permission to be involved in the story, and I’m sure they wanted to focus on a certain kind of big name to make things plausible, but Gail Simone was the only woman and Phil Jimenez the only non-white guy.

The artist is not great with the likenesses, either. If I know what someone already looks like, I can see the resemblance in the art, but I thought the faces were overly stiff and strangely unattractive (not something I usually say about the CSI cast). There’s a lot of shadowing used. If one assumes fewer lines indicates more confidence in the work, Mooney might have felt restrained by the requirements of a licensed property.

Readers familiar with the comic scene will find some of the jibes old-school: comic freelancers are all disgruntled, everyone at a con acts strangely, that kind of thing. I don’t envy Grant, having to write to both those who know the scene and those, presumably, attracted by the CSI name and having no detailed familiarity with comic fandom. There are, of course, a lot of costumes on display, as though most attendees at conventions dress up. (They don’t.) The designs resemble aliens and non-comic movie characters more than one usually sees at such things, again probably because of licensing restraints. (For example, a mis-colored Spider-Man, to avoid ticking off Marvel.)

I want to talk about the solution to the mystery, so there will be SPOILERS from this point on.

At first, I thought they might go for something clever. Everyone did it, for instance, or Rich did it himself by accident trying to get someone else. Nope. This murder only had one killer, and it turned out to be Greg Rucka. He was trying to kill Quesada because Quesada signed Ed Brubaker to a Marvel exclusive, which caused the death of their title Gotham Central (only it’s not named by title in this story). Here’s his breakdown monologue (every good killer has one):

Nothing but damn superheroes… Remember when we worked together? That was a great book… a great crime comic … We were starting a revolution… We were so close… We could have put crime comics on the map!

This panel, by the way, is a closeup of Rucka, hands raised, with daisies and rainbows behind him. It looks like it wandered in from a shôjo manga by mistake. And how ironic, that he’s bemoaning the lack of crime comics in one! He continues talking to Brubaker,

I don’t blame you. You were seduced away by quicker money, more exposure. I can understand that.

Then he pulls a gun on Quesada:

You couldn’t wait to announce you’d signed Ed. If I’d had time, I could have saved that book, even without him. But no, you put out the word, and sales just plunged.

Brubaker points out that he’s still doing crime comics (dropping in a plug for Criminal), to which Rucka responds:

But I’m not! They won’t let me — and someone has to pay for that.

Bravo to Rucka for having the self-confidence to allow himself to be portrayed as someone under the thumb of his corporate masters, someone who’s incapable of working on what he really wants to, a weakling jealous of those who still do creator-owned comics in other genres.

I find it interesting that his character blames low sales on someone else releasing news too early. That’s a complaint often raised about Rich, that he’s irresponsible in letting out information that can affect books and creators’ lives, and apparently, at least in the CSI universe, it’s true.

For comparison, here’s a recent interview with Brubaker in which he talks about how Gotham Central should have been more successful than it was.

I just thought that DC didn’t know how to handle the book, because it wasn’t a DC proper book and it wasn’t a Vertigo book and because of that I felt no-one knew how to deal with it. I’d have people within the company telling me it was their favourite book and I’m like ‘well then why don’t you promote it? Why are we waiting for trade paperbacks?’ to the point where by the time the third trade paperback came out the book was done, and that trade should have come out two months after the story ended.

So maybe there’s a grain of truth in the suggestion that the death of that title was a big disappointment to its writers?

Before I quit, a couple of other funny lines from the CSI comic:

Brubaker to Rucka: “It always comes down to a gun with you.”

Grissom to Quesada, offering his card: “Here, for your new Ant-Man comic, I’d be happy to consult. I’m something of an expert.”
Quesada: “On Ant-Man?”
Grissom: “On ants.”

And the final word, courtesy Grissom:

People keep telling me comics fans are geeks, how strange they are, how skewed their perspective is, but deep down inside, they really are just like everybody else.

So what do you think? Is that a sufficient reason for a comic book-related killing? Who would you have liked to see named as the murderer?

Adrenaline #1

Adrenaline is an eight-issue miniseries about a reality show. Dr. Saida Nri has been promised millions for her clinic in Tanzania if she leads one of the teams. The other is headed by the dissolute heir who practically kidnapped her and has his own motives for funding the project.

Saida’s smart, athletic, gutsy, and strong — a wonderful new character, and the reason I recommend this title. I’d forgotten how refreshing it could be to “meet” someone like her in comics without thinking “if only they’d pose her so I wasn’t looking at her crotch on every page” or “too bad her body is drawn so unrealistically” or “I wish she wasn’t defined by her love life”.

The art can be inconsistent, but when it’s on, it’s powerful. The opening pages, featuring lion poaching, are especially strong.

Although this issue came out in October of last year, if you or your retailer missed it, never fear. In a very smart move, the publisher has put the entire issue online at their website. The second issue is also there (in which many other cool characters are introduced — I was particularly impressed by the diversity, which didn’t feel forced). Issue #3 is due out February 21, so feel free to jump on.