Wednesday Wrap-Up

Air #10
Vertigo

By about the sixth issue of G. Willow Wilson’s and M.K. Perker’s Air I thought I had a pretty good handle on just what in the hell was going on. Amelia Earhart showed up in a floating city in the clouds and made everything clear to me. Now I’m in Mexico before the French conquered England and I feel like I’m just starting over again. While I may have lost the path of the story the comic continues to be fresh, crisp and smart. This series is definitely worth your time but this isn’t the time to jump in.

The Dark Tower: Fall of Gilead #2
Marvel

To tell you the truth, I’m just slogging through most of these tragic bits until I can leave the tales of Roland’s adolescence and move on to the parts of the stories where he’s a bad-ass ninja with cowboy boots and a revolver. Much like watching Titanic, we know Gilead will fall, we know Roland will live and his father will likely die. All that happens later though. For now Stephen King fans will have to make do with Roland going to jail. I get the feeling this is just leading up to a mountain of tragedy in the next four issues.

Executive Assistant Iris #1
Aspen

This comic is a steaming plate of bad-ass. While most of the issue is turned over to the task of demonstrating just how epically bad-ass it is, there is a kernel of a story in there. David Wohl seems to have an interesting story going for him but so far it’s obfuscated by a lot of business speak and ass kicking. Eduardo Francisco’s art lives up to the high standards set by Aspen’s other works and John Starr’s colors are visceral and vibrant. This isn’t a must have but you definitely need to take a look because there won’t be very many copies of these laying around.

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Kick-Ass #1

I’m not the kind of guy who normally buys single issues of comic books, but sometimes an exception must be made. Such was the case when I discovered the new collaboration between Mark Millar (Super Man: Red Son, Wanted) and John Romita Jr. (Spider-Man, Wolverine) from the Marvel imprint Icon.

Kick-Ass is about an absolutely normal teenage boy who decides to be a superhero. Dave Lizewski is just another teenager trying to survive high school. His obsession with comics naturally leads him to pursue a career in superheroism. When his friends mock him, he aptly points out that maybe one out of a million will ever be a rock star but it never stopped anyone from buying an electric guitar. Continue reading “Kick-Ass #1”

Criminal #6: Is This What Happens When Bad Meets Evil?

Criminal #6
ICON Comics

In the pages of Daredevil, Ed Brubaker killed Captain America and showed readers what it would be like for a costumed hero to wind up in prison. His carefully laid out plots and storytelling, along with wonderful characterization, have brought acclaim to both titles and finally drawn the attention to Brubaker that he’s deserved for years.

Brubaker and Phillips worked together before on the acclaimed Sleeper for DC/Wildstorm. The story of a con man in over his head, Sleeper took characters for a superhero book called Wildcats and made a gritty crime noir story line that ended way too soon. Now the team is back in a series that doesn’t make the words gritty, hard-boiled or noirish come off has hyperbole.

Brubaker has always shown a knack for writing compelling stories dealing with the underbelly of society, from the Black Mask character in Catwoman to the Daredevil in prison. In Deadenders, a woefully underrated series from DC/Vertigo a few years back, his main character was a selfish, self-centered SOB that readers were made to care about. With Criminal, the distractions are out of the way. There are no costumed villains or shady superheroes. There are no secret societies or garish characters out of a sci-fi or James Bond movie. Criminal is straightforward in that it deals with bad people doing bad things. Maybe some of the characters aren’t totally evil… Brubaker has to give them some redeeming traits to make readers care about their fates, but none of these people will be confused with heroes anytime soon. Continue reading “Criminal #6: Is This What Happens When Bad Meets Evil?”