Star Wars: Lords of The Sith

The Disney Star Wars really likes to see Vader kill people. In the old movies, the threat of Vader was enough. Sure, we saw him murder a few people, a few casual choking deaths here and there,  but we never saw the scenes of outright carnage Disney seems so fond of.  That scene in Rogue One, for example, where we spend a movie rooting for the good guys that Vader just slaughters. And how the audience cheered! Narrative dissonance is fun!  And that love of Vader murderizing continues in Lords of the Sith.

Lords of The Sith takes place after the Clone Wars when the seeds of rebellion against the Empire are starting to grow. In the Disney canon, the Rebellion began on one planet--Ryloth--and it's here where most of the novel takes place.

For reasons that don't bear much scrutiny, Darth Vader and the Emperor go to Ryloth just in time to end up facing an attack that strands both of them in the murder jungles of the aforementioned planet. The Free Ryloth movement then spend a lot of time trying to kill them, while dealing with Imperial traitors and their own internal tensions.

There is also a subplot focusing on the tensions between the Emperor and Vader.  Apparently, the Emperor likes to snipe at Vader for his past failures as Anakin Skywalker and to gauge whether or not Vader wants to level up his Sith-ness by murdering the Emperor himself. 

I had hoped for some deep Sith lore like that found in the Drew Karpyshyn novels. I was disappointed. There is really nothing Sith about this book aside from the mutual distrust between the Emperor and Vader and their red lightsabers. It highlights how the whole Sith apprentice program would never really work, because if selfishness is integral to a Sith, why would you ever take an apprentice, especially when the graduation program involves your own murder?

The most interesting character in the book was Isval, a Twi'lek working for the Free Ryloth movement who apparently moonlights as a serial killer of Imperial officers. That was an interesting take, especially when the author starts looking at the differences between 'terrorists' and 'freedom fighters'. The Free Ryloth people kill a lot of people, many of them unarmed. And in that weird thing that Disney does, they are seen somewhat as monsters, while the low level Imperials are seen as stand up guys just doing their jobs. It's that same dissonance that was in Rogue One--just who are we cheering for? The Rebels or the crushing branch of Imperial tyranny?

When Vader is in conflict with the Free Ryloth fighters, the story is fun, because even though we know how this will play out, it was still fun to read. But too much time is spent on Vader just fighting predators in the murder jungles, just slaughtering animals that were just trying to either survive or protect their young. They aren't evil. But Vader and the Emperor get to do back flips and do Force shit against creatures that don't stand a chance against them--and this goes on for pages.

Lords of the Sith isn't a bad book. But it suffers from the same thing all Disney Star Wars suffers from: there doesn't seem a plan to any of this. It's about moments, about cool shit, but not about creating characters that we can relate to or grow fond of.  In the end, it just feels forgettable, and light, and another missed opportunity.

Batman Universe #1

I wasn't aware of the existence of this title, but really, I shouldn't have been surprised.

When Brian Michael Bendis left Marvel to come work for DC Comics, the world just assumed he would take over a Batman book. He excels at street level stories, be it Daredevil or Jessica Jones or Scarlet or Spider-Man....and you get the idea. He's good at urban hero stories, and there is no hero more street level than the Darknight Detective. So when Bendis instead took over some Superman titles, I wasn't the only one surprised.

So now here he is working on a Batman title. (Yes, he did write Batman in Event Leviathan, but I believe this may be the first Batman solo book.) And it is an absolute joy so far.

I'm deliberately not reading any reviews of this book, but part of the joy is that it reads like a team up title. The story begins with Batman investigating a Riddler robbery, but it soon ends up pulling in other unexpected DC characters, like Jenny Hex (Jonah Hex's great granddaughter), as well as Deathstroke and a certain archer who likes green. The story moves along very nicely, with very clear and original art from Nick Derrington. It was just....fun.

 As a kid from a struggling blue collar family growing up, I always tried to spend my allowance on comics that had a lot of characters so that I would get my money's worth. Had Batman Universe been around back then, it would be the first book I would have grabbed from the spinner rack. Batman and other cool characters? Score!

Vampirella/Red Sonja #1

This should have been terrible.

Teaming up Vampirella and Red Sonja seems like the sort of joke lonely comic book writers come up with after a long night of Dungeons and Dragons. If there is any connection between these two characters, it would only seem to be their interesting choices in attire. Vampirella--who isn't really a vampire, even though she kinda is and is actually an alien from the planet...uh...Drakulon, and Red Sonja, a chain mail bikini wearing warrior  who first appeared in the classic Seventies run of Marvel Comics' Conan The Barbarian--don't really seem to fit together in any story that isn't written by an overexcited teenager.

And yet--in the biggest surprise of 2019-- this turned out to be a very good comic.

Written by Jordie Bellaire with art by Drew Moss, the issue is set in 1969 Russia. Vampirella--who goes by 'Ella'--is investigating a grisly series of murders on the Dyatlov Pass. Nine people dead, tongues ripped out, that sort of thing.  Ella is doing this partly because she is drawn to 'dark synchronicities'  and also because she hopes to find other 'monsters' living on Earth, far from home like herself. Posing as a journalist, she follows the lead to the Russian Space Agency, which in turn leads to a surprising discovery high in the Russian mountains.

This issue felt like an episode of Night Stalker or X-Files, with a focus on tracking down leads and investigating a mystery. Men, of course, fall over Ella, but she brushes them away, far more interested in solving the mystery. Bellaire and Moss also make this feel like 1960s Russia, from the kitschy Space Agency to Ella's far more conservative fashion choices.  (For most of the book, her only nod to being a vampire alien is to wear a bat pendant over a red sweater.)

And yes, Red Sonja does appear--and it works. That's all I'll say. I was actually surprised by her appearance, because I'd forgotten she was supposed to be in the book, so wrapped up was I in Ella trying to solve the mystery and her observations on humanity.

Vampirella/Red Sonja surprised me with its quality both as a story and a comic. Wonders will never cease, etc.

The Secret History of Twin Peaks

For me, the story of Twin Peaks is the story of Laura Palmer.

Her murder and the horrors the subsequent investigation revealed are what drew me to Twin Peaks way back in 1990.  That first episode remains one of the most powerful and disturbing bits of television I have ever seen. After the network insisted on an answer to who killed Laura--or, perhaps, an answer people would understand--I felt the show derailed.  I'm not alone in that.

Fire Walk With Me--the prequel leading up to Laura's murder--also disappointed at the time. In the passing years, I've grown to like the movie more because of how it builds the foundation of this cold universe of dark woods, arcane symbols and unrelenting horror that Mark Frost and David Lynch were creating. I didn't like the portrayal of Laura in this film (but still loved Sheryl Lee's chilling performance) because I felt it showed Laura's murder was inevitable. In a sense, that she played a role in her own demise because of her behavior. If it wasn't BOB possessing her father that killed her, someone else would have done it. It was just a matter of time.

I felt this decision undercut the horror of the first season of the show, which was very much about the  shock and grief  unleashed upon a small town over the loss of one of its most beloved children. I can see the narrative appeal of showing the seedier side of small towns, of showing how even the prom queen is corrupt and broken--but it was unnecessary.

Which brings us to The Secret History of Twin Peaks.

This novel by Mark Frost has quite a bit in common with Twin Peaks: The Return:

1. It doesn't spend a lot of time in Twin Peaks.

2. It touches upon Laura Palmer's death, but it is not the focus.

3. Twin Peaks is simply an entryway for the cosmic mythology Frost and Lynch are creating.

These aren't criticisms. I was fascinated by The Return, and I really enjoyed Secret History.  The care that went into both endeavors--and the fact that they even got made--are amazing.

The framework of Secret History is built around the discovery of a lockbox by the FBI. Inside are several documents that relate to Twin Peaks and events around the town over the years. Gordon Cole tasks Agent Tammy Preston to review these documents and prepare a report. Her notes as she goes through the lockbox make up the novel. It's clear that this a test by Cole, which Tammy must have passed, since she is working alongside Cole in Twin Peaks: The Return.

The notes date back to the Lewis and Clark Expedition and extend through the 20th century up to the disappearance of Agent Cooper after Laura Palmer's death. Preston dutifully--and often sarcastically--makes her way through everything in the box. There are photographs, old newspaper clippings, even a menu from the Double R Diner. A picture is painted wide across the conspiracy theory landscape of America. Part of the fun of the book is simply wondering where it's going next. Towards the end, the focus does return to a certain northwestern small town, and to the death of its prom queen.  And then we learn that there are yet more files to go through in the next book.

I enjoyed the book quite a bit. The care that went into creating old manuscripts, Fifties era science fiction typesetting, and even garish pop psychology paperbacks deserves a round of applause. The design of the book makes it a joy to read.

Still, as a Laura Palmer fan, it's clear that her murder was just collateral damage from the real threat facing humanity. That threat is where Frost and Lynch's focus now lies. But Palmer's death was a concrete event (or was, depending on how you see The Return) that you can pin a story to. There is a reality to it. The Lynch/Frost universe of Lodges and BOBS and Dragonball Z Laura Palmer globes is nebulous and open to interpretation even to the point of it being all someone's dream. There can be no finality or resolution because even the idea of anything being real is questionable. The Lynch/Frost Universe and Palmer's death are different stories, and it's clear which one they want to tell now.

And that's fine. There is really nothing quite like Twin Peaks, and I treasure it for that, despite my grumblings.

Uncanny X-Men #6: Comics By Commitee

The only thing worse than a comic book written by committee is one written by a committee with their eyes on the clock.

This continues the rather uninspired Disassembled storyline in which X-Man has attempted to rewrite the world and our beloved X-Men are trying to stop him. It began courageously enough, with X-Man wiping out several religious sites and setting himself up as a sort of messiah. But that quickly devolved into a lot of fighting, speechifying, and the feeling that normal service will soon be resumed.

This issue is no different. The art looks rushed, with wasted two page spreads that do nothing that a single panel could have done. There are a lot of X-Men in this book, but far too many of them just stand around and look vaguely concerned. There is an attempt to focus on lesser known X-Men, but it's just so forced and painful, hinging on a young X-Men asking the deranged X-Man if he's like totally sure what he's doing is right.  This apparently gives him pause.

Yep.

If that's not enough, Jubilee is thrown through two walls of a house and is fine. Two walls. I've looked up her power set and there's nothing about invulnerability there.

The issue also ends with something that left me--an X-Men fan for over forty years--puzzled, and had to be explained by a sloppy editorial by the book's editor. The book also has three writers, and we all know how well that always goes, and it shows.

It's a mess, and to my horror, I have over a year's worth of this run in my collection. I'm slowly starting to realize that I buy a lot of Marvel and DC Comics because I love these characters and not because they are actually any good. Here is proof positive of that insight.

Event Leviathan: A Summer Event For The Nihilists

This book had me at 6 Issue Mystery Thriller.

Brian Michael Bendis is one of my favourite writers because he does street level superheroes so damned well. I loved his work on Daredevil and Jessica Jones, and his run on Avengers is my favourite after Jonathon Hickman's. (Yeah, yeah, I know Avengers isn't street level, but there were a lot of low level power people in his team, so street enough for me.)

So when Bendis came to DC, I thought for sure he'd go straight for a Batman book. But no, he went with the Superman books, and I thought: Huh. So now that he's writing a street level detective story starring you-know-who, I feel everything is right in the world. Mostly.

I've read the first two books in this, but not any of the many tie-ins. Fortunately, there is enough information given so that I wasn't a-swoon with confusion. Essentially, someone is wiping out all the intelligence organizations in the DC Universe: taking out entire buildings and the staff inside--although so far no one can find any bodies. The person behind all this is called Leviathan, and Batman has assembled a team of detectives to try and figure out just who this Leviathan is, and what their next move is. 

The team is interesting because it's clear these are the characters/toys Bendis wanted to play with: we have Batman, Green Arrow, and The Question--who you expect in a detective mystery--, but we also have interesting choices like Lois Lane, Plastic Man, and Manhunter.  Lois isn't really a surprise, since she is one of the most intelligent characters in the DC Universe these days, but seeing Manhunter again was nice.

Alex Maleev is the king of gritty urban art, and he doesn't disappoint here, with scenes of dirty buildings set against sky swallowing full moons and dark rooms swimming in shadows and imminent death. It's a joy.

About A Hit Girl

If you're looking for a comic with someone in a compromising situation with a Nintendo DS, then look no farther.

I enjoyed the second incarnation of Kick-Ass a few months ago, and thought I'd try another book from that bloodsoaked universe. Hit-Girl: Hong Kong is part of an ongoing tale where the murderous teenager dishes out justice to criminals all over the planet. Now, she's just landed in Hong Kong to deal with a triad. There will be blood, and probably lots of it.

Hit-Girl is basically the Punisher with pigtails. (In fact, there's a scene where she enters her new seedy apartment in Hong Kong and you can see an homage to the Punisher on the mailboxes). Just as the Punisher doesn't really fit into the Marvel Universe (because no heroes willingly kill but he offs at least three scumbags before breakfast), Hit-Girl is an odd fit in the Kick-Ass universe. The concept behind Kick-Ass is how a normal person could actually be a super-hero without getting killed, but Hit-Girl murders people with a grace not normally seen outside of a Hong Kong martial arts film. The narrative rules that keep things 'real' with Kick-Ass don't seem to apply to Hit-Girl. She always seems to be from a different comic.

So on her own, devoid of that relative sense of realism from the Kick-Ass books, there's never any feeling that Hit Girl ain't got this. Of course, since this is Book One of Four, complications arise because there are three other issues to go and something's gotta happen in those. But there's never a feeling that she won't succeed because, well, she's Hit-Girl.

So to offset that certainty and attendant surprise, we have scenes that will probably offend someone, somewhere. There's the Nintendo DS scene, and there's a page with someone walking down a hall that may cause some people to gasp. And a few of Hit-Girl's kills are fairly graphic, because, well, she's Hit-Girl.

Goran Parlov's art is very good, with a nice full page of Hong Kong seen at night as one of the highlights.  The action scenes are well choreographed, and his ability to convey emotion (mainly rage and disgust, which are the go-to emotions in this issue) are spot on.

Hit-Girl: Hong Kong Issue One sets up what it needs to in order to continue the carnage for the next three issues. It would be nice to have a bit more character development, but, well, this is Hit-Girl.

Adjective Noun Bad Guys Are The Best Bad Guys: Action Comics #1001

One of the best things about this story is that a brat sells out Superman for what looks like Yu-Gi-Oh cards.

Written by Brian Michael Bendis with beautiful art by Patrick Gleason, Action Comics #1001 is a good reminder of how good a character Superman can be--under the right hands.  Bendis's Superman is very much inspired by Christopher Reeve's interpretation of the hero from 1978's Superman: he's polite, floats away from mere mortals, and is just so goddamned nice.  But he's also somewhat god-like, so much so that people openly admit to being intimidated by him. Villains can't even say his name without him flying by to see what's up. He's like a universal CCTV with a smile.

With someone so powerful, Bendis realizes that few physical enemies can stop him. But even a common thug can befuddle the Kryptonian if he lacks one important thing: knowing just what in hell they're up to.

To this end, a group of gangsters have taken to having meetings in a lead tank, because lead is the only thing Superman can't see or hear through.  They also have code names named after food, which is wonderful because it's stupid, and I love stupid things.

This issue shows the shenanigans this food mafia is getting up to, all without Superman knowing the threat mobsters called Yogurt are up to. As well, it introduces a new enemy called Red Cloud. Red Cloud is my favourite type of villain: an adjective noun baddie, which shows how little it takes to please me.  Red Cloud is--you guessed it--a cloud person who is untouchable but can still murderize you if, say, you draw Superman's attention to you by giving a kid money for Yu-Gi-Oh cards to spread shit about Superman.

It's a fun comic, which is what all Superman comics should be.

Murder Hogwarts: Deadly Class Volume One

I like to read cheerful things, so when I heard about a comic about a school dedicated to creating murderous assassins, I said Count me in!

Deadly Class: 1987: Reagan Youth tells the uplifting tale of one Marcus Lopez Arguello. A homeless teenage boy, Marcus' family was destroyed directly because of cuts to mental health programs made by President Ronald Reagan. The trauma of losing his family was compounded by cruel abuse suffered as he was shuffled through the child services system. As a result, Marcus took some rather direct action against his abusers, and is now not only homeless, but on the run for murder.

When he's offered enrollment in the Kings Dominion School of The Deadly Arts, Marcus initially refuses. But it becomes clear that he was chosen not for his ability to kill, but for some other more humane quality he displays. After some convincing by a tattooed girl with a talent for katanas, he enrolls.

This first volume details Marcus' introduction to the less than welcoming School of Deadly Arts, with its many factions and allegiances. The student body is almost entirely composed of the children of drug lords and assassins from around the globe, so don't expect any cheerful Harry Potter-like scenes of golden lit fraternity round a roaring fire. These are kids with chips on their shoulders and blood on their hands. Still, we get to see kids just being kids: lying about their families, having crushes, making bad interpersonal decisions, maybe taking way too much acid, and this being 1987, discussing how great the Smiths are. That, and killing homeless people for a class assignment.

The final arc of this volume deals with Marcus and his new friends taking an ill advised trip to Las Vegas, which goes as well as you would expect.

I am a fan of Deadly Class' writer, Rick Remender, and he does not disappoint. My only criticism of the book would be one character out to murder Marcus (get in line, pal) that just goes a little too far on the Edgy Meter. Aside from that, Remender creates a cast that is fascinating and unsettling. The art by Wes Craig is perfect for this book, and his action scenes are just a joy to stare at in wonder, complemented by Lee Loughridge's page-popping colours.

For a comic about murder and the horrors of society, Deadly Class is a beautiful book. The perfect gift for the lonely outsider in your life.

I Am A Hero Omnibus 4

As I pick up each new volume of I Am A Hero, I ask myself: Is this where it starts to suck?

As I finished reading I Am A Hero Omnibus 4, I sighed and thought ''No, not yet."

One of the themes that runs through this zombie apocalypse saga is how people become unexpected heroes, in the process surprising themselves moreso than anyone else. The first volume centered on mentally ill manga artist Hideo Suzuki, but as the story progressed more and more instances of small heroism became evident.  From an elderly woman giving a teenage girl proper boots as chaos rages around them to those infected with the zombie virus struggling to save their loved ones, I Am A Hero casts a wide narrative net to express this theme.

The story also has shown the worst that humanity can offer, especially in times of crisis. This volume centres around Hideo and struggling Hiromi taking refuge with a group living on the roof of an open air mall. Hideo's relief at finding some sort of sanctuary is shattered as he discovers the truth: a cruel dictatorship has arisen among the young men ruling the terrified refugees, demanding complete obedience or face being thrown down to the zombie hordes below.

It is among these refugees that we are introduced to Tsugumi Oda.  She is suffering especially hard underneath the mall roof tyranny, yet still retains enough anger to survive. Much of the focus of this volume is on Oda, and how she still retains her humanity, especially when it comes to Hiromi and Hideo.

This volume highlights the monsters that people can become moreso than the threat of the zombies. But the odd zombies--or ZDQs, as they are called in the story--are given more light, as we see just how cruel this virus can be. These are not the shuffling, mindless hordes we see in Romero movies or The Walking Dead. They are just as deadly, but far more heartbreaking.

The volume also has some great action scenes, especially around an attempt by the roof crew to get supplies from the mall food court. At this point, the pages tended to fly by as I wanted to see just how in hell things would end.

I Am A Hero continues to be the best zombie comic I've read in a very, very long time.

The Ride: Burning Desire

Imagine my surprise when I discovered The Ride: Burning Desire was a celebration of a comic that come out 15 years ago, a comic I had never heard of.  I spend a lot of time in comic book stores, and I think I have a passing knowledge of most books from the Big Three. Guess not.

As explained in this issue's backnotes, The Ride is a shared pulp/noir world where comic creators were given free rein to tell their stories. A 1968 Camaro--the titular Ride--would serve as a connection between stories.

Being a fan of crime stories, be it Elmore Leonard, Brubaker's Criminal, Rucka's Stumptown or Hard Case Crime novels, I thought I'd give this a try. Even without having read the previous stories, The Ride: Burning Desire was still an enjoyable read that pulled me in the way good crime stories do.

The comic is divided into two stories. The first story deals with ex-con/ex-cop Samantha Vega. Fresh out of prison, she's working security at an exotic dance bar when some assholes decide to step out of line. This results in Vega getting arrested by a police force with a long memory that features a lot of Vega, and why she ended up in prison.  Things are made clear to her in a small room, and we know that things are about to get worse. So, joyful.

The second story is entitled Sparkles, with gorgeous art by Adam Hughes. It deals with Kiri, a woman whose brother in law covets her a bit too much. This ends in his meeting with a rather unexpected unhappy ending, and Kiri having to take it on the lam. It also seems to allow Hughes to draw a very Power Girl looking Kiri in the nude, and make a head wound look a lot like a vagina. Free rein, remember!

The Ride is a cool idea, and the writer and artists here make it even cooler. I look forward to the next issue.

G.I.Joe Volume One

I have a fondness for comics based on toys. This is based on my having grown up in the Seventies, where I fell in love with Marvel's toy based comics. Memorable titles from my youth were Doug Moench's run on the giant robot comic Shogun Warriors and the superb first 12 issues of Bill Mantlo and Michael Golden's Micronauts.  The latter in particular was especially important to me, since it was one of the rare comics--toy based or otherwise--where things actually changed and didn't revert back.

This has led me to give almost any comic based on a toy or video game a shot. And that brings us to IDW's G.I. Joe.

I never watched the cartoon when it was around, so my only real experience with the Joes have been the abysmal movies and the comics. So while many readers would approach this book with memory glasses firmly in place, I came just hoping for a good read.

And it was. This collection sets up the initial conflicts between the Joes and the mysterious evil organization of Cobra. Destro--he of the silver face mask--also plays a vital role, with all three major character groups either learning of one another and/or exchanging panels of gunfire.

The script is by longtime comic writer Chuck Dixon, with an unsurprisingly airport thriller approach to the military. Everyone in the Joes--male and female--are clearly not to be fucked with, with the only soft side to their personalities being their code names. The strongest characters with the most focus are Scarlett for the Joes and the cold and calculating Baroness for Cobra. (Scarlett is in this so much that there is a meta joke that she should maybe change her code name to 'Multi-Task'.)

Robert Atkins' art is crisp, with some great use of colour.  The book has a competent flow to the pages, even when Atkins has to present battle scenes with various POVs.  There is no photocopying or use of block colouring to fill in panels, so you know this book was made with care.

It was a fun read. Once again, toys and comics make a great mix, at least for me.

Roadside Picnic

What struck me the most about Roadside Picnic is how it felt like it could have been written last year.  With the prevalence of doomed world stories and the popularity of games like Fallout and Metro 2033, Picnic feels like something written to cash in on that popularity. But no--this is the work that clearly inspired those things.

Roadside Picnic tells the story of how the world fares after an alien invasion, but an invasion where the aliens didn't pay that much attention to the humans whose planet they briefly hung out on. Having only stayed for two days, the aliens departed, but left a lot of junk behind in six different areas of the Earth. It is the dangerous acquisition of these even more dangerous items and how that affects those who venture into these 'Zones' for a bit of profit that is the core of Roadside Picnic's story.

The book is bleak as the items the stalkers (the term for those who enter the Zones) are curious. There are no clear answers as to what happened, or what will happen next. As Ursula Le Guin points out in her introduction,  the Strugatsky's focus on the everyday people and how this Visit affected them. As it would undoubtedly be if and when we meet alien life, there will be a lot of confusion and no real governmental direction. And maybe that's another reason why Roadside Picnic feels so current--it nails exactly how things would occur.

A wonderful book.

Naomi #1

A few weeks ago I was in my local comic shop and noticed a copy of Naomi on the wall going for an eye-widening price. I asked the owner why it was so expensive, and he replied that the title was extremely popular. He then said he liked it himself, so when a reprint of #1 came out, I picked it up.

After reading it, though, all I felt was annoyance.

Now, I understand that Naomi is part of DC Comics' Wonder Comics imprint, aimed at a teen audience. I am at least three decades from being a teenager. Still, Brian Michael Bendis is shepherding this endeavour, a writer that I have often enjoyed, so what could go wrong?

Well, a few things. Let's put them in order.

1. This book cost me over $5 Canadian, taking into account the glories of the current American exchange. For five dollars I received very little in the way of story.

2. The selling point of this new series is 'the biggest new mystery' of the DC Universe. But we are given no reasons to care what this mystery may be, other than Naomi's own interest, which isn't about the DC Universe at all but only her own teenage, self absorbed interest.

3.Naomi herself. In any mystery, the reader should have some interest or connection with the investigator (the lead character). But we learn nothing really about Naomi.  Well, we did learn that she's 17, she spends time on her phone (even when she's supposed to be working), she has a Superman obsession, she's in therapy because of issues and oh, yes, she feels special in some undefined, but probably awesome, way.

4. Her friends are equally annoying and undefined. One friend dresses like a goth but totally really thinks Superman is cool. Another friend is just constantly giddy. She dances around for no reason, and likes to hug Naomi.She also has pink hair.  When Naomi is upset, she suggests they eat, undoubtedly before she bursts into laughter again and spins a pirouette. Character work at its best.

5. The mystery itself is--shocking!--related to Naomi. And the only person who has any knowledge about it is someone who looks weird. Everyone else in this town is either giddy or clearly hiding something, but will still talk to a teenager about aforementioned mystery because adults don't have anything else to do.

6. The art by Jamal Campbell is beautiful. But he clearly uses cut and paste on one page, moving one image to another panel while using the same background over and over. It's a small thing, but I don't pay for comics for artists to take shortcuts. If an artist is taking shortcuts, then reduce the cover price.

7. Naomi reads like a checklist designed to attract younger readers, but for all the wrong reasons.  There isn't a focus to create characters as much as there is a need to have readers see themselves on the page. The idea that a teen reader would care about a mystery about the DC Universe is ludicrous. I don't see any teenagers buying comics in my store, only sad men in their thirties and forties. They care about stuff like the DC Universe, and characters, and good stories. You know, the audience Marvel and DC forgot about years ago. Oh, sorry, like, my cynicism totally slipped out.


While trying to attract teen readers is a good idea on paper--and probably sounds great in board meetings--the one thing DC and Marvel fail to acknowledge is that teenagers may be interested in books like Naomi, but they won't pay for it. They will download it off a pirate site, even if they think to look for the next issue, which is in itself a big ask.  They'll torrent manga and anime all day, but ask them to lay cash on a counter--virtual or otherwise--and they'll roll their eyes.

In the end, Naomi wasn't for me, and was never intended to be. If Bendis and co-writer David F Walker had spent more time building characters everyone could relate to, maybe I would have picked up a second issue. But as it is, this just brought the day I stop buying all American super hero books that much closer.

We Never Learn Volume One

In a futile attempt to broaden my diminishing horizons, I thought I'd read something I've never read before: a romance manga. Leave the classics to another day.

Written and drawn by Taishi Tsutsui, We Never Learn tells the story of high schooler Nariyuki Yuiga who is working desperately to win a scholarship because his family is poor, courtesy of a dead yet still inspirational parent. His principal agrees to give the desperate Yuiga the nomination for this salvational scholarship on the condition that he tutor first two, then three, other students.  Of course it isn't that easy, because these students are all superstars in their own fields but have terrible blind spots that Yuiga must overcome with his power of super-tutoring.

His charges include Fumino Furahashi, a wistful ace in humanities and creative writing who wants to study the sciences but freaks out over anything math related; Rizu Ogata, who is compared to a calculator because of her speed in finishing math problems, but of course wants a future in the arts field because she is perplexed by the one problem she can't solve: human emotions; and finally, Uruka Takemoto, who is maybe the best swimmer in the universe but has the attention span of a gnat.

This volume introduces each character and shows Yuiga's attempts to find a way to help them. We learn about their little quirks and peculiarities, from Fumino's belief that her dead mother is perhaps a star in the sky, Rizu's sad habit of playing games by herself, and Uruka having a crush on Yuiga,and her selfish desire to be liked by Yuiga more than he likes the others.

Uruka takes up most of the active romance angle here, since the others seem too wrapped up in themselves to even notice Yuiga as something other than yet another tutor. There are brief glimpses of  romantic insight as both Fumino and Rizu notice how kind Yuiga is, but their dedication to school soon eclipses that. In fact, other than Uruka, the only one who seems generally interested in Yuiga is his own sister, who freaks out at these new girls in her brother's life. Maybe it's a cultural thing.

In lieu of romance, though, we get quite a few jokes, most of which either centre around misunderstandings, (Yuiga tackles Uruka because of reasons,  which the others see as a rather forceful make out session)  mistakes that are interpreted as inappropriate (Uruka mistakenly sends Yuiga one of her swimsuits as a gift , which could be interpreted as a possible fantasy aid, since she is forever waltzing around in her Speedo,)  and/or boobs. To this end, there is helpful gradation of cup sizes for comedic purposes, with Fumino being the smallest, Uruka being larger and Rizu being so large that Yuiga's siblings take note and shout out how large her breasts are when they first meet her. Maybe it's a cultural thing.

(Or it's just an attempt to win over shonen readers who find this romance manga in their beloved Jump. A little from column A, a little from column B.)

We Never Learn is oddly enjoyable, with each chapter either highlighting a character insight with Deep Emotion or climaxing in yet another blushworthy inappropriate comment or unexpected physical entanglement. There are also actual study aids thrown into the mix, so a reader might actually learn something, when they aren't waiting for another full panel of Uruka's backside as she dives into yet another pool, or Rizu putting on a tight bathing suit, or Fumino taking a bath, or....

The Doorbell Rang

I have never read a Rex Stout mystery before. This isn't what I expected.

I had thought this would be a bit of a cosy: a polite murder would have occurred, a mystery would ensue, and Nero Wolfe would solve it, then the story would end as he sipped cognac beside a fire. Nothing too challenging.

What I found instead was a story about misuse of power by the FBI, with a very dismissive attitude towards the then head of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover.  Published in 1963, I can't imagine how this would have gone over. It would be like a mystery being written now today with Trump being the one under suspicion. There is no clever misdirection or you know who I'm talking about here sleight of narrative hand: Stout is very clear who and what he is talking about.

If you have never read a Nero Wolfe mystery before, here's a quick primer:

Nero Wolfe is an overweight detective who apparently dislikes to leave his home in New York. He has a main operative, Archie Goodwin, who does all the running about New York to gather clues and run investigations while Wolfe luxuriates with his orchids and reads his many books.

Wolfe seems to take work begrudgingly, and so is intrigued when he's offered a job with enough of a payday that he could take the rest of the year off. The job, though, is to stop the FBI from harassing a client. A wealthy client who may have very well pissed off the FBI herself by sending out piles of books to people, a book that points out what a shitshow the FBI is. No wonder they might be applying the screws.

The Doorbell Rang is a strange mystery, in that the enemy--in this case, the FBI--is very nebulous. Maybe the FBI is watching them, or maybe they aren't. Maybe their client isn't being harassed. Or maybe she is, and maybe--just maybe-- the FBI is misusing their power to such a degree that Wolfe and Goodwin are taking on of the most powerful organizations in the world, with all the danger and threat that entails.

With the fog of mystery surrounding the actions of both Wolfe and Goodwin,, Stout wisely introduces a more standard crime as a sub-plot, grounding the story with at least one murder they can physically interact with. As the story concludes, both mysteries are resolved well, with the title of the book suddenly making sense.

Set in early Sixties New York, I enjoyed all the references to a time long gone: a time when detectives used pay phones, asked cabbies to lose tails, and would ruminate about a case while having a corn beef on rye in a diner. Goodwin is a pleasant guy to hang out with for a few hours, with his overriding sarcasm and offbeat humour, and readiness to lay the boots to anyone who has it coming.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this.

East of West Volume One

I'm currently playing Red Dead Redemption 2 so I'm all about Westerns at the moment. Which is fortuitous, since Jonathon Hickman's East of West is a Western. Well, it has horses. Well, kinda. It does have guns, though, and they tend to get fired a lot, so Western!

East of West is set in an alternate Earth where the American Civil War took a decidedly different turn and the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are not only alive, but are complete assholes.

Death is one of these assholes, and is even more angry than his siblings. He is stalking these badlands in order to reclaim something precious that was taken from him, accompanied by two Native American shamans with totemic powers.  He also has a mechanical horse and two guns, both of which he uses with great familiarity.

East of West promises to be a large story, both in themes and exhaustive world building. As a result, this initial volume feels like a prologue for the undoubtedly complicated and deep storytelling to come. Characters are introduced, the world is briefly explained, and we're left with a lot of blank spaces to fill in. This is Jonathon Hickman, after all. I don't suspect we'll have a lot of car chases.

The world itself is teetering on apocalypse, an event a few people actively welcome. It's a world with vast deserts populated by Mad Max-style outposts set against giant, impersonal technoplexes straight out of Blade Runner. Accompanying the very Western narrative theme of vengeance is a stylistic homage, with many people favouring cowboy style clothing: duster jackets, cowboy hats, long Colonel Sanders beards, to name a few.  Even the Chinese dress in the same late nineteenth century Asian styles. Which we see, since China seems to now occupy most of what we know as California.

I've enjoyed Hickman's work since I discovered his excellent runs on Marvel Comics' Avengers and Fantastic Four. I learned to be patient with his stories, since he always rewards the time and effort you afford him. Both his runs on Avengers and FF were deep science fiction epics, with concepts that pushed at my rather limited ability to understand just what was going on. This first volume of East of West seems to promise the same, as Hickman begins his stretching exercises for the looming epic tale of vengeance and a'reckonin' ahead.

I Am A Hero Volume 3

There is a definite shift in this volume--not in quality, but in narrative intent. As the two previous volumes have shown, I Am A Hero takes the common tropes of the zombie genre and subverts them, from having a hero who is very mentally unstable to having zombies that still retain a degree of individuality.

This volume takes that last subversion even deeper, by showing just what the zombies may be thinking. Which succeeds in making the horror of their existence even moreso. Why they see things the way they do is not explained--is this how they survive the trauma? Or is this part of whatever chemical change is occurring? We don't know. We can only feel pity for monsters that in most zombie fiction heroes are wired to just kill.

It's not surprising, then, that parts of this volume feel like an exploration of dealing with a terminally ill relative. The unease of dealing with someone else's personal hygiene, of feeding them, all set against an environment that makes such caring a threat to one's own existence. It's as well done as it is heartbreaking.

By the volume's end, new characters have been introduced, tying themselves to perhaps finding an answer to the zombie infestation destroying the world. I wasn't thrilled with this turn of narrative, because elements of it reminded me quite a bit of The Last Of Us. But if reading this series has shown me anything, it's not to think I'm going to get what I expect.

A brilliant, heartbreaking horror story.

The Talon of Horus

I don't know a lot about 40K. I mean, I've read Eisenhorn, the first Gaunt's Ghost novel, and two Horus Heresy novels, so held up against the staggering number of Black Library books, I've barely read a thing.

So this book takes place (courtesy of a glance at the official timeline page) somewhere towards the end of the 40K story. Horus has been dead for quite awhile, and a few Chaos Space Marines are looking for his old ship. And that's what sets off events in this novel.

Aaron Dembski-Bowden is a very good writer of this sort of story, giving everything that doom metal feel mixed with guitar riffs from 2000 AD. Everything is dark and horrible, but the bonds of brotherhood still exist among the broken and mutated warriors stumbling around the Eye of Chaos. ADB also knows how to deliver the sorts of action scenes that create small utterances of Holy fuck as you turn a page. He also can create characters that you care about, despite how horrible they are. Be they eldar murderesses or demons inhabiting the dead souls of wolves, I grew to be fond of these monsters.

If you've read a small forest's worth of Black Library books, I'm sure this book would be mindblowing. But even as a casual reader, I was still taken aback by some of the revelations. It was a very fun read, even if I didn't get probably half of the references. Primarchs? What are those? Just how long has it been since Horus bought the farm? Why don't these guys age? Why isn't everyone more insane than they are?

Yui Kamio Lets Loose: Chapter Two

Well, things don't calm down in this second chapter of Shonen Jump's new Girl Gone Wild.

Apparently, Yui can't walk out her front door if her hair is black because there's a horde waiting to pursue her to exact unholy vengeance. This leads to said horde pursuing her to school. (One guy is actually holding a pipe, so we know it's a real horde.) This leads to Dark Yui- struck Kiito to be shaken out of his Hamlet like gloom over our heroine to help her escape from the howling mob--not once, but twice. Of course both involve somewhat inappropriate situations, with the last rescue involving a leap off a building, Yui's breasts in Kiito's face, and Yui landing on top of the eternally tormented Kiito. And of course Yui gets her hair bound just in time for Blonde Yui to have a panic attack on finding herself in such an embarrassing situation like omigod what sort of life is she leading?

So many questions in this one chapter.

Where is the school's security? How can a howling horde just overrun a school? Why does Yui sleep with her hair unbound? What if she wakes up at night to use the bathroom and decides to murder half the city? How does Dark Yui seemingly have knowledge of what Blonde Yui does (her blackmailing of Kiito) but Blonde Yui seems to have knowledge of anything her alter ego does?  Does Blonde Yui live in a constant state of disassociation and denial? And how does a passing bicycle rip out Yui's hairband and not half her scalp with it?

We do learn that this hair curse has lasted for five years, and that Nao has not missed binding her friend's hair in all that time. Good old Nao.

I think this series is going to be nuts.

Kinda Sticking The Landing: Spider-Gwen #3

Well, it might not have been what I wanted, but it wasn't terrible. Weird how that could apply to most comics these days.

But anyway, let's look at Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #3.

The Evil Gwen story is brought to an end, with Spider-Gwen finally confronting the grieving (and now mad) Gwen Stacy of this unnamed dimension. The thing Spider-Gwen has been searching for for three issues is finally realized, and she can finally rejoin all the other Spiders in last summer's Spider-Geddon for some end of maxi-series punching.

First off, I liked that they took three issues to tell this story. It could easily have been done in one, but I appreciated the space Seanan McGuire was given to give some flesh to the characters. I also liked even in this last issue, no one really comes off as totally wonderful. Spider-Gwen just wants this shit dealt with. Peter and MJ just want their Gwen back, and will manipulate Spider-Gwen to do just that. And even Evil Gwen, once cured, isn't all sweetness and light. When handing Spider-Gwen the goober that will allow her to return, she pricks her hand with it to get her DNA to trigger said goober. The following exchange really summed up the character interplay in this story:

Spider-Gwen: "Ow!"
Not Evil Gwen: "Sorry."
Spider Gwen: "You don't sound sorry."
Not Evil Gwen: "Oh, because I'm not."

This was a story about loss and fear, both with Peter and MJ's concern for their Gwen and having lost that dimension's Spider-Man, and with Spider-Gwen's fear for her friends. It's also telling that when MJ got her Gwen back, she hugged her. When Spider-Gwen was hugged by Peter for agreeing to help, she didn't like it. It's interesting how even the most common expression of warmth sets Spider-Gwen off.

The art was also okay, but did look rushed in places. Lack of detail in some panels gave things an emptiness that felt distracting. The colorist employed full colour blocks to hide this lack of detail, and was used way too much. I did like the New York night time scenes as Spider-Gwen and MJ swing across the city--some nice light effects were employed there, which I enjoyed. But overall the book felt like it needed just a couple of more weeks.

The cover art was good, and it might be nice to see this artist tackle an entire issue.

So, as I said, it might not have been what I wanted, but it wasn't terrible. But even with a good writer, this comic showed the rushed approach I see too much in Marvel Comics these days. Maybe this whole idea of monthly comics needs to be scrapped, but that's a discussion for another day. At least it was a decent read.

Skullcrack City

I am not a fan of the term 'bizarro fiction'. Perhaps authors like it. Maybe there are people out there who gravitate towards that because they dye their hair purple and live on the edge. To me, it seems somewhat insulting. As if there is an expected level of imagination in any work of fiction, and if you go beyond that mysterious set limit, then look out! You're entering bizarro country! Things are going to be whacky!

Somedays, I just fucking despair.

Skullcrack City has been labelled bizarro. If there is an imagination governor out there, then this book exceeds it. But I would simply call it a horror novel, and leave it there.

The novel tells the story of a drug addicted bank worker S.P. Doyle, who finds himself discovering a conspiracy that he feels compelled to bring down. Forever masturbating and worrying about his turtle, he takes very drastic, career altering,  actions towards this end. As things become even more strange and more horrifying, Doyle finds out that there are far more evil things lurking in the world than simple conspiracy.

Johnson creates a world that seems just a bit removed from our own. This is a world where people are fascinated with reality shows about horrific body modifications, and where government surveillance is just a bit more crushing than in our own. There are also giant gorilla like creatures that like to eat people's brains after cracking open their skulls. So, you know, a bit different, but not by much.

I found the first bit of the novel to be a little too pedal to the medal crazy. It makes sense since the protagonist is blasted to the gills on Hex, the evil drug at the centre of this story, and we're seeing things from his perspective, but I was beginning to wonder if this meant the author could just go off the rails without somehow tying things together at some point.

Fortunately, Johnson does, and the story settles down into a far less frantic--but no less horrifying--story about secret organizations and unbelievable evil. I don't want to sketch out everything that happens, but the second half of the novel puts the first into far more a far more comprehensible light.

I'm not sure how I feel about the ending, but it at least makes about as much sense as the rest of the novel. Which isn't a criticism--Johnson takes great pains to explain how things work in this world, and the ending is just as well planned. I'm just not sure it's the ending that I wanted to see.

Skullcrack City is the work of a mind that isn't afraid to take an imaginative leap off any preconceived tower. It's also a work that isn't being weird just to be weird: there is a story here, and there are characters to care about, including the aforementioned turtle. Who, I will say, is my favourite character so far in 2019, bizarro or not.

Stuck In The Middle With You: Spider-Gwen:Ghost Spider #2

I was a little troubled by how little I've been enjoying Marvel Comics of late.  I've been hearing a lot of people on YouTube talking about 'the decline of Marvel', and I was chalking that up to Internet Gotta Bitch, but....maybe there's some truth in that. There really is a definite slide in quality with many of the books I've read.

Domino, Uncanny X-Men, X-23...all of these recent issues have been somewhat lacking, in terms of art and in slapdash storytelling.  And so I'm relieved to find a Marvel book that I found little to complain about.

I've enjoyed Seanan McGuire's Rosemary and Rue, an urban fantasy novel about a faerie private detective. Yes, that may make you roll your eyes, but I found it to be a good story about loss, suffering, and modern day magic that didn't make me roll my eyes. She is a very good writer, and when I heard she was on Spider-Gwen, I wondered if she could make the transition to comic writing.  Not every writer can--it's a different format, akin to writing a screenplay, and you have to shift gears. Sometimes ego doesn't allow for that, or an editor won't step in with a much needed red pencil. (I am--believe it or not--a playwright, with one show to my credit. I can attest to how difficult it can be.)

Anyway.

I needn't have worried.

This issue ties in with last summer's  Spider-Geddon event, with Gwen having been dropped into yet another alternate dimension after a battle with the Inheritors. Desperate to get back to her friends, she runs into this dimension's version of the Green Goblin, and later, a very hurt and desperate Peter Parker.

She doesn't get on with either of them. She fights Goblin, and when she meets Peter, has to impatiently endure his tragic retelling of the origin story of this dimension's Spider-Man and Goblin. Gwen's anger is barely hidden, and her feelings towards Peter turn hostile when he begins to manipulate her to help save the Goblin, who--this being comic books--is of course this dimension's Gwen Stacy.

Neither Gwen or Peter come off well in this exchange. Both of them are worried about loved ones, and are short with one another. If there is nobility here, it's buried deep. Gwen may be a hero, but she is not always heroic. When Gwen hears of the selfish reason Goblin Gwen became a hero, she can see that selfishness in herself.

It's a good story, with no real promise of a happy ending. Had this been any other Marvel comic, I would assume everything wraps up perfectly in the next issue, but this is Seanan McGuire, and I'm not sure she really believes in happy endings.

My only issue with the story would be the art looking a little rough, but the page composition and storytelling are well done. I also think Marvel should stop trying to re-brand Spider Gwen as 'Ghost Spider' or what other generic name they think suits her better. Spider-Gwen is both a nod to Spider-Man's history, and it's just kinda stupid, which makes it the perfect comic book hero name.

It's an issue that deals with a lot of characters reacting to crisis, with everyone being real shitty to everyone else. In this age of Marvel characters either just shouting or making pop culture comments, it was very refreshing.

I'm curious to see how this story wraps up.

Another Bad Day: I Am A Hero Volume 2

Remember when The Walking Dead was a must read? Seeing how Rick and his family could survive in the zombie apocalypse was something I couldn't get enough of. And then, somewhere, it stopped being good, or I'd just had enough. And I haven't watched the show or read the book in years.

This is my fear with I Am A Hero. I don't want it to not be good. But at least I can say the second omnibus volume is even better than the first one. Where the first volume spent a fair amount of pages giving us an idea of just who Hideo Suzuki was, there wasn't much in the way of zombie horror...until there was, and it just didn't stop. With the second volume, that horror becomes relentless.

This second volume continues with Hideo's first day, his horrifying first night, and the beginnings of his second day of Everything Going To Hell. We see his perilous escape from Tokyo on public transit, culminating in his collapsing at night in the Suicide Forest beneath Mount Fuji. As with the first volume, Hideo must also deal with his own mental illness as well as the horrific violence surrounding him.

This volume also introduces a new companion for Hideo. Her introduction is a masterclass in unsettling. Hiromi Hayakari is a teenage schoolgirl with an old soul. Her intense degree of empathy is one of her  strongest characteristics, one which may not be the best key for survival in this new world she and Hideo find themselves in. As the attacks continue, the two of them form an odd bond--Hiromi looks to Hideo as an adult with all the assumptions of wisdom and self control that term brings, even if Hideo is clearly not that person. Hideo finds himself uneasy with Hiromi, both because she's an attractive (much younger) woman and because he's still barely holding it together himself.  The growth of their relationship under fire is well done, as they both discover who the person is whose hand they're holding while being pursued by monsters.

I Am A Hero Volume 2 continues to be a terrifying horror story. Long may it continue.

A Different Type of Hair Band: Yui Kamio Lets Loose

You may think you've seen every incarnation of the Jekyll and Hyde trope by this time in your life. If you are a man of letters like myself, you've undoubtedly read Stevenson's original novel, you've seen the television series Hyde, and you've read years of The Incredible Hulk and nodded to yourself, going Hmmm, because you know the source material and can't help feeling pretty damn smug about yourself.

But how about a Jekyll/Hyde story where a hair band makes the difference?

That's the premise of Yui Kamio Lets Loose, a new serial starting in Shonen Jump.  It's set in a high school (surprise!) and details the life of a teenage girl with an odd relationship with her hair. The first chapter illustrates the personality differences between the two sides of Yui--when her chain hair band is in place, she's blonde, caring, gentle, dressed in white, and everyone adores her. When the chain slips off--or as in this chapter, gets caught or something, like a knife coming for her face--Yui becomes a brunette in a black dress and unleashes hell on those she believes deserves her vengeance. And these aren't comical beatings. One guy is so physically and emotionally scarred he hunts her down, for all the good it does him.

Running around behind Yui is her friend, Nao, whose purpose in life is to make sure that hair band does not come off. She is not that great at her job.

This being a comedy manga, of course one of the bullies her dark persona smacked up is attracted to the blonde Yui, and is horrified to learn her secret, especially after he told her his darkest secret of wanting to be a veterinarian. Which isn't something cool people want to be, apparently.

It's a fun, light read, offset by the violence Dark Yui can unleash. Yui Kamio Lets Loose is an odd mix of shoujo and shonen, which has been noted by many other more knowledgeable critics than I is perhaps a route Shonen Jump is leaning towards.  Regardless, I was more engaged with this than with the last few American comics I've read, so that's something, I guess.

Chaos! Shouting! Mutants! Uncanny X-Men #9

I've recently started reading Uncanny X-Men again out of nostalgia, so you can guess how good that's going.

As a teenager, I loved this book. Written by Chris Claremont, it was the perfect angsty soap opera to clutch as you navigated adolescence in the Eighties. Now, many years later, you can't help but see the book in a much different, some would say cynical,  perspective.

The first difference I noticed was that instead of one writer, this issue has three: Matthew Rosenberg, Kelly Thompson and Ed Brisson It's a group thing! The story this time is another part in a long-running storyline called Disassembled, which seems to be about the end of the world, or maybe the X-Men. I really wasn't sure.

This issue hits the X-Men checklist fairly well. A powerful mutant wanting to remake the world and only the X-Men can stop him? Check. Anti-mutant sentiment wanting all mutants gone? Check. The government perhaps taking steps to take down mutants because they hate them, too? Checkity check. Lots of shouting in a confused battle scene where you have no idea what's going on? Cheeeeeck. Does Kitty Pryde save someone who hates her because that's what X-Men do? Well, check that one, too.

The big bad this time is X-Man, who I thought was Cable, but maybe this is a different Cable from (sigh) another dimension. I don't know. The book never told me. He's somehow in the mind of Legion, who we are told is an Omega Level mutant, which means look the fuck out. There is huge, rather clumsily staged fight between X-Man's support team (including a brainwashed Storm) and the gaggle of X-Men on site. Jean Grey is leading the team now, in a very catchy blue and red outfit. There was no sign of Cyclops or Wolverine, although Nightcrawler was there, but now with a beard.

It was a nostalgia twang to see Jean psychically calling for help with a To me, my X-Men, which used to be Professor X's thing. Oh, he wasn't here, either.

So the issue ends with more X-Men arriving for next issue's big battle.

As an X-Men comic, it was okay. Yildiray Cinar's is fine, with some clear attention to faces, and the page set up worked, with the exception of the battle scenes, which were cluttered and way too busy.
The comic had the feel of an X-Men book, but one from the Nineties. I fell in love with the quiet character interplay back then, but this was just a lot of shouting. (To be fair, I did like the focus--as much as this book was capable of that--on lesser known X-Men like Armor, especially with her stupid but brave attempt to solve a battlefield problem.)

So, a shrug, I guess. I already knew you could never come home again, so at least that wasn't a surprise.

Insert Heart To Continue: Hi Score Girl

I knew nothing about Hi Score Girl when I came across it on Netflix, and took a chance on the first episode. I finished the final episode in Season 1 today. I'm glad I found this little gem.

Based on the manga Hai Sukoa Garu by Rensuke Oshikiri, the story takes place in 1991 Japan, centering around middle school student Haruo Yaguchi, who is more interested in the arcade scene than his schooling. While hanging around the arcade, he comes across Akira Ono, a sheltered rich girl who finds comfort from her regimented life by playing arcade games. The two strike up an odd friendship, with Haruo oblivious to his feelings for Akira because he can't stop thinking about games, and Akira being so tightly wound and silent that her emotional outbursts always seem to involve violence. Along the way Haruo encounters another girl, Koharu Hidaka, who finds herself drawn to the oblivious Haruo, and learns to appreciate games by being around him.

The Japanese gaming scene plays a large role in this series, with Haruo and Akira playing Street Fighter and Darkstalkers, Ghosts and Goblins and many other games from back in the blessed day.  The differences between Japanese and American arcades are made quite clear, with the prevalence of Versus machines and arcade cabinets being set outside liquor stores. Having spent a large part of the Eighties in North American arcades, I found this fascinating. I can't imagine a Street Fighter game surviving staying outside in a Canadian winter.

But back to the story. The first season extends over a few years, with the three main characters moving from middle school to high school as the gaming scene evolves alongside them. There were some very heartfelt scenes here, ones which surprised me. I wasn't expecting to be caught up in the story as much as I was.  I found myself caring for these three characters, especially as their own personal worlds accelerate around them. For a show about old video games, there is a surprising amount of tenderness here, delivered quietly through lingering glances, barely repressed tears, or sighs of quiet resignation.

I look forward to Season 2.

Retro Reads: Power Girl #8 (March 2010)

I have a hard time seeing Power Girl getting an ongoing series these days, but back when she did have one, it was a lot of fun.

Let's just get this out of the way.

Power Girl (Kara Zor-L) is a character that appeals to a lot of people because of her physical characteristics. Comic legend has it that artist Wally Wood felt his editors weren't paying attention to him, so he started enlarging Power Girl's chest with each issue he drew, stopping only when the editors asked him what he was doing. Since then, Power Girl's breasts have been as much a part of the character as her being a tougher, alternate universe version of Supergirl. It's just one of those things that either makes comics goofy-dumb or pathetic, depending on your viewpoint.

Writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti took the right tone with this series, which alternated between action scenes and gentle humour. Sure, there were the expected instances of sexual innuendo and visual gags, but they worked because Power Girl was in on the humour as well. She is a character that is aware of her sexual power over people. She knows she has a body that makes people stop and stare. She is also that rarest of superheroes who seems to not only acknowledge her sexuality, but actively enjoy it.

The story in this issue deals with an alien who dresses like a Seventies porn star coming to Earth in hopes of mating with Power Girl to save his planet. It's actually a lot better than it sounds. The alien looks like a refugee from Zardoz, complete with bikini underwear, a biker moustache and more body hair that all of the Seventies combined. He even has a spaceship shaped like a giant head.

Power Girl is at first horrified by the concept, but as the two of them fight off an alien invasion, she slowly agrees to a date aboard his Giant Head Spaceship. After changing into a nice dress and having a few glasses of golden wine, Power Girl starts to find Mr. Zardoz Homage attractive, but not enough to actually sleep with him. More is revealed about the alien's life and his planet's take on sexuality, which is the opposite of what you would think it would be, and in the end, Power Girl kind of mates with him and saves his planet.

The entire issue revolves around sexuality, even aside from the main storyline. This being Power Girl, artist Amanda Connor makes sure we never forget why Power Girl is so beloved by male readers. Even her night dress is an echo of the design choices she has with her costume.The yearning the alien has for her is played against Power Girl's clear growing infatuation with him, which may or may not be down to her drinking the aforementioned golden wine.  And when the 'mating' is finished, the alien even attempts to make a joke about saying that he has to go now, which ends with Power Girl punching him through the spaceship.

But still, my favourite page in the book is towards the end, when Power Girl returns home. It's a nine panel page that shows her landing outside her apartment, smiling at her cat, and crashing into bed. Her alarm reads 5:57 as her cat crawls up beside her.  At 5:59, she's fallen asleep. At 6:00 her alarm goes off, and she smashes it with her fist while the cat leaps into the air, Power Girl grumbling that she doesn't want to get up for work.

It's just a nicely drawn page that shows more of who Power Girl is, aside from the tight costume and bombshell physique.

It Takes A Neighbourhood To Raise A Spider-Man: Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man #1

Another Number One, another Spider-Man book.

This time around, what will set this Spider-Man book apart from all the others is a focus, we are told, on Spider-Man's neighbourhood.

I wasn't aware of any demand for that, but I admittedly do not have my finger on the pulse of what comicdom wants, aside from scantily clad women and lower cover prices. But I checked this out, regardless.

Written by Tom Taylor with art by Juann Cabal, the series kicks off with Part One of the Mother of Exiles storyline. In it, we see Spider-Man welcome people to his neighbourhood by rescuing them from death in a car crash. We then meet some of the people in his apartment building, one of who gets kidnapped by a crew of guys who look like toughs from a Forties gangster film.

It's fine, but not terribly exciting. Taylor writes Peter as sarcastic yet helpful. We see the dynamics of the building, from his roommates to a judgey older woman to the woman in distress, who is beautiful and mysterious and clearly full of secrets.

I liked Cabal's art on X-23, and really wish he'd stayed there. There's a sterile coolness to his art that works with X-23 moreso than it does with Spider-Man, I feel. Cabal has a very strong Kevin Maguire talent with expression, but his art feels more like stills from a movie than the flow a good comic should have.  His take on Peter looks like a cross between Steve Ditko's classic Parker and the Mego action figure from the Seventies. It's cool, but I'm not sure if I like it.  I did like his interpretation of Spider-Sense, though, which again, looks like something cinematic from the Seventies.

There's an unnecessary back up story about Aunt May seeking treatment for possible cancer while hiding it from Peter that already feels laboured. The art here is by Marcello Ferreira, and it's a lot warmer than Cabal's. There is a great scene with Peter and MJ that I really liked, but the rest of the tale is overwrought. Not with just the Aunt May melodrama, but with Spider-Man lecturing kids about being bullies. It's just cringy.

I've liked Tom Taylor in the past, especially with his Injustice work, so I'll give him the benefit of a doubt here. But this wasn't a great debut for a new book. It may look great, but it already feels tired.

Best Kaiju Movie Of All Time?

Is Kong: Skull Island the best kaiju movie of all time?

After watching Kong this morning and thinking about it as I drove around the city doing errands, I'm coming to the conclusion that it just might be.

Written by Dan Gilroy, Max Borenstein and Derek Connolly, and wonderfully directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts,  the movie goes out of its way to address many of the issues laid at the feet of kaiju movies.

Of the cardinal sins, waiting to see the monster is among the greatest. (Look at 2014's Godzilla for a good example of this.) Here, we see Kong almost immediately. In fact, he maintains a very strong presence throughout the film. If he isn't lumbering towards the protagonists, they're very much looking over their shoulder for him.

There are no boring debate scenes. At no point in Kong do people in suits sit around a large table and discuss just what the hell they should do about the giant monster destroying the suburbs. (See Shin Godzilla for a recent example.)

There is also an actual story beyond just the monster losing its shit.

Set in 1973 at the end of the Vietnam War, Kong tells the story of two members of Monarch, Bill Randa and Houston Brooks (John Goodman and Corey Hawkins), a U.S. government group tasked with finding giant monsters setting out on what could be their last job: investigating a mysterious place called Skull Island. Called in to provide military support is Preston Packard (Samuel L. Jackson), a colonel who is unhappy about the U.S. 'abandoning' the war in Vietnam. An expert tracker is also hired, James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston), as well as war photographer, Mason Weaver (Brie Larson).

Upon arriving at the island, things go south very quickly. The team learns the true reason they've found themselves on this island filled with monsters, and worse, Kong sees them as hostile invaders.

Kong is also gloriously free of a love story. In a shocking twist, no one falls in love with anyone else. There are no long, drawn out character studies. The only real growth all characters share is their relationship with the environment they find themselves in. From Packard's desire to conquer it out of revenge for his lost men and to win an actual war that was denied him in Vietnam, to everyone else who is sane realizing that they are messing with a very dangerous yet necessary eco-system.

There is another sub-plot involving a WW2 vet (John C. Reilly)  who has been stuck on the island for 28 years that is rather harmless. I had feared this would be scenery chewing comedy at its finest, but it actually wasn't bad.

The special effects are wonderful. Vogt Roberts also frames some very beautiful and iconic shots of Kong and the wonder of Skull Island. There is a scene with the Northern Lights flickering above the island that was so well done.

The cast do their jobs very well, with Jackson looking crazy as a motherfucker, Hiddleston looking very concerned and sweaty, and Larson being both wide eyed and determined. She is only rescued once, and it's because she was off being heroic. Everyone in the cast carries their weight, both in terms of story and acting skills. There may not be a lot of chemistry between them, but Kong doesn't allow for much time for any chemistry to arise outside of a shared need for survival.

Like Russian Doll, Kong: Skull Island surprised me with just how well it took a potentially tired trope and made it fresh and exciting. And yeah, it probably is the best kaiju movie. Or, at least, the best one I've ever seen. And I've seen a lot.

Seven Things I Liked About Russian Doll

1. It surprised me.

2. It was only eight episodes long.

3. It was smart.

4. It surprised me.

5. It assumed its audience could follow along.

6. It gave me new respect and admiration for Natasha Lyonne, both as an actor and creator.

7. It really fucking surprised me.

Wrap It Up! Domino #10

This was a mess.

Gail Simone's Birds of Prey run is among my favourites. This is why when I see a Gail Simone book, I will give it a try. I also love Domino, so this title should have been a lock for me. A joy! Something to keep my hope alive! A peek into a better world!

But no.

There are many things I don't like about this comic. The worst crime is that it feels rushed. There is a small army of artists drawing this, all with varying styles but united in their clear attempt to get their pages down and out the fucking door. The storyline--which was flimsy to begin with, something about Longshot being a threat to all humanity because someone from Wakanda said so, so Domino and her team get involved and woah both Domino and Longshot have luck powers and won't that be freaky (SPOILER: it isn't)--races to an abysmally unsatisfying conclusion. From what I can gather, Domino and her team go to an extradimensional realm and conquer it--in 12 hastily drawn pages. They upset years of slavery and rally the oppressed to fight back--in 12 pages. Four people with guns do this. FOUR PEOPLE A BIT OF OF LUCK. IN TWELVE PAGES.

Well, I assume there is a bit of luck, since that is Domino and Longshot's power, but you don't see it. You don't really even see who Domino shoots most of the time. In fact, it could be just four anyones who did this. There is nothing here to make this a Domino comic, since apparently anyone can overthrow an entire realm. You should try it yourself.

Even before this issue, I was having problems with this series. In my opinion, the art style of the regular artist is far too cartoony for a story about an assassin. Domino's sidekicks--Outlaw and Diamondback--seem interchangeable and one dimensional, and in Outlaw's case, down right embarrassing. The inclusion of a new member--Atlas Bear from Wakanda, because you just have to have a Black Panther connection to sell comics these days--seems equally empty. (She wants Longshot dead for most of the last few issues, but suddenly wants to care for him because he's sick.)

Like I said, a mess. Apparently this is the last issue before it gets re-launched as a --wait for it-- a brand new Number One! This time Domino will be in another team book, set to run for five issues. With the same empty characters but with Black Widow thrown in, so yeah, that'll solve all the problems plaguing this run of Domino.

I'm not sure if I'll pick it up. I may let the burning stench of this trash fire dissipate first.