Comic Picks By The Glick

This is the latest Vertigo Crime graphic novel and it’s, well… at least it’s readable.  The story involves Joe Ullen, a former hockey star who returns to his hometown after his old high school girlfriend dies under mysterious circumstances.  In addition to dying under mysterious circumstances, she’s also named him the executor of her will which leads him to reconnect with a lot of old characters and dig up some secrets as well.  I’ve never heard of writer Jon Evans before this, but he makes a serviceable debut as a comic book writer.  His plot twists and turns in ways both surprising, and (at least) pleasing in their familiarity.  What he lacks is any real style or flair to make his characters and dialogue stand out on the page.  Artist Andrea Mutti is similarly capable, though his characters’ body language comes off as awkward in places, and his art suffers from the fact that it was obviously meant to be in color rather than black and white.  Though I also liked his use of Native Americans and their reservation as a setting, it also served to remind me of a much better book from Vertigo, Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera’s “Scalpled,” which does it in a much more interesting fasion (it’s sixth volume “The Gnawing” also came out last week).

Shizuro Oguro is living the life of an average Japanese salaryman when his mid-life crisis kicks in and he quits his job to become a mangaka.  Unfortunately he can’t find the right motivation he needs to create the timeless classic that will prove to his dad and daughter that this wasn’t a huge mistake.  Rather than glorify Shizuro’s decision to break from tradition and pursue what he loves (however halfheartedly) mangaka Shunju Aono’s characterization of the man rings more true as he winds up looking for “inspiration” in video games, playing at the park, and in his new job at a fast food joint.  While I can see the truth in this situation, the manga itself winds up feeling as aimless and directionless as its main character more often than not.  The exception is the final story which shows us Shizuro through the eyes of a woman preparing to commit suicide, and his situation and determination manage to come off as more endearing than wearying.  Hopefully we’ll see more stories like that in the next volume.

Norman Osborne’s relentless pursuit of Tony Stark and the secrets in his head concludes in this volume which provides as thrilling a ride as you can expect in mainstream comics today.  Tony’s path of escape leads him though the snowy fields of Russia to the craggy mountains of Afghanistan as he tries to stay one step ahead of Osborne’s cronies.  Things aren’t going that much better for his friends as Maria Hill is barely holding herself together after breaking free from the Controller in the last volume, and Pepper Potts finds herself on the wrong end of Madam Masque’s vindictive streak against Tony’s girlfriends.  It’s a slick, fast-paced thrill ride that also finds time for lots of quiet character moments that drive home the importance of what’s at stake for these characters.  Really, the only thing keeping this from topping “Extremis” as my favorite Iron Man story is that even though this is the end of the arc, it’s not the end of the story as it ends by setting up the next story “Stark Disassembled.”  That said, it does so in a way that is pure joy for any fan of the Marvel Universe.

While I’ve always been entertained by writer Brian K. Vaughan and artist Tony Harris’ tale of the world’s only superhero who goes on to be the mayor of New York City, there are times when its narrative hasn’t flown all that smoothly.  Times like in vol. 4’s take on the War on Terror or vol. 6’s story of a guy who mysteriously appears from somewhere else… and nothing happens.  It’s for reasons like these that I’ve always assumed that this series would be Vaughan’s second best after “Y:  The Last Man.”  I’m still betting that’s the case, but with this latest volume he proves that he really did have a plan for the series from the start.

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Marvel’s answer to the old Roadrunner cartoons reaches its third volume.  At this point, I can’t really recommend the series to anyone who isn’t already reading it since its recent end has made it painfully clear that this was a series whose only purpose was to stall for time.  I’ll admit that its goal of getting Cable and Hope out of the mainstream Marvel continuity so that she could age into a proper character and jumpstart the current crossover “Second Coming” had the secondary effect of making it one of the few ongoing Marvel titles that does have a distinct beginning middle and end.  Too bad that it’s wasted on a stalling tactic.  This volume has some nice moments with Hope and the boy who falls in love with her, decent action that involves the Brood, and competent art from Paul Gulacy and Gabriel Guzman; but it doesn’t add up to much in the end.  Still better than “Messiah War,” though.

In which I ask YOU to save Hiroki Endo’s “Eden:  It’s an Endless World,” because I sure as hell doubt that Dark Horse will.

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DC Comics’ manga imprint CMX was shut down earlier today.  On one level, the lack of any bestselling titles, low buzz, and general lack of promotion from its parent company didn’t make it seem like much of a surprise.  On the other, the fact that it lasted six years despite all of these issues made the news surprising to me.

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You might have noticed that my reviews of manga that serve as the basis for anime that I’ve seen tend to follow a certain script.  Generally I’ll say that they’re fine, but what I’m really waiting for is when the stories go past the anime so I can start reading new stuff (see “Black Lagoon” or “Bokurano”).  I’ve also seen the anime that was made out of mangaka Kou Yaginuma’s “Twin Spica” a few years back, but there are things about the first volume that make me think that reading the manga will be a more enjoyable and interesting experience than the other times I’ve found myself in this situation.

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Now this isn’t a “real” volume of “B.P.R.D.” in the sense that it doesn’t continue the ongoing story of the bureau’s fight against the frogs.  What it is, is a collection of four one-shots (and a story from “MySpace Dark Horse Presents”) that were published in between the various miniseries that have writers Mike Mignola and John Arcudi working with a host of talented artists to tell short stories with the cast of the B.P.R.D.  While none of these stories are bad, and it is nice to see Roger the Homunculus and Capt. Ben Daimio again, they really don’t add anything noteworthy to the series mythos.  All of the art is great, with Peter Snejbjerg’s depiction of the frogs’ afterlife and John Severin’s “‘Alien’ on an abandoned ship” being particularly worthy of mention, but unless you’re buying it just for that you can safely skip this volume.  I’d say you could do the same for the next volume, “B.P.R.D.:  1947,” but I’m actually dying to see how Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba tackle that section of the “Hellboy” universe.

After I enjoyed “Heavy Liquid” so much, my next order of business was to pick up Paul Pope’s other graphic novel for Vertigo “100%.”  Ultimately I think the decision over which one is better comes down to personal preference (I liked the more focused story and action in “Heavy Liquid”) but both are worth your time and money.  “100%” takes place in a similar near-future society and tracks the lives of a group of people as their lives intertwine and intersect over the course of a few days.  Even though a lot of these characters are familiar types, the aging fighter, the frustrated artist, the girl on the run, Pope makes their stories interesting by not taking the obvious way out with any of their scenarios, as well as having it all look brilliant.  Whether it’s dancers having their insides lit up, people eating sushi, or a hundred kettles whistling in unison, the man makes his world feel vibrantly alive on the page.