Comic Picks By The Glick

Save for a short story in the pages of “Thor:  God of Thunder,” this is the first time Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera have worked together since completing their excellent Native American reservation-set crime series “Scalped.”  That fact alone was enough to get me to give this series a shot.  “The Goddamned” is best described as “Aaron and Guera’s ‘Bible Stories’” since this first volume gives us a rather different perspective on Noah and his quest courtesy of a certain unkillable biblical outcast.  This character isn’t named at first, but perceptive readers will likely be able to guess who he is before his identity is revealed.  Said protagonist is the hard-bitten loner type who has learned not to care about those around him as he looks for a way to finally die.  However, his nihilistic attitudes are soon put on hold as he encounters a woman whose son has been kidnapped by Noah and his crew, to work on the Ark and keep the animals fed, and he decides to help her out.  All because the love she has for her boy is a very rare commodity in this day and age.

Guera’s art is the star of the show here as he renders a pre-flood world that is gritty and rotten enough to make you understand why God would want it all washed away.  The savagery of the world’s inhabitants is also rendered in stomach-churning detail with very little mercy on display here as well.  It’s good that the visuals are this strong because there’s a lot about this story that most readers will find quite familiar, both in terms of story and what Aaron has delivered before.  While the arc that the protagonist undergoes isn’t new by any standard, it also falls prey to the writer’s “more is more” tendencies.  Things don’t get as bad as the baby-chucking excess seen in “Men of Wrath,” though, the nihilism and anti-God ramblings start to grow old after a while.  To the point where the final surprise of the story fails to register because -- in case you didn’t get it -- this world is screwed.

Aaron does serve up some clever lines, an imaginative offensive use of his protagonist’s immortality, and an interesting take on Noah himself.  He’s just as much of a brute as his fellow man, but he’s employing this brutality for a higher purpose.  All in all, this is probably best enjoyed by people who were completely onboard with what Aaron and Guera were doing in “Scalped” and want to see what they’re like when they’re let off the leash of Vertigo.  Anyone looking for a story about Noah which actually embraces hope while not shying away from depicting a world that needed to be washed away is recommended to check out the “Noah” graphic novel from Darren Aronofsky, Ari Handel, and Niko Henrichon which served as the proof-of-concept for Aronofsky’s film.

jason@glickscomicpicks.com

We’ve reached the end of Fred Van Lente’s tenure as writer of “Conan” and the best way to sum it up is by saying this:  It was certainly a thing that happened.  I want to say that his run would’ve been better served by having an arc to it, as was the case with the title character’s romance with the pirate queen Belit during Brian Wood’s tenure, but that’s not entirely true.  Previous writers Kurt Busiek, Tim Truman, and Roy Thomas had no long-range plans for their runs and they were a lot more entertaining.  That’s likely because their work gave the impression that these writers were fully invested in the character and his adventures.  Van Lente has seemed content to simply put Conan through his paces as it were, with the most interesting bits coming in the return of familiar characters like Thoth-Amon and Janissa the Widowmaker.  Left to his own devices and Robert E. Howard’s source material, the results are considerably less inspiring.

Such is the case with “A Witch Shall Be Born.”  Things kick off with Taramis, Queen of Khauran, being secretly deposed by her long-lost twin sister, Salome, who is also the witch of the title.  After she lets in the savage Shemites to enforce her rule, Conan suspects that something is up and starts cutting people down only to wind up crucified for his efforts.  The time spent with the character on his cross is the most interesting part of the volume, as guest artist Jose Luis ably depicts his savage will to survive amidst hallucinations.  From then on it’s the usual story of Conan getting his strength back, assembling an army, and leading it against the witch.  It all leads to a very busy finale where Salome employs her magic in ways that could’ve made the rest of the story more interesting.  Cullen Bunn is set to take over for Van Lente with Dark Horse’s next “Conan” series and it’d be nice if he can return the barbarian’s comic book adventures to their former glory.  If not, well, then I’d say anyone looking to enjoy “Conan’s” adventures with this publisher should just check out volumes zero through sixteen and leave the ones that follow on the shelf.

jason@glickscomicpicks.com

The late, great Steve Dillon.  That’s what the artist is now and this latest volume of “The Punisher” represents the bulk of his final work, with his last issue set to be collected in the next volume.  Dillon’s work on the character is iconic with his innate ability to perfectly frame a gunfight, creatively render the violence, and have the perpetual scowl he gives Frank Castle absolutely looks like it belongs on his face.  All of his skill is on fine form here as the Punisher finds himself up against a crime ring with a killer new drug in its hands.  It’s the kind of drug that will turn the weakest crook into a crazy-strong killer, and the distribution is being overseen by Frank’s old army commander Olaf, and an enforcer who goes by the name of Face for reasons which will be fairly obvious once you get to know him.  However, the D.E.A. is also on the case as two of its agents, Ortiz and Henderson, have been surveilling the operation and are just about to move in and start making arrests.  Assuming there’s anything left to arrest after the Punisher is done with them.

As good as Dillon’s art is here, the script by Becky Cloonan is only average.  Pitting the title character against violent drug dealers has been old hat since the days of his ongoing series from the 80’s.  The bad guys aren’t really that interesting either.  Face’s proclivities will be quite familiar to anyone who has read the second arc of “Preacher,” while the guy who uses his daughter as bait is a halfway decent setup for one whole sequence.  With regards to the D.E.A. agents, Ortiz is the more fleshed out of the two though it’s too early to tell if Cloonan is going to take Greg Rucka’s approach to “The Punisher” and make the series more about her than the man himself.  There is some interesting work done with Frank himself as his origin is formally and straightforwardly updated from the Vietnam War to Desert Storm and in a way that’s also relevant to the story at hand.  Overall, Cloonan doesn’t do a bad job with the writing it’s just that she turns in work that will come off as old hat to anyone who has been reading the character’s adventures for an extended period of time.  It’s worth buying for Dillon’s art, but he’s illustrated much better “Punisher” stories than this one.

jason@glickscomicpicks.com

If you went into this volume expecting to see Lewis, Clark, and their associates take on the legendary “Bigfoot” then you’re not going to be disappointed.  In fact, they find themselves up against many sasquatches fairly early on, all thanks to the actions of the explorers who came before them.  That’s what sets this volume apart from the previous three as writer Chris Dingess delivers two parallel narratives about the exploration of the old Western United States.  Prior to Lewis & Clark, there was Helm & Flewelling and their far less prepared expedition.  When winter comes they find themselves resorting to desperate measures in order to survive, until Helm gets some assistance from an unexpected source.  What follows is a disturbing tale of survival as Helm commits savage acts of violence to survive and make sure his message regarding the future prosperity of America reaches the right people.

In the present day, we see Lewis & Clark putting Helm’s knowledge to better use for the good of the group.  While it’s shown to work out well for pretty much everyone, the question now becomes whether or not they’ll be able to use it to do the right thing in the end.  “Manifest Destiny” may appear to be a fun adventure series which adds a supernatural twist to the exploration of America’s old frontier, but it has also acknowledged the ruthless measures that were taken in order to tame it for everyone.  It’s easy to argue for this approach when the monsters are unreasoning creatures like those featured in the first two volumes.  But when “taming” comes down to stabbing the carnivorous bird people who helped you in the back, or taking out violent monsters who are attacking you as a result of what the people before you did, justification becomes that much harder.  It’s hard not to notice the Native American presence in this volume and realize where this approach is going down the line.  There’s more to this series than I had initially thought, and I’m very interested in seeing how Lewis & Clark deal with the increasing moral complications of their journey from here on out.

jason@glickscomicpicks.com

Do you like lesbians?  Do you like mass murderers?  Do you like lesbian mass murderers?  If you answered yes to all three of these questions then boy do I have a series for you!  Yoshimurakana’s “Murcielago” is about Kuroko Koumori, plucked from death row for murdering a ton of people to put her talents to work for the state.  So when a pro wrestler goes on a drug-fueled killing spree, she’s the perfect candidate to take him down.  Same goes for a German murderer who’s partial to Beethoven and mollywire after he takes over a commuter train.  It’s not all business all the time for Kuroko, however, sometimes she has to relax and enjoy herself.  That usually involves setting up dates with unsuspecting women through a dating service, getting it on with the daughter of a local crime boss, hanging out with and trying to put the moves on her ditzy handler Ritsuko, and accepting an invitation from a vengeance-crazed millionaire who wants to rid the world of killers like her.  It’s never a dull moment when you’re living life like Kuroko is!

Whether or not the reader will feel the same way about her adventures really does depend on how you answered those initial three questions I posed.  Mangaka Yoshimurakana isn’t lacking for style in her over-the-top presentation of the action as you can expect to see cars driving fine after they fly off buildings, trains flying into buildings, and a mansion full of enough creative deathtraps to give the makers of the “Deception” games pause.  It’s also refreshing to see that there’s no redemption angle being pursued with Kuroko’s job, and the fact that the sex-crazed protagonist of a manga actually manages to have sex (more than once) is certainly novel.  The main problem here is that if you’re looking for any kind of depth to the characters or the storytelling beyond their dedication to providing slick, sexy thrills you are going to find yourself thoroughly out of luck.  Also, anyone looking for more positive examples of LGBT representation in comics may find themselves put off by the fact that “Murcielago’s” approach to lesbianism is mainly geared towards appealing to guys.  That’s part of its clear approach to pleasing its specific audience who will no doubt be pleased with what this volume has to offer.

In other words, expect a review of vol. 2 from me after it arrives in May.

jason@glickscomicpicks.com

Whether they wanted to be a part of it or not, pretty much every Marvel comic released in the past few months offered some sort of tie-in to “Civil War II.”  While this proved to be a sure-fire sales-booster for titles who tied into the original event series, this time around has served as a proof of the law of diminishing returns.  That’s not to say that there haven’t been good stories told under the “Civil War II” banner.  In the case of these two distaff “Avengers” titles from writer Al Ewing, however, their success is directly proportional to how closely they tie into the events of this particular crossover.

You know, it’s really disappointing that this series isn’t selling all that well in single-issue form because it’s a ton of fun.  I realize that the first volume takes a while to get going and to make its purpose clear, which is a liability when you’re drip-feeding your audience information on a monthly basis.  Three volumes in and writer John Arcudi and artist James Harren have done an excellent job building on the story of their fantasy warrior from a million years ago, Rathraq, who has woken up in the present day in a scarecrow body while the monsters he used to fight, the Esu, thrive in the shadows and have possession of his old body.  Now, the crafty Cogan, who appears to be on no one’s side but his own, has found a way to put one of Rathraq’s old foes, the six-armed former King Asura, into his old body.  While the plan was for Asura to burn the body to spite Rathraq, the former king decides he likes this new body a whole lot more and sets about to capture its missing heart from the Esu so he can rebuild his kingdom on Earth.

In case that summary wasn’t clear enough, this volume is no less weird than the two which preceded it.  Arcudi also manages to fill the margins of the story with more fun strangeness like the group of half-Esu rooming at Del’s apartment subsisting on anchovy pizza and repeated viewings of “Frankenstein in the Congo,” Cogan taking Asura’s pet hydrant out for a walk and waiting for it to do its business, and a couple of cops watching the Rathraq/Asura fight unfold in front of them while one calmly reasons that their sidearms and 12-gage aren’t going to make a lick of difference in this matter.  On that note, the volume does manage a nice escalation of carnage throughout as more parties keep getting involved, right up through a flame-throwing battle royale in the streets.  Yet for all this craziness, Arcudi and Harren still manage to give the story some heart at the right times, usually seen through how regular guy Bobby copes with what his life has become.  Though, this time around it’s his sorta-girlfriend who winds up saving the day here.  Vol. 3 does end on an ambiguous down note, which has me hoping against hope that this isn’t the last we’ll see of “Rumble.”  If you’re like me and not into buying single issues, then go pick up the trades (and convince two of your friends to do the same) so we can make sure the story doesn’t end here.

jason@glickscomicpicks.com

What the hell happened to the art in this volume!?  I’ve warmed up to Joe Eisma’s work on this series considerably since it began, but he really drops the ball here from the first page.  All of the characters have weird-looking googly eyes, awkward facial expressions, and misshapen noses.  It’s insanely distracting to look at and a major step down just from the previous volume in the series.  I understand he’s also working on other projects like the “Archie” reboot with Mark Waid, yet that’s no excuse for the substandard work Eisma delivers here.

Worse still is that the quality of the art also saps the wit and drama I’ve come to expect from Nick Spencer’s writing on this title.  This is especially bad because vol. 10 isn’t one of the “Morning Glories” volumes which offers a nice self-contained experience that shows the writer has his crazy train of a narrative on track.  Things start out fun enough with a secret party that segues into Casey’s debate with her rival Isabel for student council president.  It all culminates with Casey having a long meeting with a very important person while several plot threads culminate in violent, destructive, and deadly fashion.

The back of this volume promises that one of the biggest mysteries of the series will be revealed, but after finishing vol. 10 I feel just as confused as ever.  Essentially, this is another volume where I feel compelled to warn off new readers from starting “Morning Glories” until we see if Spencer and Eisma can stick the landing.  Not only does this volume not inspire confidence about that, but now I’m wondering when (or even “if”) we’ll see the finale to this series.  I’ve mentioned Eisma’s other work, and Spencer is currently writing both “Captain America” titles at Marvel while also masterminding their upcoming “Secret Empire” event.  Spencer has said in the past that “Morning Glories” was planned for a sixty-issue run, so there should only be ten issues left to go once he and Eisma get their act together.  Sooner, rather than later, to make sure that there’s still an audience around for the finale.

jason@glickscomicpicks.com