Comic Picks By The Glick

With his signature creation, “The Goon,” appearing to have gone off the rails in its most recent outing, I was wondering if creator Eric Powell’s best days were behind him.  “Big Man Plans” proves that this isn’t the case.  It’s the story of an unnamed dwarf who goes through life suffering every indignity and cruelty possible, and dishing out all the anger and violence he can in response.  This cycle is interrupted one day by a letter from a girl he knew back home that causes him to return to rage and get respect.  What follows is a story that manages to avoid the pitfalls of being relentlessly depressing through sheer brutality, achieving a satisfying catharsis in the end.

A somewhat rare work in the Mignolaverse these days in that it’s written by the man himself without the assistance of a co-writer.  This miniseries shows what happened to Frankenstein’s Monster after we last saw him in “Hellboy:  House of the Living Dead.”  As it turns out, he met an old woman in the jungles of Mexico who told him that he was bound for greater things.  This would include falling into one of seven underground cities that were originally established by the sons of Thoth of Hyperborea to bring light to the outside world.  That is, before their priests were corrupted by the Ogdru Jahad and the cities themselves were either destroyed or sunk into the Earth as a result of their wicked acts.  The one that Frankenstein’s Monster has found himself in is one that has subsequently been colonized by an exploratory group from the Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra which found the light of the city, and then its curse.  It’s now up to this hunted, tormented monster to finally stop running and save the spirits of the good people who are bound to this evil place.

While knowledge of the above-mentioned “Hellboy” story isn’t necessary for enjoying this series, longtime followers of the Mignolaverse will likely be surprised at how many other parts of it intersect here.  I’ve already mentioned the Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra, and the Ogdru Jahad, but we also get insight into the Vril power, the Hollow Earth Theory, and an appearance from the Marquis Adoet De Fabre of all people.  There are also likely a few other things that I didn’t spot in the story, but it’s also a credit to Mignola that the story itself remains pretty straightforward and easy to grasp despite bringing in all of these other elements.  Still, it would’ve made for a more interesting story to see Frankenstein’s Monster take a stronger hand on his own destiny as he spends most of the miniseries being thrust from one event into another by the dictates of the plot.

Having Ben Stenbeck illustrate the story does make for visually captivating tale as he’s great at realizing all of the strange and weird things from this world on the page.  As it is, if you’ve been reading “Hellboy” and “B.P.R.D.” for years, then I can’t see how you wouldn’t find something (many things, more likely) to enjoy about this volume.  While this may be a standalone story, it’s also probably not the best place for newcomers for the Mignolaverse to start given that it feels designed to reward the longtime reader for their close attention to all that has come before.

Once again, this review of latest volume of Greg Rucka’s private investigator in Portland series is brought to you courtesy of a 30%-off coupon from Amazon (in addition to the discount already offered by the site).  I think this is a good series.  It’s just not good enough to get me to pay the full $30 to pick each volume up in hardcover.  Vol. 3 is probably the least impressive of the series so far, but that’s also like saying “The Dark Knight Rises” is the least impressive of Christopher Nolan’s “Batman” movies.  The case this time around has Portland P.I. Dex Parios investigating the savage beating a friend of hers received after a soccer match featuring the local team.  Between her own personal stake in this incident, and the fear of European-style soccer hooliganism tainting the sport as well as her own mental issues, Dex is coming apart at the seams on this one.  This time around, she has a fellow P.I., CK from Seattle, working the case with her and to help keep the collateral damage from their investigation to a minimum.

What keeps this volume from being on par with the other two is that the cops turn out to be more on the ball than usual in these kinds of stories.  In just about every P.I. story, the cops are there to either provide information or obstruct the protagonist in the pursuit of their case.  All I’ll say is that this isn’t the case this time around, leading to things feeling a bit anti-climactic in the end.  Granted, we do get a scene towards the end where Dex lets us know what really went on, but it mainly feels like Rucka is just doing damage control here.

That being said, we get more insight into Dex’s mindset and history here, while also seeing her strike up a relationship with a soccer player that doesn’t seem like a complete mistake.  The rapport Rucka sets up between the two P.I.s is also fun to watch, with CK offering both cutting humor and insight into her partner’s condition.  This is Dex’s series, but I wouldn’t mind seeing more of CK in future stories.  Vol. 3 also features art from “The Fuse’s” Justin Greenwood and his style fits the grounded tone of this series quite well.  So yeah, this volume is still a good read overall.  It’s just that your enjoyment will likely hinge on how much you had to pay for reading about Dex’s latest adventure.

Um… yeah, this volume was a surprising misfire for me.  Mainly because I’ve been enchanted by mangaka Kaoru Mori’s works for years and this is the first time I’ve read something from her that has really failed to satisfy or entertain me.  While she’s always had stellar instincts for characterization, they’re not employed well enough here to make for an engaging story about a concept she finds utterly fascinating.

The second volume of “Haven’t You Heard?  I’m Sakamoto” does get a little more creative in its antics.  Where I was worried that seeing the title character effortlessly succeed in the face of any obstacle he faced, mangaka Nami Sano displays a little more inventiveness in showing us how he does that in this volume.  Whether it’s displaying “Splinter Cell” levels of agility while being chased by an amorous housewife, or going head-to-head against a stylish thug in “the push game” while a police officer watches, I was more entertained by Sakamoto’s actions here than I was with the first volume.  Granted, Sakamoto as a character treads a fine line between coming off as well-meaning or smug, and the humor can occasionally trend towards mean-spirited.  At this point the series is basically an amusing curiosity that hasn’t quite come together yet.

Not so in the case of “Prison School.”  Here’s a series that knows exactly how dumb and trashy it is and revels in that fact.  The best part of all is that it’s all played completely straight!  Where else are you going to find a series where one of its main characters utters the phrase, “For whom did I shit myself…!?” without a hint of irony.  Or have another protagonist talk about his plan to crossdress as a schoolgirl -- complete with pigtails made from the hair of another male classmate -- as if he was planning an actual jailbreak.  It’s all utterly ridiculous, and funnier due to how mangaka Akira Hiromoto handles the execution.  I also have to admit to being impressed with how he manages Kiyoshi’s escape, disastrous date, and eventual redemption while also laying out a way for the five “prisoners” to come together as friends in a way that still comes off as plausible.  Within the boundaries of plausibility for this series.  It’s still a title about five boys being imprisoned by a “shadow student council” of three girls, one of whose clothes only seem to stay on through some miracle of friction.  Definitely not for everyone, but it’s highly recommended to anyone who can appreciate something best described as “gloriously stupid.”

I don’t think “Civil War” needed a sequel, but it looks like we’re getting one anyway.  After all, there’s a new “Captain America” movie using the title of that event coming out in May.  Marvel also needs any sales boost they can get in light of the fact that most of their new relaunches are settling in at levels lower than what their previous incarnations were selling at.  This event is also coming to us courtesy of the (now former) “Invincible Iron Man” team of Brian Michael Bendis and David Marquez.  Despite offering better dialogue, Bendis didn’t provide an entirely superior take on another Mark Millar concept -- “Old Man Logan.”  However, if this new “Civil War” allows him to dig into a socially relevant idea, that’s more up his alley.  I’ve got no concerns about Marquez, as he has done stellar work on “Ultimate Spider-Man” these past few years and this could finally be the project that vaults him onto the A-list of comics artists.

It’s also worth noting that the first “Civil War” led into “The Death of Captain America.”  While it’s not certain that history will repeat, there are two circumstances worth considering:  Next year is Cap’s 75th anniversary and the sales of the current Sam Wilson as Cap series, written by Nick Spencer, are already below those of the previous one written by Rick Remender.  I guess what I’m saying here is that if you don’t want history to repeat itself, consider showing the current Cap series some sales support over the next few months.

I noticed that James Stokoe is providing variant covers for the new issues of “Birthright” and “Head Lopper” that are being solicited here.  It also got me thinking that, aside from these variants, and other variant covers for Marvel, we haven’t seen a lot of new sequential work from this immensely talented creator.  After the “Godzilla:  The Half-Century War” miniseries from 2013, I believe he’s just done an issue of the Marvel “100th Anniversary” event and the first issue for the recent “Godzilla in Hell” miniseries.  I’ll probably have to pick up both collections at some point because it’s been too long since I’ve read anything new from him.  Here’s hoping that he’s taking all of this work doing variant covers and other work-for-hire stuff to fund his next major project.  Even if that doesn’t turn out to be new issues of “Orc Stain,” I’m sure it’ll be worth reading.

This is not a storyline that needed nine issues to tell.  I can understand why Bendis may have thought that it did, as it’s essentially the climax of his run on this title.  It’s hard to see how he can get much bigger than having Scott team up with his former comrades to take on a mutant with godlike powers that Professor X hid from them long ago.  There’s no denying that’s a solid place to begin this story, but the execution is downright terrible.