Comic Picks By The Glick

The first volume was a quality mix of worldbuilding, futuristic police procedural, and characterization that was undermined in the end by a climax that relied on the tired “talking killer” trope.  For better and worse, you get more of the same here when detectives Ristovych and Dietrich take on the case of who killed star gridlocker Cathy Kuan.  Writer Antony Johnston continues to flesh out the world of the Fuse in interesting ways, with this arc’s emphasis on the sport of gridlocking -- racing magnetic bikes across the station’s solar panels -- being just one example of how he does it.  In addition, we also find out more about the station’s history, current political situation, the relationships between the various law enforcement divisions, and even terrorist organizations woven into the story in a virtually seamless manner.  The “whodunit” aspect of this book is also handled quite well with the killer’s identity a mystery until the end, while the reveal makes perfect sense in light of what has come before.

However, it’s in the reveal that the story makes the same kind of mistake it did last time.  Instead of a talking killer, we have a talking cop who goes on at length about how all of this fits together.  It’s also annoying to see that, in spite of this cop’s demonstrated competence in this volume, a rather dumb mistake is made which allows the killer to escape for a moment of cheap drama.  Disappointing, but the story does get back on track in an intriguing manner with its final pages.  Up until this point, the reason Dietrich came to the Fuse has been a bit of a mystery -- one that not even his partner can crack.  Not only do we find out just why he transferred to this place, but it’s also shown that he has made a critical error in his approach.  Namely, assuming that Ristovych isn’t savvy enough to pick up on the fact that there’s something her partner isn’t telling her.  Seeing that particular bit of drama being fleshed out, in addition to more worldbuilding, is enough for me to start anticipating the next volume.  Who knows, maybe it won’t have a talking “whatever” distracting from the climax.

Billed as the start of “The Apocalypse:  Year Two,” this latest volume of Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta’s thoroughly entertaining sci-fi western shows us that the son of Death and PRA leader Xiaolian is going to be a major factor in this next leg of the story.  He was raised with the name Babalon to portend the hope by his captors that he would eventually become the Beast of the Apocalypse in accordance with The Message.  We found out last volume that his A.I. companion Balloon has been manipulating his mind to show the boy that the world is a harsh, desolate wasteland that needs to be destroyed so it can be born again.  Now he has met up with Orion, the Prophet of Armistice, and his uh… thing that he rides on who are here to begin the next stage of his training and to make sure that Babalon’s destiny is not one that is forced upon the boy, but one that he chooses for himself.  It’s creepy, sad, stuff that the creators have presented to us here.  We’re talking about the complete brainwashing of a young kid who isn’t even aware of what’s being done to him.  The hope is that he’ll be able to break through it at some point, but everything we’ve seen in the series so far doesn’t really give me much hope for that at this point.

In the meantime, Death, the Three Horsemen, and the leaders of the other nations have their own issues to contend with.  The one-shot “The World” does a good job of establishing the current status quo for the major players in this saga before their situations start to change in the issues of the regular series collected here.  We see that the might of the Endless Nation is great indeed, but they are also enough of a paper tiger that they need to ally with the PRA to avoid being overwhelmed.  Meanwhile, Bel Solomon flees from Texas in the wake of its conquest with some help, the Union’s efforts to enlist the EN’s help are rebuffed, and the Confederacy’s own Archibald Chamberlain continues to scheme.  All of these threads are managed with the style and energy that is customary to this series, while the creators also make room for tender moments like Death and Xiaolian’s (last?) embrace and unbridled fun as Prince John Freeman shows just why he is unmatched by his brothers with a gun.  The full gamut of emotions are run with this volume, and yet nothing feels out of place.  It’s all part of Hickman and Dragotta’s plan and it remains as enjoyable as always.

jason@glickscomicpicks.com

Mike Carey and Peter Gross' story about stories isn't part of Vertigo's A-list, but is a solid read overall.

The first volume of this series was great fun and the second one continues the trend.  With the focus firmly established on the title character and his partner, Dawn Greenwood, experiencing the many wonders the cosmos has to offer, writer Dan Slott has a simple but effective formula to tell stories regarding this cosmically intrepid pair.  Things start off with the Surfer and Dawn getting accustomed to traveling with each other, which involves the removal of the human’s tonsils and a trip to Planet Prime where only the most qualified in a given function are allowed to perform it.  Naturally this leads to a new addition to the Surfer’s rogues gallery as he winds up throwing down with their Warrior One and only manages to defeat him due to a technicality.  Then our explorers wind up investigating a part of the cosmos where no light exists, and where Dawn winds up being taken prisoner.  It’s then up to the Surfer and his board, who lest we forget has been christened “Toomie,” to rescue the earthling while recalling their many adventures together.  One of which involves a shotgun wedding and fruit pies.

These stories are entertaining, to be sure, and provide many opportunities for artist Mike Allred to show why he’s the real star of this series.  How many artists would draw an actual maze to illustrate the Surfer’s quest to rescue a missing child?  Not many at all, and that’s only the beginning of the artist’s contributions here -- witness his work with showing the Surfer and Toomie’s efforts to search for Dawn on the endless sea of night in the margins of the second issue.  Yet it’s only when the story reaches the three-part arc kicked off in the title story, which directly addresses the title character’s history as the Herald of Galactus, that the narrative achieves some real dramatic heft.  Not only does the Surfer have to confront his former master after being confronted with the survivors of the planets consumed by his master, but he also has to address it in the terms of his feelings for Dawn and these people who are about to lose everything twice over.  Sales may have dictated that this next arc is going to be a “Last Days” tie-in to “Secret Wars” and the effective end of this title.  Yet the work from Slott and Allred here makes me wish that this title had received a reprieve along with all of the other titles being relaunched by Marvel this coming October.

Now there are two “Evangelion” manga from Dark Horse that are worth your time!  Tony Takezaki provided several of the more memorable contributions to that other manga, the “Evangelion Comic Tribute,” as he asked the big questions like “How would Shinji really respond to an aquarium of naked Rei Ayanami clones?”  You can expect more of the same here, starting with a riff on the random nature of the anime’s “Next Episode” previews, continuing on to the bizarre and sordid story of Gendo and Ritsuko’s love life, Misato’s attempt to fool Eva-01 into thinking she’s young enough to pilot it, and the cast’s efforts to find the real meaning behind fanservice.  Most of this stuff winds up coming off as genuinely funny, provided you’ve got a decent amount of familiarity with the series.  There are a few sections that don’t, as they either wind up crashing due to the cultural barrier (still wondering what was up with that “Jo-Ha-Kyuuuuu” nonsense) or good taste -- unless there’s some gaping void in your life that is just waiting to be filled by the underlying scatology of what really happens when Eva-01 ingested the S2 engine.

Honestly, most comedy manga don’t have me laughing out loud with every chapter.  This one does a much better job than most, and I think that’s all down to one thing.  If you guessed that it’s, “The English localization by Carl Horn,” then thanks for reading this site for as long as you have!  It’s clear that Horn isn’t going for a literal translation in regards to the gags, and the comedy is that much better for it.  No, I don’t think Takezaki intentionally put references to “Psycho” and “The Far Side” in his manga, but I thought they were funny and in an “anything goes” book like this, that’s all that counts.  I’m actually kind of disappointed that this is going to be the only volume of this series as I’d love to see Takezaki take on the “Rebuild of Evangelion” films.  Then again, it’s probably for the best.  Better to leave the readers wanting more, than to keep rehashing everything to the point where they can’t remember what they liked about it in the first place.

I’m looking in YOUR direction, “The Shinji Ikari Raising Project!”

It had apparently been rumored for a while, but the return of Tokyopop was made official at their panel at Anime Expo.  Their plan is to publish “hidden gems” from smaller publishers that have yet to be snapped up by companies that release manga in the U.S.  In addition, they’re also planning to put out artbooks, light novels, “collector’s editions,” pursue film and TV productions with the properties they already own, various projects on YouTube, and a Pop Comics app which will allow users to upload their comics to share and retain full creative control and ownership.  It’s an ambitious plan, and that’s the big problem here.

It wasn’t expected to be a mini-phenomenon which got DC Comics to broaden its scope in what titles it sold to reach a new audience, but that’s what this latest revamp of “Batgirl” by writer/breakdown artist Cameron Stewart, co-writer Brenden Fletcher, and artist Babs Tarr did.  What I really don’t know is why they decided to release the softcover edition of this volume day-and-date with the hardcover.  It’s why you’re reading this now and I hope they try this with more series going forward.  This approach also means that (for what it’s worth to them) DC has one more positive review to add to the accolades this title has received.  Even if some of the stories being told here have been done before, the execution is fresh and exciting enough to make up for that.

The delicate balance of terror in this series continues to be maintained through this volume.  After it was revealed in vol. 3 that the Nazis have Uber spies with their own special abilities, the issue of ferreting out the one in Bletchley Park becomes an issue here.  Not the key issue as writer Kieron Gillen spends this volume jumping between several different threads:  The activation of several new Battleships on the American front (where concerns about the first African-American one are raised), Russian Destroyer Katyusha and her efforts to reclaim the motherland and subsequent conflict with Battleship Sieglinde, and Josef Goebbels’ plan for the rest of the war and how to make the best use of the idea of Hitler.  All this and Alan Turing gets his badass credentials certified here as well!

It’s another solid volume with plenty of drama on all sides of the war.  Even though America is finally getting their superhuman program going, this is after their atomic bomb program was utterly compromised by an Uber espionage specialist.  While the Germans suffer a crushing defeat on the Russian front, they’re about to come right back with their own “scorched earth” program.  Then you’ve got the Russians who may have the most powerful Battleship of them all, but she’s also one they have no real control over.  Add in the many personal agendas being advanced and fought over here, and the narrative going forward looks to be quite strong.  Granted, the special issue focusing on the first kills of the three key Uber Battleships doesn’t connect as well as it should and the art remains as competent and outlandishly gory as ever without ever crossing the line into spectacular.  As for who’s going to win the war now, I can’t really say.  That being said, I will keep reading as long as the question remains as compelling as it’s presented here.

jason@glickscomicpicks.com