Comic Picks By The Glick

“The Neil Gaiman Library” at Dark Horse gets another inspired addition with this adaptation of a story that blends the mythos of Sherlock Holmes and Cthulhu.  We begin with London’s greatest criminal investigator and his war veteran roommate finding themselves challenged with solving the murder of a Bohemian Prince. What did this prince do to warrant such a fate?  Well, the royalty in this world have a great deal more limbs, tentacles, and teeth compared to your average human, while their blood is a vibrant shade of emerald. While these Great Old Ones have brought peace and prosperity to the world as we know it, some view their leadership of humans as a yoke that must be thrown off.  Now it’s up to the detective and his friend to find out whodunit before the killer can strike again.

This comes to us from Rafael Albuquerque who provides the art and co-writes with his writing partner, Rafael Scavone.  The only other thing I’ve read from them was that generic Batman vs. the Russian Mob story from the last volume of “All-Star Batman,” but this is much better than that.  Even if much of the story’s attention to detail can be attributed to Gaiman’s original work, it reads smoothly with the sense that Albuquerque and Scavone knew what to keep in and leave out in adapting it.  There’s also just enough worldbuilding to make the idea of an Earth ruled by the Great Old Ones to work and a wonderfully unexpected finale that plays on our expectations regarding the detective and his partner.  Some might view that finale as somewhat anticlimactic, or just plain confusing if you’re unfamiliar with Holmes’ mythos, but it worked for me.

Albuquerque’s art is also impressively moody.  His London is a fittingly dark and creepy place, with memorable characters who reflect encountering their unearthly leaders in distinctive ways.  Even if this is a slim volume, it’s a dense read that’s well worth its cover price. It does leave me wanting more of this interesting world that Gaiman has mixed together and Albuquerque and Scavone have brought to life on the page.  Yet it looks like I’ll just have to content myself with checking out whatever their next project together is after this.

jason@glickscomicpicks.com

Shiga's four-volume epic is as entertaining as it is depraved!

My concern after the (still compulsively readable) vol. 9 was that this series was going to wind up becoming “The Thorfinn Show” as the main plot continued to focus in on him to the exclusion of the rest of the cast.  That’s still a valid concern with this volume as Thorfinn meets Vagn, the leader of the other faction seeking to control the Jomsvikings, and learns the role Floki had in his father’s death.  Meanwhile, Thorkell sets out to satisfy his insatiable craving for battle against Vagn, even if he’s more than a little suspicious of why Wulf, one of Canute’s retainers, has been sent to accompany him by order of the King.  Into all this is thrown laid-back-yet-vicious spear wielder Garm (that’s him on the cover) who is looking for a one-on-one battle against Thorfinn to see if he’s the one person who can finally kill him.

While most of this volume revolves around the various pressures Thorfinn find himself fighting against, mangaka Makoto Yukimura still finds room for some quality time with the rest of the cast.  Benefiting most from this is Thorkell whose gigantic stature and hunger for war could’ve been played for one-note comedy. That may be the case in some scenes, but it’s made clear that there’s a method to his madness best seen when he confronts Wulf.  He’s like a version of Sabretooth who’s smart enough to know when to dial things back in order to keep the murder party going. I also wasn’t expecting to get some scenes with Floki that help flesh out his character beyond that of a scheming leader as he clearly wants the best for his grandson, even if that’s not what the kid wants.  Finally, Garm is a promising addition to the cast and I’m sure he’ll make an interesting travel companion for the main cast provided he survives the “War in the Baltic.”

As for Thorfinn, his story remains compelling even if we’re now in the second consecutive story where he’s forced to confront the sins of his past.  There are moments when Yukimura hits the “ominous foreshadowing” button a little too hard as the possibility that he might have to kill in order to resolve this situation rears its head.  To the detriment of Hild’s character, since she only seems to exist as a constant vocal reminder of what will happen if he does at this point. Yukimura still manages to wring some anxious drama out of Thorfinn’s situation as the volume goes on and things spiral ever further out of his control.  By the time we get to the final page the desperation on his face feels perfectly, terribly understandable. While we’re all hoping that he’ll succeed in the end, Yukimura has pulled off the tough job of convincing us that might not be in the cards here.

jason@glickscomicpicks.com

I thought that “Mob Psycho 100” was going to be the only “How the hell did this happen?” manga license from Dark Horse this year.  I was wrong. At this year’s Anime Expo the company announced that they’ll be publishing the “Elfen Lied” manga in a series of four three-in-one omnibi.  It’s a series about a genetically-engineered girl with psychic powers who escapes from the government organization that created her only to fall in with some high school kids who are vacationing in the area.  The anime was infamous among my circle of friends for how the first episode came with a content warning from the group who fansubbed it. That’s because “Elfen Lied” mixes “Akira”-level ultraviolence with cute slice-of-life antics, creating a hybrid series that should be utterly alienating but ultimately wound up being just a mixed bag in my opinion.  It had a good story about how forgiveness is necessary in order to move past trauma, but was bogged down by its “cute” moments and contrivances.

The fact that we’re getting the “Elfen Lied” manga over a decade after the anime’s release does seem a bit baffling to me.  At least Dark Horse appears to be cognizant of the manga’s potentially limited commercial prospects with their release plan for it.  It’s good to hear that they’ve committed to releasing the series in its entirety in their licensing announcement for it. They’re learning, so let’s see if they can apply these lessons to titles like “Eden” and “The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service” that are still on hiatus.

Steve Ditko passed away early in July.  His legacy in the comics medium would’ve been secure if he had only co-created “Spider-Man,” but he also worked to give us “Doctor Strange,” “Captain Atom,” and “Hawk and Dove” as well.  While his modern legacy has seen him characterized as the J.D. Salinger of comics, thanks to his persistent refusal to take part in any interviews or be associated with the characters he created for Marvel and DC as they were made into movies, he was by most accounts a friendly guy to meet and talk to in person.  So long as you didn’t bring up his history with Marvel, that is. Ditko had vacated the comics industry long before I got into reading comics on a regular basis, but I was surprised to encounter his work on the final issues of “Rom: Spaceknight” when a friend of mine lent me the run of that series. I doubt that Ditko had any fond memories of working on that title, but it was a pleasant surprise to see the distinctive work of “The Co-Creator of Spider-Man” grace that title towards its end.

In the meantime, if you’re wondering what has become of Ditko’s most famous contribution to comics...

I’ve mentioned before that Robert Kirkman has never been content with having written two of the longest-running independent comics ever (with one of them still an ongoing sales and multimedia juggernaut) and has kept trying to make lightning strike with new titles like “The Astounding Wolf-Man” and “Outcast.”  While I was awaiting the first volume of “Oblivion Song” to see if he’s managed to do it again, Kirkman went and pulled the comic book equivalent of Beyonce announcing and dropping her self-titled album on the same day with “Die! Die! Die!” An over-the-top action series co-written with “The Walking Dead” TV series (former) showrunner Scott Gimple with art from Chris Burnham, it arrived in comics shops in the second week of July in amounts matched to their orders of “Oblivion Song.”

The fact that they were able to pull this off without it leaking is pretty damned impressive and everyone was talking about it… for a week or so.  While the second issue arrives soon, it feels like the buzz around it has become real quiet. I’ll be checking it out when the first volume arrives because I trust Kirkman and Burnham is a hell of an artist.  Gimple, on the other hand, got some real good seasons out of “The Walking Dead” on TV before things got real dumb with seasons seven and eight. (Best of luck to new showrunner Angela Kang in turning it around.)  It’s impressive to see Kirkman wield his clout in the form of this surprise debut, but I doubt we’ll be seeing its like again in the near future.

“Batman #50” came and went leaving a crater of fanboy and retailer expectations in its wake.  While I’ve done my best to remain ignorant of the developments revolving around the wedding that was meant to take place in the issue, the event seems to have caused quite the uproar amongst fans.  Not in a good way, mind you, as evidenced by the bodyguard that writer Tom King was assigned by DC during his time at Comic-Con. Retailers, on the other hand, raised enough of a fuss about supposed bait-and-switch tactics employed by the company to sell the issue that DC has since made it returnable.  So while retailers will be able to get their money back, fans will just have to tough it out and see if the “Bruce Wayne: Jury Duty” storyline that’s following the wedding gets the series back in their good graces.

Meanwhile, DC unveiled a number of high-profile limited run series at the convention.  They included Marc Silvestri’s long-in-the-works “Batman/Joker: Deadly Duo” miniseries, which will feature seven (and a half) issues fully illustrated by the artist who is writing the series as well with his Top Cow buddy Matt Hawkins editing it.  The Batman Who Laughs will be getting his own miniseries from Scott Snyder and Jock as he looks to raise hell throughout the multiverse. I’m not as keen on the character as others, but Snyder and Jock are a solid creative team so I’m curious to see what they do with him.  The best of these announcements is the long-rumored “Green Lantern” run from Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp. Morrison has said he’ll be diving fully into the “Hal Jordan: Space Cop” aspect of the character and the cosmic setting means that the encounters Hal will have are only going to be limited by the writer’s imagination.  Sharp is a versatile artist who should have no problem matching Morrison’s madness, which means my biggest disappointment with this is that their run is only set to last for twelve issues.

What we have here is an action-centric volume and thankfully a gimmick-free one this time around.  After the Spartan crosses the border of the Nanyang Alliance’s territory combat breaks out between the two sides.  While that sounds simple enough, there are two complicating factors at work here: One is the Alliance’s efforts to get onboard the Spartan by any means necessary in order to deliver a message to their agent there.  The other is that the Alliance forces are being commanded by Io’s childhood friend and former captain Claudia Peer. Whenever the action focuses on either of these two things, it has a real charge to it that’s genuinely captivating.  It also helps that mangaka Yasuo Ohtagaki clearly had fun choreographing Io’s crazy ship-to-ship fighting efforts in normal gravity towards the end of the volume. Whenever the volume isn’t focusing on these things, it’s just fine. I just find it hard to care about the crew members whose names I can’t recall and effectively come off as redshirts at this point.

While Claudia’s return helps drive the drama during the battle, Ohtagaki also delivers some key developments to open and close the volume.  We check back in with Darryl at the start to find out that he’s helping Karla Mitchum, creator of the Reuse P. Device, recover from the trauma she sustained during the fighting in the Thunderbolt sector.  It’s kind of a gut punch once we find out the nature of her trauma and see how Darryl copes with it through the chapter. Then it’s revealed at the end just what the crew of the Spartan is up against when Capt. Humphrey lets everyone know about her personal connection to the leader of the Nanyang Alliance and how he’s also a member of an elite club of “Gundam” characters.  It’s a moment that raises the stakes for everyone going against the Alliance at this point while also raising some interesting questions going forward. It’s a very solid effort all around from Ohtagaki and one that gets things back on track after the shenanigans of the previous volume.

jason@glickscomicpicks.com