365 Comics...120: Five Ghosts: The Haunting Of Fabian Gray #2 (2013)

I'm a veteran comic book reader, I've read all manner of stories, but I've never, to my knowledge, been so seriously creeped out by a comic book as I was here with Five Ghosts.  Spiders.  So many spiders.  And Chris Mooneyham draws them really frickin' creepy.  There's big ones and small ones and monstrous ones, and they're gross as hell.

I don't even have a thing about spiders.  But I might now.

The book looks great, but not recommended reading for arachnophobes.

365 Comics...119: Young Avengers #4 (2013)

McKelvie and Gillen deliver aninsane 2-page Marvel Boy-in-action spread that contains one of my favourite things in a long time... Noh-Varr taking a few seconds out of his extreme hyperviolence to lay down some wax (from his Pocket Dimension Record Storage)

McKelvie has a great tumblr writeup on the spreads creation

365 Comics... 118: Morning Glories Vol.4 (2013)

If Lost were to have a comic book counterpart, it would be Morning Glories, including all the positive and negative connotations it conjures.  I, for one, loved Lost (still do) but it was at times a maddening program, one which I found much easier and more satisfying to consume in concentrated doses on DVD than week-to-week.  I watched the first 3 seasons on disc before my need to see more got the better of me in season 4. 

Morning Glories is much the same, where l'm reading it in trades, getting that concentrated dose every 9 months or so, and couldn't imagine how frustrating reading monthly(ish) might be and yet I'm so very tempted to find out.  The waiting for more is killing me, but then I know from reading trades that each issue does not give enough story progress and details and answers to satisfy... a trade barely does soon its own, but its definitely a full experience. 

So much has happened in Morning Glories since the first few issues that it's hard to keep all the twists and characters and open questions straight without staging a rereading of all the previous material.  With this volume, things started with even more confusion as the first half of this oversized collection (oversized for six issues worth of material anyway) deals with a whole new cast of characters, their pasts and their plans, but writer Nick Spencer cleverly weaves their past with the backgrounds of the main sextet of kids while casting parallels between their experiences at Morning Glories Academy.

Spencer starts toying even more with time travel this volume making it reminiscent of Lost season four, we're introduced to a monestary (like in Lost season 6), and if those new kids (who are actually older kids aren't like the others and Abraham isn't Jacob... there are so many broad parallels to Lost but they are very broad, and the real intrigue and excitement of the series is in the details and those are definitely unique enough to keep it intriguing.

365 Comics... 117: Uncanny X-Men #005 (2013)

Beyond the monthly (or twice monthly) X-Factor pickup, I haven't read an X-Men book in probably about ten years (whenever it was that Whedon's Astonishing X-Men run ended... it was before that).  I didn't really grow up with the X-Men (I had one mid-'80's issue of Uncanny and that was it until I bought something like 38 copies of the Jim Lee X-Men #1 in 1990) so I have never had a tremendously strong connection to the team it's endlessly expanding cadre of characters, and those art-focussed '90's X-Men comics (X-Factor excepted) didn't do a lot to endear me to the Mutant world.  I dabbled, sure, (Morrison & Whedon most notably) and I watched the movies and cartoons (both with mixed feelings) but the dizzying myriad of titles, characters and unending supply of crossovers has proven a largely insurmountable obstacle for me to get into the books.  I knew it would take one special creator to get me back in.  Where some favourite writers s of mine, like Kieron Gillen, have failed to lure me in past the formidable continuity hurdle it shouldn't come as too big a surprise then that it's an artist that lures me back in. Afterall, if I am only coming in for the art then what does the story or characters matter?

I was wondering if Frazer Irving would lure me into a sinkhole of "I need to know more" and I would go into an X-buying frenzy, pulling every remaindered trade and dollar back issue I could find... because I can get like that.

Alas, I didn't really get what was happening and I didn't really care to know more.  This X-Men stuff just doesn't seem to be my thing... most of the time.  I'm so underwhelmed by this issue that I may not even ride out Irving's next two issues (and of no fault to him... his art is popping as always.)

365 Comics...116: The Answer #1 (2013)

As I noted yesterday, I concocted a massive write-up on digital only/digital first offerings for Thor's Comic Column which should be posted... well... any time now.  In the column, what I didn't get in to much was Marvel or DC's digital firsts (but I've talked about them a bit here), nor did I get the opportunity to talk about Dark Horse Digital which is currently taking a nod from Comixology's Marvel #1 Project and offering 50 #1s for free (and no crazy emails and 48-hour time limit).

I liked the design of The Answer, which is kind of like Grendel, except he has a bold, white exclamation mark on his black face mask, but I wasn't really in the market for yet another superhero title when the series came out.  But for free, certainly, I'd give it a shot.

It's kind of a bait and switch, this first issue, as the Answer is sort of your common-stock enigmatic powerless vigilante and not really the focal point.  Instead it's Devin McKenzie, hyper-intelligent, over-educated librarian whose prompt triumph over a sequence of online brain teasers puts her in grave danger, and it's up to the Answer to save her.  Devin is the book's narrative voice and where the Answer and his motives remain mysterious, Devin is broadly revealed, and I like her.  Dennis Hopeless has found a great voice for her, giving her narrative duties.  Hopeless sells her intellect without trying to hard, and without falling into the sociopathic trap.

I like the story and the set-up, the only thing I'm not sold on is The Answer as a character, but if he comes as a vehicle for delivering intriguing set-ups and fun supporting characters like this first mini, I may be on board.  I'll definitely pull the second issue digitally (I'm not certain if DHD is using Comixology's guided view technology or their own in-house design, but the DHD version seems to work a lot more smoothly on Android than Comixology's buggy app).

What actually piqued my interest of the Answer first was the back and forth between Mike Norton and Francesco Francavilla, where Norton provided an illustration of the Black Beetle in the second issue of The Answer, and Francavilla responded in kind in the third issue of the Black Beetle.  I like that kind of mutual appreciation.  We don't see it enough.

365 Comics...115: Moth City Season 1 (2013)

Working on a massive "Digital First/Digital Only" write-up for Thor's Comic Column this week, here's the section on one of the books worth your attention, Moth City.

Moth City Season 1: Part 1(Flying Whities/mothcity.com/, $0.99/Free) is militaristic fantasy but of a different sort. Set in an alternate version of the 1930's, the titular city is a curious place located in South East Asia, an industrial city run by an American tycoon, dealing primarily with the surging Chinese Communist government.  The first issue (available on Comixology or free at the series website) is centered around a chemical weapons deal between the city’s tycoon and a Communist General, which is a sketchy exchange at best.  Writer/Artist Tim Gibson comes to comics from cinema storyboarding with a unique take on storytelling, working in an abstract chronology where the story will jump back minutes or days without notice before resuming the conversation-at-hand.  It’s a little mystifying at first but it gets one’s attention and once the rhythm is established it becomes quite easy to digest.  

Gibson’s illustrative style is inelegant, but unique, and it conveys information smoothly and smartly.  Fans of Matt Kindt or Jeff Lemire will be right at home in Gibson’s muddy, earthen world (his colour sense is what I groove on the most).  Like Marvel’s “Infinite Comics” digital offering, Gibson takes advantage of the format by layering his panels with multiple “takes” giving the illusion of motion, one of the most alluring additions digital comics brings to the table.  As well, the programming that backs these comics allows the creator an increased control over the reading experience, pacing the panel reveals and reading order that contribute something else unique to the reading experience.  Gibson uses both of these techniques masterfully, moreso than any other digital-only I’ve read, and with a story whose purpose isn’t to just show off these things.  It’s great stuff.

365 Comics...114: She-Hulks #1 (2010)

It's an affable book and all, as any Jennifer Walters-starring series (or in this case, mini-series) should be, but the sheer amount of Hulk derivatives and is getting kind of ridiculous.  So there's Hulk (Bruce Banner), She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters), Red Hulk (General Ross), Red She-Hulk (Betty Ross), Skaar (Son of Hulk from the Planet Hulk storyline) and Savage She-Hulk (Lyra, daughter of alternate 23rd Century Hulk... who is not the Maestro [Future Imperfect Hulk], apparently).  Sigh, I see what they're trying to do, they're trying to build a Superman or Batman-style "Hulk family", and even though I have a well-established lack of fondness for Hulk, all this deviation is really diluting the character.  I mean, it's comics so they all can coexist at the same time, but General Ross becoming Red Hulk should be a storyline, not a permanent addition.  And now there's three different She-Hulks running around the 616?

This was my first exposure to Lyra and while I'm not offended by her, I don't think she's necessary.  Here she's used as a sidekick for She-Hulk, and while I've never really seen Jennifer in the mentor role before (so, something new), it doesn't seem to be the right move for the character.  There's a pretense for her to be in that role, tasked with cleaning up some mess from some story from some other series, (the two of them are hunting down some bad guys), it just doesn't seem... right.  And the Lyra going to high school thing, while a cute sequence, seems like a Mean Girls riff that doesn't seem appropriate for the character (and I don't even really know her).

I may give Red She-Hulk a go at some point, but for the interim I'll stick with Jen in FF.

(Anyone else looking at that cover thinking GLOW?)