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Origami Around

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One Nice Bug Per Day
Lint Roller? I Barely Know Her
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@demandfuncomics-blog
Two-Face and The Question face the end of their world in a smart, character-driven issue
I wrote a brief, complimentary review of the new Question mini on that site I write for sometimes. It’s written by ruckawriter with art by Cully Hamner, and it’s one half of a really good two-part story. I assume. Haven’t seen part two yet. But I’m optimistic.
Corto Maltese Reprints
About two months ago I picked up the 2012 reprint of Hugo Pratt's Corto Maltese: The Ballad of the Salt Sea. It was really my first exposure to Pratt's art, and needless to say, I was floored. So, when I saw IDW's Euro Comics were reprinting Pratt's Corto Maltese: under the Sign of Capricorn, I leapt at the chance to pick it up.
Man, talk about night and day.
Ballad is a terrific story, but it's collected on very small pages. Capricorn, by comparison, is this big, sexy tome of a book, which lets you really take in the details of Pratt's impeccable brush work. Reading Capricorn was like putting on glasses for the first time and seeing things the way they're supposed to look. Ballad prints the art kind of small, and as a result, it's pretty badly pixelated in some places, as well as some stretching of panels to fit the format.
I hope they continue to publish Pratt's works in English, and I hope that IDW continues to be the one publishing them, because they clearly understand how these works are supposed to be read.
The death of the American Super-villain?
When did the supervillain become irrelevant? Was it in the '80s? Did the spandex-clad bank robber begin his fade to irrelevance in the wake of Watchmen? Or did it come later, with the post-modern superheroes of the early 2000s, who faced great metaphors in place of costumed rivals? No doubt there were many steps along the path to obsolescence, but the fact remains: the super-villain is dead.
This is not meant literally. Check any monthly superhero comic and watch Flash or Spider-Man punch some garish, morally bankrupt or mentally ill misanthrope in the face. The super-villain is certainly an inescapable facet of the superhero comic, but I would suggest that, like the teenage sidekick, the super-villain has become less of a necessity to the story of a superhero, and more a monument to nostalgia.
One of the best current examples of this is perhaps the first example many would use to refute my point: Nick Spencer and Steve Lieber's Superior Foes of Spider-Man. Surely the super-villain is alive and well, given that five of them comprise the cast of one of the most critically-acclaimed comics currently being published. I would argue that these are not super-villains, at least not in the traditional sense. Three of the five have served on a superhero team (The Thunderbolts), and Overdrive confessed in the most recent issue that he became a villain so that he could deliberately have the redemption arc of other former villains like Hawkeye or Black Widow. These are not super-villains, but people who fail at being superheroes. They don't even have an enemy, really. In fact, they endeavor to stay as far from Spider-Man as possible.
They do, however, face other "super-villains." The Owl, The Chameleon, and Hammerhead all try to kill the Foes every month. But the Foes aren't really fighting the super-mobsters, they're fighting their own senses of inadequacy. The aforementioned antagonists represent their aspirations realized: Respect, leadership, wealth. Hell, the Shocker plays Hamlet with a very literal skull acting as his poor Yorick, through which he is led to realize what lengths he'll go to for that respect they all desire.
Another example, which perhaps more clearly illustrates my point, is the prologue chapter to Grant Morrison and Howard Porter's JLA: World War III. In this issue, there's a riot at a super-villain prison which is induced by the coming of Mageddon, the embodiment of war. The villains literally become slave to a larger metaphor. In fact, the story is told from the perspective of the Red Dart, a D-List villain who himself is a pawn of Prometheus, Morrison's antithesis of the superhero.
Such is the lot of the American super-villain now. Where once they were the main attraction, they are now relegated to bit players in service of post-modern statements on the nature of superheroes or some other larger-than-life metaphor. Have comics evolved to a point where there is simply no place for the monthly slug-fest or arch-rivalry? Is this even a problem that needs fixing? I'm torn. Perhaps existential metaphors are just the 21st-century's never-ending battle, and as our world faces less tangible problems (no more Cold War or Communist spies, and even the threat of terrorism seems highly unlikely here in the States), our superheroes face less tangible threats.
All this to say, Rainbow Raider's pretty neat.
The fastest man in Marvel Comics is...
Written by: Mark Gruenwald
Art by: Mike Manley
Quasar #17 is one of those comics that super hero trivia nerds love. It feels like a love letter to the Silver Age with its perfectly goofy, perfectly fun premise: A god-like being called The Runner comes to Earth to find the fastest human alive, so naturally, all of Marvel's super-speedsters now have to race to the moon. It's a great idea, right? I would read that in a heartbeat!
Which is why this comic is so disappointing. It had so much potential! The race itself only lasts seven of the books 25 pages, and I was surprised at how... straightforward it was. You have superpowered heroes and villains in a competition, and there's no hijinks? No sabotage? Is it so wrong to want a superhero version of Wacky Races? Damn it, Gruenwald, why must you dangle your campy premise in front of me only to offer up a fairly tepid actualization?
Sorry, I was de-railed by a fanboy moment there.
Anyways, yeah, the race, kinda disappointing, right up until the twist ending, and what a twist ending it is! Skip over this next bit if you don't want it spoiled, but come on, the comic's 24 years old.
Midway through the race, a bolt of energy hits the track and a mysterious man in a torn red and gold costume touches down at the starting line, then proceeds to dust all of the competition. When our mystery man gets to the end, he's asked by an astonished Runner what his name is. Due to the hazards of interdimensional travel (and totally not copyright issues), the mystery man has suffered amnesia, but he thinks it's something like "buried alien."
Buried. Alien.
Get it?
It turns out Flash is the fastest person in the Marvel Universe. Given that this was released four years after Flash's "death" in the DCU, I think this is a pretty great tribute to the character that effectively started the Silver Age of comics.
So, as a standalone issue of a comic book series? Yeah, Quasar #17 isn't exactly winning any prizes. But as a send-off to a classic character, and really an era, it's a thoughtful piece of fiction that's got no shortage of heart.
LeVar Burton on Free Comic Book Day. If he was British he’d have been knighted already.
So cool.
I met Kelly Sue De Connick tonight!
There was a release party for the first volume of Pretty Deadly (review to come) at one of my local shops, and she was there doing signings. Very polite, very professional. Also just super nice. If ever you get the chance to speak with her, I highly recommend it.
There was also free beer, which is never a bad thing.
Review: Alpha Flight Issues 7-12
Written and drawn by John Byrne
Yeesh, that cover, right? Intense.
I'm back, after a poverty/apathy-induced hiatus. These things happen. I thought I'd return to Alpha Flight, and conclude my review of the first year's worth of stories.
Art-wise, most of the positives from my review of the first six issues hold fast. Byrne's costume designs are really well done. When he draws sci-fi technology, it's beautifully detailed. The faces are still a little funny, but 12 issues in, I can say the positives of Byrne's art far outweigh the negatives. These six issues culminate in the introduction of Omega Flight, the eponymous team's antithesis, and Byrne creates some really excellent characters here. The costumes are flamboyant and flashy, but appropriate to the characters. Smart Aleck (yeah, that's really his name) is a huge nerd, so it makes sense that his costume is clunky and weighed down with computer equipment. The designs don't just look cool, they make sense for the characters wearing them.
Story-wise, things are a bit choppier. Byrne divides the stories into two-issue arcs, and some are clearly better than others. Issues 9-10 are a Sasquatch solo story, and it's a solid her-versus-villain tale, a simple dichotomy of good against evil with a clever twist thrown in. The story is straightforward, but it's the character study of Sasquatch himself that's the heart of this story. He's a man of science who struggles to accept that there are some things (namely his alter ego) that he can't control.
Issues 7-8 are the low point in the series so far, centering around Northstar and Aurora's very weird sibling relationship. I think my main problem here is just how Aurora is written on a fundamental level. She has dissociative identity disorder, fluctuating between a submissive "civilian" identity, and her more aggressive "Aurora" personality. As depictions of mental illness go, I have to say, hers is pretty... insulting. Her illness is a soap opera plot point, not a real illness, which is very frustrating. A lesser complaint is that the villain is really lame. But the story does introduce a new character, Nemesis, who will eventually play a bigger role in Alpha Flight. That's the high point amid a large crop of low points.
Issues 11-12 are top notch. On every level. Art-wise, Byrne really outdoes himself (remember those Omega Flight characters? This is where they shine). This is also the first time since issue...3? 4 maybe? That we see the whole team together. The story draws on a number of plot threads Byrne peppered throughout earlier issues for a really gratifying payoff. Also, that ending. Wow. It's what some folks might call a pyrrhic victory. I don't want to spoil anything, but for a comic that's not very dark, the first year of stories ends on such a down note.
Byrne really finishes this first year with his best foot forward, and it's really a thing of beauty.
Editor's note: at this point, the writer finished his bottle of wine and realized he was too drunk to write articulately. We want to assure the readership that he has been laid out on the couch, where he shall remain until sober.
I met Steve Lieber!
He did a signing at my LCS and I happened to get off work early, so pow! Met Steve Lieber. He was very nice. He talked a little about his work on Gotham Central, and he offered advice to aspiring comics people. Volunteer at cons, find a way to get into the "scene," and, especially if you're an unknown commodity, do SHORT pieces. If you're an artist, it'll show you can tell a story. If you're a writer, an artist is more likely to want work on it, especially if you can't pay them a decent wage.
I'm paraphrasing, I'm afraid. And he had a lot more to say in the subject, but I think those were the most universal bits of advice.
FF #12 by Matt Fraction, Lee Allred, and Mike Allred
This was easily in my top 5 comics moments of 2013.
In this 1989 interview, Bill Watterson talks about the tension between realities in Calvin and Hobbes, how popular art doesn't have to pander, nuance, animation and why he chose not license the strip.
Michael spends a lot of time arguing with himself about covers. Sometimes he’ll get all the way through the cover stage only to reject it. Sometimes he’ll get all the way through the cover stage and @hermanos and I will get on a call with him, and we’ll find ourselves proposing another image entirely.
This is called working “ass-backwards,” for the record.
This was the first cover for Lazarus #9, the end of the second arc, “Lift.” It is no longer. Totally different image will be used for the cover instead. This is not because the image here is bad, or even inappropriate; we just had an idea that we liked more.
Michael posted these to his Twitter account (@MichaelLark66, in case you’re not following him), yesterday. I’ve turned them into an awkward animated gif so you can see his b/w art, and then the color version.
Reblogging because reasons.
This is awesome news! Also? Called it.
By now, fans and industry watchers will all have heard about cartoonist Tess Fowler’s accusations of sexual harassment against acclaimed author Brian Wood—accusations that are part of a much broader (and very fraught) conversation about gender in comics. This is something I care deeply about, so…
I was trade-waiting Brian Wood's X-Men, but I do not believe I will be making that purchase any longer. I suppose when I elected to follow a bunch of comics creators, I took the risk of becoming disillusioned with what life in the comics industry is like, but jeez, it just feels so seedy after reading this. I always imagined a bunch of people sitting around going "wouldn't it be cool if...?" And then making those hypotheticals into real art. Now, it just seems... unappealing.
Review: Alpha Flight (vol. 1) Issues 1-6
Written by: John Byrne
Art by: John Byrne
Everything you know and love by: John Byrne
So, this review is a little late... By about 30 years.
Alpha Flight is often touted as one of those hidden gems in Marvel Comcis history. John Byrne's grudging pet project (rumor has it he didn't like the characters despite creating them), Alpha Flight collections are hard to come by. I was lucky enough to be able to get my hands on the first six issues for about twelve bucks, though, so why not go for it?
First off, it's odd to read a comic from 1983. This is before Watchmen, before Dark Knight Returns, when superheroes didn't have to always be edgy or dark. Byrne shows us here, though, that just because it's not edgy, doesn't mean it has to be boring. The members of Alpha Flight are all really interesting characters with their own problems and backgrounds, whether it's Snowbird trying to relate to humanity or Puck just catching shit for being small, these characters aren't just superheroes, they're well-rounded people.
The other thing is, comics weren't trying as hard to be "realistic." Nobody ever has or ever will talk like they do in older comics. Everything's bombastic. Everyone talks about themselves like they're reading an encyclopedia entry. If they have a funny quirk, they'll work it in somehow, regardless of context. Nobody behaves the way older superheroes do, and it's sort of wonderful. Comics have, in recent decades past, attempted to emulate the styles of cinema, with "wide-lens" panels and huge splash pages. But for a long time comics were trying harder to emulate books than movies, and Alpha Flight is evidence of that. We have a third-person omniscient narrator describing the beauty of the tundra, or the thoughts our heroes must be having as they witness something horrible. It's just a style I think has gone extinct in contemporary comic books. It really is a pleasure to read.
And the art! You know, I've never been much of a John Byrne fan, but I totally get it now. Yes, I will admit, Byrne draws most folks with a similar body type, and his faces are a little... odd. But my goodness! The settings! He pays so much attention to detail. Much of issues three and four are spent on board an abandoned space ship, and where most artists would be content to have sleek metal walls, Byrne draws these beautiful labyrinths of circuitry that are so full of minute detail, even in small throwaway panels. That sort of attention to detail is again something you don't see as often in today's comics (in fact, I lament that very issue in my recent review of Fantomex Max (http://demandfuncomics.tumblr.com/post/66859598850/review-fantomex-max-2).
As a piece of superhero comics history, gee whiz this was fun to read. As a superhero comic, it's pretty good on its own merits, too. Also, and perhaps most importantly, it's fun. Track these golden oldies down if you can.
Grade: A
Review: Fantomex MAX #2
Written by: Andrew Hope
Drawn by: Shawn Crystal
Comics are inherently a collaborative process. Writers, artists, colorists, so many moving parts. Even if one creator handles every aspect, the work itself is a collaboration between image and text and design. As such, I thought for this review, it might be nice to look at each individual part of this work.
The cover: This is the absolute, hands-down, undisputed best thing about this comic. That can't come as much of a surprise. Francesco Francavilla's artwork has propelled him to superstardom over the last several years, and Marvel was smart to put him on cover duty for this. His noir sensibilities match the character of Fantomex perfectly.
The art: This is my first exposure to Shawn Crystal, and I do hope it won't be my last. Crystal's figure work is very impressive, in a somewhat cheesecake-y sort of way. Every character is at their sexiest at all times (particularly impressive is the visibility of Fantomex's ass through his trench coat). His characters also move with a beautiful grace and fluidity that that allows the eye to follow their movement along the page. I'm eagerly anticipating his rendering of the fight scenes to come. Aside from his people, however, I found his backgrounds to be unduly sparse. That, combined with Lee Loughridge's muted colors, makes the settings in this issue boring to look at.
The writing: This is where things get rocky. Andrew Hope's Fantomex is delightful and charming. Witty, improvisational, like a morally ambiguous James Bond. Everything else, however, is kind of a nightmare to read. The bad guys are as cookie-cutter "bad-ass" as you'd expect a trio of super-powered secret agents. Their characterization doesn't go much further than "Smart bad-ass," "Muscle bad-ass," and "Sexy bad-ass," and their banter ranges from the cliche to the offensive ("I only get off to grudge-fucking," Sexy bad-ass quips before she rapes the female protagonist. Tasteless stuff). I appreciate that Fantomex isn't over-exposed in these comics, as it keeps an air of mystique about him. I just wish the rest of the time I didn't have to read about these awful fucks in between.
My sincerest hope is that this will improve. I WANT it to improve. But damn, it's gonna have to happen quick.
Grade: C-
Superman by Jack Kirby & Terry Austin
HERE'S WHY THIS IS COOL:
Jack Kirby, famous comic book creator and victim of multiple fuckings-over by the comic book industry, came to DC after years of "creative differences" with the heads of Marvel (Creative differences in this instance meaning repeated compromises of creator integrity). At DC, Kirby had the opportunity to create the Fourth World saga, OMAC, and Kamandi: Last boy on Earth. His first project he did at DC, though, was Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, where he sent Supes's nerdy friend on weird-ass adventures. Naturally, Superman was a frequent guest star in these comics. However, DC, in an effort to keep Superman's image consistent, brought in other artists to RE-DRAW Superman's face over Kirby's original pencils, which is, if I'm being honest, one of the more insulting things I've heard of happening to an artist.
So here, at long last, is an unedited Kirby drawing of the original super-hero. And I think sharing this image around is important to Kirby's memory.