meltblog

“You fix old wounds with new ones.”

When a character says that to Matty Roth, the journalist who is our eyes & ears thru the 2nd U.S. Civil War that’s the backdrop for DMZ, I immediately thought of the cover-up surrounding the death of Pat Tillman–the cover-ups, the lies…which was in turn followed by the Abu Ghraib scandal–another shock, public “outrage”, but in the end, does anything change?

Brian Wood & Riccardo Burchielli (with a series of guest artists) tackle these questions in a story arc that turns a previously solid series into a potential classic: in an age where “objective” journalism means “don’t say anything bad about my side”, Matty steps back from passing snap judgements, attempting to figure out not only why a massacre took place, but what it means–and what do our reactions say about us?

“The Wire” was all the things that tv critics/bloggers/annoying friends who shove the DVDs under your nose said it was: a heartbreaking, thrilling, and often hilarious mixing of genre, creating & documenting the fall of an American city. But I’m not here to sing that song again–a comics blog should talk about The Wire because it’s a show where continuity mattered, in the best possible ways.

Co-Creators David Simon & Ed Burns, along with acclaimed crime novelists Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos & Richard Price, plotted all the major beats of the series before the final edit of season two–characters slid in & out of the focal point, but had clearly lived, not simply sitting in storage until some “shocking” event. Especially during the brilliant series finale, each scene had an immediacy while having weight, being part of something bigger.

Serialized storytelling that not only requires its’ viewers to have long memories, but rewards them for it!  Thanks to all the cast & crew of this great show, and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to all, but especially to all lovers of long form, serial storytelling.

Frank Miller makes a great point in his Intro to the second collection of Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips’ noir comic, “Criminal”:

“Not many people understand what makes a crime story tick…they dress it up dark, even murky, but the essential inner darkness that a good crime yarn exposes, relishes in, and releases never occurs to them.”

The genius of Criminal is in that inner darkness–instead of focusing on the mechanics of the Big Score, Brubaker & Phillips focus on the flawed men & women in the game, battling internal demons as much as other hustlers. If you’ve enjoyed any of Brubakers’ recent work on Captain America, Daredevil (both series have excellent new issues out today), Iron Fist, X-Men, etc, you need to give Criminal a try–you’ll love it.

Frank Miller & Jim Lee’s “All-Star Batman & Robin” had been enjoying rolling around in the murkiness a bit too much over the first 8 issues: even a die-hard Miller disciple like myself was turned off by the wanton violence and mean-spirited depictions of classic DC characters…but in today’s new issue, The Dynamic Duo come to grips with the consequences of their actions, and finally take the hard steps towards actually becoming heroes. Pages in this series thus far have made me laugh (at, not with the book) and scratch my head in disbelief–but the haunting finale to the arc made me reconsider what’s come before, and for the first time in the run, made me care about these two lonely orphans.

We would like to extend a great Thank You to all our customers and clients that made the Holiday shopping rush a success for Meltdown.
Looking forward to a wonderful 2008

Ed Brubaker reminding us once again that yes, Steve’s still dead…and also some interesting tidbits about this month’s Captain America #31:

“That’s what he’s been trying to do the whole issue, yeah. They want Bucky fighting on their side in the days ahead, when the Skull’s plan takes effect. But I can’t say anymore than that, or it’ll ruin the next few issues. ”

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=134077

This quote from writer Ed Brubaker (responsible for Captain America #25) made me laugh.

“I’ll be at WWLA next weekend, but I will be carrying, so everyone better keep their distance.”

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