meltblog

I’ve loved Casanova since the first jam-packed issue and I’m loving this second arc even more than the first. This book fits more crazy ideas, fight scenes and character moments into 16 pages than most books fit into the standard 22 or 24. Fizz! Pow! >—< (you’ll have to read this issue to get that last one)! And the back matter is also a treat. I wasn’t as big a fan of the back matter during the first arc, but the ones in this second series have really grown on me and this month’s is an extremely entertaining look at writing comics and becoming a dad. If you like comics that are pushing and pulling at the shape and conventions of the traditional comic book, then this is the book for you. If you just like an old-fashioned butt-kicking adventure/spy/time-travel yarn with an interesting cast, this book is also for you. Go. Read. Thank me.

In the midst of a huge week for comics, let’s not forget that Jeff Smith, the creator of Bone, has a new ongoing series, “RASL”, debuting today. It’s a mature-readers tale (don’t share this one with your Bone-loving toddler) about a thief who hops thru dimensions to snatch priceless artifacts, and the toll it takes on both him & the space-time continuum. The mostly wordless first issue snaps along at a brisk pace while still feeling epic; Smith is clearly building on a large scale, and the bizarre creature that chases the title character looks like something out of Paul Pope’s nightmares.

RASL #1 is in stock now, with issue #2 scheduled for a May release.

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.

This week I’ve got to go with Kick-Ass. There are certainly other books of note, but I chose this one for a number of reasons. First, Millar and Romita are obviously having fun creating this comic…and that experience translates to the reader. Unfortunately it’s rare to be able to discern how much a creator is enjoying a comic, not from what they say in interviews or at panels, but from the work itself. Kick-Ass is a blast of a concept, the creative team’s having a blast making it and I’m having a blast reading it. Second, this is a first issue and I’d feel remiss as your retailer if I didn’t at least try to help you get on at the ground floor before the sell-outs start hitting, which they will. And third, this book has the highest order numbers of any book yet from Marvel’s Icon imprint and I think it’s important to support these books with our dollars so we can see even more passionate creator-owned titles such as this and Criminal.

Speaking of Criminal, I have to mention it as my runner-up this week. This book is fantastic and it’s a real shame if you’ve somehow missed it. But this month is an over-sized stand-alone story and the perfect chance to jump on the series for only $3.50 and discover what you’ve been missing.

Today marks my first manga pick of the week. It’s the latest volume of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, the series from the writer of MPD Psycho and the artist/writer of Mail (both fantastic manga in their own right). Each volume is self-contained, and most volumes have multiple self-contained tales within. At the same time, there is an ever growing meta-story behind the scenes, one into which this volume gives the deepest glimpse yet. This is a delicate balance to maintain between ongoing and self-contained, but Kurosagi has always pulled it off with aplomb. Tale after tale, the sheer number and sheer inventiveness of the mysteries our heroes face is quite impressive. If you’re looking for a quality absurd, darkly humorous, horror-ish mystery/adventure tale, or just an excuse to try your first manga, then Kurosagi is the book for you.

I’ve made it no secret that Scalped is my favorite comic right now. Scalped writer and creator Jason Aaron has recently signed a Marvel exclusive, and today marks the day that he takes over both Wolverine (remember #56, his fantastic fill-in issue from October?) and Ghost Rider. We got the advances of both titles last week, and they’re both great reads. I was all set to make one or both of them my pick of the week: the most interesting Wolverine in a long time and maybe the first take ever on Ghost Rider that’s got me interested to see what happens next.

Until I read New Avengers #38 last night and, despite my love of Aaron and his work, it won out. In fact, I liked this story so much that when I finished reading it I immediately turned back to the first page and read it again. This is an amazing issue: Bendis’s best script since New Avengers #22, which also happened to be a stand-alone focusing on Luke Cage and his family. Bendis’s love for these characters is no secret, and it really comes through in his work. Not to mention the absolute treat of seeing Michael Gaydos drawing Luke and Jessica again. The dialogue is intense! As my friend Vito says, it’s almost too raw and too real…like watching your parents fight.

This is not just good comics, this is good storytelling in ANY medium. Read it.

When the first issue of Black Summer hit, I gave it a rave review. Now it’s up to its fifth issue (six, if you count the integral #0 story), and it’s still just as good. If you like superheroes, action or science fiction in your comics and you aren’t reading this book, you’re doing yourself a terrible disservice. Despite the superhero genre’s domination of the comic industry, and despite Marvel and DC’s domination of the superhero genre (291 of Diamond’s top 300 comics of 2007 were theirs), the best superhero book out there is coming from neither company. The best superhero book on stands is Black Summer, and it’s coming at you from Avatar Press. Growling, with blood on its knuckles.

Whenever people come into the shop looking for a good old-fashioned science fiction yarn with spaceships and the works, it’s actually very hard to find something new and exciting for them that fits the description. But now, as a retailer, I’m well-armed for the next such encounter by Ennis and Erskine’s Dan Dare. Having never read one of the previous incarnations of the property, I’m still completely able to enjoy it, and readers who are familiar with previous incarnations seem to agree. This is a solid, thoroughly entertaining read: space battles, political intrigue, land battles, alien menaces, black holes, Britain and the good old days. If you missed the first couple issues, now’s the time to catch up.

PS - I have just four additional words for this week’s issue: Brendan McCarthy Variant Cover

This is the final volume of Grant Morrison’s fabled run on the book, a run trapped somewhere between the churning meta-ideas of his Invisibles and the wide-screen heroics of his JLA, trapped and then heavily dosed with absurdity and crooked horror. The whole thing reads like a fever dream, but we’ve all have fevers before and this book makes more sense than we’d like to admit. So put down the latest event-leading-into-another-big-event-which-is-in-turn-merely-the-prelude-to-yet-another-event and the current completely-not-brand-new-throwback-to-the-Silver-Age and pick up something that’s still forward-thinking and spine-tingling 15 years after it first came out.