Death of a Handsome Bride

by F. Stokes and Lazerbeak

It is no secret that I am a big fan of Doomtree, and noticed this little project tucked into the bottom corner of their web store one day. Lazerbeak makes some impressive beats, so I figured it was worth the rather small financial risk to give this a try.

F. Stokes is an interesting rapper. He doesn't really fit into the Doomtree aesthetic, reminding me of underground rappers like Buff1 or Finale; cats who put out some nice stuff, but aren't exactly instantly recognizable when a song comes on.

The album starts off with 'Too', a spoken word piece about being too black, too pretty, etc., that does set the tone for this short album. From there, Lazerbeak comes on the scene, and provides him with some pretty standard, if nice, beats. Stand-out songs include 'Blessings', 'Soul Clap', and the prerequisite relationship song 'Pretty Shit'.

The high point of this album is 'So Into You', F. Stokes anthem of optimism, which basically is about his mother's belief in him, and where their shared dreams will lead. The album closes with 'Tickle Me Mars', a club anthem with a very uplifting beat. Usually I hate songs like this, but I found the chorus pretty infectious, and its become one of those songs that creeps into my head at odd times.
I can't really see what the future will bring for Mr. Stokes. He's a talented artist, but doesn't seem to be enough of an individual, based on this sampling, for him to really stand out in an over-crowded music industry. I wish him all the best though...

William Burns

by Roberto Bolaño

Roberto Bolaño has become my new favourite writer I think. This issue of the New Yorker (I know I'm way behind) has a four-page story which I believe is excerpted from his recently released (in English anyway) novel 'Monsieur Pain'.

Regardless of where it comes from, the story here is classic Bolaño. It follows a very Borgesian set-up. The story is being narrated by someone who was told the story by its central character, William Burns. Burns moved into a house in some summer mountain resort town, which was being shared by two women of vastly different ages, both of whom he was engaged in a relationship with. The house was strangely built, with oddly-spaced windows (another Borgesian touch).

The women wanted Burns there because they were afraid of another man, who they called 'The Killer', and with whom they had both been in a relationship at some point in the past.

Bolaño's writing is clear and concise, and he does not dwell on the confusion and disconnectedness his protagonist feels. He lets events play out, and while we feel that they had more repercussions for Burns than he shows, they are left for another time (perhaps in the novel?).

Crate Digging: Dillagence

by Busta Rhymes and J Dilla

I realized the other day that, on this year's anniversary of Dilla's death, I didn't go through the catalogue of his work like I normally do, electing instead to simply bump Donuts in the car on the way to and from work. As the years since his death have grown, the output of posthumous recordings has slowed (and rightfully so, if you're reading this Tupac). This 2008 mixtape was one of the last places one can go to find previously unreleased Dilla gems, although there's a lot of rapping over older, known beats as well.

This project is a labor of love for Busta Rhymes. I've never been a big Busta fan, but his personality wins me over on this disk. When he speaks of Dilla, you can tell that it is with genuine affection for the man, as well as for his music. The songs on here are, while well-intentioned, a little pedestrian, as Busta brings in people like Cassidy, Papoose, Rah Digga, and MOP. The track with Raekwon is a surprise, and the two joints with Kweli had been released before.

I'm thankful for Busta providing this little window onto Dilla's life and legacy, and it's definitely a mixtape that deserves to get dusted off and listened to from time to time.

Sweet Tooth #7

by Jeff Lemire

I love what Lemire has been doing with this comic. While the book is mostly about Gus, the deer/human hybrid child who has fallen into the hands of Dr. Singh, who has all the makings of the next Dr. Mengele, it is really Jeppard's story that is grabbing my interest over the last two issues.

I've always had a weak-spot for post-apocalyptic stories, and the types of people that are able to live through them. Jeppard is clearly a survivor - 'like a goddamn cockroach' as he puts it in this issue - but it is increasingly clear that survival might not be the preferable state of existence.

I hope people are checking this book out, as it is very, very good.

Greek Street #9

Written by Peter Milligan
Art by Davide Gianfelice

Things keep looking up as Milligan gives us an increasingly coherent and linear story. Some random London-born Pakistani blows up the Fureys' night club, causing them to escalate their war with the Limms even further, while Eddie goes to meet Inspector Dedalus, who is still being followed by the sorta-dead Medea.

It's taken a while for this title to calm down a little and become more like a traditional Vertigo book. I find that I'm intrigued enough now to stick with the book, although it was stop and go for a while there...

Forgetless #3

Written by Nick Spencer
Art by Scott Forbes and Marley Zarcone

I've been enjoying this series quite a bit. I like how Spencer is giving us a series of short, interconnected stories, and using different artists for each one.

The first story in this issue brings us back to our two model/assassins, and their strange encounter with their intended victim and the guy in a koala suit. It becomes a springboard into the girls' backstory, this time focusing on Sara, the more experienced of the two hitgirls. This story continues to use small Twitter-like postings to give us some insight into the girls' psyches.

The second story is once again about Darla and her friends, who have now made their way into New York, and are preparing to go to Forgetless. On the way, they run into other examples of the bridge and tunnel crowd, including Darla's previous best friend, causing her to experience a crisis of faith.

Both of these stories are amusingly written and enjoyable to read. I look forward to next issue's 'sex-addicted koala' story.

Demo Vol. 2 #2

Written by Brian Wood
Art by Becky Cloonan

Okay, creepy.

This issue of Demo is a really interesting look into obsession and self-control, as the protagonist tries to adjust his meticulously observed and well-planned eating regimen for a potential new love interest in his life. As I started the book, I thought at first that the guy, who is crazy skinny, was simply suffering from some form of eating disorder, but as is eventually revealed, it's much worse than that.

This is a very quiet issue, as Wood allows Cloonan to tell much of the story without dialogue or exposition. She conveys to us the extreme levels of thinness that surround the main character, including his sparsely-furnished home.

I found myself reacting quite strongly to this issue (it's hard to write about without giving anything away), and found the line, "Everyone likes chicken. You can like chicken too" to be quite funny. I would love to have found out how the barbecue went....

Sparta U.S.A. #1

Written by David Lapham
Art by Johnny Timmons

David Lapham is very good at constructing enclosed, crucible like environments in which to set his stories. He did this in both his Spectre story for DC and his 30 Days of Night story, where almost all of the action was centred around apartment buildings. Towards the end of his amazing Young Liars title for Vertigo, he began to explore similar themes, while moving the action to the town of Browning, a corporate-owned and walled-off town.

Now, he is bringing us Sparta USA, an all-American heartland town where everyone works, lives, and breathes the American dream. At the heart of the town is football, which serves as both obsession and founding myth for the people who live there. As the first issue moves along, we quickly figure out that there is more going on in this town than just high-school football tournaments though. It seems that no one ever leaves the town, and the one person who did, gridiron hero Godfrey McLaine, promptly disappeared.

Except now he's back, and he's red in colour. At first, I thought this might have been a printing mistake, but then we meet the Maestro, the central figure of authority for the town, and the person responsible for distributing new citizens - given to him by the President of the USA - to Spartans to raise. The Maestro is blue.

I don't really understand all that's happening yet. I know that Uncle Bill dug a tunnel to his neighbour, Leonides's house, and murdered his entire family, I think so that his son can take over the general store. Beyond that, Lapham's playing it close to the chest, as he sets us up for the returned Godfrey's big reveal on the last page.

The art for this book, sadly, is not by Lapham, but by a newcomer (to me at least) named Johnny Timmons. His art reminds me very much of Tommy Lee Edwards and John Paul Leon, which is never a bad thing. This is another example of Wildstorm publishing strange, genre-bending comics, which probably won't get half the attention it deserves. If you're bored by your recent comics purchases, you should give this a try.

The Sword #22

by The Luna Brothers

This issue is pretty much exactly what you would expect by this point in its publication history. Dara and Malia yell at each other a lot, and they fight. There are no flashbacks to Dara's childhood, and barely anyone else above the level of 'innocent bystander' appears in the comic; it's just the start to the final confrontation that has been building for a while.

And while this is a pretty quick read, it's also a very good one. The Lunas have developed Dara and Malia to the point that we can see how the two women are trying to manipulate one another, and while Malia scores the first victory by goading Dara into attacking her first, it is Dara that manages to expose Malia's true nature to the whole world, even though the consequences of that are pretty crazy.

There's not much to say about this comic at this point in its run. People who like it have stuck with it, people who are interested from these reviews are going to wait and read it in trade. I do hope more people check it out though, because it's some pretty cool stuff.

Jonah Hex #53

Written by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti
Art by Billy Tucci

This was a good issue of Jonah Hex. By now, it must be difficult for Gray and Palmiotti to come up with new concepts or ideas for a character who is, basically, pretty one-dimensional. There are so many twists and variations one can pull on the 'bounty hunter hunts down prey' trope, without setting your story in the far future (which I still hope they won't do one day).

But let's face it, much of what makes this title work is the alternating roster of artists. Billy Tucci does a great job on this issue, as Hex employs an actress to help him hunt down a train-robbing gang fronted by a pair of brothers. Tucci was born to draw characters like Lana, and his Hex is pretty good too - younger and less road-weary than other artists' renditions, but still pretty faithful. Partway through this issue, I started imagining how good an issue by Mike Kaluta would look...

The problem with the book is that I saw the twist towards the end coming a mile away, even if it doesn't really make a lot of sense. Still and all, it's nice to see this book continues to chug along.

Chew #9

Written by John Layman
Art by Rob Guillory

Another strong issue of Chew, as Tony investigates the strange goings-on on Yamapalu, and works to rescue his brother and the reporter he's fallen for. There are vampires, lots of dead bodies and poo that needs eating (actually, I'm getting a little tired of that gag), and a chef who can only communicate through his cooking (awesome concept).

Perhaps what works best in this issue is the way in which Layman plays around with standard comic storytelling conventions. The book ends with three successive panels, each labeled 'Cliffhanger!' and each stepping up the level of drama or danger for Tony and companions. After that comes a full-page spread that was completely unexpected and hilarious, as Tony's partner goes to great lengths to protect his friend's whereabouts.

Underground #5

Written by Jeff Parker
Art by Steve Lieber
Underground has been one of the better mini-series I've read in the last couple of years, and the ending is just about perfect. As the two rangers are chased through the cave system, the rescue effort starts to discover the bodies of the men who had been chasing them and perished in earlier issues. This lends an urgency to the scenes, as Wes and Seth take some extreme steps to find the way out of the caves (and discover some really old moonshine in the process).

Parker has graced this story with a lot of strong character development, and has a feel for how people would react in and to these types of situations. Lieber's art is fantastic throughout.

I've praised this book enough that it's difficult to find new things to say, but perhaps the highest form of praise I have is that this issue reminded me of some of the earlier issues of Concrete, in its ability to marry a compelling and exciting story with a non-preachy message of ecological awareness. This is a title that seriously deserves some awards.

Dead Ahead #3

Written by Mel Smith, Clark K. Castillo, and Paul H. Birch
Art by Alex Niño

Well, this is certainly a comic I never expected to see reach the store shelves. In the year since the last issue came out, I remember reading about there being some massive in-fighting among the creators (something to do with the colorist?). Also, I'm pretty sure I remember seeing this book get canceled by Diamond, although the fact that I now own it tells me maybe I just imagined that.

So, one year on, how is this title? It's a mess. The story is quite hard to follow in this issue. I'm not sure any more of who any of the characters are, and the layout, while being the best thing about the comic, contributes to the confusion more than anything.

Niño's art is fantastic, but it seems like he did not put any thought into the flow of the story. The book doesn't have panels really, but instead large spreads that look like they should move from left to right, but the placement of the text boxes and speech bubbles don't always feel intuitive.

Furthermore, the prose here is pretty over the top. It's like the three authors are trying to out-do each other and be more Jamie Delano than even the Jamie Delano who wrote Rawbone would think is wise.

But let's face it: the book is about zombies on the high seas, and has art by Alex Niño. That makes this book special and all kinds of awesome, even if you don't bother trying to read it.

Dead Enders Vol. 1: Stealing the Sun

Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Warren Pleece and Richard Case

I had no idea that this title lasted for something like 16 issues, and that only the first four were ever collected in a trade. This book originally came out during a time where my comics buying was quite limited, and so it stayed below my radar, until I became more familiar with Brubaker's work.

It's a very different title from what you would expect from this writer. Dead Enders is set in a post-cataclysmic future, where rich and poor are divided into different sectors, with the wealthy being able to enjoy artificial weather, while the poor suffer from gray skies and any number of environmental illnesses.

The story centres around Beezer, a drug-dealer and neo-mod (for lack of a better term). Beezer has this strange habit of seeing visions of the past, and has managed to draw the attention of some government guy, who is looking to make use of his abilities (this is never really made clear). This brings police to Beezer's home, where they find his drug stash, sending him on the run.

Dead Enders is very much about Beezer's friendships and his tempestuous relationship with Sophie, his girlfriend. When his closest friend, Jasper, is injured during a repo job, Beezer sets out to make his last days pleasurable.

Not a lot happens in this volume, but at the same time, Brubaker packs a lot of story and world-building into a small space. Other writers, these days, would take six to eight issues to accomplish what he manages in four.

The art, by Warren Pleece, looks quite nice, although Richard Case's inks make his art look quite different from his work on Kinetic. My biggest art complaint would be that the colour of Beezer's hair kept changing, making me wonder if he was the same character or someone else in places.

This was an enjoyable book, and I think I may now be on the look-out for the single issues, which are unlikely to ever get reprinted in trade form.

Glitter and Doom Live

by Tom Waits

I recognize that Tom Waits doesn't really fit with the rest of the music that I write about on this blog (even if he did do some beatboxing on the last Atmosphere album and did a duet with Kool Keith), but he is, and pretty much always will be, one of the coolest artists that I listen to.

This album is a collection of live recordings from a variety of cities, covering a wide sampling of Waits's career. Strangely, he manages to include hardly any of my favourites, although I still love this disk.

Generally, the songs on here are the larger, louder, more performance-based pieces. Things like 'Such a Scream' or 'Get Behind the Mule' are designed to be sung in large venues. Waits's quieter, darker pieces need an intimate setting to be effective, and that's not what this album is about.

Included on the disk are a few examples of Waits's concert patter, which is as witty as it is occasionally surreal. A second, bonus disk, consists entirely of 'Tom Tales', more jokes and stories from a variety of concerts edited into a continuous monologue. It's funny once, but doesn't really hold up to repeated listens.

This entire package really only creates more demand for live Waits recordings. He has such a rich catalogue of songs to mine, I would love to hear more, especially as his voice continues to develop into something ever gruffer and more wonderful.