The Poor Bastard

by Joe Matt

I've never really been too interested in reading the work of the holy trinity of underground Toronto cartoonists - Seth, Chester Brown, and Joe Matt.  I'm not really sure why (I loved Brown's Louis Riel, and plan to read it again soon), but I've really avoided their autobiographical work as being a little too masturbatory (literally and figuratively).

Not wanting to always stick with my snap judgments without at least sampling the work I've judged, I decided to give The Poor Bastard a try.  I was right of course, there is a lot of masturbation going on, but there is also a funny and decidedly insensitive nature to this comic that I really enjoyed. 

The book is basically Matt's life, as he argues with and mistreats his long-suffering girlfriend, eventually driving her away completely.  After that, moves into a rooming house, and proceeds to try to find a suitable replacement for her, although his insane need to judge and belittle women keeps him from finding anything even resembling happiness.  It's a sad tale, made even more so by the fact that I, as a reader, couldn't always tell if he was making fun of himself a little, or was trying to justify all of his actions, as he frequently does in conversation with fellow cartoonist Seth, who fills the role of loyal friend and lone voice of reason.

I enjoyed this book, but I don't know if I liked it enough to start tracking down the rest of the Joe Matt library.

Who is Jake Ellis? #3

Written by Nathan Edmondson
Art by Tonci Zonjic

I'm really enjoying Who is Jake Ellis?.  Edmondson is pacing this book beautifully, and making very good use of the unique situation Jon, the main character, finds himself in.  He has a man, the titular Jake, living in his head, able to see things all around him and make connections and predictions quicker than a normal person can.  Basically, Jake is like a Spidey-sense that you can communicate with. 

This means that Jake and Jon have been able to stay a few steps ahead of the mysterious men from 'The Facility' that have been pursuing them across Europe.  In this issue, Jon and Jake reconcile after their disagreements of last month, and put together a plan that should lead them to the mysterious Facility, and hopefully help them understand just what was done to them.

This is a very taut story, which plays with some of the better conventions of spy and heist movies, as Jon doubles back on trains, and abducts one of his pursuers.  Tonci Zonjic's art is terrific, as he plays around a little with his colours during a nightclub scene.  In all a very cool comic.

iZombie #12

Written by Chris Roberson
Art by Gilbert Hernandez

With this issue of iZombie (I've noticed that the indicia has changed the title to this spelling, instead of the I, Zombie that it started with - yes, I notice things like this), Roberson gives us something a little different.

This issue is focused on Ellie, Gwen's ghostly friend.  We see what seems to be more or less a typical day in her after-life, as she hangs out in the cemetery swapping stories with her neighbours.  An old Aboriginal woman tells a legend that her people believed in, while an old cowboy tells a tale involving Chinese tunnels under Portland, zombies, and the white-suited monster fighters of that time.  We also learn Ellie's history leading up to her death, and it becomes more clear why she is as naive and unworldly as she is.

At the end of the issue, Ellie meets Gwen, and we see how their friendship got its start.  It's a nice issue, with great art by guest Gilbert Hernandez.  I like how he has switched up his style for the different tales told (kind of like an issue of House of Mystery, except I like it).  I love Allred's work on this book, but if he needs a break again, I hope they give Hernandez a call.

Chew #18

Written by John Layman
Art by Rob Guillory

Once again, Layman and Guillory give us a single-issue story that fits within a larger narrative arc, but can be enjoyed completely on its own.  Tony and Colby are being sent on increasingly dangerous missions (I love the panel that depicts them as a cat and mouse - it really drives home the point), and in this issue, are sent to assist the USDA in a military raid of a base in North Korea.

This is basically a suicide mission, to wipe out a general who has developed a synthetic avian flu, and Tony's role in the mission is to deploy a secret weapon if all else fails.  I don't want to reveal what that secret weapon is, except to say that it involves the return of a character I didn't think we'd see again.

As with just about any issue of Chew, this one is smart and very funny.  Next month, Layman is going to jump up to issue 27 to give us a sense of where the title is headed.  I don't normally like a lot of gimmicks like that, but I'm definitely interested.

Orc Stain #6

by James Stokoe

It's been a long time since I've read an issue of this series, and I've missed it, but I also feel like it's lost a lot of its momentum.  Orc Stain is still a pretty amazing comic, I've just kind of lost touch with it during its hiatus.

This issue picks up where the last one left off, as One-Eye is searching for a way out of the giant creature he was trapped in (alongside a thousand other one-eyed Orcs), and Bowie, the poison-slinger, attacks the Orctzar's men, who have taken over the local town.  There's a lot of mayhem, as only Stokoe can usually provide.

While the art in this issue is as wonderful as every previous one, it seemed lacking in the strange little visual gags that Stokoe usually peppers his comics with.  I think that perhaps there was just a lot of plot that needed to be gotten through in this installment.  I'm not sure how long this title is expected to run, but it does look like One-Eye is going to be confronting his destiny in one way or another pretty soon.

I, Paparazzi

Written by Pat McGreal
Art by Stephen John Phillips and Steven Parke

I think this book, from 2001, can qualify as one of the stranger graphic novels Vertigo has produced since its inception.  The story is about Jake "Monster" McGowran, a paparazzi in New York, who in one incredibly bizarre evening, possibly uncovers some of the best-kept secrets of the world while stalking (professionally) a famous actor.

The book is a fumetti, or photo-story.  The panels are made up of photographs shot by Phillips, with digital manipulation by Parke.  It works here, and is completely appropriate for a book about the paparazzi.  At times, the pages suffer from a certain stiffness, but I found that since I was cognizant of the photographer, they worked better than some current artists who rely so heavily on photo-referencing (ie. Greg Land).  The actors/models employed in these scenes bring a certain level of truth to the affair.

The story is interesting.  I loved McGreal's historical drama Chiaroscuro: The Private Lives of Leonardo da Vinci way back when it was published, and feel like I should track down Veils, his other graphic novel at Vertigo.

Samurai Legend #1-4

Written by Jean-Francois Di Giorgio
Art by Frédéric Genêt

My, but the French make some good comics.  Samurai Legend is one of the recent Marvel imports from the French Soleil line.  It reminded me a lot of the Okko stories being published by Archaia, in that it focused on a wandering samurai, and had a slightly mystical bent to the storytellling.

In Samurai Legend, the hero is Takeo, a samurai who is trying to find his long-missing brother.  Along the way, he meets a Korean family who is being harassed by some local strongmen, and he protects them.  Shortly after that, the young girl in the family is able to solve a puzzle in a roadside restaurant, which apparently satisfies some kind of prophecy concerning a long-dead figure, needed by a local lord to attack the Emperor.  Really, the plot is just a foil to allow for a reason to pit Takeo against this lord's forces.

The usual French interpretation of Japanese samurai movies ensues.  They tramp around the country, gathering allies, and fighting people.  I'm being glib, but the story is told very well, and held my interest throughout.  The true strength of this book is the incredible artwork of Genêt.  The pages are lushly coloured and highly detailed.  This is a beautiful comic.

It seems that this story's ending suggests the possibility of a sequel.  It's too bad that Marvel seems to have discontinued their Soleil line, as I would gladly read more from these creators, but my French is not exactly up to the task of reading them in the original.

Union Station

Written by Ande Parks
Art by Eduardo Barreto

I think there's something that become inherently confusing about period comics where everyone is wearing hats.  It's not too easy to tell a bunch of white people in suits apart, is it?  I guess that's why comics developed around super heroes in gaudy, highly individualized costumes...

Anyway, Union Station is a period piece involving a shooting and massacre that happened in Kansas City's Union Station in 1933.  As the FBI bring a criminal, Frank Nash, through the station, Nash's friend tries to free him.  What follows is an intense shoot-out.  The rest of the book is concerned with the investigation into who was responsible.  There are some nice parts about Pretty Boy Floyd and J. Edgar Hoover.

The book is interesting, and Eduardo Barreto's artwork is as good as it always is, but the story seemed to lack a sense of dramatic gravity.  I never developed much of a feel for any of the characters, and often wasn't sure who was who.  This is not a bad book, but I think it would have benefited from a lot more space and room, as Park's ambitions became victim to the economy of space.  I would have been more interested in reading an entire book about the machinations of J. Edgar Hoover, and at times, I started to think that's what Park really wanted to write.

I much preferred Park's other period book, Capote in Kansas, with art by the incredible Chris Samnee.

Undying Love #1

Written by Tomm Coker and Daniel Freedman
Art by Tomm Coker

I picked this comic up on the strength of Coker's artwork, and on that front, this book definitely satisfied.  Story wise, I found that things got off to a confusing start, but once the exposition of the back half of the book was out of the way, I was intrigued.

Some American named John Sargent has brought his girlfriend Mei, who happens to be a vampire, to Hong Kong on a quest to find and kill the vampire that turned her, thereby making it possible to cure her.  The book opens in some temple, with a confrontation between Sargent and a group of what I suppose are vampires, although nothing is too clear.  It's not until he brings her to Hong Kong, and meets with a young boy who is also a mystical healer that things are clarified, and become more interesting.

I think this comic has interested me enough to come back for the second issue, which means it is a success.  Coker's art is a huge part of that success.

Caligula #1

Written by David Lapham
Art by German Nobile

I'd told myself that I was going to start trade-waiting Avatar books, since most of the time they are so late anyway, but then I saw the solicitation for this; a David Lapham-written comic set in Ancient Rome.  I've always had an interest in this time period, which in recent years has been fueled by HBO's Rome, and more recently by the Ides of Blood series. 

This series is starting out as a revenge comic, as a young boy from an olive farming family returns home to market to find that the Roman emperor, Caligula, had raped, murdered, and desecrated his family and home.  He heads to Rome, plotting his revenge, and has to immerse himself in the filth and depravity of the city's underside before finally gaining entry to the palace and coming face to face with the mad emperor.  Then something strange happens, but I won't spoil it.

Lapham has clearly done his research, and constructs a tightly-plotted story.  The artist, German Nobile, is painting this comic, and his look falls squarely into that Avatar house style, but it's still pretty good.  I'm definitely on board for this title.

North 40

Written by Aaron Williams
Art by Fiona Staples

This book is a good example of a comic that should work quite well, but for whatever reason, doesn't.  The concept behind it is excellent - that some kind of strange magic releases powers into just about everyone living within a mostly rural county, and also traps them inside it.  The art, by Fiona Staples is terrific, although her muted colour palette got on my nerves after a while.

The problem is that the story is not as coherent as it should be.  The characters are introduced quickly, without much time for development, and the plot seems to jump around all over the place.  The three central characters are the county sheriff, a country boy named Wyatt (who makes out the best of anyone in the powers department) and a strange girl named Amanda, who doesn't even make it onto the cover of the trade.

These three characters are kind of thrown together, and much of the plotting has that same spaghetti tossed against the wall feeling.  There's something towards the end about a mystical city that is supposed to help explain the significance of everything, but by that point, Williams had more or less lost me and I was just looking at the pretty pictures.

The Walking Dead #83

Written by Robert Kirkman
Art by Charlie Adlard and Cliff Rathburn

I think I've finally read an issue of The Walking Dead that I don't like.  It's not a problem with execution - the tension and pace of this issue are perfect, as the town where Rick and everyone have been living for a while becomes completely overrun by walkers.  Kirkman jumps from one group of characters to another very quickly, without much explanation, helping to underscore the protracted amount of time in which all of this stuff is happening.  Adlard handles the whole issue beautifully, as the panels become more and more crowded with walkers.

The reason why I don't think I like this issue is because Kirkman does something horrible to one of the characters that I love, and does it in such a way that, while reading the comic, I actually had to stop for a little while to let it sink in.  I always figured that there were two characters in this comic that were relatively safe (I'm not going to name them, but it's obvious).  I used to expect that there was a larger group of characters that were likely to stick around for a long time, but Kirkman killed off most of them in the prison around about issue 48.  After that though, I think I grew complacent in expecting that these two people were going to be okay.  This issue has caused me to revise that expectation, in one of the most brutal ways possible.

Of course, I can't really be mad at that - the level of predictability is what has drawn me to this comic from the first time that I read it (issue 7).  This issue is such a turning point - Rick screws up badly, with massive consequences - that I'm sure I'll look back at it as a favourite.  And really, when's the last time a comic really shocked you?  I can truly say that I never saw this one coming.

Jack of Fables #50

Written by Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges
Art by Tony Akins, Russ Braun, Andrew Pepoy, Dan Green, and Bill Reinhold

I think it's surprising that this title, which was a spin-off from Fables, lasted for almost half the run of the parent title.  That's pretty rare.  Jack of Fables was a welcome change in modern comics when it started.  It was basically a humour comic linked to another series, which while often filled with humour, is actually a pretty dark affair a lot of the time.  Jack, especially in the early issues, was irreverent and very unpredictable.

Jack Horner is not a nice guy, and it was through the large and lovable supporting cast that this book was able to hook me, as Jack worked to escape the Golden Boughs Retirement Community for Fables, worked to stay ahead of the Page Sisters and other dangers, and eventually participated in defending the Boughs from a worse evil.  Later, the book crossed over with the Fables title, and that's where it started to lose me, as most of the series's plotlines were resolved.  The book was more or less given over to Jack's son, Jack Frost, and I quickly lost all interest in it, dropping it until I realized that Willingham and Sturges were wrapping things up, and returning every last living character to the book's pages.

This issue takes what Jack calls the 'Shakespearian' approach to finishing things, which means just about everyone dies.  The story is mostly told through large splash pages, as all these characters that have been gathering for a while turn on each other, and mayhem ensues.  It's a fitting end to the title, and much of this issue is amusing, while evoking some twinges of nostalgia.

Two of my favourite features of this comic get one last hurrah.  Brian Bolland gives us one last terrific cover (he did most of the covers on this book), and Babe the Blue Ox gets the chance to narrate one last page, revisiting the character of Alonso, the cruelty-free pirate.  The Babe pages were frequently the best part of the comic, and I hope that the promised Babe one-shot happens one of these days.

Scarlet #5

Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Alex Maleev

Well, it seems that Scarlet is getting stranger and stranger.  At first, Bendis's story about a girl seeking revenge on the corrupt police detective that ruined her life felt like a personal story of redefinition, but as Scarlet's mission has become a movement, the tone of the comic has changed.

Last issue, Scarlet suddenly showed up in the middle of a large gathering of protesters supporting her mission.  In this issue, she speaks to the crowd, and one riot cop responds in an out-sized way (and really, what he threw was not standard issue - why would he have that?).

Scarlet herself gets very little screen time in this issue, as we spend most of our time on Angela Going, the detective that got kicked off the case, and Agent Daemonakos, the FBI agent who is taking charge of the investigation.  He's a bit of a strange one, and has clearly read The Secret a few times too many.  The exchange between him and Going is classic Bendis.

Maleev has some lovely large panels in this issue, and continues to do a phenomenal job.

Elephantmen: Man and Elephantman #1

Written by Richard Starkings
Art by Axel Medellin

I feel like I need to judge this comic on two levels.  In terms of story, and seen as a new issue of Elephantmen, this issue is pretty good.  Hip Flask, who is more or less the main character of this sprawling series, wakes up one morning to discover himself in a human body.  Basically, he is living in the reverse of Kafka's Metamorphosis, and we watch as he goes about his day in a human body, going to work as usual, and running into many of the various character that make up the regular cast of this comic.

If we view it as an introduction to the series, albeit through the looking glass, it helps to establish a number of the relationships, even if characters like Tusk and Yvette are included.  Of course, it's a hoax, and an interesting one at that, even if it seems outside of character (I don't want to spoil everything).  So what we're left with is basically an Elseworlds story, which while kind of amusing, doesn't do anything to advance the series much.

And this is where we have to look at this comic from another viewpoint.  It seems that Starkings has interrupted the numbering of this title to create a 'jump-on' comic (similar to Marvel's current .1 initiative), which introduces all of the characters in a false light.  Furthermore, this is the start of the next arc, but I'm not sure that the last page of this story is going to be enough to draw in a new reader.  But then, Elephantmen always dances to its own beat, so it's all good.

In terms of art, Medellin keeps getting better and better, and I enjoyed the Charley Loves Robots back-up, which gets recapped and extended by two pages here.