Sacrifice #2

Written by Sam Humphries
Art by Dalton Rose

There's a great deal to like about Sam Humphries and Dalton Rose's self-published, and self-distributed comics series Sacrifice, but a big one for me is that I don't know when a new issue is going to appear in my pull-file.  I just got the first issue last week, and suddenly the new one is here! 

Sacrifice is a very cool comic.  It's about a guy who has ended up back in the period of time right before the Spanish conquistadors made contact with the Aztecs.  It's a time of great sectarian violence, and a time of revolution, led by the female warrior Malintzin (known to the Spanish as Malinche). 

Hector, our point-of-view character and time traveler has found himself embroiled in the conflict between the followers of two gods, and is pressed upon to kill Malintzin before she can be sacrificed, for reasons that are somewhere between complicated and unclear.  There's a lot going on in this comic, and the pacing can feel a little off at times (especially at the end of the issue), but I really like what Humphries is doing with this.

There's an easy parallel between this comic and what Brian Wood is doing with Northlanders at the moment - both tell of societies at the cusp of great change (and that's before Cortes shows up; things are going to get a lot worse for the Aztec), and both tell their stories using plain speech.

Rose's art is great, and everything about this self-directed effort is professional and very interesting.  Given the inherent rarity of this comic, I feel lucky that I've been able to secure a copy, and that it looks like I'll be able to read it through to its completion.

Richard Stark's Parker Book Two: The Outfit

Written by Donald Westlake
Adapted by Darwyn Cooke

When I started reading The Outfit, the second of Darwyn Cooke's adaptations of Richard Stark's (really Donald Westlake's) crime novels, I couldn't for the life of me remember what happened in the first one, The Hunter.  I remember enjoying Cooke's work, but storywise, nothing stayed with me.

Reading this volume, I can see why.  Westlake's stories are pretty effervescent.  This one is about Parker wanting to take on The Outfit - a mob-like group of career criminals who run large swaths of gambling and prostitution houses.  The man running The Outfit has beef with Parker, who has had surgery to change his appearance, and Parker is looking for payback.  Or something like that.

Truthfully, I'm reading this book for Cooke's wonderful artwork; the story is secondary.  Cooke loves that late 50s/early 60s period, as we learned with The New Frontier, his love letter to the early days of DC comics.  The sense of design and iconography used in this book is terrific, and Cooke has a good sense of the correct pace to use in adapting Westlake's writing.

The best parts of this book have Parker or his friends planning and carrying out various heists and robberies of Outfit businesses.  Cooke uses a variety of styles for these pages, drawing some of them like newspaper comc strips, and presenting one in an 'illustrated novel' format.  The look of this book is where the fun is; the rest is pretty inconsequential.

Severed #6

Written by Scott Snyder and Scott Tuft
Art by Attila Futaki

I've been a supporter of this series from the beginning, despite the fact that it can, at times, strain credibility to the breaking point.  I've thought that writers Scott Snyder and Scott Tuft had a little more leeway in their depiction of a couple of kids in Depression-era America as being a little naive because, let's face it, they wouldn't have been raised on a steady diet of slasher films and/or overprotective parenting. 

This issue, which ends with a pretty big reveal, however, hinges on either a series of coincidences or a level of planning that would be almost impossible to have work in the way that it has.  And this has tainted my enjoyment of the book.

I love Image Comics because it gives creators a great deal of freedom to innovate, but sometimes the lack of a strong editor can be a bit of a problem.  Were this a Vertigo-edited book, the wrinkles would have been ironed out, making the comic much stronger.  Because the truth is, Snyder and Tuft have a good story to tell, and Futaki is an interesting artist.

Here's hoping that the ending can redeem things next month.

The Unwritten #33

Written by Mike Carey
Art by Peter Gross and MK Perker

I really can not complain about this comic these days.  As Tom Taylor moves closer to finishing his conflict with The Cabal, the stakes get progressively higher, and the story steadily becomes more exciting.

In this issue, the newly-reinvigorated Tom (thanks to some digital-era Tinkerbell hand clapping) sets off to confront The Cabal before his powers wane.  This involves resurrecting a long-dead architect, and wading into his enemies' base without a plan, appropriate back-up, or anything else.  It feels like whenever Tom has a lot of power, he also develops a fair amount of hubris.

Anyway, there are a few things that are not really working for me here - like the fact that no one would have bothered to look for the Frankenstein monster that got left in the middle of Antarctica before moving on with their plan, but the way in which The Cabal chooses to combat Tom's incursion is pretty interesting, and amusing.

Does anyone know if The Unwritten is expected to end soon?  It feels like this book is moving towards a big finish, but I haven't heard anything to that effect.

Pigs #5

Written by Nate Cosby and Ben McCool
Art by Breno Tamura

There is a lot about Pigs that I find interesting and which compels me to come back issue after issue, but at the same time, I really wish this series would hurry up and have a lot more happen in each issue.

Pigs is about a KGB sleeper cell that was planted in Cuba back in the 60s, and which now comprises the children of the original cell members.  They've finally been activated, and are carrying out some missions on American soil.  First, they were sent to get some information from a Senator.  Now, they are tasked with killing someone who is being held in San Quentin Correctional Facility, which, as you can imagine, is not an easy task.

Also making things difficult is the tension within the group.  Felix, the 'White Russian', has adopted a more peaceful stance than his brethren, and has become very skeptical of their aims.  He finds it especially difficult to manage Viktor, the youngest person in the cell, who was only a child when Felix left Cuba for the United States.

Cosby and McCool have been doing some cool things with the timeline of their series, showing us events that will happen much further down the road (like the abduction of the President, apparently), and this issue is no exception, as scenes from within the prison are sprinkled throughout the comic, although it's not until the very end that their meaning becomes clear.

As I've said, I like this comic, but the writers are holding too much back, and need to start sharing a little more about what the group's larger mission is, or where their information is coming from.

The Activity #2

Written by Nathan Edmondson
Art by Mitch Gerads

The comparisons between this title and Greg Rucka's Queen and Country, or the TV show The Unit are pretty easy to make, but that doesn't mean there isn't a place for this comic on the stands.  As a fan of war comics, and espionage, when it's done correctly, I am finding myself really getting into The Activity, which chronicles the missions of a Direct Action Quick Response team.

This issue focuses on a mission involving a terrorist cell in Amsterdam that is holding an undercover agent hostage, and is going about procuring weapons.  We get the usual thing you would expect with a storyline like this - cool gadgets, and a chance to see the team in action.  There are a couple of surprises along the way, as we begin to get a better understanding of how this team operates, and just what they are all about.

To be honest, I would have appreciated a little more character development in this issue.  I get that these guys have to keep things professional, but aside from a little hazing of the new operative, there is nothing going on here to help us learn more about who these people are.  I'm hoping that Edmondson addresses this soon, or this series could quickly become dull, lacking any human connection.

Still, this is a nicely-plotted and executed comic, and I'm looking forward to learning more as things progress.  There are some seeds being planted that inter-agency issues will become a big part of the book; that could get interesting.

Whispers #1

by Joshua Luna

I've really come to enjoy the work of the Luna Brothers.  I've read their works backwards, starting with The Sword, then Girls, and not that long ago, their first series, Ultra. Long before that, I'd enjoyed their Marvel work on Spider-Woman, but they didn't write that.  Anyway, I have really grown to appreciate their pacing, original plots, and above all else, the strong characters that they fill their books with.

I don't know why Joshua Luna has struck out on his own with this new comic, but it makes things even less clear as to what Jonathan Luna contributed to their earlier work, as this is a very good comic.

Sam is a bit of a mess.  He's clearly suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (when we meet him, he's afraid to touch a door handle to enter a coffee shop), and his girlfriend has recently left him.  He knows he's not normal, but he also doesn't know what to do about it, especially when his dreams start to get very strange.

He tries to tell his ex about this, but seeing as she's in the middle of caring for her recently injured father, she's not too interested in Sam's problems.  Her friends are openly hostile to him.  What we later learn is that Sam is not dreaming, and has instead developed the ability to have out of body experiences, or project his spirit elsewhere.  When visiting people he knows in this state, he's able to read their minds, and make suggestions to them (hence the title of the series).

It's hard to know where this series is headed after only this first issue, but Luna has me intrigued.  He does a great job of providing the dread that comes with actually learning what others think of you, as Sam visits his estranged mother in a haunting scene.

Artistically, Joshua Luna working on his own brings a different look to the book than what we've seen when he works with his brother.  There is greater textures to the page.  The digital colouring effects that he uses give the book a warmer, more burnished feel.  It's strange - being so familiar with the brothers' work, this solo effort looks very familiar, but I don't think I would have accredited it to a Luna had I looked at it without reading the credits.

This series looks to have some promise - I don't know how long it's expected to last, but I'm probably going to be on board throughout.

Scalped #55

Written by Jason Aaron
Art by RM Guera

I don't know how to talk about this issue of Scalped without talking about how it ends, except in rather vague and general terms.  I will say though that that has to be one of the coolest endings to a comic I've seen in some time, and it comes as a huge pay-off for almost five year's worth of reading (and loving) this series.

The issue opens where it ended last month, with Shunka coming to kill Dash Bad Horse.  Their fight takes up most of the issue, and it is bloody and brutal in ways I haven't seen before in comics.  I could imagine how it must feel to have the wiring holding your jaw together ripped out, that's how effective RM Guera's art was in conveying the visceral violence of this comic.

I also liked the way Guera referenced past issues during the fight, showing Dash's childhood arrowhead collection at one point.  Jason Aaron has risen to great heights behind his work on this comic (although nothing he's done at Marvel can touch the quality of this series), yet Guera has not become a star.  On one hand, that's good because it means he's never left the book, but he deserves equal credit for this comic being so amazing.

Some other stuff happens in this issue too - Catcher gets into it with his horse, while Agent Nitz finally raids Red Crow's casino.  As for Red Crow, he shows up at Dash's place during the fight, and this is what leads to that excellent ending, and to another memorable scene with Shunka.  This comic is amazing, and I wish everyone who isn't reading it would pick up the trades.  If you plan on reading this series, don't take a peek at the end of this issue - let it reach you in context when you get to it; you'll be happy with it.

Northlanders #47

Written by Brian Wood
Art by Declan Shalvey

Change is not an easy thing to accept for many people.  It is especially difficult when that change is coming on the tide of history, and the way things have been for a long time is not going to be possible as the way things will be.  That idea is at the core of Brian Wood's Icelandic Trilogy, the final arc in Northlanders, his Viking comic.

This issue finishes the second of the three arcs, as Brida Hauksson tries to hold on to her family's way of living in the face of the increasingly violent feud with the Belgarssons, and with the encroachment of Christianity on Iceland.  The real surprise comes to Brida when her brother Mar finally returns, only to announce that he has converted.

While Mar is the male of the family, Brida has more or less run the show to this point.  Mar sees conversion, and marriage to a Belgarsson, as the only way to keep from limiting his family's future.  Brida sees things differently, and her stubbornness reminds me of the resistance of Aboriginal peoples in the early days of European exploration in the Americas; she has no idea how large and pernicious Christianity will be.

I like how Wood has portrayed Iceland on the edge of modernity (the bit about the turn of the millennium provoking doomsayers reminded me that I really should read Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean's Signal to Noise again).  It's very easy to draw parallels between this type of story and modern times - Brida reminds me of, among other things, comics fans refusing to acknowledge the creep of digital platforms into the business - but at the end of the day, this is a remarkable story about a time and people we don't think of often enough.

Declan Shalvey has done some excellent work here - I love the exterior shot of the Hauksson's compound, with the Northern Lights dancing above.  I hope we'll see him continuing to work in more serious and realistic comics.

Echoes of Silence

by The Weeknd

I don't think it's possible to be any hotter in the music industry than Abel Tesfaye, The Weeknd, is right now.  Especially when you consider that he hasn't given any interviews, appeared on any crappy late night talk shows, signed to any record labels, or even attempted to sell his music, choosing instead to release it for free on his website.

Echoes of Silence is the third free album that he dropped in 2011, and it shows the progression of his sound and artistic vision.  The album starts strong with 'D.D.', his remake of Michael Jackson's Dirty Diana.  I've never had a lot of love for Michael, and instead much prefer Abel's stripped down interpretation.

The rest of the album follows along with the typical Weeknd themes - debauchery, regret, and a sense of misspent youth.  He continues to use his beautiful voice very effectively over the minimalist production.  Echoes of Silence is another masterpiece.

Pluto: Urasawa X Tezuka Vol. 4

by Naoki Urasawa after Osamu Tezuka, with Takashi Nagasaki

I'm glad that I made good use of Boxing Day sales to track down the remaining volumes in this series, because I find that each new volume I read ramps up the level of tension and my interest in this series.

Pluto is a re-make of a classic Osamu Tezuka Astro Boy story (which I've never read), although told in a longer, much more complex way.  In this fourth volume, we get a few more hints as to the identity of the person or robot who has been killing the world's most powerful robots, and any humans involved in the Bora Survey Group.  The Survey Group had examined the country of Persia for Robots of Mass Destruction, and while they didn't find any, the United States of Thracia had used them as a smokescreen for starting the 39th Central Asian War. 

I think what I admire most about this series is the political backdrop that Urasawa sets it against.  There is an easy comparison between the 39th War and the American invasion of Iraq, except for the fact that WMDs didn't later begin to advocate for their own rights and a place of equality within human society as robots have.  That aspect of the story is explored a little more here, as the anti-robot organization that businessman Adolf Haas is a part of has decided they don't need him anymore, and he ends up with main character Gesicht protecting him (despite the fact that Gesicht is dealing with the Pluto case - a weak story device, or proof of conspiracy?).

A lot happens in this volume, particularly to Atom, the boy robot we in the West know as Astro Boy.  Also, Epsilon, the pacifist robot is forced to take action, and Gesicht has to cancel his trip to Japan.

This really is a terrific series, and Urasawa has a lot of balls in the air at any given time.  I look forward to reading the second half of this run.

The 14th Dalai Lama

by Tetsu Saiwai

A friend suggested that I read The 14th Dalai Lama: A Manga Biography and I'm glad I did.  I've always had a passing interest in Tenzin Gyatso and the struggle of his people, and I was familiar with his story, but I'd never read a biography of him before now.

Tetsu Saiwai's manga begins with the death of the previous Dalai Lama, and the search for his resurrected spirit.  Once he was recognized as the new Dalai Lama, Gyatso was moved to Lhasa where he began a life of study.  Unfortunately, world events did not allow the young Dalai Lama time to ease into his role, as at the age of fifteen, he had to begin to deal with the expansionism of neighbouring China, which was undergoing the Cultural Revolution, and set its eyes on Tibet.

This book follows the Dalai Lama through a period of attempting to appease and work with Mao's China, until the sad realization that were he to stay in Lhasa, he would surely be held prisoner or killed.  He and a small group of family and advisers escape to India, where they continue to act as the legal government of Tibet, although they have no say over what has happened at home.

The book covers its material quickly (it didn't take very long to read this), but with enough detail that the reader can walk away from this book with a good understanding of what has happened.  Saiwai tells his story simply, but very effectively.  This is a good place to start a study of the current, post-anti-Olympics demonstrations in Tibet, and raises the question of what will happen to Tibetans, and Buddhism in general, when the aging Gyatso passes.

Undun

by The Roots

Every time I've heard the statement over the last few years that 'hip-hop is dead', I've always thought of the perfect counter-argument, which is The Roots.  This ever-changing group has done more than anyone to advance and evolve the genre of hip-hop, while also transcending it with every new album.  And then they go and release Undun, which has to be considered their masterpiece.

Undun is structured as a concept album, telling the story of Redford Stevens, a small-time crook from a poor neighbourhood.  The character and concept were derived from a Sufjan Stevens song, but the packaging of the story is that of The Roots.  The story unfolds in reverse-chronological order, starting when Redford is already dead, and looking back on the string of choices that he made through his life.  At times the story can be confusing, as Black Thought is joined on the mic by a number of other MCs (including Phonte, Big KRIT, Dice Raw, Truck North, Bilal Oliver, and Greg Porn).

The story is secondary on this album though, because the music is incredible.  The Roots, under the direction of Ahmir ?uestlove Thompson, push themselves to new heights here.  The more straight-forward hip-hop tracks at the beginning of the album are banging, but the disc ends with four classical pieces, which make up the Redford Suite.

Three things come away with me from listening to this.  The first is just how good rapper Black Thought is - he seems to be better with every new album, and he was always very good.  The second thing that I marvel at is how collaborative this whole album feels; I imagine that everyone involved had an equal hand, and that's why the music is just so good.  Finally, I can't believe that this album is actually less than forty minutes long.  Listening to it, I always feel like much more time has passed, since this album is so dense musically, lyrically, and spiritually.  Best of the year, hands down.

Catwoman: Crooked Little Town

Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Brad Rader, Cameron Stewart, Rick Burchett, Michael Avon Oeming, and Mike Manley

I don't often buy trades of superhero comics.  If I am interested, I usually buy them as they come out, or in cases where I've missed a particularly good run, I'll pick up back issues at sales or in used bookstores.  Ed Brubaker's run on Catwoman is something that completely slipped past me about a decade ago, and clearly came at a time when neither he, nor any of the artists he worked with, had developed names for themselves.  Looking at the cover of Crooked Little Town, the second collection of his run with this character, it is almost impossible to find the writer's name, or the name of any of the artists.  I guess that says a lot about how much Brubaker's fame has grown in a little under ten year's time.

Anyway, this trade collects one longer story, and a few shorter ones about Selina's new approach to life as the guardian of the East End of Gotham City.  She is not afraid to take on the mob, and spends most of the book hunting down some crooked cops with the help of private eye Slam Bradley.  The story is nicely written, and shows the more tender side of Selina when her young friend Holly gets hurt.  Also, there was an extended cameo by Detective Crispus Allen, who was my favourite character in Gotham Central, which was probably the best comic DC published in the 2000s (and should have been resurrected for the New 52).

The art in this volume is very consistent.  Brad Rader is a very good artist, yet I'm not sure if he's done anything since this book.  I definitely don't remember seeing his name anywhere else.  His style fits nicely with that of artists like Cameron Stewart (who inks him here), Darwyn Cooke, and Michael Avon Oeming.  I picked up two more of Brubaker's Catwoman trades when I got this one; I'm looking forward to reading them.

The Finder Library Vol. 2

by Carla Speed McNeil

Finder has been my favourite comic book discovery of 2011.  Carla Speed McNeil's series has been around for years, but was completely under my radar until Dark Horse began collecting the series in the Finder Library series, serializing new adventures of main character Jaeger in their new Dark Horse Presents monthly anthology comic, and published the new graphic novel Voice.

Finder has been described as 'aboriginal science fiction', and I suppose that description works as well as any other.  The series is mostly set in the great domed city of Anvard, where millions of people live in the cramped, multi-layered, complicated society run by clans and strict social stratification that can even dictate how much artificial sunlight is pumped into a neighbourhood.  The world of Anvard is deliciously complex, and McNeil revels in constructing stories that help to expose new facets of the society, while also provide an emotional wallop.

This second volume of the Finder Library collects sixteen issues of the comic, plus whatever additional material McNeil chose to toss in (this volume does not feel as formally structured as the first).  It contains four stories: 'Dream Sequence', 'Mystery Date', 'The Rescuers', and 'Five Crazy Women', each very different in tone and content.

'Dream Sequence' is about Magri White, a prodigy who has constructed and maintains a complete virtual reality in his own mind.  Thousands of people jack into his reality, called Elsewhere, and enjoy walking around in his memories in the thousands of structures he has created.  Since childhood, Magri had been under the care of a corporation that has made billions off of Elsewhere.  The problem is that now a monster is loose in that world, and visitors are getting injured in reality.  This story is very surrealistic, and completely brilliant.  I found myself getting very wrapped up in Magri's environment, and McNeil does an amazing job of showing his frustration and decent into near-madness.

'Mystery Date' is a stark contrast to this story.  It stars Vary, a young girl who grew up as a form of ritualized temple prostitute in her home village, and who has come to Anvar for an education.  She ends up getting involved in a strange triangle with an emotionally distant professor who wears complex prosthetic legs, and his colleague, a Laeske.  Laeske are bird-lizard creatures about the size of horses, who are often as intelligent as a person.  This is a bizarre story, a romantic comedy in a completely bizarre setting, and it works very well.

'The Rescuers' is the first story in this book to feature Jaeger in a prominent role.  He is living with a group of Ascians, his adopted people, in a large dome within the dome of Anvard, that is owned by the Baron Manavelin.  The Ascians have been allowed to camp on the Baron's property, and work as servants in his estate.  One night, during an elaborate party, the Baron's infant child is kidnapped.  What follows is a form of noir detective story, as Jaeger begins to assist the rather useless local police (despite the Baron's wealth, his home is in a relatively backwards part of Anvard, and so only sub-clan police are employed there).  This was a particularly effective look into McNeil's world, and it wore the influence of the Lindbergh kidnapping on its sleeve.

The final story, 'Five Crazy Women' focuses on Jaeger and the relationships he has with the women of Anvard.  Being a drifter, and moving in and out of the city, Jaeger has few possessions and no home.  Whenever he turns up in the city for a while, he usually calls up one of his many women.  He has some difficulty finding anyone when this story opens, and so he has to find some new 'friends' to take him in, finding only some real nutcases.  This is a fun story, and it reveals more about Jaeger and his way of living.

Taken as a whole, Finder is incredible.  McNeil provides detailed notes in the back (forty pages of notes for 600 pages of comics), which is something I'm always a sucker for.  The depth in her work is pretty much unmatched in comics today - the only comparison I can think of is Neil Gaiman's Sandman for complexity and magnetic appeal.  I suppose an easier comparison would be to Frank Herbert's Dune, or perhaps Lord of the Rings, if it wasn't so boring.  I really loved immersing myself in McNeil's world, and am thankful that she is continuing to publish Jaeger's stories in DHP; I just hope that another long-form story like Voice will be coming our way soon.

As a sidebar to this, I would love to see McNeil write (and draw) Wolverine at Marvel.  Jaeger and Logan are very similar, living according to complicated codes and usually being the most noble savages in the room.  It would be a very interesting take on the character, and I think she would excel at it.