Screamland #4

Written by Harold Sipe and Christopher Sebela
Art by Lee Leslie and Buster Moody

I've enjoyed the 'Screamland' take on classic monster movies, but really feel like Sipe and Sebela upped their game with Robrain, who I originally thought was just your typical 'Nazi brain in robot body' character, before this issue.  I don't want to spoil anything (although if you study the cover carefully, you can figure it out for yourself), but this is revealed in a way that makes perfect sense, and surprises me that it hasn't been used before.

The Robrain stuff is not the central focus of the issue (although the back-up drawn by Buster Moody does provide his full origin), and in addition to that, we learn what really happened in the Phantasmagorgya sex video that our two heroes are rushing to find before it can get leaked to the press.  That revelation is not much of a surprise to anyone other than Travis, who had passed out that night and always assumed it was a normal orgy he'd missed.

This book is a lot of fun, and while I have doubts that there is enough material to keep it going past this arc, I am enjoying the ride.

Optic Nerve #12

by Adrian Tomine

I know everyone in comics land is very excited about DC's 'New 52', but finding the new issue of Optic Nerve in my pull-file was my big thrill of the week.  I'll confess from the start - I never read this title before, but did read Shortcomings, which was collected from the most recent issues (most recent meaning several years old).

This issue has two stories, and a two-page strip.  The first story, 'A Brief History of the Art Form Known as Hortisculpture', is told as a series of four-panel comic strips, with every seventh chapter being a full page in colour, evoking newspaper strips.  It's about a gardener who comes across the idea of marrying traditional sculpture with plants, having them grow within the structure, and spread out through various openings.  The comparison to Chia Pets is made early on, although I kept waiting for someone to discuss bonsai.

Unfortunately, Harold's bold new art form doesn't take off the way he'd hoped, and over a course of about six years, we follow his (and his wife's) growing frustration.  This story is quite funny, but also speaks to the inherent misery of the creative process when it is not recognized or appreciated.

The second story, 'Amber Sweet', is about a woman with more than a passing resemblance to an Internet porn star.  This association, made by fellow college students, boyfriends, and random people on the street, has a deleterious and lasting affect on the young woman's life, and when she finally meets the real Amber, we would expect that anger to rear its head.  What really happens is much more interesting of course.  This story is fully coloured, and drawn in a much more expansive style than Hortisculpture.

Taken together, we see that Tomine continues to be a master observer of relationships and the human condition.  The book is completed with a self-deprecating two-page strip about Tomine's own defense of the 'floppy' format of comics.  This book isn't actually coming out in most stores until next week (my store has a hook-up I suspect), and you won't find anything better on the shelves.  Pick it up.

Morning Glories #12

Written by Nick Spencer
Art by Joe Eisma

Now that this comic has reached the twelve-issue mark, it's time for Spencer to start bringing some of the story elements together, but instead, he's tossing us new characters and new complications.

This issue opens with Lara Hodge being dropped off for work.  From the way she's dressed, she looks like a park ranger (or zoo keeper), but she takes an elevator deep underground (in a hazmat suit), and then rides a golf cart down a long tunnel, before arriving at the Morning Glory Academy (which I did not previously realize was underground).

From there, we learn that she is the Guidance Counselor for the school, and is very popular with the student body.  Spencer establishes that she is often at odds with the people we've come to think are running the place, and she clearly has her own agenda.

It's an interesting element to toss into the book - someone that the usual cast of kids may be able to trust, but we've learned not to trust anything in this book.  I like how this series has been shaping up, but after a year, I do wonder when we're going to get a little more solid indication of what is really going on.

The Unwritten #28

Written by Mike Carey
Art by Peter Gross and Vince Locke

I'm pretty much a month late on this because it somehow got missed at my comic store, which was shorted on their order.

There are some very cool things happening in The Unwritten right now.  As Tom continues to read his father's journals, we are given a lengthy flashback to Taylor Sr.'s time in New York, when he worked for the Cabal.  He's been sent to investigate a Golden Age comic strip called the Tinker.  The cartoonist of this series is a woman writing under a pseudonym, and they quickly fall for each other, forcing Taylor to disobey his orders to kill her.

What's interesting is the substance of their relationship, and the ideas that it is built around.  Miriam Walzer, the artist, is as interested as Taylor in the way in which stories can help construct reality, and they discuss a number of philosophical ideas, which she then incorporates into her strip (I love the Orpheus and Eurydice stuff).

As has become common on this book, the flashback pages are inked by Vince Locke, creating a noticeable difference between the past and present sequences, while maintaining a consistent look to the book.  I found myself when Locke inked Guy Davis on Sandman Mystery Theater back in the day (I really need to read those again - they were great).

Wholphin No. 7

Edited by Brent Hoff

I find I do not tire of watching Wholphins.  Each one is so diverse, with the only discernible criteria for entry being excellence.

This seventh volume of the series, which collects short films, documentaries, and pieces of animation, contains some pretty impressive stuff, including what has probably been my favourite Wholphin selection to date.

'Glory At Sea' is an incredible twenty-five minute film by director Benjamin Zeitlin.  It's a surrealistic exploration of grief and longing in a post-Katrina-like landscape.  It opens with a young girl narrating.  She, alongside many of her neighbours, is floating at the bottom of the sea, feeling pity for people still living.  She realizes that one of the people around her is still alive just as he is thrown back to land.  Once there, he sets about building a boat which he can use to find the love of his life.  Other people in the community come to help him, bringing with them items they feel are imbued with luck.  Eventually, their ramshackle craft is ready, and they set out to find reunion with the people they've lost.  I found this film to be immensely moving and very beautiful.

Also on this disc, I enjoyed 'The Discipline of DE', a short directed by Gus Van Sant while still in school.  It's an adaptation of a William S. Burroughs piece, wherein the narrator proclaims the virtues of his philosophy of DE - Do Easy.  I imagine that this philosophy, which has you repeat actions until they are done correctly, could really catch on with people on the autism spectrum.

'Cold and Dry' is a cool short from Norway which examines the social ramifications of improved cryogenics technology, as people opt to preserve themselves in the picture of health, because of any number of personal issues they would rather avoid.

'Choque' is a cool Spanish film about what happens when pride, machismo, or a desire to save face prevent people from backing down from situations that they can not reasonably extricate themselves from, as a man learns when he gets into it at a basement amusement park with some younger guys.

In terms of documentaries, this Wholphin provides a few excellent ones.  'Refugee All-Stars' features the band from Sierra Leone of the same name.  There is plenty of their music to help punctuate their stories, as they begin to travel to other refugee camps to spread their example of refugees who find ways to maintain relevance in society.

'Nutkin's Last Stand' is an odd documentary about the fight against the gray squirrel in Northern England.  The grays are squeezing out the red squirrels that make that region their home, and people are mobilizing to put an end to this.  There are a few odd moments featuring your typical eccentric Brits - one woman has a squirrel tearing around the inside of her home, while another man, whose job is to dispatch the trapped grays, describes them as being 'only good for shooting'.  Later, the scene where a couple sample squirrel pancakes was perhaps a bit much for me.

'Notes From Dimension X' is a tantalizing short cartoon about a man who has been trapped on a desert planet for many years, waiting for a crystal to light up and transport him.  This is a perfect example of when a short is too short, as there was enough interesting material here, discussing memory and how it can fade, to satisfy in a much longer piece.

There's other stuff on here too - a description of an artist's love affair with an alien, an animated film about an autistic young man's return to a Six Flags park after three years, and the usual DVD menu shorts, but they didn't particularly stand out to me.

Vietnam Journal Book Three: From the Delta to Dak To

by Don Lomax

Working my way through Transfuzion's new editions of Don Lomax's classic Vietnam War comic is a treat, despite the poor production values that make the reproduction unnecessarily grainy.  In this third volume, Lomax's journalist hero, Journal, continues to have a number of adventures with the American military.

We see life on the Mekong Delta, when Journal embeds with the Mobile Riverine Force, which patrolled the reeds looking to disrupt VC activity.  We also join American forces in a desperate attempt to hold, and ultimately give up a nameless hill in the jungle.

As usual, the character of Journal takes more risks and liberties than any journalist covering the war would have been able to do.  He is first to volunteer to rescue the injured, and also goes against command in his desire to help bring what he believes to be the family of a dead Vietnamese contact back to base (of course, they end up having VC sympathies).  While credulity is frequently stretched, it is done with the intent of providing new entry points or perspectives into the war, so it's all good.

This book is very readable.  I find it hard to put these comics down, even despite the production issues.

True Soul Vol. 1 & 2

Deep Sounds From the Left of Stax

Now-Again records has to be my favourite boutique label.  With the True Soul collection (I'll discuss both Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 here), label founder Egon has put together an amazing accounting of the work that came out of True Soul Records, an independent label which specialized in soul and funk during the 60s and 70s in Arkansas.

There is an impressive array of talent on these two CDs - much of which was never released before this came out.  There is work by York Wilborn's Psychedelic Six, The Conspiracy, The Leaders, Larry Davis, The Right Track, John Craig, Le'Chance, Albert Smith, Classic Funk, and more.  The best tracks on the compilations belong to Thomas East, who is incredible.

Each of these discs come in a hardcover book, with extensive liner notes.  In them, Egon talks about traveling to Little Rock while in college to meet Lee Anthony, the founder of the True Soul label.  He describes the impressive amount of work it took to get permission to issue this release, and he writes in a loving and respectful way of Anthony's accomplishments.  In many ways, I found this essay (included in both discs) to be the best part of the entire package.

As an added bonus, each album comes with a DVD that shows some TV appearances of the True Soul roster back in the day, with horrible TV production and all.  It's pretty charming and funky.  This is an amazing project.

Strikeforce: Morituri #1 - 10

Written by Peter B. Gillis
Art by Brent Anderson, Scott Williams, and Whilce Portacio

I've always been curious about this comic.  I remember when it came out, and being intrigued by a series about characters who are expected to die at any point, who actually do. I'm not sure why I never bought an issue, but when I found the entire series at a ridiculously low price while on vacation, I thought it was time to correct that.  I only bought the first ten issues, not being sure of how good the series would be, and not wanting to have too many comics bulking up my luggage.

That's unfortunate, because now that I've read these first issues, I want to read the rest.  The comic is set in the future, at a time when the Earth has fallen victim to The Horde, a barbarous race of hoarders and scavengers, who have appropriated technology from any number of races.  They randomly seem to attack human cities, stealing technology, old film reels, Hershey's chocolate, and slaves.

The only weapon that seems effective against them is the Morituri process.  This turns regular humans into superheroes, with an unpredictable and wide-ranging power set.  The only problem is that the powers will burn the person out, an event expected to happen within a year, but often sooner.  In other words, this comic is a science fiction mash-up of THUNDER Agents and Suicide Squad.  For a comic from the 80s, the writing holds up very well, with a slow development of the characters, and an element of the unknown (any book that kills off the POV character within its first year gets my vote).

The comics were written by Peter B. Gillis, and it's impressive that he got such a long run on the book.  Also impressive is the art by Brent Anderson and Scott Williams.  Anderson has always been a classic artist, and it's nice to see such a substantial body of work from him.  The Whilce Portacio pages (used for flashbacks in the first issue, and for a flashback tenth issue) are interesting, as this work would have been some of his first for Marvel.

It seems I now have a new list of comics to hunt for at conventions and sales.

Casanoval Gula #1-4

Written by Matt Fraction
Art by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá

In anticipation of the new Casanova series starting this week (Avaritia), I picked up the second Icon series, which reprinted the second half of the original Image series.  I wanted to be brought back up to speed on the comic, as Casanova can be a pretty wild and confusing ride at the best of times.

Working through this series for the second time, and so recently after having read the first volume, I am once again struck by the level of creativity on display.  Casanova, our titular hero, goes missing somewhere in time (hence the question 'When is Casanova Quinn?' which graces the cover and gets repeated frequently throughout the story), and the entire time-space continuum is at risk of falling apart, or perhaps just resetting to the moment when Cass first entered the dimension that the stories take place in.  Arch villain Xeno Newman puts into motion a plan to secure the timeline, but to do so, he has to hire XSM (the X doesn't stand for anything, it stands for everything!) to construct a massive gun, and to kill anyone who knows about the mysterious H element.

To do this, XSM hires the newly returned Zephyr Quinn, and her and Kubark Benday, the scion of XSM (who is named after a CIA torture manual) go on a bit of a killing spree.  There's a lot more blood than the first volume, with just as many unexpected moments.

For this run, Fraction was joined by artist Fábio Moon, brother to original artist Gabriel Bá (who contributes a new back-up story).  Now, anyone who has read my stuff knows that Bá and Moon are some of my favourite comics creators (read Daytrippers!), but it's rare to be able to compare their work side by side, as they so often collaborate.  Moon's work here seems fuller than Bá's work on the first series.  It's interesting that the colour palette for this series is also much richer.  In the first volume, when it was being recoloured for Icon, the book retained much of the original monochromatic look of the Image series.  For this volume, things are much more varied.

Now that I'm up to date, I can't wait for Avaritia to start.

Expensive Shit / He Miss Road

by Fela Ransome Kuti & Africa 70

It's really only recently that I've come to discover that Knitting Factory Records has reissued so many of Fela Kuti's records in the last two years.  Faced with a plethora of choices at an HMV a little while ago, I thought I'd go for the one with the funny title and the topless girls on the cover - you usually can't go wrong...

This disc contains two albums that Fela and his band originally released in 1975.  Expensive Shit was Fela's response to a police raid during which he swallowed a joint that the police planted on him.  Later, they tested his feces for evidence of marijuana, but weren't able to press charges for it.  That album also contains the song 'Water Get No Enemy', based on a Yourban proverb. The second album, He Miss Road, contains three tracks, including the seventeen minute 'Its No Possible'.

Both of these albums are prime examples of Fela's approach to Afrobeat, and they are terrific.  I am not sure how many of these reissues, which duplicate the front and back artwork for both albums they contain, there are, or what it will cost me to collect a complete set, but I think I know what I'm going to be hunting for in any number of cd shops from here on out.

Planet of the Apes #1-5

Written by Daryl Gregory
Art by Carlos Magno

Well, now this was a nice surprise.  I've been a fan of the Planet of the Apes since I was in grade 10, when City TV began broadcasting all five of the original movies at 1:00 each afternoon, and I ended up missing a week's worth of classes, choosing to stay home and indulge (ads and all).  That was the same year that Adventure Comics began their run with the property, with a black and white series drawn by the great Kent Burles.  I stayed a fan until the Tim Burton version of the movie ruined the franchise for me.  I haven't made plans to see the film currently in the theatres.

I was mildly interested in Boom's new take on the Apes, but am really trying to cut back on buying too many titles, especially if they are priced at $4.  I grabbed the first four issues at Fan Expo last week though, and this week's $1 fifth issue, and am very impressed and pleased with what I've found.

This series is set during the days of the Lawgiver, some 1200 years before the events of the Charlton Heston film.  Humans and Apes are living together, but separately, in relative peace and mutual distrust.  When the Lawgiver is assassinated by a human with an automatic rifle in the first issue, that peace looks to be shattered forever.  As it turns out, both ape and human populations are controlled (loosely) by the Lawgiver's adopted granddaughters - one human, one a chimp.

Each leader begins their own investigation, and they discover the depth of anti-ape sentiment in Skintown, the human township.  Alaya, the Council Voice frees an older general, imprisoned for anti-human war crimes, to track down the assassin, and he blockades the human settlement.  Meanwhile, Sullivan, the Skintown 'mayor' learns more about the dissent among her own people, including the 'silents', the younger generation who are loosing the ability to speak.

This story works very well because it channels any number of familiar political situations.  There are elements of Jim Crow America and apartheid-era South Africa, but what this comic made me think of the most is the Israel/Palestine conflict, played out in allegorical form.  Once I started reading this book in intifada terms, the appearance of suicide bombers made perfect sense.

Daryl Gregory is not a writer I'm familiar with, but I do appreciate the depth of thought and planning he's put into this title.  Carlos Magno is pretty interesting here.  The last I saw of him, he was drawing DC's horrendous Countdown series, but this book looks nothing like that.  Here, his work is highly detailed and quite believable.  I'm afraid that Boom may have just gotten me to add another comic to my pull-list.  I think this may be replacing Farscape as my one licensed title.

Video Noire

Written by Carlos Trillo
Art by Eduardo Risso

I'd wondered why more of Carlos Trillo and Eduardo Risso's comics weren't being published in English.  Having read some or all of Vampire Boy, Borderline, and Chicanos this summer, I've formed a very favourable impression of this prolific Argentinian duo.  Then I read Video Noire, and became thankful for editorial curator-ship, when it comes to non-English comics getting translated for the North American market.

It's not that this book is bad...  Well, actually, it kind of is.  The story is about a gorgeous children's television host who is using mass media to affect the minds of the young, so that they will participate in Satanic rituals with her.  A hermaphroditic clean freak hires a private detective to investigate her, but he is killed.  Soon, his partner and ex-friend takes up the cause.

This is a bleak and mean little story, hampered by the fact that it hasn't aged very well, and has been surpassed by the creator's later efforts.  Risso's art is always great, and he draws some lovely ladies here, and continues to fill his backgrounds with silent stories of their own (people get held up a lot in his comics), but he isn't quite able to breathe enough life into this predictable and at the same time bizarre script.

I'd avoid this one - read Vampire Boy instead.

Oneirology

by Cunninlynguists

I'll never really understand how a hip-hop group which built its reputation by being irreverent jokesters (how can you take a group with that name seriously) is also capable of putting together such a mature, serious, and beautiful album as Oneirology.  It's not the first - A Piece of Strange is more thoughtful and generally better, but they maintained the same feel through Dirty Acres.  That shouldn't be surprising - except that between albums, they've also been putting out their Strange Journeys mixtapes, which include a song about a woman taking a dump so powerful it breaks the toilet.

Anyway, Oneirology.  It has more of Kno's lush production, with perhaps a bit of an 80s synth theme in places.  He creates some lovely soundscapes, which match perfectly with rappers Deacon the Villain and Natty's voices.  His own rapping on a couple of tracks leads something to be desired, but it's all good.

One thing I've noticed is that no matter how many times I listen to this album, and that has been a lot of times, I find that the subject matter washes past me, as I give more attention to the beats.  I couldn't even tell you if there is a concept to this album or not.

The Vault #2

Written by Sam Sarkar
Art by Garrie Gastonny

I wasn't all that impressed with the first issue of this mini-series, but upon reading it a second time, I felt that there was more potential than was apparent at first glance.  That fact, coupled with the fact that this was the smallest new comics week in months (thanks DC), meant that this series got a second chance.

This issue is much better, as the story about archaeologists and treasure hunters digging up a strange sarcophagus on Nova Scotia's Sable Island became more of a creature story, like Aliens.  The thing in the sarcophagus is too large and heavy to be human bone, and of course, someone decides to open up the large coffin and have a look.  This doesn't go well, and people start coming under attack from it.

We're squarely in movie-pitch land here, as I suspect that this comic is one of those created simply with the aims of selling the movie rights, but it's still becoming a decent story.  I especially liked the scene with the wild horse, although I'm sure that most of the American audience would not be aware of Sable Island's fabled horses, especially since the text does nothing to explain their presence, even when they begin to take on a key role in the tale.

This is not a great comic, but it's a decent one, with nice art.  I'll definitely be getting the conclusion next month.

The Sixth Gun #14

Written by Cullen Bunn
Art by Tyler Crook

Talk about coming from nowhere.  A couple of months ago, I'd never seen anything by Tyler Crook.  Now, he's popping up all over the place, landing the job as Guy Davis's replacement on BPRD, and having his original graphic novel, Petrograd, come out at the same time.  Now, he's guest artisted this issue of The Sixth Gun.

This is an interlude issue, telling the story of Asher Cobb, the seven-foot mummy that fought Drake Sinclair last issue.  We learn, through the framing sequence of a discussion at a freak show, how Asher came into the world, and the sad story that led to his eventual mummification and undead status.

Bunn has worked hard to create a solid Western mythology in the Sixth Gun world, and this issue helps strengthen that foundation.  Asher's birth was peculiar, as was his appearance and abilities that echo the ones granted by the gun in Becky Moncrief's possession.

Crook's art looks great here.  His style is different enough from regular artist Brian Hurtt that this issue will stand out in a trade, but he also sticks to the basics of this series, and works within the visual milieu that Hurtt has established.  This is always an impressive series (especially when compared to Bunn's recent work at Marvel).