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 Vault #1

Written by Sam Sarkar
Art by Garrie Gastonny

These days, I'm willing to give just about any new Image book a shot, as they've had such a great track record lately, and I thought this book looked intriguing when I leafed through it in the store.

It's about a group of treasure hunters and archaeologists who are convinced that there is some valuable treasure in a water-filled pit on Sable Island in Nova Scotia.  They have a lot of high-tech equipment, although not enough to retrieve it, and have to bring in some other dude, who has a robotic diving dog thing, although they don't want to pay his price.

It's sort of established that they are working against the clock, because of an impending hurricane (how often does that happen in Nova Scotia?), and there is a strange supernatural element to this story, as hinted at in the first few pages, and then mysteriously revealed at the very end.

I feel like this comic has a lot of problems.  To begin with, it took me a while at the beginning to get a grasp of what's going on.  It's hard to understand what makes this particular dive so different, and why it requires such amazing technology.  The biggest problem with this book is the hurricane though.  In a classic example of tell, don't show, we know there's a hurricane coming because the characters keep talking about how worried they are about it, and how it's going to wreck their communications with the mainland, but it doesn't seem to materialize in any way that matches the amount of concern on display.  It seems they have to abandon their boat, but have plenty of time to bring up treasure chests.  There is also the concern that other people may come and take their treasure, but they don't explain how these other people would have the needed tech...

There's some stuff to like here - especially Gastonny's clear pencils, but I don't think there's enough.  Even though that last page really caught my interest, I'm not sure if I'll be back for more.

Supergod #5

Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Garrie Gastonny

While only seven months late, the conclusion to Ellis's strange science fiction series is pretty satisfying.

Supergod has been an odd duck from the beginning.  It's been narrated by a British scientist who has been involved in his country's plans to create an artificial god (based on space mushrooms).  The same thing has been happening in other countries, and basically, they all fight.

Of course, it's more complicated than that, as Ellis works with the religious traditions and beliefs of a number of different cultures, and tries to map them onto the different countries' imagined approach to theological weapons of mass destruction.  While the series has had a number of interesting and novel ideas, it has lacked a real heart or sense of focus.  It's hard to care about the ending of the world when it's hard to care about any of the people on it.

Still, this has been a competent and interesting thought exercise of a limited series, and is destined to read better in one setting (without half-year gaps between issues).  Gastonny's art is pretty nice, although done in the Avatar house style.  Now that this series is finished, is there hope that we may see another issue of Doktor Sleepless one day?

Supergod #4

Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Garrie Gastonny

It was a surprise to see that this book was released this week (it was originally solicited for February), and reading it after a a gap between issues of about four months, it becomes a good illustration of the limitations of Warren Ellis as a writer.

Now don't get me wrong, I have a lot of respect for Ellis.  He's written tons of comics that I love, but he is known as someone who returns to the same well a little too often.  That's not really my complaint with Supergod though.

Supergod is about artificial gods that have been created by the different nations, in a new twist on the superhuman cold war approach that we've seen many times before.  The gods are fascinating, and take many interesting and novel forms.  There is a British god made up of mushroom spores from space growing on the conjoined bodies of three astronauts.  How cool is that?

The problem is that the story lacks any emotional centre.  The whole thing is narrated by one of the scientists who worked on the British project, and he's narrating through a telephone to his American colleague.  The world is well and truly screwed at this point (the Iranian god was tossed through the moon, destroying it), and it's kind of hard to care.  The narrator could be writing a government report for all we care about him, and it becomes increasingly clear that Ellis is simply playing out these ideas without bothering to invest the story with any real human interest.

Had he structured this as a longer series, and had taken the time to develop the characters and the world, this could be quite fascinating.  As it stands right now, it's kind of cool, but heartless.

Supergod #3

Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Garrie Gastonny

Only Warren Ellis can write a book like this. The third issue of Supergod continues to tell the story of mankind's experiments with artificially created super-humans, who are given god-like attributes and qualities.

We've already established that the Indian's Krishna has unleashed nuclear Armageddon on the sub-continent, and now the other countries are rushing to respond. Conflict is inevitable, but the British are the ones who think to save themselves by having their Celtic space-mushroom trinity god go work out some form of accord. Like I said, only from Ellis.

Included in this issue is Dajjal, the American-backed Iraqi contribution to the proceedings, Dajjal, named after the Islamic version of the anti-Christ, and able to make use of 'tactical perception', an ability that allowed him to see into all timelines.

There's a lot of crazy big ideas floating through this comic, and many of them shouldn't be mistaken for an actual plot, which seems to be kind of missing, but when the concepts are this cool, who really cares about plot?

Supergod #2

Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Garrie Gastonny
The second issue of Ellis's latest title is much like the first - some old British guy is telling some American the history of the world's different superhuman projects, on what appears to be the last night of existence.

Ellis does a great job here of weaving national stereotypes and characters into these different projects. The Chinese superhuman is reflective of their attempts to erase theology, while the American superhuman is a naive, easily-manipulated Christian who believes he is dead but can travel back and forth from Heaven to the USA, because the country has signed a contract with God. Only an American could believe that....

There hasn't been much in the way of action yet, but as a piece of illustrated speculative pseudo-science, this comic is quite successful.

Supergod #1

Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Garrie Gastonny

I think that Warren Ellis has become a genre, just like Jack Kirby has. In twenty or thirty years, people will be publishing comics in this genre, similar to how Joe Casey's Godland mines (and improves) deposits of psychic Kirby.

When other people do start writing in Ellis-ian styles (pay attention Matt Fraction), certain things will have to be present: experimental rockets, alternative histories, and irreverent characters. Those are the essential building blocks. From there, creators will have the freedom to add any number of supplemental story elements - space mushroom spores which create gods (which require of their subjects much masturbation) - that make absolutely no sense on the surface, except that they lead to creative, individualistic comics.

It's interesting to me that, right at the same time that Ellis's work becomes almost routine in its set-up and execution, he begins to dig into some very big topics, such as humanity's need to create god-figures for itself. This comic opens with a British man explaining through a bluetooth device, the history of mankind's efforts to create a super-being, and how incredibly wrong this has all gone. It's a clever comic, adequately drawn by Gastonny. I do look forward to seeing where this is going to go.