Old City Blues

by Giannis Milonogiannis

I've liked Giannis Milonogiannis's work on Brandon Graham's Prophet, so I thought it might be time to check out his web-comic turned graphic novel Old City Blues.

This book is set in New Athens in 2048, after a flood wiped out much of Greece, and the country (except for the walled off Old City) was rebuilt with the help of the Japanese Hayashi Corporation.  This is a police comic, centred on Detective Solano, who has been investigating a string of strange and seemingly connected murders.  They escalate to the point where Mr. Hayashi himself is the target, although a string of clues suggest that it was Hayashi's own company that did him in.

This book is a love letter to manga, and so cops use 'mobile guns', which are armoured suits that can fly above the city tracking criminals.  We also have cybernetically enhanced humans, and advanced cars and things like that.  I can see why Milonogiannis was tapped to work on Prophet, as there is a similar visual aesthetic, although his work is rougher here than it appears these days.

Milonogiannis uses a lot of speed lines and rough figures to add excitement and kinetic energy to his story.  There is minimal character development, and the plot rolls out along somewhat predictable lines.  At the same time, there is a level of enthusiasm about this work that is pretty infectious.  I see that Archaia has recently released a second volume; I definitely enjoyed this one enough to want to read the new one.  I'd be curious to see how Milonogiannis has grown as a writer after working with Graham and his crew for the last couple of years.

Prophet #33

Written by Brandon Graham with Giannis Milonogiannis and Simon Roy
Art by Giannis Milonogiannis

To the extent that you can have a typical issue of Prophet following its rebirth at the hands of Brandon Graham, this would be it.  I don't want to suggest that this book is falling into a rut, because it remains wildly inventive and original, but there's not much in this issue that doesn't feel familiar and predictable, within the confines of the weirdness that Graham has set up for this story.

Old Man Prophet and his crew fly their ship to a rendezvous with the woman armada (it says Amanda in the book, but I think that's a typo) of the Babel-Horolegion.  These are butterfly-like creatures that travel in living ships that are "a union of thought and form".  We learn that their ship is being powered by the long-dead body of Supreme, and soon enough, they are attacked by some kind of wave of psychic pain.

One of the many things that I've loved about this series is the way in which Graham has taken his time setting up the coming conflict with the Earth Empire, and this issue continues in that vein.  This issue doesn't really further that plot, and I kind of wonder at its inclusion in the storyline.

At the same time, Graham's writing is sharp, and Milonogiannis makes use of some very cool designs.

Prophet #31

Written by Brandon Graham, Simon Roy, and Giannis Milonogiannis
Art by Giannis Milonogiannis

I feel like, as Old Man Prophet has gathered up a group of allies to help him stop the Earth Empire, this book is getting a definite Farscape theme to it, and that is something I don't mind at all.

In this issue, John and his companions travel to the remains of the body of Ixpoliniox, a space giant whose body has now been colonized by creatures that mine his blood, muscle, and flesh.  The body parts are the site of an active trading colony, and, for some reason, are a target of the Earth Empire.

John's crew confront one of his clones, while John runs in to The Troll, another one of Rob Liefeld's characters from back in the day that I only vaguely remember (after looking at images on-line) as a bit of a cross between Wolverine, Puck, and the Beast.  He hints that another Youngblood mainstay is still bumping around the galaxy as well, but this is really not the focus of the book.

The characters are beginning to interact with each other a lot more, with the tree-alien Hiyonhoiagn providing some comic relief, and helping to add to the general Farscape feeling I mentioned earlier (this whole issue reminded me of the episode where the crew of Moya ended up on the body of a space-whale).

Graham is the master of the inventive and strange, and he uses a vastly different tone here than he does in Multiple Warheads, although both books are fantastic.

Prophet #30

Written by Brandon Graham, Giannis Milonogiannis and Simon Roy
Art by Giannis Milonogiannis and Brandon Graham

Two Brandon Graham books in the same week?  What a great time to enjoy great comics!

This issue of Prophet is one of Graham's best (and that's saying a lot) as he starts to tie together some of the different threads of his story by having characters begin to meet and work together.

This issue opens with a focus on Rein-East, an assassin sent to kill one of a ruling clan on a world we haven't seen before.  She is successful, but also captured.  This part of the comic is very cool, as once again, Graham throws a large number of strange concepts and ideas at us, which all seem perfectly normal within the world he's created.

After that, we check in with Old Man Prophet and his traveling companions.  They've come to the same planet, where Prophet once lived with his greatest love.  Their arrival reminds me of a key scene in The Empire Strikes Back, and they are soon fighting for their lives, joined by Rein-East, and Jaxson, the robotic creature we were introduced to a few months back.

Giannis Milonogiannis handles most of the art in this issue, and his work has really grown on me to where I think he is equal to Simon Roy, the artist who first worked on this book when Graham relaunched it.  Graham himself finishes off the issue with his own art, something I didn't expect and was very happy to see.

Prophet remains one of the best comics being published today.

Prophet #28

Written by Brandon Graham with Giannis Milonogiannis and Simon Roy
Art by Giannis Milonogiannis

In the last issue of Prophet, the newly-returned 'Old Man Prophet', as he is called here, reunited with his old friend Hiyonhoiagn, after a thousand-year absence (the friend is a living tree).  Together, they set off to find the remaining pieces of their old companion, the former Youngblood team member Diehard.

In this issue, they've found most of that ancient android, and he has begun leading them to the rest of his body.  To find his head, they travel to Juno, where Dolmantles (the blanket-like creatures that one of Prophet's clones used in an earlier issue to help him survive) have taken over all of the inhabitants.

The issue is full of bizarre action and Graham's peculiar style of tossing readers into his strange worlds without taking any time to explain what is happening.  The level of creativity and individuality in this book is stunning, and I continue to enjoy it in a way that is different from everything else that is on the stands in the comic stores.

Now that Prophet has restored his friend, I hope that we are going to get a better idea of just why he is in opposition to the Earth Empire, and how he is going to interact with all of his offspring or clones that we have been seeing since Graham relaunched the title.

This is a very attractive book, and I guarantee it is like nothing else you are reading right now.

Prophet #27

Written by Brandon Graham with Giannis Milonogiannis and Simon Roy
Art by Giannis Milogiannis

Since being relaunched a few months ago, Brandon Graham has given us a number of short stories featuring characters that are related to the old Rob Liefeld property John Prophet.  Most of those stories have been about clones, and their tales have taken us all over a distant future populated with bizarre creatures and inexplicable social structures.  Each issue as been fantastic - a blend of strange science fiction, strong narration, and wonderful art by a variety of artists.  A couple issues back, the original Prophet appeared, and now with this issue, we are following him on his journey.

When the book opens, Prophet is travelling on a space worm, waiting for it to take him to his destination - a pod-world populated by giant tree-like creatures called the Kinniaa.  He is looking for his former companion in war, Hiyonhoiagn.  It takes a while to find him, but when he does, the tree has kept some of his former possessions, including an arm that used to belong to Diehard, the Youngblood android.  Next, Prophet and Hiyonhoiagn go looking for a spaceship to help them find the rest of Diehard, but they are attacked by space-sharks.

There is a dream-like quality that permeates every page of this series, as Graham takes his time making clear just what this series is about, and just what is going on.  I find that I'm not too concerned with the overarching plot of this series; I'm perfectly happy to watch Prophet or one of his clones be put through the strange and wonderful worlds that Graham keeps creating.  I do get the sense that all of the various characters we've me so far are going to collide with one another somewhere down the road, but for now, I'm just enjoying the journey.

Milonogiannis's art is definitely growing on me, and that's good, as it's beginning to look like he's the regular artist on this series.  It must be difficult to come on to a book that has already featured artists like Simon Roy, Farel Dalrymple, and Graham himself, but Milogiannis has a style that meshes well with these other artists, and which seems capable of clearly depicting some very wild things.  I believe that the first trade of the new Prophet is coming out next month, and I cannot stress enough how much I think anyone who enjoys intelligent, odd-ball comics or science fiction should check this out, as should anyone who wants to read something original with beautiful art.

Prophet #25

Written by Brandon Graham with Giannis Milonogiannis and Simon Roy, and Frank Teran
Art by Giannis Milonogiannis and Frank Teran

Prophet continues to be one of the most creative and original comics on the stand, but I am happy to see that this issue ends in such a way as to suggest that something different is going to begin happening sometime soon.

Since the series was relaunched (after being abandoned for some fifteen years), it's been hard to predict.  The first three issues involved John Prophet reawakening on Earth after thousands of years of change, with a mission he had to complete.  Then, there was a done-in-one issue that involved a different, tailed, John Prophet waking up on a spaceship, having to complete a mission.

Now, with this issue, three different Johns (none named Prophet) are on an alien world, hunting a living tool-creature (it's not all that clear).  The story is very similar to last month's except now there's more than one protagonist, and an ending that does lead me to believe that this series will acknowledge it's god-awful roots in the 90s.  Brandon Graham (and his collaborators) continue to write this book in a Heavy Metal style, which is sometimes confusing, but also gripping.

This issue's artist, Giannis Milonogiannis, is new to me, but he's the perfect choice if the intent was to find someone who can bridge and blend the previous artists Simon Roy and Farel Dalrymple's styles. Frank Teran's back-up series Initiate continues, and it's interesting and pretty, even if not a whole lot makes sense.

I feel like it's time for Graham to start tightening up his plans for this series, but I am enjoying this series a great deal.