Hawken: Genesis

Written by Dan Jevons, Miles Williams, Khang Le, and Jeremy Barlow
Art by Fracisco Ruiz Velasco, Alex Sanchez, Kody Chamberlain, Sid Kotian, Bill Sienkiewicz, Bagus Hutomo, Michael Gaydos, Federico Dallocchio, Nathan Fox, and Christopher Moeller

I picked up two issues of Archaia's Hawken: Melee mini-series, because they featured work by Jim Mahfood and Nathan Fox, both of whom are on my buy-on-site list.  I was impressed with the depth of the Hawken world, and its celebration of war-suit pilots on a level we reserve for athletes, pop singers, and actors.

I don't play video games, and have no knowledge of Hawken outside of those two comics, but Hawken: Genesis caught my eye because of the lovely design work by Archaia, and because of the list of artists associated with the project.  It explains why the planet of Illal, a resource-rich colony planet controlled by various corporations, has become a blasted war zone, infected by a nano-virus that is taking over the surface.

The writers of this book focus the story around two men, Rion Lazlo, a ruthless corporate spy with unbridled ambition, and James Hawken, a brilliant scientist responsible for the best and worst advancements on the planet.  When the book opens, Hawkens is toiling away in obscurity for Sentium, one of the two big corporations that run everything on the planet.  Lazlo has defected to Prosk, Sentium's rival, and he manages to bring his friend over.

Eventually, Hawken develops the technology that allows for lightweight and fast mech devices, which are of course, immediately put into warfare.  As relations between the two corporations worsen, and as resource scarcity makes war more profitable, things just keep getting worse on Illal, although the depth of the problems take a while to be revealed.

This book follows these two characters over a few decades, setting up what I assume is the environment and rationale for the game to exist in.  The writers do a good job of covering the human and business reasons, and make good use of text pages to fill in some backstory.

The big draw to this book is the art, which is provided by comics artists as well as game design types.  Each chapter and interlude has been drawn or painted by somebody different, although there is decent visual stability throughout the book.  This was an impressive project, and I hope it's something that Archaia revisits.

Sweets #5

by Kody Chamberlain

Kody Chamberlain's debut series turned out to be a lot more ambitious than I gave it credit for in the beginning.  At first, this comic seemed to be a serial killer mystery, set in New Orleans a day or two before Katrina is expected to hit.  There were a number of standard elements for a story like this - a grieving detective, a weird serial killer calling card (pralines - the cause of the series' title), and so on.

Slowly though, Chamberlain took his story into some more original territory.  The cartoonish flashbacks to the killer's childhood suggested that there was more happening, but it wasn't until this issue's exploration of the concept of synchronicity that I realized how creative Chamberlain really was in plotting this tale.  I'm sure if I were to go back and read the book from the beginning (or read it in trade), I would pick up on a lot of details that I missed.  It's nice to see creators try out some new ideas like this, even if I'm not convinced of how successful this book was at achieving all of its goals.  I do appreciate the plotting here though, and would definitely buy another series by Chamberlain.

Sweets #4

by Kody Chamberlain

I'd started to worry when I'd see this book, although it's worth the wait.  Chamberlain has given us an interesting police procedural, and I've been curious to see where it was all going.

As the last issue ended, our two detectives were in a car accident with their chief suspect in the Sweets murders.  Now, the surviving cop learns that there may be a connection between this murderer and his own dead daughter, who had died in a car accident.  Of  course, he goes a little nuts, and heads off to find the killer himself.

What keeps this comic from being just another run of the mill cop comic is the way Chamberlain has played with the reader.  First, there are the strange flashback sequences that supposedly let us know why the killer is the way he is.  Next, there's the neatness of the whole thing - the Detective knows that life doesn't wrap up the way this case seems to be, and is suspicious.

One complaint I have is that for a story supposedly taking place immediately before Hurrican Katrina is supposed to hit New Orleans, there is surprisingly little reference to the storm.  I would have assumed that by this point, despite the fact that no one knew how bad the storm would be, that it would be a frequent topic of conversation.  It's not mentioned in this comic at all.  I do look forward to seeing how Chamberlain is going to wrap all of this up, and I hope it's satisfying.

Sweets #3

by Kody Chamberlain

I'm glad I decided to stick with Sweets.  On the one hand, it's a fairly conventional police procedural, but Chamberlain has done enough to the story to make it stay pretty interesting.

I like that the story is set in New Orleans just days before Hurricane Katrina is set to make landfall.  It adds a sense of urgency to the story, as the reader knows a few things the characters don't about how hard it will become to catch the killer in just a matter of days.

Also, I like the way that the two detectives go about their business.  Their crotchety relationship, and innovative approaches to policing remind me a little of some of the better scenes in Homicide: Life on the Streets, which is always a kind comparison to make.  Finally, the flashback pages, with their bright colours and more primitive art style continue to be my favourite part of the book.

I did find the last few pages of the comic to be pretty confusing.  Was that Sweets, the killer, firing at the two cops, or was that just some random New Orleans violence?  The other two issues gave Sweets some screen time, and this issue does not, so I wasn't sure who I was looking at.

Still and all though, this is a pretty good comic.

Sweets #1

by Kody Chamberlain

Sweets is, based on the first issue, a difficult comic to describe.  It's a police procedural set in antediluvian New Orleans, where a serial killer has killed six times in a matter of days, and in each instant, left behind some pecan pralines.  We have the usual characters - a drunk detective, devastated by the recent loss of his daughter, his good-hearted partner, and a tough as nails lieutenant.

Were that all that was going on, I'd dump the book right now.  But Chamberlain has some other ideas for this title, and I feel like this first issue is really just a sampler of what's to come.  That makes this issue a little hard to follow, but more interesting at the same time.

While most of the book is drawn in a gritty, realistic style (like on the cover), there are a couple of pages in the middle laid out in a 16-panel grid that feature a woman and her children in a van, drawn in a very cartoonish style.  I have no idea what this sequence has to do with the rest of the book, yet I found it, and its inclusion, the most interesting thing here. 

I wasn't sure if I'd be interested in this title, but Chamberlain has intrigued me enough to guarantee that I'll pick up the second issue.

Shang-Chi Master of Kung Fu One-Shot

Written by Jonathan Hickman, Mike Benson, Charlie Huston, and Robin Furth
Art by Kody Chamberlin, Tomm Coker, CP Smith, Enrique Romero, and Paul Gulacy
This is a strange little project. Marvel has decided to emulate the black-and-white magazines of the 70s with these one-shots (there was a Wolverine one in the summer which I never even looked at), and I suppose they are locking in some copyrights while they do it.

The concept is cool, but the execution is very mixed. The opening story, by Hickman and Chamberlin, is a lot of fun. It has Shang-Chi and Deadpool sharing narration in a tale about an outlaw motorcycle race that crosses the US/Mexico border. This story reads more like a Jason Aaron Ghost Rider story than a kung fu tale, especially since there is no kung fu in it, and Shang-Chi neither looks nor acts like Shang-Chi. If I hadn't read the credits, I never would have guessed this was by Hickman - it's not his usual thing, but it is enjoyable.

The best part of the comic is the second story, by Mike Benson, Tomm Coker, and CP Smith. This story is written in Chinese, with subtitles, and it's a simple tale of a son seeking revenge for his father's death. It makes up for all the kung fu missing in the first story, and then some. It really makes good use of the atmospheric black and white presentation, and is beautiful to look at.

The remaining offerings are not too memorable. There is a piece showing Shang-Chi's reunion with his returned from the dead brother Midnight that doesn't really go anywhere, and a long prose story that I didn't finish. There is, however, a wonderful Paul Gulacy splash page, the likes of which I would think Marvel is contractually obliged to commission for any project featuring Shang-Chi.

30 Days of Night: Bloodsucker Tales

Written by Steve Niles and Matt Fraction
Art by Kody Chamberlain and Ben Templesmith

As I've said on here before, I've never really bothered with the 30 Days of Night series, and only ever bought the mini-series done by David Lapham because he's on my 'buy everything you can' list.

Well, parts of the concept interested me, so I decided to poke around through what was out there. Around the same time, I saw the solicitation for the tpb of Juarez, written by Matt Fraction (another person on my 'buy everything (non-Marvel)' list). Then, I found this on ebay, collecting both the Juarez story, and one other. Seeing as they are vastly different, I'll review them separately.

'Dead Billy Dead' is written by the series creator, and I suppose there's nothing wrong with it. It's about some guy who gets turned into a vampire, and basically falls afoul of some creepy professor. It's a good enough story I suppose, but it's not the type of thing that would ever get me into this franchise. The art is sketchy and a little hard to follow in places, but is generally serviceable.

'Juarez', on the other hand, is a mess, but a glorious mess. This is the type of Matt Fraction that I like best - where the ideas are flowing quicker than the story can handle. It's mostly about the missing girls in Juarez, and how one investigator - Lex Nova - thinks it is the work of vampires, as does the Zero Family Circus - a group of deranged vampires, looking for their lost Uncle Zero. Their stories collide, along with a faithless priest, and some Mexican whores. Again, all the elements needed for a great story.

Things don't really coalesce until the last chapter, which is really a prologue to the story. Lots of things don't make sense right until the very end, prompting the reader to turn back to the first page and start again. Things are further confused by Templesmith's art, which I always enjoy, but can't always follow.

'Juarez' made this a worthwhile purchase, and now has me interested in other writers who have dabbled in Nile's universe. 'Red Snow' is next on my to-buy list, if it's any good.