Northlanders #41

Written by Brian Wood
Art by Marian Churchland

There is a lot to love about this comic.  First, the art for this done-in-one story is provided by Marian Churchland, who is a remarkable up-and-comer who is not getting nearly the amount of recognition she deserves.  Her graphic novel Beast, and her work on Elephantmen have been brilliant, and it's terrific to see her on a book like Northlanders.  Her art is complimented perfectly on this issue by colourist Dave McCaig - in fact, I thought she had done the colours herself.

The story in this issue is also terrific.  Birna Thorsdottir is a fourteen year old girl who has grown up the only child of the local lord in the Outer Hebrides in 990 AD.  She's never been off the island she was born on, and when her father dies suddenly, is forced to step up to defend her home and her title to it.

Northlanders is frequently the most literary title that Vertigo publishes.  Wood writes such amazingly tight, little stories in this book that resonate deeply with modern readers, despite being set in a time few people are familiar with.  He is able to construct complex characters in a short span, and make the reader care about them.

I was sad to see the news last week that Northlanders is going to be canceled.  Truly, it's not much of a surprise when any Vertigo book is canceled these days, but it is disappointing that a book like this doesn't attract a wider readership.  Still, I can't wait to dive into the Icelandic Trilogy, which will see the book to its conclusion.

Elephantmen #29

Written by Richard Starkings
Art by Axel Medelin and Marian Churchland

This issue of Elephantmen focuses exclusively on four of the women who make up the regular cast of this title.  The issue is split between two artists, each telling their own separate story, although the two stories are interspersed with one another.

Most of the book revolves around Vanity Case, Sahara, and Panya, Sahara's body double.  Vanity is still disturbed by her run in with the Simm robot a number of issues ago, and rightfully so, as the device is still stalking the streets, looking for her.  Sahara, meanwhile, is trying to enjoy her night out on the town, and ends up with Vanity.  Panya is given some space in the book, as we begin to explore her character a little.  This part of the book has art by Medelin, and it's all quite serviceable.

The real good stuff is the Miki part of the comic, with art by the always amazing Marian Churchland (read Beast!).  Miki is still mad at Hip Flask, and the Elephantmen in general, but can't keep herself away from them either.  She ends up at The Watering Hole, the original Munt dive bar, where humans definitely aren't welcome.  A hippo who looks a bit like Hip Flask takes an interest in her, and volunteers to keep her safe while going over the less savory aspects of the community she wandered into.  It's a creepy scene, with a creepy ending I don't want to ruin.  Read it - it's good.

Elephantmen #28

Written by Richard Starkings
Art by Axel Medelin and Marian Churchland

It's always nice to see a new issue of Elephantmen.  This is mostly an action-filled installment, as Hip Flask, Ebony Hide, and Janis Blackthorne fight a bunch of recently activated Crocodile Elephantmen in a slaughter house.  It's a pretty good action sequence, which becomes funnier with the introduction of the Mappo Simms - repurposed androids originally designed to provide sexual pleasure. 

Medelin is showing himself to be a capable artist on this book, and it's nice to see Starkings actually wrap up a plot thread or two, as that's not something that happens all that often with this title.

My favourite part of the book would be the unexpected short back-up story featuring Miki, with art by Marian Churchland.  Not much happens in the story - I just really like Churchland's art, and am always really happy to see some of it.

The regular back-up story, Charley Loves Robots, is still cute, but not as charming as its first chapter was.

Madame Xanadu #28

Written by Matt Wagner
Art by Marian Churchland

I haven't been all that interested in this title, but when I saw that this issue was a one-off featuring art by Marian Churchland, I knew that I'd be picking it up.

Churchland is the creator of The Beast, a very interesting graphic novel, and is an equally interesting artist.  Her watercolour (I assume) approach to her art is perfect for this story of Carly, a young medical student who, in New York in 1966, decides to experiment with LSD with her boyfriend.

Their trip has consequences for Carly - afterwards, she suffers from Tony Chu-like flashes of memory caused by everything she eats.  Basically, she becomes a cibopath, and finds that she can't eat or drink anything at all (I guess she didn't try beets).  That the story is so remarkably similar to the premise of Chew, the indie darling comic series, doesn't really detract from things here; the two stories are very different.

For a comic that is supposed to be about Madame Xanadu, she plays only a very peripheral role here, but the story is intriguing and quite beautiful.  Had the series started out like this (the next issue will be the last), I would have bought its entire run.

Elephantmen #26

Written by Richard Starkings
Art by Andre Szymanowicz, Vince Lee, Moritat, Boo Cook, Axel Medellin, and Marian Churchland

I find it odd that the main reason why I dropped Brightest Day from my pull-list is the same reason why I like this latest issue of Elephantmen:  the way in which it is telling a number of different, interconnected stories, in a very episodic manner.  I find it doesn't work at all in BD, but here it does.

This issue slowly continues the recent plot about the two SIMM androids that have shown up.  Vanity Case discovers that she was manipulated by one, while Sahara, on a 'Coming to America' style walkabout, gets stalked by another.  The main characters of this book - namely Hip Flask and Ebony Hide, barely get any screen time at all, instead giving the spotlight to the aforementioned characters, as well as checking in on Miki.

The longest segment of the issue is given over to Janis Blackthorne, the new partner of our two favourite transgenics.  Blackthorne has an interesting past, and while the narrative explains her history, the artists (Moritat and Cook) show us what she was up to during the war.  It's a very nicely done sequence.

In fact, the art is pretty strong throughout this issue.  I love Churchland's pages the best, but was also happy to see Szymanowicz, Moritat, and Cook on the book.  The only artist I wasn't particularly fond of was Medellin's Sahara pages, which were fine, just a little more cheesecake-y than I usually like.

Myspace Dark Horse Presents Vol. 2

by many people

I mentioned when I reviewed the first book in this series how much I enjoyed the original Dark Horse Presents, and I was very pleased to hear that it is set to return soon.  It was a reliable source of new ideas and creators, as well as short stories from established series or properties.  I didn't always love what was in it, but I usually found something positive in each issue.

This volume of the Myspace on-line revamp didn't work for me as well as the books I remember.  I found that most of the stories in this book were facile and shallow, and they did little to encourage me to pick up related titles, or seek out some of the creators.

There was still a fair amount to like in this book, such as Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá's brilliant 'Wonder Twins Activate'.  I know I'm a huge Moon and Bá fan, so it's no surprise that I would single this story out for praise, but it's a very cool story designed to help explain their collaboration process.  In contrast, Bá's 'Umbrella Academy' story (with Gerald Way) did nothing for me.

I also liked John Arcudi and Steven Young's 'A Going Concern' which is basically Jonah Hex played by a cockroach, but I couldn't figure out what the hell his horse was supposed to be, and it made me hate the story by the end of it.  Gilbert Hernandez's 'Manga' was cute, but short.

Lately I've been working my way through the Mignola-verse, so I was pleased to see a BPRD story by Arcudi and Davis, and while it was good, it was fairly inconsequential.

By far the prettiest and most impressive art in the book belongs to Francisco Ruiz Velasco, with 'Legion of Blood', a flying-alien version of the first world war.  I hope this is something that is going to be developed into a longer project, as it was quite good and visually stunning.

The final piece that impressed me was a Conan story (normally I hate Conan) written by Tim and Ben Truman.  What made this special is that it had artwork by Marian Churchland (read Beast), with lettering by Brandon Graham!  It's a very cool-looking story.

One story that seemed to have a lot of potential but then quickly lost me was the Hobo Fet story by the Matkinson Brothers and Jon Adams.  There was a lot that could have been done with this story, but it fell flat.  Another disappointment was the two-page Rex Mundi story.  Nothing happened, and it just served to remind me that I miss this title.

Anything else in this book doesn't really feel like it's worth mentioning.  There are some things that I know people like - Milk & Cheese, Steve Niles - but it left me cold.  I have Volume 3 on my reading pile - I hope it's more consistently good.

Elephantmen #25

Written by Richard Starkings
Art by too many people to list here

Elephantment has reached 25 issues, and to celebrate, Starkings has brought in a pile of artists to each draw a single splash page picture.  There are some of the usual Elephantmen crowd, like Moritat, Ladrönn, Szymanowicz, Burnham, Churchill, Churchland, Cook, and Steen.  There are also appearances by artists that are some serious up-and-comers, like Brandon Graham, and Shaky Kane, and some pages by well-renowned veterans like Gibbons, Erskine, Guerra, Grist, Portacio, Rouleau, Sale, and Scioli.  The art throughout the entire issue looks fantastic, and it's very cool to see different interpretations of the same characters time and time again.

As for the story, it's been written as the perfect jumping-on point for a new reader.  The focus of the issue is on Hank Gruenwald, the executive director of the Information Agency, the organization that Hip Flask and Ebony Hide work for.  Most of the issue is recap from Grunwald's perspective, and it runs right up to the most recent events (remember, this series is often non-linear, so it's nice to see the order in which events were occurring), as well as provides a hint of things to come.

On the flip side of the comic is a five-page preview of Ian Churchill's Marineman comic, which looks to be a Sea Devils sort of thing.  I have not been a fan of Churchill's previous work, and the cover looks a little too much like an issue of the Ultraverse's Prime, but this thing looks fantastic on the inside.  Churchill is taking a more cartoonish approach to things, and his description of No-Limits Free-Diving makes the sport seem very interesting (I only learned of this sport a few months ago when the New Yorker ran an incredible article on it).

This comic is well worth picking up for it's great art, and I encourage anyone who has been curious about Elephantmen to use this book as a good excuse to try it out.

Beast

by Marian Churchland

Marian Churchland first came on my radar when she did art for three issues of Richard Starking's comic Elephantmen. Her approach, especially in her first issue of the book, was a real breath of fresh air. Somewhere in that issue or the one after it, Starking mentioned that Churchland was working on an OGN called Beast.

When the book came out towards the end of last year, it received a fair amount of praise, and I added it to my list of books to read. I'm quite glad that I did. It's a very unique comic.

Colette is an aspiring artist and sculptor, and receives, through her father/agent a commission to sculpt a portrait of a mysterious gentleman out of a huge block of Carrera marble. When she arrives at the house where she is to work, she quickly realizes that things there are very strange. There is an older woman named Roz, who seems to be looking after the place. She is taken into the room where the hunk of marble sits, and meets Beast, her employer. Beast is never fully explained - his face is not just kept in the shadows, but seems to be made of shadow. He is evidently very old - he tells stories from his life in 17th century Italy - but little about him is ever explained. The book follows Colette through the completion of the work, and for about a week after that.

In many ways, this comic reminds me of a Paul Auster novel, in the way in which Colette seems to just accept the strangeness that has entered her life, and the ease with which she abandons her own identity, not even bothering to return to her apartment until the work is finished. She easily accepts that her identity is subsumed into the work, and finds more meaning there than she had in her previous existence; the problem being, of course, that all such work must come to an end.

Churchland's art is very nice. She shades each page in a single, washed-out colour, and pays close attention to background details everywhere accept in the room serving as Colette's studio. Her Beast (as he wishes to be called) is mysterious, yet never menacing or sinister. As a debut work, this book is a marvel.

Elephantmen #20

Written by Richard Starkings
Art by Marian Churchland
Continuing the 'Dangerous Liaisons' arc of Elephantmen, this issue looks in to the relationship between Hip Flask and his new assistant, Vanity Case. They go to a diner where Hip has some unfinished business, and run into 'Loudmouthed Jerk #1', who has a thing against Elephantmen.

It's a simple and straight forward story, showcasing Churchland's artwork quite nicely. This issue provides some insight into Hip's nature, but doesn't do much to advance Case's character, except to portray her as slightly ditsy.

Elephantmen #19

Written by Richard Starkings
Art by Marian Churchland

Continuing the Elephantmen tradition of telling stories in whatever order the creators feel like, this issue fills in the pieces missing in issue #15, where Sahara ran into Serengheti in the hospital, and later walked out with no sign of him.

This issue delves back into Sahara's life, and her rough treatment at her father's hands (not to mention his entire village). It also shows their confrontation at the hospital.

What really makes this issue stand out is the gorgeous marker art by Marian Churchland. I liked her work last issue, but this one is even better. Her soft palette suits Sahara's personality, and makes this book really stand out. Once again though, we have an Image-esque cover featuring boobs. It's hard to justify the look when we have just run through two issues that are all about featuring strong women.

I hope to see more of Churchland's art, both in this title, and in her own graphic novel, which is plugged in the back of this book. I also have to give props to Starkings for getting this book back on schedule so well. I like getting a regular fix of Elephantmen.

Elephantmen #18

Written by Richard Starkings
Art by Marian Churchland

This issue goes a long way towards redeeming this title after last issue's Mrs. Magoo and Tusk team-up fiasco. In this issue, the spotlight is on Miki, who is dealing with the unintended consequences of a one-night stand.

This issue digs a little deeper into her relationship with Hip Flask, and how the hippo was seen in Egyptian mythology. It's an interesting story, and Starkings has done his research.

The best part of this issue though has to be the artwork of Marian Churchland. The comic was done in marker, and has a very soft palette to it, which suits Miki's personality perfectly. I feel like Churchland is going to be a major talent, and I'm thankful Starkings gave her this opportunity to shine.

My only real complaint about this book is the hideous, mid-90s Image girl front cover by J. Scott Campbell. I don't understand how, in a comic intended to add complexity and depth to a character like Miki, the front cover has to display her as an objectified porn star hanging from gymnastics rings just so her boobs would stick out even further. I've never understood the appeal of Campbell as an artist, and this cover almost caused me to skip this issue completely (thankfully, the back cover, shown above, was by Churchland and saved the purchase).