The Massive #10

Written by Brian Wood
Art by Gary Erskine

This issue of The Massive is a little different from the previous few months worth.  To begin with, Callum Israel sets his priorities back to finding and reuniting with The Massive, the sister ship to his Kapital, and the flagship of the Ninth Wave fleet.  When more ghostly radar hits suggest that the ship is nearby, tensions break out on the ship.

After the apparent suicide of one crew member, others decide that they want to leave Ninth Wave and return to their homelands, all of which are suffering in the post-Crash environment.  Three desperate crewmen even go so far as to hold Israel at gunpoint in his cabin.

Brian Wood returns to the habit he had during the first story arc of peppering the story with explanations of what has been happening in the rest of the world since the Crash took place.  This month, the focus is mostly on South America.

The art this month is by Gary Erskine, although I probably wouldn't have recognized it as his.  He's usually known for drawing, well, ugly characters, but in this issue, his art has softened quite a bit.  That kind of surprised me.

The Massive #9

Written by Brian Wood
Art by Garry Brown

When The Massive, Brian Wood's post-environmental collapse series began, I thought I had a pretty clear handle on it, and that the book really would be about the search for The Massive, the missing vessel owned by Ninth Wave, the environmental direct action group.  Along the way, I assumed that the crew of the Kapital would explore the new world that Wood has figured out, and that basically, the series would be like the first half of Wood's other series, DMZ, only set on the ocean.

Then this new arc, 'Subcontinental' started, and it became more and more clear that there is a lot more going on in this series, even if I have no idea what it all is yet.  I feel like Wood has been peppering this book with clues to a whole other story, that only a little of which has been revealed now.

The Kapital has come to call at Moksha Station, a community of commandeered oil platforms in the Indian Ocean.  Ninth Wave's leader, Callum Israel, has been captured by Sumon, the station's director, after his girlfriend Mary destroyed Moksha's communication array.  While this is going on, Mag, the Kapital's third in command, has arranged for some kind of work to be done with a transponder, and his assistant Georg has gone after a nuclear submarine that sits under the station.  Israel knows nothing about any of this, and at the same time, we learn that he is harbouring a pretty big secret of his own.

This series began with a large number of lengthy info dumps, so it's pretty cool to realize that Wood was really playing his cards close to his vest at the same time.  I've been intrigued by this book since it started, but this latest issue has really ramped up my interest.  It's a very good, very nice-looking series.

The Massive #8

Written by Brian Wood
Art by Garry Brown

There is a lot going on under the surface of The Massive that makes this book rather hard to predict, especially since in the eight months since the comic began, we haven't learned very much about the main characters beyond Callum Israel, the leader of Ninth Wave, the environmental direct action group that the series is focused on.

After a worldwide ecological collapse, the central leadership of Ninth Wave, alongside a number of recruits onboard the Kapital, are searching for their sister ship, The Massive, and trying to keep their operation running.  We've already seen the difficulty they've faced in securing supplies, and the way in which some members, specifically Mag Nagendra, have wrestled with the group's pacifistic ideals.  When this issue opens, the crew of The Kapital are aboard Moksha Station, an independent nation made of oil derricks.

Callum is being held in custody by the director of the station, Sumon, while his girlfriend Mary runs about in a storm sabotaging the station's communications, for reasons we don't yet know.  Mag is in the bowels of the station, alongside to other members of Ninth Wave, making some kind of deal with a gigantic Russian.  It seems that everyone in the group has their own agenda, and Israel doesn't seem to know about any of it.

When The Massive began its run, some on-line commentators complained that Brian Wood was cramming too much information into each issue, with his lengthy descriptions of the effects of The Collapse, but I think what he was also doing was obscuring the true designs of some of the crew.  Especially with the surprise that Mary drops at the end of this issue, I'm not too sure where things are headed in this book, and that's exactly how I like it.

The Massive #7

Written by Brian Wood
Art by Garry Brown

What I like most about The Massive, Brian Wood's near-future, post-environmental collapse series is the opportunity it provides for interesting settings, and the way that it frames its character development as a consequence of events.

This issue marks the beginning of 'Subcontinental', a new three-part story arc set on Moksha station, a sovereign nation built of stolen oil rigs and pacifist ideals.  The crew of the Kapital come aboard Moksha, where Ninth Wave's leader, Callum Israel, is seen as a hero of the environmental movement.  His conversation with Sumon, the director of the station, suggests that other things are happening on the station however, that may not be as positive as things seem at first glance.

The may be a surprise to Israel, but not to Mag, his right-hand man, who is chafing under Israel's ideals.  There is a growing rift among the prominent members of Ninth Wave, and it's clear that this series will be exploring that problem as much as it will the ruined future Wood has constructed.

This issue marks a few firsts for the series.  I believe this is the first time that Israel's time at Blackbell, the private military contractors, is not referenced, and this issue lacks the excellent backmatter that is usually included in each new comic.  I'm hoping that returns, as I've enjoyed the extra context to the character's lives.  As well, there is no mention of The Massive, The Kapital's sister ship, which our heroes are searching for.

The Massive #6

Written by Brian Wood
Art by Garry Brown

With each issue, I find that The Massive is becoming a more and more essential comic.  The first arc grabbed my attention, but each issue contained so much information about the state of the world after 'The Collapse' that it was hard to get a sense of the characters and the story.

With the 'Black Pacific' arc, writer Brian Wood has given each of the series's main three characters their own issue, and has therefore humanized this series a great deal.

This month, the focus falls on Mag Nagendra, the one member of the Ninth Wave environmental direct action group that has the hardest time sticking to the non-violent ethos espoused by their leader, Callum Israel.  Mag grew up as a child soldier in the Tamil Eelam, and eventually ended up working with Callum at Blackbell, the military contractors modelled on Blackwater.

This issue has Mag and his companion Georg infiltrate a British-owned cargo vessel that the crew of the Kapital find crawling across the ocean towards America.  He is looking for food for the group, but is wise and worldly enough to know that the ship is not going to be empty.  He and Georg go packing weapons, even though that goes against Israel's beliefs.  We also see a few scenes from Mag's life, including the mission that finally convinced him to leave Blackbell and join Israel in his new life.

I really like the way that Wood is structuring this comic, with a mixture of flashbacks and current action.  He has really thought through the extent to which environmental collapse would affect the world's economy and social structures.  The text pieces at the back of the book help fill in a number of gaps, and I find that I am now looking forward to each new issue more than I did Wood's other books like DMZ and Northlanders (which was really quite a bit).

The Massive #5

Written by Brian Wood
Art by Garry Brown

I've been enjoying The Massive a great deal since it began, but this is easily my favourite issue so far.  I felt that Brian Wood finally slowed down a little, and focused his story perfectly on a done-in-one story that introduced a new character, developed a major one a little better, perfectly used a cool new idea, and helped illustrate the realities of the world, post-Crash.

In this issue, Mary, one of the central command staff on The Kapital, accompanied by Ryan, the Ninth Wave's sole American recruit, journeys inland in Antarctica to search for a source of clean drinking water with which to resupply their ship.  She has knowledge of a facility that uses geothermic energy to melt the cleanest water on the Earth.  The problem is that she and Ryan are met by people who have been squatting in the facility.

Mary has been an interesting figure since this book started.  She's very capable, although we know nothing about her, and her strange connection to the world's oceans.  While we don't learn anything about her past, we do get to know her a little better, especially through her interactions with Ryan, who has always had difficulty fitting into the larger group because of her American-ness.  I hope that Mary's (and Mag's) connections to the ocean don't turn out to be mystical or fantastical in nature, as I feel that this book is very grounded in reality right now.

This issue was very well plotted, and had a real sense of immediacy to it.  With the cast of the comic not being very set yet, it's easy to imagine Wood killing people off.  Garry Brown's art has grown on me really quickly, and now I think I prefer him to Kristian Donaldson on this title.

If you aren't reading The Massive, you're missing one of the best new comics of this year.

The Massive #4

Written by Brian Wood
Art by Garry Brown

I love The Massive, but Brian Wood's new post-environmental catastrophe epic is not without its flaws.  The series follows the Ninth Wave, a conservancy direct-action group who are now wandering the post-Crash world looking for their missing compatriots, and trying to continue their mission.

This issue starts the second story arc, 'Black Pacific'.  When it opens, the leader of the Ninth Wave, Callum Israel, is in Mogadishu negotiating with a local war lord for resupply of his vessel.  While walking through the city, he runs into Arkady, yet another person he knew from his time working with Blackbell PMC, a mercenary group that he quit in the late 90s.

This man was not exactly ever a friend, although he does have some ideas for how he can use Israel and his ship The Kapital.  This confrontation shows the depth of Israel's commitment to pacifism, and continues to reveal more about the man that Israel used to be.

The writing in this book is sharp, but I feel that what the Ninth Wave actually does has not been made clear.  Last issue, they were in Alaska; in this issue they are in the Arabian Sea.  By the end of the issue, they are setting off for Antarctica to find fresh water.  This is a lot of journeying around, and a lot of diesel fuel being burned, for a group that is supposed to be committed to preserving the environment, for no clear purpose.  This is something that Wood needs to clarify, and quickly.

The art for this issue has been done by Garry Brown, an artist I'm not familiar with.  He does a decent job, but I did prefer Kristian Donaldson's work.  The revelation that Callum is in his fifties is not exactly borne out by how he has appeared in this series.

The Massive #3

Written by Brian Wood
Art by Kristian Donaldson

I love The Massive.  I can understand why some on-line reviewers have chosen to complain about how exposition-heavy this first arc has been, but I think it's understandable when you consider the length to which Brian Wood has altered our current world. 

Basically, a string of natural disasters and environmental catastrophes have created great upheaval throughout the world, upending established social orders.  The series follows a small group of ecological activists (some would say terrorists) as they search for the other ship that makes up their fleet, for their friends aboard it, and for a way to continue their mission of environmental protection and conservation in the face of global calamity.  Without the frequent examples and explanations that Wood has provided over these first three issues, the magnitude of change would not be properly understood.

This issue, which finishes off the first arc, is a little anti-climactic compared to the other two, but it feels necessary in that it helps establish just how the crew of The Kapital has been able to resupply and keep running where so many other ships have fallen apart.  It also provides some insight into just how Callum Israel, leader of the Ninth Wave, is seen by his crew.

Wood excels at this type of book.  Kristian Donaldson's art is crisp and clear, and the book is intelligent and exciting to read.  I hope this is getting enough attention in comic stores, and that it gets a nice long run.

The Massive #2

Written by Brian Wood
Art by Kristian Donaldson

Glancing at this cover while flipping through my pile of new comics this week, I caught myself thinking, "Oh good, a new DMZ."  It's an easy enough mistake to make, what with John Paul Leon's cover showing a ruined city, but in many ways, The Massive has already surpassed Brian Wood's earlier vision of a broken future by providing a much more complete, global and fully realized look into a future that is even more broken than the one that Matty Roth ran around in for five years.

This second issue of The Massive continues to detail some of the results of The Crash, the term that Wood has given to a series of ecological catastrophes, which have restructured the globe, and affected every person living on the Earth.  It continues to follow the crew of The Kapital, the only ship remaining to the Ninth Wave, a direct action environmental group, through stories set in two different time periods.

The present-day sequence (well, story time present-day, as it all happens in the near future) has the crew of the Kapital continuing to evade pirates off the coast of Kamchatka, while searching for their missing sister ship The Massive.  They pick up on that larger ship's signal again, and even make radio contact with it, but all is not as it seems.  As well, Mary, one of the book's main characters, has not returned from her mission last issue to draw off some of the pirates.  Ship's captain Callum Israel, and his right-hand man Mag are concerned, and find themselves in a few tough places.

Interspersed between this story and scenes showing what happened during the crash are scenes set in Hong Kong shortly after the Crash.  Most of the city is under water, but the inhabitants built a new port out of recycled and repurposed junk, and when the Kapital arrives looking for refuelling and resupplying, it's not long before Callum and Mary find themselves in trouble with the locals.

This book is very compelling reading.  There is a wealth of material that Wood is fitting into each issue, as he manages to satisfy my need for background while not sacrificing space to tell an exciting story.  Kristian Donaldson's work is excellent, as always, and colourist Dave Stewart does a fine job of dividing the different strands of the story through their own colour palette.

This is one of the best new series to debut in a year that has already had a number of fantastic debuts.  This is a great time to be reading independent comics.

The Massive #1

Written by Brian Wood
Art by Kristian Donaldson

I really hadn't realized how much I've been missing DMZ every month until I read the first issue of The Massive this week.  Brian Wood is one of the best speculative fiction writers in comics (really, I feel like it's just him and Jonathan Hickman, with Carla Speed McNeil being in her own category), and this new series is off to an incredible start.

Wood has not disclosed what year this story takes place in yet, but it's not too far into the future, just after a series of ecological and geologic catastrophes have plunged the world into a new, darker age.  Tsunamis, earthquakes, the calving of the Antarctic ice cap, and other events have shifted global weather patterns, and sunk many low-lying areas (including Hong Kong).  The effect on the global economy has been just as devastating.

The Massive is centred on three members of Ninth Wave, a 'marine conservationist and direct action force', reminiscent of the Sea Shepherds.  Callum is the group's leader.  Mary is his second in command and his lover, and Mag is his close friend.  They have been patrolling the oceans on their vessel, Kapital, since the Crash, and looking for their sister ship, The Massive, which went missing during a storm. 

This issue is nicely balanced, providing a lot of important background information, and introducing the characters, while also providing some action in the form of pirates that attempt to attack the ship.  Wood makes good use of the locale, off the coast of Kamchatka, to add force to the action, and keep things interesting.  There is also a good amount of back matter that helps to add texture and context to the story.

Kristian Donaldson has worked with Wood many times before, and it's clear that they have an easy rapport.  Donaldson does equally well drawing the talking head scenes, the action, and the flashbacks to global catastrophe.  This issue has me very excited to read the next, which is what we want in a debut issue.

Dark Horse Presents #10

Written by Brian Wood, Colin Lorimer, Carla Speed McNeil, Steve Niles, Evan Dorkin, Alan Gordon, Steve Horton, Andrew Vachss, MJ Butler, and Rich Johnston
Art by Kristian Donaldson, Colin Lorimer, Carla Speed McNeil, Christopher Mitten, Evan Dorkin, Thomas Yeates, Michael Dialynas, Geof Darrow, Mark Wheatley, and Simon Rohrmüller

Anthologies can be hit or miss, and where the last few issues of Dark Horse Presents have been terrific, this one came off feeling rather lacking.

As always, to begin with the positive:

Brian Wood and Kristian Donaldson's The Massive has definitely caught my attention.  So far, each chapter has been used to introduce a new character, and to establish that all of them have almost died at sea, only to be saved, or brought back by it.  I really have no idea where this comic is headed, but the three-page overview of various key moments in the history of oceanic environmental degradation is enough to get me to add the upcoming series to my pull-file.  I trust Wood to impress me.

There is a new series debuting in this issue called UXB, by Colin Lorimer, an artist I'm unfamiliar with.  It's yet another post-apocalyptic story, where people roam the ruins of our civilization wearing environmental protective apparati that look a little like high-tech codpieces.  Again, not much is revealed here, except that our trio of heroes are on the search for old DVDs, and the consequences of giving them nothing but Pretty Woman and the Backstreet Boys aren't pretty.  I really don't know where this is going either, but Lorimer has my attention.

Carla Speed McNeil's Finder returns after a pause of a few months.  Now, Finder was my great discovery of 2011, and I can't praise it enough (you really should click on the link and give yourself a treat), so I'm always excited to dive into a new story.  This one could probably have used McNeil's usual annotations though, as I'm more than a little lost.  Jaeger finds himself well and truly lost after the events of the last chapter (whenever that was), but, because he is a Finder, and kind of lucky, he quickly runs in to an old acquaintance.  I just wish that a little more happened in this story, and that I knew what the deal is with the flying Chinese dragon-train thing at the end.  Still, I love McNeil's work.

Rich Johnston's 'The Many Murders of Miss Cranbourne' finishes up this issue, and continues to be quite decent.

From here, we move into stories that I didn't necessarily dislike, but that I wouldn't pursue were they to get their own title:

The Tarzan story by Alan Gordon and Thomas Yeates is an odd throwback, and I found my attention wavering while reading this chapter.  I don't know that I can handle a post-Apocalyptic immortal Tarzan, especially just after reading another post-Apocalyptic strip a few pages previous.

The 'Amala's Blade' and 'Skultar' stories are fine.  They just aren't my thing.  I feel the same way about the Cal MacDonald story by Niles and Mitten.  I've just never warmed to Niles's writing, no matter what he does. 

There's a prose story by Andrew Vachss in this issue, which has lovely illustrations from the ever-talented Geof Darrow.  Now, I always associate Vachss's name with brutal stories about children being murdered or abused, because I read some pretty dark stuff from him years ago, and basically avoided his work forever after.  This story is dark, but not as brutal, as it is concerned with an aging man who is not able to accept his growing diminishment. It's rough, but there it is.

Finally, this issue features two stories by Evan Dorkin.  One is a short Milk and Cheese piece, while the other features a Munsters/Addams Family parody called The Murder Family.  I didn't finish either story.  I don't see how Dorkin, who has written such haunting and nuanced work in Beasts of Burden, also churns out such predictable, juvenile, and un-funny junk.  I know that Milk and Cheese have their fans, I just don't understand why.

Dark Horse Presents #9

Written by Mike Mignola, Brian Wood, Paul Pope, Tony Puryear, Erika Alexander, Robert Alexander, Edgar Allen Poe, Richard Corben, Rich Johnston, Alan Gordon, Steve Horton, Caitlin R. Kiernan, and MJ Butler
Art by Joe Querio, Kristian Donaldson, Paul Pope, Tony Puryear, Richard Corben, Simon Rohrmüller, Thomas Yeates, Steve Horton, Steve Lieber, and Mark Wheatley

Dark Horse, as a comics company, has been on fire lately.  Where two years ago, I was only buying one or two titles from this company, and now I think I'm getting somewhere around nine a month.  Like they did back in the day, with the first run of Dark Horse Presents, they are wisely using this monthly anthology title as a proving ground or launch pad for new series and ideas.

This month has some pretty impressive comics.  There's a Paul Pope story, which was a nice surprise.  Basically, Pope shows us what happened when the Apollo 12 lunar module landed on the moon.  It feels pretty authentic, and is perhaps a bit of a strange choice for Pope, but it's also a wonderfully drawn piece of history.

The book opens with a Lobster Johnson story by Mike Mignola and artist Joe Querio, which follows the usual trajectory of a Mignola short story.  These are always good reads, but I am beginning to get a little bored of them.

The second chapter of Brian Wood and Kristian Donaldson's The Massive introduces another new character; this time it's a Tamil boy who tried to kill fishermen who were poisoning the ocean where his family fished.  I'm much more interested in what Wood is doing with this story this month than I was last.  This is beginning to feel like it could be as great a story as DMZ.

Tony Puryear's Concrete Park continues to interest me.  Puryear has said that this his story is going to be moving to its own title soon; I'll definitely be on board for that.  Richard Corben adapts an Edger Allen Poe poem, which is creepy and interesting.  Rich Johnston's 'Many Murders of Miss Cranbourne' continues to be amusing, and it's nice to see how the old lady is manipulating half the town she lives in to aid her in her murderous work.

Of less interest were the Tarzan and Skultar stories.  Two new features, Amala's Blade and Alabaster: Wolves were not all that impressive, but thankfully, there was no new chapter in Neal Adams's horrible Blood story.