So, what makes a good monthly comic? A couple of things:

Comics that put “character” first!

Comics that tend to focus more on character than plot are inherently more readable as monthlies. When jumping into the middle of a six issue arc, its character that pulls you in and fills in the holes. With the exception of Fantastic Four, every comic on my list stars a single character.

“Done-in-One (or two)” Stories!

There’s no need to wait for the trade if each arc is only 1-2 issues long, right? Again, this type of story goes well with character writing. Since the plot isn’t required to sustain itself for 3-6 issues, it can be pared down and used primarily as a vehicle to reveal the titular hero’s character. Batman and Zatanna team up to stop the Joker!?! Reading that story you find that it's not really about catching the Joker as much as it's  about developing Bruce and Zatanna's relationship. Also, without really sacrificing the overall plot, these “done-in-one” stories can be framed like TV episodes that when viewed over an entire season combine to reveal a hidden master plot. Think Buffy, Heroes, etc… As many of us know, it can be very intimidating for a new reader to jump onto a book with a long running story, so hiding the plot in this manner is a great way to eliminate that intimidation factor. It also allows the writer to integrate sub-plots with clearly defined conflicts into the background that can be slowly developed and brought to the forefront at a later date, as Mark Millar does in Fantastic Four.

Cliffhangers that punch you in the face!

I mean, does this one really need explanation? There are quite a few comics (many on this list) that use the “final page splash” to great effect in almost every single issue. The rush you get from experiencing these in a floppy is much different than when experiencing them in a trade. Actually, it doesn’t even come close.

Getting that “OMG I can’t wait for next month!” Soap Opera feeling!

Of the four I’ve listed here, I think this last one is probably the most important (although it is very closely related to the Cliffhanger thing). For me, it’s the most important factor in deciding whether or not to wait for the trade. I ask myself, as many of you probably do, “Can I go more than a month without reading about BLANK?!?” If you answer “NO!”, then you obviously have a great monthly in your hands!

With the pretentious explanations out of the way I present to you, in no particular order, my “Top Ten Comics That Work Best as Monthlies”:

ACTION COMICS by Geoff Johns & Gary Frank

I could NEVER read this comic in trade; I just love the characters too much! And the cliffhangers are the epitome of punch you in the face. There haven’t been many done-in-ones in the Johns run, but that’s okay, since at least half the comics on this list barely utilize that comic book storytelling device. But Johns does love the sub-plots, wherein he writes some of the best (or, THE best) character moments in comics. CONS: More done-in-ones would be nice.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN by “The Spidey Brain Trust”

With the exception of the current arc, “New Ways To Die”, Brand New Day has been nothing but 1-, 2-, and 3-issue arcs filled with character, character, character… the Soap Opera mojo has been strong. Because of the weekly shipping schedule, the Spidey team has been using the last page splash to great effect. CONS: Actually, maybe there are too many characters? Sometimes it gets confusing.

CAPTAIN AMERICA by Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting & Luke Ross

All of the above? Without all the little Bucky character stuff, I would not be enjoying this book as much as I am. It’s funny, but to me, most issues of Captain America feel like single issue stories set in an epic tapestry whose true significance won’t be seen ‘til Brubaker ends his run. It’s one long, ongoing story that excites me month in and month out.

DEADPOOL by Daniel Way & Paco Medina

We’re two issues in and I’m in love. For now. Plot? What plot? If you’re looking for a story, you’re in the wrong place, duder. This is all about Deadpool. That’s it. Do you need to read issue one to understand issue two? Hell no! Enjoy the funny!

DETECTIVE COMICS by Paul Dini & Dustin Nguyen

Current master of the 1- or 2-part story (yeah, yeah, I know the RIP tie-in breaks the rules). Reading Detective for the last two years I remember more about Bruce sex life (obv lack thereof) than I do the details of any of the stories. And to me, that’s awesome writing. Dini has made Bruce likable. This is new, folks. Bruce Wayne as an actual character in comics? Not since pre-DKR, I would think, have we seen the identity of Bruce Wayne written as a real character. Ah no, I disagree with you, Morrison’s Wayne is a flimsy piece of cardboard. Maybe he had something at the beginning of his run, but fleshing out Batman’s alter ego took a back seat to RIP setup long ago, maybe around the time Adam Kubert left the book. Anyway, yes, Dini isn’t writing Batman, he’s writing Bruce Wayne as Batman. And there is a difference, and that difference is quite refreshing.

FANTASTIC FOUR by Mark Millar & Bryan Hitch

The character stuff is lacking, but the sub-plots, cliffhangers and OMG moments make this a top of the stack must-read. Here’s a recent review that reads more negative than it actually is.

GRAVEL by Warren Ellis, Mike Wolfer & Raulo Caceres

The way the current arc is framed, it works wonderfully as a series of single issue stories filled with scenes exploring the character of William Gravel. Oh, you know what? Thank God Ellis finally got around to fleshing this guy out. Gravel started life as a boringly hollow SAS thug who starred in a series of idea-driven minis. In those minis, there was never anything particularly exciting or compelling about the Gravel character and the fact of the matter is, I probably only read them because they were written by Ellis. Now, under the watchful eye of Mike Wolfer, I really grown to like this guy and each month I can’t wait to read Gravel’s next adventure. Shocking. That’s good stuff, brother.

HULK by Jeph Loeb & Ed McGuinness

Heh. I really do love this book. Honest. HA!

INVINCIBLE by Robert Kirkman & Cory Walker

Ever since the #51 reboot, this book has been one of the most anticipated monthlies in my stack. LOVING IT... happy now, Bruce?

JACK OF FABLES by Matthew Sturges & Bill Willingham

Awesome title character? CHECK!
Outstanding sub-plots? CHECK!
Cliffhangers? CHECK!
SOAP OPERA?!? TRIPLE CHECK!!!

FWW #25

Here we are at 25! Thanks to all who are supporting the site and hope everyone sticks around for a lot more from The Fourth Wall! And just as a side note, we’re kicking it old school this week and both Comics & Media have been combined into one super long two-hour broadcast.

Show Notes For The 5th Week of September

The Fourth Wall Shuffle (0:00:00):

Three minutes of the Fourth Wall’s funniest.

Crowning Achievements (0:04:18) :

A short segment where we talk about how far we’ve came, things we’ve done, and what we plan to do in the future.

Topics include:
1. Registered a domain name
2. Interviewed people in the both MARVEL and the DC industries
3. Did an hour long interview with the creators of The Roberts
4. Featured on Superhero Hype, Comics List, and other sites
5. Got over 650 hits in one day!

COMICS

DC (0:06:21):

Batman 680 R.I.P.
Nightwing 149 R.I.P.

Art's Lightning Round (0:17:25):

Jonah Hex 36
Supergirl 34
Vixen: Return of the Lion 1

MARVEL (0:26:01):

Sub Mariner: The Depths 2

On The Invasion Front (0:29:34):

Punisher War Journal 24

Independents Day (0:32:51):

No Hero 1
Doktor Sleepless 9
City of Dust 1
Creature Feature 1
Zero*G 1

Trade Show (0:57:21):

Marvel Zombies
Blue Beetle Vol. 4: Endgame
The Boys Vol. 3: Good for the Soul
Countdown to Final Crisis Vol. 3
Green Lantern Vol. 2: Revenge of the Green Lanterns

Next Week (0:59:21):

Some of the stuff we’ll be reading next time, and that you should be too.

DC

• Action Comics #870
• Batman Confidential #22
• Detective Comics #849 (Batman R.I.P. Tie-In)
• Green Lantern #35
• Green Lantern Corps #29

MARVEL

• Enders Game Battle School #1 (of 5)
• Marvel Zombies 3 #1 (of 4)
• X-Men Magneto Testament #2 (of 5)

INDIES

• End League #5
• 100 Bullets #96
• Walking Dead #53

MEDIA

DVD
What’s New This Week (1:01:23):

• Iron Man
• Forgetting Sarah Marshall
• Taxi To the Dark Side
• Chapter 27
• The Simpsons: The Complete Eleventh Season
• 30 Rock: Season 2
• How I Met Your Mother: Season Three
• Robot Chicken: Season Three
• The Devil’s Muse

Next Week on DVD (1:16:53):

• You Don’t Mess with the Zohan
• The Happening
• The Visitor
• Paranoid Park
• Boy A
• Young Frankenstein (Blu-Ray)
• Psycho (Special Edition)
• Feast 2: Sloppy Seconds
• Touch of Evil (50^th Anniversary Edition)
• Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer
• Halloween (3 Disc Unrated Collectors Edition)
• Faces of Death (Blu-Ray)

GAMES

This Week’s New Releases (1:20:25):

• Mega Man 9 (360)
• Silent Hill: Homecoming (PS3)
• Fracture (360)
• NBA 2009

Next Week:

• Dead Space

FILM

In Theaters This Week (1:22:02):

• Beverly Hills Chihuahua
• Blindness
• Flash of Genius
• How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
• Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist

In Limited Release (1:25:24):

• Religulous
• Rachel Getting Married

Coming Soon To A Theater Near You (1:29:12):

• Body of Lies
• The Express
• Quarantine

TV

What We’re Watching (1:30:57):

• Dexter
• Chuck
• Life
• Pushing Daisies

TV News (1:39:25):

• Low Ratings on Wednesday Shows
• The Graysons

Shocktober Halloween Spooktacular (1:42:25)

Where we discuss:

• Midnight Meat Train
• Romero’s upcoming “Island” of the Dead
• 3-disc Unrated Collector’s edition of Rob Zombie’s Halloween
• Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Muary (INSIDE) to make Halloween 2?!
• The annoying ads for The Happening that feature over a hour of INTENSE footage!
• Quarantine
• and Faces of Death on Blu-Ray?!

Comics, as always, reflect the times we live in.  I find it interesting that many of today's are about people who WANT to be noticed, have powers, etc.  as opposed to many of the earlier (think Marvel) heroes who accidently got powers that were almost a curse.  I suppose it's the media-obsessed world we live in, where everybody wants attention.

Batman #680

Written by Grant Morrison

Art by Tony Daniel, inked by Sandu Florea

Colors by Guy Major

In a nutshell: a very pretty trainwreck.

There is no doubt this is the best issue of Batman R.I.P. yet, nor there is any doubt that it's still weak. Unfortunately, Morrison didn't see how ridiculous the entire idea was: a Batman dressed like Robin acting like an imbecile with extra-dimensional IMPS as his conscience. R.I.P. has failed to come up with an unpredictable twist so far. Really, guess who betrays Batman in the end. Not to mention that twat Damian - Batman's ohgodithurtstowritethis SON - returns in this issue.

Jezebel is in danger, and Batman needs to invade the Black Glove's mansion in order to save her and put an end to all this. In there, the Joker (or something like him) awaits.

One of the few things I liked about Morrison's run was a redesign of the Joker, one of my favorite villains. At first, I liked his even more disfigured face and new clothes, but now Morrison's trying to hard to turn him into Sweeney Todd - and in this issue, he has some of the worst lines he was ever forced to say. Aside from mentioning "Holmes and Moriarty, Sylvester and Tweety" and other references to allude to his conflict with Batman (when the fuck did The Joker become rational and culture-aware like this?), he also says:

"No, Batman, that's just wikipedia."

SERIOUSLY. Now this has to be the most pathetic pop culture reference ever seen in a comic book, especially considering WHO utters it. And it's ridiculous how the Joker can be rational when talking to Batman, but out of nowhere he decides to slice his own tongue in half. The Black Glove continues to be a unintentionally hilarious villain, with his pompous talk and good manners that resemble about a thousand other villains and buttfucks originality.

Morrison is lost when it comes to parallel narratives as well. We get a single panel of Le Bossu wandering down a corridor saying "look at what he did to my face", only to return to the other narrative without any clarifications at all. And it's a small panel, tucked among others, for no other reason than adding a desperate cliffhanger.

And as I already mentioned, the betrayal at the end is as surprising as finding out Batman is Bruce Wayne. "No shit", I said when I saw it.

Fortunately, Tony Daniel's superb artwork makes up for Morrison's mediocre script. His style looks like a beautiful mixture of Jim Lee and Andy Kubert. His Joker is simply perfect, and you can almost forgive his hideous lines when you look at his eyes and his smile. And even if the panel where the betrayal is revealed is not surprising at all, the expression on the betrayer's face is impeccable. With flawless inks by Sandu Florea, Daniel seems to know what he's doing better than Morrison himself, and Guy Major's colors add a disturbing aura to the whole thing.

Just a shame Morrison is not up to the extremely talented art team, and screws up with a plot that relies solely on shock value ("LOOK I AM SLICING MY TONGUE!!") and two fucking colors.

Let's see if a truly shocking twist shows up in the next and final issue. Also, if somehow Morrison decides to kill the Joker to add more shock value, it'll be proved he's a self-indulgent, arrogant writer who believes his run was such a masterpiece he could kill a character like the Joker in the end of it. I say this because the way the Joker is slicing his own body all the time, he won't survive for too long.

NO HERO #1

Written by Warren Ellis

Art by Juan Jose Ryp

Colors by Digikore Studios

In a nutshell: more of the same.

It's funny that, when working at a publisher that gives complete creative freedom, Warren Ellis chooses to hit the same note of "superheroes in the real world". I sat back and enjoyed "Black Summer" despite an unsurprising ending, but now I can't help feeling that, despite different plot elements, "No Hero" is just more of the same. While Garth Ennis is exploring Avatar's creative freedom to write the kind of stories he couldn't in other publishers (a western, a tale about the anti-christ, a zombie story), Ellis seems to still be interested in the superhero genre, and his other projects - with the exception of Doktor Sleepless - are flat and uncompelling, like the first issue of Anna Mercury.

Not that Ellis has suddenly lost his appeal or anything - he's an absolutely brilliant writer. I'm a fan of his work, which is why I'm being so exigent. So far I haven't seen a truly original comic by Ellis in Avatar except for Wolfskin, which should have more issues. The Warren Ellis I know and love is in Crécy, it's partly in Doktor Sleepless. Because Warren Ellis is not conventional, and this is what "No Hero" is shaping up to be.

"No Hero" tries to establish vigilantism as part of the United States' history, and Carrick Masterson as one of its most influential figures, the leader of The Frontline. That's when Joshua Carver, an aspiring superhero, does his best to get Masterson's attention, by patrolling the streets at night and violently disposing of muggers and rapists.

It looks like this book wants to be not about heroes or villains, but the grey area in between them. But the things seen in this first issue make the following ones very predictable. I'll make some guesses, see if they come true: Carrick Masterson will turn out to be a man capable of anything, who'll introduce Joshua Carver to the Frontline and then disappoint Carver with his lack of morals. Carver himself will be the naive idealist guy who learns a lesson in how the world really is. The green-haired girl will either be his love interest or Masterson's right hand.

Juan Jose Ryp's art is gorgeous as usual, oozing detail. His narrative storytelling and facial expressions, though, could still use some more effort, since neither of which have any subtlety. And why is it that every time Carver hits someone, what looks like sand explodes from the spot he hit? Is his power to cover everyone in sand or something, or has Digikore Studios fucked up the colors, which are far from having the same brilliance of Greg Waller or Mark Sweeney?

All in all, "No Hero" is, so far, a conventional superhero story. I'm still waiting to be surprised by a truly original concept. When it comes to "superheroes" in a historical setting, Garth Ennis is already doing that in "The Boys".

Doktor Sleepless #9

Written by Warren Ellis

Art by Ivan Rodriguez

Colors by Andrew Dalhouse

In a nutshell: despite a lack of character voice, "Book Two" starts off intriguing and powerful.

Another thing I think has become a problem to Warren Ellis is the concept of character voice: make all your characters unique, and not extensions of yourself. And this is something that curses the first pages of this issue, when the new protagonist, a culture blogger, types up a blog entry and her writing style is incredibly llke Ellis' writing style - I know because I receive his Bad Signal e-mails and I read his blog. I particularly highlight this bit: "Jesus, it looks awful. Like someone chopped some meat off a hobo, dipped it in cigarette ash and rubbed it all over everything."

But when she gets off the train and walks around post-Doktor Sleepless Heavenside, the story becomes intriguing once again. The Doktor himself never appears in this issue, just the supporting characters. It's a good way to set up what's coming next, and to surround him in an aura of mistery and danger. Also, the blogger becomes more interesting as the story progresses, with the introduction of a new character who calls himself "Big. On account of my huge cock."

Ivan Rodriguez's art is getting better and better every issue. His lines are more firm, his shadows are less sketchy, and his visual narrative is, as usual, excellent. His portrayal of Heavenside truly LOOKS like someone chopped some meat off a hobo, dipped it in cigarette ash and rubbed it over everything. And that's a compliment. Andrew Dalhouse's colors are pretty and also clever: notice how he colors the blogger in brighter tones, to set her apart from Heavenside's grayish environments.

"Doktor Sleepless #9" is off to a good start. I just hope Ellis can stop adding his sarcasm and his cynism to all his characters as he's been doing of late.

Planetary é uma das séries mais interessantes já publicadas, não só pelo seu enredo em si, mas como também pelas inúmeras referências injetadas por Warren Ellis na obra. Conforme combinado na semana passada a partir dessa semana apresentaremos as histórias de Planetary, separadas por edição. A partir de agora você poderá ver o que foi publicado em cada uma das edições: personagens, referências, homenagens diretas ou indiretas e um breve resumo de cada capítulo desta história.

Boa leitura.

All over the world

A primeira edição de Planetary começa exatamente com o recrutamento de Elijah, que é convidado por Jakita para participar da organização. Lá Snow descobre que todo o financiamento da organização é feito por um homem conhecido apenas como o Quarto Homem, cuja verdadeira identidade é desconhecida. Tão logo Elijah é apresentado ao Baterista à equipe parte em sua primeira missão, um complexo secreto em Adirondacks onde somos apresentados ao Doutor Axel Brass e ao “Floco de neve”, a representação física do multiverso, ou melhor, um portal para outras dimensões, criado por Axel e seus companheiros na década de 40. Nesta edição é contada a história de Axel Brass, sua equipe e sua luta para impedir uma invasão extra-dimensional de uma equipe de heróis que vê o Floco de neve como um vetor para destruição de sua própria dimensão.

Comentário: O legal nessa edição é identificar às homenagens a era de ouro e prata dos quadrinhos que Ellis faz. Doc Brass, por exemplo, é a representação de Doc Savage, um herói criado na década de 30. Doc Savage era um físico, médico, cientista, inventor, pesquisador e aventureiro nas horas vagas, que tinha poderes quase sobre-humanos, treinado desde criança nas artes marciais e possuía ainda memória fotográfica. Foi um sucesso nas publicações de super heróis. Além de Doc Savage Ellis homenageia personagens como Tarzan e Fu Manchu, além da própria Liga da Justiça (repare nos heróis que invadem nossa realidade).

Island

Nesta edição a equipe de Planetary é enviada a misteriosa Ilha Zero, no arquipélago japonês, para resgatar um grupo de fanáticos, que chegou ao local sem permissão. Mas porque as pessoas precisariam de permissão para ir até a Ilha Zero? Simples, o local está repleto de esqueletos de monstros gigantescos. Os monstros teriam aparecido na Ilha após Hiroshima ter sido atingida pela bomba atômica. Elijah, Jakita e o Baterista têm que encontrar os invasores da Ilha Zero e tentar retirá-los com segurança da ilha, que é patrulhada por uma milícia, cuja missão é impedir a humanidade de descobrir a existência da Ilha Zero.

Comentário: Island é uma homenagem aos filmes de monstro japoneses. Os esqueletos das criaturas que aparecem na Ilha são baseados em monstros que aparecerão nos filmes de Godzilla. Entre os monstros que aparecem nesta história estão:

- Mothra: Uma mariposa gigante que apareceu em alguns filmes de Godzilla e ganhou seu próprio filme em 1961.

- Ghidorah – um monstro de três cabeças é o segundo esqueleto a ser avistado na ilha. Ghidorah foi um dos maiores vilões dos filmes japoneses

- Godzilla: o grande ícone dos filmes “monstruosos” também aparece nesta edição e tem sua carcaça visitada pela seita que invade a ilha.

- Rodan: um híbrido entre dinossauro e dragão. Rodan é o monstro que aparece voando sobre a ilha ao final da edição.         

Dead Gunfighters

Uma das histórias mais bacanas da série. Dead Gunfighters tem sua trama ambientada em Hong Kong e os primeiros quadros já dão o tom cinematográfico da história que nos apresenta o policial fantasma Shek Chi-Wai. Nas páginas iniciais o policial detém uma gangue em quadros dignos dos filmes de John Woo, perseguição de carros, vidros quebrados e ação em câmera lenta. Toda a ação é observada pelos três integrantes de Planetary, que estão investigando o caso. Ao longo desta edição descobrimos que o policial foi assassinado em uma emboscada e procura por vingança. 

Comentários: Shek Chi-Wai não é o primeiro policial fantasma das histórias em quadrinhos. O mais famoso personagem nesse estilo é o Espectro, herói da DC Comics, mas a Dark Horse também já entrou nesta seara de fantasmas armados sedentos pro vingança com a sinuosa Ghost, personagem criada por Eric Luke.

Strange harbours 

Em Strange harbours somos apresentados a Jim Wilder, investigador particular que trabalha para Anna Hark, filha de um dos parceiros de Doc Brass, apresentado na primeira edição e líder de um império multinacional. Jim Wilder investiga um atentado terrorista contra um dos edifícios da corporação Hark, que foi explodido por uma organização chamada Floco de Neve. Durante a investigação Wilder se depara com um crime em andamento e sai em perseguição ao assaltante. Durante a perseguição Wilder acaba entrando no local da explosão, onde a equipe de Planetary está estudando um misterioso objeto. Wilder toca acidentalmente o objeto e desaparece, para surgir, segundos depois, inconsciente com uma cicatriz gigantesca no peito. Ao despertar Wilder é interrogado por Jakita e Elijah, que descobrem que o objeto transformou Jim Wilder num super humano.

 Comentário: Strange harbours introduz novos personagens e faz uma alusão ao Capitão Marvel, famoso herói da DC Comics. Que, após um encontro com um mago, acaba recebendo super poderes. Contudo em Planetary o mago é substituído por uma nave alienígena. Ellis deixa a referência ainda mais clara ao colocar a cicatriz no peito de Wilder no formato de um raio.              

The good doctor 

Em “O bom doutor” reencontramos Axel Brass, o médico resgatado em Planetary 1. Nesta edição Doc Brass e Elijah Snow passam uma tarde sentados a grama conversando sobre a vida, o tempo e a passagem dele, inclusive descobrimos que Axel e Elijah nasceram na mesma data, 01/01/1900 e sobre a corporação Hark. Ao final da conversa descobrimos que Snow e Brass têm muito mais em comum do que imaginamos. É uma edição sem muita ação, mas apresenta Ellis em um dos momentos primorosos de Planetary.

Comentários: Nesta edição Axel e Snow mencionam Jenny Sparks, personagem de Authority. Brass também fala sobre uma luta contra alienígenas que na verdade são os Demonitas, arquiinimigos dos WildC.A.T.S, grupo de heróis também pertencentes à Wildstorm. A capa de The good doctor também faz alusão às capas de Doc Savage, inclusive na tipologia e arte utilizada.

It’s a strange world

 Nesta edição descobrimos que uma expedição de astronautas alemães, fez uma viagem espacial durante a guerra fria, em 1961, antes dos americanos irem ao espaço com as missões Apolo. Através do Baterista, que narra a história para Snow, ficamos sabendo que nessa viagem ocorreu um acidente que transformou os quatro astronautas alemães em super-humanos. Nesta edição os agentes de Planetary confrontam William Leather, um dos quatro astronautas que agora possui poderes flamejantes. Misteriosamente Leather parece já conhecer Elijah. 

Comentários: O principal foco dessa edição são os quatro astronautas e sua transformação após o acidente. Ellis faz aqui uma homenagem ao Quarteto Fantástico da Marvel, onde quatro pessoas passam pela mesma situação. Mas enquanto os personagens da Marvel decidem ser heróis, os Quatro em Planetary na verdade são os vilões da história. William Leather seria o equivalente a Johnny Storm, o Tocha-Humana.

To Be in England, in the Summertime

 Um pouco do passado de Jakita Wagner é contado nesta edição, mais especificamente seu relacionamento com Jack Carter um mestre nas artes místicas que vivia na Inglaterra. Logo no início da edição acompanhamos a equipe de Planetary indo até o funeral de Carter. Descobrimos que o baterista pode reconhecer também sinais de magia e o trio segue investigando a morte de Carter e adentrando a vida do mesmo, através de uma história contada por Jakita.

 Comentários: Jack Carter é John Constantine cuspido e escarrado. Nesta edição, desde a capa, Ellis trata do universo sombrio, místico e perturbador de Hellblazer, publicação do selo Vertigo. No funeral de Jack Carter temos várias homenagens como à série Monstro do Pântano de Alan Moore, Sandman e outros personagens.

The day the Earth turned slower

 A história desta edição começa nos apresentado a presença radiante de Allison. Uma mulher que foi vítima de experimentos científicos na década de 60, em uma estação de pesquisa conhecida como Science City Zero. Os agentes de Planetary encontram a mulher, justamente para investigar o que sobrou da estação científica e ouvem o relato das experiências que transformaram pessoas em aberrações. O trio descobre que na estação científica Allison foi morta e ressuscitada pelos cientistas e tornou-se uma forma de vida radioativa desde então, com prazo para expirar em cinqüenta anos. A mulher conta que resolveu denunciar as atrocidades cometidas no local para se redimir e redimir a memória de todos que foram torturados naquele local.

Comentário: Essa edição homenageia os filmes antigos de ficção científica. O próprio título da história faz referência ao filme “O dia em que a terra parou”, que narra o ataque de alienígenas. Além deste filme na capa e na própria história Ellis apresenta uma mulher gigante que é inspirada no filme “A mulher gigante”, de 1958 que foi refilmado em 1993 trazendo Daryl Hannah no papel da protagonista.

Planet Fiction 

Quais são os segredos do passado da organização Planetary? Quando Elijah foi recrutado foi informado de que os agentes de campo sempre agiram em trio, mas quem era o predecessor de Snow? Nesta edição conhecemos a história de Ambrose Chase, um homem com o poder de criar uma espécie de campo de força e de controlar o tempo. Descobrimos que Ambrose é um dos sobreviventes da estação científica Science City Zero e que Chase foi morto em uma missão enfrentando uma organização comandada pelos Quatro.

Comentário: Ambrose Chase parece ser o líder de campo do Planetary antes de Snow entrar na equipe e usa vestes brancas iguais as de Snow. Esta edição lança apenas algumas pistas a respeito da identidade secreta do financiador e mentor do Planetary, Fourth Man.

Magic and Loss

 Logo no início da edição nos deparamos com Elijah Snow está no laboratório dos Quatro, que foi descoberto na edição número seis da série, e são mostrados ao leitor alguns itens familiares entre os leitores da DC Comics. Em um canto vemos amontoados uma bateria de energia, uma capa, braceletes de ouro e uma capa. Descobrimos então a origem dos objetos. Uma criança alienígena é enviada a terra para escapar da destruição de um mundo. Um alienígena recebe uma fonte de energia para patrulhar o universo. E uma amazona é enviada ao mundo dos homens para compartilhar seus conhecimento e sua tecnologia. Entretanto estes heróis têm destinos trágicos na história, destinos orquestrados pelos Quatro.

Comentário: Uma homenagem a três dos personagens clássicos da DC Comics: Super-Homem, Lanterna Verde e Mulher- Maravilha. Ellis subverte as origens dos personagens e mostra o que aconteceria se os heróis tivessem chego a um mundo secretamente dominado pelo mal, que evita de qualquer forma o surgimento de uma oposição ao status quo.

Cold World

Nesta edição Elijah Snow está à procura de respostas e ele as terá a qualquer custo. A história começa com um flashback de um novo personagem John Stone, um agente secreto, enfrentando uma organização criminosa liderada por mulher que se denomina a Noiva. Neste flashback vemos o primeiro encontro de John e Elijah em 1969. A história avança no futuro e Snow e Stone se encontram novamente. Dessa vez o membro do Planetary está atrás de respostas a respeito de sua organização, pois desconfia de seus companheiros. Quando Stone cita o Guia Planetary de 1931, a conversa com Stone traz a tona memórias bloqueadas de Elijah que então afirma saber a verdadeira identidade do mentor do Planetary.

Comentário: A história de Cold World é um típico cenário de agentes secretos, no melhor estilo 007, com intrigas, traições, e vilãs gostosas. Entretanto John Stone lembra Nick Fury, o líder da maior organização secreta da Marvel, a S.H.I.E.L.D. Isso se Nick Fury tivesse a elegância de um James Bond. John Stone é um personagem importante na série e voltará a aparecer no caminho de Elijah.

Memory cloud

 Memory cloud é a edição decisiva onde finalmente descobrimos o passado de Elijah Snow e os mistérios que envolvem Planetary, inclusive o protagonista descobre a identidade do mentor da equipe. Nesta edição Elijah coloca seus colegas de equipe contra a parede, depois do encontro com John Stone que revelou alguns segredos que haviam sido apagados da memória do protagonista. Após uma conversa esclarecedora é declarada a guerra contra os Quatro.

Comentário: Memory cloud encerra o primeiro arco de histórias de Planetary – o segundo arco encerra na edição 26. Aqui vemos Ellis ligar com maestria os acontecimentos citados até agora e lança um novo desafio para a equipe. Voltar as suas origens e enfrentar, declaradamente os vilões da história que até o momento tiveram apenas um papel importante, porém de coadjuvantes na história.

Por enquanto é só. Na próxima semana apresentaremos no BNBlog o segundo arco de histórias e o confronto final dos membros de Planetary com Os Quatro, que promete abalar as estruturas do mundo. Qual o objetivo secreto dos Quatro e como a equipe de Planetary enfrentará os vilões a partir de agora?

Jag har totalt missat att Warren Ellis ger ut serien Freak Angels på webben. Helt gratis dessutom. Jag har bara skummat lite men det verkar vara någon sort steampunk i ett översvämmat London. Tecknar gör den rätt oetablerade Paul Duffield. Hittills har de hunnit med runt 30 episoder på 6 sidor vardera. Och i november släpps dessutom serien även i albumform.

www.freakangels.com

No Hero #1

Warren Ellis' newest series, titled No Hero, is about vigilantism in America, or so it seems - its history and power in our culture, its relation with heroism, etc... - as a longstanding group of extreme superheroes find themselves recruiting when a few members are murdered. Straight-edge young Josh Carver wants to join the group, because Josh has some violent tendencies and a desire to make the world a better place.

The first issue is entirely set-up for what's to come as we meet The Front Line, a group of super-powered vigilantes, Josh Carver, and the man who set it all up, an eccentric inventor capable of giving superpowers to whomsoever he decides is worthy.  It's interesting set-up - as all of Ellis' best series' are, it's built around various social issues rather than costumed brawls and continuity wanks - but it's hurt by messy art from Juan Jose Ryp, and while it has a strong voice, not much happens. Enjoyable, and I look forward to seeing more from the series, but not without flaws.

Grade: B

Doktor Sleepless #9

Doktor Sleepless #9 marks the beginning of Book 2, and it's interesting to note that the good Doktor doesn't appear at all in this issue, nor does scary Nurse Igor. Instead, we're introduced to a brand new character, a stranger to Heavenside, named Sarah Berlin. Sarah has come to Heavenside two months after the events of Book 1, and man, how things have changed. Seers in masks, riots, bombings - Heavenside has become a far more dangerous place to live while under the influence of Doktor Sleepless, and I have a feeling that much of Book 2 will be an examination of the changes he's wrought.

Doktor Sleepless has always been a powerful series - if you have the money, I strongly urge you to check it out, especially now that you can read that entire first chapter in a single sitting. As a new beginning, Doktor Sleepless #9 doesn't work at all without #1-8, and I'd recommend re-reading the series before sitting down with this one, but as the beginning of a second act, it's a pretty excellent read.  We learn more about the world outside of Heavenside, and about Heavenside itself. The issue is well-written, and artist Ivan Rodriguez continues to improve. Highly recommended.

Grade: A-

I wonder what some good, inexpensive, relatively healthy food options are for the incredibly lazy.  So far, I've been doing peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches, frozen pizzas, spaghetti, bananas, salad-in-a-bag, macaroni and cheese, and cold cereal.  Oh, and I also have eggs and mayonnaise and sliced cheese for the occasional sandwich.

I need to get a microwave, and I would like to get a blender at some point, too.  We'll see when I can make it fit my budget.

Um, other things that are happening to me.  I'm reading through the archives of the webcomic Questionable Content.  It's a bit much on the soap opera drama side for me, but now that I know this they've got me hooked on the damn characters, the bastards!  I think they could almost make a whole serparate comic about Pintsize, the comic relief Anthro-PC (read: robot pet).  Anyway, QC has also rubbed me the wrong way once or twice with what might be perceived as sexism.  Interesting, because it does overtly address some of the characters' actions in one strip as being sexist, so the author is at least aware that sexism exists.  Strangely enough, I was mostly perceiving the reinforcement of male stereotypes, and I assumed that the author was female.  Turns out, it's a guy writing the strip.  So the stereotypes combined with the over-all mushiness of the ... questionable content... is throwing me off when I know it's a dude wearing the pants of the comic.

Having said all that, I do think the author has a strong grip on the realities of human interaction, emotions, and relationships.  And he manages to be funny at the same time, so well done there.  That's why I'm still reading it.

One last piece of randomness from my day.  I have Warren Ellis' blog on my Google Reader, and he linked this musician recently.  He, and I, seem to enjoy his stuff: http://www.myspace.com/samrussomusic

The COMICS Show Notes For The 4th Week of September

MARVEL

• Marvel 1985 5 [01:28]
• Captain America 42 [05:44]
• Ultimate Spider-Man 126 [09:17]
• Ultimates 3 5 [12:58]
• Ms. Marvel 31 [19:27]
• Daredevil 111 [25:37]
• Runaways 2 [26:54]
• Hulk 6 [28:58]

On The Invasion Front:

• New Avengers 45 [33:02]
• Avengers: The Initiative 17 [35:45]
• Black Panther 41 [38:36]
• Secret Invasion: Spider-Man 2 [44:14]
• Deadpool 2 [46:41]

DC

• All-Star Batman and Robin 10 [49:36]
• Batman Gotham After Midnite 5 [54:54]
• Superman 680 [57:09]

Independents Day:

• My Name is Bruce (One Shot) [59:43]
• Back to Brooklyn 1 [1:04:40]
• Fables 76 [1:05:46]

Trades Show:

• Omega The Unknown [1:08:23]
• Black Summer [1:16:18]

Steampunk referencing in the visual aesthetic of the new Warren Ellis X-Men.

A mental note to seek it out.

Ok, eu confesso. Eu tinha um preconceito horrível contra a WildStorm. Eu acompanhei o nascimento da editora e até me empolguei com alguns títulos no início, como WildC.A.T.S. e GEN13, mas depois de um tempo percebi que as histórias eram pura imagem, davam gosto de ver, mas não havia muito conteúdo no que a editora publicava.

Contudo, fui surpreendido recentemente por uma saga criativa e inteligente dessa editora, graças a indicação de dois amigos (obrigado V e Regente), foi pelo conselho deles que eu fiquei sabendo que a editora tem publicado títulos interessantes e de qualidade. E foi meio que despretensiosamente que descobri Planetary, a multi-dimensional saga criada por Warren Ellis e desenhada por John Cassaday.

Eu nunca havia lido nada do Ellis e achei um escritor muito inteligente e preciso no seu enredo. Em Planetary a dupla criou novos heróis, que eu nem chamaria de super-heróis porque, apesar do fato de terem poderes, estes não são o detalhe mais importante da história. Na maioria das vezes até esquecemos que os protagonistas são super-poderosos.

Planetary começa apresentando o protagonista da saga Elijah Snow, que tem poderes semelhantes ao do Homem de Gelo, só que muito mais poderoso, com um único pensamento ele pode congelar um quarteirão inteiro. No início da história Snow é recrutado por Jakita Wagner, uma bela mulher que possui super-força e super-velocidade e The Drummer - eu não quis traduzir para o português porque chamar o personagem de O Baterista é meio brega– personagem que consegue receber e manipular qualquer tipo de sinal de comunicação seja ele eletrônico ou não.

Eles fazem parte da organização secreta chamada Planetary. E os agentes da organização são conheicdos como os “Arqueólogos do impossível”. O objetivo dos protagonistas de Planetary é investigar, descobrir os segredos escondidos do mundo e preservá-los de forças ocultas, que desejam apossar-se ou destruir estes segredos. Elijah, Jakita e Drummer formam a equipe de campo de Planetary e são financiados pelo misterioso The Fourth Man.

Um dos pontos fortes do título é a quantidade de referências que Ellis vai fazendo ao longo da narrativa. Heróis, aliados coadjuvantes, cenários, tudo ali tem um motivo, nenhuma aparição é gratuita. A começar pelos vilões da história o grupo conhecido como The Four, composto de quatro astronautas que em uma viagem espacial sofrem um acidente e ganham super-poderes. The Four é uma deturpação do Quarteto Fantástico da Marvel e o objetivo desse quarteto aqui é justamente impedir o florescimento do conhecimento no século XX, impedindo as descobertas e controlando qualquer evento que possa interferir na evolução do planeta. Obviamente o quarteto sinistro tem um interesse por trás dessa manipulação mundial.

Planetary pode ser considerado uma mistura de Indiana Jones, 007 e Constantine, se todos os personagens fossem apenas um e a história fosse escrita por Arthur Conan Doyle, Isaac Asimov e Allan More, se eles compartilhassem uma mesma  mesa de bar um dia. Com Planetary, Warren Ellis consegue desconstruir e ao mesmo tempo reconstruir o mito super-herói, explorando vários clichês do gênero e ainda assim não escrevendo uma história de super-heróis.

É aí que reside a inteligência do título, nesse cuidado com a narrativa e a precisão com que Ellis vai conduzindo o leitor até o final da saga. Além do texto instigante e com gosto de novidade Planetary ainda tem como bônus a arte de Cassaday, que consegue passar um visual consistente e realista (apesar de eu ainda preferir a arte dele em Astonishing X-men).

Planetary mistura tanta coisa e é composto de tantas referências, homenagens e críticas que eu não poderia citar tudo em post só sem ser muito breve e supericial. Então na semana que vem nós temos um encontro marcado aqui, pra debulhar cada uma das histórias de Planetary, apresentando uma prévia pra vocês terem um gostinho do impossível sendo desvendado.

See you folks!

I think of Ear Candy as King's X most upbeat record musically. Even the cover is upbeat!  It's their first cover in ages which isn't dark and forbidding.  It actually has a white border!  And of course, it's hard to miss the psychedelic, brightly colored scarab beetle.

And the music matches the cover really well.  The opener, "The Train" is a catchy bit of near psychedelic rock which brings Ty's vocal to the front.  It seems to set the tone for the rest of the album.  Even "Picture" contains a simple guitar riff reminiscent of the joy of Out of the Silent Planet.

I'm jumping down to "Mississippi Moon," one of their supremely pretty songs ala "Goldilox."  It's more of a bluesy ballad, but the chorus is just amazing.

"A Box" continues the loveliness from the beginning of the album.  Its message, that there's no room inside a box, seems to apply to the band's more claustrophobic sounds as of late.  But lest you think they've gone soft, "Looking for Love" is a fabulous rocker, which makes me think of Thin Lizzy. 

Ear Candy also features "American Cheese (Jerry's Pianto)" a rare track with Jerry Gatskill on lead vocals.  It contains the most Beatlesque sounds of a band that is full of Beatlesque sounds.  This one maintains a great deal more psychedelia than previous songs.  It's not prog rock by any means, it's just straight up psychedelia.

Lyrically, Doug opens up about his loss of faith; "Run" addresses it directly: "Yeah she told me, that if I wasn't good He would get me, make me pay for everything I did, and she said that everybody bad would burn in Hell. I did what she told me and I became someone else."

Despite the negative feelings in the above song, musically the album is very positive: a lot of the distorted riffs are toned down, and the album feels less angry.  I think this disappoints some of the band's fans, but it retains such authentic King's X sounds that it's hard to argue with it.

[READ: September 5, 2008] "Springtide," "Other People's Money," "The Position" "Factory" & "Abstract".

In 2007, Forbes magazine asked five authors to write about this scenario: "It's the year 2027, and the world is undergoing a global financial crisis. The scene is an American workplace." I discovered these stories when I was looking up some information about Max Barry (I had just read Company). I was surprised to see that the stories were in Forbes, but whatever.  When I saw that there were five authors given the assignment I decided to try all five.

Max Barry-"Springtide"

This story concerns the Do Me Dolls, which are what Bratz dolls we be like in twenty years. The protagonist is Gordy Franklin, the creator of a marketing campaign that hyperstimulates the target audience (4 to 10 year old girls). If one girl wants one, all of her friends want one exponentially more. It works so well, that the girls essentially have destroyed, well, the world in their quest for dolls.

Gordy is currently in his penthouse trying to score with a young girl who is transfixed by the scenes of destruction down below. Her bra is virtually impossible to remove. And then everything shifts.

There are so many twists in this 4 page story.   The surprises keep coming right up to the end.   It's a very funny piece.   Quite wicked.  I encourage you to read it; it's fun and very short! And it's available here.

Cory Doctorow-"Other People's Money"

This is my second Cory Doctorow story (this is before I read Little Brother).  I enjoyed "Scroogled" very much.  This one was a little too insider-speak (in terms of venture capital) for me to really appreciate.

The story concerns Gretl, a woman who crafts art out of garbage, specifically old technological items (cell phones and what not).  She explains, "You watched them go from fetish item to six-for-a-buck in the blister packs at the pharmacy check out.  This gives them back their dignity."  Gretl is being hit up by a Venture Capitalist to try and get her to make more money.

The story is primarily a dialog between these two.  There are some really funny concepts thrown around, and I loved the that you could quadruple your money is you had some money but if you got a ton of money it would just sit there languishing.

On a second reading the story made a bit more sense.  It just took getting my bearings of the jargon in the venture capital world.  It left a nice taste in my mouth.  It's available here.

Warren Ellis-"The Position"

I actually thought that Warren Ellis might be the cohort of Nick Cave, but instead he turned out to be the author of Hellblazer amongst many other graphic novels (which makes more sense than the musician, really).  This story is only a page and a half long.  It concerns a few moments on the Stock Exchange floor in which the VP decides to put all of the money into one stock in an attempt to save the failing market.  There's a funny twist at the end, which, as you might expect, is dark and twisted.  Available here.

[And as I'm writing this our government is planning to bail out Wall Street. perhaps this story is more prescient than I realized]

Lowell Yaeger-"Factory"

This was the longest story of the bunch (12 pages).  Not only had I never heard of Lowell Yaeger, but even trying to find information or a picture of him proved impossible!  Which is a shame as this story was great.

The set up is fantastic: it is told in the first person, and it is littered with "Facts."  As in,

Fact:A ream of orange-colored Brite-Lite paper cost $23.99 on sale at the local PaperMax before it closed its doors. That's about $15 more than what it cost when I was a kid.

The reason that is useful is that the narrator just got his pink slip, even though it was served on orange paper.

In 2027, the country is in tatters, cities are in trouble, the grid is mostly down, and the only thriving business in rural Pennsylvania, where the story is set, is a toilet paper factory, because, well, people gotta wipe.  So, the fact that the narrator is getting laid off looks pretty bad for his family.

Part Two of the story has the employees planning a reaction to their mass layoffs.

Part Three comes when the entire company confronts the owner about the layoffs.  He insists that the company has no money and the bank is foreclosing on them.  There's nothing they can do.  But he also insists that he's not going to let anyone take his company away from him.  And that's where the story shifts gears and gets very exciting.  A great story, right up to the last line.  I really enjoyed it, and it's available here.

Michael Bagnulo-"Abstract"

I've never read anything by Michael Bagnulo before.  This story was really great.  A wonderful sci-fi mindfuck.  It begins with a quote from Philosophical Quarterly.  One point the quote makes is "(3) we are almost certainly living in a computer simulation."

The story proceeds from there with Trevor, the universally reviled co-worker, proposing that this group of co-workers create a computer simulated office to run all of their tasks.  A software company, Stint, will host this virtual company, and, once they supply data from their own lives to make their virtual counterpoints, the virtual office will be up and running, doing all of their menial tasks for them. The co-workers start to get freaked about the amount of detail that they have to provide, but Trevor insists that it's all necessary.

And the virtual office works quite well, until things from the virtual world start appearing in the real world.  Even lies that some of them told are becoming true.

I found the beginning of the story to be somewhat awkward, but by the end, I was totally into it.  It was a lot of fun trying to figure out what was happening.

One gripe, which may be Forbes' fault: there were at least three typos in the story.  Irritating.  Aside from that it was really good.  And, it's available here.

Direct Download - Comic Book Outsiders Episode 25

In this landmark episode Scott is still away on his international travels so I have another guest co-host who will be familiar to long-time listeners as we interviewed him on a previous episode.

In this episode our Main Feature is an interview with Si Spurrier, the creator of Gutsville from Image Comics. He has also written for 2000AD, and more recently Marvel comics on titles such as Silver Surfer, Wolverine and Ghost Rider.

Instead of a Challenge segment we have a general news and reviews section where we discuss stories that have caught our interest and we still end up with 3 comic pitches in this segment.

It's my co-host's turn to step into the confessional for the Guilty Pleasure section, and it is one from a long list of many that he wants to get off his chest.

Our final section as always is the Hidden Gem segment and this episode we're talking about the film Stardust.

This episode brings a few new changes with a new website, new email addresses and logo, a real CBO facelift to mark out 25th episode. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to get the show this far, and thanks this episode go out to everyone who sent in their best wishes.

If you want to get in touch about anything we've talked about in this episode you can email us individually at our new addresses steve (at) comicbookoutsiders.com or scott (at) comicbookoutsiders.com. As usual you can leave us a review at our myspace, facebook, and libsyn pages, or leave us an iTunes review.

Warren Ellis via Bad Signal, "Building the Imperfect Beast," 08-12-2008

Okay, I'm pretty sure I did do this last year, but I
think it's reconfigured in my head since then. So.

What you need is one writer and three artists.
Essentially, you decide to Form A Band.

And you decide up front that all the money from
the anthology comic is divided 4 ways equally.
This is for simplicity's sake -- people argue this
point with me all the time, but I have had
publishers say to my face that they avoid
anthologies, especially creator-owned ones,
because THE SUMS ARE TOO HARD. Keep
it simple. 25% for everybody.

What you're going to do, you see, is one writer
writing three serials for three artists.

You're doing a two-dollar book. That's FELL format.
A 24pp unit, all on the same paperstock, including
covers. "Guts" of 20pp, with the "cover", constituting
4pp, wrapped around it, yes?

Three 6pp episodes is 18 pages. Your cover and
inside front cover for indicia etc are 2pp. So that
leaves you 4pp, including the back cover, to play
with. Use them to interleave the serials, use them
as backmatter, let the artists take turns doing
full-page pieces, whatever.

The cover art is a rotating job between the three
artists.

Collect it every six months as a 128pp book (therefore
still splitting everything four ways) or collect each
serial on its own as best fitting (each book therefore
splitting 50/50). (As is blatantly obvious, but people
like to ask these questions instead of thinking for
themselves.)

Go and do it. I need something to read.

Form a band, boys and girls. Form a band.

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Ellis is nigh a genius. And I know that some people would read this be like, "Well, it's certainly easy for him to tell others to go make comics." The fact is, if you have a story, an artist, a scanner, and a little dough and you can make your own comics.

ComixPress is a website that allows indie comic teams, or individuals if you're that talented, to have their comics made. Not only can you choose the size and format, but ComixPress also allows you to place ads in the comics to make them cheaper for you, and will put them in their store to help you sell them. Beyond that, they aren't incredibly expensive anyways. Pimp shit, really.

The main thematics of Transmet (from trade editions 00 to 09)

- political corruption/conspiracy

• police corruption
• media corruption/culpability

- 'the beast' vs 'the smiler'

• systematic and psychotic institutionalised violence
  - violence against the citizenry
  - repression of human rights
  - murder (Vita Severn)
  - eradication of established facts and records (eg The Word archives)
  - a personal desire to inflict suffering on the populace: malignant personality and vindictive urges - personality based.

The issues at stake are:

• moral
• timeless
• referencing religious/cult abuse
• quest for truth
• political accountability
• social neglect of underclass/unempowered eg homeless, mentally unstable, drug addicted, disaffected teens

The dystopic continuity is in the corruption and corruptability of human nature.  In Transmet's "future" society this continues with consistency and transverses cultural, ethnic, social and physical boundaries...

However there have been some improvements noticable in this "future" city:

• virtual environments exist separate to the 'physical' although given status as no less 'real'. These are virtualised communities... in fact there are some virtualities possible even in states of being - a community exists of a race of sentient gas beings
• solutions by volume 9 are observed by SJ to a number of longstanding environmental threats, including water pollution, acid rain, air pollution, virus carrying insect populations, bacterial diseases
• access to media - and media's access to the public: more immediate, localised reporting and yet utterly worldwide broadcasting, new technologies for viewing and selecting,  more news channels, rogue newsites operating with rotating IPs/URLs/server hacking

Devil-Slayer #1

Horror author Brian Keene's first mainstream comic for Marvel deals with an obscure character I know nothing about (but here's the Wikipedia entry on him). I like Keene's novels, and this comic isn't too bad for a first issue. There's plenty of gore and supernatural evil at the end. I do like Keene's use of a soldier as his revamped Devil-Slayer, as well as Iraq as a setting, though there were a few minor glitches that distracted me but probably aren't noticible to most people.

Ministry of Space #1-3

Warren Ellis is the man. I loved his work on Marvel's Excalibur in the 90's, what I've read of his prose work seems solid and I keep up with his blog, mailing list and Freakangels webcomic without fail. But I can't think of any great writer that doesn't have at least one stinker, and this one is Warren's. There's just no freakin' point to it. Three issues worth of Britain beginning a space program after WWII and terraforming Mars in 2001. There's no major conflict, the characters aren't changed by the end of the story and nothing of great import occurs. Well, no one's perfect, right?

Locke and Key#1-6

Joe Hill is full of own and win. He has a novel, a collection of short stories and now a completed limited-series comic to his name and excels in all three media. The first Locke and Key series set up the main characters, introduced a creepy protagonist, concluded with a great showdown and set up the next series in a neat, well-plotted and perfectly paced comic that I couldn't wait to snap up as soon as the next issue was available.

My introduction to Warren Ellis came through his immensely warped, darkly comedic noir novel Crooked Little Vein, so up until a friend lent me his copy of the hyperactive superhero adventure Nextwave I was not even aware of his prolific career as a writer for comic books and graphic novels. Having laughed myself senseless over the thoroughly absurd characters and events in both Crooked Little Vein and Nextwave, I was almost instantaneously curious to delve further into his oeuvre.

Those going into Orbiter expecting the kinetic, anarchic silliness engulfing his aforementioned works will be disappointed in its comparatively sedate, subtle tone. It is best approached with an attitude expecting an engaging story penned by an established, respected writer - and when viewed from that angle Orbiter does not let down. Dedicated to the astronauts lost in the 2003 Columbia disaster, Ellis and artist Colleen Doran's obvious passion for NASA and space travel is made apparent beginning with Ellis's bittersweet foreward, "Getting Up Again." This romanticizing and idealizing of the universe beyond Earth permeates every page of the story, which involves the ficticious Venture space shuttle returning to Kennedy Space Center ten years after its mysterious and sudden disappearance. Only the shuttle's seemingly insane pilot, John Cost, remains from the initial crew of seven, and the machine itself has changed quite dramatically as well. The U.S. Space Command organizes a small, expert team to answer the questions surrounding the Venture's return. Any storytelling beyond this point would delve into the realm of spoilers, but suffice to say the book concludes in a manner that left me simultaneously feeling gratified and yet longing to see more. But I admire Ellis's ending because of how much it forces readers to exercise their imaginations and seek to explore the possibilities of his depiction of space.

As this is a self-contained, one-shot graphic novel spanning only 99 pages, characterization is minimal in order to establish early on that the story places its emphasis almost entirely on what's out there in the universe rather than who is down here on Earth. We catch small snapshots of the protagonists' lives outside their labs, which, at their best, can tell an entire story in only a couple of frames. Ellis winks slightly towards fans of his comedic works, with subtle shades of his self-aware brand of humor sneaking into the overall serious story through Colonel Bukovic and Terry Marx. Doran's heavily shadowed artwork lends a dark, yet almost dreamlike undertone to the writing. Like Ellis, she too is at her best when emphasizing the limitless potential of space travel and the dreams of those who seek to explore it.

Bibliographical Information

Ellis, Warren, and Colleen Doran. Orbiter. New York: DC Comics, 2003.

Further Reading

Admittedly, the majority of my reading in science fiction has been within the cyberpunk subgenre, so my exposure to the "hard" stuff (I highly regret that I have yet to pick up any novel by Arthur C. Clarke or Isaac Asimov) has sadly been minimal. Both Stanislaw Lem's Solaris and Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles depict mankind's curiousity towards space travel with a decidedly psychological bent, though Lem's novel delves more into technical elements in a manner similar to that of Orbiter. Though not oriented towards space, H.G. Wells's The Time Machine approaches his fantastic subject matter with the same sense of imagination and wonder.

~Riot

And yes, I have read them all by now.  I read fast, get over it.

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I know I've been slacking off on "Tracking", but whatever.  It might make a resurgence in some form, the idea's something I really like.  I have a few things coming up that I'll be announcing soon, one of which will involve knife-fighting monkeys and a dingy basement somewhere in this deadly city where a man and his money can be easily separated, the odds balanced on the edge of a sushi-cutting knife being wielded by a heavily tattooed albino gibbon.

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Also don't forget Late Night Wallflower, and now also Toxic Shock TV for all my moderately edited rantings and ravings on music news, music industry crap, tv and film news, and other shit that's actually newsworthy as opposed to the drivel I normally post on here.

ASTONISHING X-MEN:

Of course, we all know a few of the main reasons this book was making it in the box. It was penned by "the man" Mr. Whedon, and it revolved around everyone's favorite lovable band of Merry Mutants. Two great flavors that certainly tasted great together...while they lasted.

*Cue dramatic music*

Warren Ellis now helms this book, bringing with him an artist, Simone Bianchi who seems hell bent on making everyone and everything look like a Halloween Super Store exploded on the pages. He's not all that bad really...but his art is spooky and all the characters look like malicious goblins or demonic war-lords. It's definitely a change from the clean and shiney inks of John Cassady.

As for Ellis, I can't say he and I have much history, or will in the future. His book is much too technical and wordy to suit my X-Men desires.

And that's fine, right? There are many other X-Books to choose from. No harm, no foul.

UNCANNY X-MEN:

After the Messiah Complex tore the team asunder (and annihilated the X-Mansion for the billionth time), it only seemed appropriate that the team members should take a hiatus. Xavier was dead, the mansion destroyed, the dream hanging in tattered shreds.

So, let's all pick up and move to San Francisco.

Eh, what? Does anyone else remember how bad of an idea that is? Similar plot-lines wherein the X-Team alters locations never end well. And come on - San Francisco? Let's take the comic allegory and decorate it with political trappings please. Be sure to mention HYBRIDS! I don't know about this Ed Brubaker character.

*sigh* As if all this wasn't bad enough - Rogue and Gambit are MIA (remember them, two of your more popular characters??) and Emma Frost is doing her best Jean Grey impersonation to everyone's discomfort. She sticks out like a sore thumb that the X-Editors are intent on jabbing in the eye of every reader who thinks Jean Grey should return from the dead and kick the holy telepathic shit out of her.

But Emma's on every other page - with smarmy retorts and her boobies jostling up out of her top. Always so classy, Ms. Frost.

It would seem that the X-Creators forget she's only ever worked as a minor character and only when given some sort of purpose. Otherwise, she's like a venereal disease infested peacock preening and pretending to fill the shoes of the most powerful mutant in the Universe. Puh-thetic.

Cyclops is back as the leader (AS ALWAYS). Could anyone be less enthused?

There were some other references to a new evil "Humans Against Mutants" kinda group and a plot about Dazzler and the mayor of San Francisco and...*shrug* I don't really care.

Not particularly interested in the New Mutants , er excuse me, Young X-Men and their need to appear in the adult X-Books. My willingness to continue collecting X-Books is perfunctory at best...born of some vague idea that once I stop...it will start to get good again.

The art is spastic - especially in the last three issues when it changed artistic hands three different times in three different pages. This is like the exact opposite of what folks like myself want from their comic books. Yegh!

Disappointing. It's still on the pull list...but I'm not making a special point of reading it.

X-MEN LEGACY:

When you're good, you're good. This book is my favorite of the heap at the moment because it features Xavier's survival (don't act shocked) and struggle to piece together his life based on his memories and the memories of others. Really intriguing plot done by Mike Carey, with plenty of opportunity for fun and interesting guest stars. Gambit, Mr. Sinister and Rogue all oblige.

Things are going along swimmingly with the art, done by Scot Eaton, which hasn't changed hands in the first 5 issues (always a good sign). The only real bone of contention is Rogue's costume has been altered yet again. Please bring back the cape. I love Rogue in a cape.

But yes - everything seems to look good here.

Until the very latest issue when Cyclops and Emma Frost make their appearance. My distaste for this couple has grown the more they appear in every X-comic I read. Cyclops especially is a whiny-ass bitch in the Legacy series because...he's a whiney-ass bitch. So Xavier isn't 100% morally upright. Get over it. You're dating the White Skank.

I am not pleased with Grant Morrison's version of the X-Men, and am even further disgruntled that it now dominates all X-Books. Including the only one that has really gained any traction with me since the Whedon run on Astonishing finished. Whedon has a knack for making bitches and evil villains tolerable, but in the hands of lesser writers...Emma Frost and Scott Summers are unpalatable.

I predict a lot of leafing and not any real reading in the future with this series until things pick back up again (aka, Cyclops and the White Queen exit stage left).

X-FACTOR:

My solace in the storm - as the X-Books flail about with their annoying co-mingled plots and "new directions" every two months...this book has been a joy with it's consistent and good writing.

Until - that is - the Messiah Complex. And then Secret Invasion. And now, nothing in my good graces could force me to read the last two issues.

Most of this can be blamed on Marvel's obsessive need for plot-rupturing cross-overs...which consume several books and leave shitty story archs and gaps in their wake.

Peter David had a great thing going. He was sizing Madrox up for interesting revelations. He was building great rapport and bonding with the cast of characters he'd been offered. I was totally head over heels for this series as a refuge from all that has been bad in the main X-Books. Sure, it had a constant rotation of artists, but my favorite Pablo Raimondi appeared every few issues, rescuing me from the banality of shitty comic book art.

But this latest artist, Larry Stroman is horrific. His characters all look like deformed versions of human beings. That may be purposeful due to Secret Invasion antics, but if that's the case...my desire to read this cross-over has been severely muted.

As has my desire to read any X-Factor issues penciled by Stroman. The art is tragic and distracting to the point where I couldn't even will myself to read the Peter David awesomeness lurking in those pages. I tried on three separate occasions.

The only outright winner in the pile of 13 books was the Layla Miller one-shot. The writing was pure PAD goodness, and the art by Valentine De Landro was familiar and comforting. Like a snack of milk and cookies. Mmmm.

It really felt like a relic from a by-gone era, when X-Factor was a safe haven of amazingly good writing and art that sat a little outside the mainstream, never failing to offer pleasant surprises.

I will miss those days as most assuredly they are gone.

IN CONCLUSION:

I'm not sure any of the X-Teams survived the Messiah Complex and Secret Invasion intact. The X-Books (with the exception of X-Factor) have been getting steadily worse since I stopped really reading back in 1995. The recent move to San Francisco only cements them as champions for the liberal agenda, which is too close a marriage of politics and comic books. These characters are meant to be ALLEGORIES...but no one seems to understand that anymore. *weep*

I've been collecting these books on and off since I was 10 years old. It's no small thing for me to cull them from my pull list when they start sucking really bad, because inevitably they'll cycle back around again to a writer who cares more about character development than fancy new San Fran hovels and nasty Frost/Summers bang-fests.

There is hope - Astonishing will be kicked to the curb, with one month reprieves for all other X-Books. Though, I have a feeling my most bitter complaints (inconsistent art, skanky couples, etc) might now be staples of the books, and my dream of a world in which Mutant related comic books don't suck, may just be that - a dream.

Let's hope Xavier can piece together the shit-heap that has become of his beloved X-Men in the Legacy series, or we may all very well be doomed.

Much Love, Mindy C

10) Iron Council, the most political novel from New Weird proponent and former Socialist party candidate China Mieville.

9) Sam & Max: Abe Lincoln Must Die, Telltale games has done an amazing job by bring back Sam & Max to adventure games.  This episode is the highlight of it to date, thanks in large part to seeing the homicidal rabbit-like Max debate the Lincoln Memorial.  Right now it's also available as a free trial to advertise the other 9 episodes.

8 ) Howard the Duck, the best satire of life in the 70's comics ever produced.  Of particular note here are issues 7-9 in which Howard is nominated as the Presidential candidate for the All Night Party, only to lose when some lurid photographs of him get released.

7) V for Vendetta, forget Watchmen, V is Alan Moore's masterpiece.  A searing blast of anarchy aimed squarely at Margaret Thatcher that didn't lose any of it's power when translated into a movie focused on Bush's America instead.  Both the movie and the original are well worth checking out.

6) DMZ, Brian Wood's chronicle of the second U.S. civil war (centered in New York City) is Vertigo's best book (once 100 Bullets ends in a few months) and is by far the most relevant comic currently on the stands.

5) Futurama: A Head In the Polls, always a show with a slight politicla bent to it (Al Gore's daughter was one of the writers after all), Futurama went all it for this episode in which the Planet Express team explore a political convention, watch the debates between Jack Johnson and John Jackson, and ultimately allow for the second coming of Richard Nixon.  One of my favorite episodes if only for the Hypnotoad.

4) Wag the Dog, Barry Levinson and David Mamet's brilliant tale of a staged war used to distract the public from a scandal involving the incumbant President.  Some great performances from Dustin Hoffman, Robert DeNiro and William H. Macy help to sell my favorite political film.

3) The Onion, still the best source for print satire of current events.

2) Battlestar Galactica, a continually surprising, Peabody Award winning space opera, that has proven to be the most relevant show on tv.  The writers excel at playing devil's advicates.  Positing a world in which the heroes have no choice but to rig elections, commit terrorist bombings, hold secret military tribunals and criminalize abortions (they have gone on the record as actually being fairly liberal).  Now if it'll just come back to wrap up the final season.

1) Transmetropolitan, the book that first put Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson on the map.  An epic chronicling how the press brings about the rise and fall of a President.  Besides the politics it is also one of the great works of futurism and a scathing attack on the failures of the press.  I've reread the entire thing at least half a dozen times now and I fully plan on doing so again in the near future.

1. Class and gender difference (as preconditions):

"Tho' the other Papers which are publish'd for the Use of the Good People of England have certainly very wholesome Effects, and are laudable in their Particular Kinds, they do not seem to come up to the Main Design of such Narrations, which, I humbly presume, should be principally intended for the Use of Politick Persons, who are so publick-spirited as to neglect their own Affairs to look into Transactions of State. Now these Gentlemen, for the most Part, being Persons of strong Zeal and weak Intellects, it is both a Charitable and Necessary Work to offer something, whereby such worthy and well-affected Members of the Commonwealth may be instructed, after their Reading, what to think: Which shall be the End and Purpose of this my Paper, wherein I shall from Time to Time Report and Consider all Matters of what Kind soever that shall occur to Me, and publish such my Advices and Reflections every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, in the Week, for the Convenience of the Post. I resolve also to have something which may be of Entertainment to the Fair Sex, in Honour of Whom I have invented the Title of this Paper."

(inaugural issue of The Tatler, April 12, 1709, Richard Steele, aka Isaac Bickerstaff)

2: Subtractive theory of taste:

"In a Nation of Liberty, there is hardly a Person in the whole Mass of the People more absolutely necessary than a Censor. It is allowed, that I have no Authority for assuming this important Appellation; and that I am Censor of these Nations, just as one is chosen King at the Game of Questions and Commands. But if in the Execution of this fantastical Dignity, I observe upon Things which do not fall within the Cognizance of real Authority, I hope it will be granted, that an idle Man could not be more usefully employed."

("Censor of Great Britain," Tatler #144, March 11, 1710)

3. Commerce as the moderation of 'extremes'

3a. Abstract equality as the basis for nonviolent competition:

"Equality is the Life of Conversation; and he is as much out who assumes to himself any Part above another, as he who considers himself below the rest of Society. Familiarity in Inferiors is Sauciness; in Superiors, Condescension; neither of which are to have Being among Companions, the very Word implying that they are to be equal. When therefore we have abstracted the Company from all Considerations of their Quality or Fortune, it will immediately appear, that to make it happy and polite, there must nothing be started which shall discover that our Thoughts run upon any such Distinctions. Hence it will arise, that Benevolence must become the Rule of Society, and he that is most obliging must be most diverting."

(from Tatler #225, September 16, 1710)

3b The expansion of attention (keeping the sphere open to novel experiences):

"It is my Custom, in a Dearth of News, to entertain my self with those Collections of Advertisements that appear at the End of all publick Prints. These I consider as Accounts of News from the little World, in the same Manner that the foregoing Parts of the Paper are from the great. If in one we hear that a Sovereign Prince is fled from his Capital City, in the other we hear of a Tradesman who hath shut up his Shop, and run away. If in one we find the Victory of a General, in the other we see the Desertion of a private Soldier. I must confess, I have a certain Weakness in my Temper, that is often very much of affected by these little Domestick Occurrences, and have frequently been caught with Tears in my Eyes over a melancholy Advertisement.

...

The great Art in writing Advertisements, is the finding out a proper Method to catch the Reader's Eye; without which, a good Thing may pass over unobserved, or be lost among Commissions of Bankrupt...But the great Skill in an Advertizer, is chiefly seen in the Style which he makes use of. He is to mention the universal Esteem, or general Reputation, of Things that were never heard of."

(Tatler #224, September 14, 1710)

Not explicitly mentioned here except by me is the fact of competition -- 'cultural' competition for public recognition as a compensatory field for defunct aristocratic or ideals and justification for the brutal material competition keeping everyone in business. History of 'crises' as the illusion of their division becomes increasingly untenable, until by now they've become formally and sometimes practically the same thing.

According to Habermas, participation in the bourgeois public sphere was/is the privilege and responsibility of any proprietor, and the sign of their common humanity. This humanity itself, insofar as it is tied to expressive capacities, becomes increasingly subject to the laws of the market, including its many quirky exceptions. A human body is worth 6.9 million USD, a decline in value relative to other more precious resources. Uncounted human bodies tend to have negative value (sure sign of a burst bubble). A humanistic opinion, "every life is precious," being a cliche, is also declining in value, following the unprecedented expansion of communication networks and access to them. When a public figure like George W. Bush uses it while publicly sanctioning mass murder, its value declines even further. Overpopulation as a political-economic problem is mirrored by overpopulation as cultural problem.

Warren Ellis on the new cultural crisis:

The years 2001-20