Madman #3 — Writer/Artist: Mike Allred
A fun tour-de-force by Allred, as he sets up the story so that his character is fighting to get back to “reality,” and has to pass through various fictional planes to do it. This becomes an excuse for drawing each panel in the style of a famous cartoonist, starting with the early newspaper strip cartoonists and working up to the present. Thus, the top of page four begins with a panel drawn in the style of Windsor McCay’s Little Nemo, followed by a Segar Popeye panel, a Gottfredson Mickey Mouse, Hal Foster, Frank King, George Herriman, etc., tracking through the EC artists of the ’50s, Peanuts, the Kirby/Ditko Marvel ’60s, and all the way up to modern artists like Charles Burns, Richard Sala, Chris Ware and so on. (Who knew that Don Martin was only three panels removed from reality?) There’s very little actual plot here, since it takes a back seat to all the swipes, but it’s so much fun examining each panel and playing spot-the-influence (is that Hal Foster? Raymond? Hogarth?) that the book becomes a master class on the history of comics illustration. Fortunately for rookies, Allred provides a dedication at the beginning that name-checks each creator, in order (and there are well over a hundred) so it becomes a handy cheat-sheet. In an afterward, he also mentions how this project seemed like a great idea at the beginning, and then turned into a massive challenge — but his work is our gain; this is an impressive achievement, one that showcases just how artistically analytical, and how much of a chameleon, Allred can be. If nothing else, it should be fodder for trivia contests for a long time.
B.P.R.D.: Garden of Souls #5 (of 5) — Writers: Mike Mignola and John Arcudi; Artist: Guy Davis
Because this is the conclusion of the current mini-series, a first-time reader should probably start somewhere else, although it’s not a bad showcase for Davis’s (and Mignola/Arcudi’s) flair with horror and steampunk-tinged Victorian design. It’s not quite up to the make-your-brain-buzz weirdness that Hellboy can provide — it’s often in a more minor key, without the brassy Kirbyish action of Mignola’s most famous creation — but it delivers its own quiet, eerie rewards.
Fables #63 — Writer: Bill Willingham; Penciller: Mark Buckingham; Inker: Steve Leialoha
Willingham’s a patient and subtle writer — here, he’s preparing the way for a massive struggle, somewhere far over the horizon, and so he’s lining up his pieces (on all sides), and setting everything carefully into place, while at the same time establishing and enhancing what we know about each character. One of his strengths is that he might be the best military tactician writing in comics (Larry Hama being, apparently, retired at the moment), and he’s equally adept at magical strategy, so he’s able to take his stories in unexpected-but-logical directions, and avoid all the regular cliches. Any comics fan should at least try a few issues (or trades) of this series, because it’s one of the best in comics right now.
New Avengers #32 — Writer: Brian Michael Bendis; Artist: Leonil Yu
Mostly a discussion in a plane, as the team flies back from Japan and ponders the implications of Skrull-Elektra. Good use of dialogue and characterization, as Wolverine sums up why we should be suspicious of each of them (including himself), and everyone reacts in their own way to the news (well, up until the plane does what planes with Avengers in them inevitably do). Entertaining, in its mostly quiet way, although I’m still not a Yu fan (at one point, I had to back up a few pages and mentally list characters to figure out that it was Hawkeye/Ronin speaking, because the art’s so scratchy that, for all I knew, it could have been Danny/Iron Fist, or some other blonde guy). Overall, the reactions, and the things said, actually make me more optimistic about this whole Skrull thing. Start taking bets on who on the team is one now (my bet’s on Dr. Strange, who doesn’t seem anywhere near the master-of-the-mystic-arts he’s supposed to be).
Green Lantern #21 — Writer: Geoff Johns; Penciller: Ivan Reis; Inker: Oclair Albert
*Sigh.* I didn’t want to get caught up in this, but Johns’s epics have a way of picking you up and sweeping you along, with their flood of concepts and cosmic fireworks and pieces of old continuity, and this is no exception. (Parallax and Superboy Prime and the Anti-Monitor… what, God was too busy?) I’m still skeptical, figuring that the ending can’t possibly live up to the overcharged beginning, but then there’ll be a quiet, perfect little bit of dialogue (“Don’t talk like you’re Kyle”) that makes me think maybe it’ll all pay off after all.
Martha Washington Dies — Writer: Frank Miller; Artist: Dave Gibbons
If you’ve never read any of Miller’s Martha Washington stories, don’t start with this book — it’s more an epilogue than a story in its own right, and takes about three minutes to finish, mostly because there are four double-page splashes, and four single-page ones; the whole comic has something like 33 panels total. Of course, those panels are by Dave Gibbons, so they’re very well drawn, but it’s still going to make you wonder what the fuss is all about. Instead, look up the first Martha mini-series, Give Me Liberty — it’s available as a trade, and the original issues are still cheap too — and go from there. Eventually, when you’ve read everything else, then get to this comic, and it’ll make a nice little coda to the whole saga.
Nexus #99 — Writer: Mike Baron; Artist: Steve Rude
Nice to have the gang back: Baron, Rude, Horatio, Sundra, the whole cast of thousands (or, at least, hundreds): come for the gorgeous art; stay for the characterization and snarky political and religious commentary. If you’ve never read this title before (and, really, it’s been ten years since any new stories), this is a good jumping-on point; you won’t know everything that’s going on, or get all the references, but you’ll get enough to appreciate why it was one of the bright spots of the ’80s and ’90s, and to start searching out some of the 98 issues before this one.
DMZ #21 — Writer: Brian Wood; Artist: Riccardo Burchielli
Part four of a five-episode arc, so don’t start here; trust me, though, when I say what I always do about this book: it’s a very well-written near-future look at a United States divided by civil war and knotted into a tense stand-off, one where Woods is careful to give all sides their say, and the only constant is that it’s the little guys, the civilians, who always get screwed. If that sounds intriguing, pick up one of the trades and see if you like it.
Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter: The First Death #1 (of 2) — Writers: Laurell K. Hamilton and Jonathon Green; Artwork: Wellenton Alves
Not an adaptation, and not quite an origin — more of a prequel to the first Blake book, which means that it’s new material co-written by Hamilton. That should be enough incentive for fans right there; I’ve never read the books, and didn’t find the art particularly expressive (that one signature lock of hair that keeps falling down the middle of the title character’s face is annoying), but the fantasy concepts, and the sense of a whole world beyond the panels, are enough to keep me reading the comic.
Phil Mateer
