Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Deadwood Feb 24 2016 addendum...

Totally missed this ....

Steven Universe and the Crystal Gems #1 $3.99

Steve Universe is probable the best thing I got turned on to through social media. Steven Universe is something different in animation as it has a continuity, commits to story and change and most importantly to me has something to say about compassion and support outside of a kind of sterotypical sense. The stories are not moralistic or pedantic they are full on heroic adventures who's message goes far deeper then nearly what they say. Inspired from any sources it has its roots in many of the shows I have loved over time from both sides of the Pacific. Don't know what to expect from this incarnation of the comic but as I love the characters I'm will to buy in.

 

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Wanted Feb 24th (aka Deadwood comics pull list...)

Last week was small so I'm thinking this will balance out somewhere else this month or perhaps I will be able to get a couple of the books I've been missing.... Anyhow Power man and Iron Fist full on rocked last week just in case you missed it. When it comes to this list I try to spotlight books that may get overlooked for all the other shiny out there and keep to a budget of a meager twenty dollars.

 

Angela Queen of Hel #5 $3.99

Looking at the book solicitations for May Marguiette Bennett's modern reference dropping myth making book starring three my favorite Marvel characters Leah, Angela and Sera is among the missing and I am worried as Black Knight already got the axe. This is not a book about superheroes slugging each other it's a books about how far characters will go for love and freedom, what they're willing to risk. Angela Queen of Hel is a bit of a meta journey both I terms of storytelling and in terms of being metaphysical; Sera tells us in narration that Hel is memory and sections of this volume are like the first as they are flashbacks drawn by the magnificent painter Stephanie Hans. I'm afraid that the vagaries that kill so many of my favorite books may be dooming another... it's a great different slice of marvel storytelling and it's worth taking a chance on as much as Thor, and Doctor Strange.

 

Ringside #4 $3.99

A title about professional wrestling could be a simple slugfest too but not at the hands of a complex and skilled writer who has something to say like Jie Keating. This is a far different journey compared to his other titles like Glory, a book about redemption and love, and Shutter, a book about discovery, it's to early to say what I'll feel Ringside is about to me but it's definitely good and complex. It's been more of a peek into the private lives of these entertainers who battle each other for our enjoyment then it's been just a peek inside kayfabe. We have gotten snippets of the current traveling showmen but much much more if the life after the ring for one star the Minotaur who left under tense,to say the least, circumstances. Nick Barber and Simon Gough give this book a distinctive interpretive look that somehow is really very fitting. Joe seems to be very good at finding the perfect team to collaborate on his various projects making books that click as a whole.

 

Jem and the Holograms #12 $3.99

Kelly Thompson really must like us she has written two Jem issues for this month one illustrated by Jen Bartel and this by her partner in the creation of this book and artist of Joe Keatings Glory Sophie Campbell. This revoking of the late eighties iconic show hits emotionally and visually on a regular basis most recently with the storyline surrounding Pizzaz, her injury and it's fallout since the Christmas special that was particularly moving. Each of the characters has their own stakes treated with equal value by the creative team, no one plays second fiddle and I'm very curious what the inclusion of Blaze into the regular cast will do to the dynamics of the story. I still have my favorite characters and relationships but so many is say all of the cast have really grown on me. It's one of the books I honestly look forward to every month. Not at all the guilty pleasure it might have been it's something I'm happy to say I'm a big fan of.

Wayward #14 $3.50

Wayward hits on so many of the aspects that I love aboutJapanese manga and I have to give Jim Zub and Steve. Cummings their due they get Japanese urban fantasy right... Rori, Ayane,Shirai, Nikaido Ohara and now the Ronin are not just a Scoobie Gang knockoffs; they are characters that grow out of the yokai ghost story legacy of Japanese Myth that the series is steeped in and works like the legendary Gegege no Kintaro. The story is not simply a black vs white good vs evil morality play it poses the new vs the traditional with complex, conflicted characters trying to find their way through the chaos that their actions have wrought. Steven Cummings' art does a great mix of styleized character and monster laid over very realistically created backgrounds that is a thing in manga of its kind. Jim and Steven have created a story and cast rich in detail and depth and I will miss this book when it is over.

 

Cry Havoc#2 $3.99

As I'm away from home at the moment I did not get the chance to read the first issue of this but it's waiting for me when I get back. I did get a chance to flip through it to see its unique use of color palet breaking up the continuity of this story that details three periods in its heroes story. It's a lycanthrope military modern fantasy and I. The opening scene asks which side of the cage your on and it's a haunting image and idea as I have to sill wait a bit to read it. Simon Spurrier is someone who writes weird fiction that clicks with my sense of humor and horror and dos what some of my favorite stories do...blend a myriad of fictional ideas into something unique and bizzare.

 

And that gets me to just about exactly twenty for the week.... February has been a brilliant month of books.... Can not wait to get back home to pick up my books...

Given last week being small I'm likely to add Patsy Walker Hellcat #3, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur #4, and Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #5 from this weeks shipping as I happen to love these Marvel books too...

 

Monday, February 15, 2016

Wanted...Feb 17 2016 (aka comics pull list)

There are a whole lot of excellent books coming out this week and I'm really only picking up two... really. Through the vagaries of the direct market there are a slim few books I'm full on looking forward to this week so I'm going to be under my budget of twenty dollars. I think I will be adding a few that are of interest that I think may need a bit of an ego boost and there is one trade all must have so....

 

Power Man and Iron Fist #1 $3.99

Luke and Danny have been around just about as long as I have and I have been a fan of multiple incarnations of their adventures and even though I love the other of this weeks offerings this is really a must have. David F Walker taking it up in interviews for the last couple of weeks and Sanford Greene's art that has trickled out both have me more and more exited for a book I have been anticipating since the early hints about the project. Back at Rose City Comic Con David mentioned he had two books that he could not name coming from Marvel this year and this was one of the ones I had hoped for. Seems the plans that they have for the heroes for hire duo reach across the history of the characters from their early days till now so this is no reboot but a story that will give respect to them and to their fans which include the creators working on the book. I'd encourage anyone to go and listen to the interview on BlackComicChat here to see what I'm taking about.

Bitch Planet #7 $3.99

At least equally a must this week is Bitch Planet for its rose colored glass shattering look in the mirror at our toxic society and for the open, powerful and insightful backup features that range the gamet of social issues. Kelly Sue and Valentine return to the main story after last issues spotlight and deal with the fallout of the first ACO Megaton test and move forward the lives in captivity of the non-compliment inmates on Bitch Planet. This is one of the titles I find to be required reading, it's a book in which I find characters I click with, can see as real with some very real stakes and moreover it's a story that is un-comforting to read and asks you to think and be more compassionate. ... What more can I say there are important issues being raised in this great piece of fiction that just happens to be delivered through sequential art and Valentine de Landro is sure capable of delivering challenging, unsettling images which tell a deeper story.

 

So my real list really only comes to just under eight dollars this week.... In addition to this Sex Criminals #14, I Hate Fairyland #5, are out this week that may just get added to the two great books above.

DC is also releasing two collections that should be on people's shelves in some way... Midnighter Vol 1 from Steve Orlando and ACO is out as is the reprint of the Doom Patrol by Grant Morrison.

 

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

How could I forget...?

Shaft Immatation of Life #1 $3.99

I can not believe I missed that this was coming out today as a fan of David F Walker I feel a bit remiss in missing it. One of the better reads from last year was the Shaft miniseries by David F Walker. He knows both the movies and the less known series of novels that inspired them and pulled story from both in writing the origin sort of story that I nearly missed in the avalanche of books last year. I'm not missing out this time and as David is a writer that pulls no punches I'd say neither should you if two fisted detective stories are your thing. I can hear the theme music just looking at the cover.

 

Hungry Ghosts

New Suicide Squad #17 $2.99
So liked the recent trailer and want more or perhaps you fondly recall the original Suicide Squad by John Ostrander and have not really looked at the recent run much at all or like me are a bit of both I can say this is all round a pretty solid place to look. Tim Seeley who's written some pretty good off beat superhero stories among other things does a brilliant job of capturing the old darkly sarcastic tone of the book and sets up a framing sequence that links this story to the recent arcs from the book and allows a bit of introduction to new readers alike. Juan Ferreyra who's been on the book a wile has a great grasp of the characters does some pretty fun things with the page layouts and given he's handling the coloring too it's got a very painterly look to it without losing any sense of action. As with the trailer that makes me so hopefull for the movie Tim and Juan hit real solid character beats as even if their appearance is a cameo and given the size of the cast and the page limit I'm impressed with how much I liked the issue.
I really liked the set up of the story Tim choose; its cynical in the style of the old book and posits that the UK government has too cottoned to the idea of coercing its meta human criminals into a black ops sort of force given something awful may have happened to some of its heroes. A pencil pusher is sent to get some pointers from Waller and is given a tour and a taste of what the Task Force X program is like and makes a point about how she is able to run it that is sharply socially relevant. He gives us a character intro montage allowing Harley to be creepy, cute and threatening, El Diablo to be broody, Deadshot to be well Deadshot and gives us other fun characterful bits clue in new readers. The remainder of the plot is an uncharacteristic mission were as with all good plots things go awry and point us towards the next issue.
Juan Ferreyra is a name I was unfamiliar with but I will for sure be watching for it's I quite like his art. He has a deft hand for capturing expression and communicating emotion in his characters faces: the glee and childlike delight of Ms. Quinn, the malice from Amanda Waller, the fury and hunger of the Cheetah, the indignation of Cap'tn Boomerang, brooding and resignation. Juan is obviously a practiced artist and quite talented as his use of shadow and highlight particularly in the mission to China and the festival of the Hungry Ghosts it quite stunning. Sometimes reading comics you should showdown and get stuck in looking just at the art because in books like this it's worth it. I forget to do that occasionally but reviewing this I went back and wow so glad I did as the more I look the more I find to appreciate in this books artwork. His work also has so,e hints of pop art playfulness about particularly with action as well I won't ruin it but there is a marvelous piece of fun sequential storytelling that fills a two page spread. Writing about it makes me appreciate the work all the more.
Ok enough gushing about it... I'm figuring you get the picture I dug the issue. It's fulfilled more then any expectations I had going in and more. Tim Seeley, who's Sundowners I particularly lived for its weird-fiction-ness, and Juan did a particularly good job of reminding me why I loved the Suicide Squad back in the Ostrander days and why the trailer makes me hopefull. It captured the punchyness of the trailer and the reminiscence I have of the old book but is full on its own thing and I can only hope that they have a bit of time on the book or that the time they have is all this good. Recommended buy (if it seems your kind of thing and though I should not I'm adding it to my pile this week)
( .... Or the full title Hungry Ghosts or how I learned to stop worrying and love the new Suicide Squad)

Monday, February 8, 2016

Feb 10 2016 Wanted Comics (aka Pull List)

Going for a bit of a different vibe this month but with the same semi flexible rule set... I try to keep my list to a manageable twenty dollars a week or an average of that across the month and if I'm likely to break that myself I will spotlight here titles I think may get less notice given the sheer number of books out there....

Zodiac Starforce #4 $3.99

My must have book of the week; I have been waiting for for a couple of extra months but the series has been such a treat that I hardly minded the extra time. Kevin Panetta and Paulina Ganucheau's take on the magical girl genre may seem a bit of a departure for Dark Horse but as many of the stories are a kind of horror story often tinged with loss it really does fit in quite well. They made the great storytelling choice to come in late after our heroes first big adventure and hit the ground running as darkness rears its head into their lives again. We have had a spare three issues to get to know these great girls and I'm sad to see the end of this story coming and I hope not vainly looking forward to more. Kim,Emma Molly and Savi have joined the growing list of favorite characters of mine, they make me want to revisit quite a few old Japanese manga and shows and looking again at the cover make me think of more recent books like BKV's weird book PaperGirls which could easily be a non-magical universe version of some of them. One of the finer books from last year and there is a collection on the horizon with some extras coming if this is your kinda thing and you missed it...

 

Jem and the Holograms Valentine Sp. $3.99

I'll be honest I was not sure if the Christmas special was something I was really wanting and it was a honestly touching read that brought the story forward, revealed more about the large cast and did so much in a spare 22 pages. So this time around I'll say you may be making an error passing on a special holiday issue as they are relevant to the ongoing story and this one apparently has some artwork by Jen Bartel who if you have not seen her drawing you are missing out quite honestly. Kelly Thompson has my trust as a writer with the honest emotion she bring out through her stories and the way she has managed to make, well at least in my case, care about all the cast pretty evenly and I for one really want to see more of Pizzaz as well there is more going on there then I once thought. No clue what the story will be but I'm hoping more personal stakes to be raised...

Insexts #3 $3.99

This book is NSFW or for kids as Marguerite Bennett and Ariela Kristantina do not shy from showing the spicer elements of its title characters, from body horror images or from pretty vicious word exchanges. The main characters are a mixed same sex couple with more or less then human qualities about them and a giant chip on their shoulders where it comes to the oppressive pateiarchy they live in. The second issue introduced a relative of the cruel man dispatched in issue one who looks to be the antagonist of the book. Bennett is a history buffs or she knows the ear for sure and Ariela is killing it on the art its blatantly sensual without outright titilation as poses are not sterotypically exaggerated and oddly the book taps into the sexual repression of the era too. Not for everyone for sure hut for unflinching storytelling this is your man.

 

No Mercy #7 $3.99

I love this story as its not as much about the plot as it is about the affects of trauma and violence on these characters and how they live in the aftermath of events. Alex de Campi had a lot to say about her approach to storytelling in the interview she did on the iword podcast; many books focus too much on the events themselves and just move on to the next with little change happening to the players. This isn't a books about latter then life heroes, weird stuff, or actions adventure its story of real life like culled from the experience of traveling and has excerpts of Alex's travel journals. I know I mention the back matter section of many of the books but I like that kind of additional window into the creators of books I'm enjoying as they make the work feel more personal. Pick this up and give it a look Carla Speed McNeil and Jenn Manley Lee have been doing great work on this and where else can you give support to women in the comics induatry on a single book... No Mercy pulls the veil back on how events change people and that is what heroic journeys are really about.

Descender #10 $2.99

Ok I will be honest even if I was not collecting this this cover would make me pick this up and flip through it; I'm kind of a sucker for robots, cyborgs, cyberpunk, science fiction and well I loved LadyTron from the Alan Moore Wildcats and well she's kind of on the cover. Jeff has been telling a pretty great sprawling sci Fi actions adventure with a weird mix of robots aliens involving mercenaries and mysteries and I could say lions oh my but it is packed with lots of great elements and characters. Dustin Nguyen's artistic choice of really toothy paper stock and watercolor coloring leads to a very soft looking page it's surprising how hard and real and sold the affect is. Fans of old Japanese animation like Tetsuwan Atom (the Mighty Atom) and the other sci-Fi work of Tezuka should give this a look.

 

And that gets me to eighteen and a good deal of change. I'm likely to get Injection # 7, and Illuminati #4 also and look for a full review of the New Suicide Squad from this week too as I got an advance look at it and was worth a read too as I'm a long time fan of the originial version of the book from as some say back in the day.

Comment and let me know what your looking forward to...

 

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Dispatch Feb 3 Comics Pull List

After last weeks full on madness I'm back to pulling together a list that has a defined budget of twenty dollars trying to highlight the books that I believe deserve more people looking at them. This looks to be a equally marvelous week of creative effort and there is a couple of great collections out too that if that is more your thing there are some excellent choices too.

 

Mirror #1 $2.99

Originally solicited as part of Brandon Graham's 8House shared world anthology this is one of the books that it seems I have been anticipating for a long time. Emma Rios is the artist for Keely Sue Deconnick's Pretty Deadly, is one half of the editing pair for Isalnd anthology and is a pretty damn good writer as she has a story in the first two issues of the anthology. Hwei Lim is a new artist to me but her soft watercolor like style looks a bit between two of my favorite other similarly colored books from Image Descender and Plutona. The book is toted as a wild mix of characters searching for acceptance including a talking terrorist dog a heroic lab rat and what look to be many animal human mixes. Really exited as I have very little idea what I'll get other then what looks a wonderful piece of fiction.

 

Midnighter #9 $2.99

This issue returns the weapon from the free preview, the perdition gun, to the Midnighter story and pits M against the current version of one of my long time favorite teams the Suicide Squad. This isn't my Suicide Squad, that was the Ostrander original version, but it is Steve Orlando writing them and I'm actually exited to see Deadshot and Harley handled by his hand. Midnighter is a book that's apparently a book that might be on the edge of being canceled because of low sales so get out there and support him if you like the book. This fight should be pretty great given the players involved and I for be can't wait... ok I'll be honest the movie preview has me pretty exited and knowing the Squad's own title will be taken over by Tom King who I've been really enjoying it may be a good time to be a Suicide Squad fan.

Shutter #18 $3.99

I'm always signal boosing for Kate Christopher's story, it's not often you find a book that is constantly surprising, upping it's game and always a great bit of fun. Shutter is a title that is hard to categorize or elevator pitch specially now that Joe Leila Owen and John's creation has grown and matured through the violent and revealitory events of the three existent volumes. It's a story about family secrets in a world like ours but much much more fantastic and filled with real talking animals that walk like men. Joe pulls inspiration from so many sources and traditions you could say it's a Tin Tin ish story or a Indiana Jones Story or a portal fantasy story for adults but none really do this unique book itself. Go go buy it it's one of the best offerings in comics today in my opinion.

Pretty Deadly #8 $3.50

Emma Rios appears twice in this weeks list this time as artist along with Kelly Sue Deconnick in this metaphysical western come metaphysical war story set on the battlefields of WW I. The story still centers on the same emotionally bonded family of personaifications of death centered on the dramatic figure of Deathface Ginny. The first issue of this arc set up the center of the story with the impending death of one of the not mythic figures of the forest and Sarah and her last wish to see her son before she passes. Kelley Sue never fails to move me and I suspect this arc will be no different. It's something you can say is Sandman as a western but that cheapens its power and originality.

Paper Girls #5 $2.99

This issue brings the first arc to an end and I suspect we'll be left with more questions then answers in this weird cryptic story set in the eighties. Lots of sites that publish pull lists mention this and given its BK Vaughan and Cliff Chiang but I have to kention it too as its something I really enjoy. A diverse group of girls connected only through having a paper routes in a small town and getting cought up I an event that could be time travel or cross dimensional or well given it involves apparent mutants, Knights on flying dinosaurs and future artifacts and strange technology it's anyone's guess at the whys but I'm invested in the girls, their future and qurious where they are taking us next.

That brings me to short of seventeen dollars for this week. I hesitate to put Captain Marvel #2 up because though I know I'll buy it I have real questions about Marvels CEOs actions ... But that is a subject for a much longer and more problematic essay. support of a certain Trump and my feeling s about that. It's hard as I talk about voting with your money and I whole heartedly intend to support comic creators I believe in but have issues with the fact that someone getting income from Marvel is backing a strident racist and sexist bully.

 

Hinges: Paper Tiger

Meredith McClaren's Hinges volume told what was for the majority of its pages a silent story that invited us to infer the story from her charming and slightly sinister art alone in this sort of steampunk or clockwork punk story. It intorduced a world where clockwork people accompanied by animal like companions fill vital places in the society and it main character struggles to find hers. This promises to introduce a new character and expound on the possibly sinister companion Bauble from the first story. Meredith's art has an inviting openness that draws you in and it's a joy real and look at.

 

 

 

The Wicked + the Divine Commercial Suicide

This collects the most recent story arc of the short lived incarnate gods story that is WicDiv which had guest artists (Leila Del Duca, Stephanie Hans, Tula Lotay, Brandon Graham....) throughout with the exception of the Woden issue which brilliantly repurposed art from Jamie. This series of sort of stand alone issues revealed much about the pantheon other then Luci and well pretty much other then Luci. These issues are touching, sad, and often maddening as you learn what has really been going on behind the scenes. It's a testament to Kieron's writing that he can tell a whole story in the spare twenty some odd pages and manage to move the overall narrative forward too. The Tara issue by Tula Lotay was one of the best single issues of the year and would have been had Kelly Sue not written such great work in Captain Marvel and Bitch Planet. I'd buy the collection even having the issues....