Milestone

There was another bit of announcement yesterday that got overshadowed by the Marvel Secret Wars one, aparently one of my favorite comic. properties from the nineties may just be coming back. Milestone was an imprint started by DC comics back in the day when they were open to creative ideas and directions like the mature line of comics under the Vertigo banner that brought us Preacher, and picked up titles like Doom Patrol, Sandman and Swamp Thing that were already in print. Milestone represented a more colorful and diverse universe the the one that came out of the war years and the baby boom. As was reported elsewhere (namely comic book resources) the co-founders Denys Cowan who did art for many of their titles and Reginald Hudlin along with Derek Dingle have plans in the works to revive the imprint beyond the auspice of DC comics. The plan came about partially to honor the other co-founder Dwayne McDuffie who died in 2011 and wrote several of the Milestone titles and wrote many stories that I recall really loving.

Milestone introduced characters from many different rack grounds and cultures in its initial offerings Icon, their superman/Shazam like book, Hardware, which was a spin on an Ironman kind of hero, Static, their coming of age hero story and the one that has had the most legs outside the imprint, and Blood Syndicate, the first team book that was a gang like story. They added more series over the years of their existence and gave the start to lots of artists and writers and actally had at the time some of the better stories at least for me. I pretty much collected all of their offerings from beginning to end and lamented their loss once they were gone.

With the fact that the comics industry, at least some sectors of it, recognize that the reading audience is way more diverse then just white nerdy male teens and looking for characters that reflect them and the world around them Milestone may just have more legs this time around. Further articles have revealed that the creators involved want more then just nostalgia in reviving the imprint they want to go forward from where they were. I have great hopes for them and look forward to hearing more.... Best new comics news I read this week...

 

 

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Sunday comics....

 

With issue six Filipe Smith shows how he is doing something different with the story of the All New Ghost Rider and its hero Robbie Reyes. Firstly I will miss the crazy kinetic art of Traad Moore on this title but I have to say that by the second read through I really warmed up to Damien Scott's graffiti influenced lines mixed with manga style and I can say now I dig it and I can look forward to Traad other places. I have my worries about the titles longevity and I think with how much I really loved the new issue I have to give it a bit of review age and signal boost.

From the first issue All new Ghost Rider read like a mix of east and west comic images tropes and sensibilities; since I've been a long time Japanese anime, superhero and manga fan it did touch that Devilman, Fist of the Northstar, Baribari Densetsu and Riding Bean fan in me as well as my enjoyment of the Spirit of Vengence. Looking into Filipe's background he's got a very interesting history in comics including the fact he's one of the few western creators who has written and drawn Japanese manga in Japan and been a success. He has also worked on several american comics and strangely this is the first project where he actually has to produce scripts for his stories. Coming from a manga background he is used to both writing and drawing his stories but I would not have guessed that from reading the series. I would love to interview him about his history in manga and his influences.

The All New Ghost Rider is set in a poorer neighborhood in Los Angeles about teenager Robby Reyes, high school student car mechanic and guardian for his differently abeled brother. The series wastes no time throwing us into his life and his extra curricular activities that include borrowing cars he's working on for the garage and using them to street race for more money to support him and his brother. He's not the obvious nerd in school, he's not the popular kid he is just one with more adult respincibilites then most. By the end of the first issue he finds himself on the wrong end of the henchmen of Hyde/Dr. Zabo's guns and in the gunsights of a local gang banger.... oh and also most probably dead in an alley. He soon becomes the racing suited cool helmeted skull visaged character with the flame effects and the flameing wheeled supernatural muscle car.

The series proceeds apace as you'd want with a muscle car centric theme. It has as much in common with my memories of Speed Racer ad it does with the Fast and Furious film franchise. The first story keeps it focus on the players in LA, there are no guest appearances; no ubiquitous Wolverine, Spider-Man or Avengers guest shot. Robbie has to deal with the violence invading his neighborhood and life in addition to the mysterious ghost that he's now bound to who has yet to reveal anything about itself. As the second act opens with new art that is more graffiti influenced that take some getting used to but Damien Scott the artist seems a good choice given the not totally super hero nature of the story.

I'm really writing this to hopefully creat interest in the story because I'm worried it is not hitting its possible audience. Robbie seems a great new addition to the diversity in the marvel universe given he is Hispanic and he's certainly a different sort of character then the usual and the story is going somewhere else then the usual coming of age teenager tale. He is someone saddled with much more responcibility then usual and I think it will be an interesting journey to see him grow into being a local hero. The opening of issue six points to the neighborhood thinking they have a hero of their own and one I'd love to see him get the chance to become. There is a collection of 1-5 coming out so its likely to be easy to check out soon and the current story promises an appearance by the second Ghost Rider Johnny Blaze....

So yeah a plea to keepa superhero horror comic out there for those of us who dig them.... The collection comes out Oct 14th.....

 

Here is the cover of issue ... 7

 

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Mindless ones and Z-listers

 

So I know there will be lots of reviews and thoughts on this out there and since I love comics and particularly enjoyed this and the zero issue of Original Sin I thought why not add some reviewey comments to the mix. Jason Aaron pulled some particularly nice bits of storytelling together I. This issue given how crowded it was and managed to move both his story and they mysteries along quite well. He manages to hit most of his cast and throws in the a whole heap of monsters and some little used characters along the way. He writes some great dialogue along the way that winds up being both characterful and funny as well as drives the story along. Some of the "mystery figures" from issue one are revealed and many many more questions are raised. Mike's are is solid pretty much throughout and clear despite the mood lighting in some scenes and the opening scenes following Black Panther, the White Queen and Antman into the monster graveyard (the preview has been up a while that shows this but apologies none the less for spoilers.

It left me quite happily entertained and looking forward to leaning more about what is going on. Just enough was revealed to give me some hints as to the timing of the so called original sin and I'm really interested to see how it all its together. Also seeing some truly obscure seventies characters come out of the woodwork was pretty fun; it made me look again at some of the murkier scenes from issue one. Truely this one is aces if you have a grasp of some marvel history and this makes me want to get some of the pre superhero boom marvels....

So yeah I'd say this is one crossoverey story can reccommend. Though issue one felt a bit crowded and not quite there between the touching zero issue starring the new Nova Sam Alexander and this one I'd so get into Nick's flying car for this ride....

Five stars out of five.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok that's a bit of room just in case

 

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"This guy.... This #¥<{!^£ guy...

Nominated for two Eisner awards this year Sex Criminals issues one through five get a collected edition April 15/16 just in time for Tax Day at the image first volume low price of $9.99. On to the review...

So "This guy... This ~^.&*!( guy" (yes I'm talking about Matt Fraction and I'm actually borrowing a quote from Matt's character Suzie from this very same book to describe him). This series is a great mixture of relationship tale, caper story, and comedic sexual innuendo and exploration. Sec Criminals is a book not safe for kids and may be embarrassing for adults reading ichoosing to read it in public given its somewhat explicit content but I will say it takes a fairly mature tact towards its subject matter. The artwork by Chip Zdarsky is downright georgeous, expressive and characterful and is well worth any embarrassment it may cause and manages to be fair to Bo sexes where it comes to being explicit. The title has more to say about sex and relationships then one may think and its well worth reading for people with a healthy ability to laugh at themselves and who have a fairly open mind in general.

Matt and Chip are telling several different stories within the comic and manage to do a good job of tackleing a couple per issue but with the collection that does not really stand out. There is the present day caper tale about the heroes Suzie and Jon using their orgasm given ability to freeze time to pull of bank robberies to save the imperiled library Suzie works at; then there are the tales about their first experiences with their a-hem lacking another way to put it well explorations and exploits with their seemingly unique talents. The first dealing with the combined good and back that comes with having someone as a part of your life and as a part of your life that seemed to be uniquely yours; the addition of their ability to stop time for everyone else when they climax serve to magnify the joys and difficulties that come when you have that someone special in your life. The lack of of better term origin stories for both Suzie and Jon reveal things about them how they approach finding out what the hell is going on with them and how they deal with the revelation that sex with others seems to still leave them alone when time stops for them. There is also the story following another group of characters who have the same sex derived power and their apparent attempts to police those who abuse it. All these tales leave me with the feeling there is some interesting things afoot in the world building here.

The really nice thing about reading this title and really anything ive read by by Matt is a his maintaining a "wink wink nudge nudge" sence of humor that is smile inducing and goes just far enough without breaking the tension in the story. In a book that could easily go for the quick gag or the obvious he takes things to a more interesting place then you'd expect. The same I would say for Chip's artwork which is just cartoonish enough to carry off the outlandish ideas in this without it being, well, ewww gross or off colour. Sex Criminals is nothing like anything I'm reading or have really read in comics but my taste runs more towards the more four colour titles so that may be the reason why. I do recall some titles that addressed sexuality in the past but I'm glad to say that this is nothing like the late eighties Black Kiss by Howard Chakyn that though fun for the time I could do without the shock value it had.

The stories in this form several complete story arcs and come to a satisfying climax (ok so I had to....) and conclusion. You get a real good idea about who both Suzie and Jon are good I'll and embarrassing; a pretty delightfully Coen brothers like caper gone pear shaped and the introduction to some characterful and sort of mysterious figures for stories going into the next volume. As I said Chip's art fits the tone well with its thick lined slightly cartoonish character designs and the colours by Becka Kinzie and Christopher Sebela do make his art pop off the page. Sex Criminals also explores the subject of sex with a kind of gentle humor that western particularly American stories usually don't have in them. I mean honestly yes its embarrassing to talk about and ask questions about and the truth and honesty Matt takes towards the outlandish things he introduces into the equation makes the story that much better. The book is clever and fun but most of all beyond the sillyness, crazyness, and even beyond the musical scene that takes over the middle issue that had me in stitches there is a lot of truth in the story he's telling. This book is a success but I've come to expect no less. Well worth it all told....

 

 

 

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