Dynamic Duo

All round one of the best DC comics I have read in years; it was conceived long before the New 52 and it was as enjoyable for if not more so then the the new 52s Green Lantern that ended Geoff Johns run and th aren Red Lanterns book. Bloodspell takes two of DC's long extant fishnet wearing heroines and gives them both the opportunity to have real character agency and does it with truly georgeous art and style. This book brought me joy as a comics reader for more then just its exiting and fun story that avoided the grim and dark that has gripped the new DC; Dini and Quinoes have a real grasp for DC's long and rich history and delivers hints of it throughout the story, art and even page layouts.

The story is one that mixes just a few story elements and comes out with something glorious like the best Italian and Indian recipes that not have five ingredients or less. The story that brings them together starts with a foiled caper in Las Vegas where Black Canary goes undercover and gets trapped in a magical curse. The story may lean towards slapstick at times but the stakes are at the highest, lives are at stake. Among some pretty hideous offscreen deaths Satanna gets pulled into the story when Dinah goes to her for help realizing what she faces is beyond her ken. Along the way we get a road tale that includes flashbacks that refer to different eras, styles and costumes across DC history as it was. Bloodspell for me is a bit of a love letter to the past and makes me want more of this duo, this fishnet duo.

Paul Dini and Joe Quinones apparently originally pitched this sometime in 2005 and its a great thing to have this stand alone team up tale spotlighting these versions of the characters. The story takes Black Canary and Zatanna their pre heroine days meeting in the Himalayan alps to their then current adventuring lives Zatanna on her own and Dinah as partner to Green Arrow in his goatee style era. The story has the fun tongue in cheek yet serious action that Paul Dini does so well and the art by Joe Quinones somehow straddles that gap between realism and warner brothers cartoonish ness that few artists pull off so well. This is one of those books that pops off the pages in ways 3d comics desperately aspire to. And though I got the opportunity to read this as an advance reader I'm more then tempted to get a real copy because I seldom see a project like this that seemed produced with so much love and care; the book includes the pitch, the script, unfinished pages and design work. Its too good to pass up for fans of female character written so well and for art so detail rich and lovingly rendered.

This edition collects not just the story and its glorious art and story, they give us the initial pitch, the script which is hardly ever included and design work from Joe so this book is like a blue ray disk version of the book. If you love comics with heart that will give you much more then the usual this is one to have especially if your familiar with DC history all the better. Five stars out of five. Bravo....

 

 

 

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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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