Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
The only @$$hole around here this morning is me. These guys sent this to me last Tuesday, and somehow I ballsed up completely and didn’t post it until now. Yeah, the trip to Atlanta and the recovery time that entailed were part of it, but I have no excuse being a full week tardy. I hope the gang forgives me, because they’re supposed to have something really groovy planned for this week...
Cormorant here and have we got a huuuuuge column for you!
Whuzzat?
Only five reviews and an installment of Vroom Socko’s TALES FROM THE CREVICE?! Well Hell’s bells, what a lazy bunch we are! On the other hand, maybe this’ll shut the flappin’ yaps of those TalkBackers who give us flak for being a bunch of self-indulgent blowhards who love to hear ourselves talk. With that in mind, this column’s dedicated to them – our critics – the whiny little punks who never contribute anything in the TalkBacks but the tinny sound of their disgusting weasel-voices. God love ‘em.
*ahem*
On a non-weasel-related note, we’d like to thank frequent TalkBacker, Bizarro Mark, for coming to our aid in a time of need with his excellent review of the SUPERMAN 10¢ ADVENTURE. Mark’s read every Superman comic known to man and has written hundreds of pages of erotic Superman fan fiction, so who better to provide a critical analysis of DC’s latest attempt to make the Big Guy cool again? Let’s see what he’s got to say…
SUPERMAN: THE 10¢ ADVENTURE
Writer: Steven T. Seagle
Penciller: Scott McDaniel
Inker: Andy Owens.
Published by DC Comics
Reviewed by Bizarro Mark
First off, a big 80-Page Giant “thank you” to the @$$holes for giving a member of the often ignored Bizarro-American community a chance to share his imperfect-duplicate thoughts on SUPERMAN: THE 10¢ ADVENTURE.
Second, my credentials. You may be asking, “Who is this ‘Bizarro Mark’....and can he provide us with a truly unbiased Superman review?” Yes, the name may imply a blind, fawning bias for All-Things-Superman, but NOT SO! I’m actually the most demanding curmudgeon in all of Superman fandom...so no free passes or automatic “rah-rah” parties from me....a guy Jeph Loeb himself recently classified as “filled with hate” and “quite simply, an awful human being”.
Third, I must admit it’s a bit strange reviewing something that costs only a dime because....if it stinks....WHO CARES? It’s 10¢! It doesn’t matter how bad it is! If I bought a 10¢ version of, say, Noam Chomsky’s “What Uncle Sam Really Wants”, it would STILL be a great deal because, inch for inch, it’s cheaper than a roll of Charmin Ultra-Wipe. In other words, SUPERMAN: THE 10¢ ADVENTURE is not exactly the riskiest purchasing decision you’ll be faced with in 2003.
So, now that I’ve completely undermined the rationale for my review (and for anyone to continue reading it), let’s begin.
SUPERMAN: THE 10¢ ADVENTURE marks the debut of the new creative team of Steven T. Seagle, Scott McDaniel, and Andy Owens. I don’t envy these guys. They enter a Superman franchise reeling from years of creative malaise and steadily sagging sales. They also had one of the longest “drumrolls” leading up to their debut in comics history, with their official assignment to Superman happening waaayyyy back in May of 2002. Top that with the massive exposure of a 10¢ promotion and all of the publicity that goes with it.....and they’ve got themselves some world-class Unrealistic Expectations to live up to.
So...how’d they do? Considering the potential for a nuclear belly flop, Seagle and McDaniel did pretty well. The team hits the ground running with a chorus of amped-up Superman taglines while simultaneously reestablishing the X-tra Large, widescreen scale of his “playground”. From the moon, across the United States, to Metropolis, then back into space again, the first dozen pages banish the drab, claustrophobic fog of recent Superman stories.
Following the exhilarating introduction, a few new plotlines are unleashed...chief among them the enigmatic “Futuresmiths”. Despite their appearance of being just another addition to DC’s long line of “Scheming Pairs of Alien Villains”, the Futuresmiths have a genuine sense of mystery about them...and their vaguely Kryptonian mode of dress ratchets the mystery up a few more notches yet. They spend much of the issue working through “AMOK”, a comic-relief D-list villain they’ve granted enormous power to, dropping only a few hints of their darker purpose. The story winds up with a promised “surprise ending” that I won’t spoil here....but I’ll tell you this much: don’t lose any sleep over it. As a guy who’s been genuinely shocked by stuff like the twist in Marvel’s “Origin” and the “Legless Flash” page in JLA, this surprise ending doesn’t come close. But hey….it’s 10¢, right?
As you might expect, the creative team is not without their “First Day Jitters”. Let’s start with Seagle’s writing. I enjoyed the opening narration, and some of the dialogue had some zip to it. However, a lot of it fell flat by sticking to the Standardized Manual Of Official Superhero Dialogue, especially when Superman would start spouting press-release material like “I trust that humanity recognizes my undying concern for their safety.” Thus, the “Super Crossing Guard” perception of Superman lives another day.
A quiet scene with Clark and Lois was handled well, with little of her characteristic sarcastic barbing to poison the mood. Another subdued scene featuring Clark and Perry White was an ill-advised, clumsy attempt to calf-rope the 10¢ Adventure into the ongoing plotlines of the regular Superman titles. You couldn’t help but picture the collective attention spans of potential new readers suddenly switching to “OFF”.
Scott McDaniel’s artwork was also a mixed bag. He’s got a unique style that doesn’t easily bring to mind more familiar styles. I caught glimpses of artists that may have been influences, but overall, he’s made this look his own. He has an ambitious sense of scope and motion, but occasionally distracts with confusing layouts and obtuse camera angles. His figure work and faces are generally well done, but also suffer from the occasional lapse, whether it’s a body with a too-squat perspective or giving people really strange-looking mouths....some with big, jagged Solomon Grundy teeth. Still, his strengths outweigh his weaknesses, and I look forward to seeing more of his Superman work in the months to come.
Overall, despite the problem spots, I found the 10¢ Adventure a brisk, enjoyable read. As a lifelong Superman fan, I’m encouraged by Seagle and McDaniel’s creative energy and hope a debut that rates a solid “Good” is the beginning of something truly Great. I also warn the new team to beware of the trap that careless Superman creators often fall into. Many of them become blinded by the “Legendary Iconic Greatness” factor and soon forget how to tell straightforward, entertaining stories. High adventure is far too often replaced by inert, naval-gazing “mission statement” stories exploring the Omnipotent Great-Goodness of Superman and What He Means To The World. So, guys....forget the “Icon Talk”, roll up your sleeves, and tell us some rip-roaring Superman tales. I dare you.
Well, it looks like the TalkBack producer backstage is frantically pointing at his watch, so I guess I’d better wrap this thing up. I’m assuming most of you bought the 10¢ Adventure last week, but for those of you still sitting on the fence wondering if you should “take the plunge”...
Spend the (bleepin’) dime.
WAR STORY: CONDORS
Written by Garth Ennis
Art by Carlos Ezquerra
Published by DC/Vertigo
A Jon Quixote transcript.
“The first casualty when war comes is truth.”
-Hiram Johnson, U.S. Senator
I was drinking at the pub the other day, alternately knocking back Boilermakers and Cosmopolitans just to confuse the hell out of the local rednecks, when who should walk in but Garth Ennis. When he sat at the bar a few seats down from me, I, recognizing an opportunity for a review format, wasted no time in moving beside him and striking up a conversation.
ENNIS: Quixote! They let any fookin’ body in ‘ere, I guess.
JQ: Nice to see you again too, Garth. I was just reading your latest War Story – y’know, Condors – and I was wondering if I could buy you a pint or two and you could answer some questions for me.
ENNIS: Yeh, sure. S’long as you be sure to tell them readers that yer makin’ this shite up.
JQ: Yeah, yeah. Lite, right?
ENNIS: Do yeh want a slap?
JQ: Okay, okay. So me mate took a sinker at yer…
ENNIS: Don’t do the fookin’ accent.
JQ: Sorry. A colleague of mine reviewed your last War Story and the review was favorable enough that I had to sample your next one. I’m quite the amateur historian myself, and something of a war scholar.
ENNIS: Yeh don’t say?
JQ: Oh certainly. I’ve even rented The Great Escape twice! And, really Garth, for someone who writes a comic called War Story it appears you don’t know anything about war.
ENNIS: What the fook’re ye talkin’ about?
JQ: Well, okay. Now Condors starts off well. Four soldiers in the Spanish Civil War, each from a different nation, jump into a hole to escape an air strike, and, while trapped there, tell stories about why they’re enlisted. But one of them is a Nazi Fighter Pilot, and during the whole time they’re stuck in the whole, not once does he talk about eradicating Jews or how he wants to conquer the world. In fact, he comes across as perhaps the most sympathetic character of them all. What’s up with that?
ENNIS: Don’t be a cunt. What, do ye think all the Germans were born evil, even the fookin’ kids on the front lines?
JQ: Hello? Have you watched Saving Private Ryan? They’re Nazis.
ENNIS: That’s the point of the whole damn thing. Ye get yer education from Hollywood and ye start to see war in black and white, us versus them. But ‘tisn’t that way. Wars’r fought by people, not caricatures. The pilot, he’s just some kid doin’ what’s he thinks is best for his country, not a baby-raping demon like some of them flicks make’em out to be.
JQ: Hmm, well I still think he should have at least made an effort to execute Richard Attenborough. Well, how about some of the dialogue, like where the Commie says he’s not a Marxist. I mean, today we know that Marxism doesn’t work…so for him to say that in a story set in 1938, it’s almost as though he knew how today’s audiences would analyze him.
ENNIS: Jaysis! Have ye fuckin’ heard of “analogy” before? Each of the different stories these blokes tell has to make some sort of sense to the reader. If ye don’t’ identify with’em in at least some way, then y’can’t see how they get te where they’re at. How there’re no villains, just different people so convinced that what they’re doin’ is right that they can’t see the forest for the trees. And there’s a difference between a socialist and a commie.
JQ: Hey, are you telling me that you tried to make me learn something? You bastard! What about all the jokes and the explosions, the tension and the crisp dialogue? Was that just a smokescreen.
ENNIS: A book can be entertainin’ and still make an important point, ye wanker. In fact, the best of anythin’ combines the two.
JQ: Okay mister I’m-so-smart, how about the part where the Commie socialist guy talks about how, when he was in University, Winston Churchill wanted to send in tanks to quell the worker riots in England. But the story takes place in 1938 and Churchill wasn’t even Prime Minister until 1940 – Neville Chamberlain was! Huh, smart guy, how do you explain that one?
ENNIS: Do yer fuckin’ homework. Churchill was Chancellor of the Exchequer for most of the 20’s and that’s what the bloke’s talkin’ about.
JQ: Oh, and this X-chancellor guy would have been the one to call in the tanks?
ENNIS: As far as ye know.
JQ: So, are you telling me that War Story: Condors is able to challenge conventional Hollywood takes on war while still being entertaining and maintaining a strong enough sense of history to yank off the type of people who get yanked off by that sort of thing, and that a comic reader would be stupid - like booger-eatin’ hey look Becker is on - stupid, NOT to buy it if he saw it on the stands?
ENNIS: Right.
JQ: There has to be something I didn’t like about it. How about the price? The damn thing cost me almost nine dollars.
ENNIS: Tell ye what, buy me another pint and we’ll call it even.
JQ: Deal!
DAREDEVIL #41 (the “25¢” issue)
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Alex Maleev
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewed by Cormorant
DAREDEVIL #41 has one of the best opening scenes I’ve read in a superhero comic in years. It’s not the typical Hollywood hook, grabbing the viewer by his collar with a slam-bang action sequence (though there is a bit of action). In fact…it’s actually kinda sweet.
Hey, don’t run away! There’s bloodshed later in the book, you violence freaks.
What happens during the book’s “teaser” is that Daredevil swoops down and rescues a blind woman who’s about to be plowed over by a truck, a scene that echoes the very accident that blinded him and gave him his powers. The rescue itself is unremarkable, but the next several pages, during which Daredevil talks the woman through the shock of the incident (and in a gentlemanly move, pulls a shard of glass from her shoulder), have an almost magical air of intimacy. Daredevil hunches over her to make sure she’s alright, but as the two talk, the visuals take on the suggestion of a lover’s embrace. And indeed, as Daredevil swings away, the look in the woman’s pale eyes says it all – Daredevil’s gonna get another girlfriend.
Or maybe not.
By now, every superhero fan worth his salt knows that Daredevil holds the record for doomed romances, and besides, he’s hip-deep in preparing for the legal battle of his life as he sues the pants off the newspaper that revealed his secret identity to the world. Surely everyone involved will see that this is not the time for romantic entanglements! Sh’yeah right. The real point, though, is that Bendis pulls off in the opening six pages everything that makes him the superstar writer he is today: innovation amidst the oft-clichéd world of superheroes, a strong emotional backdrop, and brilliant moment-to-moment pacing. I admit it - I’d grown bored with the legal drama in the preceding courtroom-drama storyline - but in six pages Bendis won me back big time.
After the opening scene, we move on to one of those moments that many Bendis fans will love, but his detractors will label as hopelessly self-indulgent: an extended conversation between Matt Murdock (that’s Daredevil’s secret identity, newbies) and one of his goofiest foes: Wilbur Day – the Stilt-Man. It’s all talking heads stuff, which understandably drives some folks to drink when it happens in a superhero book, but the conversation is so funny and interesting that I can’t help but forgive it. Frankly, I’d like to see Bendis work some more fisticuffs and swashbuckling back into this book, too, which sometimes has the same claustrophobic feel you get when stage plays are adapted to the big screen, but what can I say? The conversation is good, period. It also sets up the adversary of the current storyline, another old Daredevil villain whose name, at least, is liable to induce laughter: the Owl.
Yes, the Owl. He’s actually an underrated favorite of mine, recently used to excellent effect in the Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale collaboration, DAREDEVIL: YELLOW. The Owl’s a ruthless crime boss who, like all the coolest crime bosses, isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty and mix it up physically with the costumed do-gooders who piss him off. Visually, the guy is freakish – which I love – sporting sharp talons on his hands, a green “Jack the Ripper”-style cloak which helps direct his flight powers, and an even more extreme version of Wolverine’s pointy hair style (but the Owl had it first – oh so sorry, Canada!). Unmentioned by Bendis as yet, but memorable to me from the Owl’s appearances in the Spider-Man comics from my youth, is the fact that the Owl is paralyzed from the waist down, and must wear special leg braces to even walk. Is it wrong to find it inspiring that a handicapped man can become a supervillain? Too bad, because I totally dig the Owl, and I’m really looking forward to seeing Bendis’ approach to him. At the very least, it’s clear that Bendis won’t be treating this oddball villain as a joke. Sure, artist Alex Maleev does draw his hair about a foot too long, but the Owl’s violent actions go a long way toward countering the “tee-hee” factor.
Maleev’s art is not, as a rule, exciting. He uses a lot of photo reference, which, given the book’s history of such artistic luminaries as Frank Miller, Gene Colan, and David Mazzucchelli, just gives more ammunition to those looking to make DAREDEVIL ‘Exhibit A’ in the case against turning superhero books into adult-oriented dramas. I sympathize with them a bit. Personally, I’d like to see Colan back on the book, as he’s a rare artist who can combine near-photographic faces with a dynamism to action and movement that outdoes even the great Neal Adams. Seems like he might work well with Bendis, and he sure as hell would make the rare action scenes more interesting. Still, I have to give Maleev props for his subtle, cinematic staging, and the spot-on range of emotions that play across the characters’ faces during the course of the issue. The blind woman we meet at the beginning doesn’t get much “screen time”, but her emotive features – photo-referenced or not – speak volumes.
Final judgment: Marvel’s whupping DC’s butt when it comes to these cheapy incentive comics. The ten cent BATMAN book was solid, but that damnable thing also led into a thirty-part storyline handled by dozens of creators – some good, some forgettable - and the SUPERMAN: TEN CENT ADVENTURE…well, let’s just say that, relative to modern comic prices, you get what you pay for with that bad boy. With the FANTASTIC FOUR 9¢ comic and this DAREDEVIL quarter comic, however, I’m suddenly finding myself re-enthused for titles I’d pretty much written off. In fact, I enjoyed DAREDEVIL #41 so much that I threw caution to the wind and bought the hardcover of Bendis’ and Maleev’s first arc on the book, which read immensely better in collected form than it did in single issues. Am I sucka? A chump for dropping thirty bucks after reading one single issue? Drop a quarter on it and see for yourself. All I know is that it’s a week later and I’m still smiling.
JSA: THE RETURN O' HAWKMAN (TPB)
Written by David Goyer & Geoff Johns
Art by Steven Sadowski, Steve Yeowell, Buzz, Rags Morales, Michael Bair, Keith Champagne, David Meikis, Paul Neary, Rob Leigh, John Kalisz, Alan Davis, Mark Farmer, Andrew Robinson
Published by DC
reviewed by Buzz Maverik
You are a typical comic book fan/TalkBacker. This is one of your typical mornings in which you wake up in a bed in a UCLA sorority house and are still pleasantly tingling from a six-way with five hot college girls. You eschew the sorority shower (and you know what eschew means) because the pheromones lingering on your body will attract any potential babes you might meet on the way home.
After limping down to your new H2 Hummer (a name that always makes you think of water and oral sex) you drive home, your favorite morning show on the radio. God, it's good to be alive and be a comic book fan/TalkBacker! The valet parks the Hummer and you go up to your penthouse apartment where your French maid Babette is waiting for you with a mimosa made from freshly squeezed oranges and Cristal.
At your computer, you check your calendar, and are delighted to find that tonight your dates are a gaggle of lingerie models. You know you're in for an 11-way so you make a note to have your secretary Brittney-Ashli book you a suite. To pass the time, you decide to check in with AICN to see what new comics/trades are worth picking up.
Ah, Buzz Maverik has continued his series of JSA trade tpb reviews, with the latest release, THE RETURN OF HAWKMAN! That Buzz is a riotous soul and he's never steered you wrong before. What could he tell you about this collection by BLADE II screenwriter David S. Goyer (perhaps the most underrated film-to-comics pro) and fan favorite Geoff Johns (a writer so good he gets to write all the comic books) and a group of some of today's most talented artists and visual storytellers?
Buzz says that this book contains two excellent story arcs. The first, "Injustice Be Done", pits our heroes against the Injustice Society, a team of supervillains that should be boring but aren't. They match the JSA power-for-power and they emerge as individual characters without any clumsy, overt attempts at characterization. The same goes for the JSA. We don't see any of the heroes doing watercolors or nervously asking out a coworker at the watercooler, but they are well developed in the context of the story. Of course, the real villain of this arc is the creepy Johnny Sorrow (a great name! "Johnny" names in comics are always great!) and the Lovecraftian King O' Tears. Buzz poses the geek question: I wonder if the King of Tears could beat up Marvel's Lovecraftian deity Shuma Gorath in a fight.
But it is the titular RETURN O' HAWKMAN that is the JSA's finest hour and has rightly brought the book and its creators the most acclaim. This arc is one of those classic runs where the story and the art are perfectly blended. It straightens out Hawkman's mixed up continuity, provides high interplanetary superhero adventure, has a nasty-but-cool villain, and in Hawkgirl gives us a comic book character with a realistic, human reaction. When Hawkman comes back from the dead and Hawkgirl realizes that she's not who she thought she was, she accepts the situation but needs time to deal with it. This is very subtle, very mature writing.
Like Buzz, you think that the covers by Andrew Robinson during the RETURN arc contributed a great deal to the book's surge in popularity. Also like Buzz, you think that Andrew Robinson probably isn't the actor Andrew Robinson who played the psycho in DIRTY HARRY, the liberal cop in COBRA, and the schnook in HELLRAISER.
Well, Buzz Maverik has sold you again. You'll send Babette and Brittney-Ashli down to the comic shop to pick you up a copy of JSA: THE RETURN O' HAWKMAN and the current issue of JSA as well.
Your phone rings. It is one of the girls from the Swedish Nudity Team. Are you busy tonight? Shifting gears, you decide they could join you and the lingerie models for a 22-way...wait, make that a 23-way when you include yourself.
AQUAMAN #2
Rick Veitch – Writer
Yvel Guichet – Penciller
Mark Propst – Inker
Published by DC Comics
Reviewed by Village Idiot
To the uninitiated, I can imagine how we all sound the same. Often we @$$holes all write in the same patois; the heavy irony and wry knowingness, sprinkled with clever cultural references that’s commonly known as “snark.” Everyone’s a smart ass. However, if you pay close attention, you can begin to discern a few dissimilarities among us. And you soon discover that I’m the sentimental one.
What that means in practical terms is that I have to be careful to not let my wanting to like something affect my actual liking of it, at least not too much; and to always identify the source of my praise as honestly as possible, like I hope to do with this review. This sentimental streak also poses a problem in terms of consistency for my own standards of judgment. For example, I like old comics. I like Bronze Age, Silver Age, even Golden Age comics. I enjoy them as cultural artifacts, as kitsch; but even beyond this snobbery, I find myself able to enjoy them on their own terms. I think my sentimentality allows me to simply appreciate a story where the dialog is nothing that would ever be spoken by an actual human being, and the plot holes in the story are big enough to park your car in. It takes a little adjustment, but I get there.
And yet when I turn around and read a current comic that exhibits these same characteristics, I’m prepared to savage it. Or am I? To tell you the truth, I don’t know how hard to come down on AQUAMAN #2. I’m afraid I do have to come down on it, which is to say that at the end of the day, you’re probably not going to like this comic. Let’s talk about why, and I’ll try to sort out the double standard later.
Aquaman has been banished from the ocean. After returning home from the “Obsidian Age,” the people of Atlantis have decided to give their king the boot. (The reasons why are vague; suffice to say it all boils down to the fact that he really bummed them out). In AQUAMAN #1, they tie him to a rock on the coast of Ireland. He escapes, but in that comic’s most awkward moment, he finds himself blocked from entering the water by angry Atlanteans, forcing him to run up and down the shore like Benny Hill. Eventually he finds an inland lake where some magical bohemian water babes exchange his hook for a hand made of water. In AQUAMAN #2, Arthur is ready to take his water-hand and get on with things. By the end of the book, Arthur finds himself trying to save a tanker sabotaged by Atlanteans and a boat with an old lighthouse keeper in it from 1) a big storm, 2) a tentacled sea monster, and 3) an Angry Woman of Authority (Sweeny: Maritime Commission). He manages to triumph over all three.
I liked the work Guichet and Propst did on JLA, but on AQUAMAN, the drawings often seemed a little overwrought in both emotion and texture. The crusty lighthouse keeper’s mouth had an awful lot of spit strings; and in a moment of grief, Aquaman looks downright constipated. Guichet is also not afraid to use the color black for shading in a way that makes even day scenes feel noir-ish. On the other hand, he can draw some interesting panels, like Aquaman diving into the water as seen from under water. His style is a bit similar to JLA’s Doug Manke, but it seems a little looser, more kinetic. I don’t love it, especially the close-ups, but it was by no means an issue killer. The difficulty lies with the story.
The reason I began this review talking about my sentimental tendencies is because this story seemed cheesy in a way that actually reminded me of old comics. It’s essentially a one-shot with a corny, contrived plot that’s impossible to take seriously. The trouble is, I think this comic wants you to take it seriously, at least a little bit. Veitch and Guichet seem to be trying to pull off a low-key super-hero drama with a mystical aura, but what comes across is the awkward plotting and blatant characterization (the lighthouse keeper is essentially Poopdeck Pappy). As a modern comic, it doesn’t work very well at all. But if I were to judge it by the standards I apply to the classics, I can be a little more forgiving. The real litmus is how I feel afterwards, regardless of when the comic was written. This time I felt disappointed.
Add the fact that the cover, not drawn by Guichet, is a total misfire. In the foreground, Aquaman wrestles with the tentacles of sea creature that looks like it was rendered in ball point pen. Looming in the background is the blue-black bow of a ship, dominating the entire cover. Ugh. Can someone tell me what is going on with DC and its cover art? With SUPERGIRL, I’ve theorized that someone could be trying to sabotage the title; but AQUAMAN is so new, who’d want to wreck it so soon?
So by conventional standards, AQUAMAN #2 just isn’t a very good comic book. On the other hand, if you have an appreciation for old comics, you’ll recognize that it’s not that horrible. Either way, the verdict is negative and you can safely skip it.
TALES FROM THE CREVICE: BOOKS THAT FELL THROUGH THE CRACK
By Vroom Socko
There are some comics reading experiences that I can’t, in good conscience, recommend to every person out there. Oh, I recommend this week’s title to anyone and everyone without hesitation, but the manner in which I read it to prepare for this column isn’t something to be done lightly. You see, I reread this book in its entirety, all at once. In one sitting, I read 28 volumes. That’s 142 individual chapters, over 8,000 pages. If this were just any comic, this’d still be an intense experience, but this isn’t just any comic. This is, simply put, the grandest story ever told in comic history. This is Lone Wolf & Cub.
This is one of those books that every comic fan needs to read at least once. Not only is it one of the most influential comics ever published (one comics pro made his career by ripping it off as much as possible; you know of whom I speak), not only has it received acclaim from such diverse sources as Animerica, Entertainment Weekly and the BBC, but it is also an amazing example of what this medium is capable of. Taken at face value, it’s a revenge tale. The Shogun’s personal executioner, Ogami Itto, has become a wandering assassin, awaiting the opportunity to confront Yagyu Retsudo, the man who killed his wife and framed him for treason. The book is also a story about the devotion of Itto’s son Diagoro, who follows his father without question. In fact, some of the best chapters in the book deal solely with Diagoro, One Rainy Day and Umbrella being the two best examples. Then there’s the story as historical epic, action/adventure, political thriller… there’s even a scene with Retsudo making rice that features (you guessed it) a kitchen sink.
Then there’s Itto himself, easily the toughest, fiercest samurai ever seen on the page. His Dotanuki sword is practically a character unto itself. When Itto has it in his hand, you’re guaranteed a stunning episode of violence. The action in this book is bloody, intense, brutal, and at least ten times better than anything you’ll see in those so-called “widescreen” comics. Artist Goseki Kojima’s work on this book is unparalleled. Anyone who wants to draw dynamic action scenes needs to study these books.
Dark Horse has done an amazing job in bringing out this book. While the size (6x4 inches) may turn some people away, the art does not suffer for it. The design of the books is impressive, from the covers to the appendixes. Whoever made the decision on what chapter to end each volume with also deserves some special attention, as the closing story always is a powerful one. Or perhaps they don’t, since almost every chapter ends memorably.
Now, I know that this column is intended to highlight some of the lesser known or under appreciated comics out there, and that most of you have already at least heard of Lone Wolf & Cub. I mention this because, as far as I’m concerned, as long as even one of you hasn’t read this comic then it’s under appreciated. I know that $280 is a lot of money for an entire story, but it is well worth the price. At the very least, pick up the first volume. It’ll most likely hook you in enough that you’ll find a way to read the entire book all the way to an ending that is both tragic and inevitable. Your wallets will hate me, but your spirits will thank me. This is the best damned comic book you will ever read.
Question For Discussion
What comic do you consider to be the second most important book ever published? (I’m assuming most of you will rank Watchmen as number one, so give me your number two.)
