Brains! Full of comics!: Pieces for Mom

I really don't like zombie stories. I can't think of a genre that has been done to death and needlessly resurrected (Punmaster!) more times with increasingly unimaginative results each go round. Whether they are the bland, faceless villains of early video game stages, or a shambling snore in the pages of a comic book, they just seem lazy, both personally and on the part of the creator. I mean, when you're doing a horror comic and the sky's the limit for imaginative monsters, kills and gore, going for the mindless "they-wanna-eat-your-brains" dudes is pretty weak.

Many creators have tried to energize the idea by adding high concept twists, but as with most story tricks they just seem tacked on and end up bringing the stale smell of repetition to the forefront. There's a ghoul at the grocery store! Zombies in Vietnam! The undead walk the moon! I tried to run, but then I just got bored and fell asleep.

However, there have been some successful stories about those that hunger for flesh. The movie 28 Days Later was able to make the stumbly-wumbly non-threats of traditional flicks seem scary and Shawn of the Dead was able to poke fun at the genre's conventions and still provide a worthy amount of violence. And while I've never read it, I hear that Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead is an amazing piece of zom-dram. Anyway, when a zombie property is good, it tends to be exceptionally good. And last week, the master of horror in comics, Steve Niles put out another addition to this tradition with the one-shot, Pieces for Mom: A Tale of the Undead.

It is the story of two brothers who have taken it upon themselves to care for their zombified mother in a world completely lost to shambling brain-eaters. Scavenging food for themselves and fresh meat for their charge, the boys scrape out a miserable but determined existence in a post-apocalyptic blah, blah, blah.
As with most good stories in the genre, the story doesn't waste a great deal of time on the whys or hows of the infestation, explaining things only through the eyes of the boys. While focusing on the small stories in the midst of global catastrophe is nothing especially new, Niles is able to keep things fresh by giving the boys a convincingly young and earnest characterization.


It also doesn't hurt that the art in this book is astounding. Andrew Ritchie's monsters are truly unsettling to behold, from an undead baby chewing at its zombie mom's chest, to some poor abomination hobbling around on the stumps it still has for legs. I've never seen this guy's work before but he strikes me as the type that'll end up becoming a horror-comic staple. In addition to his nauseating tableaus of death and cannibalism, Ritchie's living characters manage to convey a dead-eyed stare often renders them indistinguishable from the zombies. And I say this as praise. The smiles on the human characters in the face of their overwhelmingly bleak landscape is as unsettling as any of the spilled intestines or rotting appendages.

I also have to give a huge shout out Ritchie's colors. He uses an aggressively muted palette and sickly hues straight out the butcher's dumpster to convincingly convey the rapidly decaying world. On top of his thick inks, the color really sells the horror of the undead takeover.

I can't say enough good things about this one. At $3.99 the price tag is a bit steep for a fairly quick one-shot, but the content is strong enough that repeat readings won't leave you feeling like, well, a zombie.

(I really need to work on my endings...)

Also purchased last week:

Testament Vol. 1: Akedah

think about comics. engage.: Star Trek The Next Generation

There was a point, around when I was twelvish or so, that I lost interest in comics for a bit. I vaguely remember it having something to do with a desire to "grow-up". Y'know, cast aside childish things and all that. However, something had to fill that genre-sized void in my schedule of attention. And much like a heroin addict will fall on methadone, I found Star Trek. Not the original series of course. That looked like shit and was boring. But Star Trek the Next Generation had just debuted and I had a crush on Tasha Yar (the blond one that died). Needless to say, the bright tights were quickly replaced in my mind by the Federation issue spandex. I slavishly followed the Star Trek universe for a few glorious years before tiring of it and returning to my familiar superfriends, never to return. Until now.

Star Trek The Next Generation: The Space Between debuted a couple of weeks ago from IDW Publishing. Intrigued by the fact that there was apparently still a demand for stories from that specific era of the mythos, I gave it a chance. I try to stray away from licensed titles because of a deserved stigma of half-baked writing and spastic art. But my gamble paid off as this was a great little done-in-one story that felt just like a lost episode of the show. The writer, David Tischman balances the large cast well, giving each of the major members something to do. Especially Riker (Douche), Data (Robot), and Picard (Awesome). All of whom are beautifully in character. The art from Casey Maloney was also surprisingly sharp for a licensed book. He clearly did a great deal of photo reference and research on his subjects as they look fairly close to their television counterparts while maintaining a sense of the artist's style. Very impressive. We get a mysterious new planet, time travel, a clever escape, and my favorite part: the Enterprise firing on a planet!

But I think that the most striking aspect of this comic is the economy with which it is told. Not to harp on licensed comics yet again in this post, but they do tend to be a bit heavy on the explanatory text boxes. This makes sense, as most of them are telling stories that rely heavily on a continuity which exists completely outside their immediate tales, and many editors and writers may be scared of losing readers by dumping them in the middle of a situation they have no reference for. But Tischman has grasped the same storytelling principles that the TV show used to make almost every episode a jumping on point for new viewers. The reader is given just enough to know about each of the major players within the first few pages without making it a slog for anyone who is already familiar with the property. Also, as opposed to jumping into some headache involving the Borg, Q, and a crossover with Voyager, the plot is kept simple and straightforward: go to new planet, encounter hostility, deal with hostility. Yay!

Also, in terms of bringing in new readers to comics, I don't think this title is really going to do that. But on the off chance that some new nerd who wasn't old enough to catch the series happened to pick it up because Professor X is on the cover, I doubt they would have any problems getting into it. This comic is a perfect example of how to write stories that are accessible to new readers while still giving the loyal fans something to geek out about.

This book might turn the nerd level up to 11, but if you've ever been into Star Trek: TNG you should beam it up!

(Yeah, I don't like me anymore either...)

Also Purchased Over The Past Couple Of Weeks:

Fables Vol. 7: Arabian Nights (and Days)

Fables Vol. 8: Wolves

i don't think much, but its usually about comics: R.I.P. Speedball

Nothing on the stands really caught my eye last week, but I'd like to tell you a little story about one of my favorite characters:

It was face paint time at day camp, and all 60 pounds of my 10 year old body wanted to look like Speedball. I only knew of him from the original New Warriors title which I thought was the awesomest thing ever, but he was my favorite hero. So here I was, trying to explain to some volunteer undergrad counselor woman that it was just a bunch of yellow balls of different sizes, all over. She said she thought that's what Spider-man's mask looked like. If I had known about righteous indignation at that young age, I'm sure I would have unleashed it all over that poor woman. Instead, I ran to my bag and retrieved the one item that would give me the power I needed: Speedball's Marvel Universe trading card. I ran back and shoved the little cardboard portrait in the counselor's face without even mentioning the power stats on the back.

Corrected, she dutifully painted the yellow mask on my face. With the power that the mask had given me, I retreated to the playground where I was imaginarily trounced by my more powerful super-friends. However, only after rehashing who the character was and what his powers were. With the help of the trading card, they believed me, and I had a great time even if I never won the battles.


Needless to say, I've always enjoyed the fringe characters of the superhero set. The Blue Beetle's, the Speedball's, the Darkhawk's, and the Aquaman's (strangely, all of the characters I just mentioned have experienced respective amounts of attention lately). I feel like no matter how downtrodden or disadvantaged a character's comic life is, my true pathos falls on those who the market and the fans have disregarded. A sort of meta-sympathy. Peter Parker might have girl troubles or difficulty paying the rent, but Darkhawk needed to be a good hero so he wouldn't disappear. Also, these characters just seemed more fun. Maybe it was because they were in actual peril. These expendable side characters actually had the possibility of changing or dying, free from market forces in a way that the big guns could never be. Captain America might lose his shield, but somebody would always make sure it came back. If Darkhawk lost his magic gem, who would care to find it for him?

Anyway, Speedball especially spelled "fun" in my young mind. He was the physical embodiment of the energy parents ascribe to kids who eat sugar: bouncing off the walls. When he was in the New Warriors, he was paired with such post-80's characters as Night-Thrasher, and an angsty version on Nova. But no matter the peril,Speedball remained the voice of hilarious abandon in this crowd of darkened supers.



Fast forward to the present and Speedball has become PENANCE (See image to the right). Atoning for past sins, the character has donned a suit of spikes inside and out to show the angry reading public how unapologetically EXTREME he is. Darkening a character seems like a pretty lazy and played out (I'm not even going to bring up the fact that there was already a character named Penance in Generation X. Oops.) way to make them interesting. And instead of having the weird and interesting power of bouncing off the walls, his new ability is: power blasts. Thats it. Oh, and he needs to be in pain to use them. Hence the spikes. What a depressingly grim, and unimaginative, state for the character to be in.

I'm not trying to say that characters shouldn't change, in fact I'm all for altering characters and redefining their roles and lives. It keeps things interesting. But that doesn't mean we have to suck all the fun out of comics to give ourselves new stories. What is the point of making a bright, feel-good character like Speedball and turning him into a Hot Topic wet dream. Why not just kill him and make PENANCE an original character? At least then you could just resurrect Speedball later so that he could remain untarnished by this gruesome development in his story.

But like most deaths, Speedball's is out of my hands. I'm sorry to see you go little guy. But I'm even more sorry to see the world of comics rehash the same old tricks that were getting old in the early 90's.

P.S. How would you even paint a PENANCE mask on a kid's face?

i'm still thinking about comics: All-Star Superman

While last week saw the release of a major event book that I certainly have a few thoughts about, I'm trying to focus on the positive in general, so without further adieu, lets talk All-Star Superman.

I love this comic. Capitol L-U-V, write in my diary, buy it chocolates, and consider settling down love this comic. I could drown in the river of ink that's been spilled about the retro feel of this book and the ways in which it has brought fun and innovation to a character that has been starved of both, so I'll talk about another aspect that I don't think gets enough credit. I mean, Morrison and the Quit (also the title of a buddy cop movie I think) not only turned Superman into a better character, but they managed to make that other guy, Clark Kent, even more interesting.

Oftentimes, I feel like Superman is played like a separate character than Kent entirely, as though their stories have nothing to do with each other. Like if a writer is penning a Kent-centric story, then Supes comes through sparingly like a guilty pleasure, or if the story is focused on gods and aliens then Kent just acts as an opposing viewpoint for Superman. You might see the meager Kent having Superman thoughts, or Kal-El using his heat vision to make a new ring for Lois, but it rarely does it seem like it is the same person doing these things. Clark's identity is generally used as an extra tangle in the middle of a more important conflict and not an inseparable part of one man's life. Rarely have writers seamlessy mixed the two aspects of the character into one world, as one story. But Morrison has done just that. For instance, in this latest issue (#6) we see Clark having a conversation with Pa Kent back at the farm, before ripping into Supeman mode and chasing Krypto to the moon with the enthusiasm of a farmboy endowed with powers beyond those of mortal men. Then there is a beautiful panel of Supes chillin' on the moon with his dog, watching the Earth spin like its another quiet night in a Kansas field. The set-up for this scene is nothing that hasn't been done before, but it has such a natural flow between the mundane and the superhuman that Ma and Pa Kent might as well have raised Kal on a Kryptonian farm.

Quitely illustrates all of this with his usual detailed and polished style. If it weren't for the unique look of all the characters and his mastery of facial expressions and movement this would not have come off near as powerfully as it did. Whether its Krypto landing in a field or Clark sharing a malt with his old friends, the art looks alive.

Morrison and Quitely should get married. And then adopt me.

Also purchased this week:

Civil War #6

Justice #9

Manhunter Vol. 2: Trial By Fire

"selfless" pitch

This is an idea for a long-form (30-50 issues) sci-fi/fantasy action comic I would love to write. I already have the first script finished for this one, and I need an artist. If you dig the idea of the story and would like to illustrate it, or even discuss it as a project, please let me know here (or leave your e-mail/web address in the comments). I have characters and scripts that I would like to share with any serious party. Extra points if you live in the New York area.

If you don't like it, well, this space is meant to be a forum for my developing ideas, so please keep reading. But for now, I intend to call this one "Selfless". Enjoy:

"Selfless" Pitch
Its the end of the world, do you know where your soul is? Tom Carter is on a quest to find out why his is missing. With the help of a magical rap superstar, a sheriff with creeping insanity, and a century old science experiment, he just might figure it out. That is if the monstrous Children of Soggoth, recently awakened, and their hidden puppet masters, don't take over the world first. Tom and his group of outsiders will travel across a deteriorating America in search of a cure to the madness that has taken hold of the populace. Some will try to save the world, others will try to save themselves.

The first three-issue-story arc deals with the Children of Soggoth returning to the Earth in the form of a meteor storm striking the entire world. Upon their landing the minds of people across the globe begin reverting to a bestial state in a violent rejection of societal conditioning. Not that Tom Carter notices. Tom is found by hip-hop mogul B-Rare, and together they must escape Denver. Unfortunately, they are blocked at every turn by violently crazy citizens, sorcerers looking for revenge, and the old beasts of the world which have come looking for blood. All the while, Sheriff Metcalf does what he can to keep the peace. So long as he can keep his sanity that is.

The second arc concerns our players converging on the secret chief's long hidden place of power. Heroes will meet a new ally. The hand behind the world's destruction will reveal himself. A romance will present itself. The secret history of the world will be revealed. But someone must be sacrificed to another dimension. Really? Who?

I have the rest of the story outlined, and we can talk about that if you are interested in drawing it!

As with all projects presented on this site, I cannot offer you money for this series. I would hope that if we are good enough, we could pitch it to Image or some such, after a time. That is the best I can offer. I am an unknown author, but I want to be known by my talents less than my networking skills, thus I want to make a comic before I pitch one. If you are interested in showing the biz what you can do based on your work, then lets do it. If this doesn't grab you, again, stay tuned. I have other ideas about series that might fit your interests. Stay posted.

I thought on comics: The Boys

The Boys By Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson

The Boys aren't alright. It has been 7 issues, and in that expansive comic time we have watched the reader's eye of Little Hughie get begrudgingly initiated into a cabal of anti-superhero black-ops types, all the while hemming and hawing at the implication of violence and black leather.

And that's it.

Sure there has been the occasional behind-the-scenes dalliance into the sordid lives of superheroes, which comes off as so much gory Ennis-shorthand for "deserves everything that's coming," but I can't think of a single moment from previous issues that stands out. Which is saying something when I look back through the issues and am reminded of an especially ominous rape scene. (Not to sound insensitive, but when will rape stop being the fall back for irredeemable character trait. At this point it reads as almost nothing. Especially in a Garth Ennis book.)

Well this week, something finally happens, and guess what: its violence and sexual deviance. Yawn. The writing seems loose and the action boring. People's faces get smashed, balls are hit, and someone GOES OVER THE LINE! Snore. And the usually busy-but-precise artwork of Darick Robertson seems smudged and rushed. Maybe this long set-up, which I will accept as spaced for trade, will pay off in the coming issues, but somehow I doubt it. The whole thing strikes me as a rushed attempt at recreating the offensive magic of Preacher, while Ennis focuses on his superior Punisher series or War Stories (if those are still being written).

However, I also get the feeling that, maybe, I'm just getting too old for this sort of thing.

It could be said that if I were fifteen and reading this I would eat up the anti-establishment, fuck-em-if-they-can't-take-a-joke vibe of the book in the same way that I devoured and hid the Preacher books so many years ago. In a time when bringing in new, and especially young readers is so important, I can see what's happening. This book reads like a an MTV show: loud, full of big talk, and in need of editing. JK. But really, if you were to tell a teenager to read a comic book, do you think that Runaways (an amazing, written-for-teens book, but only for young'ns who are already into comics) would catch their attention more than this?

The problem is that I can re-read the Preacher series and see a pastiche of the American Western tale told in an overblown, yet economic fashion (much in the same way that Sin City works as a pastiche of Noir tales). Yet this book just reeks of violence for violence sake. The idea that superheroes have too much power has been covered in so many books, I won't even begin, the human vs. the superhuman has also been retread so many times it gets hard to count (if you want real evidence, ask for it in the comments). And to slowly draw it out just makes it insulting. Adding insane amounts of violence doesn't do anything new. Especially when it takes seven issues to reach that violence. Mainstream comics are already in the habit of referencing the nonsensical, and dark nature of the genre, which makes angsty commentary on it obsolete.

I know Garth Ennis (Preacher, Hellblazer) and Darick Robertson (Transmetropolitan, Fury) can do better. But people younger than me might not.

Also purchased this week:

100 Bullets, Book 10: Decayed

Nextwave, Issue #11

Fables, Book 4: March of the Wooden Soldiers

welcome back again!

Thanks to a Beta-related anomaly, my blog has been forced into fire and spat out of the ashes anew once again! In this iteration, I have decided to focus on using the space as a venue for my writing and less for my rambling. Though I'm sure there will be more than enough of that as well. Welcome and enjoy!