Chin Music #1 – Review

By: Steve Niles (writer), Tony Harris (art), Bill Tortolini (letters)

The Story: Something about 1930’s era gangsters and demonic forces and Egypt.  It’s really not very clear….

Review: This comic issue really challenges the idea of buying a comic “just to look at the art” because it looks amazing–but doesn’t have much story.

From an art standpoint, you won’t find many comics that look better than Chin Music #1.  It’s really glorious stuff.  I love all the interesting things that Tony Harris does with his panel borders.  He really turns the panel borders into part of the artwork with all these filigrees and whatnot.  I don’t know whether to wish that more artists drew inspiration from Harris or to cringe at the thought of artists doing non-expert jobs aping Tony Harris panel borders.  Regardless, if you’re interesting in seeing someone playing around with the concept of the entire page in a comic being a work of art, then this is an issue worth checking out.

Whatever Happened to Baron von Shock #4 – Review

By: Rob Zombie (writer), Donny Hadiwidjaja (art), Val Staples & Chris Garcia (colors), Bill Tortolini (letters) & Leanne Hannah (editor)

Ghoulie Girl back-up by: Zombie (writer), Hannah (art), Staples (colors) & Tortolini (letters)

The Story: Leon gets back in the show-biz game (kinda), suffers personal loss and gets the original Baron Von Shock gang back together.

What’s Good: It seems odd that a comic with such frank depictions of prostitution, drug use, porn and middle aged losers would be a feel good story, but that’s kinda what Baron von Shock is turning out to be.  Zombie is doing a very good job of storytelling in this series.  In only 4 issues, he has introduced the characters, show them at the top of the world (or at least the top of their world), run them all down into the gutter and is now starting to bring them back in this issue.  The gang is back together, but I don’t think you could really call them “new and improved” as Leon and his buddy are just middle-aged losers and Ghoulie Girl is a hooker (perhaps a former hooker…who knows?).  But the story telling has made them such lovable losers that you find yourself really pulling for them.  By the end of this issue, these three knuckleheads have hatched a plan to put themselves back on the map.  I’m sure the plan won’t come off without a hitch, but I definitely want to watch.

That whole element of not knowing is a huge attraction to this comic book.  When you read a Batman story, how often are you really surprised?  Most experienced readers could probably guess the rough plot outlines for most superhero stories as long as they know (a) the villain and (b) the number of issues in the story.  With BVS, I have no clue what will happen next…and that is part of the fun.  And it is a story that is going somewhere instead of just chasing its own tail.

The art is quite nice and shows a team approach.  Hadiwidjaja’s linework leaves a lot of heavy lifting for the Staples and Garcia to do in the shading department, but he draws a very pretty woman and does a nice job of making all the faces and characters in the series distinctive.  Everyone has a unique look and you immediately can tell them apart.  That seems like a small thing, but how many comics have 3 blond ladies who all look basically the same?  Let’s also give the art team kudos for managing Ghoulie Girls tattoos.  She is pretty heavily inked and in this issue they look very consistent both in terms of how they are drawn and colored from panel to panel.  And that is a lot of work, because she is at least 50% undressed in most of the comic.  She has no secret tattoos at this point.

For a change of pace, there is also a fun back-up story about Ghoulie Girl as a little kid having an interesting experience with a babysitter.  Love Leanne Hannah’s art!

Whatever Happened to Baron Von Shock? #3 – Review

By: Rob Zombie (writer), Donny Hadiwidjaja (art), Val Staples (colors) w/ assists by Rachel Crockett, Stephanie Letterson & Jason Leitner & Bill Tortolini (letters)

The Story: Our down on his luck former horror host, Lonnie, and his buddy go to Vegas to get a little lovin’ and meet and old friend.

What’s Good: I have wildly different expectations when I read a creator-owned comic compared to reading Marvel/DC.  To me, Marvel and DC are like network TV shows and when you watch them, you know that you’ll get something to chat about with the guys at work, but you probably aren’t going to see anything too edgy.  Creator-owned comics are more like cable TV where you get some shows that really push the envelope, but also hear a lot of silence when you ask, “So, do you watch Breaking Bad?  How about Eastbound and Down?  Mad Men?  Oh well…”

Baron von Shock is like that cable TV show.  Freed of the restraints of having to be “respectable”, the creators are able to just throw caution to the wind and tell their story in however an adult fashion they want.  BVS hits right at what I would call a “HBO level” of adultness.  Not Cinemax, and certainly not XXX, but it isn’t ABC either.  And I really appreciate adult story telling because I’m a grown ass man and this is the kind of stuff that happens in the world.

However, what is making BVS special beyond the eye candy and raunchy language is that it has a really nice story that is going to hit a big nostalgia vibe for anyone who grew up in the 1970’s or 80’s and remembers seeing late-night monster movies on whatever independent channel you happened to receive over the air in your area.  This might still exist on some obscure cable channel, but can you imagine getting only 4-5 channels at your house and one is taken over by a dude in a vampire costume doing 60 second comedic bits during movies like “Frankenstein’s Bloody Terror”?  And. what’s more, can you imagine that loser in the vampire costume being a local celebrity?

That is the basic set up for BVS as the loser in the vampire costume “makes it big” (in the local sense) but then loses it all with the story picking back up with him being a driftless loser years later as he tries to get his life back together and get one more shot at the good times.  This issue in particular shows him doing the final bit of getting the old gang back together (in a very accidental and almost horrible way) and I’m very interested to see what the world holds for Lonnie.  The whole story is told with a relentless optimism that makes Lonnie into a loveable loser that you pull for.

As I’m mentioned the art has HBO-level nudity and I’ve got no problem with that.  Mr. Hadiwidjaja has really tightened his style since the first issue.  I love watching an artist improve issue to issue.  His style is still pretty open which leaves a lot of opportunity for the color artist to shine.  Not all colorists are up to that, but this group does a very nice job.