The Witching Hour #1 – Review

By: Too many to list—or even to review.  Just check out the issue.

The Story: Will you catch any of these folks speaking with the devil?

The Review: These Vertigo showcases are proof positive that there really are an endless number of ways to look at the world, or even just one thing in it.  Both Ghosts and Time Warp offered stories that dealt with actual spirits and time-travel, but just as many stories that explored spirits and time as concepts, and a few that struck at the subjects on both a literal and figurative level.  It’s pretty amazing to see what the imagination will dream up when prompted.

Take Brett Lewis’ “Mars to Stay,” which in both substance and form resembles less like anything having to do with witches and more like a hard piece of science-fiction—the hardest kind, given how Lewis doesn’t take too many liberties with the fiction to deliver science that actually falls within the realm of possibility, if you have a cynical view of the way people work.  Maybe that’s where the witchcraft lies, in the slow, creeping way that the stranded crew’s psyches break down, as if infected with a curse.  Either way, it’s an impactful, haunting tale, despite having no clear connection to magical women whatsoever (and it doesn’t hurt that you get Cliff Chiang’s starkly sharp art illustrating the whole thing).

Fairest #13 – Review

By: Lauren Beukes (story), Inaki Miranda (art), Eva De La Cruz (colors)

The Story: It’s a war between freaks on the streets of Tokyo—someone grab the popcorn.

The Review: Every great journey starts out looking for one thing, only to find another.  A young man leaves his desert homeworld in search of adventure and winds up saving the galaxy.  A hobbit sets off to see the elves and along the way brings down a dark lord.  A boy with glasses goes to magic school to find companionship and strikes down the most evil wizard of his time.  Ultimately, however, they all find what they’re looking for in the end.

For Rapunzel, this arc has just been yet another chapter in her quest to find her children.  If you opened this issue expecting to see twin girls waiting for their mother on the last page, you’ll be mightily disappointed, to say the least.  But although Rapunzel fails once again to retrieve her children—her human children, at any rate—the fact that she can finally return to her ex-lover with the bounty she promised makes for a mostly complete resolution of Beukes’ story.

Fairest #12 – Review

By: Lauren Beukes (story), Inaki Miranda (art), Eva De La Cruz (colors)

The Story: Can a fox outfox a wolf and a witch?

The Review: Call this a critic’s existential crisis, but I often wonder if at the end of the day, my reviews have any sway at all.  I mean, I can’t even sway my two-year-old niece to stop dancing while I’m trying to put her pants back on her.  I can’t sway my friend to stop falling for girls who call him “Idiot” within a week of the relationship.  So what hope do I have of reaching out to strangers on the internet, rather yet the powers that be in the business?

But if I do have any influence in the comic book world, I’d use a lot of it to get Beukes an ongoing title from DC or Vertigo, ASAP.  I’ve noticed a lot of writers can’t hit the proper tension at different parts of their stories, either going too big too early and fizzling out, or sticking to a slow burn for too long then throwing in a whole lot of flash and bang at the last second.  Beukes hits exactly the right note for her penultimate issue; you can actually feel the action rising to a climax, with the various characters drawing closer together, setting the stage for the final blowout next month.  You can tell it’s all going exactly according to Beukes’ plan.

Fairest #11 – Review

By: Lauren Beukes (story), Inaki Miranda (art), Eva De La Cruz (colors)

The Story: What’s up, boy?  Who fell down the well?

The Review: When I wrote the first draft of this review, I originally praised DC for maintaining its interest in Vertigo, because honestly, there’s where most of the really original (if not always outstanding) titles are.  Then I found out from their April solicitations that Saucer Country, a title I only recently declared as one of my favorites, was getting canned.  Once again, I prove to have a gift for clinging to things that are destined to leave me.*

Anyway, before my enthusiasm got mercilessly shot down, I also made a point of commending DC for using Vertigo as a convenient way of cultivating talent to potentially leverage them for their mainstream books later.  What brought about this now-premature approval was this mostly amazing issue of Fairest, which makes me feel the smartest choice would be to let Beukes pitch an ongoing Vertigo title of her choice before priming her as a natural successor to Justice League Dark or Sword of Sorcery.

Fairest #10 – Review

By: Lauren Beukes (story), Inaki Miranda (art), Eva de la Cruz (colors)

The Story: Meet the only girl who can have multiple bad hair days in a 24-hour period.

The Review: Now that I think about it, women do make up a substantial part of the Fables population, don’t they?  You can’t deny the popularity of the fairy tale ladies far outstrips that of the guys, which explains not only their prominence in this universe, but also the fact that they can have long, involved storylines that do not center on romantic entanglements—at least, in theory.  Up until this arc, Fairest has tended to focus on the heroines’ love lives.

That’s all changed with Rapunzel’s search for her children.  In addition to the rather scandalous lifestyle choices she’s made over the years, Rapunzel simply seems more raw and primal than her fellow fair ladies.  You certainly can’t see Snow, Briar, Rose, or Cindy, even at their most desperate hour, spinning a nest of their own hair, strung and webbed across the boughs of a forest.  Combined with her urgent, instinctual hunt for her children, Punzel has an animalistic quality that makes her relationship with a kitsune almost logical.

Fairest #9 – Review

By: Lauren Beukes (story), Inaki Miranda (art), Eva de la Cruz (colors)

The Story: When will people ever learn that you can’t always trust a foxy lady?

The Review: Any time you spin off a title, you’re going to have to run into questions of whether there’s actually demand for the sibling series (and material to meet it), or whether you’re simply being exploitive.  Let’s be honest with ourselves; most spin-offs fall clearly and pathetically into the latter category.  For most of Fairest’s run, the jury was still out on where the series stands.  It’s not as if there’d been a huge outcry for more stories featuring Fables’ most beautiful stars.

Between her rock-solid first issue and the one on review today, Beukes has made a strong case that Fairest has a whole wealth of stories we’d be interested to hear, but which Fables doesn’t have the time to service.  Flashing back to the early days of Fabletown reminds us that while Snow White and Bigby were out determining the fate of fairy tale characters everywhere, every Fable had a life to live, and there’s no reason to believe theirs were any less intriguing or eventful than their deputy mayor and sheriff.

Fairest #8 – Review

By: Lauren Beukes (story), Inaki Miranda (art), Eva de la Cruz (colors)

The Story: And here you thought the most dangerous thing about origami was the paper cuts.

The Review: I consider myself a cautious optimist by nature and practice.  I don’t blind myself to risks, but I tend to bet on the best possible outcome.  With showcase titles, I always look on the next feature with the hope that it’ll be better than the last.  Fairest has so far produced only one complete arc, a harmless but not outstanding affair whose art far surpassed the story.  The standalone that came after, well—I still waver between calling it bad or just mediocre.

But when every new storyline comes attached with a whole new creative team, there’s always a chance a pleasant surprise lies in wait.  Beukes gets your attention right away by setting a trend of defeating expectations.  At first, Rapunzel’s morose opening monologue leads you to believe you’re in for a sizable set-up to a simmering drama, but then the windows burst, showering her and her loyal haircutter Joel with a thousand origami cranes and shards of glass, and you know you’re in for a different kind of treat.

Strange Adventures – Review

By: Various (see below)

The Story: A Vertigo anthology with a sci-fi bent.

[Note: The regular “what’s good”/”what’s not so good” format doesn’t work so well for an anthology like this.  Don’t worry, it’ll return…]

Case 21: (Selwyn Hinds, writer & Denys Cowan, art) A very clever story dealing with a dystopian future police state where a tattoo artist is forced to make some pretty harsh decisions.  It’s well written and has some nice dynamic artwork, including a topless lady getting into a fight with the jackbooted cops.  Cool twist at the end too.  I’d definitely be in favor of seeing more of this story.

The White Room:  (Talia Hershewe, writer & Juan Bobillo, art)  I didn’t love this story as much.  It is set in the future and deals with a couple of punk-kids’ experience with a type of virtual reality/drug called The White Room.  Misadventures in virtual realities or hallucinogenic trips just aren’t my bag, so my lack of enjoyment is 100% due to the subject matter.  Bobillo’s painted and pinkish-tinged art is very visually appealing.

Partners: (Peter Milligan, writer & Sylvain Savoia, art)  This story didn’t really scratch my itch either although I think there is a clever premise within it.  The problem is that the cool twist is revealed a little too soon in the story and that robs it of some of its juice.  For some reason, the artwork reminds me of Charles Burns, but I’m not sure why.  Perhaps it’s because the subject matter is kids with identity crises sitting around a campfire?

All the Pretty Ponies: (Lauren Beukes, writer & Inaki Miranda, art)  This was one of the stars of the issue for me.  What starts out as a Surrogates-type story where rich people are paying money to inhabit and take virtual/remote control of a bunch of poor folks has a very wicked twist.  Great art by Miranda too.  This is another I’d like to see more of.

Ultra the Multi-Alien: (Jeff Lemire, writer and art)  Is it any surprise that Jeff Lemire would give us a heart-wrenching and plaintive tale?  The art is typical Lemire, emotive and stylized, and will be immediately familiar to any fan of Sweet Tooth or Essex County.  The subject matter hits the same types of notes as those other works too.  I don’t want to spoil the twist, but the story deals with an astronaut who is far from home in more ways than one.  More please!

Refuse: (Ross Campbell, writer and art) This story wins the award for the grossest, holy crap moment of the issue.  I really liked Ross’ willingness to show such a nasty looking story and anyone who is willing to draw that has got some real potential.  But, I didn’t really understand the purpose of the story and why this mother is living in such a filthy apartment that her child has been taken away by social services.