Dead Boy Detectives #8 – Review

By: Toby Litt (story), Mark Buckingham (layouts), Ryan Kelly (finishes), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: It’s hard to tell the difference between the living and the dead in a nursing home.

The Review: In my line of work, I see firsthand how often kids take their parents’ mistakes to heart, which is probably one of the saddest things you’ll ever see besides an invalid alone in the hospital or the mentally ill talking to themselves at a bus stop in the rain. So it’s not surprising to me that Charles would internalize his dad’s problems so much, to the point that his dad’s litany of horrible qualities results in his own self-loathing and a desire for a second death.

It takes a bit of adjustment to handle this sudden emotional weight that’s been thrust on the previously quirky Dead Boy Detectives, but it works. If nothing else, it provides a springboard for the Charles-Crystal relationship, as his melancholy spurs her to show the sweetest parts of her personality. “Charles, you say that ever since I met you, you’ve done nothing but put me in danger. But it’s all been so exciting—even the terrifying parts! …If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t know about Clementine. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t know about the Neitherlands. We need each other, Charles. …I wish I could give you a proper hug.”

Bodies #2 – Review

By: Si Spencer (story), Meghan Hetrick, Dean Ornston, Tula Lotay, Phil Winslade (art), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: Four detectives are better than one.

The Review: I speak from some experience when I say that when you have a lot of people working on the same project, no matter how different they may be from each other, there has to be some common ground for them to stand on or the project fails. In Bodies, the differences between our four detectives are even greater from the spans of time that lies between them, but there has to be some reason why these four were chosen, and the best way to discover it is to see what they have in common.

This issue makes that task easy by calling attention to something the last issue downplayed: each of our detectives live under the pressure of discrimination. Edmond muses how his closeted homosexuality may result in his imprisonment; Charles Whiteman changed his name (Karl Weissman) to escape from anti-Semitic barbs like the one thrown by Sean Mahoney, uncle of the man he interrogated; Shahara can’t freely discuss her Muslim faith with comrade/romantic interest Barber, much less the racist protestors bashing her car.

Fables #143 – Review

By: Bill Willingham (story), Mark Buckingham (pencils), Steve Leialoha & Andrew Pepoy (inks), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: Bigby threatens to bring down Fabletown, with neither huffing nor puffing.

The Review: One of the many ways I’m a little off in the head is the way I treat stories like people. On first acquaintance, I’m open-minded, relatively forgiving of small quirks and flaws, and cautious to make any hasty conclusions. If it rubs me the wrong way, my judgment can become scathing, and it can be quite difficult to return to my good graces. If I really take to one, my loyalty is steadfast; even if things don’t go well for a while, I’ll still be by its side.

To me, Fables is a bit like my clique of coworkers at a transition job after grad school. We met somewhat late in life and I’ll always remain a bit of an outsider, but we get along well and make each other’s lives that much more pleasant. When we part, it’ll be with regret and hugs, but not tears. This is all a roundabout way of saying that even though I haven’t known the Fables that long, I’m fond enough of them to be really grieved when bad things happen to them. And Willingham seems set to unleash quite a lot of bad things on many of them, even the most beloved.

Astro City #14 – Review

By: Kurt Busiek (story), Brent Eric Anderson (art), Alex Sinclair & Wendy Broome (colors)

The Story: Reform school for robots.

The Review: Much as I love the superhero genre, I recognize its limitations as much as anyone else does, and Astro City frequently helps me in this regard. By constantly abridging the superhero material to their essence—hero versus villain; punches, blasts, explosions; rubble and property damage; inevitable triumph of good over evil—Busiek reveals that the most interesting parts of a superhero story are the things that take place outside of it.

Busiek applies this approach so often in Astro City that it’d almost be formulaic if it didn’t yield such wildly different results each time. This issue, he explores the aftermath of a common feature of superhero battles we often take for granted: the wanton destruction of robots, giant or otherwise. In doing so, he takes something we would never give a second thought to and finds the emotional layers hidden underneath.

Vertigo Quarterly: Magenta #1 – Review

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

The Story: You’ll be tickled pink by what you read.

The Review: I enjoyed the last quarterly just fine, but I couldn’t help being a little dismayed by the $7.99 price point. That’s a lot of money for a bunch of shorts, not all of which are gems. On the flipside, none of them sucked or anything, and for what is basically a collection of pieces by mostly unknown writers and artists, that’s pretty remarkable. You might say that what you’re really paying for is the dreams of some talented creators, for whom this might be an opening to a big break.

That just leaves the puzzle of the color themes for each quarterly. Cyan produced such a jumble of different pieces that it didn’t really seem to be much of a unifying theme at all. Magenta looks to be a very different story. There’s still plenty of variety in the stories generated in this issue, but certain patterns emerge, ones that just might have something to do with our psychological perception of magenta itself.

Fairest #28 – Review

By: Mark Buckingham (story), Russ Braun (art), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: Has Reynard found his rebound girl?

The Review: In what has to be a burst of psychological insight—or stating the obvious, you decide—I’ve realized why Reynard is so determined to make it with this human thing. The fact is he never needed a human body to succeed in anything; he was doing quite well without before he got his glamour. Being a handsome man is really only necessary for one thing: attracting the ladies. Small wonder that he thinks finding a woman to love is key to unlocking his potential as a man.

You might say it’s his final challenge, the last thing he needs to stand aside the likes of, say, Prince Charming. There’s really just one thing getting in his way: he’s not Prince Charming, which is to say that he doesn’t have Charming’s shameless addiction to conquest. His audacious move on Snow is driven by ignorance of human mores rather than lust, which makes his poor reception that much more pathetic. Reynard likes to be of service, but he won’t get that chance chasing after strong, independent women.

Dead Boy Detectives #7 – Review

By: Toby Litt (story), Mark Buckingham (layouts), Ryan Kelly (finishes), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: Even ghosts can have daddy issues.

The Review: We’ve had a lot of fun with the Dead Boy Detectives’ miscellaneous adventures, but now seems like the right time for us to grapple with more long-term material. I expect most of us are new to the characters, so we really know nothing about Charles and Edwin before they attended, died, and returned to St. Hilarion’s. If a ghost exists only because of unfinished business in its life, then it’s essential we learn more about that life, no?

It’s easy enough to see what was left unresolved with Charles’ untimely death: his feelings toward his father. We’ve seen hints that Charles’ dad wasn’t a very nice guy, but the nature of his cruelty is unclear, even after Charles recounts his boyhood memories of the man. Obviously, Charles’ dad was kind of a douche for receiving his son’s thoughtful, handmade gift with more thought to its flaws than delight, and the fact that he was constantly away isn’t great, either. But these seem like typical paternal failings, not the kinds of things that’d keep a long-dead boy attached to the world.

The Wake #10 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (story), Sean Murphy (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors)

The Story: It’s only near the end of the world that we learn the Scientologists were right all along.

The Review: As of last issue, we still had no idea what the hell was going on in this series. We didn’t know where the Mers came from or what they wanted, how Lee Archer managed to send a message to Leeward from the dead, and how she was planning to save the world. Snyder has left those ends wide open; needless to say, he has a lot
to explain in this issue, and it’s almost guaranteed there’ll still be points left unresolved at the end.

Much to his credit, however, Snyder manages to tie every vague vignette from every past issue together into a cohesive revelation that actually manages to be revelatory, astonishingly so. Of course, you’ll have to read between his metaphors (ladders and seeds feature heavily in this issue) to get the answers you seek, but at least they’re relatively straightforward and mostly satisfying. [Warning: major spoilers ahead! Read on at your own risk!]

The Sandman: Overture #3 – Review

By: Neil Gaiman (story), J.H. Williams III (art), Dave Stewart (colors)

The Story: What’s a road trip without a hitchhiker?

The Review: I suppose we’ll have to resign ourselves to the fact that we’ll only get an issue from this series every few months—five between #1 and #2, and four between #2 and now. There are only three conditions under which that kind of timing is acceptable. First, it’s got to be expected; no one enjoys a surprise delay. Second, the creative team has to earn it; I think Gaiman-Williams get an easy pass here. Third, and most importantly, the issue you get hast to be worth the wait.

That means real progress in the story, but what that means in for the purposes of this title
is a little harder to make out. Sandman is not the type of series that advances by leaps and bounds. Its pacing is sedate and leisurely; at times, there’s little action at all. Yet all the while, Gaiman is moving the pieces of the plot, unobtrusively, like a chess player waiting for the precise moment to reveal that he’s had you in checkmate all along. Not very much may happen in an issue, but that’s not say it’s unproductive.

Bodies #1 – Review

By: Si Spencer (story), Meghan Hetrick, Dean Ornston, Tula Lotay, Phil Winslade (art), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: Murder is the kind of history that tends to repeat itself.

The Review: Done with the Bar, finally—at least for the next few months. And yet, in the world of comics, life goes on as usual. It’s kind of comforting actually, to think that whether I pass or fail, there will always be comics. But enough with sentimentality; let’s talk about Bodies. One of the reasons why I loved Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldiers was for the narrative craft it took to use seven disparate stories to push each other forward as well as an overarching plot.

Bodies very much lands in the same mold, except you can see more clearly see the cooperation among the four storylines and their featured investigators: D.S. Shahara Hasan of 2014, Inspector Edmond Hillinghead of 1890, Detective Maplewood of 2050, and Inspector Charles Whiteman of 1940. Remarkably enough, Spencer is able to take each era in that order and still render a fairly smooth narrative.

Fables #142 – Review

By: Bill Willingham (story), Mark Buckingham (pencils), Steve Leialoha & Andrew Pepoy (inks), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: Sisters, sisters, never where there such destructive sisters.

The Review: Last issue, when Maddy came around Wolf Manor declaring that war between Snow and Rose was practically inevitable, I wondered idly how Maddy expected Snow to fight a war all by herself when Rose had an entire kingdom at her back. I had forgotten about Winter’s preparations for this very possibility back in #137, which goes to show just how involved and sprawling and foresighted Fables can be. [It also goes to show my memory is shot since bar prep began, but I digress.]

But what are Winter’s plans, anyway? There must be something more delicate going on than a meet-force-with-force strategy, otherwise she wouldn’t be so threatened by Maddy’s interference. Then again, considering the forces she’s gathered (which now includes all her wolfish uncles), the outcome can go either way: mutually assured destruction or stalemate by threat of the same.

Fairest #27 – Review

By: Mark Buckingham (story), Russ Braun (art), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: Even a fox loses his charm once he turns human.

The Review: And we’re back! It’s been several months since the abysmal Mice and Men arc, and if I had any doubts at the time whether I was doing the right thing temporarily Dropping the series, I have none now. I’m in a much better spirit of mind than if I had forced myself to buy into Andreyko’s wandering, inconsequential storyline, and eager to check in with the less pressing side of the Fables universe, especially as we’re winding down to the series’ conclusion.

Since I’m still woefully deficient in my Fables history, I can’t confirm whether Prince Charming’s promise to provide glamours to all non-humanoid Fables was ever established before this issue, but it does lead to a solid plot for the Fables that tend to be overlooked. It’s true they don’t get enough respect; that will happen when you look like a walking sunflower in breeches or cat with a bonnet or some other anthropomorphized creature in medieval costume. Kind of hard not to see them as comical even when they have very real grievances.

Fables #141 – Review

By: Bill Willingham (story), Mark Buckingham (pencils), Steve Leialoha & Andrew Pepoy (inks), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: No need for minutes—this is a witches’ meeting!

The Review: As a lover of most things magical, some of my favorite Fables by default are the Thirteenth Floor witches. In most respects, they live up to the typical spellcaster mold: distant and a little bit distracted, always with an air like they’re seeing something you’re not, which they probably are. But they also have an unquestioned loyalty to Fabletown that’s somewhat surprising for such powerful characters. Mages are not well known for their charity.

It made sense for the witches to ally with Fabletown when they had Gepetto as a common enemy, but that’s all over now. Not only has the war been fought and won, the need for Fabletown itself is fading, as even the witches recognize. Yet they continue to stick to their customary meetings, discussing various Fabletown concerns, and even going so far as to consider prospective replacements for their dead/missing/departed peers. With one exception, none of these topics of conversation hold as much weight as their passing remarks.

Astro City #13 – Review

By: Kurt Busiek (story), Brent Eric Anderson (art), Alex Sinclair (colors)

The Story: It’s just like the townspeople in Footloose thought—dancing does lead to sex.

The Review: I admit that I tend to get a little nervous around non-linear stories. I can handle the back-and-forth jumps between two time periods that you get on Arrow or Rocket Girl, but keeping track of what’s happening at a string of different timelines feels like more work than I really want to put in. I like my fiction like reality: once something is in the past, I like to keep it there, looking back only when necessary.

So I was prepared to dislike this issue, it being not only chronologically out of order, but also broken into half a dozen storylines all featuring characters I’d never met before, some of whom go nameless the whole time. But it just goes to show you: if you have a writer who knows what he’s doing on a really compelling idea, then anything can work. It also helps that this jumbled narrative, which, true to the issue’s title, waltzes from hour to hour with no apparent pattern, is contained to this issue alone. I don’t know whether I could’ve handled an ongoing series done like this.

The Wake #9 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (story), Sean Murphy (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors)

The Story: Leeward discovers that Captain for a Day is as much a jip as the queen version.

The Review: For a very brief period of time in my college days, I was editor of a hopeful (soon to be hopeless) literary magazine. The work was thankless and the pay was pitiful—good practice for a future in comic book reviewing, honestly—but I enjoyed it, nonetheless. I learned that a good editor wields his power rarely, pushing the writing only when it doesn’t do what the writer wants it to do. Giving creators their freedom is great and all, but you have to step in if they’re not living up to their own standards.

Were I editor of The Wake, I probably would’ve stepped in somewhere around #6
or #7 and gently (but firmly) told Snyder and Murphy, “You’ve got to give this more than ten issues. You’ve gone through the painstaking trouble of crafting this brand new world—you drew a map, for heaven’s sake—and there’s absolutely no way you’re going to explore any of it, drive it to ruin, then save it in the issues you have left. Or, more accurately, there is a way, but it’s not going to be pretty.” If Snyder and Murphy are anything like the writers I worked with, they’ll nod politely and ignore me anyway, then give me resentfully chagrined looks if it turns out I was right: it wasn’t pretty, as it is here.

Dead Boy Detectives #6 – Review

By: Toby Litt (story), Mark Buckingham (layouts), Russ Braun (finishes), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: When seeking advice, ask a cat before the manatee.

The Review: As a kid, I was obsessed with Harriet the Spy,* mostly for Harriet’s adventurousness and daring. She, along with the Boxcar Children, those kids from The Egypt Game, and the boys from The Sandlot, had a subtle influence on my early life. I didn’t exactly become a mischievous, unnecessary risk-taker, but by their example I probably was more curious, took more chances, and got into more trouble (in a fun way) than my rigid Vietnamese upbringing would’ve allowed.

I think the charm I’ve recently found in Dead Boy Detectives is how it seems to carry the spirit of all my childhood heroes. As Edwin, Charles, and Crystal slip (and literally break) into Marigold’s house to investigate the precarious situation of the trapped Persephone and Beatrix, I was reminded of bygone tales of kids going places where they shouldn’t be, and finding and solving mysteries there. It’s the kind of story that’s painfully absent from comics these days, despite efforts from titles like the hopelessly commercial Seekers of the Weird.

Fables #140 – Review

By: Bill Willingham (story), Steve Leialoha (art), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: Never get in the way of a cat-and-dog fight, unless you want to get bitten.

The Review: I almost decided against writing a review for this issue, so turned off was I by its predecessor and so disgusted by its lazy execution. But then I remembered that part of a critic’s job is to grapple with the trash with as much vigor as he revels among the gems. “Trash” is a harsh word, I admit, but keeping in mind that I rarely throw those kinds of insults around, it’s one I think is entirely appropriate for describing the quality of this issue.

I actually don’t think Willingham would disagree with me, either. At one point, Danny Boy reminds the others about the danger of the Brochan Weir, “He cannot be killed. Except by a creature called No Man, who’ll come ages in the future to slay him at a crossroads.” Anyone who’s read The Return of the King knows exactly how this particular plotline would turn out. It doesn’t take, as it does for Briar Rose, “decades of badly written television” or training “by a legion of hacks to always look for the obvious twist.” But doesn’t the fact that things play out exactly as she guesses suggest that this, too, is “badly written,” “obvious twist” by a hack?

Astro City #12 – Review

By: Kurt Busiek (story), Graham Nolan (art), Wendy Broome (colors)

The Story: Clothes make the villain.

The Review: Every time I read an issue of Astro City, I always think to myself, with no small degree of wonder, this is a superhero series. It gives hope to the entire genre that Busiek can deliver, month after month, a series featuring characters in the same ridiculous costumes as their peers over at the Big Two, engaged in the same endless battles, yet still possessing dignity, originality, and depth that outstrips practically everyone else in the genre. Lavish praise, I know, but mostly deserved, I think.

It’s true most Astro City issues lack the primal thrill of its mainstream peers, but what it does have is longer-lasting. For one thing, you can always count on Busiek to give his characters real motivation, by which I mean they have needs and desires that heroism and villainy only partly fulfills. It’s amazing how often this basic principle of fiction is either neglected or completely ignored by Big Two writers, leaving their characters forgettable from the moment you stop reading. Busiek characters stay with you, even after one issue, memorable as the stranger you spend a bus ride talking to, never to meet again.

The Wake #8 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (story), Sean Murphy (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors)

The Story: There are worse things, it seems, than living in the gullet of a giant mutant fish.

The Review: Only two issues left after this, which leaves Snyder only a short time to wrap up this beautiful, desolate world that he and Murphy have crafted. I understand all the practical reasons why an ongoing Wake series wouldn’t have worked for them, but I still feel we’re all missing out on what might have been one of the great comic book stories of the decade. What we ultimately get is worthwhile and memorable, but without the epic quality it truly deserves.

And that’s all a product of not having enough time to let certain moments land, to explore certain settings, to give certain developments to make their impact. Ever since we started the second half of The Wake, the pacing has been like a tour guide on a cheap package, rushing you to one sight and whisking you away to another right after you’ve taken a picture but before you’ve really absorbed the experience. Events that should take place over a span of many issues get compacted into a few pages, making Leeward’s world-changing quest feel like a one-hour adventure.

Vertigo Quarterly: Cyan #1 – Review

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

The Story: It’s impossible not to feel blue after reading this.

The Review: Of all the showcase titles out in recent years, the ones from Vertigo have been the best by far, with a good mix of known and unknown writers confidently spinning self-contained yarns from the chosen motif. Until now, I haven’t had a proper appreciation for the choice of motif, which provides some degree of unity to what would otherwise be jumbles of disparate, unconnected stories. But revolving stories around a color doesn’t quite do the same trick.

The big difference is that a color is an abstract concept in comparison to, say, witches or ghosts, which are somewhat more defined, even if a writer takes the notion in some radical direction. In theory, you can write any story and shoehorn a bit of cyan in there, which is what a lot of the features in this issue do, whether it’s Shaun Simon’s unconvincing “Serial Artist” or a metaphysical numbers extravaganza in Mony Nero’s “Much Ado About Nothing.” It’s easy enough for the colorists to dab a bit of sharp light blue in any given feature, but difficult to grasp the color’s effect on the story.

Dead Boy Detectives #5 – Review

By: Toby Litt (story), Mark Buckingham (layouts), Russ Braun (finishes), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: Never enter a crazy cat lady’s house unless you’re prepared to not like what you see.

The Review: For all you bottom-line people wanting to know what it takes for a title to stay on my Pull List, it’s this simple: it has to feel different. “From what?” you may well ask. From other titles in its genre? From everything else on the market? From all the stuff I’m personally reading? Yes, yes, and yes—one of those, at least; all of those, ideally. The moment I start making clear comparisons between one title and another usually coincides with my waning interest in a series.

That’s why I have such a good feeling about the longevity of Dead Boy Detectives on my Pull List. It may have its share of technical flaws, disappointments, and missed opportunities, but you can’t deny that there’s nothing quite like it out there in the big, wide comic book universe. It’s supernatural, yet it doesn’t fit with any of the classic supernatural sub-categories: sword-and-sorcery, urban fantasy, even magical realism. More than anything else, it’s like the fun, quirky, imaginative stories you read in your childhood years, spun with enough substance for grown-up tastes.

Astro City #11 – Review

By: Kurt Busiek (story), Brent Eric Anderson (art), Alex Sinclair & Wendy Broome (colors)

The Story: Unfortunately, there’s no spell for good organization.

The Review: There’s a kind of segregation that happens in the superhero world, namely between the heroes and the civilians. In one sphere, the heroes fling punches and energy blasts, crashing off and through buildings, flying overhead and grappling with their foes. In another sphere, the civilians dutifully run about, panicking or trying to stave the damage, according to their natures. The two groups interact infrequently and usually in the most cursory manner.

Astro City isn’t so different in this regard, but it does the rare exceptions. Raitha McCann, personal assistant to the Silver Adept, functions much like a Pepper Potts or Alfred Pennyworth, and if she existed in any other comic book universe, we’d most likely only see her a couple times an issue max, delivering exposition, wit, or emotional support as needed. But since this is Astro City, it’s Raitha who takes central focus. We’re only invested in Adept’s life insofar as it impacts Raitha’s.

The Royals: Masters of War #3 – Review

By: Bob Williams (story), Simon Coleby (art), JD Mettler (colors)

The Story: Who needs military strategy when you’ve got a sea colossus?

The Review: I wasn’t lying when I said I liked the concept behind The Royals, but at the time I was really thinking of the metaphysical and social implications when the people holding themselves as superior to their fellow man are actually superior to them. At the very least, I thought Williams would address how this situation came to pass, but none of the characters seem even remotely curious about it. To them, this is how things have always been; any need for questioning is long past.

Instead, their attention is entirely fixed on the conflict before them, which reduces the Royals to nothing more than superheroes by another name. Applying them to WWII makes for a somewhat entertaining story, of course, but there’s little reflection on the broader impacts of their existence. In terms of “What if…” scenarios, it’s more Rome, Sweet Rome than Superman: Red Son. The former is an interesting way to pass the time, but the latter will give you something to think about long afterward.

Fables #139 – Review

By: Bill Willingham (story), Steve Leialoha (art), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: Oh, Danny Boy, the groupies are calling…

The Review: I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’ve reviewed Fables for nearly three years, which is a ghastly sort of time commitment to a venture which yields almost no profit whatsoever. But the enduring power of this series is truly a testament to its consistency. Though I have yet to read a truly extraordinary issue of Fables, nearly every issue has been well-crafted—at least, they’ve always given me something to talk about.

It’s impossible for any title to not have its duds, though, and this arc seems from the start to be one of those. Willingham started on the right note by featuring the Fabletown band, a collection of the most musically gifted Fables: Baby Joe Shepherd (drums), Peter Piper (flute), Briar Rose (guitar/vocals), Seamus McGuire (harp), and Puss in Boots (fiddle).* Had Willingham taken the band on some wild, silly adventure that involved travel by van/bus to a gig of expectedly unexpected danger, this could very well have turned into a very fun break from the main Fables narrative.

The Wake #7 – Review

By: Scott Snyder (story), Sean Murphy (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors)

The Story: Leeward gets firsthand of the anachronistic practice of walking the plank.

The Review: Call me a bona fide English nerd (and proud of it!), but the reason why I love novels—pure prose, in general—is for their exposition. If people are attracted to fiction for the new and different worlds they present, there’s no better way to revel in all that than in the endless exposition books can provide. Time and space are precious commodities in comics, even more so in a limited series, so sadly, world-building often takes a backseat to plot in any given issue.

If I had my way, Leeward would road trip this altered America, exploring all the changes to the land, population, and society, down to the way people wash their clothes now that water can’t be spared. Snyder certainly does his best, but with only four (I guess three, depending on how you look at it) issues remaining, he has to deliver exposition on a need-to-know basis. In place of the wealth of sci-fi fantasy we got last issue, Snyder makes huge strides in the plot, sending Leeward leagues away from where she started this story.