.Are you tired of reading comics in short, monthly instalments?
Do you yearn for nice, smart books with spines, dustjackets and no ads?
Are you willing to pay ridiculously inflated prices for hardcover reprints of comics you already own in three different editions, just because the page size in the new version is ½” bigger?
Then this is the thread for you!
Most of the X-Books post HOX/POX are decent and worth a read. Some are excellent. Kieran Gillen’s work (coming up later) is some of his best, the title is clever and innovative.
Excalibur and its spinoffs written by Tini Howard are awful. X-Men and Captain Britain are my fave Marvel of all time from reading Claremont and Moore in the 80s. That has forced me to hate-read this utter nonsense that is at best cliche filled and at worst just makes no narrative sense at all.
A Righteous Thirst For Vengeance HC
This was excellent. I sat down with it earlier today and read the whole 11-issue story in an afternoon, which tells you something about how engaging and compelling it is.
There’s a lot to like about it – one is that it’s a story that’s told so pointedly visually, with lots of ‘silent’ pages where the art carries everything (and tells the story really clearly), and with Araújo boasting a great style that feels like the best parts of Darrow and Quitely combined in terms of being incredibly detailed but also highly focused and designed to tell the story in an immediately ‘readable’ way.
Another is that Remender (as usual) tells a tight and complete story with virtually no flab, which is constantly propelled forward with some great cliffhangers and twists.
And again, as ever with Remender, despite it being a brutal, unflinching and sometimes disturbing read, he finds these wonderful quiet moments of reflection and humanity in amongst it all. So in the middle of a gripping, muscular story you get these touching, moving moments between characters that make you pause and take a breath. Really well done.
The deluxe oversized HC is a wonderful package with some nice art and script extras, but it’s the story that’s the real star here. Having read the first half of the series in singles I’m really glad I switched to tradewaiting this one as the whole thing reads so much better in one go.
Yeah the Tini Howard stuff is very much of the ‘things happen’ school of reason. Not very well thought through or structured. Just stuff happening just because.
Yeah it is just really writing. That has nothing to do with gender, two of my fave ever X-Men writers ate Nocenti and Simonson. She’s just rubbish. None of it makes any sense.
X of Swords
I wanted to like this more than I did.
For the first half, it is pretty good – setting up both a tournament of battles, a set of specific warriors and swords for each. The acquisition of the various blades makes for a good set of smaller tales within the event.
What goes wrong then? The second half throws all that preceded it out the window. The swords so much attention was spent on? Barely feature. The contests? Are pretty much all rigged.
There’s so big monents in the final two issues I suppose, but too much damage had been done. It was too little, too late.
It’s possible that I might view the event a bit more positively when I see how its effects play out in the various books. For right now? It’s an event that starts and develops well, then throws it all away for a boring set of non-contests and a weak conclusion.
Did not expect it to be this way at all. It’s certainly nowhere near what House of X / Powers of X achieved.
Did not expect it to be this way at all. It’s certainly nowhere near what House of X / Powers of X achieved.
I think part of the disappointment with the post-HoXPoX X-books for me was probably that HoXPoX set such an insanely high bar. They’re fantastic comics with great art that are also a brilliant reinvention of the X-Men while also introducing tons of new interesting story strands with huge potential while also doing some really interesting formal things with comics. It’s no surprise that they couldn’t keep up that pace for long.
I would say that I think Immortal X-Men reaches some of those heights. It’s a really clever structure where each issue is narrated by a different character while driving a central narrative.
I think sadly that the nature of big two comics means HoxPox would never be delivered on in the ideal way, which would be giving Hickman 2 books a month for the duration and not crossovers and a dozen books that dilute things. You can sense conflicts between many creators and editorial on how things advance.
It has acted as a catalyst for a very interesting era though and is better than the X-Men were before. Probably notable in that Kieran Gillen’s first run a few years back was decent but this one is much better.
What goes wrong then? The second half throws all that preceded it out the window. The swords so much attention was spent on? Barely feature. The contests? Are pretty much all rigged.
This is really the ‘things happen’ approach to writing that Chris mentioned a few posts back. Howard, who drove a lot of the X of Swords story with Hickman, seems often to be on a Scott Lobdell style ‘make it up as you go along with no plan’ approach. Which makes it a little strange that Hickman was such a fan as his careful planning approach seems the antithesis to that.
Oh? Thanks, that explains it being so contrary to Hickman’s MO. Not helped by it being pitched as the next chapter of HoX / PoX. The other flaw is the whole notion of Apocalypse having this “greater good” goal, as I can’t really buy it.
The “make it up as you go” approach can work, so long as the pieces fit together really, really well.
I think the other aspect of it all is that clearly plans changed mid-flow for this era of X-Men. Hickman started out with an idea of a complete story with a beginning, middle and end for his tenure, and given that he had made such a public commitment (and fans know what an effective long-term planner he is) it was expected that there was a solid plan for the entire era and he would be around to deliver it.
Then he surprised everyone when he left mid-stream, and pretty much said that the relaunch had been so successful that Marvel basically wanted to prolong the second act indefinitely rather than bring it around to a conclusion.
Given that, it’s probably inevitable that things would feel like they’re going off-piste a bit, given that this was never the plan and Hickman isn’t around to steer things any more.
That said if the books are fun then they’re fun, big overarching plan or not. Sometimes a more improvisational and spontaneous approach can produce better comics than detailed long-term plotting and rigid adherence to plans.
I think a lot of authors would say things rarely go entirely to plan. Tad Williams plans trilogies but tends to end up writing quartets.
The trick in all of it is making it all fit. Do that and no one cares if it was planned or not as it all flows well. Don’t do that and you get the Star Wars sequels mess.
Yeah true. Although I do think for Hickman the ‘overarching plan’ aspect is a more integral part of his general approach (you can go back to the reader comments from the HoXPoX era and see how much emphasis was placed on trusting that Hickman would land the whole thing after the HoXPoX ended with so much up in the air – and obviously he didn’t ultimately stick around to do that.)
Having said that I’ve personally often found his work a bit cold and mechanical for that reason, so it’s definitely not the only way to approach these things.
I think East of West was where Hickman was able to bring more character into his planning. It still had all that but there was more feeling to the story as well.
As to whether you always need the starting architect on a Big Two property, I take issue with the idea. It can be great having one person see their arc through from start to end but there can be benefits to others stepping in too.
If Roddenberry wasn’t dead and Lucas hadn’t sold Star Wars, I wouldn’t have had Deep Space Nine or The High Republic to enjoy.
Where the X-books are concerned I think the perception gets skewed by Claremont’s monster 19-year run. That is never happening again.
Talking of, I’m finally in a position to read almost all of it as a piece. Did Omnibus 1-2 a long time ago and got up to UXM #150, which lived up to its reputation. Have read other pieces but without the larger framework.
Oh I’m not really a longtime X-Men fan so I’m definitely not coming at it from that perspective with Claremont looming over everything. This is more about Hickman specifically and how the run was sold as his big overarching story and vision, only for him to bugger off halfway through.
But I agree that it’s not necessarily a bad thing, and in ongoing episodic comics that never really “end” there’s always going to be an element of handing off to someone else.
I don’t think you need necessarily to be a Claremont era X-Man fan. The comparison really is CC took over a failed book, the least successful of the Lee/Kirby combos, and made it (with some great artists and plot assists) the best selling on the market. For a while, maybe 10 0r 12 years, he controlled everything those characters did. Wrote every mutant book, main or mini series with grand long term plans to change and retire players.
The success of them ironically took the books out of his control. Starting with X-Factor they wanted more books from their best selling line and more than he could do.
Hickman gave a great interview at the end of his FF run where he said big two comics have no third act, you are forever writing the second act. His death of the Human Torch arc was meant as a surprise but Marvel marketing saw it as an event and relaunch point. He doesn’t argue commercially that was the right idea as it was the first time an FF book topped the sales charts for decades but as a reader I think the shock mid series would have been more satisfying.
Having just read this year’s Hellfire Gala special I would like to say that I am in literal shock. There are mad spoilers out there – Bleeding Cool have milked it dry, for example – but, please for the love of Grud ignore those. This issue is stunning. Time will tell if they follow through on this as the start of Act 3 but it really feels like it. Toys are horribly broken here. I can’t imagine things getting set back to status quo on Krakoa after this.
Oh, and it also features a “blink and you’ll miss it” return from Hickman to the X-books.
Edited to add:
I recognise that this should probably be in the Continuing thread rather than the Trade thread, but given the above conversation it felt particularly relevant to this discussion.
Other than Percy’s Wolverine I’ve been reading the X-books on Marvel Unlimited for the last year or so. After this special I’ll be picking up a few of the new books as they come out. I can’t wait to see how Fall Of X plays out.
I haven’t even got up to Sins of Sinister yet; I’m still in the first few issues post Judgment Day.
There are a few things that maybe didn’t resonate with me, but Duggan does a pretty good job of providing sufficient context for everything necessary.
It didn’t feel jarring jumping straight into this.
If you were considering nabbing Hama’s Wolverine run, as they’ve published the first part in Omnibus 3, Omnibus 4 is out in September and the final one will be the just announced Omnibus 5 in April 2024.
But, there’s a sting in the tale: 3-4 are RRP $125, 5 will be RRP $150.
Not to be outdone DC have sent the price of the January 2024 Dark Nights: Death Metal Omnibus to probably RRP $150 too. As Blackwell’s RRP start is now £114.
For me? A whole lot of cash saved by not going for these now.
Yeah it’s a pisstake. Once upon a time these omnibuses were £45-50 a pop, and usually decent value at that price. Not at £100+ though.
Again I think it’s short-termism from the publishers, they’re looking to milk fans on the assumption that the small group of remaining hardcore readers will pay whatever price they set. A good way to kill off the market.
You need to ask too if everything deserves these formats. I read Hamma’s run on Wolverine in the cheap and cheerful black and white reprints. One of them had the pages fall apart but I can live with that. It kept me engaged, it’s a bit silly in places, I never quite know why Silvestri relegated himself to a lesser selling book but I got value for money on a long flight reading it.
It’s an okay run, I had fun reading it but it’s not Watchmen or Sandman, I’m not spending $150 on it.
You need to ask too if everything deserves these formats.
Definitely. I feel like the publishers have largely run through most of the true classic runs in every imaginable format by now, so a lot of comics of a more… questionable quality level are now getting the luxury treatment, and I’m not sure they warrant it.
(Although that’s with the proviso that every comic is probably someone’s favourite, there’s probably a market somewhere for Absolute JLA: Rise Of Arsenal.)
Ouch. I really want Wolverine Omnibus Vol 5, mostly because of the glorious Adam Kubert art, but it will also reprint the “missing” Loeb/ Sale Wolverine/ Gambit mini-series too. Which, whilst far from a classic, would be nice to finally have in oversized format.
There’s even a direct market Tim Sale cover which is the one I was after, but that would mean picking it up from FP. At circa £85. Not sure I want it that much!
Who am I kidding though. I’ll probably still buy it for the reasons listed, acknowledging that I am part of the problem. Sorry, guys.
Oh, I don’t know Vik, we all pay what we think it’s worth. And plenty of lead time allows the cash to be set up.
At the height of the pandemic I paid over the odds for both UXM Omnibus 3 and 4, as it wasn’t clear if there were going to be reprints.
There ways to make it work for you too – a 40-50 issue Omnibus, even with a $150 price tag, comes out at a not bad per-issue cost before discounting.
Back to the X-OHCs and the post X of Swords issues.
Cable
This was excellent. Smart, fun and it made full use of all the new stuff while drawing on the convoluted backstory.
Wolverine
Wasn’t expecting a set-up in X-Force, which I’ll get to, but it still worked OK without it. This progressed the running plots well, with some good use of the vampire Otherworld realm.
Hellions
This was a fun read weaving in the effect of Arrako resurrections, Sinister being, well, Sinister and dysfunctional mutants. It also lays some plot mines for other books to pick up.
Castle Full of Blackbirds
The latest Mignolaverse miniseries to hit trade, this picks up Sara May’s adventures at a mysterious school.
Black Tape
This is an OK story from Panosian and AWA. It’s a perfectly fine, cheap read. The problem for me is I’ve read a few too many stories built around a Satanist cabal in 1970s Hollywood.
Clash of the Guards
This is a perfectly good collection of 70s UK WW2 stories with some excellent art for part of it from Cam Kennedy. That said, I think the time has come for me to stop buying this material as it doesn’t have the impact it used to.
Judge Dredd: The Darkest Judge
A celebration of 2000AD this is a well done event tale that is entirely contained in this one book. That already boosts it but even better is the story is truly freestanding – if you know the characters then bonus, but they each work fine without it.
Not every mini tale works but enough do and it ends the only way it can – with a bang.
Mindset
I continue to enjoy Zack Kaplan’s work and this is a great example of it.
Do you control your phone or does your phone control you? What if a bunch of neuroscience students stumbled on a way to do mind control and put it in an app?
The story is built around those two questions, with a side of social pressures and expectations, all set against the backdrop of treacherous Silicon Valley.
Add in excellent art and panel layouts by Pearson and the result is a dense, complex story brought to vivid life.
Oh, I don’t know Vik, we all pay what we think it’s worth.
Yes but that always has macro measurement too.
As someone who has published and had to measure cost and demand I do get why the ‘luxury’ style collections are hard to manage and easy to cancel. The more you pay to print the more your miscalculation on sales can cause losses.
I may want Strikeforce Morituri in an absolute edition but if you make 5,000 and only 1,000 want to buy it you are sitting on massive losses and probably losing your job.
I think another aspect is remembering what the price used to be. Most of us here are long time readers so can recall Absolutes and Omnibuses being cheaper than they are now. Someone without this will likely be more at ease with the prices being what they are.
I recently took a look at a local comic shop’s site. Now it’s been a decade since I bought a monthly comic, but even allowing for that – £4.50 to £5 per issue is pretty high. Against that level of per issue cost even a £130 Omnibus that collects 40-odd issues doesn’t look bad when you start crunching the numbers.
Seven To Eternity Deluxe Edition HC
I just finished this, after taking a little while to get through it.
I initially found it hard to get into as I couldn’t immediately get a handle on the characters (and there are quite a few) and the world seemed a bit generic-fantasy to me. But the more I read on, the more I came to appreciate the political subtext of the book, which is handled really well.
Remender covers a lot here – there are messages about both the dangers of binary extremism and also the risks of constant compromise, as well as an examination of how populist rulers gain trust and support and how difficult it is to discuss complex subjects with a population that wants simplicity and easy answers.
And it’s kind of cynical and nihilistic, but also quite reassuring to see these ideas laid out so clearly.
Ultimately I do think it struggles to tie all of that to a really great story, but the central yarn is at least a perfectly fine skeleton to hang all that off.
And the art is great – Opena’s art is beautiful and Hollingsworth’s colours are a work of art on their own.
So it’s another hit for Remender, and one that’s convinced me to go back and check out some of his other big books that I’ve passed on in the past.
Excalibur Volume 2
Well, this was a total mess. All over the place, no focus and it’s inconclusive with a final issue that does nothing. An utter disaster.
Post-X of Swords…
X-Men
I had thought I had read up to the event but turns out I hadn’t. I had read up to end of Chapter 12 but that was not X-Men 12. As the collection interweaves the various one-shots. I also don’t see any benefit with X-Men 12 either as that’s a prelude event issue that is also collected elsewhere.
Still, in a way, this does show up the flaw of this second half. It inevitably lacks focus – Hickman has a couple of core plots he returns to from time to time, but the series is having to lead and respond to 10 other books. No surprise then that it can’t really do it.
It shows up in stuff happening that is follow-up to what has clearly happened elsewhere. But there is no recognition of this, no potted recap to give context to say why Magneto has resigned his council seat. The unwarranted assumption is the reader knows it. Marvel is often very good at doing the opposite which is the absence of it is so striking.
It does feel inconclusive. The Hellfire Gala issue, X-Men 21, is not a particularly strong conclusion, but has the Inferno miniseries in the wings.
Still, despite the flaws, the individual stories are good. They also use the continuity well – Gabriel Summers, the Children of the Vault, Nimrod – draws from multiple eras of the X-Men.
Hellfire Gala
This was an OK collection. I’m not convinced it really works as a 12-part line wide tale, but there’s some smart individual pieces here. The best of them for me was Planet-Size X-Men and SWORD, with the latter following up on the impact of the former’s terraforming of Mars to solve the Arrako population problem.
Marauders OHC2
This is how to do both a wrap up and handover. Duggan attends to the hanging plot of Shaw’s killing of Pryde and the revenge inflicted on him is very satisfying. But the collection is far more than that, covering stuff in Madripoor, the Hellfire Gala and even space.
This crew of Marauders story comes to a close here but it’ll clearly continue in new form. Will I give it a go? Depends if it gets issued an OHC.
X–Force OHC2
This is an OK continuation of the story Percy has been spinning in this and Wolverine. What it is in need of is a third, concluding volume, which may turn up mid-2024.
I did not expect this at all. Of Marvel’s various characters, the X-books are the set that I’ve probably read most of. The 2019 relaunch that started off superbly with HoX / PoX? It couldn’t sustain the excellence it started with. That’d be OK if what was got instead was good, but only some of it is. Thus I come to what may be the end of the line.
Wolverine OHC2
Inferno OHC
X Lives / X Deaths of Wolverine OHC
Clustering the trio as they link together.
The Wolverine OHC starts off before both other stories, then zooms past them to hit the AXE event. It’s an OK set of stories.
Inferno? Well, it is well named as it certainly burnt down my interest in Hickman as a writer and his future, overpriced Marvel output. This didn’t work for me at all.
Part of it may be that the entire conflict concept of secrets doesn’t work for me. Someone didn’t tell me something, so what of it? Oh, I’m supposed to see myself as entitled to that secret? Yeah, doesn’t work for me and it happens to be the foundation of the story.
Something has changed in how Hickman writes but not for the better. What it is I don’t know – he had gotten better at balancing concepts with characters – see his FF run and East of West, but his X-works feels more conceptual only. I never would have expected both X of Swords and Inferno to fall as flat as they did for me.
The other revelations – Moira plotting to end mutants felt too much of a move out of nowhere and undermines the whole idea of HoX / PoX, where the mutants do get to win. That aspect is likely a major part of why it struck a chord with so many. Marvel’s tearing it down suggests they don’t understand the appeal of their own products. Similarly the shock of both Xavier and Magneto being sent off to die fighting both Nimrod and Shapander is undercut by mutant resurrection.
The Wolverine Lives / Deaths combination is a hollow repeat of its inspiration, while doubling down on the crappy ideas of Inferno. It wasn’t good.
So, at this point, do I continue engaging in what is a failing line? One that doesn’t understand its appeal too. Of the material put out in OHC format there is a clear set of winners – HoX / PoX, Marauders, Cable. X-Force, Wolverine, Hellions and Hellfire Gala are OK. Excalibur is a mess.
Part of me is intrigued as to what Duggan, Gillen and Ewing do on their X-Men books, but do I care for the course they have to follow? Not really.
I’m as disappointed in how Hickman’s X-Men petered out as any, and I certainly recognise Todd’s fair criticism in a lot of his work – I wish 3W3M would actually get moving at this stage; the protracted world building is starting to get tiresome.
But, East of West was absolutely phenomenal to my mind. As good as any long form story from the heyday of Vertigo.
And, I really enjoyed his Avengers epic. Possibly my favourite run on that series, although I admit that I’ve never been the biggest fan of that corner of the Marvel universe (Captain America aside).
My personal observation about Hickman: He starts out great with incredible ideas and concepts then just fades out.
The last two Hickman indy books I followed were: EAST OF WEST, which took a looong time (6.5 years for 45 issues) but finally reached its finish line in a very satisfying manner; and DECORUM, which was a much shorter story and somewhat disappointing in the end. I still have great faith in his storytelling qualities as well as his great taste in picking artists to draw his stories, but even I have to admit that he struggles to maintain a realistic schedule.
So is Hickman the new Warren Ellis then?
Hopefully without the “issues”.
It absolutely reads better as three big OHCs.
Absolutely. It was pretty much unreadable in singles by the end. I used to stack them up and read them 5 or 6 issues in a row. It did come together pretty perfectly though, which surprised me given the number of characters and multiple plot lines.
Other reads:
Time Before Time Volume 4
Another good arc for this twisty, turning time travel talr. No idea where it is going but looking to getting the final volume next year.
Radiant Pink Volume 1
A new entry for the Massive-verse, this manages to carve out a distinct identity for itself. It looks at toxic relationships, the frenetic pace of onlibr culture and mental health in quite a subtle way. That all sounds heavy but the story doesn’t feel that way.
Radiant Black Volume 4
The flagship of the Massive-verse remains as entertaining and clever as ever. Feels like the build-up across the last couple of volumes is about to pay off.
The Ambassadors Volume 1
This has an art roster to die for but that doesn’t mean much if the story is crap. Fortunately, this time around, Millar is on form, supplying one of his best stories in years.
Moving superheroes outside of the US, completely outside of it, changes it hugely. There’s envious US politicians and generals, jealous billionaires – both united by the belief they were the centre of the world.
I’m not sure if this has the fuel to be a long series but Millar doesn’t tend to do those much anymore.
Batman: Failsafe / Man-Bat of Gotham
I read these two volumes as a single arc and I think doing so really aided the story.
This uses continuity in a very smart way, throwing pieces of Morrison, Snyder, King and Tynion’s runs into a blender to get something new. It also doesn’t do old, bad tricks like Batcrap. Bruce isn’t pushing people away, the whole thing results from simple error.
In spinning this story Zdarsky has brilliant art from Jimenez. And it’s not just Batman who he excels at, Jimenez’s portrait of Superman has a great sense of sheer presence.
The only flaw in this run is an upcoming crossover with Rosenberg and Howard, two writers whose work I don’t get on well with. Still, it should be easily skippable.
Batman: Failsafe / Man-Bat of Gotham I read these two volumes as a single arc and I think doing so really aided the story. This uses continuity in a very smart way, throwing pieces of Morrison, Snyder, King and Tynion’s runs into a blender to get something new. It also doesn’t do old, bad tricks like Batcrap. Bruce isn’t pushing people away, the whole thing results from simple error. In spinning this story Zdarsky has brilliant art from Jimenez. And it’s not just Batman who he excels at, Jimenez’s portrait of Superman has a great sense of sheer presence. The only flaw in this run is an upcoming crossover with Rosenberg and Howard, two writers whose work I don’t get on well with. Still, it should be easily skippable.
I agree on all of this and I find it kind of baffling that DC would suspend one of their best, flagship runs like this for a crappy crossover.
There’s some good deluxe hardcovers and omnibuses in the Forbidden Planet summer sale.
Decorum, Sleeper Omnibus, Knights of Pendragon, echo-lands, Once and future, as well as some Brubaker/Phillips books
Immortal Hulk Omnibus
Got this from Books Etc on Friday and, appropriately, it’s an absolute monster. I’ve read the first 20 or so issues in floppy before deciding to wait for something in this format. What I read was pretty good so I hope Ewing lands the ending.
Batman Peter Tomasi Omnibus
Also got this last week. I’ve read most of what’s in it before but I love Tomasi on Batman so it was well worth the upgrade.
Son of a Bitch!
Amazon.ca has officially cancelled Vertigo: A Celebration of 25 Years
I only placed my order on Jan. 9th 2019. They could’ve held out hope a little longer.
Immortal Hulk Omnibus, appropriately, it’s an absolute monster.
Holy shit! Yeah, I found that out when I got home today. 1616 pages!
Yet it doesn’t seem 300 pages thicker than Hellblazer, or 400 pages thicker than Who’s Who’ #2.
Hope it holds together well.
Is this the reigning champ? Or are there bigger page counts out there?
Yes having everything in one book is a selling point, but 1600, 1800 or 2000 can easily be 2 times 800, 900, or 1000.
First one to die from a falling stack of omnibuses wins!
After clearing off my To Read pile at the start of the year, I’m back up to 80+ books to get to.
I saw the first photo and was pleased that there was only one Marvel/DC book in the pile!
Then I saw the second photo; and the third; and the fourth…
My only concern – well, no, not my only concern, I’m obviously concerned they’ll able them before doing the full run again – is that a 1000+ page paperback is going to be completely unwieldy, have microthin paper and/or fall apart from the stress of merely existing.
Also, they’re doing these for Nightwing, Sandman Mystery Theatre and Robin, all of which I have the first few volumes of from the last time they started reprinting them (and for SMT and Robin, I had trades from the time before that) and I don’t really want to reward them for starting over again, especially if I’m just going to get burnt again.
20th Century Men
This is quite the calling card, a hugely ambitious alternate history of the 20th century, shot through with superpowers and technology ran rampant, all set amid a US-Russia war for Afghanistan.
It’s interesting too how, in his afterword, Camp explains that he’s not sure what either the afterword or the main story is to be. He writes this knowing there will be numerous interpretations made, and accusations thrown.
A walking Russian tank, a psychopath long-lived American and a second, utterly insane even more psychopathic American, a British agent in a long line of them. All of them blinkered in their outlook and being.
The names work too – President Goode, Palantov, 6-Bill, the Suicide Cowboys. As do the politics – Palantov presenting Russia as saviour, the Americans do the same, but with a capitalist twist of occupying opium fields, then flogging a load of heroin to Americans and use the money to keep the war going.
“They call our land a graveyard and then do all they can to make it one” is a line of particular resonance.
Art for each of these large six issues is superb, often with a mix of styles within each issue.
This is an excellent, high value package that more than lives up to its reputation.
Batman: One Bad Day – Catwoman
There’s no question that this is the best of the six OBD books I went for.
A large part of is McKelvie’s stunning art. His collaborations with Gillen are particularly good but of a specific nature that some will bounce off of fast. His art here is page after page of excellence.
Wilson has been hit-and-miss for me since Ms Marvel and it might be she never equals that work, but this is a definite hit. Delving into Catwoman’s history, Wilson unfurls a tale of thief versus thief with Batman looming over all of it.
Shaolin Cowboy: Cruel to be Kin
Part homage to Hong Kong martial arts films, John Woo bullet ballet, superhero comics and creators, some manga, with a smattering of satire on the nature of the US, all topper off with page after page of absurdly detailed art.
These albums come out rarely. They take Darrow a long time to create. Not unreasonable when you see the final result either.
The way DHC put these out as Absolute-size hardbacks really shows off the high, high level of detail in the art. This is a creator-owned property too, Darrow is the writer-artist, so if he wants to do a very extended, multi-page sequence of the Shaolin Cowboy taking out an entire building of white supremacists, he can do exactly that. By the by, said sequence is the comics version of John Wick 4’s one shot, multi-room massacre.
If you’ve never read this, you can start here. Sure, other stories are mentioned but they don’t get in the way either. It’s a superbly fun read, unless you’re a paid up MAGA neo-nazi.
Wow, I think that’s my trade reviews up to date and they all actually got posted!
One aspect that runs through all the books below is DC incorporating WildStorm concepts. WildStorm ended a long time ago so for some this won’t even register. For me? It does and while the use is OK the two together don’t feel like a good fit.
Superman and the Authority
I was intrigued by the combination of Morrison and Janin, though there’s not quite enough art from the latter. As to the story, it’s OK with some comedy riffs on the internet and the culture around it. The biggest weakness of it is that it ends on a to be continued note.
The oddest aspect of the story is the sheer amount of time it injects into a genre built around ignoring it. This has an adult Superman active in 1963, then jumps forward practically 60 years later.
Similarly mixing up both Manchester Black, Midnighter and Apollo plus some new characters doesn’t really equal the Authority. It’s pretty hollow and makes it look like the name was only done for marketing.
Superman: Warworld Rising / The Arena / Warworld Revolution
This starts off well, with the opening set of isses effectively placing Superman in position for this arc. In that respect it works while requiring very stupidly macho governments.
The second trade is more of a holding pattern, with Mongul believing that seeing Superman hit again and again will strengthen his rule. At the same time Superman uses it to undermine said rule.
The third trade wraps it up, but all a bit too quickly for my liking. There’s a couple of side stories told whose only function is to delay the finale. I think this would have been better with a more expanded conclusion.
Superman: Son of Kal-El Volumes 1-3
This was a fun read and works as a good sequel to Super Sons. Read as a monthly it would definitely be a slow burn, as a 16-issue block? Not so much.
An interesting aspect in the run is an absence of resolution by punch-up. There’s still villains, they still get defeated in satisfying ways but it isn’t by being punched through a building. There’s a neat line of fighting smart and not doing everything solo.
And then there’s Henry Bendix. While he does make for a good villain, he’s in a book with Lex Luthor so there’s no contest over who the bigger bastard is. I do like how that relationship played out though.
One very fun story in this run was the crossover with Nightwing. That was very well executed and I’m now looking forward to reading the run when HC5 is out at the end of the year.
Yeah, I recently read the Warworld stories on DCU Infinite and felt much the same as you, Ben. It starts off very well. Doing something different for a Superman run, with a feeling of real jeopardy, and some nice character interplay. Then, around the half way mark, it just fell apart and became a disjointed mess. I found it quite difficult to follow at the end, and something of a chore to get through. Disappointing.
I bought Starlin’s Dreadstar omnibuses when they ran a kickstarter a while back, then put the to one side and didn’t read them – until now. The first omnibus covers the original graphic novels and the first few issues of his ongoing Epic series.
Now I’m reading it, I’m realising I’d forgotten almost everything of the early stories beyond the broad outline. In the first stories, Starlin’s art was pretty experimental, nothing like the style he settled down to in his later work. The first story is entirely greyscale pencils, which is beautiful, the next stories are full-colour painted, which I think is less successful.
The tone of the stories changes, too. The first few chapters are cosmic in scope, with epic battles between hyper-advanced civilizations. We don;t even get introduced to Vanth Dreadstar until half way through the first arc, and he’s not the main protagonist even after that, he’s a minor part of the ensemble (I don’t think he’s even named Dreadstar at this point, just Vanth). Then the next arc then ignores Vanth entirely and introduces a new character, and switches from space opera to demonic horror and a multiversal travelogue that would put Doctor Strange to shame. For this, the art is again all monochrome pencils, and Starlin’s visual inventiveness is on full display. The next arc becomes a long character study of a brooding Vanth (finally given then name, or descriptive, “Dreadstar”), sick of war and trying to become a farmer. Because we know how these stories work, inevitably all his new friends are slaughtered, forcing him to go back to war. To match the story, we’re back to coloured art but in very dark, murky tones.
Finally, Dreadstar gets his own monthly series, and the tone switches again to a bright, shiny, super-hero space opera. To match the stories, the art is now 100% the Starlin we know from Marvel and DC: bold, dynamic, still full of inventive SF concepts, but basically just solid super-hero art.
And that’s about where I’m up to.
Going to Alberta was like going to the moon. It was just so far beyond. Now I can’t extract myself from having come
As mentioned… one post above this one I picked up Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton yesterday, and I read the whole 430 pages last night. It’s an autobiographical piece about her early 20s, when she worked in the Canadian oil sands after leaving college to rapidly pay off her student loans. She first explored this time in her webcomic days, a touching and lonely piece about working in an isolated location over Christmas, and this story is reproduced with new art in the middle of this volume. The book begins with a brief introduction where Kate’s cartoon avatar explains the economic reality of the small island she grew up on, and how most people leave because there isn’t enough work left – and it’s her time to go. She ends up in a harsh environment, often dangerous, one where men outnumber women 50 to 1. And while she carves out a niche it’s one where she endures a constant level of misogyny and hassle, where she and the other women are meant to accept that they’re in a man’s world now and this is how it is. The company has rules against it, but they’re unenforceable.
The thing is, even as the book condemns the atmosphere this generates, and worse things happen along the way, it doesn’t necessarily condemn the people doing it. Kate often explicitly asks if the people working there are bad, or if the place makes them this way. You’re in the middle of nowhere, working physically and emotionally taxing jobs, there’s no real support to speak of. The book is very often critical of the safety culture in the camps and facilities, where people have to sign off on little safety sheets to show they did something to make the camp safer and it’s easier to just point out some stupid little thing than make a proper change. Or the company defines away accidents so they can claim “a million man hours without a time-loss incident”. All the while people are dying on the job. The book is also highly critical of the environmental damage done – the titular Ducks died in an oil spill, and the book touches on the plight of First Nations people who’s water is being poisoned by oil spills and industrial waste. The book notes that many people living in the area and working the camps end up dying of cancer. Kate’s older sister Becky worked in the camps with her – and died recently of cancer herself, and she was like my age. Did the oil sands do this to her?
The book is laced with Beaton’s deadpan humour as well, which helps lighten the tone but does so in a way that doesn’t detract from the serious nature of the story. It helps ground things and keep it real, we’ve all had jobs where the conditions are terrible and joking is the only way to get through the day. The art style is interesting as well, it feels like a cleaned up version of her sketchier webcomic work, with most people portrayed in a caricature style. The backgrounds – especially exteriors, mechanical equipment and some sequences of people are done in a far more realistic style though, giving the book a grounded feel. There’s a sequence where Kate and a co-worker watch a YouTube video of Celina Harpe, a Cree elder talking about the environmental ravages of their land and Harpe is drawn to match her appearance and mannerisms of the actual video, done so with permission.
This book is fantastic. It’s incredibly heartfelt and morose and funny and shines a light on a kind of life that we as a society choose to ignore, and the people who live it are worse off for doing so. Can’t give it a higher recommendation
Catching up on a few recent reads.
Public Domain TPB
This was a reasonably interesting one, a comic about comics that manages to avoid disappearing up its own arse by tying its subject matter – creator vs corporate ownership – to a decent character-oriented story. There isn’t much new discussed here in terms of the big ideas, and Zdarsky’s art is fairly straightforward and functional, but it was a diverting enough read. Not sure I’d read a volume 2 though, there isn’t quite enough here to maintain my interest.
Fantastic Four v.1 TPB
This was one of the most enjoyable Big Two superhero books I’ve read in a while. I like the self-contained single-issue-story format and the way North tells more parochial stories that still involve big fantastical FF ideas. A nice, fairly original take.
It’s Lonely At The Centre Of The Earth TPB
This was good. I was a bit mixed at first as autobiographical stories by young comics creators can often be a bit navel-gazing and less interesting than the author thinks they are, but Thorogood uses lots of inventive techniques to tell her story and is self-aware enough to not let things get solipsistic. She’s a great cartoonist who can say a lot with a little in terms of her visuals, but she’s also obviously a smart (and funny) writer who can construct a book in an innovative and challenging way without neglecting to also make it a satisfying and complete read. I’ll look out for more of her stuff after this and will probably check out her earlier book too.
The Lion And The Eagle TPB
This was as solid as you’d expect. Ennis’ war stories are so good at taking a conflict you think you know about and finding a fresh angle on it, as well as creating a cast of characters that you warm to and care about even when you know things won’t end well for all of them. And Holden’s art is also really strong, with clear storytelling and unobtrusive but important details, as well as some occasional big moments of both beauty and carnage. A good read.
Ethel and Ernest TPB
I fell in love with this as I was reading it. Briggs is so underrated in comics – I feel like The Snowman’s massive success pushes everything else to the side – and this has all the heart and soul you’d expect given that it’s about his own parents as they move through life together. But it’s also about the history of Britain from before the second World War all the way through to the early 70s, as seen from a very grounded family perspective. I love the way it gradually comes together, structured as a series of moments which all add up to a pair of lives, and told with the kind of poetically matter-of-fact language that Briggs is so good at. I was genuinely moved to tears by the end, I found it really touching.
Human Target book one and two HCs
I absolutely loved this. It’s a hard-boiled detective noir story, with almost a Brubaker & Phillips vibe in places, but set against a superhero backdrop – basically the JLI are the prime suspects in a murder plot – with a perfectly-paced, twisty script from Tom King that keeps you guessing, and beautiful timeless art from Greg Smallwood (that was often slightly reminiscent of Darwyn Cooke for me, but with its own style). The whole thing is just pure cool, gritty, sexy fun. I’m really glad I waited until both HCs were out as it was so compelling I read the whole thing in one day.
This is the good Tom King, the one who wrote Vision and Mister Miracle and Strange Adventures and Gotham Year One. Well worth a look.
(It also has one of the best takes on Batman I’ve read in a while. Very entertaining.)
Heard good things about Human Target, but I’m waiting on the inevitable complete TPB/HC.
Heard rather mixed things about Gotham Year One – sounds like it might be better than I thought.
I really liked it – a fairly dark gritty crime book set in the pre-Batman era but which ties into Bruce’s family history. The art is excellent too. Almost a Sin City feel to some of it.
The Impending Blindness Of Billie Scott
After liking It’s Lonely At The Centre Of The Earth, I went back and read this debut book from Zoe Thorogood and quite enjoyed it too.
Although it’s not as inventive and engaging as It’s Lonely – and feels a bit naive and simple in places, maybe making it a bit more suitable for teen readers – it’s still a decent story with very nice art, and a welcome message about the value of creativity.
Overall I think it’s impressive stuff for a new young voice starting out in comics, and I’m hopeful she’ll carry on improving and go on to even bigger and better things, as she obviously has talent, particularly when it comes to her art – which really sings in the oversized A4 pages of this TPB.
Will be interesting to see how the Bill Willingham vs DC Comics kerfuffle plays out from here. Will DC scrap the last few issues of Fables? I wouldn’t be surprised. What will this mean for the many and varied trade collections? They clearly make lots of money for them, and I assume need to remain in circulation for DC to retain the trademarks. But, with Willingham having effectively made you & I the owners of the property, I assume DC don’t want to promote other people’s projects inadvertently. I suspect WB’s lawyers may have something to say about all this. I wouldn’t bet against them.
I hadn’t heard about this. Is there a link you can share that sums up what’s going on?
Earlier in the week, Bill Willingham, creator of Fables, posted – in response to reports that the final issues of Fables: The Black Forest were getting later and later – that he was firing DC Comics. And that the reasons would not be ones we presumed. I had presumed it wss down to artist Mark Buckingham’s schedule, after he decided to redraw as well as co-write the also-late Miracleman series over at Marvel. And he’s a new dad. Today, Bill Willingham released a full statement over Fables, and it went off in very different direction, He is making Fables public domain.
Talking to me yesterday, Bill Willingham said that “Fables is fully creator owned, by me, but not creator controlled. DC has most publication and media rights locked up in contract. So then, what good does ownership still have? We’re about to see.”
Bill Willingham has just issued a press release declaring that “As of now, 15 September 2023, the comic book property called Fables, including all related Fables spin-offs and characters, is now in the public domain. What was once wholly owned by Bill Willingham is now owned by everyone, for all time. It’s done, and as most experts will tell you, once done it cannot be undone. Take-backs are neither contemplated nor possible.” And he gives a series of question and answer statements. This release was originally planned for yesterday, but has been moved forward to today after it was published elsewhere.
The press release:
Why Did You Do This?
A number of reasons. I’ve thought this over for some time. In no particular order they are:
1) Practicality: When I first signed my creator-owned publishing contract with DC Comics, the company was run by honest men and women of integrity, who (for the most part) interpreted the details of that agreement fairly and above-board. When problems inevitably came up we worked it out, like reasonable men and women. Since then, over the span of twenty years or so, those people have left or been fired, to be replaced by a revolving door of strangers, of no measurable integrity, who now choose to interpret every facet of our contract in ways that only benefit DC Comics and its owner companies. At one time, the Fables properties were in good hands, and now, by virtue of attrition and employee replacement, the Fables properties have fallen into bad hands.
Since I can’t afford to sue DC, to force them to live up to the letter and the spirit of our long-time agreements; since even winning such a suit would take ridiculous amounts of money out of my pocket and years out of my life (I’m 67 years old, and don’t have the years to spare), I’ve decided to take a different approach, and fight them in a different arena, inspired by the principles of asymmetric warfare. The one thing in our contract the DC lawyers can’t contest, or reinterpret to their own benefit, is that I am the sole owner of the intellectual property. I can sell it or give it away to whomever I want.
I chose to give it away to everyone. If I couldn’t prevent Fables from falling into bad hands, at least this is a way I can arrange that it also falls into many good hands. Since I truly believe there are still more good people in the world than bad ones, I count it as a form of victory.
2) Philosophy: In the past decade or so, my thoughts on how to reform the trademark and copyright laws in this country (and others, I suppose) have undergone something of a radical transformation. The current laws are a mishmash of unethical backroom deals to keep trademarks and copyrights in the hands of large corporations, who can largely afford to buy the outcomes they want.
In my template for radical reform of those laws I would like it if any IP is owned by its original creator for up to twenty years from the point of first publication, and then goes into the public domain for any and all to use. However, at any time before that twenty year span bleeds out, you the IP owner can sell it to another person or corporate entity, who can have exclusive use of it for up to a maximum of ten years. That’s it. Then it cannot be resold. It goes into the public domain. So then, at the most, any intellectual property can be kept for exclusive use for up to about thirty years, and no longer, without exception.
Of course, if I’m going to believe such radical ideas, what kind of hypocrite would I be if I didn’t practice them? Fables has been my baby for about twenty years now. It’s time to let it go. This is my first test of this process. If it works, and I see no legal reason why it won’t, look for other properties to follow in the future. Since DC, or any other corporate entity, doesn’t actually own the property, they don’t get a say in this decision.
What Exactly Has DC Comics Done to Provoke This?Too many things to list exhaustively, but here are some highlights: Throughout the years of my business relationship with DC, with Fables and with other intellectual properties, DC has always been in violation of their agreements with me. Usually it’s in smaller matters, like forgetting to seek my opinion on artists for new stories, or for covers, or formats of new collections and such. In those times, when called on it, they automatically said, “Sorry, we overlooked you again. It just fell through the cracks.” They use the “fell through the cracks” line so often, and so reflexively, that I eventually had to bar them from using it ever again. They are often late reporting royalties, and often under-report said royalties, forcing me to go after them to pay the rest of what’s owed.
Lately though, their practices have grown beyond these mere annoyances, prompting some sort of showdown. First, they tried to strong arm the ownership of Fables from me. When Mark Doyle and Dan Didio first approached me with the idea of bringing Fables back for its 20th anniversary (both gentlemen since fired from DC), during the contract negotiations for the new issues, their legal negotiators tried to make it a condition of the deal that the work be done as work for hire, effectively throwing the property irrevocably into the hands of DC. When that didn’t work their excuse was, “Sorry, we didn’t read your contract going into these negotiations. We thought we owned it.”
More recently, during talks to try to work out our many differences, DC officers admitted that their interpretation of our publishing agreement, and the following media rights agreement, is that they could do whatever they wanted with the property. They could change stories or characters in any way they wanted. They had no obligation whatsoever to protect the integrity and value of the IP, either from themselves, or from third parties (Telltale Games, for instance) who want to radically alter the characters, settings, history and premises of the story (I’ve seen the script they tried to hide from me for a couple of years). Nor did they owe me any money for licensing the Fables rights to third parties, since such a license wasn’t anticipated in our original publishing agreement.
When they capitulated on some of the points in a later conference call, promising on the phone to pay me back monies owed for licensing Fables to Telltale Games, for example, in the execution of the new agreement, they reneged on their word and offered the promised amount instead as a “consulting fee,” which avoided the precedent of admitting this was money owed, and included a non-discloser agreement that would prevent me from saying anything but nice things about Telltale or the license.
And so on. There’s so much more, but these, as I said, are some of the highlights. At that point, since I disagreed on all of their new interpretations of our longstanding agreements, we were in conflict. They practically dared me to sue them to enforce my rights, knowing it would be a long and debilitating process. Instead I began to consider other ways to go.
Are You Concerned at What DC Will Do Now?No. I gave them years to do the right thing. I tried to reason with them, but you can’t reason with the unreasonable. They used these years to make soothing promises, tell lies about how dedicated they were towards working this out, and keep dragging things out as long as possible. I gave them an opportunity to renegotiate the contracts from the ground up, putting everything in unambiguous language, and they ignored that offer. I gave them the opportunity, twice, to simply tear up our contracts, and we each go our separate ways, and they ignored those offers. I tried to go over their heads, to deal directly with their new corporate masters, and maybe find someone willing to deal in good faith, and they blocked all attempts to do so. (Try getting any officer of DC Comics to identify who they report to up the company ladder. I dare you.) In any case, without giving them details, I warned them months in advance that this moment was coming. I told them what I was about to do would be “both legal and ethical.” Now it’s happened.
Note that my contracts with DC Comics are still in force. I did nothing to break them, and cannot unilaterally end them. I still can’t publish Fables comics through anyone but them. I still can’t authorize a Fables movie through anyone but them. Nor can I license Fables toys nor lunchboxes, nor anything else. And they still have to pay me for the books they publish. And I’m not giving up on the other money they owe. One way or another, I intend to get my 50% of the money they’ve owed me for years for the Telltale Game and other things.
However, you, the new 100% owner of Fables never signed such agreements. For better or worse, DC and I are still locked together in this unhappy marriage, perhaps for all time.
But you aren’t.
If I understand the law correctly (and be advised that copyright law is a mess; purposely vague and murky, and no two lawyers – not even those specializing in copyright and trademark law – agree on anything), you have the rights to make your Fables movies, and cartoons, and publish your Fables books, and manufacture your Fables toys, and do anything you want with your property, because it’s your property.
Mark Buckingham is free to do his version of Fables (and I dearly hope he does). Steve Leialoha is free to do his version of Fables (which I’d love to see). And so on. You don’t have to get my permission (but you might get my blessing, depending on your plans). You don’t have to get DC’s permission, or the permission of anyone else. You never signed the same agreements I did with DC Comics.
It was my absolute joy and pleasure to bring you Fables stories for the past twenty years. I look forward to seeing what you do with it.
For questions and further information you can contact Bill Willingham at: william.thomas.willingham@gmail.com Please include “Fables Public Domain” in the subject line, so I don’t assume you’re another Netflix promotion.
It’s interesting because I can’t see that there’s a huge amount of benefit to you, me or the passing creator to have access to Fables as public domain given it’s based on a load of folklore characters in the first place. I’m also not entirely convinced this will work how he wants with DC/Warner.
It’s based on folklore characters, but used in a very specific way. If I wrote a story about the Big Bad Wolf rampaging around the countryside and eating pigs, that’s allowed because he’s a fairy tale. If I put him a trenchcoat and called him Bigby, that’s a trademarked character that I would be infringing. But now Willingham has said, that’s fine go ahead and make a movie using Bigby. It’s a huge thing, if it holds up under Warner’s legal onslaught.
Someone does a story where Bigby gets won over to the Palestinians and Willingham goes nuts when he hears about it.
Or any other Fables story with a liberal view on, well, anything.
Oh, it’s not new Vik, it’s old.
As Fables went on, a more right-wing viewpoint came more to the fore in it. Fables #50 is one of the more famous, or infamous, ones where Bigby expresses praise for Israeli pre-emptive strikes. Hazier recall says Totenkinder was anti-abortion.
Probably more I’ve forgotten.
Cheers, Ben. I seem to have completely blanked that from my memory. I haven’t read Fables in years, and was mostly doing so for the lovely Buckingham artwork. But, yeah, I can see how that would offend people.
I probably would have stuck with Fables except for the great crossover – and Jack of Fables in particular – being complete dreck.
Although, post $75, Willingham took a weirdly indulgent take towards Gepetto that didn’t fit well to what had gone before.
Jack of Fables was what broke me too, especially how that series ended. I didn’t continue the main series for long after that.
I dropped Fables after I read issue 50. I got tired of it and the reveal of who the Adversary was a huge letdown. I know he changed the identity once the original was leaked. It just felt forced.
Issue 50 felt like a good jumping off point.
“Since I can’t afford to sue DC“
But Bill, can you afford to defend yourself against the legal shitstorm they can bring against you?
DC Comics releases statement on Fables: it is “not in the public domain” – Comics Beat
“The Fables comic books and graphic novels published by DC, and the storylines, characters and elements therein, are owned by DC and protected under the copyright laws of the United States and throughout the world in accordance with applicable law, and are not in the public domain. DC reserves all rights and will take such action as DC deems necessary or appropriate to protect its intellectual property rights.”
DC Comics releases statement on Fables: it is “not in the public domain” – Comics Beat
“The Fables comic books and graphic novels published by DC, and the storylines, characters and elements therein, are owned by DC and protected under the copyright laws of the United States and throughout the world in accordance with applicable law, and are not in the public domain. DC reserves all rights and will take such action as DC deems necessary or appropriate to protect its intellectual property rights.”
Ooo, juicy. I’m really interested to see how this goes. Either Willingham is going to get humilated (which is fine by me, given he’s a right wing dickhead) or Warner are going to be made to look idiots, which would be even funnier.
I only read the first two trades of Fables and never really felt compelled to carry on.
David, to your point, I could probably put a guy in a leather jacket and call them the Big Bad Wolf with no problems, given the Big Bad Wolf is already public domain/folklore. And, from the dozen or so issues I read, Bigby is the only one particularly removed from the folklore original in any significant way.
Even if Willingham does successfully put Fables into the Public Domain, The works DC has published are still protected by copyright and he acknowledges this in his statement. Interestingly while DC are claiming Fables isn’t in Public Domain, the body of their statement doesn’t say anything about that and really talks about copyright as well.
Recent reads
Elric – Blondel Quartet
A BD adaptation of the Elric stories by Michael Moorcock, this was one of those series that looked like Titan Comics had decided to abandon until they finally issued the fourth album in 2022.
As to the story, it’s OK but it suffers from similar things to Watchmen. At the time when written Elric would have been far more radical, but now its ideas feel far more familar.
Red Zone
This is an interesting change of style for Bunn, a Russian spy story. It’s also a very entertaining one.
While it didn’t affect my enjoyment of it, this story did help me finally identify what it is that’s not quite right with these stories for me. The old-guy-who-used-to-be-James-Bond type story, there’s been a lot of these the last few years. That whole notion of being so much better when younger? Of being boundlessly confident in your 20s? Doesn’t work for me at all.
Koshchei In Hell
This was superb. The first follow-up to the end of Hellboy and BPRD, this five part tale was excellent. The Acheron one-shot with Edward Grey sets up the main story, which uses its four issues very well.
In a way, this story is as much about what won’t happen as what will. Pluto is a lurking background enemy, fallen angel and creator of the Ogdru Jahad. That’s a major threat but, having done an epic trilogy of epics, I don’t see Mignola and co doing that once more. Doesn’t mean there won’t be running threads but it’ll be done differently and that’s good.
Mignola’s art for the Acheron one-shot is superb, while Steinbeck follows it up with a very complimentary style for the four-issue miniseries.
Oh, it’s not new Vik, it’s old.
Yeah, I remember Bill Willingham’s politics raising an eyebrow for me at some points back in the day. I’m guessing his stance isn’t extreme in any way, mind you, just unusual in a world in which most writers are thoroughly left-wing (presumably simply because writing characters means you have to have some ability to empathise with other people and put yourself in their shoes).
I have to say, without venturing too much into schadenfreude here, that I kind of like the irony of a conservative, GOP-supporting writer complaining about being fucked over by a big company, and trying to socialise his property in response. So much for the American Way. Funny old world, isn’t it.
