Crapload of Comics
I’ve been having a very bad day. Work sucked, the contractors who are remodeling my apartment are dicking me around, I missed my Wednesday lunchtime run to the comic shop, and I’m in a generally foul mood.
But I’m American, and that means consumerism can make it all better.
So I went to the comic shop after work. It’s been a dry couple of weeks over at Midtown Comics, with nothing much to catch my interest, but this week, thank goodness, was special. My general grumpiness and the FAT new stock on the shelves gave me just the impetus to say “fuck it” and buy myself a CRAPLOAD of comics. I got more than $20 in free stuff thanks to the Midtown discount plan, and I STILL shelled out $80 in cash.
What did I get? Let’s discuss:
1) Transmetropolitan TPB’s # 10 & 0: Transmetro, as my buddy Jay now has me calling it, is fuckin’ awesome. Written by the master Warren Ellis and illsutrated by the tirelessly creative Darick Robertson, I couldn’t put this book down. I started wading into the 11 TPB collection of the DC/Vertigo series a couple of weeks ago when I was sick, and Damn! was I ever pissed when I got the the end of the four trades I had bought, and was too sick to go out and buy more.
Transmetropolitan is the story of rouge journalist Spider Jerusalem, a foul mouthed, violent, drug-addicted lunatic with a troublesome streak of honesty. Spider is determined to find TRUTH, and he doesn’t care if he has to kick your head in and stomp on your cat to get to it.
Transmetro takes place a few hundred years in the future, give or take. Drugs, prostitution, and perversion run rampant, but strangely, those things are not what’s wrong with society. What’s wrong is the same shit that’s wrong now, just… amplified a bit. Human greed and cruelty is the sick underbelly to society that no one wants to see, until Spider rams it down their throats. Were they better off living a lie? Too late now, the two-headed cat is out of the bag.
Books 3-4 of the TPB’s, Year of the Bastard and The New Scum, struck me as am amazing critique on the last two US presidential elections… until I realized they were written in 1998. Now I just think Ellis is prescient.
Here’s another Transmetro fansite.
2) Conan, the Frost Giant’s Daughter: My good friend The Pickytarian has been raving about this book for months now, but I have been trying to restrict my comic-buying to trade Paperback (TPB) collections only, so I’ve had to wait. I miss the monthly issues, a bit, but reading a full story-arc in one sitting is so much more satisfying, and the trades cost less and display better on your shelves. Really, there is no downside, apart from the need for patience.
This Conan book is written by Kurt Busiek, of Astro City fame… What’s that? You haven’t read Astro City? What the fuck are you wasting time on my blog for? Go read it. I’ll wait…
Back? Great. Aren’t you glad you listened to me?
Anyway, if it’s got swords, magic, Busiek, and a thumbs up from The Pickytarian, I’m there.
3) The Ultimates Vol. II, #4: I was determined to wait until the trade for this book, too, but alas. Myke sent me the first three issues when he was finished with them, and now I’m stuck.
I never really liked the Avengers, and the Ultimates is just a re-imagining of that collection of gaywads and douchebags, but somehow, it works. A lot of it has to do with Bryan Hitch’s amazing art and the writing of Mark Millar, who has done some pretty impressive work on The Authority, Ultimate X-Men, Wanted, and other assorted books. Millar has yet to let me down. His Ultimates have really taken the gay out of the Avengers, and turned them into a group of real believable characters who also happen to be total badasses.
Just read the first ten pages of Volume II, issue #1, with Ultimate Captain America in Iraq. Trust me. It fucking rocks.
4) Young Avengers #2: I don’t know why I bought this book. It seems to be made from all the leftover ‘gay’ they liposucked out of The Ultimates. The Pickytarian and Matt talked me into buying #1, though, and it wasn’t half bad. Let’s see if the same holds true for #2.
5) PVP #15: Go to the website. Read it every day. Fall in love with the cast. If you’ve got an ounce of geek in you, they’ll feel like family in no time.
6) PowerPuff Girls #60: For my wife. Seriously.
7) Ultimate Nightmare TPB: After finishing Transmetro, Warren Ellis can do no wrong in my book. Look at his track record: The Authority, Hellblazer, Global Frequency, Ultimate Fantastic Four, even more obscure books like Switchblade Honey and Orbiter. The man rocks. If he’s writing, I’m reading.
Poison Elves TPB #10: These aren’t your momma’s elves. Issue #1 starts with the main character shooting his own girlfriend between the eyes, and goes downhill from there.
New issues of this book have ground to a halt because Drew Hayes, the creator/writer/artist has terrible health, and doesn’t have the slightest desire to take care of himself. If he doesn’t wise up and start listening to his doctor, this series may never reach the climax it has been building towards since I started reading 10 fucking years ago.
Diet and excercise, Drew. Diet and fucking excercise. We’re all counting on you.
9) Vagabond #20: Vagabond is an illustrated retelling of Yoshikawa Eiji’s novel, Musashi, much like Akira Kurosawa’s Samurai series was. Written and Illustrated by Takehiko Inoue, Vagabond is the fictionalized life story of Miyamoto Musashi, the Japanese sword saint. It follows his quest to become Invincible Under the Sun, and the slow gaining of wisdom along the way that eventually turns him into one of Japan’s most revered figures.
Musashi’s Book of Five Rings is a Bible to Japanese swordsmen and businessmen alike. Read it. Think very carefully about what it says. Even now, 500 years after it was written, you can still apply its wisdom to your everyday life.
Vagabond is art-heavy, and you can easily gloss over it the way you can most manga, absorbing the story instantly through the smooth lines of the illustration, but you would be better served to take your time and pore over every panel. Inoue tells volumes in simple movements and expressions. The fight between Musashi and Shishido Baiken in book 13 is fucking phenomenal. It takes up the whole book (a couple hundred pages), and I don’t think a word was spoken the whole time.
Vagabond is presented in Japanses Manga format, and is read from right to left. It’s not as annoying as it sounds.
Hopefully reading all these comics will improve my mood. Writing about them already has.
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