Featured_Reviews

The government is chasing down a deadly experimental project that is
supposed to be out of commission. The 3 escaped test subjects are
enhanced killing machines. They’re cybernetically enhanced and very
lethal. They’re also furry and lovable.

A dog, cat and a rabbit flee from the program that turned them into killing
machines. They’re not bad…they just want to find a “home”.

Grant Morrison can usually dazzle your mind. If you let him. As the one
true heir to the throne of Alan Moore as the premier writer of comics, he
has a talent for making the commonplace weird and the weird
commonplace. WE3 is, of course no exception.

Usually Morrison’s protagonists are everyday people or comic book icons
we recognize from everyday. In this book the character thread is portrayed
by three animals enhanced by cybernetic weapons who have no real idea
how different they are.

Morrison seems to have used this tale as a commentary on remote control
war and animal rights. Something evident in his sequential art commentary
as far back as his historic run on DC’s Animal Man. He treats his trio of
animal counterparts with respect and endows them with a sense of
innocence, even if they can kill you at a moment’s notice. From the
scientist who tries to help them to the other characters in the book, it’s quite
clear what Morrison wants us to see in their personalities.

The art by Frank Quitely is crisp and lucid. Quitely is adept at working his
magic at Vertigo, DC mainstream as well as Marvel. Together, he and
Morrison know when to let the visual convey the detail and plot and when to
insert dialogue. There are no caption boxes. Thought balloons are
absent. Most of the time this communicates the story in a cinematic way but
sometimes it can make a sequence unclear.

WE3 is a little bit nature film, a thin layer Disney/funny animal comics and
indeed a high action movie.
-Jason Czernich

You should be able to read a good mystery more than once. Once you find
out the solution you can go back and find more fun in seeing what clues
you missed, and where they were hidden. However you might have trouble
with this whodunit. Why? It’s written by Grant Morrison, a man well known
in comics for twisting story conventions and concepts.

While I can’t say everything that makes this differ from your regular murder
mystery (at least with not giving away the ending), I can tell you that it’s
about a small British town trying to revive its reputation by holding a series
of religious plays. It’s an honest idea until the person playing God is
murdered.

Everyone is suspect from the Mayor on down, and everybody it seems has
sides of their personality they want to hide including the detective
investigating the crime, Sergeant Frank Carpenter.

Carpenter seems to be set up as a Christ like figure with his beard and last
name (think of Jesus’ profession) and is willing to go to great lengths to find
the killer. Along the way, Carpenter sees corners of the town and its
people that may be best left out of view.

As far as Grant Morrison stories go, this is tame and more grounded in
reality than recent works of his such as The Filth or Seaguy. Thanks to Jon
J. Muth’s illustrative painted artwork we can see the cast of this tale as
down-to-earth. Fantasy does creep in in the form of Satan in an
interrogation scene and that almost takes away from the rooted reality of
the story. Did Morrison feel obligated to put in such a supernatural scene
just to expand on the theme of religion? Would further readings make it
clearer?
In short, The Mystery Play is dark, haunting and at times even thoughtful.
Something I would pass on to a friend. It’s not a mystery that this is a good
read. It’s something that you’ll want to read more than once

-Jason Czernich

Dave Gibbons, it should go without saying, is a tremendous creative force.
He is a sublime penciler who has collaborated with some of the finest writers
in the field such as Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Garth Ennis, Stan Lee and
many other great scripters of the medium. Gibbons reputations as an artist
is well-known and deserved ,but what is less known is that Gibbons is one
of the most underrated writers in the industry. Hopefully The Originals is
changing that.

The story is told from the point of view of Lel, a boy in his late teens who,
along with his best friend Bok, dream of joining the most hip and stylish
gang around, The Originals. The Originals are the best dressed and most
hip street gang. They are natural enemies of a rival street gang called the
Dirt, who model themselves after the classic 1950’s greasers.

Soon enough, Lel and Bok get their wish and become full-fledged
Originals. They go the best clubs, experiment with drugs and tangle with
members of the Dirt. They face the problems of materialism, gang violence
and overzealous outsiders like Warren, who are trying to climb the ladder of
acceptance—with tragic results.

I really loved this book. It was conveyed very smoothly through Gibbons’
words and art. He lets you get to know the characters and the
technologically advanced world they live in. Gibbons also made a wise
choice to have the art only colored in black, white and tones of grey. If he
had done this book in full color it could have given the reader difficulty
focusing on the plot and characters, as technology laden stories tend to
sometimes do. The Originals is not a science-fiction story with characters
in it. It’s a story of characters that hate, spend and fight in a setting that
just happens to have some science-fiction devices, such as hover vehicles,
in it.

Even its size is perfect. Not small enough to be manga and not large
enough to be comic book size, it has 9.2 x 7.2 for dimensions. Perfect for a
tale that’s very intimately told though the narration of Lel.

Read this book! I don’t think you’ll be disappointed in it. It’s a very well-
drawn and written tale from Dave Gibbons, a creator that is very good at
wearing both hats.

-Jason Czernich

What do you do with your life after school? Is this person really right for
you? Should we tell our friend that his girl is nothing but trouble? When
does one really sell out? If these questions are familiar to you then you
might like to pick up Alex Robinson’s Box Office Poison.

New Yorker Sherman has graduated college with an English degree and
still works at a bookstore. He dreams of being published. His new
roommates, Stephen and Jane have goals of their own and used to room
with Dorothy, Sherman’s new girlfriend. Sherman’s best friend Ed still lives
with his parents and works in his father’s hardware store. He dreams of
drawing comics.

All their lives intersect in a coming of age story for the post college
generation. There is betrayal, death, flashbacks, sex and humor. How can
one not be taken in by its charm? We get to see Sherman and Ed try to
make it in the real world while juggling friendships, family and relationships
(or lack of). Trying to describe the plot of this cannot do it justice but if you’
re 23 or older the situations in it will be very familiar to you.
From time to time the narrative is interrupted by one page segments where
the characters from the story are asked questions such as, “If you could
have brunch with any fictional character who would it be?” or “Who would
play you in the movie version of Box Office Poison?” The answers the
characters come up with are often funny and sometimes sweet.

Robinson’s art is very caricature. Some characters are very round while
some, like Sherman are very angular. Robinson does a good job at varying
his character visuals and keeping one interested in plot threads such as
the Mr. Flavor/Nightstalker legal battle.

Box Office Poison is sentimental, dark, sunny and very different from most
of what’s on the shelves—even from other alternative comics

-Jason Czernich

It takes not only a talented writer but also one with a sense of crime fiction
to get a handle on the character of Daredevil. Many have tried with mixed
results: Kevin Smith, David Mack, Dennis O'Neil and the list goes on. The
two writers most people can agree on when it comes to skillfully scripting
the adventures of the Man Without Fear are Frank Miller and, recent
scribe, Brian Michael Bendis.

The perfect jumping on point for Bendis' run is Daredevil Volume 2
Hardcover.

A young mob boss stages a brutal coup against the Kingpin and in the
process learns a secret about Matt Murdock that will tear the blind lawyer's
life wide open. He will have a visit from Spider-Man and other friends to
help him through his worst ordeal yet but it still won't be enough. And no,
the tragedy here is too well played to reveal. It's something readers need
to discover for themselves.

What makes Bendis respected by many as a writer is his ear for dialogue
(it's also what many critique him on too). He knows where to cut the
exposition and use the visuals, very well detailed in this book by Alex
Maleev, to the stories advantage. There are no wasted pages here.

Like filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, Bendis plays around with the time frame
of his story, leaping back and forth, throughout his narrative. One minute
you could be standing over a wounded Wilson Fisk, the next you may get to
meet the person who planned that same bloody assault for the very first
time.

Alex Maleev's illustrations are a perfect compliment to Bendis's storytelling
sensibilities. He's come a long way from such assignments as Batman: No
Man's Land. As good as he was then, he's gotten even better.

His drawings often look like they were based on photos and his use of black
is not overdone. He conveys a tense and dark mood to Daredevil's very
violent settings. It's an art style that is nothing like the character has
experienced before and may even influence the title long after his run is
over.

If you've spent time away from Daredevil or have never read the character
pick up Daredevil Volume 2 Hardcover. If you're a regular reader continue
to sit back and enjoy the ride. Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev have
gotten Daredevil right.

-Jason Czernich

   Jessica Jones is a superhero that has faded into civilian life and now
runs her own tiny private investigator business specializing in cases that
involve superfolk. Jessica is regretful, self-loathing and sarcastic—keeping
herself on the edge of the superhero game and meeting all manner of
pawns, and sometimes bigger names, while conducting her investigations.

   Portraying a character living on the periphery of the world of super-
heroes isn’t a new concept. The “ordinary person” as a main character or
narrator was used with great skill in the Spirit tales that Will Eisner wrote in
the forties. We’ve seen it in such eighties and nineties works as Alan
Moore’s Swamp Thing, Marvels by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross, Kurt Busiek’s
Astro City and in sundry other comics since then. In fact, the latter decade
seemed to make it a trend and place emphasis on it in the field, when in
fact, it has been scattered throughout comic history.

   Thanks to Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos the outsider in the
superhero world remains an intriguing read. The investigation in this
particular volume has her stumble upon evidence of Captain America’s
secret identity and from then on danger and plot twists ensue all the while
we are getting hints of Jessica’s past.

   When paired with Bendis’ plotting the snippets and allusions to Jessica’s
former costumed life compel the reader to want to continue. Many debuting
ongoings employ the trick of slowly revealing info about their protagonist
but they sometimes reveal too much too soon or worse, not enough ever!
Bendis seems to have a thumb on what we the reader “need to know” to
enjoy Jessica’s current adventure. Information only seems forced in the
David Mamet influenced dialogue Bendis is so fond of using.Sometimes it
just seems unnatural; a parody of small talk, but when it is actually needed
it fits more often than not.

   Michael Gaydos art uses shadow and light in a way that is never too ink
laden or overly illuminated. He has a great sense of panel layout that
enables the action of the story to come across as clear. Reading this book,
I was never confused as to what was happening. In fact, I would love to see
Gaydos overworked instead of Bendis!

-Jason Czernich

      Before Blankets Craig Thompson make his splash in the world of graphic
storytelling with the novella, Good-Bye, Chunky Rice—an introspective fictional
world where even the most dishonest character has redeemable qualities.

      Meet the very meek Chunky Rice, a tiny turtle who has outgrown his quaint
seaside town and feels the urge to leave so he can find his place in the world.
Although Chunky is the title character, he really serves the role of catalyst by
encountering characters we get to take a deeper look inside of. Among those
examined are Chunky’s best friend, Dandel, a mouse; Solomon, Chunky’s
helpful, and lonely housemate and Charles, the greedy bullying older brother of
Solomon, who takes Chunky on his life changing trip by means of his boat.

      Dedicated Dandel expresses her sadness at Chunky’s departure (even
though she encourages him to find his way in the outside world) and sends him
many messages in a bottle. We see her dedicated to a friend that is no longer
there. Maybe she still holds out hope she will see her best friend again some
day. Whatever her situation she seems secure in her place in the world but
never would think of stepping on the dreams of others in her life.

      Less black and white is Solomon who speaks and acts like a longshoreman
but has a complex and troubled past. Forced by his father at a young age to
commit an inhumane act against the family dog, Solomon feels his attempts at
friendship, particularly with pets, are cursed. His relationship with his brother
Charles is strained as Charles will never forgive Solomon for committing the
heinous act against the aforementioned family pet, Stomper.

      Charles, when we first meet him, cons Chunky out of most of his worldly
possessions and the reader is at first forced to view him as an antagonist. He
forces Chunky to labor about the ship and we see him torment Solomon in
flashbacks to their shared childhood. As the story progresses we see he is still
mourning his late wife as well as Stomper and that his rough exterior seems to be
a defense mechanism of sorts. Charles relates to the one constant in his life, the
ocean. He seems to love and respect it more than the living creatures around
him.

      Some comics read fast due to minimal dialogue, an overzealous use of
splash pages or other reasons. With Good-Bye, Chunky Rice we get 125 pages
of story that can be read fairly fast—about thirty to forty minutes, in fact! Unlike
other comics that read fast for their size this book feels like you are actually
taking in story and important details. Thompson is not afraid to tell his story only
in pictures when necessary and the result is a tale that has the potential not just
to entertain but to evoke sympathy for the characters from its readers. Like
Blankets? Want more Craig Thompson? Try Good-Bye, Chunky Rice.

-Jason Czernich