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BREAKDOWNS - 13 Steps Lead Down

This week we tweak the format again, just to keep things interesting. Rather than a handful of long reviews, I thought I'd just bust loose with a baker's dozen of shorter ones, hopefully still giving you the goods, vis-à-vis good comic vs. evil or just plain weak comic. There were lots of first issues last week, plus I scored a couple books not yet on the stands, and hey, while the iron is still somewhat hot, let's get to the ROAD TO PERDITION graphic novel. So here we go, with 13 reviews. Like some others do, only, you know, kind of diverse and good? Well, see for yourself.

BATTLE OF THE PLANETS by Munier Sharrieff, Wilson Tortosa and Alex Ross. Top Cow Productions / Image Comics. $2.95
I thought I'd get this out of the way first, so we can dump it and air out the room.

No, this isn't the worst comic in the world by any means. It doesn't offend me or anything, and no, I have no problem with this wave of '70s and '80s nostalgia comics. I'm not really interested in most of them, but they don't bother me. The problem with this one is that no one seems quite in agreement with what the book should be. As Art Director, I'm assuming Alex Ross had the idea to set this tale of a teenage world-saving team in the '70s, with everyone having longish hair and bellbottoms. That, and the atrocious kiddie anime look of, well, we'll call him "the kid," since no one bothered to include his name here, leads me to believe a campy tone was sought. And yet, the scripting of the book is so verbose and deadly serious, like this is a darker-themed update of the old cartoon. But really, is that the way to go, when your foe is a giant robotic turtle? I don't think so. Aside from the fine Ross cover (there are many other variants as well), there's nothing very compelling, or even cohesive, in the art or story.

WOUNDED MAN #1 by Kazuo Koike and Ryoichi Ikegami. ComicsOne. $14.95
From the genius behind LONE WOLF & CUB comes another multi-volume saga, apparently dating from the late '70s/early '80s, judging from the art. This is a bizarre story, much blunter than LW&C, about a man, famous athlete Keisuki Ibaraki, who finds a beautiful Japanese reporter in Brazil, and rapes her. He regrets it, and she proceeds to get her revenge by arousing him and not allowing things to go further, until finally she breaks down and falls in love with him, and vice-versa. Yes, it's ludicrous. When they get some down time, and his hair changes white (don't ask), he tells her about his high-school sweetheart and he being kidnapped and forced into pornography for an exclusive clientele. The girlfriend was forced to commit suicide, and now he's out for revenge. But first, let's have lots and lots more sex. It's a crazy story, intermittently engaging, but Ikegami's artwork is sharp and undeniably erotic.

THE CALL OF DUTY: THE PRECINCT #1 by Bruce Jones and Tom Mandrake. Marvel Comics. $2.25
The truly interesting Bruce Jones work can be seen every month in INCREDIBLE HULK, but this isn't bad soap copera. As A.K. said in last week's TITLE BOUT here on the site, Marvel has finally caught up with television circa 1972. I tend to agree; there are many things comics does as well as or better than other media, but I'm not sure we're looking at the next HOMICIDE here. The story, about a third-generation cop and his tough-priest brother, is clichéd, but told with enthusiasm (and a little too much earnestness) by Jones, and stolid competence by Mandrake. More exciting art might liven things up, especially since this isn't as interesting as the stuff Greg Rucka wrote for the GCPD in DETECTIVE COMICS. I'll hang on for probably the first story arc to see how it develops.

AVENGERS #55 by Kurt Busiek and Patrick Zircher. Marvel Comics. $2.25
And so it ends, I think. This is either Busiek's last issue or second-to-last, but it certainly feels like an ending, leaving upcoming writer Geoff Johns with the toys all spiffed up and ready to play with. Specifically, Thor has gotten over being grumpy and unappealing, and is attired in the sweet Tom Raney costume redesign, Iron Man resolves his tangled emotions over Duane Freeman and the Triune in a well-written, dramatic scene, and Carol Danvers faces the music and receives unanimous support from the team. Now that the fireworks of the lengthy Kang saga are over, Busiek gets to tie up threads and groove on quieter, more internal conflicts, and he excels. These are characters he's been developing for almost five years, and while there have been peaks and valleys, like any substantial run, he goes out on top here. Zircher also makes a most impressive showing, and while I would prefer a little more distinctive artist to take over if and when Dwyer leaves, Zircher wouldn't be a bad alternative.

VERTIGO POP! TOKYO #1 (OF 4) by Jonathan Vankin and Seth Fisher. Vertigo/DC Comics. $2.95
A good, entertaining story with attractive art is all one can really ask of a comic. If in addition you learn something, about yourself, humanity, or in this case, another culture, then that's a nice bonus. TOKYO has all of this. The character most will identify with first or most strongly is an American staying here for a time, mainly to acquire some cool electronics. In other words, he's not here to assimilate, or contribute; he's here to take. But through some amusing circumstances, he's quickly involved with a precocious Japanese teen girl and some yakuza, and it seems there's a price to be paid, or something he'll need to give of himself, to get through it. Vankin's pacing is generally brisk, with a couple sluggish pages, but he's mostly quite adept at weaving the various plot threads together and detailing the strange wonder of Tokyo without losing the narrative. Seth Fisher is an ideal choice for this debut entry in Vertigo's line of global village books, an American artist (I think) with some time spent in Japan, but whose style contains European influences, such as Geof Darrow and Moebius. He conveys that this is more of a personal vision of the city, not a travelogue. A cool, witty book, with a style and cover design hip enough to not be embarrassing reading on a plane.
HOPELESS SAVAGES: GROUND ZERO #2 (of 4) by Jen Van Meter, Brian O'Malley and Christine Norton. Oni Press. $2.95
I dunno, should I feel guilty that Terry Dodson's (see my column logo above for a sample of his style) cover is so sexy? I mean, this is a 15- or 16-year-old girl, right? Anyway, I've been really happy to find that in the second miniseries, both art and story have improved. I've come to like Skank Zero a lot, almost as much as her publishing-mate Bleu in BLUE MONDAY, and want her to get the nerd boyfriend. They're realistically screwed up in ways generally fixable by hand-holding and a few smooches, and I'm ready to see it. This quirky romance shares space with an apron-strings subplot with Skank and her mom, as well as a fun nod to THE OSBOURNES, whether it was planned that way or not. I think in a previous review somewhere I pointed out how much Norton had improved, when in fact, she's only doing the flashback sequences, and is about the same: fine but not exciting. The art that grabbed me is from O'Malley, who may very well be one to watch, considering the emotional charge he gets out of such thick, rough lines.

BLACK PANTHER #47 by Priest and Jorge Lucas. Marvel Comics. $2.25
Though I've softly hammered some aspects of this book, I have to give credit where it's due. This two-parter, with Lucas guesting on art, going from a passable Kirby imitation in his earlier work to almost a John Severin feel here, is a lot of fun for longtime fans. I'd love to see Lucas as the new artist, rather than the just-announced Dan Fraga, but I'm sure he can't keep up this quality month after month. Old Marvel Western heroes like Rawhide Kid don't get a lot to do here, but it's a kick to see Thor in cowboy attire. A typically loopy Priest story, getting his ya-ya's out before next month's opening salvo in "The Death of the Black Panther," which one can imagine will be a teeny bit heavier.

BEAUTIFUL KILLER #1 (OF 4) by Jimmy Palmiotti and Phil Noto. Black Bull Press. $2.99
Out of nowhere, seemingly, springs Palmiotti with the first of three new series, all the while still continuing his masterful inking on other titles. BEAUTIFUL KILLER, despite the rather on-the-nose title, is a slick entry in the genre of deadly female spies/assassins that will appeal to fans of LA FEMME NIKITA, ELEKTRA, ALIAS (the TV show) and BLACK WIDOW. Our heroine is, naturally, full of secrets, an expert fighter and marksman (marksperson?), and possessed of honor and a justifiable motivation for her murderous ways. She's seeking those who killed her parents, and we get to see them in a flashback illustrated in a '60s Pop style by Noto. Think Steranko and the original THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR. Palmiotti's story is nothing that new, but he's learned from good sources, and keeps the suspense pounding to the end. And Noto is a revelation. His instant classic covers for DC's BIRDS OF PREY are just a glimpse of his talent. Really about the best art of all the books released this week. By the way, our KILLER is clearly modeled on Courteney Cox-Arquette, with the addition of one colorless eye, and it's probably her best performance to date.

LAB RATS #4 by John Byrne. DC Comics. $2.25.
When a book's cancellation is announced, the reviews dry up. I don't mean long-running books like PREACHER or STARMAN, but ones that don't even last a year, like this one. I understand why; it's not like a glowing review can save the book now, nor can a negative review be anything but adding insult to injury. And yet, due to the fashion of picking on the once-mighty Byrne, it seems everything he attempts is met with derision and scorn, whether justified or not. As far as I'm concerned, LAB RATS, while not a great book (and that name was ill-advised), has been pretty entertaining so far, and with some really strong Byrne art. In this story, the kids are transported 50 years into the future of Metropolis, where a motley group of rebels plans a revolt against the overwhelming technological forces of the shadowy warlord oppressing them. Since this SPOILER might actually sell a few more copies of the book, I'll mention that the warlord is revealed to be Superman, who, due to some event, has forgotten his true self and relentlessly seeks out the missing Superman in order to kill him. It's reminiscent of an old FANTASTIC FOUR he did where Reed Richards' dad lived in an alternate timeline and was similarly misguided, but it still works. It's true Byrne has no aptitude for writing young people's dialogue, but since the "dude"-speaking kid was killed, and the rest are extremely intelligent, he just writes them more or less as adults. They're not the most compelling characters he's ever committed to paper, but they're reasonably interesting, and the stories have held my interest. The book's passing, with issue #8, won't cause any weeping, but it certainly doesn't deserve the amount of invective thrown at it.

JASON AND THE ARGO-BOTS #1 (OF 4) by J Torres and Mike Norton. Oni Press. $2.95
Oni continues to craftily add more and more quality work in genres other publishers aren't doing nearly as well in; in this case, the all-ages book. Like some previously unknown member of the Skywalker clan, Jason is a kid with wanderlust and a way with gadgets. He discovers a huge, half-buried robot and gets it running, taking it for a ride across the desert, where he comes upon a prison breakout. There will be lessons learned, suspense, and a way for the younger sister to help out, sure, but Torres' good humor makes one forget the mechanics. I already knew that about his talent, but the real surprise here is Norton, who did able work a while back on THE WAITING PLACE but reinvents himself here, with more of a manga influence that he brings his own individuality to.

2000 AD #1299 by John Wagner, Kev Walker, Mike Carey, Andy Parke, Gordon Rennie and Jock. 2000 AD Productions.
A three-story issue, wrapping up the Judge Dredd "Sin City" and "13" 11-parters, and the three-part return of Tor Cyan, the latter of which is a nice-looking but somewhat jumbled prequel to the return of Rogue Trooper later this year. For the uninitiated, Rogue Trooper was some of the first work Dave (WATCHMEN) Gibbons ever did, though he's not involved in the upcoming story. "Sin City" was excellent, a suspenseful and darkly humorous Dredd epic involving a plague threatening to spread to Mega-City One from its containment on a floating city devoted to depravity of all stripes. Wagner throws two different villains seeking revenge on Dredd, the wider threat of plague, and even the old chestnut of good brother cop/bad brother crook, all held together by the appealing style of Walker. "13" was a strong tale, with one of those appealingly reluctant, skuzzy heroes in the mode of John Constantine, only this one involves alien invasion and mental powers. Great art by Parke, of whom I'd like to see more. Not a good jumping-on issue at all, I admit, but it might whet your appetite for the all-new stories in the historic issue (they call them "progs") number 1300. Imagine 1300 issues of a weekly 32-page color comic-that puts ACTION COMICS to shame.

ROAD TO PERDITION by Max Allan Collins and Richard Piers Rayner. Paradox Press/DC Comics. $13.95
One way or another, you probably have an idea what this book is about, whether you've read reviews of it or the Tom Hanks/Paul Newman/Jude Law film. Or who knows, maybe you're one of the slack-jawed, taste-impaired many who've ignored it in favor of MIIB. In which case, wipe the popcorn hulls and palm oil off your jowls and read up.

Michael O'Sullivan (the "O'" is dropped for the movie) worships his father of the same name, believing the war hero to be carrying on similarly honorable, exciting work as a civilian. He finds out his dad is just an enforcer for the local Irish mob boss, name of Rooney. Killing is what O'Sullivan does best, so this one talent, plus a misplaced Irish loyalty, led him to Rooney's employ, where he faithfully carried out his orders for years.

O'Sullivan, partnered here with Rooney's loose-cannon son, Connor, kill a man who won't pay his protection money, and then they find young Michael, who gives his word he won't tell. Dad knows he can trust him, but Connor doesn't, and it sets off a chain of events that leads to O'Sullivan's wife and other son murdered, and he only escaping a murder by his reflexes and marksmanship. From this point on, it's, as advertised, a voyage of revenge and surprisingly tender parenting. See, O'Sullivan is an honorable man, adhering to both a criminal code and the bonds and demands of love and family. Inspired by the manga masterwork LONE WOLF & CUB, this is a more compact tale with a much more urgent coming of age for the young man, who is called upon to not just honor his father but to save his life, more than once. Collins is a canny, efficient writer, though the book might have benefited from lengthier father/son moments. Rayner took four years to produce the photorealistic drawings that capture the '30s of this era: the amber, decrepit streets of Chicago, the lush country roads of the Midwest, and the vivid faces and authentic clothing. There's a definite feeling that this represents his fullest and most heartfelt effort. Whether you've seen the film or not, this book will entertain, excite, and for fathers or sons, it may even pluck a heartstring or two.

FANTASTIC BUTTERFLIES by James Kochalka. Alternative Comics. $14.95
There's really no way to briefly summarize the goings-on of this latest graphic novel from Kochalka, but that's kind of the beauty of it. It's not a tightly plotted book; rather, it's a series of loosely connected episodes, seemingly whatever Kochalka felt like drawing that day. Luckily, he's some sort of genius, so there are ample amounts of wonder and humor on every page. He holds it together by sheer talent, basically. We start off with a curious scene about Magic Boy (Kochalka's elfin comic stand-in) being visited by a friend, who confides he has testicular cancer. There's little time for negativity in Kochalka's world, thankfully, so it quickly changes into a misunderstanding between Magic Boy and his Girlfriend (Kochalka's wife) about drinking wine and when to leave. There's a surprisingly funny gag or two about the cancerous testicle, some beautifully rendered nighttime scenes about baseball and friendship; and a rock'em, sock'em bar fight with a surly Cancer Robot. It's my understanding these robots suck out the cancer in people? If I'm wrong, why are they so damn angry? Sorry. A side effect of reading Kochalka is a tendency to lose one's linear writing quality, and to get rather silly, which isn't such a bad thing, come to think of it. This is an artist who has let go of his inhibitions to the extent that every little word he says or goofy thing that happens to him in a day is fuel for art that transforms the mundane into the effervescent and magical. He's like the nicer, funnier, inkier and more beer-enthusiastic version of Picasso.

And at long last, that will just about do it for this week's edition. Next week, I'll concentrate on just a few books, probably hardcovers and pricey trades, since your birthday's coming up.

Chris Allen,
Cancer Robot

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