Writing about comics on the net can be a very transient thing. Websites have come and gone. Many columnists have started out with lots of bluster and vigor, and then faded away under the pressure of trying to get the work done. But I’m still here.

I give partial credit in that area to my friend Chris Allen. Shoot readers know Chris because he had his long-running Breakdowns column here at the site for the fist couple of years. I first met Chris when we were both writing for the first incarnation of Comic Book Galaxy (where I also met our beloved Shoot leader Mr. Ryall), and even back then, he was producing Breakdowns. That means, with some breaks, the column has been in existence for over five years, leaving a lofty example for many of us to follow.

Any column that runs for a long time is going to see some ups and downs, some ebb and flow, and this one is no different. In the beginning, I was covering one, maybe two, books a week. Then I picked up the pace in serious fashion but shifting it up to eight-to-ten books a week. Lately, I’ve been trying to keep it around four-to-six. I think it’ll keep shifting, numbers-wise, as I deal with the inconsistent flow of materials that arrive for review. I also added interviews to the column last year, and they’ll be sticking around, too. When it comes to the interviews, I have a general goal: I don’t want to do Newsarama-style blowjob puff pieces, and I don’t have the room or time to do a Comics Journal-level of depth, so I look to find a happy medium. I hope you’ll keep stopping by to read them.

The one big change you’ll see here, starting with next week’s column, is the end of “letter grades” for the comics I review. I’ve been giving it a lot of thought, as the grades have become more and more difficult to deal with, and retiring them is the best option. What it boils down to is that you have to expect different things from different books, and you can’t strictly compare one to the other in that way. Should Infinite House of Crisis Nonsense get a better grade than a photocopied zine put together but young kids trying to make a name for themselves? The big crossover book has shiny art, big-name writers, and high production values, but it should be judged harsher than you judge a book that is aiming lower to begin with. A comic should be reviewed, in part, by it’s audience and intent.

This week’s entry is on the subject of something near and dear to me: “desert island comics.” If you were stranded on a desert island with only a volleyball for your sexual perversions and five comicbook series or graphic novels, what would you want to have with you? As an added bonus, if you bop around the comics blogosphere a bit this week, I’ve asked friends to participate in this little game as well, and if I can, I’ll jump back here and add links to the bottom of this column. I’d also love to hear what your desert island comics would be, and THE RESPONDENT WITH THE MOST INTERESTING SET OF FIVE WILL RECEIVE A PACKAGE OF FREE COMICS FROM YOURS TRULY. ENTRIES WILL BE ACCEPTED UNTIL AUGUST 19TH.

I’d like to thank our editor-in-chief, Chris Ryall, for his continued support, guidance, and friendship. I’d also like to thank our godfather, Kevin Smith, for his continued support and belief in the site. MoviePoopShoot is one of the coolest sandboxes a kid could play in. I’m grateful to be here and for the opportunities it has provided.

DESERT ISLAND COMICS

TRANSMETROPOLITAN
Written by Warren Ellis and Drawn by Darick Robertson
Published by DC/Vertigo

First, go read my review of the complete series here.

Plain, simple, to the point: TRANSMET is my favorite comic ever. Period. Had I to divest myself of every series but one, this is the one I’d keep.

Why? Is it the presence of my favorite character, Spider Jerusalem? Is it because I still hope to be Jerusalem if and when I grow up? Is it Ellis’ gift for researching technology and coming up with several innovations in his futuristic world that have now inched closer to reality in the world we live in? Is it the highly topical political angle that seems fresher than ever when you go back and read the volumes? Maybe it’s the commitment to the ideal of bringing the truth to people, regardless of the consequences, that lends a strong sense of romanticism that most comics can’t even hope to match?

With Ellis’ superior scripting and Robertson’s incredible design sense, a plethora of memorable and amazing characters, and a long running arc that clearly had a point from the early moments, TRANSMETROPOLITAN holds up, and will continue to do so. It is an example of the finest literature that the sequential art medium has to offer, and any serious reader’s bookcase is naked without it.

CONCRETE
Written and Drawn by Paul Chadwick
Published by Dark Horse

First, go read my interview with CONCRETE creator Paul Chadwick here.

CONCRETE is one of the most complex, humanist works ever put to paper. The story of a writer who finds his human body stolen from him, and his mind placed in a body made of stone, CONCRETE is a in-depth look at the state of the Person in the modern world, and what it truly means to be a “human being.”

CONCRETE, the name Ron Lithgow is now forced to live under, is aided and abetted by his assistant Larry and a scientist named Maureen who helps him deal with the strangeness of his new body. They help bring a balance to Ron’s exploration of what his new limits are. While he has lost flesh, Ron has found a purpose in discovery and cause. He climbs mountains. Crosses oceans. Makes films. Deals with issues of poverty. Finds himself helping eco-friendly radicals. And maybe, just maybe, dealing with the concept of population control right in the middle of discovering that his stone body may just have reproductive capabilities after all.

When I go back and read CONCRETE, I find myself focusing on something different each time. In some instances I take extra time to enjoy Chadwick’s extraordinary level of detail in his panel composition. Other times, I’ll focus on the smaller moments where a seemingly throwaway character will provide an extra level of depth to a scene with an innocuous line of dialogue or bit of body language. It’s just that good.

One of CONCRETE’S other great virtues is its appeal to readers who might not normally be willing to pick up and read a comic book or graphic novel. By creating a story and characters that appeal to anyone with a love for classic literature, Chadwick was one of the first artists to produce a work that extended well beyond the shelves of the comicbook shop. Twenty-years later, CONCRETE is still vital and stirring emotional reactions from a new generation of readers.

HITMAN
Written by Garth Ennis and Drawn by John McCrea
Published by DC

This book was, in only the broadest sense, a superhero comic. Lead character, assassin Tommy Monaghan is blessed with x-ray vision and telepathy, but Ennis works rather hard to avoid the use of those powers at all. Instead, he made a book about something far more powerful and interesting:

Friendship and brotherhood.

HITMAN is a story about men you would normally consider the vilest scum of the Earth, and about the deeply human pieces of their lives that shine through when they aren’t deal death in massive quantities. While we are never able to forget that Tommy, Natt The Hat, Ringo, Hacken, and Sean are very bad people who deserve the gas chamber, we discover that they are also people that we rather like, despite their failings and chosen profession.

This is a series that rested its backbone on the concept of honor and family, and just what those ideals mean when faced with a gun pointed at your temple. Never in this book does the business of death eclipse the business of being the best son, friend, or confidant; indeed, Ennis’ storytelling develops this set of characters as one of the great family units to ever grace the four-color page. When one of these men feels enough of a bond with a friend to say he’d die for the other, HITMAN explores exactly what that means and what ramifications may come of it.

The book ended a bit before its time, though the conclusion it came to was thoroughly inevitable. You cannot place the foundation of a story on rampant death and not realize that there is a tragedy waiting to happen before it is over. But in a fantastic bit of news, Ennis recently revealed that there is a “lost” HITMAN story that will appear in the pages of JLA CLASSIFIED sometime next year, and you can bet that I will be first in line to buy that bad boy.

I’d also recommend the book not only for its themes, and the killers it followed, but also for the outstanding supporting cast. Deb Tiegel, disgraced honest Gotham City cop who found herself falling in love with Tommy and loathing herself for it. Sixpack and the rest of his psychotic superhero team, Section Eight. Bueno Excellente. The Defenestrator. Dogwelder. Glorious. I’d also mention that issue 37 won an Eisner award for best single issue the year it shipped, and deservedly so. Superman makes an odd, but logical appearance, and Tommy Monaghan explains the real truth behind the failure of the American dream for so many people. It’s powerful stuff, with just the perfect dose of levity.

Over-the-top action. Hard-edged drama. Laugh-out-loud comedy. Somehow Ennis, along with the tone-perfect art of McCrea, made a series about very bad people something that will stand the test of time. Now DC needs to end its shameful refusal to finish putting the series in trade and get the rest out there for people to read.

NEW WARRIORS (volume one)
Written by Fabian Nicieza and Evan Skolnick and Drawn by Mark Bagley, Darick Robertson, and Patrick Zircher
Published by Marvel

That’s right. A superhero comic.

I’m not going to apologize for it, either. Immature superhero comics are wretched; but WARRIORS was actually about something, and while it never earned the respect it deserved, it remains one of the best genre efforts of the last twenty years.

Let me set the stage for you: NEW WARRIORS shipped as part of a Marvel effort through the first half of 1990 to get new product on the shelves. The other books in that wave included the Todd McFarlane SPIDER-MAN, the Danny Ketch version of GHOST RIDER, and Jim Valentino’s GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. As you can imagine, this book got kind of lost in the shuffle.

And why not? Who the Hell was this Fabian guy? Mark Bagley? The guy who won the Marvel Try-Out Book contest? And wasn’t this book basically a straight rip off of DC’s TEEN TITANS? You had Firestar (Starfire), Night Thrasher (Cyborg), Speedball (Changeling), Namorita (Wonder Girl), Marvel Boy (Nightwing), and Nova (Kid Flash). Sure looked like the Titans. So why bother?

Turns out this Fabian guy had himself a concept: the moral development of kids in their late teens.

On the surface, it doesn’t sound so scintillating, but in execution, it worked damned near flawlessly. I was nineteen when the book came out, so it spoke to me on an even deeper level at the time. Nicieza constantly put the characters in situations where having powers was not the solution to a problem; instead, they had to discover for themselves exactly what “right and wrong” truly meant. When terrorists were attacking space launches in South America, the Warriors got involved. But when it turns out those launches were sending toxic waste towards a heavily populated area, they suddenly found themselves in a very gray area about the nature of terrorism. When Marvel Boy’s father, who had beat him all his life, struck him and pushed him over the edge, Marvel Boy had to stand trial for the death of his remaining parent. The book never backed down from taking on a tough viewpoint and exploring exactly how those whose ethics were in progress would deal with the issue.

Nicieza left the book with twenty-three issues left in the series, and it took Skolnick some time to find his footing, but the last year or so of the book was just as strong as the early stuff. By the time the book was finished, the Warriors had become morally developed characters and highly competent heroes. That’s where Marvel’s treatment of the characters has gone so far off the track in the intervening years; other writers have made fun of the characters or regressed their competency for humorous purposes, alienating the fanbase, especially with Jay Faerber’s horrific volume two that mercifully killed in under a year. Zeb Wells’ current series isn’t bad, but I can’t help but wonder why Marvel hasn’t taken the characters in the obvious direction that Skolnick left open when volume one ended:

The Warriors have climbed the mountain and became who they’re going to be. They aren’t “new” anymore. But there’s a whole new generation of younger heroes out there that could benefit from their experience and guidance. Arana… the new Scorpion… even the Runaways. Loads of potential there, I think. Either way, volume one stands the test of time. Check it out.

THE TROUBLE WITH GIRLS
Written by Will Jacobs and Gerard Jones and Drawn by Tim Hamilton
Published by Eternity/Malibu Comics (now defunct)

I had a great deal of difficulty picking my fifth entry, but in the end, I had to go with the series that really introduced me to independent black and white comics. Stuff like CONCRETE would come later, but the book that advertised “all the sex and twice the violence” on the cover captured my heart and has stayed in there to this day.

TROUBLE was the story of Lester Girls, a man beset by a family curse: he will have nothing but high action, loose women, and exciting adventures for his entire life. Of course, he hates every minute of it. All Lester really wants to do is get a good night’s sleep, finish the Steinbeck novel he’s been trying to read, and not show up in an Amazon village and be expected to deflower every virgin in the tribe.

Yep, GIRLS was also the first great parody of action movie and comic book clichés, and Jacobs and Jones left no sacred cow unslaughtered. Whether it was having a laugh at the expense of the Lois Lane/Superman relationship, working in obscure literary references, bad puns, or roasting the stupidity of large action sequences in comics, the writers loaded their satirical weaponry and let loose a stunning barrage each and every issue. Even when the creative team went for the money and took the book to Comico for four issues in color, they were ready to take vicious shots at themselves when they returned the book to its natural state and original publisher. They were smart enough to realize that their fanbase would if they didn’t.

The early issues of the book were a little rough, and were definitely the work of guys who were new to the medium, but it didn’t take long for the scripts to get some polish and for newcomer Hamilton to strengthen his storytelling skills. Years later, you can read the series and respect the effort these guys were putting forward to make the best possible product in a very crowded black and white field. If I were a publisher, I can tell you right now that one of my first calls would be to this creative team, because THE TROUBLE WITH GIRLS is a perfect candidate for a “complete” volume like Jeff Smith did with BONE. Non-topical humor is the type that lasts, which is why AIRPLANE is still funny and ALADDIN isn’t. If you have a good comic shop near you, scour their back issue bins and find this buried treasure. You’ll be glad you did.

THE RUNNERS UP

SANDMAN
PALOMAR
BONE
CEREBUS
CAGES
Giffen and Dematteis’ JUSTICE LEAGUE
The complete works of Kyle Baker (WHY I HATE SATURN, COWBOY WALLY, I DIE AT MIDNIGHT, YOU ARE HERE, KING DAVID, CARTOONIST)

That’s my list. What’s on yours? A final thanks to all of you, the readers. In the end, there is no column, no reason to write, if there aren’t folks out there checking in every week and listening to what I have to say. It’s an honor and a privilege to have you as my guests in this space every week. I hope to see you here not only next week, but another hundred columns down the road.

Others playing my game:

Ed Cunard
Matt Maxwell
Christopher Allen
Graeme McMillan
Shawn Hoke
Johanna Draper-Carlson
Tom Spurgeon, Alan David Doane, and More!

Reviews return next week.

See you in seven.

Review materials may be sent to: Marc Mason, P.O. Box 26732, Tempe, AZ 85285. You can also find me at Happy Nonsense and The Comics Waiting Room

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