September 28, 2004
EVERYMAN VOL. 1: BE THE PEOPLE
Written by The Brothers Goldman and Drawn by Joe Bucco
Published by FWD Books
A few weeks ago in this space, I reviewed (and recommended highly) the book STYX TAXI by Steven Goldman. It isn’t often that I’ll return to the same well this quickly, but this latest effort from Goldman (and his brother Dan) is so ambitious and interesting that I’m willing to violate that rule of mine.
First and foremost, let’s get this out of the way: EVERYMAN is as left leaning in its politics as perhaps any graphic novel to ever roll down the pike. It is the story of a movement founded by a group of folks who discover that the 2004 is going to be tampered with by the “Birch Administration” through the use of the new electronic ballot boxes. And frankly, if you do a bit of simple Google searching, you’ll discover that the possibility is not even remotely far removed from reality. The folks behind the movement, called “One Love” launch a campaign to expose the fraud and to take the White House and start fixing things themselves, pushing aside even the Democratic candidate. Hilarity does not ensue.
Helping the One Love group navigate the world of dirty Washington politics is a personal advisor to President Birch and a whole other host of folks in the media and around the country who are tired of feeling like their vote isn’t being heard. It’s engrossing, riveting, and I couldn’t put the smile off of my face as I read it. EVERYMAN is the greatest liberal/Libertarian fantasy ever created.
EVERYMAN will actually be a series of graphic novels, with this first one hitting shelves in mid-October. And while perhaps my reviewing colleague at Comic Book Resources, the esteemed Augie de Blieck, might not appreciate the political sentiment behind the book, I think that anyone who reads the book can at least get behind the concept of creating a political arena where your vote counts again, and you feel like your voice matters. That’s a subject that any partisan person can appreciate.
As a lifelong Democrat, but a centrist at heart, I have, more than once, been accused of still believing in Santa. That may not be true, but the gift that EVERYMAN delivers in its terrific story and execution feels like Christmas morning. Grade: A
SIBAM?
My God. The protests. I can only imagine the protests. I’m not sure there’s a studio that would take the risk, let alone a filmmaker. But God, it’d be interesting.
Did I mention the leader of One Love, the man who winds up taking office of President, is African-American? What is Avery Brooks up to these days, anyway…?
FINISHES
THE AUTHORITY: HUMAN ON THE INSIDE
Written by John Ridley and Drawn by Ben Oliver
Published by DC/Wildstorm
About a year ago, I reviewed John Ridley’s excellent novel THOSE WHO WALK IN DARKNESS in this space. Ridley happens to be one of the writers I admire most, as adept at writing gripping novels as in writing excellent screenplays. And don’t even get me started on how many times I’ve seen UNDERCOVER BROTHER. Anyway, as Marvel has been making such a big deal out of hiring Hollywood talent to write their books over the last few years, it has stuck deeply in my side not to see John Ridley attached to a book. I got damned suspicious about it, frankly. It smelled. However, DC has finally stepped up to the plate and brought in Ridley, and that makes me a happy man.
His flair for emotional drama is on excellent display in this hardcover graphic novel, as he first pits the Authority against the mythical Erinyes (the punishers of sinners) and then a far more insidious threat, a man returned from the future will emotions so bleak that they’re spreading and threatening existence itself. There’s an excellent balance of character and action here that stands up with the best Authority stories, simply because Ridley is thinking out his stories along themes and feelings rather than concerning himself with upping the gonzo quotient in the plot. Someone please explain this to Mark Millar, okay? He could use the help.
Oliver’s art is quite lovely, and he renders Ridley’s script elegantly, never going for the cheap “kewl” factor and skipping past the heart of the story. It had been a while since I had checked in with The Authority. John Ridley made sure I felt like I had missed them. Grade: A-
MADROX #1
Written by Peter David and Drawn by Pablo Raimondi
Published by Marvel
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Sometimes a writer can return to a character or characters that they defined best and it does nothing but sour the taste for the older material as the writer proves to be a mere ghost of himself. (see: Claremont, Chris) And then there’s Peter David returning to the mutant area of the Marvel Universe and reacquainting himself with Madrox, Wolfsbane, and Strong Guy from his classic run on X-FACTOR. Talk about your happy reunions!
David seems to grasp the whole idea of how to work a “second act” better than most. In X-FACTOR, Jamie Madrox was a practical joker, a clown, but one with a quietly building dark side thanks to his malaise in defining himself as a person. When you can create an infinite number of duplicates of yourself, keeping track of the real Madrox is quite difficult after all. With this second act, David has taken that idea further, and it comes off as nearly ingenious: Madrox is so paralyzed by his inability to define himself that he has simply decided to become everybody. Ostensibly working as a low-rent detective in “Mutant Town” (a sort of mutant ghetto), he sends forth duplicates of himself to experience everything else. That’s brought home with hammer-level strength at one moment when a dupe walks in who has clearly been living as a monk somewhere in the Far East and merges back into Madrox’s body. At that point, he has all the knowledge the duplicate gained while away. Think about that for a moment: remember when Neo gets programmed to learn to fight in the first MATRIX? Madrox’s choices are nearly unlimited. But rather than saving the world, he’s unable to act in any effective way with the people around him.
This first issue finds a duplicate returning home on the receiving end of a murder attempt that will leave him dead by the end of the issue. That means it’s up to the original Madrox to get his shit together and figure it all out, because the killer might not stop at the duplicate. Some nice artwork by Raimondi and an awesome cover by the great David Lloyd ably abet David’s excellent script. Occasionally, you can go home again. Grade: A-
BAD MOJO
Written by William Harms and Drawn by Steve Morris
Published by Ait/PlanetLar
AiT publisher Larry Young is one of my favorite folks working in comics. He’s honest, funny, and he cares more about putting out great comics than 95% of the people in the biz. Unfortunately, no one bats 1.000%, and this offering from the AiT stumbles badly as it rounds third and heads for home.
Conceptually, the story here is good. A young professional baseball player, heading the spring training with some friends in tow, has the misfortune to get into an auto accident with a witch who has a mean streak on for men. She curses him to die every day at dawn and resurrect at dusk, and it’s played out in an absolutely creepy and horrific way. No matter how badly his body is abused while he’s dead (at one point he’s autopsied) he rejuvenates at night. It’s a creepy premise, and it gets even creepier when the boys have the misfortune of getting on the wrong side of the law in a completely stereotypical redneck Southern town. The friends try to bargain with the witch by running errands for her, but even that blows up in their faces and makes their predicament worse. It works, up to a point. And the art is terrific.
But then annoyance sets in. The redneck town feels like a copout. And the ending just stops, well, dead. You get a sequence with the witch, and then it’s like an entire plate of the book failed to print. I was extremely frustrated to the point of wanting to throw the book across the room. To put it in movie parlance for you: a test screening would have sent this book back to the editing room and even out for re-shoots. Because no matter how good your story is, if your ending tanks, you’ve pissed away the audience’s good will. And this book’s ending tanks big enough to hold the shark from JAWS. Grade: C
PEWFELL VOL. 1 AND 2
Written and Drawn by Chuck Whelon
Published by Wingnut Games
PEWFELL is a cute little book that dances off the beaten path and is much the better for it. Set in medieval times, it is the story of low-rent wizard Pewfell Porfingles. Pewfell just wants to be taken seriously, but with his penchant for screw ups, his ass-kicking wife making him look silly, and the smart-assed gnome he is forced to rent space to in his home making constant fun of him, there’s very little chance of that happening.
Book one contains smaller stories and gags, but volume two is mostly a book length story about Pewfell’s travails in getting caught up with a cult and being kicked out of his house by a group of feminist gnomes. This works well, allowing you to get used to the cast in volume one, but really giving you some meat to work with in the second book. It was a risky idea, but it worked soundly.
The art can vary rather wildly in quality. The covers also tout “with Adam Prosser” after Whelon’s name, but the insides don’t explain what Prosser did on the book. Not helpful, Chuck. If it’s Prosser’s work that doesn’t hold up, you should let the reviewers point the finger. If it’s yours, then we should get to fry you double. Either way, even though the art is inconsistent, this is still a pretty fun little book, and one I would particularly recommend to friends who are active in SCA or Ren Fairs. Grade: B
END TIMES: TIEMPOS FINALES
Written and Drawn by Sam Hiti
Published by La Luz Comics
END TIMES has been one of the most talked about original graphic novels of the year, and deservedly so. Self-published by Hiti with the assistance of a Xeric Grant, it is an amazing work of artistic power and design, and one of the few book with the capability to not only cross over to a non-comics reading audience, but a non-comics reading audience whose language preference is Spanish.
It is the story of a lone man, a holy warrior, sent to a small Mexican village on a mission of great importance: to rid this place of the demon who controls it with fear an intimidation. Armed only with his faith in God and some mystical spells and chemicals, he travels to the remote place and stands down this create of evil in a clash that is both artistically sublime and emotionally resonant.
These days, with the Catholic Church under fire on multiple fronts, its easy to forget that there is a strong history of faith and service there as well, and Hiti’s work is a testament to the idea that the Church’s purpose is still to achieve good works and spiritual guidance. And while I’m not even remotely Catholic, I can get behind that sentiment a hundred percent..
This is meant to be the first in a many volume series by Hiti, and there are plot threads laid down in this book that are clearly meant to be picked up later in the series. That said, this is still a “done in one” type of story that can be enjoyed on its own. And even if Hiti’s story doesn’t appeal to you, you can look at his layered and detailed art for hours and enjoy it. He’s a fantastic new talent, and I look forward to seeing what comes next. Grade: A-
Give me a visit at The Comics Waiting Room and Happy Nonsense if you would be so kind. Then pop back here in seven days for another exciting, death-defying SIBAM!
E-mail me from the link provided. Review materials may be sent to: Marc Mason, P.O. Box 26732, Tempe, AZ 85285
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