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By Marc Mason

December 21, 2004

YEAR END POTPOURRI: PART DEUX

This one’s short and to the point. Four books, and then next week, I’ll be back with my year-end Top Ten, closing out what has been a fascinating 2004. Onward…

DEAD@17 VOL.2: BLOOD OF SAINTS
Written and Drawn by Josh Howard
Published by Viper Comics

A couple of months ago I reviewed volume one of this hit series and was, sadly, not as enthralled with it as many readers were. It all felt a little too familiar to me, and I had difficulty getting past that. That’s the breaks of reviewing, you know?

Happily, however, along comes volume two and it’s a vast leap forward for Howard and his concept. Freed from having to set his plot in motion and create a complex back-story while trying to grab the reader by the lapels and entertain him at the same time, Howard starts considering the broader implications of his story and finding new niches to fill in his universe.

His first smart step is to create a perfect villain for his dead heroine to square off against: her literal opposite number, a girl who takes her own life and accepts the demonic power that protagonist Nara rejected in the first book. That immediately ups the stakes, and draws together the disparate characters for a nasty clash that Howard properly builds up the stakes for. The tale also leaves room for some terrific character moments as well, including a wonderful moment where a disguised Nara talks to her parents and treads the very thin line of discovery.

Revolving his story about choices and personal consequences likely speaks to the younger reader in a more understandable manner than most modern comics, and while I still have issues with Howard’s art (and telling the characters apart), this is a step forward, and I’m definitely more intrigued to see where this goes. Grade: A-

SIBAM?

I continue to have no doubt that, one day, we’ll see DEAD adapted to the silver screen. There’s just too much potential money to be made at the box office for it not to happen. Cute teenage girls, demons, heavy action quotient, blood and gore… the 13-25 demo eats this stuff up and propels movies to number one opening weekends time after time after time.

DAISY CUTTER: THE LAST TRAIN #2
Written and Drawn by Kazu Kibuishi
Published by Viper Comics

On the other hand, I absolutely dug issue one of this space-set western, and I continue to dig it upon reading issue two. The story moves along a bit slowly, as the issue is nearly equal parts character moments and exposition, but it all goes down so pleasantly that you barely realize that’s what’s happened. Kibuishi’s art is stunning, combining a sort of animated feel with lovely graytones, and setting the mood and introducing the milieu perfectly. As Daisy finds herself backed into a corner, having lost her livelihood last time out, we get the chance to take her measure and discover just how formidable she can be, even if it’s simply in using the right word to cut at a man who’s wronged her. The book also contains a tremendously fun backup story by a gent named Jake Parker, making this four-dollar book a real bargain. Grade: A

JAY’S DAYS VOL. 3
Written and Drawn by Jason Marcy
Published by Landwaster Books

Marcy, a Canadian cartoonist, is one of the more interesting autobiographical artists working today. While many who work in that genre engage in far too much navel gazing, and almost inevitably wind up talking too much about how much they masturbate, Marcy instead focuses on his other issues. Many are sexual: attractions to women other than his wife, lusting after girls who are more than just a bit younger than him top the list; however, he also explores his own sense of irresponsibility as he toils at a job that he knows he should be better than and suddenly finds himself on the cusp of fatherhood. And fatherhood isn’t necessarily what he starts out looking for. Special notice for his discussion about how the SARS epidemic affected the Canadian national health system is due as well. You may not read the book and like Marcy, but he presents himself as a fully rounded human being, warm and angry, loving and hateful. Grade: B+

IN MY DARKEST HOUR
Written and Drawn by Wilfred Santiago
Published by Fantagraphics Books

On the flip side, it’s almost too difficult to drum up any like or sympathy for the protagonist of this artistically stunning graphic novel. Omar is a clinically depressed and self-loathing young man who refuses to medicate, which only enhances the worst parts of his basic nature. He’s selfish, unfaithful, and harboring an emotional violence that, when released, destroys everything in its path. You can’t really like Omar, but Santiago tells his story so well, with such grief and passion, that you can’t tear your eyes away from the page. And what pages they are! Coming out of the Sienkiewicz school of abstract work, the level of detail in some of these pages is astonishing. The book is worth looking at on that basis alone. Grade: B+

I’ll be back next year to put a point on ’04. Peace out.

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

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