SCURVY DOGS: RAGS TO RICHES
Written by Andrew Boyd and Ryan Yount and Drawn by Yount
Published by AiT/PlanetLar

Larry Young is making 2005 very hard on himself as a publisher. Because frankly, he’s going to have to go a long way to put out a better book this year than this collection of the outstandingly funny SCURVY DOGS. This, folks, is what the trade paperback should be.

SCURVY first came to light in the summer of 2003. Flying under the amusing memetic banner of “Pirates Are The New Monkeys,” the Dogs were an immediate jolt to the funny bone, as Boyd and Yount showed pirates the complete lack of respect they deserved and created comic magic. Filled with sight gags (no one does fucked up labels quite like Yount) galore and witty dialogue (“let’s show these Portuguese lepers why we call them the ‘piñatas of the sea’”) to spare, SCURVY carved itself out a very distinctive niche in the market. And then much to their readers chagrin (including mine) Boyd and Yount shut it down, leaving a limited but memorable legacy with their band of insane pirates.

Reading this volume, I finally realized what a smart move that was on their part, and I mean that in the best possible way.

These five issues (and one extra story that appeared in a VAMPIRELLA magazine) lack a dud. There is nothing but solid material from the beginning here, stuff for the creators to be proud of. And now… they can’t fuck it up. Rather than running the risk of going on too long or losing their edge, this book stands up as the best thing they could have possibly done. Don’t you wish more creators (comics or otherwise) would figure that out? Wouldn’t pop culture have been better off if Thomas Harris had let go of Hannibal Lecter after SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, or if the HIGHLANDER saga would have ended after the first film? Of course it would.

Making this trade even better than the sum of its parts are the extras included. Boyd and Yount are given fourteen pages (in small type) at the end of the book wherein they provide DVD-style commentary on virtually every page in the five issues, right down to providing amusing notations on some of the smaller gags drawn into the panels. It’s well worth your time to sit and read what they have to say. There’s also a sketchbook, some more commentary on the covers, and a side-splittingly funny introduction by fellow AiT writer Adam Beechen. The book is packed.

Young and AiT produced a similar book in putting together a trade package for Matt Fraction’s REX MANTOOTH, but this trade really runs with the DVD concept and kicks it up a few levels. I’d like to see more packages like this, as they not only provide a good chunk of story and art for the reader to devour, but they simply provide a stronger package of greater value (financial and otherwise) for the consumer. SCURVY DOGS is one of the funniest comics of the past decade, and I’m pleased to see it get this kind of treatment. Grade: A

SIBAM?

SCURVY DOGS is one of those books that is perfect just the way it is. There’s no possible way that a film version could do the material justice and a cartoon would look stupid. The beats of the jokes and the visual presentation of the gags is what makes SCURVY succeed as a comic. I think there’s room to satirize pirates in a film, but it just wouldn’t work the same way that this comic does. And that’s perfectly fine. That’s the way it should be. Not every comic is conceived and produced with the idea of landing a film option. Some guys just want to make a comic they can be proud of and leave it at that.

VALENTINE VOL. 2: RED RAIN
Written and Drawn by Daniel Cooney
Published by Red Eye Press

I reviewed volume one of VALENTINE in this space a long time ago, and I felt pretty mezzo-mezzo about it. It was competently done, and it looked nice, but I wasn’t blown away by it, and it didn’t feel very fresh. I’m pleased to say, however, that volume two is a strong improvement over volume one. We’re past the opening setup for the character, and now she’s sort of drawn into a Yojimbo-style role in her life. Former assassin Dana Valentine is now living off the grid, getting therapy, and working in a small Italian restaurant for a man who has shown her kindness and helped save her life. Of course, killers like Dana can never hide forever, and soon trouble comes knocking for her benefactor, and she’s forced to sharpen up her skills. Of interesting note for this book is that even though Dana is an attractive female heroine, Cooney does a pretty good job of not over-sexualizing her. He also wisely depicts her body realistically in another way: Dana is covered in scars, front to back, from the wounds she’s suffered in her vocation. It was nice to give VALENTINE a second chance and find myself rewarded for it. I’ll be back for volume three, for sure. Grade: A-

THE PIN-UP ART OF DAN DECARLO
Edited by Alex Chun, Art Direction by Jacob Covey and Drawn by Dan DeCarlo
Published by Fantagraphics

San Diego, 2001. This is short time before we lost Dan, maybe one of his last major public appearances. I’m standing at his table, waiting for him to return from an engagement across the con floor somewhere, talking to his wife Josie. I bought a couple of his prints, and then he got back, sat down, and I finally got to meet one of my comics idols.

To know DeCarlo’s art was to love it, period. The man who defined the look of Archie Comics had a gift for capturing the innocence of youth, and yet he also understood that there was a very thin line between innocence and a hint of naughty. This book proves that he also had a gift for the slightly naughty as well. Culled from his contributions to the Humorama line of men’s humor magazines, these pages contain single-panel gags as well as some lovely pin-ups. They show DeCarlo at his finest, demonstrating a charmingly bawdy sense of humor and women who are the next generation of sexual development from Betty and Veronica; if they had grown up, you can tell from these pages that Archie Andrews was going to be a luckier man than we all thought.

I carried a sketchbook to cons back then, and I tentatively asked DeCarlo if he would please sketch something for me. Without skipping a beat, he simply asked me “Which one?” I had to laugh; he knew who his fans were, and what they wanted. No one ever asked for Archie. And why would they?

I asked for Veronica. I’ll treasure it for life. Grade: A+

BILL AND TED’S MOST EXCELLENT ADVENTURES VOL. 1
Written and Drawn by Evan Dorkin
Published by Slave Labor Graphics

I’m pretty close to being an Evan Dorkin fanboy. I admit it. I’ll pick up almost anything he does, even books that on the surface would hold no interest for me, including this one. And, as usual, it turned out to be worth the effort. I should have known.

The book kicks off with an interesting essay from Dorkin that really helped set my mind at ease. Like me, he was not a fan of the films starring the titular characters of the book. However, he was given the opportunity to work on the title, gain some exposure, and found himself with a lot of latitude to create some very loopy and out there comics, and he stuck it out. Smart guy, that Dorkin.

BILL AND TED shows an early Dorkin developing his sense of story and figuring out how to lay out the beats to his jokes. Saddled with two characters who could really annoy the shit out of you on the big screen, he wisely tones them down and delves into creating a stellar supporting cast for the duo. Death himself plays a strong role in the second film (and the adaptation of the film opens this book), and Dorkin keeps the Grim Reaper around as he gets into his original stories, putting him into various roles from vacationing tourist to the boys’ band manager. It’s funny stuff, and you get the feeling that Dorkin could have happily jettisoned Bill and Ted and done a monthly book about Death’s wacky adventures without thinking twice.

The only real problems in this volume are in two spots: the original series, which ran at Marvel, was in color, so the art has been gray-toned for black and white printing, and the quality is a bit spotty. The book is also printed at the smaller manga size, which makes some of Dorkin’s artistic details look muddy. Still, this is worth checking out. It isn’t the Dorkin we know now, the creator of DORK and some of the single best comics in the past decade, but as a primer for whom he was going to be, it’s invaluable. Grade: B+

BACK TO THE IMAGE THING…

MINISTRY OF SPACE
Written by Warren Ellis and Drawn by Chris Weston

MOS was one of the more infamous comics projects of the last five years. The three-issue mini got off to a decent enough start; the first one came out to a decent response, and you couldn’t deny that it was, artistically, a thing of pure beauty. The second of three issues shipped a bit late, and while it looked good, there were rumbles that the book was, well, boring. That nothing was really happening in Ellis’ alternate future look at what would have happened if the British would have wound up with the German rocket scientists after World War Two, instead of the Americans. And then the bottom really fell out; the last issue of the book went on a lengthy hiatus due to varying factors, and it was well over a year before the third and final issue was going to ship. And at that point, there was going to be nothing the book could do to rescue it from its critics. Hell, even I was sort of disappointed when I finally read it.

That’s what makes the trade paperback edition so surprising. Read as a whole, you can get a much cleaner look at Ellis’ broader goals in telling the tale. Taken in one sitting, MOS is a romance about a monster, John Dashwood, going to great lengths for the beauty of getting to space and beyond. Ellis has always had an undercurrent of wonder and awe in his stories about exploration and space, and this one is no different. The difference here is that Ellis’ protagonist is as unpleasant as he’s ever created. Dashwood is the kind of man that Spider Jerusalem would work overtime to expose or that Elijah Snow would dedicate his life and resources to destroy. And yet there are bits of him, and his goals, that you can’t help admire and respect. The kicker to Dashwood’s lust for progress comes on the final page, another bone of controversy for critics of the series, and reading it fresh, it doesn’t bother me as much as it did when I first read it in pamphlet form. Technological progress has always sacrificed the progress of moral development. It’s still wonky, but I see Ellis’ point clearer now. And if that doesn’t entice you at all, then you should still take a look at the book for Weston’s art. The first page of the book alone is one of the most beautiful pieces you’ll find in recent memory. Grade: A-

BEYOND AVALON #1
Written by Joe Pruett and Drawn by Goran Sudzuka

BEYOND AVALON is a rarity for a mainstream comics publisher these days: a book almost exclusively created and marketed for the young female audience. Princess Megan lives in a strange and far-off land, surrounded by wise advisors and a father who is constantly emotionally distant. She spends her days with her schooling and training to be a warrior. And when her father abandons the kingdom to cross the ocean (which may just be a dimensional gulf) the young warrior woman decides to pack up her belongings, grab a boat, and sail off in search of her father… and her destiny. There’s a certain sense of fairy tale to it all, but Sudzuka’s very clean line and defined characters lend a sense of maturity to the look of the book. Plus, he doesn’t pander to a possible male audience in the horrific way that Crossgen’s MERIDIAN did. Not a panty shot to be found. I want to see some more character development as the book goes along, to prove it can pull the audience, but this is a pleasant enough start. Grade: B+

THE RIDE: FOREIGN PARTS
Written by Chuck Dixon and Ron Marz and Drawn by Rob Haynes and Chris Brunner

THE RIDE is a nifty little anthology book (headed towards being a yearly annual) wherein the stories are tied together in one fashion: they each feature (in some manner) a classic Camaro. Dixon’s story returns us to Vietnam and follows one soldier’s dedication to being a better man than most, while Marz’ effort is an homage to films like HARD BOILED and INFERNAL AFFAIRS. Each has their points of interest: Dixon’s story is surprisingly upbeat in the face of the consequence of the war. And Marz’ story is focused on the pure storytelling of artist Brunner: the dialogue, excepting the final page, is all in Chinese calligraphy, meaning that the reader is completely forced to rely on following the panels to grasp what’s happening. And I could, easily enough. Of course, what I didn’t know until I’d finished is that there’s a translation provided at the end of the comic, but that would have been cheating, really. I’m interested in seeing the trade of all these stories now. Grade: B+ DETONATOR #2
Written by Mike Baron and Drawn by Mel Rubi

I’ve always liked Mike Baron’s work, and I’m pleased to see him back in comics a bit more. That said, I’m not quit sure what to make of this effort. DETONATOR is the story of a man named Frank Grace who seems to have an abiding love for blowing shit up and killing people, but from what I read here, I’m not entirely certain if he’s a good or bad guy. Now, normally, I wouldn’t complain about that, but there are certain aspects to what happens in this issue where it would be helpful. There’s a front cover recap, which is helpful to a point, but with it being a second issue, it would be helpful to not only recap the character’s bio, but exactly what happened in issue one. Still, Baron puts his talent for high-end action on display, and Mel Rubi does a nice job of illustrating the violence and destruction that Grace and his enemies dish out. I wasn’t blown away by this book, but it still has the potential to grab me in the future. Grade: B-

PVP #14
Written and Drawn by Scott Kurtz

More wacky hijinx from Kurtz’ crew of gamers and geeks, as this issue finds them setting up a table at Comic-Con International in San Diego. That allows Kurtz to spread his satirical targeting to things like “booth babes” and the financial troubles of the alternative presses. The pokes at the small publishers caused quite a stir when Kurtz originally ran the strips online, and it’s easy to see why: there’s a very subtle difference between being satirical and just being mean to people who are close to being out of work and out of their homes. The stronger material in the issue actually arrives when Kurtz introduces his friend and fellow Image creator, Robert Kirkman, as a character. The sequence of Kirkman actually wearing the INVINCIBLE costume may haunt me forever. I was fortunate to meet Kirkman last fall, and no one with that much facial hair should ever EVER wear Spandex. Brrrrrrr. Grade: Be afraid. Be very afraid.

ULTRA #6-7
Written and Drawn by the Luna Brothers

I’d basically been enjoying LUNA through the first four issues, but the issue five hit, and it left me feeling pretty sour, as the ending just tanked. I’m pleased to report, however, that the Lunas do a decent job of getting back on track with these two issues, as the book races towards its conclusion. Ultra finds herself still mired in the scandal she inadvertently created by sleeping with a sleazebag who sold photos to the tabloids, but she’s doing her best to move on with her life and be the best possible hero she can be. She also finds herself stuck in the middle of a new storm when the annual Superhero Awards (the metahuman version of the Oscars) roll around, and she has to decide whether to show up and risk causing further controversy. It’s this portion of the story that actually really grabbed me; in the Lunas’ world of tabloids and super-celebrity, it only seems bizarrely natural that there are annual rewards for the best heroing. The ending once again feels a little false, as Ultra does a silly bit of wrestling with the implications of a “gift bag” trinket, but I’ll let this one slide a lot easier than the ending to issue five. Grade: B+

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