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By Marc Mason

December 13, 2005

RING ‘EM UP, SIT ‘EM DOWN

We’re into the stretch run of 2005 now, with only this week and next week’s column to go before I present this year’s “10 Not To Miss” list. Of course, I still have ninety-six million comics to read, so not all of them will be eligible to make the list. This week, it’s 2005’s last go around with Image. This was really the year that the company truly came into its own and began fulfilling its potential, and adding Desperado and Beckett’s lines into the mix made them even better. Sales-wise, Marvel and DC were the champs as far as traditional, mainstream American publishers go. But for diversity and quality of product, this was Image’s year. They’ve come a long way. Hats off to ‘em. Here's a baker's dozen of their books for your reading pleasure:

FADE FROM GRACE
Written by Gabriel Benson and Drawn by Jeff Amano

FADE is a very good blend of the superhero and romance genres, focusing its efforts on a couple for which love is everything. When a fire envelops their apartment building and Grace is trapped inside, he manifests powers for the first time in his life, powers that allow him to change his density to move through solid objects or become hard enough to stop bullets. The underlying question never answered is exactly why he gained those powers, but the story leaves little doubt in the mind of a romantic soul that it happened because he loves Grace so much that it changed the laws of physics for him.

Of course, with all power comes a price, and whether it is evil discovering who he really is and threatening Grace or the toll of his powers on his body, John is non-exempt. However, what always remains true are his motives, which are pure. John and Grace are in love, true love, and getting home to one another is all that matters.

What makes FADE work so well is that it never deviates from its course. It never surrenders to many of the clichés that surround the superhero genre. Instead, it follows the character logic built into the story and takes the tale to a conclusion that, while not satisfying to my heart, still works for what is necessary to reach a meaningful resolution. As a love story, it rings true, and compares favorably to the great TRUE STORY SWEAR TO GOD in the sincerity with which it approaches the topic.

But better than Benson’s fine work with the story is Amano’s art, which is an incredible explosion of life and color on the page. Shape and hue form many of the panels, eschewing black lines which would detract from the emotional commitment of what he’s putting on the page. This is a pretty, pretty book, yet when the scene calls for Amano to bring a bit of darkness and action onto the screen, he handles it with ease and in a style that meshes with the rest of the book. This is accomplished stuff. FADE FROM GRACE is a book that would appeal to non-traditional readers of comics, especially women over thirty, but I have no problem recommending it for just about anyone. This is a very enjoyable read.

SIBAM?

Hollywood is right now investing itself into non-traditional superhero tales, with upcoming films such as TONIGHT, HE COMES and SUPER EX. If those films prove to be box-office successes, I can easily see a smart producer snapping up this book and handing it off to someone like Reese Witherspoon. There’s an audience for this kind of material out there, you just have to get the product into their hands.

RUULE: GANGLORDS OF CHINATOWN
Written by Ivan Brandon and Drawn by Mike Hawthorne

Take the biblical story of Gideon, modernize it in a dystopian era filled with street gangs running San Francisco, and you get this hyper-violent action tale. His community beset by an evil gang of bikers, Gideon is visited by the Lord and given a mission to rally his people and drive the evil from their lands. But will he find the power of leadership too much and succumb to his own worst impulses before the mission is completed? The execution here is good, but the book has rough spots because we never fully invest ourselves in Gid or are given enough reason to believe that his left-hand woman Cue would fall for him in a meaningful manner. A book that looks great and reads well, but falls just short of being something truly stupendous because of a lack of emotional depth.

ST. GERMAINE: SHADOWS FALL
Written by Gary Reed and Drawn by Vince Locke

Occult writer Manny Chancu is contacted by the mysterious St. Germaine with an interesting offer: write his life story. It seems that St. Germaine is an immortal, and he is ready to give up his eternal life. But before doing so, he wishes to pass on his story. On the surface, certainly, there is an obvious comparison to INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE, but Reed gets away from that quickly, focusing on St. Germaine’s long-running affair with another immortal, Lilith. Lilith is a far more emotional creature, and she takes great pride in sustaining herself upon the sins and omissions of others, using her shadows to suck away their very lives and memories. Bt as it turns out, St. Germaine may not be entirely innocent in that area himself. SHADOWS is quite engaging, and not as complicated as it appears on the surface, but the best reason to take a look at it is the wonderful black and white work by Locke. Gorgeously detailed and rich, it’s worth the price of the book alone.

NYC MECH VOL.1: LET’S ELECTRIFY
Written by Ivan Brandon and Miles Gunter and Drawn by Andy MacDonald

This trio’s vision of New York is quite similar to the one that exists in our world. Except, of course, that every living thing in it is a machine, including the people. Yet this book and those machines are about nothing more than the exploration of their own humanity, so once you look past that aspect, you realize you’re not reading anything unusual, robots or not. The characters are fascinating, from a crew of robbers who are strictly looking for cash for food, to an unemployed man who fakes being a cop to impress his sister, the motivations that drive the mecha folks are the same ones that drive us all. The only moment that truly sticks out as being “sci-fi” in the whole book, however, is also the funniest. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but when your food maker is also responsible for making other things that are important for your life, you shouldn’t rag on it and treat it like shit. Sci-fi or not, the book would assuredly not work without an artist capable of selling the look of this world, and MacDonald does amazing work. Buy it for a goth friend.

GIRLS VOL.1: CONCEPTION
Written and Drawn by The Luna Brothers

I’ve been fairly outspoken in my disappointment in this book through its first five issues. The Lunas’ first book, ULTRA, was terrific fun, but GIRLS hasn’t lived up to that effort’s potential as of yet. This volume adds issue six to the mix, which is very helpful, because it finally shows the book getting off the ground.

The primary problem so far has been two-fold. One, not a single one of the characters has felt real to me, nor likeable. The book is set in a small town with a heavy rural component, and having grown up in one of those, it has read to me like The Lunas have tapped every bad stereotype in the book for the population. Plus, the lead character, Ethan, is a dick, and I often find myself wishing they’d kill him off. The second problem I’ve had with the book is the pace. Glacial would be generous. It isn’t until issue six, which finally puts the pedal down and gives the book some gas, that things really start moving. Finally, there’s some real meat to the plot, and we get a better idea of why there are a number of naked women running around killing people, besides the fact that it must be fun to draw. As a side note, issue seven continued the improvement trend, so there may be hope for this one yet. It isn’t like the creators aren’t capable, after all.

IMAGE HOLIDAY SPECIAL 2005
Written and Drawn by Various

A healthy number of creators putting books out through the company contribute short stories with a holiday theme in this zippy little book. From the opening gag, where Erik Larsen’s SAVAGE DRAGON baddie Mr. Glum is spotted peeing a message in the snow, you get the sense that this is all in very good fun, and terrific creators like Scott Kurtz (PVP), Robert Kirkman & Charlie Adlard (WALKING DEAD), Jay Faerber (NOBLE CAUSES), Brian Haberlin (SPAWN), and Eric Stephenson & Tim Seeley (SCENES FROM A BAR ON CHRISTMAS) follow along with fine efforts behind him. There are a couple of misses, including a GRAY AREA tale that lacks an ending, but over all, good fun.

KANE VOL.5: THE UNTOUCHABLE RICO COSTAS
Written and Drawn by Paul Grist

Gah! Okay, I love KANE. Love Grist’s work. When you pull his stuff off the shelf, you’re pretty much guaranteed some brilliant material. But damn, is it frustrating: this reprint was due back in February, which means if you were waiting on the trade to read KANE, you were really, really waiting.

What you get, however, is wonderful. Volume four is really about the absence of Kane from his own book and the bolstering of the supporting cast. Now, he’s back, entwined with the fate of Mr. Costas, who gives up his protection from the police in exchange for police protection and discovers that might not be enough to save his neck from the forces that want him dead. It seems there’s a legendary assassin known as “The Blind Man” who has been charged with removing Rico from the face of the Earth, and no one has yet to stop him. And what happens if he turns his eye to Kane himself?

As usual, Grist’s art is amazing, printed on heavy paper stock to absorb the lush inks and play up the boldness of the shapes and designs. KANE is as good a comic you can find, if and when it actually appears. Just don’t get too attached… or hold your breath.

INDUSTRY OF WAR: ACT ONE
Written by Andrew Lelling and Jordan Raskin and Drawn by Raskin

A number of military battlesuits have disappeared and hit the open weapons market, creating the necessity for special governmental agents to track them down and retrieve them before the knowledge can get public. But what happens when a former gang-banger, fresh out of prison and ready to reform, winds up with possession of the suit and a large number of bad men on his tail? With agendas collide? And will he live long enough to be unfairly sent back to prison? There’s a solid story here, and Raskin provides some incredible visuals, as he finally returns to comics after making a huge splash and vanishing back in the mid-90s. The rust does show at times, however, as the action becomes a bit unclear and the people aren’t as differentiated as you’d sometimes like. Part of that comes from the book being in black and white, which shows off his incredible sense of detail, but takes away from being able to use color to tell people’s clothing apart. Taken essentially from a screenplay, here’s your first 40 minutes of the film.

NEGATIVE BURN: SUMMER 2005
Written and Drawn by Various

Another book late enough that it must have emptied the store shelves of home pregnancy tests, here we finally get the latest edition of NEGATIVE BURN. Longtime readers know that I’m a huge fan of NB, having devoured the original series as it came out a decade ago, and as usual, I enjoyed this fine effort. However, there was a higher percentage of “misses” for me in this new anthology. That didn’t stop me from falling in love with Phil Hester’s “Life On Pluto” or Richard Case’s “Lorelei’s Library Of Curiosities” though. Those two alone were worth the price of the book. Plus, you get a wonderful Brian Stelfreeze cover to boot. I’m not sure if there was a Winter 2006 edition solicited, but I hope we see it before June; NEGATIVE BURN is worth the wait, but if you don’t have to, why?

DEATH JR.
Written by Gary Whitta and Drawn by Ted Naifeh

I reviewed the three individual issues that make up this collection individually, so I don’t want to over do it here. I loved this book, without reservations: it’s cute, charming, funny, and the writing and art are top notch. DEATH JR. straddles the line between child and adult entertainment perfectly, making this an all-ages book that truly will appeal to readers of all ages. Beneath the simple story at its core, where we have a boy trying to make his father proud and yet assert his independence at the same time, we have a subtle layer of commentary about the challenges faced by kids who feel different or who aren’t accepted by their peers. The message, about remaining true to who you are and what your gifts bring to the world, is a good one, for all of us. There may not have been a better book to give a kid in 2005. Check it out.

THE WALKING DEAD VOL.4: HEART’S DESIRE
Written by Robert Kirkman and Drawn by Charlie Adlard

Kirkman’s best book hit a rough patch in this volume, as the series sat still in the prison environment, and some of the momentum that the book uses new locations to build with evaporated. That isn’t to say that there isn’t quality reading here; there’s plenty of it. But I think it has reached the point where there’s a need for an infusion of energy.

Volume four focuses on the continued breakdown of lead character Rick, as his ability to lead the group of survivors takes a nasty hit as a creeping sense of panic and paranoia begins working its way through his soul. Parts of it really work well; it feels right for him to finally come to the point of despair. But his book-ending speech feels completely overwrought, and it sucks the life out of the plotline just as it’s coming to a climax.

The book still looks great, as Charlie Adlard continues to do brilliant things here. The book has truly become his, much like Ryan Ottley has really made INVINCIBLE his own. You could take away every panel of dialogue written by Kirkman, and you’d still have a desire to sit and read through Charlie’s remarkable work. Kirkman has promised a shift in the direction of the book starting next issue, so it looks like the whole enchilada should be getting back on track soon enough. My fingers are crossed.

INVINCIBLE VOL.5: THE FACTS OF LIFE
Written by Robert Kirkman and Drawn by Ryan Ottley

Volume five of this book can read a little bit random and unfocused, but it still finds Kirkman in top form for the most part. The primary plot here is Mark’s decision whether to tell his girlfriend, Amber, that he’s a superhero or not. Being Invincible has put a huge damper on his ability to be a good boyfriend, and that might be the one way to save their relationships. And it also might have the by-product of helping him solve another nagging problem, that of his lingering virginity…

In between his girl problems, Mark must also deal with reanimated bodies in robotic suits, mutli-versal threats, and odd dimensions made of darkness, but compared to figuring out how to get your costume off for sex, that’s nothing, right?

Over at The Comics Waiting Room, I recently reviewed the latest single issue of this book (#27) and had a very similar critique of it as I did with WALKING DEAD up above: the book has slowed down too much. But that problem begins to manifest itself after this volume. Here, you get good, solid storytelling at a good pace, and characters that feel and act right on the page. INVINCIBLE remains one of the best superhero genre books on the market, period.

PVP VOL.3: RIDES AGAIN
Written and Drawn by Scott Kurtz

Finally, we wrap up the year in Image with the latest collection of Kurtz’ PVP. I recently wrote on this book in this space, so I won’t belabor the point, but suffice it say, as much as I enjoy getting the individual issues of PVP every month, I’m far more delighted to sit and read the collections, which are longer and much more substantial. This book reprints some of the year’s funnier storylines, including when the crew has a booth at San Diego Comic-Con. Kurtz amusingly throws in encounters with Robert Kirkman, Ryan Ottley, and Kurtz himself and does a nice job of poking fun at con follies. On the flip side, he also continues his poking at alt-comix, which are a bit too over-the-top to actually make the point he’s aiming at. Plus, this volume adds my favorite new character to the cast, the cat, named Scratch Fury, Destroyer Of Worlds. Scratch, who is turned hyper-intelligent by a wacky device, is a perfect addition to the PVP crew, and a perfect foil for Skull the troll. Good fun for the geek on your shopping list.

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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