Oh! And if you need to hire someone, drop me a line!

Needless to say, that’s left very little time for reading comics over the past couple of weeks, so only one trade this week and a few floppies. If you want to see more reviews, offer me a job and get this search done with!

APPARAT VOL.1
Written by Warren Ellis
Drawn by Laurenn McCubbin, Jacen Burrows, Carla Speed McNeil and Juan Jose Ryp
Published by Avatar Press

This collection brings together another Ellis experiment, this one being his nod to the classic pulp magazines and comics of the mid-20th century. He hits four genres; science fiction with Ryp, detective noir with McNeil, pulp adventurers with Burrows, and heroic aviators with McCubbin. The stories play out to varying degrees of success, but as with most of Ellis’ experimentations, all are at least interestingly readable.

The book leads with “Angel Stomp Future,” which is really the one misfire in the collection. Rather than reading as a story, it plays as a pure polemic on the state of the future from the lead character, and it never stops sounding like Ellis wandering around talking to us like he’s wearing fetish drag. The concepts and ideas he espouses are fine; memetic psychology is something I enjoy reading about in my spare time as it is. But this just feels staid. Ryp’s astonishingly detailed art is so wondrous that your mind drifts away from Ellis’ words, and with a writer this clever that should never happen. If I had bought this as a single, I’d have been very disappointed.

Second story is the collaboration with McNeil, “Frank Ironwine.” A loving homage to the Holmesian school of drug-addled genius detectives, Ellis adds a bit of Chandler into the mix too. Ironwine comes complete with a befuddled new partner as well, so we are given the audience substitute character early enough to rouse our interest. The mystery is handled reasonably well, if predictable, and there’s an obvious seed for the superior FELL planted here. McNeil’s art is terrific, but the story doesn’t give her much room to spread her wings.

Next in the book is “Quit City,” the piece illustrated by McCubbin. This piece stands out in one unique way, which is that we tend to forget that the heroic aviator was a big part of the early pulps, and the one that got pushed to the side most as tastes changed. Of the four stories, this is also the most grounded and human, as the heroine spends the tale in exploration of inner airspace rather than the skies. It’s also the most open-ended concept because it leaves nothing set in stone by the time it ends. I’m on the record as being a huge fan of McCubbin’s art, so it’ll come as no surprise that I tell you how much I liked how the book looked.

Bringing the book to a close is “Simon Spector,” Ellis and Burrows’ take on the Doc Savage/Shadow/Quartermain type of pulp adventurer. In the sense of being a ‘pilot” episode, this story adheres closest to the rules: we meet Spector, see him work, discover his weakness, and get treated to a truckload of action along the way. I think Burrows is one of the more underrated and unappreciated guys working today, and nothing here dissuades me from that opinion. This is pretty. But this one is also the story that Ellis should continue directly as a prose tale, because that feels more like its natural habitat.

Of the four stories, I’d give on “A”, two “Bs”, and a “C.” I’d call that a reasonable result for an experiment of this nature. Ellis has announced that there will be a second wave of Apparat books in a different format (with different characters), so it’ll be interesting to see where he takes them.

SIBAM?

Of the four ideas, the one that would feel least derivative when seeing it onscreen is “Quit City.” The other pulp ideas have been played out on film in any number of ways, but the aviator has gone largely ignored (excepting SKY CAPTAIN, which no one actually watched). And starting the story with an emotionally damaged heroine who has left the skies works just fine; that gives the series plenty of room to play as Emma the Aviatrix finds solid ground beneath her and works her way back to the skies. Hollywood is filled with actresses in their late 20s who would kill for a part this good. I wonder if any of them will take notice?

SHORTIES

VAMPIRELLA: REVELATIONS #2
Written by Mike Carey and Drawn by Mike Lilly
Published by Harris Publications

The middle chapter of Carey’s “tidying” of the classic character’s origins reads, well, like a middle chapter. The first nine pages of the story are really almost pure exposition; necessary exposition for the most part, but it’s still a chore to trudge through them. The book picks up steam in the second half, as Vampi, who had been left in a mental state approximating childhood at he end of issue one, regains herself and begins the kicking of ass and taking of names as this section of the story closes. As an individual comic, it’s hard to be satisfied here, because this is definitely more serving the story as a whole rather than friendly to the new reader. However, It should be just fine once all chapters are collected under one cover in trade, though.

WALKING DEAD #25
Written by Robert Kirkman and Drawn by Charlie Adlard
Published by Image Comics

Kirkman’s solicitations have been promising that “everything changes” with the start of this issue. Now, I’ve been complaining that the book has slowed down to a snail’s pace as of late, so I was fully behind the idea of huge changes, but I still feel like slapping Kirkman around a bit for a little bait and switch. Yes, the last page has an absolutely huge cliffhanger, but everything leading up until then was still mostly treading water. Bad Kentuckian- no donut for you.

Still, I’m willing to forgive. The cast seemed a little saner, and one of my biggest questions about what would be in the prison that the characters weren’t using got answered. Plus, it carries along with the typical gorgeous Adlard artwork. This is also a bit friendlier as a jumping on point than the issue that started the last complete arc (number nineteen). Anyone who bought the omnibus (I looked at it in the store, and it’s a stunner) or who has been buying the trades can read this with some comfort. So maybe one donut, Beard Boy. But the other eleven are mine if you don’t come through next month.

SEA OF RED #8
Written by Rick Remender and Kieron Dwyer and Drawn by Paul Harmon
Published by Image Comics

SEA OF RED completes its miraculous resurrection from the dead with this conclusion to its second arc. I’m not sure I’ve seen a book have this wild a quality arc in recent memory; it started off brilliant, tanked horribly, scratched its way to the surface, and is now back at a high level. Image could polybag motion sickness pills with this comic and make a fortune.

Telling you too much about what happens here would spoil some interesting developments in the plot, but suffice it to say, Blackthroat and his merry band of undead pirates have a nifty showdown with Marco and the surface crew who found him, and that battle leads to an absolutely satisfying and glorious conclusion that gave me a great big happy. Why? Because one character’s fate, whether deserved or not, is so ironic and horrific that it made me want to spike a football when I was done reading. Apparently, the next volume will be backtracking to the past a bit, and oddly enough, I find myself thinking I’ll miss the modern characters. Who knew?

HACK/SLASH: LAND OF LOST TOYS #1
Written by Tim Seeley and Drawn by Dave Crosland
Published by Devil’s Due

For the first time, the adventures of Cassie and Vlad are being presented in miniseries form instead of as a one-shot. The duo, who track down and kill slasher killers, are invited to Mt. Healthy, Ohio, where a number of children have begun dying in their sleep. The suspected killer, however, I not Freddie Krueger; instead, it is the spirit of an evil little boy who was murdered by his father in an effort to prevent his maliciousness from spreading. Unfortunately, death hasn’t slowed down the little brat the slightest bit.

Giving the story more room to breathe turns out to be a capital idea, as it allows Seeley the time to develop a supporting cast for the book in ways the one-shots couldn’t. The young geek who brings the heroes to town is a nicely sympathetic character, and Seeley never sneers or looks down on him. Aiding and abetting the proceedings is the presence of Crosland, another artist of whose work I am very fond. This looks and reads like terrific fun.

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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