On the way to the mural I stopped by the comic shop for the first time in weeks. For those of you who’ve never been to Midtown comics in Times Square, going there on a Wednesday is like entering a total madhouse. You can barely get up to the shelves to grab a book. So as a follow up to my top five all-time comics last Blog, I’ve actually got some comics to review. Here goes…
1. The Goon #18
Far and away my favorite comic on the shelves today. Great writing, amazing art and a hilarious letter’s page. Plus a sweet pin-up by Mike Allred and a fun back-story.
2. The Escapists
A cool comic for a buck. I picked up one issue of the previous Escapist comic, but they were like 6 bucks a pop, so at that price, I dropped it. This relaunch is supposed to be at regular comic price, so with writing by Brian K. Vaughan and cool art by Philip Bond, you can’t go wrong. If you enjoyed by book by Michael Chabon, give this comic a shot.
3. Savage Dragon #127
Constantly one of the best superhero comics on the shelves. Erik Larsen now does all the art chores from writing to hand lettering. The Mr. Glum story has been a blast. If you’re tired of boring, drawn out stories about 2 heroes sipping coffee in a diner for 3 issues, pick up an issue of Dragon, it’s good ol’ superhero fun.
4. Eternals
I gave this a shot because of Romita Jr.’s art and because it’s a story created by Jack Kirby. I’ve never read a Neil Gaiman book… no Sandman, I tried the 1602 (I think that was the name) book he did a while back and I couldn’t get though it… just too darn slow for me. Unfortunately, this one is going the same way for me. The art is fantastic, I loved it, but I just don’t have the patience for a long story-setup. Sounds bad and I know Gaiman is a god among many comic fans, but it’s just not for me.
I’ve come to realize that I’m just into the recent trend in comics. I don’t know if it’s people writing for Trades or the influx of movie/television creators writing comics or whatever, but I grew up on Star Wars and Indiana Jones. Two seconds into Star Wars and we had a space battle and Three minutes later Darth Vader was kicking ass and we didn’t even know his name. Indiana Jones was in a cave after some gold statue and was running away from a giant rock before you settled into your seat. These are the kind of stories I like… give me action and let me put the pieces together as we go. “Hook ‘em early and often” I say. You’re probably reading this, Jared, I’d love to hear what you think of this stuff.
I’ll finish up with a picture I snapped in Soho last Saturday…
Thanks for Readin’.
--Gent
3 comments:
Ahhh..., "decompressed" storytelling. You can blame Warren Ellis for it because of his run on Stormwatch and The Authority. Of course he did it well. Those were both good comics. Just as Dark Knight Returns (also good) has given us decades of bad "grim and gritty" storytelling The Authority has given us years of bad "decompressed" storytelling. Nothing happens!
As I said in my blog I buy lots of comics that are just conversation. But I don't want that in my super-hero adventure comics. I think "My Dinner With Andre" is a great movie. It is nothing but dinner conversation between two people. That doesn't mean I want a twenty minute dinner scene in Star Wars. Adventure stories should play to their strengths and I don't think "decompressed" storytelling is one of them.
I guess that's why I've never like anything Ellis has done.
Ellis has some good stuff, Stormwatch, The Authority, Planetary, and Ocean come to mind. It's the stuff he cranks out for Marvel that is pretty bad. His nihilistic "secret agent (or super agent) who's seen too much" stuff is crappy too.
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