Backwash - Newly Discovered Comics: ONEPLUSONE

This is the first installment of Backwash, which will talk about newly discovered older comics that are a bit under the radar.

Just today I had my first excursion to the local half-price bookstore. I was excited when I saw that they had a plentiful supply of comics and graphic novels - at least twice as many as I usually see at a used bookstore. I find it kind of ironic that discount stores are intended to save you money, but since you're more willing to buy something for discount than you would at a higher price, you end up spending more money than you would have otherwise. Anyways, I walked out with more than a few good finds: the entire Warren Ellis run of Ultimate Fantastic Four, Will Eisner's Last Day in Vietnam, the first volume of Hellboy, the first five issues of Doktor Sleepless, and on pure impulse, a book on Oni Press that caught my eye called OnePlusOne.

I have a pretty good batting average with works from Oni Press lately. They've published everything by Bryan Lee O'Malley, which has all been brilliant work, especially with Scott Pilgrim becoming one of my favorite comics ever. They also boast some of Greg Rucka's best works, including both Whiteout and Queen and Country. Needless to say, their editors seem to have pretty good taste.

Could a little label on the side of the book predict how good it is? In this case, it turned out to be true.

Okay, well I didn't buy it just because it was on Oni. From flipping through it, the cover aesthetic looked kind of noirish and neat, and the interior art looked pretty sharp. And hell, it was like 6 bucks, so if I didn't like it it wouldn't be a big waste.

The book was pretty damn good in a way I wasn't expecting. What begins as a short story about a man who is able to see the future physical mutilations or deaths of everybody he sees turns into a story about a gambler that is slowly ruining his life.

But knowing this won't really in any way prepare you for what you're going to read. The comic combines strong expressions of many of the prevailing trends in comics - it gives a haunting and frighteningly real portrayal of the stark day-to-day mundanities and troubles, while at the same time crossing into the supernatural and surrealistic in a way that is subtle and preserves the tone of the story. It's possibly the most terrifying comic I've read since reading Charles Burns' Black Hole. Stylistically it's even pretty similar to his work, as well as the work of Daniel Clowes.

The only legitimate criticism I can levy on it is that the ending was brief, disappointing, and even predictable from the events leading up to it.

It says "Volume 1" on the side of it, but I'm not sure if there has been any more published work. Would love to read more.

Comics I Read This Week 1: 8/28/2008

First post!

I finally became presumptuous enough to think people care about my opinions about comic books. While the world has plenty of comic book blogs, I checked today, and there was a need for *one* more. So here we go.

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Comics I Read This Week:

1. NEW AVENGERS #44 - Secret Invasion Tie-In
   
   I should start by saying that I'm not even reading the main Secret Invasion storyline or reading any of the other-tie ins. Lately, I've decided to actually boycott big cross-overs altogether. The problem with the last three big cross-overs at Marvel, namely House of M, Civil War, and World War Hulk, is that there were many moments that they would forego with the story altogether in order to introduce some big status-quo shaking moments in the Marvel Universe. House of M said no more mutants from now on (a poor decision in retrospect), Civil War said everything is government controlled, and World War Hulk, well, introduced the Red Hulk and did some strange things to Bruce Banner that I can't even remember.
   
   I figured the same thing would happen with Secret Invasion. My prediction was there would be some major punch to the early issues, there would be a lot of suspense for the last few, and then the whole last issue would be a big trailer for 1o or 15 different Marvel books. Whoopee.
   
   So, why did I buy this issue? Simply becuase it pertains to The Illuminati. And ever since they've been introduced by Bendis, they've been pretty damn awesome. Their dialogue in the Sentry storyline was pretty much the only cool thing in that whole story, the pre-Civil War Illuminati discussions really hit on the "tough questions and tough solutions" angle that the whole main series should have been about, and the 5 issue Illuminati mini-series had awesome, well-written stories featured during the Kree-Skrull War or the Infinity Gauntlet eras of the Marvel U.
   
   The kicker? The Illuminati are cool in nearly every scenario, no matter how dull the main story is. This issue was no exception, doing a done-in-one story discussing a major unexplained facet of the Skrull invasion up to this point. Full of twists and turns, this issue was really Bendis on his game in the way he hasn't always been while writing New Avengers.
   
   Worth buying, even if you're not reading Secret Invasion.
   
   
2. RUNAWAYS #1
   
   Only bad people don't like The Runaways.
   
   Seriously. I don't understand how anybody could read Brian K. Vaughan's 40 issue run, in which he single handedly created an original action/adventure/sci-fi/romance/teen drama that is possibly Marvel's most accessible title. I'll go as far as to say that Runaways is my favorite Brian K Vaughan comic, easily going to toe-to-toe with Brian K. Vaughan's other should-be-mainstream hit drama Y: The Last Man. The comic created a cast that was a whole-new cast of teenagers turned superheroes after their discovery that their parents are supervillains bent on taking over the world. One's a mutant, one's a superpowered alien, one's a magician, one has a pet dinosaur, one uses a set of high-tech gloves... The assortment on the team is a smorgasboard sampling of all the corners of the Marvel universe, while the story simultaneously never hinged on convulted character histories or continuity.
   
   If you haven't read it, read Vaughan's 7 volume run on the story. It would rank easily in Marvel's Top 5 books of the last 10 years (a list I should make at some point). And with each trade ringing up at only 8 bucks a pop, I'll be insulted if you don't read it.
   
   This issue marks the introduction of Terry Moore and Humberto Ramos to the book, which is the second creative team to take over since Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona. The first being Joss Whedon and Michael Ryan who did a fairly disappointing 6 issue run that didn't really hit on all storytelling cylinders the way Vaughan did with his writing. Freshly returned to present day Los Angeles after their sojourn to 1907's New York, the team is in their chronological and geographical home. Not much happened in the way of plot in this issue, and the pace was rather slow, but the dialogue was spot-on. Moore clearly has these characters down and could probably have some of them rally a conversation for 5 issues straight and still have it be engaging to read. I'm hoping the plot picks up in the next couple of issues. Terry Moore could still be one of those talents like Robert Kirkman who is just unable to adapt to writing the Marvel characters.
   
   Who knows? Buy it only if you've already everything up to this point, otherwise it won't make a lick of sense.
   
   
3. THE IMMORTAL IRON FIST #18
   
   I started picking this one up in issues because the Fraction/Brubaker/Aja run of the book introduced a whole new appreciation of the character. Seriously - before those guys came in and revamped the book, character, and mythos, nobody really gave a shit about the character. He was some kind of lame, kung-fu superhero. Oooo! He can turn his fists to a fiery gold by focusing his chi! Who cares? Well, Matt Fraction made me care.
   
   This marks the second issue since the disheartening departure of the original team at issue 16. While the writing exemplified a lot of the qualities that made the Fraction run great, like peppy dialogue, fast pace, cool action - the new artist just can't make a lot of the action and motion cool. Couldn't David Aja at least have stuck around to draw the book? His action sequences were so good, they made me want to go out and kick some ass myself. That doesn't happen too often in action in American comics, where most fight sequences are represented by big splash pages showing every character locking horns with someone, but not really telling any story or revealing the pace of the battle. A lot of nothing going on, really. See the Bendi'ss Avengers books for examples.
   
   I'm buying it because I really want it to pick up and be really good. Maybe it will? It's continuing a cool storyline at least, investigating the mysterious deaths of all of the Iron Fists at the age of 33, after what event but Danny Rand's 33rd birthday! Heh. Picked a hell of a time to do that.
   
   
4. KICK-ASS #4
   
   Fuck yeah. Waited what, 2 or 3 months to get this?
   
   I can't talk about it without seriously spoiling what's going on. The third issue had such a big kick-in-the-face ending that the 3 month waiting period to the next issue was pretty gruesome and lonely.
   
   This issue was just as satisfying and violent as all of the ones up to this point in the continuing saga of this sick and twisted take on a superhero existing in a real world. Sure, jaw-dropping violence is easy to fill a comic with, but to do it within the context of a fast-paced, twist-laden, big emotional drama is icing on the cake.
   
   Notice how the katana girl's cape is held together by a padlock? What an awesome design. Frankly, seeing this cover should make you buy the issue. This is amounting to my favorite Mark Millar comic yet.
   
   
5. SUPERMAN #679
   
   Yeah, I probabably shouldn't buying this.
   
   It's just that something needs to tie me over until the next issue of All-Star Superman comes out. And what an issue that will be! Can't wait to read it (and review it)! Reading this issue made me really wonder why it couldn't be more like All-Star Superman. This 4 issue storyline about Atlas that this is 3 parts of the way through probably could have been told in less than one issue if Grant Morrison was writing it.
   
   James Robinson is the current writer of Superman. While I haven't read anything by him, I've heard nothing about pretty damn close to orgasming praise for his run of Starman, which I'm really anxious to read. I'm not sure if my boredom at his Superman writing is more due to his writing ability or due to DC's editorial decisions - I'm guessing it's more the latter.
   
   So yeah, Atlas is still beating up Superman. Somehow he's pretty helpless, and that hasn't really been explained. Supergirl apparently can't do anything either. Who comes to save him? Not the Green Lantern (who was around earlier in the story), not Batman, not the JLA, but KRYPTO, the WONDER DOG!
   
   Yep. The next issue is going to be about Krypto saving the day. Stay tuned and I'll review it. And yes, this is the only issue for which I revealed significant details about the story. That's because the story was so dull I figured most readers wouldn't mind it being revealed to them.
   

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I'm going to try to do this every week. If you're curious about how (badly) I spend my money, stay tuned!