What's in the Little Blue Bag? Week of Aug. 26, 2009

I still haven't managed to make it to my local comic book store on a regular basis. Near the end of the summer break I was able to hit it a couple of weeks in a row. But with the third week of the fall semester under way, the promise of making it in more than a couple of times a month seems very unlikely. So even though some of these have been out for a while, they're what I've been reading recently.

The Amazing Spider-Man #601 by Mark Waid:
I admit it. I bought this issue purely for the cover. I love it. A lot. But I can honestly say it isn't simply because MJ is forcing forward a pair of breasts massively disproportionate to her waist or the way her hips curve beneath those torn jeans or how full and voluptuous her red hair looks (though I'd be lying if I didn't say they were contributing factors). No, what I love about this cover is the expression on her face.

My favorite part of the second Spider-man movie was the final shot: the one where MJ has just told Pete she loves him, and they share a kiss. But then the police sirens beckon to him, and she urges him on. And after a city-swinging montage, the camera refocuses on MJ, and slowly fades out as the love-induced smile on her face fades away. Roll credits. Brilliant way to end a film!

Now, I haven't read a Spider-man comic in ages (probably Free Comic Book Day two years ago), so I have no idea what's going on in the universe beyond that Pete and MJ are having problems (I hear the "D"-word tossed in somewhere). Regardless, this cover just struck me in the same way that that final scene did; it's something integral to not only that particular relationship but the superhero/love interest relationship in general. That is timeless, and cover artist J. Scott Campbell captured it perfectly.

Beyond that, sadly, the issue sucks. The storyline is on par with a soap opera episode. And before you ask, yes, when I come home for lunch to find the TV left on to daytime soaps following the news shows I watched that morning, they do tend to suck me in with their completely ridiculous drama. And sure, Mark Waid does that really well here. But that makes neither the soap opera or this comic good. Also, the inside art here is really not to my tastes, especially since Mario Alberti has a tendency to make all the women look really manly.

Sir Edward Grey, Witchfinder: In the Service of Angels #2, B.P.R.D.: 1947 #2, Hellboy: The Wild Hunt #8 by Mike Mignola:
At the risk of sounding redundant...Mike Mignola is an amazing. He is easily the best contemporary writer in comics that I'm familiar with. Witchfinder further proves that he can tell an amazing story without having to rely on Big Red of even any of the members of the B.P.R.D.

1947 further proves that the B.P.R.D. series doesn't have to be all action but can still hold an excellent horror story within its pages.

And The Wild Hunt further proves that after some fifteen odd years of Hellboy, he can still give us something new and exciting. If you call yourself a comics fan and aren't reading Mignola, shame on you!

The Unwritten #4 by Mike Carey and Peter Ross:
This is an interesting plot-driven series I've been following (mostly amicably) from the first issue. But this issue seems to take up the action mantle to progress this part of the story--the end result of which is to reveal yet another connection between the "real" Tom Taylor and his supposedly fiction boy-wizard counterpart. I admit, this cliffhanger ending is intriguing enough to keep me interested in the series. You can bet I'll have a problem if it becomes a recurring feature of the series, though.

Zorro #15 by Matt Wagner:
Just when I stop reading Timothy Callahan's blog and reviews on Comic Book Resources, he reviews something I actually read! It's a great story. A new villain has turned up, and to get a feel for his opponent, "The Fox," he asks his diner party guests what they know about El Zorro! What follows are four different stories about the masked avenger, ranging from undead demon to the most refined gentlemen in all of California. Like me and Callahan, you might recognize it but with a different hero:

"It's the same story as 'Have I Got a Story for You' from the Batman: Gotham Knight DVD, which is a remake of 'Legends of the Dark Knight' from Batman: The Animated Series, which was based on a story called "The Batman Nobody Knows" by Frank Robbins and Dick Giordano."

Of course, Callahan calls this a "problem," while I call it a new take on an old favorite--just one of the many places we disagree, though he teaches literature and reviews comics on a respectable website for a living, so you'll have to take my opinion with a grain of salt :-/

One place we do see eye to eye is on the return of artist Francesco Francavilla. He really captures the different moods of the different Zorro stories. It's a good series, to be sure.

Scourge of the Gods: The Fall #2 by Valerie Mangin and Aleska Gajic:
So far, the second "Book" in French comic publisher Soleil's Attila the Hun retelling is a whole different beast from the first--which focused on the relationship between two rival leaders and their eventual warring. This one seems to have changed theme and tone to the gods that science is capable of "creating." The series has only one more issue (each of which includes a hefty sixty-some-odd pages--why does America seem to be the only culture to sell such flimsy comics?), so there's still a good chance the story will get back on some kind of track.

Still, the art of the series is quite good. And really, as a comic, however weird it may seem, it's quite good storytelling. I look forward to seeing how it ends.

Questions? Quibbles? Controversies?

A Panda That Doesn't Know Kung Fu--"Zen Shorts"

Image via Wikipedia

Classes began this week at NMHU which meant a week of meetings, trainings, and seminars last week. So blogging has taken a backseat to my teaching and newly appointed administrative responsibilities (which meant I had to coordinate and lead some of those conferences). Needless to say, Faculty Development Week, while necessary, doesn't rate high on my list of "Favorite Things about Teaching" and left me feeling pretty run down and scattered--something about a week of meetings telling you what you need to do to be a successful teacher leaves you feeling a little under-prepared.

Luckily, the week before, I was able to follow my wife up to Taos, NM, on a shooting day and explore the town while she filmed. There I found an amazing little bookstore, with a children's book I haven't seen in Borders before--Jon J. Muth's, Caldecott Honor Book Zen Shorts.

I'm a big fan of over sized bears imparting wisdom--Pooh Bear (check out The Tao of Pooh--explains Taoism through Winnie the Pooh), Po (I'm pretty sure Kung-Fu Panda was my favorite animated movie last year), and now Stillwater. So the idea of a giant panda wafting along the breeze with an umbrella, imparting Zen wisdom really caught my attention. What I found was the story of a Panda telling Zen stories to a trio of siblings. And what great stories they are! The morals, though Zen in theme, are really not confined to the Eastern philosophy--like the importance of giving, the unpredictability of life, and the uselessness of grudges.

Also impressive here, is Muth's art. Whereas most children's book stick with a definitive style, Muth changes it according to who's storytelling at the moment--the narrator telling the story of Stillwater and the siblings, and Stillwater telling stories to the siblings. The former being the style for most storybooks, the later taking on Asian influences of simplistic brush and ink.

It really is an excellent book, one I'm glad I have for quick inspirational reads--even if I don't have kids. Plus, it's reminded me of my affinity of Asian philosophy and storytelling. For some reason, they really makes me relax--the perfect thing for the beginning of a new semester! It also makes me think a storybook would be a lot of fun to write...and draw...

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"Pride of Baghdad" Review

Cover of Pride of Baghdad

I finally got around to reading Brian K. Vaughan's based-on-a-true-story, eco-conscious, war story about four lions escaping from the Baghdad Zoo during the American military invasion of the city. Having penned the critically acclaimed Y: The Last Man (about the death of all men on Earth and the subsequent chaos), Vaughan's no stranger to weaving social commentary into his stories (the male gender's place in the world with Y and mankind's place in the world with Pride of Baghdad). That said, Vaughan's work always feels like it's centred on whatever commentary he's making, and the story suffers. That's not to say his stories are bad in concept, but they lack in execution.

(I should clarify here that I've only read the first volume of Y because I really wasn't impressed. All the men on Earth die and the world effectively ends because women aren't capable of picking up the pieces? Really?)

Pride is essentially the story of four lions escaping from a zoo in a war torn land, experiencing freedom--some of them for the first time. Under the surface, however, this is also a psychological story about how different characters with different personalities come to grips with a freedom for which they are unprepared--the alpha-male Zill was a cub when last free and is simultaneously scared and excited; his mate Noor has been dreaming of freedom for her and her cub Ali for so long she simply doesn't know what to do with it when she has it; and the aging Safa, having suffered in the harshness of the wild, is not ready to face it again.

And that's really all that's happening here. Granted, the way this story is told and how these quirks are revealed are done well, but the plot itself is very shallow. This makes the already anti-climactic ending even more so.

I should fess up here and say that perhaps the reason I'm being a little hard on Pride is because of one of the critic quotes on the back cover: "This is an amazing graphic novel that belongs on everyone's bookshelf. You can put it right next to Watchmen. It's that good," from IGN Comics' Hilary Goldstein. Those are strong words when Watchmen is often tossed in with The Dark Knight Returns and the Pulitzer Prize winning Maus as the most literary comics ever. Again, this isn't to say Pride isn't a strong literary work, but it's so light that comparing it to Watchmen is like comparing Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" (which is an amazing short story) with Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (simply one of the best novel's in American literature). Maybe I'd put a collection of Poe's work next to Finn but not a short story. And I think this bothers me so much because of how much I (and indeed, others) disagree with IGN Comics, who lately have been completely ignoring independent comic publishers in their reviews. And I think this comment shows how out of touch IGN Comics can be. Just take a look at the comments board for their recent run of Wednesday reviews.

And to be fair, there is one point on which I agree with the IGN review--the art. Niko Henrichon's art is amazing! It's so vivid, and it could tell the story without the benefit of the text. In point of fact, it was the art that first drew me to this comic, before I realized who Vaughan was. That's a good reason to put on your shelf.

Questions? Quibbles? Controversies?

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