Stuff I'm Reading - August 2006 - Comics

[dewline]

Some titles of particular interest in recent weeks to me:

Jonah Hex(DC): Some of you may recall I've mentioned this title before. If you've taken the hint, liked what you saw and stuck around, this blurb isn't for you. It's for the doubters who haven't yet taken the hint. I was one of those myself, having grown up in the Canadian west, and I suspect that may have played a role in my reluctance to pick it up in its original incarnation. It was, and still is, a western. I'd had my fill having grown up in its lore. I wanted to see what was then unusual, hence my greater interest in super-heroes and space opera.

No longer. Super-heroes and space opera, when well done, are still a joy to me. Jonah Hex opens up a different sort of world, a different sort of people to me. His adventures in the age between the end of the first American Civil War and the start of the Twentieth Century are hard, brutal at times, and never less than entertaining to me. If you like Clint Eastwood's more recent western films, Jonah Hex is for you.

If you like what you see, go to the message boards of either DC Comics, or Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti(among others of note and substance in comics and TV), and tell'em I sent you. Justin and Jimmy are Jonah's writers, and they'll be glad of the attention.

52(DC): DC's latest experiment in weekly storytelling in the comics form. For those unfamiliar with the premise, the Infinite Crisis just wrapped up, and the Big Three -- Superman, the Batman and Wonder Woman -- are burnt out from the years leading up to this latest cosmic near-disaster and are taking a year-long timeout. 52 is the tale of those who try to step up, by design and by accident in that intervening year. I've been subjected to a few shocks along the way, but so far, very good reading.

But then, sometimes the shocks are in fact the point of reading it.

Daredevil(Marvel): Ed Brubaker picks up where Brian Michael Bendis left off: Matt Murdock jailed awaiting a trial intended by low people in high places to never occur for crimes alleged to have arisen from the maintenance of his double-life as the masked vigilante-adventurer Daredevil. The result is a roller-coaster ride that's moved from Riker's Island to Manhattan to Europe and isn't stopping for a second.

More opinions on other titles to come in the months ahead...

Comments

[kadymae.livejournal.com]

For me 52 runs hot and cold. When it's hot, it's red hot. When it's not, it's ... well, you only have to wait a week to see if something good happens next.

Daredevil is pure awesomeness. I loved Bendis's run. I'm loving Brubaker's run. Though the tone is very different, this is the next Starman. The emphasis is on what it's like to be a human.being. thrust into extraordinary circumstances and bless Bendis and Brubaker and piss on their "there's not enough fight scenes, there's not enough costume time" detractors.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

I don't think I'm going to argue over your assessment of DD right now. At all.

[quietdarkness.livejournal.com]

I'm really enjoying 52. I wasn't really interested in the Donna Troy recap business, but I do like the character histories that they are including in the title now. I can't find fault with any of the storylines, I'm enjoying all of them. I'm NOT happy about the death of Booster, but then this isn't the first time I've been unhappy about a character death in comics.

I applaud DC for making the characters more culturally diverse, but if they trot out a new race Booster (well, unless it turns out to be one of Jamie's friends already in his comic) I might find it to be a bit much.

I really like some of the lesser known characters getting a spotlight and a significant story in the DCU, and I like the new characters that have been introduced thus far.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what I make of this supposed End of Booster Gold. Given his history of time travel and self-reinvention, as well as some of the hints dropped in those Daily Planet articles at the 52 website...I wonder.

Interesting that you should raise the subject of the new Blue Beetle series. I've gotten hooked myself, for any number of reasons(including one I promised John Rogers I'd shut up about until it's officially unveiled).

If I might ask: does the new series feel like it might fit into Texas as you've known it, either the real one or the DCU-specific version?

[quietdarkness.livejournal.com]

That's precisely WHY I like the comic. Giffen has the Anglo-Hispanic Texas culture totally nailed and I appreciate a comic that can actually display regional culture. My only gripe is that the artist draws saguaro cactus, and there's plenty of that around Phoenix, but there aren't any in El Paso. He should be drawing prickly pear, yucca, and a few joshua trees. The artist obviously has photo reference for El Paso, though, and I appreciate that effort.

Blue Beetle is a great comic, and I am really enjoying it.

I'm not sure the story is over for Booster, either, I'm prepared to wait and see. I think I might like a new Blue and Gold done with Jamie and one of his friends, though.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

*makes notes on Texan vegetation just in case*

It'll be interesting to see which way things go with Booster, either in 52, Blue Beetle or perhaps elsewhere, for all we know at the moment.

Back to cultural diversity for a moment: I've noticed a push on not just for its expansion within the ranks of its American-based characters, but also amongst the characters from Everywhere Else On Earth as well. It's a bit smaller than I'd like to see, but it's there. I'd count Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Geoff Johns as being among that cause's stauncher champions.

I'd like to see more of it.

I expect I'll be blogging on that before long, if I can ever get sufficiently coherent thoughts together to that end.