caraig | Comics Review

Thought I would toss up some of the graphic material I've been reading lately, that some folks out there might be interested in!

First up, after the revelation that I'd never read Transmetropolitan before, well, when I posted about it,

yotogi strongly recommended Planetary. As I recall,

tamahori had also recommended it. It's a fascinating story and I wish there was more of it! As it is, Warren Ellis has said that issue 28 is going to be the last one, and it so far the fifth trade hasn't come out it. It's a great story, about a group of people who are basically 'cartographers of the strange.' If you look closely, you can see mentions, cameos, pastiches, and parodies of just about every major comic arc in Marvel and DC. But that's not the main point of it. Warren Ellis continues his theme of distrusting and disliking traditional superheroes; The world is basically run by a thinly-veiled form of the Fantastic Four, who hoard technological gifts from the rest of humanity. (It's interesting to note that in one of the more recent arcs of FF that Ellis is helping to write, it's been retconned that the FF have been giving a lot of amazing technological feats to the rest of humanity. Coincidence? Of course not!) They're basically trying to corner the market on the future of humanity. Planetary, the titular organization of 'wierdographers,' at first start to catalog, then actively fight the FF. There are some wonderful story arcs in here that span, and bridge, the pulps, the Golden and Silver Ages, and the modern comics era. The characters are interesting and fascinating and some of the storylines are are really good creative fodder.

Next up, a reboot of Challengers of the Unknown. Now, it was my understanding that the original CotU were basically similar to Planetary and X-Files and Torchwood: they were the people who went out to figure out what was going on and to see if it threatened humanity. Well, this reboot got weird. It blends the strong anti-plutocrat sentiment that's seeing something of a resurgence with a team of physiologically and emotionally engineered, well, killers. Killers who used to belong to the conspiracy before they somehow got their minds back. It's... not bad, but the art style is a little grainy and sketchy for me, and it wasn't really what I was expecting.

Back to some classics. Astro City: Confessions. Where almost anything by Warren Ellis will take a comic world and turn it upside down, Astro City is not so much a reinvention of the superheor genre as it is a rather humble re-approach to it. Themes of faith and religion and trust run strong in Confessions, and it's a classic -- and classical -- superhero tale. Like a lot of post-modern superhero stories, there are explorations of the conflicts between superhuman and normal-human society.

Not unlike Astro City but a lot grittier, there is The Authority. Now, I like the Authority characters, though I'm not fond of the Authority itself; I'm not entirely sure why. Although they do wonderful twists on superheroes. Even Midnighter is a rather nice departure from the usual angsty brooding loner, and his relationship with Apollo has a lot of sweet moments. It's also *consistent,* which is important. Things are sequential, not just arcs thrown together. My one quibble is that when the Authority takes over, and it all comes inevitably crashing down, it "wasn't really their fault," which is a bit of a copout to me. (For an example of how what the Authority did could get way out of control, without nearly as much organization or intent, see Greg Holkan's [nemesis]) One thing about Wildstorm comics, too: they aren't afraid of throwing big numbers, and their heroes tend to be very high powered. The Authority puts together some of the most powerful metanormals in the world. Of course things will need to be epic to have them get a challenge, but what I like is that it doesn't seem to be 'Doom of the Month,' but rather much more personal challenges.

Where to next... Ah, yes. Tell me if you've heard this one before: A well-respected lawman sees his beloved killed and is left for dead himself. He somehow comes back, begins to reap vengeance but then realizes that vengeance is not justice, and becomes a legend of heroism. Aside from the wife part, this could be the archetypical Lone Ranger. Put the wife in a fridge, and you get the Green Lantern. And now, toss in a unit of elite peacekeepers who do the killing, and you get Space Ghost. No, I am not kidding. Space Ghost. If you really want someone to take your childhood memories and run them through a wringer, this book is for you. Space Ghost when I was young was a touch hokey, but in general fun Hanna-Barberra cartoon fare. This is what

demiurgent would probably call a Category One retcon: it tells us a story that was never told before about Space Ghost, namely how he came to be a spacegoing superhero. However, while they don't show anything, there is a very stark 'woman in the refrigerator' moment when he learns his pregnant wife is killed. It makes Space Ghost into less of a hokey character and more into a spacegoing Batman, sans intense detective skills. It does introduce Zorak as one seriously scary mamajama, though. And the story isn't bad, the art is very good, and it's not a bad reimagining. It makes for a very interesting setting, too, fleshing it out very interestingly. But between a dead pregnant wife and a pair of orphans (No, there was no mention of Gleep, the Space Monkey!) there ust seemed to be a bit too much 'Convenient Victimization' going around. Plus, the rather cynical way that the chiefs of galactic law enforcement had the visible Peacekeepers, and the 'Eidolons,' who were the extraordinary agents who did the 'dirty work....' Well, that'd make a good examination, because we see it in a lot of other stories where there are extraordinary agents with powers above the law.

Finally, Wanted, which is going to be a movie soon. There is no way that Wanted could be made into a movie without serious rewriting because as it is, the protagonist is not one that any audience would want to be sympathetic with. In fact, Wesley Gibson, said protagonist, pokes a hole in the fourth wall, actively trying to poke the reader in the eye at the same time. Amidst all the cursing, sex, and violence, there is something of a message, which makes it kind of like an ultra-violent Fight Club. Gibson is not an antihero; in fact he is very much a villain. And not a villain like in Eve Forward's wonderful Villains by Neccessity, but an honest-to-gods, superheroes-killing supervillain. It's an interesting exploration of the question, what would one be willing to do, to have the power to do whatever you want without consequences. At the end of it, actually... I get the impression that the entire last chapter is 'faked,' as in, a puppet show for the reader, since it doesn't quite ring with the rest of the story. We'll see how the movie will be.

So, what have you folks been reading or watching that was particularly thought-proviking when it possibly wasn't meant to be? =)

Pax.