Yeah, it’s been a long, long time since we’ve had any comic reviews around here. But we do read them — usually months after they’ve already been released. It’s just that we have other things to do…oh, and we’re lazy.

Anyway, luckily all the comics we read these days are original graphic novels and hc/pb collections, so everything we cover here should still be in print.

The Incredible Hulk: Planet Hulk HC
By Greg Pak and various artists

Hulk Conan does gladitorial combat in outer space. Considering how dull and up their own ass most superhero comics are these days, whoever came up with this concept deserves some kind of reward. Although the art gets a bit bland in parts and the story runs preachy in the last third, Greg Pak’s exciting page-turner is one of the more consistent and satisfying big set-piece epics Marvel’s accomplished in many a moon.

Two included epilogues leading into World War Hulk are complete misfires, though. What happened there?

Grade: B

Shortcomings
By Adrian Tomine

Tomine excels in writing about how fascinating jerks function socially, and so it is with his latest novel (novella?) Shortcomings, an uncompromising and unnerving portrait of Ben Tanaka, a self-obsessed/self-loathing movie theater manager with girl problems. Darkly funny, sharp, and thankfully less heavy-handed and precious than he’s been in the past, Tomine remains one of the most insightful artists interested in the deep, uncomfortable complexities of racial stereotypes and identity.

Grade: A

The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories
By Nicholas Gurewitch

The question isn’t whether this first Perry Bible Fellowship collection is the funniest book of the year because that answer is easy: it is. The question is whether it’s the debut of the year. Along with Achewood, PBF has proven the most brilliant and innovative practitioners of the relatively lost art of the comic strip have moved online. Gurewitch is an astonishing artist with seemingly infinite range, and his sense of humor is phenomenally clever and twisted. Best read in small doses.

Grade: A-

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