Sure, we like to read comics, or, in my case, graphic novels. But it’s usually months (often several) after they’ve already been released. I like to think the delay is because I have other things to do…but really I’m just kind of lazy.

SCALPED Volume 1: Indian Country
By Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera

As with so many innovative creative endeavors, the once-great Vertigo was so successful at what it set out to accomplish that it’s reached the point where the majority of their product looks tired and out of ideas. When you pick up a Vertigo book, you can guess the contents will probably involve at least one of the following: a cynical anti-hero protagonist with plenty of attitude and nihilistic John Constantine “cool,” a dark and muted color palate, violence, caustic dialogue, boobs, drugs, swearing, dark humor, a labyrinthine plot, maybe some loopy dark fantasy. In short, Vertigo’s become the thing it once rallied so spectacularly against: predictable.

That said, it is nice Vertigo still exists because every once in a while they’ll publish something like Scalped. A brutal, bleak, intricate crime noir set on a South Dakota Indian reservation, despite some very clunky set-up early on Scalped distinguishes itself from its routine Vertigo trappings (Exhibit A: the cover) with a deftly woven plot that actually makes sense, flawed, three-dimensional characters, Guera’s superb, detailed Jim-Lee-meet-Klaus-Janson artwork, and a tiny — but still noticeable — sense of humor. Nice to see a couple up-and-comers get a possible something-special going.

Grade: B+

FEAR AGENT Volume 1: Re-Ignition
By Rick Remender and Tony Moore

What? A new comic that doesn’t take itself too seriously? Unbelievable. Harkening back to the gritty, pulp-inflected, smart-ass adult sci-fi of the 70s and 80s, Fear Agent is the kind of effortlessly fun escapist fare that’s oddly rare in comics these days. From issue one, Remender hits the ground running and doesn’t let up through a parade of vicious space monsters, vicious space robots, vicious space alcoholics, lasers, ships, planets, and space ladeez — and that’s just the first four issues. Meanwhile, Moore remains one of comicdom’s unsung heroes.

Grade: B+

BUDDHA Volume 1: Kapilavastu
By Osamu Tezuka

Thanks to years of near-religious critical fawning and hyperbole, I don’t think I ever really understood Tezuka until I read this, his first volume in an ambitious eight-book biography of Siddhartha Gautama.

Tezuka’s comics are quite strange. You could chalk this up to an untranslatable Japanese sensibility I suppose, but I find that it’s mainly because the tone of his work is wildly uneven and often elusive. For example, on one page you’ll have slapstick comedy, and then on the next, naked charred corpses. High adventure will tumble suddenly into stark brutality. A peaceful, thoughtful scene will be followed by shrill played-for-comedy shrieking. An exquisitely rendered landscape leads into a drawing of a Disney-esque tiger. A naked feral child kisses his dead mother’s boob.

It can all seem quite random and jolting, but in Buddha (and probably in most of his other comics, which I should probably re-read) what it adds up to is gloriously entertaining, dazzlingly drawn pulp. And that’s ultimately what I think Tezuka is going for. Nothing more, nothing less. Much like Disney, a man to whom he is often compared — although I would argue Disney is the better storyteller — Tezuka is a brilliant, near-genius entertainer. This first volume of Buddha, where every page is alive with grand-scope, unapologetic melodrama, may be the best introduction to his aesthetic.

Grade: A-

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Sure, we like to read comics, or, in my case, graphic novels. But it’s usually months (often several) after they’ve already been released. I like to think the delay is because I have other things to do…but really I’m just kind of lazy.

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere on the site before, new comics these days seem creatively a bit stagnant, but it is a legitimate Golden Age for reprints, so, there’s still plenty to read.

To wit:

DEVIL DINOSAUR OMNIBUS
By Jack Kirby

Devil Dinosaur — the adventures of a leaping, fire-engine red Tyrannosaurus Rex and his best cro-magnon pal Moon-Boy — is more of a minor work in Kirby’s vast canon. Although the genius for character design and epic science fiction surrealism is still there, overall Kirby’s art just isn’t as sharp or innovative here as it was in the 60s and early 70s. And let’s not forget, as incredible as his ideas frequently were, his writing can take patience.

Still, at the end of the day, it is Kirby and, as such, reliably and enjoyably insane — especially an exceptional four-issue stretch where the strangest duo in comics history repels an alien invasion. Lots of fun and, somewhat surprisingly, not just for Kirby completists.

Grade: B

I SHALL DESTROY ALL THE CIVILIZED PLANETS!: THE COMICS OF FLETCHER HANKS
Edited and afterword by Paul Karasik

First brought to the public’s attention by Dan Nadel in the indispensable anthology Art Out of Time, Fletcher Hanks’s highly imaginative and carefully drawn short stories, produced between 1939-1941 for a variety of independent publishers, are a dizzying assault of weirdness. Often disturbing and always very, very strange, they most resemble the random, eventful, and chaotic storytelling techniques of 8-year-old boys. The superheroic adventures of Stardust the Space Wizard is what many people will gravitate to, but the outlandish and creepy Fantomah (one of the first female superheroes) stories are the standouts.

Although perhaps what’s most impressive about Hanks’s work is it’s never dull or predictable; not something you can say about most Golden Age comics.

Grade: A-

JAMES STURM’S AMERICA: GOD, GOLD, AND GOLEMS
By James Sturm

Sturm made a huge splash a few years ago with a series of lovingly rendered indie comics based around strange and sordid aspects of American history. Unfortunately he’s been quiet since writing one of the finest series to ever carry the Marvel name, Fantastic Four: Unstable Molecules, and co-founding the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont. So, it’s wonderful to have his American history trilogy — “The Revival,” “Hundreds of Feet Below Daylight, and “The Golem’s Mighty Swing” — collected in a single volume: James Sturm’s America.

While “The Revival” and “Hundreds of Feet” are interesting, if underdeveloped and histrionic, reads in their own right, the justifiably celebrated “Golem” is the obvious gem. The story of an independent Jewish baseball team in the early 20s, the quiet intensity and gritty despair of “Golem” is somehow actually better than I remembered.

Grade: B+

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Sure, we like to read comics, or, in my case, graphic novels. But it’s usually months (often several) after they’ve already been released. I like to think it’s that I have other things to do…but really I’m just kind of lazy.

ALIENS OMNIBUS Volume 1
By various folks

It may be hard for you young folks out there to believe, but back in the late 80s, these Aliens comics hit like a neutron bomb with pre-90s boom readers. People used to movie tie-ins being lazy cash grabs were genuinely shocked by their dark and gritty quality, high production values, and eager willingness to expand the franchise’s universe and scope. The first couple mini-series were sensations. In a way, Aliens made Dark Horse.

Like everyone else, I loved these books way back when. I’ve even gone as far as saying that they’re better than the third and fourth movies, which is still true in some respects. But, you know what, these Aliens books haven’t aged very well. At all. Although Mark Verheiden came up with some legitimately great ideas — Aliens overrun Earth; Ripley pays a visit to the Alien homeworld; origins of the derelict ship where the Aliens were first discovered — and the art (by Mark Nelson, Dennis Beauvais, and Sam Keith) is often of very high quality, the books are full of 80s comic crimes like cliched faux-military dialog, bad dream sequences, clunky and confusing storytelling, jumps in logic, and taking themselves far too seriously.

Grade: C+

EXIT WOUNDS
By Rutu Modan

2007 was a weak year for comics overall, which made Rutu Modan’s exceptional debut stand out all the more. A quietly tense and involving story about an Israeli cab driver and his estranged father’s young lover, Exit Wounds, like many successful works of art, emphatically believes the unremarkable entirely remarkable. Modan’s sharp characterization, smooth pacing, and loose, inviting artistic style brilliantly captures what life is like in the world’s most contentious country without being obvious or heavy-handed. This modest and profoundly empathetic work may go down as 07’s finest comic.

Grade: A

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The People’s Improv Theater’s weekly “Comic Book Club” show (which actually isn’t improv…) is getting good crowds and some serious press. Good for these guys!

The show, which celebrates its first anniversary Tuesday at 8 p.m., covers all things comic book, which these days also includes the worlds of video games, television and film. As that anonymous audience member put it, “It’s great to be in an atmosphere where you can sit and discuss these things without getting strange looks.”

Guests at the anniversary performance constitute a Who’s Who of the comic book industry. They include Ed Brubaker, the man who wrote the death of Captain America in March, and Brian Michael Bendis, who writes New Avengers and is masterminding Marvel’s latest blockbuster: Secret Invasion, a multi-title cross-over about aliens who may have been impersonating certain heroes for many years. Also on the schedule is Bill Hader, a cast member of “Saturday Night Live” and an avowed comic book fan. The show is officially sold out, but a limited number of $5 tickets will be for sale at the door.

Some weird regression to old school geekery in those first couple paragraphs though. So…people can’t admit they read comics now? What? Haven’t we moved beyond that?

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With the year quickly winding down, holiday chores to catch up with, other off-line obligations, and a whole bunch of traveling, this is going to be kind of an uneven couple weeks here at KFR.

Basically, I’m apologizing in an around about way for posting quick links like the following, which nicely links to a whole bunch of 2007 Graphic Novel/Comic Best Ofs! Thanks PW!

Although I will say, despite the somewhat inexplicable “rah rah comics!” positivity you’ll find in most places, 2007 was an incredibly weak year for new material. True, we are living in a Golden Age of reprints (of comic books AND comic strips), and there was, as always, a healthy amount of good work. But compared to the monumental amount of great must-reads from the last few years, 2007 was full of mediocrity, and overall, something of a dud. What can you do.

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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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If it wasn’t obvious to readers with issue 4, the fifth issue of All Star Batman and Robin The Boy Wonder makes it abundantly clear that Miller is having a ball with the title, writing what may be the funniest thing to come out of DC in years. OK, so that may not be completely clear - there’s a very real chance that Miller began the project in dead serious mode and has since switched gears following fanboy outrage at how the characters were behaving, but at this point he’s in full-on “enjoy myself and screw you” mode. In fact, I think the following panel pretty much sums up his approach to the book.

Seriously, if DC doesn’t market “I love being the goddamn Batman” t-shirts this summer, they’re fools.

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If you’re still on the fence like I am about diving into the upcoming 52 trades, Iron Fist/Casanova/Punisher scribe Matt Fraction gives the series the most down-to-earth, non-maniacal, and thoughtful overview that I’ve yet seen.

The manic degree of pure invention that was going on here was stunning, too. DC books almost always have a precious air of preservation and nostalgia to them; DC books, to me, oftentimes feel haunted by their own continuity and not necessarily enriched by it. (A lot of books feel that way, not just at DC, it’s just that, at DC, it feels sometimes like a house style, you know?) But 52 threw all the comforts of safe storytelling out the window, for good or for ill, and tried to be something… well, if not “new” then at least ‘different’. Novelty was in its bones: characters were reborn and thrown into wildly inventive and over the top imaginative situations in a book that defies and denies conventional wisdom and practice. There were some big ideas going on here, some big thrills and some heavy duty weirdness both on the page and in them that, sometimes, in all their stoic grace and attitude, DC books miss.

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