Supergirl and the Legion of Superheroes (Volume 5) Dominator War

Written by Mark Waid and Tony Bedard
Illustrated by Barry Kitson, Kevin Sharpe, Mick Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, Mark McKenna, and Jack Purcell
DC

Mark Waid's swan song on the title wraps up the main plots he's put together for the past few years along with a string of much more consistent artwork due to less hands in the work.

It's crunch time of the Legion, as they confront the mysterious Wanderers and face off against the Dominators, a powerful alien race that wants to destroy humanity and its allies (ala the Borg). Things look dark as the villains use the 31st Century's reliance on technology against the Planetary Alliance.

But just as things look their darkest, our heroes show their mettle and why they once again are the true heirs to the legacy of Superman, Batman, and the rest of our time's metahumans.

Unfortunately, this requires quite a few sacrifices, and Legion casualties are prolific while others make decisions that may haunt them forever and change team dynamics in a way that might have been seen except that after this arc, Waid and Kitson left the book and along with them, my interest in the title.

I mentioned before I don't really care for the Legion all that much, and it's a credit to Mark Waid that I wanted to keep reading for a good 30 issues. In this final trade, in which you can see he's being uncharacterisically quick to wrap up plot threads, Waid ratchets up the violence (characters are tortured, maimed, and otherwise abused quite a bit) and does his best to make things look both hopeless and possible all at the same time.

The problem for me is that I just don't care for "all powerful foe" stories for just that reason. I know the Legion won't lose. Waid knows that. His editor knows that. So no matter how bad things get, I just can't get behind the story because I know how it ends. Since I'm not a huge fan of galatic stories, the mitigating factors for this type of plot aren't present. If I did like the Legion more as a group, however, I bet I'd have been chilled when people were being ripped limb from limb.

Speaking of which, Barry Kitson is really on his game here. The players are all in constant movement and also in constant states of duress, something he gets across without going over the top in the gross-out department. (This is not a horror comic, and therefore does not need to bleed all over the page like one.) Facial expressions sing and compliment Waid's words. It's a shame he did not have more consistent inking on the other volumes.

I think perhaps the most interesting thing is that while this plot ties in to the doings in 52, Waid doesn't write that particular issue. It's a clever use of a time traveller to set up the reason for the war, however, but once again brings in another element I don't care for in comics because of the inherent complications--time travel. It seems like most of this trade was written for a taste that wasn't mine.

Overall, I enjoyed this trip into Legion-land, but I don't see a reason to keep reading. While rather abrupt, Waid's exist provides a nice stopping point. If you want a series you can read more or less self-contained (very rare these days) that has good writing, great character interplay, and a chance to show why it's always best to follow the writer, not the character (a lesson I learned in the nadir of Marvel's 90s comics), Waid's Legion reboot is for you. You don't even need to be a Brainiac to figure that out.

Mail Volume 3

Written by Housui Yamazaki
Illustrated by Housui Yamazaki
Dark Horse

This is the final installment of Yamazaki's horror manga, which makes me sad for two reasons. First of all, the concept is a good one and for the first two volumes, the quality of the stories held up very well. The second is that, unfortunately, this final volume doesn't quite live up to the quality of the prior stories, partly because it feels like there was supposed to be more.

In the first section of this trade, Akiba tells a story of his past--not the first one we've seen, but certainly the first time we see that he may not be quite as altrusitic as we might have thought. In the process, a new wrinkle is introduced into Akiba's power set, one that had the potential to radically alter the path of the series.

Now, personally, I was not a big fan of the change. It takes the "Twilight Zone" or "Alfred Hitchcock" feel of the stories and changes it into more of a Fox Mulder personal quest type of deal. However, my bigger problem is that when you make this change 13 stories in to a series that's only running 18 stories, you leave the reader wondering why.

That was my problem, anyway--maybe other readers won't feel quite as slighted by the radical shift that doesn't even seem to matter after we go to the trouble of using 1/9th of the available space (and 1/3rd of the volume) to introduce the concept. Maybe the series was intended to go longer? I don't know.

Once we get past this, the stories are better, if a bit more sensational artisticially (there's a shift to more T&A, for one thing). Akiba warns of a new danger regarding cell phones that goes beyond distracted driving in a bit that follows the formula I like best--he knows the problem, inserts himself into the story, and saves the day.

Next up is a commentary on ghost hunters, and why, from a professional perspective, Akiba would treat them rather like a real detective would an amateur slueth. This is probably the best of the bunch, as it deals with the mental hororr of a woman who made a tragic mistake. Akiba's speech to her at the end is very well done, making up for his opening of, "A to the K to the IBA."

"Seabed," the penultimate story, takes Akiba to the point of death himself trying to figure the mystery of souls damned to the ocean depths. Again, Yamazaki teases the idea of Akiba's failure, a theme I wish we'd have gotten to see more of, had the series lasted longer.

Finally, the series ends on a rather abrupt note, as Akiba chastises reckless youths on stirring up the souls of the dead. We get a few (presumably) Japanese folk legends about how to tell if you have a ghost, which again would have been really cool to see more of.

I think there was a lot of potential in "Mail" but at times it seemed like the author didn't know exactly where to go. The idea of Akiba taking cases no one else could handle fades in and out, as by the end, he's just showing up randomly or planting clues to get involved in the story. We see new plot devices used, but without a lot of explanation. Maybe I'm so conditioned in the idea of long, drawn out manga series with intricate continuity that a series which played fast and loose with its storyline threw me for too much of a loop.

That being said, the artwork was always of top quality, with the horror elements drawn very well to be creepy, sometimes gory, but always appropriate to the tale in question. I really liked the narrator aspect of Detective Akiba, as I am a big fan of both television and comics with framing devices. I just wish that Yamazaki had either stayed longer on one thread or had the opportunity to work longer within the story itself (i.e. more volumes) to make the disparate elements blend more smoothly.

I really enjoyed reading Mail, and I think you would, too.

Mail Volume 1 Mail Volume 2

Aya

Written by Marguerite Abouet
Illustrated by Clement Oubrerie
Drawn and Quarterly

[I'm not sure if it makes any difference, but for the record, the edition I read was the UK import from Random House UK.]

Joann Sfar originally published this work, and you can tell that almost from the cover, as it has the same artistic style as his comics, both in terms of the page layouts and the narrative. Though there are no talking cats, you still have the same concept of a protagonist who is part of the world around them, yet definitely different.

Aya is a young woman living in what we'd call the Ivory Coast (thank you for the nice introduction to the time period, Dr. Chase, it was helpful for setting without getting bogged down too far in details). She has an extended family and friends, and even the luxury of a father holding down a pretty good job for a beer manufacturere. But she is far more interested in studying for her future than in landing a man or having boys fawn all over her. In fact, she even goes so far as to ignore one man's attentions entirely, with almost disastrous results. Meanwhile, it seems like most of the other characters really want to get their sexual thrills, often by sneaking past their parents, wives, or current boyfriend/girlfriends.

While everyone else has adventures, be it her father with a new company car, her one friend trying to land a weathly husband, other characters learning how to navigate the complicated world of relationships, our Aya sort of stays at the edges, helps with people's hair or listening to their problems, focusing solely on her desire to be a doctor--which given the time frame of 30 years ago is seen as just as rediculous in Africa as it would have been in America.

Aya herself feels to me like a bit of an odd choice for a focal character for just this reason. She seems to be around to be the reason for others to act or react. Aya won't go to a party, so she doesn't meet mysterious men who will cause her trouble. Aya happens to be the child of a letcherous, drunken father, so he looks all the worse when compared to his studious daughter. Aya doesn't hit it off with the rich man's son, so her friend can try to move in on him. Aya knows the facts about back-alley medicide, so she can drive the plot in another direction.

Fortunately, Abouet uses Aya as a springboard, so we get to see all these more interesting stories. The point of view never stays on Aya--we sort of see her, she acts or fails to act, and the story move on. It's almost like she's the Crypt Keeper from the old horror comics, but without the omniscence of such a character.

Artistically, Oubrerie definitely resembles Sfar, with the slightly exaggerated characters, flat art style, and backgrounds that capture the feel of the surroundings without taking away from the main characters. He does enough with the hair and mannerisms to prevent you from having to guess who is speaking, which I appreciate. (There is nothing worse to me in a relationship comic than having to keep flipping around to try and determine who's talking. With superheroes, you at least get costumes.) Those looking for realistic artwork, however, will be disappointed, as the emphasis is definitely on portaying a character's mood at the expense of how a person might actually look.

The back cover blurb calls this "the story of its nineteen-year old heroine," but I think that's untrue. This is more of an ensemble book like Fables or Love Roma--the characters come together to form a cohesive whole, and the story is not on any one particular person.

While the book may have been published by Drawn and Quarterly, "Aya" has more in common with a relationship book from Oni Press. Aya and her friends are young women, who interact with young men, doing the things (both positive and negative) that teenagers in love do, regardless of which continent they're on. The parents aren't free from vice, either and it's that added level of complexity that gives this a leg on other books written in the same ven, particularly manga, where the parents are often stock characters.

This book was very well received when it came out, and deservedly so--if you like relationship comics. If you don't, no amount of praise is going to make you like it better than you would, say, an Andi Watson book. If, however, you enjoy stories where people make flawed choices and must make the best of them, you'll definitely want to read "Aya" soon.

Civil War: Fantastic Four

Written by J. Michael Straczynski, Dwayne McDuffie, Stan Lee, and Paul Pope
Illustrated by Mike McKone, Andy Lanning, Kris Justice, Cam Smith, Nick Dragotta, Mike Allred, and Paul Pope
Marvel

It's sad that the Fantastic Four have slipped so far in Marvel's list of cool characters that their anniversary issue ends up being part of the tail end of a crossover that really harmed the overall makeup of the team and the personality of at least two of the characters.

While JMS does an amazing job looking at the way the FF individually approach the superhero civil war, and Dwayne Mcduffie tries his best to explain what's clearly an editorial direction (Reed and Sue can't be apart for the 45th anniversary), the fact remains that Marvel really just doesn't do right here by the World's Greatest Superhero Team.

While Tom Defalco, for all people say about his writing, gave the FF a grand adventure for their 30th anniversary, we get a retrospective from other characters while the FF themselves try to decide if there's going to be an FF at all. By the end, the FF is off in two different directions, leaving Paul Pope to capture the magic of the old Stan and Jack years in a great set piece with Johnny and Peter while Lee himself parodies Marvel's commercial ambitions while battling the Mole Man.

This is not to say McDuffie does a bad job--in fact, he writes the Johnny-Ben dynamic about as well as anyone. I just feel like he got stuck with character-whiplash given where JMS ends his run. The Sue we see in the Civil War tie-ins just doesn't seem to mesh with, "let's go work on our marriage together."

Having said that, and having done this review a bit backwards because I think it's interesting that Marvel took this tack--I mean, 45's not really THAT important, why not just leave it alone if you have a big dangling plot point that doesn't mesh with a team in harmony?--let's get into the meat of the trade, namely the FF's role in the Civil War.

I have to give JMS a lot of credit here--he doesn't just re-hash what's going on in the main book. We see the war as it effects Ben, Sue, and Reed--Johnny kinda gets short shrift and just reacts his way to the anti-registration side. Some scenes mirror those in the crossover, but we get a different spin on them. The first major fight comes from Ben's neutral position, as all sides try to recruit him into battle and he watches civilians gets hurt. Worse, they're on Yancy Street, where Ben has a very personal stake.

JMS does a nice job of involving villains into the mix, since it only makes sense they'd try to take advantage of the battling heroes, and his selection shows a true knowledge of FF lore. While one of those villains stays in the mix to really muck with the Reed-Sue dynamic, Ben heads to France to join Justice League Europe. Hilarity ensues and Ben's working with a group of heroes dedicated to being, well, heroes, is my favorite part of this trade. (He also gets some nice swings in at modern annoyances, from airport lines to incessant cell phone useage.) I mean, how can you go wrong with French Hydra? Cut one down, and seven surrender in its place. (Not really, but I like the idea.)

Every time I see comics like this--where the stories make sense within a comic book universe and don't try to be overly realistic, I get nostaglic for the old days of superhero comics. (And go out and buy more Essentials and Showcase Presents.) I appreciate that a lot of writers are telling good stories with a more realistic tone, but I don't appreciate the fact that I have to get my dose of good old fashioned slugfests and heroes deserving of the title by reading "kids" comics or nostalgia pieces like the Paul Pope backup.

Perhaps most interesting here is JMS's characterization of Reed as a man afraid to take a risk. He'd rather calculate probabilities that justify his desire to keep what he has rather than do the kinds of things that got him where he is in the first place. The Reed Richards who stole aircraft, refused to care about Latverian sovereignty if the need arose to take down Doom, told the government to shove off the last time they tried a registration act, went all the way to Heaven to get Ben back, and took on Namor to keep his wife is long gone. I don't agree with that move, but at least it makes Reed's puzzling stance in Civil War make a modicum of sense.

In turn, Sue's desire to stay the adventurer and fight for what's right rather than what's safe is also a nice progression for her character. Having had so much happen to her in the name of being "safe"--let's face it, in the early comics and even into the 80s, she's often given a back seat in the battles--Sue no longer feels that safe works. And Reed's protections are notoriously bad. (Anyone remember when he forcibly removed Franklin's powers?) She's willing to do all it takes--and when you're married to a man who's not, there's going to be conflict.

Unless, of course, Marvel decides they have to stay together for the movies.

This is my only exposure to JMS and McDuffie writing the FF. I need to go back and read both their runs, as I think their takes on the characters, while different, will be interesting. This trade is not mandatory reading for Civil War, but it's still very good. I mean, where else can you hear the Thing do his battle cry in French?

Model Volume 1

Written by Lee So-Young
Illustrated by Lee So-Young
Tokyopop

It took me a long time to get into manga, and when I finally did at the recommendation of my friend Noah (if I remember correctly, it may have been someone else I knew, now forgotten), I had a bit of trouble getting used to reading panels backwards. Whenever there was a page of many panels, I had trouble following the action.

Now, I've come so far that reading a left-to-right manga feels horribly wrong and I actually almost spoiled the hell out of this one because I started at the back of the book by force of habit.

I only bring it up because five years or so of manga reading has made me a bit more critical in my taste and I admit that a series printed left-to-right already has me a bit concerned about its quality before I even begin.

In this case, the story is good enough to overcome the fact that Tokyopop flipped the art, but it's definitely not as good as some of the other manga I've been reading lately. In this series, Jae, an artist trying to stay in Europe despite not finding any success, starts off partnered with a slutty girl who leaves a boy at the house. This dynamic doesn't last long, however, as Jae soon finds that the man on the floor is nothing other than a real, "live" vampire.

And is that dark lord of the night a hottie, or what? So-Young draws in the thin angular manga style that's also featured in Mars, and it's clear that our vampire is supposed to be a fine figure of manhood. He's also a bit more complicated than your average vampire, with an eye for artistic beauty and the smbolism of crosses. But he needs blood, and pure artistic blood is the best kind of all...

Against her better judgement, Jae makes a deal with the devil and tries to get a painting of Michael the vampire in order to start her career. One we get to this point, things pick up as the stereotypical roommate falls out of the picture and Jae is taken into a neo-gothic world with two mysterious associates of Michael, gorgeous crypts, and increasingly complicated relationships.

Does Michael want her just for the type A in her veins? Or is he seeking more from a kindred spirit? What link do Ken and Eva have to him? Does it hurt when they pose on almost every page?

I mention the last one because if there is one problem with Model, it's that everyone looks like they're, well, modelling. Which is fine in small doses, but every page looks like it was set for a glamour shot, with characters striking poses when they talk and not interacting in a natural manner. Part of this is a result of the angular style, I'm sure, but some of it comes from the drawing style of So-Young because Mars feels a lot less stiff than this book.

Still, I find the mystery behind Michael's plans for Jae intereresting, and I definitely prefer the idea of an artist taking the risk of death for fame rather than just going home (see "Paris" by Andi Watson as an example of the latter). I'll stick with this a bit longer and see how it goes. If you're looking for a manga you may have missed, this is worth taking a flyer on, at least so far.

Hard Boiled

Written by Frank Miller
Illustrated by Geof Darrow
Dark Horse

I tend to like Frank Miller's work a lot, even when he's showing off his more, shall we say, excessive side, such as "The Dark Knight Strikes Back" or what I've seen of "All Star Batman and Robin." So please keep that in mind when reading this review, in which I will argue that this time, the style doesn't work and the piece suffers for it.

Hard Boiled is the story of a man who is unsure of his identity but can certainly take a lot of punishment. We first see him putting his foot through a car (brand named "Jesus Crysler," and basically letting you know what you're in for) and shortly thereafter, he's on fire, mangled by glass, and has fingers that look like a puppet gone slack.

There's graffiti all over the wall behind him, with various sexual comments and other crude remarks drawn in amazing detail by Darrow, and I considered just letting this one go right back to the library, and I don't think I'd have missed anything by doing so.

It's not that the story itself is bad. Quite the opposite, in fact. Our protagonist is caught in a web of lies that only slowly unfold--and do so in a way that I think cleverly keeps the reader guessing as to the final outcome. That's the sign of a good storyteller, and despite what a lot of people like to say, I think Miller is a good storyteller. Even better, the outcome makes sense based on what has come before. I didn't finish this story thinking I'd been cheated. Again, that's the sign of a good writer.

Where I had a problem was with the level of violence. Drawn in all of its gory detail by Darrow--and if you want bloody art down to the lovingly rendered exposed broken bone, Darrow is your man--there's just a sense of "enough already" that Miller notices, then says, "sorry, buddy, I ain't done making you regret reading this over lunch yet."

There's gore on almost every page here, and it's just too much. People are chainsawed while having sex, mangled in large-scale car accidents, dismembered in grocery stores, and more. Explosions are nuclear-sized, Bart Simpson stand-ins are crucified, and robots try to have sex with each other.

It's all just a bit too much for me to recommend this to anyone, even if I do like the concept and plot. I'm not big on dystopian stories, but Miller put together one I'd be interested in reading more about--if the level of violence was turned down a few notches.

If you're less sketchy than me on gratuitous blood and guts, give this one a try. Otherwise, even fans of Frank Miller can probably be best served by giving this one a pass.

Emma Volume 2

Written by Kaoru Mori
Illustrated by Kaoru Mori
CMX

It took me entirely too long to get to volume two of this excellent series about a young girl who ends up being trained above her station when taken into service by an aging member of the well-to-do class. Far better educated than most of her station, the shojo in this shojo comes from Emma's love for a man her equal intellectually--but far above her in wealth and status.

Here in Volume 2 we see the love betweeen Emma and William Jones (that I admittedly keep wanting to call William James) flourish as they meet in secret until such time as William cannot keep it a secret any longer. Meanwhile, more of William's family enter the picture and Emma's situation changes dramatically.

So dramatically, in fact, that, in a very unexpected move, Emma's whole living situation is changed. Even as William tries to keep them together, Mori strives to keep them apart!

I highly admire Mori's guts to take the premise established in volume 1 and turn it on its ear by the end of volume 2. Without revealing too much, our heroine (and the reader) are taken into territory I'd have never expected after the first trade wrapped up. I also appreciate the little hints that Mori sets up about why Emma is a "better than her class" person, how her worth ethic was established, and why her patron gives her liberties no other master-servant would consider.

I also appreciate that, while growing the cast, Mori does not forget anyone. William's friend is back, with some strong language for Emma, serving as the outsider who cannot understand English conventions. A throwaway character like a friend of Mrs Stownar, Al, ends up with the potential to affect so much of the story, and even gets to be the means of a flashback. Even William's family, odious as they are for being stuffy upper class jerks, as fleshed out enough for the reader to appreciate their presence.

The reason this all works so well, I think, is Mori's meticulous research. She has, by her own admission, spent hours making sure the details of late 19th Century England are correct, and it shows, in scenes about the Crystal Palace, a formal dinner, and details of a train station. (One could argue she tries too hard to be faithful, even going so far as to sometimes have her characters act like walking encyclopedia entries, but I don't have a problem with that. It's preferable to awkward note boxes.) Emma is a period manga that takes pains to make sure it seems like a period piece.

Another strength is Mori's ear for dialog. Barring the occassional info dumps, each person has their own voice: Emma's modesty, William's nieve desire to cross his class, Hakim's blunt remarks, and the various underclass's quiet resignation all ring very true to how they are portrayed.

As this volume ends, it almost feels like we're starting into a new manga series, rather than continuing the old, since so many characters will (presumably) be stripped away, depending on how she proceeds. I can't wait to see what this delightful period piece has in store for me going forward. I definitely don't plan on waiting so long as I did between volumes one and two to find out!

Mail Volume 2

Written by Housui Yamazaki
Illustrated by Housui Yamazaki
Dark Horse

The horror manga from Dark Horse continues as Reiji Akiba introduces us to new stories of those who won't let go after their demise, usually for a very good reason.

In this volume, a man runs over a girl and thinks he can get away with it, but the spirit world has other plans, a former co-worker tries to wreak havoc with the wife he spurned her for, those afraid of elevators gets validation, children call for a lost classmate, and a picture tells a thousand deaths (okay, only one but I like the phrasing).

Each story is a set piece ala the Twilight Zone or Alfred Hitchcock Presents, with Akiba acting as the host of his own ghostly stories. To break things up a bit, he does not always appear at the beginning of the tale, but still finds a place to get his narrative in to the reader, whether in exposition or just a straight fourth wall page.

In addition to mixing up the introductions, Yamazaki also changes how the stories run. While in the first trade, all of the victims were sympathetic ones, this volume opens with a villain haunted by his own crime...which means Akiba may not be inclined to save him. In another story, our protagonist's client may not want saved at all. Plus, what happens if Akiba can't form a cohesive chant--and even if he does is it too late?

These are just some of the twists we encounter this time as Mail stetches into its second set of stories. Yamazaki not only knows how to tell a good story, he also knows how to mix it up so that they don't all follow the into-event-ghost-step in to kill ghost formula. We even see Akiba talk about failure (though I wish we'd see it) and show some of the other ways he can kill a ghost.

The artwork on Mail continues to be amazing. Yamazaki draws sharp, crisp lines that only use as much space as they need to in order for the reader to understand what's happening. When there are action lines, you know it's important. He's also not afraid to draw realistic horror--whether it's a person slitting their throat, a child with half a face, or bloody underwear.

It's a great combination for a great manga that I highly recommend! I hear that sadly, Volume 3 is the last volume. A pity, but at least I have one more to look forward to.

Zombie-Loan Volume 2

Written by Peach-Pit
Illustrated by Peach-Pit
Yen Press

I mentioned in my review of the first volume awhile back that I liked the concept of this manga a lot better than I liked its execution. Unfortunately, nothing has changed in this second volume, in which I was utterly confused about halfway through. As a result, I can't say that I wanted to keep going after this volume, despite its cliffhanger ending.

From what I can tell, after accepting her fate in volume one, Michiru is back to trying to deny her ability to work on finding zombies and helping them die a final death. She then moves in to a decrepit house and we get a new horny lesbian joining the cast.

Meanwhile, Chika and Shito show that their link together is not one of choice (again, an interesting idea that I wish was better handled, no pun intended) and we also get another, non-zombie player, in the mix, as a schoolmate (I think, it's really so hard to tell), tumbles into the investigate for a killer.

As this volume wraps up, Michiru and the boys are on different trails that I have a feeling will end up on the same path, but as far as the mystery itself goes, I have no clue, even after reading those sections twice.

This manga just has too many lines of action, sound effects, and panels of action for its own good. Packed to the gills, it's just too hard for me to understand what's going on at any given time. I'm too frustrated to care by the end what's happening, and that's never a good thing for the reader. The addition of more characters, one of which is a gratuitous lesbian whose powers apparently only activate after a kiss from a girl (maybe?) was just the icing on the cake for me.

I'm afraid I won't be following more of Zombie-Loan, so if you want to know what happens, you'll have to read it for yourself. Let me know if I end up missing anything.

The American

Written by Mark Verheiden
Illustrated by Chris Warner, Grant Miehm, and Doug Braithwaite
Dark Horse

A Dark Horse series born out of the nadir of liberal politics in the late 1980s, the story bears its politics on its sleeve: Anything Republican or army is evil, and there are no heroes anymore. Done well, this is called Hellblazer. Done with a ham fist, this is called the American.

A reporter discovers that maybe the Captain America clone "The American" has a dark secret and starts to investigate, but it costs him the life of his girlfriend and leads him spiraling back into the bottle whole he tries to make sense of it all. Joined by a rogue agent of the US Government and the forgotten "Kid America" sidekick, he tries to get at the truth but finds that not only is it elusive, but will Americans even give a shit once they're told?

This book has its moments--I like the concept, though I'd have eased off on the borrowing from the history of the Star Spangled Avenger (The American's arch-enemy is "Bones" for God's sake)--and the writing is well done, all the way through some one shots and a very cynical take on finding yourself in modern America.

There are even some neat jokes thrown in here and there, especially about the movies (Verheiden is a screen writer). But I just can't buy the world view, and since there isn't enough else going on (none of the characters make me want to care or desire to follow them, except perhaps the great cameo appearance I won't spoil here), I kept returning to the idea of America as an empty, evil Empire and finding it lacking as something to pin a whole graphic novel on. Maybe that will work better for someone else. *shrug*

Admin: A Litlle Backup, Please

Hello, faithful readers!

Do any of you know of a backup tool for Blogger, the way there is one for LiveJournal?

If so, can you point me in the right direction?

Thanks,

Rob

Rosetta 2

Written and Illustrated by Various Creators, including Jason, Michael Kupperman, Craig Thompson, Paul Pope, Jason Lutes and LAT
Alternative Comics

I read this when I was on a business trip, which is funny because the back cover features people going though an airport security checkpoint. I didn't do that on purpose; it just happened.

What I did do was read yet another nifty anthology filled with creators I knew and many others I did not. There are 26 stories in here, and I am not going to try to run through them all. However, here are some highlights that I particularly enjoyed.

Jason leads off with a short comic piece involving a laundromat. Although it's untitled, you could call this one, "What Jason's characters do on their day off." He's followed by a story that is completely different in style, "South Train." Andrea Bruno chronicles a man who has lost his place in the world, and the artwork reflects this difference.

"Le Wagram" by Edmond Baudoin is also drawn in a rough style, but with a bit more detail than Bruno. Characters that you are sure you've met in your own local bar tell stories and ogle a particularly mysterious woman who might just lead to tragedy. The tale is simple but effective, though those liking clear and crisp artwork will not approve.

"May 23 1895" takes a new spin on the "I killed Adolph Hitler" idea. Santiago Cohen draws a man who finds a passage that tells him to kill Hitler to save millions. Will he do it? You'll have to read it to find out. Once you're done pondering the philosophical questions of that story, relax a bit with R. Sikoryak's "New York Cartoonist Mugged," a reformatted mini-comic that lampoons all sorts of comic strips, including Peanuts and Dick Tracy. Take that, Fantagraphics!

Craig Thompson's contribution is a highlight of the anthology. "Eve O'twins" looks at creation myth, with very well drawn blending artwork and nifty asides in word balloons. I'm always fascinated by how consistant creation myths are--and how impossible that makes it for any one religion to claim the only truth. Thompson, I think, feels similarly.

But lest you think the anthology is slipping too far into seriousness, it once again balances out with "The First Thanksgiving" by Ted Stearn. Stearn lampoons the story of the pilgrims eating with the Native Americans to good effect, with a postcript note that scholars feel the tale was embellished. Nah!

The closest thing Rosetta 2 has to a feature is the dual sections on Feng Zikai and Liao Binxiong. Their work is spotlighted in the first color section, and then again towards the back of the book, with helpful commentary by Lim Cheng Tju. It's nice to see comics history about something other than the Golden Age of American comics. I'd definitely love to read more in the same vein.

Paul Pope also gets two sections here, one a short-short illustrated poem based on a drive between Ohio and Canada, and another that are excerpts from a manga project that never got off the ground.

"Echo and Bounce" is a strange story where the dialog and the pictures don't match up, leaving the reader to puzzle out the author's planned relationship. I've seen that tried a few times. It's probably the most experimental work in the collection. I thought it was interesting, but not really something I'd want to read all the time. It's really the type of thing this sort of anthology is perfect for.

Jason Lutes checks in with some work that reminds me of Daniel Clowes, as separate parts form a cohesive whole. I really need to read more by him.

LAT ends things with a story about roaming childhood, when time didn't mean what it does after you grow up. He's able to accomlish so much in only a few pages. Who knows where the time goes, indeed.

This is a very strong anthology, and I apologize to the artists I didn't give a specific mention to. I found all of the work to be very solid, even if I didn't call it all out here. If you like independent creators or are looking for a good place to start investigating the world of independent creators, I strongly recommending seeking out this book.

Sunday Readings 7-5-09

A few things I read here and there over this holiday week...

Comic Book Resources has a nice, lengthy interview with one of my favorite writers, Peter David. He has some interesting things to say about some of his projects over the years, notably aborted DC projects.

Uriel A. Duran King Kirbyizes the Kings of Music.

The Kirby Project blog provides us with another cool pic. This time Paul Conrad gives Spongebob Squarepants the Kirby treatment.

Since I've linked to it twice in one post, I'll make The Kirby Project my Blog of the Week. This blog was created to "showcase creative work inspired by the art and concepts of 'The King of Comics' - Jack Kirby." Sometimes it's an homage, sometimes it's new inks on Jack's pencils, but it's almost always great work. Check it out!

I love Rob Liefield presents pages from the Marvel 1993 Annual Report. This one is not to be missed, as Marvel literally turned their shareholder information into a comic book starring Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Wolverine versus Arcade.

Lastly, Comics Critics gets the last word (for now) in on the Dwayne McDuffie JLA fiasco.

Mosquito

Written by Dan James
Illustrated by Dan James
Top Shelf

Before I get to anything else, I just have to say that I love the idea of referring to a wordless story as "omnilingual." That's so clever it made me want to grab this one regardless of the internal contents.

I think, in fact, I shall now refer to all further wordless stories as omnilingual. Someone remind me of this if I forget.

Mosquito the story is a creepy tale of vampiric terror, told in a one-dimensional wood block style that allows James to play with recurring images over and over again, such as a triangle shape for trees, mountains, and even wallpaper, making it hard for the protagonist of the story (and sometimes, unfortunately, the reader) to tell what is going on. This works particularly well when he is trying to find the nefarious vampire's lair.

It's also done entirely in red and white, instead of the traditional black and while that a story of this nature would normally be published in. Given the theme is vampires and blood-sucking, the red shapes lend themselves to the artist's vision.

The story opens with our writer showing his influences, starting with Dr. Seuss at his mother's knee to Tin Tin comics to more mature masters of imagination, such as H.P. Lovecraft, Kafka, and Shelly. This leads to a drawing board where we open the tale with a mysterious letter. Soon
a quest begins for a man with nifty moustache to find the fiend and save the day.

Well, good luck with that, Mr. Hero, because James finds it far more fun to torture you with creepy dogs, mysterious towns where girls eat bugs, and a familiar smile reoccurs over and over again. After a series of increasingly creepy images that all flow from the angular shapes created by the blocky art style, the protagonist comes face to face with a great big evil, right out of a pulp story from Howard.

And that's where the true horror begins....

This is a very ambitious and experimental work that shows what an artist can do with imagry and a desire to tell a weird story and doesn't worry about it all making sense. As I mentioned, there were a few times where I couldn't quite tell what was going on due to the art style, but really, I didn't care because I kept looking at how cool it was that each image blended into the next, how shadows from one page formed shapes in the other, how mountains could be made of triangle trees, and how even a broken flashlight could merge into the same imagery.

If you're reading this one just for the story, you're going to miss out. Take the time to linger over the art style, the page design, and think about James doing an adaptation story for Dark Horse. Oh, the possibilities!

This is a story designed to call to mind the old pulp fiction of the 1930s, and long-time readers of my reviews know that's a period of literature I really enjoy. Those who like a good old-school horror story will definitely find a lot to like here. I'd definitely like to read more of James's work in the future.

Trebro Tees Off: (1970s) Captain America by Jack Kirby Volume 2: Bicentennial Battles

Written by Jack Kirby
Illustrated by Jack Kirby
Marvel

[And this time I'm downright brutal, hence the "Trebro Tees Off" tag. However, this set of stories really deserves it, as no matter how much I've refined my reviews, this one still would have been ripe for ridicule.]

Why oh why do I keep reading 1970s Marvel Jack Kirby? It's like sticking my hand into a pencil sharpener over and over again--I know it cuts the edge of my finger and causes pain, but I can't help myself.

Ahem.

At any rate, the titular mess "never before reprinted" (for good reason) is completely unworthy of Kirby. It's bad to the point that I wonder if maybe he was unhappy in general or didn't want to do the project or was given a stupid short deadline (maybe even a combination of these factors) and it led to sub-par stories. Or maybe he was just having one hell of an off-day. Either way, it's really, really bad.

We find Cap in the 616 America's Bicentennial. He meets a weird Indian mystic who takes him back in time. Soon Cap must fight copyright infringement at the hands of a deformed Benjamin Franklin (wish I was kidding folks!), inspires the murderer John Brown (still not kidding), and has other wacky hijinks in time until Kirby hits his designated page count and the whole thing just sort of stops.

That was nice and bad, which made the actual issues, 201-205 of the regular series, a bit less annoying in their mediocrity. Kirby apparently had a requirement to make every hero he touched after awhile face cosmic challenges, which works if you're in the Fourth World and Fantastic Four but fails miserably when your focal character is Black Panther, Jimmy Olsen, or Steve Rodgers.

In the two arcs collected here, Cap and the Falcon find a mental institution stuck in another dimension (where the Falcon endures an insulting mind wipe that almost as bad as that redesigned suit they gave him a few years ago) then face off against a futuristic entity that's taken over a human host. None of this is any good at all, and if I had only listened to Noah, I'd never have hurt my eyes with the ridiculous Kirby close-ups and my mental ears with the dulcet tones of Texas Jack, a useless side character that makes Foghorn Leghorn look like Shakespeare.

But none of it is as bad as the vision of mutated Benjamin Franklin, which still haunts my dreams...

Read this only if you are a Kirby or Cap completist. matter how much you like the man or the character, you're bound to be disappointed.

(1970s) Captain America by Jack Kirby Volume 1: Madbomb

Written by Jack Kirby
Illustrated by Jack Kirby (with some help)
Marvel

[And we finish off our salute to Captain America with some 1970s Kirby Cap. Now I love "King" Kirby's work, but I really find his return to Marvel work pretty lackluster, which is going to show in these reviews, which are from a time when I was a lot less interested in giving a complete picture and a lot more interested in ranting. Still, you can't see where you're going without seeing where you've been, so here they are, only slightly amended.]

Jack Kirby returns to Marvel after DC turned him out for the brilliant zaniness that was the Fourth World, and the results are very mixed.

This collection, featuring Kirby's first new Captain America story arc, was at least tolerable, which is more than I can say for Bicentennial Battles (more on that in a separate post). The plot features a villainous scheme to drive America crazy via a specialized bomb that attacks the brain. The goal? Handing over the country to a host of aristocrats, one of which just so happened to have an ancestor that fought one of the ancestors of Steve Rodgers. (This is a nice touch and one of the highlights of the stories collected here.) Cap and the Falcon go off to try and find the bomb, facing various perils in the form of grotesque Kirby creatures, an underworld of hapless people straight out of Apokalips, and a damsel in distress that really serves no purpose.

One bright spot is that the Falcon gets to be more than window dressing, ending up being the one who tries to take out the bomb itself before it goes off. Kirby hits the partnership thing just right, which honestly doesn't happen with every writer.

This first arc really tries hard to be an epic story, but ultimately fails because Kirby doesn't allow anyone into the process with him--not even an editor. All in all, this one's not bad, but Cap was handled better in other hands (like Roger Stern) shortly thereafter.

Captain America Red, White & Blue

Written by Various Writers, including Paul Dini, Bruce Jones, Paul Pope, Max Allan Collins, Mark Waid, Evan Dorkin, and Dan Jurgens
Illustrated by Various Artists, including Alex Ross, Bruce Timm, Paul Pope, Frank Quietly, Bill Sienkiewicz, Evan Dorkin, Mike Deodato, Stuart Immoden, Dan Jurgens, Bob Layton, Jim Mahfood, and Kevin Maguire (plus cameos by John Romita, Rick Veitch, Sal Buscema, and Mike Zeck)
Marvel

This is an oddball little anthology not unlike the upcoming "Strange Tales" mini-series Marvel is putting out later this year. In honor of something relating to Captain America, Marvel asked a whole host of creators to make short stories about Steve Rogers.

Overall, the quality is very good, if you like short, non-canonical tales that feature something the creator or creators really likes about the subject.

For instance, Dini, Ross, and Jones look to the heroic, American ideal Cap in their stories. They're okay as far as it goes, but it's nothing we haven't seen before. Frank Quietly draws a nice story about Cap visiting someone he served with who recalls how great Cap was and how bad a soldier Steve Rogers was, wishing he could recall the name of the poor solider who never did anything right.

On the other hand, Paul Pope and his collaborator, Nick Bertozzi, give us a world where the Red Skull is the hero, and he uses his evil manipulations on anyone who doubts the ways of evil, even going so far as to play a creepy headmaster in a school. Yet another story uses the idea of Cap being an America standin via ironic, over-the-top comments about communism.

Mark Waid gives us an idea of what Cap may have thought during those years in the ice (a What If tale I'd love to read in a longer version) while Max Allan Collins uses the Englehart Cap as his model for a story where Rogers takes on the conservatives who want to find a communist under every corner. Two other stories show Cap as being part of the "liberal agenda," ranging from racial harmony to making the world a better place.

This just goes to show you how versitile a character he is, depending on the writer. A Chuck
Dixon Cap would be quite different from a Peter David one, and we see a lot of that here. The best part is that when the story is well-done, neither interpretation of Captain America feels wrong.

Of the serious stories, I think "Desecration," by Jeff Jensen and Mike Deodato, is probably the best. Deodato shows his range (doing parody work ala Sergio Aragones and then his patented slick work) and Jensen literally vocalizes what this anthology is all about:

"You're really an amazing literary device, you know? Your symbolic meaning is all in the eye of the beholder."

That's so true, and his complex nature is on full display both within that story (where he must save odious people) and within the rest of the anthology.

Lest you think all the stories are serious, Evan Dorkin draws the cutest Zemo and Skull ever, as they attack France. And Bruce Timm's contribution as artist features Cap against a werewolf. But the best of the oddball stories is Cap and the Falcon in a Blackspotation film. You really do have to see that one to believe it.

Rounding out the anthology is a Cap's history backup by Jurgens (with the artist cameos), and some stories that led to yet another death of Cap. (Man, now that I think of it, why were we all so angry at Brubaker for killing Rogers? It's certainly not a first.) Kevin Maguire gets to show off his chops drawing a good portion of the Marvel U in the final story, with clever dialog amonst all the participants.

I am always inclined towards anthologies, so I will probably like this better than most who read it. But if you're a fan of any of the folks involved, it's definitely worth seeking out. Plus, you know you want to read Blackspoitation Cap. Don't deny it!

Captain America: The Dead of Captain America Volume 2

Written by Ed Brubaker
Illustrated by Steve Epting, Butch Guice, and Mike Perkins
Marvel

The changing of the guard for the Sentinel of Liberty continues in this second volume, as Brubaker continues his tale of redemption, betrayal, and secret agents.

No, I'm not referring to Sleeper, honest. While the basic ideas might be similar here and there, this is about as far away from that as possible, because while Tony Stark is a dick and Bucky Barnes became a stone-cold killer (as opposed to a justified killer in the form of a solider), these characters clearly has a moral compass that, while often faltering, never waivers from trying to make America a better place.

And there's no mistaking the evil of the Red Skull, Dr. Faustus (with an amazing set of hair and a body that reminds me more of Wilson Fisk than how I remember the character), Crossbones, and the rest. While this has the noirish feel of most of Brubaker's writing, there's no shades of gray, just black versus white in a complicated game that none of the players seem quite able to control.

As far as the plot goes, Bucky is tortured by Dr. Faustus while Sharon Carter helps. After Tony Stark and Co. recover from the events of last volume, they work to free Carter and end up with a different figure all together. Now it's time for Bucky Barnes to make the decision of his life...and I'd tease that out except the answer is right there on the damned cover.

Now Captain Bucky must try to be the face of America, a role Steve Rogers struggled with daily for years, all to try and prevent the Skull and his alter-ego Lukin from taking down the United States with a multi-pronged plot that's definitely one of the best I've ever read involving the character. Can he grow into the part in time to save America? Is he capable of being Captain America? And even if he is, can Bucky and his uneasy ally Iron Man stop the Skull from their goal of America's destruction? Plus what about Sharon Carter's role in all this?

The mysteries pile on top of each other even as Brubaker (who must be the world's most amazing comics plotter for this to all work so well over three years now of being on the title) dishes out new information to the reader on the Skull's plans, Bucky's thoughts, and Stark's battles to keep control of S.H.I.E.L.D. while the world gets more complicated for him by the day. It shows that really good things can come of asking a quality writer to stay on a title for several years rather than having a "hot" writer come in for an arc or two. I couldn't even begin to tell you what's going on with Geoff John's Green Lantern because I haven't read much of it, but like Brubaker with Cap and Bendis with the Avengers, a writer with a clear vision can layer story over story to create quality comics, even if they're not always the way I'd write the same characters.

So I guess my point here, Dan and Joe, if you're reading this, is this--PLEASE try to keep the same writers on the same books for more than a year. Your readers will thank you.

Having had a chance this week due to my Captain America special feature to really think about the character a lot and how Brubaker has used Cap, I must say that in this volume in particular, it's very obvious that while he's ready to dump continuity at a moment's notice (not unlike Mark Waid), Brubaker definitely knows his Captain America history.

The main supporting characters? Tony Stark, Sharon Carter, Sam Wilson, Nick Fury, Bucky, and the Black Widow, all echoes of Cap's long history. If Diamondback or shows up sometime soon, I would not be a bis surprised. Brubaker's looking at Cap's supporting cast and getting them into the show in ways that make sense (aguably better than he did for Rogers himself).

The villains? Well, it's hard to go wrong with the Red Skull, but we also get Faustus and Zola from Cap's earlier days and Crossbones from the Gruenwald years. AIM and Hydra have both shown up. Heck, this time around we even get the Serpent Society! There's folks from all parts of Cap's history ready to harm those he loved (loves?). And they're working together as part of a major story, just like they did in the Gruenwald years. While giving me fits at times about how free and loose he uses existing characters, Brubaker also had me going, "that's perfect" over and over again during this current arc.

But what's kind of odd is that while the characters played out more like how I'd want them to, I also felt a bit like Brubaker stepped back from his own vision to do so. This is mostly true in the acceptance by Bucky of help from Tony Stark, the man he wanted to kill not all that long ago--and fights an interesting battle with in the first half. I know people would have accused him of dragging things out had the Winter Solider vs. Iron Man story played on longer, but the conversion felt a little forced to me, like it was a plot point that needed fixing to move forward but wasn't important enough to dwell on. I'd disagree with that. Having Bucky take up the vision Cap gave up--resistance to Stark's New World Order--would have made for an interesting arc or two.

Then again, I'm not the one with the Eisner. I'm the guy with the blog, and since the rest of this story has been so go, I'll just sit back and enjoy where this one's going. We're left on yet another cliffhanger ending, even as Captain Bucky gets a well-needed break before things heat up yet again in volume three.

Having gotten this far, I can say without reservation that no matter how annoyed you get with some of his decisions, Brubaker is writing an amazing comic, that, while it still may not be Captain America to you (or, for that matter, to me), is really, really good. I can't wait to read more!

Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America

Written by Jeph Loeb
Illustrated by Leinil Yu, Ed McGuinness, John Romita Jr., David Finch, and John Cassaday
Marvel

[I know a lot of people hate Jeph Loeb, but I kinda like the stories I've read by him. I guess everyone has their minority opinion on someone. Then again, I haven't read Ultimatum yet.]

As most people who care know, Marvel offed Captain America after the events of Civil War, for reasons only they know right now. (I'm still arguing that this was a highly advanced Skrull that bought it, but well...) Jeph Loeb, who does superhero comics introspection probably better than anyone else right now, takes a look at how the Avengers (Mighty and New) handle his death, in a 5-issue series that roughly covers the time from the shooting to the funeral.

Named after the stages of grief in a very Loeb-like way, we start with Wolverine trying to find someone to help him get in and see the body. Daredevil eventually volunteers and the two try to get to the facts. They're not what Logan wants to hear, though, but if true, he gives a warning to Stark that I really and truly believe--"If I find out you had anything to do with Cap's death...I'll kill you."

Next up is Anger, as both teams try to deal with their feelings. It doesn't go so well all around, with Ben Grimm of all people trying to calm things down in one area and the "Mighty" Avengers showing that without Cap, the team lacks soul.

Bargaining is a very interesting story, perhaps the best in the set. Iron Man meets the resurrected Clint Barton and provides him with a very tempting offer--continue Cap's legacy. He tries to show Clint his worldview and what he could do as the new symbol of freedom. He's held so many identities over the years--why not this one? What will the former Hawkeye do, in light of watching some of the Young Avengers go into battle, despite their unregistered status? Just because you probably know the answer doesn't make it any less satisfying in the inevitable (at least to me) resolution. Loeb brings out Avengers history here in a nice touch, shows Stark at his most manipulative (without making him overtly evil), and tells a great story in the process.

Depression is the Spider-Man issue, and there's no shock in that. Loeb again hits on Peter's guilt over Gwen's death, Uncle Ben, and the rest. Now the guilt of Cap's death is on the plate, and the only person who can help ease the pain is...Wolverine? This would have been better had JRJR been the artist, I think--it's too tragic for the loose artwork by Finch and Miki. The ending on this one is particularly powerful.

Last up is acceptance, of course, as they lay Cap to rest. It's a tribute to the man, with Sam being allowed to be the focal point, as he should be. Cap's rest is appropriate, and if it is in fact Cap in the coffin (yeah, sue me, I'm doubtful of that), this was a great way to give him final peace. Imperious Rex, indeed, Namor.

Unlike DC's world of Batgod and impossibly powerful heroes that have less flaws than a high-value diamond, Marvel is the world of the broken hero living a broken life. Loeb uses that to full effect here in a great set of stories that is definitely worth the read.

Captain America: The Death of Captain America Volume 1

Written by Ed Brubaker
Illustrated by Steve Epting and Mike Perkins
Marvel

This continues to be the best comic doing things I absolutely hate about modern comics, namely tossing about old characters with no respect for what has come before in order to tell the story the writer wants to tell. This is not Captain America by any stretch of the imagination, quite literally so by midway through the trade. However, Brubaker is such a good writer that once I beat down my anger at what he's done to Cap (something I have to do every time I pick up one of these trades), I settle in to enjoy a quality read.

The damned thing is called "Death of Captain America" so I don't think I have to dance around the fact that, post Civil War, Cap prepares to be tried for the crime of believing in individual freedom and dies making one last heroic act--saving the life of one of his jailers. Sharon, his on again, off again love, is the first to the scene. Just what happened? Let's just say that for Sharon, a character Brubaker's been pushing around since day one, has the knife stuck in her and twisted by some old foes.

While the heroes try to decide what to do next and Sharon tries to deal with some severe problems, bucky, the Winter Soldier, moves into action the oln yway he knows how--out of pure hatred. He's got two objectives in mind--kill the two people he blames for Steve's death. Going off the grid and away from Nick Fury, Bucky works his way inside on both fronts, with a problematic relationship added on by Brubaker. (I just can't make the timeline work, even on a sliding scale.) Soon he's about to finish part one of the job--but can he? Is he the Bucky who sided with Cap in WW2, or the ruthless killer we met at the beginning of the run?

Meantime, Cap's other friends are working to find Bucky before he kills anyone, but they're always one step behind. Iron Man finally connects the dots, but by the time the pieces are in place, it may be too late. This half of the arc ends on a great cliffhanger for both angles, a tribute to Brubaker's handling of things.
It's weird reading this stuff even as Cap is about ready to return, but the fact that the story really feels like Brubaker meant to keep the death permanent makes me like the story even more. The characters operate under this assumption rather than trying to keep up hopes of his being alive (contrast this to Robin's reaction to Bruce's death) and all of the players work the death from their own angle. While I may not agree with the characterizations, it's absolutely crystal clear the motivation that drives Bucky, Tony Stark, Crossbones, Sharon, and the rest of the players on the chessboard. Except for maybe the Red Skull, but then again--would you have that any other way?

It will probably take me awhile to get in the second half of this story, but much as I'd love to, I can't buy every comic I like to read. If you're a fan of good comics and can stand the usual past continuity disclaimers, I think you'll like this one almost as much as I do.

Civil War: Captain American

Written by Ed Brubaker
Illustrated by Mike Perkins and Lee Weeks
Marvel

Ed Brubaker writes great stories. The trouble is that sometimes, as is the case with Captain America, he seems more interested in telling a good story than in telling a story about the character he's supposed to be focusing on.

I had real problems with his first Cap arc, The Winter Soldier, because he did the unthinkable in bringing back Bucky. The story was well crafted except for the cop out at the end involving the villain, but the idea that Bucky was back really bothered me.

It still does but I'm more or less getting over it as I come around to the idea that neither Marvel nor DC are going to leave things alone anymore. What I wonder, though, is this: With comic book readers growing older, trades taking over, and kids not reading comics, is taking these books further and further away from their source material really a good idea? Do new readers not happen because they're bored with the "old" stories or is it because the new stories are turning them off? Only time will tell that, but I wonder sometimes as I notice less people at the comic book store.

Anyway, I've been starting to grab the Civil War side books now that they're in trade form, not in any particular order. Cap's up first, and we find him trying to fight the good fight while Tony Stark goes G-Man...

As just about everyone knows by now, Cap goes against registration and goes ape on S.H.I.E.L.D agents, forming a resistance movement until such time as it becomes apparent to Steve that fighting is pointless. What you only know by reading this is that a) the resistance got quite a bit of help from Nick Fury, b) Maria Hill tried to use Sharon Carter to rope him in, further proving she's an idiot, and c) the Red Skull is using this all to his advantage.

While Cap tries to keep an eye on the Skull's activities, he stays in love with Sharon, who turns on her bosses to help him. Fury, who's in hiding after the events of Secret War, uses the Winter Soldier (aka Bucky) to help him get an in at S.H.I.E.L.D, and by the end, we're left wondering how low Tony may have sunk, we get to see two old Cap villains show up to help the Skull, and I continue to note that Bucky and Jason Todd are now apparently one and the same in terms of their characterization, which is a damned shame.

There's also a Winter Soldier one-shot in here that's a nice story of Bucky trying to fit back into the world of heroes, fighting alongside what remains of the Young Avengers. I was really moved by the idea of Bucky feeling responsible for Jack Monroe, and that's just the sort of thing I mean when I say that Brubaker writes great stories that I wish hadn't messed with some things I don't think should ever be touched, like the death of Cap's partner.

Both storylines are top notch in terms of writing and art--Perkins even gets a Spirit tribute splash page snuck into things--but my only real problem is that there's just not enough Cap for my taste. It's like he's a guest star in his own book here, and given what comes next, that's a damned shame.

Still, this is exactly what a tie-in should be, and if I were to hold a clinic on how to do a tie-in the right way, I'd show my students this trade. Brubaker doesn't rehash what we already know, a frequent mistake in these situations. We get to see characters that are important to the book but not maybe the whole Marvel Universe(Dum Dum, Sharon Carter) react to the events which are going on around them, and we even get a continuation of the "normal" subplots, weaved almost seamlessly into the crossover. That's how you do it, and it happens so rarely now that I have to call Brubaker out for it and give him props, especially when he shows how happy the Skull is that the heroes would rather fight each other than the "real enemy."

I still wish Bucky was dead, but if he has to be alive, like Winnick's handling of Jason Todd, this is done rather well and I can make my peace with it. Those with less ties to old stories should have no trouble at all.