Wednesday #77.2
Did I forget to plug the latest Made of Fail? If you haven't yet, go check it out. It's a Dr. Who episode and it's great whether you barely know what a Dalek is or if you have a full collection of Doctor outfits.
Spoilers and hollow women below
Doctor 13: Architecture and Mortality: A trade paperback collection of 8 back-up issues which ran in a Spectre mini-series. It starts as a goofy story featuring a man who doesn't believe in the paranormal having more and more weird stuff thrown in his face. It ends completely meta. Throughout the story is hilarious and beautifully drawn. Doctor 13 doesn't go after the comics industry and the powers within as hard as the last arc of the Plastic Man series (which still hasn't been collected into a trade. Hmm.) but Azzarello does get some good shots in.
The last two pages are haunting.
House of Mystery: Room and Boredom: Like the Doctor 13 book, this one has an author going very much against type. Azzarello who typically does dark, bloody stories turned in a funny story for all ages. Sturges consciously did the opposite. On a podcast from a year or so ago, he noted that his typical instinct in writing is to go for the big laugh. In House of Mystery, he set a goal not to do that. That's not to say that this book is completely mirthless, but if you come in expecting Blue Beetle you're in for a huge shock.
This book has an odd format which I've never heard of before*. There's a main ongoing story and in every issue there's a short story drawn by a guest artist and sometimes written by a guest author which may or may not connect to the main story. It's like there's a back-up story inserted in every issue. It's surprisingly effective and not clunky in the least.
Fuck vampire cats.
DC: The New Frontier Vol. 1: A streamlined re-telling of the beginnings of the Silver Age of DC super-heroes reflecting the culture of the time (40s through 60s). Think of it as an optimistic Watchmen.
I'm not a huge fan of war comics so the first part, The Losers in WW2, didn't grip me as it could have. It was good, but I wasn't hooked, oddly enough, until another war story featuring Hal Jordan in the Korean War. From there on the book just flies.
Runaways: Pride and Joy: Short summary: every teenager has thought their parents are evil at one point. Every teenager has thought they are special. What if they were right?
I finally made it back to the beginning of this series and I'm happy I did. This is magical. I love watching the characters I started reading late discover their powers and react to their new realities.
Vaughn's writing is typically on point, but he can fall into the Diablo Cody quip-hole. Not embarrassingly so, but noticeable.
*Strike that. Canterbury Tales. Family Guy as well if you think about it.
Spoilers and hollow women below
Doctor 13: Architecture and Mortality: A trade paperback collection of 8 back-up issues which ran in a Spectre mini-series. It starts as a goofy story featuring a man who doesn't believe in the paranormal having more and more weird stuff thrown in his face. It ends completely meta. Throughout the story is hilarious and beautifully drawn. Doctor 13 doesn't go after the comics industry and the powers within as hard as the last arc of the Plastic Man series (which still hasn't been collected into a trade. Hmm.) but Azzarello does get some good shots in.
The last two pages are haunting.
House of Mystery: Room and Boredom: Like the Doctor 13 book, this one has an author going very much against type. Azzarello who typically does dark, bloody stories turned in a funny story for all ages. Sturges consciously did the opposite. On a podcast from a year or so ago, he noted that his typical instinct in writing is to go for the big laugh. In House of Mystery, he set a goal not to do that. That's not to say that this book is completely mirthless, but if you come in expecting Blue Beetle you're in for a huge shock.
This book has an odd format which I've never heard of before*. There's a main ongoing story and in every issue there's a short story drawn by a guest artist and sometimes written by a guest author which may or may not connect to the main story. It's like there's a back-up story inserted in every issue. It's surprisingly effective and not clunky in the least.
Fuck vampire cats.
DC: The New Frontier Vol. 1: A streamlined re-telling of the beginnings of the Silver Age of DC super-heroes reflecting the culture of the time (40s through 60s). Think of it as an optimistic Watchmen.
I'm not a huge fan of war comics so the first part, The Losers in WW2, didn't grip me as it could have. It was good, but I wasn't hooked, oddly enough, until another war story featuring Hal Jordan in the Korean War. From there on the book just flies.
Runaways: Pride and Joy: Short summary: every teenager has thought their parents are evil at one point. Every teenager has thought they are special. What if they were right?
I finally made it back to the beginning of this series and I'm happy I did. This is magical. I love watching the characters I started reading late discover their powers and react to their new realities.
Vaughn's writing is typically on point, but he can fall into the Diablo Cody quip-hole. Not embarrassingly so, but noticeable.
*Strike that. Canterbury Tales. Family Guy as well if you think about it.