Hey Kids! Comics!! 01-25-07

It was a busy week as several of my regular horror books were out:

Criminal #4

Beautifully done crime drama from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. As in any good crime caper, every character seems to be backstabbing and stealing from another. The master lowlife criminal in the middle of all this, Leo, has to figure out a way to keep himself and his ex-junkie girlfriend alive. Yet another common characteristic of good crime capers is half the characters are former or current junkies. Yay, skag!! Don't try and jump into this story in the middle, as you'll be lost, but it's definitely worth your time so wait for the trade paperback.

Criminal Macabre #2

If, like me, you love well written horror comics with a healthy dose of humor, this is the ideal book. In this issue, the ongoing adventures of Private Eye/Drug Addict Cal McDonald, ancient vampire Nosferatu (or something that looks like him) shows up in Southern California looking for Cal, who's laid up in a hospital bed after getting beat to within an inch of his life in the previous issue. Ol' Cal's also going through major withdrawals from all the pills and booze he's been ingesting constantly for years. Niles story moves along at a quick, clean pace with no unnecessary subplots or filler to bog things down. He definitely understands the "less is more" concept of storytelling, a subject most comic writers could stand to take a class on. If you're going to be influenced by other artists, you might as well pick good one's and Hotz definitely does. Clearly inspired by Bernie Wrightson and Kelly Jones, Hotz seems to get better every issue. Each panel is dripping with well-rendered, horrific detail. He's clearly enjoying himself. Criminal Macabre is comic of the week! Pick it up!

Damned #4 (of 5)

If Criminal Macabre weren't so damn good this month, this would win book of the week. As it is, it's still very good. Imagine if most of the characters from The Godfather were demons and you'd have a pretty good idea of what Damned is all about. The main character, Eddie, is a cursed human mobster who acts as a sort of power broker between several factions and gangs of demons. In this issue, war between the families breaks out and all hell (duh!) literally breaks loose. Artist Brian Hurtt creates an amazingly graphic atmosphere. He vaguely reminds me of a less polished Charles Burns, with his strong blacks and stylized feathering. If you haven't read any of Damned before this, I'd highly recommend buying the back issues as the complicated plot won't make any sense jumping in at book 4. Either that or wait for the inevitable trade. You won't be disappointed.

Fallen Angel #12

The Angel makes a deal with the city's biggest drug dealer, which brings her into conflict with her well-meaning, but naive, son, who's also the city's invulnerable magistrate. I love the drug they're all fighting over: it turns people into vampires. Oooga Booga!! This book can get weird and cynical, but Peter David cynical-weirdness is still better than say, Grant Morrison cynical-weirdness, because it actually makes sense and goes somewhere. David has the skill to pull it off. That probably annoys some people, as there seem to be a lot of them out there who absolutely looove pretentious non-sensical storylines, but I appreciate a story. Call me weird.

Hellblazer #228

This issue marks the conclusion of the empathy engine storyline, which is a good thing since even for a Constantine story, it was overlong and merely semi-interesting. Luckily, there's a healthy dose of black humor to keep things lighthearted and Constantine is his usual asshole self — arrogant as hell (literally) and self-pitiable. Hellblazer is one of those books you either love or loathe. I've been reading it since issue 1, and I must admit the quality varies from story arc to story arc, but for me, it's like comfort food. Buy it or don't buy it. I don't care. Next issue starts a new arc, so that might be a good time to jump on the Hellblazer bandwagon, kiddies!

Mystery In Space #5 (of 8)

Shane Davis is one of the finest superhero artists around and his superb work alone is a good enough reason to get this book. The fact that it's written by Jim Starlin, master of the trippy-dippy comic book space opera, is just a happy bonus. It's nice to see what can be done with even an inconsequential character like Captain Comet, star of Mystery In Space, if put in the right hands. In this issue, the good Captain infiltrates the evil galactic Church that's planning some sort of nastiness and discovers where all the super assassins that have been kicking his ass are coming from. He's not happy with his discovery. The backup story, drawn by Starlin and starring his own goofy creation, The Weird, is tied into the main Captain Comet story. It appears as if Starlin's going to merge the two storylines rather soon, which is a good thing as, much as I'm enjoying this book, he could have easily condensed 8 issues into 4 or 5 and had a much tighter story.

Supergirl And The Legion Of Superheroes #26

The Legion battles a more badass version of themselves and the biggest damned robot I've ever seen. It seems the Dominators are looking to take over Earth. For a race of people who call themselves "The Dominators", they never seem to actually succeed in dominating anything of consequence. Perhaps they should concentrate on a planet that doesn't have a fucking Kryptonian and her super powered buddies protecting it! Oh well. I guess, they're called "The Dominators" and not "The Super-Duper Extra-Smart Dominators" for a reason. I like this book, but I wish there was a little more main character interplay and less introduction of new ones. There's already way too many stars in this book and just when it seems writer Mark Waid is getting into developing characters and relationships and making things interesting, he goes away from them and introduces new, less interesting characters.

Fables Volume 5: The Mean Seasons

This is kind of an extended epilogue to Volume 4, March Of The Wooden Soldiers, and covers the year following that watershed event in this amazing series. This volume is comprised of three separate stories. None approach the excellence of the previous volume, but no one could blame writer Bill Willingham for taking it down a notch after the tumultuous events of March. Besides, he wraps up quite a few loose ends here and creates some new ones presumably to be finished later. The first is a straight up cloak and dagger type story starring Cinderella. She's way more devious and smart than she appears. The second is a WWII flashback to when Bigby was a super secret agent for the Allies. You know he's cool because he enjoys killing Nazi's. Like all good horror stories that take place in a Bavarian castle, the Frankenstein monster makes an appearance, only to quickly be put in his place by Bigby. Yeah. Werd up, mofo. The only thing I don't get — and this is a problem I have with most superhero comics that take place in WWII, so Fables is hardly unique — is why don't the Allies just send Bigby into Berlin to kill Hitler and the rest of the German hierarchy? I mean, this guy operates with impunity behind German lines, is immortal, can wipe out whole companies, and kicks the living shit out of the Frankenstein Monster! Why can't he just break into the Bunker and pop Hitler's diseased head like an annoying pimple? Who'd be able to stop him? War over! Now let's send him over to Japan to play dodgeball with Tojo's organs!! Game over. Or at least it would be if I were running things... Comics have never adequately answered that question. Oh well. The last story concerns the birth of Bigby and Snow White's brood. And they're a bunch of cute little buggers. But they're only half human looking so Snow has to move up to the farm, where Bigby isn't allowed because he was such a dick back in the homelands. Of course he bitches and moans like a spoiled brat, then takes off. Way to support your family, asshole. Also in this story, Prince Charming takes over as mayor, and, true to form, is only good at the pursuit: i.e.: running for office. Now that he's in charge, it turns out he's a terrible administrator. It speaks to Willingham's skill as a writer that he extends the Prince's character flaws into all his pursuits. If you're not reading Fables yet, you're just stupid and dull. Pick it up or pick your nose! For more reviews, check out Jared's Blog. Try not to laugh.