Trouble with Comics

* I think Fatale #5 came out this week, but I’ll probably hold off until the David Mazzucchelli Daredevil: Born Again Artist Edition arrives at the comic shop later this month, before I make the trip to the shop. Over on A Criminal Blog, Bubba runs down the latest news in all things Brubaker and Phillips. 

* I saw The Avengers. I agree with Tony Isabella that it is the best superhero movie yet made, and I agree with any and all calls to donate the price of a ticket to the Hero Initiative as a way to recognize Jack Kirby’s enormous contribution to comics in general and this movie in particular.

* I did pick up the Ellis/Raney Stormwatch hardcover last week (the clerk at the shop asking me if it collects the New 52 Stormwatch — er, no, it collects good Stormwatch comics), but haven’t cracked it open yet. Might be because I am still making my way through the preview copy I received of Jim Kunstler’s forthcoming Too Much Magic, but then again it might be because I have read Ellis and Raney’s Stormwatch probably two dozen times over the years. It’s that good.

* Speaking of Warren Ellis, I saw on Twitter that the next Iron Man movie will be using material from Ellis’s Extremis arc from the Iron Man comic book. Ellis says he understood he was work for hire when he wrote the thing, and is fine with not getting a piece of the pie. I guess I am surprised that a comic that recently wouldn’t have had some sort of royalty clause in the contracts, but then again, it’s comics. Like water finding its level, the comics industry always finds a way to fuck anyone it can.

—Alan David Doane 

 

I’m not a gamer, but I live with one. I recently received a review copy of Prototype 2 for the XBox 360, and passed it along to my son Aaron for his evaluation. Short version, he loved it. Longer version below. — Alan David Doane

Me personally, I am a huge fan of the prototype series. The second game is a lot like the first but with enhanced graphics and new abilities for you to, as they say, “rip, tear, smash and consume.”

With the “RADNET EDITION” you now have a chance to unlock avatar items such as the Alex Mercer hoodie or Sgt. James Heller’s coat. It has something for everybody, since if you don’t like the missions, you can just do the free roam where you can consume people for disguises, attack military bases, do the side missions of hunting down and consuming your target (usually a scientist doing tests on human targets that you have to stop). The new black hole attack is fantastic. You hit somebody with tendrils and grab items from around him and bring them in to crush him.

— Aaron Doane 

 

Todd Allen at Publishers Weekly bemoans the loss of what was once a staple of the comics-buying experience: browsing the racks to see what you might be interested in reading. Even in major cities, Allen finds problems with the browsing approach to comics buying — if he doesn’t have a subscription/pull list with a specific store, he often finds he has to hunt for new comics, and sometimes can’t find them at all.

I’d say he’s been extraordinarily lucky so far — I live in a much less cos-

mopolitan part of the world, and have to drive at least an hour to have even a snowball’s chance in hell of finding anything not on Diamond’s top 20 list, if I haven’t preordered it months in advance. I am lucky in that my retailer goes far out of his way to try to find stuff for me if I haven’t preordered it, and that happens often with with types of comics I tend to be attracted to (non-superhero).

I understand retailers don’t want to take the chance of getting stuck with back issues (as we used to call what they think of as “unsellable stock”), but the lack of capital and the lack of foresight are a large part of the ongoing death of the direct market. Is it the retailers’ fault? Not entirely, but if a comic shop doesn’t have most of the week’s releases on the racks for their customers (and potential customers) to browse, they will always, ALWAYS be selling fewer and fewer books to fewer and fewer people instead of growing their business and sustaining the industry. So more stores will close, and even fewer comics will exist. Digital may be a sort of solution to this problem, but for people like myself, and I’d guess Todd Allen, readers who want the physical book to read and feel and smell and put on a shelf for future re-reads — it’s a huge problem in comics now, and I don’t see a solution in sight that will keep the dollars flowing from our wallets to the comic stores’ cash registers.

— Alan David Doane 

Well, I forgot to pre-order the new Alan Moore-written Supreme #63, which comes out today, and it’s already sold out from Diamond. Luckily I was able to get it on eBay for 6 bucks shipped. I still have all those original issues (ditched the shitty-looking Checker trades last year), and not having #63 would have driven me nuts. Even got the variant cover, so it looks like it’s of a piece with the rest of the run, and not a 2012-era issue. It’s amazing how good that makes me feel. I was asked by the comics shop if I want to subscribe to it, but I think the Alan Moore issue alone will suit me fine. It’s nice having one more look back at his great run on Supreme, but I’m not interested in what any other writer will do to follow it up. If I’m wrong and it turns out that the new run is a masterpiece of superhero comics, do let me know and I will apologize and pick up the collected edition, deal?
 
What else? Flex Mentallo is waiting in my pull bin at the comic shop. I read it three or four times years back, but I have a feeling I’ll enjoy and understand it more reading it as an actual book, you know? Morrison and Quitely always make for a good read, or almost always, anyway. I wasn’t so hot on Batman and Robin, but I was seriously hating Morrison’s Batman era by then anyway.

I was told I have ANOTHER Daredevil waiting for me after getting one just last week, so I have to assume that’s the 10.1 issue with the reportedly very different artist. You know, Daredevil could have really been a special book if they would just have it be Waid and one or two of the very good Pop Noir guys they’ve had on there — I don’t think .1 issues or Spider-Man crossovers are very good for the long-term health of the run, or for my interest in it. Considering that DD, Fatale and Star Trek are the only floppies I even bother with anymore, I wish they wouldn’t fuck with it. Oh, and please note that Star Trek #7 serves as a sequel-of-sorts to the 2009 movie, and it is every bit as awesome and exciting as a Star Trek fan like me might hope.

I did get the Ellis Secret Avengers HC last week. It’s as good as Ellis’s better Stormwatch or Global Frequency issues, with much the same focused, Ellis-y feel to each issue. I think the Black Widow time travel one is my fave, but there’s no stinkers in any of the 6 issues. If you like Ellis in his prime, his Secret Avengers isn’t far off the mark, and there’s some very pretty artwork to be found in the six chapters it contains.

— Alan David Doane

The name of this blog started as a throwaway joke — when I worked up the first test version of the front page, the first line of the fake, place-holding post I put up was, “The trouble with comics is…” and somehow it stuck.

My trouble with comics right now is that so very few appeal to me. From the age of 6 until the past couple of years, I existed on a weekly habit of comics, like most American “mainstream comics” readers. From the age of 15 until my early 40s, a week without a visit to a comic shop and the accompanying multiple purchases (lowest week, 20 cents — highest, over $200.00) was virtually unknown. Nowadays my pull list has I think one or two monthly titles on it — Fatale and Daredevil — and I no longer find myself looking forward to the yearly-or-so offerings of creators I used to rabidly follow, like Ware, Clowes, or Los Bros Hernandez. I understand Jaime recently did an amazing two-part story about Maggie’s love life. I don’t know that I’ll ever read it. I’ve lost the habit, the drive, the addiction to the artform of comics, I think. Maybe it’s cyclical and my trouble with comics will go away. I am still passionately interested in the subject itself, still read a metric shitload of blogs and sites and I do re-read some of my favourite comics and graphic novels from years past. But the digital revolution leaves me pretty cold, and that seems to be where it’s at for many people interested in comics these days.

I do miss the days of hanging out in the comic shop and talking for hours with the staff and my fellow readers, speculating about storylines and creative shakeups and sharing storage tips and recommending distant shops we’d visited once, as in a dream, with wonders to behold. It seem like comics has become more solitary and more insulated somehow. And the issues themselves are so divisive — issues like piracy, or the difference between traditionally-produced comics versus all-digital — that there’s no room for civil discourse. I’ve seen online friendships disintegrate over subjects like this, because no one seems to listen or consider any other point of view, they just wait their turn to shout their position more forcefully. I’m as guilty as anyone — I honestly think if you buy DC’s planned Watchmen prequels you are an unredeemable scumbag and a traitor to comics. If you’re a creator working on them? You can go fuck yourself, I will never buy your work again. That’s you, Darwyn Cooke. And you, Straczynski. I never liked Azzarello’s shit much anyway. Still blows my mind that Len Wein could stoop so low. But fuck him, is the length and breadth of my thoughts on the man. Years from now I expect one or two of those scabs will apologize for their monumental error and acknowledge that what they did, what DC did, was wrong. Frankly this issue is a large part of my current trouble with comics. I can’t believe there isn’t more outrage. What the hell is wrong with you people?

But TWC, and the site that spawned it, Comic Book Galaxy — they aren’t going anywhere. In recent days I have found myself thinking about totally reinventing CBG, here nearly 12 years after it began. That would make the fourth or fifth iteration, I think, and it would have to be very 21st century, streamlined and easy to use. As it exists it’s a huge pain in my ass, with technical issues that keep me up at night gritting my teeth in frustration. I want it to continue in some way, and would like it to even be relevant again. But it’s going to take some time, some thinking, and some way to get past my trouble with comics.

— Alan David Doane

 

One might be a more pressing issue, especially in the United States, but I think they both matter.

Today in his Bloggy Thing, longtime comics writer and writer-about-comics Tony Isabella talks about Watchmen 2. His own feelings seem to be that the creative lineup for the prequels will almost certainly guarantee that they are not in line with his vision of what superhero comics should be. That’s a point I can get behind. But then Tony quotes a reader named Joe Caramanga, who says:

“Just imagine if people cared half as much about health care and poverty in America as they do about preserving the integrity of WATCHMEN…” 

That’s one of those facile pithy comments that really grates on me. And here’s why.

As someone who’s been quite vocal about social and cultural issues, be it health care, peak oil, equal marriage rights, abuse of police power, the corporate destruction of the nation and many others for years, I personally take a smidgen of offense at the implication by Joe Caramanga that those issues are worth caring about, but Alan Moore’s rights as the writer of Watchmen are not. Further, it’s not the “integrity of Watchmen” that I care about, it’s DC’s repeated and increasingly punitive and public abuse and humiliation of Alan Moore as a comics creator and as a human being that fills me with disgust and outrage. I have no horse at all in the race that is the expansion of the “Watchmen universe” as a creative playground for other comics creators — I’m fine with it, as long as ALL THREE of the original signers of the Watchmen contracts are in complete agreement about it and all parties feel they are being treated and compensated equally. Until that happens, I believe it’s morally and ethically wrong for DC to proceed with its plans for Watchmen 2, and will continue to speak out on the issue. And on the catastrophic state of health care in America, and the financial inequity and iniquities so rampant here in Los Estados Unidos. 

— Alan David Doane 

When the recent confirmation of Watchmen Part Deux hit the internet, I could barely manage disappointment. Despite DC Comics best efforts to keep their hands off of this blood-soaked property they rightfully own for 25 years now, it really was just a matter of time.

DC Comics, as a small subsidiary of Time-Warner, is a business and, like all businesses, whether they sell beans or computers or a sense of well-being, their real business is making money. If they make money, they win. If they lose money, they fail. Simple stuff.

I’ve been reading DC Comics since I learned to read. I was a DC kid. We moved around a lot during my childhood and so, in a real way, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern were more constant as “friends” in my life than people with whom I went to school. Like the weather, no matter where I went, there they were.

I was reading a lot of DC Comics when Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen came out but I wasn’t interested in it. It didn’t have any of the characters I liked or had ever even heard of and, back in that particular day, that meant a lot. Like most unsuspecting Superman fans, I was emotionally scarred by Moore’s “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” and, for a number of years following, I refused to read any comics by this “Al Moore” fellow because [SPOILER WARNING] he killed Krypto and it made me cry. Fool me once…

But the time did come when I did start reading Alan Moore’s comics and what a time it was. Alan Moore made me want to write comics and, in time, that’s exactly what I did. I cherish his comics, his spoken word performances, his novels, his underground magazines…everything. As an author, he has earned my unconditional positive regard. Though I have never met the man, I have feelings regarding him and his work. Irrational? Probably but then most feelings are.

DC Comics’ position on Watchmen has made me uncomfortable for as long as I’ve understood the details. Yes, he signed a contract giving them certain rights (including apparently the right to create sequels or prequels or whatever) but, as has been well-documented, there was no reasonable expectation that these rights would extend unto perpetuity such as they have. Yes, what they are doing is legal. No, it is not fair and, in my judgment, it is also not right.

This cognitive dissonance between my favorite superhero comic publisher and my favorite writer of comics has simmered uneasily in my conscience for years but, honestly, my love for the material kept it from ever coming to a head as it has now. It was wrong of them to retain the rights but they continued to pay him the monies he was due and, as long as Moore was getting paid, that made it OK-er than it might have been.

It is no longer OK.

The problem with having allegiances to a business is that a business is not a person. You can’t reason with it. You can’t appeal to its sense of humanity because it hasn’t got one. Publishing and profitting from material based on concepts that someone created under the premise that he or she would own them someday against the expressed wishes of that creator is not OK. It’s shitty. Shittier than killing Krypto.

And so, I won’t be buying any of these Watchmens books.

But it’s also not enough.

Because, like DC, I’ve convinced myself that it was OK to do something odious under the premise that if something was legal even though it wasn’t right, it was excusable. It wasn’t excusable and, by continuing to support a company who would profit from this kind of questionable ethical practices, I’m became complicit in that in excusable behavior. I paid for the lawyers that kept Alan Moore from owning his work.

And so, until the day that some DC Comics’ representative with the legal authority to do so flies over to Northampton and tears up the contract that has kept Moore a hostage to his work, I will never buy a DC Comic again.

Not in print.

Not in book form.

Not digitally.

Nothing.

Ever.

It’s the last, least and only thing I can do.

— Rob Vollmar 

Rob Vollmar is a writer of and about comics and manga. He is the co-author of two graphic novels with artist Pablo G Callejo (Castaways and Bluesman, both published by NBM) and one with mpMann (Inanna’s Tears, published by Archaia). He has written reviews and analysis for the Comics Journal and is an associate contributing editor for World Literature Today Magazine. He was a founding member of Comic Book Galaxy.

I thought I’d get the hyperbole out of the way right up front. 

Over the past week, the anger and disgust I feel towards DC Comics and the scabs they’re hired to work on Watchmen comics against the intentions and expectations of all the signatories (DC, Moore, Gibbons) of the original contracts that brought the original Watchmen into the world has threatened to get the best of me. I didn’t specifically mention Hitler, but I did point out that Len Wein’s involvement reminds me of Vichy France during World War II. I remember making some comment about DC raping Watchmen’s corpse, and that was probably too over the top, although I think one is entitled to an extreme metaphor or two in circumstances as absolutely and unquestionably wrong as this. That said, I have loved ones in my life that have suffered through the trauma of actual rape, and no, this isn’t quite that horrific an experience. But what is happening here, I do believe, shares common elements with actual rape. Because it’s a more powerful entity asserting its will against the stated, explicit wishes of the victim. Here’s Alan Moore on Watchmen 2:

”What I want is for this not to happen.” 

Does that not sound precisely like what a proper English gentlemen or lady might say with dignity just before being violated?

Make no mistake about it, this is a violation. Anyone who knows anything at all about the last 30 years of comics publishing history knows Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons were supposed to get the rights to Watchmen back. Moore expected it. Gibbons expected it. DC Comics expected it. It’s only because the work was so visionary and so enormous in its impact on an entire industry that DC was able to deliberately and with increasingly visible malice retain the rights to this singular property all these years. Has DC followed the letter of the contract? Absolutely. But the letter of the contract was written and agreed to by all parties entirely unaware of the paradigm shift that was about to occur. As someone else has pointed out this week, the irony lies in the fact that if Moore and Gibbons had merely turned in the slightly-tweaked Charlton homage DC asked for, paid for and was expecting, Moore and Gibbons would have owned all rights to Watchmen free and clear decades ago. It’s undeniable that the punishment Moore has been subjected to by DC in this and other matters (Gibbons seems far more content to play the company game, as is his right) has been intentional, repeated, and now has been stepped up to the point that it is creating a schism that DC Comics may actually come to regret.

To the best of my knowledge, DC never suffered for trying to weasel out of paying royalties to Moore and Gibbons for selling Watchmen merchandise. No one at DC ever took a sock on the jaw for buying Wildstorm from Jim Lee pretty much solely so they could force Moore to work for them, which he did out of concern for his artistic partners, for years. But I am seeing a lot of thoughtful essays and efforts building in strong opposition to Watchmen 2. (And if you’re wondering why I won’t call it “Before Watchmen,” it’s because DC wants me to. It’s Watchmen 2, and it stinks on ice.)

I am disappointed and sickened by the venality and cheap opportunism of the scab workers brought in to create more Watchmen comics. Azzarello. Bermejo. Cooke. Jones. Straczynski. Hughes. Kubert. Kubert. Wein. Lee. Conner. The only real surprises on the list for me are Len Wein and Darwyn Cooke, whose previous comics work had falsely led me to assume that they were thoughtful and decent human beings. Their public comments on this subject, and their willingness to contribute their gifts to something this despicable, have permanently convinced me otherwise. How can you reconcile Darwyn Cooke’s long commitment to quality and decency with his participation in Watchmen 2? You simply cannot. You can, however, as one blogger has done, point out his hypocrisy in a very public and persuasive manner. 

I often differentiate between the artform and the industry of comics. Certainly I see them as two very distinct segments of what we all think of as, simply, “comics.” And when I say that I don’t know why comics does this to its best creators, I mean, all of comics. 

If Watchmen 2 goes forward as planned, we are all to blame. Marvel exploited Jack Kirby for decades while he lived, and continues to do so, and few have done anything about it. By the time DC started repeatedly screwing Alan Moore and even spending untold money to stalk and harass him through the purchase of Wildstorm, many of us were aware enough of the creator’s rights issue to take some note of the wrongness of what went on. But who was strong enough to punish DC for it? Who was outraged enough?

This time, I think it might be different. This time the outrage seems more focused, more mature, and more sustainable. I won’t read Watchmen 2, not even for free, and I suspect many, many others will act similarly. Watchmen 2 is scab comics for scab readers, produced by a corrupt, arrogant management and nothing more. I urge anyone reading this to tell the truth about how DC Comics screwed Alan Moore on Watchmen and other issues for decades, and tell the truth about how enough is enough. You don’t need to mention Hitler, or rape, or even Vichy France. If you tell the plain truth about Alan Moore, DC Comics and Watchmen 2, people will figure it out for themselves. The intelligent and compassionate ones who value human beings over corporate profits won’t support Watchmen 2. The immoral scumbags who are publishing, producing and buying it, frankly, can have it.

If this really is what all of comics is about, letting this happen, then let it happen. But don’t think there won’t be consequences. This might not be the worst thing DC ever did, but it’s certainly the most publicly unethical and obviously wrong. Over the course of this week it has literally made me sick to my stomach. But after all the tweets I’ve written and all the rage I’ve felt, I keep coming back to one small phrase, composed by the most brilliant mind ever to work in comics, who has almost always, by Marvel and DC, and by the “fans” that support them, been treated like nothing more than shit that needs to be scraped off their heels:

”What I want is for this not to happen.”  

What each of us chooses to do, after hearing so plain a declaration, will follow all of us for the rest of our time in comics, however much longer we can stand to be a part of it. 

— Alan David Doane

 

Comic Book Resources has obediently cooperated with Time-Warner corporate superhero comic book publisher DC Comics in revealing the long-ago leaked “news” that DC will publish comic book derivative of Watchmen, a comic book created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Here is the list of scab creators associated with this unethical publishing decision:

Brian Azzarello
Lee Bermejo
Darwyn Cooke
J.G. Jones
J. Michael Straczynski
Adam Hughes
Andy Kubert
Joe Kubert
Len Wein
Jae Lee
Amanda Conner

No comic book reader who believes in creator rights or ethical business practices will buy or read the comics being planned. Writer Alan Moore co-created Watchmen and signed a contract with DC Comics that under normal industry practices of the time would have seen control of the work revert to Moore and artist Dave Gibbons after the work had gone out of print for a period of time, as was the case with every DC graphic novel created under a similar contract up until Watchmen. Because of the unprecedented quality and success of Watchmen, DC has never allowed the work to go out of print, and therefore has retained legal control of Watchmen for decades longer than anyone at the time could have imagined they would have. I’ve said before that DC may have the legal right to create more Watchmen comics, but their ethically dubious stewardship of the property and repeated actions against the interests and wishes of Alan Moore make these comics nothing but the fruit of a poisoned tree.

I once again ask anyone who believes DC is in the wrong here to sign the petition asking the publisher not to create more Watchmen comics until such a time that DC reaches an accord with Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, and the two fully and freely endorse such work.

I’m disgusted by the long list of scab writers and artists above, who have willingly thrown in their lot against creator rights and in favour of unethical corporate thuggery. Any writer or artist who respects the rights of their colleagues throughout the industry would refuse to work on any derivative works related to Watchmen until DC, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons are all in agreement on the creation of new Watchmen properties. 

— Alan David Doane 

Claiming it’s like “putting Daniel Craig on the cover of Dr. No,” Godzilla fans are none too pleased by the artist’s new Criterion Collection Godzilla packaging, with a monster that is arguably much more like, or exactly like, the 2002 design, rather than the 1954 original film on the disc. Facebook erupted with demands to “fix the error” or offer an apology, but Criterion stomped to the artist’s defense:

“Artist Bill Sienkiewicz used the original, ‘54 Godzilla as reference for his artwork, but all of the renderings are nevertheless, in the end, Bill’s personal vision of the creature, albeit on…e that is Toho approved. We can see why some viewers consider it to be more akin to the 2002 incarnation of Godzilla because the back plates seem more sharp-pointed and jagged than the curved tips of the ‘54 original, for example, or the tail tapers more to a point, but those plates don’t exactly mirror the ones from the 2002-3 monster either.

We pushed Bill to address Godzilla as a force of destruction, an elemental being, to step away from a rendering that would be purely literal and fetishistic in detail, and think he came up with a terrific interpretation. This is also why there is color in the packaging art. Although the movie is a beautifully-photographed B&W work, we kept leaning towards the elemental aspects of fire and water and wanted the color palette to evoke that.”

I think it’s more interesting that it doesn’t really look much like what comics fans expect of Sienkiewicz’ work, and that he was also hired to provide black-and-white illustrations in the BluRay booklet, which is also kind of an odd use of his talents.

It’s becoming clearer week by week that DC’s New 52 has a lot of problems, and John Rozum’s quitting as writer (scripter?) of Static Shock wasn’t very newsworthy until he started posting on Facebook and his blog about it, because the book wasn’t very good from the start and wasn’t selling well. Failing to turn a C-list superhero into anything more is no crime, and while one would think Rozum’s reputation would survive coming shortly on the heels of his acclaimed (if also not-great-selling) Xombi revival, but I understand him wanting to set the record straight, especially as some folks were cursing him for seemingly killing the chances for Static and the rest of the Milestone characters to integrate successfully into the DC Universe. First, it ain’t his fault, and second, you can be sure that, since DC owns them, they will keep trying to get these characters into the DCU, just as they have with characters who are even tougher fits like The Spirit or Doc Savage. 

But that’s DC’s problem. What I appreciated in Rozum’s post was what a pro the guy was. And sure, maybe in the ’40s or even ’70s or early ’80s, being a pro was synonymous with keeping one’s mouth shut about the company who hired you. But Rozum doesn’t say anything bad about DC. He’s merely giving his side of the story regarding an untenable working situation with one particular editor, Harvey Richards, and longtime workman artist, first-time plotter, Scott McDaniel. In the spirit of Rozum, I’ll practice some rare restraint here and not disparage either of them, and will instead just commend Rozum on his honesty and integrity and wish him much better success with future projects. He also points out that his acclaimed revival of the Milestone character, Xombi, with art by the great Frazer Irving, is due out from DC in February, so keep an eye out for that.

I’ve been writing and editing articles and posts about comics for about 14 years now, all told. I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder of any piece I’ve been involved with than today’s Flashmob Fridays piece on Harvey Pekar’s new and final graphic novel, Cleveland.

Excellent writing abounds from Christopher Allen, Roger Green, Scott Cederlund, and Johanna Draper Carlson. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed bringing it to you. Go read Flashmob Fridays on Harvey Pekar’s Cleveland.

— Alan David Doane

Writer - Brandon Graham

Artist - Simon Roy

Publisher - Image Comics/Extreme. $3.99

I’m old enough to remember the two months that Rob Liefeld’s Prophet was relevant. Without doing any research (both laziness and in support of not supporting SOPA/PIPA), I think it was about issue #7 or 8, when the original creative team abandoned the book to a flash-in-the-pan artist, Stephen Platt, who had some major flaws but had an appealing style that was kind of a more compact Todd McFarlane. I went along with the crowd and got the book without having to pay much more than cover price, liked the art but not the story, and then waited for the next issue, which I think took over a month to arrive, and when it did, I don’t think Platt did all the work. And before too long, he was gone on to other things, and really has had very little comics work since. The series apparently made it to issue #20, but not many people really cared by that time (though in today’s numbers, it probably would be a big hit).

Say what you want about Liefeld, but he’s not an idiot, and he’s always been one to pay others to pump some life into his failing, failed or forgotten creations, be it Alan Moore, Mark Millar, Kurt Busiek, and so on. This time it’s Brandon (King City) Graham, writing, joined by Simon (Jan’s Atomic Heart) Roy on art. 

Is the book any good? Yes, and the good news is that one need not have any prior knowledge of time-lost super soldier John Prophet, and it probably helps if you don’t. Numbering aside, this is written like a first issue, and I give Liefeld and editor Eric Stephenson credit for letting Graham do what he wants here, which is to thrust Prophet into a weird world of multi-jawed monsters to kill and consume and other natives who want to kill, fuck, parley or perform surgery on him. It’s a dense issue, and Roy and colorist John Ballermann are up to the task of creating this strange, savage world. 

I’ve already seen folks calling the book brilliant, but I think we may want to pump the brakes a bit there. Graham does have a unique vision and bless him for wanting to cram a lot into the issue, but he does overload the reader a bit with all the alien names, and with an omniscient narration that actually feels kind of lazy to me. I’d prefer to find more of this out through dialogue between Prophet and the creatures he meets, as well as having Prophet make observations in his own voice, so we can get to know him better. 

Reading this issue, as well as seeing the news that Joe Casey and Nathan Fox are the new creative team on other Image series, Haunt, makes me a little bummed that talented creators like these are still being convinced to expend their energies trying to prop up or revived crappy comics somebody else owns, but hey, it’s their call to make. If someone’s going to do work-for-hire, as a consumer I still want them to put their best effort into it, and although this first issue has some flaws, it’s clear Graham and Roy are invested in the work and there’s some good potential here.

—Christopher Allen

It was morbid curiosity that led me to pick up Peanuts #1 yesterday. Published by the Kaboom kids comics imprint of Boom Studios, the book features what is apparently artwork by Charles Schulz on the cover (it has his signature, anyway), new material by people you’ve never heard of, and a sprinkling of classic Schulz Sunday strips marred by modern colouring techniques.

The new comics blow it on a number of levels, the worst of which is that there’s just no central, guiding philosophy subtly holding it all together, as there was in every single strip Schulz created in the 50 years he wrote and drew Peanuts. The artists capture Schulz’s style here or there, in this panel or that, but it feels random and wrong, as do character motivations and actions. The varying panel shapes also seem out of sync with what we think of as Peanuts. A half-century of consistency and clean design won’t be shoved aside by the sub-par attempts to do something new, here.

Speaking of wrong, the “How to Draw Charlie Brown” feature — the idea of which is kicky and fun — is made of wrong. Told from Lucy’s perspective, it’s mean and negative to a degree that shows a complete inability to appreciate — never mind emulate — Schulz’s judgment and creative discipline. He always knew exactly how much was enough, and where the line was, and this petty, shitty approach doesn’t know either.

We all know Lucy thinks Charlie Brown is fat and stupid. We don’t need her telling us that relentlessly for page after page, going on about his sausage fingers and stupid, round head. This one feature would keep me from sharing the book with a child, and sent me to the credits to look for any evidence that Schulz’s widow or estate had a hand in this. There’s no indication that they were consulted or had any approval, and I have to guess that they did not, and that therefore the book should be avoided not only for reasons of quality, but out of respect for the memory and wishes of Charles M. Schulz.

As I mentioned, there’s a few pages of badly coloured classic Schulz Sunday strips thrown in, in-between the lousy new material. It fails to distract from the deficiencies in the new work, although that surely was the intention. It’s nice that Kaboom wants to introduce new readers to the great life’s work of Charles Schulz. They could do far better than they’ve done in Peanuts #1. They could, for instance, recommend a volume of The Complete Peanuts from Fantagraphics Books. They’ve been doing Peanuts right for years, and it’s a shame that Kaboom doesn’t seem to have absorbed a whit of inspiration from the classy, engaging volumes Fantagraphics issues twice a year. I understand the wish to bring Peanuts more into the modern era. That is to say, I understand that this is what they were trying to do. They have failed. This is a book that fails to honour the memory of one of the greatest cartoonists of all time, that fails to provide quality comics for kids, and that is best avoided by readers old and new.

— Alan David Doane

I recently found myself agreeing — as I often do — with Tony Isabella on the issue of the Best American Comics series of annual anthologies. Tony’s recent blog post took the series and editors Jessica Abel and Matt Madden to task for not being truly representative of comics in North America. While I was initially excited about the series, year after year I’ve been more disappointed and felt more distant from it, and Tony nicely summed up why:
  

“The book’s “Notable Comics” listings re-enforced my view that this yearly collection is hopelessly biased against traditional comics storytelling and values. Apparently, not one super-hero story or one
story from Dark Horse, Image, IDW, Marvel, Boom!, or any other publisher of comics entertainment was good enough to appear…”

Apparently (I have no hard facts one way or the other, it appears to be “internet true”), DC and Marvel have refused to participate in the collection. Perhaps it’s because of legal reasons, or perhaps, like the average superhero junkie, they can’t see anything as comics unless it’s filled with people in spandex kicking the shit out of each other. Who can say? 

A discussion about all this quickly developed on Twitter, and finally it came down to myself and of of my favourite cartoonists — and former TWC contributor — Diana Tamblyn and I talking about what we would do if we had total control over a project like Best American Comics. This theoretical collection really would comprise the best of all comics published in 2011, including Marvel, DC and other major publishers. If we think they make great comics, we want them included. 

Diana and I plan to reveal our full list of the best comics of 2011 soon, and we’ll try to include links to the artist websites, links to buy, and links to sample pages and stories (where available). Hopefully our little project will better represent the best in comics from the past 12 months.

— Alan David Doane 

I reject utterly the premise and substance of “The Rare Case Against Creator-Owned Comics,” posted on the Newsarama blog. If anything, Alan Moore’s veto of a reprinting of the 1963 project is a good argument for creator-owned comics. Moore’s writing was the prime appeal of 1963, and speaking as someone who bought it new on the stands, and not disregarding the wonderful artwork by Steve Bissette, Dave Gibbons and Rick Veitch, I can tell you I bought it primarily — if not solely, because of the writing of Alan Moore, and the clever way in which he invoked the tone of Silver Age Marvel Comics. Could the artists have done it without Moore? Not with the same level of quality and creative ingenuity. Certainly not without the enormous number of copies sold. Could Moore have done it without the particular artists who illustrated his ideas? Of course he could have.  

Which isn’t to say I don’t sympathize with the artists. I do, completely. But I place more importance on Moore’s right to say “no,” and I totally sympathize with Moore’s desire to distance himself from the larger segment of the comics industry. Comics as a whole — readers and publishers — have treated him with contempt and ethical shenanigans for nearly as long as he’s been writing them. I can’t blame him at all for wanting to move on. I wish the 1963 partners could have reached an accord and would have loved to see the 1963 Annual back in the days when it was supposed to be published, but those days are over, and near so far as I can tell, as disappointing as it might be to the other creators, Moore is well within his rights to say “no.” If only his rights and desires had been respected a little more often over the last 30 years or so, he might be a little more magnanimous now in what he is willing to cooperate with, or at least tolerate.

Alan Moore has, in my over thirty years of reading his writing, earned my respect, my admiration, and my trust. I know he has higher-than-average expectations and standards when it comes to friendship and relationships, and I know there are good and decent people who have, for reasons I am not privileged to know, somehow found themselves fallen out of Moore’s good graces. I’m sure that’s unpleasant, even painful.

But Moore, as an individual and as a comics creator, has more than earned the right to associate with, both personally and professionally, only those he chooses to associate with. He should not be forced into business contracts or personal relationships he does not wish to be a part of, and we should respect that. He’s earned the right to work on the projects he chooses to do, and not a goddamned thing more. Frankly, he’s earned the right to be left in peace. Comics has taken enough from the man. He’s given enough of himself. Steve Bissette, as a former creative partner, has the right to say what he wishes about 1963, as does anyone else who was involved in the project. Everyone else is just blowing so much hot air.

— Alan David Doane 

Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips stretch their considerable creative muscles to make Fatale #1 an electric and delicious start to their newest project together.

I’ve been a fan of this creative team since they first came to my attention on Sleeper, followed them singly and together on pretty much every other title they’ve worked on, and cite their ongoing Marvel/Icon book Criminal as my current favourite ongoing title. “I like it so much I started a blog,” I’m tempted to say.

None of this is news if you’ve been reading me for any length of time at all, so I won’t bore you with further explication of the esteem in which I hold Brubaker and Phillips’s joint comic work; just take it as a given that if they are working together, you’re going to be reading comics in the finest tradition in terms of style and substance. Single issues that read well all by themselves no matter where you are in the storyline, complex characters that surprise and delight; lush, convincing images that invite you in to the world being created before your eyes.

Fatale, like Sleeper and Criminal (oh, and Incognito, too, yes) does all that, and does it all quite well. But it also goes places Entrancin’ Ed and Sure-Fingered Sean never have before; the duo set their new book in a dark world of mystery and horror inspired by the writings of H.P. Lovecraft (another of my favourite writers). This isn’t the icy, brutal sexual terror Alan Moore delivered in his excellent Lovecraft homage Neonomicon, however; Brubaker and Phillips craft a more baroque feel for this new world we’re discovering, all dark corners and unknown terrors that invite exploration. The mood is set from the very start, as a dour group of people gather in the rain for a funeral. Strangers meet, words are exchanged, and questions quickly arise. And just like that, we’re immersed in a new world of darkness and wonder.

The first-person narration of main character Nicholas Lash feels comfortable and intimate, but the strange things that begin to happen to him unfold so quickly that you’re as disoriented as he is by the way the world turns out from under him. As he immerses himself in a story-within-the-story in the form of a previously unknown manuscript brought to him by a beautiful and mysterious woman who may be much more than she suggests. The scenes depicted from the manuscript really give Phillips a chance to show what he can deliver, as we get a luminously noir scene-setting city street depiction so detailed and visually stunning that it’s also called-out for the issue’s back cover illustration. We see truly creepy thugs reminiscent of The Strangers in Dark City or The Gentlemen in the “Hush” episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, but by way of Herge’s Thomson and Thompson. Visually witty but still filled with horror and dread. 

How does the story Lash reads relate to the death of his godfather? Who, really, is the beautiful and intriguing Jo? Why does the gore and spatter emitted by a chest-wounded thug seem…wrong, somehow? Lots of questions, and you’ll want to read further and get the answers. Brubaker’s best comics writing by now has the same spare confidence and bravado of a master musician, and Phillips brings a level of detail and verisimilitude to this story that is virtually unknown in regular monthly comics these days.

Fatale #1 delivers value for the dollar, too; in addition to a longer-than-average story (24 pages instead of the usual 22 or more recent usual 20 in some titles), Brubaker writes an introductory text page, something that is always welcome, especially in a first issue, as it provides context and communication with the reader that is always off-putting when absent. Additionally, the always-excellent Jess Nevins has been tasked with writing an essay explaining Lovecraft and his works, a piece accompanied by a truly stunning and evocative Sean Phillips illustration of Lovecraft and his greatest, most fearsome creation. 

Fatale #1 is exactly the sort of comic readers need; an engrossing story, superbly illustrated, sharply written and with enough substance and ancillary material to justify the cover price. Any publisher wondering how to do it right should explore every aspect of this issue. Any reader wondering why comics don’t satisfy them anymore should compare Fatale #1 to any other book on the stands, because it blows them all away.

— Alan David Doane 

Addendum: Ed Brubaker responded to this review on Twitter, saying “You got one detail wrong, but you’re sort of meant to. The ’50s part of the story is not the manuscript he reads.” 

As one of the signees of my buddy Alan David Doane’s petition asking DC Comics to come to an accord with the creators of Watchmen or, failing that, scuttle plans for Watchmen prequels/sequels/spinoffs, I wrestled with the rationale of it for a little bit. I’m probably as temperamental as Alan, but not so anti-corporate, and by and large I come down on the side of the law. And as it seems to be legal for DC to go forth with exploiting what appears to be their property, as rights never reverted back to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, I was basically okay with their legal right to do so, though not interested in the results.

But I have come to realize a couple things. First, laws obviously change. What was accepted practice fifty or thirty or even ten years ago can be disputed and reversed now. But more importantly, this is an ethical issue. Although Alan’s artwork below is over-the-top, the petition itself is evenhanded. No one is calling for Occupy DC or a boycott or anything like that. It basically just asks DC to do the right thing. Obviously, not everyone has the same ethics and values, and DC is made up of many people of differing ethics and values who have to balance them with the need to make money. To me, and I have to point out I had no involvement in the creation of this petition and am only stating my own desires for the outcome, it’s not so much about if or how DC reacts to it as that it hopefully starts some sort of dialogue, plants a seed in people’s minds about the importance of the artist and how one should always make the attempt to respect the author’s wishes. It’s not unheard of but rare in the world of film (2010, the shot-for-shot remake of Psycho) for filmmakers to try to follow another filmmaker’s visionary work, but comics publishers seem to have little regard for most creators, nor shame in endlessly regurgitating old ideas. As with the New 52, it’s pretty transparent that spinning off Watchmen with different creators is shortsighted and gimmicky and not likely to produce anything approaching the longevity and merit of the original work, but admittedly, that’s not really the point here. A kickass, mind-expanding Owlman story-for-the-ages, or a turd on the scale of The L.A.W., either result is still a kick in the teeth to Messrs. Moore & Gibbons and their singular work. 

I just think it’s worth starting the discussion, both intellectually and spiritually. What benefit to one’s soul is there in championing those who reap their rewards based on someone else’s hard work and mental agility, who exploit legal loopholes that hurt others? I’m no saint and make plenty of my own questionable choices, but I don’t take pride in them, nor am I going to rally to the defense of others who do these things at the expense of others. Yes, there are more important things in the world and Change.org is involved with those things, too, but that doesn’t make it unimportant. Do you want to stand up, even in this mild way, for the Artist, or just keep lining up for more and more of the same crap? Even at one’s most selfish, it’s just common sense that the company who does right by its people is going to produce better work, more often. 

—Christopher Allen

Criminal: The Last of the Innocent by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Marvel/Icon) — Nuanced and bold, a new high-water mark for Criminal, which continues to be the best regularly-published comic book around. Check out the Flashmob Fridays reviews.

Incognito: Bad Influences by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Marvel/Icon) — Not quite as soaring as the very best of Criminal, Incognito still manages to entertain and provide the sort of thrills corporate comics don’t even bother with anymore.

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 1969 by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill (Top Shelf) — This series has only gotten deeper and better since freeing itself of DC’s control.

Neonomicon by Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows (Avatar) — There was a lot of outrage and controversy surrounding this title, but I thought Moore conveyed a lot of subtext and genuine horror in this Lovecraft-inspired title, every issue of which had me giddily anticipating more, even as it plumbed the darkest depths of human and inhuman cruelty. 

Daredevil by Mark Waid, Marcos Martin and Paolo Rivera (Marvel) — As Tucker Stone recently noted in his interview with Tom Spurgeon, this title stands out simply because it is good superhero comics, and Marvel and DC don’t know how to do that anymore. It is, therefore, a miracle. Flashmob Fridays covered this one recently, too.

Treasury of XXth Century Murder: The Lives of Sacco and Vanzetti by Rick Geary (NBM) — If you’re not following this continuing series of self-contained graphic novels centered on true crimes of the past, you are missing out on some of the most entertaining, witty and well-crafted comics being produced in the world today.

Little Nothings Vol. 4: My Shadow in the Distance (NBM) — Whimsical, genuine. Here’s my review.

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight - Marshall Rogers (DC Comics) — My nostalgia gene doesn’t usually express itself, but the Englehart/Rogers/Austin Batman stories were the first Batman comics I ever loved, and my 10-year-old self is very happy this collection exists.

Avengers Academy by Christos Gage, Mike McKone, Tom Raney and others (Marvel) — Not quite as good as Daredevil, but head-and-shoulders above the average, unreadable current-day Marvel comic. And any book with art by Tom Raney gets a look from me, because he is just an amazing artist and brings a great deal to the projects he works on.

Walt Disney’s Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes by Carl Barks (Fantagraphics) — Quite simply, some of the best comics of all time, in the most beautiful design and format of any book I saw all year.