Graffic Traffic
by Ryk McIntyre
illustration by Greg Prindeville
The Return of Stuff
On the whole, I have always tried to combine the ranting in this column with actual bits of comic book info/facto, without it being just an ego trip. Needless to say, I’m not always good at that. And let’s face it, if you read this column, it’s because the comics you read aren’t doing it for you, otherwise you’d be hip-deep in new Image titles, concerned about the future of Captain America, and still dreaming of being loved by someone with an impossible body. Well, I can help you with the first two (although my body has been described as not possible… which isn’t really the same thing).
So as form is to format, let’s try to get as much comic info as possible stuffed in here, and promote the hell of out books I LIKE !!!!! (Yeah, objective criticism this! stupid-for-brains…)
1) FLEX MENTALLO-MAN OF MUSCLE MYSTERY! (Vertigo/Grant Morrison [words], Frank Quitley [art]) A four issue mini-series that re-presents the Charles Atlas-esque character from Grant Morrison’s run on Doom Patrol, complete with his Hero Halo, (where “Hero Of The Beach” is spelled out in shimmering letters behind his head) and his “Power of Muscle Mystery,” (y’see, he summons the occult power of each muscle and tendon… oh, just read the book!). One of the best of Mr. Morrison’s “I wish comics were innocent and goofy again” archetypes, he was originally a character escaped from the head of a young boy who drew his own comics with a magic pen. If grim and gritty ain’t your flavor…
2) STEVE BISSETTE’S TYRANT #4 (Spider Baby Graphics/Steve Bisette [art, writing, everything else]) Yeah, I know I already reviewed this, but it bears another look. A daring project that promises to show the life of a tyrannosaur from egg on up, as well as function as a format on all things dinosaur. And it does, too. Without telling too much, let’s just call this the “All Tongue Issue” and uh, I ain’t telling why.
3) HITMAN #3 (DC/Garth Ennis [words], John McCrea [art]) Again, I’ve reviewed this title recently, as well as Garth’s run on Hellblazer (possibly the best since Alan Moore invented the character) and his other Rollin’-In-The-Sick-Up title PREACHER, and again, it does bear repeating that Garth is a lost cause on any Angel’s Itinerary. He may never be an altar boy. In this issue Mr. Hitman doesn’t kill the Joker, as he’s been set-up to become the Earthbound errand boy for a bunch of demons known as “The Arkannone” who became when “…the first trigger pulled and powder first burned and the lead first flew and in a glory of velocity tore through flesh…” (So I guess that’s what Kiss was referring to in “Love Gun”) And if you think that’s cool, check out the humiliation visited upon Brother Mawzir on pages 18-19. See? That’s why Garth is funny as Hell… never mind. So, in and out of Arkham Asylum, no millions from capping the Joker, Batman hates him too, so does this woman cop… poor, poor monaghan, if it wasn’t for that next date with Wendy…
4) (The World Needs) Heroes (Milestone/Matt Wayne [words], Chriss Cross & Prentis Rollins [art]) When it started, Milestone had the new stuff: super heroes that weren’t all-white or alright; an inner-city tableau that offered something a little more relevant for young comic readers. The gang book Blood Syndicate, the Black Republican superman Icon, or even Hardware, the reluctant corporate IronMan (you’ll pardon the Marvel Expression here); all of them had the freshness that comes when intelligent people look at dopey comics, and say… well, what if? Even Static, the young, wise-cracking hero with the insecure, nerdy high-school secret identity, updated the Spiderman mythos for the ’90s. So what do we have here? Honestly I don’t know. Milestone has taken some (not all) of the interesting characters from the Mission Impossible-esque Shadow Cabinet (talk about a good start gone awful…) and is trying a gosh! honest-to-goodness superteam book, combining them with Static (apparently the best-selling amongst the other books) and… I don’t know. The first two issues have all the components of a superteam book and that may be the problem right there. Will it develop? Will Vertigo/Independent Comic readers say, “Hey! Here’s a SuperBook done right!” I’d like to say “Could be…,” but if that were the case, Blood Syndicate never would’ve been canceled.
5) ELRIC #0: ONE LIFE – FURNISHED IN EARLY MOORCOCK (Topps/Neil Gaiman [words], P. Craig Russell [art]) Well, uh what do you say about this if… uhm, in fact you have to review it… well, not have to but want to… no, really. I’m not sure. Is it a prelude to an upcoming series? Will Neil and P. Craig have anything to do with it beyond this #0? Then there could be hope. Otherwise, it’s a very nice #0. Or, as Lex and my wife said, “Oooh, here’s a nice summing up of all of Moorcock’s Elric stories, set against a kinda homo-erotic English schoolboy coming-of-age story… now beyond that, why should we care?” I guess we’ll have to read issue #1 to decide.
6) THE DREAMING #1 (Vertigo/Terry Leban [words], Peter Snejbjerg [art]) A while ago, when I reviewed some Tekno-Comics on the basis of “Does having a famous person’s name associated with the title (i.e.; Neil Gaiman’s Mr. Hero, Leonard Nimoy’s Primortals, etc.) necessarily make it worthwhile?” I found most of them not equal to the name dropped. The Dreaming, which, as a title with a revolving creative team who will expand/explore on characters developed/created by Neil, begs the same question. Based on Issue #1 I’d say… probably. Most comic readers don’t know Terry LeBan from his Cud or Eno & Plum work, and that’s their loss. So, on that basis you should check this out. This first story-cycle springboards off of that wonderful brother-and-brother team of Cain/Abel, but centers on Goldie, the young gargoyle presented by Cain to Abel as a birthday present just before he kills him (again). Apparently, there is so much more about Goldie we don’t know. The watchword on this title is, “It may not be Neal writing it, but Neal isn’t the only good writer in the world. I hope Terry does well with this, he’s a good writer, and deserves a bigger audience.
That’s it for this time, and since we’re getting closer to Father’s Day, hey, call your dad and say, “Y’know Dad… you’re my Superman.”
