Graffic Traffic
by Ryk McIntyre
“When everything else fails, Comics rule.”
Welcome to another short-attention span production. You know, the reason for this approach is… I’m sorry, was I saying something? Oh, yeah, y’wanna read some comics? Dark Horse Comics sent us a bunch, joining the growing ranks of “Those Who Gain Honor By Giving Me Free Stuff, May They Rest In Their Plastic-sleeve-with-cardboard-backer-Heaven.” And though they seem to be relying heavily on their Aliens® franchise, hey! I can’t blame them. Historically, it’s how they’ve survived every economic drought: smart licensing (Terminator®, Predator®, E.T.C.®) and great stuff they can publish ’cause the licensing pays the bills (Grendel, Sin City, HellBoy, etc., etc.). Anyway, AliensWraith (story by Jay Stephens, art by Eduardo Risso) is a kinda cooooool riff on your “teens go into the Haunted Place” standard with an X-Files® end scene. And the art is a nice P. Craig Russell/Tim Sales influenced jam, and that’s a complement. In a different spurting-vein is Aliens–Stalker (David Wenzel, all by his own-bad-self) in which the Alien story is grafted onto the Beowulf legend, and while the story stretches in places, the art is still beautiful, similar in tone to Scott or Bo Hampton. Decapitator (story by Bowen and DePlume, art by Mahrike and McCullum) offers us a human-brain-in-a-killer-droid story that links Mayan legend to a time-travel sub-plot. One for the Lobo fans. In Halloween spirit, Dark Horse also offers the twisted wit of Sergio (Groo, Mad Magazine) Aragones‘ BoogeyMan (collaborating with long-time partner Mark Evanier) with twist-tales and poetry narration, and the sort-of return of Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan to the subject of Dracula. It resurrects (heh) the feel of their classic ’70s Marvel comic, but I think it’s different enough so they won’t get sued. Too Much Coffee Man’s Guide for the Perplexed (Shannon Wheeler) collects Jab #1-3 (Adhesive), the Dark Horse TMCM Special, and various one-page strips from wherever, and begs the question “Is Shannon Wheeler very clever, or just good at marketing (remember the sneaker ads?)?” Well, it begs it, but never really answers it. Sometimes it seems a one-joke gimmick, but sometimes comes very close to genius. If you’re cynical and jaded, you’ll like this. Not that you’d ever admit it.
Image Comics has released a bunch of stuff in trade paperback format recently, including WildC.A.T.S-HomeComing which collects the first seven issues of the Alan Moore run on WildC.A.T.S (21-27), featuring the original team on the planet Khera (where all is not Paradise) and the new team, assembled to replace them. Actually, Alan seems to be having fun here, as well as delivering his one-of-a-kind take on super-powered realities, and a host of great artists do the visual honors – Kevin Maguire, Travis Charest, and Kevin Nowlan, to name a few. Comparing this to the WildC.A.T.S-Gathering Of Eagles (ex-X stories by Chris Claremont, art by Lee and Williams) is like comparing art and craft. Claremont is not a bad writer, but he practices his shortcomings (endless dialogue and hyperbole) as much as his strengths (strong female characters and melodrama), and while these issues mark the return of Jim Lee to the pencil, if you look at the stuff these two did together on X-Men and Uncanny X-Men, you’ll see how much they haven’t grown or changed since then. They’re just solidifying their respective styles.
You see, this is what comics can be, if they really try hard.