Oh man why am I writing more stuff? Same as ever, beer and spicy food have their stranglehold on me, and I must vent my pointless thoughts! So here goes!
Today is Wednesday and if you're a nerd (certainly you must be to be reading this) you know Wednesdays mean comics! So apparently Diamond comic distributors is full of stupid and sent out this week and next week's books, but despite this making the sorting of customer's books more difficult, it filled my day with joy. I had all these little reviews worked out in my head earlier in the day, but between the beer and my kitten mewling adorably at me to break my concentration, I'll keep it brief.
Three of my four gleeful titles this week were Dark Horse books, and I'm feeling more and more they might be my favourite of publishers, though I dearly love Vertigo and many of the smaller publishers, such as Image, IDW, and Slave Labor.
Evan Dorkin (who I discovered through his hilarious Milk and Cheese book) and Jill Thompson finished up their current arc of Beasts of Burden with issue #4. I was relieved to see mention in the back of the issue that they intend to do further arcs in the future, as this four-issue run was excellent. Beautiful art and great characters. I never imagined neighborhood pets fighting the supernatural could be so interesting and moving (issue #2 had me bawling in the shop, I'm embarrassed to admit).
The second of my awesome Dark Horse titles this week is one of my favourites, Usagi Yojimbo, with issue #125. It's Stan Sakai's usual caliber of freaking awesome work, one I find greatly under-appreciated. He's been writing this book for 25 years now, and his total issues number nearly 200 (if you include the stuff before the Dark Horse run started). Once you think about how he does all his own art and writing for these comics, it makes my head spin. Really some beautiful art and fantastic storytelling, with a loving blend of Japanese history and mythology. And yes, furries. Fuck you, I like them.
Also this week was issue # 7 of John Layman and Rob Guillory's new book Chew, from Image comics. I saw the debut of this book randomly in Previews a while back, and was intrigued by the concept- a cibopathic cop, who gets an instant mental history of anything he consumes. Quirky humour and a neat alternate reality society, involving a government conspiracy around the Avian flu leading up to a ban on chicken. Weird stuff, but kickass. I'm really eager to see where they're taking the story in the long run.
I know I've only mentioned two of three Dark Horse books for this week, I was saving the best for last, my big geekgasm that made me want to write all this babbling nonsense. Dark Horse, partly as a snarky response to DC and Marvel's constant over-arcing storylines that require you to buy a zillion tie-in books (for the record, I dislike these but DC does a decent job, 52/Crisis and Blackest Night seem a bit more well thought-out than Civil War, or Dark Reign, or Siege, or World War Hulk.. or whatever the fuck they're doing this week) has done a run of what they call "One-Shot Wonders." Nice, neat little one-shot stories anyone can pick up and enjoy, even if you're not familiar with the parent books. So far I've read the Dr. Horrible one (because I am a Nathan Fillion fangirl, I admit!), I have the Abe Sapien one lurking in my "to read" pile, and I'm looking to get my hands on the Goon one. However, this week's blew me away:
Hellboy "Bride of Hell" written by Mike Mignola and drawn by Richard Corben.
Okay, so I'm also guilty of being a huge fangirl of both these guys. Hellboy is one of my favourite books and characters overall to begin with, Mignola's writing and artwork give me chills, there are scenes from these comics burned forever into my mind, the shadows of my imagination are filled with Kriegaffes and tentacles and the Ogdru Jahad. I'm also absolutely gaga for Corben's work, I think the first I saw of him was in a Hellboy story, Makoma. Later I was lent his graphic novel interpretation of Poe's Fall of the House of Usher and Other Stories, which is another work that really stuck with me, and I recently picked up his Haunt of Horror run of H.P. Lovecraft-inspired work. I loved his work "Den" from Heavy Metal Magazine, appreciating his writing on something original, and his fairness in drawing well-hung guys as boldly as the usual sizable tits. Finally his work with Mignola on Hellboy's "The Crooked Man" arc was the last straw that broke me into complete shameless obsession, just pure awesome creepy, and I was delighted to see that the next Hellboy collection will include the Crooked Man story, among a few other awesome tales.
So back to the point, Bride of Hell did not disappoint. Corben's talent for creepy desolation and ruin really shone in this story, and Mignola's skillful blending of the mythological and paranormal was of the quality I've come to expect from his work. There's something magical about the way he makes demons and monsters feel a touch human, without losing anything, and with subtle humour. I really can't praise this book enough, even if you've never read any of Mignola's work on Hellboy, BPRD, or anything else, give this a shot. I'm probably really rambling on now, so I'm gonna go have some more beer and play some video games. If anyone actually bothers reading this.. thank you.
Today is Wednesday and if you're a nerd (certainly you must be to be reading this) you know Wednesdays mean comics! So apparently Diamond comic distributors is full of stupid and sent out this week and next week's books, but despite this making the sorting of customer's books more difficult, it filled my day with joy. I had all these little reviews worked out in my head earlier in the day, but between the beer and my kitten mewling adorably at me to break my concentration, I'll keep it brief.
Three of my four gleeful titles this week were Dark Horse books, and I'm feeling more and more they might be my favourite of publishers, though I dearly love Vertigo and many of the smaller publishers, such as Image, IDW, and Slave Labor.
Evan Dorkin (who I discovered through his hilarious Milk and Cheese book) and Jill Thompson finished up their current arc of Beasts of Burden with issue #4. I was relieved to see mention in the back of the issue that they intend to do further arcs in the future, as this four-issue run was excellent. Beautiful art and great characters. I never imagined neighborhood pets fighting the supernatural could be so interesting and moving (issue #2 had me bawling in the shop, I'm embarrassed to admit).
The second of my awesome Dark Horse titles this week is one of my favourites, Usagi Yojimbo, with issue #125. It's Stan Sakai's usual caliber of freaking awesome work, one I find greatly under-appreciated. He's been writing this book for 25 years now, and his total issues number nearly 200 (if you include the stuff before the Dark Horse run started). Once you think about how he does all his own art and writing for these comics, it makes my head spin. Really some beautiful art and fantastic storytelling, with a loving blend of Japanese history and mythology. And yes, furries. Fuck you, I like them.
Also this week was issue # 7 of John Layman and Rob Guillory's new book Chew, from Image comics. I saw the debut of this book randomly in Previews a while back, and was intrigued by the concept- a cibopathic cop, who gets an instant mental history of anything he consumes. Quirky humour and a neat alternate reality society, involving a government conspiracy around the Avian flu leading up to a ban on chicken. Weird stuff, but kickass. I'm really eager to see where they're taking the story in the long run.
I know I've only mentioned two of three Dark Horse books for this week, I was saving the best for last, my big geekgasm that made me want to write all this babbling nonsense. Dark Horse, partly as a snarky response to DC and Marvel's constant over-arcing storylines that require you to buy a zillion tie-in books (for the record, I dislike these but DC does a decent job, 52/Crisis and Blackest Night seem a bit more well thought-out than Civil War, or Dark Reign, or Siege, or World War Hulk.. or whatever the fuck they're doing this week) has done a run of what they call "One-Shot Wonders." Nice, neat little one-shot stories anyone can pick up and enjoy, even if you're not familiar with the parent books. So far I've read the Dr. Horrible one (because I am a Nathan Fillion fangirl, I admit!), I have the Abe Sapien one lurking in my "to read" pile, and I'm looking to get my hands on the Goon one. However, this week's blew me away:
Hellboy "Bride of Hell" written by Mike Mignola and drawn by Richard Corben.
Okay, so I'm also guilty of being a huge fangirl of both these guys. Hellboy is one of my favourite books and characters overall to begin with, Mignola's writing and artwork give me chills, there are scenes from these comics burned forever into my mind, the shadows of my imagination are filled with Kriegaffes and tentacles and the Ogdru Jahad. I'm also absolutely gaga for Corben's work, I think the first I saw of him was in a Hellboy story, Makoma. Later I was lent his graphic novel interpretation of Poe's Fall of the House of Usher and Other Stories, which is another work that really stuck with me, and I recently picked up his Haunt of Horror run of H.P. Lovecraft-inspired work. I loved his work "Den" from Heavy Metal Magazine, appreciating his writing on something original, and his fairness in drawing well-hung guys as boldly as the usual sizable tits. Finally his work with Mignola on Hellboy's "The Crooked Man" arc was the last straw that broke me into complete shameless obsession, just pure awesome creepy, and I was delighted to see that the next Hellboy collection will include the Crooked Man story, among a few other awesome tales.
So back to the point, Bride of Hell did not disappoint. Corben's talent for creepy desolation and ruin really shone in this story, and Mignola's skillful blending of the mythological and paranormal was of the quality I've come to expect from his work. There's something magical about the way he makes demons and monsters feel a touch human, without losing anything, and with subtle humour. I really can't praise this book enough, even if you've never read any of Mignola's work on Hellboy, BPRD, or anything else, give this a shot. I'm probably really rambling on now, so I'm gonna go have some more beer and play some video games. If anyone actually bothers reading this.. thank you.
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
ravenhallow:
Sad thing is I've only been collecting comics for a few years, I have a lot of catching up to do, so very many good comics out there I need to read. On top of all the other regular books, I need a few decades to just read.
el_diablo_blanco:
I had to stop years ago. I had just finished University, and had to start paying off some debt. Plus I was running out of room. So now if I hear that there is a story line I might find interesting, I wait for it to come out in TPB form orI just pick up stand alone graphic novels. Saves on storage space!!