Top of the Pile 9/19/2012

Written by Bill Willingham
Art by Mark Buckingham and Steve Leialoha
Backup Art by Shawn McManus
Cover by Joao Ruas

Fables is fast becoming the longest series I have stuck with. I’d still be getting Hellblazer, but the college thing got in the way. But with Fables 121, we reach the end of an eight part story arc “Cubs in Toyland”. In the story, one of Snow White and Bigby Wolf’s daughters, Therese, is swept away to the dead Kingdom of Toyland. There we find out that all the broken toys have dark secrets and have kidnapped her to try and revive and fix the land. Her brother Dare, on Therese trail, does everything he can and more to try and rescue her.

Bill Willingham has written another interesting story. Instead of using the traditional fable characters, this story is filled with the original characters of the children he has created. So there is no baggage of how Pinocchio or Beauty and the Beast would be portrayed. Therese, up to this point, was written and a whiny, selfish little girl. And Dare was a boisterous almost bullying boy. Both go through dramatic changes in this story and it will be interesting to see how their continuing story is told in the book.

And I don’t know how long Mark Buckingham has been working doing the artwork for Fables. But his work is as much a part of the book as everything Willingham does. And the cover art each month for just about every issue is as close to fine art as anything on the comic book shelf. And this issues cover is one of the most sorrowful images I have seen in a while.

I’m glad I put this at the top of my pile and I’m ecstatic that even after 121 issues, Fables is a book I still look forward to each month.

Top of the Pile 9/12/2012

The Manhattan Projects #6
Story by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Nick Pitarra & Jordie Bellair
Published by Image Comics

I don’t think I’m smart enough to understand all the Jonathan Hickman writes. I have read the Oppenheimer biography American Prometheus and a couple of the more accessible books by Richard Feinman. So this alternate history of the 20th century science is completely fascinating.

In issue 6, we pick up in Germany just before all the Nazi rocket scientists are picked up by the Allies. Helmut Gröttrup escapes and is grabbed by the Soviet Army and immediately put to work in Star City to build rockets. This book shifts it’s setting quickly as it we go forward and back in Gröttrup’s sad story.

And the artwork is quite good. It’s reminiscent of Geof Darrow without all the insane detail. Thick lines show all the sweat and facial stubble on the scientists faces. The drawings of his rockets are Buck Rodgers cool and even the swastika forehead branding looks painful. And I’m glad to see that Jordie Bellair gets art credit for his coloring. Using full, contrasting colors, with this Soviet focused issue, red almost becomes the obvious symbol for anything USSR. It’s not subtle, but it’s effective.

So I’m glad I put this on the top of the pile this week. It beat out Chew, which was the only other book that could have been a potential pile topper.

Top of the Pile 9/5/2012

Phantom Stranger #0
Written by Dan Didio
Art by Brent Anderson and Scott Hanna
DC Comics

I like the fantastic elements of both the DC and Marvel universe’s. If its Dr. Fate or Dr. Strange, I kind of dig the supernatural tales. So when Phantom Stranger #0 came out, I had to pick it up and see what they were going to do with this odd character in the New DC Universe.

Starting with his origin where he is sentenced to be “a stranger” by the council of wizards, he is told by a disembodied voice “to walk this land until the debt for your sins is paid.” Flash forward a couple of millennia and we see The Stranger being told to take an angry cop to a place where he will rescue his kidnapped fiance. And from there, things take an unexpected turn.

Now, I have some issues with the whole New 52 from DC. I understand that they are rebooting everything and after a year are refining their lineup. But I found this to be a less than interesting re-introduction to The Phantom Strange. I’m not sure what Dan Didio was trying to do, but after reading the book, I have no clue what to expect from this book. But that might be a problem with this type of character. I loved when he made appearances in the recent Madam Xanadu series. He was present, and certainly influenced events. But he didn’t get directly involved, like he did in this book. Also, some of the dialog was really stilted and pretty badly written. The interaction between the angry cop and his supervisor could easily been lifted from the Simpson show where the “McBain” parody cop movie they spoof.

The art by Brent Anderson is pretty good. His style doesn’t have any really unique quirks that make it distinguishable from most other comic book art. Characters are kind of generic and other than anger, we really don’t see any facial expressions. I kind of get a Gil Kane vibe if I squint and cock my head a little, but that’s a real stretch to compare to this work to his.

So, will I continue getting The Phantom Stranger. No. I have too much baggage from reading older stories with him to understand how he’s going to fit in this new storyline that the DC books are trying to tell.