Top of the Pile - 11/28/12

Three Books from Image

Morning Glories #23
Chew #30
Fatale #10

Since three of the more interesting titles came in this week (all from Image Comics), I figure I’ll give a quick blast out on my thoughts on these books.

The actual first book I read was Morning Glories number 23. The previous book, number 22, came out almost two months ago and I really didn’t remember much of the confusing storyline. To be honest, I don’t remember many of the characters either, but I think I like this book in an odd way. I find the art by Joe Eisma the best part I most look forward to when a new issue comes in. I would buy the collected volumes of this for my library. And it could go into the YA area with a little wink and nod since there are some violent images thought this series.

Chew number 30 was next up. With a fold-out covers showing the wedding of Toni Chu, this is the last book in a five issue story arc called Space Cakes. I still find this book very clever and funny (there is usually one or two tasteless puns that make laugh out loud), I always try and recommend this to the teens who come into the library. I placed the first two volumes in the adult non-fiction area because of the cannibalism and profane language.

And finally Fatale number 10 was the last of the three. Like Chew, this is the end of a story arc. This neo-noir story wraps up with the ritual sacrifices, bloody murders and manipulations to come to a satisfying conclusion. However, I’m not sure if this is a graphic story that would appeal to many library readers (who tend to be the teens in my facility). I don’t think they would have the understanding of the hard-boiled stories to appreciate the effect the creators are striving for. Perhaps if it were shelved in the fiction area next to the other similar stories, it would get more life. But I believe it would get lost in the collection without much pimping of the library staff.

So those were the book at the top of my pile this week.

Top of the Pile 11/14/12

Fantastic Four #1
Written by Matt Fraction
Pencils by Mark Bagley
Inks by Mark Farmer
Color by Paul Mounts
Published by Marvel

I really liked the previous run on Fantastic Four by Johnathan Hickman, and with the renumbering of the NOW! Marvel is doing, this is their restarting of their original super hero group. And it looks pretty good, in a traditional kind of way. It has the same "family" feeling I remember with the John Byrne run on FF years ago.

The story maintains the setting and characters, with all the children from the Freedom Foundation running around the Baxter Building. Also, Johnny Storm still has pull in the Negative Zone after taking over from Annihilus. But the story starts off with Mr. Fantastic getting bit by a dinosaur and starting an irreversible degradation in his unstable, cosmic irradiated molecules. Meanwhile, Franklin Richards is having bad dreams and dreading going into space.

I like Matt Fraction’s work. It’s not quite as far out as Hickman’s, but it has some super sci-fi moments. And so far with the first issue, he has left the narrative wide open allowing for the potential to run the Fantastic Four through some crazy stories. I’m looking forward to where it might go.

And the art by Mark Bagley is fine. His character drawing is very good and his space ships and sciency backgrounds are detailed and interesting. And like I say, as long as the pictures doesn’t distract from the story, it’s a good thing.

I have always thought the Fantastic Four was a good book for any public library. The art and stories are consistently good. And though the Avengers and X-Men might be the big, popular Marvel properties, hopefully this book will find a good audience.

Top of the Pile 11/07/12

Deadpool #1
Written by Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn
Art by Tony Moore
Cover by Geoff Darrow

Marvel is renumbering their books. We had Uncanny Avengers a couple months ago and more books are coming out each week with their Marvel Now! promotion. I had collected the previous volume of Deadpool since it started some 40 issues or so ago and really enjoyed their crazy stories. But now with a new creative team, we start fresh with a new #1.

First off, the cover by Geoff Darrow made me chuckle. With his hyper detailed bullet shelled picture, Deadpool seems to be shooting Godzilla who is vomiting up cats. Whatever. It’s just absurd, which is what Deadpool personifies.

As for the story, it starts off when Harry S. Truman is resurrected and then decapitated by Captain America. Some villain named the Necromancer is going around raising dead US Presidents. SHIELD, trying to end this hires Deadpool to take care of it quietly.

Written by Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn, the story is clever and filled with horrible puns. It’s kind of like reading an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. But unfortunately, some of the inside jokes might be too much. I kind of gotten used to the previous Deadpool where he had two inner voices (and sometimes more) arguing with his dialog bubbles.

I kind of dig the art by Tony Moore. It’s rough and visceral. And with the resurrected Presidents, it has a Zombiesque feel and Deadpool doesn’t look much better. But the action flows and there is no problems following the story. That, in my opinion, makes for a really good comic artist.

One this issue, I noticed more of the AR symbol indicating that it uses the augmented reality. The cover image pulled up a kookie background video of Deadpool giving his history and such. Inside, we get to see some videos of the writers explaining the book. All pretty normal. But the best AR page was at the back of the book where there were a couple dozen resurrected presidents and the video went and identified each of them. I knew about two thirds of them.

Would I add this to a public library collection? Sure. So far after a single issue, it seems pretty cool. It has the “parental advisory” on the cover so it would not go into the children’s area. But I could justify it being in the YA collection with some contorted justifications.