Top of the Pile - 1/30/13

Before Watchmen: Dollar Bill #1
Written by Len Wein
Art by Steve Rude

I’ve been picking up all the Before Watchmen books, but with most mini-series, I hold off reading them until they are complete. But this Dollar Bill issue is a one shot, so there is no waiting involved. This book made it to the top of this weeks pile only because Steve Rude did the artwork.

This issue of Before Watchmen tells the individual story of the hero Dollar Bill. A member of the Minutemen who turns out to be a normal guy with better than average looks who is hired to work as a bank mascot. The story Len Wein tells is ok. It doesn’t have the psychological depth that some of the other stories have. But it’s understandable since its a single issue book on a minor Watchmen character.

And for the Steve Rude art, it looks really good. I’ve kind of been watching his work since the Nexus books in the 80s, and the style looks pretty much the same (which is a good thing). Action poses and dynamic movement with a clear detailed line, its nice to see his artwork again in a comic book.

Now I guess I’ll need to read through the other Before Watchmen books pretty soon since they’re all winding down. And the guys at the comic shop say they are all pretty cool. So if this Dollar Bill book makes it into a collection, I’d certainly add it to our library. But I wouldn’t be too upset if it somehow got left out of the Absolute edition.

Top of the Pile - 1/23/13

Fables #125
Written by Bill Willingham
Pencils by Mark Buckingham
Inks by Steve Loughridge
Letters by Todd Klein
Vertigo

Has it really been 125 issues? Fables is still a fun book with tons of good characters. And with this issue we are back with a new arc where Bigby Wolf is on the hunt with a badger named Brock Blueheart hunt for Bigby and Snow Whites children. Driving a magic convertible Corvette across dimensions, Bigby is trying to smell his way to them.

For me, reading Fables is like visiting old friends since it’s been going on for over 10 years with the same writer and artists doing the same book for years. The stories Willingham weaves with these public domain characters have taken on new meaning with his tales. Who would, after watching Disney movies, have thought Snow White and the Big Bad Wolf would marry and make a pack of children together?

And Mark Buckinghams art is always top notch. I especially love the boarders he puts on each page. Usually they change from one page to the next depending on the setting of the story. In this book however, we only have a single border style with a silver and gold rose. I’m not sure of the significance of the roses, but I’m sure it will become evident as the tale unwinds.

In the past, when previous issues of Fables have made it to the top of my weekly purchase pile, I always remark on how libraries should get it. It certainly not for young children, but teens and older would enjoy the intricate storytelling with familiar characters.

Top of the Pile - 1/16/13

Savage Wolverine #1
by Frank Cho
Marvel

How many Wolverine books are there? How many way can he say that he is the best there is? We’ve been reading about Logan for a couple decades, and with this new Marvel NOW book, Savage Wolverine, Frank Cho is turning his art and storytelling styles in on Marvels favorite mutant.

Set in the Savage Land (hence Savage Wolverine), Shanna the She-Devil and a bunch of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are exploring when their aircraft breaks down stranding them in the inhospital wilderness. One frame later, Wolverine falls inexplicably out of the sky, gets attacked by dinosaurs and neanderthals. Eventually he latches up with Shanna as they are attacked by a gaggle of pterosaurs.

This is a fun start of a series, but I don’t know if it will have staying power. Back in the day when I would run to the local shop to pick up Marvel Team Up or Marvel Two in One, they were fun stories where Spider-Man or The Thing teams up with some hero and beats the bad guy. I kind of hope this book is like those. Not too deep where we delve into the psyche of Wolverine. Instead we see him going berserk on prehistoric animals. And blond, big-boobed jungle babes isn’t off putting either.

Is this book public library worthy? After a single issue, I’d say it’s an optional series. But that’s only after a single issue. It certainly isn’t for young children with the violence and decapitations. But for a 14 year old boy, I would certainly let them check this out.

Top of the Pile 1/9/13

Sweet Tooth #40
by Jeff Lemire

This is the final issue of Sweet Tooth. The coda to a wonderful work. In it we find out what happens to Gus and his friends after 39 issues of running and fighting as humanity descends into further degradation. And this is a bittersweet recapitulation of the rest of the events of Gus’ life.

To recap. Hybrids, half human-half animal, are being born as regular humans are dying of a plague. And in this dystopian society, militaristic groups of men are trying to find cures for the plague by experimenting on hybrids. Gus, the original hybrid, is first found by Jeppard to be brought to a camp. But instead rescues Gus and other hybrids and tries to save them from being hunted.

Jeff Lemire’s story telling style for this book is as mythology. Each character seems to have a purpose and it’s as if the original stories of a society are created from the events told in the book. So Jeppard “The Big Man”, who helped Gus survive, becomes a savior of the society. And as Gus tells stories to first his two sons and then later to his grandchildren, we learn what happened. It is a clever narrative Lemire does which makes the Sweet Tooth book have more impact. It makes it seem, like I mentioned, more mythic. And Lemire’s art is great. Rough and thick, the images are full of energy and emotion. The flashback stories are done in watercolor to give them an ethereal look.

I am going to recommend to my colleague that we get the collected volumes of Sweet Tooth for the library. It’s not for young children or even early teens. But for people 16 and older, I would not hesitate to recommend this.

Top of the Pile - 1/2/2013

Fury MAX #8
Written by Garth Ennis
Art by Goran Parlov
Marvel

Fury MAX #8 was the first thing I wanted to read from this weeks comic buy. This book, by Garth Ennis and Goran Parlov beat out a couple Image books and New Avengers #1. Why? Because I love the story Ennis is telling.


This series tells the tale of Nick Fury during the Cold War. This isn’t the Samuel Jackson, Avengers Nick Fury. This is a hybrid old school Nick Fury – Howlin’ Commando and Nick Fury agent of SHIELD. Nick is in all the good Cold War hot spots. Fighting with the French at Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam, riding along with exiled Cuban nationals into the Bay of Pigs, and in the current story we find Nick back in Vietnam teamed up with Frank Castle in an assassination attempt on a NVA general.

It is obvious that Ennis loves his history. He crafts a compelling story concerning the realpolitik of the Cold War where the United States wasn’t necessarily doing good things around the world. He’s telling a tale where dirty work was done in secret to further American interests abroad. And what the coolest thing about this book is that Nick Fury is the guy doing most of this work. With this issue, we’re up into the Nixon administration, so Vietnam is close to being complete. I hope he has another story arc or two in him to continue. Perhaps Ennis can let Nick help take out Salvador Allende or perhaps have him work with Oliver North on the Iran-Contra fiasco.

And the art work by Parlov looks like the great old school European comic book artists, it made me look up his bio to learn more about him. It turns out he isn’t one of the old timers like Jacques Tardi, Jean Giraud. His work could even be compared to Milton Caniff, it’s that retro/cool.

However, this book is definitely mature. There are several F-bombs and Nick gets it on once or twice with the senators secretary. So I would not add this series in the teen area. But it is a great bit of storytelling that libraries should consider buying.