Review - Wednesday Comics

Wednesday Comics
Batman - story by Brian Azzarello with art by Eduardo Risso
Kamandi - story by Dave Gibbons with art by Ryan Sook
Superman - story by John Arcudi with art by Lee Bermejo
Deadman - story by Dave Bullock/Vinton Heuck with art by Dave Bullock
Green Lantern - story by Kurt Busiek with art by Joe Quiñones
Metamorpho - story by Neil Gaiman with art by Michael Allred
Teen Titans - story by Eddie Berganza with art by Sean Galloway
Strange Adventures - story and art by Paul Pope and José Villarrubia
Supergirl - story by Jimmy Palmiotti with art by Amanda Conner
Metal Men - story by Dan DiDio with art by José Luis García-López and Kevin Nowlan
Wonder Woman - story and art by Ben Caldwell
Sgt. Rock - story by Adam Kubert with art by Joe Kubert
The Flash - story by Karl Kerschl and Brenden Fletcher with art by Karl Kerschl
The Demon and Catwoman - story by Walt Simonson with art by Brian Stelfreeze
Hawkman - story and art by Kyle Baker

Imagine the old days when newspapers could print full page comic strips. I wrote a little while ago about the books we have for the Popeye, Krazy Kat, and Prince Valiant reprints I've picked up for the library. But last year DC Comics created a brand new comic anthology in this large format. Printed weekly on newsprint, 15 stories were told over the next 3 months. Called Wednesday Comics because every Wednesday new comic books are released, these pages were something different on the racks of new issues. It was retro. It was cool. It was something no one picked up. But thankfully they released it in a hard back book and I could purchase it for the library.

The stories in the book use the following characters: Batman, Kamandi, Superman, Deadman, Green Lantern, Metamorpho, Teen Titans, Adam Strange, Supergirl, Metal Men, Wonder Woman, Sgt. Rock, The Flash, The Demon & Catwoman, Hawkman. And it is some of the most interesting artwork I've seen recently in comics. With the large format, its easy to see the artists stepping up to fill a space 3 time that of a normal comic book page. Some of the stories have a completely retro look. The Adam Strange section by Paul Pope and Kamandi story by Dave Gibbons and Ryan Sook could be straight from the pens of Alex Raymond or Milton Caniff. Others parts are more innovative in their presentation. Usually, these oversize comic pages have about 10 to 12 panels. But Caldwell puts about 50 or 60 panels on his Wonder Woman pages.

As far as the stories go, they are all stand alone tales. The Batman and Superman chapters stand outside the normal "DC Universe" of the monthly comics. So like the freedom the artists have with the larger format, writers can let their imagination run wild and as long as they end up as the iconic character at the end, everything is as it should be. All the stories are very episodic with often with each page ending a huge cliffhanger leaving the reader waiting for the following week. But luckily with this book, there is no waiting. Just turning the page will continue the adventure.

I would certainly recommend this book for any library, but it is very optional. As a work of art I think its fantastic. But it is expensive ($50) and not format friendly (17 inches tall). So for limited budgets, there are more popular graphic novels out there. But there is nothing objectionable about the content. Nothing a youngster's parents would find objectionable. But for my library, I decided that since the book is so large, it had to go into the Adult Non-fiction Oversize collection.

Review - Gregory

Gregory
by Mark Hempel
Piranha Press

Twenty years ago a silly little graphic novel came out of the Piranha Press imprint from DC. Called Gregory, I found the story very funny and sometimes deeply poignant. Created by Marc Hempel, it's the story of Gregory. A big headed kid in a straitjacket who lives in an asylum with his friend, a talking rat named Herman Vermen. Gregory usually talks in monosyllabic grunts and enjoys running around, but the action is what happens around him. Sometimes a therapy cat is brought in to help. Other times he escapes from his straitjacket and flails his arms around. But Gregory just exists happily in his own little cell.

When this book came out in 1989, I passed it around to all my friends. They all fell in love with Gregory. Unfortunately, since I added this book to the library collection in 2004, it has only checked out 4 times. I think this book is lost in the shuffle of the graphic novel shelf. It's not thick and it doesn't have a steroid pumped superhero on the cover. Perhaps the Library of Congress is deterring people from borrowing this book with the very offputting subject heading "Institutional care -- Comic books, strips, etc." Whatever the reason, I do try and suggest this book whenever a somewhat curious person comes in looking for a graphic novel.

Gregory is labeled "for mature readers" I suspect primarily for the language. If our library had an older teen and younger teen areas, it would definitely go into the former. But it's audience is definitely for teens and young adults. Gregory is able to be content within himself and his environment (a cell with a drain, window, door and light bulb) without any need to be more that what he is. People come and go, trying to help, hurt, fix or change Gregory in some way, but he stays true to himself.

Review - Tiny Titians vol. 1

This is an older review I wrote May 18th, 2009.

Tiny Titians : Welcome to the Treehouse
by Art Baltazar and Franco
DC Comics

There was a Tiny Titan comic available during last years Free Comic Book Day which I picked up and thought was pretty funny. Tiny Titans is a humorous comic where all the Teen Titans are drawn in a cartoony manner and usually telling a joke in a page or two. So when the first volume of the graphic novel came across my library selection list, I knew it would be a nice grab for our collection.

When it came in, I gave it a read through which only took about 15 minutes. The jokes were funny and insightful to the DC Universe. One joke is where they make fun of Robin since he doesn't have any super powers, until Batman shows up in the batmobile to pick him up after school. Then they all want to be non-superpowered sidekicks. Another funny bit is where Trigon shows up as the substitute teacher for their class and dotes all over Raven.

There are many inside jokes and references to whats happened in the "real" DC continuum. But anyone with a passing knowledge of the Teen Titans (Beast Boy can change into animals, Starfire has a thing for Robin, and the whole Terra thing) would have a fun time reading this.

Its not very deep, but like most kiddy ridres, lots of fun. I'm glad I picked it up for the library and hope it checks out often.

Review - Reign in Hell - #1-8

This is an older review I wrote May 1st, 2009.

WRITER: Keith Giffen
ART: Tom Derenick, Bill Sienkiewicz, Justiniano and Chad Hardin
COVER BY: Justiniano

Hell is being attacked and nobody really knows what to do.

I have always been a sucker for these huge stories that have all the different characters in a single book trying to save the world/galaxy/universe/multiverse. I usually wait until all the issues come in for a limited series before I read it, just so I can keep the flow of the story. And I've always liked Keith Giffens work, especially his Annihilation story he did for Marvel a couple years ago.

Satanus, the ruler of Purgatory along with his sister Blaze launches an invasion against Neron and his hosts to take Hell. Using dirty tricks, like hope, Satanus initially takes the advantage in the war. But after the initial attack, Neron calls back all the demons on Earth back to Hell to fight. This is when the magical heroes try and figure out whats happening.

Admittedly, I didn't know all the characters in this book, but I knew enough to keep up with the plot. Most all the major demonic/magical characters are there. Etrigan, Zatanna, Dr. Fate, Blue Devil, Doctor Occult, and some lesser known characters like Sargon, Ibis, and Black Alice, who were unknown to me were all part of the story. Also, there are now different areas of Hell, each with their own function. So it took me 2 or 3 issues to get into the swing of the story.

Another reason I picked up this series was the name Bill Sienkiewicz. With his distinct expressionistic style, I love just about anything he works on. As an inker, it seems he actually stayed "within the lines". And with Tom Derenick, I found the art to be very detailed and appropriate for a story set in Hell.

All in all, I thought this story was ok. Not great, but worthy of a read. For people not in the know of all the DC magic, they might get confused. But there is enough going on with all the different plotlines to keep the reader engaged.