{"id":3169,"date":"2002-07-29T19:34:36","date_gmt":"2002-07-30T00:34:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/?p=3169"},"modified":"2002-07-29T19:34:36","modified_gmt":"2002-07-30T00:34:36","slug":"four_color_fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/07\/29\/four_color_fun.html","title":{"rendered":"Four-color fun"},"content":{"rendered":"

Time for more comic reviews …<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Lone Wolf & Cub <\/i>Vol. 22 (Dark Horse)<\/b>
\nThe tale of the ronin assassin and his child, both on the path of meifumado <\/i>on the way to vengeance continues to pick up the pace. Brutal, beautiful, touching and terrifying in turns, the story has slowly but surely moved from a series of slice-of-life episodes around Japan to a continuing story, as events build into the climactic confrontation between Ogami Itto and his nemesis Retsudo Yagyu. This is a glorious book that just keeps getting better, and darker, as it progresses. I’ll be pleased to have the whole run in not too much longer.<\/p>\n

As I look at the above synopsis, I realize I’m not telling it all by half. Kazui Koike is crafting an epic tale of vengeance, violence, and virtue here, stretching over a massive run of comics. Goseki Kojima’s art captures the action, the emotion, hyper-real and yet, sometimes, hopefully, cartoony in the face of the blood and gore of a samurai epic. This work was the loose inspiration for Road to Perdition<\/i>, and as rich and scenic and gorgeous as that movie (and its graphic novel source) was, LW&C is even moreso.<\/p>\n

Read it.<\/p>\n

Animal Man: Origin of the Species <\/i>TPB (Vertigo)<\/b>
\nGrant Morrison cut his teeth on Animal Man, a second-string hero with an absurd power (by contemporary standards), doing so by strectching the narrative bounderies of comics — dealing with family, dealing with the very nature of existence (particularly for a comic book character). Throw in some healthy dollops of Animal Liberation propaganda, and you’ve got something that’s alternately interesting and irksome. The art, by a variety of artists, is mediocre, but given the possible alternative that Morrison could have used (wild, bizarro, Sienkiwicz-style abstracts), we’re probably just as well off.<\/p>\n

The George Perez Newsletter <\/i>#3 (Tony Lorenz)<\/b>
\nGeorge Perez, with his intricate detailing< love of crowd scenes, and heroic realism, is hands-down my favorite artist in the field. A few years back, he self-published a couple of issues of \"Crimson Plague,\" about an experimental woman whose blood was virulently deadly. This edition of the Newsletter (100 pages long, squarebound) focuses on that limited run story, including Perez' unprecedented population of the story with renditions of volunteer \"cast\" members.<\/p>\n

Perez’ art is spectactular, as always, though the book itself is about what you’d expect of a fanzine. I’m not sure it was worth the purchase price, but if I ever get back into the drawing biz, I’ll be using this as a “swipe” file.<\/p>\n

Out There: The Evil Within <\/i>TPB (DC)<\/b>
\nThis volume collects the first six issues of the series by Brian Augustyn and Humberto Ramos (of Crimson <\/i>fame). In some ways, it’s another variation of the Buffy <\/i>riff (high school kids up against the supernatural), but Augustyn and Ramos inject it with new life. Ramos’ artwork is something of an acquired taste, very cartoony and manga-like, but if you get past that, it’s a gripping story of the first (surprisingly short) story arc of this ongoing series.<\/p>\n

Daredevil: Wake Up <\/i>TPB (Marvel)<\/b>
\nOkay, David Mack is the sort of artist I’d expect Morrison to use today if he was to take up Animal Man again. Instead, Bendis uses him for this arc from Daredevil, #16-19. The wildly changing art style is pretty to look at, but, frankly, gets in the way of the story, where reporter Ben Urich is trying to figure out what happened when a young boy witnessed Daredevil’s fight with the boy
\ns father, Leap Frog. That the story is not all that much to begin with doesn’t help.<\/p>\n

And now for the short subjects …<\/i><\/p>\n