That all changed when Vertigo, DC Comics mature readers imprint, created their Vertigo Crime line.  Published in black and white, digest sized hardcover formats, Vertigo Crime’s mission was to tell great noir stories with some of the best writers in fiction and comics paired with fresh artistic talent.  While not every book was a masterpiece, even the worst of the line was a still a great graphic novel and showed that there was still room for the line to work out what worked and what didn’t.  Unfortunately the management shake-up that DC Comics went through last year has officially killed any expansion of this line and there are about a handful of titles that will be released in 2011 before the line is officially canceled. I’d like to highlight my favorite five books in the line as well as give some press to the last three books being released this year that I hope people will give a chance if for no other reason than their quality can hope to be as great as those featured here.

Filthy Rich:  If there’s anyone at Vertigo that deserves to spearhead this line, it’s Brian Azzarello.  After making a name for himself through his now classic 100 Bullets, Azzarello has established himself as a true voice in the genre of crime.  This particular book is almost like a highlight reel of his work: A flawed, failed anti-hero seduced by the promise of money and a gorgeous woman, wrapped up in a scheme that he couldn’t see coming… even the art by newcomer Victor Santos emulates Azzarello’s old partner, Eduardo Rios from his 100 Bullets days. Richard “Junk” Junkin goes from washed up football player to used car salesman to bodyguard and patsy all in the name of back-stabbing noir excellence A solid start to the line and a great done-in-one for fans of the genre.

The Bronx Kill:  Sometimes the search for the truth is the best motivatoin for a protagonist.  It’s a pure and eternal quest and in Peter Milligan’s entry in the Vertigo Crime line, The Bronx Kill, our protagonist, author Martin Keane, just wants to know what happened to his wife and why no one believes that he’s innocent in her disappearence.  What he ends up discovering will be more than the answers he’s prepared for. Milligan uses many tactics to get you to doubt the veracity of Martin’s cause just as he has trouble proving it to others and also utilizes a very neat framing device of using actual marked-up pages of Martin’s manuscript about his family’s life mixed in throughout the narrative.  Being a veteran of many Vertigo and Marvel comics including Hellblazer, X-Statix, and Shade the Changing Man, Milligan is aided in this genuine mystery story by James Romberger who adds simple but haunting visuals to a page-turning tale.

Noche Roja:  Sometimes the best character for a crime story is the classic one: the washed up private investigator with a drinking problem.  It’s a go-to character for a reason.  In this south-of-the-border tale of murder and corruption, Jack Cohen is hired to track down a killer who is targeting factory girls in Mexico.  As he digs deeper into the case not only does he discover a personal connection to the killings but also a chance to redeem himself for the sins of his past.  Written by Ben Oliver who also penned the acclaimed Exterminators title for Vertigo as well as Gen 13 for Wildstorm and drawn by Jason Latour of the Image Comics The Expatirate and Scalped from Vertigo, Noche Roja is a solid story that lets its protagonist be more than just a cliche and elevates a simple detective story to a brutal action-packed climax.

Area 10:  One of the slightly sci-fi tinged entries in the line, Area 10 tells the story of Adam Kamen, an NYPD detective tracking the serial killer “Henry the Eighth” who is decapitating his victims for unknown reasons.  When Kamen is attacked and suffers an injury to his brain, he’s suddenly able to see another side to the killings and the investigation thanks to newly revealed sensory abilities.  The book is masterfully drawn by Chris Samnee (Thor the Mighty Avenger, Ultimate Spider-Man) and written by veteren Law & Order author Christos Gage (also the writer of Avengers Academy from Marvel) and manages to make you not only be drawn into the story but also doubt the innocence of the protagonist.  One of the best of the line due to its combination of suspense and twists.

The Rat Catcher:  Currently my favorite of the Vertigo Crime books.  Writer Andy Diggle (The Losers, Daredevil) sets up the pieces of a masterful suspense story packed with action as a washed-up FBI agent hunts down the urban legend of the FBI: The Rat Catcher.  This assassin has been a thorn in the side of the FBI for years, killing their best informants no matter how much security they’re under.  The story unfolds with pitch perfect precision as Diggle makes you zig zag through the plot and constantly second guess the motives of the characters.  Aiding him is Victor Ibanez who I hope gets more stateside work soon.  Ibanez’s character design and layouts are extremely fluid and detailed while not going overboard.  He and Diggle manage to craft what has been the best example of how good the Vertigo Crime books could have been and remains my number one recommended of the line.

Before the line ends with a whimper, the following three books will be released. I’ve included their solicitation text and covers.  I hope you’ll pick them and any of the other titles up because even if I didn’t list Fogtown, A Sickness in the Family, Dark Entries,The Chill, and The Executor here, they’re all great books.

99 Days:

Written by Matteo Casali; Art by Kristian Donaldson

99 Days is the story of Antoine Boshoso Davis, who is living the dream as a rookie homicide detective for the LAPD. But 12 years ago he was living a nightmare. As a young Hutu in Rwanda, Antoine was forced to become a child soldier with the rebel Hutu militia.Like so many others he was caught up in the slaughter of a country gone insane – murdering scores of men, women and children with a machete. Antoine fled Rwanda for LA, where he grew into a quiet, sensitive man with a deep need…

Cowboys:

Written by Gary Phillips; Art by Brian Hurtt

From the author of the “Ivan Monk” detective novels comes a riveting original graphic novel about violence and race in modern society. Cowboys revolves around a racially motivated police shooting of Deke Kotto, a young African American man, by Tim Brady, a white undercover cop, inside a swanky club frequented by hip-hop stars, gangsters, Hollywood celebs and the drug kingpins that finance the whole operation. But the victim is actually an undercover officer on the trail of the gangsters,…

Return to Perdition:

Written by Max Allan Collins; Art by Terry Beatty

A new chapter in the saga of the O’Sullivan crime family from the acclaimed movie Road to Perdition. The time is America in the early 1970’s and our third generation hero, Michael Satariano, Jr. is a Vietnam vet recently returned to the States. He doesn’t know that his father’s real name was Michael O’Sullivan, and is unaware of the confl ict between his dad, his grandfather and John Looney – the criminal godfather of Rock Island, Illinois. But when he’s recruited by the Mob as a hit-man, he’s going to learn the hard way that you can never outrun (or outgun) your past. (This is not the final cover design)

Morning Glories vol. 1

The Question: Pipeline:  I loved the DC Comics character, The Question, the moment I first saw him in a random copy of DC’s Who’s Who back in the 80′s.  The blank face, suit and tie, fedora and smoke… All striking visuals coupled with the premise of a character out to find the truth no matter what the cost.  This comic, though, is not starring THAT version of The Question.  During DC’s maxi-series 52, Vic Sage, The Question’s alter ego, died of cancer.  Before his passing, he trained Batman supporting-cast member, Renee Montoya, as his protege and she took up the identity of the faceless avenger.  Author Greg Rucka was responsible for brining Montoya from her humble beginnings in Detective Comics to this resulting plot in 52 and he continued to write the new Question in the follow-up mini-series to 52, The Question: The Five Books of Blood and Final Crisis: Revelation.  Renee has shaped into a very interesting version of The Question and while she ran the risk of fan backlash typical in comics of, “Not my {insert superhero name here},” the deft hand Rucka used to tell her story and its sequels showed just how engaging she could be in the identity.  The Question: Pipeline is the collection of The Question co-feature that Rucka did with the amazing Cully Hamner (Red, Blue Beetle, Firearm) and follows Renee as she is pulled into a complex human trafficking ring and its ties to a larger danger looming from a classic DC villain.  The Huntress also appears and is given a welcome costume redesign by Hamner that unfortunately didn’t stick past this series.  This is also Rucka’s swan song for the character since he has sworn off DC Comics for the near future to focus on his own characters and novels.  His work on Montoya will be missed and I hope someone with the same love of the character continues to show just how great The Question can be with her as the protagonist.

An Elegy for Amelia Johnson HC:  I’ve always been a huge fan of independent graphic novels that feel like movies.  This is not to say that I enjoy it when screenwriters use failed screenplay pitches to sell a concept as a graphic novel.  I mean to say that when an author finds a truly qualified artist and works diligently to compose a visual narrative that has well realized characters and a plot that draws you, the reader, in so tight that it’s almost like the surrounding world has gone dark like a theater.  I’ve read a great many graphic novels at this point my life and I’ve got to say that while An Elegy for Amelia Johnson is not one of the best it’s surely one of the most emotionally resonant.  The book follows two mutual friends of the title character, Amelia, who are tasked to go out into the world and deliver messages to people from her past.  The duo, Henry and Jillian, have known each other as mutual acquaintances, but have never been truly close.  Their own lives seem to be missing something personal and the act of examining the life of their mutual friend brings them not only closer together but also closer to finding focus again as artists. Written by Andrew Rostan (who financed the project with his winnings from “Jeopardy.” True Story.) with art by Dave Valeza and Kate Kasenow, An Elegy… has some moments that are riddled with clunky dialogue and poor pacing whereas a climax seems to be missing or hidden within layers of melodrama.  While I can tell that Rostan has a desire to tell a very deep tale, those moments where he gets tripped up do have the tendency to make this work less than stellar.  Fortunately, Valeza and Kasenow bail out the story whenever these potholes occur.  While I’m not sure of the division of duties between the two artists, I’d commend them both equally for their ability to work within Rostan’s story to make the ending invoke an emotional response and be an almost cinematic finale.  Another hidden gem from Archaia Press.

Tom Strong Deluxe Hardcover vol. 1:  I own trade paperbacks in a variety of formats.  There’s the standard trade format, digests, hardcovers, Absolute Editions (DC’s oversized slipcase collections of classics), etc.  These formats range in quality from poor and flimsy (standard trades) to cumbersome and epic (Absolute Editions, but damn are they pretty) and that can make it hard to read them in a casual fashion.  One format that has always stood out to me as practically perfect is the deluxe hardcover format that both Marvel and DC use for larger collections of classic works.  Marvel did it with Runaways and Astonishing X-Men, for example and DC is doing it with Gotham Central and Grant Morrison’s JLA.  This is why I’m glad I’ve waited so long to begin buying Tom Strong in collected editions: I just knew DC would find a great way to present the series for consumption.   For those that haven’t read it, the series is Alan Moore’s take on the classic science heroes of pulp times like Doc Savage and Tom Swift with a bit of Tarzan thrown in for good measure.  Moore takes these classic pulp icon tropes and updates them for the new millenium (Tom Strong’s hometown is even called Millenium City) and shows off some great art, amazing story-telling and endearing characters.  Whether Tom is fighting his own rogue’s gallery of foes like the Modular Man or the Pangaen or traveling to distant worlds populated with a collection public domain superheroes from the 1940′s or having guest artists send him to the afterlife via a phantom autogyro, the series maintains a level of quality and charm throughout every chapter.  Great collection of a great title.

Showcase Presents: Warlord vol. 1:  Ok, I have a confession to make:  I’m kinda a hypocrite with my proclamations regarding genre likes and dislikes.  What I mean is that I can be known to swear up and down that I hate a particular type of material because I’ve never actually read anything in that genre that I liked before.  Sword and Sorcery is one of those genres that I just can’t stand because I’ve never gotten into any of the material that people have told me was the creme de la creme of published works in that field.  Lord of the Rings, for example, just didn’t do it for me.  Neither did Conan the Barbarian.  Hell, He-Man and Thundercats even left me cold.  So you can imagine how red my face was when I discovered Mike Grell’s Warlord series from DC circa 1975.  Now, in this case, what drew me to the book was the fact that it was Mike Grell working on it.  I’m a huge fan of the man’s work including Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters and his own character, Jon Sable: Freelance.  When I’d first read about Warlord in an old Who’s Who comic, nothing about it really intrigued me.  It seemed like yet another “warrior against sorcerers and demons, etc” story and I didn’t go out of my way to find any issues.  Then the Justice League Unlimited cartoon did an episode on this bygone character and suddenly, I was slightly interested.  Lo and behold, after digging up a couple of freebie issues in a back issue been from the 70′s, I was hooked.  Thank the reprint heavens that DC included this comic in their Showcase Presents series of black and white collections because it’s a great read.  The book follows Travis Morgan, an SR-71 pilot and Vietnam war veteran, who accidently finds himself sent to the mystical land of Skartaris when his flight plan goes awry over the North Pole.   Once he becomes familiar with the enchanted land, he learns that there is no one who will fight for the freedom of the besieged indiginous people and takes it upon himself to become their defender, thus earning the name Warlord.  The book is packed with action, terrific art by Grell, and one of DC’s hopefully not forgotten characters.  Currently, the company brought Warlord back for a new series written by Grell and drawn by Joe Prado.  Once you’ve made it through this collection, go give that series a shot, too.  Especially if you’re into this sword and sorcery stuff.

Secret Warriors vol. 1: Nick Fury Agent of Nothing HC:  I love a good espionage comic.  This is probably why I’ve been such a huge fan of Marvel’s classic super spy character, Nick Fury.  The best part about Fury, to me, was that he wasn’t your usual dapper secret agent like Patrick McGoohan or Pierce Brosnan.  No, Fury was a grizzled Word War II veteran who was still kicking ass in modern times with a cigar and a laser pistol.  Fury’s charms came from his tough-as-nails nature and had little to do with the idea that this guy could be sly or sneaky.  Imagine Kurt Russell doing a James Bond movie except he’s playing a character who’s a combination of his classic John Carpenter characters, Jack Burton (Big Trouble in Little China) and Snake Plisken (Escape from New York).  Now for a long time Fury ran the largest espionage network in the Marvel universe, S.H.I.E.L.D.  The acronymn has gone through many definitions.  When last defined, it stood for Strategic Hazard Intervention, Espionage Logistics Directorate.  Currently in the Marvel universe, S.H.I.E.L.D. has been shuttered and Nick Fury is on the outs with the federal government.  After watching former supervillain, Norman Osborn (the original Green Goblin), put in charge of national security, Fury goes underground and assembles a team of young and inexperienced superhumans as his team of agents to perform missions that S.H.I.E.L.D. would have taken on had it still been in existence.  Y’know, defending the world from the scum of the earth and such, since Osborn is really just making life safe for supervillains while he’s in charge.  The series is written by Jonathan Hickman who is one of my personal favorite up and coming comic book creators.  He’s had four books published through Image Comics, the first of which, Nightly News, is an amazing mixed media work showing off Hickman’s skills at characterization and suspense.  Hickman brings those talents to writing this comic and it makes the twists and turns the plot takes work excellently alongside the expertly-rendered action scenes handed in by artist Stefano Caselli (Hack/Slash, Avengers: The Initiative).  All in all, this is a great title filled with brand new characters (thus, you never know if they’ll survive the issue and genuine suspense is created!) and classic heroes and villains, side-by-side in the classic Marvel manner.

Salt Water Taffy vol. 3: Truth about Dr. True:  There really aren’t that many comics for kids and adults.  For a long time in comics, it was seriously either/or with very little that could be enjoyed by both sets of readers.  Then writer/artist Matthew Loux showed up with Salt Water Taffy, his series of graphic novels from Oni Press.  The series follows two young brothers, Jack and Benny, as they’re begrudgingly dragged to the New England coastal town, Chowder Bay for the summer.  During their time there, Jack and Benny discover that there is a great deal of adventure to be had against the sleepy beach town.  All of the volumes released so far are full of innocent and fun tales of taffy-stealing lobsters, hat-loving giant eagles, and, with the release of volume 3, ghosts with a mystery to solve.  Loux’s art is fluid and dynamic while his story-telling style is both charming and well-paced.  You never feel pandered to or patronized as an audience member mostly due to the fact that his art carries a very innocent and yet witty comic timing that can translate very well in sequence.  It’s great to read a comic and then realize when I’ve finished it that I could pass it off to a friend’s kid and know that they’d enjoy it also.

Sleeper Season 2 TP:  Ed Brubaker is one of the better writers working in the mainstream today.  His Captain America is hailed as one of the best takes on the character to date and his run on Daredevil was one of my personal favorites.   He can find the voice in any character and can add a genuine flavor of noir to the darker books he chooses to write.  Sleeper, to me, was the best example of why Brubaker is an expert at his craft.  The book takes place in the Wildstorm universe of comics which I’ve always felt peaked with Warren Ellis’s Authority series and has since been coasting on characters and concepts that need to come to a calm and satisfying conclusion.  Within this world is an intelligence agency called I/O run by veteren spy, John Lynch.  Lynch is a master puppeteer of espionage and had decided that the best way to take down a villain known as Tao, rising star in the world terrorism trade, was to send in Holden Carver, a deep cover operative armed with superpowers.  In the mini-series, Point Blank (which can be picked up along with the two Sleeper trades), it’s revealed that Lynch was the only person who knew of Carver’s existence, but through the manipulations of Tao, Lynch is put in a coma and Carver is left in the cold to fend for himself.  This is where the Sleeper series picks up.  DC has made the wise decision to collect the series into two “seasons” (the story-telling is very similar to a television show) and has released them both as 12-issue trade paperbacks.  The book’s art by master artist Sean Philips is dark, gritty, seeped in noir flavor and the writing is rife with twist after twist as we watch Carver try to get out of the mess that he has become stuck in while trying to serve the mission and his country.  Sleeper is a great read for fans of Graham Greene-style spy novels and modern espionage comics.

1. 25 years and still going strong

Stan Sakai began publishing this book in 1984 with various anthologies until officially starting at Fantagraphics as the titles first home.  The title then moved to Mirage Studios and finally settled in at Dark Horse Comics where it is still published today.  Sakai has written and drawn every issue to date and has only built the level of quality that Usagi started with.  It’s also constantly accessible.  I personally started reading the series in trade paperback with book 8 and while I’ve gone back and read 1 through 7, it wasn’t hard to jump in and keep reading forward without feeling lost.

2. Cast of characters

The best part of the fact that the title has been going for so long is that the storylines have had time to develop one of the richest and most endearing cast of characters ever captured on paper.  Even though versions of classic manga icons like Lone Wolf and Cub (in Usagi they’re referred to as Lone Goat and Kid) and Zato-Ino, the blind swordpig (in reference to the blind swordsman Zatoichi of Japanese film and television fame) to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crowd the pages, Usagi never feels like a parody since the characters are fully three-dimensional and written with respect.  If the guest stars and pop culture-referenced characters are handled with that level of quality, then you can imagine what the rest of the cast is written like.  There  is no such thing as a throwaway guest star and Sakai never panders or insults his audience with simple personalities.

3. Based on actual events… kinda

Many of Sakai’s Usagi stories are based on actual Japanese history such as battles or political intrigue.  Others are steeped in classic fairy tales and legends of the Japanese culture.  Even when the original stories and continuity stretch through the book, Sakai’s dedication to authenticity has him citing facts and reference notes left and right in the glossary (yes, this comic even gets a glossary).

4. Kids can read it (and adults can love it)

The book never panders to the adults that read it, but at the same time it never becomes TOO adult that you couldn’t let your kids enjoy it also.  In a day and age where super-villains rape and murder and Wolverine is the most popular super-hero on the shelves, a title that is universally appealing and safe is a rarity.  Every issue is safe to hand off to a young kid without even needing to be sanitized and they’ll get to watch massive badass samurai battles with no gore.  It’s like if Pixar made Seven Samurai.

5. One of the greatest comic book protagonists of all time.  Yeah, f’real.

Miyamoto Usagi is a well-rounded, fully developed, and extremely memorable comic book character that stays with you from the moment you first meet him.  Sakai writes him with a charm that helps you buy that one minute he can be lovable and caring and the next minute he can be a deadly warrior with a code of honor.  This is handled not only in the writing, but also the art.  The myriad of expressions that Sakai crafts show his skills as a master cartoonist and allows Usagi to come to life on the page making him memorable in appearence as well as personality.

I can’t recommend this series enough.  I’ve been a fan from the moment I read my first issue of Usagi Yojimbo and every time I read a new trade paperback, I curse that I’ll have to wait another six months to grab the next few issues.  One day, I know I’ll most likely break down and just start reading it monthly.  Few comics can have that much versatility and maintain quality for so long with no end in sight of sliding off into the land of repetition and poor story-telling.  We’re lucky to have Stan Sakai still working on one of the best comic book characters to ever be a guest star on a Ninja Turtles episode.  More than that, we’re lucky to have Usagi Yojimbo when we need to be reminded just how great comics can be.

The first issue sets the stage with what appears to be some of Lieber’s cleanest work to date.  Not to say I haven’t enjoyed his previous work, but the art here is so strong and clear that it reminds me of Paul Smith (Uncanny X-Men, Leave it to Chance), one of the all-time greats in comics.  The colors used are also first rate making each image “pop” and adds to an interesting opening sequence narrative that highlights how the interior cave scenes will be drastically different then the “outside world.”  The embedded artwork should show you what I’m referring to.

Parker and Lieber offer up an extremely well-done (and in some scenes educational and informative) comic with a strong female protagonist and story ripe with realistic characters and situations.  Underground does well in showing why these two are formidable forces in the current comics climate and I’ll not only be picking up these comics monthly as they come out, but I’ll be passing off what will hopefully be a handsome collection off to friends who should know that exciting comics can exist without sci-fi or spandex.

{Underground #1 is currently being solicited from Image Comics for release on September 23rd, 2009.  If you’re interested, let your local retailer know to order the book and it’s subsequent issues.  Diamond order code – JUL090341 D UNDERGROUND #1 (OF 5)}

Potter’s Field HC

Codeflesh HC:  A few years ago, Image comics scored what they thought was a coup with the hot writer at the time, Scott Lobdell, coming to do indie comics.  This “coup” lasted all of ten minutes but it produced a comic called Double Image with Lobdell’s lead story upfront (so amazing and original that it escapes me at this time) and Joe Casey and Charlie Adlard doing a back-up tale.  Codeflesh was that back-up tale and I was hooked from the pitch when I first heard it.  Bail bondsman Cameron Daltry doubles as his own masked bounty hunter to track down and recapture the super-powered convicts that use his services to post bond.  The question espoused by the comic is, “Why does Daltry do this at the expense of his lovelife and his health?”  The answer is never really addressed, but that question allows us a way into the main character’s psyche from which we’re intrigued enough to follow the rather simple and episodic plots from short to short.  This edition has been digitally colored and arranged in a very elegant reading format to showcase Adlard’s gritty and attractive style and Casey shows of his love for the character in his afterword reminicising about working on the project.

Note:  This was a pretty unique buying experience and not necessarily in a good way.  Both of these books are collections of extremely good indie crime books.  Potter’s Field was published by Boom! Studios and Codeflesh was published by Image (and then reprinted at AIT/PlanetLar and is now back at Image).  Both are written by top talent with Mark Waid on Potter’s Field and Joe Casey on Codeflesh.  Both books are reprinted in gorgeous formats with Potter’s Field getting a dust jacket, ribbon bookmark, and being packed with bonus scripts and sketches and Codeflesh being recolored from it’s original black and white with an all-new coda to its story.  So what’s the problem?  I paid over ten dollars more for Codeflesh than I did for Potter’s Field for probably equal the material (112 pages for Potter’s Field vs. 128 pages for Codeflesh).  Even my comic shop owner did a heavy sigh and noted the discrepancy in pricing.  That discrepancy equals out to almost a dollar extra a page difference.  Now, I ordered these books (since I’d read the material and wanted the proper treatment), so I was going to buy them regardless, but this felt slightly off as a consumer.  I could have sworn that the Codeflesh was originally solicited as cheaper than this final product and the fact that it took almost 5 more months to come out than the original release date… Regardless.  Just a note regarding hardcovers from independent publishers.

Big Book of Barry Ween, Boy Genius:  There are a lot of Judd Winick haters out there.  Don’t worry, I’m sort of one of them.  He’s the definition of hit and miss author with me.  His Exiles was pitch-perfect comics while his Green Arrow was preaching and banal.  His Batman was twist-filled and fun while his Outsiders was… well… preachy and banal.   When Winick just relaxes his inner liberal (and before anyone says anything, I’M a liberal also, so we can smell our own) and just writes comics, he can really pull out all of the stops of great humor and dialogue (his two biggest strengths as a writer).  Barry Ween, his first comic book work from Oni Press, showcases those abilities along with his own cartooning talents.  The book follows the title character,  who is the smartest person on the planet and is also only 10 years old.  Barry and his best friend, Jeremy, are constantly getting into trouble while he’s creating devices or working on experiments (usually due to the hyperactive Jeremy getting too curious) and hijinx ensue.  Winick manages to take what could be a too-simple concept and actually craft characters that are not only funny but deep and relatable.  Without being preachy, anyone who has ever suffered from depression can sympathize with Barry’s plight as he describes the fact that he’s ALWAYS thinking and can’t stop and how horrible it is to be this intelligent while the world is so distant to him.  Jeremy offers a simple voice of reason seeing as how he’s, well, simple in comparison to Barry and it’s these somber moments that cement the characters as a winning comedy pair with a great deal of heart.  The book contains all of their appearences including a color short from an Oni Color Special from back in the day.  It’s well worth the money to grab this book and own the best thing Judd Winick wrote that DIDN’T win a GLAAD award.

Thor vol. 2 HC:  As far as I’m concerned, J. Michael Straczynski should be the only person writing Thor right now.  I’m talking guest appearances, cameos, and even advertisements, too.  Here’s the thing to keep in mind:  I hated Straczynski’s Amazing Spider-Man run.  I mean, seriously loathed it.  Everything he came up with felt forced, uninteresting, and was devoid of anything worth reading for me.  When I heard that he had taken up the reigns of Thor, I was slightly intrigued but ultimately wasn’t going to give the book a shot until someone else read it for me and told me what to expect (we like to call this, “lazy criticism”).  Suffice it to say, every time I read anything about the book, I felt like I was missing the best book being published by Marvel at the time.   When I finally read the first hardcover of the series, I was floored.  Straczynski had managed to take a character that I’d never really felt close to in the Marvel Universe and slowly turned him into one of my current favorites.  The concept of gods walking among men (as the Asgardians due with their home now floating over Oklahoma, USA) may have been done many times, but Straczynski seems to add a freshness to it that takes these classic Lee/Kirby renditions and turns them on their heads as comedic foils for stories without drifiting into parody territory.  Thor himself is presented as being looking to reexamine what exactly it means to lead his fellow gods.  Straczynski subtley points out that Thor is not a superhero, but a god of old who protects the weak and vanquishes evil not because of the whole “great power, great responsibility” deal, but because that’s what Odin had always taught him was important.  When examining the character this way, you can feel that Straczynski knows what he’s doing and that the coming issues will only get better and better with each release.  Oliver Copiel and Marko Djurdjevic both handle art duties here and consistently show off why Thor is not only one of Marvel’s best written comics but also one of its best drawn titles as well.  Neither artist disappoints on their issues and if that created lateness, then honestly, I don’t care.  It’s worth the wait.  This hardcover completes the first year of the title and the arc of Thor and the Asgardians return and Loki’s sinister plot to overthrow Thor’s reign as King.  Enjoy and watch as I take back almost everything I ever said negative about J. Michael Straczyniski.  Almost.

So what about this movie merits valuable keystrokes?  It was supposed to be based on one of the most versatile comic book characters ever published.  A character created by Alan Moore (Watchmen), defined by Garth Ennis (Preacher), and at different times written by Warren Ellis (Transmetropolitan), Brian Azzarello (100 Bullets), and Andy Diggle (The Losers).  This is the pedigree of the character of John Constantine, a con man with a past shrouded in tragedy, death, loss, and the dark arts.  Described in his Wikipedia entry, “Unlike most comic book magicians, Constantine rarely uses magical spells, unless he has to, especially in combat. Constantine faces most of his challenges relying primarily on his cunning, his vast knowledge of the occult, manipulation of opponents and allies, and an extensive list of contacts.”  This was not the character that was played by Keanue Reeves in the final film that was released in 2005.

What’s the point then?  Why even bring this up as a point of discussion?  Because years after seeing this movie in the theater, I gave it a viewing on DVD and basically thinks it’s all kinds of awesome.  How?  Because I didn’t view it as an adaptation of a classic comic book character.  I viewed it instead as a throwback to a gritty 1970′s private investigator pulp movie crossed with a 1970′s horror film like the Exorcist or the Sentinel.  When keeping those facts in mind, the film works wonders.  The direction and acting actually help beef up a pretty standard plot of, “it’s the end of the world as we know it UNLESS you save the day.”  Frances Lawerence, who at the time was a relative newbie director, uses Los Angeles to a great extent as a backdrop for the supernatural goings-on.  His favorite trick was framing a scene with a central image and then creating a reason to slowly push in on the image.  The best example I can think of is when Constantine returns from Hell looking for Rachel Weisz’s character’s twin sister.  Rewatch that scene again keeping that shot technique in mind.   Reeves’performance, while wooden, does actually create a character I’m interested in watching and having him use random weapons of the supernatural such as holy water ampules, dragon’s breath, and screeching beetles serve to show off how the character could be a great reoccurring part for him (alas, the idea of a sequel is not in the cards).

So that leaves the Constantine character from the Hellblazer comic book series.  The thing is that the character in the comics is, after the hefty rewriting for the film, just too different from the film’s protagonist to get angry with anymore.  Right down to the way they pronounce the name (In the comics, it’s pronounced Constantine as in “fine” and in the film it’s pronounced Constantine as in “teen”).  Keanu’s is a tortured soul on a personal mission to fuck with the demons wandering on Earth in order to try to redeem his damned soul and keep out of Satan’s way come his untimely demise.  He’s an exorcist-for-hire, paranormal investigator, and all around authority on the unknown.  His allies are Papa Midnite (who in the comics is one of Constantine’s arch enemies), Chaz (a young kid in the movie vs. equal age in the comics), and one or two characters made up for the film.  In the comics, though, Constantine is a con man who smirks more than he sulks and uses all of his allies until they’re dead.  He runs con after con, game after game, cigarette constantly in hand and the hopeless only being helped as an afterthought to whatever self-serving scheme he has up his sleeve.  There are no victims and there are no heroes, there is only self-interest and survival and street wisdom espoused through a thick British accent.  In fact, if you were to find a comparable character in film or television that is more closely comparable to John Constantine from the comics, it wouldn’t be Keanu in the film.  It would be this guy:

In the end, I highly recommend people go out and do two things:  One, rewatch the movie with a less judgmental and critical eye.  It’s fun and dark and basically a very well-done distraction with solid effects and decent characters.  Two, go out and find the comics.  Start with “Dangerous Habits” by Garth Ennis and then read through his whole run all the way through “Rake at the Gates of Hell.”  After that, take a gander at Andy Diggle’s “Laughing Magician” run on the book along with the Warren Ellis “Haunted” issues.  The Brian Azzarello stuff, while fun and dark, is wholly irrelevant to the sordid tale of Constantine.  Above all else, experience one of the greatest characters in modern comics.  Seriously, he makes Wolverine look like a pussy.

BPRD: The Warning

Nova vol. 4:  To say I’m a fan of the Nova series from Marvel would be an understatement.  I’ve had an affection for the character since the New Warriors series in the early 90′s, but had pretty much lost track of him with every mishandling of him since that series insistence on giving him a five o’clock shadow and a ponytail (really, what was wrong with us in the 90′s anyway?).  Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (the affectionately named DnA writing team from the UK) have pretty much been given the keys to Marvel’s cosmic characters with Annihilation, Guardians of the Galaxy, and War of Kings and have shot every series out of the park.  The duo seem to be able to call all of the shots in their corner of the universe with any characters that they wish and that’s what can make a book like Nova work so well:  You never know what’s going to happen next.  This is what can truly make for a good comic.  You have an everyman hero that your reader can relate to (Nova’s alter ego, Richard Rider, constantly refers to himself as, “just a kid from Long Island”) and have him thrown into insane situations such as tracking down a serial killing, body-hopping alien during a planet’s final destruction by Galactus.  You have a guest star list that includes Darkhawk, the Silver Surfer, and Super Skrull.  You have plot twists that show just how much Nova can’t rely on anyone but himself.  Best of all, you have extremely clear and detailed action scenes from talent like Wellington Alves and Andrea Di Vito that really makes the book feel balanced between emotional and thrilling moments.  Nova is a book that I’ll most likely never cut from my pull list and even buy in trade and hardcover just to keep all the stories in one place.  Highly recommended for fans of great comics.

Scalped vol. 4:  Fans of noir and gritty southwestern drama alike can take heart knowing that a series like Scalped exists.  Jason Aaron carved his name in the pantheon of Vertigo’s top creators by crafting a story of the dark secrets that lie on a Native American reservation populated by “villains” that are almost more complex and interesting the “heroes” (I really do emphasize the “almost” there).  When I started this series, it seemed like pretty straight forward crime fiction in the vein of Elmore Leonard or James Ellroy with an emphasis on a formerly proud people and the corruption that they have to endure.  As the series has progressed, though, something amazing happened:  the main villain became one of the most sympathetic characters in the whole book.  That’s Aaron’s true achievement with this series.  The antagonist, Chief Lincoln Red Crow, who at first glance could have easily just been a Native American version of Marvel’s Kingpin, has had layers and layers of depth added to his portrayal until you are entranced by his story along with the stories of the other characters like main protagonist Dashiel Bad Horse, our anti-hero, or Dino Poor Bear, who you just know has a larger part to play down the line.  That’s the true beauty of Scalped:  It’s not about wondering what will happen next, it’s about wondering what new aspect of a character will draw you closer to them.

Astounding Wolf-Man vol. 2:   Robert Kirkman is an idea man.  He was obviously raised on a steady supply of 90′s Marvel comics and must have been constanly jotting notes in his margins about characters he wanted to one day explore in comics.  Thankfully, not only did he eventually achieve the success to do that as a full-time gig (and a new member of the Image partners), but he’s actually an extremely capable writer who not only creates human characters that come off as realistic and series that always zig when you think they’ll zag.  Whether it’s the Walking Dead or Invincible or Tech Jacket, Kirkman never rests on his laurels.  It’s for that reason that I leapt into his latest series, the Astounding Wolf-Man, with open arms and little to no trepidation.  The series follows Gary Hampton, a successful CEO who is bitten by a werewolf while on vacation with his family.  Hampton realizes the effect of the bite and what it means to his life and decides to combine his money and his newfound powers to fight for justice as the Wolf-Man.  Unfortunately, things don’t go as planned.  The second volume picks up on the cliffhanger of the previous one and also lays the groundwork for upcoming storylines while addressing the backstory and motivations of characters that are lining up to be the main antagonists.  Penciler Jason Howard is a find.  His simple style is almost like something from the DC Animated titles but he is able to handle gory action as deftly as emotional melodrama.  The book is one of my favorites from Image and I’m eagerly awaiting the next installment.

Thor: Ages of Thunder HC:  Matt Fraction is a god.  I don’t say this for embellishment.  Based on how he writes a Thor comic, it’s obvious that Matt Fraction has a little bit of a god in him.  I’m not one for the sword and sorcery set.  I am not a Wheel of Time or Lord of the Rings or Dark Tower reader.  I begrudgingly sat through the LOTR films and cringe at the thought of a Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game.   Yet, I was spellbound by Matt Fraction’s take on Thor and the Asgardian Gods of legend as it unfolded in this collection of his one-shots.  Stories that tell the tale of magic apples, manipulative frost giants, vengeful fathers and defiant sons, and forgotten warriors unfold with a narrative that draws the reader in and refuses to let go.  With art chores from the likes Patrick Zircher, Dan Brereton, Doug Braithwaite, Clay Mann, and Marko Djurdjevic, not only does the book read well, but it looks gorgeous to boot.  The range in styles is never jarring to the reader and the narrative flows from one story to the next with ease.  While I also enjoy the ongoing series by Thor writer J. Michael Straczynski, I hope one day that Fraction is handed the keys to Asgard for what would promise to be a spectacular run.

Foolkiller: White Angels

Perhapanauts vol. 3:  Todd Dezago and Craig Rousseau created the Perhapanauts way back in 2005 and published the initial issues through Dark Horse Comics.  It’s a shame that no one read this book at that time since it is extremely well-done and fun.  I personally didn’t hear about it until the late Mike Weiringo posted a sketch of the characters on his blog and gave a shout-out to the creators and said that people should give it a shot.  The next Wednesday at my shop, I grabbed the first trade and was hooked.  The characters were fun, the art was simple but clean and well done, and the story of a group of paranormal investigators (who were in turn made up of the paranormal) was played more for the Challengers of the Unknown than Hellboy that it was able to stand on its own.  With volume 3, the title has moved to Image comics and you can tell the creators are very excited about this.  Image has done a rather large advertising push for the book and has also packed this trade with enough bonus features to make fans new and old feel justified in their purchase.

Dan Dare Omnibus:  Apparently, Dan Dare is the biggest thing ever in England.  Twice as awesome as America’s Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers and also twice as old and timely.  I’d heard the name one or two times when imported comic book talent would talk about work they’d done before breaking in with the Big Two (Marvel and DC), but I’d never really read anything about the actual character.  Well, there I was talking to my local comic shop owner and he noticed I was a huge Garth Ennis fan.  ”Do you like his war comics?” he asks.  ”Yup.  Totally love his war comics and really anything he does that isn’t over-the-top gore or toilet humor,” I reply.  ”Well, what if I could give you a Garth Ennis war comic set in space that hits all the same highlights of his best stuff?”  Lo and behold, the Dan Dare Omnibus from the issues published by the now defunct Virgin Comics and republished in trade form by Devil’s Due Publishing.   Ennis infuses every scene with the grit and intensity of a WWII film and keeps the dialogue and action uber-tight.  Gary Erskine takes the art reins and turns in some of his best work pretty much showing off how he and Chris Weston are some of the best British artists out there (Weston doesn’t contribute to this book, but Erskine’s style is eerily similar to his).  While there are nods to what I’m assuming are the classic characters and relationships that were present in previous versions, I was able to follow the arcs with ease and didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything that was integral.  Effectively, this is the Battlestar: Galactica equivalent in updates for the Dan Dare property.  It’s the complete story, so enjoy.