Indie Corner - 01/14/2015

Each week I'll spotlight a couple independent books I've read and may have flown under people's radar.

NORTH 40

There's a new printing of North 40 out this week, a series from 2010 with art by Fiona Staples.  So people might be interested in picking this up.  Also: It's good.

When two two high school students unwittingly read from a spell book, they release something that changes Conover County, NC overnight.  Suddenly there's zombies, a hulking brute, giant robot, tentacle monster, and loads more this small town is trying to contend with.  It's a shame the series didn't run longer, because the end of the book seems to imply the writer had more he wanted to do.  It's a bit like a Hellboy or BPRD trade, with more humor, and art by Staples.  So if that sounds like something you're interested in, I recommend checking it out.

Trees 8

TREES 8

Firstly, that's a powerful cover for anyone that's been reading the issue.  Next, one of the major events of last issue isn't followed up on at all in this one.  We touch base with everything else, however, with some major character deaths and location destruction.  The characters are still fantastic, and I hope this supplies enough "stuff happening" for the people that complained about that earlier on.  I, for one, am very much looking forward to the next arc.

BIRTHRIGHT 4

Now this is what I'm talking about.  The drama is back as well as the fantasy - this issue hits the high points of the first issue that the last two issues had been missing.  While not much happens in the other world, in the "real" world, characters are hitting emotional and plot beats on just about every page.  I had been wavering on this series, but I'm glad I stuck around, because this issue paid off that patience in a huge way.  Really looking forward to next issue.

FEATHERS 1

I emailed my comic shop to hold a copy of this for me while I was out of town.  That decisions was based mostly on the strength of the art because I couldn't actually read the preview pages on the slow Internet connection I had.  The beginning of the issue reminds me of a Fable game, with child and vague talk of paths not yet choosen before jumping ahead a decade.  There's a rich city, and a poor city that surrounds it.  A boy, a girl, and a budding friendship.  In all, there's a lot of common pieces here, and they didn't combine into a compelling story for me.

AMERICAN VAMPIRE v7

Oh American Vampire, how I've missed you.  Skinner, Pearl, and Calvin are back, now in 1965.  They've been keeping a low profile, more or less, for the last few years, and that's about to end for all of them.  Something is coming.  Something old and powerful, destroying everything in its wake.  Batman and Wytches are both very good books, but I think American Vampire remains my favorite Scott Synder title.  The writing remains excellent, and I absolutely love Albuquerque's art.

MEN OF WRATH 4

This issue is great and I can't stop thinking about the last page.  Of everything I've read this week, that's the standout page among all of it.  Nothing that happens in this issue is what I expected.  It's all brilliant and makes total sense, but absolutely none of it went how I thought they'd go.  There's a quote I can only half remember from an introduction in one of the Scalped trades about how in a noir story the audience expects the characters to redeem themselves, but instead they continue to self-sabotage.  "Self-sabotage" sums up this series pretty well, and I don't expect any of these characters to eventually redeem themselves.  Recommended.

GHOST FLEET 3

I haven't talked about this series yet, but I have read the first two issues as well.  Quick summary: There's a couple shadowy groups, one of which, the titular Ghost Fleet, drives trucks across America.  A member of the Ghost Fleet gets betrayed and left for dead only to return really pissed off and looking for revenge.  What should be a pretty straight forward revenge tale is somewhat bogged down by keeping details of the parties in play especially vague.  The dialogue is good, and the art is great, but the story is kept a bit close to the chest and I think it's starting to hamper things.  I'll stick around for a little while longer to see where this is going.

COPPERHEAD 5

I haven't been sure about this series for a few issues, but I decided to pick up issue five to see if/how the arc ends.  It does end, and it ends well.  The investigation gets wrapped up, resolution is attained for a couple plot threads, all characters get a nice spotlight, and at least one story seed gets planted.  I'll stick around for a few more issues to see where it goes.  If it's anything like this issue, it'll be somewhere good.

Indie Corner - 12/10/2014

Each week I'll spotlight a couple independent books I've read and may have flown under people's radar.

COPPERHEAD 4

The investigation is slowly going... somewhere, but that doesn't even matter.  This issue has some truly fantastic character moments and a chase scene that's vastly superior to the one from last issue.  After reading the first issue, I mentally gave this series until issue four to prove itself to me.  Things are trending up.  It could move things along a little faster, but I'm sticking around.

Bitch Planet 01

BITCH PLANET 1

I had no idea what to expect from this book.  I kept hearing, "women's prison... in space!"  Or comparisons to Orange is the New Black, which I haven't seen, so that wasn't helpful.  Most recently, I saw a comment about "Stepford" which now makes a heckuva lot more sense.  You've likely heard things too, and they were probably just as meaningless.  So lemme just say this: It's a good book.  If you like good books, you should check this out.  I know I'll be reading more.

LITTLE NEMO: RETURN TO SLUMBERLAND 3

Near the end of Locke & Key, it was announced that Gabriel Rodriguez had been signed as the first and only artist exclusive to IDW.  For those unfamiliar with his work, this issue proves why signing him was such a smart move.  I can't imagine what the script for this issue was like, but it's a feast for the eyes from start to finish.  An outstanding issue in a series I'd been unsure about.

SAMURAI JACK 15

This arc ended the only way it possibly could.  Knowing that the entire time, I still found myself concerned both at the end of last issue and at the beginning of this one.  When the tide does finally turn - as it inevitably would - it was awesome.  I have no idea what's in store for the next arc, but I eagerly await it.

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES 41

The title to this arc is "Attack on Technodrome."  It's been building to this for literally years.  By the end of this issue, every piece is in place.  We're about to witness the clash of at least three agendas, possibly more (Hob!).  There's no way to tell what's going to happen, but I suspect things will get worse before they get better.

GHOSTBUSTERS v9: Mass Hysteria Part 2

This marks the end of the series, and I will definitely miss it.  I keep flipping through the trade instead of writing about it.  What can I say?  That whenever I would read this comic, I would hear the actor's voices in my head?  That whatever happens to the franchise, if Burnham is writing, I'll be buying?  That, much like Ninja Turtles, any fan should check it out?  It's all true.  The end is rather surprising, and that's literally all I'm going to say about what happens.  Do yourself a favor.  Buy the whole series.

Indie Corner - 11/12/2014

Each week I'll spotlight a couple independent books I've read and may have flown under people's radar.

COPPERHEAD 3

I didn't time it, but this felt like a quick read.  Likely, because there was a mostly silent five-page pursuit sequence.  Sheriff Bronson isn't getting any answers and she's not happy.  Meanwhile, Boo gets a piece of information that could actually break things open, from the least likely cast member.  The book is still good, but this issue is just kinda there, moving the story the tiniest bit.  It's likely just a mid-arc bump in the road before things get moving again toward the conclusion.  At least I hope that's what it is.

Drifter 1

DRIFTER 1

The series was described as "featur[ing] the dark revenge themes of Unforgiven with the mind-bending universe-building detail of Dune."  If that's true, it's not evident in the first issue.  The first few pages are quite interesting, but from then on the main character is a complete dick to literally everyone and entirely unlikable.  By the time the twist ending came about, I'd stopped caring.  Very disappointing for a series I'd been looking forward to.

THE LIFE AFTER 5

While reading this I was thinking, "The preview pages gave half this story away already!"  Only, not really.  The preview pages were actually the middle of the book, and context is everything.  Plus, there's everything that happens after that, which is pretty significant.  Jude and Hemingway have a new mission and the cover to next issue makes a helluva lot more sense now than it did when it was first solicited.  While I have no idea where the story is going, I'll be along for the ride.

DEEP STATE 1

This is a weird issue.  A lot happens, and most of it through exposition.  There's a "men in black" joke in there, but it's actually rather fitting.  Seasoned agent in the secrets business needs a new agent, recruits a woman with a bit more curiosity than sense.  Throw in some the space race, moon landing, and a mysterious entity, and you've got equal parts Men In Black and X-Files.  While I'm interested to see where the story might be going, this isn't the Justin Jordan I'm used to.

RESURRECTIONISTS 1

Third number one this week and third strike out.  Resurrectionists seems to focus on people harnessing the memories and abilities of their past lives.  Even though there's exponentially more people alive now than ever before.  But whatever.  The fight sequence at the beginning of the issue reminded me of the Five Ghosts series of Image.  I think I'll stick with that instead.

WYTCHES 2

We get a lot more story this issue compared to the last, and the creeping dread starts right from the beginning with discussion of "the lump."  Sailor and Lucy are both losing it, whether from visions or memories, while dad and Reggie struggle to keep up.  Definitely a bizarre, creepy, yet good book.  I'll be sticking around for a while.

Indie Corner - 10/08/2014

Each week I'll spotlight a couple independent books I've read and may have flown under people's radar.

EAST OF WEST vol. 3

There's a few reasons I love this series.  First, the art is great.  Next, the characters are unique.  Seems like a requirement, right?  But in a week where reviews complain about everyone's quips in Axis, the characters here each have his or her own motives and manner of speech.  And last, the story isn't spoon-fed to the audience.  Monumental things are happening in this story (especially this volume), and it's up to the reader to figure out the full implications and what's really going on.

RISE OF AURORA WEST

I thoroughly enjoyed Battling Boy and was excited to hear more books would be coming.  One of those is now out, and I find I'm rather disappointed.  Rise of Aurora West follows Aurora and her father before the events of the original Battling Boy, but adds little to the characters or story.  There's also the art of David Rubin, whom I'm guessing was picked to compliment Pope.  While his art is well suited to some of the scenes, it really undercuts the violence with cartooniness instead of straddling the line like Pope did in the original Battling Boy.  Skip.

Annihilator 02

ANNIHILATOR 2

As I was reading this, I thought back to my recent words on Supreme: Blue Rose.  I greatly disliked Blue Rose, but Annihilator sits in almost the same spot of "divisive writer doing vague and weird."  Yet, for some reason, I'm really enjoying Annihilator.  The only thing I can figure is I think Morrison has given us a few more scraps to grab onto than Ellis.  I'm along for the ride.  Your mileage may vary.

WYTCHES 1

I think I made it two issues into The Wake before I decided I'd rather read it collected.  (Still waiting for the hardcover!)  This was a good first issue, and one helluva cliffhanger, but it's just setup so far.  Things had just started to happen when it ended.  I'll be back for issue two, but it's hard to get a sense of the series with just this issue.

COPPERHEAD 2

After a great first issue, I told my comic shop to pull issues 2 - 4 for me.  I read a lot of first issues and come back for issue two on about half.  In the case of Copperhead, I might be in for the long haul.  Great art and characters with plenty of intrigue.

BIRTHRIGHT 1

Wow.  It's tough to pull family drama and high fantasy in a single story, but Birthright does it well.  I'll be even more vague than usual so as to not ruin any of the surprises, but it's hard to tell where the series will go from here.  I have some ideas, but given the surprises thus far, I'd rather sit back and enjoy the ride than speculate.  Recommended.

RAGNAROK 2

If you haven't picked up the first issue, you really should.  It's brilliant.  This picks up right where that left off, and quickly leads to a whole bunch of people dying.  The end of the issue leaves things in such a way that anything can happen .  If you're at all interested in seeing Walt Simonson do whatever he wants, get this series.

BLACK SCIENCE 9

My feelings on this series are hard to put into words.  On the one hand, I enjoy it.  On the other, it's always at the bottom of my read pile.  Nine issues in, and I haven't converted it over to trades yet because I'm not not sure I like it.  The art is gorgeous, the characters are all well written, but the story... it's barely there.  I'm still reading it, but it's always hard to tell for how much longer.

SEX CRIMINALS 8

Another book that's usually at the bottom of my read pile each month, though for very different reasons.  Sex Criminals is personal.  It's funny and dark, evokes emotions, and makes me think.  It's something I like to read in a single sitting and have to be in the right mood for.  And it's always rewarding.  Here, we meet a new character, check in with our usual cast, and our antagonists make a move.  A pleasure, as always.

OCTOBER FACTION 1

Another number one this week, though this one doesn't have the same shocking cliffhanger ending as the others.  Still, it's a solid, atmospheric start.  Niles plants seeds for multiple stories and Worm's art sets the perfect tone for the dark series.