Monthly Archives: September 2023

I finished cleaning the garage, showered. Now, I’m drinking tea. Here’s the latest … Black Cloak #1-6 by Kelly Thompson and Meredith McClaren … I wanted to enjoy this one more than I did. The covers are all so sleek. The interior art by Meredith McClaren is vibrant, lush, and distinct. It looks like bright fruit sugar water caught and held inside round lines and shapes. It really catches your eye. But the story just isn’t there, for me. At least not in this series’ first arc. The decision to center this opening chapter around a murder mystery does well to bring the reader into this fantastical, sci-fi world up from the ground level, in its streets and hidden meeting spots. But the flow and the plot points of this detective story feel played out and predictable. Or I don’t know … It just reads as a means to an end, a way to get the story going. Another mix-up of genres. It doesn’t feel particularly inspired or energized. That said, the choice does lead to an interesting outcome with where this first arc ends up. The detectives solve their case, but the city crumbles because of the answer. This shake-up introduces a power struggle between various parties for the future of this fictional society. And this conflict is only made possible because multiple people made poor decisions and kept them secret. The series seems set up to explore the rationalizations the powerful employ to make their choices. That thematic concept does kind of save it for me. So, I might have to give it another arc. We’ll see … The Lonesome Shepherd by James Collier is worth checking out. The cartooning in this comic book is very lucid, very wandering. Light line work, a limited use of color, and plenty of blank, open space. I took the story as an allegory for pursuing the life you want, even if it appears as failure and leads to loneliness? Which totally feels like something a cartoonist would say … But I don’t know. I’m not entirely sure what James Collier intends to be the exact point of his comic, but the ending felt open to interpretation. You’re left to wonder whether this lonesome shepherd, our main character, is leading the life he craves or is actually only pretending to be. The comic does a good job, too, to subtly ridicule certain annoying personality traits of the self-righteous, those out there being a “wanderer,” getting to the truth. But it very quickly finds the cracks in these people for you to reach through and empathize with. If James Collier ever makes another comic, I’ll take a look! … Nightwing #105 by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo ain’t a bad time. Am I being overly positive? I don’t think so. This special first-person POV issue, where you, the reader, experience the story as the titular hero, Nightwing, feels fresh, even if this narrative trick has been pulled somewhere else before. If so, I haven’t seen it, but I haven’t read everything. In this instance, I feel like it lends to Tom Taylor’s ongoing attempts to explore the personal lives of these mainstay superhero characters. The use of first-person POV helps in this regard, at least to visualize a superhero plot from their vantage point. It literally puts us in their shoes … It’s refreshing. It hits familiar beats without sounding tired.

Well, well, well. The latest comic books I’ve read … Angloid by Alex Graham. It’s $12. I really think you should go buy it. I read this one on a lazy Saturday, and it just reminded me that there are so many talented artists out there, and while I risk sounding corny, it feels good to step outside the norm and spend time with their work. Alex Graham, if you think about it, had to take a lot of steps and live a lot of life for this book to come together and make its way to little ol’ me, and here we are. Reading Angloid, I appreciated the presentation of the main character, someone who is characterized by their poor choices and actions, but who isn’t made out to be a monster. If anything, they’re very familiar, and for that, this story fits within a genre focused on slacker creative types getting fucked up and coming of age. Not a knock at it, at all. I love that type of thing. And for starters, Alex Graham shows a more unique approach to this story with interludes that feature tales of alien ghosts who watch over humanity, rooting for our success. Our guardian angels, they look on as we flounder. Angloid blends slice-of-life with a sense of cosmic place. … Keeping Two by Jordan Crane offers a relationship story fixated on loss, built by someone that applies the merits of the medium they work in. With differently formatted comic book panels, Jordan Crane shows various points of time and possible futures simultaneously, sequencing different events right up against each other. You experience the story more so as to how someone would perceive it in their mind, directly, as they went about their day and daydreamed, every so often hit with a memory. Time being far from linear. Keeping Two’s two-tone color aesthetic and Crane’s drawings keep the story energetic and approachable, though. The subject matter and the themes at play are heavy, but the comic book doesn’t suffer a loss of personality or softness or bounce. The drawings show exaggerated features, a whimsical sense of physics, and a distinctive, minimal use of lines that give the book its vibe. If anything, the final points the story pulls together can feel a bit cliche in their universal nature, but it doesn’t seem to make them any less true. And beyond that, it feels like Jordan Crane’s storytelling choices really enable the reader to take another look. … Old Dog #1-6 by Declan Shalvey hasn’t left me with much to say, but it’s not bad. I’ll check out the next arc when it’s released. This is a spy thriller about an old man agent and his younger daughter agent. They don’t get a long but they must team up to uncover secrets and kill bad people. It’s whatever as a premise, but I like that Declan Shalvey writes, draws, and colors this, it’s his book, exclusively, which isn’t very common for more mainstream comics. The quality of his drawings aren’t, either. The fights scenes are well articulated, and I really like his square-jawline artwork. He’s also not afraid to break a page down into a maximum amount of panels, which can really help with controlling pace and focusing the reader’s attention. Or he can use a splash page for good effect, to really make a moment. Declan Shalvey uses more creative page layouts and cuts between scenes to give a familiar genre story some heightened style. The colors are crisp and consistent throughout, too, but they offer a few bright hues that really catch the eye and give this comic a visual edge. Which is really the only reason to check it out. Anyway …