Filed under: Uncategorized
Issue 8
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Brandon Peterson
Colours by Paul Mounts
Letters by VC’s Cory Petit
Cover by Brandon Peterson
£2.85 (Or £1.99 with SuperCard Go!)
There are, at this point, three books happening in the same space here. The first Age of Ultron is the slightly slow paced but still very interesting, gutsy story about the end of the Marvel universe and Ultron’s almost casual domination of it. The second is a character-driven time travel story which sees Sue Richards and Wolverine both in completely different places to where they normally are and forced to grow and act as a result. The first one of those books is interesting, the second is great.
The problem is the third book. As of last issue, Age of Ultron became what it had to be; an alternate universe story. That’s not just understandable, its compulsory given the apocalyptic change Wolverine and Sue made to the timeline. That’s not the problem. What is, unfortunately, is the same problem the book has had from the start; pacing.
Three things happen in this issue; a mutilated almost full-cyborg Tony Stark interrogates Sue and Wolverine, the Defenders arrive and their version of Wolverine, to say nothing of The Thing, react to Sue and (our)Wolverine’s presence the only way they know how; directly. The ensuing fight is further interrupted by the arrival of Morgana Le Fey and a huge army of Doom/Loki hybrids (Loombots perhaps?) and another apocalyptic battle.
That’s issue eight. Of Ten.
There’s a growing sense that this is a book which isn’t going to go quietly, especially as at least another full issue looks to be set in this alternate present. Which technically shouldn’t be a bad thing but we waited so long for this story to get going that it can’t help but feel frustrating. The awful thing Wolverine and Sue did has to have consequences and those consequences have to be major but the stop start pacing of the book outstayed its welcome an act and a half ago. There needs to be some sort of hint of what’s coming next, soon because the more distance there is between readers and the embattled, desperate survivors in the Savage Land, the less impact the book has.
That isn’t to say there’s nothing to enjoy here. Bendis continues to write Sue Richards as the calm, smart, tough woman so few other writers ever do and the hints we get of the new status quo are nicely handled. Best of all there are some great character moments here, especially the alternate universe Ben Grimm’s frantic ‘WHERE IS SHE?!’ as he realizes that the Sue he lost is still, somehow alive. Only Stark disappoints, the quiet rage Bendis gives him offset by a bizarre design choice which sees him picking up the gurning duties from Cap a couple of issues ago.
This isn’t a bad book by any stretch, it’s just an immensely frustrating one. The odd pacing has never seemed to settle down and with two issues to go there’s no indication of how it’s going to end. Still absolutely worthy of your attention, if not your patience, Age of Ultron remains one of the most weirdly obtuse stories Marvel have put out in years. Enjoyable, but you may be confused as to quite why.
Alasdair Stuart
Filed under: Exquisite Reviews | Tags: Image, Konstantin Novosadov, Nathan Edmondson, The Dream Merchant
Issue 1
Written by Nathan Edmondson
Art by Konstantin Novosadov
Published by Image
Issue 1
£2.50 (£1.85 with SuperCard Go! And it’s totally worth it)
Winslow has a dream where he’s flying. There’s a red, pitted landscape filled with cliffs and fog and Winslow flies and falls over it every single night. It’s the only dream he ever has and after a while it begins to spill over into his waking life. The dream is his world and Winslow is flying over it, there, present but distanced, unable to interact with anything.
Things get worse. Winslow gets institutionalized and there, to his exhausted amazement, things get better. In Burbank, California, behind locked doors, Winslow makes two friends. Ziggy is a schizophrenic and Anne is a lunch line volunteer with an unusual past who wants to help him. The world becomes real, almost in arm’s reach.
Then the dream becomes real.
The Dream Merchant is an amazing debut in what seems to be a never ending stream of amazing books from Image these days. Edmondson’s script manages the near impossible task of subtle exposition, cluing us in to Winslow’s mind through his own words and experiences in therapy and nests one of the central concepts of the book within that exposition; everyone contains worlds. Winslow, Anne and Ziggy all have very different views of reality and all of them get expressed in this first issue. One is a schizophrenic, one can’t escape a dream and another is so desperate to escape their old life, they choose the asylum. Even though the three aren’t together for most of the book, there’s a real sense that this is the foundation the book will be built on; three broken young people who know they’re broken but also know they’re young, out in a world filled with bright, sharp, deadly objects. There’s a sense of danger to this book you almost never see, and Novosadov’s stunning art makes a sequence where Winslow and Anne jump off a bridge into moving traffic an exercise in light, movement and horror. These are fragile people in a hard world and the fact none of them quite have a grip on reality only makes them more fragile. The character design helps immensely too, with all four leads recognizably normal. There’s no attempt to make everyone thin or handsome, and Winslow especially is a triumph of awkwardness, a gangly haired mess of a young man. As a result, the fantastic elements of the book, especially the mercurial, wraith-like figures pursuing them, have a presence these things normally don’t have. They feel like curdled parts of the world, something so wrong you instinctively recoil from them as, of course, do Winslow, Anne and Ziggy.
There’s incredible pace and confidence to this issue, Edmondson’s set up and neatly realized script perfectly meshing with Novosadov’s expressive characters and wide palette to create something very special. At the end of the issue both you, and Winslow, have very little idea what’s going on. But at the end of the issue, both you, and Winslow are desperate to know more. This is one of the best first issues I’ve read this year and I think it’ll make your top ten too. Utterly recommended.
Alasdair Stuart
Filed under: Exquisite Reviews | Tags: Anne, Image, Konstantin Novosadov, Nathan Edmondson, The Dream Merchant, Winslow, Ziggy
Issue 1
Written by Nathan Edmondson
Art by Konstantin Novosadov
Published by Image
Issue 1
£2.50 (£1.85 with SuperCard Go! And it’s totally worth it)
Winslow has a dream where he’s flying. There’s a red, pitted landscape filled with cliffs and fog and Winslow flies and falls over it every single night. It’s the only dream he ever has and after a while it begins to spill over into his waking life. The dream is his world and Winslow is flying over it, there, present but distanced, unable to interact with anything.
Things get worse. Winslow gets institutionalized and there, to his exhausted amazement, things get better. In Burbank, California, behind locked doors, Winslow makes two friends. Ziggy is a schizophrenic and Anne is a lunch line volunteer with an unusual past who wants to help him. The world becomes real, almost in arm’s reach.
Then the dream becomes real.
The Dream Merchant is an amazing debut in what seems to be a never ending stream of amazing books from Image these days. Edmondson’s script manages the near impossible task of subtle exposition, cluing us in to Winslow’s mind through his own words and experiences in therapy and nests one of the central concepts of the book within that exposition; everyone contains worlds. Winslow, Anne and Ziggy all have very different views of reality and all of them get expressed in this first issue. One is a schizophrenic, one can’t escape a dream and another is so desperate to escape their old life, they choose the asylum. Even though the three aren’t together for most of the book, there’s a real sense that this is the foundation the book will be built on; three broken young people who know they’re broken but also know they’re young, out in a world filled with bright, sharp, deadly objects. There’s a sense of danger to this book you almost never see, and Novosadov’s stunning art makes a sequence where Winslow and Anne jump off a bridge into moving traffic an exercise in light, movement and horror. These are fragile people in a hard world and the fact none of them quite have a grip on reality only makes them more fragile. The character design helps immensely too, with all four leads recognizably normal. There’s no attempt to make everyone thin or handsome, and Winslow especially is a triumph of awkwardness, a gangly haired mess of a young man. As a result, the fantastic elements of the book, especially the mercurial, wraith-like figures pursuing them, have a presence these things normally don’t have. They feel like curdled parts of the world, something so wrong you instinctively recoil from them as, of course, do Winslow, Anne and Ziggy.
There’s incredible pace and confidence to this issue, Edmondson’s set up and neatly realized script perfectly meshing with Novosadov’s expressive characters and wide palette to create something very special. At the end of the issue both you, and Winslow, have very little idea what’s going on. But at the end of the issue, both you, and Winslow are desperate to know more. This is one of the best first issues I’ve read this year and I think it’ll make your top ten too. Utterly recommended.
Alasdair Stuart
Filed under: Our favourite things | Tags: adrian younge, black mask, dave murdoch, dennis cole, ghostface killah, matthew rosenberg, patrick kindlon, soul temple, the RZA, twelve reasons to die
If you’ve read many of my reviews, you might have noticed that I have a particular fondness for multi-media stories and thematic pieces of art – so it’s no wonder really that I would enjoy Ghostface Killah’s comic book Twelve Reasons to Die, a collaboration with Adrian Younge designed as an accompaniment to his newest album of the same name. With both the album and the comic executive produced by The RZA and produced by Adrian Younge, GFK manages to pull together pieces of crime fiction, horror, soul and the supernatural to create the story of a vengeful spirit taking down the twelve mob bosses of Italy. The first ever release from Black Mask Studios, created by the man who has been described as a “compulsive storyteller”, Twelve Reasons to Die is an ambitious project, only for mature readers who are not easily offended. You have been warned.
The first issue actually contains four stories which are woven together, with the largest portion of the book dedicated to the story of how the 12 Delucas formed out of a mutual interest in increasing the quality of crime in Italy. In a series of Polaroid-style flash-backs, Mussolini’s influence on the crime families of Italy is spread out before us in scenes of violence, rape and war, but out of this come the twelve men who act with honour. The irregularity of the panels takes us smoothly through the evolution of the crime syndicates, with each mob boss driven by different motivating factors. Bodies dripping with blood are subtly placed in the trunk of cars as civilians walk by, no one paying any attention to the horror and with a seeming smile on everyone’s face. A ten-panel double page spread spells out the highs and lows of power that crime brings, and how easy it is to abuse that power; it’s obvious that things are far too easy for these men who are not as honourable as they think.
In a night club, a mysterious woman reports to an unknown companion that the twelve members have arrived and it’s obvious that the men are about to be in some trouble. In walks this new gangster – who bears a striking resemblance to GFK himself – and with only the words “Evening fellas” promptly destroys the 12 Delucas in some incredibly brutal ways. The narration reveals that they never had a chance, that they were only soldiers but Anthony Starks was a weapon. Fans of Ghostface Killah will most likely know that he has previously adopted the monikers Tony Starks and Ironman (with vital spelling differences), therefore it’s perhaps unsurprising that he appears as his comic book alter-ego.
The other stories, which are flashbacks and connected to the story in various ways, deal with terrifying sheep, a haunted record collection and an incident of death by bees. This first issue is a really interesting mixed bag and feels like a huge teaser for the rest of the run, setting up some interesting plot devices in this supernatural giallo work. Written by Matthew Rosenberg and Patrick Kindlon, the idea to bring in a rotating team of some twenty artists (from the little-known to the well-loved) is an inspired idea which echoes the collaborative ethos of Wu-Tang Clan and ensures that the comic is not defined by just one artist’s style. Dave Murdoch’s transition splash page which shows the vengeful entity Ghostface Killah is a beautiful piece of work and while it took me a moment to adjust to the rapid shifting of artistic style it should be really effective over the series. The colouring from Jean-Paul Csuka varies from blood-drenched reds, to pastel auction-houses, to soul-inspired pink and blue pop-art – the abrupt changes add to the frenzy of this comic, and a shout-out has to go to the smooth lettering of Frank Barbiere.
The album Twelve Reasons to Die is available on CD, vinyl and cassette as well as digital, and subscriptions for the comic book can be found in the Black Mask store. The movie-style advertisements show the influence of European B-movies and 70s psychedelic soul on the story.
Filed under: Exquisite Reviews | Tags: Chris Ryall, Doomsday .1, IDW, John Byrne, Leonard O'Grady, Neil Uyetake
Doomsday .1
Created and written by John Byrne
Colours by Leonard O’Grady
Letters by Neil Uyetake
Edited by Chris Ryall
Published by IDW
£2.85
I’ve never really followed John Byrne’s superhero work. It’s not that I’m not a fan, he’s clearly immensely talented, but rather that I’ve never been dragged in by any of it. Byrne’s science fiction however, is a very different story. The High Ways, the four part mini he just finished for IDW is huge fun, equal parts Red Dwarf and John Carpenter, and Doomsday .1, a do over of one of his earliest projects is equally entertaining if much, much grimmer.
The world’s ending. Now. Today. And the astronauts aboard the International Space Station are both blessed and cursed to see it coming. A colossal solar flare, four times larger than the planet itself, is hours away. There’s nothing to be done but warn home and try and work out if they want to survive at all. The crew all deal with it in different ways; mission commander Yuri is desperately concerned about the welfare of his team, Hikari Akiyama, the scientist who makes the discovery is ruthlessly determined to survive and Boyd, the mission pilot, turns down a last chance to reconcile with his father. The end’s coming, and not everyone is interested in making their peace.
To show the scope of the disaster, Byrne cuts between the station crew making their plans and events on Earth. Once the story goes public, the panic is absolute and we get interesting glimpses of where the series will go from here. One of the best sequences is a two page spread dealing with the Vatican and the desolate, angry emissary they send to survive. Another sees a high security prison in the US taken over by its worst inmates whilst a third sees a nuclear submarine crew realize they may be uniquely positioned to survive. None of these people are safe, none of them have a plan but they all might, just, have a shot at surviving. The crux of the series, I suspect, may be whether or not they want to.
But the focus remains on the station crew and this is where the book really shines. The minor alliances and petty feuds that months in close proximity bring out look set to be a cornerstone of the book, with mission engineer and massive tact vacuum Benning equal parts antagonist and ally and the question of who’s leading the group already making for some interesting conflict. Byrne cleverly keeps the focus on the characters, using them to show us the scale of the disaster. The final few pages, when they land, really work this angle and the final two panels are especially great. The world has ended. Welcome to tomorrow.
Byrne’s characterful, expressive art style is perfect for this sort of story and there’s really some really smart storytelling on display here. The first few pages use panel orientation to remind you there is no up in space for example. Similarly Neil Uyetake’s lettering is smart and functional and Leonard O’Grady’s colours balance the tranquil blue of the Earth with the nightmarish fires of the solar flare, grounding the whole piece as solidly as the ISS crew themselves. This is a grim, fun piece of science fiction that hits the ground running and only accelerates. The world may have ended, but the work, and the story, are just beginning.
Alasdair Stuart
Filed under: Our favourite things, Uncategorized | Tags: brutal legend, Comics, games, psychonauts, ray bradbury, scott c
Probably make some movies. I like movies.
Movies are good. By Jenny Mugridge
Filed under: Exquisite Reviews | Tags: Albert Einstein, Enric Fermi, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Helmutt Grottrup, Image, jonathan hickman, Jordie Bellaire, Leslie Groves, Nick Pitarra, Richard Feynman, Robert Oppenheimer, Rus Wooton, Ryan Browne, The Manhattan Projects, Wernher Von Braun
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Nick Pitarra and Ryan Browne (Chapter 10)
Colours by Jordie Bellaire
Letters by Rus Wooton
Published by Image
£14.99
Everyone’s favourite science nightmare is back, but for those of you who haven’t found the first volume here’s a potted history; Legendary scientist Robert Oppenheimer, the man who led the construction of the first atomic bomb is, in this universe, one of twins. Joseph, his twin, is a cannibalistic psychopath who generates a new split personality with every random thought. Joseph kills Robert and consumes him and, with this event a secret, is recruited to the Manhattan Projects by General Leslie Groves. The Manhattan Projects include the greatest scientists in the world, including Richard Feynman, Albert Einstein, Enric Fermi and Wernher Von Braun. Feynman’s memoirs of his time on the Projects provide book end quotes for each issue, Einstein is learning how to control an immensely powerful, ancient object which can open doors between universes, Fermi isn’t human and Von Braun is a partial cyborg crippled with guilt at his actions as a Nazi.
Oh and they have President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as an AI.
This isn’t a normal book and it’s not structured in a normal way. This second collected edition of The Manhattan Projects picks up from where the first left off but comes at it from a subtly different. We spend a lot more time on the Russian and German side of things for the first half, taking in both Von Braun and Helmutt Grottrup, a luckless scientist who escapes the American’s initial sweep at the end of the war only to be caught by the Russians. His nightmarish existence is compounded by the secret pact the Russian and American science teams sign and through him, we see this as a world filled with monsters rather than titans of science. They enjoy the benefit, Grottrup is chained to a Torii gate, along with other Death Buddhists to use his own life energies to open dimensional portals. It’s a tragic, horrifying story which touches on issues we’ve already seen, gives us a different perspective on the characters we already know and sets up the next big event in the series; the coup attempt. Enraged by the growing independence of the Projects, President Harry S. Truman, himself a member of a secret cabal known as the Illuminatorium, orders an attack on them, using the FDR A.I. as the tip of the spear. Suddenly, FDR is in every robot (And the Manhattan Projects and their Russian counterparts have a LOT of robots) worldwide and the carnage is near total. Von Braun is critically injured, Einstein and Feynman fight a running gun battle against them in low Earth orbit and poor Grottrup finds himself in the worst possible place at the worst possible time again.
The attack, and its consequences take up the vast majority of the book, as we see the Projects survivors working out who attacks them, why and how to retaliate. This being Hickman and Pitara, it’s exactly as queasy and feverish as you’d expect, the humour constantly battling with the skin-crawling horror of what’s going on. However, this volume also makes explicit the moment of true genius at the heart of this story about fictional ones; the book is whatever you want it to be. If you want a comic series about demented retro science, this is it. If you want an ultra-black Doctor Strangelove comedy where a version of Robert Oppenheimer punching a horse is one of the least outlandish gags? This is it too. And if you want a fictional history of the world from the point of view of the scientists who alternately saved it and damned it, and each other, over and over, this is it too. The book’s mercurial, changing all the time and always holding your attention as it does.
The final chapter here, illustrated by Ryan Browne is a perfect example of this. Robert Oppenheimer, or the idea of Robert Oppenheimer, or possibly his soul, awakens in his brother’s mind. Browne uses the same, distinctive red and blue colour shame as Nick Pitarra does to differentiate them and takes us on a journey into the heart of the polite, softly spoken monster at the heart of the book. It’s unforgettable work, the frantic visuals a perfect mesh with the rest of the book but the story not only drastic different, but set to change the book’s future forever. Just as Oppenheimer and co are busy changing everyone else’s. It’s a stunning capstone to the book and a hell of an opening scene for the next act.
People talk a lot about The Manhattan Projects being one of those titles that redefines comics. It is. There is nothing else so unusual, or adaptable and nothing else which marries the demented spy-fi visuals of the ‘60s with the scientific titans of the recent past. It’s a book that’s extraordinary in every sense of the word, much like the people who inspired it were. This is an unmissable collection of an unmissable series.
Alasdair Stuart
