The irony of this book being released in time for Thanksgiving is not lost on me...
Premise: Tony Chu is a detective who gets psychic impressions from almost anything he eats. As an agent for the FDA (which has grown into a powerful agency in the wake of a devastating case of bird flu), he gets involved in cases that are even weirder than his psychic powers.
I tried describing this book to my girlfriend and she was revolted, so I’ll tell you up front that this book is not for everyone. However, if you are a fan of black humor, surrealism, and procedurals, this is a book that you cannot miss. Writer John Layman economically establishes a rich setting with a minimum of exposition (vital information is usually delivered with brief, Pushing Daisies-style flashbacks).
The most important characters are well-rounded and fully realized, and the cliche characters (such as Chu’s antagonistic superior officer) still manage to be entertaining. Plus, he is as deft with moments of side-splitting humor as he is moments of jaw-dropping horror.
This review is a bit terse, because I am wildly distracted right now, but I was completely struck by the beauty and simplicity of Astounding Wolf-Man #19. Comics can and ultimately should take a lesson from it.
ARISE!!!!
This is the most fun and most pure example of pulp fiction reworked for the 21st century. Jason Howard’s art and FCO/Ivan Plascencia’s colors go above and beyond the call of comic book duty, laying down a summer blockbuster feel in the span of 22 pages. Senseless doodles all, of course, if not for the love poured into the book by writer Robert Kirkman.
Kirkman is, as you may be aware, is closing shop on Astounding Wolf-Man with issue 25. It makes sense, he’s got a lot on his plate these days, and while AWM was a good idea, it may not be a Great Idea like Walking Dead or Invincible.
AWM 19 shows us what the series could have been, in a very distilled form. It also shows us how far Kirkman has come as a writer. If you look back even as far as his run on Ultimate X-Men, you’ll find interesting ideas and conflicts being executed by unfortunately similar voices.
Not so here. Even in this (to quote the author) “action packed extravaganza”, extraordinary events elicit unique emotional responses both courageous and cowardly from every player. This is wrapped snugly in the veneer of spontaneous and very believable interaction. The resolution is logical, very clever, and completely in character for the billionaire engineer. The storytelling is not telegraphed or over explained. Kirkman lets Howard do his work.
Olympus, a new limited series from Image comics, bleeds cool. The tale follows two brothers, Castor and Pollux, as they hunt down renegade divinities from the ever-popular Greek pantheon. Is it worth your hard-earned cash? Read on.
One of the first things that you may notice about Olympus is Christian Ward’s art. The pencils, as a whole, are a little inconsistent but the colors are simply stellar. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many different tints and hues in one comic before and for the most part they really enhance the the characters and the story.
If I had to one word to describe the pencils, it would have to be “kinetic.” The characters always seem ready to leap off the page and the action sequences flow into each other with a grace that you rarely see in other comics. Ward’s skill with panel layout is a treat as well. The panels cater to the flowing movement of the pencils and infuse all of the action with a dynamic energy that’s awesome to see.
I know this isn’t a review, and I know that writers throw letters in their books and such, but to me this is an incredible feeling. MY letter got printed in a comic book, and definitely one of my favorite books: Astounding Wolf-Man #17.
I’m pretty excited that Robert Kirkman answered my questions (see below) and other than that, I just wanted to share with everyone the fact that if you send a letter to a comic that prints letters, there is a chance it will get printed!
Thanks to Robert Kirkman and Image for printing my letter! I will definitely be writing to more comics (ie. Invincible, Amazing Spider-Man, Walking Dead, etc.) now!
Well everyone, since I’ve been lacking so much in my review count (seriously, what is my problem?), let me give you the insight into a gigantic 8 comics this week. That’s right. 8 comics!
Mind you, this week was pretty big–I myself read at least 18 comics–and here are a few I think you all may find a bit interesting:
Apparently, this is the week of the “#1″ issues. Seriously everyone, there’s just a ton of new comics starting this week. If you can’t find something new to pick up, you aren’t trying hard enough! Being that there’s enough first issues to fill 2 of these posts, I’m going to focus completely on these in this post. So check out the list below and pick out a couple of new books to start reading this week!
Secret Warriors is likely going to be the star book of the week (and probably the month). From the creative brain-mass of Brian Michael Bendis (I like to call him BMB) and written by up-and-coming superstar Jonathan Hickman, Secret Warriors is set up to be the spy book of Dark Reign. Oh yes, Nick Fury and his band of not-so-merry men (and women) are digging deep into the seedy underbelly of Norman Osborn’s administration and pulling out all the juicy little secrets for us. Don’t miss this one!
Chew vol. 1 – “Taster’s Choice”
Olympus
