When I read about what the premise of Turf was going to be 3 months back, I thought, “HELL YES! Tommy Lee Edwards is on another book! Man I loved Marvel 1985!!”

Wait. Stop. Let’s get things in order here:

Turf appealed to me back in February when I was looking through my Previews book. It was a story being told to be about the mafia in New York City paired with none other than vampires and aliens. How cool is that? And then I saw that Tommy Lee Edwards was on the book and got all excited. I looked at the author (Jonathan Ross) and shrugged. “This could be a great comic,” I thought. “It’ll be cool looking, at least.”

Three months pass.

I walk into my local comic shop and this is in my stack. I open it up and get anxious to read it as it looks real wordy. Oh well, the art is fantastic. When I finally sat down to read this comic I was not even close to being prepared to taking in it’s brilliance. Somehow I survived.

More after the break. *mild spoilers abound, dear reader*

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No Hero #1 Cover

There are many creators in comics today that you can call truly great in the medium. Brian Michael Bendis, Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, Robert Kirkman and Geoff Johns all come to mind of the top of my head. But as far as creativity goes and really pushing the boundaries of story telling, I really put Warren Ellis at the top of this list. Not only is his work on mainstream books like Astonishing X-Men great, but he puts out a lot of really amazing creator-owned stuff, too. And his new book, No Hero, is no exception to his greatness.

As many comics are doing lately, No Hero is one of those stories of what superheroes would be like in real life. A subject that probably began, or at least was popularized, but Alan Moore in Watchmen, is represented favorably in No Hero. To put his own twist on the subject, Ellis brings us the tale of a man who wants to be part of a group of vigilantes in a world where the cops just can’t (or won’t) stop crime.

There’s more to come after the break, including, most importantly, my review.

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As I slowly dip into more recent comics to pad out my endless list of must-buy classics, a few big names constantly crop up. Mark Millar is one of those names. In an attempt to both get into his stuff and try to somewhat get a handle on Marvel’s continuity so I could read Secret Invasion, I read Civil War, which I went on record as having liked it but not been wowed. Then I read the Superman Elseworlds tale Red Son, which is savagely brilliant. My interests finally piqued, I started picking up back issues of the titles he’s put out this year, which is no small task since the man apparently isn’t bothering to sleep or eat given the number of issues he’s written. Now that I’m finally caught up, let me try to explain why Mark Millar deserves every drop of praise he’s getting.

**spoilers and more after the break**

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The start of my journey into comic collections can probably be traced back to two people: Alan Moore and Joss Whedon. Alan Moore’s novels V For Vendetta and Watchmen were two of the three comics I started with (the third being The Dark Knight Returns), but it was Whedon who sustained my interest. In the few months since I renewed my comic book readings, a large portion of the stuff I’ve read has been Whedon-penned titles; Astonishing X-Men, Buffy Season 8, and Angel: After the Fall (which, granted isn’t written by Whedon, but it’s his property and he has final say) have been consistently witty, action-packed, and all-out entertaining even in their weakest moments. Now, since the current Buffy arc has a crossover, I cracked open Joss’ first major foray into comics, Fray.

Set 200 years into the future, Fray takes Joss’ own slayer mythos and turns it on its head. In this future, magic has somehow been erased from the Earth, but vampires and other beasties still remain. Greatly reduced in number, vampires- called “lurks” in this futuristic mega-city- have largely been relegated back into children’s stories, though they are slowly gaining in numbers. Stranger still, a Slayer hasn’t been seen in over a century.

**more after the jump**

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The mid 80s were a good time to be a geek. In the music world, metal was revolting against its glam stars and producing a host of thrashers who put out the best stuff since Sabbath; Master of Puppets, Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying?, and Reign in Blood were sure to be spinning in the record players and tape decks of every acne-scarred social outcast in the country.

And what do social outcasts read? Comic books, that’s exactly right. We’re a hated and mocked breed, but anyone who read them in this era was about to have their reading material finally “legitimatized.” A new breed of writers was revolutionizing the medium, removing the redundant and intelligence-insulting wordiness that plagued comics at the point and replacing it with more concise and more adult language as well letting the art tell the story. And chief among them were two men, each from one side of the Atlantic: Alan Moore and Frank Miller.

**spoilers after the jump**
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Zack Snyder, the man behind 300 and the Dawn of the Dead remake has without a doubt wooed audiences with his cinematic prowess, truly a director worth watching.  However, when ambition overrides common sense in the world of film, it can only lead to disaster and humiliation.  The film in mind is none other than Alan Moore’s groundbreaking graphic novel, Watchmen.  First images of Snyder’s ‘vision’ appeared online late last year and captivated Watchmen devotees everywhere – even so, disapproval was not uncommon, and rightfully so.

Then this past month came the trailer of the film, that’s when things started to get interesting…

I’ll admit, initial views of the trailer were orgasmic – at the time, I had only read bits and pieces of the graphic novel, in itself, a bad way to go.  I had reveled over movie scenes mimicking unforgettable splash panels, actors identical to their graphic novel counterparts, and visuals that fail to displease the eyes – the adaptation to end all adaptations.

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I am not about to present a plot summary or formal review in any sense.  If you are looking for such, then I would advise you read the elaborate review from my fellow writer, Jake Cole.  However, if you are looking for an analysis of the graphic novel, then I encourage you to read further – the meaning behind Watchmen runs deep, so missing little odds and ends is to be expected.  I will occasionally include commentary during the analysis.

This analysis only begins to deal with the complexities of certain issues and layout.  If I wanted to explain everything that was on my mind, I’d be writing a book.  Here’s hoping this will be enough to fill your appetite.

**Spoilers abound**

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I’d like to invite you all to join Mr. Peabody and me as we hop into the Wayback machine and go all the way back to 2006. It’s January, and I keep hearing about this upcoming film from the Wachowski brothers, directed by their former A.D. (assistant director) and now-puppet James McTeigue. I had been crushed by the Matrix sequels, but still remembered the first installment with devout love, and the news that Hugo Weaving and Natalie Portman were the leads only made me want to see it more. However, I don’t like seeing adapted films without reading the book it’s based on (unless it’s just a comic film in general in which case there’s no definitive novel anyway), so I bummed a copy from a friend. So, in 2006, I, for the first time, sat down and read a graphic novel.

V For Vendetta was a deep, complex, question-raising novel that shattered my preconceived notions of comic books and was the first concrete step in getting me into comics. Even to someone who A) had never read more than a few single issues in grocery store newsstands and B) has never understood art and how to interpret paintings/sculptures/etc., I knew that David Lloyd’s art was beautiful and telling, capable of conveying emotions even on a guy who is always wearing a fucking mask. I realized for the first time that comic books–always derided for being for dumb kids who need pictures to read–could tell a story in a way that no novel ever could. It doesn’t make one type of literature superior or inferior to another; it simply means that the method in which comics are moved forward is entirely unique to that medium.

**an outpouring of spoilery venom after the jump**

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OK, I admit, I’m a comic book newbie. I haven’t been reading them very long and all but a handful of the ones I have read have been older classics. But you know what, more and more people are going to be getting into comics in the near future, and most of them will convert thanks to the upcoming Watchmen film. So, in an effort to blog about what I’m currently reading as well as maybe help a fellow neophyte out, I’m introducing my own mini-feature: Classics Corner. Each entry will be about an established classic in the medium: its historic importance, how well it’s held up, and just plain how good it is. Some will be more spoiler-ish than others, but all of them will feature at least basic plot discussion and analysis. And what better place to start than the graphic novel that is universally regarded as a masterpiece and has been (and, from the looks of it, will continue to be) a gateway for many into comic books?

Watchmen is a 12 issue miniseries from comics god Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons that depicts a realistic world that must contend with real masked men. It’s an expansion of an idea that Moore first toyed with on the seminal (and woefully out-of-print) Miracleman, and it ends up being a nice foil for his first great graphic novel, V For Vendetta. V posed socio-political questions, while Watchmen is more of a personal, psychological profile. It realizes that anyone who would put on a costume and mask to pummel thugs is inherently insane, not heroic. Over the course of its 12 issues, the book evolves from a whodunit about a killer possibly targeting former masked heroes into a commentary on the thin line between vigilantism and crime and how a hero’s quest to save others can ultimately turn him into the world’s biggest threat. It manages to be twisted, deep, thought provoking, suspenseful, thrilling, darkly funny, and tragic, often at the same time.

**potential minor spoilers and more after the jump**

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It took me forever to get to it, but I finally finished reading Watchmen about 5 minutes ago. Finally. And wow… just wow. Alan Moore seriously wrote a novel into this comic book. My brain is straining itself trying to take in all of the story still. Frame after frame was nothing but sheer greatness on Alan Moore’s part. Dear mighty Thor this series was good.

The last four issues of this series blew me away. In fact, eff that, the entire series blew me away. I don’t know what more to say here. The characters were real people. The entirity of the story was so incredible that I can’t stop thinking back on which part of the story was my favorite or which character had me flipping out the most. All in all it was amazing. I don’t want to spoil anything at this point for you, and instead I want to tell everyone that you MUST read this comic, especially before the movie comes out.

I can’t think of much more to write here… but look for Nick or Erika’s review in the near future. And before you do anything else, go out and READ THIS COMIC!!!