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Thursday, September 2, 2010
The Killer, Eberron: Eye of the Wolf, and Others
Also: Gødland, Retro Rocket, Blind Mice, and Fireblast
The Killer #3 (Archaia Studios Press)
Written by Matz; Illustrated by Luc Jacamon
I’m totally loving this series. I knew I was going to, but it’s exceeding my expectations already. The first two issues were all urban psychological thriller, focusing on the Killer’s attempt to keep it together on a long, fatiguing stakeout in a European city. This issue refreshingly changes the setting by having the Killer retreat to rural South America in order to get his head together.
The locale shifts are James Bondian, and comparisons with Daniel Craig and Casino Royale are fair. The protagonist isn’t quite likable, but you find yourself rooting for him anyway. We’re unsure about his relationship with the woman he’s sleeping with in his hideaway, but from what we’ve learned of the Killer so far, it’s doubtful that it’s a lasting connection. Jacamon doesn’t censor himself with the nudity and there’s something very comforting in the frank portrayal of the Killer’s losing himself in the body of his companion. Rather than coming across as a business transaction (which is probably what it is), we get the feeling that the Killer needs this woman, even if he doesn’t care about her. Sometimes a beautiful woman just makes it all better.
But even as he tries to heal, his past comes calling and there’s violence in the issue too. And it’s brutal. But unlike the violence of the Killer’s carrying out an assignment in a crowded city, there’s a primal beauty to it here against the backdrop of the South American rainforest. The jungle is a vicious place. The Killer’s just taking advantage of that.
By the end of the issue, the Killer is back in civilization, ready to start putting pieces of a bigger mystery together. I’m sorry to see him leave his jungle retreat, but it’s probably for the best. Like any vacation, its power is in the temporary refreshment it offers so that you can keep going with the daily grind. Too much time there and you’d get bored. Which is fine in real life, but not so great in a story. The Killer hasn’t healed completely, but he’s got work to do. And I’m so looking forward to watching him do it.
 Eberron: Eye of the Wolf (Devil’s Due)
Written by Keith Baker; Illustrated by Chris Lie
Eberron doesn’t claim to be an adaptation of a novel (at least, not that I could see in the credits), but it sure reads like one. How much you like it will depend on your tolerance for not only heavy world-building, but for the author’s fondness of showing you how much world-building he’s done. Baker uses tons of dates and proper nouns in the narration of his comic, as if he doesn’t want to let any of his notes on the setting go to waste.
The characters and plot feel like they’re pulled right out of a D&D campaign. The main character is Greykell, a tough, beautiful, annoyingly flawless heroine who travels with a Brick and a Grizzled Veteran, defending their beloved kingdom from all threats. The bad guys are a rival party of equally cookie-cutter characters from a rival kingdom who are searching for a Magic Item, the titular Eye of the Wolf. Greykell and her friends decided that if the bad guys want it, they shouldn’t be allowed to have it, so a competition ensues to see who can acquire the Eye first.
This story is framed by a sequence in which Greykell meets a long-lost, fellow countryman and inexplicably begins telling him about this adventure. It makes no sense that she’d launch into this involved story, except of course that it “cleverly” relates to the framing event in a “twist” ending that – even if you don’t guess it – you won’t care about.
The upshot of all this is that it’s beautifully illustrated by Chris Lie. The character designs are great, the storytelling is mostly strong, and Lie’s style is engrossing to look at. If only Keith Baker had been more subtle with the world-building, developed his characters into more than standard RPG archetypes, and taken the time to expand the plot into a mini-series so that it would have room to become something unique, this could’ve been a great story.
 Gødland #15 (Image)
Written Joe Casey; Illustrated by Tom Scioli
I’m starting to see what people are seeing in Gødland. The faux-Kirby art style initially turned me off of the book, so I’m just now getting around to trying it out, but there’s something undeniably exciting about the explosion of nutso ideas that are in this thing. It’s not so much like you’re looking at Kirby art as you are reading one of his scripts (although the trippy designs of various cosmic characters could definitely have been taken straight from Kirby’s sketchbook).
This issue was my first exposure to the series, so I don’t know who or what guys like the Tormentor, Basil Discordia, the Triad, or Maxim are supposed to be, but I love that they’re all weird as hell and inhabiting the same book. I still wish to God that Scioli was portraying this wonderful insanity with a different art style, but I really liked Gødland, so I’ll take it however they want to present it. Time to seek out some trades.
 Retro Rocket #4 (Image)
Written by Tony Bedard; Illustrated by Jason Orfalas
This is another one that I initially didn’t connect with because of the art design. Retro Rocket’s look is very Japanese and I’ve just never been into Japanese scifi. But reading this issue revealed that Retro’s story is far more inspired by good ole American ‘50s scifi than Ultraman or the Power Rangers.
This is the last issue of the mini-series and my disappointment is that, while it did an excellent job of catching me up, by its nature it also ended the story so that I don’t have more to look forward to. But if you haven’t read it yet, look forward to the trade. It’s a fun, yet thought-provoking story of an invasion by really-well-thought-out-aliens, the man-trapped-in-a-robot’s-body who they want to help them, and how he tries to save the world. And once you’re caught up, come on back and join me in looking forward to the (I hope) sequel.
 Blind Mice #8 (Eric Mengel)
Written and Illustrated by Eric Mengel
Blind Mice is a series of mini-comics with an idea that I wish I’d thought of. In Smallville, Jor-El tells his super son that he’s intended as an emissary, a teacher from a more enlightened culture, to help humanity learn what it needs to better itself. Of course, we know from reading comics that Clark Kent never quite becomes that ambassador and instead spends his days in blue long johns, saving the world from alien invasions and Lex Luthor. But what if he didn’t? What if he took his mission to enlighten Earthlings more seriously? That’s the idea behind Blind Mice, the tale of an alien named Ocho who’s come to Earth to show us the way. And brother, it isn’t easy.
I’ve only read this one issue, but it opens with Ocho’s working as a bouncer and trying to keep a couple of drunks from killing each other. It’s a nice moment and you feel Ocho’s frustration at how to best implement his mission. He knows what he’s supposed to do, but how’s he supposed to go about it on a global scale instead of just helping two frat boys at a time?
The art is pretty primitive in Blind Mice, but mini-comics are better appreciated as ideas rather than professional endeavors. And Blind Mice is full of ideas. I was a little distracted by some of them, like one extended segment in which Ocho dreams about (remembers?) an outer space mission, or another one in which he goes for a ride on a magic carpet with a friend named Pitbull. But maybe those fit better if you’ve read the first seven issues. I don’t know. Just having read this one, I wished that the story could’ve been more focused, but then again, that might have put a dam in the idea stream and I wouldn’t want that.
 Fireblast: Adventures in the 30th Century #0 (Masterpiece Comics)
Written by Ace Masters; Illustrated by Nichx
With a subtitle like “Adventures in the 30th Century,” I was hoping that Fireblast would be more Buck Rogers-esque than it is. It’s far more inspired by ‘40s detective novels than pulp scifi though. It just substitutes some scifi trappings for private dick clichés, so pistols become lasers, cars fly, and the faithful secretary becomes a hologram.
Which could work, but unfortunately doesn’t here. There’s just not enough imagination. A guy named Mack Fire is starting up a new detective agency, but learns that someone is trying to kill him when he gets a bomb delivered to his door. And then, when that fails, the “someone” starts taking shots at him.
So, Mack goes about trying to solve the case, gets nowhere, and ends up having to have someone explain it to him. I think that last part is supposed to be a twist ending, but all it does is steal the detective’s thunder. I wouldn’t call Mack Fire inept because for all I know he might’ve figured it out if he had more time. But writer Ace Masters didn’t give it to him and chose to wrap everything up early.
Imagine Star Wars if right after Leia was captured and the droids landed on Tatooine the Death Star had a malfunction and accidentally blew itself up. That’s how anti-climactic Fireblast #0 is. You wouldn’t be that interested in seeing The Empire Strikes Back if Star Wars ended that way and even though this was supposed to be an appetite-whetting, introductory issue, Masters doesn’t give us much reason to want to continue reading this series either.
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April 22, 2008:
February 4, 2008:
November 20, 2006:
A Comic-Con without the Captain
