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Thursday, September 2, 2010
Dark Horse Maverick: Happy Endings
Review by Michael May
Published by Dark Horse
$9.95
Written by Sam Kieth, Brian Michael Bendis, Bernie Mireault, Katie Mignola, Mike Mignola, Craig Thompson, Jim Mahfood, Farel Dalrymple, Gilbert Austin, James Kolchalka, Peter Kuper, Jason Hall, Leland Myrick, Tony Millionaire, Harvey Pekar, and Frank Miller Illustrated by Sam Kieth, Michael Avon Oeming, Bernie Mireault, Mike Mignola, Craig Thompson, Jim Mahfood, Farel Dalrymple, Gilbert Austin, James Kolchalka, Peter Kuper, Matt Kindt, Leland Myrick, Tony Millionaire, Joe Sacco, and Frank Miller Cover colored by Lynn Varley "Each of the artists in this... anthology (had) one single editorial mandate: to come up with a story that would somehow fit under the overarching umbrella of Happy Endings." So says Senior Editor Diana Schutz in her Afterword. That pretty much sums up the idea behind Dark Horse Maverick: Happy Endings. For those who don't know, Maverick is a creator-owned imprint of Dark Horse Comics. It's kind of the heir to the old Legend imprint at Dark Horse that folks like John Byrne, Frank Miller, Paul Chadwick, Art Adams, Mike Allred and some unknown guy named Mike Mignola belonged to back in the early nineties. The nice thing about Legend was that the founders all had a certain sensibility to their work, so that if you liked one of them, chances were you might like some of the others, too. I don't find that to be the case with Maverick, however. To be fair, I've never given a lot of the Maverick guys a try. In fact, the only ones I really follow are Frank Miller and Mike Mignola (who not so oddly enough are old Legend guys). I figured that Happy Endings would be my chance to rectify that situation. I'd get to try out a lot of creators I'd never read before and even if I didn't like them, I'd still have a couple of new stories from Frank and Mike. Without seeing a single page I knew that Mike's story would be worth the ten bucks I paid all on its lonesome. But then, I'm freaky like that about Mike Mignola. Here's what I found out: The first story, "Happy Endings," is by Sam Kieth. I haven't read his stuff since The Maxx became incomprehensible and less than reliable in its shipping schedule. I was looking forward to this story, though, and wasn't disappointed. Sam gave a lot of thought about what makes a happy ending and chose a completely engaging style in which to tell his story. For fans of The Maxx, there are plenty of cameos by the cast and Mr. Gone plays a prominent role. I'd forgotten how much I liked that comic when it first came out. Next up is Brian Michael Bendis' "Only In..." about an odd, but happy-ended experience he had at the San Diego convention. He writes it as if he's sitting next to you relating the anecdote and this storytelling device works beautifully. Michael Avon Oeming's illustrations are wonderful and have me looking forward to checking out Powers (which I have yet to do). I'd never heard of Bernie Mireault, but I liked "The Cat" a lot. It's a fairly straightforward story with a happy ending, but his characterization is so strong that I felt an empathetic bond with the main character after only nine pages. I think I need to check out The Jam or one of Bernie's other works. Mike Mignola's "The Magician and the Snake," as I said before, is worth the price of admission alone. Any chance to look at Mike's unique drawing style is worth ten bucks, but Mike makes his tale even more special by allowing his seven-year-old daughter to write the story. I love this man. Craig Thompson's "Barnyard Animals" is intentionally disturbing. The ending is technically happy, but even in its "happiness" just as disturbing as the rest of the tale. But I think that's what Craig was going for, so I'd call this a success. I'm going to be thinking about "Barnyard Animals" for a while and that's probably the noblest compliment I can give a piece of literature. I'm not sure I get Jim Mahfood's Grrl Scouts in "Just Another Day." Maybe it's the fact that the Grrl Scouts existed before this story and I don't know anything about them, but I didn't connect with the grrls on any level. They seem like hoodlums to me. Young whippersnappers. Kids these days. And Jim's tiny panels hurt my eyes. Or maybe I'm just getting old. At least it had a happy ending. Farel Dalrymple's "Happy Ending" was touching and sweet. Even with the smoking bird. I liked it. I don't know in what universe the ending of Gilbert Austin's "Barley & Diggs" is happy, but the rest of the story is funny enough that I might have to check out the Barley & Diggs graphic novel that Gilbert's working on. No, wait. Now I think I know what Gilbert was trying to do. James Kochalka just explained it to me in "Krishna's Girlfriend." A situation that ends happily for one person (like Diggs or Krishna) may make someone else (like Barley or Krishna's girlfriend) miserable. Thanks, James. And an excellent point, both of you. Like "Only In..." Peter Kuper's "Wild Blue Yonder" is a nice slice-of-life anecdote with a (you guessed it) happy ending. I really like the illustrations on this one. They have a tropical feel that perfectly matches the setting of the story. I had to read Jason Hall and Matt Kindt's "January" a couple of times and I'm still not sure I get it. The story is cool the way the scenes leads into one another and are all connected at the end. Jason's twist on the happy ending theme seems to be that what may SEEM to be a happy ending may not be an ending at all and that there are always more trials to come. Okay, maybe I do get it. Don't you hate stories that make you think? Leland Myrick's "Paper Airplanes" is a beautiful, poetic story about a very simple, joyful, childhood experience. The experience seems trivial looking back at it from adulthood, but the point of the story is that as we grow older we can become insensitive to the happiness found in little things. Perfect. I was really looking forward to Tony Millionaire's "Sock Monkey" story. I've heard so many good things about Tony's work. Before leaving the comic shop with Happy Endings, I flipped through Tony's new hardcover Sock Monkey book, "The Glass Doorknob." It was beautiful. I'm going back for it. Sock Monkey's Happy Ending tale isn't as good. It's nice and whimsical, but the ending (though very sweet) is a little jarring in its abruptness. Harvey Pekar's "The Way It's Going" was a real challenge. Easily the most depressing story in the book, I struggled hardest to discover the happy ending in it. There's not one. Yet the main character struggles on. And maybe, sometimes, that's enough. Then there's Frank. Regardless of what you thought of The Dark Knight Strikes Again, when Frank is on, he's on. And his appropriately titled "The End" is dead on. It's like reading a list of "Famous Last Words." Just one panel after another of endings to stories. Some of them are hilarious. Some of them are disturbing. Not all of them are necessarily happy. But they're all provocative and interesting. And it sure was nice to see Marv again. And that's it. Happy Endings. Thoughtful. Fun. Beautiful. Ugly. Certainly diverse. Like Maverick, I guess. I learned a lot from reading this anthology. Not only about Dark Horse's Maverick imprint, but about life, too. That sounds corny even as I write it, but I reckon that's because I don't expect to learn or be challenged about important things after my weekly visit to the comic shop. Kinda makes Superman seem a little silly.
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April 22, 2008:
February 4, 2008:
November 20, 2006:
A Comic-Con without the Captain
