Barbaric Book One: Murderable Offenses

Sometimes you just need to read some fun genre fiction, and Barbaric is just that. The star of this fantasy series, Owen the barbarian, starts out as a typical ruffian, drinking, fighting, and enjoying all sorts of carnal desires. However, he runs afoul of a trio of witches who curse him to only do good for the rest of his life, saddling him with an enchanted, talking axe (named Axe, of course) who constantly craves the blood of evil-doers. Together this terrible duo has a streak of misadventures, applying justice in their own warped way, with Axe constantly yakking Owen's ears off.

As their journeys continue, they pick up a motley assortment of allies and rack up quite the body count. What I loved about this book is how weird it is, with Axe explaining its strange sense of justice that determines just who is and isn't worthy of slaying. And there is also witty wordplay that complements the gore and nudity, making this book into a fun, engaging adventure. What is more, there are three subsequent volumes as well as some related series, which I have also read and enjoyed. So if this book is to your liking, you have more in store.

This book was written by Michael Moreci, drawn by Nathan Gooden, colored by Addison Duke, and lettered by Jim Campbell. Moreci is a screenwriter and author known for his comics series The Plot and Wasted Space as well as the movie Revealer. Gooden is a co-founder of Vault Comics and is involved in developing a number of series, including Post Malone's Big Rig. Duke began his career as a production artist, and Campbell has lettered a good number of comics, including The Great British Bump-Off. Moreci speaks about his work on the development of the series in this interview. 

Certainly, this series has a specific audience, and the reviews I have read about it have been positive. Brad Gullickson penned the memorable line, "If Gooden's art does not belong in a museum it sure as hell belongs on the side of a van." Matt wrote, "The prudish will not approve, but fans of dark fantasy will love it and eagerly anticipate Barbaric, vol. 2."

Barbaric Book One was published by Vault Comics, and they offer a preview and more information about the series here. This book contains profanity, gore, nudity, violence, and is suggested for adult readers.

Reckless

I have read pretty much everything that Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips have published. Together they have produced some of the most compelling and well crafted crime/suspense stories of the past couple decades, sometimes melded with superhero tropes, supernatural tales, movie history, or even westerns. Of late, they have moved from producing monthly comic books to original graphic novels, and Reckless is the first of a series.

The titular star of this series is Ethan Reckless, an ex-student radical from the 1970s who has flamed out and taken up residence in a run-down movie theater and who takes on private cases for those he deems worthwhile. For a price. In this book, he runs into a woman from his past and is faced with a case that brings up lots of baggage. I know all of this seems cliche to those who relish a good pulp tale, but the way the story is executed and paced is pitch perfect. 

The artwork clearly displays a love for the recent past, with accurate depictions of old locales and cars, as well as hairstyles and fashions. This book is homage not only to classic pulp authors like Donald Westlake and John D. MacDonald but also past decades. The coloring by Jacob Phillips resembles that of classic paperback covers, adding to the tone and timbre. I loved getting swept up in this story, and there were just enough twists and turns to keep me guessing. It's another winning piece of genre fiction from these masterful creators.

Even the exposition is interesting!

All of the reviews I've read of this book have been glowing. Jake Owens wrote, "Reckless showcases all that the comic book/graphic novel genre is capable of. Exquisite art and skillful dialogue meet in a display of subtlety that weaves together and makes something much larger than the sum of its parts." Zac Owens called it "nearly perfect." Justin Harrison summed it up as "a damn compelling introduction to an intriguing anti-hero."

Reckless was published by Image Comics, and they offer a preview and more about the entire series here. It features violence, drug use, and sexual situations so it is suggested from readers mature enough to deal with those topics. And if you like this book, there are four subsequent sequels.

Long Way Down: The Graphic Novel

Long Way Down was originally published as a verse novel, and it has received multiple awards and honors. It is about a young man named Will whose brother Shawn was murdered and his vow to avenge his death. In his life he has been indoctrinated to follow three rules: No crying. No snitching. Revenge. As he rides down the elevator in his building, armed with a gun, he is visited in ways that make him more aware of his life, his surroundings, and the cycle of violence that affects both. It is a powerful tale that examines the very real circumstances many young people, and all of us, face in our lives.

Adapting a novel into a graphic novel is a tricky enterprise, and I feel that in order for it to be successful the images really need to bring something to the table. I think that is exactly the case here, as the water-colored paintings enhanced the delivery of the lyrical text, bringing feelings and events into sharper relief. I feel that the overall pacing of this book, as well as the evocative drawings that add elements of mystery, pathos, and uncertainty to the narrative, contribute to make a very powerful impact. This book is riveting and provocative, and aptly ends in a way that settles none of the complicated issues that it confronts. I know that ambivalent endings can be maddening for some readers, but here it seems not only appropriate but necessary.

Long Way Down: The Graphic Novel was written by Jason Reynolds and drawn by Danica Novgorodoff. Reynolds is a bestselling author of many novels, including All American Boys, the Track series, For Everyone, and Miles Morales: Spider-man. Novgorodoff is a designer/artist who has drawn multiple picture books and graphic novels, including The Undertaking of Lily Chen and Refresh Refresh. Both creators speak about their work on this adaptation in this interview.

This book has received many rave reviews, including the three starred entries here: Kirkus Reviews called it "a moving rendition that stands on its own." In School Library Journal Alea Perez concluded, "Reynolds’s words paint pictures of their own in this tragic yet poignant illustrated tale that offers no answers to the seemingly impossible choices some communities face." Sarah Hunter wrote in Booklist that "Novgorodoff’s iteration powerfully cultivates the tone and mood of its source material, demonstrating just how effective and artful comics can be."

Long Way Down: The Graphic Novel was published by Atheneum, and they have a preview and more info about it here.

Fights: One Boy's Triumph Over Violence

I have read most of the books published by Joel Christian Gill, such as his Strange Fruit anthologies and Tales of the Talented Tenth series. Those have been nonfiction histories, but in Fights he turns to a more personal topic, a memoir about his own childhood. With his mother being incarcerated when he was very young and her not always being able to provide a stable environment for him after the death of his father, Gill got bounced around to live with various family friends and relatives, with varying amounts of supervision and support.

Also, sometimes those places brought other sorts of violence or abuse that he had to contend with. As a consequence he learned early on that he had to rely on himself for many things and also that meant he had to learn to fight. There are many commonplace adversaries along the way: bullies on the school bus, racist jerks who try to shake him down for money, and rivals who want to maintain their reputations and protect their turf. Gill has to deal with a lot of adversity to try to fit in and also carve some space for himself. It seems that he always has to be on the offensive and can never really relax his guard.

It is easy to read this book and feel for his plight, but it is also difficult to suffer the depravities he experienced. The artwork portrays this sense of ambivalence about childhood, drawn in the same accessible, clear, and picture-book manner as his other works. It is jarring to see "cute" figures as they navigate serious issues such as blatant discrimination, sexual abuse, and physical violence, but it is also emblematic of the sorts of circumstances many young people experience. It impresses the point that many of these situations force children to have to grow up well before they should, but at the same time they are still children. It makes the proceedings that much more distressing. I applaud the braveness here in candidly portraying such personal trauma and how he learned to cope.

One of the most powerful aspects of this book is Gill's instilling a sense of empathy for pretty much every character, reinforced with frequent reminders that children are sponges that absorb what is around them. He might portray bullies and abusers as monstrous, but he also constantly reminds that they are human beings who are the products of their contexts. This view is what eventually drives Joel's own realizations as he grows older and informs an important choice he made when he was just out of high school. It also makes this tale that much more poignant and difficult to ignore. Certainly there are many ills portrayed here, some systemic and others more personal. Gill smartly depicts the terms of the debate of how to best address these factors but does not come down with a didactic solution to what is a complex set of circumstances. He only writes about what has worked for him and his family. This book is excellent, at once moving, provocative, and thought-provoking.

All of the reviews I have read of this book have been positive. Publishers Weekly wrote, "Gill’s empathy for his younger self and the children he grew up alongside elevates his singular story into a passionate plea for neglected children everywhere." In a starred review from School Library Journal, Carla Riemer concluded, "Despite the heartbreak, Gill leaves readers with a message of hope—that anyone living with trauma can find a way out." John Seven opined, "Fights doesn’t feel like a story being told by a grown-up looking back, but a kid living it. That’s the power within it, it hasn’t lost track of the kid that the story is about."

Fights was published by Oni Press, and they offer more info about it here. This book portrays sexual abuse, violence, and profanity and is suggested for readers mature enough to handle those things.

Mechaboys

I have stated before that James Kochalka's work is hit or miss for me. There are some books I have really enjoyed, like Monkey Vs. Robot, the first two Johnny Boo books, and Superf*ckers. I also respected and mostly appreciated his long running American Elf webcomic, too. Still, there are some of his works that I pretty much despise, like the later volumes of Johnny Boo or the first Glorkian Warrior book. Still, the man was named cartoonist laureate of Vermont, and I feel his best work might be the adolescent superhero angst-fest Superf*ckers, so I gave this book, which has a high school setting, a shot. In the end, I feel it may have crystalized my feelings toward his work: there were parts of it I liked and parts of it that left me perplexed and cold.

Mechaboys is another sideways tale of adolescent angst and intrigue. It stars two friends named Jamie and Zachery who build a mechasuit out of lawn mower parts. They are not very popular, and are often the butt of jokes and bullying by larger, more athletic boys named Truck and Duck. They plan to use the suit to gain some level of respect, by somehow pushing back against the bullies. I feel that this book is strongest when it explores these teen's relationships with each other and the various high school cliques. Also, these interactions are the source of much of the book's heart and humor. The school setting also has its share of positive bits, such as the boys' antagonistic (in more ways than one, it turns out) relationship with their PE teacher Mr. B.

 

 

Once the duo successfully test-run the suit, Zachery jerk-factor gets dialed to 11 and he gets a little drunk on the power, insisting on being called Zeus. Jamie seems a little more socially well-adjusted, perhaps because he has a potential girlfriend he keeps talking to. However, the entire enterprise takes a dark turn toward the end when Zachery hatches a plan to kill everyone at the prom using the mechasuit. That last sequence where the plan is enacted is a bit troubling for me. First off, the set-up makes the stakes very high, and the fictional context takes on some real-world import. After all, school shootings are horrific and all-too-frequent in the US, and I feel that Kochalka strongly portrays how such a plot might be developed by disaffected teens. The tale does not sugarcoat that reality on the front end, but the plan takes a farcical turn that defuses any of that horror and potential commentary or exploration. Instead, the proceedings devolve into slapstick, and the book becomes very light-hearted, tending toward the ridiculous.

I do not know how quite to feel about that conclusion, like the story is chugging along toward some dark place but suddenly ends like a sitcom episode with a lesson in learning about oneself and others. It just seems disingenuous to me, especially given the character work that set up the whole scene. Perhaps Kochalka just wants to make silly comics, but the topic of school violence and murder seems a weird one to mine for humor, especially in the present day.

The reviews I have read about this book have been mixed. For the most part I agree with J. Caleb Mozzocco who wrote, "The premise is a solid, grabby and compelling one…but the timing couldn’t possibly be worse." Roy Boyd liked it well enough but called it "an odd little book." James Kniseley was more damning of it and wrote that the ending is "a hot mess that is anti-climatic and unclear."

Mechaboys was published by Top Shelf, and they have a preview and more information about it here. It features some profanity and violence, so it is recommended for readers mature enough to handle those matters.

Vague Tales

The joke is that there is nothing vague about Vague Tales. It's chock full of comics that will melt your face off. Actually, that is not true - it is more of a bunch of comics that comment about how such extreme experiences have become cliched and vacuous.

Much of Eric Haven's past work trucks with archetypal comic characters and settings, and this book is no different. The main narratives star a brooding, crystalline alien named Psylicon, an evil witch named Ruin, an apocalyptic barbarian named Pulsar, and a sorceress named Sorceress. And eventually, the stories all bleed into each other. Ruin attacks the Sorceress; Pulsar defends her; Pyslicon is mysteriously aloof but intercedes in an unexpected manner. The whole enterprise is reminiscent of old cartoons like Thundarr the Barbarian or Masters of the Universe, only skewed with a touch of absurd realism. Haven is obviously poking fun at these story and character conventions, but it is also apparent that he also enjoys them and takes great joy in casting his own stories using them.

 

Thinking, in the Mighty Marvel Manner!

And if this book were simply comprised of those adventures, I'd simply say it was some sort of parody or homage to that genre of comics. But there is also the hulking, angry blonde man featured on the cover, whose presence is almost entirely unrelated to the way-out adventures. This guy mostly stands or sits around his house, gazes out the window, or knocks back some drinks, until a weird thing happens toward the end of the book that places him directly in the action. I am not going to spoil it, but they change the tone of the story and make it more of a commentary on contemporary fandom and/or media.

In the end, I feel that this story is more an exploration of the constant drive for bigger, better, and more extreme experiences that abound in popular culture (in the USA anyhow). The culture is driven by more intricate and complex special effects, blockbuster movies, and innovative video games. The net result, I am extrapolating from Haven's tales here, is that each amped up moment in the end leaves people empty. Or maybe it is the nature of such escapism to leave people unfulfilled. Mostly, stuff gets blown up just for the hell of having a big explosion, narrative be damned. What is clear is that those grand moments lose any kind of nuance or impact, forgotten in short order. All is spectacle, and the chase for such experiences is ultimately fruitless. Or maybe that is the more intellectual way of looking at the book, and I should just appreciate it for being a bunch of fun, crazy stories and not look for anything deeper.

That I got this much out of a relatively short 75 pages is noteworthy in itself, speaking to the great craft that went into these various narratives. This book is beguiling, silly, confusing, thrilling, and fantastic. Like much of Haven's prior work, it is also impactful and unforgettable.

I have been a fan of Haven's for a while. I have read all of his works, including the series Tales to Demolish and his books The Aviatrix and Ur, which was nominated for an Eisner Award. His comics are short, distilled, potent pieces of storytelling. They are weird, provocative, and delightful. His art style here reminds me of a combination of Fletcher Hanks, Herr Seele, and Jim Starlin, full of wonder and weirdness. Also of note, aside from making comics he was a producer for the popular show Mythbusters, which may account for his relatively sparse publication record. Haven sheds much insight into his work in this interview.

I had a hard time locating any reviews of this book, but the one I did find was laudatory and thoughtful. Rob Clough wrote that these stories amount to "images of a man-child, and it seems that Haven is satirizing that tendency toward indulging this sort of infantile fantasy as much as he is celebrating it."

Vague Tales was published by Fantagraphics, and they have a preview and more information about it here.

Copra, Rounds One & Two

I bought both of these books at HeroesCon last summer but only got to read them very recently. Oh man, I am glad I finally did.

What can I say about Copra? It is not quite a superhero book, though it features lots of super-powered individuals. The stories follow a secret government project that employs powerful criminals, sending them on covert, highly dangerous missions. Those who make it back alive received reduced sentences, but they are not really reformed. If anything, they are encouraged to keep on being rotten people.

The artwork in these books is exceptionally gorgeous, and the storytelling taut and action-packed. For fans of comic books, particularity those from the 1990s, there are fun riffs on Dr. Strange, the Punisher, and the Reavers, as well as the obvious Suicide Squad framework that structures the whole narrative. Even though the characters are homages/tributes/analogs of some familiar characters, the costume and figure designs are outstanding. A lot of the commentary I have read about these books talks about it being "superheroes on acid" or something like that, but I think that description sells short just how imaginative and eye-catching the designs are.

Exhibit A

I have to say that these are some of the best action-oriented comics I have read in a while. Most of the chapters start in the middle of some scene, and there is not a whole lot in the way of exposition, but I think that is a great thing here. Part of the fun for me was figuring out what was going on and then how the protagonists were going to get themselves out of multiple tight spots. Also, not really knowing what characters' motivations were made me have to really wonder what they were up to, which created some sense of confusion as well as intrigue. These are not simple comics, but they really reward multiple re-readings.

Exhibit B

Copra is the work of Michel Fiffe, a comics artist dedicated to self-publishing the best, most beautiful comics on the market. He sells most of his work through his Etsy store, and he also has another series called Zegas. He speaks about his works and career in this interview.

All of the reviews I have read about these books and the series as a whole have been full of praise. Chris Sims wrote that it contains "genuinely masterful storytelling that engages the reader on every level." Brian Nicholson called it "a comic built, refreshingly for some, around action sequences, with the visual artist pushing himself to experiment and find an approach for each that feels new and worth the reader’s dollar." Matthew Meylikhov summed up by calling it "a pretty fucking awesome comic."

These collections of Copra collect 6 issues each, so I read #1-12 here, and they were published by Bergen Street Comics Press. These books features lots of violence and swearing, as well as some of the best comics storytelling I have seen in a while, and they are suggested for readers who can handle all of those things.

I just saw Michel Fiffe at HeroesCon this past weekend, and I picked up Round 3. I won't wait a whole year to read it, let me tell you. Also, Round 4 will be published soon, if you are interested...

Happy Will Eisner Week, Day 3: Sexcastle

Will Eisner Week is rolling along to day 3, where I am reviewing a graphic novel funded in part by Kickstarter, a new-fangled, crowd-sourced method of gathering money to bring a project to fruition.

Sexcastle is a hilarious parody/satire/homage/tribute to 1980s action movies. It's main character is Shane Sexcastle, formerly the world's most dangerous assassin. He looks a lot like Snake Plissken, and the story begins when he is released from prison. Well, actually, the story starts here:

Which gives you a sense of the timing and humor in this book. Anyhow, once Shane is a free man, he decides he wants a quiet life as a florist. Things are going well until one day the local muscle comes by the shop looking for "insurance money."

My favorite line in the whole book.

Needless to say, Shane makes short work of the goons, but the local crime boss decides to sic the team of assassins Shane used to head on him.

If you watched any movies from the 1980s at all, you recognize most of these faces.

So the rest of the book is basically the same plot as Road House, only with way more jokes and way less of Patrick Swayze's abs. There is a whole lot of mindless violence in this book, but it is also played mostly for laughs, and there are a few scenes that are surprisingly heartfelt. I am super impressed by how fun and raucous this book was. I would also say impressed, but Kyle Starks' last book The Legend of Ricky Thunder is one of my all time favorites. After my experiences with all of his books and mini-comics, I am pretty much set to buy anything he creates sight unseen. The man is a masterful entertainer, humorist, and comics maker.

All of the reviews I have read about this book have been extremely positive. Rich Barrett wrote, "This is a laugh-out-loud comic from a real rising talent." Kyle Overkill added that it "provides a lush experience whether it be the humor, the action, plot, characters or a man befriending a polar bear." Matthew Meylikhov lauded, "It’s fun, it’s incredibly funny and it has a surprising amount of heart at the center of it." And if you are interested, Starks speaks more about his work on Sexcastle in this interview.

Sexcastle is published by Image Comics. There are profane language and violence throughout, so I recommend this book to readers mature enough to handle both.