Author Archives: theculture

Judge Anderson: The PSI Files Volume 2 (2012)

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Quote:
They caught me reading from a banned book. All I can remember from it was one line – “The state calls its own violence law, but that of the individual crime”.

 

This is the second volume of collected stories featuring Judge Anderson taken from 2000AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine. All except one was written by Alan Grant (the exception being a collaboration between Grant and long time writing partner John Wagner) and features three longer stories with a number of short tales interspersed among them. There are a number of artists involved including Arthur Ranson, Steve Sampson, Kevin Walker, Ian Gibson among others.

The first of the longer stories is called Shamballa and sees Anderson and academy colleague, Rickard, travelling to Tibet with two East-Meg 2 psi operatives to investigate the source of a worldwide spate of psychic visions of mythic creatures that are causing death and destruction where they appear. They end up travelling to the region formerly known as Tibet to track down a forgotten race of people with extraordinary psi abilities. The art on this story was by the great Arthur Ranson.

After a number of stories that slowly erode Anderson’s faith in the justice system she eventually cracks and attacks a particularly brutal judge. In the second of the long stories, Childhood’s End, she is sent on a mission to Mars to cool off. On the Cydonian plane, the head monument has opened a portal. Anderson is one of a number of assembled experts who make the expedition into the structure. While inside she must confront a deadly enemy of old and the return of an ancient race determined to wipe out humanity.

The third long story, Postcards from the Edge continues on from the last one and sees Anderson, having resigned as a judge, bumming round the inhabited worlds of the galaxy looking to find herself. This walkabout storyline is the most disjointed, having several different artists contributing to it, and with individual stories of variable quality and interest. Having said that I like the chapters with the distinctive art of Steve Sampson which are good to look at even if they are not necessarily good to read.

The beauty of this volume is that it allows an alternative look at the judges and the justice system of Mega-City. The sometimes brutal tactics of the street judge are questioned here by an increasingly doubtful Anderson as she struggles to get over the suicide of her friend, the empath Judge Corey, and assimilate some the spiritual experiences she goes through in this book and the philosophical questions they raise. Taken all together it is a worthwhile addition to the library even though some of the standalone stories and parts of Postcards from the Edge are not quite as good as the rest.

Cinderella: Fables are Forever (2012)

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Quote:
What did you expect me to call myself, Dorothy Gale, killer-for-hire? Or maybe the wicked bitch of the East?

 

This book collects the second six issue Fables mini-series featuring super-spy Cinderella. It was again written by Chris Roberson with art by Shawn McManus. There is also a tale set in the preparation for the war with the Adversary, from Fables 51, that was drawn by McManus but written by Fables creator Bill Willingham.

Cinderellla returns in a story set during the evacuation of the Farm because of the onslaught by Mister Dark. One of the leading witches from floor 13 has been murdered and the only clue is a silver slipper charm. Cinderella finds herself tracking down an old foe who she thought was dead and being involved with Fables from the shadow Fabletown that she has spied on in the past. But who can she trust and who is laying traps for who?

Another good standalone tale from the world of Fables. The only problem with it is that it attempts to place itself within the continuity of the main book and uses the murder of a character to achieve this. The story itself, from the time that Cinderella gets down to investigating the case till the resolution, has little impact or relevance to the main book and so the set up seems contrived and unnecessary. But other than that small niggle the story is great with lots of twists and turns and unexpected revelations both from Cinderella’s past and present.

Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love (2010)

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Quote:
Your taste in men hasn’t improved, that’s certain. And you never did know when it was time to leave a party.

 

This book collects the six issue mini-series, from Vertigo, that is a spin-off from Fables. It was written by Chris Roberson who is currently also writing iZombie for the same company. The art was by the great Shawn McManus whose work I don’t seem to see nearly enough these days.

Cinderella, the apparent fashion show hopping socialite, is actually an experienced spy for Fabletown. In this story she is sent off to try and discover and eliminate the source of the flow of magical artefacts into the Mundy world from the Homelands. On the way she hooks up with Aladdin who is on the same mission. Together they uncover a plot to sell artefacts for Mundy weapons so that various individuals can make concerted assaults on Homeland territories now that the Emperor has been defeated. Cindy finds the mission turns personal when confronted with a figure from her past.

This is a fun tale from the world of Fables. The dialogue between Cindy and Aladdin is good and there is enough twists on the expectations of the character of Cinderella to keep the book entertaining throughout. It reminded me a lot of the early days of the Fables series itself when it was much more dependant on its fairy tale origins than it is currently. I love the art by McManus but then I have loved his work from the time of the Dr Fate series from the mid to late 80s.

Dollhouse: Epitaphs (2012)

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[ Watching Game of Thrones Currently: Watching Game of Thrones ]

Quote:
Did I mention how much I hate this apocalypse?

 

This book collects the Epitaphs one-shot and the following five issue mini-series. It was written by Andrew Chambliss, Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon. All three were also involved with the writing on the TV series upon which the book was based and especially on the two season finales that were set in the same post apocalyptic world. The art was by Cliff Richards and Andy Owens with some exceptional covers by Phil Noto.

The story has two strands. The first follows Maggie, Zone and Griffin as the brain wiping apocalypse starts, turning those that answer phones into ferocious killers or docile imbeciles, how they survive and meet up and their continued fight for survival in the face of the increasing escalation of mind control from the Rossum Corporation. The second follows a young boy Trevor as his uncle is imprinted with the personality of Topher’s assistant Ivy who is working with Alpha to try and raise a resistance army against Rossum. Trevor meets up with Alpha to find he is the only recruit along with some other Ivys but undeterred joins with Alpha in search of Echo and a means to resist the imprinting process. But they must fight their way to her as the Rossum Corporation is also looking for her.

I was a fan of the TV series and thought it had more high points than low, though it could be patchy at times, but when they stuck to the story arc it was generally excellent. This story is a reasonable addition to the canon without being spectacular. The best part was the return of Alpha and his struggle with his demons – but probably that has as much to do with my love for Alan Tudyk’s portrayal of the character. The problem with the story is that it doesn’t really add a whole extra to the mythology of the show so while I enjoyed it I hope Dark Horse commissions a longer mini-series or ongoing series that will allow the writers to go beyond the confines of the TV show .

Batman: Gates of Gotham (2012)

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[ Listening to Spiritualized Currently: Listening to Spiritualized ]

Quote:
I have to admit – I’m not impressed.

 

This book collects the five issue Gates of Gotham mini-series. It has a number of creators involved. The story was by Scott Snyder and Kyle Higgins with the dialogue by Kyle Higgins with Ryan Parrott on the last three issues. The art was mainly by Trevor McCarthy except for issue 4 where the art was by Dustin Nguyen and Derec Donovan.

Batman has to deal with a bombing campaign in Gotham targeted at landmarks associated with the founding families of the city – the Waynes, Elliots and Cobblepots. With Robin, Red Robin and Black Bat all helping, Batman discovers a vendetta that stretches back to the end of the 19th century when the expansion of the city was at its height. He must stop the bomber before half the city is destroyed by floods.

This story is set before the DC universe reboot and is set after Batman: RIP and after Bruce Wayne’s return and the set up of world wide Batman franchises. So it features Dick Grayson as Batman with Bruce’s son Damien as Robin. And this is one of the problems of this book for me. Yes Bruce Wayne was always going to be a tough act to follow as Batman but you would think that if anyone could pull it off it would be his one time protege, Dick Grayson. Not only did he train under Batman in his time as Robin but he moved on and became a hero in his own right. However, in this story he is almost crippled by self-doubt and would be lost without Tim Drake to help him crack the case – of course he is not helped by the bitter Robin criticising him at every turn. Also the story, despite having four writers working on it, is just not very inspiring – the plot is pedestrian and the new villain boring and formulaic. All in all a bit of a disappointment. The only real bright spot was the art by Trevor McCarthy, whose work I have not seen before but enjoyed looking at here – though why they took an issue away from him is beyond me.

The Bronx Kill (2009)

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Quote:
It’s like all the pain just gets handed on and on, ain’t it.

 

This original graphic novel comes from the short-lived Vertigo Crime imprint. It was written by the veteran British writer, Peter Milligan, and the black and white art was by James Romberger.

The derelict area around the Bronx Kill, a narrow strait in New York, holds a grim fascination for writer Martin Keane as it was the scene of his great-grandfather’s murder. As Martin struggles to write his third novel, his mysterious family history is echoed in the present when his wife leaves their apartment and disappears just like his grandmother did many years before abandoning his father as a baby. Martin is suspected of foul play, and murder when his wife’s body appears, and must find answers to the mystery in the events of the past.

A pretty good modern noir story from Milligan. He uses a lot of tropes – history repeating, lessons of the past not learned, mirroring of events in the draft pages of Martin’s latest novel – but he combines them well to produce a gripping narrative. The art by Romberger is suitably dark when it needs to be and has an indie sensibility that is refreshing from the books I normally read. Well worth a read for fans of crime stories.

Vertigo Resurrected (December 2010)

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Quote:
You’re all looking for something to blame when you should be looking out the window.

 

This comic is an collection of short stories from various Vertigo titles including Strange Adventures, Weird War Tales and Flinch. However, the reason I picked it up is that it features a previously unpublished Hellblazer story from the Warren Ellis run on the character.

The story, Shoot was written round about the time of the Columbine High School tragedy and was felt, probably rightly that it was too sensitive a story to print at that time. However, it is an excellent story featuring Constantine at the fringes of a series of pupil-pupil shootings across America. The story has John railing against the congressional advisor as the demons the children face are ones created by society rather than the Hellish forces that he is comfortable with.

This is story is the kind of horror that really scares me. Never mind scientists shooting corpses for some perverse pleasure or people sodomising the decayed carcasses of dogs (both of which were featured in the last comic I read), what scares me is the horror that could be all too real. So while I love the supernatural horror genre the ones that truly get to me are films like slasher movies where there is no supernatural element only the cruelty of fellow humans. [EDIT: I found a blog entry from Warren Ellis on the release of this story today (23/4/12). He certainly succeeded in his intention with me.]

The other stories feature a heavyweight roster of writers and artists from Vertigo past and present. They include Brian Bolland, Brian Azzarello, Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely, Garth Ennis, Peter Milligan, Eduardo Risso and Bill Willingham. These stories are of variable interest as they are playing second fiddle to the Constantine one but are mostly entertaining. One of the best features art by Bernie Wrightson in a classic horror tale. It has been a while since I have read any stories featuring Wrightson art and has made me move Roots of the Swamp Thing up in my to-read pile. Bill Willingham’s story, which he wrote and drew, is a good one featuring a nice flip on the trope of the enraged villagers of classic horror movies.

Vertigo Resurrected: Hellblazer (February 2011)

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Quote:
“… if I go home without you, your lovely wife’s gonna cut my bollocks off …”

“Thank Christ. How do we get out then?”

“Out? How the bloody hell do I know?”

 

This comic is one of a series from Vertigo collecting material that has never otherwise been reprinted. This one features 2 two-part stories from John Constantine, Hellblazer.

The first comes from the middle of the Garth Ennis/Steve Dillon run of the early nineties and consists of issues 57 and 58. When Chas and John stumble across some modern day grave robbers at Chas’ uncle’s funeral, John agrees to help Chas get to the bottom of the matter. They soon find themselves in a fortified industrial unit in the middle of nowhere where the stolen bodies are being used as test subjects for needless ballistic tests.

This is Ennis at his prime and the humour is dark matter black even for him. The art is typical Steve Dillon and I love it. Reading this just makes me want to do that Hellblazer re-read that I have been promising myself for some time – along with the Sandman, Zenith, The Shadow and a host of others I don’t have time for just now. Excellent stuff.

The second story is by writer Jason Aaron (currently writing Scalped) and artist Sean Murphy (who also drew the Hellblazer: City of Demons mini-series) and collects issues 245 and 246 from near the end of the Andy Diggle run. The story sees a bunch of documentary makers come to Newcastle to make a film about Constantine’s old punk band, Mucous Membrane. However, the site they visit is the scene of demonic ritual that put Constantine in the Ravenscar Asylum. Unfortunately for the film makers, the shade of the demon is still lingering on the site and once disturbed messes with their heads.

I bought this comic for this story as it the only one I don’t have between my comics and book collections. It is quite a good story encapsulating as it does a piece of iconic Constantine back story for readers that may not be familiar the character’s full history. I like Murphy’s art and would be happy to see him have an extended spell with the book and character.

John Constantine: Hellblazer – Phantom Pains (2012)

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Quote:
I … I want you to summon a creature … a terrible creature … who can hurt him. Hurt him like he hurt me.

 

This book collects issues 276 to 282 of the ongoing Hellblazer series. It was again written by Peter Milligan with art on the main story from Giuseppe Camuncoli and Stefano Landini (one chapter has art from Gael Bertrand) and art on the two single issue stories the bookend the volume was by Simon Bisley.

Married life is not running smoothly for John Constantine. First his new bride finds his wound from his amputated thumb disgusting and runs off to console herself with a demonic spirit. Second his home-grafted thumb, taken from a dying car crash victim, has a life of its own and gets him involved with its previous owner’s affairs. And finally his niece, Gemma, is seeking revenge on John for the abuse she suffered at his wedding that she thinks was carried out by him. All of this while trying to avoid becoming indebted to his gangster father-in-law.

Another enjoyable volume from Peter Milligan, though the two single issue stories are filler and pretty lightweight – which is a shame as the second concerning the demon Julian and his abuses of the prisoners could have been really interesting if it had been given more space to develop the tale properly. The main story has threads that don’t really go anywhere but overall it is very good with yet another person close to Constantine paying the price for his deviousness. The hints in this tale are that John might be about to head out on another of the dreaded road trips, possibly to America if he can’t put off his father-in-law, so that is something I am not looking forward to as I didn’t really like the last one when Brian Azzarello was the writer. But hopefully Milligan can pull it off as he has taken the character back to his roots and created some of the most entertaining stories for a long time in this long-lived series.

John Constantine: Hellblazer – Bloody Carnations (2011)

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Quote:
“I … I think you two know each other.”

“Nah,I’ve never seen this old geezer before.”

“Nice company you’re keeping, Epiphany.”

 

This book collects issues 267 to 275 of the ongoing Hellblazer series. It was written by Peter Milligan, who has been the series writer since issue 250, with art from Giuseppe Camuncoli, Stefano Landini and Simon Bisley.

The book has two stories. The first called Sectioned sees Constantine violently losing it with Epiphany and then starting to lose his grip on reality and ending up in a psychriatric hospital. He summons Shade to help him escape and figure out what is going on but Shade’s madness contaminates a potion Epiphany has made to heal her facial wounds which disfigures her even more. But Shade has a price for his help that John is unwilling to pay. The second story, Bloody Carnations, has Shade take Epiphany to Meta to heal her face but while there he tries to convince her that she is the dead Kathy George. Angry when she refuses him, Shade sends her back to Earth but in 1979 as a punishment both to her and to Constantine of whom he was jealous. Having decided that he wants to marry Epiphany, John must disrupt the plans of Nergal, who is determined that he not find happiness, and rescue his bride-to-be from his younger self.

Milligan takes Constantine back to familiar territory with this volume. Echoing episodes from his past with the incarceration in a mental institution and the return of Nergal and Gary Lester amongst others who gather for the wedding. I much prefer this kind of Hellblazer story where John is on his old stomping ground rather than when he is off on road trips such as in the last volume India. One reference to the old days that was a bit off for me was the reappearance of Kit, his true love from Garth Ennis’ run on the series. Apparently, he loves Epiphany more than he loved Kit which I find hard to swallow given his seeming indifference to her in the last couple of collections. Also someone should have given the artists a sample of what Kit looks like as I only knew who she was as she was referred to by name. But these are minor quibbles from a big fan of the Ennis run. On the whole this is a great book with Constantine at his tricksy best.