Jeff Smith's Noirtoon

I just finished reading Jeff Smith's Rasl #2... and i've gotta say, we're laying down the groundwork for a great sci-fi / noir epic in this issue... the likes of which i'd never have expected from the man behind the magnum cartoon opus that is Bone.

And i guess that's what's so intriguing about the book in the first place. How out of left field it is for a Jeff Smith comic. I remember my first encounter with a Bone comic, and years later finishing the epic and thinking to myself, "I'm enjoying this just as much now as i did when i was 11 years old." Rasl is in no way that kind of book. In fact, if you're a parent looking for another great graphic novel series for your kid because they enjoyed Bone EVER so much, this ain't the book. Check out the back cover where it says 'suggested for mature readers.' Look through it if you want. You'll see why...

Either way, Smith is still weaving an interesting tale. The second issue introduces a love interest who, I would imagine, will influence the decisions the main character will make for the rest of the series (you'll understand after issue two.) It also offers an explanation as to what (if not EXACTLY) was going on in issue one. Still early on... but I'm enjoying this...

There's a big difference in the character design in Rasl when compared to the designs in Bone... The stylization in Bone is often compared to that of a great Disney Cartoon. Simple slick line work, with tons of emotion and movement in the characters. Believable body language... I'd be lying if i didn't say that I believe Bone to be flawless in terms of character design. I unfortunately do not feel the same way about Rasl.

Smith, from what I'm seeing in these pages... is trying to get away from what he was doing in Bone... He's introducing grit and a degree of realism into the characters that he did not have in Bone and that is great. It's always good for artists of all kinds to try new things, and i don't blame him for it one bit. Unfortunately, I don't think it's working the way he wants it to work. These characters don't seem to be as expressive as his Bone lot. There's a lot of panels where characters seem to retain awkward body posture, and proportions that just don't work no matter what style you're trying to work in. I can't really tell what he's trying to do with these characters visually and i'm not sure if he even knows yet...

But don't let this be a hindrance on your reading the series. Regardless of the artistic hurdles Smith is currently overcoming (it happens to all the greats!), he's still giving us something fun and exciting to read. Check it out if you get the chance.

THIS WEEK IN COMICS!! WEEK 23

Is it really that time yet again? Well it appears it is. So let's get started shall we. Once upon a time there was a hobbit who.....Am I really not aloud to read to them THE HOBBIT? Well thats a damn shame. Good book, good movie. well than how bout this. IT IS I ONCE MORE, LB JONES, here to deliver with some zazz THIS WEEK IN COMICS!!! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Coming outta DC this week is a hopefully out of continuity tale of the TANGENT UNIVERSE. The book of which I speak is Superman's Reign. It is quite honestly one of my favorite books that DC is putting out right now and we all know how I feel regarding DC. So anywho, the story of Superman's Reign is that within the Tangent Universe, Superman (Tangent) has risen up and taken over the world and it's up to the Tangent JLA and some of the normal DCU to stop him! It's awesome because Tangent Superman is CRAZY! also I just really like the different takes on DC characters as opposed to the regular DC characters themselves. Well everyone should definitely check this title out because not only are you given a great story, they are also providing a 5 page back up story explaining the Tangent Universe.

Also from DC this week we have the JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA. I, for one, have grown incredibly tired of this book. They haven't really progress anything in the DCU and they keep rehashing and continuing a boring story with AMAZO. Oh My God, Red Tornado wants a body but Amazo keeps stealing it, RUN!!! MEDIOCRE STORY HO!!!! Really Dwayne McDuffie did an amazing job with the Fantastic Four and Justice League Unlimited was an awesome show but so far his run of JLA has been incredibly boring. Seeing that last month they set up Morrison to kill Martian Manhunter in Final Crisis or as I call it Final Failure, They did not make one mention of said death and that lends once again to DC's failure as a company to keep their universe from falling apart. The only good thing about this book to me right now is Ed Benes' artwork. He's such a good artist and he's saddled to a title that should be epicenter of the DCU but isn't. Sorry Ed, you need to get to a different book.

From Image a few years ago we have THE FRESHMAN. This is the comic that Seth Green co-created and boy did he create a goodie. The Freshman is all about a group of college freshman who manifest superpowers when an experiment at their school blows up. The only problem with their powers are that they either suck or are great. Like one of the characters becomes incredibly sticky because when the experiment blows up he was testing to see if he could put 600 sticky notes on his body and then theres the girl who can body jump into people because she wanted to know what was in other people's heads. That's pretty much the spectrum the powers run. It's really well written and it's pretty funny. Leonard Kirk's artwork is awesome and dead on. Totally worth checking it out.

Tearing through the Marvel time stream this week is WOLVERINE. Yes, everyone's favorite badass is back and better than before. This week saw the release of the OLD MAN LOGAN arc. That means MARK MILLAR AND STEVE McNIVEN!! The heralds of Civil War are telling a set in the future arc of WOLVERINE. ok you got me interested. The world is post apocalyptic, Keep goin. There are no more heroes, Wolverine hasn't been Wolverine in almost 50 years. Almost got me. Hawkeye is now blind but still drives. Ok you got me. I love Hawkeye, I love apocolypse's and I love Wolverine, Where do I sign up for what was the BEST first part of a story I've read since Captain America #1. Everyone should read this, Even if you hate Wolverine. And the reason why you should read it.... Well because I reviewed it and Liked it and am passing said Enthusiasm onto you. Now go READ!!

THIS WEEK IN COMICS!! WEEK 22

Well hello there everyone, What's goin on out there in the world? It tis I, LB JONES, here once again with the hip hop happening with the latest and greatest in the world of comics. Sorry I missed last week, things were crazy hectic around here. So with out further delay I present to you, Mystery Science ........ Wait, what do you mean I can't just link a movie? That's not cool. OK so it seems that according to the higher ups I can't give you guys an awesome movie to watch. So I substitute it with THIS WEEK IN COMICS!!

Reemerging from Image this week, We have Witchblade. Now I've reviewed Witchblade before, but this is different than the normal Witchblade. This review is for the totally great Trade Paperback of the original first 8 issues. Yes Image is reprinting the original Witchblade stuff in a new line of trades called "Witchblade: Origins." Obviously this trade is the origin story for Sara Pezzini, the wielder of the Witchblade. We also are introduced to Kenneth Irons and Ian Nottingham, both of whom are total badasses and will plague Sara for a good portion of the series. If you've never read Witchblade this is a perfect book to start off on because it introduces the main characters and is very well written and drawn. David Wohl is the scribe of this particular volume and Micheal Turner provides awesome pencils from when he could still draw. For those who do read Witchblade and have never read any of this, definitely go back and read this stuff because it applies heavily to what's going on right now in Witchblade.

Next from Image again we have INVINCIBLE issue 50! Yeah this book was that good. Ending the mystery surrounding Cecil and bringing to light all the crazy shit that has gone down in the series up till this point. Invincible #50 is once again amazingly drawn by Ryan Ottley, this man is such an amazing artist and if he ever leaves the series I will be greatly saddened. Also included in this issue is the Secret Origin of CECIL, yeah we are finally given information about the oh so secretive head of the Global Defense Agency and lastly we get a SCIENCE DOG back up story!!Hell yeah I said SCIENCE DOG. My favorite character of Kirkman's that has never gotten his own solo story and now he has one!! YAY!! I LOVE ROBERT KIRKMAN!!

Once again DC has launched a weekly comic and in one swoop of stupidity have killed the novelty of the weekly comic. Trinity is the new weekly that focuses on Batman,Wonder Woman and Superman. The first issue consists of 2 stories. One focusing entirely on the Big 3 and the second focusing on Morgan La Fey and a new character named Enigma. The first story was really good. Kurt Busiek can write an awesome story and Mark Bagley is an amazing artist whereas the second story was boring and sorta threw off the first story. DC do me a favor STOP WITH WEEKLY'S!

And finally coming from Marvel, We have the new ETERNALS series. I totally love Marvel's cosmic characters and this totally feeds that. The Eternals was absolutely amazing. The Knauf brothers are just really good writers and totally took the reigns from the end of Neil Gaiman's Eternals story last year and ran with them. The story picks up right after Gaiman's and doesn't stop hitting you with information that fills you in with who the Eternals are and why they matter. Daniel Acuna's artwork was dead on for this book. Normally I dislike his artwork but with this book it was perfect. It really lent to the characters being of a god-like nature that they had sorta indescribable features. Totally worth checking out.

Seduction of the Innocent

Hey guys!  Slacksy here with a look at a Marvel title from a few years back: NYX.  Originally pitched to the company in 2001 by Brian Wood and David Choe, NYX was later brought to fruition in 2003 by Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada and artist Joshua Middleton.  The story follows Kiden Nixon, a teenager living in Alphabet City who discovers her ability to speed up/slow down time.  Her newfound powers lead her to other mutant teens (this series is known for the first comic appearance of X-23, Wolverine's female clone and current member of the X-Force team) and the truth behind her father's murder.  Unfortunately, due to Quesada frequently handing in scripts late and the departure of Middleton after issue 4 (he was replaced by Robert Teranishi), NYX was crippled by its irregular schedule and was eventually canceled.  The entire series lasted a mere seven issues.

Despite the problems occurring behind the scenes and the story weakening and petering out towards the end, NYX is still a series worth checking out.  The first few issues are superb and Joshua Middleton's artwork is gorgeous (Teranishi's art isn't bad by any means, but the series definitely lost something great when Middleton left.  And it seems to me that Marvel was looking for someone to imitate Middleton's style and Teranishi couldn't live up to it).  The concept is something different and unique for Marvel, as it is a story about mutants that exists almost entirely outside the superhero universe.  Even Runaways had team crossovers and special appearances by other Marvel heroes.  In NYX, the characters struggle with their powers and are constantly living day to day; no battle for the fate of the planet will be found here.  The world these characters live in is realistic and the situations they find themselves in are rather mature for a Marvel book.  I will admit that the writing in the final three issues doesn't live up to the expectations initially set up, most likely due to the pressure felt by the creators after the various obstacles they came across during production, and it's unfortunate that it had to end that way.  However, I feel an attachment to NYX and the creativity that I found in the series when I first read it in 2003.  It was a good introduction for a young reader that was fairly new to comics, with captivating artwork, an interesting story, and relatable characters (many of which happened to be well-written females).  And it has had an impact on many books that have come after it, from the current X-Factor to the beloved Omega: The Unknown.  If nothing else, NYX serves as an interesting case study, not only as a series with great potential that just didn't work out, but also as an example of what comics can be.  Another problem that plagued the series was that it didn't have many readers from the first issue, and not enough people calling for it to remain in publication.  It may be that readers simply weren't ready for it, as it didn't really fit the mainstream mold. Which brings me to my last point of interest: The reason I decided to take another look at NYX was because at this years NY ComicCon, a new NYX series was officially announced for release this August.  We'll see how that goes, but for now you can check out the NYX/X-23 collection available at Comic Book Jones.  It collects all of the NYX issues and the X-23 miniseries that came out after it.

And briefly on another note, the 2008 MoCCA Art Festival this past weekend was excellent as always.  If you are interest in alternative comics and artists (or are a comics fan in general of course), I strongly recommend checking it out next year.  You won't be disappointed.  Guests this year included Staten Islanders Evan Dorkin (Milk and Cheese) and Sarah Dyer (Action Girl), Bryan Lee O'Malley (Scott Pilgrim), Tara McPherson, Jason, Art Spiegelman (Maus), and Brian Wood (Northlanders, DMZ, Local), who informed me that the next arc of DMZ will be taking place on Staten Island!

Well that's all for now.  See you all at CBJ!

Slacksy

nearing the end of Letham & Dalrymple's Omega: the Unknown revamp

Hey guys and dolls..

I just finished the ninth issue of Omega: The Unknown, and I had to come on here and tell everyone who stuck with it from the start, good for you... And to those of you who are still not in the know about this excellent mini series and a great collaborative effort by two extraordinary creators, don't worry. There is a collection hitting the stands in October and i urge ALL of you to pick it up!

That's right! All of you! Superhero fans. Indie-comic fans. EVERYBODY in between. This book is a perfect example of (and i quote the young disillusioned indie-comics fan and comic shop henchman from Mark Millar's recent MARVEL 1985 series) "something that's actually gonna advance the medium a little." I've been saying it from the start of the series. We've come a long way in the last 20 years as a medium. This book has broken boundaries that have been set in stone in mainstream comics for years.

The pacing and storytelling delivered by Dalrymple's sloppy line work, accompanied by Letham's genre bending prose is like nothing i've ever seen in a superhero book. It's hard to even consider this a superhero book, to tell you the truth. The characters are absurd and surreal, but still maintain a realistic human quality that is so hard to come by in stories like these.
I think i've said enough. I won't even get into the meat of this book. Odds are you already know because you're already reading it. Maybe. I hope?

Just do yourself a favor. If you can't catch up on issues, get your hands on that collection in October. If you can catch up on issues, do it immediately so that in four weeks you will experience the hopefully (more than likely) exciting conclusion to this perfectly executed story.

THIS WEEK IN COMICS!! WEEK 21

Well hello there! What's goin on everybody?! It is again that time for some reviewing and I have to say it, 2 big books came out this week and TANKED!! Yes I said it, a book was terrible. Well actually 2 books were but lets not get into semantics. Now let's get to it!
Finally coming from Marvel this week is Giant Size Astonishing X-Men and it was TERRIBLE! Half the issue made no sense, the art was really flaky at times and the ending was garbage. Joss Whedon really shouldn't write major character comics ever. I really have disliked his entire run of Astonishing and with this giant size, He really just hammered in that last nail of bad. First off the book took forever to come out. Didn't the series start in 2004, It is now 2008. What the hell?! It took 4 years to get 25 issues out! No,wrong, not cool! If your doing such a high profile book like that, it better be out every month on time like clockwork. Now the story was just really long and drawn out. Colossus is destined to destroy a planet.... ok cool idea, you got my attention.......
So Image released Firebreather this week and man was it AWESOME! Totally awesome. It was really well written and the art fit the story perfectly. Phil Hester is just a really awesome writer and because of how good this first issue is, I really wanna go and buy the trade of the original mini. Firebreather focuses on the teenage Duncan Roseblatt. Who just so happens to be half demon. This first issue shows how strained the relationship with his mom is and how crazy his relationship with his dad is. Oh and his dad is a 300 foot demon who wants to conquer everything. It really was just super good, super good.
and uhm..... What the hell was up with Cassaday's art work in the giant size Astonishing?! He totally hacked it out in some panels. Ugh was it just GAH!
Shooting out of DC and crashing into a wall is Final Crisis. Now I didn't have high hopes for this title because Infinite Crisis was terrible and I'm just not a big DC fan. Well Grant Morrison I have this to say to you....YOU WROTE A TERRIBLY TERRIBLE STORY! God, did it not make sense half the time and I come to find out that if you never read MORRISON's Seven Soldiers of Victory mini's you have no idea as to how Darkside is still around. Didn't Orion kill him, oh wait Orion's dead too?! Since when, he walked away at the end of Countdown....wha,what, hold on. Go read Death of the New Gods. NO! STOP IT! I am not reading an entire company's line of books to understand A story. DC will you stop with your bad attempts to get people to buy your older comics. Stop it! NOT COOL!
And lastly we have Marvel 1985 which was just PURE GOLD. Book is amazing. It's about this little kid who reads comics and totally is into it. He later finds out that the Marvel villains are somehow crossing over into his reality. That is just awesome right there because everyone wishes that superheroes and villains were real and this captures that perfectly. Mark Millar is an awesome writer and comes up with just some awesome ideas. With this comic being so awesome I really can't wait for his Old Man Logan arc in Wolverine. Oh I'm excited.