Chronicles of Wormwood: The Last Enemy

Garth Ennis (writer)
Rob Steen (artist)
Avatar Press

Danny Wormwood is back, and he's brought Jimmy the Talking Rabbit and Jay (formerly known as Jesus Christ, but worse for wear these days) with him! Since averting Armageddon in his last adventure, the world hasn't improved. Danny, the reluctant Anti-Christ, still produces questionable TV shows and pines for Maggie, his lost love. It seems the best these boys can hope for is a quiet drink at their favourite pub. However, the evil Pope Jacko will not let Wormwood rest after his last sound defeat! To dispatch the Anti-Christ once and for all, Jacko calls upon his deadliest Holy Assassin, Brother One the Killer Eunuch! More blasphemy, action, and razor-sharp dialogue by Garth Ennis, creator of PREACHER. 

I really liked the first volume of this series.  It was a giggle seeing the Antichrist and his mate Jay go traipsing around heaven and hell before buggering up the devil and god in one easy motion.

This new, short, book tells of the immediate aftermath of these actions.  Pope Jacko is gravely ill and taking full body blood transfusions from choir boys sends a eunuch assassin after Jay in order to have him miracle him well again.  Neither Jay nor Wormwood are keen on this idea and so hilarity ensues.

Except, it doesn't.

The book never really raised itself to be as good as it could've been and instead it all felt a little flat and formulaic.  Good but not really up to Ennis' optimum standard.

Battlefields: The Tankies

Garth Ennis
Dynamite Entertainment

After D-Day came the dreadful battle for Normandy, when largely untried Allied soldiers met the seasoned veterans of the German Army. As Panzer units and SS Troops turn the French countryside into a killing ground, a lone British tank crew struggles to rejoin their squadron. Lost behind enemy lines, their only hope lies in their fearsome commander, Corporal Stiles - but can even this wily old trooper overcome their arch-nemesis, Germany's lethal Tiger Tank? Armored titans clash in the most violent way imaginable, in this tale of blazing battle-action and black humor by Garth Ennis and Carlos Ezquerra!

I picked this up for a war story obsessed friend for Xmas last year but grabbed a quick look at it first.  It's pretty typical Ennis really.  Here he's carrying on the stuff he did in 'War Stories' and basically it's 'Warlord', 'Hotspur', or 'Victor' but with the blood, carnage and swearing left in.

Tankies is the story of a lost tank crew trying to find their way to tiger lines whilst avoiding the attention of any German Tiger tanks.  Alongside this we have the story of what's going on with the regiment they're hunting for in a story that's a lot less frivolous than the other.

It isn't as serious as the 'War Stories' books or indeed as one of the other volumes of this series that I read earlier in the year but it was good (not great), solid Ennis and that's never a bad thing.

Zombies vs. Robots Adventure

Chris Ryall (writer)
Various artists
IDW Publishing

I've been seeing this series touted around for a while now so I was happy to see it show up in my local library.  This first one though was pretty bad.

The first story tells of a military unit formed of experimental robot soldiers.  It's barely coherent story is rendered even less so by the ghastly lifeless static artwork of Menton Matthews III.  It's vaguely photo realistic, sub Templesmith tat.

The second story about a cleaner and the suit some robots build for him is slightly more together and the art (by Paul McCaffrey) is much nicer but thew ending is predictable.

The worst story is kept for last with voodoo zombies pitched against actual ones and with the robots turning up halfway through.  The art by Gabriel Hernandez is a muddy mess but again it's Chris Ryall's lack of storytelling chops that brings the whole thing crashing down.

Hopefully the other book will be better but on this evidence I'm not holding out much hope.

The Bronx Kill

Peter Milligan (writer)
James Romberger (artist)
Vertigo Comics


Martin Keane is a literary writer whose second novel just received scathing reviews. He has a police officer father he can barely stand - a man who couldn't be more different from. But he decides to combine the two together for his next book, a historical cop thriller which he hopes will give him the chance to work through his family issues and cope with his past. Then, suddenly, Martin's wife disappears without a trace. And even as people start suspecting Martin himself might be responsible, he knows there's much more to it than that. He's sure there are clues to her abduction that he's overlooking, ones which can perhaps even
be found in the novel he's obsessively writing. As he and his father investigate his wife's disappearance, he'll find the truth is much more shocking than he thought - in a twist ending no one would ever dare guess.

I keep coming back to Milligan and he always disappoints.  with the exception of some of the later 'Shade: The Changing Man' issues I've never dug anything he's done. This one looked intriguing and it's part of a range of small format hardback original graphic novels that Vertigo did for a short while.

The story is of a writer whose wife disappears one night in a manner that reminds of his grandmother's disappearance and references the plot of the book he's writing.

What we get is a fairly cliched noir littered with turgid prose sections, ends with a finale that's about as obvious as a finale can get and the whole thing left me feeling rather depressed.

Judge Dredd: The Restricted Files vol 2

John Wagner (writer)
Alan Grant (writer)
various artists
Rebellion

This volume collects together forgotten and rare gems from the Thrill-power archives. Readers can experience Dredd strips that haven’t been reprinted in over thirty years. This collection of classic strips is a must read for any comic fan!

This is a collection of stories from annuals and specials from the 80s and the stories are typical of the time.  Lot's of puns and silliness interspersed with some Dredd style ultra-violence.

Being from specials and annuals the stories are all short little self contained tales.  It's really familiar stuff but that doesn't detract as it's great stuff.

Two classic writers alongside loads of groovy artists make this a proper fun read.

Petrograd

Philip Gelatt (writer)
Tyler Crook (artist)
Oni Press

Introducing the untold tale of the international conspiracy behind the murder of Gregorii Rasputin Set during the height of the first World War, the tale follows a reluctant British spy stationed in the heart of the Russian empire as he is handed the most difficult assignment of his career: orchestrate the death of the mad monk, the Tsarina's most trusted adviser and the surrogate ruler of the nation. The mission will take our hero from the slums of the working class into the opulent houses of the super rich... he'll have to negotiate dangerous ties with the secret police, navigate the halls of power, and come to terms with own revolutionary leanings, all while simply trying to survive Based on historical documents and research, Petrograd is a tense, edge-of-your seat spy thriller, taking the reader on a journey through the background of one of history's most infamous assassinations, set against the backdrop of one of the most tumultuous moments in 20th century history.

I only known two things about Rasputin.  Firstly that he was Russia's greatest love machine and secondly that he was a cat that really was gone.  Phillip Gellat on the other hand seems to know a lot more, particularly with regard to how he met his end and the people involved.  How much of this book was based on established fact, I have no clue.  It tells of the British Secret Service and their manipulation of the crown prince of Russia into carrying out the assassination and also of the nascent revolutionary movement in the country.

I wasn't really expecting to enjoy this as much as I did.  It was engagingly written and very nicely drawn and provided a very diverting evening's read.

Snowpiercer

Jacques Lob (writer)
Jean-Marc Rochette (artist)
Titan Comics

Snowpiercer is the enthralling and thought-provoking post-apocalyptic graphic novel that inspired the critically acclaimed movie starring Chris Evans (Captain America, Fantastic Four). Originally published in French, this marks the first time that Snowpiercer will be available in English.
In a harsh, uncompromisingly cold future where Earth has succumbed to treacherously low temperatures, the last remaining members of humanity travel on a train while the outside world remains encased in ice.
The surviving community are not without a social hierarchy; those that travel at the front of the train live in relative luxury whilst those unfortunate enough to be at the rear remain clustered like cattle in claustrophobic darkness. Yet, things are about to change aboard the train as passengers become disgruntled.

I watched the film a couple of months ago, it was OK.  It was nothing particularly earth-shattering but still fun.  My friend Steve on the other hand loved it so much he went out and bought the book.  It isn't very good.

As with the film it shows the journey of a rear-ender all the way to the front of the massive train as it traverses a post-apocalyptic frozen wasteland.  Unlike in the film here he is a prisoner in the company of a liberal minded third class passenger. The story of the journey through the train is similar but resolves differently and quite unsatisfactorily which I won't spoil for you here; I'll let them do that for you.

The art is significantly better than the words but the lack of scale brought about by the scenario has left it feeling a little cramped and stilted.

It's a nice idea but not one that's been particularly well realised.

Trees

Warren Ellis (writer)
Jason Howard (artist)
Image Comics

Ten years after they landed. All over the world. And they did nothing, standing on the surface of the Earth like trees, exerting their silent pressure on the world, as if there were no-one here and nothing under foot. Ten years since we learned that there is intelligent life in the universe, but that they did not recognise us as intelligent or alive.
Trees looks at a near-future world where life goes on in the shadows of the Trees: in China, where a young painter arrives in the “special cultural zone” of a city under a Tree; in Italy, where a young woman under the menacing protection of a fascist gang meets an old man who wants to teach her terrible skills; and in Svalbard, where a research team is discovering, by accident, that the Trees may not be dormant after all, and the awful threat they truly represent.

I'm writing this two months after I read the book with an operation and an ongoing morphine riddled recuperation in the intervening time so my memories may be a little addled but it's a good excuse to go back and reread.

'Trees' tells the beginning of the story of the arrival of the titulat 'Trees'; huge, great towering pillars that have smashed into the Earth and then proceeded to do almost absolutely nothing whatsoever except, sort of, occasionally pee on those nearby (see image).

Now though, 10 years on, we join the various narratives of several people living in the shadows of these inscrutable towers.  A scientist monitoring a new breed of black flower, a young woman escaping an abusive boyfriend with the help of an enigmatic stranger, an ambitious New York politician and an artist discovering himself in a walled city in China.

As is often the case with Warren's work he begins his story with a focus on world building and an overview of his characters.  You get to meet them and are offered a glimpse of who, where and what they are with the rest to be filled in as and when it suits the story rather than the breathless headlong rush into the story that comic writers are often guilty of.

Howard has a lovely eye for both detail and features and has successfully translated the various people and locales featured without any of them  looking like they are drawn from a template (in the case of the former) or a guide book (the latter).  His artwork, even at this early day, feels at home within the demands of the story and I'm very much looking forward to more.

I'm always excited by a new Ellis book particularly when it's the beginning of a longer series and this shows bags of promise for a very entertaining ride so hopefully volume 2 won't be long in coming.

The Town That Didn't Exist

Piere Christin (writer)
Enki Bilal (artist)
Humanoids Publishing

The town of Jadencourt has fallen on hard times. The people are poor, the workers at the factory are on strike, and the aristocrat who was keeping the factory open has passed away. Just when things seem like they can't get any worse, the town learns that the factory has been left in the hands of the aristocrat's estranged granddaughter. When she tells the townspeople her vision for their future, it is something that they never would have thought possible.

So, what happens when you get what you want and what happens when you only want to please someone.  These are the two questions at the heart of this tale by these two masters.

Taking over the family business from her dead uncle, Madeleine strives to create a town where all are equal and where the self important and self obsessed bosses are on a par with the communist and utopianist workers.  

Based on conversations with her carer (for lack of a better term) she reinvests the time, money, and energy of her newly acquired company into creating a utopian domed town where all are equal and nobody wants for anything.  What she gets is a town where all are bored but some accept it as the price of equality whilst some see it as a price not worth paying.

The book ends on a poignant note overlooking the town in it's bubble as though it was a specimen on a slide or a preserved view, remote and exclusive and untouchable.  A dream worth viewing but perhaps not experiencing.

Fortune & Glory

Brian Bendis
Oni Press

Brian Michael Bendis' 'Fortune and Glory' exposes the stupidity of Hollywood producers, and the enthralling mood swings and ego nosedives of an indie comicbook creator caught up in the maelstrom of the motion picture industry.

This is a short little cartoony hardback telling the story of Bendis' flirtation with Hollywood following the release of his early crime books.

It tells of how he came to the attention of various Hollywood players and ended up doing the rounds of the various producers in trying to get 'Goldfish' and then 'Torso' turned into movies.

It's written in a Harvey Pekar style with Bendis' own talking head cartoony art to illustrate it.  I'm a fan of cartoon art and his style is personable enough but never managed to grab me anywhere interesting but was perfectly functional.   He always spins a good yarn though and so the whole story unfolds in an engaging manner.  

It is very much Pekar and that's not really a bad thing but obviously at heart there's a bit of curmudgeonly gold missing which is not to say that what is here is not to be enjoyed because it most assuredly is.

Tharg's Future Shocks

Various writers & artists
2000AD

here we have a tiny little pocket book of 2000AD shorts which I assume is part of the same series of releases as the Dredd ones.

This collection features a huge assortment of non-classic (read that as not written by Alan Moore) contributions to the series.  There're a lot of stories here that I remember and loads that I don't.  For the most part they're all a bit un-brilliant and slightly naff in places.

There's lots of very nice artwork though from some 2000AD heroes like Glenn Fabry, Massimo Bellardinelli, Ron Smith and Chris Weston who all bring the pretty.

I am perhaps feel like I'm being a little harsh here as there were some fun reads but with a few exceptions they didn't really get the 'shock' part working for them.

Aetheric Mechanics

Warren Ellis (writer)
Gianluca Pagliarani (artist)
Avatar Press

The year is 1907, and Britain has entered into a terrifying war with Ruritania, whose strange metal planes darken the skies, and whose monstrous war engines cast looming shadows from across the channel. Doctor Robert Watcham, lately returned to London from the front, makes his homecoming to Dilke Street. There lives his old friend and England's greatest amateur detective, Sax Raker. Even as his beloved city prepares for war, Raker is himself about to embark on the strangest (and, perhaps, the most important) investigation of his career: the case of the man who wasn't there. Is the mysterious, vanishing killer, at last, evidence for Raker's long-held belief in a secret criminal mastermind? Is it some apparition uniquely belonging to this city, a place that seems to have lost all semblance of sense two years ago? Or do all the signs point to something much, much worse?

Warren Ellis did a good few of these one off books for Avatar of which I've only read a couple; not from lack of interest more from just completely missing them.  This time out he's channelling Arthur Conan Doyle with a steampunk, sci-fi Sherlock Holmes riff.

Britain is at war with Ruritania (the fictional country where 'The Prisoner of Zenda' is set) whose giant robot war machines have seen Doctor Richard Watcham fleeing from the front back to the company of his detective friend Sax Raker and immediately into a case concerning a man who wasn't there.

There's a similarity here to Mark Hodder's first 'Burton and Swinburne' book which comes to light in the finale but here there is a much more classic sci-fi feel.  It's a bit of a giggle and shows that Warren would write a formidable Holmes story should he ever wish to.  This one, on first read, I tended to spend wondering why it's so Sherlockian until it all becomes clear in the end so a second reading is essential purely for fun allows it to show it's colours more strongly.

The second time through also gives you the chance to bask in the glory of Pagliarani's artwork.  His incredibly detailed line work is a joy to the eyes and feels entirely at home in the setting of the book.  Just check out this (I think unused) alternative cover he drew for the book.

A short but fun read with plenty of eye candy.

Sex Criminals volume 1: One Weird Trick

Matt Fraction (writer)
Chip Zdarsky (artist)
Image Comics

Suzie’s just a regular gal with an irregular gift: when she has sex, she stops time. One day she meets Jon and it turns out he has the same ability. And sooner or later they get around to using their gifts to do what we’d ALL do: rob a couple banks. A bawdy and brazen sex comedy for comics begins here!
By Matt Fraction (Satellite Sam, Hawkeye) and Chip Zdarsky (Prison Funnies, Monster Cops).
Named one of Time Magazine's top 10 graphic novels for 2013.
Collects SEX CRIMINALS #1-5 

So, there's this girl, Suzie, and she has this thing that happens when she comes; the world, quite literally, stops.

Then there's this guy, Jon, it's the same for him.

When they meet and realise they start planning, planning to help the library books.  Unfortunately, in doing so they trigger the ire of what, I suppose, I must call the Sex Police.

Fraction is usually well worth a read, particularly when he's heading in a direction of his own choosing as with Casanova, and here he has created a book which is fun alongside the silly.  It's written as commentary and flashback which I do find slightly irritating usually but that's enlivened here both by the wit of the scripts and by Zdarsky's lovely, playful, cartoony art.

The artist is new to me but I really like what he does and he reminds me a little of Stuart Immonen on Warren Ellis' Nextwave series.

Truthfully I'm not entirely convinced I'm going to buy the next one as it was all a little too pop for me and funds are always tight but I'd certainly borrow it from a library.

Happy!

Grant Morrison (writer)
Darick Robertson (artist)
Image Comics

Meet Nick Sax, a corrupt, intoxicated ex-cop turned hit-man, adrift in a stinking twilight world of casual murder, soulless sex, eczema, and betrayal. With a hit gone wrong, a bullet in his side, the cops and the mob on his tail, and a monstrous child killer in a Santa suit on the loose, Nick and his world will be changed forever this Christmas - by a tiny blue horse called Happy! Collects issues #1-4 of the mini-series.

Now this was a strange one to be reading knowing it has Morrison's name on the header; for the most part it felt far more like a Garth Ennis one.

'Happy!' is the story of an ex cop hitman, Nick Sax, having a terrible night of it getting chased by the mob and the cops whilst he tries his best to ignore a tiny, blue, flying, horse that wants him to rescue a little girl.Sax is having none of it though.  He just wants to get out of town and avoid any more bullets being inserted into his body.

The finale of the story comes along rapidly and both unpleasantly and kinda silly and again has large shades of Ennis to both the events and the scenario.

Here we have Morrison going down a path he doesn't travel too often and for the most part pulling it off alongside the artist responsible for the visuals of two of my favourite comic series doing what he does in fine form.

In all a fun but slightly confusing read.

Superman Action Comics volume 1: Superman & The Men of Steel

Grant Morrison (writer)
Rags Morales (artist)
Andy Kubert (artist)
DC Comics

DC Comics took a bold step and renumbered the longest-running monthly comic, Action Comics, to #1 for the first time since 1938 as part of the DC Comics—The New 52 event.With this renumbering comes a new creative team featuring comics legend Grant Morrison and fan-favorite artist Rag Morales. While Morrison is no stranger to writing the Superman character, having won three Eisner Award's for his work on All-Star Superman, Action Comics will be something new for both old and new readers and present humanity's first encounters with Superman, before he became one of the World's Greatest Super Heroes. Set a few years in the past, it's a bold new take on a classic hero.
Superman: Action Comics Vol. 1: Superman and the Men of Steel includes issues 1-8 of the monthly series

The blurb on the cover of this reinvention of Supes ( by a USA Today reviewer) reckons that it's the best Superman story that he has ever read.  I think he needs to read more.

It's certainly not a bad read but it does pale into insignificance next to Morrison's own All Star Superman and many others (such as Moore's 'Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow' or even John Byrne's 1980's reinvention, 'Man of Steel').

This new book is part of DCs New 52 thingy which I can't really be arsed to keep track of but it's current reinvention that will place hold the line until the next one comes along. This one plays the big S as a young fella at the start of his career both as a reporter and as a hero.  The others are all similarly nascent to differing degrees with Lex being fairly well advanced.

The story takes us from the jeans, t-shirt and ape beginnings through Clark's discovery of his origins and out into the future with the Legion of Superheroes.

It's big, silly fun very much in line with Morrison's classic run on JLA and was fun but I don't really feel any need to go back to it.

My Dead Girlfriend

Eric Wright
Tokyopop

When Finney falls in love with a girl who also happens to be a ghost, he decides to stop at nothing to win her heart, even if that means his own death. This book is a playful reflection on the tribulations of adolescence set in a place where the inhabitants are scarier than the horrors of school, dating, and puberty.

A random charity shop find leads me down a new path for me, American manga.

The story is of a young lad, the only 'normal' in a school full of ghosts and ghoulies.  He lives with the ghosts of his parents and ancestors and is in full knowledge that he'll end his days in a manner most ridiculous.  Then, into his life comes the girl of his dreams but there is, of course, a problem, she's also a ghost.

The whole thing looks and reads like a fairly innocuous US animated series and there's very little to actually hang onto.  The art is clean and clear and the story rolls along but it just isn't very engaging.  It is essentially vapid but not complete dreck.

Casanova: Avarita - Matt Fraction & Gabriel Ba

This is the third and final part of the Casanova story and it finds him traversing the multiverse in an attempt to for the world of every possible version of the person who will be Newman Xeno.  Is not a task that sits well with him and he soon starts to work to his own ends.  Not everyone is best pleased with this and chaos inevitably ensues.

It's an appropriate end to a series that has been equal parts engrossing and confusing and one that has left me feeling like I've been on quite a fun trip that I was a little to distracted to enjoy fully and as such need to do it again.

Road to Perdition - Max Allan Collins & Richard Piers Rayner

I've known and liked the filmbsince it came along which surprised me as I don't really have a lot of time for Tom Hanks movies.  The book had eluded me though until I found it in a local charity shop the other day.

It's a different beast to the film, less of a road movie vibe, although that's in there, and also an little bit more real, although I certainly am discounting his escape from Capone's office from that statement.

An enjoyable short of tale even though this whole gangster thing isn't a favourite.  It's coherent and complete and satisfying. What more do you want from a Sunday afternoon read.

New York: Life in the Big City

Will Eisner
W.W. Norton & Company

With an unparalleled eye for stories and expressive illustration, Will Eisner, the master and pioneer of American comics art, presents graphic fiction's greatest celebration of the Big Apple. No illustrator evoked the melancholy duskiness of New York City as expressively as Eisner, who knew the city from the bottom up. This new hardcover presents a quartet of graphic works (New York, The Building, City People Notebook, and Invisible People) and features what Neil Gaiman describes as "tales as brutal, as uncaring as the city itself." From ancient buildings "barnacled with laughter and stained with tears" to the subways, "humorless iron reptiles, clacking stupidly on a webbing of graceful steel rails," Will Eisner's New York includes cameo appearances by the author himself; several new illustrations sketched by Eisner, posthumously inked by Peter Poplaski; and three previously unpublished "out-takes"—a treasure for any Eisner fan, and sure to become a collectible. Introduction by Neil Gaiman.

I'm a recent convert to the joys of Will Eisner. Recent for no other reason than I hadn't come across any. I've read a load over the last two years though. This one is by far my favourite.

'New York: Life in the Big City' is a hardback collection of 5 books - 'New York', 'The Building', 'City People', 'Notebook' & 'Invisible People'. All tell the stories of or are observations regarding or just plain fictions concerning life in that particular city.

The warmth and charm of Eisner's art is easily matched by that contained in his words. He is rarely sentimental, often damningly cynical, but there's an almost desperate yearning for life and love that underlies the book.

I adored this.

A Sickness in the Family - Denise Mina & Antonio Fuso

Mina was the writer of a couple of Hellblazer arcs a little while back which I have here but have no memory of reading which doesn't bode well for this. 'A Sickness...' concerns life and death in a dysfunctional Scottish family.

The book is good if a little silly in parts. There's a nice amount of twists and turns and the ending is open. The art gives one part away too early in the game but that's a small quibble. On the whole very enjoyable and I think I should head over to the shelf and drag out those Hellblazer volumes.