March 2012
Guh #s 1-5, by Jase Harper.
I bought the full collection of Guh from Jase Harper's Etsy store and I urge you to do the same.
Full review coming soon.
The Deep: Here Be Dragons, by Tom Taylor and James Brouwer.
A fabulous fun adventure comic for all ages.
Full review is on it's way.
Prophet #22, by Brandon Graham and Simon Roy, Fil Barlow.
It's quite the interesting sci-fi tale, or a chapter thereof. Even with no knowledge of what it was all about going in I really enjoyed my time here. There's a strong European sensibility to this, both art and story, and enough quirky and interesting things happening, told in such a way as to not spoon feed but also to not be impenetrable, that it's made me likely to pick up a trade paperback sooner or later.
The Barlow short story lived up to my high expectations. Witty and weird, delving once again into his ongoing Zooniverse oeuvre, presenting us with another Zoon cultural oddity, its hang-ups and foibles, while simultaneously having a satirical dig at our own western culture. Brilliant cartooning in this a welcome return of the Zooniverse and I'm super keen to see the upcoming stories Barlow has promised.
New Avengers Vol. 8: Secret Invasion Book 1, by various.
I really don't know how anybody reads these sort of comics on a month-to-month basis. Some of the chapters in this book — each chapter being an issue of the monthly comic — give so little story it's almost criminal. Then there are other chapters that cover years and years worth of plot and backstory, but in such a matter of fact and flat fashion as to totally rob the telling of any sense of awe or scope regardless of it's star-spanning repercussions. I would much rather see all these brutally separated sections of such a large story woven into the over arching plot as simultaneous threads and subplots.
The brightest part of this volume for me is the clear, clean, enjoyably traditional art of Jim Cheung. Even though I can see so many of his influences hardly disguised by being barely integrated into his own style, he tells the story solidly and with flair. The other art present is not bad by any standard, and every chapter has an artist whose style is more or less appropriate for it, but they're not my cup of tea for the most part.
I had supposed reading this single volume would give me a nice chunky read, and instead I feel like I got a bunch of disconnected episodes or vignettes, all too fleetingly burned through.
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