Comics Round Up! featuring What I Got and Why

Valhallahan
Well, not a particularly exciting week to write about, comics wise. I suppose I’ll have to brush off the Wetworks: Mutations abattoir of a review and my fond remembrance of Motormouth and Kill Power. Before I do though I will explain what I got and Why.

As I said, not n exciting two weeks to write about, but a great little bundle of books... and Infestation #1. These last two trips have really just been my regulars, my satisfying old faithfuls, my Snickers. Obviously they’re all published by Vertigo.

This week I bought the latest issues of iZombie (fast becoming my favourite read of the month), Sweet Tooth (Sideways Special!), Scalped (all misery, all the time!) and American Vampire (Not Twilight!). I’ve spoken about these at relative length before, so I’ll save you the repetition, suffices to say they all come highly recommended.

I also picked up a few bits and bobs from Amazon, such as Kane Vol. 4: Thirty Ninth, Thirty Ninth. Kane is essentially a cop show in comic book format, written and drawn by Paul Grist, of Jack Staff fame. It’s been a while since I read it, as it took me ages to find a copy of this volume and I didn’t want to skip ahead, but it’s the ongoing stories of the cops and robbers of a corrupt US precinct. It walks a fine line between serious and whimsy, but it walks it well. Worth noting also, that for some reason, these black and white collections are a bit of an arse to find. As is fellow black and white crime series Chicanos. What’s that all about?

My other online comic purchases were a load of The Uncanny X-Men Pocket Books from Panini. The Pocket Books are digest-format reprints of Chris Claremont’s epic run on The Uncanny X-Men (from Giant-Size #1 onwards) they’re printed in full colour and have about 8-10 issues’ worth of story per book. They even throw in the annuals and specials like God Loves Man Kills. At £4-5 (or about 80p + P&P from Amazon Marketplace) they’re a brilliant and cheap way to read these classic stories. Some of the dialogue may have dated badly, and reading them all together does highlight Chris Claremont’s recurring plots a bit much (boy does he like mind games) but I thoroughly recommend these stories and this format. Spider-Man, Iron Man, Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk and Silver Surfer Pocket Books are also available.

X-Men #7 Reviewed

X-Men #7
To Serve and Protect: Part 1
Written by Victor Gischler
Art by Chris Bachalo

Action Ash
Now all that blood sucking bullshit is over it seems the X-Men can get back to doing what they do best, and it looks like that's where they're headed in this new storyline. To get the public to trust them they are making an effort to be heroes and it seems to be working, but they're not just saving the day in sunny San Fran. Something is amiss in the New York sewers and Cyclops has sent a small team to deal with it.

The story was simple but had potential to branch off into more complex narratives or even just a simple story that's really interesting/entertaining. This was, however, refreshing to read in an X-Men story. No sign of vampires and not bogged down in continuity, this ish would be a good jumping on point for new readers. It reminded me of the beginning of a classic X-Men adventure from the days of Claremont and Byrne.
Bachalo's art is pretty good too, and this issue includes some interesting page and panel layouts.

It's about time I felt optimistic about the X-Men again, and I look forward to getting back in to it.

3 and a half potential sewer dwelling reptilian cannibals out of 5

X-Women: Like X-Men but European and Pornier

X-Women
Story by Chris Claremont
Art by Milo Manara

Valhallahan
As you may know, Marvel has branded 2010 it's "Year of Women" and have decided to spotlight the other half of the global population for a change, which has mainly consisted of one-shots and mini series spotlighting women creators and/or characters; It's an odd thing; a slightly patronising concept that has yielded some nonsense, and some internet chatter, but mainly some pretty decent comic books. I found Girl Comics to be hit and miss, but what anthology isn't? And the recent Namora One-Shot was pretty good despite it being another fucking submarine story. I skipped on Heralds and Firestar, but what I've seen of the artwork has me regretting that, and I hear Dazzler was fun. The less said about Her-oes the better.

Anyway... This brings us to X-Women; A kind of a cheat because it was commissioned by Marvel's European publishers, and reprinted here. It's a One shot by legendary X-Men scribe Chis Claremont and drawn by popular European artist Milo Manara. The story sta- Waitafugginminute! Did that say Milo Manara? Italian porno comics Milo Manara? Vatican erotica Milo Manara? "The Smutty Sexcapades of the Invisible Nympho" Milo Manara? Doing X Men... With Chris Claremont?

That makes no fucking sense whatsoever.

So obviously I bought it

I must admit that being a naturally curious and red bloodedly pretentious teen it was not my first encounter with Manara's work, but certainly the tamest. I won’t get into it too much now, but I am of the opinion that editors are good. Editors are needed. And sometimes a little self censorship. Look at the work produced by Warren Ellis for example; arguably his best work is done when he has to behave and try and write a story that can be printed by a mainstream company. Does anyone but the die hard read all his Avatar Press stuff?*

So enough about the creative team, is it any good? Yes it is actually. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The plot is... I forget. Basically it's an excuse for an eastern adventure romp; beautiful women, exotic locations, roguishly charming pirates and naughty villains whao are probably foreign. The X-Women are cast as (somewhat more nubile) Tintins trying to stop Nefarious McBadgirl from launching her deadly McGuffinator in deepest darkest Madripoor. Manara excels drawing the exotic locales and shockingly, the action sequences. The underlying perviness does detract from it a bit, but it's more because you know Manara's previous form (I think it's worth noting that they don’t have a list of his other publications alongside Joe Quesada’s Afterword). It really made me want to read some more non-porn Manara.

Oh, I almost forgot the sheer lameness of the Storm as Tina Turner karaoke scene. Cringe.

Two pasties, a clam shell and a fascinator out of a possible full frontal.

*Answer: No

What I Got and Why 15/07/10

Valhallahan

After a lacklustre week a couple of weeks ago and an I-spent-all-my-money-at-Gypsy-Hotel-so-couldn’t-buy-comics week the week after that, I'm here once again with a what I got and Why, which strangely has no overlap with Action Ash's. Okeydokey, here we...

Sweet Tooth #11 - Continuing to be intriguing and exciting and charmingly disturbing.

Scalped #39 - ‘Nuff Said.

X-Women - Novelty Value. See Review.

iZombie #3 - I’m really just getting this for the art. The story has enough to keep me interested, but some of the cutesy stuff like the were-terrier would normally be a big turn off for me.

Gorilla Man #1 - I was explaining this one in the pub: "It’s a man who's been turned into a gorilla, who's also a secret agent fighting a man with talking tumours of his ancestors for the head of Lucretia Borgia". That shit just sells itself.

The Walking Dead #74 - I heartily recommend this series to everyone. Start at book one and see if you can stop yourself from reading the lot. 74 issues and still going strong.

Jonah Hex #57 - I actually managed to get a copy this week which is nice, and it’s a Jordi Bernett issue so win/win! Thank you Orbital, now I've got my mean disfigured sonofabitch quota for the week without having to set foot in my local.

Daytripper #8 - This has been a great series. Interesting premise, lovely art, it's kind of pretentious, but really worth your time. This is a great alternative to superheroes and crime fiction.

I would be getting Shadowland, but a combination of Billy Tan art and not having finished Brubaker's DD run mean I’m just going to borrow it of Ash. Nice Cassaday covers though. I meant to get Scarlet, but I clearly wasn't that bothered as I forgot to look for it in either of the shops I went to.