Comics Read
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Superman: True Brit
Superman: True Brit by Kim Howard Johnson and John Cleese Illustrator: John Byrne Format: Original Graphic Novel TPB Published: 2004 Publisher: DC Comics What if Superman had landed in southern England and not Kansas? Well, John Cleese and Kim Howard Johnson figure he’d grow up a bit embarrassed, never quite get anything right, and gradually become a mark of shame for his parents. The entire comic is essentially a rant against the English media and tabloid journalism, which I can get behind. We follow our hero, re-imagined as Colin Clark, through childhood and university until he eventually begins to work for the English tabloids, pressured into writing false pieces about…
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Irredeemable Vol. 1
Irredeemable Vol. 1 by Mark Waid Illustrated By: Peter Krause Format: Trade Paperback Comic Published: 2009 Publisher: Boom! Studios The Plutonian, Waid’s version of Superman, spent his entire life saving the world from doers of evil, but there are always those who will rip on a hero for not being able to save everyone. People are so god damn needy sometimes. After years of snide criticism and being taken advantage of by those close to him, he decides human’s aren’t worth his time and starts laying waste. They haven’t fully covered everything that lead him down the path to villainy in this trade, which is great. It gives the story…
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Locke and Key Vol. 1: Welcome to Lovecraft
Locke and Key Vol. 1: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill Illustrated By: Gabriel Rodriguez Format: Trade Paperback Comic Published: 2008 Publisher: IDW Publishing This is one of those comics that I’ve been hearing about for ages but never quite got around to buying. I’m definitely glad I did, though, and I’ll be picking up the rest of the available trades. Joe Hill (who happens to be Stephen King’s son) won an Eisner this year for the series, so that’s a good start. It’s a gruesome supernatural horror book, which is not at all Cthulhu-ey, it should be noted, despite the title. It’s hard to describe the plot of this…
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Old Man Logan
Old Man Logan by Mark Millar Illustrated By: Steve McNiven Format: Trade Paperback Comic Published: 2008 Publisher: Marvel The second Mark Miller comic I mooched during my time in Vancouver was Old Man Logan. It’s a ‘what if’ story, set fifty years in the future in a world where the supervillains won. They teamed up for once and managed to kill most of the superheroes in America. Wolverine, who now only goes by Logan, is one of the few left alive, and he’s just trying to live life with his small family on a farm. He hasn’t drawn his claws, or hurt anyone, for fifty years, not since he went…
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Civil War
Civil War by Mark Millar Illustrated By: Steve McNiven Format: Trade Paperback Comic Published: 2006 Publisher: Marvel About eight years ago I decided it would be fun to get back into reading comics. I hadn’t read any since I was a kid, so I wandered into the comic book shop and picked up the first thing that caught my eye – the trade for Ultimate X-Men Vol. 1 by Mark Miller. The Ultimate line was a non-canonical reboot of some of Marvel’s most popular books. It was a great idea, as it meant new readers could jump in without needing to know everything that had been happening for the last…
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Richard Stark’s Parker: The Outfit
Parker: The Outfit by Darwyn Cooke Format: Original Graphic Novel Published: 2010 Publisher: IDW Publishing This is the second Donald E. Westlake novel that Darwyn Cooke has adapted. The previous book was great, and this one is just as fun. Both follow Parker, who is essentially James Bond as a ruthless criminal. What could be better than that? Very little. In The Hunter, Parker was left for dead after being betrayed and spent the book hunting down those responsible. Since then, he’s recieved a new face through surgery and has been anonymously enjoying the rich life. Unfortunately, someone blows his cover and squeals to the Outfit, a mob-like organization he…
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Green Lantern Vol. 6: Secret Origin
Green Lantern Vol. 6: Secret Origin by Geoff Johns Illustrated By: Ivan Reis Format: Trade Paperback Comic Collects: Green Lantern #29-35 Published: 2008 Publisher: DC Comics I was looking forward to watching the Green Lantern movie, which actually slipped from my radar after seeing the reviews, so I picked up Geoff Johns’ retelling of the origin story a couple months back. I love me some origin stories, and I’d heard that Johns was DC’s golden child after his runs on The Flash and the Green Lantern Blackest Night/Brightest Day event, so I was curious to read something from him. I knew next to nothing about Green Lantern. I knew he’s…
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The Walking Dead, Vol. 14: No Way Out
The Walking Dead (Volume 14): No Way Out by Robert Kirkman Illustrator: Charlie Adlard Format: Trade Paperback Comic Published: 2011 Publisher: Image Comics This blog hasn’t been abandoned! I fell quite ill a month ago, even got to spend a couple of weeks in hopsital, and I wasn’t really reading or writing much during that period. I’m back home and settled now, and I’m feeling much better, so I’ll be catching up on the few books and comics I actually got through. Before I was sick, I read the latest installment of The Walking Dead. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this comic. The dialogue’s always been…
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Lost At Sea
Lost At Sea by Bryan Lee O’Malley Format: Original Graphic Novel Originally Published: 2003 Publisher: Oni Press Before Scott Pilgrim, Bryan Lee O’Malley wrote a stand-alone graphic novel about a girl who believes her soul’s been taken by a cat. It’s a coming-of-age story for Raleigh, a recent Vancouver high-school graduate on a road trip in California with three school peers she barely knows. As far as coming-of-age stories are concerned, I tend to love the Spielberg-esque child to teen variation and despise the overly-angsty teen/twenty-something to adult variation. This definitely leans towards the latter, and there’s no denying that it has its fair share of angst, but it is…
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Wolverine
Wolverine By Claremont & Miller by Chris Claremont Illustrated By: Frank Miller, Paul Smith Format: Trade Paperback Comic Collects: Wolverine #1-4, Uncanny X-Men #172-173 Originally Published: 1982/1983 Publisher: Marvel As a short, angry, hairy Canadian, I’ve always felt a special kinship with Wolverine. If there was ever a superhero I could relate to, it’s him. And if it wasn’t him, it might have to be Puck, and that would just be sad. I’m the best there is in what I do. But what I do best isn’t very nice. Wolverine had been part of the X-Men for six or seven years at this point, but this was the first solo…