In Mikita Brottman’s salvo The Solitary Vice: Against Reading (itself a book, which can only be understood through that unsavory act of reading), the author explores the “dark, pathological side of reading,” including the fallacious notion reading, especially that reading certain types of literature, somehow makes a person better than others. Without reservation, we fully support Brottman’s crusade against this type of thinking. After all, with our end-of-year list comprised of comics and a scant smattering of books, we’d hate for our intellectual cache to be diminished by dint of our unsophisticated tastes in written materials.
Comic books:
The Darkness (Ongoing Series, Top Cow)
The allure of The Darkness, for me, is the many little things that make up the whole that keep me entertained. I first became a fan over five years ago, but the lack of a decent comic book shop in the area I lived in at the time kept me from expanding my collection. Those were very sad times for me. Then, when I heard tale of a video game adaptation being released in July of 2007, my interest was reborn and I dug out the single Darkness comic I owned and looked at it fondly. Personally, I thought the game was brilliant, and though there were some issues with the camera that I had and the darklings, I knew it would have definite replay value. The voice acting was spot-on, the story engaging, and though the ending of the video game was actually weaker than the comic book based off of the game (Levels), it was still a nice twist.
Part of an ever-changing series that stemmed from an appearance in a Witchblade comic in 1996 and was created by one of my favourite Wolverine comic artists, Marc Silvestri, the latest reboot takes Jackie’s abilities with the Darkness a little further. Jackie now can create buildings, addictive money making drugs (Nightfall), water and even a person completely born of the evil entity but that is not necessarily evil in itself. The story follows not only his struggle with trying to be accepted by the people of the small republic known as Sierra Munoz, but also enduring the attacks of a resistance organization who are ultimately against his existence. I can’t go into too many details without writing a separate post, but suffice to say things don’t look good for Jackie.
If you’re new to the franchise, I would start with The Darkness Compendium. That will bring you up to speed to the history and the relationship Jackie has with the organic creature that took over his life. Alternately, Witchblade: First Born is also kind of a good ice breaker if you want to learn about the other aspects of where it originated from, bringing into the reader’s view the existence of Witchblade as well as the Angelus, and even Magdelana has a guest appearance.
And while I’m writing a novelette, go ahead and check out the video game and the Levels comic as well. Go on! —Sam Pagan
All-Star Superman (Limited Series, DC)
Can I tell you a secret? I don’t like superheroes. I don’t know what bugs me about them, but I really haven’t been a fan of many comics that feature protagonists in tights. Grant Morrison sure stuffed it in my smug face with All-Star Superman. I can’t exactly say what it is about the comic that appeals to me so much. Maybe it’s the stellar writing, maybe it’s the amazing artwork, or it could be the feeling I get when I read it. All-Star Superman is one of those comics you gotta read with your shoes off. Preferable someplace warm, and comfortable. You’re going to read it straight through, and start it again when you finish. —Ryan Jovian
The Helm (Limited Series, Dark Horse)
There are two kinds of comic book readers: fanboys, and those who laugh at fanboys. If you’re indignantly protesting to your computer screen like a twenty-first century Ignatius J. Reilly that this is a gross misinterpretation of the sophisticated crowd sequential art has attracted since Alan Moore climbed out of the primordial ink to pen Watchmen, you’re partially right – or, you could just be a fanboy. In Jim Hardison’s The Helm, Mathew Blurdy fits the working-at-the-video-store-and-living-in-his-mother’s-basement mold until he discovers a magical talking helm at a rummage sale that tells him he’s the chosen one. It quickly changes its mind, but it’s too late: Mathew is going to face ancient evils – and he might just survive the whole ordeal! —Robert Starvation
Doktor Sleepless (Ongoing Series, Avatar)
Warren Ellis is nothing if not inconsistent. At his best, he’s a modern master – at worst, he’s pushing pulp overstuffed with ideas at the expense of a compelling narrative. Doktor Sleepless managed to be both in 2008: the former, as Ellis concluded Sleepless‘ first story arc in a spectacular fashion, the latter with the so-far unimpressive storyline that followed, which, admittedly, is only two-eighths in. Can you please get back to the high water mark you set for the good Doktor, Mr. Ellis? We know you have it in you. —Robert Starvation
John Constantine: Hellblazer (Ongoing Series, Vertigo)
John Constatine, that surly old bastard of a mage, never seems to get old. Not so much age-wise, since unlike so many other funnybook creations his body is not immune to the ravages of time. No, his saga remains fresh and interesting, even at the 250 issue mark. Forget the imaginary magic within John Constantine: Hellblazer’s pages. I suspect real sorcery is keeping the series as good as it is. —Robert Starvation
Angel: After The Fall (Limited Series, IDW)
Before any praise can be bestowed, a bone of contention: the art in Angel: After the Fall. Oh, that godsawful, truly terrible art. For a comic that continues a series with cult popularity that ran for five years, it’s an insult, and worse, a distraction for the main characters to bear little resemblance to who fans are used to seeing. But that maddening flaw aside, Angel is really quite good. Writer Brian Lynch, under the direction of Buffyverse progenitor Joss Whedon, captures the voices and personality of all the major players, and deftly portrays both the vastness and the intimacy of a Los Angeles that has gone to Hell. And I do mean that literally. —Robert Starvation
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 (Ongoing Series, Dark Horse)
Is it too early to wonder what season 9 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer has in store? Buffy’s transition to canonical comics slaying has been an unmitigated success, finally washing away the taste that the listless middle of the last televised season left with, well, everyone (incidentally, the taste is a mealy blend of rotting sardines and paste). And Jeph Loeb’s blast to the past in After These Messages may be the funniest single issue of a comic I’ve read all year. —Robert Starvation
Faker (Graphic Novel, Vertigo)
I like twists in my fiction. Call me wacky, but if you can make me believe I have everything figured out and that I “wrote the book” myself and then flip it on me and totally split my wig, you’ve got a fan. Mike Carey does just that in Faker, one of the finest offerings to be collected this year. Nothing is quite as satisfying as a comic that can give you the same feeling a well-made action movie can. Weighing in at a scant six issues, you are going to be amazed at how much story is crammed into their meager pages. —Ryan Jovian
Gravel (Ongoing Series, Avatar)
Sgt. Major William Gravel is a battle mage, a function that involves a certain amount of fucking up people with the dark arts in ways that challenge the imagination. He’s also a member of the Minor Seven – or he was, until the other six were made an offer they couldn’t refuse and replaced him, claiming they thought he was dead. Now Gravel is working his way through his former allies, usually with magic bullets, and collecting pieces of a manuscript of eldritch power at such a magnitude it had to be divided among them. Gravel is Warren Ellis in his purest distilled form: all snarling violence and withering dialogue, without any extemporaneous bullshit getting in the way of enjoying it. It’s worth a read, if you like things that are AWESOME. —Robert Starvation
Hellboy: Darkness Calls (Graphic Novel, Dark Horse)
The Hellboy comics after Red left the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense weren’t exactly lacking – Mike Mignola was still telling amazing story, as he has the bad habit of doing – but they lacked the forward propulsive motion of earlier collections. Hellboy went to Africa, Hellboy battled mercreatures… it was all well and good, but all too brief. It felt sidetracked, and might have stayed that way, had Mignola not recruited Duncan Fegredo to take over on art (using a style that could be mistaken for Mignola’s own). Freed from his own admitted perfectionism on the visual side of things, he could write something as superb as Darkness Calls. At the risk of coming across as hyperbolic, it’s the best Hellboy story to date, casting the working class demon into Baba Yaga’s realm. The witch still blames him for the loss of one of her eyes, and as a result, he has to deal with pretty much every mythical character that populates slavic folklore. Two words: Fuck. Yes. —Robert Starvation
Welcome To Hoxford (Mini Series, IDW)
Just when you thought Ben Templesmith had been as offensive and vulgar as possible with Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse, he comes out with a mini-series like Welcome to Hoxford that makes you think twice about reading any of his stuff before bedtime. Hoxford, in his own words, is Templesmith’s experiment on learning how far IDW will let him go without crossing the line, then crossing that line and several more. Pedophilia, necrophilia, incest and bestiality; it’s all here! All wrapped up in an eerie prison setting whose dinginess is successfully translated via Templesmith’s unique art style. If you’re a fan of this pinstripe suit-wearing Aussie or you just have a really odd, strange sense of humour and just so happen to like lycanthropy folklore, then Welcome to Hoxford will sate that thirst for something completely different. —Sam Pagan
DAR: A Super Girly Top Secret Comic Diary, Volume #2 (Ongoing, self published)
Erika Moen has an exuberant lust for life that can’t be faked. Dar: A Super Girly Top Secret Comic Diary, her weekly webcomic that chronicles her own life, is the stuff glee is made of. Perhaps it’s her own unself-conscious honesty, or her wicked sense of humor – either way, once you pick up Dar, you’ll be laughing inappropriately in no time. —Robert Starvation
The Sword (Ongoing Series, Image)
The Sword has never been the basic “family slaughtered, revenge sworn” saga it appeared to be in early teasers. Oh, the elements are there, but The Sword is imbued with power, millennia old, that reaches through the mist of ages to weave a satisfying tapestry of a story. This being a Luna Brothers joint, it’s also full of action sequences that jump off the page and miraculously aren’t boring. What the Lunas are doing is nothing less than expanding the possibilities of their chosen art form, and becoming one of the powerhouse comics teams of the decade in the process. —Robert Starvation
The Darkness: Butcher (One-off, Top Cow)
I know I wrote a lot about The Darkness already, but I feel this Butcher deserves honourable mention. I was first introduced to the character Butcher Joyce in the video game and the guy grew on me. He’s funny, he’s tough, but he is also rather well-mannered. Butch’s role in the game isn’t too large but he certainly leaves an impression on you, even if he is just the mob clean-up crew. The thing about Butch is that he doesn’t take sides. Despite being the confidant to Jackie Estacado, he knows that getting involved just gets you into trouble. Though the comic says “#1″ on the cover and not “one-shot,” I’m led to believe that there are to be no more issues concerning Butch and his secrets. But I’ll be looking for them, just in case. —Sam Pagan
The Goon (Ongoing Series, Dark Horse)
I want to talk about how amazing the writing is in The Goon, but I can’t stop staring at Eric Powell’s artwork. You’ll never miss color looking at the pages he’s drawn. Hilarious characters and brilliant use of classic noir cliches can’t hide the heart at the center of the story. Why do I like The Goon? Because I wish The Goon was real, and I wish he was my friend. I like comics that make me feel like a kid again. —Ryan Jovian
X-Force (Ongoing Series, Marvel)
How could a Wolverine fangirl such as myself pass up a comic such as this? X-Force is a secretive task force enlisted by Cyclops, headed by Wolverine, and containing the skills of X-23, Warpath, and Wolfsbane completely set apart from the operations and objections of the X-Men; doing things that the X-Men would never be associated with being involved in – Sign me up! This volume (the third) contains an ominous story arc where Cyclops asks Wolvy to bring together the new X-Force to help fight the newest mutant adversary known as the Purifiers. The Purifiers are a religion-based organization bent on eliminating all the mutants that besmirch the land of man and god. And like all religion-based organizations, they are crazy and over-zealous to the point of illogical actions. With cameos from Elixir (a powerful healer), Angel (and Archangel), and eventually Domino, the blood continues to flow as the X-Force bites off almost more than they can chew. Mmm, tasty. —Sam Pagan
Berlin (Ongoing, Drawn and Quarterly)
Jason Lutes’ Berlin is without parallel anywhere in comics. The epic story of the denizens of Berlin, Germany in the years before Hitler took power is so vibrant and modern that it fills the reader with newly invested emotion in a story whose outcome is immovable. —Robert Starvation
Books:
What book review wouldn’t be complete without me reviewing a Harry Potter book? J.K. Rowling came near to making herself a lot of enemies when she first declared that new Harry Potter books would never see the light of day, and then, just over a year later, released The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a spin-off from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Frankly, when a new Harry Potter book is released, I don’t ask questions. I just buy. In case you’re wondering, Rowling originally hand-wrote and illustrated seven copies: six of which went to the people she felt most helped bring Harry Potter to life, and a seventh, which she auctioned. When the auctioned copy exceeded Rowling’s £50,000 expectations to sell for a staggering £1.95 million, it became the world’s most valuable modern literary manuscript of all time. Rowling, being the do-gooder she is, decided to mass-publish the tales… and gave the proceeds to the Children’s High Level Group, which provides vital funding for children in some of Europe’s most dismal orphanages.
With that said, how was the book? Fabulous. It has a few footnotes and prologues that bring back some of our beloved characters, but for the most part, the book contains nothing but the bizarrely fascinating tales of the wizarding world’s famous Bard. Fun to read both to yourself, and out loud, The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a must-have for any Potter-fan’s collection. So quit your bitching about what she said a year ago, and go help fund an orphanage, Scrooge. —Jessica
If there’s a queen of historical snark, author Sarah Vowell is wearing the robes and the crown, and has no intention of surrendering them. In The Wordy Shipmates, Vowell’s latest historical figures of interest are America’s historical antecedents, the Puritans. Not those attention whores from the Mayflower – her primary focus is on John Winthrop and the Virginia Colony. They prove to be a generous subject, allowing Vowell to circuitously lead readers through their voyage on the Arbella, on to Roger Williams’ exile and subsequent founding of Rhode Island, without forgetting to render in horrifying detail the colonist’s massacre of an entire Pequot Indian fort, including the women and children. The Wordy Shipmates is sometimes tangential, but consummately readable, and casts a light on the not-so-tenuous relationship between past and present. —Robert Starvation
Ah… holiday tales as only Lemony Snicket can write them… The Lump of Coal brings with it Snicket’s warped, witty, tongue-in-cheek, not-quite-for-kids, writing style. It’s a tale about a lump of coal that “Like many people who dress in black… was interested in becoming an artist.” Snicket proves that “Miracles can happen, even to those who are small, flammable, and dressed all in black.” What’s not to love? —Jessica
