Cops on the moon, super hero cops and various non-cop-related titles (2017 review, finale)

My connection to the world of comic books has felt a bit off ever since I quit working for Marvel in 2012. Perhaps I miss the shared universe concept, the excitement of seeing different creators and their characters playing off of each other. Maybe. Still, I got into a few titles this last year.

What was the best new comic I read last year? I dunno. Let's say Mooncop or Baking with Kafka by Tom Gauld. The latter book is a collection of cartoons, while the former is a graphic novel about a police officer on the moon - unfortunately, people are steadily leaving the moon so his job seems to be a pointless one. It's funny and heartfelt.

I read a lot of other books from Canada's Drawn & Quarterly including Hostage by Guy Delisle and both of his Bad Parenting books, plus Rolling Blackouts by Sarah Glidden, which I reviewed here.

I followed Deathstroke by Christopher Priest, Joe Bennett, Carlo Pagulayan & others for most of the year until the book shifted from bi-monthly to monthly status and increased its cover price. Priest seemed to be having the time of his life playing on the fringes of the DC Universe while crafting a complex series loaded with conflicted characters. It's very much like his Black Panther, only with an amoral unstoppable protagonist. You can read one of my reviews from the past year here.

I'm also following G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero by Larry Hama & S. L. Gallant, which spent most of the last year creating a new Snake Eyes for the series (Hama killed off the most popular Joe recently). I'm reading Cerebus in Hell? by Dave Sim which has been published in various different parody title formats (ie, Strange Cerebus) and while it sure ain't Cerebus proper, it makes me chuckle. Usagi Yojimbo by Stan Sakai published a number of issues last year and it's as consistent and strong as ever. I also dipped into the past for Top Ten by Alan Moore & Gene Ha, which I missed back in its heyday; it was as complex as I expected from Moore, but I had difficulty sorting out my feelings about the large cast.

For a time I followed the controversial The Divided States of Hysteria by Howard Chaykin, right up until my comic shop stopped putting it on the shelves! It was easily the second-most reviled book of 2017 (after Marvel's Secret Empire) and isn't that enough reason to check it out? I wrote up my thoughts here.

As I had thoroughly enjoyed the film Edge of Tomorrow I decide to give the earlier manga version a try and read All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka & Takeshi Obata. It has many differences compared to the film and definitely opts for less-optimistic ending. I'm still following Astro City by Kurt Busiek & Brent Anderson, which had a few noteworthy issues last year, particularly a two-parter about a man who learns to be a hero from the example of his dog.

Some more recent reads of mine include the Charles Dickens adaptation Marley's Ghost by Gideon Kendall, which I reviewed here; Captain Kronos by Dan Abnett & Tom Mandrake, reviewed here; The Sworn Sword by Ben Avery & Mike S. Miller which is set in the world of George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones world but is a shade more optimistic; the M. R. James adaptations found in Ghost Stories of an Antiquary Vol.2 by Leah Moore, John Reppion & others, reviewed by me here; and the European book Alter Ego: Camille by Pierre-Paul Renders, Denis Lapiere & Mathieu Reynes, which I hope to review soon as it has elements worth talking about... and people don't seem to be talking about it online.

Happy 2018!

"So... the answer to gun violence... is more guns?" Deathstroke #11 review

In an essay titled "Paycheck Comics," Christopher Priest wrote extensively about the malaise he's often fallen under due to the underwhelming assignments which have plagued his career. He has very frequently been placed on assignments with less-than-prestigious artists, less-than-prestigious characters, or both. Priest's current assignment is DC Comics' Deathstroke, which is certainly not a top-drawer character; Deathstroke is widely-considered a great Teen Titans villain (he and Trigon being the only ones considered better than decent), but as a lead character his reputation ranks somewhere below Metamorpho and the Creeper. Deathstroke is certainly not a property I'd pay good money to read - not unless someone like Priest were penning his tales. Well, for some reason, DC seems to want this comic to succeed (how novel!) and have been throwing good artists at it. The two rotating regular talents are Joe Bennett and Carlo Pagulayan and they're doing a fine job; now the first fill-in artists have dropped in and it's gone from a two-parter by Cary Nord to a done-in-one by Denys Cowan & Bill Sienkiewicz!

That story was told in last week's Deathstroke #11: "Chicago." It's an old-school fill-in story which doesn't tie into any of the ongoing plots and stands on its own. The many spinning subplots in Deathstroke about Slade Wilson, his ex-wife, his daughter, his son and so forth are nowhere to be found. Instead Priest has taken this opportunity to consider the problem of gun violence in the USA. Artist Denys Cowan is an old Priest collaborator and inker Bill Sienkiewicz, a formidable and legendary penciler in his own right, enhances Cowan's art with his own style. Right here, this is top-drawer comics.

The plot of "Chicago" concerns the mothers of gun violence victims hiring Deathstroke to kill the gang members who killed their children. This draws in reporter Jack Ryder (aka the Creeper) who finds various aspects of the situation unusual - most notably that Deathstroke isn't using his guns to kill the gang members.

Priest isn't the only person to use Deathstroke as a means to comment upon gun violence as the recent Orlando nightclub shooting led to a DC benefit comic in which Deathstroke appeared to declare he wouldn't use guns any more, the kind of toothless cringeworthy but earnest reaction you expect from comics. (see the page here) Priest has no interest in having his Deathstroke adopt the moral high ground on the issue of gun violence - he is a mercenary who has always used guns and always will. When he is pressed in "Chicago" to suggest a solution to the USA's problem he offers: "Better aim."

This is also a comic book in which the Creeper appears, as the cover suggests. I'm certainly not up on what's been done with the character lately as Priest's Deathstroke is the first DC super hero book I've followed in many years, but Priest pays lip service to the evident changes others inflicted on the character: "I've been... going through some changes... don't understand them all... but I feel more like myself than I have in years!" Visually he's in his original Ditko visuals which, considering the tone of this book and the artists chosen, fits better than you'd expect. A bright yellow man with green hair and a red shawl can look a wee bit ridiculous, but Cowan & Sienkiewicz were game and made it work here. It also helps that the Creeper is held back until the climax. DC's recent "Rebirth" branding which brought Priest to his comic has seen many of the changes from "the New 52" walked back as many characters have been reverted back to their previous interpretations and that seems to be the idea behind Priest's take on the Creeper - whatever it was they tried to do to redevelop the character clearly didn't work, so here's the old version of the Creeper which still runs quite well.

Part of why Priest has had trouble with his artistic collaborators in the past is that he tells very complex stories with a great deal of text - which needs to be read - and visuals which need to be interpreted correctly. Sometimes he's instructed artists to plant clues to guide the reader towards the solution of a mystery he's creating, only for the artist to skip the clues just to get the page done. Priest needs collaborators who show up to work. And here we have Cowan & Sienkiewicz who most certainly have! The 1st page has 12 panels! I can't recall the last time I read a super hero comic with so many panels on one page! Their harsh, wild lines emphasize danger during the action scenes and while there aren't many characters in this story wearing colorful costumes, they run through a cast with dozens of different civilian characters who are each distinct from each other. I'd enjoy it if these two were the regular art team on Deathstroke, I'd love for Priest to craft more scripts tailored to their strengths.

Priest is, in real life, a priest, but he's never seemed too interested in using comics as a platform for sermons. "Chicago" offers no solutions to the matter of gun violence (Deathstroke does not throw his guns in a dumpster here). There is a killer who needs to be dealt with, but the big issues receive no closure, no "go and do likewise" no "visit this website and get involved." Priest has written about gang violence and tragic shootings a few times during his career and it's safe to say that even if he lives to write until the age of 100, he'll still have material to pull from our headlines.

"Either kill me, or gear up." Deathstroke #1 review

When did I last purchase a DC super hero comic? That is, a brand-new book? It was before the New 52. It was before Flashpoint. Was it around Brightest Day? It's been so long; but that magic name "Christopher Priest" brought me back.

Priest has essentially been in self-imosed exile from comics (barring Q2: The Return of Quantum & Woody) until editors offered him an assignment outside of the "black book" ghetto. It only took 12 years for someone to consider him as writer for a white super hero! Progress! Paired with artist Carlo Pagulayan (who is apparently not yet a big name despite drawing Planet Hulk, one of the best super hero comics of the 21st century), Priest is back with... Deathstroke #1!

So DC Comics is offering their comics for less than any of their competitors - $2.99 when almost everyone else has upped the price to $3.99. I like saving money, so that gives Deathstroke a lot of rope - which is good because I can't muster up much affection for the character. He was the breakout villain of Marv Wolfman & George Perez's New Teen Titans, but beginning in the 2000s he became ridiculously overblown, seeming to have a major fight with the Titans every calendar year and suddenly becoming a man who could go toe-to-toe with Flashes and Green Lanterns.

So what we have here is continuing from whatever DC's been doing with the character since the New 52. Based on this, Deathstroke is a superhuman mercenary who accepts a job in Africa to kill the super-villain Clock King. En route, Deathstroke remembers how he treated his sons while they were growing up (fun fact: Deathstroke is historically better at ruining his own children's lives than he is fighting the Titans; he's basically Doctor Light with a sword). When Deathstroke learns his old friend Wintergreen is being held nearby he switches plans to rescue him.

Priest is back to the non-linear style with sections introduced by "chapter" breaks, first seen in Quantum & Woody. He used this during his first year of Black Panther, but only because editorial asked him to; one wonders if DC is likewise responsible for him reverting to this style. I won't complain - it's distinctive. At the same time, it makes his comics a little more challenging to comprehend than your typical fare. I fully expect this first issue will read differently once the first storyarc is completed and more details about what's going on surface.

Pagulayan's art looks great, with the colouring by Jeremy Cox helping to set scenes apart through blues (flashbacks), oranges (exposition) and greens (story). There's not much of Priest's trademark humour to be found, but I'm pleased enough with this book and elated to finally have Priest back in comics on a regular basis.