Derek Roper
Senior Staff Writer
I walked into The Retriever Weekly meeting the other day and apparently, Dark Horse Comics (of Hellboy fame) sent TRW three comics, an unbound graphic novel, and the first couple pages out of another series. To be honest, I’ve been kind of playing favorites lately, mostly with DC Comics (of Batman repute). They may not be comic blockbusters but these issues contain really good stories.
B.P.R.D., Issue #2
First, Hellboy’s agency, Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, has received a limited series, King of Fear, running five issues, till May, and follows the working lives of six B.P.R.D. members. Issue 2, finds Liz Sherman as she returns to find the slaughter of the monks she stayed with years before to learn to better control her pyrokinesis. Furthermore, she has come out of a coma after being possessed.
Liz Sherman has always been a major player in Hellboy and it’s nice to see her spotlighted. She is very worn down and declines help offered by her comrades, Abe Sapien (an amphibious man) and Andrew Devon (a paranormal scholar). Liz and Abe have great banter between them and it’s funny to see Liz hell-bent on doing what she wants with Abe acting like her fishy-Jiminy-Cricket. This feels like the precipice of Liz’s growth, spiritually. After all, she has mastered her powers and needs to feed her soul—what her encounter (at the end of the issue) with the mysterious Memnan Saa, means is unclear.
Plus, B.P.R.D. member, Dr. Kate Corrigan, gets reunited with an (un-human) old friend.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Willow
Keeping in the theme of the paranormal spin-offs, Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Willow Rosenberg, gets a one-shot that occurs before the events of Buffy Season 8 (the continuation of the television series, in comic format).
Having never really followed the Buffy series, it appears that Willow is a goddess and has to go on a spiritual journey that starts at a train station, reminiscent of a certain wizard school, complete with owls and all.
She has to run the gamut of spiritual obstacles while scenes of her with her girlfriend, Tara, are inserted into the story. It should also be mentioned that there aren’t a lot of LGBT super heroes around and it seems Willow is a great character to fill one of those voids. At times, she seems doubtful, but she takes charge and lets her deceivers know that she doesn’t work for them, they work for her.
The art is by Karl Moline and (if you can get past going from TV to 2D images) isn’t a bad break from the television series. Willow looks exactly like Alyson Hannigan. But glancing back at the cover, by Jo Chen, I think a continuation of a TV series needs Chen’s realistic touch.
Mass Effect: Redemption, Issue #1
The third comic is part of the Mass Effect: Redemption mini-series. Written by Mac Walters, one of the head writers of the game, it spotlights the character Liara, who investigates the disappearance of the character Commander Shepard.
This is what a mystery comic should be, and while it would be nice to have previous knowledge of the game, it is not necessary. The plot can be a stand alone and anyone that loves a good mystery and is a fan of space operas will like this story.
The art is by Omar Fancia who reminds me of DC Comics’ Nicola Scott; he is able to draw the characters’ expression really well and doesn’t over exaggerate anatomy. It’s refreshing that more artists are actually learning how to draw females without creating floatation devices on their chests.
However, I do have a quibble with the end of the story. There is a part where Liara meets someone with useless information, the Illusive Man – really, the Illusive Man? It comes off as comical, rather than serious. While this may seem small, the names of characters shouldn’t always be right on the nose; for Omega’s sake, leave the reader with something to think about.
3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man
Leaving the arena of the tie-ins, the graphic novel, 3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man by Matt Kindt is a true work of art.
I have an affinity for one-man stories. Kindt almost meets all the needs of an epic story that is bigger than its subject. The story follows the life of Craig Pressgang, who has a tumor on his pituitary gland and cannot stop growing. This is classic science-fiction at its best. Kitsch stylizes the elements of WWII to provide a great backdrop to the mania that the main character creates.
Kindt has a knack for great storytelling; he goes through the lives of three women in Craig’s life (mother, wife, and daughter). Brilliantly done because, like any big event in the 40s, it focuses on the event and not the actual subject, Craig is more a force. After reading the comic with articles inserted in between flashbacks, the tragedy that is the giant man, catches up to you, even before the end. But like any train wreck, you can’t look away.
The graphic novel also is symbolic of the celebrities like Houdini and Billie Holiday, who were supposedly spies. His fame grants him recognition by the government who want to use him as support for the war.
His long extremities and bodily functions hinder the giant man, who is so out of place in society, he doesn’t know what’s real and what’s not. His wife thinks she is in love with him but really uses him as a cash cow and doesn’t realize the error she has made not thinking about the long-term consequences of high-profile marriage.
The ending was very strange, his daughter, ends the story by searching for him. He is the world’s largest man but it takes her days to find him. She tracks him through eyewitness accounts and pictures, much like Big Foot. Events that happened earlier in the story should have lead to the ending, not dropped it out in left field.
Troublemaker, Chapter One
Janet Evanovich (author of the Stephanie Plum series), has ventured into comics and is bringing all her witty humor and trouble with her.
Now, TRW has only received the first chapter out of the Troublemaker graphic novel and from the bat, the story builds up, even though nothing happens. Text boxes in front of a peaceful town provide a great contrast for the speaker, Alex Barnaby who says she has hid her best friends freight truck and her “friend Rosa [has] removed the dead body that was in the eighteen-wheeler’s storage compartment.”
The story seems to start with everyday humor that works itself to a frenzied climax, much like Evanovich’s other books.
The art is by Joelle Jones (Madam Xanadu) and is crisp and clear but a little zany like Evanovich’s stories.
Seems like a wild ride and it’s great that she has joined other novelists, like Jodi Picoult and Brad Meltzer, in the comics realm.
The sampler Dark Horse provides shows that they are producing good stuff and these stories are highly recommended for those venturing out of the Marvel and DC proper.