Review - Hellboy Library Edition Volume 1

Hellboy Library Edition Volume 1
Containing Seed of Destruction and Wake the Devil
Written by Mike Mignola and John Byrne; Art by Mike Mignola
1995 Eisner Winner for Best Writer/Artist for Mike Mignola
1997 Eisner Winner for Best Writer/Artist (Drama) for Mike Mignola
2009 Eisner Winner for Best Production Design

It's rare for an ongoing series by one creator to improve over time. It's far more common for them to spend their effort on the original work and slowly run out of ideas or burn out. With Hellboy I initially didn't care for it. As time went by and people kept raving about the series I decided to give it another chance. What I found was that the earliest stuff was shaky but Mignola found his footing and took things in a better direction. So as I look over the first volume of the Library Edition which contains the first two miniseries and pair of extremely brief preview stories I am inclined to give it a bit more slack because I know what's coming.

The titular character is a paranormal investigator who is usually called in to deal with the problems where hitting the paranormal creature repeatedly is a good idea. He mysteriously appeared in 1944 at a moment the coincided with a failed attempt by Nazi occultists to awaken Lovecraftian horrors. After spending fifty years looking into other people's weirdness his origins come back to haunt him as one of the occultists returns to use Hellboy.

One of the biggest problems I had with Hellboy that I can still see is that Mignola's plots in these books seem to revolve around "What would look cool" instead of making sense. I'll complain loudly when there's too much exposition but the stories in these pages go the opposite route of containing far too little. This is especially a problem in the second story, Wake the Devil, where even knowing what's coming I still have trouble following it. As a broad example of this kind of thing, there is a monster that gets hit and turns into bones and this is a major plot event with no explanation of how or why it occurs. It's just an excuse to show the creature suddenly becoming a skeleton.

Another problem is that when there is a plot it's not a very engrossing one. The first story is essentially Hellboy and crew go to a haunted house where they stay the night and punch deep ones. With the second there's... um... well there's vampires... and a goddess I think... and there's something about an iron maiden that I didn't really follow... well see the above paragraph. There's some exciting action scenes and some spooky locations and some creepy monster monster designs but they just don't come together well. It's stuff that's cool without putting them into a story that's as interesting as they are.

Which isn't to say it's all bad. Occasionally things will come together just right for a flash of brilliance. In particular the climaxes of both stories are better than they deserve to be given their lackluster set up. Yes, the bad guys are going to get beaten and the heroes triumph but the way that things are brought together at the ending is entertaining. The metastory that is being developed in this book is far more interesting than the actual stories and that is what can carry you on to the point where Hellboy starts developing depth.

Mignola's artwork is an acquired taste and when I first read Hellboy I had not acquired it yet. He has a way with heavy shadows that flattens out the perspective. It drove me crazy until I got into the groove of his sharp edged line work that takes advantage of those heavy black areas. It's a very impressionistic style that I've come to appreciate as the look for the creatures of the night.

The Library Edition volumes of Hellboy are the best produced volume of comics that I have on my shelves. They're oversized but not so monstrously oversized that they're uncomfortable to read. They feature the heaviest paper stock I've seen; it's something that I've only encountered before in art books. The cloth binding has no dust jacket to get torn but still looks nice thanks to the embossing and plate set in the front. Oh, and it costs about as much as the first two Hellboy trade paperbacks so it's a bargain as well.

I said a lot of negative things in this review but when it comes down to it I found Seed of Destruction and Wake the Devil to be blandly average comics. Mignola uses these as a launchpad and turns the series into something that explores folklore in a way that I have enjoyed quite a bit. Still I'd recommend starting with the second volume of the library edition and then going backward if you're a newcomer to Hellboy. And whether you are or not if you want to get Hellboy then the Library Editions are the best way to own the series. I wish all of my collected editions were as nice as this book.

Review - Rose

Rose
Written by Jeff Smith; Art by Charles Vess
2002 Eisner Winner for Best Painter/Multimedia Artist

"Does Bone really need a prequel?" I asked myself when I first encountered Rose. I liked Bone a lot but it did start to drag toward the end. And rather than focusing on the comical misadventures of the Bones this was about the rulers of the fantasy kingdom that Bone is set in. It would make a radical departure in style to something that I thought that I probably wouldn't really care for. Still the place I first saw the book was at a convention booth for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and I thought that getting some pleasant Charles Vess artwork, an autographed copy of the book, and supporting a good cause at the same time wouldn't hurt and I picked it up. I'm glad I did because what I found was Rose wasn't Bone Part 2 or even Pre-Bone; it's a pretty good story that stands well on its own.

In a fantasy kingdom the heir is decided by which of the king's children has the greatest mystical abilities. Princess Rose is very strong, can sense danger, communicates with some intelligent animals, and has prophetic dreams but lacks the discipline to do well with her studies. Her sister Briar has the discipline but no mystical abilities. Together they are summoned to a remote cavern for the final test to determine who will be heir. An evil power is stirring and Rose accidently unleashes a tiny portion of it as a dragon. The dragon is just a fragment of a larger scheme and there is a high price to pay for its defeat.

I'm underselling the plot quite a bit in that brief description. Smith crafted a dense story where new subtleties and twists keeps pushing it in new directions. I'm sure that the broad strokes of the plotting will be obvious to anyone (even without the advantage of reading the previous comics); it's the texture that he gives it that makes Rose interesting.

Part of that is in the characterization. Rose is one of those characters who finds that being the hero of the story doesn't mean that things are easy. Her youthful follies out of love and innocence cause most of her problems. This may be the story of a fairy tale dragon slayer but its heroine is not the simple white knight of legends.

Vess artwork is magnificent. The actual layouts are traditional inked lines but all of the coloring is done with watercolors which compliment his swirling line work. It's a technique that he's used many times and I find that his painted colors give the book a gentler tone than more traditional coloring techniques would. In addition he mimics Smith's style of character design in Rose. Usually Vess's figures are are very elaborate and here they seem like a compromise between his extreme and Smith's simple animation based style.

In an interesting spin on things Rose works just as well if you read it before Bone as it does if you read it afterward. On the one hand there's plot developments from half way through Bone that will be given away by reading Rose, but on the other there's bits in Rose that turn some minor conversations in Bone to shocking revelations. The two play off each other amazingly well despite being dramatically different.

If you liked Bone then you really should read Rose. And if you haven't read Bone then I still recommend Rose because it's a charmingly told fairy tale style fable. Though Rose might be overshadowed by Smith's more popular book (I doubt I'm going to find this on shelves at Wal-Mart any time soon, for example) I think it's deserving of equal praise as a companion to it.

Review - Superman: Peace On Earth

Superman: Peace On Earth
Story by Alex Ross and Paul Dini; Art by Alex Ross
1999 Eisner Winner for Best Painter (Interior Art)

"Superman is too powerful to be interesting," is a common refrain among comic book fans. In fact it's become so common that it's not unheard of for those who write comic books to say it rather than doing the obvious thing and placing him in conflicts where that power isn't a solution. His abilities do raise an uncomfortable question that all superhero comics dodge: if he's so great why has he been around for seventy years and hasn't actually accomplished any change in the world? In my experience when writers attempt to address this problem head on they tend to make things worse no matter what position they take whether it's making an excuse or engaging in bland deconstructionism. Superman: Peace On Earth tries to be uplifting but it left me with a bitter taste in my mouth and thinking that the reason Superman doesn't fix the world's problems is because it would be hard.

After living on Earth for his entire life Superman suddenly finds out that there are people who go hungry and feels guilty about it. So he decides that to deal with it he will distribute food to everyone in the world for one day. This plan consists of him gathering up donated food and dropping a cargo container filled with raw grain down in front of hungry people before flying off again. In his idealism he fails to recognize that comically evil forces don't want him making a hollow gesture and he encounters resistance.

No matter how you cut it this is a ridiculous story. Yes, I recognize the irony of saying that about a book where the main character is an alien who flies around doing good deeds. Even if you assume that it only takes Superman a few seconds for each drop off the delivery time is far longer than day; that may seem like picking at nits but the story makes a big deal about feeding the world for a day with an imposed time limit. Anyone with even a fundamental understanding of the scale of the population of the Earth and amount of time in a day will have their suspension of disbelief shaken pretty hard. Then there is the fact that dropping a cargo container of grain in a village of twenty and then flying away to the next delivery is about the worst possible way to handle such a plan. Since one of the major issues with food aid is corruption and inefficiency in getting it into the hands of the hungry individuals this scheme just makes things worse. So what we have is a hollow, inefficient gesture from a Superman whose flighty attention drifted onto this one issue for a few minutes and that makes the ending even worse.

Part of the message that Dini is trying to present in these pages is that while Superman is great he can't do everything by brute force. The problem is that even in the context of the book he can. The only actual problems he faces in Peace On Earth are authorial fiat which leaves a bad impression of the character in the end.

Peace On Earth actually exists to be a poster book for Alex Ross's paintings. It is a bit of stretch to call it a comic since the story consists of flat expository text with no dialog that is illustrated by Ross's art. For the most part Ross's artwork isn't used to develop the story and there are very few sequential panels. It's much closer to a picture book in that regard with prose as dry as a saltine.

Individually Ross does a fine job with his images though for some reason Superman's expressions in the book bothered me. He just seems passive in most of the paintings irregardless of what he's doing. Also I think that the format didn't suit Ross as well as it could have; when he does a two page sequence that demonstrates action things look better than the many stand alone images throughout the book. On the whole it's decent but it's not his best work.

I would only recommend Superman: Peace On Earth if you're a huge fan of Alex Ross's art. Dini's story is unpleasant as allegory or read straight and the actual text doesn't help it at all. If you've seen Ross's art elsewhere and enjoyed it a bit then you may find it to be a bit disappointing here. On the other hand if you can't get enough of his paintings of Superman then having them in this oversized format will be a joy for you.

Review - The Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot

The Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot
Written by Frank Miller; Art by Geof Darrow
1996 Eisner Winner for Best Penciller/Inker

I've been selecting books to talk about this week based mainly on picking out some lighthearted ones. It occurs to me, though, as I sit here flipping through The Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot that I haven't paid a lot of attention to the artists who have won the Eisners. The reason for this is that while I can tell what I like and can recognize how well an artist serves a story actually critiquing artists is beyond me. I can barely tell the difference between two inkers so getting much deeper than, "This guy's got a dynamic style that captures action well," just isn't possible for me.

The reason that this comes up is that The Bug Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot (which I'm shortening to Big Guy from now on) exists entirely as a showcase for Geof Darrow's artwork. Miller's story is barely a framework. It's a touch of fluff that acts as an excuse for Darrow to go crazy. The plot is paper thin and characterization is so close to zero that if you blink you'll miss it because this is a story about high tech fighting machines blowing up dinosaurs.

Here's the story. There's a lab and they accidentally make a dinosaur that spits stuff that turns people into small monsters. This giant dinosaur proceeds to rampage through Tokyo where the Japanese military is just as effective as it ever is against giant monsters rampaging through Tokyo. The government sends in a robot that looks a lot like Astroboy who can't beat it and then call in good old American know how in the form of a giant (but not as giant as the dinosaur) robot who shows up to kick ass.

It's ludicrous, over the top, and more of an excuse than an actual story. Miller plays it mostly straight so there isn't any winking at the audience to let them know that he's being goofy on purpose. This reads like one of those monster movies that are shown on Mystery Science Theater 3000 where people say the most terrible dialog possible with a straight face.

But enough about the Miller's writing. You won't be buying this book for it.

Darrow is known for his phenomenally over-detailed art. If someone is firing a gun that shoots a hundred rounds a minute he'll draw every one of those rounds firing and every spent shell that's falling. His character designs show every fold and crinkle in their faces. His cityscapes are heavily populated with modern life.

He goes crazy with this in Big Guy. There are huge double page spreads that you'll need to break out a magnifying glass to see all the complexity he packed into the images. The collected edition is oversized which helps you take it all in. This might as well be a poster book of Darrow's images.

And there isn't much more to say than that. If you like Darrow's art then you'll enjoy seeing him go crazy with this story and if you don't then Miller's story isn't even an interesting parody. For myself I think the weaknesses outweighed the positive and there's better books featuring Darrow's artwork.

Review - Formerly Known as the Justice League

Formerly Known as the Justice League
Written by Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis; Art by Kevin Maguire and Joe Rubinstein
2004 Eisner Winner for Best Humor Publication

This is an easy one to put a recommendation on: did you enjoy the Justice League stories from the late eighties where things were funny and cheerful? If yes, then you need to read Formerly Known as the Justice League (and it's even better sequel I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League). If your response was "Who was that?" then this isn't the book for you. This is essentially a reunion special, a gathering of old friends that will make those who fondly remember the original smile and those who just don't know it wonder what the big deal is.

Maxwell Lord has decided to revive his Justice League as a low-rent non-profit called Superbuddies. He recruits old members like Ralph and Sue Dibney, Captain Atom, L-Ron, Fire, Blue Beetle, and Booster Gold along with newcomer Mary Marvel. Before they're established they have to deal with the world's most erudite street gang, being kidnapped for gladiatorial matches, and the return of one of their old foes.

That's a plot that's uninspiring. It's blandly generic when it comes to superheroes. The key to Formerly Known as the Justice League is that it is a joke (in case you couldn't tell from the title). These characters can't stand in the same room without breaking into a comedy routine. It's the dialog and characters that are a lot of fun in this book. It is a farce and comedy bits will swing back and forth through the whole thing.

The biggest downside here is that it is very dependent on the reader being familiar with the original stories. There are details that color things which only work with knowing the context. Why do Blue Beetle and Booster Gold argue like an old married couple? Or why this Maxwell Lord guy is so important. Or what's the big deal with the superheroes who show up at the end.

The reunion special aspect also hurts the story a bit. It's just not quite as good as the original. The sequel, I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League, does a much better job of living up to the original stories but there's occasional moments in Formerly where the manic energy just fades away and it feels like the story is just going through the motions. You can hang a lampshade on how cliche of story making superheroes fight in gladiatorial combat is but that doesn't change that it isn't really an interesting story to tell.

I suppose I should add to this review that as a cruelly ironic twist these stories were released simultaneously with stories that derailed these characters. This one came out at the same time as Identy Crisis which leads off with one of the main characters being murdered and adds some rape into the mix. The sequel was released at the same time as a story where another of the main characters murders yet another of them. So don't try to fit these stories into continuity; the creators did and got their work stepped on.

The worst nightmare for a comic book artist is the talking heads scene: a lot of dialog and not much to illustrate beyond the character's face. Most comic book artists play with the staging but there are a rare breed of them who can take those dialog scenes and play with expressions to make those talking heads artistically interesting and their king is Kevin Maguire. I've never seen anyone handle those sequences better than him and since Formerly Known as the Justice League is almost all talking heads. The facial acting that Maguire gives to every single character both prevents that from being boring and aids in the comedy.

I think it's obvious that I loved Giffen, DeMatteis, and Maguire's original Justice League stories. I mean really loved them. I mean to the point that I was disappointed that I didn't go ahead and blow my paycheck on some of Maguire's original art from one of the issues when I had the opportunity to twenty years ago. So Formerly Known as the Justice League was a comforting visit to some old friends for me. If you don't have that fondness then I think you may find it to just be a quirky superhero book.

Review - Gon Swimmin'

Gon Swimmin'
by Masahi Tanaka
1998 Eisner Winner for Best Humor Publication
1998 Eisner Winner for Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material

Comic books with animal stars are more common than you might expect. Usually these are heavily anthropomorphic with the animals acting essentially like tiny humans. Gon Swimmin' offers an animal comic with a slightly different view. Most of the animals in it act like animals with the exception of the title character.

Gon is a tiny dinosaur that lives in something resembling modern times though no humans or signs of civilization appeared in Gon Swimmin'. Instead Gon encounters different animals in his travels and the animals have to deal with Gon's tough-guy attitude. In this fourth book in the series Gon tries on a turtle shell and joins the migration of baby sea turtles who fall one by one predators, tries to cross a desert with some unfortunate animals, and struts around the savanna with a group of feline cubs.

The stories are completely "silent"; there is no dialog or onomatopoeia. While the later two stories were simple enough that the technique worked fine there was an unusual transition in the first story that left me completely bewildered and without any context. With the art carrying the weight of the story there are some flaws that turn up. On occasion it is difficult to follow the flow of the action and I sometimes had to flip back to make sure I didn't miss something.

On the other side of the art Tanaka draws some spectacular animals. While Gon is clearly cartoony the rest of the cast is drawn almost realistically. The exception is the occasional distortion of their faces to help make them more expressive. It's such slight anthropomorphism that it could easily go completely unnoticed and it brings home the fact that these are stories about animals instead of people.

Even with the weaker storytelling on the part of the art the first story with the turtle migration is by far the best of three in this book. It captures the struggles of the natural world as the number of baby sea turtles dwindle over the course of the story. The second story was the weakest in my view since none of the animals crossing the desert connected with me. On the other hand the final story which might have been the slightest of them in plot was more fun because it just let Gon push his way across Africa.

One thing that I did not like in Gon Swimmin' was that the U.S. publisher added a text introduction to each story that unnecessarily explained the plot. These could have been dropped and it would have improved the book.

After reading Gon Swimmin' I've decided that Gon is not for me. I just didn't find Tanaka's silent storytelling compelling enough to return and Gon himself didn't interest me. Still I can understand why someone might enjoy the series: it's well drawn and has some adorable character designs. If you like cute animal stories then you'll probably have fun with Gon Swimmin'.

Review - All Star Superman

All Star Superman
Written by Grant Morrison; Art by Frank Quitely
2006 Eisner Winner for Best New Series
2007 Eisner Winner for Best Continuing Series
2009 Eisner Winner for Best Continuing Series

I'm a bit fuzzy on the categorization of All Star Superman. It was planned as a twelve issue limited series and ran for twelve issues to tell one story but was awarded "Best Continuing Series" rather than "Best Limited Series". Irregardless of what category it should have won for this series deserves accolades. It is the distilled essence of Superman; arguably the most iconic character of the twentieth century filtered down to one story that puts it all into perspective.

Superman is dying. A trap by his arch enemy Lex Luthor has left him poisoned and with only weeks to live. As he tries to come to grips with his own mortality he seeks to make peace with the woman he loves, tries to find a cure for his affliction, and seeks to leave a worthy legacy behind.

One of the problems with the monthly format for comic books is that there has to be a next issue. When it comes to corporate owned characters they have to keep making comics and as time goes on they become cyclical as creator after creator churn up the past to put forward their preferred version of things. All Star Superman doesn't have that problem because right from the outset it is clear that this is a story intended to stand apart from the ongoing comics. Morrison effectively throws out everything except a handful of concepts that he wanted to play with. That makes this a story where anything can happen.

For much the same reason when it comes to superhero comics I generally apply a caveat that if you don't like superheroes then a story probably won't be for you. The reason for that is while I enjoy superhero comics I also recognize the inherent absurdity of them and the fact that readers have to accept many genre conventions that exist for no good reason in order to enjoy them. I'm not going to say that about All Star Superman. Superman is an iconic figure and for all the talk about superheroes being "modern mythology" All Star Superman is one of the few times that I can feel that at work.

Morrison captures the messianic influences in Superman as a character beautifully. This is a Superman who fits the übermench form. He's a being that has transcended humanity to provide benevolence to the world. And instead of showing that in having him punch a lot of villains until they fall over or putting out forest fires with his breath All Star Superman presents him as a seeker of knowledge capable of unending compassion. This is an aspect to the character that would be impossible to star in the roughly two thousand monthly comics that have featured him but for a story with such a tight, laser like focus it works. For the sake of this story it doesn't matter that Superman is perfect since it's about the world interacting with him instead of the other way around.

The story is very episodic in nature as each issue of the comic comprises almost one complete tale. So you get the story of Lois Lane having dinner with Superman and once it's over they move on to deal with a story about how disturbed Lex Luthor is or one about a pair of replacement heroes or the worst day of Superman's life. The key is that even though there are twelve separate stories they're all tied into the original theme and just look at it from a different angle.

I'm giving Quitely the short shrift here since as terrific as Morrison's story is Quitely's art isn't quite perfect. That is not to say that I didn't like it but I'm aware that it is an acquired taste. Quitely draws his figures in a way that's best described as "lumpy" as opposed to the ultra-sleek styling of most superhero artists. I find that I appreciate it for being so distinctive and I think that it helps All Star Superman because it showcases the imperfections in people. This gets a real showcase in the second volume where one of the stories deals with a planet that is all about imperfection.

Before All Star Superman came along there was exactly one story that I could point to for what makes Superman great. Alan Moore's Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? had a similar theme but with less space available to it Moore couldn't manage the tableau that Morrison creates in All Star Superman. I am prepared to say that this is it for the foreseeable future; there is no need for another Superman story after All Star Superman. It's good enough to stand in for all of Superman's history.