Scalped #36

Scalped #36
DC Comics / Vertigo Comics
(w) Jason Aaron
(a) Davide Furno
FC, 32 pgs w/ ads $2.99 US / More in Canada

Page 4 of issue #36 of Scalped contains one of the most shocking images to appear in this title to date, which is saying a lot for a book as brutally surprising as this one. The image is shocking not because of the act it depicts but because I didn’t see this one coming. In a book of unexpected acts and revelations this one caught me unawares, and with this one image writer Jason Aaron and guest artist Davide Furno tell us a lot about the character Shunka, more than we’ve learned about him in 36 issues.

Shunka is Chief Red Crow’s right-hand man, the tough, enigmatic Lakota most recently seen scouring the badlands of South Dakota for a fugitive that could reveal the mole inside Red Crow’s criminal organization. Shunka has been a reoccurring character in Scalped, but always in the background, an enforcer to be used, not a character to be explored. That changes with issue #36, which kicks off a new story arc in which Shunka is the main character.

Scalped is a consistently solid read, filling the void left by the completion of 100 Bullets. Both are gritty crime sagas featuring a roster of hard-as-nails and morally flawed characters, none of which are heroes and very few of which are outright villains. (Chad Boudreau)

American Vampire #1

American Vampire #1
Vertigo / DC Comics
(w) Scott Snyder & Stephen King
(a) Rafael Albuqyerque
FC 40 pgs w/ ads $3.99 US / Higher in Canada

This isn’t the first time that a famous writer has supplied his name to a comic. Over at Marvel, several Stephen King novel’s are currently being adapted into comics. The Dark Tower, The Stand and his short story N. But someone else is always writing the actual comics – Peter David, Marc Guggenheim, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa are just a few of the names of the scripters for those stories. In fact back in the ’90s there was a comic company called Tekno Comix that had a whole line of comics featuring people like Neil Gaiman, Gene Roddenberry, Isaac Asimov and Leonard Nimoy coming up with ideas and then having someone else write the comics. So when I heard that Vertigo had a Stephen King comic with a writer named Scott Snyder I just assumed that it was just more of the same.

Sgt. Rock: Between Hell & A Hard Place

Sgt. Rock: Between Hell & A Hard Place
DC Comics / Vertigo
Writer: Brian Azzarello
Artist: Joe Kubert
FC, 144 pgs, $24.95 US / Higher in Canada

One of the most consistently talked about and read comic series in the last 50 years has been Sgt. Rock from DC Comics. Along with The Unknown Soldier and G.I. Combat, the three titles had been printed in various forms during the 50s and down through the 80s. Most people can remember reading a Sgt. Rock comic when they were a kid, carrying their beat-up copies around and sharing them with their friends. But since DC’s war line ended in the mid-80s, most of the characters within those books faded into obscurity, popping up now and again in unlikely places like the 90s The Demon (with the “Haunted Tank of G.I. Combat” fame by Garth Ennis!).

It’s A Bird

It’s A Bird
DC Comics / Vertigo Comics
Writer: Steven Seagle
Art: Teddy Kristiansen
FC, 136 pgs, $24.95 US / Higher in Canada

Despite his status as the most famous comic book hero of all time, Superman has never been easy for me to relate to. He’s too powerful, too perfect, too…alien. It seems I’m not alone –- even Superman’s writers can’t seem to come to terms with him. Such is the premise of It’s A Bird, a graphic novel memoir from Steven Seagle and DC’s Vertigo. Partly an autobiography and partly a dissection of comics’ most recognizable icon, the story follows Seagle’s trials and tribulations as he struggles to understand the last son of Krypton, and himself in the process.

The Originals

The Originals
DC Comics / Vertigo Comics
(w) Dave Gibbons
(a) Dave Gibbons
BW, 160 pgs, $24.95 US / Higher in Canada

As a graphic novel both written and illustrated by comic book veteran Dave Gibbons, The Originals can be appreciated on a number of levels. First and foremost, it’s a testament to Gibbons’ skill as a storyteller, told through a concise narrative and stylized black and white layouts. Looking beyond the book’s pages, it’s also a semi-autobiographical tribute to Mod culture, a personal story fueled by the creator’s adolescent memories and passion for the subject matter. When it comes down to the actual story, however, Gibbons relies a bit too heavily on contextual relevance, and without prior knowledge of his background, The Originals is a typical coming-of-age story that has a hard time living up to its name.

Death at Death’s Door

Death at Death’s Door
by Jill Thompson
DC Comics / Vertigo Comics
BW, 192 pgs, $9.95 US / Higher in Canada

Built on the foundation laid by Neil Gaiman in the Sandman “Seasons of Mist” story arc, Death at Death’s Door reveals what Dream’s three sisters were up to while he was figuring out what to do with the Key to Hell. Dream had gone to Hell to rescue Nada, a former lover, a woman he condemned to Hell himself because she had spurned his love. He expected to have to battle Lucifer for her soul, but when he arrived on the other side of the River Styx, Lucifer was packing his bags and closing the gates. The Morningstar didn’t want to fight. Hell was closed. On his way out, Lucifer gave the Key to Dream.

DMZ #50

DMZ #50
Vertigo / DC Comics
(w) Brian Woods
(a) Rebekah Isaacs, Jim Lee, Fabio Moon, Ryan Kelly, Lee Bermejo, Riccardo Burchielli, Philip Bond, John Paul Leon, Eduardo Risso & Dave Gibbons
FC 40 pgs w/ ads $3.99 US / Higher in Canada

After the events of last issue, I had excepted something different for the big 50th issue. Instead readers are treated to a bunch of short stories and pin-ups.

DMZ has been one of Vertigo’s best titles. It’s been consistently outstanding and it’s managed to make it to 50 issues, which in this day and age seems to be a miracle for a Vertigo title.

It’s interesting to see all the different artists’ takes on Matty and company but what kind of evil writer is Brian Wood? He ends issue #49 in a massive cliffhanger, which I won’t reveal to all those who read the trade collections, and then he takes a break from the story. It’s evil, pure evil. (Shane Hnetka)

Hellblazer: Pandemonium

Hellblazer: Pandemonium
Vertigo / DC Comics
(w) Jamie Delano
(a) Jock
FC 128 pgs $24.99 US / Higher in Canada

John Constantine is a bastard.

And nobody knows this better than Jamie Delano. Delano launched the Hellblazer series way back in the 1980′s. He pretty much defined Constantine during his 40 issue run. Every other writer who has written Hellblazer, from Garth Ennis to current writer Peter Milligan has built upon the groundwork that Delano laid. After Delano left the series, he came back for a couple of stand alone issues here and there. He also did a two issue mini-series The Horrorist and a mini-series in 2000 called Hellblazer Special: Bad Blood. And that was the last time Delano wrote about Constantine.

Bad Blood was a future story that dealt with an aging John Constantine and a fight over the monarchy. As with most of Delano’s work Bad Blood was critical of both imperialism and politics. Ten years later and Delano has returned to John Constantine with this graphic novel. It’s a critical look at Britain’s involvement in the Iraq war, the atrocities that war creates and some dark magic thrown in for good measure.

The Dead Boy Detectives

The Dead Boy Detectives

DC Comics / Vertigo Comics
Writer: Jill Thompson
Art: Jill Thompson

BW, 144 pgs w/ ads
$9.99 US / Higher in Canada

The two dead boy detectives that headline this graphic novel are Charles Rowland and Edwin Paine, two British school boys from different eras who are now ghosts and crime solvers to boot. They first appeared in The Sandman: The Seasons of Mist, in which they died but escaped Death’s grasp. Since then, they’ve been solving crimes, first in London and now in Chicago.

Edwin and Charles are contacted through traditional means by young Annika Abernathy, a student at the upper class International Academy in Chicago. She doesn’t know these two are in fact deceased. She believes she is contacting two young boys known for their sleuthing skills and their dedication to helping children when no one else will. Annika’s best friend has vanished, but none of the teachers at the school seem to care. They, in fact, outright refuse to acknowledge anything about the missing girl. In order for Edwin and Charles to investigate this case properly they will need access to the school. The catch is that the school is an all-girls school, meaning the boys have to disguise themselves as female students.

LOVECRAFT GRAPHIC NOVEL

Lovecraft

DC Comics / Vertigo
Writer: Keith Giffen, adapting from Hans Rodionoff
Art: Enrique Breccia

FC, 144 pgs
$17.95 US / Higher in Canada

The works of Howard Phillips Lovecraft aren’t exactly light beach reading, but if you put in the time, you’ll be rewarded with some of the creepiest and most disturbing horror stories around. Elder gods, dark rituals and unspeakable evil– I’m talking serious nightmare-type shit, here. The man was a gothic genius and his works have influenced and an entire genre, from Stephen King to Hellboy. He either had one hell of an imagination…or everything he wrote about was real.

Such is the premise of Lovecraft, a Vertigo Comics graphic novel. It imagines H.P. Lovecraft’s writings as fact instead of fiction– a chronicling of the author’s lifelong contact with evil from another dimension. The result is partly a biography and partly a macabre tale placing the author inside what is essentially one of his own works. We’re treated to an inside look at the man behind the madness, from his childhood and writing career to his ill-fated marriage. Yet woven into the story is a tale worthy of H.P. himself, featuring a cursed book, terrifying visions and familiar faces and locations resurrected from his various works. It’s a great concept based on a screenplay by Hans Rodionoff, and aside from some jumps in the narrative and a slightly rushed ending, it works very well.