Scalped #36

Scalped #36
DC Comics / Vertigo Comics
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
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
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.