Trade Review: Jamie McKelvie's Suburban Glamour

Like so many others, I was introduced to Jamie McKelvie via his collaboration with writer Kieron Gillen on their Image published project, Phonogram. I had heard the hype, read the praise and was finally ready to take the plunge and see what this duo was up to and I was not disappointed. The story sang, the visuals rocked and the comic wormed its way into my heart, infecting me with some type of incurable fever. In my first outing with their Singles Club trade, I read cover to cover five times in twenty-four hours, a feat yet that I have yet to repeat with any other piece of entertainment. Months later, not a week goes by where I don’t pick up my copy of The Singles Club and at least page through it a few times, discovering some new detail in McKelvie’s panels or making some new connection to a band I’ve just exposed myself to. To say I’m a fan is putting it lightly and having consumed their current works, my hunger led me to an Amazon search where I quickly came across a copy of Suburban Glamour, both written and illustrated by McKelvie.

For fans of Phonogram, Suburban Glamour doesn’t stray too far from the path. A coming of age story about a young woman named Astrid; human and magic intertwine as she lives out her teenage years amongst her friends and family, trying to understand her place in the world. The plot of course evolves from there as one might imagine and while the end results are predictable, there are a number of twists and turns along the way that help keep things fresh.

For his first real outing as a writer, McKelvie doesn’t get ahead of himself, keeping the script fairly light and trusting his pencils to carry most of the weight. The world of Suburban Glamour feels incredibly human, with realistic situations, believable dialogue and strong personalities. Even with a limited four issues of space, and minimal world building, the level of detail and planning that has gone into the story emanates from the page. Each character is quick to establish him or herself, staying memorable without being obnoxious. One of the biggest credits I can give to the book is how natural the dialogue feels. You would think it easy to write a seventeen year old accurately but that rarely seems to be the case anymore.


Where Suburban Glamour really shines however, is with its visuals. One of the things I especially love about Jamie’s art is its flexibility. While building a reputation for figures that are fairly grounded in realism, his style allows for the inclusion of all types of magical and fantastical creatures that possess their own unique look and yet never feel out of place in the world they’re interacting with. As mentioned, McKelvie’s artistic talent allows him to use the script as an outline, rather than a guide. With a masterful use of space, the panels and page layouts guide the eyes much easier than the words do, controlling the pace of the story. A master of perspective, Jamie’s panels are most often narrowly focused on the subject, but that doesn’t stop him from occasionally pulling the camera outwards and reminding us just how skilled he is at using his art to subtlety feed us emotional cues. My favorite use and one that has definitely stood out to me has been the use of size or vastness to evoke frustration from the characters. Compare these two panels, one from Marvel’s Siege: Loki one-shot, and one from Suburban Glamour:



                                                                                         


The size and vastness of the cities overwhelm our protagonists, objects of rage for them and reminders for us that while these characters may be the focus of the story we are reading, they are but a tiny piece of a much larger system, an organism that will continue to exist long after they are gone. Major credit also goes out to long-time McKelvie colorist Matthew Wilson who does a fantastic job bringing the pencils and environment to life.
This isn’t a book that is going to reinvent comics for you, move mountains or change your world, but it is cheap, fun and a fairly quick read. If you’re a fan of Phonogram, or even just fantasy stories in general, there is plenty to enjoy and loads to love. I’ll definitely be coming back to this story fairly soon. B+


                                                                                                                   

Entering the Heroic Age: Reviews for 05/19/2010

Age of Heroes #1: The first of Marvel's four issue anthology focusing on a number of character across in the world as the Heroic Age begins. The first thing that caught my attention was the talent on hand: Kurt Busiek, Rick Remender, Chris Samnee, Paul Cornell, Leonard Kirk, Dan Slott and Blog-Favorite Marko Djurdjevic all feature in this issue, putting together four stories featuring J. Jonah Jameson, Doctor Voodoo, Captain Britain and Spider-Man. The second thing that came to mind was how underwhelming this issue is. The biggest story is the most uneventful but also provides an interesting perspective into the conclusion of Dark Reign. JJJ strolls through the city, internally complaining to himself that heroes are really terrorists and failing to see why the common people cannot grip that. While this isn't unusual behavior for JJJ, Busiek handles the dialogue realistically enough that it is easy for the reader to understand why and how people may have turned to Norman Osborn and what lies they are willing to tell themselves in the face of his outing. The real surprise of the story is Marko D on art and how mediocre it looked. I personally thought that Marko absolutely killed on Dark Reign: The List, and it may be the coloring and lack of inking here but his art just looks ugly and undetailed, I found it be to very disappointing. The Doctor Voodoo story could have potentially been something good with some more room, instead Remender is forced to cut down the conflict to illustrate how Jericho Drumm is forced to navigate his real life and the duties of Sorcerer Supreme. A nice little snippet and I'm always glad to see Remender on Voodoo again, but this story doesn't do much to celebrate "The Heroic Age." Dan Slott's Spider-Man feature made for an ok-one and done page comic, but I'm so tired of "x state of mind" riffs. The Captain Britain story is the biggest victim here, the team has been missing in action for almost a year now, and was definitely one of the major draws for picking this issue up. While the two pages of Steve Rogers and the Mi3 cast interacting is fun, it only serves as little more than a painful reminder the book probably isn't coming back any time soon and to remind you to go back and read the run again. At 2.99, Age of Heroes may have been a worthwhile pick up, but at 3.99 I cannot justify picking up another issue. C

Enter the Heroic Age: Where Age of Heroes is about telling stories that aren't worth a full issue, Enter the Heroic Age is the equivalent of watching four or five versions of the bank robbery trailer from The Dark Knight. The big promo issue for the new Heroic Age titles, I must admit it served its purpose well. Each one of these stories was entertaining but tantalizing on its own and may actually inspire me to pick up a few of the titles. The big draw for me was the Kelly Sue Deconnick / Jamie McKelvie Black Widow joint, I love Jamie's art and have two more Deconnick penned issues on my stack so I was very excited to see what they'd come up with and I was not disappointed. Natasha is perfectly characterized, strong, in control and possessing that flexible spy mentality that seems to make James Bond so appealing. I must admit that I was also drawn in by the Hawkeye & Mockingbird story, I'm not a fan of either character, but the pages were entertaining enough that I'll at least pick up the first issue. Overall, I think Marvel learned its lesson from the Dark Reign: New Nation one-shot where they quickly re-printed all the stories in the appropriate #1s so there may be some small appeal in collecting material they may not be available elsewhere. I recommend this if you're on the fence about Atlas, Black Widow, Thunderbolts, Hawkeye & Mockingbird or Avengers Academy, but if you're certain you'll buy them, you can more than likely skip these. B+

Avengers #1: So here it is, everything the Heroic Age is all about, in one consolidated form, today is Avengers day and the new Avengers book is.. alright. Like Siege #4, I don't think there was a way this title was going to live up to the hype, it certainly tries hard, but just doesn't get there. The biggest reason is that the current Marvel status quo needs a lot more world building than it has received so far. Steve Rogers is still referred to in title as "Top Cop," with no real explanation yet as to what kind of institution he is putting together or what his plans for the future are. Instead, he basically re-assembles the New Avengers, swapping Ms. Marvel and Luke Cage for Thor and Iron Man, tells them they're all great guys and the adventure begins. What should have been an introduction to the new world order and a relaxed issue full of character moments, something Bendis is normally excellent at, is instead quickly pushed through to begin the latest Avengers Adventure. The always great art team of JRjr, White and Jansen does what it does and puts together some fantastic panels, some alright panels and some downright ugly panels but in all turns in a great issue. In the end I don't think there are or should have been any surprises with this issue. It is Bendis writing the Avengers as he has been writing the Avengers for years now, some parts of it are great, some parts of it fall flat. It sacrifices some quality for accessibility but that is to be anticipated for a new number one issue. B-

X-Men Legacy #236: Continuing my trend of reviewing each chapter of Second Coming each week, I have to say I'm a bit disappointed. For a story that started off fairly quickly with huge potential, it has quickly degenerated into a formula where one big thing happens each issue and the characters respond to it. Things still appear to be dire for the X-Men, although they don't feel that way. Bastion has degenerated from a calculating mastermind to a standard mustache twirling, "our finest hour," type of villain and much of the threat has left with it. Greg Land again finds the fortitude to at least the art decent while Mike Carey does a suitable job with the script. At eight chapters in however, a lot more needs to be going on than what is. This is a story that has been in the works for a long, long time now, so why does it feel like it is dragging? I wish I had an answer. C+

Brightest Day #2: One thing is for certain, this book will definitely not be the next 52. I almost didn't want to review this book because while I find it entertaining, I have to agree with a large number of people that it is mindlessly so. Each week continues to be a spectacle of murders, revenge, and poorly written characters that seem pasted together by an occasionally solid character moment. All I can really say is that at one point, a hero threatens to transmute a vault door into jello shots and then asks his floating head companion, what flavor he likes. At least Peter Tomasi wrote a nice Manhunter moment compared to the absolutely bizarre Thor moment that Paul Jenkins wrote last week in Fallen Sun. D

Legion of Super-Heroes #1: I almost didn't buy this book because quite frankly, the Legion terrifies me. There are like 9000 of these dudes across multiple iterations and I got about three different nosebleeds trying to read Johns/Perez's Legion of 3 Worlds. I gambled however, and I'm really glad I did. Paul Levitz launches this series with a story that is both incredibly accessible but also appears to be fairly respectful to recent Legion stories. With excellent pace control and the incredibly solid pencils of Yildray Cinar, each character becomes quickly recognizable and memorable. Exposition is carefully planned to be both informative and sound realistic and the plot flows quite fluidly. Levitz's dialogue needs a bit of work, but I'm confident that will return with time. The Legion is definitely one of the most continuity heavy franchises I have ever encountered, if not in comics, but this issue is a fantastic jumping on point and I highly recommend it, potentially my issue of the week. A

Ramblings: The Effect of the Internet on Comics

I’m prefacing the following by saying that my editing and reviewing of the following is fairly non-existent, but I jotted this stuff down randomly and figured I’d better throw it up before I forgot about it and lost it.

This last week was huge for Marvel’s Avengers franchise. After more than five years of stories, Brian Bendis got to wrap up the long running epic he had begun with Avengers Disassembled, resolve the threads and story arcs that had been in the works for years and bring a conclusion to the Dark Reign status quo that occupied all of 2009. With Siege #4, Dark Avengers #16 and the New Avengers Finale, he did everything that he set out to do and in true comic fan fashion, the Internet was not impressed. The primary complaint: predictability. “The Void died, Osborn was removed from power, Steve Rogers is king again,” and while it was solidly written, it was everything that people had been anticipating and yet they still felt let down.

Which leads me to ask: is being a comics fan on the Internet a good thing? It use to be that every week you would go down to your store, pick up your titles, race home and really experience the stories for what they were, the next chapter in your favorite character’s life, events were something significant and every cliffhanger was something to be discussed for days. Now, fans exist in an entirely different world.

We now have access to everything vendors do: order forms, promotions and solicitations, tools that those of us who read and debate often usually have no problem utilizing, hypothesizing, dissecting and unraveling these snippets, turning six lines into an educated guess that more often than not proves accurate.
Message boards and Twitter also give fans the opportunity to interact with creators, following their favorite writers or artists and learning about their day to day activities. Occasionally though, things slip and the Internet descends to feast on the error.

Back in the fall, artist Billy Tan mentioned that he would be working a “street level comic” called Shadowlands. Given that Tan at the time had just finished work with Andy Diggle on “The List – Daredevil,” it didn’t take much to put two and two together and begin hypothesizing about future Daredevil storylines. Sure enough, a few weeks into the New Year, Daredevil began holding corrupt cops prisoner beneath New York City and ordered the construction of a prison, called Shadowlands, seemingly confirming the future arc.

A few months back, unintentionally via Twitter, Andy Diggle, the current writer on Daredevil, mentioned in a tweet that he had just wrapped up the script for Shadowlands #1, accidentally confirming that not only would Daredevil continue to run, but there would also be a companion mini. With the knowledge that a mini was pending, I went ahead and put together some predictions for companion issues that would come out along side it.

And sure enough, the Shadowlands announcements dropped this last week and while I did predict the Power Man and Iron Fist, Thunderbolts and Spider-Man tie-ins, I did fail to guess that Dan Slott would only be writing a Spidey one-shot, I was almost positive it would be Brian Reed handling a 3 or 4 issue mini. I also failed to predict a Moon Knight story and some additional tie-ins that will no doubt fluff up the series a bit while increasing visibility for other characters.

But if it is so easy to predict these stories, why bother buying the comics? While I hate to be cliché, at least from my own perspective, it really is about the journey more so than just knowing the plots. While I do occasionally feel underwhelmed, I love these characters, enjoy the writers that I follow and certainly enjoy the friends in the community that I do debate and discuss with, which may be the biggest benefit that the Internet can give.

Comics are my primary hobby and while I’m absolutely rabid about them, I don’t know a single person in my proximity who shares my passion. With the Internet, I’m able to surround myself with interesting and intelligent people who not only love the genre, but may also know more about different aspects or characters than I do.

Message boards and Twitter allow me to get recommendations, debate, discuss, learn, re-consider and re-think my views on a variety of comic topics. Jonathan Hickman, who is one of my favorite writers at the moment, was passed onto me via a recommendation for his book “Red Mass for Mars,” which while not finished, has led me to his other fantastic works like “Pax Romana” and “The Nightly News,” as well as his work for Marvel.

Similarly, comic journalism does a fantastic job of working with companies, especially the Big Two, to keep press flowing on new and important books. It isn’t unusual to see an important issue get a number of articles of coverage: usually a cover preview, then some pencils or unfinished art and then an official preview a few days before the actual book is released. These articles help bring attention to books that may not ordinarily get it, and companies are really learning how to tap into this and use it effectively to boost a title. These sites help keep me informed and organized, making sure I know exactly what I want to buy and allow me to spend my money effectively.

In the end, the pros of the Internet definitely outweigh the cons. The interaction, community and increased promotional materials all outweigh the brief disappointing that may come from an issue, a disappointment that quickly fades as it is replaced by excitement for the next big story.

Further Reviews for the Week of 05/12/10

Prince of Power #1: The Incredible Hercules saga continues as this Amadeus Cho focused mini launches for the Heroic Age and for all intensive purposes, is another spectacular issue of the long running story. Pak and Van Lente are a well oiled machine at this point: the standard comedic catch up page and then launching right into the story. The team earns my consistent praise week after week with the fresh styles of narration, excellent control of voice, effective collaboration with other Marvel storylines and of course, keeping the narrative moving and the reader guessing. One of the few gripes I have with the series is that the art team is changing constantly. I don't know if that is because the team writes so far ahead, but until now, I don't think an art team has yet to do more than one arc at a time. Reilly Brown steps back into the world of Herc to pencil this issue and with it having been awhile since I'd encountered his work, I was impressed. Brown has fantastic control of the page, capable of packing it with panels without losing clarity while also able to place a spread that conveys the needed material perfectly. His characters also look fabulous, both human and myth alike. The cliffhanger feels a bit inconsistent, but I'm sure things will pan out in the next issue. A

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #10: As I may have mentioned during the last review for this series, I am finally a believer in Lafuente. Without sacrificing the original appeal of his art, he has tweaked his style to get a better handle on how round everything felt previously, giving it a sharper image while still maintaining it's flair. Bendis pens yet another solid issue and continues to embrace the status quo changes brought about by Ultimatum. Given how opposite everything is in the Ultimate World in terms of tone and plot, Bendis's writing is doing a stellar job of really making those differences feel poignant and important and his grasp on all of these characters is top notch. What is disappointing is that his USM issues are much better written than the 616 comics where he is the primary architect of Marvel's world. USM is consistently good and while seemingly not building towards any giant event or big moment, each issue can be savored and enjoyed as just another piece of the brilliant tapestry that has been Ultimate Spider-Man. B+

Web of Spider-Man #8: Van Lente week continues and I need to lead off by saying that it is a real shame this book wasn't advertised better. Web of Spider-Man has been a mishmash of Villain origins and Spider-Girl stories since they re-launched the title, but with this issue, FvL takes over telling fresh stories in Spidey's universe. Given that van Lente has already told some fantastic stories in Amazing, it is no surprise that the script here is equally good. A story about a brand new villain, van Lente uses the opportunity to take some light hearted jabs at the "event stories" of the past few years and goof on the concept of the Heroic Age a bit. The issue feels a bit longer but I attribute that to FvL's excellent use of Peter's supporting cast and even manages to work in Flash and his recent disability plotline without making it "inspirational" like it has been treated in the past. Joining Fred is Javier Rodriguez who is absolutely brilliant. I actually had to look him up, he is a colorist/artist whose art is very similar to Marcos Martin and Javier Pulido's and for being as far as I know, fairly knew to the Big Two, his work is top notch. Rodriguez does it all from big spreads to style swaps and while the story doesn't call for too much Spider-Man yet, his characters are evocative and his Peter Parker, perfectly goofy. 3.99 also nets you a Ben Reilly back up story, which is alright, the type of story you can expect when the Spider-Clone is the focus, but I would be thrilled if they cut that and let this book run free at 2.99. If you're looking for the more traditional and light hearted Spidey stories, this is your place. B+

Batman #699: Pssst, hey. Hey guys, it's me! It's me, Bruce! Dick needed the night off, so I told him I'd step in and solve this crime! Man, how the hell does he back flip so much? I think Tony forgot he was writing Bruce in this issue. At least March killed it. C+

Justice League International - Generation Lost #1: I had some qualms about picking this up as I currently have four JLI trades stacked up on my bookshelf ready to be pursued and was concerned I may need to get familiar with the story before I dove in here but that is not the case. Giffen and Winick make the story easily accessible for anyone who may pick up the issue, filling in the origin story of the JLI as well as why Max Lord is now considered one of the most dangerous men on the planet. There are still somethings that need to be clarified in the back story, specifically what has happened with Ice since her resurrection and experience during Blackest Night but everything proceeds along nicely and does a great job of fleshing out the scene that Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi put together in Brightest Day #0. Aaron Lopresti mans the pencils here and while the last time I encountered his art was Planet Hulk, his work here is solid, limited primarily to tights and flights with a healthy amount of realistic looking people. The method used to get the four characters who can remember Lord together is a bit contrived and the fallout of this issue certainly conflicts with the "one and done" nature that Winick was promoing for the series, but it is certainly interesting enough to warrant the purchase of the next issue. B+

Closing the Doors on the Avengers: Reviews for 05/12/2010

Amazing Spider-Man #631: Shed continues here in an absolutely spectacular fashion. The Lizard is back in a big way and Wells keeps the pedal to the floor with a very surprising cliffhanger that leaves you one-parts sick, one-parts mortified and one parts stunned. I feel a bit bad for Emma Rios, she is a developing talent getting some significant attention via her collaborations with Mark Waid, but it must have been killer being paired up with Bachalo. Her pages are consistent and solid but they're really just a salad before the main course. Chris absolutely kills for the second week in a row, blowing the script away and absolutely nailing the finale. I still maintain that last's week's finale three pages are unbeatable but the vision here is superb. I don't know what it is about these slim, face only panels like this one:



but Bachalo is doing a fantastic job at making the Lizard feel both so incredibly alien and yet conveying all kinds of emotion. We still have two more issues to go and I'm 1000% confident that Shed is going to live up to my promise as the best story from The Gauntlet. A+

The Return of Bruce Wayne #1: Bruce's trek back to his time kicks off this week and Caveman Batman does not disappoint. A fairly straight forward adventure, the standard Batman symbols are all there: a proto-Robin, the ever familiar pearl necklace and even a character named Joker appears. Grant ties in several of the plot threads from the end of Final Crisis and wastes no time keeping the story moving. My only criticism is a personal one, I spent the whole winter defending accusations of "Quantum Leap Batman," positive that there would be a logical method for Bruce's time travel but that does not seem to be the case. It is a minor complaint, however, so I'm not too concerned. The big surprise for me here was Chris Sprouse on the pencils, I've never encountered his work before but it was quite solid, I'll certainly be keeping an eye out for him in the future. In all, a good start to what will no doubt become a fantastic story. B+

PunisherMAX #7: Every issue that goes by of this book is another month that I'm convinced that hell is being trapped in Jason Aaron's imagination. Continuing the Bullseye storyline, Aaron moves forward with his "reality based" take on the character spending much of the issue focusing on the various methods Bulls uses to "get in touch" with his victims, and just when I think it has mellowed out for a moment, the next depraved action begins. I give Aaron a lot of credit though, in a time where some comics are choosing to be excessive in their violence, PunisherMAX seems to walk the line of being horrifying but not graphically, it is often the idea of the act that disturbs much more than the imagery. That said, Steve Dillon is as great as ever and I'm dying to finally see the Punisher and Bullseye have it out. A-

Siege #4: A mediocre but necessary end to Marvel's last big storyline for awhile. I wish there was really more to say, but everything that you expected to happen to get things ready for the Heroic Age, did. Everyone saw both pieces of the ending coming miles away and I think this was a perfect example of a skip month absolutely destroying all of the momentum the storyline built since January. Copiel has upped his game to one of the highest levels however, so at least everything looks beautiful. The panels flow well and his use of border breaking characters are attractive to the eye but not destructively so. A lot of explosions, a lot of grimaces and dramatic faces, but also a lot of gorgeous stuff. Depending on the price, I may consider double dipping for Siege if it gets released in the over-size format. B-

Siege Epilogue: Fallen Sun I saw someone use the word masturbatory to describe this book and I really cannot disagree. The creator of the title character has returned once more to tell us about a number of adventures that were never actually written and for the most part have not jived with how the character has been presented over the last five or so years. Combined with some very awkward scenes and a generic playout, this issue was anything but satisfactory for anything but the most easily pleased fan. Please let the record also indicate that I am absolutely tired of The Wrecking Crew. At least it looks good I guess. D+

Dark Avengers #16: It is going to be tough letting go of this book. For sixteen issues it has been one of my favorite Marvel comics, with Mike Deodato absolutely killing on the art as well as being the recipient of Brian Bendis's love and affection since it was the most important Marvel book for the last year or so. Wrapping up the tale of Osborn and his handpicked Avengers, each member of the team takes the stage for a moment to either resolve their tale or plant the seeds for their role in the new status quo. After the review I did of the Secret Warriors tie-in for Siege, I was pleased to see Bendis give Ares's moment to Phobos in a much more controlled and logical fallout. I don't know what else I could say about Mike's art, he is one of the industry's best right now and he is going to continue to produce absolutely amazing content for Secret Avengers. This book is over, but it's importance will still be felt for a long time. B+

Birds of Prey #1: I wasn't impressed with this book. A lot of people have been squeeing and squealing about Gail's return to the series alongside Ed Benes and I just didn't feel it. It may be that because I've never read an issue of Birds before that I wasn't feeling the energy but nothing about this book felt fresh to me. After the opening sequence, Canary's monologue only served to take me out of the book. Benes artwork is serviceable but tame, nothing spectacular but not too bad. This is a book that really fell by the wayside for me, I didn't love it but I guess I didn't hate it either. C+, if you're potentially interested, I do recommend maybe giving it a shot.