Most of you who are familiar with Tales from the Parents’ Basement know that we don’t usually review books like Usagi Yojimbo. You can expect some indie comic reviews, noir, Avengers, horror comics…stuff like that, but never really anything as , um…cute as Usagi Yojimbo. Well, it’s time to broaden our horizons folks! Welcome  to Stan Sakai/Usagi Yojimbo 101:

Taken from Stan Sakai’s official site:

“Usagi Yojimbo (Literally “Rabbit Bodyguard,” or phonetically usagi yojimbo or usagi yojinbo) is a comic book series created by Stan Sakai.
Usagi Yojimbo is set in the beginning of Edo period Feudal Japan (early 17th century) with anthropomorphic animals replacing humans, and features a ronin rabbit, Miyamoto Usagi, who wanders the land as a shugyosha (student warrior on a pilgramage) occasionally selling his services as a yojimbo (bodyguard). Hence the title “Usagi Yojimbo”. The character of Usagi has been inspired by the famous Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi while the tone and inspirations of the stories are heavily influenced by Groo the Wanderer, Lone Wolf and Cub and the films of the acclaimed director Akira Kurosawa.
The books consist of short stories, with underlying larger plotlines which culminate into longer, extended story arcs. The stories include many references to Japanese history and Japanese folklore, and sometimes include mythical creatures. The architecture, clothes, weapons, and other objects are drawn with a faithfulness to the period’s style. There are often stories whose purpose is to illustrate various elements of Japanese arts and crafts, such as the fashioning of kites, swords, and pottery. Those efforts have been successful enough for the series to be awarded a Parent’s Choice Award for its educational value. The series also follows the standard Japanese naming convention for all characters, being surname given name…”

That’s a good start. For more about Stan’s work on Usagi Yojimbo and for more information about how the character got tied into TMNT, visit Stan’s official site.

Now, on with the review…

This past week has been a great comic week for me. I’ve discovered some new titles that I have really enjoyed, and I’ve also re-discovered a bunch of older titles that have blown my mind. Specifically the “1 for 1$” titles that Dark horse has reissued. And of course, the rabbit bodyguard, Usagi Yojimbo.

I read issue 131 with no preconceived notions of what the book would be like. Like I said, I knew nothing about the main character and even less about the story. Issue 131 is the second part of a two issue story where the ronin rabbit and his companion, Kato, are trying to rid the town called Hell of the sneaky Boss Higa who had ripped Kato off and blamed Usagi (issue #130). In classic samurai/western film fashion, the two ronin defeat Boss Higa, Kato finds love and a reason to stay in Hell, and Usagi strolls into the sunset alone and victorious.

I was overwhelmingly surprised by this comic. I’m definitely one for more realistic art, but Sakai’s style is captivating and Pulls you into the story without the heavy, overbearing feeling that more serious art can have. The art keeps the story light and is the perfect all ages visual story. It would be very easy to take a samurai story in Stan’s style, hire someone like Ivan Reis, and make it a “serious” comic. Sakai has taken an ancient pallet and added his own color. It’s a light hearted and fun ride with a story every bit as Intriguing as an epic published by the big two. It’s no wonder Usagi has stood the test of time. If you’ve shunned Usagi Youjimbo thinking that it’s a kids comic or if the art seems too “cute”, rest assured that if you like samurai movies and comics, or even westerns, you will love Stan Sakai’s Usagi Youjimbo.

In case you haven’t read the original 1991, 6-issue series written by Jim Starlin and drawn by George Perez and Ron Lim, it’s pretty intense. Thanos obtains the infinity gems and becomes omnipotent. With the constant badgering of Mephisto, Thanos screws with space and time and destroys half of the human race trying to impress Death. The half of the Avengers and heroes that aren’t destroyed take it upon themselves to save the galaxy from Thanos and retrieve the Infinity gems. Earth’s heroes prevail and everything is right again with the universe.

That’s the glib version of the plot, but it’s actually a damn good series and you should check it out.

I’m sure Infinity Gauntlet purists were a bit skeptical at the announcement of a “re-boot” of the series. I felt the same way when I heard Barry Allen was coming back in his own monthly Flash comic. There are also those out there  who feel that certain publishers can’t come up with anything original and continue to churn the quarter bins to rehash old stories and try to add to their billions without paying for new ideas.

Rest assured though; the new Brian Clevinger and Brian Churilla run of Infinity Gauntlet is the real thing. It’s the same plot as the original Starlin creation, but there are some drastic changes and it’s…funny as hell.

That’s right Gauntlet fans. This comic is NOT your Gauntlet. It’s all new with a motley crew of heroes to save the world. No Silver Surfer or Dr. Strange this time.  The world has to depend on the likes of Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man, Hawkeye, and Wolverine (“ because he’s on every super hero team”).

 Clevinger’s writing pokes fun at the seriousness of the original Gauntlet while also exaggerating each hero’s individual flaws. Spidey already has a big mouth, but Clevinger makes you feel the rest of the team’s pain for having to work with the web-crawler. My favorite character in the first issue is Wolverine. He’s usually written as a dark and brooding character, but Clevinger writes him as just plain grumpy. It’s a refreshing and fun take on a character that everyone seems to take too seriously.

Churilla’s illustrations of Wolverine helps add to the mood of  the character. I’ve never seen Wolverine drawn in such a way. He’s  bigger and bulkier than the traditional Wolverine drawn by others. Churilla has a more cartoonish style than George Perez and it compliments Clevinger’s writing. The style of this book reminds me a bit of Churilla’s own book, The Engineer. I’m not sure how much Churilla had to do with the writing process, if anything, but the subtle comedic tone of Infinity Gauntlet is shades of  The Engineer. The team of Clevinger and Churilla is an excellent fit.

  I would say that this book is a true all ages series–kids will love the aesthetics of the book while older collectors will enjoy the campy tone of the comic. I was expecting something more serious and daunting, but  was pleasantly surprised to read something so light and funny (The Hulk in a sun dress?!?). For those of you tired of trying to fish through 10 different Avengers titles monthly trying to find a good one, do yourself a favor and pick up the Infinity Gauntlet. You’ll enjoy it.

In a strange, post-apocalyptic world, BĀNIMON is a game much like hockey, but with bombs and robots. The main character, Tomao, is shot down in his WTF model bumper car while flying over Tesla’s (yep, Nikola Tesla’s) secret mountain hide-out. Tomao, Tinker (a brilliant engineering penguin that doesn’t speak English), and Tuki (A lazy, smart, and bad-ass tiger from the “west side”) are held captive in Tesla’s hideout and trained to play BĀNIMON. 

When I first saw the BĀNIMON comic, I immediately went to the website to do a bit of research. I expected some kind of blog with an email address and maybe a web store. Instead, I ended up shooting a bunny off of a skateboard for “stress relief”. Boris Savic has taken BĀNIMON and turned it into an alternate world for readers. Everything on the site is about BĀNIMON. A history, maps, games, and yes, a web store. 

Mr. Savic was kind enough to talk with us a bit about what BĀNIMON is and how it all started: 

TPB: Boris, this comic is so unique…what were your main influences that contributed to you creating it? How did BANIMON come to be? 

Boris: Around 2001, I was hired to do some illustrations for Emeril Lagasse’s website by my good friend and one of the most amazingly talented people you’ll ever find, Brett Calzada. Of course, they never used them, but in the meantime I really got hooked on this simple style of illustration, it was like nothing I used to do before, almost felt like starting to draw with your left hand. Not saying it hasn’t been done before or anything, just that to me it was very new and liberating and it kind of brought me back to when I was first getting into comics as a kid. At that point a lot of my influences started coming in too, like Jaroslav Hasek’s “Good Soldier Svejk”, “Lone Wolf and Cub”, this may sound weird, but actually “Sin City” for it’s use of color. I also always loved Enki Bilal’s art, though his influence is maybe not as evident in BĀNIMON…. Street art around me…..And then of course some of the people I have been lucky enough to collaborate with more recently have been a big inspiration to me, like Matt Doughty from Onell and Jesse Moore from Rawshark. Story-wise, it wasn’t originally conceived that way, but a lot of Banimon is actually autobiographical, so there are hidden references to real people and events sprinkled throughout. 

TPB: The other characters in the story are new to me, but I recognized Nikola Tesla immediately. The guy’s an icon! What made you want to use Tesla in your story? 

Boris: Tesla was always one of my favorite historical figures, a man of rare integrity and genius. His actual life is like a tribute to bushido in science, but as you know, a sad story too. He also represents some of the best of what my homeland, Serbia, has to offer, in a time when maybe we’re not always portrayed in so good a light (there are a few other Serbian references in BĀNIMON too). So anyway, I’m thinking what if he had a second chance, and he finally did decide to sell out, and used his talent in pursuit of some sinister goal, I mean that type of genius is a game changer. But I also wanted to make it funny, and not heavy at all. Around that time, and in an unrelated session at our studio, my then-partner in RN, Tim Bithoney told me a story he had read somewhere about this conspiracy theory where Tesla and Marconi (I think) are actually still alive, and are living under a utopian glass dome somewhere, which I thought was so unbelievably hilarious that it had to be somehow brought to life. That’s how Tesla Mountain came about. 

TPB: You mean that’s only conspiracy theory? I’d swear that glass dome is in the desert just outside of Elko, Nevada…

Anyway, originally, BĀNIMON was supposed to come out as a series of over-sized one page posters. What made you change your mind to put out a traditional comic instead? 

Boris: I was just having so much fun doing it. Also, as the characters started developing more, personalities, relationships, etc., they kind of really drove the story and the format became a little restricting for how the narrative was flowing. There was too much I wanted to tell, and 2-color letterpress posters became too expensive a vehicle. But we still do occasional limited-edition silkscreen poster runs every time we introduce a new character, so there will be some coming up to coincide with BĀNIMON #3. 

TPB: How did you get hooked up with Rocket North? 

Boris: Well we started many years ago when the dotcoms went down, and all these web design people, myself included, scrambled to open their own shops. The logo came from a rocket that I had used as my street tag for many years, and we got this small but free space in the basement of Regent Theatre in Arlington, MA, the landlord was like “If you can clean it up and build a drywall to separate it, you can have it for free” so of course I jumped on that, and then set up a silkscreen studio downstairs. So we did branding and web design for a while, but after a few years, we found that we just gravitated towards this stuff more, and it made sense to rethink the approach. Around 2008 I sold the design business to a company that I still work with, CABEM, and decided to focus all my free time on this. We got kicked out of that Arlington space a while back, but as you can see still going strong. 

TPB: You have an incredible website for BĀNIMON; there are games, the web comic, and tons of other extra things outside of the comic. What is your plan for BĀNIMON? Is the main focus still the books or has it moved beyond that to become more of a cultural thing? 

Boris: Thank you. From the start, I knew I didn’t want to be penned into a single, traditional narrative vehicle even if we borrowed it for a while. The thought was that today fans are smart enough to handle a bit of ADHD storytelling and are ok with following a story from one medium to another, as long as the canon, the story itself is watertight and doesn’t waver, and of course the story has to be good. The other goal was to make it feel like a big scavenger hunt, where people fish around all these games, comics, web comics, whatnot and find different pieces of the story, rewards, hidden stores and such. Like, we offer items in some of our secret online shops that are actually sold at cost because we believe that if people are your fans and spend time on your site and give you their support they should be rewarded, even symbolically. We’re going to be doing more user-driven content and user-driven stories, and experiment with different formats for web comics. I think web comics as a format have been brutally unexplored. Other projects too, the key has been running into these amazing artists who are all masters in their own particular type of craft, and then letting them maybe stir BĀNIMON in a direction I wouldn’t necessarily pick myself. 

TPB: That’s all very cool. I like how you guys are basically giving back to those that support you. That says a lot about the integrity of Rocket North as a independent publisher. When can we expect BĀNIMON #3 to come out? 

Boris: It’s actually been ready since December of last year, but when the distribution deal with Diamond kicked in, we were advised to time the release to when it’s gonna be in Diamond Previews, which is scheduled for September, so sometime before then. It’s been so hard to sit on it, it’s killing me! 

TPB: Man, that would be tough!

I’m sure you go to cons pretty regularly on the east coast, where will you be next and what’s the plan for the rest of the year? 

Boris: We will be doing NYCC in October, and since we had to reluctantly skip the San Diego Comic Con later this month, we are also looking for a good West Coast date late in the year. Also planning a couple of collaborations in the coming months and a big relaunch of BĀNIMON TV. A good place to stay on top of what we’re up to is on the BĀNIMON Blog. 

TPB: Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk to us. Good luck and we’ll keep our eyes out for BĀNIMON #3. 

Boris: Thank you for having me. It’s been a pleasure.

If you’re in the mood for a break from the recent epics and looking for something totally different to collect, go check out the BĀNIMON website. While you’re there, shoot a bunny or two.

Greg Rucka is one hell of a suspense/crime writer, and he gets his views on homosexuality across very well without feeling preachy, but our major fault as the readers is dwelling on that aspect instead of realizing how well Rucka weaves a plot together to create such a fantastic story.  Rucka’s writing is intricate and demands attention. You’ll lose site of the broad story if you focus solely on Kane being the sexy red-headed lesbian. Get over it. 

What you should focus on is how red that hair is. Dave Stewart has colored some pretty impressive stuff for some pretty impressive artists. He’s deserved every award that he’s won and was probably gypped out of a few more. The brilliant red that Stewart uses to color Williams’ hero is fantastic. Moreover, the contrast between the colors of letters, panels, and characters against a dreary backdrop is incredible. Williams’ designs are stunning as usual, but Stewart’s colors really seal them together. 

J.H. Williams III is an artistic juggernaut. His character and costume designs are simple, believable, and sexy without too much of one or too little of another. The Yin & Yang of designs I suppose—breathtakingly beautiful. My favorite aspect of his art, and what makes this book and series entirely unique, is his panel construction. He has completely renovated traditional panels and story-telling. Williams incorporates complex ideas into panels on most pages that challenge the reader and sustain attention longer than the traditional squares. He also uses other elements of the story (Batwoman’s logo, Alice’s cape, etc.) to tie everything back into the visuals on the page. Sometimes it takes a few minutes before you can figure out if things are happening at once or in a sequence. 

Greg Rucka has taken a character that was traditionally like Batman, or in the Batman family, and made her totally distinct and individual. Kate Kane has a tragic past not unlike The Dark Knight, but then she’s also completely different in style and attitude. Her flashy red cape and hair, her open desire for revenge, her mouth…all much different than our beloved Batman. Batman lives two separate lives; the social playboy and the stoic, intimidating hero. Batwoman and Kate Kane are one and the same. BATWOMAN: ELEGY is the complete collection of the recent DETECTIVE COMICS series, but it also contains GO, which is a thorough history of Kate Kane and how she became Batwoman. It’s the story of her losing her mother and twin sister, getting expelled from West Point for homosexual behavior, finding and losing love, and eventually meeting Gotham’s guardian and changing her own life to become a hero. 

This deluxe edition hardcover is one of the most extraordinary collections that I’ve read. All creators involved are some of the best in the business, but more than that, they were all on top of their game with this one. This is one book that you’ll pick up again and again just to stare at one panel. If the main stories aren’t enough, there are plenty of alternate covers, sketches and even the original script with Williams’ concepts in the back. 

BATWOMAN; ELEGY is what comics are about for me. Dazzling art and colors, a character thick with substance, and a riveting story — I can’t wait to see where Batwoman goes from here.

A GOD SOMEWHERE hit stands earlier this month. I had no idea what to expect from the book because I hadn’t read any reviews, previews, or anything else about it before I picked it up. I went into it completely unbiased. I didn’t put the book down for at least an hour and read the whole thing in a single setting. Afterwards, I lay in bed for a long time pondering what I had just read. I was completely blown away. The next morning, I had to pick the book up again for a second look.

John Arcudi, Peter Snejbjerg, and Bjarne Hansen have been credited by many critics for creating a new WATCHMEN with A GOD SOMEWHERE. This is a pretty big claim; only time will tell if the book proves to gain the praise and popularity that WATCHMEN has maintained for over two decades, but A GOD SOMEWHERE deserves tremendous regard by readers. The book is written with incredible character depth and the art is beautiful with hauntingly brutal scenes of chaos. Make no mistake about it; this book is completely original…and completely astonishing.

A GOD SOMEWHERE creator, John Arcudi was kind enough to take a few minutes to answer some of our questions about the book and talk about how it came about:  

TPB: Before we get into how A GOD SOMEWHERE came to be, could you tell us in your own words what the book is about?

JA:  That’s a tough one because I don’t think it’s just one thing.  How about this?  How about I tell you what I thought the book was going to be about when I pitched it to DC?  The pitch went something like this “This isn’t the story of a single god-like man, this is the story of everybody else.”  And that idea is still in there — one human miraculously endowed with amazing abilities among average human beings and how his transformation would impact on the lives of his friends and family –  but as I developed the story it became about so much more.  The nature of brotherhood and friendship, a little bit about race, a little bit about religion, and plenty beyond that.

TPB: This book is a drastic departure from the righteous super heroes that we’re used to reading about. What made you take this angle on Eric? What about the other characters? What roll do they play in the bigger picture?

JA:  The story of the righteous super-hero has been told hundreds of thousands of times in comics, and let’s face it, it will be told hundreds of thousands of times more.  But I saw an opportunity here to look at the meta-human in a different light.  When there are hundreds crisscrossing the skies as we see these days in mainstream comics, this story wouldn’t work, but if there were just one, how alone would he feel?  How quickly would he become alienated from even those closest to him?  And how absolutely unknowable would his mind be to the average human? 

All these things seemed to be very real, very probable results of the sudden transformation of a human into a god, especially that last one.  That’s huge.  Think about a spider trying to figure out what the hell we’re up to.  Or even a rat.  What kind of stories would they tell about us?  So I tried to explore that, substituting humans for rats and spiders, of course.  And as far as I’m concerned, those humans — specifically Sam Knowle — are the main characters of the story.  Without them, we have no human perspective and therefore no story.

TPB: I hate to say that there are “obvious” political or religious undertones to A GOD SOMEWHERE (besides Eric being a Christian), but readers are bound to tie that into the graphic novel. How much did religion or politics play into your writing the book, if anything?

JA: Politics played zero role in the writing — at least consciously.  I’ve looked it over and still see no political relevance, but others will decide that, I guess.  Religion is something else, and while many folks have drawn comparisons between Eric and Jesus (I guess because the character is Christian) nobody has picked up on the Old Testament elements.  The framework itself found its origins in one specific Old Testament story.  I’m not going to spoil it for anybody, but a close reading should make it apparent.

TPB: Peter Snejbjerg is an incredible artist, and I hear he’s an even nicer person. How did you come to work with Peter? What was the creative process like between you two?

JA:  Peter is amazing and it was a stroke of luck that brought us together.  When I started writing, I had Peter and the massively talented colorist Bjarne Hansen in mind but they were otherwise engaged.  We encountered problems and delays with the book, and eventually Peter and Bjarne were available so we ended up getting a chance to work together after all.  And yes, Peter is very nice, and very creative.  He really put so much of himself into this project and added a tremendous amount to the story.  We talked quite a bit as he was working through the scripts, but I trusted him completely and with good reason.  The same can be said for Bjarne who made Peter’s beautiful work even more beautiful with his colors.  So yes, as you can see, a real stroke of luck for me.

TPB: Peter lives in Denmark…I noticed that toward the end of the book, Eric looks more like a Norse god than the Christian he was at the beginning of the story. Was this Peter’s way of infusing his own culture/history into the story or did you write the character this way?

JA:  My scripts described the physical changes in Eric over the course of the story — right down to the braids in his hair and his less than trim physique by the end — but Peter then took those descriptions and made them work so much more wonderfully than I had imagined.  I mean, a comics writer can write whatever he or she likes, but it’s all up the artist, isn’t it?  Initially what I was thinking was that Eric’s appearance would slowly morph from an analog of the conventional depictions of Christ to an analog of the conventional depictions of the Old Testament God, but you’re right, Peter made him look a little more like Thor or Odin than Yawheh, and I think that’s great.

TPB: You’ve written a lot of outstanding comics over the years, like B.P.R.D. and JLA.  A GOD SOMEWHERE is your own original creation, so is there a sense of freedom that you enjoyed doing it?

JA:  Thanks for the kind words, and yes, I enjoyed this a whole lot, not just because it was a chance to tell a different kind of story, but because I could tell it my way.  DC/WildStorm really left me alone and that’s a great, great feeling.  There was no mandate to frame this in a standard “good vs. evil” dynamic, no effort to impose some sort of pacing or action quotas.  I could just go out there and tell a story, and that’s what I do best — what most writers do best, I’m sure.

TPB: Can you tell us a bit about the process of the book? How long did it take you and who did you take the story to before Wild Storm picked it up?

JA:  It started as a DC book and Peter Tomasi was my editor at that point.  But as I said, there were problems that ended up delaying the book and after Peter Tomasi left DC editorial to do some writing, “a god somewhere” found a new home at WildStorm with Editor Scott Peterson.  It also started as a series, but when WildStorm took over we all agreed that a graphic novel might serve the story better.  Due to some of these delays, it took a couple of years to write, but that’s not entirely true because after the decision to release it as a GN was made, I took another pass (okay, a few more passes) at the dialogue to make it work better in the new format.  So how long did it take me?  Hell, I’m still rewriting it in my head.

TPB: Are you working on anything else right now? What can we look forward to from you in the near future?

JA: I’m still writing BPRD regularly for Dark Horse, and am doing the next Witchfinder series, “Lost and Gone Forever” with the incredible John Severin!  And the next few Lobster Johnson series as well, but I also have plans for another project with Peter and Bjarne that are percolating.  Peter and Bjarne don’t know it yet, mind you, but I have plans.

TPB: Is there anything else you would like to add or mention about A GOD SOMEWHERE?

JA:  I really have to say a big thanks to DC Comics Marketing VP John Cunningham.  He took an interest in this book and he and the tireless Austin Trunick made sure that “a god somewhere” got out there, and as grateful as I am to both of them for this, that’s not why I’m saying thanks here.  John gave me the best compliment anybody has ever given me about my writing.  We talked on the phone back in March (I think) and he told me that he really liked that book, and had read it three times.  Then he said “Each time I finished it, I thought it was about something else.”   That was great to hear, let me tell ya’.

Everything old is new again. Sports teams have “throw-back” day when they wear traditional uniforms for a game. Hollywood rolls out re-make after re-make of old movies and sells out box offices. Worn t-shirts with classic logos are all the rage. Even our beloved comics have taken a turn at making vintage new once more. Granted, comics have always been “vintage” (who would argue that Superman isn’t timeless?), but characters like  Doc Savage, a pistol-wielding Batman, Cthulhu, and The Green Hornet have been written back into our weekly reading in a big way. Maybe it’s the “cool” feeling of seeing a gumshoe smoke a Lucky Strike and sip a snort of scotch. Maybe it’s the traditionally naïve feeling that I have not seeing boobs and blood in every panel. Maybe it’s the simple lines and shading mixed with bright colors, or maybe it’s the lack of color in the black and white comics. Whatever the reason is, I’m enjoying this vintage era of modern comics immensely.

America’s Best Comics (an imprint of Wild Storm) has just revived a more recent title of the pulp sci-fi genre with TOM STRONG AND THE ROBOTS OF DOOM. Originally created by Alan Moore and Chris Sprouse, Tom Strong is homage to the classic pulp hero and just about every comic genre ever created. Strong isn’t an original pulp icon like Doc Savage, but he is just as well written as any that I can think of. He is the epitome of strength, courage, and wit. He’s a father and fearless leader to his small crew of monkeys, robots, and mutants. To top it off, he’s drawn with grey temples, a barrel chest, and a classic costume that would make Henry Ralston proud.

In TOM STRONG AND THE ROBOTS OF DOOM, Tom is preparing his family to travel to his daughter’s wedding when something very strange happens; he is thrust into an alternate future where his son Albrecht has successfully altered time and brought the NAZI party to absolute power, ridding the world of everyone who does not belong to the Aryan race. Tom is captured and left alone to find his family and restore the modern world to proper order.

A classic pulp character battling giant SS robots? What’s not to love? This six issue series promises to be full of surprise, excitement, and NAZI ass-kicking. Peter Hogan has done a remarkable job of taking over Tom Strong and I can’t wait to see what he does with the next five issues. Chris Sprouse is back with the pencils for the series and draws his typical outstanding pulp figure. More than that, Sprouse has created a completely eerie NAZI world that makes you wonder, “what if…?”

I would highly recommend this series to those of you that don’t take your sci-fi too seriously and love the modern pulp comics. That’s not to say that the comic lacks a feeling of sincerity, it doesn’t .Just don’t open THE ROBOTS OF DOOM thinking that you’ll get the same intense sci-fi as an issue of FARSCAPE. Sci-fi purists will enjoy the classic form of TOM STRONG AND THE ROBOTS OF DOOM and should look forward to picking it up every month.

I’m sure that most of you who are reading this are fans of Eric Powell’s iconic creation, THE GOON. It’s hard not to be. The art is always incredible and the story is the perfect mix of emotion, action, and horror all tied together by Powell’s twisted imagination. For those of you who choose to follow a lighter path of comic geekery, Buzzard was a key character in THE GOON series. He was a sheriff in a small western town until the place was attacked by zombies and everyone was killed. Buzzard was the only survivor and now wanders the earth half-dead. He has the heart of an angel (well, compared to the bad guys anyway) and the appetite of an undead, flesh-eating zombie.

BUZZARD #1 isn’t the set up for Buzzard’s origin story. There is a small back-story on how he became what he is, but Powell focuses on moving Buzzard forward. After Buzzard tells his sad and disturbed tale of his past, he stumbles upon a town being terrorized by a group of hairy half-men that the villagers call “the mangled ones”. Buzzard half-heartedly kills the beasts to save the town and satisfy his appetite. They offer him all manner of riches to kill the main monster in command of the mangled ones, but he won’t accept any payment and takes the job anyway.

You should expect the same great art and the same twisted story from BUZZARD as you have come to love with THE GOON. Dreamy, borderless panels, washed colors saturated with browns and grays, bright accents of gore… the Powell stuff that we love. Here’s the kicker though; this book is a solid western. BUZZARD is the equivalent of a zombie Eastwood in a psycho spaghetti western. To add to the theme of the book, there’s also a backup story of BILLY THE KID’S OLD TIMEY ODDITIES.

Written by Powell and drawn by Kyle Hotz, Dark Horse has revived the 2005 series with a few short stories in the back of BUZZARD that will lead to a three issue series later this year. Billy the Kid promises to be as genre bending as BUZZARD or THE GOON as Billy once again leads a clan of circus freaks against the supernatural and other horrors.

So, if you love zombies, cowboys, circus freaks…hell, anything warped and deranged, throw the new BUZZARD series in your hold box. You’ll be damn glad you did. 

Accent UK has just released their first full color comic, THE MAN OF GLASS. Written and drawn by Martin Flink, THE MAN OF GLASS debuted at the Komiks.DK event in Copenhagen, Denmark last weekend and sold out completely. We were lucky enough to get a copy to review before the Accent boys headed out to Copenhagen.

THE MAN OF GLASS is about a boxer who once had everything, but took an unlucky chance and lost it all. It’s not your classic story of a successful man ruining his life with greed or excess, it’s a heartfelt story of an average father and husband who has to cope with a single mistake for the rest of his life.

The book is a forty-three page one-shot and took me only ten minutes to read (maybe less). There is very little dialogue in the book. The story is told visually with meticulous panels. In fact, it almost feels like reading a flip-book. I know it wouldn’t work, but the action is so slight and detailed from panel to panel, that it seems you could flip the pages and watch it as a movie. Perhaps this is why a trailer is so fitting to preview the comic.

Flink uses a very basic style of art that works wonderfully for his story. It’s very cartoonish with simple lines and solid colors. His panels are very detailed, not in style, but in motion and narrative. He takes time to show subtleties rather than draw basic panels to move the story forward; Here’s the man’s bag…this is what’s in it…not just a transient sitting in a park, but the small details that he carries around from a former life. It makes the mood all the more heartbreaking.

This book is significantly different from anything that we have read from Accent UK, but it still has the same wonderful mood that we’ve grown to love from British comics. The book is a heart-wrenching tale that could very well happen to any of us, but it’s a delightful read and I look forward to picking it up again very soon.

For more information on Martin Flink and his work, visit

http://flinksblog.wordpress.com/

To view the trailer for THE MAN OF GLASS, click here:

http://homepage.mac.com/flink/TheManOfGlass/index.html

In JONAH HEX: NO WAY BACK, Jonah is forced to face a fierce past full of abuse, abandonment, and rejection. El Papagayo has come to seek revenge on Hex for the slaughter of his people and resurrects memories of those long dead to Jonah. The bounty hunter is forced to find his mother, and in doing so, discovers he has a half-brother. Part origin, part revenge, and part atonement, NO WAY BACK is as heart wrenching as it is exciting and vicious.

Written by the celebrated team of Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti and drawn by Tony DeZuniga, this book is what you have come to expect from their aggressive and brutal vision of Jonah Hex. He’s one of the most tragic characters in comics and this creative team does a remarkable job of keeping his heartbreaking story alive in every panel.

Hex is a hero, don’t doubt that, but he’s also very human. He has vices. He’s scarred physically and emotionally. He deals with smashed hopes and inevitable disappointment. Yet despite his human element, Hex is selfless and strong. He lives only to survive, but helps others with their own survival. Jonah Hex is the ultimate western icon. I wish there were more western comics with the substance that Gray and Palmiotti give Jonah Hex.

DeZuniga’s art is dirty, harsh, and has a wonderful western feel.  It’s hard to imagine another artist filling the panels of a Jonah Hex novel as well as DeZuniga has for NO WAY BACK. There are some truly horrific scenes in the book, but DeZinga has a way of letting your imagination do most of the work without detailing all of the violence.

Being the first Jonah Hex graphic novel, it’s a must have for Hex fans, but I would strongly recommend it for any fan of westerns in general. It’s still up to geek elitists and Hollywood critics whether the Jonah Hex movie will be any good, but DC has ensured that everyone will be pleased with JONAH HEX: NO WAY BACK.

One thing that stands out right away is the fact that comic legend Marv Wolfman is the writer for the book. You may know him from the little known Crisis on Infinite Earths series. If you are unfamiliar with that then go ahead and pick up almost any DC or Marvel book from the mid-eighties and chances are that Wolfman wrote it. The interior art is by an up and coming artist by the name of Andrea Sorrentino.

This book fills in the back story of Kratos that is only hinted at in the games. If there are any God of War lore junkies out there then this book will explode your brains. The book flashes back to Kratos’ mortal life were we see that he has been “schooling fools” ever since he was a child. The scenes of him as a child are very reminiscent of Leonidas from Frank Miller’s 300. Whether this was intended or simply a coincidence, I do not know. Kratos, however, grows up big and strong as most bloodthirsty warlords do and is set on the fast track to becoming the man in charge in Sparta. After some time, Kratos’ lady has a baby that is deformed and according to Spartan law must be killed. But Kratos learns of a way to cure the child and sets off to lop off heads and pull out eyeballs in search of it.

Now I am not sure how much Wolfman has played the games but he captures the conflicted feel of Kratos quite well. Kratos can’t decide if he is a good guy or a bad guy and Wolfman captures that idea. The story flows well and it humanizes Kratos and skillfully adds some depth to the protagonist. For all you fans out there, do not dismay! This book is very God of War…..ummm -y? Yes, God of War-y. There are plenty of actions scenes with Kratos swinging his Blades of Exile at everything that moves. I am quite conflicted about the art. Sorrentino is extremely talented and the art style fits the mood and feel of the story quite well. However, I am not a huge fan of the style itself. The book is very dark with smatterings (that is a word, right?) of color throughout. The scene where Kratos fights the Hades fire beast is quite stunning. While the art didn’t quite click with me, I can easily see it clicking with other readers.

The book is exactly what you would expect. Fans of the game will love it. If you have never picked up the game I would recommend that you check out the preview and make an assessment of the art. Either way the story was captivating and crafted by one of the greats. The presentation is high quality and the cover art is beautiful. Also, it is “suggested for mature readers” so you know its good.

3.5 Quizzical X-Boy Faces out of five.