Review- THE BOYS VOL. 1: THE NAME OF THE GAME (LIMITED EDITION)

THE BOYS VOL. 1: THE NAME OF THE GAME (LIMITED EDITION) (Dynamite, 2009; Hardcover)

Collects The Boys Nos. 1-6 (cover dates October, 2006- February, 2007)

Writer: Garth Ennis

Artist: Darick Robertson

I have too many irons in too many fires to keep up with everything going on in this hobby, case in point being The Boys. Everyone was raving about this series when it first came out, and I just shrugged my shoulders and kept on reading whatever I was reading at the time. This was a birthday present last year, and now I can finally comment on the book. First of all, I find it lame when thinly veiled movie pitches like this are made. They “cast” that Shaun of the Dead dude in a role which, in my opinion, detracts from the reading experience, not adds to it. I dislike many modern movies, and when a comic books does it's best to be a storyboard for a modern style movie, then it already has a strike against it in my book.

That said, The Boys was still mostly enjoyable. The basic premise is solid enough: A CIA sponsored team of superhero “police” are formed to keep the ever expanding and increasingly arrogant and reckless superhero population in check. There's a bit more to it than that, but I am not one to give a detailed synopsis in my reviews. You can go to Wikipedia for that sort of thing.

The gripe, with S P O I L E R S- Comics like this are branded as being For Mature Readers, which typically means that there is excessive violence, gratuitous nudity, and profanity. Think of it as the R rating for movies. The incident where they lost me is when the superheroes in The Seven required Starlight to give them fellatio in order to join the team. I understand that this was done to show what sleazeballs these guys are, but Ennis lost me there. That scene wasn't mature, it was fanboy* pandering crap. (*Term fanboy used in its original, pejorative sense.)

I don't hate superheroes. I don't think that superheroes are a tired or outdated concept that I'm too cool for. This comic book is for those still reading comic books to say “Yeah, I read them, but I am so cool that I am totally over superhero comics.” I am out for volume 2. I will not support this series financially. Consider this a rental. I may borrow my friend's hardcovers at some point if my curiosity eats me alive, but I refuse to support this series, even though I enjoyed it.

The OCD zone- This hardcover does have sewn binding, but it is glued flush to the spine. The paper is extremely thin, bordering on being a coated tissue paper, so the result is that it does indeed lay flat. It can be read comfortably with one hand, which is the desired result for enjoying a book, at least in my OCD world. So yeah, it is a decent package overall, even if the paper kind of sucks.

Reviews:MARVEL MASTERWORKS- ATLAS ERA JUNGLE ADVENTURE VOL. 1; ASTRO CITY- SHINING STARS; Winnie the Pooh movie 2011

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: ATLAS ERA JUNGLE ADVENTURE VOL. 1 (Marvel, 2009 ; Hardcover)

Collects Lorna, The Jungle Queen Nos. 1-5 and Lorna, The Jungle Girl Nos. 6-9 (cover dates July, 1953- September, 1954) and the “Loona” Lorna spoof story from Riot No. 6 (cover date June, 1956)

Blame it on Sheena. I passed on this when it was originally solicited because I couldn't care less about Jungle comics. Then I found a copy of Devil's Due Golden Age Sheena Vol. 2 trade paperback in a $5 box at my local comic shop. Months and months went by, and I read it. I was completely blown away, so much so that I tracked down Vol. 1 and then grabbed this book.

This is superb! Don Rico's writing is excellent, if somewhat offensive to 21^st Century sensibilities. Sexism and unflattering portrayals of minorities abound, but this was the 1950s. Werner Roth does the artwork on all of the Lorna stories, and I was shocked by the quality of his artwork. I was unimpressed on his run on The X-Men during the '60s, but here he is a master. Rich, lush linework is the norm. His jungle scenes and animals are photo realistic, and I love how he crams so much detail into each panel without sacrificing clarity. His page layouts are tightly structured, with 7-9 panels per page.

The writing can be a little formulaic after a while (how many lost lands can there be in one jungle, after all?), but this was a blast to read. Dinosaurs, giant apes, jewel thieves...this stuff rocks. Do yourself a favor and check it out. On the OCD side of things, everything gets two thumbs up: nice paper, sewn binding, superior linework and color restoration, nice aroma...I am ill, but at least I admit it. If loving these things about books is wrong then I don't want to be right. 

ASTRO CITY: SHINING STARS (Wildstorm/DC, 2011; Hardcover)

Collects Astro City: Astra Nos. 1, 2, Astro City: Beauty, Astro City: Samaritan and Astro City: Silver Agent Nos. 1, 2 (cover dates September, 2006- September, 2010)

This collects the odds and ends of the Astro City series, an assortment of one-shots and mini-series. These are all character sketches that add to the mythos but do not necessarily function as a cohesive read. Still, it is nice to get all of the odds and ends tied up in collected edition form. The Samaritan one-shot is great, with writer Kurt Buseik coming close to Alan Moore level cleverness...back when Moore was still clever and didn't rely on boobies to be “mature”. The Silver Agent mini-series was excellent, and I love how he was a mailman in his civilian identity. It's about time that a superhero was a mailman. I hope that we see a follow-up to this book sooner than later. The only thing that is frustrating to fans of this series is the wait between “seasons”.

Winnie the Pooh (Disney, 2011)

I took my hatchlings to see this yesterday, and they seemed to like it. For kids weaned on CGI films, this throwback to traditional animation must have seemed archaic. I guess that I liked it well enough, too.

Review: ASTRO CITY- THE DARK AGE BOOK 2: BROTHERS IN ARMS

ASTRO CITY: THE DARK AGE BOOK 2: BROTHERS IN ARMS (Wildstorm/DC, 2010; Hardcover)

Collects Astro City: The Dark Age Book Three Nos. 1-4 and Astro City: The Dark Age Book Four Nos. 1-4 (cover dates July, 2009- June, 2010).

In this, the seventh book of Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson's love letter to the Silver and Bronze Age of comics, we see things get darker and grittier. The time is now 1984 in Astro City, and change and dark times are running rampant in the city. The atmosphere in Astro City has always mirrored the change in the comic book universes of the time.

This title is what I like to call a comic book fan's comic book. One would almost need an encyclopedic knowledge of Marvel and DC Comics of the '60s-80s for things to make sense. The nods and whys and wherefores would surely be lost on a “civilian” reader...or would they? I am kind of curious what a non-comic book fan would get out of this series. Much of this series deals with how regular people would react to the world if there really were such a thing as superheroes. It has a lot of heart and is among my favorite titles out there.

Reviews: Logan's Run: Last Day; Night of the Living Dead; Ex Machina Vol. 10: Term Limits

LOGAN'S RUN: LAST DAY (Bluewater, 2010; softcover)

Collects Logan's Run: Last Day Nos. 1-4 (cover dates January- April, 2010)

Logan's Run is equal parts passion and nostalgia for me. While I was too young to catch the 1976 theatrical release, I did see it re-run in syndication a number of times in the late '70s and early '80s. For a kid who was enamored with Star Wars and  Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Logan's Run was equally awesome. This series is closer to the book than the movie and is exceptionally well done, with great writing by Jason Brock and Paul J. Salamoff (adapting the William F. Nolan novel) and tremendous artwork by Daniel Gete. Heck, even colorist Joseph Baker deserves a shout out for the tasteful job that he did on the series.

Not ALL is rosy, though: Bluewater originally solicited this as a 6 issue trade, but when it came out, only the first four issues were included. The arc isn't even resolved in this trade, ending on a cliffhanger. I hope that they put those two issues in the next Logan's Run trade. I won't complain too much, though, because 4 issues at a MSRP $14.99 from an independent publisher with licensing fees isn't TOO bad, I suppose. I would've rather had the complete 6 issue series in one book, though. That aside, what could be stopping you from treating yourself to this? 

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD VOL. 1 (Avatar, 2010; Softcover)

Collects George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead No. 1, Night of the Living Dead: Back From The Grave No. 1, Night of the Living Dead: Hunger, Night of the Living Dead: Just A Girl No. 1, Night of the Living Dead: New York No. 1 and Night of the Living Dead: The Beginning Nos. 1-3 (cover dates August, 2006- 2009)

Avatar Press continually produces quality material, and this is another fine offering from them. These issues take place before and after the original movie, and are co-written by original creator and movie script co-writer John Russo. The artwork is serviceable if unremarkable (see cover image above), with the exceptions being the issues done by Fabio Janses and Edison George. All of the variant covers are included as DVD-style extras, and the Jacen Burrows ones are my favorites. On the OCD side of things, the book has sewn binding and is printed on high-quality paper. A nice package and a good read.

EX MACHINA VOL. 10: TERM LIMITS (Wildstorm/DC, 2010; softcover)

Collects Ex Machina Nos. 45-50 (cover dates November, 2009- September, 2010)

Wow! This series has remained a favorite of mine, and while I am sad to see it end, it ended with a HUGE bang! Like all great endings, there are questions left unanswered. No one could've seen it coming, no way no how, and there is no way in Hell that I'm going to tell you how it ended. If you have not checked this series out, start with the first issue or the first trade paperback and go from there. Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris have made a series for the ages here, and one day I am going to sit down and re-read all 10 trade paperbacks in a row.