Reviews: Severed #1; Knights of Pendragon: Once and Future

Severed No. 1 (Image, cover date August, 2011)

My friend loaned me this a couple of weeks ago, and I have been sitting on this review. (No, I don't know why.)

Severed is spectacular! I am a sucker for Americana, I am a sucker for Norman Rockwell paintings, and I am a sucker for serial killers. Combine all of those elements and you have Severed. Writers Scott Snyder and Scott Tuft have done the nigh impossible...they've made me want to read a monthly series again. I will resist and wait for the inevitable trade paperback, but I will actually bump it up to the top of the much ballyhooed backlog upon release. Artist and colorist Atilla Futaki is like Norman Rockwell on acid. Jaw droppingly good stuff here. I can't wait to read the rest of this series.

THE KNIGHTS OF PENDRAGON: ONCE AND FUTURE (Marvel UK, 2010; Softcover)

Collects The Knights of Pendragon Nos. 1-9 (cover dates July, 1990- March, 1991) 

Watchmen's tone and pacing changed comic books forever. This is evident in pretty much every comic published in the decade after it, and extremely evident in this series. Future superstar Writer Dan Abnett (with John Tomlinson) do a quasi-superhero title with that laid back, decompressed Vertigo Comics vibe. I liken it to the “West Coast” sound of '70s Rock...there's no sense of urgency in anything that happens, and even the action seems seem to whimper rather than bang. This is well written but is honestly not my cup of tea. I like my comic books, especially superhero comic books, to have maximum impact and concise storytelling.

Future superstar Artist Gary Erskine also got an early break in the Marvel UK titles as well as 2000 A.D. His artwork is solid and his action sequences flow well enough but lack Alan Davis' bone crunching violence. Disney (the parent company of Marvel, as of late) has issued a mandate that all new material must originate from the US arm of Marvel. Pity that. We may never get the next Alan Davis or Alan Moore now. I can understand them keeping a clenched fist for, say, Spider-Man or Captain America, but I don't see any reason why they couldn't allow them some play with UK heroes, like Captain Britain (a supporting character in this title). 

All in all, this is a decent read with environmental overtones that hold up well. This is only available in the UK (or by Internet, as I got it), and I sincerely doubt that this book will be issued Stateside. The production values are similar to the other Panini/ Marvel UK books: super thick cardstock cover and paper, high resolution scans with little to no restoration and nice introductions by the creators.

Review: Captain Britain Vol. 4: The Siege of Camelot

CAPTAIN BRITAIN VOL. 4: THE SIEGE OF CAMELOT (Marvel UK, 2010)

Collects selections from Captain Britain Summer Special, The Daredevils Nos. 1-11, Hulk Comic Weekly Nos. 41-55, 57-63 and Marvel Super Heroes Nos. 377-389 (cover dates December 12, 1979- November, 1983)

These British trade paperbacks are heavy duty, man. Super thick cardstock covers, super thick paper...like I said, heavy duty. The bulk of this book was recently issued Stateside in the Captain Britain by Alan Davis & Alan Moore Omnibus, but here we get the earlier stories in their original black and white presentation. There are color pages in this book (i.e. the covers and The Daredevils stories), but many of these stories were re-colored when they were reprinted in the US ages ago. I am glad that I have both versions.

The first chunk of this book is The Black Knight's strip, which features Captain Britain as nothing more than a member of the supporting cast. Their inclusion is necessary, though, because it leads right up to the moment that began the aforementioned Omnibus, roughly 80 pages into this book. Alan Davis' early artwork leaves a lot to be desired, but he quickly picks up steam. His action sequences are great, and the traits that made him one of my all-time favorites become more apparent as he progresses. 

Alan Moore writes the last chunk of this book, and he is often imitated but never duplicated. It's so easy to dismiss the importance of these '80s British comic book creators. They really set the stage for the modern era of comics. I would even go as far as to liken Alan Moore to Eddie Van Halen. Van Halen had a revolutionary guitar technique which has since been stripmined of all originality, becoming commonplace and later a cliche'. Likewise, Alan Moore's sense of pacing and arc structure has been swiped by hands less capable and rendered impotent. Why can't artists learn from other artists without swiping the thing that made their source of inspiration special? It sort of cheapens things when we have copies of copies.

The stories from The Daredevils Nos. 1-11 are the best of the bunch. Moore and Davis really fire on all cylinders here, and they play off of each other's strengths. Davis' storytelling, pace and action sequences play off of Moore's tight story structure and twists, pre-dating his work on both Watchmen and V For Vendetta. The Fury, Mad Jim Jaspers, Saturnyne and the Special Executive are characters that got their start here in the UK series, and Moore throwing in mainline Marvel Universe characters such as Arcade and the Black King (Sebastian Shaw) is a real treat.

It's great to now have the complete UK run in collected edition format. Not to be outdone, Marvel (US) has recently announced hardcover editions of these. I am going to resist the temptation of the upgrade. Besides, it likely won't even have sewn binding...will it?