THE RUNDOWN: Very Brief Notes On A Few Things I’ve Read

I am going to try to do these more often because I’ve totally sucked on the talking-about-shit-I’ve-read front.

1.
I bought the the first installment of the mangafied, not-your-Father’s-Wolverine book published by Del Rey, Prodigal Son, for a bit of a laugh but it turned out to be a pleasant surprise that was well-paced and engaging. Anthony Johnston’s script doesn’t break any new storytelling ground, but it hits every beat it’s supposed to just so while Wilson Tortosa’s art manages to capture fight scenes and talking head sequences equally well. I could quibble about too many speed lines, but I think that’d be me missing the point more than usual.

2.
Batman: Joker’s Asylum is just about worth the $10 it costs on Amazon. Every story is a little slice of Gotham City psychopathy, with Jason Aaron’s magnificently cruel Penguin story featuring pitch-perfect art by Jason Pearson, Andy Clarke’s art in the Two Face piece and Arvid Nelson’s tight little script for the Joker making up for missteps like the bland-as-hell Poison Ivy feature. I was also glad to see Juan Doe do some DC work and would not mind seeing a lot more.

3.
I’ve been reading A Drifting Life slowly over the past two weeks and it’s well worth savoring. I fell in love with Tatsumi’s work with Drawn and Quarterly’s reprint of The Push Man And Other Stories and am starting to think of him in the same terms as I do guys like Kurosawa and Kirby. His ability to dissect the mundane and pull back the veil of normality to show life’s underbelly has made me pause more than a once.

4.
Speaking of life, Paul Pope’s 100% is so full of it that I really didn’t want it to end. This series of interrelated stories is vividly realized and serves as a treatise on why the man is so revered with its sci-fi backdrop and organically-written characters that may be eclectic but never feel created. I’m normally fine with creators moving on from their works, but if Pope ever wanted to revisit his future New York, I wouldn’t complain.

5.
Oh, and it’s a couple of weeks old, but Birdie did a bangup review of the final issue of 100 Bullets that says everything I would have if I’d ever bothered to write more than just a couple of reviews for CBR, but all smart and stuff.

CLICK THIS LINK RIGHT NOW: Paul Pope’s Star Trek Comic

What I’ve Been Reading: Heavy Liquid

1.
Heavy Liquid is an ink-splattered, lush remix of the archetypical Raymond Chandler mystery, set in the latter quarter of the 21st century, half-familiar to comics readers with its street gangs, criminals in gaudy masks, and echoes of present-day New York while gloriously alien in other ways.

2.
Heavy Liquid is the sort of comic that should have a soundtrack that’s half Merzbow and half Coltrane, produced by Mouse On Mars and available only in a limited edition, packaged beautifully and with copious liner notes about process.

3.
Heavy Liquid serves as a treatise on craft as storytelling as rhythm as theme as motivation as engagement, using conventional dramatic narrative as a springboard into Paul Pope’s worldview and the visual language of the medium with a deliberate efficacy.

4.
I very much enjoyed Heavy Liquid.