There Are No Guitars In This Mix

Comments Off | Posted: May 25th, 2006 | Filed under: Uncategorized

It’s always hard to review or critically look at comics by people you know. Thankfully, Bryan Lee O’Malley makes excellent comics and the poptastic magical realism of Scott Pilgrim And The Infinite Sadness, the third volume chronicling the title character’s fight against Ramona Flowers’s evil ex-boyfriends hits every mark it was expected to while showing off a few new tricks. Sure, this volume’s got the video game references and other cultural touchstones that hit a certain market segment, but O’Malley deftly plays with time here and adds a lot more emotional resonance than I expected to the story of Envy Adams, Scott’s own evil ex-girlfriend.

One of the things that makes the Scott Pilgrim books stand out in the current marketplace is the fact that they’re undiluted, unapologetic fun. Superboy fighting Superman in Infinite Crisis didn’t come close to raising my interestometer one bit, but the battle between Scott and Todd Ingram (Ramona’s ex and Envy’s current boyfriend that he must fight, per the book’s pr�cis) at Honest Ed’s had me positively gleeful. O’Malley has spoken of his rediscovering manga during the creation of the third volume and the way he’s distilled elements from that branch of the genre and incorporated them into third Scott’s adventure is just about perfect.

My only complaint about this volume is that the handy chart explaining the complex romantic and relational entanglements of the world O’Malley’s created at the back of the book. However, the fact that the inside front cover serves as Page 1 ameliorates this nicely. Book of the week, and with a Kirby Masterworks coming out at the same time, that’s saying a lot.

Johnny Ryan has created a catchphrase so perfect in Angry Youth Comics #11 that I’m already calling tattoo parlors and asking them how they are with calligraphy.

I’m
taking you
to the land
of condiment
prostitutes.
Look upon that and despair upon your realization that Ryan has become Death, the destroyer of worlds.

I don’t ask much from 52, but unless Superboy punching time turned Maggie Sawyer into Ethel Mertz, that hairstyle has got to go. (Except for that, I really quite enjoyed this issue, even if the idea of a new Terra Man is/was silly and Black Adam’s eXXXtreme methodologies are a prelude, very blatantly setting him up for a fall.)

Cynthia Martin’ guest pencils on Blue Beetle #3 sneak in quite nicely, imitating Hamner well enough that I double-checked the credits. I don’t have much to say besides it’s competent, not flash teen superhero material that appeals to me much more than Invincible, the only other book I can think of that’s in a similar space. I do wonder about the disappearing kitchen table on the title page, though.

I got both versions of NextWave: Agents Of Hate #5 and yes, I plan on coloring the alternative one, maybe even with actual crayons just to be that way. There�s some positively hilarious moments in this issue, courtesy of Dirk Anger’s insanity and once the Johnny Ryan catchphrase tattoo heals, there’s an Ellis one waiting to happen:

Your
sci-fi kung fu
bullets are not
strong.
One thing is bugging me, though: didn’t Ellis use the exact same phrase “war garden” in Stormwatch? Yes, it’s a good one, but I got a bit distracted by that.

More of this prattling later, including this week’s Daredevil and Hawkgirl; I have to get to work.

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