New comics

Some new trades that have been sitting on my shelf unread for quite a few months.  Now’s a great time to read them as I drag my heels before what I imagine will be a torturous slog through From Hell.  (Still very likely I’m going to cut it before I get all the way through it…)

Fine Print vol 1

Every time I read a Stjepan Sejic work, I’m first and foremost blown away by the skill of his characterizations.  To my mind, he’s unparalleled in his ability to create likable yet completely flawed people, protagonists that are intricately deep and capable of sustaining a series for years and years.  (I have no doubt about his ability to carry Sunstone through the twenty volumes he has planned.)  Throw in the gorgeous art and amazing sex and he’s put together some of the best comics I’ve ever read.  

On the one hand, I’m happy that he’s got, what, four(?) series going on at the same time.  It’s clear he has tons of ideas that are just bursting out of him, and it’s great that he’s staying creatively fresh jumping from book to book.  But on the other, it means that it’ll take forever before any of them come to a conclusion and I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT for all of them!

Plot Holes

Sean Murphy ran the Kickstarter for this miniseries a little while ago, and I backed it while riding on the high of Batman: Curse of the White Knight.  (So good!)  Unfortunately, this is a mish mash of a series that’s as disjointed as the books that the heroes flit between. 

Short summary: A bunch of characters from unpublished books band together to save other books from the hell of not-being-published.  Or something like that.  The internal logistics of the premise never really make sense, which is a problem because the entire series hinges on them.  The result is a story that’s as flawed as the books that the protagonists are trying to edit.  It just never fully makes sense, and I spent the whole time muttering, “Whaaatt??” as I read it.  

Luckily, the art remains stellar.  I never think of Murphy when going through my mental list of favorite artists, but I really need to add him to it.  The guy is amazing.