Sojourn

Sojourn 19-26, 28, 29, 31-34

Sojourn ended abruptly with issue 34 with the closure of Crossgen Studios, but I’m not exactly heartbroken that I won’t see how Arwyn’s quest ends.  Some final observations about this series:

Hey look, it's Catwoman.

Or is it Kitiara from Dragonlance?

Larry Elmore rules.

Jealous Arwyn is stupid, out of character, and completely unnecessary.

The generic damsel in distress romance novel cover shot here is nauseating.  

Since when has Arwyn ever not been able to take care of herself?

 Ian Edginton replaces Ron Marz with issue 25, and I do like the “mutual respect between enemies” bit, but the quality of the story doesn’t measurably improve over the course of his tenure.  

A nice moment between foes.

To be honest with myself, there are still aspects of Greg Land’s art that I just can’t quit.  

But that's the problem with Land's art. It's all posed. Everything feels staged like a magazine photoshoot, there's nothing natural about his characters. I don’t dislike Sojourn.  And I can imagine a time where I’ll want to flip through this again.  It just won’t be for a very very long time.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Fine

Sojourn, Spencer and Locke

Another new comic:

Spencer and Locke 2 4

The final showdown between Beetle Bailey and Calvin & Hobbes.  Locke’s Spencer delusion (if that’s what you choose to call it) finally takes over in irreparable fashion, and Locke kills Beetle in a fit of rage while visualizing Spencer as the murderer.  The series ends in John Romita fashion, and I’m pretty sure that I’ll be walking away from the title as well. This was kinda fun, but I don’t need to spend any more money on it if there’s a third volume.  

The classic that spawned a thousand homages.

Sojourn 13-18

I don’t mind Greg Land’s photo reference so much as his inability to maintain a consistent hair style on Arwyn.  It’s so very distracting. Storywise, Ron Marz is...fine. As nice as I still find that art, I’m finding it harder and harder to justify keeping this second-rate fantasy title in my collection.  I’m halfway through the series, let’s see how it closes out.  

Okay, it's not just the hair.  Something about that face is thoroughly disconcerting.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Fine

Sojourn, Swing

One of this week’s new comics:

Swing Vol. 2

The second volume is as excellent as the first.  Matt Hawkins continues the story of a couple exploring the swinging world in a thoughtful, respectful, playful, and sexy manner.  The art by Yishan Li and Linda Sejic is beautiful and hot. The Sunstone/Sugar/Swing universe is one that I’m always happy to return to.  

Sojourn 1-12

Ron Marz writes as standard of a fantasy story as you can imagine - The hero seeks revenge on the big bad for killing her family.  She’s joined by a wise-cracking sidekick and her dog. A mysterious sage directs her to collect five quest items that will allow her to kill the bad guy.  

I bought this back in 2002 for the Greg Land art, of course.  I wouldn’t have made the same decision today. His Arwyn is still gorgeous, but the blatant photo referencing is always a bit disconcerting.  And there isn’t enough to the story to make me want to read it again. But at the end of it all, it’s still too pretty to cut from my list.    

Land's goal for this image was to draw something "that wasn't too over-the-top."  Okay...

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Didn’t suck for the first trade, Fine for the second

Shockrockets, Smoke and Guns

Finally done with Misc Box number 4!

Box Summary:

Time spent reading: 32 hours, 2 minutes

Issues read: 262

Issues cut: 57

Highlights (Good or better): Judenhass, Judas, Best of Ray Bradbury

Project Summary:

Time spent reading: 21 days, 5 hours, 7 minutes

Issues read: 4170

Issues cut: 572

Shockrockets 1-6

Kurt Busiek packs this with standard tropes:

1. Hotheaded youth who
1. Scrounges for tech in landfills
2. Builds his own vehicle
3. Is a self-taught pilot
4. Yearns for a better life than his current meager existence
5. Happens to be in the right place at the right time, becoming a member of an elite squad of pilots
6. Struggles to fit in with the others and earn his place on the team
7. Brings a fresh point of view that breaks from the accepted way of thinking and levels up the team
8. Explores where he isn’t supposed to, stumbling upon bad guy meetings and secrets
9. Saves the day
2. Future Earth that
1. Has recently survived an alien invasion
2. Repurposed alien tech to create their state of the art spacecraft
3. Is under attack by an evil rebel general with a surprisingly large and well funded army
3. Other plot points:
1. Traitor pilot who’s mad that the hotheaded youth took her spot on the team
2. Bad guy dies by falling down a long shaft

Still, Busiek and artist extraordinaire Stuart Immonen take these elements and create something that manages to excite and entertain.  These guys are good. Both have done better work, but this is worth reading nevertheless.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Smoke and Guns

Fabio Moon, working without his brother Gabriel Ma, draws this slight but massively entertaining action comic by Kirsten Baldock.  A cigarette girl picks fights with other similarly employed gangs of women and wreaks havoc across the city. Bullets and fists fly with abandon.  It’s just fun.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Rome West, Scars

Rome West 1-12

I liked this quite a bit when I first read it.  Second time through, I found the first half a lot more compelling than the later material.  I would have liked to read a regular series about the early days of this new Roman empire, struggling to live in harmony with the Native Americans while clashing internally over the idea of cultural assimilation.

Writers Justin Giampaoli and Brian Wood make massive time jumps forward between each issue, and it’s both a testament to their amazing ability to craft a strong alternative history and an indictment of their need to cover the span of two thousand years in twelve issues that each chapter left me wanting more.  Each issue only scratched the surface of the amazing potential for each moment in history, and it felt like I was watching a series of trailers instead of a full movie.

I also stopped caring about the story the more it got closer to the present day.  There wasn’t enough focus on how things were different from our timeline, removing the main draw of the series.  

I probably wouldn’t buy this again, but I would buy a fulltime series.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Scars 1-6

This is Warren Ellis at his self-admitted darkest and most twisted, writing about his worst nightmare - his daughter kidnapped, tortured, and murdered in the most gruesome manner imaginable.  It’s...not the worst thing I’ve read in comics, but it’s probably up there for the worst thing I can imagine happening to my future kid. I’d certainly crack and break if something like that happened in my life.  

After the shock value of the crime, the story is fairly standard - Cop recently traumatized by a personal tragedy returns to a case too soon, identifies with it too closely, and is willing to cross the line in the name of justice.  Finely executed because it’s Ellis, with solid, functional art by Jacen Burrows that doesn’t get in the way.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

Olympians, Ray Bradbury, King Thor, Ironheart, Batman: Universe

New Comics!

King Thor 1

I return to Jason Aaron’s Thor after Mike Del Mundo drove me away on the main title.  I have no such problems with Esad Ribic. This is epic stuff, and if this is truly how Aaron’s going to end his long run with this character, I’m happy to be back for it.  

Ironheart 10

“Shuriri.”  That is all.

Batman Universe 3

As with Tom King on Superman: Up and Away, these Walmart books are just an excuse for Brian Michael Bendis to hop around the DC universe and give his half-issue takes on any hero or villain he wants to play with.  They’re so delightful to me that I really don’t care if it’s out of character for Batman.

Back to the Misc box.

Olympians 9

Artemis.  A lot more of a collection of vignettes than some of the previous volumes.  O’Connor’s Goddess of the Hunt gets added to the list of awesome female archers that I love seeing in comics.  

Really like the moon-shaped arrowhead.

I really think I’m going to get the rest of these.  I want to share them with my kids in the future.

Speaking of kids…

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Best of Ray Bradbury

Reading the introduction, it sounds like Ray Bradbury was tickled pink by the fact that his stories were adapted into comics.  I absolutely love the man and his writing. He’s on a very short list of famous people that I completely idolize. His positive attitude and his take on the world are things that never fail to inspire me.  “In all the years since I have not once listened to any so-called friend who made fun of my hobby, my dream, my lifeblood.”

His writing is simultaneously utilitarian in its simplicity and wonderfully evocative with its perfectly balanced wordsmithing.  I practically teared up while reading “Golden Apples of the Sun” and “Picasso Summer” today, even after knowing the stories backwards and forwards.  I daresay he’s my favorite writer.  

The artists commissioned to draw these classic stories are equal to the task of matching these magical stories with art that’s just as good.  Look at this lineup: P Craig Russell, Dave Gibbons, Mike Mignola, Richard Corbe, Matt Wagner...Pretty awesome.  

This doesn’t get a higher rating because as good as it is, I find that Bradbury still reads better in short story form.  I love comics, but sometimes the purity of the word is all that’s needed.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

Olympians

Olympians 6

Aphrodite!  

I like that O'Connor didn't go stereotypical with her character design.

George O’Connor focuses on the Judgment of Paris in this trade, and he inserts an unexpected amount of humor into the proceedings, which I did not expect and found completely delightful.  

Sucks to be Zeus.

Sucks to be Hermes.

O’Connor continues to entertain me with every book, and I’m finding it harder and harder to resist getting the rest of these.

And I love how he draws this donkey:

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice