jasonfranks

 
SEAGUY VOL 2
I liked the first SEAGUY book. It didn't exactly make sense int he real world, but its own internal logic was rock solid, the storytelling was flawless and it had really interesting things to say about my old bugbear, the Hero's Journey and the structure of myth. Volume 2 picks up right where volume 1 left off and, while its rewards are a bit skimpier, it's just as much fun as the first one.  I find that I prefer Grant Morrison's miniseries to his bigger works. Grant, at his best, is a viciously clever and alarmingly sharp. At his worst he is self-indulgent, pretentious and repetitive. I love WE3 and  THE FILTH. ANIMAL MAN is interesting, but I think  he refined the ideas he presented there a lot better as he went along. THE INVISIBLES, dare I say it, is occasionally a work of genius but more often than-not get diluted into nonsense that I can only ascribe to a lack of discipline.

SEAGUY, I guess, is meant to be disposable pop superhero metafiction: something only Grant might conceive of, let alone manage to sell to a big publisher--twice. Great stuff. You need to read it.

LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLMEN: CENTURY 1910
The first non-DC volume of Alan Moore and Kev O'Neill's synthesis of pulp heroes from the ages into new stories. This one feels a bit redundant, though. Moore showed us what happens to most of these characters into the second half of the 20th century; booting them back to 1910 for connective-tissue story tying them back to the second miniseries feela  bit pointless. I'm not sure what the plan is--are Top Shelf going to publish more volumes of this quickly? This one seems all setup and minimal payoff. This book is a 'musical' in parts, working in Mack the Knife  from the Three Penny Opera. 

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THEATRE OF WAR
I admit, I picked this up because the art is by John McCrea. Paul Jenkins is a good writer, but I wouldn't have picked this one up just for him. And... man. I read the first few pages and I had to skim the rest and stare at the pretty pictures, this was so uninteresting.  I was at first a bit amazed to see John McCrea working so close to the house Marvel style--and the the inker changes three times through the book, and by the end of the story (I think inked by Victor Olazaba) the McCrea whose work I lknow and love is a lot more evident: thicker, more organic lines and syrupy-looking blacks. Not recommended.

INCOGNITO
Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips continue to make the exact kind of comics I want to read. This fourth issue of INCOGNITO is a terrific and this right now is the only book I go looking for as the issues come out. I don't think it's as strong as CRIMINAL, Brubaker and Phillips' other current (ongoing) project, but it's still the most interesting thing coming out of mainstream comics right now. 

BATTLEFIELDS: TANKIES #2
Gath Ennis and Carlos Ezquerra doing war comics; not a tough sell any way you stretch it. Terrific, no-bullshit, meticuolously-researched blood-and-guts war comics served with lashings of grim humor. Fantastic work by two of the absolute best in top form. 

-- JF