Picks Of The Week: 23/4/14

MICE TEMPLAR VOLUME IV: LEGEND #9

WRITER: Bryan J. L. Glass ¦ ARTIST: Victor Santos ¦ PUBLISHER: Image Comics

The Mice Templar is an intimidating book to jump into haphazardly. Not only is the current iteration already up to the ninth issue, but it is well into the fourth volume of a much larger story. There is a substantial history already in place, and it features heavily in this, the questionably titled ‘Legend Part II #1’.

Issue nine is incredibly dense, and honestly a little hard to follow at first, but it’s not impenetrable. It does everything it can to ingratiate new readers without pulling any punches. The plot is beholden to the books legacy, but it isn’t uninvitingly intricate – the dialogue and characterisation are both strong, meaning that the narrative is enjoyable, even for a reader unfamiliar to the minutia of the world.

It also helps that the book has a rather unique and simple art style. Everything looks frantic, almost scratchy in places and it’s very angular, which is perfect for capturing the features of the almost entirely rodent cast. It’s an impressive display of how simple shapes and a good knowledge of weight can lead to some of the most varied character design and exciting art work in a comic book.

This all sounds like fairly standard praise, but it should be noted that I came into this book having never read a Mice Templar comic. From the outset I was bombarded with an unforgiving amount of information – narrative threads and the personal dramas of literally dozens of characters, yet it didn’t scare me away – in fact it had the opposite effect.

The writing and art are so strong that by the time I closed the book I felt familiar with the characters and concepts that lay within – I no longer felt like a stranger.

 

THE FUSE #3

WRITER: Antony Johnston ¦ ARTIST: Justin Greenwood ¦ PUBLISHER: Image Comics

About The Fuse

Three issues in and The Fuse is still playing its hand close to the chest. Old questions remain unanswered as new ones are piled on top of them. What is up with this giant spaceship/city? And what where the race riots of 97?

It’s infuriating, but more than that, it’s enticing. Similarly to previous issues, in the latest instalment of The Fuse Johnston and Greenwood continue to do an admirable job of creating intrigue without giving up any secrets. The reason they can get away with this shameless plot teasing is that aside from being a somewhat mysterious pseudo-sci-fi buddy cop story, it’s a pretty darn good police procedural with some sharp dialogue and likable characters.

The art, while not technically stunning, is also perfect for this type of story. Greenwood’s work is a little loose anatomically, and doesn’t display the finesse to suggest that this is merely a stylistic choice. However, he shows an impressive aptitude for angles and panel structure, which are much more valuable to a crime story than fancy character work. The art is appropriately contained for a police procedural – it isn’t dull, but it never breaks character and becomes unnecessarily dynamic for the sake of it. Most importantly, it flows well – it guides the eye and makes things easy to follow.

The Fuse is shaping up to be a really cool book, the characters are becoming more and more established as is the crime solving element to the story. However, it would be nice to see a little more sci-fi in this sci-fi cop thriller.

Picks of the Week: 9/4/2014

LUMBERJANES #1

WRITER: Grace Ellis & Noelle Stevenson ¦ ARTIST: Brooke Allen ¦ PUBLISHER: Boom Studios

About Lumberjanes

Lumberjanes is the sauce. Unflinchingly bizarre, full of charm and overflowing with energy, it is easily one of the best comics to hit the shelves this week.

It’s rare for an all-ages book to impress me this much, but then it’s rare for an all-ages book to show this much creativity and execute on it well as a narrative (Adventure Time and the new Teen Titans Go being notable exceptions), which Lumberjanes does, and with refreshing simplicity.

Weird shit is afoot – mysterious woods, bear women and 3 eyed demon foxes that turn to dust when punched squarely in their third ocular appendage. Issue 1 establishes in short order that strange and unexplained things are going to happen with startling regularity. It also establishes that, for the most part, it’s going to be hilarious, thanks to the charismatic ensemble of hardcore girl scouts that comprise the books cast.

That’s right! Lumberjanes is a book about the adventures of a group of girl scouts. What? You think you’re too cool for that? Well news flash – you aren’t. Now shut up and read this comic about little girls.

The writing is sharp and shares a sense of humour with other all-ages media such as Adventure Time and Bravest Warriors, and the art is appropriately frenetic to compliment the style of the narrative. Lumberjanes is a cohesive, enjoyable comic, as wonderful a stand-alone experience as it is an introductory chapter.

 

EAST OF WEST #11

WRITER: Jonathan Hickman ¦ ARTIST: Nick Dragotta ¦ PUBLISHER: Image Comics

I have nothing more to say about East of West that I havn’t already stated on this blog. It is a consistently strong book in every regard. If you arn’t reading it yet you should probably take a long look at yourself in the mirror and understand that the reason for everything that is wrong in the world is you.

Rat Queens Volume 1: Sass & Sorcery – Review

WRITER: Kurtis J. Wiebe ¦ ARTIST: Roc Upchurch ¦ PUBLISHER: Image Comics

If by way of some cosmic intervention HBO and Wizards of the Coast combined talent and topic to create a comic book – it would probably look a lot like Rat Queens.

Part fantasy, part black comedy and all violence, the convention breaking first volume of Rat Queens is everything that is right in comic books. It’s imaginative, hilarious, original and most importantly progressive.

Set in a not entirely unfamiliar fantasy setting, Kurtis J. Wiebe and Roc Upchurch’s tale of sword and sorcery follows the adventures of the all-female band of ‘heroes’, the Rat Queens, as they slay monsters, get boozed up and piss off the locals. Volume one is fairly standard for an introductory chapter in terms of pacing – it establishes the setting, introduces the characters and sets the tone. It hits all the right milestones, but it does it with such flair that the simple formula feels exciting. This is mostly due to Wiebe’s self-referential humour, which lovingly pokes fun at the tropes inherent to table-top games such as D&D and Pathfinder, and the wonderful characterisation of the book’s heroines.

As protagonists, the Queens (Hannah, Dee, Violet and Betty) are somewhat atypical for the genre in terms of gender and characterisation. They all have distinct roles and a clear voice, yet they are never mired by the convention of their group role or that of a traditional ‘strong female character’. Each of the Queens are given the space to breathe – to explore the cool, and adversely, despicable facets of a character in a way that is usually reserved for male protagonists.

It’s regrettably uncommon in the medium of comics for a book to feature a predominately female cast, and more uncommon still for them to be as well realised as they are here, Wiebe writes with an undeniable confidence – approaching the subject matter with a wit and deftness that makes it impossible not to find the characters endearing.

An equally uncommon aspect of Rat Queens is the amount of variety in the character design, which is by far the strongest element of Roc Upchurch’s contribution to the book. Usually, comic artists will have a uniformity of style in regards to anatomy. Characters will vary in height, gender and ethnicity but will almost always be muscular, athletic or occasionally overweight. It’s not often that the cast of a comic will look physically unique all the way down the line, which is understandable – comic artists have to churn out a lot of pages in a relatively short time frame. Even so, it can be dull when everyone looks the same. Rat Queens is anything but boring to look at, the variety of designs and body shapes on display is astonishing. That said, Upchurch does display some lazy tendencies such as sketchy figures, out of focus backgrounds and occasionally panels that are too snug. However, when he is on form the expressive nature of his work, in conjunction with the staggering amount of variety in the body types used makes it an enticing book overall.

Rat Queens is a close to perfect experience. The sharp writing and comedic aspects of the story play to the strengths of the medium, valuing brevity and timing above all else, and the character work is flawless. While the art is not quite as sharp as the writing, the variety and energy of Upchurch’s work lends itself well to the funny, action oriented nature of the story and does a great job of enhancing the personalities of the book’s characters. Rat Queens is an essential read – not only does it do everything a good indie comic should do, it is an active example of what all other comics should aspire to be.