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Breakdowns -- Emphasis Mine

July 3, 2003

Despite people’s derision, proved to be more than diversion—Lou Reed, “Street Hassle”

First, while I sincerely believe that last week’s TITLE BOUT finale was about the best comics column I’ve ever read—at least the best goddamn value in town at over 40 printed pages—one thing I won’t miss is the competition. Here I was, thinking about how I’ve been on the site a year myself, and what better time to really get wordy again and write about my various comics theories and biases and the process that goes into the column, and this drunken Indian (from India, so it’s amusing rather than a racial stereotype) just uncorks his djinn and rubs it and ALAKAZAM, there’s a big steaming masterpiece. But forget the masturbation, he’s also a really good writer.

But enough about him, right? That’s over. And while I appreciate how thoroughly he lathered me in that column (and if I squint I can pretend all the Chuck Austen references are really my name, too), he’s dead to me, as are any writers who leave the Shoot. At least A.K. had the sense to step down now, when I’ve decided to be competent.

Are You Such A Dreamer, To Put The World To Rights?
Okay, so this column, besides the reviews and such, will be kind of a loose one. I feel like unburdening myself of a few things, but mainly I thought just maybe there would be some value for you readers if I kind of laid out where I’m coming from when I review books, what my biases may be, what’s changed since I started the column, what pisses me off and brings me joy…all dat.

First, if you’re new to the column, here’s what I do: I review comics and comment on the industry. Sometimes the comments are in the beginning, before the reviews, and sometimes after, in a section I call the Full Bleed. Often, there’s a bit in both. I take all this stuff seriously -— at times too seriously —- but I think it’s rare that I’ll get into that fanboy messageboard mentality with the “Fuck Marvel in their stupid asses!” shit. Just having done this for about three years, you realize how little real news there is in comics to get worried about, and often the real news -— business stuff, copyright law stuff —- is overlooked for juicy nothings like Micah Ian Wright arguing with Joe Quesada. And yes, that stuff’s more entertaining, absolutely. Just don’t get so worked up over it.

When I started, back at Comic Book Galaxy, I tried to cover all the “important” new books every week, with trade paperbacks and graphic novels taking more of a backseat. You’ll still find some reviews of #1 issues and one-shots, sure, because they’re the ones I was interested enough to read right away and I want to give my opinions the same as anyone, but I’m less concerned with that now. Initially, I kind of admired the Fourth Rail guys for being able to cover so many (mostly mainstream) books, but that formulaic reviewing got old real fast for me, as a writer and a reader. I’m not saying they don’t do an adequate job at times, but I found when I can guess how many points out of 10 either of them will give a book within a point, consistently, there’s not much reason to keep reading, especially when there’s no entertainment value added to the service.

So at some point, or maybe it just evolved this way, I decided to just review stuff when I felt like it. I tried to make the choices sensible—like why review the third PREACHER trade if the whole series has been collected and each trade leads right into the next? On the other hand, I don’t know when I’ll ever catch up with ASTRO BOY, and each book stands on its own, so why not review #15 if I feel like it?

Here’s some of the process behind the column that may be a little more interesting. In any given week, I’ve got at least four books in various stages of reading. I’ll pick one up and read it in the family room, read something else in the bathroom, read something else in the break room at work and leave it there. It’s not hard to knock out a couple HELLBOY stories and go read something else, whereas I want to take more time reading B. KRIGSTEIN. And I also read a lot of floppies while I’m driving. It’s true. Now, San Diego traffic is not quite as bad as Los Angeles, but it’s slow enough that in a 40 minute drive to or from work, I can read at least one 22 page comic. It can’t be PROMETHEA or something wordy, but ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN works just fine. Occasionally I’ll have to stop suddenly and lots of comics fly off the passenger seat onto the floor, which is irritating. Lousy drivers!

As far as planning what to review, I never really nail that down. Couple new books I think should be covered, maybe a couple freebies sent by publishers or creators, perhaps something that is being released in the week the column comes out. A lot has to do with just what I’m able to finish reading and get written in time. If I run out of time to review a book I read, I try to get to it for the next column, or I forget what I wanted to say, and there’s not a lot of time for rereading, especially if it’s something I didn’t like that much.

Some plans don’t quite work out. I announced that I would be covering all the HELLBOY books in order, kind of like I did with the GRENDEL SAGA, and then found out that WAKE THE DEVIL, the second book, is currently out of print. Put a damper on things, but as you can see from my review of THE CHAINED COFFIN last week, I’m forging ahead anyway. I also had wanted to cover the best of EROS’ porn comics, figuring there was plenty of value amid the twisted, misogynist trash—and there is—but I just don’t feel like reading it that often. I’ll get to more of it eventually.

With the reviews, I guess my writing style is influenced less by other reviewers than songwriters like Dylan, Lennon and Costello. Not comparing myself to them in terms of quality, but in all their work there is a great love of wordplay, both bitter and sweet sides, and in all a bit of smut. I like the double-entendres; I like smashing words together; I like lavishing praise on something that moves me and demolishing something that doesn’t. If I had to cite other reviewers as influences, I guess I’m some cross between Alan David Doane and Tony Isabella. If you know their work, the immediate thought may be that Alan’s the prick and Tony’s the sweet cat, and yet both have those other sides to them, and both are compelled to speak out on wrongs they see, or matters that offend their fiercely held values. Finally, throw in Roger Ebert from the world of film criticism, for what I feel is an admirable ability (doesn’t matter if I agree with his opinion or not) to judge a work on its merits rather than what others feel it ought to be. I mean, there are certain things any reasonable person can expect from CHARLIE’S ANGELS 2 for it to be a satisfying entertainment, and it shouldn’t have to compare to an art film, just like I don’t expect every superhero book to be as brilliant and mind-blowing as PROMETHEA or even WATCHMEN.

I don’t read a lot of other people’s reviews. When I do, it’s because they’re written by a handful of guys whose stuff I like, or someone I’m curious about, or for laughs. Plenty of laughs. You can find crap, ignorance, stupidity, poor writing and fanboyhood at every site, even supposedly good and honorable ones. I mean, does Ninth Art have the laziest look at the week’s upcoming books ever, and one of the most surprisingly mainstream? Yes. “As Ben Raab takes over GREEN LANTERN, let’s hope for the best.”. Really? Why? Who has that much hope they can afford to waste it on Raab or GL? Okay, cheap shot, and I’m not maligning the entire site, though I will if I get enough requests. But the point is, when people say nice things about me, it’s rewarding -— and believe me, any of us who do this can use more of that feedback -— but I don’t take it seriously if someone says I’m the best reviewer or something, because you’re measuring with a two-foot yardstick. There are very few good people doing this, so to my mind the key is to try to compete, internally, with quality movie, book and music reviews, stuff in magazines, mostly. I think far too many reviewers are unable or unwilling to grow, to take chances on books and on changing how they write. Some waste their talents running sites that don’t have reviews but endorsements of books. And there are a couple of great writers who just can’t do more than a review a month or something, which is nice but my Protestant work ethic somehow makes me a little contemptuous of them. I do it every week, pally. That’s probably what kills it for reviewers, the weekly column. You turn into a robot or you get too cute, or outraged, or cutely outraged, or you find you don’t have what it takes to do something interesting week after week.

Just to touch on a couple other pet theories (I have more later, heh heh), I realized early on that it was necessary to mix the reviews with commentary, because I had a separate commentary column and it sucked. Unless you’re going to get on a high horse every week about every Mark Waid-type story, there’s not that much to talk about in comics every week. Doing one of these columns usually disintegrates into this Why Paul Levitz Should Die As Soon As His Voice Changes, Part 43 rant-a-thons, and the same with blogs. If you feel you have to deliver something to ponder every day, chances are you’ll start to find conspiracies and trends and injustice where there isn’t any, or else the injustice and conspiracy isn’t anything new, a trend without end.

We Can Wipe You Out Anytime
Okay, for whatever reason, I’m getting pissed now, so let’s run with it. Here are some turnoffs for me, all related to comics:

Creators Who Get Bad Reviews And Dismiss On Basis That Reviewer Never Made His Own Comics - You either defend the work like a man, civilly, or you can be an even bigger man and not defend it at all. It has nothing to do with whether the reviewer has walked a mile in your shoes, or sat in your office at your computer. He’s got an opinion, like it or not. Which leads to this:

All Comics Critics Want To Write Comics Themselves - Yeah, so? Who better? Lots of critics in other fields have gone on to careers in their respective entertainment media. Comics critics love comics. And a lot of them are just as bright, creative, and have done as much work studying the story and art as a lot of the pros currently working. Nothing whatsoever wrong with a critic wanting to write his own Batman stories, depending on how he reviews Batman comics. You know, if there’s a lot of, “what I would have done is”, then sure, that’s a problem.

The Company Is The Enemy - Look, I’m not saying Marvel, DC, Image, CrossGen and Dark Horse are the greatest places to work and have nothing but upstanding, honest people looking to create great art. They want to make money, just like Top Shelf and Fantagraphics and Oni and Slave Labor Graphics and Humanoids and the rest. And the smaller the company is, probably the smaller the editorial fuckery, the double-dealing, or the just plain “we knew this book was shit but we put it out anyway”. TRENCHES or MR. GUM, anyone? No? Exactly. These are not evil men, not Chris Staros nor Jamie S. Rich nor Paul Levitz nor even Bungalow Bill Jemas. They all want to put good stuff out and hope it makes money, and they’ve all got their blind sides and quirks and maybe even mean streaks, I dunno. Even Jemas wants to be creative; no one is telling him he should be writing. He’s spending his time on bad bibles for new series, not stomping on baby ducks. He probably has his eye more on making money than making a masterpiece, but so what? You need someone in that function at a large company, probably many someones.

Something else that bugs me when people complain about how the major publishers are such hardasses -— and don’t get me wrong, it’s true in many cases —- is that these same publishers are sometimes at the mercy of artists. Marvel probably has the best examples right now in Frank Quitely and Bryan Hitch, artists on monthly books who can’t even handle bimonthly. THE ULTIMATES is a successful book, though not the way writer Mark Millar likes to advertise it, because it just doesn’t come out often enough. Marvel could sue either of these artists for breach of contract if they wanted to, and sometimes I honestly don’t know why publishers put up with this kind of work ethic. Yeah, it’s great stuff, but if either of them got pissed, where would they go? Pretty much just DC, right, and so what? They’re not fast enough to be that much of a threat. So they put out a few nice books a year, who cares? Hey, I’m not anti-artist or any such thing, but just as someone who’s a little more than just a consumer, someone who wants the industry to grow and thrive, I feel part of that is putting out a good product on time, meeting one’s obligations.

The Creators Deserve Respect - I don’t have a problem with the basic premise that everyone deserves an initial portion of respect, and from then on it’s theirs to lose or add to depending on their actions. What I have a problem with is when a creator equates the no-doubt-considerable time and effort they put into their project, or their past successes, with an expectation that the reviewer will give them a free ride. I liked the new OUTSIDERS #1 all right, but I was really amused by the Pulse having one of their comics neophyte interns review it, as it exposed how ridiculous most superhero comics are to the unschooled. More amusing, though, was artist Tom Raney throwing a hissy over how hard everyone worked on the book and how they deserved respect. It reminds me of how, say, a bunch of likeminded would-be screenwriters get together every week with their scripts, offering constructive criticism and encouragement, and then one of them pitches his script in the real world and faces cruel rejection. It doesn’t mean the work is bad, necessarily, but the point is that whether you deserve respect or not, you had better not expect it from anyone, and if you don’t get it, you’d better be able to take it.

Now, there’s nothing more subjective than being a critic, so one shouldn’t have any shame about one’s biases, mostly. If a critic hates fantasy comics, he shouldn’t be reviewing them, agreed, but we’re all informed and guided by the biases we’ve built up, and I don’t think it’s necessary to start every review with a boring disclaimer about how one is often not so keen on anthologies, etc. But just this once, let’s get that kind of thing over with, working the biases right into the review, right out in the open:

The Anthological Problem

PROJECT TELSTAR by Scott Morse, Paul Hornschemeier, Joel Priddy and Various. AdHouse Books. $16.95
A shoe-in for some design award nominations but not much else, this book was quite a disappointment. Getting indie creators like the above, Laurenn McCubbin, a couple others you might know, and getting them to do stories featuring robots seemed like a good idea to me. I was predicting the hippest, funnest anthology this year.

Didn’t happen.

The beauty of the thing, with its nice fonts and blue-silver ink effects, makes the initial skim-through of the book pretty exciting, but once one starts reading, it’s apparent several of the creators had absolutely nothing to say about the topic. The stories rarely contain anything a robot story might hopefully promise, like thrilling science fiction adventure; ironic, perhaps technical, humor about the problems in being a machine; or even profound examinations of what it might be like to be close to human and yet so far away. There are some attempts at this last bit, but 90% of the contributors either aren’t talented enough to pull it off, or couldn’t be bothered. Instead, there are handsomely dull or incomprehensible formal exercises and willfully obscure navel-gazing. Hmm, robot slackers--I’ve already got a better idea than most of the stuff in here.

Oh, Hornschemeier and Priddy both do nice little stories about the utter loneliness and technical difficulties of robotdom, though I honestly couldn’t tell what happened at the end of Priddy’s. They’re thematically very similar, yet I could have done with a few more along these lines, just a nice one-shot of a half-dozen lonely ‘bot stories. There were a couple other decent efforts, but the thing with most anthologies is the volume of garbage really ends up hurting even the okay stuff. It can’t just be okay, as it has the weight of all the other disappointing stuff on top of it. And here’s something I hate to find in an anthology—a teaser for another book. In this case, it’s Scott Morse providing a kind of trailer -— as confusing and forgettable as the first LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN trailer —- for his tiger/robot book SOUTHPAW, also from AdHouse. I’m not down on that book yet, but this little non-story does nothing for me. It happens all too often that publishers accept substandard work from big name creators just so they can put that name on the book.

Yes, the production is outstanding. The book has rounded corners and blue metallic ink on every page, and great fonts and such. Sadly, only Dave Cooper, in an insanely simple story gracing the outer and inner covers, provides a smile and a glimpse at what a fun project this could have been if the editor forced the talent (and I’m of course excusing the portfolio artists here, who all provide nice work) to, I dunno, tell stories? It’s really a beautiful disaster, and the lack of almost anything memorable inside makes the great production almost painful.

BROAD APPEAL by Friends of Lulu. $9.95
This one has some of the same problems as TELSTAR, without the great production. It’s actually a better book, but not enough that I can recommend it.

See, I think guys like the idea of women making comics because it’s a fantasy of having that girl who shares your interests. And an anthology like this is a way guys can feel good about themselves: “Hey, I support Friends of Lulu! I’m hip to the great comics women are doing today!” I’m all for diversity, but when it comes right down to it, diversity of material is more important than diversity of creators, and both are less important than quality of material.

The thing most disappointing about this book is the sameness of tone in the actual stories. The characters are nice gals, some sweet and some snarky, flappin’ yaps, making a few cute jokes, hanging out with friends. I know these cartoonists have richer lives than this. I know they have resentments and fears and obsessions and family problems and creative struggles. I know they feud, fuck and fight. So why can’t we see any of this? When the best thing in here is two women recalling their various hairstyles, you’ve got a big problem. Donna Barr seems to have something to say about how the horrors of war are used to make comics entertainment, but I really couldn’t get what she was talking about.

There are a couple funny animal ones, Sara Varon’s being slight but very appealing in a CHUNKY RICE way. I reviewed Dave Roman’s JAX EPOCH book a week or two ago, and though I liked it well enough, I was really annoyed to see what amounted to a two-page recap of that book. There are attempts here and there to broaden (really no pun intended) the range of the book with some fantasy and adventure stories, but they’re mostly just teasers for longer books, and don’t work on their own, or make much sense. I know it’s tough to come up with something that’s both a good idea and yet able to be expressed capably and clearly in a couple pages, but my empathy doesn’t go so far as to excuse all this wasted potential. Better if fewer creators were chosen, giving them more room to express themselves, and let’s cut out the puff piece interviews. I mean, you’ve got this amateurish story about a girl and her pet “Mr. Nibblets”, then we have to have an interview with the creator, as if she’s accomplished something?

What it comes down to is some pleasant stuff, a few laughs here and there, but very little one can remember five minutes later. I’m curious why talents like Lea Hernandez, Jessica Abel, Carla Speed-O’Neill, Chynna Clugston-Major or Gail Simone weren’t in here, and I can think of a few more after that who have done interesting, entertaining work. With the excerpts cut and a focus on actual stories that covered a wider range, this could have been a significant effort, instead of a nice idea that didn’t quite come together.

Where I End And You Begin

First issues are always tough. Previous readers will recall I’m limiting my reviews of #1s, in length and quantity, because it’s really hard to tell that much from just the first 22 pages of a four or six issue story arc, as most mainstream comics are structured these days. We’re in an interesting period where the monthly comic is kind of a loss leader for the eventual trade paperback, but most readers know to expect the trade, so they may wait, which then of course jeopardizes the chances of the trade being approved for publication. When “writing for the trade”, it seems to me a lot of creators forget just how important each issue has to be, especially the first issue. Let’s take quick looks at a couple new #1s from the last week or so.

CASE FILES: SAM & TWITCH #1 by Marc Andreyko and Scott Morse. Image Comics
$2.50
Back when Brian Michael Bendis wrote the first SAM & TWITCH series, he built up a lot of goodwill for characters I’d previously not cared about. Here, his TORSO collaborator Andreyko moves very deliberately, but they’re the right moves.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked the issue, which finds Twitch heading for a murder trial after killing the guy who abducted and murdered his daughter. The creators use an interesting, rigid structure of three panels per page, all starring Twitch. The top one is the day of the girl’s murder, the middle one the funeral and the last one is today, as the incarcerated man speaks to his larger-than-life attorney. It’s a good device and helps this debut issue stand out from the first series, and the rest of the new series out there. However, I do think in using this structure for the entire book, it kept the plot from advancing to an exciting conclusion. The issue is 2/3rds flashback and 1/3 sitting in jail. It will work fine if they put out a trade paperback of this, but it’s a little slow here. My guess is this will be worth giving the benefit of the doubt that things will kick in next issue. Bottom line: I guess I’m buying a McFarlane book again.

THE LOSERS by Andy Diggle and Jock. Vertigo/DC Comics. $2.50
2000 A.D. veterans Diggle and Jock present an update of an old DC series, with suitably Vertigoesque language and violence. In short, a CIA Black Ops team has learned they’re being screwed in some way by the higher-ups, so they begin their campaign of retribution, stealing a helicopter in a daring con against their fellow operatives. Everyone is chiseled and clenched, with short names. There seems to be a wacky tech geek on the team, and maybe an amoral, bloodthirsty type. As the dialogue is mostly terse, and the plot centered on the action set pieces, no character has really jumped out as being interesting yet. Well, actually, the female character isn’t terse—she seems to an Afghani raised to kill Russians during their conflict—and when she says “War is my mother” you may have to restrain the urge to throw the book across the room. One other blunder occurs in the first scene, set a few miles outside the military base in White Sands, New Mexico. The thing is, White Sands is white, you know? Not brown and tan. It’s not sand, it’s gypsum, and Diggle really had a good idea to set an action scene there, as the drifts of pure white are a great visual. I guess the colorist missed it. But these two bits aside, it’s a reasonably good beginning. I like heists, I like intrigue and I like the mercenary/Dirty Dozen type action stuff, so I’ll give it a couple more issues to find its feet.

Backdrifters
Comics fans and reviewers get so bent out of shape over the dominance superheroes have over the industry. Yes, it’s a weird thing and it unfortunately reinforces the public opinion that that’s all comics are about, but what can one really do? The problem isn’t diversity—there’s tons of good stuff out there that isn’t superheroes, but most of it doesn’t sell unless it’s manga. The other consumers talk a good game but aren’t supporting the non-superhero work very well, so nothing will change. I guess all that can happen is some creators put out the greatest romance comics or Western comics or horror or crime or legal thriller or hard science fiction or whatever, and it’s impossible to ignore. I don’t think there were that many SWAMP THING readers before Alan Moore came along. It takes many successful attempts at other genres to get the ball rolling with some momentum, and they have to be better than TROUBLE. State of the art, not an imitation of something that’s worked in another medium. As far as the state of superhero comics, it’s not bad. Moore, Bendis, Brubaker, Rucka, and Morrison all continue to do good work, and with the exception of Moore, who owns his characters, they all prove that work-for-hire is what one makes it, and one might as well make it creatively worth the effort by putting one’s heart into it. There aren’t that many old school superhero books I get, and the ones I enjoy the most these days mix other genres in. Anyway, speaking of backdrifting…

THE NEW TEEN TITANS: THE JUDAS CONTRACT by Marv Wolfman and George Perez. DC Comics. $19.95
I’ve read few Titans stories, and ironically, this is one of them, as I happened to pick this trade up for free somewhere. And I’m glad I read it again, actually. As expected, there are some flaws I didn’t see when I was a teenager reading the series, but it still holds up pretty well.

The story is a sort of bloody loss of innocence for the Titans. Kid Flash quits early on, apparently feeling he doesn’t fit in anymore, while Robin decides it’s time to put away the green briefs and change his name to Nightwing. But the main event is that newest team member Terra, one Tara Markov, is only on the team to help her lover Deathstroke the Terminator defeat them. As Wolfman writes in his Introduction, he never gives the reader anything to suggest Tara is not as bad as she appears, but readers were outraged at her betrayal anyway. That suggests a more innocent time, I guess. In coming up with the opposite of the X-Men’s Kitty Pryde, Wolfman creates a rather frightening and disturbed young woman, and Perez’ design is perfect, with the turned-up nose and big front teeth. She’s just not quite cute enough for this team, so she must be bad. It’s simple but effective.

I wasn’t much interested in the parts of the story dealing with Baron Blood, as he seems a poor Ra’s al Ghul imitation to me, but it’s pretty good action storytelling, Perez a bit looser than he is now. Understand, the pencils are tight, as evidenced by the consistent look of the final art even with four different inkers on this storyline, but what I mean is that his storytelling seemed more natural and less focused on perfection. His Nightwing costume design was a pretty good one for its time, too.

There are some problems with the story, such as some unfailingly dull dialogue for Cyborg, but Wolfman generally makes up for his flaws with the refreshingly (for its time) downbeat tone. Tara, who’s only 16, is sleeping with Deathstroke, which is really sick and wrong, and the way she breaks Changeling’s heart is brutal, despite how annoyingly he’s written. Tara’s final wigout in the last sequence is some great scenery chewing on a par with Bette Davis, and though the superheroics are pretty commonplace, the story is still significant in how it somewhat cruelly takes the innocence and trust away from the Titans.

We Suck Young Blood
Okay, so here’s what I like and don’t like. Or more accurately, what I tend to like and what causes me to blow a gasket in a review. I like stories. I like people in the stories. Interesting, different people, with different voices and different goals. Conflict. Doesn’t have to be an action-packed story at all; the conflict could be non-physical, the goal not achieved. I need the feeling that the creator had something to say, or that he just wanted to entertain me for a few minutes. This is where we get into what I don’t like.

To me, the entertainment is foremost. Give me the simulated violence and simulated sex but the real enthusiasm behind it, the real drive to make the reader have an emotion or a thought or a belly laugh. Be as pretentious as you want. I can forgive the pretentions of, say, POP GUN WAR because it just sparks something in me, whereas PARADIGM’s spark died quickly. So many comics feel like the creators are aiming to entertain just their buddies, or they’re effectively playing a concert with their backs to the audience, not interested in the audience’s enjoyment. I don’t need to attend your art class, and I don’t need a lecture. Thrill me. And you know what? You’ll have to do it again and again, because as good as you may be, there are plenty more. Don’t think you’ve made it. Lots of people will kiss your ass. Listen to the ones that don’t like your shit and tell you why.

LAST OF THE INDEPENDENTS by Matt Fraction and Kieron Dwyer. AiT/PlanetLar. $12.95
Matt Fraction is 2 for 2.

Goddamned guy can write. Give him monkey spies and he’ll rock that, and now he tackles the heist/caper genre. A grizzled mastermind looking for one last score. His tough as nails woman at his side. The simpleminded, brutishly strong idiot savant who can fix anything. Angry Mafia goombahs who want their money back. You’ve seen it all before, but you’ve seen everything before —- the story’s in the telling, right? And Fraction tells this one with absolute precision. It justifies the sideways format by being an extremely entertaining movie on paper, violent and lowbrow and nothing but fun.

Dwyer, for his part, does probably the best work of his career. Utilizing brown tones, there’s an earthiness and grit perfectly suited to the story. The faces in particular are excellent—Cole’s having a real history to it, a history of futile labor and mistakes. Juicy is nobody’s fool, but with a realistic look to her beyond what a lot of artists would give to the gun moll. She’s been around; she’s had a life before Cole, but now she’s really living. And Billy, poor Steinbeckian Billy, has a captivating childish light in his eyes, a puppy who wants only to please, whether that means rebuilding an engine or setting land mines. Hopefully Fraction can keep Dwyer in a life of crime stories and away from the superheroes, and vice-versa, as they’re really on fire here. Pure entertainment.

And on that note, and with but nine minutes left before my deadline, I’ll leave you. Next week I will be sure to cover the hilarious CRACKURZ SUPER SPECIAL (take a look in the latest Previews and mark that page —- you’ll want to preorder this one, plus the surreal J. M. DeMatteis memoir BROOKLYN DREAMS) -- and some other stuff. Oh, and I can’t forget —- my apologies to the great—not late—Dan Spiegle. And thanks to Alan David Doane for, perhaps surprisingly, pulling me off the ledge with a couple of the reviews above. If you thought I was tough, you should’ve seen the first draft. I mean, no one needs to have a Special Olympics reference in their book’s review, right?

Thanks to Radiohead for the titles I used from their latest, HAIL TO THE THIEF.

And Special Thanks to my editor and pal, Chris Ryall. I couldn’t do it without ya.

Chris Allen

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