Take the classic fairy tale story of Sleeping Beauty, add a dose of old western horror, and you have this interesting graphic novel. And while the results aren’t always as sharp as they could be, this is still a pretty entertaining effort.

The story begins with two men awaiting their own hanging: Cole, a cold-hearted killer looking for vengeance upon the man who murdered his wife, is stuck next to a younger man named Red. It’s Red whom the tale hinges upon; he may look innocent and somewhat goofy, but he’s a lad with a mission: he’s escaped a town which lives under a curse put upon it by a Native American woman whom the citizenry did wrong. The curse: when the youngest member of the town turns eighteen, she will fall into an unwavering sleep, and so will the rest of the town. Needless to say, both men will discover just how much their own personal quests intertwine as they head off to solve the various mysteries.

BALLAD looks positively fantastic. Hawthorne’s art is deceptively simple, as he keeps his layouts calm, and his panels free of extraneous junk. But the way he uses body language and facial gestures to enhance the script is excellent. He also keeps the book moving at a smooth pace, and the way he inks the flashback sequences is clever; they get different color schemes, but he doesn’t use the hues as a crutch. If the book was in black and white, the reader would still be able to follow, even without captions.

And the book is caption-free in that fashion. Benson really displays a lot of trust in his artist. However, there are a couple of moments when a caption noting the passage of time would have been more than a bit helpful. The lack of ones leads to some bumpy moments in the narrative pace. On the flip side, Benson has a solid grasp on when to shut up. He goes the minimalist route with the dialogue, when many writers would have gone overboard, in love with their concept and feeling ultra-clever about it.

Nothing about THE BALLAD OF SLEEPING BEAUTY is going to set the world on fire, but it works just fine as a glossy, B-movie put to paper headed for box office success, not infamy. Another solid effort from the Beckett folks.

SIBAM?

If calling it a B-movie above didn’t give it away, then you likely ride a short bus to school. With horror always in vogue, and a movie-going public that has a solid appetite for westerns, it’s hard to believe that someone won’t pick this book up and develop it. With parts for actors like, say, Kiefer Sutherland, it’d be easy to assemble a solid cast of bankable names, and production costs would be pretty reasonable. I’d certainly pay my $7 to see it. Wouldn’t you?

RUULE VOL.2: KISS AND TELL
Written by Jeff Amano and Drawn by Craig Rousseau
Published by Image/Beckett

The second in the “RUULE” series (which has nothing to do with the first, so I’m a bit confused by that) is another of the Beckett crew’s modernist takes on a classic story. This time, they take the Bible’s story of Samson and Delilah and mix it with a dash of film noir references. The results are fairly clever, but the pieces are far greater than the whole.

Sam Swede is the Samson character, and he’s a hulking, super-strong dude with a weakness for the dames. We all know the rules of film noir (and the Bible): nothing good can come from that. So when he’s stuck in the middle of a gang war and constantly betrayed by his hormones and lack of good judgment, you don’t exactly feel sorry for the big idiot. But Amano writes clever set-piece after clever set-piece that keep your mind off of the fact that his main character is a class-A dolt who deserves everything that happens to him. Biblical story or not, you have to judge the story here as its own beast, and Swede’s weaknesses kill off the investment you make in him as a reader.

As I said above, that’s a cumulative effect. If you read the book in parts, or examine individual scenes, much of what’s here is very good. But as a whole, the book slows down and drags, then picks up the pace and makes funny time transitions without warning. It isn’t that KISS AND TELL is a bad book; far from it. But with the talent of these creators (Rousseau’s work here is amazing) and the cleverness of the story concept, it could have been so much better than it is. In the end, that’s the cross the book has to bear.

SURROGATES #2-3
Written by Robert Venditti and Drawn by Brett Wedele
Published by Top Shelf

Venditti and Weldele’s post-cyberpunk mystery stays strong in its second and third installments, bringing solid character work, well-paced action, and solid curiosity to its whodunit factor. In the year 2054, most people live their lives through their surrogates: robotic bodies that they operate from the safety of their homes. But a terrorist has put the usage of the surrogates in his sights, believing that they are an abomination in the eyes of God, and he is determined to force people to live again. And the question becomes: should anyone be trying to stop him?

This was an interesting risk for Top Shelf, publishing their first pamphlet-format limited series, and I think it’s had an excellent payoff. Not only does the book look great, but the back matter has been filled with text pieces and other materials that enhance the individual pieces of the story, plus some gorgeous pinups. With the whopper of a realization at the end of issue three, I find myself fully onboard and fascinated to see where this goes next. Not much else I can ask for.

SPIKE: OLD WOUNDS
Written by Scott Tipton and Drawn by Fernando Goni
Published by IDW

Former MPS guru Tipton makes a solid comics debut with this tale, which puts fan-favorite character Spike right in the middle of one of Los Angeles’ greatest unsolved crimes: The Black Dahlia.

A cop shows up at the offices of Wolfram & Hart with solid evidence that the British vampire was indeed the man who committed that crime, and with his back against the wall, he finds himself turning to the only person in the Angel crew he trusts, Fred, to help him prove his innocence. There’s a mystery, some back-story, yadda yadda yadda, you know the drill, but when it comes to a licensed comic from a beloved universe, those generally aren’t what’s important.

What is important? The basic questions. Does the story fit with what the fanbase knows? Yes. Are the characters written in their own voices? Yes. Are the likenesses on target? Yes. Does it read like overwrought fanfic? No. Oh, and were you entertained by the story? Yes. See, that’s all it takes. And our boy Scott came through with flying colors, aided nicely by Goni’s terrific art. So pat yourself on the back old boy, and get back to the computer. Let’s see what else you’ve got.

ZOMBIE TALES: DEATH VALLEY #2
Written by Andrew Cosby and Johanna Stokes and Drawn by Rhoald Marcellus
Published by Boom Studios

The first half of this tale left me feeling a bit mezzo-mezzo, but at least gave me some happy memories thinking about Catherine Mary Stewart in NIGHT OF THE COMET. Part two is a step better of issue one, as the survivors of the zombie plague that’s hit Los Angeles get a little smarter and engage in more interesting behaviors than they did last time out.

For instance, the classic move in case of zombies has been established as heading for a shopping mall to hole-up. But these kids get a bit cleverer and head for a pastiche of the Playboy Mansion. I liked that they were thinking about a place with limited access, and a house with a great big gate is a good place to start. I also appreciated that the female characters gained a bit more personality this time around and that the token nerd developed more as well. Story-wise, nothing about this book spanked me and made me feel alive, but it was entertaining enough that you don’t feel burned. In today’s comics market, that says a lot. And Boom has a gift for turning out books you can go home happy with.

THE MIDDLEMAN VOL.1: THE TRADE PAPERBACK IMPERATIVE
Written by Javier Grillo-Marxauch and Drawn by Les McClaine
Published by Viper Comics

Back when I reviewed issue one of this book (contained within this trade), I praised it to high heaven. Nothing about the completed story makes me regret that praise at all. MIDDLEMAN is about as fun a concept as came down the pike in 2005, and this nifty first collection gets an early jump when looking ahead at my best of 2006 column.

Temp worker Wendy Watson gets a new outlook on life when she’s caught in the middle of a science experiment gone bad at her job, and the poise she demonstrates makes her the perfect recruit for becoming the Middleman’s new partner. She’s unflappable, sardonic, and thanks to her Playstation skills, a crack shot. And while she hates the idea of living a life of action, she’s also a crack shot. TV-scribe Grillo-Marxauch has put to paper an awesomely clever concept, and when you throw super-intelligent monkeys-turned-mobsters into the mix, you have nothing short of pure comics goodness.

Reading MIDDLEMAN brings an honest smile to my face, and there aren’t enough comics you can say that about. The only mystery left to solve when it comes to this book is why I didn’t write it down when Javier told me how to properly pronounce his last name when I met him at San Diego last year. Maybe this year…

See you in seven.

Review materials may be sent to: Marc Mason, P.O. Box 26732, Tempe, AZ 85285. You can also find me at Happy Nonsense and The Comics Waiting Room

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