September 7, 2004
DEAD@17/DEAD@17 ROUGH CUT
Written by Josh Howard and Various
Drawn by Josh Howard and various
Published by Viper Comics
DEAD @ 17 is kind of a tough book to figure out and discuss. Part of me wants to treat it very cynically, and part of me says “go for the ride.” Lemme ‘splain.
Nara Kilday appears to be your normal teenage girl. She’s got school to deal with, boys who confuse her, and questions about her future. But all of that is rendered moot after a night of hanging out with her best friend Hazy, recent sufferer of a broken heart. That’s because someone breaks into her house and brutally murders her. Then she’s buried, people say “Ta” and move on.
No, not really. No, instead Nara wakes up, exits her grave and discovers that the reason she’s been having dreams about demons and why she’s been writing in ancient tongues in her diary: she’s been chosen for a higher destiny, albeit one that evil hopes to put to their use. Fortunately, there’s a man who arrives on the scene from a shadowy organization who can explain the whole deal to her and help her try and save her life and the lives of her friends.
You see the problem, right? Sounds more than a bit familiar, yes?
When you boil the book down to that basic premise, you’re hard pressed to differentiate it from BUFFY, and that’s a problem. Now, to be fair, the execution does its best to drag the concept away from Whedon territory. No one else has superpowers, Nara is actually a target for demon possession, and the side characters, while doing a dance up to being season one Willow, Xander, and Cordelia, take a reasonable turn. But damn, it’s hard.
What makes it all more confusing is that DEAD is really an entertaining little book. It’d be one thing if the book sucked; I could chuck it across the room, shove it in the pile of stuff I’ll be giving away this fall in a SIBAM contest, and let it escape my memory. But Howard’s fine grasp on youth and manga influenced art make for a pleasant read if not the most original one. And here’s the extra rub: there’s plenty of room at the end of the book for sequels to put massive distance between Nara and Miss Summers. In fact, I believe that a sequel is due very soon now, so with any luck I’ll find out.
The one serious problem I had with DEAD is in some of the artistic choices Howard makes. Look, I know kids and teens are the target audience for the book, and that’s fine. But there’s something creepy about the pages where we get shots of Nara and Hazy in states of undress. They’re 17. Not even legal. So coming across a panty-sniffer moment or two kinda creeps me out. I like women just fine. But I don’t like girls. It just feels kinda icky.
Reading over the preceding paragraphs, it makes it sound like I hated this book, which is far from the truth. But I do think that it has some problems to overcome as it progresses. However, those problems are not insurmountable. ROUGH CUT, the one shot released after this first trade, is a better than average anthology chronicling the back story of what was happening both before the events of issue on in the trade and between the scenes that appear later in the book. Together, they make DEAD @ 17 worth keeping an eye on to see how it grows. Grade: B
SIBAM?
Teenage girls + underwear + horror + gore = box office success. Time and time again. Ask Neve Campbell, Jennifer Love Hewitt, or Eliza Dushku. It’s only a matter of time before we see DEAD @ 17 on the big screen.
DEPARTMENT OF (SEMI)RETRACTIONS
PHANTOM JACK #1-5
Written by Michael Sangiacomo and Drawn by Mitch Breitweiser
Published by Image Comics
So a few weeks ago in this space, I reviewed issue five of this book. Mike had given me a photocopy preview in San Diego, and I had never read the book before, so that was all I based my review on. I wrote that I thought it was lacking. I had no clue what was going on, and the story felt kind of slight to me.
Mike read my review and was not happy. Fair enough.
He was right about a couple of things. I was judging certain aspects of the book without having read the rest, and my complaints about the book not having a recap page were just wrong. It just wasn’t included in my photocopy. So Mike said he’d send the full series, including the real issue five, and asked me to take another look. So here we are.
I’m pleased to report that my earlier review was both wildly wrong… and unfortunately right.
Issue one gets the series off to a strong start, introducing the lead character, getting us into his setting, and giving the reader a decent idea of what motivates him. As a former newspaper guy myself, I liked the authenticity that Mike brought to the newsroom where Jack works. I also appreciate that Mike put a little bit of the great Sydney Schanberg into Jack’s background as well. It’s a much more literary moment than most comics are going to have.
There are also nifty scenes of Jack working out how to effectively use his powers to help people. In short, there’s potential early on, and I liked it.
But late in the story, as Jack heads to Iraq to save his captured brother, it begins to get off track a bit. Still, much of it is entertaining, but it doesn’t have the stronger feel of the first three issues, which is kind of a shame. And issue five, now paired with the first four, feels even worse to me than it did when I read it solo. Having Jack acquire the ability to act like a real secret agent, just in time to shoot Saddam in the balls? It thuds. It thuds like an airplane without landing gear. Sorry, Mike.
Still, I graded the book in the “C” range on my first look at it, and this time around, I have a much nicer feeling about it. Breitweiser’s art falters down the stretch, too, but if you take away the disastrous issue five, PHANTOM JACK becomes a solid B entertainment. And the script piece for issue six that Mike teases the read with at the end of issue five shows that he’s beginning to really find his voice and some strong ideas for the book and that is has deep potential to keep improving.
MOVING RIGHT ALONG…
DNAGENTS vol. 1
Written by Mark Evanier and Drawn by Will Meugniot
Published by About Comics
Nat Gertler’s a very sneaky man. Under the radar, he has begun gathering together the works of a number of fine creators and getting them back into print. He isn’t as big or splashy a publisher as a Larry Young or Gary Groth, but he’s starting slowly and getting by. This volume represents the first of a new initiative, collecting creator-owned material written by the terrific Mark Evanier.
DNAGENTS is an interesting relic. Published in the 80s by Eclipse, at that time it was a very fresh concept: super-powered youth manufactured by a company to protect its assets and do its dirty work. So many books over the past decade have traveled in that path, however, that reading this book is sort of a quaint experience rather than an illuminating one. That isn’t to say that it’s not worth your time, though. Evanier has always had a knack for telling solid stories, and Meugniot provides solid art throughout. Gertler packaged the book in a manga sized format with a manga sized price as well, making this a worthy find. I’ll be back for volume two. Grade: B
THE LIZARD OF OZ
Written and Drawn by Mark Bode
Published by Fantagraphics Books
Someone accused me recently of seeming to love everything that Fantagraphics puts out. Let this review prove them wrong.
LIZARD is, at heart, an attempt to do something interesting: complete a book across generations. Bode’s father Vaughn drew the cover illustration decades ago as part of an initiative to help Dan O’Neill fight his legal battle with Disney over THE AIR PIRATES. Now, years later, inspired by his father’s piece of art, Mark Bode has attempted to use his father’s character, Cheech Wizard (who appeared in the original art) to tell a modern and naughty version of The Wizard Of Oz.
I can grant that Bode is attempting to use the absurdist tone of his father’s work and the work of R. Crumb to tell this story, but it never quite reaches the heights it’s looking for, and instead plays purely as imitation. There’s nothing organic or spontaneous happening within the story because of the imitation factor as well. It feels like Mark took a guess at what his father would have done, and while that is an admirable pursuit, the book would have worked much better, I believe, if Mark had put aside his impressions of Vaughn’s wonderful body of work and just told his own story. I admire the concept and I admire that the attempt was made. I just don’t admire the result. Grade: C-
GAMBIT #1
Written by John Layman and Drawn by Georges Jeanty
Published by Marvel Comics
There are two questions that should greet any first issue of a GAMBIT series. One, is this really necessary? Two, is it at least trying to be readable and good? After reading issue one of the new take, I think the answers are: probably not and yes.
Like JUBLIEE, NIGHTCRAWLER, and MADROX, GAMBIT enters the arena of a new flood of X-books looking for a toehold. (I can remember just a few years ago when Joe Quesada cancelled X-books because there were too many. Can you?) In it’s favor it has a good writer in Layman and pretty art from Jeanty. Layman, perhaps best known for his work on THUNDERCATS and PUFFED, has shown in the past that he has a lively wit and the capability to overcome limited concepts (which GAMBIT surely is). Jeanty has worked in the mutant corner of the Marvel universe previously.
Issue one feels a bit stilted from a writing point of view, unfortunately. I’m not sure if Layman was merely searching for his voice on the book or if the dreaded X-office rewrite machine kicked in after the script was finished, but while it definitely shows some of Layman’s verve, it could use a lot more. The plot is sort of secondary to setting up the background for the series, and frankly, anyone who’s reading this for the plot is probably moving their lips as they peruse this column. Grade: B
THE ALL SEEING., ALL KNOWING MATHEMATICIAN #1
Written and Drawn by Jake Lapsys
Published by Bare Bones Studios
I received a number of books for review from this publisher, but unfortunately, they’re at a stage where the majority of their work is just not quite yet ready for prime time. MATHEMATICIAN is probably the closest, as it has a couple of nifty and sly moments that are legitimately funny. The title character manages a plant nursery, dreaming of gaining super powers, when one day she decides to try and calculate Pi and is suddenly transformed into a heroine with super… well, mathematical powers. Sure it makes her super strong and invulnerable too, but most importantly she can calculate her admission cost to a movie on a per frame basis. The art is mediocre, to be charitable, but Lapsys shows a clever sense of humor, so there’s some hope that his work will continue to improve. Grade: C
DESERT ROSE
Written and Drawn by Gilbert Cuevas
Published by Aberrant Press
Now this was a nice surprise. Cuevas created a short film called DESERT ROSE about the deeply emotional plight of a border crosser that he is planning on taking on the film festival circuit next year. However, before he made the film, he storyboarded the entire thing, and the storyboards worked so well that he was able to publish them as a comic, including some behind the scenes material from the film shoot. While artistically rough, there’s a deep power to the panels as they transmit the emotional journey of this man who is leaving his family in the hopes that he can provide them a better life. As he travels, he will find himself in an untenable situation that will change his life and make the reader ponder what they would do in that same position. It works… and it made me curious to see how well Cuevas succeeded in translating the emotion of his panels to film. Grade: B+
THE BALLAD OF SLEEPING BEAUTY #1
Written by Gabriel Benson and Drawn by Mike Hawthorne
Published by Beckett Comics
This is a gorgeous western tale, bringing the classic fairy tale myth of Sleeping Beauty into a new milieu where it can be freshened up and rediscovered on new terms. Framing the story on two men who are set to be hanged the next morning and who are telling one another tales, it jumps out and grabs your interest with relative ease. Throw in the traditional excellent Beckett production value, and you have a winner right out of the gate. Grade: A-
RUULE vol.2: KISS AND TELL #1
Written by Jeff Amano and Drawn by Craig Rousseau
Published by Beckett Comics
Less successful from Beckett is this tale, which takes a look at bad guys, badder guys, and real shitheads. One bad guy doesn’t want another badder guy messing with his bosses’ territories, so he starts beating up some bad guys, pissing off the badder guy, and eventually involving a real shithead. Plus, the bad guy gets to bang a hot chick and will likely have a crack at another one, since she makes her intentions known behind his back. I’m approaching this facetiously, of course, but honestly, I couldn’t make a deep connection with this book. Maybe I need to have read volume one to have a better grasp on the material. Grade: C
ARGOS PRESS
Written and Drawn by Various
Published by Argos Press
If there’s a different official name for this book, nothing in its indicia seems to tell what it is. Anyway, this over-sized format book presents four tales: “The Litigator,” “Ripcord,” Ashley, Pretty Princess Of The Infernal Nether Regions,” and “Sisters Of Yaggdrassil.” I’m pleased to report that three of the four entries are pretty decent.
“The Litigator” is the book’s standout. The story of a mousy fellow who discovers that his super power is his ability to manipulate the law to his own ends, it’s clever, well-written, and shows a wealth of potential. It kisses up to, and knocks over, some well-worn clichés, opening up more possibilities for the story than you would think about upon first glance. On the opposite end, “Sisters Of Yaggdrassil” drags the book to a screeching halt, and almost made me put down the book never to return. Still, this is a surprising and strong effort from this small publisher, and it’s worth a look. Grade: B+
Dear God. I’m exhausted. See you with more in seven!
E-mail me from the link provided. Review materials and other fun stuff go to: Marc Mason, P.O. Box 26732, Tempe, AZ, 85285. You can also find me at The Comics Waiting Room and Happy Nonsense
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