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Hugh Likes Comics Classic: Nextwave: Agents of HATE

April 20, 2014

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Written by Warren Ellis

Drawn by Stuart Immonen

Published by Marvel Comics

 

2006’s “Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E.” is the best super-hero comic nobody read. It’s a cynical, action-heavy book about washout super-heroes that will teach you to love again. The Nextwave Squad were going to be the elite Super-hero team of the Highest Anti-Terrorism Effort. (H.A.T.E.) Until, that is, they discovered that H.A.T.E. is a front for the Beyond Corporation, a rebranded terrorist organization interested in field testing bizarre weapons of mass destruction on American Soil. They go rogue, steal an experimental aircraft, and set to work stopping H.A.T.E.

“Nextwave” was a comic ahead of its time. A parody of Marvels greatest excesses, it recast five c-list heroes as scenery chewing, trench-coat wearing action stars with severe personality issues. At a time when Marvel was pitching overblown crossovers like “Civil War,” Ellis boiled it down, doing short, fun action movies in two issues. These story’s were thrilling, easily digestible, and more importantly, irreverent. In the main universe, Marvel’s heroes were making gritty choices and compromising their ethics fro security. Nextwave was kicking broccoli-based HR Robots until they exploded.

Immonen’s art, which is absolutely gorgeous, helps. It’s as bright and beautiful as story is darkly comedic. Every kick and explosion is delivered with aplomb. The characters all have a manic gleam in their eye and a middle finger thrust towards convention.

Even the editorial team was in on the joke, with a letter page written by a delusional mail-sorting machine. “Nextwave” even had its own theme song, with the lyrics printed in issue one, and an MP3 recorded by editor Nick Lowe’s band “Thunder Thighs.”

“Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E” was a sly, silly, chop-socky gem of a series, and it remains a cult favorite. You can pick it up in trade omnibus from your local shop, or in digital issues from Comixology.

Hugh Likes Comics: Rat Queens

March 26, 2014

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Written by Kurtis J. Wiebe

Drawn by Roc Upchurch

Published by Image Shadowline

Perhaps I wanted to like “Rat Queens” a bit more than I did. It’s a very good book, make no mistake. The art is gorgeous in an ultra-violent sort of way, the characters are interesting, diverse, and well-used, and the action is intense. But there’s just something about this comic that didn’t impress me as much as I hoped it would.

It sounds like I’m damning this book with faint praise, and I suppose I am. It is a gory, snarky ‘Swords and Sassery’ comic in the exact same vein as Jim Zubb and Edwin Huang’s ‘Skull Kickers.” Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite hit its beats as well.

The eponymous Rat Queens are a quartet of adventuring ladies in the familiar mold: Dwarf Fighter, Human Cleric, Elf Wizard, and Smidgen (I E Halfling) Rogue. They, and the rest of the adventuring parties, are causing a problem for the town of Palisade. All they do is drink and fight, and it’s hurting property values. When the local Captain sends them all out on quests to get them out of his hair, the Rat Queens soon discover that they’ve been set up, and assassins are on their trail.

The dialogue is snappy, filthy, and funny, but the plot is pretty bare-bones. It feels a bit too caught up in the conventions of a certain unnamed table-top Role Playing Game. While the comic starts out as a parody there comes a point where you’re not lamp-shading tropes, you’re just using them. I think that’s what disappoints me about this comic. It’s so gamey that it doesn’t have much weight to it, even when extras are being cut in half and stabbed in the eye. There’s not any real conflict in all this slaughter. I’d have liked the Rat Queens to have come up against something a bit more epic. This first volume is all random encounters.

I do like the fact that Wiebe and Upchurch really put some thought into the design and structure of the world, giving it a real multicultural feel without seeming as forced as the other aspects. The all-female team of adventurers is not presented as strange or even particularly transgressive in the world of the comic. This doesn’t just apply to gender roles, either. Race in Palisade means a bit more than white with pointed ears or white with a beard and a highlands accent. “Rat Queens” presents modern fantasy pulp perfectly by including modern gender and racial equality, and never even calling attention to itself for it. Diversity can be a touchy subject in science fiction and fantasy, with a small but vocal minority demanding the ‘authenticity’ of confirming a bias towards Straight, White and Male. The Rat Queens are here to kick ass and quaff ale, and they don’t care how much blood gets on their outfits. That’s really refreshing, if messy.

“Rat Queens” is a style-over-substance battlefield romp with four lady mercenaries who say ‘fuck.’ Quite a lot, actually. It’s not for kids, but it is an entertaining but character-sheet thin comic for adults. If you’re caught up on “Skull Kickers” and nostalgic for your multi-sided dice, “Rat Queens” might be the comic you’re looking for.

 

Hugh Likes Comics-“Down, Set, Fight!”

March 10, 2014

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Written by Chad Bowers and Chris Sims

Drawn by Scott Kowalchuk

Published by Oni Press

One punch can change your life forever. Chuck “Fearless” Fairlane was a rising football star, set on his life path by his inveterate gambler father from an early age. That is, until he punched out an opposing team’s mascot, then the opposing team. Then HIS OWN Team. Then the coaches. His brawl went in League history, but he retired rather than blame the mascot for his outburst.

Ten years after leaving pro football, Chuck is working as a football coach for Darius Rucker High School (Home of the FIghting Blowfish.) One day, a man in an elephant costume appears and picks a fight with him . Soon he finds himself in search of his father, pursued by a bear, and a shark, and a tiger, and just about every other mascot in the U.S. Plus, one determined FBI agent.

While this comic is on the surface a story about a dude beating up hordes of mascots, there was surprising depth in the relationships Chuck has with his father, as well as agent Harrison. Ostensibly a fight comic with a good dose of humor, “Down, Set, Fight!” turns out to be an unexpectedly effective character study.

The art has quite a 70’s grind house feel to it, and is very detailed. Kowalchuk brings the steadily escalating fight scenes, which ramp up exponentially as the series progresses, to the page with economy and skill. The colors have a muted, washed out feel as well. This reinforces the exploitation style, but it doesn’t show off the colorful mascot costumes as well as it could have.

“Down, Set, Fight!” was not my usual sort of comic, but I enjoy the creators’ other works and was glad that I took a shot on it. Much like Oni’s smash-hit “Scott Pilgrim,” this is a fight comic with hidden depths. For full disclosure, I recently interviewed all three of them on the Way of the Buffalo, so I might be a bit biased on this one, but I’m giving it a recommendation.

“Down, Set, Fight!” is available in print as a Graphic Novel, or as digital issues from Comixology.

Hugh Likes Comics: Amelia Cole and the Unknown World

February 5, 2014

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Amelia Cole & the Unknown World

Written by D. J. Kirkbride and Adam P. Knave

Drawn by Nick Brokenshire.

Published by Monkeybrain (digital issues) and IDW (tpb collections)

Amelia is a magician with an unusual talent: Thanks to her Aunt and Mentor Dani, she can travel between the ‘magical’ and ‘non-magical’ world, and she has a habit of using her powers to stick her nose into matter that the police would rather she didn’t.

When the two start to merge, Dani sacrifices herself to seal them off again, and Amelia finds herself alone in a THIRD place she knew nothing about: A world where magic and technology exist side-by-side.

After she manages to settle in, however, Amelia finds out that the two aren’t exactly equal. Magicians have special status in addition to powers, and Amelia attracts the unwanted attention of “the Protector” after she uses magic to save ‘mundanes.’

“Amelia Cole” is a story about finding your place in the world, and doing the right thing. The story is fairly nuanced. Amelia’s vigilantism causes as much trouble as it solves, but she still doesn’t hesitate to do what she can. She’s a heroine that works by guts and instinct rather than a damsel in distress. Even The Protector isn’t all-bad, even if the system he works within wears him down to a core of anger and frustration.

Brokenshire’s art is a real winner. His crowds and cityscapes breath with life, and more than a few hidden easter-eggs that reward careful reading.  The designs for Amelia are great as well.  It’s sad how rarely we see a comic book heroine wearing actual clothes.

Amelia Cole and the Unknown world marks the first part of what will hopefully be a long series of adventures. Volume Two, Amelia Cole and the Hidden War, continues her adventures in the strange world she finds herself in, and I can’t wait.

Amelia Cole and the Unknown World is available digitally through Comixology, and in print from IDW.

Hugh Likes Comics: High Crimes

January 15, 2014

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Written by Christopher Sebela

Art by Ibrahim Moustafa

Published by Monkey Brain Comics

 

How far can you run from yourself? Zan Jansen was an Olympic snowboarder with a bright future ahead of her, until she fell and saw her chance at a gold medal slip away. After that, everything fell apart. She fled to Kathmandu, where she is drowning herself in substance abuse and guiding tourists up K2. But her real business is a bit darker than that. With the spike in adventure tourism, more and more people are climbing Mount Everest, and not all of them come back down.

When someone dies on the mountain, they are left where they fall. It is one of the hazards of the climb. So far Zan hasn’t climbed Everest. She is saving it. For her, climbing the summit is literally climbing out of the spiral she has put herself it. She says that she’ll climb Everest and keep going. But her boss has, and every time he goes up, he comes down with something someone left behind. A hand and what personal effects they carried. Once he identifies the corpse, he contacts the survivors, and offers to ship them back something to bury. For a fee, of course. It isn’t exactly illegal, but it is dirty work.

Of course, some things are meant to stay buried, and when her boss recovers the corpse of a black-ops government agent gone missing, things start to go very bad for her employer.

Moustafa’s art is fitting for this kind of noir piece. His figures are a bit stiff, but he takes some interesting risks, particularly with layout, that give the piece a nice atmosphere.

Sebela’s central characters are gritty and well defined. They feel like characters with history, and a lot of significant dialog feels unsaid. There’s a richness in what they don’t say, and that’s a tough trick to pull off in a twenty page comic.

I think that if there is a flaw in this comic, it is that the bad guys chasing Zan are a bit too cartoonishly evil. The secret military commander lacks a mustache to twirl when he shoots one of his minions in the face the second he asks a question, but he even goes so far to say that the person who has died ‘went rogue to protect the world from people like us.’

At a buck on Comixology, “High Crimes” is another Monkey Brain comic that really shows the potential of its creative team. It’s at least interesting, even if it might not reach the heights it is reaching for.

“High Crimes” is available from Comixology.

Hugh Likes Comics: The Top 5 of 2013

January 7, 2014

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#5: Batman ’66: I like stories that go all-in. No pussy-footing around, not Super-Heroes-but-no-tights, which seems to be de-reguer, particularly at “The Big Two.” That’s why I was pleasantly surprised by this outing from writer Jeff Parker and artist Jonathan Case. They’ve returned to the source material of the ’60’s Batman TV show, complete with dancing and giant sound effect bubbles. The digital versions have a few more tricks up their sleeves to evoke the classic series. Batman ’66 embraces everything the New 52 disdains, and soars because of it.

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#4: Saga: Vaughan and Staples continued to knock it out of the park this year with Saga. The story of an ancient interstellar war cut with family drama, mercenaries, and the ways art can change a person make for a heady mix. The art remains evocative and controversial. Saga doesn’t pull its punches, but it isn’t crass, either.

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#3: Atomic Robo: The Savage Sword of Dr. Dinosaur: There was little chance for Clevenger and Wegener to escape this list as well, with this nail-biting installment that puts Atomic Robo at the site of an impossible underground city, with shadow military agents storming his headquarters, and completely unstable velociraptor mad scientist Dr. Dinosaur sitting on a stockpile of stolen nuclear warheads. Atomic Robo remains funnier and smarter than it has a right to be.

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#2: Sandman Overture: We only got one issue of Neil Gaiman’s return to his seminal Byronic Dream King, but oh boy, was it ever a doozy. Filled with all of the gothic-horror elements that made Sandman great, and with exceptional art by G H Williams III, This comic is a rare treat for Morpheus fans. Hopefully, we’ll get to see it a bit more frequently in 2014.

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#1: Young Avengers: Sadly ending in early 2014, Young Avengers is a comic that knows exactly what it wants and goes right for it. Under the direction of comics super-team Keiran Gillen and Jamie McKelvie, the Young Avengers bring a little bit of their indie hit “Phonogram” into the Marvel Universe. “Young Avengers” pits focuses less on what it means or takes to be a superhero than it does the trials and tribulations of modern teenagers. After a poorly planned bit of magic use, a group of teens find themselves fighting against an magical parasite that draws power from how parents don’t understand teenagers. It is a fantastic high-concept very well executed. Unfortunately, for a teen book, there is a lot of backstory for these characters that just isn’t given. I’ve felt in over my head a few times, but I’ve loved the ride. Another plus in this comic’s favor is that it has possibly the highest collection of LGBTQ characters anywhere in ‘the big two,’ and handles them with then same excellent touch as earlier Young Avengers installments.

2013 No-Prize: Dan Didio continues to be comics’ greatest super-villain. He spent the year making sure no DC Comics characters have any fun on his watch. After denying the upcoming marriage of Batwoman Kate Kane, he went on to say that none of DC’s heroes should have a stable home life, and seems to be making certain of it. His crowning achievement this year: Creating an art contest for Harley Quinn #0 which included drawing the beloved children’s TV character naked, despairing, and about to commit suicide. After much outcry, the panel did not appear in the final version.

Honorable mentions:

X-Men: Teenage Mom Jubilee, enough time-travelers to stage a production of “Les Mis” and other crazy nonsense. Marvel seemed to focus on their movie-friendly characters like the Avengers in 2013, but there was still a ton of mutants out there, including an all-female team!

Edison Rex: Artist Dennis Culver gets the nod for designing not just a new set of comics characters, but an entire major publisher’s line-up of heroes and villains. My personal favorite: ROFL, an omnipotent extra-dimensional being using the form of a muppet Grant Morrison.

Subatomic Party Girls: Simms and Bowers had the stones to use the line ‘Do you realize we’re floating in space’ unironically. Props.

 

Hugh Likes Comics: X-Men: Battle of the Atom

November 1, 2013

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Today’s comic is X-Men, Battle of the Atom, written by Brian Michael Bendis, and drawn by various artists. 2013 is the 50th anniversary of Uncanny X-men, and Marvel is celebrating with a crossover featuring those two most pressing issues to mutant-kind, Time Travel and The Phoenix. In classic X-men style, the story plays out in a bunch of different titles over the course of a couple months, and as of writing, they are about halfway done.

I’m on record as hating crossovers, and this one takes a few of the miss-steps that irk me. Characters are acting against their type, there’s a lot of scenes where people just shout their opinions without doing anything, and characters appear for no other purpose than to be seen and fill out the page. It’s a lot like the American Government Shutdown, actually.

But for all that, I’m surprised to find myself really enjoying the story, and eagerly awaiting the next part. The story is stuffed full of nostalgia and angst, and unites the past, present, and future X-Men. To condense a long story into a single paragraph, after the last catastrophic crossover event, Cyclops has gone rogue, and under the influence of everyone’s favorite cosmic fire bird, killed Professor Xavier. In an attempt to prevent this from happening, his former team-mate Hank McCoy built a time machine and brings the original five teenagers from 1963 to the present and showed them how everything turned out. I don’t know why he didn’t just use the time machine to prevent the murder, but what do I know from storytelling. It turns out that Causality will not be denied, however, and when Teenage Cyclops is nearly killed, everyone realizes that doing this stupid thing might have been a mistake. But just as everyone is about to send the five kids home to prevent something horrible from happening, a DIFFERENT set of time travelers appear: X-men from the future who have come to make sure the Original Five-man band all go back home. Much shouting, angst, and fighting for no reason ensues, and in the confusion, Teenage Jean Grey and Cyclops escape. Seeing how their future worked out for them, they are inclined to stay in the present, even if it means more trouble down the road.

It’s difficult to say what makes this story work exactly. It has a lot of moving parts, not all of which seem to be on the same track, but the story is crazy enough at this point that literally anything can happen. The stakes are as high as they can be in a comic-book universe, and these characters have been struggling against each other, to say nothing of the Marvel Universe villains, for so long, that I’m really cheering for them to catch a break. The visions of the future, including a version of Jean Grey in Xorn armor (Xorn was a character from the late-90’s/early 2000’s X-men who dressed in armor covered in chains and wore a skull-mask. He ended up being a bad guy, go figure) and an Iron Man armor painted up in Sentinel colors with an X across it’s chest plate, are both cool and tantalizing. I haven’t been keeping a close eye on the X-books, but the comics gave me enough back-story when I needed it, and I wasn’t lost.  Also, Jubilee is both a teenage mother and a vampire, but I don’t think it’s a vampire baby.  I’m probably going to go into back issues and find out how that happened, because someone has done the impossible and made Jubilee a character I want to see more of.

This is a crossover that really seems like it’s trying to move forward while still hitting the high notes of the team’s fifty year history. It might not appeal to casual readers, but if you’re a fan, you should check it out.

Hugh Likes Comics: Saga # 1

January 22, 2013

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Hugh Likes Comics: Saga #1

Written by Brian K. Vaughan

Art by Fiona Staples

Lettering and Design by Fonographics

 

Saga is a great comic.

It is the story of a young couple who struggle to build a life for themselves in spite of being caught on opposite sides of a terrible war. Hardly a new idea, but Vaughan throws some big twists into the mix. This isn’t their love story. It starts with the birth of their daughter. And the parents are from two alien species that have been fighting an intergalactic war for as long as recorded history.

Marko is an escaped prisoner of war. Alana is the guard who helped him escape, and everyone on both sides wants them dead. Alana just gave birth to their daughter, and the only things they have to protect them is his magic, her gun, and a dubious treasure map. That’s an epic challenge that only a pair of extraordinary individuals could accomplish.

But Marko and Alana aren’t heroes by any stretch of the imagination. Much like his previous work, the epic “Y the Last Man,” Vaughan is telling a story of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. The fact that this particular set of circumstances is on a fantastical world on the far side of a distant galaxy only goes to show his talent as a writer.

“Saga,” much like that other big-time SF series, (You know the one, also begins with an ‘S’ it’s on the tip of my tongue) is the kind of space fantasy that only comes around once in a generation, and rewrites all the rules. Space fiction is primarily divided by scope. Either it is sprawling Space Opera, with grand scale battles and political maneuverings, or it is more personal and sociological fiction focusing on single characters and personal events. Saga does both, and does it in a brilliant way that satisfies the need for personal drama in the new family’s bid for freedom, and the large canvas as we see the robots, wizards, spies and bounty hunters all line up their sights on the helpless couple and their newborn.

Staple’s gorgeous and provocative art seals the deal. The opening birth scene, while not quite as in-your-face as “Miracle-Man,” doesn’t shy away. Especially when two teams of police interrupt to apprehend the fugitives. Another fine point to the art is the hand-lettered narration, which is incorporated directly in the images.

I won’t spoil any more of the plot, but Vaughan and Staples have me firmly on board for more. Right now, Saga #1 is free on Comixology. I recommend you go take advantage of that.

Hugh Likes Comics: The Top 5 of 2012

January 9, 2013

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Number 5:

Atomic Robo and the Flying She-Devils of the Pacific

Written by Brian Clevenger

Art by Scott Wegener, Colors by Nick Filardi

“Atomic Robo” is a fun, smart action comic. The dialog sparkles, the art is bright and engaging, and the characters have a depth and grace that doesn’t get bogged down in ‘gritty’ melodrama.

This volume, set in the South Pacific after World War II, dealt with some heavy topics: the extreme determination of the Japanese Imperial Army, the discrimination faced by female pilots and mechanics in the second world war, and the abandoned stockpiles of ordinance and other deadly materiel after the conflict. It is a testament to Clevenger’s writing that the presentation manages to balance the slower character moments with dogfights, explosions, and mad science without any of the elements feeling forced or out of place. In fact, they support each other, lending the piece a sort of mad-cap gallows humor.

Number 4:

Edison Rex

Written by Chris Roberson

Art by Dennis Culver

Edison Rex is the story of a supervillain trying to make good. It is also a clever send-up of comics tropes and the industry itself. The series’s extremely flawed but charming protagonist is a fresh voice, and Roberson’s sharp wit, combined with Culver’s expressive figures and gorgeous sets, make this the comic your tablet was made for.

Number 3:

Skullkickers: Treasure Trove Vol. 1

Written by Jim Zub

Art by Edwin Huang

A massive collection of the first two trades, most of these comics came out before 2012, but the big collection came out this year, so it sneaks into this year’s list.

The mis-adventures of a human known only as “Baldy” and a Dwarf called “Shorty,” Skullkickers is an ultraviolent sword-and-sorcery buddy comedy. Equal parts Fritz Lieber and Marx Brothers, the pair struggle against fat werewolves, incompetent necromancers, and Disneyfied, but still incredibly deadly faeries. The main characters (I can’t quite call them ‘heroes’) aren’t discriminating. They’ll kill anything for 2 copper pieces. This series is over the top gory fun that manages to stay firmly on the side of slapstick. Zub’s dynamic writing and Huang’s art that makes the worst carnage downright pretty are the real saviors of this book.

Number 2

Wolverine and the X-Men

Written by Jason Aaron

Art by Various Artists

I love the X-Men, perhaps in theory a bit more than in practice. There are some iconic runs and great stories, but often the comic focussed on the down bits: The losses, the tragedies, and the plight of being different in a world that hates you. The X-men were great, but they weren’t FUN. Aaron’s team is approaching the concept from a different direction, and he’s pulling it off masterfully. With a new batch of students and a brand new school, the X-men cope with keeping everything running with a skeleton crew of adults. The characters are changing, accepting more responsibility, and still having crazy adventures fighting pre-teen arms dealers, killer space biologists, and even the dreaded League of Nazi Bowlers. The series is filled to bursting with crazy comic book moments and high concept shenanigans, but it all works and the Aaron keeps the plates spinning. I can’t wait to see where he goes next.

Number 1

Bandette

Written by Paul Tobin

Art by Colleen Coover

Bandette is an all-ages love letter to French comics, and hands down my favorite book of 2012. Coover’s digital ink-washed art is gorgeous, and unlike anything else out there today. Tobin’s writing is clever, funny, and gives you just enough of the mystery to leave you in suspense. And with a supporting cast of mysterious thieves, gruff police inspectors, and colorful villains, it can only get better from here.

You can find all of these comics on Comixology. Have your own picks? Leave a comment!

Hugh Likes Comics: Wolverine and the X-Men # 19

December 11, 2012

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Wolverine and the X-Men #19, Written by Jason Aaron, Penciled by Nick Bradshaw. Available from Comixology or YOUR LOCAL COMICS SHOP!

After tearing “Avengers vs. X-Men” a new one in the last entry, I’m glad to be able to recommend something from the House of Ideas, and if there is anything this comic is full of, it is wonderful, crazy, hilarious ideas. The issue opens with an assault by a second rate super-villain made of ‘nazi bees’ and ends with a reveal so great that I’m not going to spoil it here, although I may have already spilled the beans on my twitter feed.

Wolverine and the X-Men is the story of the Jean Grey School for Gifted Youngsters, and it is just fantastic. This issue is a wrap-up point after the big crossover, and the start of a new semester. This may or may not be the best place for new readers to jump on, but it gives a good cross section of the kinds of stories that this book has at its heart.

In a previous issue, one of the students was shot, and is at death’s door. While the rest of his classmates are on another world volunteering at a shelter for aliens displaced by the Phoenix, Wolverine is out looking for the assailants. Meanwhile, Beast has shrunk himself down “Fantastic Voyage” style and conducts hands-on brain surgery. He grows back to normal size and consults with a panel of Marvel’s smartest scientists: Mr. Fantastic, Iron Man, and Spider-man, all of whom have Skyped in to lend assistance. The rest of the issue is some comic relief: Shadowcat is interviewing replacement teachers, and a host of unlikely but hilarious candidates, including Blade and Ghost Rider, have turned up to apply.

The issue is by turns goofy, chilling, and heart-wrenching. But most importantly, it is fun and authentic. With a huge cast and divergent storylines, Aaron does an amazing job keeping all the plates he has going spinning, and giving us a ride that is enjoyable and surprising. And in spite of all the big ideas, the super-hero schools and the size-changing brain surgery, it is the characters that shine through. These aren’t simply mannequins equipped with wish-fulfillment powers and one-liners. His students feel like teenagers. Moreover, he gets what it is to be a mutant teenager better than any x-writer I’ve seen in a long time: Not merely the terror of being different in a world where being different is BAD, but also the swagger of having power, but not the wisdom to restrain it. He frames the adults perfectly as well: They are there to protect these kids, not simply train them. I can’t recommend this comic highly enough. Go check it out.

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