Current comics i'm into

I haven't posted any comics analysis, or anything about comics in quite some time, it seems. I have still been reading, of course. I dropped all the Marvel comics from my pull list, something i've been thinking about doing for quite some time. That's a hard decision. There are some quality books coming out from Marvel right now, but I think it's the right time to step away. That, and i'm broke. Anyways, there's just a saturation point that i've reached with Marvel where I can definitely wait for the trades. I'd like to support smaller books and jump on some new stuff. Here are some of my current favorites:

Godzilla by James Stokoe. IDW Publishing.

Godzilla + Stokoe= must buy. I've long been a big Godzilla fan, and James Stokoe is an artist of the highest caliber, so I had to see his take on the property. It's great stuff. Stokoe's art is pure eye candy. I'll buy anything he draws.

Nowhere Men by Eric Stephenson & Nate Bellegarde. Image Comics.

This is an interesting book. The writer is the long time publisher for Image, so i had to check it out just based on that. The art is really good too. It's a very interesting post-watchmen take on science fiction. The backstory's of the main characters are all well developed and not revealed in chronological order, as the story skips around key moments of character development. I've heard someone describe this comic as a mixture of the beatles and the fantastic four, and that's kind of what it is. I mentioned watchmen earlier because there's an obvious influence here, with the metafiction and charts, corporate holdings and supplemental material at the end of each issue. I want to see where this is going.

The Manhattan Projects by Jonathan Hickman & Nick Pitarra. Image Comics.

Another great series from Hickman and co. This is one of his best outings yet. I've noticed that Hickman uses a lot of real people in his stories (Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Einstein to name just a few) and it makes me wonder if it's really smart of him to use them, or it's a lack of creativity on his part that he can't come up with fresh characters. A minor criticism, as I enjoy all of his stories unequivocally. Anyways, this one is similiar to his S.H.I.E.L.D. book for Marvel which I wrote about on here a while back, I think. This series is about the Manhattan Projects being  a front for another series of super secret black ops shit, or something like that. It's cast features such titans of science as Richard Feynman, Albrecht Einstein, Joseph Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi, (Fermi Paradox is named after this guy, a bit of trivia.) and Harry Daghlian. Google the ones you don't know. Hickman always does his homework, and the plot is just crazy. Usually he maps his stories out way in advance, but for this one he's doing the opposite, which is nice to see from him. It's different from his other work in that respect, and it's good to see him have fun with this project. Nick Pitarra's art is a strenghth, and he may be my favorite collaborator of Hickman. His Moebius style art looks better than ever with this series. This is going to be a good one.

Change by Ales Kot, Morgan Jeske, Sloane Leong, Ed Brisson. Image.

The first issue of this four issue series is a stunner. It's a great hook, it's got some seriously weird and trippy characters and dialogue. A plot that doesn't entirely make sense, and they throw in some Cthulhu for good measure. It raises some interesting ideas and there are some great bits of dialogue, but they didn't really stick the landing with the last issue. Still, a good read and Ales Kot is a writer who has a great future in comics. If nothing else, the art by Morgan Jeske is fantastic. Really captures the surreal tone of the story. This is worth checking out.

Clone by David Schulner & Juan Jose Ryp.

First off, Juan Jose Ryp is the man. One of the best artists in the biz. I love his style, it's so detail heavy. The premise of this series may seem pretty passe these days: what if you had a clone? What if somebody made clones? However, this book is totally awesome and rock solid. David Schulner is apparently a TV writer, and his style of writing a comic is that of every page having a cliff hanger. It's wonderful. I love it, and it works. This is a fun book with and the plot has me hooked.

Mara by Brian Wood & Ming Doyle. Image Comics.

I'm mostly here for Ming Doyle, not to say i'm not a fan of Brian Wood. The story is about a megastar athlete in the future, where hyperconnectivity has been taken to the nth degree. She develops super powers and is scouted by the military. This one is worth it for the art alone, in my opinon. 

47 Ronin by Mike Richardson & Stan Sakai.

Must buy for me. I am a huge HUGE fan of Sakai. It's nice to see him draw something outside of anthropomorphic animals. I'm also just as interesting in the tale of the loyal retainers. The first couple issues are kind of slow, but the pacing is no problem for me.

The best damn Fantastic Four run in ages

I have already professed my admiration for one J. Hickman. The first book I read by him was indeed Fantastic Four #570 I believe. The first issue after the end of Mark Millar's hyped run. Mark Millar, at that time, was still a pretty decent writer, but I had a good feeling about the book, so I continued to pick it up. Great decision right there. That first issue was pretty stunning, and introduced some fascinating ideas. It really took off from there, and I'd say it's been in my top 5-10 books for the last 2&1/2 years. BUT, I haven't even begun to describe why it's so great.

Reed Richards takes the center stage early on. 

Here are the ingredients that make this run so compelling:

1. Meticulous plotting

2. Great characterization/cast 

3. Innovative usage of continuity 

4. Freshness

Also, Hickman always pays homage to the creators of Fantastic Four, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, which is a nice touch and something you don't always see. Kudos/Bravo for that.

There is a LOT going on in this book.

1. Meticulous plotting.

This book un-weaves like a tapestry. You have to pay attention to the details, because in the very first issue, and really, for the first ten or so issues, he's just setting up the dominoes. He gives all the characters something to do, and it all ties into the overall scheme of things in a way that makes sense. He doesn't spell EVERYTHING out for you, which is  recurring theme in all of his work. It's a bit challenging in that respect, but very rewarding. He leaves you bread crumbs. The pieces of the puzzle are all there, you just have to find them. His run can also be seen as one LARGE story arc. It has a great flow to it and I am running out of ways to praise the plot.

2. Great characterization/cast

Here's where the book is most enjoyable. Hickman GETS these characters. At no point during reading this did I think a character acted or reacted in  a way that violated the fundamental core. He also expanded the cast to about, jeez, like roughly 20 people, is my guesstimate off-hand. Besides the Fantastic Four themselves, he's made Reed and Susan's children, Franklin and Valeria, just as important, if not more, than anyone else. He brought in the Future Foundation, Reed's think tank, which includes characters from Power Pack, (Alex Power) X-Men, (Artie & Leech) and others from the FF's larger mythology, like Dragon Man, the child version of the Wizard, Bentley 32, The moloid children, and the regents of Old Atlantis. He also brought Spider-Man, Reed's father Nathaniel, and Dr. Doom (yes, Dr. Doom) on the team. This has only made the book more enjoyable, and seeing all these characters interact in new and fascinating ways is a treat. He handles it deftly. A lesser writer would totally fuck that up. Valeria and Doom's interaction is a highlight. There's a lot of humour in this book! Always a plus. Even Spider-Man's quips are used sparingly. 

:)

3. Innovative usage of continuity

Um, yeah. Hickman is taking all the best parts of previous FF runs, (and maybe some of the worst parts) and making it ALL work. He's also using recent events in the Marvel U, OUTSIDE of Fantastic Four, to a great degree. He has used all the classic elements and villains of the FF, the usuals: Namor, Galactus, Silver Surfer, The Inhumans, The Mole Man, et cetera. He incorporates the Annihilation event into the scheme of things as well. He also uses Mark Millar's Nu Earth characters and resolves that in  a satisfying way. I'm sure there's more stuff that i'm not familiar with (haven't read EVERY issue of Fantastic Four) but yeah, that shows you the breadth of characters he's using in the sandbox. He's taking FULL advantage of the sandbox that is Marvel continuity, instead of being relegated by it. Expertly done.

He's not finished with the Human Torch, by any means.

For the first three points, I could sum it all up like this: Overall spot on storytelling with great scope.

4. Freshness

Hickman, being a graphic designer himself, is acutely aware of the power of simple designs, and doing something as simple as changing the 4 to a 3, is brilliant in its simplicity. It conveys so much with so little. Very economical. 

He's also taken a cue from Brian Michael Bendis, who shook up the Avengers, made it his own, and put his stamp on the teams history, with his seemingly ending of the Fantastic Four book, and changing its title to FF, or Future Foundation. 

Pretty dang snazzy.

Plus, any excuse for some new costume designs is a good excuse. Switching up a 60 year old pattern is not that novel of an idea.

The scary part is, he's not nearly finished yet. The Fantastic Four has returned, and now there are two titles, FF and Fantastic Four, that segue into each other, essentially we are getting two issues a month. Can't wait to see where he's going with it, and when all is said and done, I'm sure we're seeing a classic run on Fantastic Four, MAYBE best ever, but certainly top 10, maybe top 5. that says a lot, especially this late in the game. 

So yeah, great reads!

The arts not bad either.

Appreciating the craft...

I've been re-reading Jonathan Hickman's Marvel work, specifically his runs on Fantastic Four/FF and S.H.I.E.L.D, and sweet jeebus, is it great stuff. I've said it before, but he is currently my favorite writer and in my humble opinion, the most brilliant and talented writer in comics currently. I've tried to turn all my friends on to his work, with much success.

Genius.

 He's a talent on the level of an Alan Moore, or Grant Morrison. But enough of the nut-hugging. I'm going to do some blogs on those aforementioned books, hopefully soon, while its fresh in my mind. School starts this week, so we'll see how much time I can allocate to blogging. I've also been working on some of my own stuff again, THANKFULLY. I hope to have some stuff done by the end of the year. That's a pretty reasonable goal. I'd like to get a table at C2E2 next year possibly.

Oh, and i'm holding off on buying a PS3/Xbox 360/Wii until I finish my first manuscript. Which means i'm going to continue to be five years behind in videogames. Eh.

I hope to make 2012  my most productive year yet. It's about damn time.

Currently Reading : Episode One

The Nightly News by Jonathan Hickman.
This is the second time i've read it, its been so long. I've leant this comic out to more people than i can remember. I've tried to get as many people as possible on the hickman bandwagon, because as it currently stands, i'd have to give him the title of lord and master of sequential art...and the stunning thing is, HE'S JUST GETTING STARTED. The first time i read nightly news it was like a thunderbolt, on this second go around, i'm stunned, again at how good it is. This is the future of comics. I've gotten many co workers to read it and some were smart enough to get it, and love it, and a couple others just couldn't get past the design. (And they were art school kids, ironically. Snickersnicker) but either way, Hickman's mastery of design, dialogue, and pretty much everything is on display in this vicious piece of work. Viciously compelling. Compellingly vicious. It's fucking amazing. It's a creative work i hope to achieve, not in the execution or copying, but in the tone that it takes...it's tailor made for a generation of kids that grew up on rage against the machine and system of a down. I would like to adopt a similiar body of work.