Some interesting stuff came out last week. Here’s some of it:
ASTRO CITY: THE DARK AGE BOOK FOUR #4 of 4 by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson. Originally conceived as a sequel to the Busiek/Alex Ross hit MARVELS, this hasn’t been my favorite ASTRO CITY arc so far. It feels long and the waits between issues have made it hard to maintain the excitement associated with earlier AC stories. What’s of greatest interest is the fact that Busiek shares a bit of his process in the form of his redacted pitch notes to Marvel. Also it’s the concluding chapter of his longest AC story since the series began. Four books of four issues each, plus a prologue and likely epilogue to come makes this a magnum opus of sorts from a creator whose work always warrants a look.
THE BEATS: A GRAPHIC HISTORY SC by Harvey Pekar and Various Collaborators. This is a softcover edition of Pekar’s graphic exploration of a literary movement that shaped his generation. I honestly haven’t finished it yet, but the first chapter on Jack Kerouac really makes me want to. Hopefully, this will prove more consistent in quality than Pekar’s previous STUDENTS FOR A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY GN.
ELECTRIC ANT #2 of 5 by David Mack and Pascal Alixe. Based on an original story by the legendary Philip K. Dick, this is already one of the most promising sci-fi comics in a long time. The story of a robot who didn’t know he was a robot and found out the hard way. Great art and a familiar Dick theme of figuring out how much we really know about ourselves and what it means to be human. Very trippy stuff blending altered states of awareness with speculative analog technology.
iZOMBIE #1 by Chris Roberson and Michael Allred. The adventures of a grave-robbing, brain-eating girl detective from DC Comics’ Vetigo line. This is set in a more R-rated Buffy-verse sort of reality where a supernatural subculture abounds. It has an advantage over the actual BUFFY comic books in that we have no previous familiarity with the characters from a different medium, in this case TV. Even with the stylized Allred art this first issue is very accessible and inviting. Give it a look if you can stomach the subject. Speaking of which…
PRIDE, PREJUDICE & ZOMBIES GN by Jane Austen, Seth Grahame-Smith, Tony Lee and Cliff Richards. This is the black and white graphic novelization of the gag-hit from 2009. Basically it’s Austen’s original text modified to accommodate a new reality in which the Bennett sisters and Mister Darcy are fearless zombie killers and England is plagued with flesh-eating “unmentionables.” It’s all in fun and a great way to make Austen more palatable to someone like me who loathes the British caste system of then and now, along with all its subtleties and nuance. I suppose it’s satisfying to see a social structure that imposed apparent life or death consequences on its members’ behaviors actually have real life or death consequences. The art by BUFFY veteran Cliff Richard feels sketchy and unfinished, but the story is there with a pace that gives the reader a good zombie battle every time you’re tempted to blow it off like you wanted to in college.
Finally, one from a couple of weeks ago that I only got around to this week:
OTHER LIVES HC written and drawn by Peter Bagge. This is an original GN from the creator of HATE. Whether or not you’re turned off by Bagge’s trademark grotesque art-style, this is a great noir thriller mixed in with a profound meditation on what identity means in the internet age. Are we our avatars? Are our parents and grandparents the same people they were before Ellis Island or after the birth of their kids? Bagge calls our attention to all these things even as we recognize bits of our own identities in each of his screwed up creations. A multi-layered story, ideally suited to the two-dimensional medium.
Enjoy!
