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The Pull List
(Click title to go directly to the review)
DMZ #1
NEW THUNDERBOLTS #15
INFINITE CRISIS #2
THE PULSE #12
Comics Catchup: GOTHAM CENTRAL
Big Eyes for the Cape Guy: BATTLE ROYALE VOLs 1 - 14
CHEAP SHOTS!

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DMZ #1

Writer: Brian Wood
Artists: Riccardo Burchielli & Brian Wood
Publisher: Vertigo / DC Comics
Reviewed by Dave Farabee

“Every day is 9/11!” reads a splash of New York graffiti in Brian Wood’s near-future tale of civil war in America. It’s a nasty harbinger of what’s to come, and whether one finds the follow-through to be paranoia or an eerily conceivable scenario, I don’t think there’s any denying that in the wake of 9/11 it does reverberate.

What indie writer Brian Wood posits is a country five years into a war between the United States and the “Free States,” militia-driven insurgents bent on overthrowing the government while American armed forces are concentrated in overseas wars. Turns out the uprising itself isn’t Wood’s interest in this story, though, as he’s clearly more concerned with the hapless folks caught in between than the aggressors on either side. To this end, the story takes place on Manhattan island, a demilitarized zone (DMZ) dividing U.S.-held ground (Brooklyn/Queens/Long Island) and Free States ground (Jersey and other inland territory). It’s still home to 400,000 civilians, but as we learn a little ways into the story, the media mostly bills ‘em as insurgents, and the city itself is the kind of bombed-out hellhole we’re used to seeing in footage of the war-torn Middle East.

Our eye into this scary-as-hell landscape is Matt Roth, intern photojournalist and the kind of naive kid that Charlie Sheen played in PLATOON. He’s just been assigned to a Nobel Prize-winning reporter who’s flying into Manhattan during a shaky ceasefire that marks a rare opportunity to get a news crew to get into the DMZ. If you’re wondering why a key story like this would have a punk intern filming it…well, you’ve got me too. Wood contrives that the kid’s daddy pulled some strings, but it’s still a ridiculously huge stretch. I like Roth just fine as the in-over-his head protagonist – he just needed a better justification for getting his ass slung into the line of fire.

Long story short (appropriate, ‘cause this book gets going fast), sniper fire decimates the film crew shortly on landing and Roth finds himself alone and scared shitless in the middle of the nastiest Manhattan this side of Carpenter’s ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK. The book’s single greatest strength is the raw, deadly unpredictability of the city itself, brought to life by Italian artist Riccardo Burchielli. Seeing a familiar landscape like Manhattan turned into the shell-shocked staging ground for rebels, nutjobs, and starving refugees is truly unnerving, and Burchielli renders it all believably. His crisp, detailed, shadowy style calls to mind Argentinean artists like Eduardo Risso and Leandro Fernandez – a high compliment indeed. With Jeremy Cox’s Fallujah-esque color schemes tinting everything the color of a muddy dawn (or dusk), you’ve got some of the most believably oppressive cityscapes since the post-nuke imagery of Richard Corben in PUNISHER: THE END. There’s also detail galore, from the graffiti to bomb craters to realistic military tech, all adding to DMZ’s power as a visual experience.

Other aspects of the book left me a little more lukewarm. For one, there’s some heavy-handed characterizations going on. Matt’s naivete comes across as a bit cliché. The asshole-ish personality of the reporter he’s assigned to strains credibility in its over-the-topness. And the punkette refugee girl who helps Matt out? A little too quick to become his guide if conditions in the DMZ are as rough as Wood wants us to believe. I just didn’t buy her vacillations between hardboiled survivor and cutie-with-a-heart-of-gold. Plus there’s that last page choice that Matt makes…does anyone really buy into it?

And yet the book is still compelling. Wood keeps the action coming fast and furious from the instant Matt gets stranded, and the power of his terrifying foray into the war-torn Manhattan tends to outweigh my problems with individual scenes and characters. But for how long? Hard to say. I haven’t read a lot of Wood’s work, so I’m approaching DMZ without any baggage, and even so, I can already see that his brand of realism requires a healthy suspension of disbelief. It’s not the wild satire of Frank Miller’s civil war America in GIVE ME LIBERTY, but it’s got some of the same melodrama operating. If readers can make their way past that hurdle, they may well find DMZ to be this generation’s wartime scare-fest in the tradition of THE DAY AFTER. Me, I’m crossing my fingers, but I need a few issues to see if Wood’s dramatic shortcuts are SOP or just a kick-start for deeper twists and turns to come.

Meanwhile, tentatively recommended, especially for the power of the setting.

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NEW THUNDERBOLTS #15

Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Artists: Rick Leonardi & Cam Smith
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: Prof. Challenger

Every month I am pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable this series is. I enjoyed plenty about the first incarnation of the Thunderbolts, but there's something about this latest series that connects with me even more. When I try to understand why, I find myself comparing it to DC Comics' JSA series. JSA is not the best comic out there, but it is the most consistently entertaining comic DC has published for over 75 issues now. The same reasons JSA is so consistently excellent are the same reasons why NEW THUNDERBOLTS has yet to hit a sour note.

There is a sense of history to the NEW THUNDERBOLTS, but there is no requirement for the reader to be overly familiar with the past. Sure, if there is that familiarity there is an added dimension, but Nicieza does a superb job of incorporating history into the storylines while moving forward. The characters have dimension and interesting conflicts that drive their actions in the storylines. In other words, these characters like Atlas, Photon, Songbird, et al., are more than just names and costumes, they are fully rounded characters that the reader becomes interested in. Nicieza has succeeded in this series of adding to the team z-stringers and characters I have previously loathed and turned them into complex characters that I give a damn about. Most interesting of all is the fact that Nicieza keeps the T-bolts actively participating in the wider Marvel Universe without turning me off (which is a huge compliment considering my general malaise and disdain for most modern Marvel continuity). Issues 13 & 14 of this series actually focused on the T-Bolts beating the living crap out of that incomprehensibly bad "New" Avengers team.

And I cheered them on.

Now, this issue, Nicieza reaches waaayyy back into Marvel history to AVENGERS V. 1 #70 to bring the Squadron Sinister back into action. Sure, it's probably spurred on by the success of SUPREME POWER and its spin-offs, but these guys are the "original" villainous Superman, Batman, Flash, and Green Lantern knockoffs. In truth, this appearance by the Squadron Sinister was probably inevitable with Speed Demon being a part of the New T-Bolts. But, a lot happens in this little comic. First, the reappearance of the Dr. Spectrum prism who promptly gains a new hostess. Then Atlas learns a bit of unhappy info about the "death" of his brother while Speed Demon, in his villainous Whizzer outfit, swipes some cash from Kyle (Nighthawk) Richmond. Photon continues to struggle with the onset of "cosmic awareness." Blizzard gets a new costume and souped up powers. All this happens as well as a little sexual interplay between Speed Demon and Joystick and Nighthawk attacking the T-Bolts to recover his dough. And it's no big spoiler considering the title "Does Anyone Remember the Squadron Sinister" to tell you that the last page brings all four members back together again. Which leaves this reader anxious for next month to see what happens.

The successful execution of the snappy dialogue and clever scene transitions all credit towards Nicieza as the writer. Rick Leonardi is a fine fill-in artist, but the presence of Tom Grummett was really missed. The teamwork in this series between Nicieza and Grummett is one of those indefinably classic combinations and whenever Grummett is absent, there is a loss to the story. The addition of the FRANKLIN RICHARDS: SON OF A GENIUS backup feature was an excellent surprise. Very funny way to finish out the book.

Definitely looking forward to next month and beyond to see how the Squadron story plays out and then how Zemo plays into the next period of T-Bolts adventures. Best monthly published by Marvel right now.

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INFINITE CRISIS #2

Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciler: Phil Jiminez
Publisher: DC Comics
Reviewed by Humphrey Lee

And here's how it began:

@$$hole Reviewer Overlord: Well gentlemen, it's that time again. INFINITE CRISIS has a new issue out and now it's time for one of you to man up and review it.

@$$hole Reviewers: Oh, fuck...

Overlord: Yea, that's right "oh fuck". This is the biggest event in years, and one of you pussies is going to have to take the hit for your fellow man and review it. You'll be under the scrutiny of every fanboy and girl with an internet connection. Your slightest disagreement with the book will result in much flaming and a universal digital hatred. Jesus loves this book, and so should you! Now which one of you girlies has the balls to go through with this?

Reviewers: ...............

Overlord: Anyone? Anyone at all? Come on you fucking nancies!!

Humphrey Lee: Fuck. I'll do it. Bring it on.

Overlord: Good job Humphrey. Way to be a man. Don't let those fans get you down. Go out and........ wait.... are you drunk?

Humphrey: Fucking A right I am. You know how I roll. Man, look at the tits on that Power Girl chick... man, if she was real I'd Shazam all over her chest pillows...

Overlord: Oh fuck... Look, anyone else want to do this? Anyone at all? ...

Sweet Christ, alright. It's all yours Hump.... just... keep the money shot references to a minimum...

Humphrey: ... fucking spread some mayonnaise on those bread loaves I would... Wait, what? Oh, okay, you got it chief...

And that's how we work it here.

And yes, it is that time again. The "biggest comic event in years" has gone to issue two and I get to weigh in my own two cents. And those two cents will buy you a "Meh, it was alright." Because, you see, what we have here is the biggest comic event in years taking its time to recap the last biggest comic event in years. This book is pretty much split in two directions: The first and foremost being that of Power Girl being taken by the hand by Earth 2 Superman and finally given the lowdown on just her place in the world, and all at the same time, giving about a half issue recap on just exactly what the first Crisis was all about, in rather good detail (If you're of the last 4 people who hasn't read a Geoff Johns comic know you know, he good wit the history). And the other half of the book is spent tightening all the threads that were planted in the prelude books that got this thing all started. OMACs are invading Themyscira, some heroes are being gathered in New Cronus by Donna Troy (including Animal Man, which could legitimately be considered one of the first "lead-in" books from way back), plus some duplicate Lex Luthor action and so on.

And to me, an oversized recap issue doesn't exactly get the old saliva flowing with anticipation. Again, like all of us went through great lengths to say with our little roundtable when issue one came out, enough simply has not happened to make me say "Oh God this is amazing!!" like most would have you believe. Simply, it's still setting things up (which it's doing very well), it's getting new readers to the point where they can feel confident to follow the story (which Johns is doing a good recap) and it's finally getting Power Girl's origin put to rest (because why should that have been done in the JSA: CLASSIFIED arc that promised to do exactly that?). But as it stands with the overall state of things, we're still left with: Lots of villains are planning something bad, lots of heroes are gathering to fight them, and OMACs are fucking everywhere and they look awesome! (well occasionally they don't, but more on that later).

So, as it lays to me, this is just a pretty good read. The next issue is definitely the make it or break it dealie. The players are set, things are coming together, the newbies are finally caught up (or at least they hopefully are). Now it is time the book will show if it earned all the hype or not. The time to show if all the money you spent buying several mini-series and dozens of tie-in issues was worth the time and money investment. The writing quality is there and for the most part the art is too. That's my little segue into another reason why I say this issue was just "solid", and that's because it's obvious they're doing everything in their power to keep this on time, and that means several inkers. And several inkers usually leads into discrepancies in the art. There were more than a few times in this book where you see something like a full page Power Girl in all her curvacious glory and looking amazing, and then three pages later you'd see her in a panel with horrible proportion as her torso is twice as big as her bottom half, and it looks like her, uh, "sweater bunnies" are practically at her knees. I'm not saying it ruined the book by any means, but it happened enough to keep my eye looking and wondering if this could become more of a problem in the future. And I'd hate to see them drop the ball on something as silly as that.

But there you go. I thought it was good, not great. I think it still has great potential, but it still has to reach it. I thought it looked good, but it can look better. That right there is pretty much what you can say about 90% of comics at any given time. But those books don't get the kind of spotlight this does, and therefore this gets treated differently, sometimes unfairly so. I guess that's the breaks for being "The Biggest Event EVER in Comics". Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

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THE PULSE #12

Brian Michael Bendis: Writer
Michael Gaydos: Artist
Marvel Comics: Publisher
Vroom Socko: Having Contractions

This issue not only shows everything I like about Bendis’ work, it shows most of my problems with him as well.

First of all, thank god that Gaydos is back on the art chores for the arrival of Jessica’s baby. It’s not that the other artists this book has seen aren’t up to the task, but having the man who gave us the whole of ALIAS on this arc just gives the story that much more poignancy. Besides, the man is giving us Luke Cage in a yellow shirt. Gotta love that.

There’s also the Bendis Bits that have become pretty standard, yet still charm. Stuff like the back alley drug deal with the inopportune witness, the police precinct scene, and the hospital moments are all spot on. The hospital stuff is full of nice touches, all little things that make all the sense in the world, yet you can’t help but be surprised that nobody’s done something similar before.

And god help me, I absolutely love the b-plot. Leave it to Bendis to do a mystery revolving around D-Man.

But the thing is, there’s more than a few things that don’t work, are badly planned out, or just plain don’t make sense. Why, for instance, is Jessica first brought to an emergency room, then taken to a certain Greenwich doctor? In the previous issue Jessica paid a social call on the Richards family, and if anyone knows what needs to be done in a complicated superpower birth, it’s Reed. With Bendis setting up an FF aided birthing but giving us a Strange payoff, the whole thing gains an awkward feel. The issue just feels off without a meeting of those expectations.

And even if I didn’t hate what Bendis has done to the character with every fiber of my being, I’d have found that Scarlet Witch joke to be in very poor taste, and totally out of character for the joker in question. Phui.

Then there’s the main complication in the pregnancy, the fact that the baby is coming at only six months. So let me get this straight. The New Avengers appear in this issue, and the first issue of that series is set six months after Disassembled. Jessica got pregnant in ALIAS #1, in a storyline where she visited a whole and functional Avengers Mansion. Then later, she served as a bodyguard for Matt Murdock, who had yet to take down the Kingpin. And as anyone who’s read any DD recap page since could tell you, that was a year ago. And then there’s the Secret War, the House of M…

Everyone knows that Bendis is a bad speller. Who knew he also sucked at math?

All kidding aside, all qualms aside, I enjoyed this issue. But that’s most likely because of my deep-seated fondness for ALIAS. This storyline is finally a completion to not only that story, but a completion of the character of Jessica Jones. It’s no wonder that Bendis is leaving the book in two issues. He’s finally made Jessica whole, and what fan of the character would want to miss out on that?

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I know I’m not the only one. I try to keep up on my reading. There are some comics that I read before I even get home from the store. But others go into a stack by my nightstand. Pretty soon, the week passes, and a new crop of comics come along. And another. And another. It’s not too long before I have a heaping stack of books that I haven’t read. For some reason, some of the books that I regularly read just don’t get read on a monthly basis. They’re good books. Damn good books. But for one reason or another, I let them pile up and pretty soon I have a stack of five or six issues to wade through to get up to date. It was on one Sunday afternoon as I waded through my stack that the idea came to me to do a special feature like this – one that looks at a few consecutive issues of a single series and catching up those who may be curious about that series. And that’s what Comics Catchup is all about.

GOTHAM CENTRAL #32-37

Writers: Greg Rucka & Ed Brubaker
Artists: Steve Leiber, Kano, Stefano Gaudiano
Publisher: DC Comics
Reviewer: Ambush Bug

There’s nothing else like GOTHAM CENTRAL in mainstream books today. It is an intricate police drama build around a handful of characters who, by now, have been through all of the hells that a dark city like Gotham can produce. Like many cop ensemble dramas you see on TV, GOTHAM CENTRAL is cast with a set of streetwise professionals, but unlike those TV shows, these cops have a different set of streets they patrol. Their streets are plagued with murderous clowns, mind-controlling sociopaths, costumed vigilantes, and perps with powers both sci-fi and magical. This book embraces the wondrous world of superheroes, but focuses on this world through the eyes of a police detective. The book is written by two of the best crime comic book writers around today. Grag Rucka and Ed Brubaker alternate and sometimes collaborate on story arcs. Each arc focuses on one intricately detailed crime and the police force which must use conventional detective methods to solve the super powered crimes.

The main ongoing theme of this book is the delicate relationship between the Gotham PD and Gotham’s self-appointed protector, Batman. These are hard working cops, gifted at what they do, but frustrated that time and time again they are showed up by Batman, who doesn’t have to follow the law to the letter as they do. This is where this book stands out as one of the smartest reads out there. Because of the newly estranged relationship between Batman and the Gotham Police Force, with every crime, the police detectives and the Batman find themselves racing against one another to solve the crime. Or more accurately, the cops are pressured to solve the crime before Batman because they don’t want to be seen as ineffectual. Time and time again, Rucka and Brubaker have illustrated the strain, the tension, and the shame these police officers feel when they work painstaking hours, following every rule and law to crack a case only for it to be solved by a costumed vigilante with a bunch of expensive toys. You feel for these cops. You understand their frustrations. In their actions and their words, these guys are the ones who work their @$$es off and never get the credit. In the end, you end up rooting against the Batman in this book because these cops’ conflict with him is so palpable.

Rucka and Brubaker have had almost forty issues to flesh out this cast of characters. Renee Montoya was a regular in the Batman titles, but it wasn’t until this series that she had a chance to shine. Through these last six issues and the entire series, Montoya gets a chance to shine. Early in the series, she was the object of obsession of Two-Face. A newly outed lesbian, struggling with acceptance at work and at home, if this series has a star, Montoya’s it. In recent issues, Montoya has become reckless, causing concern from her partner. Montoya’s stories have been a favorite of mine. Rucka and Brubaker really know how to get to the core of this character and make her distinct among so many tough girl clichéd heroines in comics.

But this series isn’t just about Montoya. Montoya’s partner, Detective Cris Allen, is trying his best to be a good cop in the streets of Gotham but is quickly losing faith in the system and himself. Judd Winick’s Josie Mac is newly transferred to Gotham PD and runs into her own struggles in the force to cover up the fact that she herself has powers. So far these powers have been downplayed in this series, though. There’s Detective Marcus Driver and his partner Romy Chandler who share a hatred for Batman because of the loss of their partners, but act on that hatred in different ways. Jim Corrigan (who may be the same Corrigan who hosted the Spectre) is leering around as a crooked cop. Then there’s tough as nails Captain Maggie Sawyer, and Commissioner Adkins who does not have the same relationship with Batman as the last commissioner, and the lovable Sarge, and the receptionist Stacy who is the only one allowed to light the Bat Signal because she’s not an officer of the law. This series is filled with a three-dimensional cast of characters which bring history and add weight to each and every issue.

And what about the stories of GOTHAM CENTRAL? In this run of issues I whizzed through in one sitting, I was lucky enough to read a full story arc bookended with two stand-alone issues. Issue #32 is written by Greg Rucka alone and focuses on a pair of beat cops on the take. Rucka knows his crime and it shows in this tale as the cops’ services are bought and sold to the highest bidder. Usually, the reader follows the few good cops on the police force as they solve a crime. In this issue, we get to see the detectives of the GCPD and the crimes they investigate through the skewed eyes of dirty cops. It is an especially gritty issue – one that takes jabs at your moral backbone right up until the brutal and cinematic ending.

Issues #33-36 feature a story called “Dead Robin” where the body of a teenager dressed in a Robin costume is found in an alley. Is it the actual Robin? Are there more than one? Who is this kid? And who killed him? Is Batman a suspect? All of these questions are asked as the investigation of this murder commences over these four issues. As the bodies of the dead Robins begin to pile up, another theme arises. The value of information and how the leakage of that information to the press can affect a case is examined in this arc. You can tell Brubaker and Rucka have done their homework in this one. As much as this tale embraces and examines Robin and why he exists, it also dissects how the cops and press work together and often against each other on a day to day basis. There are shades of SE7EN in the closing issues which I think were unnecessary, but this was yet another fine arc in this series.

Which brings us to the issue released last week, issue #37, a stand alone tie-in to INFINITE CRISIS. Now before you groan at the presence of another crossover, I have to say that this issue is the perfect intro to those unfamiliar with GOTHAM CENTRAL. Captain Marvel is falling from the sky. The Seven Deadly Sins are possessing people. The Rock of Eternity is exploding over Gotham Square. The Spectre looms over the city like a…well…specter. Rucka has taken this crossover opportunity to show new readers just what makes GOTHAM CENTRAL such a special read. We follow Detective Chris Allen as all hell breaks loose in Gotham. The thing is, all of this is happening at a time when Detective Allen is having a crisis of faith. He sees his partner, Montoya, going down a path of destruction. He sees corruption from the bottom to the top of the GCPD. And now, for the umpteenth time, Gotham is being torn to shreds by yet another catastrophe. I loved this issue in that Detective Allen recognizes that this type of thing happens in Gotham about once every six months. He’s to the point where it doesn’t shock him anymore. He’s apathetic and jaded and without faith or hope. Then in this single issue, after facing super villains and disembodied sins and the end of the world and a corrupt police force, Detective Allen finds that he still has the strength to carry on. Detective Allen’s struggle to make it home to his family through all of this is about as human as you get and Rucka nails it. This issue is pouring over with emotion, character, and what makes GOTHAM CENTRAL one of the best books on the stands.

Steve Leiber handled the single issues of this Catchup, while the artist known only as Kano handled the “Dead Robin” story arc. Both artists convey the dank realism that has become the standard for recent crime comics. Kano has a grittier, rawer style, which I prefer, while Leiber’s characters are often more stilted, but just as effective. In books like these, the art is not the biggest draw. It’s the drama, and the crimes, and the mystery, and the dialogue. But these two artists have what it takes to guide your eyes through the labyrinthine plots.

Fellow @$$holes Dave Farabee and Humphrey Lee have been praising GOTHAM CENTRAL since it has been released. Rumors have it that it has been on and off the cancellation chopping block since issue #1. It was recently announced that #40 will be the last issue of this series. I hate to see it go. There really isn’t anything like this book in mainstream books today. It doesn’t square-peg-round-hole in real life crimes and tragedies into superhero fiction. This is real world crime fiction that happens to be occurring in a world of superheroes, as seen through the eyes of the everyman. If you’ve always been curious about this series, but were afraid to pick it up, check out the latest issue, #37. It’s stand alone and has everything you’ve been missing. I guarantee that once you dive into this issue, you’ll be quick to the back issue bins or the trade sections of your store doing a Comics Catchup of your own.

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BATTLE ROYALE Vols. 1-14

Writer: Koushun Takami
English Adaptation: Keith Giffen
Artist: Masayuki Taguchi
Publisher: Tokyopop
Reviewed by Dave Farabee

I bet we could come to a general agreement that American comics aren’t so great at suspense. I’m not talking suspense as in cliffhanger endings, but in the moment-to-moment, biting-your-nails-to-know-what’s-just-around-the-corner sense. Like horror, a close cousin, that kind of suspense requires the ability to draw out a moment, and there's simply not a tradition of that approach in the Land of the Cape. We may dabble, but it's not in the blood.

For Japanese comics, though, it's the status quo. Manga’s long shown a greater tie to filmic effects than American comics, and say what you will about the perils of one medium trying to imitate another, movies handle suspense superbly - it should come as no surprise that manga does as well.

And BATTLE ROYALE may just be the supreme testament to comic book suspense.

Last year I reviewed the first volume by itself. Went in with trepidation over the exploitational premise - Japanese teens forced to fight to the death in a government-sponsored reality show of the near-future - but ended up impressed with the execution. It took me until this year to follow up, but the more I read, the more I liked the series. In recent months, I've blown through all fourteen extant volumes, and as we teeter on the precipice of the final volume - suspense at an all-time peak! - it seemed the ideal time to look back at just what makes this violent, sexual, and curiously insightful masterpiece tick.

Quick recap of the premise: Setting is a near-future Japan under the bootheel of a military dictatorship. High school class of 42 kids is randomly chosen and stranded on an abandoned island as part of “The Program”. The Program being a vaguely defined government initiative, seemingly created to pacify the masses and keep the rebel kiddies of the era in check. School kids are given a duffle bag with a weapon ranging from knives to automatic weapons, turned loose one by one, and forced to fight each other to the death until a single survivor emerges (says the kid who find a boomerang in his bag: “Give me a fucking break!”). The added incentive? Explosive neck collars. Collars keep the kids on the move as certain sections of the island become "danger zones" periodically, detonating any collars within. Worse, if the kids band together and 24 hours passes with no kills - POP! - all the collars detonate.

As early as the first volume, a core trio emerges from the 42. There's Shuuya, the idealistic rebel, a sort of Big Man on Campus but without the jerky qualities. Before The Program, he taught himself to play American style rock 'n' roll on the sly as his own "fuck you" to the government that made it illegal. His main obsession on the island, though, is protecting Noriko, a girl his nerdy best friend was infatuated with...before his nerdy best friend became one of the first victims of The Program’s carnage (damn, damn gory scene). Lastly there's Kawada, the tough guy with the heart of gold. He's my favorite of the lot - the cynical pragmatist, the smartass, and the guy who somehow managed to smuggle a seemingly limitless pack of cigarettes onto the island. Think of him as a shotgun-toting Han Solo to Shuuya’s Luke Skywalker, the one who keeps his pals on the move when they start getting wrapped up in the angst of their scenario. I don't think it's giving away too much to say that these characters make it through much of the series’ meticulously rendered violence, but since their heroism renders them the most flawless of the pack, it's the side-stories that ended up fascinating me most.

In structure, BATTLE ROYALE is a lot like the hit show, LOST. Frequent flashbacks flesh out the doomed high schoolers, and juxtaposed with more immediate physical danger, it puts a very human stamp on their fates. On one hand, we've got the obvious archetypes - the geek, the slut, the jock, the gangbanger - but then there are the odder picks: the virginal martial artist, the drag queen hustler, the icy junior yakuza. Every one of 'em's got a story to tell, though, inviting the reader to inevitably identify with them and ask, “What would I do?”. The intercutting between past and present veers into wild melodrama with regular frequency as former friends (and old rivals) face off to the death, and every killing in some way reflects the triumphs or tragedies of these kids' pasts. With American writer Keith Giffen handling the English translation, though, the melodrama escapes corniness to become a wholly viable approach. It’s an approach where fiery internal angst is as pressing as the threat of death itself.

Sounds about right for the teenage worldview, eh?

But if the series was just that, I don’t know that I’d have stuck around. There’s no denying its prurient qualities, including the intensely-detailed, rigorously shaded renderings of violence by Masayuki Taguchi. They’ve got all the nasty punch of a Garth Ennis outing, but rendered with the eye of an artist who could be drawing medical anatomy books. It’s that detailed, though the characters’ faces are drawn as somewhat grotesque caricatures – a very practical approach to distinguishing an ensemble cast of 42. And the stagings of the violence are quite literally “bloody brilliant,” matching the cinematic heyday of John Woo and occasionally fragmenting a moment with almost MATRIX-like bullet-time.

What kept me reading, though, was the series’ amazing capacity to keep hope alive. Just going in knowing the premise, you have to know that most or all of these kids are doomed. But in each and every character – well, the non-sleazeballs anyway - the reader finds himself bonding with their desperate desire to survive, hoping against hope they might somehow find a loophole in The Program’s 99% mortality rate. Without a doubt, my favorite spotlighted pair are Shinji and Yutaka, an oddball couple of friends representing the cool guy/geek paradigm. Their story has one of the most original turns as cool-guy Shinji, nephew to an anarchist hacker, develops an ingenious plan to cannibalize material from the island's deserted village to enact both an escape and a payback on their captors. It’s suspense at its very best as the clumsy, but utterly devoted Yutaka time and again comes close to fouling up Shinjii’s MACGYVER-level genius. Everything that’s great about BATTLE ROYALE appears in their story.

So it’s bizarre, and I’m as shocked as anyone, but this utterly R-rated series really does have something to say about friendship and loyalty and rebellion…even the nature of evil. Its particular catalyst – nothing less than the threat of imminent death! – proves wildly effective at deconstructing all the stressors of youth. If the screamingly angsty idiom gets over-the-top enough at times to cause a chuckle, I expect you’ll find yourself as ultimately forgiving as I was. It’s a teen morality play in the tradition of Grand Guignol theatre – what’d you expect? Subtlety?

Highly recommended for those with a stern stomach.

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STAR WARS: REPUBLIC #79 - This was a pleasant surprise: a gorgeously-illustrated first installment of a story focusing on a handful of Jedi who survived the universally-acknowledged lameness of the Jedi executions in REVENGE OF THE SITH. Just check out this preview for a glimpse of Doug Wheatley’s amazing artwork on the issue, the first and foremost reason to pick it up. I’m tellin’ ya, go to page three and look at those Snow Troopers! Looks like material straight from ILM’s production designs! And the story ain’t half bad either. It’s strictly “Jedi on the run,” survivalist stuff. They might’ve been lucky enough to survive execution, but can they maintain their health in a galaxy that’s branded ‘em war criminals? Since we know at least Obi-Wan and Yoda survive, and if these guys make it they’d surely go into a similar hiding, there’s a cool air of uncertainty about these proceedings. Story could end on a dark note, with all the Jedi strays getting whacked, or maybe, just maybe, a few of ‘em might make it out… - Dave

GHOST RIDER #3

The current Marvel Knights GHOST RIDER miniseries is what happens when Garth Ennis doesn't have an editor to keep him in check. So far it's been a rehash of the same stuff we've seen a dozen times from Ennis already in both HELLBLAZER and PREACHER. It's lost its luster and holds none of the freshness or appeal of the first few times we saw it. Paging Arseface, Fuckface and The Russian--please come to the checkout desk and pick up your useless and retarded kid brother. Yeah, the guy with his own head shoved up his ass? Goes by Buttview? Oh, and don't forget the vicious and sociopathic female angel character could use revisiting, not to mention the morbidly obese bad guy...

Know what's missing in this series, kids? You guessed it: any focus whatsoever on the Ghost Rider himself. Rumor is it's Johnny Blaze in this series, not Danny Ketch--but how the fuck would a reader know that, since we're halfway through and there's been no attention paid to him? As for the art: it's pretty at times, sure, but it's so darkly colored you can't even tell what Buttview or the demon Kazann actually look like. Oh, and the Ghost Rider is barely on fire at all, mostly just a black blur, which kinda misses the point of the character, don't it? Not to mention his head looks like a bald dude with a flaming comb-over. There's really nothing to recommend this series to fans of Ghost Rider or Garth Ennis, so odds are I'm bailing on this series after this issue. - Sleazy G

INCREDIBLE HULK #88

This here is the beginning of the arc that supposedly leads into the major Hulk storyline "Planet Hulk" next year. The issue itself isn't really anything exciting in itself, it's more of the typical fanfare, but it's solidly written by one Daniel Way, and I think that's the point. Marvel has lately been making it's way around its talent pool trying to get some more attention to its "up and comers" and Mr. Way is definitely one of them. The story is the usual "Bruce Banner isolates himself and finds some peace, but then the bad people make their way back into his life and makes him angry"... and we all know what happens when he gets angry. Though this time his getting angry results in a little twist as it's the start of his coming into contact with Nick Fury, and we all know that when you find yourself face to face (well, kinda) with Nick Fury, it's because he needs you for something. So yea, solid issue, nothing major but leading into bigger things, and Keu Cha's pencils look great, though this is pretty heavily inked and colored (which makes for a bit of confusion on more than one occasion). Next issue should give us the "lowdown" hopefully, and give us an idea just what "Planet Hulk" means. - Humphrey

THE BOOK OF LOST SOULS #2 - Y’know, with fond memories of BABYLON 5’s groundbreaking days and JMS’s better comics (MIDNIGHT NATION, SUPREME POWER), it’s easy to forget that sometimes…c’mon, we can say it…his writing sucks. Here I was, kind of looking forward to BOOK OF LOST SOULS based on its shadowy set-up issue, and along comes its first real story…about an abused wife who escapes into a fantasy land where she’s a princess and her hubby’s an evil dragon. JMS, are you f**ckin’ kiddin’ me?! Our mystery lead approaches her in her dreams, helps her to move on, and well…it’s all about as deep as the video for Aerosmith’s “Janie’s Got A Gun.” Only thing that keeps this just-launched series from spiraling straight to its doom is the solid moment-to-moment writing the rears its head occasionally and Colleen Doran’s excellent art. Still, it looks like the good vibes I got from the first issue might well have been false positive. - Dave

100 BULLETS #66

Less than three years left for this book and it shows as you can feel the pace quickening as it starts to make a run towards its conclusion. The past ten issues or so of this book have seen a lot of big changes as major players are rapidly taking ye olde dirt nap, and lower tier guys are now taking the spotlight. And this issue is no exception. We get to see Lono finally taking on his new job filling in for poor Shepherd as whatever kind of consigliere role he has with the Trust, and another big member of one of the Houses finds themselves on the receiving end of some Minuteman justice. Plus we get another piece of the puzzle of that little night when the Minutemen "disbanded" around the little human bonfire they set when everything first hit the proverbial fan. All in all, this is just another exercise in "How to write unbelievably good comics" by Azzarello and Risso. If you haven't got on the ride by now (even if just in trade) then I really do feel for you. - Humphrey

FANTASTIC FOUR – 40th ANNIVERSARY WEDDING SPECIAL

Ah, now this is how you do a tribute! Yes, believe it or not, Reed and Sue have been married for 40 years as of this month, miraculously dodging the modernist threats of divorce, murder, rape, and all that other dee-lightful stuff that assails happy couples in superhero comics. As celebration, writer/inker Karl Kesel has penned a story genuinely worthy of Marvel’s premiere couple. Of course, the couple’s only been married a decade or so in “Marvel Time,” but Kesel’s concocted a way to actually bring up the 40th anniversary in continuity, and it’s all got to do with some very clever time traveling. The gist: the modern-day Reed and Sue are summoned mysteriously to a meeting in which they encounter…past and future incarnations of themselves! The conversations that ensue are strictly for the longtime fans, but what else would you expect from an anniversary of this sort? I enjoyed every moment, and all told, it’s Marvel’s most heartfelt comic since the final issue of SPIDER-MAN/HUMAN TORCH. A wholly worthy tribute.

The special also comes with a reprint of the original wedding issue from the ‘60s, which is always a hoot. My favorite part’s when a S.H.I.EL.D. agent karate chops a guest right before he shakes hands with The Thing. Explains Nick Fury: “S.H.I.E.L.D.’s hidden brain-wave camera took this picture of that guy’s head! See these two mental patterns? It means another mind was controlling him!” The Thing reacts: “Well, whaddaya know?!!” - Dave