Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
Chris Allen is one of the major contributors for Gray Haven Magazine.com, and he’s got his own column, separate from the reviews, where he talks about all aspects of the comics industry. Here, then, is his most recent BREAKDOWNS column for you to enjoy:
Breakdowns #62 – Like Spinning Plates
Since my 59th Breakdowns, wherein Brian Michael Bendis answered three questions for me, I thought I might do it as a recurring feature. I like lengthy interviews when I have time, but I just don't have that kind of time very often. So, rather than the half-assed puff pieces I see at a lot of sites, I thought I would deliver a quick burst--just good stuff, sans plugs and asskissing--of some of the talented creators I admire. So here's one of 'em, Ed Brubaker, current writer of DC's Catwoman and Batman, soon to switch the latter over to Detective. Past writer of A Complete Lowlife and Scene of the Crime, among others:
Three Questions With Ed Brubaker
CA: From Lowlife to Deadenders to your first Batman story, and now with Catwoman, a recurring theme in your work is a character torn between old, bad habits and bad crowds, and the straight and narrow? Are you conscious of this?
EB: Not until now. I guess I'm just always drawn to the gray areas of life. I like stories about people with conflicting emotions and motivations. That's just more interesting than - this person good, this person bad. Watch them fight now.
CA: Though you bring a distinctive voice to your work, a significant portion of it (the work) deals with archetypes like the private eye (Slam Bradley, Scene of the Crime) and you recently did credible Golden and Silver Age pastiches in Batman #600. Are there some other archetypal characters you're itching to take a stab at?
EB: Honestly, I would love to write some romance comics. I have a huge fondness for 60s and late 50s era romance work, mostly by Kirby and John Romita. I'm also a huge fan of Uncle Scrooge and Little Lulu, and I'd love to do some kids comics like that. In general, I try to be as versatile as possible in my writing because it's one of the only ways to stay interested in your own work.
CA: Do you ever think you might return to the more overtly personal material like Lowlife, and do you think it would be more difficult now that you're more comfortable and successful?
EB: I think it would probably be less difficult, since more people are likely to be interested in different things I do now, but drawing comics for me was always a very long and exhausting process, and I haven't done any for years now. There are definitely stories I want to tell that have very limited commercial appeal, probably, and I may either draw these myself someday, or get someone else whose style I appreciate to draw them instead. It's hard to say. A lot of my creative urges are satisfied with my DC work and the screenwriting I've been doing, so who knows?
My thanks to Ed, and best wishes on The Fall, for which I believe he has just completed the script.
Batman #603 by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. DC Comics. $2.25.
When Greg Rucka leaves Detective, few will lose sleep with the book in the capable hands of Brubaker. What we’ll worry about instead is just who will fill Brubaker’s shoes on Batman? This is another ace effort, with the always welcome guest art of Sean Phillips, probably the best “fill-in” artist working. His Batman is smooth and coiled and simmering as he should be. But the real attraction here is the sign that yes, Bruce Wayne might be on his way back. I won’t spoil it further, as it’s done so well, but this is an exceedingly well-crafted issue, with an important (hitherto unseen) figure from young Bruce’s past returning to serve as a catalyst for the beginning of the healing of his fractured psyche. Of course, Batman’s not that reflective a guy, so all this important mental repair will really be going on as a byproduct of reopening the case of his parents’ murder, as well as the murder of which Bruce Wayne is accused. Top form here from all talents concerned.
Lost Girl by Nabiel Kanan. NBM Publishing. $9.95
Kanan came to my attention a couple months ago, with the recent The Birthday Riots, an excellent, mature graphic novel about the compromises one faces in adulthood. This is the previous work, a work just as heavy on mood and lots of measured reaction shots, but not as ambitious in scope. And that just means he’s growing, anyway.
Beth is not literally the lost girl here, as there’s another teenaged girl missing from the vacation site where she’s come with her parents, but she’s as lost as any fifteen-year-old on the cusp of womanhood, influenced for better and worse by those around her. On the one hand, there’s Caitlin, who despite dabbling in pot appears to have a good, if sardonic, head on her shoulders. And on the other hand we have the girl without a name, a wanton, reckless type given to outdoor sex and breaking and entering. She represents a life without rules, pretty attractive for a teen girl still at the mercy of her parents and their vacation plans. Beth is, figuratively, the lost girl, looking for what type of woman she’s going to become.
The book is essentially a search for direction and personality. Beth recognizes a life she has, like Caitlin’s, and the dangerous, thrill-seeking life of the other girl that Beth could have if she wanted. As in The Birthday Riots, Kanan skillfully mixes his story of personal moral struggle with clever dialogue (Caitlin is particularly funny), undeniable eroticism, and a wealth of compassion.
X-Force #128 by Peter Milligan and Mike Allred. Marvel Comics. $2.25
Someone dies, and Milligan sure keeps you glued to your seat guessing until almost the last page. From the start of this run, he’s been turning team book conventions on their ear and inside out with humor, social commentary, and an increasing amount of not-so-tongue-in-cheek pathos. I can’t name a character who hasn’t grown at least a little here, and the stories are always unpredictable. Add Allred’s advancing mastery of his craft and the technical tricks to make it look even better, and this continues to be one of the best superhero books around, the quality gaining in inverse relation to the decrease in fan “heat”.
“If the failure is great/Then it tends to fascinate”
- “Episode of Blonde,” Elvis Costello, When I Was Cruel.
The Name of the Game by Will Eisner. DC Comics. $29.95
The indefatigable Eisner has been a fairly constant presence in the past few years, with high-quality reprints of his Spirit stories and graphic novels from DC, and some original works for DC and Dark Horse. The Name of the Game is one of his longest graphic novels, and so it would be easy to assume it’s one of his most ambitious. Unfortunately, its aims are either as simple as they appear to be, or its loftier goals are so out of reach as to be invisible.
A sort of simplification of the ethnic generational sagas made popular in the 70s and 80s, this is the story of The Arnheims, a once-proud family cursed by the death of the honorable patriarch Moses and their single-minded pursuit of social status maintenance. The favored son, Conrad, is spoiled rotten and not really suited for business. A reader might expect that the forgotten, shy one, Alex, would be the nice kid, the ironic savior they turn their back on. But no, Eisner doesn’t really know what to do with Alex, so he makes him a stumbling, pathetic drunk early on, then shuffles him out of most of the book, returning only for an unsuccessful cameo wherein he’s supposed to represent the one able to see the corruption of the family. This is the embezzling drunk talking.
Conrad fakes and schemes his way through the job and hires others to keep the family corset business going until he sells it. You see, corsets aren’t that classy, so he uses his family connections to start up a brokerage. Jewish society in the early 20th century hews to powerful, respected families like The Arnheims, the Guggenheims, Bloomingdales, etc. The business is successful, though soon enough the reason for it, Roland Sydney, goes out on his own. The Olde New York settings and the struggle to keep the family name and fortune are suspenseful pretty much throughout. Eisner’s familiar plotting is nonetheless brisk and told with crude gusto. His sepia-toned artwork is as rich as ever, his famous feathering technique and silhouettes adding gravity to and believability to even some of the hammier bits of body language and flattest lines of dialogue. Crude gusto, as I said earlier.
What really disappoints here is that as readable and fine-looking a story it is, about halfway through, one realizes there’s no symphony, just one jarring major chord being hammered over and over. That is, putting social status ahead of love of spouse, child or self will lead to unhappiness and ruin. Repeat. Repeat. Conrad and his Arnheim name is the gearworks that grinds up the other characters, but they’re not good characters, anyway. They’re just as shallow and soulless; the couple who aren’t are crushed by the others. It’s true, Eisner gets his point across, but he didn’t need 168 pages to do it. He could’ve used 8 and spent the other 160 pages on deeper and more rewarding examinations of humanity.
Queen and Country #9 by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernandez. Oni Press. $2.95
A new story revs up with Tara getting a tip from an informant about an unnamed terrorist group planning to kill tens of thousands in coming weeks with a biochemical weapon. She and the other Minders just have to figure out where it’s going to be released and when, and stop it. Good suspense in this one, though the revelation of the target site isn’t so surprising, considering there aren’t THAT many places to kill such a large group at one time. And I’m sticking with it but am not that excited by Fernandez’ style as yet, which seems a little too T&A for Tara. On the plus side, it’s nice to see a character you care about finding a bit of romance (I’m an old softie).
Goku vol. 1 by Buichi Terasawa. ComicsOne. $11.95
This is the first of a three volume (so far?) series, each of which contains about half a dozen action-packed tales of the macho private eye Goku, who receives a cybernetic right eye that can tap into any computer in the world. Being able to x-ray people in front of you, open any security system, and track people via satellite really helps a detective do his job, you know? He also speaks sarcastically and carries a big stick—another gift from his mysterious techno-benefactor—which can vault him to safety or telescope right through a thug’s torso.
The stories themselves are hyperbolic, fast-paced adventures against suitably empowered adversaries, such as other cyborgs, ghosts, evil scientist/industrialists and drug-crazed divas. The pacing is much faster than most manga I’ve seen, more in line with American superhero comics. And while the panel compositions are conventional, the sexy, detailed style and dynamism remind me quite a bit of Jim Steranko’s old Nick Fury. I do think Fury’s outfit holds up better than Goku’s blazer over bare chest and thin leather tie look, though. This is not thoughtful manga with any sort of subtext; it’s pure adrenaline and sexy girls, and I’m not complaining.
Amazing Spider-Man #41 by J. Michael Straczynski, John Romita, Jr. and Scott Hanna. Marvel Comics. $2.25.
A mildly intriguing child abduction plot is leavened with healthy amounts of witty repartee between Spider-Man and a gruff but kind case worker, fulfilling a role in the book similar to past supporting character Captain Stacy, although without the surrogate father feel. Straczynski continues to offer compelling evidence that there’s no need to sweep Aunt May out of the book, since he’s made her more realistic, charming and interesting than she’s ever been. This is more of a setup issue than anything (setup for the confrontation between Spider-Man and this child abductor, setup for the reunion between Peter and MJ), but it’s good setup.
