Well hello there, friends! No fun banter this week, I’m afraid. We’re just too tired and not feeling great for that. However, we still loved a lot of comics last week and can’t wait to talk about them. Hooray!
RETURN TO MONSTER ISLAND
Sometimes, the world breaks our heart. I’ve never really liked Idie, the young mutant convinced that she and her fellows really are the sinful creatures a lot of the world thinks they are. It’s frustrating to see someone think like that, and my response to it has generally been to pass the buck for that discomfort onto Idie herself and not the rest of the world that’s made her come to that conclusion. It’s not exactly a pretty reaction, but it’s the one I had. When surrounded by so many awesome, inspiring mutants, how could someone still hate themselves for being one? Then X-Men: Schism happened, and Idie found herself in the middle of a fight she should have never been anywhere near, asked by Cyclops to do something he never should have asked her to do. Poor Idie. I’m so sorry, child.
While Schism #3 was concerned with the action itself - and surprised me with how it’s setting up Cyclops’ actions with Idie as being what causes the trouble between him and Wolverine - it was Generation Hope #10 that was focused on Idie herself. The issue shocked me in how much it made my heart break for her, how much it drove home the fact that Idie isn’t an idiot. In fact, she’s possibly the most perceptive of all of them, she just happens to come to a completely different reaction than everyone else to certain situations. But when push comes to shove, she’s a hero. Even if she doesn’t see it that way, she’s a hero; the final page and the last thing she says in the issue drive it home, even as it makes me profoundly sad. She doesn’t annoy me anymore. She just makes me wish she could have a better future than she sees for herself.
For breaking my heart and for setting it up since the very beginning of the series, I give Kieron Gillen and artist Tim Seeley (stepping in for Salvador Espin) the Reverse Kiki Dee Award for Sadness. (J)
SWEET LULLABY
The first issue of ARSENIC LULLABY I read featured a page where people were catching sooty snowflakes on their tongue. While the exact punch line is lost to me (and residing inside a book that’s over 100 km away from me) I can tell you that it involved the holocaust somehow, and that I remember laughing at the joke. And then feeling terrible, because I just laughed at a pretty harsh holocaust joke. Such is the pain and the beauty of ARSENIC LULLABY.
This week saw the release of the ARSENIC LULLABY DEVIL’S DECADE omnibus, which collects the comics from the title’s first 10 years of publication. While the early work is fairly rough and, uh… somewhat tamer than the later work I read, it’s still a stunning piece of work unto itself. In the course of the book, you’ll find yourself chuckling at so many terrible things, that you might very well end the experience by hanging yourself to deal with the guilt. But it’s like Marc Maron says: this has to be funny. Because it’s true, there’s a lot of laughs to be had at the expense of some pretty serious targets in this book, like suicide, abortions and the like… but in life, we’re given two choices. We can take the shit and drown in it, or was can take the shit and laugh at it. Either way, you’re probably going to die, but at least with the second way, you’ll have a lot more fun.
No, I will not apologize. I will, however, give it the Haters to the Left Award.(B)
Well, Marvel has done it again. They took a hero that I’ve never given a lick about, put him in a new series with a new direction and a talented team behind him, and dammit if I’m not just loving the hell out of Daredevil right now. Don’t they care about my wallet?
Oh, right. Just not in that way.
I think a big part of it is the tone. Matt Murdock has always seemed like a “dark” character to me - the last couple of years, culminating in Shadowland, definitely didn’t change my impressions about that and neither did Evanescence - and while I’m often down for that, I just haven’t been with Daredevil. This new series, however, has Matt consciously trying to take a positive outlook on life and actually have a bit of fun, and as it turns out, a Daredevil who cracks a smile every now and then (and looks as good as Paolo Rivera draws him) was almost all I needed.
As great as the first issue of this new series was, the second was even better. Daredevil #2 not only conveys the poetry of a Daredevil/Captain America skirmish, but also Matt’s goodness. He doesn’t let the whole “being fired by his client” thing from stopping him from helping said client and the delicate way he handles a legal colleague’s situation made me smile. Finally, I feel like I can root for him, which made the end of the issue - and the creepy monster-y things that subdue him - all the more worrying. Listen, I know he’ll be alright. But damn, if I didn’t have a second or two of doubt about that nonetheless.
Artist Paolo Rivera needs to be singled out for some attention, because as good as Mark Waid‘s script is, it wouldn’t have half the effect that it does without Rivera‘s unbelievably gorgeous pencils. The craft and energy he conveys is incredible, and the fact that the series is a treasure to look at is definitely one of the things that got me to give it a chance. Not only does Rivera‘s slightly retro style give the book a classic feel, but the way he represents the way Matt sees the world through his radar sense is at one both unique and iconic. So yeah, I’m sucked in now. Dammit, Marvel.
This is Comics! The Blog. We now commence our broadcast week.
