Dorkgasm - Graphic Novel Review

The Dresden Files - Storm Front | Comic Book Reviews

MRiedlinger — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:15:39 +0000

From the Top
By
Michael C. Riedlinger
Editor-In-Chief

I am something of a snob when it comes to Harry Dresden. That isn’t to say that I hated the television series, I just wish they would have called something else. Anything else, in fact, other than The Dresden Files. It was with some trepidation, then, that I approached the latest adaptation of the first novel, Storm Front, into a graphic novel from Dabel Brothers. I was prepared for large chunks of story to be missing, but I was also excited to see one of my favorite novels rendered visually. Where I ended up was somewhere squarely between misery and satisfaction.

I know. That seems like such a cop-out. It isn’t though, trust me. There are elements of the comic book that really nail it home and bring the words of Jim Butcher to life. Still, there are some that make me want to pull my hair out. Frankly, I haven’t been this torn since sophomore year when I had to decide which girl to take to prom. Storm Front grabs its audience because Harry Dresden is ultimately an every-man, and we can identify with something very real in him. We don’t need to wade through a metric ton of terminology, and butcher is careful to describe a hero who is more Peter Parker than Wolverine. Somehow, that gets lost in this project.

It isn’t just Harry who seems to be simplified into a bad stereotype, Bob and Murphy are more like caricatures here too. The Harry Dresden of the comics is more of a self-aware badass than he ever has been in the novels, and though the story follows the same plot, point for point, it feels like watching a poorly acted remake of a classic film. This may be more the fault of the medium than any other element. Butcher, after all, is working with the creators on this comic, and so has more creative input than on anything else to date. That said, they are cramming a 322-page novel into the space of a four-issue miniseries. Something’s got to give, and unfortunately, the characters aren’t the only casualty here.

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Image copyright Dabel Brothers Publishing

Adrian Syaf, who’s artwork on another Dabel Brothers book, Take a Chance, has been excellent, seems to have gotten stuck on the idea that these characters are all in Chicago. Everyone has wide shoulders and big noses for some reason, as though they were the cast of extras from a hitherto forgotten Humphrey Bogart movie. Every character has a perpetual scowl, and this might be fine for a typical noir setting, but what many Dresden fans love about the characters, I think, is that they aren’t noir stereotypes. The fact is, Butcher’s characters all love life to the fullest, and the world around them is what’s dark, while they stand as beacons of happiness and hope. This is why Dresden always seems to have a witty retort or pithy comeback. It’s hard to sell those to an audience when it is delivered with a dour express of gloom every single time.

Beyond that, however, I felt that the book was a good representation of what Jim Butcher’s books have to offer. It is like an appetizer of sorts, where your appetite will be whetted, but you can’t be expected to sustain on this alone. I would offer this book up to anyone hesitant to read a new series, as it lays a lot of the groundwork of the series. It has its moments, but that seems to be because they exist in the novel first and foremost, and longtime fans of the series will get little bang for their buck. Pick it up if you’re a collector or a completist, but if you’re strictly a fan of the books and couldn’t abide by the Sci-Fi Channel series, save your dough for the next novel.

Final Verdict (out of 5):

The Warriors | Comic Book Review

MRiedlinger — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 08:12:07 +0000

Can You Dig It?

Michael C. Riedlinger

Editor-In-Chief

Film adaptations usually go one of two ways. Either they stick solely to the source material, recreating it frame by frame, or they veer off in their own direction so horribly, they may as well change the title. So then, what happens when you take a classic Greek story, turn it into a novel, which then gets turned into a beloved cult classic that has almost as many versions as main characters, and then try to turn that into a comic book? You get the skillfully represented The Warriors from Dabel Brothers Publishing.

Anyone not familiar with the film needs to stop reading right now and go pick up the disk at a store and watch it. Walter Hill’s version of the story varied widely from the novel it was based on, but actually stuck closer to the story of Anabasis, from Ancient Greece, of a group of soldiers trying to make it home through enemy territory. David Atchison’s version here does a great job of capturing the feel of the opening credits from Hill’s director’s cut. The Grecian origins of the story aren’t hidden, and we still get the sense that something unprecedented is about to go down. The meeting with Cyrus in the park is ridiculous if you stop to think about it, and this book captures the tension the movie uses exceptionally well. Before you know it, Cyrus has been shot and Cleon is getting a beat down. Here’s where the comic really has an advantage over the film. While the movie rushes us along and allows us to get caught up in the tumult that ensues, this version slows things down and in the process, there is a raw brutality that comes across that was missing from the film.

This is executed deftly by the art of Chris DiBari. If the pages resonate due to Atchison’s raw pacing, then DiBari’s art makes them feel like part of an ancient text from a lost civilization. The aesthetic similarity to Mayan sacrificial paintings makes the meeting with Cyrus feel deadly, even before Luther pulls the trigger. The imagery is twice as deadly as that found in any modern zombie comic, and feels just as hopelessly apocalyptic. Overall, DiBari manages to take the iconic images that once seemed to impact us more subconsciously, and renders them with a newfound sinister clarity. The streets of New York haven’t looked this dark and foreboding in more than thirty years.

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Image copyright Dabel Brothers Publishing

Adaptations are never easy on anyone. There’s a certain amount of trauma for the creators and the audience alike, trying to decide what parts of a beloved piece can be excised and what must be added to in order to make something relevant. The team Dabel Brothers have assigned to this book seem to have the single most important quality required in order to pull this off successfully. Sam Raimi had it on Spiderman, Peter Jackson had it on Lord of the Rings, and Atchison and DiBari have it here: a noticeable reverence and respect for the source material. Their translation is as solid a work as Walter Hill’s film, and stands on its own better than many of the recent film adaptations from other companies.

That said, there’s still one element of this adaptation that has me slightly on edge, and I’m not certain that everyone will see it as a negative. The images all seem crisp and clean. The colors are vibrant, the shadows dark and rich. Gone from the film is a certain level of graininess that always made it feel like there was something dirty under the surface of every shot, and no one’s words get lost in the madness that erupts at every turn. This effect was due, in large part, to the film stock in use at the time and some directors, like David Fincher, have used various techniques to readd that grainy quality to their works. Gone are the gray shadows that seem to poison the whitest of whites in darkly lit films from this era, and we seem to see everything in The Warriors in crystal clear hi-def.

Still, this doesn’t detract too much from the book, and it is as solid as it gets. Word now is that Dabel Bros. has plans for a spinoff series once this adaptation runs its course, and I think that long-time fans of the film and newcomers alike will enjoy this revisiting of a cult classic. There are already enough different versions of the film (check the “alternate versions” tab for it on IMDB) that this book falls right into place in both spirit and tone with its predecessors. Even in comic book form, The Warriors still has the power to rock your face off.

Final Verdict (out of 5):

Take a Chance | Graphic Novel Reviews (ongoing series)

MRiedlinger — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 16:50:05 +0000

People Power
By
Michael C. Riedlinger
Editor-In-Chief
Typically, I steer clear of super-hero comics. I don’t trust them because Deus Ex Machina comes into play way too often. Avoiding that is what made Rising Stars great a few years ago, and it’s one of the reasons I still re-read Watchmen at least once a year. Then along comes Take a Chance from Dabel Brother’s Publishing.

C. E. Murphy’s title character is a hero, but she’s far from super. In fact, it was refreshing to see a comic book hero take the same stance as me on the super-powered type of characters. They’re all fine and good if you like that sort of thing, but it comes easy to them, so what’s to respect? Chance is a normal woman living in a post-apocalyptic world where a North Korean super soldier experiment has given some people powers and wiped out others. By day, she works for the mayor’s office, and by night, she runs around as a masked vigilante. Murphy’s approach to the non-powered vigilante isn’t the Batman cliché either. This woman isn’t rich, and doesn’t like to just rush in and try to bust skulls. Quite often in the pages of Chance, we’ll see the hero on a stake out collecting evidence for the police. She isn’t looking to replace the justice system; she’s looking to augment it.

Of course, the character isn’t without her own tortured, vigilante-creating past. Frankie Kemp (Chance’s real name) watched her son get shot by a careless crook several years before the start of the series. Afterward, her marriage fell apart, she finished law school, and she started taking kung fu classes. In fact, Frankie is the model of an independent, empowered woman. She reminds me a lot of Anita Blake without the vampires, and she kicks just as much ass. Through the series so far, she puts her son’s killer back in jail after he escapes with new found super powers, and she’s gotten involved in a major drug investigation. Despite the occasional super character, the series has a lot of the tone of The Wire to it. What the Dabel Brothers have here is a series that is as innovating and refreshing as any title from Vertigo or Wildstorm in the last five years.

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Image copyright Dabel Brothers Publishing

Artistically, Adrian Syaf has excellent storytelling skills. His work reminds me of Whilce Portacio, and his attention to detail and emotion really compliment C.E. Murphy’s story. In Syaf’s hands, Chance manages to be attractive and strong without taking on the aspects of your typical Marvel pin-up hero. Instead of focusing on skin and breasts, the artist shows us her eyes, or when appropriate, her boot. His sense of action is kinetic, but it doesn’t get distracting, striking a balance with the words on the page.

Probably my favorite aspect of this book is how grounded in reality it is. Frankie is likeable, but not without her flaws, yet they never threaten to become clichés. C.E. Murphy covers a lot of ground with a character who is just an otherwise normal woman who wants to make a difference. When Superman and Captain America replaced the Lone Ranger, comic writers got lazy in a sense. The only people without powers had to have money or a government agency behind them, and Chance has neither. Frankie maintains her day job, runs into real problems with the police (who haven’t been infantilized, thank goodness), and has a social life to think of. She isn’t perfect, gets her ass kicked, and as a hero, fights for all the right reasons, not just the typical heroic tropes comics usually feed us about “truth and justice”. Finally, her sense of humor is distinctly normal. C.E. Murphy doesn’t have to cover bad writing with witty repartee, so Chance’s jokes have as much tendency to be humorous and appropriate as yours or mine. What remains to be seen are her limitations. How long can a person keep up a one-woman war on crime before she falls into a downward spiral of exhaustion, frustration, and a relaxing moral code? I’m not sure where Murphy is going to take Take a Chance in the end, but it’ll be worth seeing.

Final Verdict (out of 5):

DMZ Vol. 6: Blood in the Game | Graphic Novel Review

MRiedlinger — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 10:04:38 +0000

Vote and Die
By
Michael C. Riedlinger
Editor-In-Chief

Brian Wood’s DMZ has been running for three years now, and is still one of the most interesting critiques of American involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan to date. The latest installment, DMZ Vol. 6: Blood in the Game, examines provincial elections held overseas through a lens of hip-hop panache and old-fashioned American dystopianism.

For those unfamiliar with DMZ, the story is set in New York City, on Manhattan Island in the near future. After years of political disaster, America has erupted in a second Civil War and the opposing sides have come to a stalemate in New York. Manhattan has been declared a demilitarized zone, and all but the most poor have been evacuated. Enter Matty Roth, a journalism intern who finds himself trapped in the DMZ and decides to report on the plight of the people living there. When we look at contemporary places like Fallujah or Kandahar, we have no idea how the people there live or what their feelings are concerning American occupation. DMZ allows us to peek at the other side of the coin, and Blood in the Game really brings that idea home.

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This volume starts with the warring parties attempting to assert some sort of order in the virtually lawless DMZ. Both have their own candidates for the new provisional government, but the people living in Manhattan have the final say come Election Day. In steps Parco Delgado, life long citizen of the island and leader of what he calls “The Delgado Nation”. Consisting of former gang bangers and thugs, Delgado’s crew are street-hardened, but not hard-hearted. It isn’t long before Matty’s employers start to question his impartiality, and it doesn’t get easier when his mother, a political consultant, flies in to help put Delgado on top of the competition. Though it turns into politics as usual after a sniper tries to take out the home-turf candidate, Delgado’s message is full of the kind populist rhetoric that we fear coming from the Middle East. That message is tempered, however, with tolerance, and in one small move, Wood shows us exactly the kind of leader we need to find among those governments America currently hand-holds.

Parco Delgado isn’t an impossibility, no more than journalists with a keen sense of morality like Matty Roth are totally imaginary. Brian Wood seems to be positing that, instead of finding a tool that suits our needs or allowing our enemies to do the same, we really ought to look to the people of opposing nations to present leadership for themselves. Only when a person has lived in the midst of adversity can they both empathize with those who also have, and encourage them to heal constructively. Wood also continues to develop his main character in this volume, and Roth realizes what many readers already seem to know. The cub reporter is not an outsider any longer. Between exposing corrupt government contractors like Trustwell (Wood’s stand-in for Halliburton), and seeing both sides of the war effort, Matty, and the readers, can’t afford to sit by impartially. Wood wants us to take sides, both on his work and in real life, and we can see that sitting idly by is inexcusable if we really want a happy and peaceful resolution. Accessible to readers both new and old, Blood in the Game should appeal to anyone with even the most remotely curious political mind.

Final Verdict (out of 5):

Batman R.I.P. | Graphic Novel Review

MRiedlinger — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 09:14:43 +0000

Damaged Goods
By
Michael C. Riedlinger
Editor-In-Chief

Grant Morrison is perhaps one of the most interesting writers to take on the Batman mythos in the modern era since Frank Miller used the Caped Crusader to prove graphic novels were more than just a child’s medium in The Dark Knight Returns. This latest effort, Batman: R.I.P., delves into the realm of psychology to explore what makes a person who they are. More importantly, Morrison tells an intriguing story while doing it, and we reap the benefits.

R.I.P. collects eight issues of DC Comics Batman title into one hardcover volume. Though originally presented as a crossover event wherein readers would have to purchase several titles to get the full story, the installments by Morrison cover the main body of the work and present a coherent tale on their own. In this case, it is a new criminal organization calling itself The Black Glove, which sets out to destroy Batman from the inside out. The leader of this group, who goes by Dr. Hurt, implants a post-hypnotic suggestion in Batman that, when activated, essentially causes amnesia. If Batman is relived of the anger and memories that his fueled his revenge-seeking behaviors against crime, Hurt hypothesizes, there’s a good chance that the man behind the mask will succumb to the basest of human vices as a coping mechanism. It begs us to ask ourselves if we would still be who we are if we suddenly forgot all of the pain in our lives. This is a gamble, and the villain knows it, so he plans to also destroy everything Bruce Wayne holds dear in Batman’s absence.

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What Dr. Hurt and The Black Glove do not count on, however, is Bruce Wayne’s dabbling with Eastern mysticism. Over the years, Batman writers have escalated Bruce Wayne’s training to include superior mental faculties to match his physical abilities. Grant Morrison is in his element here, and plays with the idea of thögal as a preventative measure for just such an occurrence. Thögal is a meditative state that he describes as a rehearsal for death while living, and Morrison equates one’s loss of a lifetime worth of memories to a kind of personality death. Bruce Wayne uses this training to activate “The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh”, a sort of split personality that is solely powered by Wayne’s rage and search for vengeance. Needless to say, this leads Dr. Hurt to discover that he is way out of his league. Hurt’s plans to have the Joker kill Dick Grayson blow up in his face, and before the end, all of Arkham seems to be coming down around him and the rest of the villains.

Thögal, by the way, is a legitimate Buddhist practice, and that alone gives us reason to question everything Grant Morrison and Tony Daniel put on the page. Dr. Hurt might be the Devil, Bat-Mite could really be just part of Bruce Wayne’s imagination, and its anyone’s guess (until the ending at least) what Zur-En-Arrh means. Grant Morrison forces us to put our critical skills to the test, and lazy readers will be totally lost by this book. That said, there isn’t exactly a profound point to this Batman story, and it certainly isn't Arkham Asylum. Yes, it forces the reader to ask questions that a normal story in this series might not, but in the end, Batman is Batman, the Joker is the Joker, and the heroes win the day. Batman doesn’t even die in this volume (for that one needs to read Final Crisis, also by Morrison), and some readers may feel let down by that in a sense. Overall, this is the kind of work that may appeal to long-time fans and heavy readers, but the casual connoisseur won’t get much out of this book.

Final Verdict (out of 5):

52 Vol. 2

MRiedlinger — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 16:52:52 +0000

52 Vol. 2 By Michael C. Riedlinger I am a Marvel kid, born and raised. I cut my teeth on the Fantastic Four and X-Factor back in the 80s and 90s and I bought every variant cover without fail all the way up until "X-Tinction Agenda" turned me off to mutants. It was also about that time when I started to ask for more from comics. I wanted well-written stories to accompany the pretty pictures. I wanted, in essence, something more mature. In all that time, the only DC books I ever bought were the occasional Batman run and, of course, the "Death of Superman" issue (it was polybagged, I had to!). Fast forward a decade and I've read plenty of DC titles, but I still do not have the same pedigree of knowledge I possess when it comes to mutants or spider-villains. That being the case, when DC began releasing its "Crisis" books about two years ago, I was a little intimidated. They killed off fiery-headed guy, and I didn't even flinch because I only had a vague idea of who he was. The story entertained me enough because I had read the encyclopedic Crisis on Infinite Earths trade, but when 52 came up, I balked. First off, it was a weekly book, who ever heard of that? Then there was the fact that none of DC's big names were in it at all. I stayed away, and now that the second trade for the series is out, I wish I hadn't. I based my entire decision to pick up the trades on the writing roster. Geoff Jones, Mark Waid, Greg Rucka, and Grant Morrison are all writers who's work I've enjoyed on other titles. That isn't to say that the art wasn't up to snuff, it certainly is, but in my old age (crap, I'm thirty next year!) what I really want is a well-written story. 52 Vol. 2 does not disappoint! My ignorance of DC cannon, it turns out, actually never hindered my ability to follow the plot. In this case, the trade follows several story arcs. The taming of Black Adam, the search for self for Detective Montoya, the disappearance of the worlds' mad scientists, the journey home by lost heroes, and the social ramifications of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman going missing for a year. These major plot points are written with an air of attention that acknowledges that readers like myself might not be familiar with The Metal Men, Steel, or even the Marvel Family. In a sense, that is part of the point of 52, to familiarize not only the denizens of the DC Universe with heroes outside the legendary, but also readers who, through no fault of our own, were simply never exposed to these characters. The writers also do an excellent job of digging up heroes and villains, familiar to the mainstream audience, who haven't been heard from in a while. Lobo, badass-alien-biker sensation of the 1990s, crops up his ugly head, and the writers manage to make Dr. Magnus into the classic science hero of the 1950s instead of the modern stereotype of the über-geek. Several stories running at once and they all make for engaging reading. Not once does the foreshadowing seem overbearing nor does the character development feel like handholding. Invariably, by the end, all I could ask for was more! 52 Vol. 3 cannot come too soon. The best feature of this collection, however, is not in the colored pages or dynamic word bubbles. Between each chapter is a look behind the scenes. Chronicling the steps that go into creating such an ambitious work, the writers, artists and editors each take a look back at what they have committed to print and reflect on what they could have done better, and what the got right. Unpretentious and honest, these pages include page layouts, story breakdowns, script excerpts, and unused artwork. Remember, this story originally unfolded as a weekly series, one that never shipped late or missed a deadline. The sheer amount of work present represents what would normally take years to complete. Knowing how they worked together not only grants us a different kind of appreciation for their accomplishment, it also gives us a look at how comic books are born. Whether you are new to the DC Universe, or you recognize Ambush Bug at a glance, this book is worth the money. The features alone are a boon to anyone looking to break into comics, whether as an artist or a writer. Perhaps the only element missing from this collection is a comment or two from writer Grant Morrison. Waid, Rucka, and Johns more than make up for it and commentary from Phil Jimenez, Keith Giffen, and Dan Didio add plenty of flavor. Finally, the added bonus of the original cover art for each issue make owning this book undeniable. Pages: 303 List Price: $19.99 (U.S.) Content: A Features: A+ Valuation: Own it