Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Legacy


Legacy: A look at introspection

This week's comics are all slightly about introspection and growth. I only bought two for myself, and three for a friend, and we'll go into that below.

X-men Legacy 208

This is a new-ish book. New meaning it sprang from the adjectiveless X-men book and became Legacy. Because that is what it is. A legacy book.

It's the story of professor Xavier after he's been shot in the head and died.

And yet the comic is about him. His fight to survive and the turmoil going on inside his brain. A group of former villains lead by the second oldest mutant in history trying to save him as his X-men have no idea his body has disappeared.

Seem strange? Seem like a soap opera?

It is and it's amazing. I think Mike Carey's X-Men book should be The Amazing X-Men. This book never disappoints. He has wild ideas that are always followed up on. He has amazing artists backing him (in this issue, my favorite comic artist of all-time John Romita Jr. with back-ups by Scot Eaton) and the book looks amazing. The story, about the struggle of a man whose mind is his ultimate weapon and has been lost, is a tragedy.

It even features a cameo by his oldest friend and most evil foe. What a book!

Mike Carey gets the X-Men. He understands how the team ticks and he understands how to create their world in a way that is rarely seen. This book is truly a legacy.

My next purchase for myself was Kick Ass by Mark Millar and JRJR (him again?). I bought a second copy for that friend I mentioned, and I read both copies. This book is ridiculous. Non-comic readers will enjoy it. It's a normal kid, like you and me, who says to himself one day "I want to be a superhero," makes a costume, and goes out and gets his ass kicked.

Then he gets hit by a hit and run driver and left in the middle of the road to die.

His costume is ridiculous. His attitude is ridiculous. The book has an amazing hook, and when you see the first FUCK! spewed across the page, you know that Marvel put the book out, but it's nothing like Marvel Comics. This is the future.

Did I get swept up in the hype surrounding this book? I think I did. Check it out. Fuck Crime! Buy Kick Ass!

Finally:

I purchased Thor 6 and New Warriors 9 for the same friend. Not much to mention on these two books. Not much went on in New Warriors (and it never does, which is why I stopped spending money on it for myself) and Thor has a lot of ideas but minimal payoff. The book is about Thor and the rest of the Asgardian gods, reborn in the heartland of America, in Oklahoma to be exact. Cool premise, right?

Well the book has been late twice. I give no respect to late books. I know the artists have a lot of pressure to make their books better than anyone else's, but as I noted previously, JRJR had two books come out this week, and the dude has been in comics for 30 years (I think).

And his artwork blows most other artists away.

I've recently decided that books that stay on time deserve my money. Books that take the time to come out, regardless of artist, make me happier than books that take 2-6 months per issue (Joss Whedon is no big pull as his books never come out, same with Ed McGuinness, Joe Madureira, Jim Lee, the list goes on and on).

It's your JOB!

YOUR JOB!

To pencil a 22-page comic monthly and on-time. And yet, month after month passes between issue with no new comics.

It's mind-boggling. If it was my daily job and I didn't finish my work in a month's time, what would they do? I'd get fired.

And that's what needs to start happening with The Kubert Bros. and everybody else that can't stick to a damn deadline.

Thor could have been a great book. Great premise. Great idea. Lots of good ideas each issue. But the fact that it can't come out like it's supposed to just bothers me.

And it leads to introspection: yet again, I'm looking inside. I want to be a prizewinner. I want to be a comic writer. I want to be more than a middle manager or whatever at an insurance company. I want to move to bigger things. Movies and comics and TV and the like. I want to put my money where my mouth is.

So I wait.

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