The Waking: A Tale of Two Mindsets

I was at Boston Comicon a few weeks ago and I picked up a copy of "The Waking" because I had read the first issue before, enjoyed it, and the reviews on the TPB were pretty good touting intelligence, a fresh new twist on the zombie story, a book that will have you on the edge of your seat, etc.  I can see that.  But I can also see this is a book published by Zenescope.  Yeah.  Cover time...

There is a cool concept here, and I'm pretty much going to tell you what it is, so *Spoiler Alert* I guess.  Basically, this little girl, the one on the cover, was killed and the murderer got away with it.  So the dad gets really sad, and starts to hate a lot, so people who were killed come back from the dead to kill their killers.  Apparently murder victims can never be at rest because of the harm done to them, but if they kill their killers, they will be.  But here's the thing, once the zombie kills the person it has come back for, it dies...like for reals.  So daddy doesn't want his little girl to kill the man who murdered her because he doesn't want her to die again.  He figures he'll just bring back everyone who was murdered and one of them will eventually get the guy who killed his daughter, but since she didn't do the killing she won't die herself, and they can be together.

Not a bad idea, I suppose, for a guy who can bring the dead back to life because he's sad, but if you think about it, doesn't that mean his daughter, murdered, will never find peace?  Maybe, but the topic was never addressed.  Other topics were however, but not with much enthusiasm or depth.  The obvious question is whether or not the police detectives, who serve as the protagonists of the story, should try and stop the zombies?  The line of questioning could serve to open the way for some pretty meaningful dialogue on justice, responsibility, the natural order of things, etc., but instead is summed up in about two panels.

Panel 1:  Female cop says, "I don't want to stop them because they're right." (Referring to the zombies...also, I'm paraphrasing.)
Panel 2: Male cop says, "Yeah, but it's our job." (Paraphrasing.)

And then boobs.

"Where did that come from?" you may be asking yourself. But remember, it's Zenescope, so take a great idea and the possibility to really tackle some issues, but imagine that idea was thought up by a fourteen year old boy.  So they let you know that the deep ideas, the good stuff, is there, but then the time and panel space needed to have any kind of meaningful discussion is instead replaced with a detective complaining about too much sex with his nympho wife (because there's plenty of that in this book...complaining, I mean) and shots of his wife naked in the shower...which really progress the story...yup.

There's other stuff too, like how we have four detectives as main characters, three males, one female.  The guys are all in dress shirts, ties, trench coats, typical city detective garb.  Our female detective, on the other hand, wears skin tight jeans and a top that is designed to expose massive amounts of cleavage...you know, the stuff professional women wear to work.  Not to mention that some of the dialogue comes across like it was written by a kid in high school who thinks it's a sign of maturity that he can make sex jokes with girls, while everyone over the age of eighteen lets out a heavy sigh, and everyone in the workplace files sexual harassment claims...

In the end, not to sound like a broken record, but it did come across as if there were two writers; one who thought of a cool idea and wanted to discuss some interesting ideas in an artful way, and the second who works for Zenescope and had to have boobs in a comic...cuz boobs are cool.  So, worth the $12.99 asking price?  Ummmm....I dunno...it's a cool stepping stone to some interesting conversation, but really, if you just read this review...I think you're set.  I will tell you this though, the TPB contains issues #1-4, and is a self contained, full story in it's own right.  The guy at the booth who sold it to me (discounted for the Con) said they're making more and the next TPB issue will be coming out...eventually.  I probably won't be picking that one up.

Dark Rain: A Review

I picked up Dark Rain: A New Orleans Story when I found it on sale at Borders not too long before they closed their doors for good.  I heard awesome things about it, and the book jacket was covered front to back, top to bottom in praises of the work Mat Johnson and Simon Gane put together.  Now I've read the book myself, and the feeling it left me with, when all was said and done, could best be described as, "meh."

Okay, first I want to talk aesthetics.  My copy of the book is gorgeous.  The book itself hardcover with the title of the book and Vertigo pressed into the cover.  The jacket is amazing too.  Nessim Higson and Daymon Gardner did an amazing job with it.  The image of the house in the flood, the map of New Orleans, glossy and textured over the house image, and the image of the man on the back, looking to the heavens as the sun sets (rises?) are all beautiful and eye catching.  The picture on the internet doesn't do it justice, you really need to see it for yourself.

As for the inside of the book.  The artwork is fine.  Simon Gane chose to use a lot of muted blues, greys, and blacks to set the mood of New Orleans just after Katrina.  It's dark. It's stormy.  People are sad, lost and there isn't much hope to go around.  The characters are expressive, and Gane is really good at showing the emotion, the turmoil of the characters involved. 

If I have a problem with the artwork it's that the backgrounds aren't very detailed.  Look passed the characters, the action, and you're going to see blank sheets of blue, black, and grey.  It's fine for the overall look of the book but sometimes I was looking for more.  It may have been done to keep the attention on the characters themselves, but Gane is so good with his expressions and actions I don't think it necessary.  The characters would hold up on there own.  Show me some of New Orleans.  Although, I have to admit, when there were backgrounds, such as a city under water or a couple of bodies floating in the water, they packed a punch.  Maybe that was the whole point; limit the use of detail so that the detail we get hits us harder.  I don't know.  You'd have to ask Gane.

As for the writing, I don't want to give away anything, so I'm not going to really get into the plot, but I have to tell you, when Johnson has a point he wants to get across, he does it with all the subtlety of a nine pound hammer.  It isn't necessarily bad, but I've seen it all before.  Our hero isn't really a bad guy, just a regular guy who made some mistakes.  Really though, he's got a heart of gold.  When he isn't stealing from other people.   The "scary black guys" with backwards hats and backpacks aren't bad guys.  They're the one's handing out food and water.  Like we didn't see that coming four panels away.  And then there are lines like:
"Governments just leaving them to die because they're black.  Most of 'em."
"No.  Because we're poor, black, and never vote Republican."

Not to say there weren't some touching moments.  One scene that got me in particular was of  a mother holding her infant child that had recently passed; knowing it, but trying her best to avoid dealing with it.

At the end of the day I'm not sorry I read the book, but really, if the chance came again, knowing what I know now, would I still buy it.  I'm not sure that I would.  The book has some talking points, I'll give it that, but it doesn't go out of the way to reveal anything we didn't already know, nor does it help itself with statements like the one I mentioned above.  I guess in the end I'll say this, if you can pick it up for $5-$10, it might be worth the time and money.  But for the $24.99 asking price on the book cover?  I'll pass.

Locke and Key is Not Happening...but the Jersey Shore Lives On...

I have been reading Joe Hills comic Locke and Key since book one, and it is the only comic that I own both in floppies (individual issues) and in hardback (every six floppies is grouped together like a chapter in the series).  It is an amazing series unlike anything else I've read, and everyone should read it, comic book fan or not.

Anyway, those of us in my circle that have read Locke and Key always talk about what an amazing movie or television series it would make.  And apparently someone agreed.  Director Mark Romanek apparently filmed some of the television series!!! News to me.  Here's the trailer below - and take it from someone who has read the book, it is VERY well done, and for the most part spoiler free.

This is awesome news!  Amazing news!  The best television news since The Walking Dead!  It's also not happening.  Why?  Because it was developed for FOX, the same brilliant people who canceled Firefly after only one season, put Fringe on Friday nights in hopes of killing it off, and is basically known as the place where great things go to die.  (BTW - Thanks again FOX for giving us Deadpool in the Wolverine movie and sewing the Merc with the Mouth's mouth shut.  Nothing like making sure the funniest character in the Marvel U can't talk!)

So basically a bummer, although the above trailer is so well done I'm hoping someone else picks it up or it goes straight to DVD.  Seriously, it would make an amazing series, guaranteed six seasons with each season having one big story arc and a bunch of little story arc's along the way, kind of like Dexter.

AMC, what was your highest rated show last year?  It wasn't Mad Men you say?  It was The Walking Dead?  The show based on the comic?  Well...if you're looking for another...I might know a good place to start...

And in other news - Abercrombie is paying the cast of the Jersey Shore NOT to wear its close next season...because that show is still on the air.

Question: What do DC and Digital Comics Have in Common?

Answer: I don't read either of them...

So I'm sure you've heard the news.  Big DC reboot and all...and if you haven't, well, you can read about it at DC's website.

You know, I have taken multiple surveys from Marvel about digital comics, and my answer has always been the same - I don't read them.

I don't want to read them.

Call me old fashioned, but I''m not alone.  There are a lot of people out there who don't want to trade in their cardboard boxes for an ipad...at least as far as their comics are concerned.  I don't like to read off a screen.  I want the book in hand.

Some people are saying this is the death of the comic book store.  Maybe.  Maybe not.  I don't read much DC, a rare book on occasion (although I do enjoy Vertigo), so there isn't a comic store surviving off of my sales.  But obviously comic shops are going to take a hit if they can't put one of the top two comic producers on their shelves.  Thanks DC for all your support...

But comic shops won't be the only one's taking the hit.  How many people out there are like me in that they don't want to read digital comics, but unlike me in the fact that they read DC?  Answer: I have no idea, but my point is this, if I was reading DC comics and I was forced to go digital...I would stop reading DC comics.  Who takes the hit then?

Talking about taking hits, on August 31, DC is going to do a sort of universe overhaul with a bunch of new #1's.  Do you know why Superman and Batman #1's sell for millions of dollars?  Because there aren't many of them left.  Who's going to pay a million dollars for a digital copy of anything?  Nobody.  I read an article once about five things to invest in that are better than gold.  Number five on the list was comic books.  Say what you will but the numbers are there...can you name anything else bought for 10 cents and sold for almost $2 million?  Think that would still hold true if there aren't any paper copies?

In the end I don't see how anyone wins from what DC is doing.  As I said, stores are going to take a hit because one of the biggest names in comics isn't on the shelves, and DC is going to lose sales because of people like me, purists (as far as comics go) that don't want to go digital.  Ever.

COWABUNGA!!!! Kevin Eastman to Co-write New TMNT Comic for IDW

Kevin Eastman, one of the original creators of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has signed on to co-write, help with layout, and alternate covers for a new TMNT comic being published by IDW.  For anyone not familiar with IDW, they have been gobbling up IP rights over the last few years and publish Dr. Who, Transformers, and G.I. Joe titles, among others.  They are also responsible for the popular 30 Days of Night (which I have to say I wasn't a huge fan of, although I did enjoy Vol. 8, Red Snow) and one of my personal favorites, Locke & Key, written by Joe Hill (aka Joseph Hillstrom King, son of Stephen King).

I think this is exciting news, although admittedly I haven't read any of the original TMNT comics since I was a kid.  But it may mean a return to the turtle's grittier, darker roots from their Portsmouth days...

And red bandana's for all!