Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Vertigo Title Review (R.I.P.)

A contender for the best comic I’ve read all year, and possibly the most poignant, was Unknown Soldier #21 by the ever-powerful Joshua Drysart, who is joined for one issue by Rick Veitch, who is doing interior artwork for the first time in what feels like forever. The story follows the ‘life’ of one Avtomat Kalashnikova, the most infamous of all semi-automatic rifles in the history of the world, as it is the most widely used by terrorists, organized crime and resistance movements throughout the world. It begins in Russia and makes its way through Africa, and is a very historically accurate, yet full of soul and tragedy. This is one of those Vertigo stories that really feels like ‘old school Vertigo’, in the tradition of Sandman and later Preacher and so many other great series; a moving, done in one issue that really leaves you thinking. Great stuff.

House of Mystery also remains a great read in my opinion. The overall story is growing more and more interesting and with a ton of characters having their own storylines as well. Lately it feels like all the most interesting characters are having ample screen time, which I’m glad to see. The story within a story this issue, by Sturges and Brendan McCarthy, was really groovy, about a Viet Nam soldier (drafted against his will), experiencing an acid trip while out with his unit, is suddenly in the midst of combat and finds an ancient man who wants to teach him the means to be a sorcerer (including time travel usage). It’s a great little story where you’re unsure of it’s a trip or reality, complete with the sudden jolt of the reality of war at the close, but then the ending is a terrific “House of Mystery” ending.

I really recommend Unknown Soldier #21 if you’re looking for a solid story; I’d recommend the whole series but be aware it ends with #25. And House of Mystery continues to be a unique, cool series that I’m glad I’m buying.

Joshua Drysart made some wry comments at San Diego about how Unknown Soldier was too serious and realistic to be a success - like he should have included zombies and giant apes to get the thing to sell. That got me interested in the book (I'd heard good things about it, it just never made the buy list.)

So I was planning to get the trades, although they got bumped by other stuff (like Turf and Time Bomb - thanks to Cobie & Chief) in the last order.

Yeah, Unknown Soldier is the epitomy of serious & realistic. More so than any other comic on the market.

That means it's sometimes a little depressing but not neccessarily entirely so. The words 'poignant' and 'powerful' are the ones I most frequently use to describe it.

Madame Xanadu #26 was really good. A sad but endearing story of a lost boy who stinks. I'm really digging how Wagner is able to tailor these individual stories to his guest artist so well.

I originally wasn't too sad to hear this was getting canceled as I thought it was close to running its course, but issues like this make me realise how much potential is still there.

The second trade is coming in my next DCBS shipment... can't wait.

Yeah, it's a very hard book to review. All I know is it's excellent.

Jeez Louise. Just read through American Vampire 2 - 5.

Freakin Amazing. BUY THIS BOOK!!!

I think this one is gonna get it's own thread. Gonna reread it and start one soon.

Cool. Hope you enjoy the story as much as I have.

The preview for Unwritten just didn't look interesting. I don't dig Harry Potter, so even a send up of it seems like it wouldn't be something I'd enjoy. I got the first trade based on good word of mouth, but it still sits on my shelf unread. I think I just need to be sold on it.

I bought that one to for the same reason--the word of mouth. And like you, mine has sat on the shelf unread because I wasn't inclined to get it in the first place. (Of course I have a HUGE backlog of unread TPBs anyway...) It's low on my "things to read" list. This is despite the fact that I DO dig Harry Potter.

Definitely enjoying it.

CT and Rouge, I wish I could explain what appears to be happening here that would get you to at least give the trade a chance...

OM, am I wrong in my interpretation that Tom's father has written him into these immensely popular books to give him the abilities needed to combat Pullman and his unseen (as of the 2nd trade) bosses? That's what I took from the Jud Suss two-parter, anyway... Love how Tom was able to <span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">unravel the "canker" the Nazis built around the original novel</span></span> .

Pov, I DO have the trade but just haven't put it anywhere near the top of my read pile. Like rouge, I bought it because of the word of mouth. I guess it's the preview they put in the books before #1 was released. Those pages were just underwhelming. I know, it's not fair to judge a book by its first few pages, but sometimes, that's all we have to judge whether or not to drop the money on something.

That said, I bought the trade, so it WILL get read! Eventually....

With the recent discussion of Unwritten, it's timely, because I've just caught up on the recent issues. I want to give you guys a whole beautiful paragraph about why you should read it immediately, but it's actually rather hard to put into words. Like Outdoor Miner said earlier in the thread, it's a difficult series to describe.

Know that there are excellent characters with excellent characterization. An incredibly complex and cool plotline with all kinds of twists and mysterious. Gorgeous artwork.

But one thing I can say is if you liked Sandman, you'll like Unwritten. It's the comic most like Sandman to come out since Sandman in terms of themes and narrative / metaphorical nature of the story-telling, it's quite similar to Gaiman's approach in Sandman. This series has a specific plot and characters, but in a much bigger picture, it's a story about stories. It's a narrative about the nature of fiction and how it shapes reality, and people who loved Dream of the Endless and that aspect of Gaiman's Sandman will love this series.

I also caught up on Daytripper, which is now approaching it's final issue. What a great series by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba--each issue is really moving. The 9th issue really began to tie it all together and almost felt like the final issue; I know there is one more to come, so I'm curious as to what else will be added to this already excellent maxiseries.

Based on FC's review several months ago, I picked up the Cairo OGN (see, it pays to review, people read your recs!); I'm really glad I did, because I thought it was an excellent and fascinating read. I previously had read the first two TPB’s of Air and praised them in this thread, and I hadn’t realized that the same creative team responsible for Air also did Cairo first. I can see some strong similarities between Cairo and Air in terms of themes and tones and this is a very good thing.

Like FC says above, the very best thing about Cairo is how Wilson and Perker are able to weave together the fantastical elements of Egyptian history of various eras with modern political overtones. Muslim and Israeli tensions may take centerstage for a few pages and then the next few pages will involve a djinn or the awesome Under-Nile legend (a river below the Nile that runs in the opposite direction). That combination was a terrific was to make fantasy elements seem incredibly realistic; like my review of Air, the only real comparison I can make is the way the television show Lost.

The story centers on 6 major characters and each one is fleshed out really well, undergoing their own personal journey. In the middle to end parts, I was suddenly amazed by how moving each character’s journey had become. Wilson re-uses the phrase “your boundaries are your journey” a few times and it was done incredibly well. She also does a really beautiful job at showing how one of the characters, Shaheed, interrupts the Qur’an one way in the beginning and midway through comes to realize he was interrupting it completely wrong; he eventually begins to see it as uplifting, strong message, in the way it was originally intended. It’s incredibly topical right now, but that takes a backseat to the poignant way Wilson writes the sequence.

I didn’t really know much about G. Willow Wilson before this until I read the back cover for her brief auto-biographical summary. I didn’t realize she was a woman and I didn’t realize she converted to Islam in her early 20’s. Both of those things obviously inform her writing in a deep way and I can understand her perspective more by knowing that. She’s really talented and I not only will be buying the rest of the Air trades as I always planned, but I will be following her around to whatever project she does next.

M. K. Perker, her partner in crime, has a great connection with the author and they seem to compliment each other very well. At first, Perker’s art is a little cartoony, but as the story goes on, you get used to it quickly and come appreciate Perker’s strong points, particularly his facial expressions and how he provides an element of ‘wonder’ to the fantastical elements of the story.

I was very pleased with this read. To be perfectly honest, I’ve grown incredibly tired of political statements about the Middle East and require some sort of originality in stories with that setting; I was delighted to find not only was this a very original take, it was not preachy at all, and the setting truly informed the characters and story.

While traveling heavily for the last week, I brought along several TPB's to read on the planes. One was a story I read several years ago, but wanted to reread, Death: the High Cost of Living by Neil Gaiman. Most people know this, but for those that do not, this is a supplement to Gaiman's Sandman series, and features Dream's sister, Death, who was hugely popular in the 1990's.

The reason for rereading this was because while I've reread a lot of Gaiman's Sandman over the years, I've never reread this. It wasn't my favorite of his stories and IMO isn't one of his very best, but it is a solid, strong story that has all the facets of the 'Gaiman charm'.

It has extremely likable walk-on characters, a story that feels very 'small scale' yet epic in terms of characterization, and has that quintessential 1990's Gaiman outlook on the world that may have just inspired the 'emo outlook'. In fact, Sexton, the teenager who hangs around Death the whole story, is the most emo character ever in comic books--doing the typical teenager "the world sucks and isn't worth living" bit, while acting as if his worldview is the most informed and poignant of anyone's. Naturally, he's still just a teenager and totally has no idea what he's talking about, but Gaiman is always sure to show how sometimes he's not that far off the mark.

This is definitely a story worth getting for someone whose never read it.

I read American Vampire # 6 last night, and I must say that this book is looking very healthy post-Stephen King if this first offering is a good indication! This is an especially good thing because the first five issues didn't exactly knock my socks off as they progressed. Though they were ripe with some decent moments of characterization, the two split stories of those issues went to some predictable places plotwise. Worse, King's Skinner Sweet story was downright confusing read in monthly format. It was hard to remember who's who and what's what, especially among the good guys in his story.

But with number six, Snyder goes it alone and shows quite a bit of promise as this arc changes the setting to the formative years of what we now know Las Vegas to be. As with his focus on early Hollywood in his first arc, Snyder shows us Vegas as it is about to become the Sin City it is (in)famous for being. Snyder shows how it began to attract the gambling and partying element as it catered to workers who were constructing the nearby Hoover Dam in their downtime.

We meet Vegas's sheriff who is dealing with the town's overnight growth and especially all the crime this brings with it. His police force is far too understaffed and underfunded to deal with this negative side effect of his town's growth. He doesn't know it yet, but the latest crime he's investigating heralds the presence of another unsavory element in his town--vampires. And by the end of this issue we learn our old friend Skinner Sweet has already dug his nails into the town.

Honestly, the issue would be fascinating to me even without the vampiric elements. If this were simply the story of nascient Las Vegas and a sheriff trying to deal with a sudden overwhelming criminal element, I'd really be enjoying the story on that alone. It seems Snyder's one of those writers who's gifted with telling interesting historically-set stories. Having already interested me in silent film-era Hollywood, he's awakened another interest I never knew I had in learning part of how Vegas became Vegas. That's quite a talent in my book.

Snyder also has his secret weapon in Rafael Albuquerque, his tremendously gifted artistic collaborator. Albuquerque has already drawn three American historical settings in this series and pulled them all off terrifically while subtly changing his style for each. He's terrific with setting the story's mood and selling the characters to us. I'd say he's as much the star here as Snyder, and I hope they are together for the long haul.

I was kind of iffy about whether I'd continue with this book for much longer after the initial arc and with the $3.99 price tag staying even with reduced story pages, but this issue seems to show that this series has a lot of life to it and should be well worth the cost! I hope it lives up to the promise!

The 6 Senses storyline in Madame Xanadu is nearly finished (along with the whole series <sob>) and while I haven't loved it as much as I did Wagner's earlier stories - I have to say it has been pretty dang good, and I *love* the creative risk he took by having each of these issues be about a totally new character with the lovely Madame only popping up for at most a couple of pages here and there to help/hinder our protagonists/antogonists along their paths.

My only criticism with it this month was that we spent so long building up to the big confrontation between Madame and the baddie and then it was over in such a quick flash. I really needed a longer, more satisfying fight there.

The experiment with having each issue drawn by a different (female) artist has been good too - though this month's artwork did take a little while to get used to. This artist clearly comes from a fashion sketching/design background which suited this story but meant lots of weird, angular figures.

This book has had such a welcome place on my pull-list since it began, I'm really going to miss it when it's gone.

I also just bought all three Trades of The Young Liars. Did anyone here read that book? I think I remember hearing good things about it around the traps.

Will post a review once I'm done with it.

I scanned through a few issues in the store and thought it was OK, but something about it kept me from committing to it as a purchase. hard to put my finger on it, but I don't think I cared about the characters much.

I agree with your thoughts on Madame Xanadu. Definitely going to miss that book. This issue did seem like Wagner was more interested in the modd piece he was creating and just kind of shoe-horned the title character in at the end.

The baddie might be a conglomerate of various real-life celebs, but much of her history is clearly drawn from model/singer Nico of Velvet Underground/solo fame.

Cobie loved the HELL out of Young Liars, Blac! Scroll thru the pages of this thread, and I think you'll find he had some interesting thoughts to share on it.

Yeah, see numerous back pages of this thread for tons and tons of praise I heaped on Young Liars! I was totally loving it when it came out and was trying desperately to get others to try it to stave off cancellation. It remains one of my favorite comics to come out in the last 10 years, and I hereafter now consider David Lapham a "mad genius" of the comic book industry.

I will give you a disclaimer though: this is some pretty weird, bizarre stuff. So you may want to try to be in the mood for things to get weird when you read it; because man, will they EVER. I'm talking Pollack Doom Patrol weird (but much better of course). The story, the characters, the progress of the whole thing--all weird on all levels.

But man, was it great. And fun. And freaking crazy.

So today I read the final issue of the 10-part Daytripper series by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba. Wow, what a series! I'm totally glad I picked this up (on CJ's recommendation--that's Ceej!) to begin with and followed it through. It's a really difficult story to describe and I can easily see many readers not liking it or getting it, but personally I thought it was really beautiful.

The final 2 issues were especially powerful, and I was really moved by the last one. The series was about death, life, relationships, and a sense of 'home' among other things. Ba and Moon made the series very central to Brazil and their own lives, yet touched on themes in such a way that I think anyone could relate to it.

Really great, unique series, and a highlight of 2010's comic book output.

I couldn't agree more! Especially with #7 now also out, expanding on #6's story, I'm enjoying this arc even more than I did the first arc. Snyder and Albuquerque are delivering on all levels, with the tone & pacing picking up and shifting perfectly so that you're totally engrossed in the story.

I totally agree that the history of Las Vegas, influenced by the development of the Boulder Dam while the country dealt with the Depression and came out of prohibition, is just fascinating. I could read a comic book based on that alone.

Add in the vampire element with Skinner Sweet (who may be the single best new comic book character in 2010), and a murder mystery (multiple ones actually, including the Chief's father), and this story has several great layers to it.

I'm enjoying how Snyder brings in new characters like Cash and make you curious about them and care about them immediately.

Felicia Book and her history with Skinner Sweet is a welcome element to the mythos of the series, and now it appears Pearl is about to join the story as well (I was a little surprised considering how packed it already is).

And recent news that this series is going back to $2.99 is good as well.

What can best be described as an all-Vertigo Anthology/Crossover takes place in House of Mystery Annual #2, which features Madame Xanadu, John Constantine, I,Zombie, Lucifer and the House of Mystery gang. Each one has their individual story with a larger story running through it, featured four cursed trick or treaters forced to continue trick or treating for over 60 years, where they've developed into a pretty rotten bunch.

I thought it was pretty groovy! I liked that all the character's main creators were involved (Wagner did MX, Roberson & Allred did I,Zombie, etc).

Man, those trick or treaters were nasty!