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

Well, one of the best comics of the last 2 years has come to an end as Unknown Soldier #24 and #25 brought the series to a conclusion. I've raved about this comic since inception and I really hope others check it out in trades in the future, particularly FC who expressed some interest in it. It has been one of the more powerful and realistic comics I've ever read and I think the subject matter has just been too serious and too harsh for people to take.

The final issues were an excellent finish, each one providing some really great. #24 gave a really terrific "Holy Shit!" moment that completely turned one of the facets of the serious on it's head and I was kicking myself for never suspecting. I loved how the original Unknown Soldier, whose only had a hinted at presence in this comic, ties himself into it and in a wonderful twist.

#25 brings the series to it's inevitable conclusion. It's fitting that the previous issue had a shocker because there were no major surprises here--the series ended the way it should end. Powerfully.

Anytime a reader wants things to get serious...wants things to get heavy...want things to matter: this is where you should turn.

From Amy Reeder-Hadley's interview at CBR re: Madame Xanadu -

"I think I found out in the summertime that it was being canceled. What I heard was that it had nothing to do with me leaving the book or DC characters going back into the DCU. It had solely to do with the sales. Vertigo had to look at their books that were under a certain bracket and cancel them. So that’s why “Madame Xanadu” is canceled. That’s the only reason I was given. It’s a shame."

OK fellow Legion World MX fans. I've got the pitchforks, you bring the torches. Now let's find out who wasn't supporting this book! ... sobbing

Anytime a good book like this is cancelled, I hope another Teen Titan is murdered.

With the Demise of Madame X, I'm down to just iZombie and Hellblazer from Vertigo (well, "Joe the Barbarian" too, but the last issue was dropped from December solicits and never re-solicited, so I don't expect it for a good long while).

May be time to look for a new series to latch on to.

^ I keep meaning to pick up The Unwritten but I don't hear anyone talking about that anymore. Has all the buzz on that book died now? Is anyone here reading it? Recommend it?

In the meantime, I'm slowly making my way through Young Liars in TPB format and can definitely recommend that if you haven't read it Dave. I'm not saying you'll like it since it's... well, hard to explain and I imagine it could be very polarizing for readers. But it's so one of a kind that it's definitely worth a read.

And yes, I will be reviewing it once I'm done Cobalt Kid. If a book as out there as this one is can be reviewed.

QFT!

The Unwritten is better than ever right now and I highly recommend jumping in!!

I just preordered the third trade with this month's books.

^You'll be pleased!

I finally read the final issue of Madame Xanadu which as expected, was another excellent story by the incredible creative team. Many of us have gone on and on about how good a series this was and how much it sucks that it's getting cancelled, so I won't beat a dead horse. I'm really going to miss this excellent series.

I did like how Wagner ended the series on a high note that gave a sense of excitement for the oncoming Silver Age. It almost made me want to break out Cooke's New Frontier.

Should this series restart without Wagner, I'll probably play 'fickle comic fan' and not buy it.

Air, v.1-3, by G. Willow Wilson and M.K. Parker

When I saw the previews for Air, it looked like another homeland security tale, with airplanes and Muslim terrorists, so I gave it a pass. Then I read Cairo by G. Willow Wilson and was impressed enough to give this other work of hers a try.

There are terrorists, hijacking and airline security issues, but not for the reasons we've come to expect. Air deals with another reality beyond our everyday world (and I love other reality stories), the power of symbols and the importance of maps.

Blythe is a stewardess who is afraid of heights, so she pops Halcion to get through her days. On one flight, a passenger hands her a package and she finds herself immersed in plots and counterplots, the Etesian Front, Interpol, a lost country (lost because people forgot about it), sky gypsies, a feathered serpent and a "jury-rigged and completely illegal" airport that hovers above the Earth. She also embarks on a relationship with the mysterious and elusive Zayn, although she seldom knows where, not to mention who, he is. Some girls have all the fun....

The core of the story revolves around an ancient Aztec device, the Hyperprax Engine, which would open up a new age of air flight. Few people have the natural talent needed to fly a Hyperprax craft, and Blythe is one of them: she learns to fly an airplane, essentially, by thinking. "They thought if they could build a machine that treated the whole world as a series of symbols, they could travel from poiint to point by interpreting reality instead of moving through it."

Of course, different factions are trying to get their hands on this machine and therein lies the adventure, interwoven with the love story. What is real and what is Halcion-induced hallucination or dream, I wasn't sure, but I was captivated by Blythe's quest to put all the pieces together. Happy ending, too. What more could you want?

^"Happy ending"? Is Air over?

Sorry, happy ending to those three volumes, lovers re-united and all that. There's a Volume 4 (out this month) taking it up to issue #24 but I think that's it for the series.

Yeah, Vol #4 is the final volume of the series, bringing it to conclusion.

Glad you liked it, FC! I need to get Vol #3 and #4 and wrap up this excellent series.

When it came time to start putting together the second annual Comic Book Review Month, one of the really cool ideas to come out was from Fat Cramer who suggested a challenger to Legion World for someone to at last put together a solid review of Unwritten. Month and month out, all the readers of Unwritten (including myself) proclaim it as one of the best comic books in the industry but add in “it’s really difficult to even review it or explain it”. And that’s pretty true! But I figured I’d try anyway.

I caught up on the latest two issues, which helps move things along to the next storyline in which the three main characters are still on the run from the mysterious group hunting them, while also the authorities, and so journey across the pond to the United States to visit Herman Mellville’s old house which is in a town that is basically a big tribute to Moby Dick (this is true). This comic is a comic book thriving on metaphor and allegory and that comes into play here as Tommy, the lead character, is in search of his own white whale—namely the truth bringing together the entire series.

In fact, that helps me backtrack a little to the premise of the series. Keeping in mind the first thing mentioned—on how difficult it is to explain—I’ll try my best to sum it up very loosely. Tom Taylor is the lead character, whose father also wrote 14 Tommy Taylor novels that are very similar to Harry Potter, and achieved the same sort of crazy success. In fact, many fans think Tom Taylor actually *is* Tommy Taylor. As the series has progressed, we the readers are constantly asking ourselves that as well. This dovetails nicely into what the series is about, which is namely fiction vs. reality, and our own interpretation of what that means. It also focuses on the various story-telling methods and narrative structures in literature as the creators use them in varying ways, and the they are actually important to the story itself. When you look at the comic book Sandman, by Neil Gaiman, you can see it was a series about stories; that is entirely the case here, even moreso.

It’s much more complicated than that, but hey, you’ve got to read it to understand. But to whet your appetite: homes of authors come into play; locations used in novels that really exist come into play; Frankenstein has popped up; Nazi Propaganda man Josef Goebells played a part; and each story-arc has things like that. Writer Mike Carey and artist Peter Gross both provide layer upon layer in so many ways each issue. I can’t wait until it’s built up a solid 30 issues or so, so I can do a reread.

Meanwhile, getting back to the story at hand: as Tommy searches for answers, this story focuses more on the three characters and recent developments; namely, the revelations about Lizzie and a possible budding romance and the ramifications of the recent vampire attack on Savoy. I’m really glad to see this as once again it takes things back to character, so that while the awesome story and impressive story-telling feats remain, we get solid character moments as well.

The series has a huge sense of mystery to it; a sense of adventure as the lead characters venture off into new places; a sense of romance; a sense of danger as they are on the run; and a constantly building mythology that is fascinating and very smart.

This is a contender for best series in comic books. It’s smart and it’s unique.

American Vampire had yet another great issue, though it kind of serves as a break-up of the larger story as we re-focus back on Pearl & Henry and what they’ve been up to, while also learning the fate of Hattie from the first arc, which further ups the stakes of this story (no pun intended).

I’m really into the current story so I wish we could get back to it, but I am very curious as to how all the various facets & characters will interact as the storyline culminates.

Mateus Santoluco steps in as artist for this issue—is he here permanently? I really like Albuquerque so I hope not, though Santoluco does a great job. Both artists draw the American vampires as just over the top ferocious and crazy and it’s just really cool to see. Those images are downright scary!

Pearl is a terrific character and I’m enjoying her continued usage. The scene where she wonders what scares Henry—all the while we the readers see them having sex and her reverting to her grotesque vampire form to bite him—was well done.

While the overall plot(s) of House of Mystery roll along in the latest issues (revealing a few important secrets), it’s the usage of different story-telling techniques that continues to be the major draw of this series for me. In #32, Abel has the characters get involved in a murder mystery in the beginning of the story, which provides all sorts of fun scenes when they decide they’d rather start ad-libbing their own lines and taking things in their own direction. In #33, the short story told within (by Cain, so you know it will be out there) is really fantastic, and Sturges & Lloyd provide a creepy, ironic short story that makes sure the ending gives you both what you didn’t expect and a little of what you did expect. I love these little short stories, especially when they are offbeat and have the appearance of being nonsensical but are actually quite carefully crafted.

House of Mystery is still a series I’m enjoying quite a bit. It’s not the best Vertigo title—not on par with Fables or Unwritten or some of the recent cancelled/finished series—but it’s still a very solid read each month. It makes sure it’s very different from everything else and that variety is a huge plus for my reading enjoyment.

I found Poet (the younger version from his past before he died) hitting on Ann to be a really odd scene, even though it made sense story-wise. Ann is probably my favorite character, as who doesn’t love a female Pirate Captain whose love interest is a dragon?

Lardy, my sister put a message on my Facebook about Scalped which she just started reading--I made sure to give you proper credit for spreading the word! (In case you didn't see it).

Cool! Noted and commented upon!

Hellblazer continues to be top notch stuff. This month was a nice done-in-one to clear the air after the wedding stuff for the past six issues or so. John and Epiphany are deciding where to live, when John's apartment is targeted for development. Evicting John Constantine is never a good idea.

Final issue of "Joe the Barbarian" shipped yesterday. It was good story and had a satisfactory ending. I think the series could have been easily five issues instead of eight and had the same impact, and the delays were inexcusable, but all and all an enjoyable read.

Word from sdcc that Unwritten is going dooubletime for 10 months starting with #31 ... each month followed by a .5 issue that's both tangent to the main story and a seperate story thread in itself entitled "Tommy Taylor and The War of Words", in the vein of popular one-off stories we've seen previously. Other artists will contribute to the .5 issues.

Sounds ambitious, can't wait to see how it all plays out.

It fits for the title, in the way they play off of different formats of media. Cool!

Other than Azzerello's new title, anything new announced?

Just want to voice an opinion I suspect all readers of American Vampire share, that the spin-off miniseries has been utterly kickass so far. Exquisitely written with incredible art, its an awesome blend of pulp, horror and war comics.

Meanwhile, the main title continues to be fantastic as well. I'm loving how the two series at once provide the two different WWII theaters, the Pacific and European. That's a lot of characters getting some screen time and Snyder makes them all interesting. Book's daughter and others will assuredly continue to play a big role in the main series and I'm enjoying their 'solo' adventure off to the side.

Also, the Phillipines vampires are hella-scary!

I finally got into the right mood and read a couple of Vertigo trades I'd bought on eBay lots a while ago based on the recommendation of one Mr. Cobaltus. These are the first two trades ("Haunted House" and "Easy Kill") of the latest Unknown Soldier series that was cancelled fairly recently.

In a word: wow.

Based on the first fourteen issues collected in those trades, Unknown Soldier deserved to be recognized as one of Vertigo's Elite series. Instead, it's sales were in the toilet, so it ended with issue 25.

This series is a combination of two essential elements: 1) the trappings of the classic DC character reimagined into a compelling mystery, not as to whom the title character is but as to how or why he's apparently been trained and programmed as a highly trained black ops soldier with him having no memory of same, and 2) the real world backdrop of Uganda circa 2002 amidst an insurgency rife with human rights violations.

It's the latter of these particularly that drew me into this book. While I had heard vaguely of such things as children being kidnapped and conditioned to become part of insurgent armies, I'd never heard of the LRA or Joseph Kony or of the Acholi or of Musevini. Writer Joshua Dysart educated me through his dramatizations about something that I suppose the news media doesn't find "sexy" enough to cover the way it should. It's absolutely horrifying to know that things like this happens in the real world. I mean, I knew it did, but to see specifics and know that what I was seeing dramatized here wasn't a stretch at all was disturbing in a way that pure fiction is not.

But on top of all that, Unknown Soldier is a great story with memorable, compelling characters. The title character is complex and conflicted. His wife, who becomes estranged from him thru the circumstances of the story, and an ex-CIA agent with some apparent knowledge of the Soldier's origin are his main supporting characters. Also prominent are an actress trying to bring attention to Uganda's conditions and a young boy who the Soldier rescues from the LRA's conscription. All of them draw you into the story and make you want to read more.

These volumes just feel like important and necessary reads. If you read them, I don't think you'll regret that you had, even though the images and the horrors within are all the more terrifying because they are based on truth. Utterly compelling reading.

I know after I finished both volumes, I looked up Kony and the LRA to find out what happened to them. We heard a lot about Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, but even what those two have done may not compare to the horrors this man and his LRA terrorists have committed in Africa. And both are still on the loose and spreading their terror further and further.

My only regret is that I don't already have the two concluding volumes to read now. Well, that and that there aren't going to be any more.

Thanks, Des!

I knew you would love it. It was a fantastic series on every level. I think maybe it was too heavy and intense for a lot of casual fans. But honestly even though it felt incredibly important there was never a sense of it being preachy. It had fantastic characters, an action-packed adventure feel and a badass tone and atmosphere.

By far one of the best series in years. Though I wish it went longer, it was a potent dose of comic book excellence while it was around and I hope others check it out.

Oh, and the Unknown Soldier continuity twists and turns at the end were awesome.