"No, it's not linear." But that's OK!

Elephantmen Vol. 5: Devilish Functions
Image Comics
Richard Starkings, writer
Axel Medellin and Shaky Kane, artists
***mature content warning***

In the pilot episode of "Star Trek: Deep Space 9," Cmdr. Benjamin Sisko encounters a new species that does not experience time as humans do. They exist in all moments at once, making words like "tomorrow," "yesterday" and "later" have no meaning for them. At first, it is very hard for Sisko to communicate with these beings, let alone understand them, or they him, because of the differences in the perception of time. As understanding begins, Sisko tells the aliens that human existence is linear, people move from one moment to the next, always forward. The aliens counter his explanation by pointing out how he revisits his mistakes in his own mind, reliving the past over and over, jumping from point in time to point in time, almost at random.

Elephantmen follows a similar storytelling model. Starkings does not give his readers a narrative that moves from one day to the next in chronological order. The flashback is a familiar storytelling device which can interrupt the linear flow of a story to provide useful past information in the middle of a narrative, but Starkings takes his storytelling even further away from what typically happens.

All of the core events in this latest huge trade collection of Elephantmen happen more or less after the core events of the previous trades. Bodies of some characters killed more than a dozen issues ago are discovered, and investigations into the deaths are begun. Someone new is stalking and slaying Elephantmen for their ivory. And yet a third set of murders is happening where the victims are not just killed, but butchered and marked with a message of "No Mercy." Along with the drama of these various killings, there are also developments in the personal relationships between the various main characters. Mixed in with all of this, there are a couple diversionary stories that deal with a new hallucinogenic drug on the streets of Los Angeles. Amid all of this, sometimes large scenes, sometimes entire chapters, might be dropped in that have little or nothing to do with the current ongoing storyline at first glance. Sometimes these events might have happened hundreds or more years ago, or might never have happened at all, instead proving to be mere flights of fancy. But Starkings and crew craft this narrative in such a way that all that bouncing around works and makes sense.

Many stories that bounce around as much as this one often does have a tendency to lose readers with the various transitions. The whole starts to lose cohesion and becomes nonsense after a while. But I'm not having that issue with this book at all. In fact, it is one of the things I enjoy about the book.

Early on in my enjoyment of Elephantmen, I read or heard an interview with Starkings where he said something about it not mattering in what order someone reads these books. I found that statement baffling at the time. How can it not matter? Surely the books are best read in the proper order. I've read enough now to know that really isn't so. Part of what makes that possible is the obvious care Starkings has used mapping out the big picture events in this universe he has created, which then allows him to bounce around inserting facts here and there to enhance the current storyline. It also helps that any and all references to past events are exhaustingly footnoted throughout.

Anticipation Is Making Me Wait

Elephantmen Vol. 4: Questionable Things
Collects issues 24-30 and more
Image Comics
Richard Starkings, writer
various artists
***mature content warning***

I first tried and reviewed Elephantmen here. This is still a great book, that's why I'm still buying it four humongous trades in. Rather than spoil details from this collection, I'm gonna discuss these wonderful trades in general.

I started out with the trades because I was coming into this series late. I've stuck with the trades because it is always hard to know when to start picking up single issues to avoid duplication until you know what the next trade will contain, and by then, it is too late to order some of the singles in between.

Some potential buyers might be put off by the higher price tag that comes with these Elephantmen trades. They typically run $24.99 retail, whereas most other trade collections run between $12.99 to $18.99, depending on how many issues are included and how popular the title. The thing to remember is, these Elephantmen trades tend to be four or five times as big as the average trade, typically containing an average of seven or eight complete issues of the regular series and tons of extras like sketches, behind-the-scenes notes and more. Seriously, these things are huge, so you are actually getting more bang for your buck with these trades than with most others.

That means the only real drawback to buying this series in trade is the slightly longer than normal release time between trades because of how much content each one contains. But again, they are worth the wait.

Peeling Onions Makes Me Cry; But They're Tears Of Joy

Last time in the bullet reviews, I briefly talked about a book called Wolfskin. While not a bad tale, really, there just wasn't enough in the main protagonist of the story to make me care enough to come back for more. Today, we're going to discuss a similarly sparse book that doesn't reveal too much about its main characters too quickly, but which got the opposite reaction from me. There wasn't much back story here at all, but what I did get only made me hungry for more.

But before we get into the book itself, let's first discuss how I came to try the book. I'm not exactly a podcast newbie, but I also had very limited experience with them before about 18 months ago. I follow comic-related news on Newsarama, among other sites, and had seen and heard Word Balloon by John Siuntres, but had only listened to current episodes on my computer. Then my lovely wife, Cathy, bought me my first iPod just over a year ago. I started listening to previous Word Balloon episodes, but iTunes also introduced me to a number of other great comic-themed podcasts. They make great listening while I'm out walking the dog around the neighborhood trying to lose a few pounds.

One of these podcasts, I apologize but I forget which one specifically, included a lengthy interview with Richard Starkings of Comicraft and, of course, dealt with his then new book Elephantmen. I'd heard of Elephantmen before and was curious about the concept. Most reviews I'd heard or read were quite favorable. But hearing Starkings himself talk about the book made me really want to try and like it.

So I bought the first trade collecting the first seven issues of Elephantmen.

The story takes place a few hundred years in the future. There are genetically engineered animals who walk upright, wear clothing and speak living among humans. They are not an unusual sight for the time period, but neither are they universally accepted as equals by all men. They were originally created to be soldiers, and were for some time considered to be the property of the company which created them. That ended suddenly when the government decided that the elephantmen were being mistreated by their corporate masters (which was true) and decided to set them free ("OK, you're free; have a nice life; don't call us for help.") Oh, and despite the name "elephantmen," they aren't all anthropomorphized elephants; there's an elephant, a rhino, a hippo, a warthog, a crocodile and a camel that I've seen prominently, and there's a zebra on the cover.

That's kind of the nuts and bolts of what I know so far. Like I said earlier, not a lot of info. And all of that was gathered in the initial premise and in dribs and drabs of back story as it become relevant to the current storyline. Starkings does an excellent job of filling you in just what you need to know when you need to know it, but making the back story stuff fit seemlessly into the story arc. You learn about these characters' pasts like you would a real person's -- a bit at a time. But what he has revealed makes me want to know more.

For instance, I've learned that the hippo, Agent Hip Flask who works for some government sponsored organization, has had one or two story arcs that precede the Elephantmen title. He seems like a very interesting character, so I definitely want to go back and check out the Hip Flask trades. The main focus character in this trade is the elephant, Ebony, who works with Hip Flask. But we also follow the croc, Elijah, a less than likable hired-muscle kind of guy, and the rhino, Obadiah, who appears to be a captain of industry, but in the modern Lex Luthor vein.

Theirs is a layered tale. On the surface, not much has happened in these first seven issues. Ebony meets a little human girl, who later comes to see him in the hospital after he has been hurt on a mission and she has run away from home. Hip, on another mission, is waylaid by Elijah, and winds up in the hospital through the timely assistance of a young cabbie, who later comes to check up on him. These two humans serve as the reader's point-of-view characters as we learn more about Ebony and Hip, both through what they share with their new-found friends, and what they keep secret. Along the way, we're also given glimpses of the near past for these elephantmen, as well as more insights into the personalities of Elijah and Obadiah. Starkings packs a lot into each of these issues, and the art by Moritat and others is just incredible.

This trade is well worth checking out, and as I said previously, has prompted me to seek out more. I have the second Elephantmen trade on order; the third will be solicited soon, I believe; and I also plan to seek out Hip Flask: Unnatural Selection and Hip Flask: Concrete Jungle.

Good comics, Kiddie Cops!