Another solid read no longer delayed

Y: The Last Man
DC Vertigo
Creators: Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra, Jose Marzan Jr., Paul Chadwick, Goran Parlov and Goran Sudzuka
Release date: July 2002 – January 2008

I’ve been on a bit of an unplanned Vertigo kick of late.

Now, I’ve never been a stranger to Vertigo titles. I started buying Fables while it was still in the midst of its first story arc and continued to buy the title in single issues throughout its entire run. I read the entire run of Transmetropolitan in trade form shortly after the series ended. I’ve also read a number of limited series and tried various issues of other titles released under the DC Vertigo imprint through the years. Some I’ve liked. Some I’ve really enjoyed. Others were simply meh.

But I unexpectedly decided to try reading Preacher for the first time not long ago after hearing the series recommended on a podcast I was listening to. You can read about my first impressions of that title here, if you haven’t already done so.

Since writing that post, I have finished reading all of Preacher, including the various one-shots and the Saint of Killers miniseries. Overall, I continued to enjoy the read-through, and hold the series in very high regard. I especially like how Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon make you care about the characters and root for them as they move along their respective journeys, even though they are not very likeable people. Even the protagonists in the story do things that I would otherwise find abhorrent and despicable, but I still wanted those protagonists to come out on top in the end.

Speaking of the end, I’m not entirely sure how I feel about the ending of that series. After liking and rooting for those protagonists through some seventy-plus comic issues, they didn’t exactly end up where I might have hoped they would. That’s not to say I think the writing was bad or faulty. The ending just left me unsure of how I feel about it.

My family has also recently watched and very much enjoyed the entire first season of “Sweet Tooth” on Netflix. I’ve never read the Vertigo title by Jeff Lemire in any form. But I’d heard some good reviews of the show by friends online, and my wife had heard many of the same positive reviews. We decided to try the show and were pleasantly surprised by just how much we enjoyed it. We definitely plan to watch the announced second season when it drops.

And that brings us, finally, to Y: The Last Man. I read the Transmet trades in late 2002 or early 2003, shortly after that series ended. Just before Transmet came to an end, Y: The Last Man began publishing. I decided to buy it in trades, but I also decided to wait until the series ended and I had the complete story before I would read it. That’s how I’d read Spider Jerusalem’s story; I figured it would work well for Yorick Brown, too. I bought each of the Y: The Last Man trades as they were released, and then I put them on the pile of books to read later, after I collected the entire thing.

I bought the series based on liking Transmet, so it seemed fitting to decide now was the time to read it after reading and liking another Vertigo title, Preacher. There was also the incentive of reading the entire series before it, too, becomes a streaming television program. “Y: the Last Man” the TV series is set to debut on the FX network next month, I believe. So I have spent the past couple weeks reading all 60 issues of Y.

Like the characters in Preacher, the people readers meet in Y: The Last Man are flawed individuals who do not always do the right thing. But I still found myself liking the main protagonists, being drawn into their world and rooting for them through all the twists and turns of their story.

The set-up for the story is a mysterious plague which immediately kills every mammal on the planet with a Y chromosome — every one except for a young man named Yorick Brown and his pet monkey, Ampersand. The other principals in the story include Hero Brown, Yorick’s older sister and an EMT when the pandemic hits; 355, a government agent assigned to protect Yorick as he travels; and Allison Mann, a researcher who thinks she might be able to find a way to counter the effects of the pandemic with Yorick’s and Ampersand’s help. The story follows their adventures as they seek answers and solutions in the world that remains.

Of course, there are many, many more characters in the cast along the way. Our heroes come across hate groups, zealots, soldiers, former supermodels, secret agents, scientists, actors, astronauts, sailors, pirates, spies, journalists, ninjas and many others in their travels to Washington, D.C.; Massachusetts; California; Australia; China; France; and other stops all along the way.

Honestly, I don’t want to give away too many details of the story for anyone who hasn’t read the books or who plans to watch the upcoming FX program. Overall, Y: The Last Man was a fun, enjoyable read. Brian K. Vaughan writes an engaging tale that kept me riveted page after page. Primary artist Pia Guerra’s work is a nice mix of realistic and cartoony, and the fill-in artists, when used, produce a similar style, giving the entire series a uniform, cohesive look.

I’m glad I finally made time to give this title a try, and I’m looking forward to seeing what FX does with the streaming series. Once again, I had a bit of an issue with the ending of the series. I was not entirely happy with how some things turned out, including the explanation(s) of what exactly caused the plague which killed most male mammals on Earth. But I will say I liked the ending of this title a bit more than I did the ending of Preacher. And I have no problem recommending the series to anyone interested in giving it a read.

They were right; this IS a worthwhile read

Preacher Vol. 1: Gone to Texas (collecting issue Nos. 1-7 of the original series)
DC/Vertigo
Creators: Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon
Release date: March 14, 1996

Strap in, folks; it’s a lengthy post today.

I wasn’t much into Vertigo titles in 1996 when Preacher made its debut on comic store shelves. I was in the thick of buying mostly super-hero titles at the time. I was still holding onto buying New Titans in hopes the title would return to its former glory, and I was, of course, picking up Aquaman and Green Arrow at the time. Nightwing’s solo series had not come along quite yet, but most of the other Bat-books were on my pull list, including Robin. I was a regular buyer of the Superman titles at the time. Other DC titles I was grabbing included Damage, Darkstars, Deathstroke, Flash, Green Lantern, Guy Gardner, Legionnaires, Showcase and Wonder Woman. I was also picking up occasional issues of the Spider-Man titles with some regularity, as well as Dark Horse’s Ghost.

That’s not to say I was ignorant of the Vertigo titles. I bought and enjoyed the first several issues of Grant Morrison’s Animal Man before the magazine was even considered a Vertigo title. I was also vaguely aware of Swamp Thing, Sandman and Hellblazer, several other Vertigo greats. Likewise, shortly after the debut of Preacher, when the title really started to generate some buzz, I’d heard of it and had a simple awareness of the title’s existence. It just wasn’t something I had much interest in.

So why am I reading the title now? Because it came highly recommended. Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while know that I also listen to and enjoy a number of fine comics-themed podcasts. I like a number of shows out there and have gotten to know some of the various podcasters through their respective shows and through friending a number of them on Facebook.

I was recently listening to an episode of “Views from the Longbox” by Michael Bailey that featured guest hosts Andrew and Micheal Leyland of “Hey Kids, Comics!” The specific episode was No. 166 from October 15, 2013, and was titled “TC and the Chicken.” On this episode, the three co-hosts discussed the Preacher series in general, and focused specifically on the third story arc, “All In the Family.” All three gentlemen talked about the series in glowing terms.

For instance, Andrew Leyland, while describing the series as “depraved” also said that he followed Ennis and Dillon from Hellblazer to Preacher and considered the pair of creators “one of the best comic book teams ever.”

Leyland continued: “I can see how it wouldn’t be to everybody’s taste, but I think it’s genius. It is the single best piece of work in Vertigo’s history, and one of the best finite comic series ever.”

That’s pretty high praise indeed. And Leyland wasn’t alone in his opinion of the series.

Michael Bailey said, “The strength of the series is Garth Ennis’ ability to have you care about these characters and how he engages you as a reader. Even as messed up as this story can get, at heart, you still like these people and root for them.”

After hearing that kind of praise, I throw the question back: How could I not give it a try?

Again, while these guys talked a lot about the series as a whole in the episode, they focused on the third story arc of the series, specifically issue Nos. 8-12. But I can’t give something a genuine try starting in the middle of the series, so I started with this first trade, collecting the first two story arcs.

I’ve said before that I try to focus this blog on comics that I have enjoyed and can feel good about recommending to someone else. So it should come as no shock to regular readers that I enjoyed this first bit of Preacher very much, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing about it, and you wouldn’t be reading about it here.

Everybody has to decide for themselves about the level of gore, sex and language they want to accept in the comics they read, but I was expecting something a little more graphic from what I’d heard about the series before reading it. Maybe the series will get worse later on, and maybe my expectations were at a level where what I got in this first trade was not as bad as I feared. But I had no problem with what was shown and what happened “off panel.”

For anyone like myself who had not read Preacher before, the title character is Jesse Custer, a small-town Texas preacher who is suffering a bit of a crisis of faith when something miraculous/disastrous happens to him. Jesse’s transformation leaves him merged with Genesis, an angelic/demonic entity recently escaped from captivity in Heaven. The merger leaves Jesse with the Word of God, the ability to command others to do whatever he says, and they have no ability to resist. The merger of Jesse and Genesis leaves the rest of the town dead.

The death of everyone in a small Texas town brings Jesse to the attention of the police, as well as the Saint of Killers, another supernatural entity sent by Heaven to recapture Genesis. By chance, Jesse is first found by Tulip, a former girlfriend Jesse abandoned five years earlier, and Cassidy, an Irish vampire. Tulip and Cassidy first met the day before when Tulip failed at her initial attempt to pay off some debts by becoming a hitperson. Fleeing the ensuing gunfight, Tulip happens on Cassidy and begs for his help getting away.

The first story arc in the first Preacher trade introduces these three major players and the situation they find themselves in. The three fugitives must first deal with their initial pursuers, the Texas authorities and the Saint of Killers. In the course of doing this, they learn that God has left Heaven, and the three decide to seek out God to have a word with him about his behavior. This leads into the second story arc in the trade: Cassidy leads the trio to New York City, where they meet up with an old friend of his and try to gather intel on God’s possible whereabouts. Instead, they end up running afoul of a serial killer.

To be sure, this is some violent content, and there is plenty of swearing in the dialogue. Many people are killed and/or tortured in the course of these two story arcs, and there is a lot of graphic content some may find more disturbing than others. But again, from all I’d heard, I’d expected much worse than I got. I’ve also read Ennis’ later series, The Boys, which is also very violent and graphic. So Preacher didn’t bother me as much as I expected it might. Your tolerance may vary.

One thing that counters the graphic violence is the series’ sense of humor. Ennis can have a biting, nasty edge to his humor at times, too, to be sure, but there are some genuinely touching and simply humorous moments between the characters in this series, especially between the three leads. Ennis writes them as three-dimensional characters, not cookie-cutter caricatures of real people. The writing is often filled with subtle moments that counter the more over-the-top ones. Michael Bailey and the Leylands also mentioned the subtlety in Ennis’ writing for this series in their review, and I very much agree with that assessment after reading this first trade.

I’d never read Preacher before as it never seemed like a good match for my tastes, but after hearing this podcast enthusiastically recommending people give it a try, I decided to do just that. I enjoyed the first trade as I got to meet these three characters on their initial adventures together, and I’m looking forward to reading the next story arc, which Bailey and the Leylands covered so well in their podcast review, and beyond. If you’ve never read the series either, maybe this post will inspire you, too, to try Preacher.

Judge The Complete Story, Not A Piece Of It

Saucer Country Vols. 1 & 2: Run/The Reticulan Candidate
DC Vertigo
Paul Cornell, writer
Ryan Kelly, artist

Saucer Country has been on my radar from time to time over the last year or so since its debut in 2012. I was curious about it, but didn't know much about what to expect and had never picked up an issue. Then a few months ago, on a comics trip with my nephew, I found a good deal on the first trade and decided to take the plunge "down the rabbit hole" and give the series a try.

The story focuses on New Mexico Gov. Arcadia Alvarado, a popular politician on the cusp of announcing her candidacy for the presidency of the United States. Along the way, however, she and her ex-husband, Michael, are abducted by aliens. The book was described in early reviews as a cross between "The X-Files" and "The West Wing," both shows I enjoy.

But I have to be honest, while I liked the premise of the series, I was undecided about the execution after reading the first six issues included in the first trade, Run. The art isn't bad; Ryan Kelly does a good job illustrating the main characters, keeping their appearances consistent from image to image, and making the more grounded scenes feel like the world we are all familiar with. He also does a good job with the more fantastical elements and the rare scenes where the two are combined to hauntingly creepy effect. And overall, I liked Paul Cornell's story; he is another writer whose work on the iconic company characters hasn't always lined up with my personal tastes, but I can better appreciate his writer's voice on his own original characters.

The problem was not feeling like I really understood the underlying story that was unfolding involving the aliens and the various conspiracy theories that come in and out of the narrative. I wasn't always certain exactly what was happening in some of the more fantastical "remembered" scenes characters would relate after the fact.

Some research into the series told me that there was only one more trade; the series had been cancelled early, presumably due to low sales. Finding out the series had been cancelled early made me worry there would never be any kind of resolution to the Saucer Country tale, but the parts I liked, I liked enough to take a chance on a series I'd already read half of (or so I thought). So I started hunting for the second trade, hopefully at a reasonable price to assuage my uncertainty.

Turns out that second trade, The Reticulan Candidate, collects issues 7-14 of the series, so a little more than half remained. And it continued to be a good read, although I still felt I wasn't always "getting" every scene. And truthfully, every single plot thread is not explained by the end of the series. As in the real world when it comes to alien visitation, some of the questions raised are left hanging, unanswered, leaving both readers and characters questioning. But I'm happy to report that the series does have a satisfying ending, and many answers are provided. Some portions of the tale are explained and finally fleshed out, making it clear that the portions that had left me feeling confused before were deliberately crafted that way. The exact events that transpired were left vague by design, not poor writing or poor comprehension on my part.

I'm glad I took the chance on the second volume of the series, and if the premise sounds even remotely interesting to you, I suggest you pick these two trades up. That's why I'm deliberately keeping my descriptions a little more vague this time out than I usually do. I don't want to ruin anything for the next reader who might also enjoy this series.

None of this is to say that folks who read an issue of a title and drop it because they don't like it should have just stuck with the book and it would have all made sense. This was a happy example where that strategy worked for me, and I'm glad it did. But no one knows your reading likes and dislikes better than you, and if you're not liking a story, you should move on if that is your choice. Life is too short to waste reading anything you're not enjoying.

But maybe, some folks on the Internet who bash a story as incomprehensible after reading only the first part of a four- or six-part story, should reserve judgment a little longer. Give the creators a chance to reveal their full vision before pronouncing something garbage. It would certainly make the web a friendlier, happier place for us all to come together.

Truly Very Pretty To Look At And Fun To Read, Too

Fairest In All The Land hardcover
DC Vertigo
Bill Willingham, writer
Many, too many artists to list them all

If I didn't already know Bill Willingham was winding down his Fables universe of titles, this beautiful volume might make me suspect. It presents an engaging mystery story, just like the very first volume of Fables did way back in 2002. It also takes readers on a quick tour through the various Fables realms and touches on a number of the characters from the series, especially ones who have appeared in this spin-off title, tying up some loose ends along the way.

The point of a stand-alone story such as this one is to be accessible to new readers unfamiliar with the long history Willingham has crafted for these characters, hopefully enticing them to buy other volumes in the series. Willingham does a good job of telling any new readers the significant background on characters, enough so at least that I suspect someone new to the franchise certainly could follow the story. But there is so much a reader unfamiliar with the Fables universe would miss, it almost seems sad for a new reader to pick up this volume.

This story is set firmly among the current events in the Fables and Fairest shared universe, and is narrated by the Magic Mirror. The Mirror and the other various inhabitants of Fabletown's former business office have been cut off since the destruction of the building that linked them in time and space to the rest of the Fables characters. They are trapped physically, confined to their single expansive room, but through the Mirror, the inhabitants of the business office can peek in on happenings elsewhere.

In doing so, they witness the murders of a number of prominent Fables citizens back home in New York and watch as the survivors try to solve the mystery before anyone else dies. Cinderella, Fabletown's super spy, is enlisted by his honor, King Cole, to lead the investigation, much to her consternation. And the business office denizens try to assist using their own magical abilities where possible.

The hardcover includes an introductory and a concluding chapter, both illustrated prose. In between are more traditional comic panels, each scene being illustrated by a different highly talented artist, 31 of them in all. With that many artists, any comics fan should be able to find something visual to appreciate within these covers, and as stated above, the narrative is a delight to read.

A Lot Of Subplots To Keep Straight

Fables 132
DC Vertigo
Bill Willingham, writer
Mark Buckingham, artist

This issue is the second chapter of the "Camelot" story arc, and man, is there ever a lot going on.

The title refers to Rose Red's efforts at inspiring hope. She has decided to re-create the Round Table from Arthurian legend and has sent emissaries out into all the known worlds to return with knight candidates. As part of that effort, she is getting help and drawing together characters from throughout the Fables universe. Not only is she contracting construction of the Round Table and a Great Hall to put it in to Haven's King Ambrose and Weyland, but one of the emissaries she invites is Briar Rose from the first Fairest story arc, Fairest being the new Fables spin-off title.

In addition to that, we see the continuing efforts of the Fabletown witches to piece together all of the shards of the destroyed Bigby. Their plan is that if they can find and reassemble every single bit of the glass Bigby was turned into before he was shattered, they can use the fact that he is a natural shapeshifter to bring him back. To that end, they are employing all of the tricks and spells at their disposal, and even call in a favor from the Lady in the Lake. Lake, as she prefers to be called, is also the proxy along with Sheriff Beast (of Beauty and the ...) in the current marriage negotiations between Gepetto and the Blue Fairy. Of course, that's a whole other subplot as those two characters are now mortal enemies and Beast cooked up the formal marriage proposal as a way to stall for time when Gepetto's and the Blue Fairy's clashes threatened all of Fabletown.

There's also the unfolding bits of Therese's return. She's one of the children of Bigby and Snow White who was lured into Toyland to be the broken toys' new regent. The now adult Therese (time works differently in Toyland) has come home for a visit to tell her parents what happened to her when she disappeared and also to tell them how her brother, Dare, died trying to rescue her. But she has made it very clear she must return to Toyland soon.

And lastly, we have the latest developments with Prince Brandish. He's the rogue who claimed to be betrothed to Snow White and transformed and shattered Bigby before Snow ran him through with his own magical sword. We get a few glimpses of his past to shows us just how twisted a creep he really is, and the surprise of his resurrection during his autopsy. His heart has been magically removed and stored away in a safe place, making him effectively immortal until or unless something should happen to his heart. Of course, immortality isn't all it's cracked up to be for Brandish if Rose Red has anything to say about it.

I know all of these various twists and turns and subplots that interweave and build upon each other don't make it easy for a new reader to pick up an issue and understand what's going on. But as a longtime reader who has followed the story from the beginning, it is one of the things I love about this series. There are almost always little things of importance going on in the background and even a stand-alone issue is very much a part of the larger whole.

Not Quite Ready For Television?!?

Global Frequency trade
DC Vertigo
Warren Ellis, writer
Brian Wood, Garry Leach, Glenn Fabry, Liam Sharp, Roy Allen Martinez, Jon J Muth, David Lloyd, Simon Bisley, Chris Sprouse, Karl Story, Lee Bermejo, Tomm Coker, Jason Pearson and Gene Ha, artists
*** mature content warning***

I'd never known much about this book when it was originally published as a 12-issue series of standalone comics by Wildstorm between 2002 and 2004. I think I'd read or heard a few good things about it because I was familiar with the name. All I can say I knew for certain was that it was rumored to be in development as a television pilot a few years back. I had a light month of ordering comics a few months ago, so I added the trade collection of the series to finally check it out.

I'm glad I did, and I'm also a little glad this series has yet to be picked up by a television network.

Global Frequency is the name of a semi-secret, semi-underground rescue organization. Global Frequency is headed by Miranda Zero, a name we are fairly certain is not her real one. Zero is a tough-as-nails, no-nonsense woman with a large number of skill sets at her command, and she is not afraid to get her hands dirty on the various assignments her organization takes on. The only other constant of Global Frequency is Aleph -- yep, another code name -- a young girl who can multi-task both in terms of managing resources and cyberdata. Aleph runs the central dispatch and processing functions that enable Global Frequency to function, and she is often the only contact others on the Global Frequency ever speak with.

What kinds of things does Global Frequency do? It rescues people from things the general public often knows nothing about. The situations in these twelve stories run the gamut from kidnapping, international terrorism, bio-warfare, alien invasion, secret government military projects gone wrong, you name it.

Talented as these two women are, they simply could not do all of these things on their own. No, they are joined on the Global Frequency by 1,001 agents with various skills and abilities useful in these types of situations. Aleph contacts the people with the specific talents needed given the emergency situation being addressed at any given moment. These people have their regular jobs, regular lives, and are connected only by the specially made cellphones they carry. Most are completely unaware of each other unless or until they are called into service. Some are computer hackers, some are government operatives or military personnel, some are expert drivers or smooth talkers, some are simply killers, and some are just really good at one single thing from cracking codes to solving riddles to traversing an urban setting in record time by looking at it like an obstacle course.

You can see why this type of concept might be attractive to a television network. It has been successfully broadcast in the past in the form of "Mission: Impossible" or "The X-Files" or really, almost any cop-themed show. You have a different threat each week being stopped by the heroes. Except most any example you can think of that has aired on television has one thing that sets it apart from Global Frequency -- a set cast of regulars.

Beyond Miranda Zero and Aleph there is no set cast in Global Frequency. Part of the charm of the series is that not only are the threats different each issue, but so are the experts. And because there are so many operatives working through the Global Frequency, they are expendable in terms of the storytelling. Global Frequency agents can and do die in the course of their respective missions sometimes. That ever-present risk ups the ante and the excitement level for this series, and simply can't be duplicated with a regular cast that must survive to come back each new episode.

I would be all for seeing new installments of Global Frequency, but I'm willing to keep looking for that particular fix to come back to comics. Oh, I'll watch it and hope for the best if the concept ever makes it to television, but I think it is being handled the best with this writer and a different talented artist for each standalone issue.

This Is What Graphic Storytelling Should Be

Scene of the Crime Deluxe Edition hardcover
Image Comics
Ed Brubaker, writer
Michael Lark and Sean Phillips, artists

You'll care about these characters -- they're that well written -- but don't get too attached because many of them won't make it through the stories alive.

I like a lot of what Ed Brubaker produces. He tends to bring out the best in the superheroes he writes, but he truly shines writing everyday people. One of the first series where I really took notice of his work in particular was DC Comics' Gotham Central. That series, with just a very few cameo exceptions, left out the superheroes in favor of focusing on the detectives in Batman's hometown, and Brubaker and co-writer Greg Rucka wrote those folks well.

From there, I signed on for Brubaker's Criminal run with Sean Phillips at Marvel Icon. Here the focus was on criminals, but in a world without superpowers. These are everyday lowlifes -- bank robbers, con artists and ne'er-do-wells. In this series, I found myself feeling sympathy for, and even cheering on, many of the hard-luck cases who filled the pages of Criminal.

All of that is what led me to this Scene of the Crime hardcover. The miniseries by this name is not Ed Brubaker's first comics work, but it is his first work for DC Comics, originally under the Vertigo imprint. The main mystery presented here, "A Little Piece of Goodnight," was intended to be the second case in an ongoing comic series, Brubaker explains in the text piece at the end of the volume. Instead, the editors chose to lead with this tale, and before it was concluded, the ongoing became a series of minis, then just the one story.

The only exception was a short story titled "God and Sinners: A Scene of the Crime Christmas Mystery" which was written for a Vertigo anthology book that printed a few months before Scene of the Crime No. 1 debuted. It is the only other story published to date featuring the main characters in the Scene of the Crime universe -- young private detective Jack Herriman; his uncle, Knut Herriman, a semi-retired, semi-famous crime-scene photographer; and Knut's girlfriend, Molly -- and it is also included in this volume.

The fact that these two stories are the only Scene of the Crime tales to see print so far is one of the many crimes detailed in this book. Jack not only gets to the bottom of the main mystery in "Goodnight," but readers are also treated to much of Jack's own back story and motivations, something Brubaker says he planned to reveal over the course of the ongoing series, little tidbits at a time. It is good that he knew the series wasn't going to be able to continue and could rework all of Jack's story into this single tale. Jack's personal story is every bit as interesting as the missing person case he is hired to solve and the larger plot his investigations uncover along the way.

Once again, Brubaker has crafted an incredible narrative that leaves me wanting more of the same. There is little one can say about a book to more highly recommend it than that. And this tale is also beautifully, grittily illustrated by Lark and Phillips, two frequent collaborators of Brubaker's.

Part of the Pack

Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland hardcover
DC Vertigo
Bill Willingham, writer
Craig Hamilton, Jim Fern, Ray Snyder and Mark Farmer, artists
***mature content warning***

I am a big fan of Bigby Wolf, one of the principal characters of Bill Willingham's Fables universe. When introduced to the series in the first issue, he was the constable and an often strategist for the Fable folk in exile in New York City. Since then, the former Big Bad Wolf of legend has married Snow White and fathered a litter of cubs. Once that blessed event happened, Bigby stepped down as constable in favor of living with his family. Based on stuff I've read online, I'm not that unique in being a fan of Bigby; he's a very popular character in the series. But I like him in spite of his apparent popularity.

I've always liked wolves. They are noble, beautiful creatures; what's not to like. My appreciation of wolves extends to the monster genre. I like many kinds of monsters, but especially werewolves. Let everyone else swoon over vampires and swarm around zombies; I'll take the alpha monsters, werewolves! Bigby wraps both of these things up into one, with even more thrown in. He's also the seventh son of the North Wind, hence his ability to blow pigs' houses in.

But enough preamble. Let's get to this awesome book.

It features Bigby in a solo adventure, so naturally I wanted to order it as soon as it was solicited. But this isn't just a stand-alone Bigby story; I should have known better than that with Willingham's ability to constantly expand on the universe he has created for these characters. If you are new to the Fables universe, this can certainly work as a self-contained tale. All you really need to know is right there between these beautifully illustrated covers. But if you are a longtime Fables fan, this story builds upon the events from way back in Fables Nos. 28 and 29 from almost 10 years ago.

In those two issues, we learned that Bigby had taken part in the fighting of World War II. The Fables characters, magical beings, don't have traditional lifespans, and Fabletown has existed in New York City for decades. Bigby took a leave of absence in the late 1940s in order to combat the Nazi threat on his own terms. His position as constable of Fabletown includes policing but also protecting the Fable folk, he explains. Anyway, a very fun solo Bigby adventure was told in the pages of these two Fables issues.

This hardcover one-shot tells a current tale, but builds upon those WWII adventures depicted in Fables Nos. 28 and 29. Bigby is again on the road by himself doing work on behalf of Fabletown. This is an extended mission involving exploring regions of the United States. Bigby comes across a town by the name of Story City. That name alone might be enough to make him curious, but add to the city's name the fact that the entire population of the town are werewolves who all seem to know Bigby already. Those are the makings of a mystery. And this book is an excellent one!

I Think I'll Pass On More

The Exterminators tpb Vol. 1: Bug Brothers (collecting issues 1-5 of the series)
DC Vertigo
Simon Oliver, writer
Tony Moore, artist
***mature content warning***

This is a book that I was inspired to try based on recommendations I heard listening to comic-themed podcasts. More than once I'd listened to others discuss how much they enjoyed the writing, the art, the story. And I have to admit, despite not much caring for the setting or most of the characters, I did feel a small amount of sympathy for the main character, Henry James, and a small but real curiosity about where the story was headed.

Henry, an ex-convict, is trying to get back on his feet after his stretch in prison. He goes to work for his stepfather, Nils, who owns Bug-Bee-Gone, a pest control company in Los Angeles. The people Henry meets, including some of his new co-workers, are mostly all foul-mouthed degenerates, and the neighborhoods they inhabit are filthy, vermin-infested dumps, to say the least. The Bug-Bee-Gone boys have a new roach gel in their arsenal named Draxx, which has some peculiar properties. This and another subplot involving a mysterious box Henry discovers are what piqued my curiosity the most after reading this first volume.

I decided to research a little more to see just how many volumes were in this series. Maybe if there were just one or two and I could find them cheaply enough, I might continue on. Well my research revealed that the series had run for 30 issues and been collected in a total of five trades. The plan had been for the series to run longer than that, but the book was canceled before it had a chance to go beyond 30. Still, it seemed that the creators knew the end was coming and still wrapped things up, albeit a bit more quickly than originally planned.

What I hadn't counted on in researching how long the book ran, however, was discovering the answers to my questions, both about the box and Draxx. Once I'd read and knew the answers to those questions, I have no real desire to continue reading this story I only marginally cared for, so I doubt I ever seek out the other four trades for this series. I just don't care that much to read them. The art isn't bad, and honestly, the characterizations were pretty consistent and logical for the characters, so I can't really fault the writing either. I just didn't care enough about the characters to keep reading. Let's just say this story wasn't quite my cup of tea.

Those Murderous Fiends!!

Fables 115-121
DC Vertigo
Bill Winngham, writer
Mark Buckingham and Steve Leialoha, artists

I picked this arc of Fables to discuss because I like the Wolf family of characters so much. Boy did that backfire on me.

Once again, the name of this rather lengthy story arc is "Cubs in Toyland." The first issue of this arc had young Therese, one of seven youngsters belonging to Bigby Wolf and Snow White, being "kidnapped" by a toy boat. As one can anticipate from the title of the arc, the boat takes young Therese to Toyland, but their destination is hardly the fun-filled place one might expect. It seems nothing is left living in Toyland as all of the magic is gone from the realm. The broken and discarded toys that inhabit Toyland are still quite animated because they never were alive to begin with, but they are desperately in need of a new monarch to restore the magic and splendor of their home. This is why they have sent out the toy boat that brought Therese.

One might also assume from the title of the arc that Therese is not the only child of Bigby and Snow to come to Toyland. In truth, she wasn't so much kidnapped by the boat as enticed to run away by it. Various taunts from her sister and brothers helped push Therese to that decision. Later that night, after Snow discovers that one of her children is missing, Darien, the eldest of the litter, begins to feel no small amount of remorse for the taunts. The magical nature of Therese's journey prohibits her parents from tracking her whereabouts, but with the help of some other characters, Darien secretly sneaks off to follow and bring his sister back to Wolf Manor.

I won't spoil the remainder of the story by giving further details beyond what one might assume from the title of today's post, and that much information can be gleaned almost anywhere on the Internet. Suffice to say that not everyone makes it out of this story alive, and none of the Wolf clan is left untouched by the events of this story. This isn't the first time Willingham and crew have killed off a beloved cast member in this title. In fact, sometimes it seems that the more popular a character grows in fans' eyes, the greater likelihood that something truly tragic will befall said character. It's one of the things I like/despise about this title. It's just sad when tragedy hits so close to home.

Exactly What I Expected -- Delightful!

Fairest 1-2
DC Vertigo
Bill Willingham, writer
Phil Jimenez, artist

I've read a number of underwhelming books in the past week. I'm not going to name-drop them here as that would serve no constructive purpose and there's more than enough animosity in our little hobby on the "Internets" anyway. I won't even say that any of these books were bad, as I did finish them all instead of dropping them unfinished in disgust. They just weren't as good as I'd hoped when, in some cases, I specifically sought out these particular story arcs and bought titles or issues I might not have otherwise purchased.

That wasn't the case for this newest offshoot from the Fables title by Willingham et al. In fact, although some time has passed, this story begins directly from events in the main Fables title.

The title, Fairest, refers to the beautifully illustrated women who populate the Fables stories from Snow White to Rose Red to Cinderella to Rapunzel to Belle to Briar Rose, to name just a few. In fact, Briar Rose -- Sleeping Beauty, if you don't already know -- is the central character in this first arc, but the story actually begins with a young man named Ali Baba, prince of thieves.

Ali finds himself in the middle of the charred ruins of the Adversary's former Imperial City, looking to loot anything of value left behind. What he finds is a bejeweled bottle that holds not a genie but a "lowly little bottle imp." The imp, it seems, doesn't possess a great deal of magic for granting wishes, but rather has the ability to secure knowledge: he "knows" things. The imp/comedy relief sidekick tells Ali that he only needs to awaken a sleeping princess to get the untold riches and wealth he craves.

For anyone not familiar with the main Fables book, a long-running story theme dealt with these Fable-folk being driven from their native magical lands by an Adversary who seized control of everything and created a vast empire. In a large war between the denizens of Fabletown and the Adversary, the true power behind the Emperor was captured and most of his minions were defeated. The plan included taking out much of the Imperial City with a sneak attack making use of Briar Rose's unique curse: She was smuggled into the city and put to sleep. As anyone who knows the story of Sleeping Beauty knows, once Briar Rose was put to sleep, everyone within the sphere of her curse's influence also fell asleep. Thus were many of the Adversary's most powerful lieutenants caught off-guard and removed from the battle.

So naturally, once Ali Baba finds the sleeping Briar Rose and awakens her with a kiss, she isn't the only one to wake up, and the trio (don't forget the bottle imp) must contend with some mighty annoyed villains, not least of which is the Ice Queen.

This book, like the main Fables title, is a fun read filled with exotic locales, high adventure, smart writing and let's don't forget gorgeous art. Rumor has it that this title will feature different art teams for each of its different story arcs. Who better to kick the series off than with two artists known for drawing beautiful women: Phil Jimenez on interiors and Adam Hughes on covers.

Kudos, gentlemen!

Shades Of Pufnstuf

Fables 114
DC Vertigo
Bill Willingham, writer
Mark Buckingham, artist

You have to be of a certain age and know who Sid and Marty Krofft are to "get" the header for this post, I imagine, but the main point is a young child is led astray by an evil boat in disguise.

I haven't talked much about Fables in this most recent tour of the blogosphere, but that doesn't mean I'm not enjoying the book. Month-in and month-out, it is a joy to read, and I bow before Willingham and his illustrators for their creation of this universe. It's just a book I enjoy after this much time, though, and I don't often stop to think about why or try to put the enjoyment into words. I decided to give it a try with this issue, however, since it is the beginning of a new arc, and while Fables arcs tend to run far and wide of the main story most of the time, this one will center on the Wolf family, some of my favorite characters.

For those not familiar with this series, it involves any and all fairy tale and folklore characters you've ever heard of. They are all real and living in secret in our "mundane" world. Most have come to live among the "mundies," as they refer to normal humans, because of a fierce adversary who long ago drove most of them from their traditional homelands. That adversary was revealed and dealt with among many other tales in the first 100 issues of this series. The Wolf family sprang from the courtship and union of Bigby Wolf (the Big Bad Wolf, a werewolf descended from the North Wind, hence his prowess at blowing things down) and Snow White (her name is a little more readily recognizable). These two started off as co-workers in the Fabletown administration, but they didn't really like each other much. Their love story, a fan favorite of the series, evolved over time and has led to a litter of seven children -- three girls and four boys.

It's always fun to drop in on the Wolf family and see their adventures, especially with the addition of the children, six of whom inherited the ability to fly from their grandfather, the North Wind, and the ability to transform into wolf cubs from their father. These six -- Winter, Blossom, Therese, Connor, Ambrose and Dare -- all appear human most of the time. But what of the seventh, you ask? Ghost is aptly named as he is invisible, as all gusts of wind are. Their antics are always fun to read.

The current story arc beginning in this issue is titled Cubs in Toyland, so one can assume the destination the absconding boat has in mind for its passenger. And by the use of the plural form of "cub" in the title, one can further assume that the one child abducted will soon be joined by at least some of her siblings. But this introductory installment concerns itself with a toy boat cajoling young Therese to find some water in which they can play together. Once Therese finds some non-frozen water in the winter landscape near her home, however, the boat grows to a size which can carry her and sets off. Despite its new size, the boat itself still looks quite toy-like, but its reflection in the water looks much more sinister.

All of this happens against a backdrop of other snippets to keep other story lines advancing. For instance, Bigby and daughter Winter are not at home with the rest of the Wolf clan. Recently, the North Wind died and fate has decreed that one of Snow and Bigby's children is destined to be the new North Wind. While Ghost might seem an obvious choice, few people outside his family know of Ghost's existence, since he's invisible. It seems Winter is the one destined to be the new North Wind, as decided in a previous arc. Winter is being trained for her new role by her grandfather's servants, and Bigby has gone along to protect his daughter as she is only 9 years old. We also spend a few pages checking in with the majority of the denizens of Fabletown, who are trying to reclaim their secret neighborhood in the middle of New York City, an area that was recently lost to them in a battle with an entity know as Mr. Dark. If you've never read an issue, most of this background will mean very little, but this series has such wide appeal, I have little doubt most readers who find the basic premise even a tad interesting would enjoy catching up on the story through the various trade collections available.

Ewwwwwww ...

Animal Man 1-4
DC Comics
Jeff Lemire, writer
Travel Foreman, artist

Not quite sure what to make of this book.

I initially became aware of the Buddy Baker Animal Man character with Grant Morrison's re-imagining of the title as a Vertigo comic before Vertigo even existed. I liked the first five issues, and then dropped the title for some reason I can no longer recall, likely money and/or too many other titles I liked better. I later purchased the entire Morrison run on the title through the three trades DC collected them in. Not sure I was ready for the title when the individual issues came out, but I liked it enough to keep an eye out for the remainder of the series as it went through several subsequent writers. I have since purchased all of the issues of the Vertigo Animal Man after Morrison's run, but have not yet had/taken time to read them.

I next got a taste of Animal Man in the pages of 52, which returned him to a more super-hero style, in my mind, but I like that Animal Man. He wants to be a hero and has super powers, but he's also a family man and the superheroing is kind of like a part-time hobby for him. It's an interesting and not too common dynamic for a superhero title.

Then with the announcement of the DCnU, I learned that Animal Man would be one of the new titles DC was starting out with. I was excited by the idea of a monthly Animal Man book, while also trepidacious about all the talk of it being a horror title by a writer known for horror.

Buddy still has his wife and two kids, and he's a former stunt man who developed the ability to draw on the strengths of various animals. He's a part-time hero/adventurer and a full-time family man. But that family life is threatened when his young daughter, Maxine, begins displaying some abilities of her own. Dead animals seem to be re-animating and being drawn to her. They share with her, and she tries to tell her father, about the dangers of something called The Rot about the same time three monsters, agents of The Rot, show up to try to destroy her. It seems Maxine is a defender of The Red — kind of a carnivore's equivalent to The Green for plants in Swamp Thing — and The Rot wants to corrupt her to its own ends. All of this is new to Animal Man, and he must defend his daughter from these opposing forces.

Well, now that I've read the first four issues, I'm not sure I would exactly call this horror, but it isn't exactly my taste either. This title also seems like it will be heavily interacting and crossing over with Swamp Thing and a few other similarly themed books I don't have much interest in buying. Not sure this is my style of book plus it will tie in with several other books I'm not reading equals this is looking like a book for me to drop.

And, unless this is a completely original take on Lemire's part, it is making me think I might not like some of those later issues of that earlier Animal Man run I have yet to read.

Thank You, Sir, May I Have Another

Today, I'm going to talk a bit about a series that isn't even being published right now. But there are plenty of trades available, so if what I have to say sparks an interest, rush out and buy some of those, thus maybe signaling to the publishers involved that they should devote some of their budgets to producing more.

The comic in question is Fallen Angel by writer Peter David. This book began its life in 2003 at DC Comics, believe it or not, but it was set apart from the DC Universe proper. We don't get much of the title character's back story at first, but we do know that her "code name" is literal. A former guardian angel, Lee has great strength and a number of other unique abilities. We know a disagreement between her and her former "boss" led to her fall, and that she is basically a good person, but she is not quite happy with life or its circumstances. We see glimpses of Lee's life during the day where she works as a gym instructor for a local girls' school. But most of the stories revolve around Lee's nights in a city know as Bete Noire.

Bete Noire is of vague location and populated by a number of colorful characters. There's Benny, who seems to be a street bum but is in reality the serpent from the original Eden story. There's Dolf, the German bar owner who looks after Lee sometimes and serves as her closest confidant, but also may be one of history's most notorious figures. And there's the Magistrate, the local authority in Bete Noire, who both controls events in the city and is controlled by them.

Lee spends her nights in this desolate city of last resort, often drinking in Dolf's bar. Occasionally, some poor soul will come to Bete Noire seeking the assistance of one called the Fallen Angel. If Lee chooses to listen to the person's story, and if she chooses to care, she might help the person with whatever problem has brought them to Bete Noire.

The existence of superheroes would muddy the waters somewhat in a book like this, where most things are of the real world, with only an occasional intrusion by the spiritual or supernatural. The book was quite a good one but only lasted 20 issues despite the great stories by David and the fantastic art by David Lopez. The problem, I think, was that the book had trouble placing itself. The supernatural aspects of the story line and the more mature themes would have made this an excellent Vertigo title and would have led to the book getting into the hands of more readers who I think would've appreciated it for what it was. Instead, the decision was made to brand this a mainstream DC title instead. But the absence of costumed heroes, even in cameos, killed the book's chances with the superhero crowd. Obviously, I believe there to be overlap between the two audiences, I'm proof of that, but apparently not enough to save this worthwhile title.

Thankfully, when DC canceled the book, it was picked up by IDW Publishing. They relaunched the title under the same name with a new No. 1 in 2005. Wisely, IDW opted not to change much of the format. The book jumped ahead several years in time with the change, but the stories were still in the same vein by the same writer. David Lopez didn't make the switch; if memory serves, he had an exclusive contract with DC at the time. But Peter David and IDW replaced him with J.K. Woodward who provided both painted covers and painted interiors.

This series continued the story of Lee and Bete Noire, adding in a new twist with Lee's adult son, a character who had just been born about the time the DC series ended. We get to see more of Lee's background in this series, including the event which led to her fall. We are also introduced to more characters who have known Lee longer and to whom she is not such a mystery, which helps the reader learn more about her along the way.

This series, too, was canceled, this time after 33 issues, but it didn't go away completely. The final issue promised the series would be back with a new story arc in a limited series. That series, Fallen Angel: Reborn, materialized in 2009. It matched Lee up with a character named Illyria from the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" television program and comics. I'm not very familiar with either incarnation of Buffy, so the Fallen Angel series was my first exposure to Illyria, but David does an excellent job incorporating what you need to know about the character into the current story. This latest FA series, because of its dual focus, wasn't quite as good as the earlier FA titles, in my humble opinion, but it was still a good story. It gave a tad more character development to Illyria than to Lee, which might be fine for Buffy fans, but left me wanting more Fallen Angel stories.

At this point, I'm not sure if there are more Fallen Angel stories coming or not. I've heard indications that other limited series will continue, but to date, nothing new has been solicited. I truly hope David is not done with the character as there is still a great deal of story potential in Lee. But the stories presented thus far are solid reads well worth your time. And hey, if my hawking the past trades gets someone to take notice and produce more Fallen Angel comics, we all benefit, right?