Bit late this busy week getting to the Comic Pile. So let's see what left or was added to the Comic Pile for the week of 04.10.2013, plus what comics really stood out.
Leaving the Comic Pile this week is SECRET AVENGERS. With so much goodness going on in the AVENGERS world right now c/o Jonathan Hickman, SECRET AVENGERS seems a bit redundant. Plus, Nick Fury having a forgotten black son who is now the new Nick Fury (he was named after his Dad) is just a desperate and pandering attempt to match the comics up to the Marvel movies. Samuel L. Jackson Nick Fury is awesome enough in ULTIMATES. He doesn't need to be in two Marvel universes. I do recommend sticking with AGE OF ULTRON, but it is a steaming pile. There's a big shake up coming to the Marvel U in this title though. So let's look at the good and some really intriguing mature content indie titles going on at Image Comics and a little Constantine thrown in too after the controversial Vertigo switch. Nothing new was added this week to the Comic Pile.
Leaving the Comic Pile this week is SECRET AVENGERS. With so much goodness going on in the AVENGERS world right now c/o Jonathan Hickman, SECRET AVENGERS seems a bit redundant. Plus, Nick Fury having a forgotten black son who is now the new Nick Fury (he was named after his Dad) is just a desperate and pandering attempt to match the comics up to the Marvel movies. Samuel L. Jackson Nick Fury is awesome enough in ULTIMATES. He doesn't need to be in two Marvel universes. I do recommend sticking with AGE OF ULTRON, but it is a steaming pile. There's a big shake up coming to the Marvel U in this title though. So let's look at the good and some really intriguing mature content indie titles going on at Image Comics and a little Constantine thrown in too after the controversial Vertigo switch. Nothing new was added this week to the Comic Pile.
SEX #2 (MATURE CONTENT)
BY JOE CASEY & PIOTR KOWALSKI
"CHAPTER 2: WUNDERBARECHANCEN"
There is some really ground breaking and controversial work being done at Image Comics right now. To me DC and Marvel are excellent companies but do not take risks anymore with the types of stories they are willing to tell. Comics are all about risk. It is what pushes the medium forward and Image comics seems to be all about the freedom to tell the stories that should be told. I love my super heroes and heroines but it can get boring quick with the same old same old let's deconstruct a super hero, put them back together differently and then revert everything back to the way it was in the first place. How does that make the medium better? Why are the likes of Brubaker, Hickman, Morrison, Casey, Strazynski, Kirkman and Diggle taking on more and more projects with this company? These writers are the giants of the industry and Image only makes up about 1% of the entire market. The answer is editorial freedom and the confidence this company has in writers to do it the writer's way. It's always blown my mind when a creative writer like Morrison gets hired by DC or Marvel to be creative only to have their work diluted by some over the top editor. This title in particular picks up on a lot of super heroic spandex themes from Watchmen. Simon and Annabelle seem to headed down the repressed super hero fetish path together ie: Nite Owl and Silk Spectre. The psychological nature that drives this story is intense as a result. The "sex" is merely the backdrop. If you fought crime as a spandex super hero all your life, how repressed would you have to be to live in such a dark world with very little light for you? Everyone should be picking up Joe Casey's other new series available through Image comics in May, THE BOUNCE.
SAGA #12 (MATURE CONTENT)
BY BRIAN K. VAUGHAN & FIONA STAPLES
Brian K. Vaughan continues to issue us another epic masterpiece unlike anything you've read before. He's somehow taken all the aspects that make up the best sci-fi, fantasy, magic, tech and war comics; rolling it all into one amazing read. Fiona Stapes is truly an artistic star to follow on to future projects as there is so much texture to her illustrations (I'm not an artist but looks like some painting being added to the illustrations). This issue also had a lot of controversy surrounding it with gay sex scenes (apparently the many hetero sex scenes have gone unnoticed). Yes the sex is graphic (which has nothing to do with the sex being between men). Actually all the sex scenes hetero or gay are brief but graphic but it gives us insight to the repressed feelings of Robot IV who is struggling with his repressed gay sexuality in this instance. Interestingly enough the controversy only began after Apple did not release this issue for download, sparking condemnation that the issue had not been made available because of the graphic sex (which only appears in a couple of panels. the issue before had a hetero sex scene for 2 pages with some pretty risky language). Apple had simply not received the issue for download from Image etc. What this highlights though is my distrust for downloads. The distrust is not the download itself but ie: a company like Apple being able to make the call on what content is suitable or not for us to digest. Marvel, DC and Image etc follow editorial guidelines as well as content advisories, so after a great comic has passed the litmus test at those companies, potentially a company like Apple having a say in a comic's final release really bothers me. This did not happen in this case, but raises a big flag for the future.
CONSTANTINE #2
BY JEFF LEMIRE/RAY FAWKES & RENTAO GUEDES
"THE BLIND MAN"
Well, HELLBLAZER ended at Vertigo under controversy, as DC has pulled the character into DC THE NEW 52. Upsetting to see the only title left with longevity in comics (accurate numbering) to go, but let's all remember the roots of John Constantine and that he was never originally just a Vertigo character of the occult. He is a Swamp Thing character from Alan Moore's run and has given Superman and even Batman reason to squirm and saved the universe many times over that. Constantine appears in Crisis on Infinite Earths with an encounter with Batman that just makes the whole idea of Batman seem silly for a few moments. This is why it is good to have Constantine back in the DCU as he is the only character that really holds all the super heroics in check, while making the sacrifices no one else will. Let's shake things up and by throwing the Spectre at us in the 2nd issue we are all in for a treat. Technically the Spectre is Earth 2/JSA and was Crispus Allen up until the NEW 52, but let's see if this change works. The other important note for this series is if John's responsibility in the death of Zatanna's father Zatara still holds up (that was in Alan Moore's Swamp Thing as well). If this title doesn't work I can't see how DC could resurrect the Vertigo series. It ended perfectly with Constantine being stripped of his immortality and wasting away at the end of a pub bar like the punter he would have done if never venturing into the occult. Give this series a chance!
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