Review: B.P.R.D. VAMPIRE #2

B.P.R.D. VAMPIRE #2 (OF 5)
DARK HORSE COMICS – @DarkHorseComics

STORY: Mike Mignola, Gabriel Bá, Fábio Moon
ART: Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon
COLORS: Dave Stewart
LETTERS: Clem Robins
COVER: Fábio Moon
EDITOR: Scott Allie
28pp, Color, $3.50 U.S. (April 2013)

Agent Simon Anders’ quest for vampires takes him deep into Czechoslovakia in the second issue of B.P.R.D.: Vampire.

The Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (the B.P.R.D. or BPRD) protects America and the rest of the world from the occult, the paranormal, and the supernatural. The B.P.R.D. first appeared in the debut Hellboy comic book miniseries, Hellboy: Seed of Destruction (1994). The Bureau received its own title with B.P.R.D.: Hollow Earth (2002).

B.P.R.D.: Vampire is a direct sequel to B.P.R.D.: 1948 and is separate from the main B.P.R.D. series. This five issue miniseries is also set in 1948. It follows an apparently doomed Agent Simon Anders and his quest for revenge against a clan of vampires and its Gorgon-eyed queen, Hecate.

B.P.R.D.: Vampire #2 opens with Agent Anders traveling by train to Cesky Krumlov, Czechoslovakia. Twelve days prior to this trip, at B.P.R.D. Headquarters in Fairfield, Connecticut, Anders and Professor Trevor Bruttenholm consulted “witch maps.” This decides Anders’ destination.

Arriving in Cesky Krumlov, Anders meets his guide, Hana Novarov, from the Krumlov History Museum. The village is as strange as its history, which is what interests Anders. He has come to track the history of the mid-18th century figure, Eleonora von Schwarzenberg. Through Hana, Anders travels the long and winding road that is local history and the lineage of Wilhelm von Rosenberg, former Lord of Krumlov Castle.

In my comic book review of the first issue of B.P.R.D.: Vampire, I wrote that the basic plot, written by Mike Mignola, Gabriel Bá, and Fábio Moon, is straightforward and simple. The second issue begins to add more elements, and Agent Simon Anders’ personality seems less like that of a stoic hero and more like that of a complicated, anti-hero type. Even Hana Novarov is a (delightfully) unknown quantity.

I like that Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon’s art fits nicely within the general graphic sensibility of the Mike Mignola universe (the Mignola-verse). The art is creepy, as befits a horror comic, but has the qualities of a magical folk tale or enchanted fairy tale. Yes, B.P.R.D.: Vampire is indeed a good read.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

Review: STAR WARS: LEGACY Volume 2 #2

STAR WARS: LEGACY VOLUME 2 #2
DARK HORSE COMICS – @DarkHorseComics

["Star Wars Central" review page is here.]

SCRIPT: Corrina Bechko and Gabriel Hardman
ART: Gabriel Hardman
COLORS: Rachelle Rosenberg
LETTERS: Michael Heisler
COVER: Dave Wilkins
EDITOR: Randy Stradley
28pp, Color, $2.99 U.S. (April 2013)

Prisoner of the Floating World Part Two

Star Wars: Legacy Volume 2 is a new series set in the Legacy era. In the Star Wars Expanded Universe, Legacy is a time period that begins 40 years after the end of the original Star Wars (or Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope) and continues to some indeterminate time.

The events depicted in Star Wars: Legacy Volume 2 take place “approximately 138 years after the events of A New Hope.” Legacy Volume 2 focuses on the character, Ania Solo, the great-great granddaughter of Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo. Young Miss Solo is also the owner of a junkyard.

As Star Wars: Legacy Volume 2 #2 opens, Ania Solo and her friend, Sauk, a refugee from Mon Calamari, are on the run in the sewers of Carreras Minor. Meanwhile, the captors of Imperial Knight Yalta Val make him an offer they don’t want him to refuse. Then, a younger Imperial Knight, Jao Assam, starts to think that Val is in trouble, but now, he must convince the Imperial Court. Also, the lightsaber she found brings Ania more trouble, but AG-37 comes to the rescue.

My review of Star Wars: Legacy Volume 2 #2 does not hold any new praises. The second issue offers more of the same, and ain’t it grand that issue #1, which provides the same, is so wonderful?

Star Wars: Legacy Volume 2 creators, co-writer Corrina Bechko and co-writer/artist Gabriel Hardman, are spinning one hell of a Star Wars yarn. They have an excellent character in Ania Solo, and the supporting cast is pretty good, too. If Star Wars by Brian Wood and Carlos D’Anda is the best new Star Wars comic book in some time, then, Star Wars: Legacy Volume 2 is determined to be more than next-best.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

Excel Saga: Door Gate Portal

I read Excel Saga, Vol. 25

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin.

#IReadsYou Graphic Novel Review: LOST IN THE WASH

LOST IN THE WASH OGN
CANDLE LIGHT PRESS – @candlelightpres

WRITER: John Ira Thomas
ARTIST: Will Grant
ISBN: 978-0-9766053-9-3; paperback (February 2013)
214pp, B&W and Color, $19.95 U.S.

About six years ago, writer John Ira Thomas (Zoo Force) and artist Will Grant (The Scrounge Was Here!) first presented Lost in the Wash, a graphic novel in progress. The duo had been publishing Lost in the Wash in chapters and segments in various single-issue editions since 2007. Some of the Lost in the Wash publications were also released as convention exclusives. Now, the gothic horror tale is complete.

Candle Light Press recently released Lost in the Wash as a complete, paperback original graphic novel. In the end, the story, spread out over 189 pages, comes together as an epic of fever dreams and surreal visions. Lost in the Wash is one of the best comic books of the year 2013, and it is also a most uncommon comic book. Readers are unlikely to have seen anything similar to it.

Lost in the Wash is set in the town of Francisco, Colorado, a name the residents changed to “Isco,” in order to remove the suggestion of “France” from the town’s name. As its lead character, Lost in the Wash offers Darin Miles, a down and out loser type who retuned to Isco, the site of hardship and tragedy for his family, looking for a new start. Darin works at his Uncle Sal Miles’ “Laundromat,” which Darin calls “Laundroma” because the light on the letter “t” has gone out. Sal Miles lives in an ominous castle just up the road from the Laundromat. The castle is like a Winchester House construction project onto which Sal keeps building.

Not only does Darin have to deal with his uncle (an unpleasant man, gleefully proud of his offensiveness), but he also has to put up with jerky customers. Then, one day, something wet, wicked, and monstrous pops out of a washer and devours a contrary customer. Darin wonders if this monster in the washers is a good thing, especially if it will rid him of rude customers.

Meanwhile, there are two people, watching from the sidelines. Terisa Salazar, owner of the Asp Motel (formerly Aspen Motel), has a past with Darin. What are her feelings for him, now? Walter “Walt” Arganbright owns the Phoenix and frightens tourists with his scary stories. What does he want and what does he know? It all heads for a showdown at the event called Gothic Colorado.

From the first time I read Lost in the Wash, I found that it reminded me of the horror comics published by Warren Publishing and, especially, by EC Comics. I could see John Ira Thomas and Will Grant as a 21st century iteration of a Harvey Kurtzman-Graham Ingels team-up. If EC Comics had published graphic novels, I think that they were more likely to look like Lost in the Wash than pretty much any horror or dark fantasy titles from Vertigo or IDW.

Thomas transports us into the mind of Darin Miles, an unreliable narrator (of sorts) and then, also makes the point of view of either of three other characters: Sal Miles, Terisa Salazar and Walt Arganbright just as important. However, Thomas doesn’t cheat the reader by confusingly focusing equally on four characters. Just the opposite, he challenges and engages the readers with necessary alternate perspectives of the situation and action and of all characters.

Will Grant, who is an unknown comic book creator, proves that he deserves to be known. In Lost in the Wash, Grant’s art is a testament to the fact that a comic book artist must understand design and page layout just as much as he needs to know how to draw figures and objects. Grant’s M.C. Escher-like graphics and “Ghastly” Ingels-like compositions are a series of mosaics that will challenge your mind into vertigo. However, it is worth the effort to find what’s what in this beautiful comic book art.

Obviously, I like this book… a lot. I’m somewhat mixed about the ending, because I think this graphic novel should only be the end of a chapter, not of the entire story. Lost in the Wash is the beginning of a beautiful fictional world.

I am surprised that neither Thomas nor Grant is producing comic books for DC Comics or Marvel or even the mid-majors like Dark Horse Comics, Image Comics, and IDW Publishing. Perhaps, neither Thomas nor Grant is interested, or neither has been approached. Still, Lost in the Wash is the calling card; Thomas and Grant are ready, Mr. DeMille, for their close-ups.

A

www.candlelightpress.com

http://candlelightpress.com/litw.html

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

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A Devil and Her Long Song: Enter Shintaro Kurosu

I read A Devil and Her Love Song, Vol. 8

I posted a review at ComicBookBin.

Comic Book Review: JUPITER'S LEGACY #1

JUPITER'S LEGACY #1
IMAGE COMICS – @ImageComics

CREATORS: Mark Millar and Frank Quitely
WRITER: Mark Millar
ARTIST/COVER: Frank Quitely
COLORS/LETTERS: Peter Doherty
VARIANT COVERS: Bryan Hitch, Dave Johnson, Phil Noto, J. Scott Campbell, Christian Ward
28pp, Color, $2.99 U.S. (April 2013)

There is a new comic book series from superstar writer, Mark Millar, the creator of Kick-Ass and Wanted, both of which were adapted into films. It is entitled Jupiter’s Legacy, part of his “Millarworld” line, and Millar’s co-creator is artist Frank Quitely. The series focuses on the children of the world’s first superheroes and their struggles to live up to a legacy that is practically poisonous to the new generation.

Jupiter’s Legacy #1 opens in 1932 in Morocco. The story’s first focus is Sheldon Sampson, the heir to a fortune wiped out during the Wall Street crash of 1929. He has convinced his friends to follow him on a journey to a place he has seen only in his dreams. Called The Island, Sampson believes that the place will offer gifts that can save the United States of America, which is in the midst of the Great Depression.

A little over 80 years later, the great superheroes have achieved even greater things, but there is trouble. The world’s first superheroes have grown old, and their children cannot live up to their parents’ remarkable legacies.

I enjoyed reading Jupiter’s Legacy #1, but I cannot really render a final or whole judgment after reading one issue. That’s the curse of modern comics storytelling. A scant twenty pages of text plus decompression – spreading a storyline over four to six issues (if not more) and that combination forms a truncated chapter, if not a woefully incomplete episode.

I will say that there are some interesting ideas here. As intriguing as this take on superheroes is, Millar’s allusions to the current real world political and financial climate are the most attention grabbing material. Millar draws parallels between the 21st century and the 1920s and 30s in a brash way – as if to say that he does not care whether anyone agrees or disagrees to any extent.

Jupiter’s Legacy is not Frank Quitely’s best work, although, as usual, it is more attention-grabbing than the work of most other artists. For me, the best of Quitely remains New X-Men. Still, Quitely’s visual style is so unique and iconoclastic that I’d be interested in his art even if he were only producing still-life drawings for an extension course at the local junior college. Plus, Quitely’s compositions for Jupiter’s Legacy give off an unsettling vibe. Something bad is coming, and Quitely does something bad quite well.

A-

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

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Dorohedoro: Memory-Go-Round

I read Dorohedoro, Vol. 9

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin.