I Reads You: 2016

Showing posts with label 2016. Show all posts

Thursday, May 29, 2025

#IReadsYou Review: HUCK Volume 1

HUCK VOLUME 1

IMAGE COMICS

STORY: Mark Millar

ART: Rafael Albuquerque

COLORS: Dave McCaig

LETTERS: Nate Piekos of Blambot

EDITOR: Nicole Boose

COVER: Rafael Albuquerque

ISBN: 9781534300804; paperback; (July 26, 2016)

160pp, Color, $14.99 U.S. (May 2016)

Rated T / Teen

Huck created by Mark Millar and Rafael Albuquerque

Book One: All-American

Huck was a six issue comic book miniseries created by writer Mark Millar and artist Rafael Albuquerque. Originally published from 2015 to 2016, Huck focused on a man who lives in a small town from where he anonymously travels the world doing good deeds and acts of kindness and mercy using his super powers. The series was first collected as a trade paperback graphic novel in 2016.

Huck Volume 1 opens in rural Maine. In a quiet seaside town, there are picket fences, farms, old-fashioned gas stations, and everyone knows everyone. Life is a good, and it is made better by Huck, a 34-year-old young man of mysterious origins. He humbly works at a gas station, but he has special gifts and physical abilities. Each day, he uses his gifts, such as super-strength, to do a good deed.

His neighbors return his favors by keeping Huck's abilities a secret, but a newcomer to the town – in the form of Diane Davis – sees money in revealing Huck to the media. Now, Huck is about to discover that his past had an eye on the future – a dark future of beings like him.

THE LOWDOWN: Millarwold and Netflix provide me with PDF review copies of their publications and have been doing so for several years now. I recently requested a copy of Huck Volume 1 in anticipation of Huck: Big Bad World #1, which is due in May 14, 2025.

When one considers writer Mark Millar's previous work on his creator owned series like Wanted, Kick-Ass, and Nemesis, it is not unreasonable to be shocked that Millar could write a comic book like Huck: All-American. By turns sweet and sentimental, the first issue, Huck #1, almost seems like a fanciful retelling of the early years of Clark Kent. However, it goes by way of Mayberry of former CBS sitcom, “The Andy Griffith Show,” more so than by way of Superman's Metropolis. Millar tries to create the spirit of genuine Americana, and he pulls it off in a way that is different from the way two boys from Cleveland (writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster) did it.

I initially had mixed feelings about artist Rafael Albuquerque's work on Huck #1. Albuquerque is both a distinctive stylist and storyteller, but almost a decade ago, I found his work in that first issue to be flat. Now, I find Albuquerque's art to be a revelation. Huck Volume 1 is a revelation.

Albuquerque's work in the entirety of Huck is glorious. He really depicts and captures the spirit of Huck for which Millar is aiming. Huck is not so much about good versus evil as it is about people who tirelessly do for others versus people who perpetually hurt and destroy others for their own personal gain. Dave McCaig's colors convey Huck's spirit of human goodness. The lettering by Nate Piekos is classic comics cool and gives the story a vintage 1980s sci-fi movie aesthetic.

Wow! I love this first volume of Huck. I would never go against the Moonstone family and the The Magic Order, but Huck is close to being my favorite Millarworld comic book. I must have really been having a bad time in life back when Huck was originally published to have felt so “meh” about it. [Actually, there was an awful lot of family melodrama back then. It was other people's problems, and I was letting it constantly drag me down.] Anyway, the first issue of the new series, Huck: Big Bad World, is about to drop. I think I'm in a better mood to receive Huck this time.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Fans of Mark Millar and Millarworld titles will want to read Huck Volume 1.

[This volume includes a section of Rafael Albuquerque's character designs, layouts, and inked art.]

A+

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

The HUCK VOLUME 1 trade paperback is available at Amazon.

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http://www.millarworld.tv/

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Wednesday, October 16, 2024

#IReadsYou Review: BATMAN: EARTH ONE Volume Two

BATMAN: EARTH ONE VOLUME TWO

DC COMICS

STORY: Geoff Johns

PENCILS: Gary Frank

INKS: Jonathan Sibal

COLORS: Brad Anderson

LETTERS: Rob Leigh

COVER: Gary Frank with Brad Anderson

ISBN: 978-1-4012-6251-8; paperback (June 21, 2016)

144pp, Color, $14.99 U.S., $17.99 CAN

Batman created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger

Batman: Earth One Volume 2 is 2015 hardcover original graphic novel (OGN) published by DC Comics. It is written by Geoff Johns; drawn by Gary Frank (pencils) and Jonathan Sibal (inks); colored by Brad Anderson; and lettered by Rob Leigh. Set in a reality that is different from the flagship Batman titles, Earth One Vol. 2 pits Batman against The Riddler for the first time.

In 2009, DC Comics announced plans to publish new graphic novels that would retell or re-imagine the beginnings of Batman and Superman. Each character would have his own ongoing series of original graphic novels depicting his earliest moments as a superhero and crime fighter. Each graphic novel would be a stand-alone story set on a new Earth with an all-new continuity. Superman: Earth One Volume One arrived in October 2010 and Batman: Earth One Volume One arrived in 2012, both released as hardcover original graphic novels. To date (2024), there have been three releases each featuring Superman and Batman, and some releases featuring other DC Comics characters. [My review is based on the 2016 paperback edition of this graphic novel.]

Batman: Earth One Volume Two opens in the gritty, contemporary metropolis of Gotham City in the wake of the murder of Mayor Osward Cobblepot (as seen in Vol. 1). The police and the public believe that Batman murdered the mayor, but the actual killer is Alfred Pennyworth. The former Royal Marine and friend of Bruce Wayne's late father, Thomas Wayne, Alfred is now Bruce's head of security and partner in Bruce's war on crime and corruption as the costumed-wearing vigilante, The Batman.

Something else, however, is also troubling Gotham City. It has been plunged into terror by an enigmatic anarchist, terrorist, and killer calling himself “The Riddler.” He begins with a bang with the murder of five people who plunge to their deaths in an elevator. Batman is determined to stop him, but he finds himself caught in the conflicting ideologies of Detective Jim Gordon of the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD) and of Alfred. Gordon is also dealing with the troubles of his partner, Harvey Bullock. Once flashy and overconfident, Bullock is now traumatized by the discovery he made in a serial killer's basement (as seen in Vol. 1).

If that weren't enough melodrama, Gotham Mayor Jessica Dent wants Bruce to help her discover the identities of the five VIP Gotham residents who have taken over the late Mayor Cobblepot's criminal empire. However, her brother, District Attorney Harvey Dent, has hated Bruce since they were children, and he has his own secret agenda. Meanwhile, there are reports of a bizarre creature, called “Killer Croc, prowling the sewers of the city, treating human and animal as meat for the beast.

THE LOWDOWN: I was crazy about Batman: Earth One Volume One. It is like a “Batman Family” story because Johns writes it as if it were an ensemble crime drama. Batman is obviously the lead, but Vol. 1 seems to treat Bruce Wayne as one of several supporting characters in the story. I rather like that.

In Batman: Earth One Volume Two, John makes Bruce Wayne the lead, with the Batman being only one part of a complicate life of purposes. The story seems to be about Bruce Wayne working out who he is. Is Bruce just the Batman, or is Bruce a civilian with a mission that is just as important as Batman's mission as a costumed vigilante? It is an interesting take, one that is more interesting than anything to do with The Riddler angle of the story.

Speaking of the Riddler: I have not yet read Batman: Earth One Volume Three, but I believe the first two volumes had a big influence on director Matt Reeves' 2022 Batman film, The Batman, especially Vol. 2. Reading this graphic novel, over two years after first seeing The Batman, I find that Vol. 2 seems quite familiar. It wasn't long into reading this that I was making connections to the 2022 Batman film, which also has The Riddler as a terrorist-like villain.

British comic book artist, Gary Frank, has displayed his muscular compositions and forceful graphical storytelling to readers for the better part of four decades – three decades in the U.S. I don't think Geoff John's edgy, retooling of Batman, which owes a lot to Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and to Alan Moore and Brian Bolland's Batman: The Killing Joke, would work quite as well without Frank's brawny storytelling and pencils. Inker Jon Sibal captures that strength with a balance of sinewy precision and consistent and deft grace in his inking.

Colorist Brad Anderson makes the art both bright and dark – bright to reveal the emotional moments and dark to hide the danger. Another strong contributor is Rob Leigh; his lettering is what gives the story a balance of sound and effect.

I don't know if there is going to be more Batman: Earth One. Truthfully, Earth One should have been the direction taken by the “Rebirth” launch of the flagship Batman in 2016. But what do I know? I'm not a comics publisher selling comic books in a stagnate market for American comic books.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Fans of Batman comic books will want to read Batman: Earth One Volume Two.

★★★★ out of 4 stars

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

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Monday, October 3, 2016

#IReadsYou Review: COUSIN JOSEPH: A Graphic Novel

COUSIN JOSEPH: A Graphic Novel
W.W. NORTON & COMPANY/Liveright – @wwnorton and @LiverightPub

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

CARTOONIST: Jules Feiffer
ISBN: 978-1-63149-065-1; hardcover (August 3, 2016)
128pp, Color, $27.95 U.S., $35.95 CAN

Born in 1929, Jules Feiffer is an American syndicated cartoonist, author, playwright, screenwriter, and comics creator. He may be best known for his long-running comic strip, entitled Feiffer, which ran for 42 years in the venerable New York City weekly, The Village Voice.

Two years ago, Liveright, an imprint of W.W. Norton & Company, published Kill My Mother: A Graphic Novel, a brand-new, Film-Noir inspired graphic novel by Feiffer. Kill My Mother opens in Bay City, California in the year 1933. The story revolves around a woman named Elsie Hannigan and her estranged teenage daughter, Annie, who hates her mother. Elsie is a widower, following the murder of her husband, Sam Hannigan, a policeman. Elsie's life is hectic and complicated. Her boss is her late husband's former partner, Neil Hammond, a hard-drinking, has-been private detective who takes shady jobs. Hammond ends up murdered, the beginning of a mystery spread over a decade.

Feiffer's new comic book is entitled Cousin Joseph: A Graphic Novel, the follow-up to Kill My Mother. Cousin Joseph is set in Bay City in 1931, two years before Kill My Mother opens, and it reveals why and how Sam Hannigan was killed. Detective Sam Hannigan is a bare-knuckled, tough, no-nonsense cop who does not hesitate to use his fists to resolve a case or a dispute. Sam is also a bag-man for a mysterious Hollywood power broker that he knows only as “Cousin Joseph.” Sam delivers payoffs to other Hollywood types for Cousin Joseph, and if they don't comply with Cousin Joseph's demands, Sam also delivers brutal beatings.

Bay City is also roiling with labor unrest. Hardy Knox, owner of the cannery, Knox Works, is facing a strike by his employees who are members of a union led by Billy Doyle. Billy and Sam go way back, but Sam may have to call out his union-busting team, The Red Squad. Sam knows that he is on a mission, but it may be the wrong mission – one that will make him enemies – some close to home and some quite deadly.

The first time I tried to read Kill My Mother, I stopped after a few pages. I avoided the galley/review copy that the publisher Liveright has sent to me. I finally forced myself to read Kill My Mother and ended up loving it. I had no such problems with Cousin Joseph, for which I also received a galley, as I dove right into book.

Cousin Joseph is a quintessential American graphic novel and comic book, something rare. Jules Feiffer not only tackles the complexities of the American dream, he also illustrates how Americans see it differently. He even delves into the notion which some American have that the American dream is not for everyone who lives in America. Only certain people can have the best of America, these people believe. Everyone else: the second class citizens, those with the wrong skin color, those who worship differently; is of an undesirable ethnic origin. Those people have to know their place, and it ain't anywhere near the top. For some, America is about dreams of a place at the top of society and joy of finally reaching that pinnacle. For others, there is struggle and prejudice, and that is the way it should be, almost as if it were part of a natural order in a certain kind of America.

Years ago, I heard an old white lady tell someone that she loved movies like A Few Good Men (1992) because they reflected the best of us (America). I like Cousin Joseph because it skins the American myth raw. This comic book is about the story Americans tell themselves and the whole world, but Americans have no plan to make that myth the real thing.

A

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

The text is copyright © 2016 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Review: THE STORY OF MY TITS

THE STORY OF MY TITS
TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS – @topshelfcomix

CARTOONIST: Jennifer Hayden
EDITORS: Chris Staros and Leigh Walton
ISBN: 978-1-60309-054-4; softcover with French flaps (September 2015)
352pp, B&W, $29.95 U.S.

Mature readers (16+)

The Story of My Tits is a 2015 black and white, original graphic novel from Jennifer Hayden, an author, children's book illustrator, and comix creator. Published by Top Shelf Productions, The Story of My Tits chronicles Hayden's life from her years as a girl with a flat chest to her battle with breast cancer in her forties.

Born in the early 1960s, Jennifer is an ordinary girl, but over time, she comes to discover that unlike other ordinary girls, her breasts are taking their own sweet time to develop. Eventually, Jennifer's tits do appear as she discovers boys, sex, and break-ups with boys.

However, the innocence of youth quickly gives way to the chaos of adulthood. There is college, a long-term relationship with Jim, the young man who later becomes her husband. There is her mother's brush with breast cancer that eventually leads to a mastectomy, and while her mother suffers a health crisis, her father has a mistress. Jennifer experiences the ups-and-downs of two families after she marries Jim, but the biggest downer is her own diagnosis of breast cancer. It comes during the summer of 2004 when she is 43. It is then that Jennifer has to chart her own difficult course of surgery, recovery, and renewal.

Any description of The Story of My Tits cannot come close to truly describing this monster of a comic book. I understand why it would be sold as a graphic novel about cancer, because breast cancer is a dark shadow that looms over this story. It is hard to find people who have not had a brush with cancer in their lives.

My paternal grandfather died of it. In 2014, a friend who was long misdiagnosed died of pancreatic cancer. I took my mother to a doctor's appointment a few years ago, not knowing that a biopsy was planned. When I was told that the doctor was concerned about the possibility of breast cancer, I finally understood what people mean when they say that they feel as if the walls are closing in on them. It was as if I were in a large room that instantly shrunk to closet-size around me.

The Story of My Tits is a story about life, love, and loss. It is an epic biography about family and friends, about having jobs and having a career, about saying goodbye to cherished loved ones almost at the same time welcoming new life into the world. Because Jennifer tells us so much about her life, we buy into her story. And when we buy into the story, we buy the cancer, too. Jennifer's confusion about her health and her fear of death become a real thing with which we the readers must grapple.

The Story of My Tits is triumphant and heartbreaking. It is glorious in its joy and candid in its sadness. Most of all, it is a fantastic read. I did not know that tits could be so alluring and attractive, and it would have nothing to do with sex. Seriously, Jennifer Hayden has offered a story for our times that is timeless in its breath and scope.

A+

www.jenniferhayden.com
goddesscomix.blogspot.com

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

The text is copyright © 2016 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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I Reads You