Showing posts with label Andy Clarke. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Andy Clarke. Show all posts

Friday, June 5, 2020

#IReadsYou Review: DREAMING EAGLES #1

DREAMING EAGLES No. 1 (OF 6)
AFTERSHOCK COMICS – @AfterShockComix

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

WRITER: Garth Ennis
ARTIST: Simon Coleby
COLORS: John Kalisz
LETTERS: Rob Steen
COVER: Francesco Francavilla
VARIANT COVERS: Brian Stelfreeze; Phil Hester
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (December 2015)

For mature readers

Dreaming Eagles created by Garth Ennis

“We Cannot Consecrate”


Okay.  So back on September 11, 2015, Comic Book Resources posted an interview that assistant editor, Brett White, conducted with comic book luminary, Garth Ennis, concerning his then-upcoming miniseries, Dreaming Eagles.  Drawn by Simon Coleby, Dreaming Eagles tells the story of the first African-American fighter pilots to join the United States Army Air Force in World War II.  The series also deals with the 1960s Civil Right movement.

The first question that White asked Ennis was related to Mark Waid and J.G. Jones' current miniseries, Strange Fruit.  That comic book blends superhero comics to tell a story of racism during the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.  Prior to the release of the first issue, there was some criticism by African-Americans leveled at Wade and Jones for telling their story in this manner, especially as privileged White American comic book creators.

So White asked Ennis, “Do you have any concern that you'll face similar scrutiny in writing about the Tuskegee airmen and their experiences?”

Ennis' response is so typically American White male privilege that it is hard to believe that he is originally from Northern Ireland:  “My attitude to that is that it's going to be what it's going to be; it's so far beyond my control that there's no point worrying about it. I'll write the best and most honest story I can, with appropriate attention to detail in terms of historical research. If you think I have no right to tell the story because I'm white, don't read it. If you don't think that and you're interested, give it a try.”

It is not that Black people do not want White people telling stories about Black people and African-American subject matter or featuring Black characters.  The complaint or grievance is that the same opportunity to produce such comic is, in large measure, not afforded to Black comic book creators.  Unless the story would be tailored to one of their characters, neither Marvel nor DC Comics would publish something like Dreaming Eagles produced by an African-American creative team.  In fact, it is unlikely that any of the major independents that publish creator-owned comic books would publish something like Dreaming Eagles by a team of Black creators.

How do I know that?  Well, they haven't...  A few times a year, Image Comics makes a big deal out of announcing its slate of upcoming creator-owned titles, and none are by African-American creative teams.  I think once, out of embarrassment, Image tossed in a token Negro title, which I have yet to see.  So AfterShock Comics is doing the same as the other publishers, and Garth Ennis is officially an American White male, willfully blind to his unearned White privilege.

So, onto the review...

Dreaming Eagles #1 (“We Cannot Consecrate”) opens in 1966, at night, outside “The Silver Pony” (a restaurant in New York City?).  The place is owned by a Black man, WWII veteran, Reggie Atkinson.  Tonight, he is thinking about his son, Lee, who is a budding activist in the 1960s Civil Rights movement.  Father and son don't agree on the movement, but tonight, Atkinson will finally tell Lee about his time as Lt. Reggie Atkinson, one of the first African-American fighter pilots in the United States Army Air Force in WWII.  And those first Black men had to prove a lot of White men wrong about a lot of things.

My diatribe to open this review aside, I like this first issue of Dreaming Eagles, which will be a six-issue miniseries.  The conflict between father and son is nothing new.  The old Black man versus the young brotha' conflict has popped up in much of the fiction and storytelling about the Black struggle for equality and dignity in the United States (most recently in the film, Lee Daniels' The Butler).  What I like is that Garth Ennis is depicting the father-son struggle as not being toxic, but instead, as a matter of perspective and worldview brought on by different life experiences.

Ennis is also blunt and to-the-point in stating the obstacles facing Black men in the U.S. military before and during WWII.  Ennis' storytelling has always been blunt and to-the-point which gives the drama and action in his stories the force of a series of jabs that keeps the readers always on his feet and engaged with the story.

If this comic book were published by DC Comics' Vertigo imprint, which published practically all of Ennis' work for about a decade, Simon Coleby would be the artist and this story would not look different.  He is not a fall-back choice for a name writer looking for as an artist.  Coleby gives each panel just the right amount of drama that is needed, from subdued to momentous.  He does not force a mood to pander to reader expectations, simply because he understands the build up to moments – immediately and for later chapters.

I think that this first issue is rather languid compared to what I expect to come in later issues, but I could be wrong.  My sense of expectation suggests that readers of Garth Ennis' war comics will want to read beyond the first issue.  However, I don't know that people who have enjoyed Ennis' work on comic books like Preacher and The Punisher will care for this.

A-

[This comic book includes a five-page preview of the comic book , Replica #2, by Paul Jenkins and Andy Clarke.]

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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Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Review: A WALK THROUGH HELL #1

A WALK THROUGH HELL No. 1
AFTERSHOCK COMICS – @AfterShockComix

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

WRITER: Garth Ennis
ARTIST: Goran Sudžuka
COLORS: Ive Svorcina
LETTERS: Rob Steen
EDITOR: Mike Marts
COVER: Andy Clarke with Jose Villarrubia
VARIANT COVERS: Andy Clarke; Francesco Francavilla; Robert Hack; Hoyt Silva; Goran Sudžuka with Ive Svorcina; Ben Templesmith
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (May 2018)

Mature Readers

Created by Garth Ennis and Goran Sudžuka

“One”

A Walk Through Hell is a new comic book series from writer Garth Ennis and artist Goran Sudžuka.  The rest of the series' creative team includes colorist Ive Svorcina and letterer Rob Steen.  Publisher Aftershock Comics describes A Walk Through Hell as “a new kind of horror story for modern America.”

A Walk Through Hell #1 focuses on two Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents.  The older agent is Special Agent Shaw, who is nearing her 40th birthday and who is still haunted by her last investigation.  Special Agent McGregor is younger; a male, he is still idealistic about his career.

Shaw and McGregor are assisting two fellow agents, Special Agent Goss and Special Agent Hunzikker.  When the two agents fail to stay in contact, Shaw and McGregor head to a Long Beach warehouse that Goss and Hunzikker were investigating.  When they arrive, they find the local police acting strangely and a warehouse where something peculiar and maybe unbelievably dangerous awaits.

A Walk Through Hell #1 is not so much a chapter as it is a teaser trailer for a comic book.  Garth Ennis has been one of the best writers of violent action comic books over the last three decades, so he has been treated like a prince of the realm... of American comic books.  DC Comics even allowed Ennis to liberally use the racial slur “nigger,” in the comic books he wrote for them, even when DC had no African-American writing DC Comics titles.  Ennis' comics are consistently entertaining, in a bracing sort of way and are often quite imaginative and sometimes poignant.

A Walk Through Hell #1 is just too cute and coy for its own good.  It offers 20 pages at a cover price of $3.99, yet the information AfterShock released about A Walk Through Hell does more storytelling than this first issue does.  No unknown or novice comic book writer would be allowed to deliver a first issue like A Walk Through Hell #1, no matter how good he or she was.  This is star creator privilege run amok.  Yet I know that, overall, this might be a good comic book when we finally get an issue in which something more than story cock-teasing happens.

Goran Sudžuka offers some solid drawing, and I would say good storytelling, if the storytelling here was not vague.  Colorist Ive Svorcina delivers some solid, moody and noir-ish colors that recall the coloring on classic DC Comics/Vertigo titles.  Rob Steen's lettering does as much to create atmosphere as Ennis' writing does.

Maybe next time...

6 out of 10

[This comic book includes a preview of The Lost City Explorers #1 by Zack Kaplan and Alvaro Sarraseca.]

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


The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Monday, October 1, 2012

Albert Avilla Reviews: Batman #0

Batman #0
“Bright New Yesterday”

Reviewed by Albert Avilla

Writer: Scott Snyder
Pencils: Greg Capullo
Inks: Jonathan Glapion

Let's talk about the first story. Another Batman story before he was Batman story. Hasn't this been done before? Oh, yeah… it's the new 52; we are going to get a new spin on the story. The story is interesting, but it does leave you hanging until 2013; I hope they don't forget to finish this story. The Red Hood character seems to be interesting and he has a gang, too. He's ruthless, sinister, and maniacal. Wait. He reminds me of; no, it's not that obvious. Is it?

We get to see a fumbling, bumbling Bruce almost get himself killed. That was way original. I'm surprised he ever lived long enough to capture a criminal. The Bat-hideout was cool with all the work-in-progress stuff lying around; makes you think that Bruce has time to create all the devices he uses. Does Bruce have to be hit in the head with a brick before he'll understand that he needs to get out of the hood? The authorities are always investigating things in the hood; go back to your nice mansion that sits on a huge cave. How are you going to hide an industrial complex in the projects? With all that said the story perked my interest enough to have me eagerly awaiting the end. Especially if my sixth sense is right about where the story is heading.

“Tomorrow” (back-up feature)

Writer: James Tynion IV
Artist: Andy Clarke

Now we get to the backup story, an eight page classic. Sometimes being concise is effective. This is a Robin before they were Robin story and Batgirl, too. We get an intimate look into the character of each Robin: Tim, Jason, and Dick. Tim the self confident genius, Jason the kid who is willing to do what he has to, and Dick the swashbuckling acrobat with that swagger could not be better developed in a twelve issue maxi series. All inspired by the Batman.

The art in the first story was clean and crisp, not the dark gloomy style that most Bat- artists favor. The industrial high-tech look of the Bat-hideout gave the feel of modernized warfare. The art in the second story was more about character. It did a good job of using facial expressions and body language to project personalities.

"Tomorrow" was worth the $3.99. I rate Batman #0 Buy Your Own Copy.