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Current Comics Worth A Look

Buffy

Buffy The Vampire Slayer # 51
plot: Scott Lobdell; script: Fabian Nicieza; pencil: Cliff Richards; ink: Will Conrad.
Dark Horse Comics
monthly; 32 pages, color; $2.99 cover price

The WB television network's documentary series "Buffy", about a girl and her friends growing from teenagers into young adults, is, of course, the finest program on television. I am surprised it airs on a commercial network, rather than PBS, but programming decisions often baffle me.

For 5 years Dark Horse Comics has produced a comic book based on the series. Unfortunately, the comics have featured fictional stories about the characters. Some of these have been amusing stories, but they clearly were stories; and the fictional representations didn't have the same charm and sparkle the real-life characters do.

Fortunately, that has changed. "Viva Las Buffy", a 4-part series about incidents in Buffy Summers' life shortly before she moved to Sunnydale, begins in issue #51. The television documentary has not previously covered this period in Buffy's life, but it is clear these are genuine events from her life.

This allows new scripter Fabian Nicieza to record the actual dialogue of these people rather than attempt to make up stuff. The improvement is remarkable. Truth is not only stranger than fiction, but also more enjoyable.

There are many enjoyable scenes of Buffy's home life, as she and her family deal with her expulsion from high school. It's an interesting period in Buffy's life, and includes interesting details on what was going on in the lives of people who would become important in her life later after she moved to Sunnydale.
 
Fantastic Four # 62 - 64
written by Mark Waid, art by Mike Wieringo and Karl Kesel
Marvel; monthly; $2.25 cover price.

I'm late recommending this. I already have issues 62 and 63, (parts 1 and 2 of the 3-part "Sentient" storyline) and the conclusion to the story is probably out already.

The menace in this story is a mathematical abstraction come to life. Throughout the issue, people describe it as a "walking equation". There is a delightful scene where Reed Richards, on finally encountering the creature himself, lectures the other members of the Fantastic Four to "learn some algebra", since the creature is clearly no such thing, and the incorrect description has nearly cost them their lives.

Mark Waid took over the writing of this book several issues ago. Waid is one of the best comic-book writers around, and he is in fine form on Fantastic Four. He has an excellent grasp of characters, and consistently manages to shed new light on old character without having to resort to cheap tricks.

Some comic-book writers try to expand characters by revealing hitherto unknown secrets which "change things forever". Waid, in contrast, puts characters in situations that illuminate aspects that we've always known about but haven't thought much about or inspected. Especially enjoyable in the current stories is a sub-plot about Sue putting her brother Johnny in charge of some of the Fantastic Four's business ventures to help teach him responsibility.
Johnny: Jian, remember how being stuck as an office suit used to make me a real hater?

Jian: I can remember back two minutes, yes.

I was insane. Take a letter: "Dear Sue: Good call on this office thing, I'm ready for more control."

"Dear... Sue: ... The... end... is... near."
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Automatic Kafka # 5

Automatic Kafka # 5: "Holiday in Cambodia"
written by Joe Casey, drawn by Ash Wood
DC/Wildstorm, monthly, color, $2.95 cover price

This is an interesting-looking series from interesting creators. I'd been postponing recommending this series until I could read it closely, since the story-telling is (deliberately) obscure and hard-to-follow. With stuff like that, it's hard to tell if it's brilliant or simply pretentious until one takes the time and to actually read it, and time and energy are often in short supply.

I still haven't read the first 4 issues closely. I've read # 5, but want to re-read it along with the first 4, before commenting too much.

The art style on this book is very scratchy. It does not invite a casual reading. There's color, but many pages are simply black and white (and many others are black and white plus one other color). Much of the talking in this issue is characters making speeches rather than engaging in conversations.

However, this issue is worth a look for its creative use of profanity (visual as well as verbal) alone. Casey doesn't use nearly as many f-words as, say, Garth Ennis or Brian Michael Bendis, but when he does it is often shockingly funny. The "Next:" blurb on the last page got a loud laugh from me.

One theme of this issue is the way the constitution gets, um, messed with. It's an angry message, well-delivered (at least what I could make out of it.)
 
Jingle Belle Winter Wingding

Jingle Belle Winter Wingding
stories by Paul Dini
art by Spike Brandt and Tony Cervone (1st story),
Stephen deStefano and Robbie Busch (second story),
and a really cool cover by Chynna Clugston-Major!
Oni Press, 32 pages, black and white, $2.95 cover price
Published once a year -- more often if you're good little girls and boys.

Okay, I'm a little late mentioning this for those of you who celebrate Christmas on December 25. Or you can consider this waaay early advance notice for next year.

Paul Dini was one of the people responsible for the Batman animated adventures of Fox and the WB, and the Superman cartoon series that followed. If you watched and enjoyed those, you know he is capable of writing material adults can love as much as the younger folk do. (He also has been producing annual tabloid comics for DC, the first of which, Superman: Peace on Earth, is the best of a fine series and well worth looking for if you haven't read and bought copies already.)

Each year at Christmas-time (and occasionally in between Christmases) Dini brings out a new comic about Jingle Belle.

You know how preachers' kids are supposed to be a bit less well-behaved than other kids? Well, imagine what Santa's teenage daughter must be like! That's what Dini did.

In the 21-page lead story, Jing refuses to help her mother write their annual family Christmas letter.
Jing: Moms! What are you doing here?

Mrs. Claus: It's that time again, honey. Time to send a message of cheer to all our friends.

Oh, joy. The annual Claus family form letter, awash in denial and gloss-overs, all wrapped around a little bag of your chocolate bourbon balls.

Hey what's the name of that big Texas city that Ida Red lives near?

Um, El Paso?

Exactly. El Pass-O!

You loved to help me write it when you were little.

I loved to eat paste when I was little, too.
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Mrs. Claus goes off to write the letter alone, consuming chocolate bourbon balls as she writes. The more she consumes, the more reckless she becomes in writing about Jing's doings. There was the summer vacation the family took in England, and the time Jing and the cousin she can't stand entered a figure skating competition together, and the time Jing convinced the family to take part in a Christmas tv special she was making (a "reality" show, "The Clausbournes"), and the time Jing and some friends formed an all-girl band...

An 8-page back-up story has Jing trying to decide what to wear to accompany Santa on his annual toy-giving trip, while her cousin tries to suck up to Santa so he can go along for the ride instead.

The Jingle Belle books are an annual treat. My favorite line in this one is: "Oh, honey, you're fast asleep. In a second you'll wake up back in your dad's same old sucky workshop." It's the expression on Mrs. Claus' face as she says this that makes it so funny. (Ditto for the expression on Jing's face as she delivers the "El Pass-O" line quoted above.) The writing is good, but the art really brings it to life.

It's too late to give this as a Christmas gift this year, but it's not too late to pick up copies to enjoy.
 
Queen & Country: Declassified

Queen & Country: Declassified # 1 (of 3)
Story by Greg Rucka, art by Brian Hurtt
Oni Press; monthly, 32 pages, black and white, $2.95 cover price.

Tara Chace, a British intelligence agent (or "minder"), is the central character of Queen & Country, a LeCarre-like spy series. I haven't had a chance to recommend that series yet since it has been in the middle of a story arc, but this spin-off mini-series about her boss Paul Crocker is a good opportunity.

There is nothing paranormal in these stories. They are down-to-earth stories about political intrigue and the people charged with gathering intelligence and carrying out those intrigues.

This series tells about a young, recently married British SIS agent and some of the events that will help shape him into the perpetually grouchy Director of Operations in the present-day stories. Set in 1986 in England, Berlin, and Kiev, this is gripping and suspenseful.

A new story arc should be starting in the regular Queen & Country book about now, and that should be even better (because Tara is more likeable than Paul, and because that book, being an ongoing series, can build more on past issues). But this is well worth picking up on its own.
 
Some books I won't be mentioning this time...

There are many good comic books which I haven't listed in this thread. (Fhios and Zombified mentioned several in their posts earlier in this thread.)

Since there are more good comics than time to write up posts, I've been trying to limit myself in several ways. (These are simply self-imposed restrictions to keep me from going crazier, not things anyone else needs to feel bound by.) For instance, I generally try to limit these recommendations to things which have recently come out, which I actually have in hand and have read, which I think others here might enjoy, and which are at a good starting point.

I also try to give preference to things which will continue to be published. Supergirl has just been cancelled (as of # 80, out in a few months) so I guess I should try to refrain from praising it, even though it is an enjoyable series (and of possible interest here since God was a key character for many stories, and Supergirl herself was an "earth angel". Oddly, God looked -- and often acted -- like a boy named Wally.)

Likewise, Young Justice has been cancelled, final issue out soon, so I won't refer you to that series either, even though it was fun, often thoughtful, often funny, and even though the cliff-hanger to the election issue a few months back was extremely wicked.

I haven't mentioned the second League of Extraordinary Gentlemen mini-series, even though that's currently coming out (a little past the halfway mark of it's 6-issue run) and, of course, is excellent. If this thread had begun a few months earlier I would of course have mentioned this story (about Mina Harker from Bram Stoker's Dracula leading Allan Quartermain, Henry Jekyll, Captain Nemo, and the invisible man in an investigation of and counter-effort to a Martian invasion later to be described by H. G. Wells in a fictional account of their adventure). But since it's by Alan Moore, I assume most of you who read comics already know it's top-notch material and worth the (slightly-higher) cover-price of $3.50 an issue.

I've mentioned some DC/Vertigo series (such as Y: the Last Man, but haven't said a word about American Century yet, even though it is a down-to-earth adventure series set in the 1950s with nothing paranormal about it (but generous dollops of sex, political intrigue, and cynical looks at US culture, nicely seasoned with humor and profanity.) That, again, is because the series is in the middle of a story arc and I've been waiting for it to reach a good jumping-on point.

I haven't mentioned Promethea yet because, again, it's by Alan Moore and it's been in the middle of a long storyline (sort of a guided tour of mystical realms, often with story taking second place to explaining mystical beliefs).

I haven't mentioned Bzzz Bee Cafe yet, even though it deals with the spiritual nature of coffee, because -- well, because I'm lazy and missed the opportunity. Number 2 will be out in a couple of months and there'll be another chance when that comes out and is current.

And there's -- but I said I wouldn't mention these titles now, so I guess I'll post this and spend some time actually reading a few.
 
Archie's Mysteries

I try not to recommend things I don't actually have in hand and haven't actually read yet, but the moment one says something like that an exception seems to pop up.

This may be of special interest to skeptics. Archie's Weird Mysteries, a comic book starring Archie (yes, the famous one) and his Riverdale High School friends (Jughead, Betty, Veronica, Reggie, Midge, Moose, Dilton, etc.) as X-Files type investigators, has just changed direction. It will drop the word Weird from the title and become, from the description, more like an Archie version of CSI.

In other words, it is going from being a comic that panders to paranormal belief to one that will be fairly rooted in reality.

Tony Isabella (a columnist for Comics Buyer's Guide, whose opinions I generally find to be on the mark) says of advance copies he has seen: "Writers Paul Castiglia and Barbara Jarvie have done a terrific job concocting clever tales that play fair with the readers, impart educational tidbits, and, most importantly, don't distort the Archie characters to make them fit this somewhat more serious treatment. Indeed, while not as prevalent as in traditional Archie titles, humor remains part of Archie's Mysteries."

I don't generally buy Archie titles, but plan to look for this one the next time I am able to make a trip to Knoxville, and may comment more on this after I've read a current issue of this series.

Cover price is $2.19. Even if this doesn't sound appealing to you personally, it might be a good comic to buy as a present for a child you know.
 
Alan Moore stuff

A new box of comics arrived this past week, but I've been caught up in personal things and haven't had much time to read them yet.

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen # 4 is in the box, but (a) this is not a good jumping-on point for new readers, and (b) League already has its own thread going so doesn't really need much additional mention here.

Promethea # 24 is in the box, and Sophie is finally back on Earth after the long magical mystery tour of the last umpteen issues, so I was thinking I'd be able to give it a long-overdue recommendation. Somewhat surprisingly, this is not a good jumping-on issue either -- there is some brilliant story-telling, but someone who hasn't been following the story will likely be lost.

So I'm going to cheat somewhat, and mention a different Alan Moore series -- one which is not currently being published, but which is one of his best series in recent years. (Trade paperback collections have just been released, so it's sort of a current comic).

The series is Top Ten, a cross between Hill Street Blues and super-heroes. The original run of 12 issues featured a large cast of intriguing super-characters working out of the "Top Ten" precinct on cases that were funny, sad, touching, memorable. When it began the idea was to do a number of 12-issue runs, each one being like a season of a tv series, but so far the first season has been the only season.

It has been collected in a pair of TPBs, and if enough people buy these it might help get a "second season" produced. There are some great characters and great stories in this series. If you haven't read these stories yet, it's worth looking for the TPBs now.
 
Vertigo Pop! -- London

I'm a little late recommending this series, as it's already up to the second (of four) issues. But that means, if you enjoy it, it will take that much less time to collect the full story.

Vertigo Pop! London
written by Peter Milligan, drawn by Philip Bond
DC/Vertigo, monthly, 4-issue mini-series, $2.95 cover price.

Vertigo is doing a series of mini-series about different cities. the idea, as I understand it, is to try to tell stories that capture the spirit of different cities.

The first one, Tokyo, was extremely strange. Maybe that's what the spirit of Tokyo is like, I don't know. I'm more at home with this current one, about London.

The first issue tells the story of a rock star rising to fame in the 60s, doing drugs, doing the eastern meditation bit, getting married, trading the first wife in for a younger model, etc. It's a pretty good look at several decades of life in London, with a paranormal bit (the idea of trading one's aging body for a younger model) introduced at the end of the first issue.

The second issue continues the story, There's less focus on the city and the times, more on the characters and the plot. The characters aren't that nice, but they're interesting. (And they have nipples when they're naked -- the men as well as the women -- which is a step towards reality.)

It's a story about musicians and the music industry. It's also a story about being young and being old. Before it's finished it may shed some light on what it's like to live in London. Aging rocker, talentless but good-looking youngster, and two clever women pulling strings -- it may not be very socially redeeming, but it's going to be fun seeing who comes out on top.
 
Sandwalk Adventures # 5

Sandwalk Adventures # 5
written and drawn by Jay Hosler
Active Synapse, 4258 N. High St, Columbus OH 43214-3048
24 pages, black and white, $2.95 cover price.

The fifth and final issue of this comic, in which Charles Darwin explains natural selection in a readable and entertaining way, is now out. The entire series will be collected in a trade paperback, out later this spring. Each issue of the comic has included several pages of notes, and I assume those will be included in the TPB as well -- the story reads fine without them, but they add additional depth to some of the scenes and it would be a shame to omit them.

For those who are tired of creationist assaults on Darwin and evolution, this comic is a great day-brightener. I strongly recommend looking for this comic; I would love to see people buy this comic to give to young people, and to buy the TPB to donate to school (and public) libraries.
 
Fantastic Four #67

This issues was just a great comic which showed the motivation for the character, Doctor Victor Von Doom. I mean we don't get a fight about good versus evil, but just a beautiful love story with an unexpected ending. This issue truly redefined Doctor Doom in my eyes.

Oh and Victor Von Doom isn't a certified doctor... but would you tell him that...?
 
Comics for skeptics? Well, I did make some comics about Franko in the flames forum, but they're not real comics.

This Modern World might appeal to the skeptical mind, but it's a comic strip, not a comic book or series.
 
Catwoman # 19
"No Easy Way Down"
writer: Ed Brubaker; artist: Javier Pulido
DC comics, published monthly, $2.50 cover price
We're halfway to Karon's apartment before I realize this is the first time I've been out in daylight in over a month.

And when I see Holly, I can tell she's been living in those shadows with me the entire time.

My absence has been unforgivable. And the saddest part is, I know she'll forgive me anyway.

It's the best part, too. Because somehow, it gives me back a big part of what was missing inside. It helps me find myself again. Just like that.

All my problems start to fade, and the only thing I care about is this girl, who went through so much for my sake. Who lost a piece of herself that she can't get back again.

And as she apologizes for being so weak, for killing Sylvia, for letting Maggie get hurt, and for everything else in the world that isn't her fault, I hold her tight and whisper over and over again: "It's okay... It's okay..."

And just saying that, feeling her tears fall onto me as I do, I know that it's going to be true sometime soon. I don't know exactly how, but we're going to be okay.

We have to be.
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DC has put Selina Kyle through the wringer many times over the years. Every time things start looking up for her, sooner or later a writer comes along and blows everything in her life up again.

After making Selina an emotional wreck in her last comics series, DC started this new series a couple years ago with Selina doing well financially, re-connecting with friends and family, even finding romance. Which was just a set-up to put her through the worst hell yet, the past few issues.

Issue 19 may not be the best jumping-on point for new readers, but this is a beautiful story, as the various cast members try to put their lives back together. There's even an appearance by Batman, very nicely done, and different from any other confrontation he and she have ever had.

There are so many great sequences in this issue, I wish I could quote them all. A murder mystery is solved, Karon's love for Holly is beautifully portrayed, the relationship between Slam and Selina reaches a crucial turning point, Selina gets drunk and does some foolish things, and Selina sobers up and does some very wise things. This is a comic to read and re-read.

Ed Brubaker is noted for his hard-boiled crime comics. With the current run of Catwoman he has created a top-notch hard-boiled romance comic.
 
Sammy: Tourist Trap # 1 - 4
created, written and drawn by Azad
Image, 4-issue mini-series, black & white, $2.95 cover price each

Pregnant women are, as those of you who read comics regularly have likely noticed, badly under-represented on comic book covers. That alone is a good reason to buy Sammy: Tourist Trap # 4. Even though the "woman" in question is Sammy, and the "pregnancy" consists of a cat and a kidney, it's still a great cover.

There's nothing paranormal in this story (though there is an urban legend come to life). This is the kind of crime caper story that Donald Westlake used to turn out regularly, where things go wrong in comic ways and a hard-working thief is lucky just to break even at the end. There are some extremely funny bits in this story (many involving familiar easy-to-pronounce 4-letter words).

This is very nicely written, very nicely drawn. It's got lots all the good stuff: thieves, con artists, humor, profanity, and a cat in a prominent role.

I had meant to recommend this series when it first began, but haven't been able to post to this thread for a while. Now all four issues of the series are out, so anyone interested can pick up and read the complete story.
 
The Crew # 1

The Crew # 1
"Big Trouble in Little Mogadishu"
writer: Christopher Priest; artist: Joe Bennett
Marvel, published monthly, $2.50 cover price

For 5 years Christopher Priest has been writing Black Panther (one of the comics that keeps me giving money to Marvel in spite of myself).

The first 4 years were a wild ride mixing politics, intrigue, sharp humor, and interestingly non-linear story-telling, with occasional appearances of characters from the rest of the Marvel universe. Priest focused on the Panther as a head of state (and a highly-skilled one), with super-stuff taking a back seat.

As often happens with the really interesting comics, sales were not good enough to keep Marvel executives happy. At editorial request, Priest put a black cop, Kasper Coles, into the Panther suit, and began a new urban-grit storyline about crime and police corruption.

Black Panther is still a decent book, but it's not what headlines this post because it has been cancelled, last issue due out soon.

Priest's new book for Marvel, The Crew, continues the urban-grit, and looks like it will continue the story of Kasper Coles, but the first issue centers primarily on James Rhodes (former assistant to Tony Stark, former Iron Man, former War Machine, former CEO of a major corporation, currently bankrupt, angry, and not doing too well relating to people.

The main focus is on the murder of Rhodes' sister, and his reactions to it, which leads him to the bad part of the city (and sets up his meeting and future involvment with Coles, with black policewoman Marcy Howard, and with Josiah al hajj Saddiq who runs the Shabazz Mission, but one of the highlights of the issue is a sub-plot explaining why Rhodes tends to call all women "Marcy".

Here's an exchange between Rhodes and Saddiq which gives some of the flavor of this new series:

Josiah X: Sorry about Star. She had a lot of issues.

Jim Rhodes: You knew her?

As much as anyone else. Tried to get her off the street.

Never actually believed her -- until now

Believed what?

That her brother ran a billion-dollar company while she was turning tricks in the projects.

This a toll booth, son?

Guilt's not my trip, sir. (introducing himself) Josiah al hajj Saddiq. Josiah X. I run this mission here in the Mog.

If you're looking for a donation, my account's overdrawn.

Think I'm trying to hustle you, Mr. Rhodes?

Let's just say I'm not a fan of street corner preachers.

Makes two of us.
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Fallout

Fallout
written by Jim Ottaviani; drawn by various award-winning artists (see list below)
GT Labs; 240-page trade paperback; $19.95 cover price

I don't own this, but read a copy during my last trip to the big city and recommend it highly. As Tim Folger says in a review in the April 2002 issue of Discover: "Fallout is a comic book for sophisticated adult readers. "

Ottaviani's company GT Labs produces outstanding comics about science and scientists. I own Two-Fisted Science, have been looking for Dignifying Science, and have put Fallout on my give-this-to-someone-for-Christmas list. These are enjoyable comics to give to science fans or enjoyable works on science to give to comics fans.

I'm lazy, so here's a description of Fallout directly from GT Labs
So, you've always wanted to learn how to build an atomic bomb? You're in luck: Jim Ottaviani is not only a comics writer...he also has a master's degree in nuclear engineering! But even though it's not a complete do-it-yourself manual (assembly required, and plutonium is definitely NOT included), Fallout will bring you up to speed on the science and politics of the first nuclear gadgets.

Like its companion volumes, the focus of Fallout is on the scientists themselves -- in particular J. Robert Oppenheimer and Leo Szilard, whose lives offer a cautionary tale about the uneasy alliance between the military, the government, and the beginnings of "big science."

Fallout features art by award-winning artists such as Janine Johnston (Poison Elves), Steve Lieber (Whiteout, Batman), Vince Locke (Deadworld, Sandman), Bernie Mireault (Mackenzie Queen, The Jam, Grendel Tales), Jeff Parker (Interman, Robin) with Chris Kemple, Eddy Newell, and a painted cover by noted Studio artist Jeffrey Jones.
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Human Defense Corps

Human Defense Corps # 1 (of 6)
written by Ty Templeton; drawn by Clement Sauve Jr and Juan Vlasco
DC; color; 6-issue monthly series; $2.50 cover price

I've been a Ty Templeton fan ever since his delightful Stig's Inferno. Templeton is only writing, not writing and drawing, Human Defense Corps, which is a shame in a way, but Sauve's art is fine and is well-suited to the story.

This new series, set in the DC universe (reporter Lois Lane plays a prominent supporting role in this first issue) tells the stories of what regular humans do when alien invasions and the other earth-shaking events (which happen with surprising frequency in the DC and Marvel universes) are going on around them.
A few years ago, I was part of the National Guard unit that fought off the Khund landing party in Times Square -- before the Justice League showed up --

It really got bad that day -- And I noticed something that I'd tried not to notice before.

About one out of three men on the battlefield doesn't move. They don't discharge their weapons. They don't do anything. They panic and freeze.

One in three.

I don't know if I blame them. It doesn't make them bad people -- But it does make them bad soldiers. Because they're unreliable.

And you never know which ones they're going to be.

So, a couple months later, I was having a sandwich in a canteen in Fort Totten when I saw the dumbest-looking recruitment poster up on the wall. Cartoon soldiers, standing on a globe and shouting at the sky. I always hate the army ads -- thought up by empty-suit corporals somewhere.

Thank God the navy's are worse.

The poster was for this new branch of the service. The Human Defense Corps -- alien fighters.

About freakin' time, I thought. Good luck with that.

But what got my attention was a line at the bottom. "Decorated vets only." They're putting together a unit made up entirely of ones who don't panic or freeze.

The reliable soldiers.

That was the team I wanted to be on.
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This is a pretty good science fiction war story. It's about the people who fight the wars, not simply an excuse for futuristic weapons, big explosions, and loud special effects.

There's a military mission in the middle of the book -- one that goes badly snafu -- but it's the pages leading up to the mission, and the 2-page aftermath of the mission, that pack the story's punch. Even if you see the ending coming from the beginning, the last page -- just a guy drinking a can of diet soda and then discarding the can -- hit's hard.

That's one of the great things about comics: they're not just words, and they're not just pictures, they're words and pictures working together. When it's done well -- as it is here -- it can produce some very powerful storytelling.
 
Batman: Nevermore

Batman: Nevermore 1 & 2
written by Len Wein; drawn by Guy Davis
DC; color; monthly 5-issue Elseworlds mini-series; $2.50 cover price

In 19th century Baltimore, fledgling reporter Edgar Allen Poe (assigned to cover minor fluff stories about social bigshots such as Bruce Wayne) decides to investigate a series of brutal murders. In the course of his investigation he encounters black cats, hearts buried below floorboards, bodies hidden behind bricked-up walls, Roderick Usher, the fair Lenore, a mysterious raven, and a mysterious figure who dresses up like a bat.

Poe purists may hate this, as it deviates considerably from previously established continuity about Poe's life. For those are less obsessive about such details, this is a lot of fun.
 
Thor

Thor, #s 63, 64, and thereabouts
Written by Dan Jurgens, drawn by the Lai brothers
Marvel, color, monthly, cover price $2.99

I've never been a big fan of Marvel's Thor, so haven't been paying much attention to it for quite some time. My mistake; the current storyline ("Spiral") is actually quite well-done, and might be of special interest to some JREFers.

Here's the setup. Odin died. Thor has taken over as the All-Father. Thor looks at the shape the world is in, realizes he's a god, and feels he has an obligation to do more than just punch out the occasional troll, frost giant, or super-villain that's threatening to conquer the globe.

So he orders the Norse pantheon of gods to become a more active presence in earthly affairs, and he encourages people to form churches worshipping them. Which brings him directly into conflict, not only with the government which is worried about a super-powerful being meddling in global politics, but with the established churches.

The idea of governments getting upset over super-heroes trying to end war and hunger has been done several times before (sometimes well, sometimes not so well). The idea of coming into conflict with churches this way is new, and is being handled surprisingly well in the issues I recently read. While Thor and the Asgardians are active in the background, the stories dealt mainly with a blue-collar Catholic wrestling with his feelings of loyalty to the church he'd attended for so many years and the realization that if he were willing to worship these strange new gods he'd be able to support his family.

There are many intriguing religious issues raised -- issues which Marvel, for years, skirted with their "yes, Thor is a Norse god, but he's a god in the mythological sense so there's no conflict for you Christian readers out there, why even Thor probably believes in the same god you do" type answers to reader inquiries.

I'm especially pleased they have Thor's church coming into conflict with a real church (Catholic) rather than some fictional one made up simply for this story. I don't have the issues at hand to quote, but there were several very good scenes with the Catholic arguing with his priest about whether and why he should remain a loyal church member. (And, those of you who are down on religion may be interested to know, established religion does not come off in a very positive light in these exchanges.)

(What's disappointing is a development in # 64 that opens the way for this to return to a battle between Thor and his more traditional opponents as the story heads for its conclusion. It's possible that, when the story is finished, it may read better if certain later pages are removed so that the earlier events can remain as they first appeared.)

There are quite a number of Marvel books that have been experimenting with stories where costumed heroes appear little or none of the time -- comics for grown-ups. Thor, which I generally think of as one of the more mindless of the Marvel books, appears to be one of the grown-up books now.

At $3 cover price, I won't be buying Thor. (Nor will I subscribe -- which takes the price down by close to half -- since the moment I do that I'm sure they will return Thor to a slug-fest book.) But I will be reading the next few issues. This series is (as the thread title says) worth a look.
 
Runaways

Runaways #s 1 & 2
Written by Brian Vaughan; drawn by Adrian Alphona and David Newbold
Marvel; color; monthly; $2.50 cover price

Speaking of Marvel and religion, here's one atheists among you might want to take note of.

Runaways is the story of 6 kids, teen and pre-teen, who discover that the annual get-together their families have, when their parents go off alone (ostensibly for some boring discussion of charity events they're planning) is actually the occasion of satanic rituals and their parents are evil child-sacrificing bad guys known as "The Pride".

In issue # 1 the four oldest kids, secretly spying on the parents meeting, learn all this. In # 2, the kids have to hide what they've learned from their parents. They also have to figure out how much of this to share with Molly, how to hide most of it from her, and how to fill the other teen in on it without freaking Molly out.
(Alex) Gert, take Molly to the bathroom or something.

(Gert) [color=9b30ff] Why?[/color]

So we can fill Karolina in on what happened, okay?

[color=9b30ff]But this involves Molly's parents, too! She deserves to know the truth![/color]

She's just a kid!

[color=9b30ff]She's old enough to know her parents are evil![/color]

(Molly) [color=c71585] Um, helloooo. I know what you guys are whispering about.[/color]

[color=9b30ff]You -- you do?[/color]

[color=c71585]Duh. S...E...X. I'm not a baby.[/color]

[Alex and Gert exchange looks]

[color=9b30ff]Fine. Come on, kid. Let's go powder our noses.[/color]

[color=c71585]That's code for pee, right?[/color]
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It's pretty funny, especially if you can see the pictures that go with the words.

Here's the scene that especially made me think some of you might want to check this series out:
scene: Griffith Observatory, 1 a.m. The kids have sneaked out to talk together and figure out what to do.

(Karolina) [color=1e90ff]Is anyone else having a hard time processing this?

I mean, no matter what you guys saw down there, it sounds like our parents have been leading some kind of freaky double lives... for years, probably. How is that possible?[/color]

(Gert) [color=9b30ff] What? How is it possible that our parents lied to us?

Let's see: Santa, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, um, God.[/color]
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