#717 - #720 JOHN CONSTANTINE, HELLBLAZER: DEAD IN AMERICA #1 - #4 by Simon Spurrier and Aaron Campbell (DC Black Label, March - June 2024) In fiction, there is a genre titled “literary fiction” reserved for those works considered “a category of writing that’s character-driven, explores the human condition, and is considered to be serious art.” I would add “challenging reading” to that definition, be it experimental, stream-of-consciousness, or just the writer’s particular style.
Does such a genre exist in comics? A good topic for debate, but I believe so. The work of Alan Moore comes to mind immediately, and I’m sure there are more. I would add Si Spurrier to the short list of “literary fiction in comics” practitioners, especially based on some past work as well as this engaging but challenging series. The expressive and intricate art by Aaron Campbell enhances the effect here, as well as some spot-on color/hue choices by Jordie Bellaire. This is worth the extra effort to follow the story and won’t waste your time through multiple readings.
The story is the follow-up to events that occurred in the last Spurrier/Campbell Hellblazer series (which I now want to read). John Constantine is half-dead in a decaying body with no heartbeat. He had to escape Britain and is now on the run in America with his LGBTQ hardcore friend Nat (aka Natalie) and his son Noah. He gets a chance to save all their lives from an unlikely source - - - Dream aka Sandman aka Morpheus.
Nasty things are happening in America. Someone is using the grains of sand from Dream’s pouch. John is tasked with retrieving the pouch and returning it to Dream.
DEAD IN AMERICA is a Spurrier tour of the United States, as their travels take them from St. Augustine, Florida to New Orleans,Louisiana to Masaville, Texas - - and he guides us through the darker side of these areas. Along the way they seek the advice of Clarice, a withering immortal whose side stories of her past are fascinating. Constantine also resurrects Swamp Thing and enlists his aid.
The issues are episodic, provide plenty of introspection and illustrations of human nature (good and bad) and include plenty of underlying social commentary as well as literature references (T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland, for one). My favorite issue so far is #4, where Constantine poses as an exorcist and sets up his mute son Noah as a clairvoyant (using a single grain of sand from the missing pouch). My favorite one-liner also occurs in Issue #4, when Constantine responds to Swamp Thing, regenerating as a corn-stalk scarecrow and connecting to the earth: “Hhhm . . . Still a few cucumbers short of a salad, ain’t you?”
I’m planning a big re-read of this series once it wraps up. For now, FOUR AND ONE-QUARTER STARS which may increase or decrease depending on whether Spurrier sticks the landing.
#721 ROGUE & GAMBIT #4 of 5 by Kelly Thompson and Pere Perez (Marvel Comics, June 2018) A random read, and the only issue from this limited series that I have. The tropical island of Paraiso offers a “private wellness retreat”. Mutants in attendance begin to disappear, and Rogue & Gambit are dispatched to investigate. They pose as a dysfunctional couple seeking therapy. (That’s kind of on-the-nose, isn’t it? - - since they can’t touch too long without Rouge sapping Gambit’s powers and energy.)
As they search the complex during the night they are attacked by doppelgängers of themselves. The major player is a villain called Lavish who favors long coats with hoods. They are captured, experimented on and somehow their powers transfer to each other (see the cover image).
They break free of their constraints and have to face off with even more duplicates of themselves - - but somehow succeed (temporarily, still one issue left) and get a breather.
What adds to the story is that by gaining each other’s powers they also get the memories and come to understand better how the other half feels about them. Lots of regrets and apologies exchanged. Yawn. TWO AND ONE-HALF STARS.
#722 - #726 X-MEN ’92, VOLUME TWO: LILAPALOOZA trade paperback by Chris Sims and Chad Bowers with art by Alti Firmansyah with Cory Hamscher (Marvel Comics, April 2017) Contains X-Men ’92 issues #6 - #10 Sometimes there are issues of super-hero comics where nothing happens aside from conversations and set-up. And, sometimes there are issues of super-hero comics where too much happens. This is an example of that, to an extreme. Too many characters, too many thrown-in side plots that made it impossible for me to enjoy this and left me feeling indifferent to it all. On a positive side, the art team’s style is close enough to the animated series that fans of that should be very comfortable here. Hey, somebody has to like this book.
Intergalactic rock star Lila Cheney is headlining the Lilapalooza music festival (featuring The Flaming Lips and The Toadies) and enlists the X-Men to work security. Fabian Cortez, the upstart with the power to make mutants’ powers go haywire, infiltrates the road crew and then gets Lila’s teleportation powers to go wild, leaving her and the X-Men on an unknown planet. That planet is also the hideout of some members of The Brood, who have been ostracized because they are mutants as well. Then the Gladiator shows up and confuses things, just before Apocalypse shows up with his new team and gets into the mess. But, it doesn’t stop there. Add in Mystique, Bastion, Exodus, FItzroy, Joseph, Cassandra Nova, Death’s Head (the robotic bounty hunter from Marvel UK), Abigail Brand (S.W.O.R.D.), the X-Men 2099, and Doom 2099.
Here’s the list of all the other X-characters brought into this storyline, either on the unknown planet or back at the concert site trying to figure things out:
X-MEN: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Gambit, Jubilee, Bishop, Beast, Psylocke, Rogue, Professor X.
GENERATION X: Monet, Chamber, Artie, Penance, Mondo, Dead Girl, Synch, Husk.
X-FACTOR: Havok, Polaris, Forge, Strong Guy, Wolfsbane, Multiple Man.
X-FORCE: Cable, Shatterstar, Domino, Feral, Archangel, Deadpool.
X-TREMISTS: Adam-X, Marrow, Random, Maggot.
Did the creators realize the title was going to end, and decided this was their last chance to involve these characters in their story? How can you follow a mess like that? They just stumble over each other.
TWO STARS, and that is generous.
#727 - #733 INSEXTS #1 - #7 by Marguerite Bennett and Ariela Kristantina (AfterShock Comics, December 2015- August 2016)
The initial issues of this were more intriguing, before it went off in two different directions and seemed to switch gears mid-storyline. I wanted to like this more, but my struggle to summarize succinctly what happens is part of my dissatisfaction.
INSEXTS is a body-horror/dark fantasy/erotic Victorian-era tale of revenge by two women against abusive men - - - before it morphs into a crusade to protect indentured and mesmerized women from an abusive woman proprietor of a brothel. But the fact that the "hag" is later revealed as something even more monstrous makes gender identification more difficult - - so maybe it's just a crusade against monsters.
Lady is married to an abusive husband who mainly wants access to her dowry. She falls in love with her personal attendant Mariah, and they have sex as often as they can be alone together. Mariah gives Lady a plant like bulb to consume that develops her into a were-butterfly (with no explanation of how or why). When Lady is forced to have sex with her husband, she forces one of these bulbs down his throat -- he sickens and it eventually kills him in a graphic manner.
The next chapters detail how Lady and Mariah raise a newborn son who emerged from the blood-burst body of her husband in a large egg-like sac. (No explanation offered for any of this either). His brother and ultra-suspicious wife visit the mansion and attempt to expose the two ladies so they can assume control of the estate. It gets more complicated and ends up tying into the final section.
The latter part of the first story arc details several trips by Lady and Mariah into London in their were-butterfly forms to foil attempts to murder/abuse/exploit children, a run-in with the London Butcher (meaning Jack The Ripper?) and the final confrontation with The Hag.
The art is expressive. The sex scenes are interesting. The monsters are horrific. But I'm just not connecting with this. An admirable attempt that seems to have lost its way. THREE AND ONE-QUARTER STARS.
#734 THE PEDESTRIAN #3 by Joey Esposito and Sean Von Gorman (Magma Comix, October 2024) The weird and engrossing story of THE PEDESTRIAN continues in Issue #3, with a big focus on the secondary characters. The result provides a reason to care more about what happens here and who it happens to. It also explodes my theory/suspicion as to the identity of The Pedestrian as well as who might be under the mask of his nemesis.
Those secondary characters start to pool their resources and work together to uncover the hidden base (well, not so hidden) of The Klutch, who by now has an army of dark-clothed followers (but not willingly) with that open hand on the face of their hoodie/mask. Kira is afraid of losing her baby-sitting job of twin brothers Sid and Jeremy, who develop their own theories about The Pedestrian (including a cool city map of streets he’s been known to walk - in the shape of a pedestrian). Detective Sherwood saves their butt from a gaggle of Klutchers and then gets everyone immersed even deeper into the collaborative investigation. Thankfully, school crossing guard Sophie shows up to assist. The Pedestrian doesn’t make an appearance until the final page, and just in time. THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.
#735 THE TOXIC AVENGER #1 by Matt Bors and Fred Harper (Ahoy Comics, October 2024) Unless you were a consumer of pop culture back in the 1980’s (I was) you may not know of THE TOXIC AVENGER - - unless you are one of the few people who have seen the 2023 re-make starring Peter Dinklage (I haven’t seen it, but I may start looking for it on the various streaming services).
I recall the days when there were no streaming services (the 1980’s) and the video shop was a gathering place where I rented various grindhouse-type films (some direct-to-video, no theater release) and was familiar with the works from little Troma Studios in New Jersey. They specialized in low-budget horror and action films with wild premises and lots of blood. THE TOXIC AVENGER was their best-known work, and spawned three movie sequels, a stage musical, a short-lived comic book series (from Marvel!), a video game, and a very short-lived animated television series.
THE TOXIC AVENGER by Bors and Harper stays true to the premise of the original. This is also a superhero/horror/dark comedy pastiche but alters the storyline a bit to make this what appears to be a subtle commentary on how government handles crisis. I don’t recall that from the original film, but my memory needs to go back 40 years so things get a little fuzzy.
In the film, Melvin is a puny janitor at a health club who becomes the grotesquely mutated superhero The Toxic Avenger (aka Toxie). He is picked on by macho patrons of the health club who force him to wear a tutu and make fun of him. Humiliated he flees and ends up falling off the roof into a barrel of toxic waste from a next-door chemical plant (this is the fictional town of Tromaville in industrial New Jersey, after all).
The comic shows him already in the tutu, perhaps to impress his equally misfit girlfriend as they hang out at a junkyard. His tormentors this time use a drone to dump garbage on his head before surprising him before the chase begins. He flees along the railroad tracks where a train transporting toxic chemical has overturned. He runs right into it - - - and is deformed and altered as a result.
The train accident is dumb-downed for the public and referred to as an “adverse discharge event” by the federal government who step in and establish an “environmental safety perimeter” around the town to protect the community. (Actually to contain the spread, as other citizens are being deformed and severely injured and ill).
The story tells these events backwards, beginning with Day 4 of the “Quarantine” and proceeding backwards to the accident on Day 1. I’m enjoying this so far, partly for nostalgic reasons, and hoping this doesn’t morph into flat out superhero fare but stays with the black comedy/horror premise. THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.
#736 - #737 ONE FOR SORROW #1 story, art and colors by Jamie McKelvie (Dstlry Media, November 2024) The publisher’s words sum this up better than I can, so I’m sharing it below. This was an impressive debut, and a
great mystery with multiple layers and characters. You’ll need a second reading to fully comprehend the storyline. If you expect a good amount of story for your comics dollar, this will reward you. FOUR STARS.
The DSTLRY synopsis:
JAMIE McKELVIE IS BACK WITH HIS FIRST SOLO CREATOR-OWNED PROJECT IN OVER A DECADE! London, 1900. The capital hums with the energy of the new era, but something darker lurks beneath the surface. A monstrous figure stalks the city's criminal underworld at night, leaving a trail of bloody corpses in its wake. Rumors about the mysterious killer spread like wildfire. It's a demon. A phantom. An angel of vengeance. Nothing can kill it. Nothing can stop it. And once it picks a new target, well, he better have a coffin picked out, because he's already dead.
The only clue that a baffled police force has to work with is the black and white feather left on each corpse, leading the press to dub the killer The Magpie. Is the Magpie killing at random, or is there a pattern that no one else can see?
Three individuals, strangers to each other, might together have the answer. Madame Hendrikov, the Russian medium with an upper-class clientele desperate for the secrets of the dead. Bess Turner, the East End barmaid caught up in the schemes of an organized crime gang. And Ignatious Thorn, the world's most famous consulting detective, brought to ruin by horrific tragedy.
The artistic mastermind behind THE WICKED + THE DIVINE, CAPTAIN CARTER, and CATWOMAN: ONE BAD DAY is back with a new comic unlike anything he's created before. ONE FOR SORROW is an intensely stylish, supernatural suspense thriller, full of kinetic action, bloody revenge, and ghostly mystery.
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