Comic Review: East of West Volume Three

    Xiaolian is no longer content to let events happen on their own.  As she and the other leaders of the new world try to navigate quickly shifting loyalties and dangers, Death continues the search for his child, the Three Horsemen are coming, and the Endless Nation is on the march.  War is coming, and things are about to get very hairy.

    With volume three, it feels like most of the chess pieces are on the board, and the great game is in full swing.  Events happen fast, blood hits the floor, and Beast walks.  This is a story that barrels forward like a freight train.  It’s intensely readable, visually striking, and a visceral, gut punch of a tale.  An epic for the ages.  This is the kind of thing you feel lucky to discover and immediately want to rush right out and make all your friends read.  Well, this is the best way I can do that.  Read East of West.  It’s the business.

East of West Volume Three
Author: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Nick Dragotta
Publisher: Image Comics
ISBN: 978-1-63215-114-8

-Matthew J. Constantine

Comic Review: East of West Volume Two

    In the second volume of Jonathan Hickman’s alternate-Western/Sci-Fi operatic epic, more deadly troubles are revealed, more hell comes a knocking, and Death pays a price for a little info.  The politics of the weird world grow more and more strange, as nations build for the coming war.  All the while, Death’s kid sits, deep inside a cyber-dungeon, waiting for the time when he can rise and become an instrument of apocalypse.

    By this stage in the story, there are so many threads, so many characters.  It really does feel like a grand epic.  Not only is it big storytelling, writ on a huge, Western inspired canvas.  But it’s also high emotional drama about families, dynasties, rivalries, revenge, and zealotry.

    East of West revels in the format, telling a massive, cinematic, operatic story in lush color and stark imagery.  I can not wait to see how this tale develops.  If the ending can live up to the beginning, this should stand alongside other great epics with no shame.  It’s a must read, and another reminder that companies outside of the Big Two are producing some swell graphic literature.

East of West Volume Two
Author: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Nick Dragotta
Publisher: Image Comics
ISBN: 978-1-60706-855-6

My review of volume 1 is here. 

-Matthew J. Constantine

Rumor Control/Panic Attack: Marvel's New 52???

Two years ago Marvel relaunched their line under the branding of Marvel Now!  All-New #1s!  On the surface this was nothing new for comic fans; a simple jump-on point for new readers walking out of movie theaters & into comic shops.  I'm still not sure if that logic is sound, but I really enjoyed the creative roster change...at first.  I certainly appreciated their creative shake up compared to DC's totally batshit reboot of The New 52.  I currently read only 5 DC monthly titles (Batman, Detective Comics, Batman Eternal, Green Arrow, Multiversity) & by next month it could be half that.  They are a stagnated company, and despite owning two of the most popular characters on the planet, they can't seem to tell a fresh story to save their life.  I just suffered a year long, dull, drab Gotham City origin story from the supposed A-Team of Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo, and I found the whole bland experience rather depressing.  Fingers crossed on the mad genius of Grant Morrison.

But Marvel's faltered along the way too.  Brian Michael Bendis' All-New X-Men started out as a madcap melodrama centered around the original team's time travel antics, but it's pretty much been dragging its feet for twenty plus issues.  Move the story along please.  Indie Darling Matt Fraction dished out some of the cutest/cleverest comics in FF & Hawkeye, but unknown behind-the-scenes gripes drove the man towards Image Comics.  Jason Aaron's triple threat Thor reinvigorated the God of Thunder for his first two arcs, but recent stories have lacked in the consequence department.  Rick Remender's Uncanny Avengers has been nothing but peaks & valleys - it's great! it's dumb! it's great! it's dumb!  His Captain America has never quiet sat right with me - Dimension Zola?  Ugh.  And let's not even discuss Iron Man.  It's dreck.  You can't dismiss Marvel Now like The New 52, but things are getting stale.  So you know what that means?  All-New #1s!!!

Newsarama just published an article speculating a line wide reboot akin to The New 52.   Time to panic?  Well, first, I'm not so sure I agree with their findings.  Second, a reboot is not really a reboot.  The old comics are there.  They still exist.  Also, The New 52 is really no different from the Universe we all grew up on, and I'm sure the same will be said for Marvel if it chooses to Crisis.  Third, this reboot will spawn out of Jonathan Hickman's Avengers/New Avengers "Time Runs Out" storyline.  I may be a little lukewarm on his cohorts, but I have been absolutely mesmerized since Hickman took over Marvel's flagship title.  Hickman has always been about The Big Picture, and each month I am left flabbergasted with how he's taken these tiny bits and weaved a grand, cosmic story.  I once thought he was simply building to last year's Mega Event (Infinity, the best one Marvel's had in over a decade), but now it appears that story was just another building block in Hickman's grander scheme.

For fanboys, it's easy to freak.  Black Captain America!  Lady Thor!  Evil Iron Man!  Comics, man.  They do weird wild stuff.  They have to.  Marvel just had it's 75th Birthday; that's a lot of web-slinging for Spider-Man, and you can only kill the Green Goblin once...or twice...or threefourfivesixsevenbajillion times.  It's hard to keep things interesting.  Some of their clickbait storylines are not going to work.  And some will.  The New 52 might stink now.  Marvel might go down the toilet.  There are only so many Jonathan Hickmans, Ed Brubakers, Robert Kirkmans in this world.  Given the right writer, any storyline or character can be saved.  I might skip on a title this month or this year, but I am always happy to jump back in.

--Brad

Comic Review: East of West Volume One

    A little Alternate History never hurt nobody.  The first volume of East of West starts with an introduction to the world, a world where the States did not come back together after the Civil War, where things got mighty weird, mighty fast.  Then it throws us into the fire.  The Three Horsemen have risen…Wait, what?  Oh, yeah.  Death has started his solo career, and he’s got his own thing going.  We’re introduced to various ideas, both of the alternate world, which has a generally Western vibe, and to the overall plot.  It seems Conquest, Famine, and War are itching to bring it all down, but Death doesn’t want to play their game.  There’s some kind of cult devoted to the Horsemen that infects the halls of power.  And in what would have been California, in New Shanghai, someone waits for Death.  Someone who might just change everything.

    While steeped in the flavor of classic Westerns and Alternate History Science Fiction, there’s something operatic about this comic.  By the time it gets rolling, the orgiastic violence and sweeping speechifying is something to behold.  Death is a cool character, and his two companions Crow and Wolf are fun.  But it’s when Xiaolian comes into her own that things get interesting.  I think that’s the point where I started to really, really dig this series.  Now, I can’t wait to find out what Death & Co. get up to, what kind of hell Xiaolian is going to dish out.  And just what’s going on with all these conspiratorial cultists.

    The series is exciting.  A page turner.  I’ve been reading a lot of comics for various reasons lately, and reading this reminds me just how great a page turner can be.  As I’m reading it, I can also see some parallels between this series and Pretty Deadly (and to a degree, Saga).  But where I think Pretty Deadly gets everything wrong, this series gets it all right.  When the moments of extreme drama happen, it’s earned your emotional investment, not simply told you that you should feel something.  When Death and Xiaolian show their metal, and you start to understand what you’re reading, I felt giddy like when I listen to a swelling piece of Beethoven or Wagner.  And it looks nice.  The art is pretty darned good, and the panel work excellent (though, I'm a sucker for semi-contained, structured panels).  I can’t wait to see what happens next, and recommend you join me in my journey.  Heck, Volume One is only 9.99, so give it a try.

East of West Volume One
Author: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Nick Dragotta
Publisher: Image Comics
ISBN: 978-1-60706-770-2

-Matthew J. Constantine

The Mighty Avengers aka The Black Avengers?

Marvel Comics has just unveiled their latest Avengers book (those keeping count, we already have The Avengers, New Avengers, Secret Avengers, Avengers Assemble, Avengers Arena, & Young Avengers) and it is Mighty.  Apparently spinning out of Jonathan Hickman's Infinity event series, The Mighty Avengers will consist mostly of African American characters with the token Superior Spider-Man and the mean green machine She-Hulk tagging along. Editor Tom Breevort once teased of a Black Avengers being released around Black History Month and as a direct result from Dwayne McDuffe's efforts.  I love me some Luke Cage and as you know I'm a sucker for 70s Blaxploitation movies, but this book feels a little odd.  How much will race play into it?  I'm guessing they're going to address it as little as possible.  It's probably going to be one of those right heroes/ right time kind of assemblage.  The real question is going to be the writing.  Al Ewing?  What have you done for me lately?  But I want White Tiger to be cool.  I want Ronin to kick ass.  I want Luke Cage to lead.  The Falcon is a great side character that never gets enough love outside of a Brubaker comic.  Fingers crossed.

--Brad