Just the story of a certain cat with steel-hard skin and the skirt he lost when he went in the clink on a bum rap.

"Luke Cage Noir" #2 from Marvel Comics

Re-telling the origin of Marvel characters in the new setting of the Depression Era is a fairly novel idea that Marvel is milking for all it's worth. Still, issue #1 of this series impressed me, so I came back for more. It's Harlem in the 1920s, a topic that already interests me because my, perhaps, favorite prose novel of all time is Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man", a brilliant piece of work that takes place in Harlem of the 1950s. There are echoes here of Ellison's essential concept of African-American man as 'invisible' in a social sense.

(Cover of "Luke Cage Noir" #1)

I'm not sure what bloody right Tombstone had appearing in the cliffhanger ending of the first issue and then fairly heavily in this issue as he has nothing to with Luke Cage. But noticing that Tombstone is an albino African-American (a fact often over-looked) and noting that both he and Luke Cage have nearly identical abilities (impenetrable skin, super-strength) I'm almost tempted to say that his inclusion here is inspired. But it isn't.

Actually, I think that giving this 1920s version of Luke Cage a super-villain is the weakest element of this mini-series so far. Everything else, however? I LOVE IT.

The 1920s dialogue by Adam Glass and Mike Benson is delightful and for the most part sits just below the place where it would be over the top and ridiculous. As a result it feels fun while still giving a sense of a real time and place. Shawn Martinbrough's art is atmospheric. Great panels of Luke Cage in an urban environment, every image in the rain is damn gorgeous. The facial expressions show a nearly true range of human emotion. Although I wish the artist and the colorist had been in closer conversation about the flashbacks. Both issues have various flashbacks and both issues have some panels with sepia-tone coloring to make this clear and some panels without. It makes for frustrating reading at times. "What is this? When does this take place? 10 years ago, before Luke Cage was in jail or tomorrow?" Frustrating.

The cliffhanger ending from last month involving Luke Cage, an empty grave, and the mobster Tombstone with a pair of tommy guns as well as a pair of rottweilers didn't really interest me as much as the story of a regular joe in remarkable circumstances who wants to find the girl he loves. Thankfully, that story hasn't been entirely derailed, but it has been a bit submerged. Speaking of submerged... Spilling a rooftop water tank onto bad guys is funny no matter what medium, genre, or decade you do it in. Awesome!

And THIS issue's cliffhanger brings the plot about Luke's dear Josephine back to the fore!

THE LONG AND SHORTBOX OF IT? This is a damn good series with a great character re-placed into a logical location for his origin story to take place. Despite minor problems, this mini-series is fun and cool and will probably make a damn good collection in a few months. You can bet I will be picking up #3 and the final issue, #4!

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So here's my review of a Marvel book. Josh just reviewed Jeff Lemire's "Sweet Tooth", an imprint book, so if it isn't clear yet we're giving you a special point-of-view this week in honor of "Strange Tales" #1! The Marvel Guy goes indie and the Independent Guy takes a look into the Marvel Multiverse and then both of us will together, give you, in the next few days, our thoughts on this unusual moment in which Marvel invites some "Strange" bedfellows into the House of Ideas!

Tales From The Forest

Reading Sweet Tooth #1 got me wondering if I'll ever be able to understand Jeff Lemire's work.

My musing isn't because I don't GET Lemire; I do get him. And I love him. The Essex County trilogy is, quite simply, one of the most magnificent pieces of sequential art ever put to paper because he manages to tell such a complex story with such a simple vocabulary. It's rare to come across a story that manages to do so much with so little (in fact, the only example I can really think of is Craig Thompson's Blankets, but that's just so damn long it's hard to put in the same category as Essex County). This is particularly striking because Lemire doesn't seem like a consciously indie cartoonist- instead of denying the superhero tropes that most associate as one and the same with comic books, the first Essex County volume embraces and plays with them. Rather than deconstruction in the Alan Moore and Warren Ellis vein we get deconstruction from an entirely different perspective; that of a young reader of comic books. Instead of putting the realities of superheroes under the magnifying glass we find the realities of reading superhero comics there, and what we come to understand about ourselves as readers of comics is fascinating. Someday, I would like very much to explore this more deeply.

No, it's not that I don't understand Lemire's work because it is incomprehensible or indecipherable, because it isn't; it may be complex but it is also beautifully simple and it works on about a hundred different levels. Instead, I don't understand Lemire because his protagonists are just so unbelievably isolated, so incredibly alone. Sometimes they can find their way out of this loneliness and sometimes they don't but the end result is, unsurprisingly, not as important as the fact that they all, at one point, hit such depths.


It's these depths that make Lemire's work so powerful, so moving, and it's the way his new Vertigo series, Sweet Tooth, gets its start. The series' hero (or, perhaps, simply its protagonist) finds himself alone in a world that is very dangerous, one that he knows absolutely nothing about. And it's terrifying. One wonders what's going to happen to Gus; what horrible things Lemire has planned for the poor boy with deer antlers on his head. This curiosity, on its own, would be enough to bring me back for another issue.

As always with his work, Lemire's artwork is a treat, but it has a whole new dimension with the addition of colorist Jose Villarrubia. Initially, I was worried about this new dimension; Essex County is probably so effective because its in black and white and I actually think color would have taken away from that project. Here, I'm still not convinced its required (or even welcome, really) but it does add a certain flair that I like quite a bit. I'd be interested to see an issue printed in black and white to compare, but, truthfully, this is the only complaint I have with the book. A more perfect piece of sequential art I haven't read in a long time.

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In honor of Strange Tales #1 Jon and I are pulling a little switcheroo- I'm reviewing Jeff Lemire's Sweet Tooth, which is new from Vertigo, and he's reading and reviewing Luke Cage Noir. In the next couple of days you'll see a conversation we'll be having about Strange Tales. If you're a little confused about why "the marvel guy" is reviewing an indie and why the indie guy is dipping his toes into the Marvel Method well, thats why.

HOLY SHIT

It appears that my favorite comic shop in the whole world is about to sue Diamond.

Shit.

Tues... Wednesday Night pull-list! (9/2/2009)

So...

I'm late with this but I planned to pick up:

"Strange Tales" #1 (which I actually bought)
"Luke Cage Noir" #2 (which I actually bought)
and
"Sweet Tooth" #1 (which I narrowly passed on)

Then I thought "I'm only buying two comics? Why not finally give a try to the Judd Winick/Mark Bagley Batman Reborn stuff Clare has spoken highly of!". So I bought "Batman" #690.

Tomorrow: A review of "Luke Cage Noir" #2! A MARVEL BOOK!

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By the by, if you care, "Rex Mundi" #19 did not come out that week (8/19/09). It came out the next week. Mysteriously, the two long-awaited "Gargoyles" trade-paperbacks (Clan-Building Vol. 2 & "Bad Guys") DID come out on the 19th. Now for complicated and obnoxious reasons I will explain in my review, these trades have previously un-published material in them. A lot of it. Hence, a review for the "Gargoyles" trades is appropriate and a review of "Rex Mundi" would be superfluous. But as they are trades and have the equivalent of six or so weeks of comics in them, it will take me a while to absorb them to my satisfaction! Don't worry. Wait for it.

Already Tired of Tuesday

Big week this week-
Agents of Atlas #10, Immortal Weapons #2, Incognito #6, Strange Tales #1, and the Torch #1 from Marvel, Wednesday Comics #9 from DC, Jeff Lemire's Sweet Tooth from Vertigo, and Witchfinder #3 from Dark Horse.

I'm particularly excited for the first issues of both Strange Tales and Sweet Tooth the last issue of Incognito: the latter I know to be a work of genius and the first features a Spider-Man comic drawn by my favorite indie-cartoonist, the fantastic Norwegian Jason. The middle one is the new Vertigo ongoing by my second favorite indie-cartoonist and author of the unbelievably brilliant Essex County trilogy and I can hardly contain my excitement.

I'm a little worried about the Torch, because I love the original Human Torch, but have an immense dislike for anything that Alex Ross touches. Hopefully this will be good enough to do a fantastic character justice- if it isn't, I only have to wait a couple of weeks for the next issue of the Marvels Project.