Posts tagged Brian Wood

I don’t really remember when I first came across Becky Cloonan’s art. To be honest, it probably came from seeing her work with Brian Wood, one of my favourite comic writers; their work on Demo really inspired me as to what indie comics could be.

Recently, she’s been putting out her own comics; one called Wolves, and the other called The Mire. I picked up both at TCAF 2012, and was fortunate enough to get them signed by her. I sat in one a writer’s panel the next day, and got to hear Becky talk about her perspective as both a writer and artist, and it was just interesting to hear that point of view.

I really liked her books; hit the “Read More” link below to read what I thought in detail. If you enjoy what I’m writing, give me a like, reblog, Facebook like, or recommend me to a friend! You can also follow me on Twitter. 

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I review comics for a living. As a result, I tend to read a lot of books that, if given the choice, I would avoid completely. They are books that do nothing for me, and usually receive the harsh end of the review stick in my writing.

Not DMZ.

DMZ is a comic book that just finished this year, after a six-year, seventy-two issue run; it featured the hypothetical situation that a second American Civil War had turned the island of Manhattan into a no-man’s land. 

While two armies were fighting over the land, there were still people living in the burnt-out husk of a city. These people had not made it out with the initial evacuation, stayed because they wanted to, or moved in with some hope that they could exploit the situation for personal gain.

People ran restaurant greenhouses and opened boutiques stocked with clothes stolen from racks in abandoned apartments. They defended their turf with violence and guns, learning that sometimes it was safer to depend on themselves. They still managed to be artistic, self-sufficient, and have culture.

Our hero, Matty Roth, wanted none of that. He just wanted to be a journalist. He would spend the next few years of his life reporting on the DMZ, learning the ways of its people and chasing that story. Along the way, however, he fell. He fell hard. 

Matty was corrupted by the power he received from the one man he thought could help the DMZ, and eventually, it ruined him. He couldn’t turn back.

While reading this story, writer Brian Wood quickly became one of my favourites because of the way he managed to turn one-off characters into light bulbs that illuminated the whole picture of the DMZ. 

Through reading about a DJ who dodges minefields on his way to a club, or a forty-something graffiti artist who only viewed his final work while being detained in a military helicopter, I understood the heart and spirit of the city. I understood the people who didn’t want to give up. I understood the people who just wanted to be free.

And frankly, that ability to make one-shot characters with no lasting impact on the main plot important amazed me. Matty Roth would never run across them in real life, apart from a faux “New York Times” published in issue twelve. This issue really stuck with me due to its construction, art style and purpose.

The issue is constructed like a real booklet that outlines maps, neighborhoods, interviews, talking heads and concepts. Learning “the anatomy of a street battle” or learning that people who ventured into the Empire State Building were never heard from again added character to the city without explicitly devoting too much time to the specifics.

Instead, when Wood comes back to them, issues later, a light goes on in our head that says “Man, I read about them back then and they sounded cool - this is 100 times better!”

That takes talent - the ability to plant a seed of an idea in a reader’s brain, have them forget about it, then have it bloom brilliantly later. 

By the end of the story, I’m not just reading about the DJ, Random Fire, or the artist, Decade Later. I’m living with them. I’m sharing the same vegan restaurants, or dodging the bombs raining down from both sides.

I’m huddled in a subway tunnel with them with the vain hope that the fighting will stop, we’ll be able to go home, and everything will be alright in the DMZ.

Happy New Year, everyone! It’s gotten off to a great start for me, so I thought I’d throw together my favourite comics of 2011. This year had a bunch of ups and downs with a lot of crossover success in films; I can’t applaud all the “successes”, but I’m glad that the medium seems to be puttering along.

Let me know what you think of my list with a reblog, tweet or comment. Give me a follow, too! Cheers!

Daredevil (Mark Waid, Paolo Rivera)

Mark Waid taking over the book and reinventing Daredevil has got to be one of the best moves Marvel have made all year. The book is fresh, inviting, has amazing art and simplistic stories. After the clusterfuck that was Shadowland, this series was exactly what the character needed.

Marvel’s been doing great things with artists like Chris Samnee and Paolo Rivera, who have a very retro style. I’ve never liked Daredevil at all, and their art is partly what’s doing it for me.

Punisher (Greg Rucka, Marco Checchetto)

Another revived series, but a great one all the same. Greg Rucka knows how to write gritty stories, and that’s something that’s in this book in spades. Again, like Daredevil above, Punisher has managed to take a property that was veering into the weird and refresh the concept. Frank is brooding, stoic and going through hell; just the way he needs to be.

This series gave me one of my favourite individual issues of the year with its Thanksgiving story. The book lacks the wanton destruction of MAX, but still manages to tell great tales.

Huntress (Paul Levitz, Marcus To)

While not officially a New 52 title, Huntress was launched as part of that wave of new titles, and I can applaud its quality. Marcus To’s pencil work is amazing, and it captures the tone of the “Birds of Prey” Huntress that I liked so much.

There’s subtle things that make the book so much better than a lot of New 52 series; like Nightwing, the character seems more like an actual person, instead of a name, a pair of tights and powers. It’s a pity it’s only a mini series - emerging talent like To are have the potential for some great runs.

Nightwing (Kyle Higgins, Kevin McCarthy)

As one of the two books that’s really impressed me out of the New 52, Nightwing has great character work and pacing. A lot of my problems with the other books stem from the inability to get the story going, or terrible set-up otherwise.

Sometimes, in an effort to get people to read the book, the writer will throw too much action with little meat to the story. The inverse is true as well, where the characters are written bland (I’m looking at you, new Blue Beetle and Mister Terrific) and reading the series becomes tedious. Nightwing has managed to balance personal drama, action and genuinely likeable people in an effort to give Dick a good base to work off of.

I still maintain that Barbara Gordon has been written better in Nightwing than her own book.

Animal Man (Jeff Lemire, Travel Foreman)

This book has been a surprise in that I didn’t think I would like it. Buddy Baker has impressed me in his ability to carry himself as a hero, and I applaud Jeff Lemire for not making his daughter a Layla Miller-esque know it all. While presumptuous youths aren’t an automatic death-knell for books, they tend to undermine the hero’s actions by throwing second-guesses most often than they should.

But, like I said, this book is great. It has a tendency to have at least one panel/page an issue that drops my jaw and leaves me with a smile on my face.

DMZ (Brian Wood, Riccardo Burchelli)

DMZ finished last week, and I can say it gave me one of the most satisfying ends to a book I’ve ever read. I’m not afraid to admit that I’m a little bit of a Brian Wood fanboy, but so much of this book just spoke to me as a person. As a journalist, I identified with a lot of the problems and issues Matty Roth ran across, and his character arc made me think about the type of man I want to grow up to be.

The character work in this book is some of the best I’ve ever read; the degree to which some characters were fleshed out in only one issue was absurd, and I found myself fascinated that I could care that much about someone I’d never read about again. If you haven’t read this book, do yourself a favour and pick it up.

DC Comics

DMZ #71 (pictured above) - Oh gosh, the series is almost over. This is one of my favourite books of all time, so it’s a bit sad to see Matty Roth get put on trial for war crimes. If you haven’t read this book before, you’ve got some catching up to do before the finale in #72. Author Brian Wood said that this one is “the big one” in terms of story resolution, and I fully expect to be blown away.

Flash #3 - Francis Manapul’s art is awesome, and this comic is the first book to make me care about Barry Allen. I’m really enjoying the giant set-pieces that he’s drawing, and the whole “vibrating a plane through a bridge” scene has been set up/previewed for a long time.

Shade #2 (of 12) - Wait, The Shade’s series is out, and I wasn’t notified? Time to catch up! I wrote a column about why Shade needed his own series awhile ago, but it turns out that web site has stopped publishing; oh well. Bad-ass villain turned bad-ass character.

Image Comics

Invincible #84 - I’ve been a bit disappointed by this book as of late because of the large hangover period that came after the story’s major story arc. Mark Grayson has been making a growing series of bad choices as a superhero, and to see a complete 180 in such a small amount of time is disconcerting. 

Next issue marks the return of Cory Walker to the book, which I’m quite excited for; nothing against Ryan Ottley, but I just prefer the former’s work. This seems a bit dumb, as, well, the latter has been working on the majority of Invincible’s run, but for some reason the latest arc really turned me off.

I don’t really like when comics I usually enjoy reading unsettle me; I’ve written about this before, and sometimes Invincible’s gore and violence make me want to put it down for a bit.

Marvel Comics

Captain America and Bucky #624 - I’m reviewing a bunch of Marvel books for ComicVine this week, and this issue of Cap & Bucky is the first one I’ve ever read. Shall be fun diving into a new series, and I may pick up a couple back issues in order to get an idea of where the series is.

Invincible Iron Man #510 - Quality from Matt Fraction as always; can’t go wrong with Tony, Pepper and the boys at Stark Resilient. Another review for ComicVine on the way.

Mighty Thor #8 - I’ve been liking this series because it’s relatively continuity-light, and they’ve done some lovely things with Galactus and the Silber Surfer. I’m looking forward to the Fear Itself fallout and seeing some of this “New God of Thunder” business.

Secret Avengers #19 - Warren Ellis. Secret-y things. Beast, Moon Knight, Captain America and Black Widow. Hi-jinks. Secret Avengers is like a more serious Nextwave, and I enjoy every minute.

Last week I published an excerpt of a column I was working on for Comic Vine in which I discussed cities in comics, and how they can be done right. The post finally went online the other day, and you can read it here!

Quote after the break!

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