Here at borg.com, we’re fans of Westerns. And ghost stories. But we haven’t truly appreciated just how much fun they can be together—until Holly Messinger’s lively debut, The Curse of Jacob Tracy, and a prequel novella, The Romance of Certain Old Bones.
Messinger’s books fit in nicely alongside Dead Man’s Hand (reviewed here), Bone Tomahawk (reviewed here), and Dragon Teeth, reviewed recently here, and will appeal especially to fans of All-Star Western’s hero Jonah Hex. Set several years after the Civil War, The Curse of Jacob Tracy follows the title character, a Confederate veteran cursed with the ability to see the dead. A former seminarian, Trace is lying low as a cowhand and trail boss, and doing his level best to stay away from hauntings. He’s joined in his adventures with longtime working partner Boz, his indispensible, skeptical right-hand-man. But the curse keeps cropping up, in a series of fun, episodic adventures strung together by a strong throughline. You’ll encounter Werewolves on a Train, haunted printing presses, gruesome Bordenesque axe-murders, and men possessed by dinosaurs. Yes, really.
Trace is a strong, sympathetic, multi-layered lead, with a frank, level-headed, and sometimes downright funny voice. Messinger’s supporting cast is just as strong. Female lead Sabine Fairweather, a mysterious, learned gentlewoman who has hired Trace for odd jobs—really odd jobs—is hiding eerie secrets of her own, deep inside her esoteric steampunk laboratory. As Trace becomes more deeply entwined in Miss Fairweather’s curious work, he begins to tentatively embrace, rather than recoil from, his strange powers. But the partnership comes at a cost, and as Trace learns more about the supernatural, he realizes his newfound skills are jeopardizing everyone he cares about. He can’t hide from the curse, but can he learn to control it?
We at borg.com have been big fans of several recent series on SyFy, notably those coming from Canadian showrunner Emily Andras (Lost Girl, Killjoys). Well, Andras is back with an all-new series that we previewed here that looks to be just as fun, once again with a powerful female lead. Based on the IDW comic of the same name, Wynonna Earp is a paranormal Western, in the tradition of the anthology Dead Man’s Hand, (reviewed here) and borg.com favorite All-Star Western, featuring Jonah Hex (reviewed here).
On her twenty-seventh birthday, Earp family black sheep Wynonna (Melanie Scrofano, Haven, The Listener) returns home to Purgatory (presumably Alberta) to attend her uncle’s funeral, and inherit the family curse: She’s become the Earp Heir, the only person capable of wielding her great-great-granddaddy’s Colt .45 Buntline Special, known as “Peacemaker.” See, Purgatory and the Earps are haunted by the ghosts–or Revenants–of Sherriff Wyatt Earp’s kills. And every generation of Earps must hunt down the undead again, until all 77 have been dispatched for good. The trouble is, Wynonna wasn’t actually the Heir–that dubious honor ought to have belonged to elder sister Willa. But Willa and their father were killed by Revenants when Wynonna was just a kid, leaving Purgatory, Wynonna, and younger sister Waverly unprotected.
The series has just aired its third episode (Episode 4 airs Friday, April 22), and it’s off to a fantastic start. Andras has a great knack for blending excellent worldbuilding, sci-fi and paranormal elements, winning characters, and humor. Scrofano is sharp-tongued and swaggering, a perfect modern-day gunslinger, and she’s backed up with an excellent supporting cast. Shamier Anderson (Defiance) plays Agent Dolls, special agent of the Black Badge Division, a sort of Men in Black-style “cross-border” paranormal task force, and Dominique Provost-Chalkley as overeager little sister Waverly is a funny and delightful sidekick. But the standout is Tim Rozon (Being Human, Lost Girl) as the mysterious Henry, immediately identifiable (though not identified) as the ghost of Doc Holliday, sporting a lazy drawl and unclear motives that make him absolutely captivating–utterly unrecognizable from his vile Lost Girl character.
One of my favorite ways to get introduced to new comic book worlds is through Dark Horse Comics’ monthly anthology series, Dark Horse Presents. We’ve reviewed several stories here at borg.com that were pulled from Dark Horse Presents to become their own collected volumes, including Francesco Francavilla’s Black Beetle, the sci-fi series Number 13, the off-the-wall Dog Mendonça and PizzaBoy, Phil Noto’s Ghost, and our favorite of them all, the animal story Beasts of Burden. In a similar vein, the relatively new anthology series Creator-Owned Heroes has spawned its own compilation book, Trigger Girl 6.
As someone who bailed a few issues into Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman: The Court of Owls story arc in the monthly Batman comic book which spanned the bulk of the first year of the New 52, I found that I really enjoyed the crossover follow-on story as compiled in the late February hardcover release, Batman: Night of the Owls. While you are either left scratching your head or enjoying the ride as the Batman “Death of the Family” story arc wrapped last week with Batman Issue #17, this new trade edition is one way to check out some other New 52 titles you might not otherwise try. And it’s fun watching how several writers can make a crossover take place in one night over 14 issues.
It’s the first crossover of the New 52. Batman: Night of the Owls collects 360 pages, including Batman Issues #8-9, plus the tie-ins from Batman Annual #1, Nightwing Issues #8-9, and Issue #9 of All-Star Western, Batgirl, Batman and Robin, Batman: The Dark Knight, Batwing, Birds of Prey, Catwoman, Detective Comics and Red Hood and the Outlaws.
It’s the end of December and another year is winding down. Everywhere you turn someone is talking about the Best of 2012, so here we offer our take, resulting from absorbing more content this year than ever before, from books to movies to TV to comics, we reviewed and previewed entertainment from most of the big comic book publishers, and received screeners of shows and books from different publishing houses. And we watched a lot of TV and went to a number of movies. So what was the best of the best this year? No one will ever have the same list but here’s where we ended up:
Best Genre Movie: The Hobbit. We had to wait all year for the release but once we saw it–it was well worth the wait and we want to go back and see it again and again. How could you possibly follow one of the only fantasy films ever to win a Best Picture Academy Award and expect to come close in quality and entertainment? Peter Jackson figured it out. Not even The Avengers came close to touching this epic film with giant sets, special effects, elaborate costumes, a perfect story adaptation, and the best CGI creature to date: a Gollum even better than in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Best Dramatic Film: Argo. It was an international event more recent in the public psyche than even Watergate, yet it had never been addressed on the silver screen before–the kidnapping of American nationals in Iran. Ben Affleck served as both director and star of the film and performed both roles brilliantly. Both exciting and funny–with the incredibly bizarre hook of using Hollywood to create a sci-fi B movie as CIA cover to sneak in to Iran and remove a small group of hostages–it was a story worthy of adapting to screen. Brilliant!
Best Animated Movie: Brave. Kelly McDonald’s wonderful Scottish voice, an all-star Brit voice cast including Emma Thompson, Bill Connolly, Julie Walters and Robbie Coltrane, coupled with Brenda Chapman’s story and the best of Walt Disney and Pixar’s animation so far, make Brave the slam dunk animated film winner of 2012. A gorgeous film about a tough and feisty red-headed girl skilled with a bow and arrow who wants to make her own destiny provided a great story for young and old alike.
Best Animated TV Series: Tron: Uprising. Disney Television Animation finally figured out a way to bring its Tron franchise forward with Tron: Legacy, and this prequel series gives us what the movie lacked–more Bruce Boxleitner as Tron. We hardly noticed this wasn’t a live action series, and with voice actors like Frodo’s Elijah Wood, Alien’s Lance Henriksen, Paul Reubens and Tricia Helfer, you could hardly go wrong. The brilliant choice of lighting, futuristic yet retro light cycles and funky soundtrack made this one worth coming back for each week.
Best Actor: Silas Weir Mitchell, Grimm. With the updates for the second season of Grimm, Mitchell’s reformed Blutbad Monroe was hard to beat as the sometimes hilarious sometimes dramatic glue that held the series together, setting up new conflicts, like the strange discovery of Renard and Juliette’s relationship, sure to drive the story next year.
Best Actress: Ksenia Solo, Lost Girl. As succubus and series star Bo’s tagalong human friend and roommate Kenzi, Solo held half of the dramatic workload for the Canadian series first released to U.S. audiences this year on the Syfy Channel. The Latvian born actress plays it funny and smart–she makes for the ideal kickass girl from the best genre fiction stories.
Best Breakout Role–Female: Cobie Smulders as S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Maria Hill in The Avengers. We knew her already from How I Met Your Mother, but Smulders took what could have been a throwaway background role in the biggest movie of the year and instead put her character’s footing almost on par with the Avengers themselves, heading up an early chase scene and appearing with Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury throughout the film. Now she’s set to come back for the next Avengers films, she’s a character that we never knew about but are glad she’s on the team going forward.
Best Breakout Role–Male: Max Greenfield as Schmidt in New Girl. Greenfield is one among a handful of great young actors in New Girl, now in its second season, but this season his character Schmidt stepped out to create the craziest, most hysterical moment of nearly every episode. Whether he is ranting that there is no black Santa Claus, or trying to show a stripper how to lap dance the right way, whether he is wearing his high-cut male kimono, ranting about germs, or his stupid actions result in him putting the most money in the coffee table jar, Greenfield took a funny part and stretched it to insanely funny. This from the same guy who performed dramatic roles in Veronica Mars, Life and Castle? Awesome.
Best Guest Appearance: Scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson’s appearance in Action Comics. It was a bit of a marketing gimmick, but what could tie the education of real science, a popular TV non-fiction series host and comic book readers together better? The real star-vested Tyson found a possible location for Superman’s home planet of Krypton, revealing it to the Man of Steel in the pages of the ongoing series.
Best TV series: Arrow, CW Network. We got our first look at the pilot for this series at Comic-Con this year and loved it, but wasn’t sure how it would appeal to a mass audience. Pretty much everyone we know watches this series, including those who would never otherwise think to look at a series about a masked superhero. We have a critical eye out for all things Green Arrow, but Arrow, led by a well-cast Stephen Amell, surpassed our expectations.
Best Comedy Series: New Girl, Fox Network.New Girl wins this category from one simple thing: This series made this writer laugh so hard his gut hurt and corresponding tears shot out of his eyes from the quick humor in so many scenes this year he lost count. And when the series dipped into dramatic elements it never veered far from the core of what makes the show work–it’s a comedy first. Tuesday night this year was New Girl night. Jess, Nick, Schmidt, Winston and Cece could be the next Friends (but funnier) if the series can get a wider audience.
Best Single TV Episode: Sherlock, “A Scandal in Belgravia,” BBC America. You just have to watch this episode of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman’s brilliant series over and over. The entry of the beautiful and unpredictable Irene Adler, played by Lara Pulver, was perfection, and Cumberbatch and Martin’s scene with Sherlock’s brother Mycroft in Buckingham Palace can’t be beat. Sure to be a classic episode for years to come.
Best Cliffhanger: Shawn’s dad gets shot, Psych, USA Network. It seems like it has been forever since Shawn’s dad Henry, played by Corbin Bernsen was shot at the end of this season’s last episode of the hit USA Network comedy/drama series. At its core, Psych is a light-hearted pleasure, so they just CAN’T kill off Henry. We’re really looking forward to finding out.
Best Series Ender: In Plain Sight, USA Network.* In a year where several mega-hits wrapped for good, including House, M.D., The Closer,Awake, and Chuck, one series finale tied up all the necessary loose ends the best, and that was the aptly titled “All’s Well that Ends” from In Plain Sight, which ended after five solid seasons. The writers skipped the gimmicks, with no gut wrenching death scenes for major cast players, but instead honored the characters as they’d been for the entire series, rewarding viewers with an end where everyone wins. *Update: Leverage‘ssurprise December 25, 2012 series finale came in with a powerhouse finale, slightly trumping In Plain Sight at the last minute after we posted this piece. See our review here.
Best Series that Cancelled Too Early: Awake, NBC Network. We only got to see 12 episodes of Awake, but in those episodes we saw a great paranormal drama develop. Jason Isaacs, like Paul Blackthorne, is one of those actors you want to helm a series every week. His dual role of father who lost his kid and husband that lost his wife, both in the same auto accident, showed this actor could do anything with a role. Although they were able to nicely wrap-up Awake in its last episode, we’d prefer to have seen a lot more of it.
Best Surprise in Entertainment: Dallas, TNT Network. How was this even possible? Who would think to take THE 1980s primetime soap and bring it forward to 2012, AND think it could work? TNT mixed a CW Network-inspired young cast with a plot continuing the struggles in the classic series and melded it into something for anyone willing to give it a try. Larry Hagman’s J.R. Ewing never missed a beat as the ultimate TV villain, even in his 80s. The writers took bits from the tangents of the original to concoct the main storyline of two young heirs fighting for family and social dominance. The result was addictive TV.
Best Comeback: The ensemble cast of Major Crimes. The great thing about a great ensemble cast is that you like every player equally. When this is successful, you can stand to lose a character or two and still keep going, or as was the case with the wind-up of The Closer, lose three main characters: Deputy Chief Brenda Lee Johnson, Chief Pope, and Sgt. Gabriel. Major Crimes added three new replacement characters and never missed a beat, pleasing fans who knew it was too soon for the stories from the L.A. Major Crimes unit to end.
Best Second Wind: Haven, Syfy Channel. Some cable TV series limp along and just end after a year or two. Haven’s single theme of solving the riddle of “the troubles” seemed a candidate for this, but something switched on with the 2012 season allowing the rich stories and great cast chemistry to give us the series’ best episodes in its three-year run so far.
Best Genre-Related Advertisement: Star Wars Super Bowl ad, Volkswagen. The best Super Bowl ad last January with a dog, a James Brown tune, and a pristine recreation of the Mos Eisley Cantina from the original Star Wars was an instant classic that will be hard to beat in 2013. Complete with its own recreated hive of scum and villainy, Tom Spina Designs’ creatures gave us something we want to see more of–maybe a new Disney-produced TV series based in Mos Eisley using all these obscure characters fanboys know by name? Missed it? See the full ad here.
Best Press Marketing: Coma mini-series press kit, A&E Network. We at borg.com received tons of content this year, from books to comics to advance screeners, but one marketing gag was so awesome in its own right it surpassed what it was advertising. The advance marketing for the Coma TV series marked a possible return by A&E to the classic TV shows we used to get in the days of shows like Price and Prejudice or Nero Wolfe. Sporting an underground conspiracy plotline, print and online ads created a cool concept that the mini-series itself did not quite match. When we received a human organ carrier in a “thawed” labeled box that we cautiously unzipped to find the screener, well that was just too awesome not to mention again.
Best Costumes: The Hobbit. The Hobbit already made our Best Genre Movie of 2012, but it’s worth a second nod for having the most incredibly crafted costumes of possibly any film made so far in any year. Building on the costumes of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the slow panning of the camera in The Hobbit allowed us to see every seam on Bilbo’s patch-work coat, and every new emblem on each dwarf’s tunic. How can a production make so many unique costumes for one film? The result sets the standard for all major films to come.
Best Borg Appearance: The Cyborg Gunslinger, Doctor Who episode, “A Town Called Mercy”. Andrew Brooke’s gunslinger was a slick-looking borg addition, a throwback to Westworld that gave us equal parts of good sci-fi and classic Western movies. Doctor Who has created the best costumes and make-up of any sci-fi franchise in the past few years and this guy just looked great.
Best Web Series: TableTop bi-weekly Internet series, Geek and Sundry. Wil Wheaton, known for Star Trek: The Next Generation and more recently his appearances on Big Bang Theory and Leverage, as host of his own online series, brought us all back from the video game world to the boardgame format that allows friends to really interact and have fun for their own game nights. He chatted over great games like Tsuro, Munchkin and Zombie Dice with friends and celebrities alike, and showed us what could easily translate to its own Game Show Network series.
Best Villain: The Harp Seal, Battlepug, Mike Norton. Easy choice. This year’s Eisner Award winner for best digital comic revealed this unexpected villain, a funny surprise for readers. Imagine a world where the harp seal gets its due–a role reversal where warriors fear him over all other creatures. A great idea.
Best Ongoing Comic Book Series (tie): All-Star Western, DC Comics. Artist Moritat and writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti took a long-dead comic book title and bridged 1800s Gotham City and Jonah Hex to make a gritty and fun book that rose to the top of DC Comics’ New 52 titles first released in September 2011. Who knew a Western comic could be this good? Bionic Man, Dynamite Comics. Phil Hester took a Kevin Smith script and expanded on it, taking the most nostalgic bits of the classic Six Million Dollar Man TV series and updating it for 2012. The highlight of the fun was an appearance by the classic TV series guest star, Bigfoot.
Best Single Comic Book Issue: Thor, God of Thunder #1, Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic. How do you reintroduce a classic character like Thor in a new way? Exactly like Aaron does in this first issue of his new series, breaking up his story into three time periods, and highlighting the changing face of Thor over time. Ribic’s lush images of Thor and a certain strange new world escalated this book to the top of my year’s reads.
Best Comic Book Art: JK Woodward, Star Trek The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation². J.K. Woodward’s painted artwork throughout this limited series was stunning. Probably the best depiction to-date of Star Trek characters in a comic book, Woodward took a fanboy’s dream job of merging two of the biggest sci-fi franchises together for the first story ever attempted and delivered a great looking story, now available in a trade edition. We just want to see more.
Best Comic Book Cover Art: Mystery in Space, Ryan Sook, Vertigo Comics. Ryan Sook had a big year, providing sensational covers for everything from The Shadow to the new Sword of Sorcery to one of our favorite titles, Justice League Dark. But his cover for Vertigo Comics’ Mystery in Space #1 blended sci-fi and fantasy in the best way, with a steampunk angel painting the universe inside a spaceship with the help of flitting fairies, or is she creating our actual universe? A great idea and perfect execution made this a standout on the store shelf this year.
Best Comic Book Cover Art Runner-up: Hawkeye mini-series, David Aja. Aja’s six unique Hawkeye series covers served not only to entice us to read this mini-series with great use of simple colors, but his own artwork between the covers made us feel like we were rewarded with what was advertised–a very cool and unusually stylish series.
Best Comics Collected Edition: Flash Gordon, Volumes 1 and 2, Titan Books. These were the best presented books we reviewed this year. Reprinted Sunday comics from the 1930s and 1940s in a giant-sized edition that allowed readers to appreciate the story and art of creator Alex Raymond was a feast for the eyes. The content allowed readers to see just how relevant and interesting the original mash-up of sci-fi and fantasy could be.
Best Retro Reviewed Book: Moonraker, Ian Fleming.Casino Royale was a great read, Live and Let Die was a bit of a letdown, but Moonraker was as exciting as any book I’ve read in years. Far different from the film of the same name, this thriller was packed with spy world intrigue. Compared to all the other retro reviews this year, including Philip K. Dick classics, this one really stood out.
Best Reviewed Book: Dracula Cha Cha Cha, Kim Newman. Although it was initially released in 1998, a new edition was re-released this year. The best “post-modern steampunk” mash-up and incredibly detailed world building made this novel a great read, full of artful prose and creative crossovers. Newman also added another level of storytelling, mixing the real world with the world of fiction, and the result is a densely packed, enjoyable volume.
Best Mash-Up of Fiction and Non-Fiction Worlds: James Bond accompanies the Queen to the Olympics. 2012 was the Year of Bond with his 50th year in film. How better to highlight the best of Jolly Old England at this year’s Summer Olympics than to begin with a meeting of the current James Bond, Daniel Craig, and the actual Queen Elizabeth II in her 60th year in Buckingham Palace, followed by a faked aerial dive by the Queen over the stadium in London. The Queen was a real sport, adding herself to the long list of Bond girls. And don’t forget the real-world borg Oscar Pistorius’s impressive showings at the Olympics this year.
Best Genre Event: The Firefly 10th Anniversary Panel at Comic-Con. More than 7,000 fans stood in line for only about 5,000 seats but the all-night wait was worth seeing most of the cast of Firefly reunite with creators Joss Whedon and Tom Minnear to talk about the short-lived series. Firefly fans are a passionate bunch, and were able to get Whedon to make the big-budget movie Serenity a few years after cancellation. But get most of the stars to come back ten years later? Pretty cool feat. With Whedon and series co-star Adam Baldwin (Jayne) dropping by to greet the people sleeping and standing in line overnight it was an event that attendees will never forget.
Best News Story: George Lucas sells Star Wars rights to Disney. Some liked it and some hated it, but as months go by we’ll see what it all means. As entertainment goes, this multi-billion dollar exchange was the talk everywhere this year.
Best Science Story: Curiosity lands on Mars. NASA’s description of dropping a rover on the surface of the planet Mars sounded like threading a needle blind-folded wearing gloves. Its early morning coverage of the successful landing was something like the moon landing, and made everyone want to see what more we can do in the space program now that the last Space Shuttle has been mothballed. What will the future hold for NASA and humans in outer space?
Best Nationwide Genre Participation Event: The Avengers Marathon, AMC Theaters. We only wished for something like this when we were kids–the ability to watch something like all the Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies in one screening. The lead-up to the midnight premiere of The Avengers allowed fans to watch all the lead-in Avengers films so far: Iron Man I and II, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger. A great idea that will hopefully continue with other franchise films.
Best Single Thing for Genre Works: The Avengers movie. Genre, and specifically superhero, films needed a good kickstart. The dark and dreary Dark Knight trilogy from Christopher Nolan was monopolizing superhero films, and we needed a giant, vibrant superhero film to usher in a new age of comic book films and Joss Whedon delivered the goods. It’s not a perfect film (and what is?) but was completely fun and entertaining, delivering something every fan could enjoy. Challenging the top two positions for all-time box office draw also showed everyone that fans want to see more of this kind of movie.
What were your favorites? We hope a few of these are on your own list. We at borg.com will be back with more coverage and reviews in 2013.
I’ve gotten in and out of reading comic books several times in my life. I couldn’t tell you where the comic book store was when I lived in Columbia, MO. I found one when I lived in Delaware. There wasn’t one for miles when I lived in the mountains (but I found a baseball card shop). I knew of and visited at least six comic book stores when I lived in Kansas City and I visit about the same number in Los Angeles. I’ve visited them when I’ve made brief stops in London, England and Austin, Texas. I had subscriptions to several Marvel titles when I was in junior high and didn’t have to worry about getting my parents to take me to the comic store. One day a comic would arrive in my mailbox covered in the plain brown paper wrapping that I would later associate closely with either comics or porn.
A map of comic book stores across the U.S.
Still, every walk into a store is like a step into a colorful, inedible candy shop and I start to wonder, what I’m going to take home in my brown paper bag. I like recommendations quite a bit when I look for new things (and that’s why on Free Comic Book Day as I went to a few of my favorite stores, I picked up All-Star Western and Justice League Dark) but since my time in Kansas City, my main focus for when I look on the shelves of whichever store I find myself in, is new material by past favorite authors. That’s why on Free Comic Book Day I also picked up Saga by Brian K. Vaughan, who has entertained me in several stories like Pride of Baghdad, Runaways and Y: The Last Man.Saga looks to be a great start to another captivating yarn as I ripped through both issues I bought as I curled up to relax on Sunday night.
However, I must ask myself, is using the past a logical way to pursue entertainment? Are past performances indicative of future returns, unlike financial instruments? How can you tell when to jump off the creative train of a favorite author?
This reminds me of a game a friend and I play every now again based on the Fellini movie, 8 1/2. The film deals with the creative process and my friend and I used it as a jumping off point to analyze the careers of creative people by asking, “Does X have eight unarguable classics to their name?”
It’s tougher than you think. To be able to create eight works of art is an accomplishment in and of itself, and to make eight super-duper terrific things, well, that’s a rarefied air. Of course, everyone has a different opinion of what a “classic” is, but we generally know that Jaws and Raiders of the Lost Ark are both Steven Spielberg classics, where War of the Worlds and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull don’t come close to reaching the same height. Even though I’m not a huge Spielberg fan, he gets to eight relatively easily as you could add E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan and Catch Me if You Can to Jaws and Raiders and you get seven, though there are a few flaws, but I quibble. Finding an eighth movie among The Color Purple, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Munich and Jurassic Park should be easy. George Lucas on the other hand, I think he’s lucky to get two. I suppose I’m saying that at this point, going to see a Spielberg film may be a bit more of a question mark than it was in the 90s, but if you gave me a choice between Spielberg and Lucas right now, there’s no question I would choose to see a Spielberg film.
Looking at my favorite movies over the past few years, Midnight in Paris has reinvigorated my belief in Woody Allen and I’m more likely to see his next film. The quality of Marvel’s movies Thor, Captain America and The Avengers makes me more likely to go see non-sequels put out by Marvel Studios. (Iron Man 2 still leaves a poor taste in my mouth. That’s what I get for licking the screen). True Grit cemented my love of the Coen brothers, which I had before the movie as I’ve seen every one of their films.
My point? If you like the creative work of a person, you’ll probably like their other work. Looking at my bookshelf filled with several novels from Kurt Vonnegut, quite a few selections from Alan Moore and most every film by Wes Anderson, I probably didn’t need to do much thinking about it. Still, it’s nice to come to that conclusion and know that when I roll into a comic store, I can find some Brian Michael Bendis, some Matt Fraction, some J. Michael Straczynski, some Neil Gaiman, some Jason, some Craig Thompson, some Daniel Clowes, some Kurt Busiek or many others and be happy when I get home, turn on the lamp and snuggle beneath my covers. Plus, there’s always a chance I can stumble onto many more authors in the future through sheer luck, the recommendations of friends or the recommendations of the people I meet while wandering the aisles at my local comic book stores.
I had mentioned early in the New 52 reviews that All Star Western #1 was the coolest, most unexpected surprise of DC Comics’ first round of 52 issues. But to the extent All Star Western #1 was a standout series opener, writer Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti and artist Moritat along with colorist Gabriel Bautista set the bar even higher with issues #2 and #3. After six months of story development and world building, All Star Western remains both the most creative and my favorite of all the New 52 series.
Much like modern police departments attempt to keep quiet about tapping the resources of psychics in working kidnapping cases, the police of old Gotham City are adamant to not reveal they are using the resources of one Doctor Amadeus Arkham, a criminal psychologist before the term was coined and the field was in its infancy in the 18th century. Gray and Palmiotti create a world in transition from the Old West to the Industrial Revolution. The gun-toting days of cowboys and outlaws in frontier towns would seem to visibly contrast with the early days of street gangs and mob bosses, but Moritat and Bautista combine imagery of Gothic Noir and post-Civil War era culture, creeds, and weaponry to spin readers into an eminently believable and interesting time and place.
You can’t understate how unique Moritat’s panels and pages are compared to anyone else drawing comics today. For one thing Moritat does not use standard comic sized paper to render his pages. He uses 8.5 X 11 inch art paper. So his images are drawn much smaller compared to other artists’ panels. This means what he draws need to be crisp and clean and get the point across. And the result is beautiful imagery of dark and dusty places. From page one of issue one his fabulously detailed cityscapes look like they must have taken weeks to draw. His buildings are regal and elegant. His characters range from creepy lecherous street drifters pawing at bar room dancers to the timid Dr. Arkham himself, who manages to stand out as an oddity in room equally with the shredded face of Jonah Hex.
Moritat also uses panels to their maximum effect as quantity is concerned. Instead of spending an entire issue on a fight scene, much like you’ll find has occurred with other New 52 superhero titles, Moritat (and presumably an equal hand at from tight scripting by Gray and Palmiotti), gives you all out action–as much as you’d expect and as much as the story requires–but it will be packed into 24 panels in two pages. When drawn on two 8.5X11 pages this just seems to require incredible precision and pacing.
I appreciate the fact that Moritat drew the first three covers and the interiors to all six issues so far. It’s pretty rare today for any comic book publisher to have the interior artist draw his/her own covers. The result is a cohesive whole from cover to cover in each issue. Moritat’s covers are single works of art themselves.
Gray and Palmiotti’s dialogue is the best around. By the end of issue one we had a full grasp of Dr. Arkham’s persnickety nature, and Jonah Hex’s dialogue is written like Mark Twain wrote the dialogue for Huck and Tom–“Ah” is how Jonah’s says “I,” for example. Where Arkham is long-winded, Hex’s words are few and far between and he speaks his own language, literally.
Spoilers follow…
Recapping the first six months of All Star Western, issue one introduced how Arkham got hooked up with the violent Jonah Hex as they teamed up against skull-ringed members of Gotham’s society and a mission to find the one killer known as the Gotham Butcher.
In issue two Hex and Arkham hole up at Arkham’s house to defend themselves from an attack by those protecting this early brotherhood–a criminal religion of sorts. We get to see why a son of the confederacy as scarred and damaged as Hex is was able to survive for so long, as he uses his rifle to level pretty much everyone in his path. This leads Arkham and Hex to follow the carriage of the culprit who has kidnapped and tortured a local magistrate. The murderous thugs are too much for Hex as Hex tells Arkham to run. DC Comics couples the same writing team with artist Jordi Bernet on a two-part quick and dirty story featuring the masked hero El Diablo, concluding in issue three.
The reason Hex stumbled into Gotham City, the hunt to collect the bounty on three members of the Trapp gang, cause Hex to head out of town in issue three. A successful conclusion to their first mission, and Arkham coming out of his shell a bit, results in Hex being asked to join the police force (he refuses). Arkham is allowed to build a hospital to study the mind. But that all comes apart before it begins. Hex survives another attack, rescues, Arkham, and returns to his original pursuit.
Despite the unlikely team of Hex and Arkham splitting up in issue three, they are found back together again after Hex is offered $50,000 to locate a missing boy by the boys’ father. Money talks, and that is all that is needed to get Jonah Hex’s attention. After four issues the character of Hex is well established as a Han Solo, Dirty Harry of the Old West. He’s smarter than we read of a lot of real Old West legendary characters, like Jesse James, and smarter than later outlaw types like John Dillinger. He seems to follow the cowboy code to some extent, despite his chief tool of resolution being a quick draw. Despite Hex chalking up a body count, we like this anti-hero, and apparently his tough ways are par for the course in old Gotham. Following the main storyline, Phil Winslade joins the writing team for the beginning of a new monthly serial, this time a new three-part, mini-series called “The Barbury Ghost.”
In issue five the quest for the missing boy takes Arkham and Hex into the dark underbelly of Gotham, literally below Gotham in its caves that would one day house Bruce Wayne’s batcave. Saving the children is not as easy as they had figured and they get stranded in an underground river where they must fend off the Miagani, a Native American village living in the caves. And Hex continues ups his body count and must rescue Arkham yet again.
In the final chapter of the first major story arc, Hex and Arkham unravel who is behind the plot to use child labor to build the city’s sewer system, enlisting the help of the Wayne family, who live atop the batcaves.
All Star Western Vol. 1: Guns and Gotham is scheduled for release as a compilation in trade paperback in November, but individual issues are available in first and later printings. All Star Western is exciting, smart, and visually and interesting read. If you’re like this reader and have not thought to check out Western comics before now, this is a great place to begin and you won’t regret adding this series to your reading pile.
The big news for the week in comicdom is DC Comics’ confirmation yesterday that it will cancel 6 of its 52 regular series after Issue #8, after a lot of speculation over the past several weeks that DC would trim off some of its low selling titles. DC has offered very little by way of explanation other than low sales, and it released the names of the six titles unceremoniously at the end of its press release touting the addition of 6 replacement titles. Unfortunately three of the exiting titles were part of DC’s effort to diversify characters and its audience. As to the new titles, there is some good news, some indifference, and some… seriously?
The best news, of course, is that the very best of the New 52 titles are continuing, including All Star Western, Aquaman, Batgirl, Batwoman, Captain Atom, Justice League Dark,Savage Hawkman, and Wonder Woman. And a character who I thought deserved her own regular title is now getting one.
The departing titles are:
Blackhawks – Blackhawks are an elite force of military specialists equipped with the latest in cutting-edge hardware and vehicles. Their mission: Kill the bad guys before they kill us.
Hawk and Dove – The living avatars of war and peace root out the hidden forces who look to plunge the country into a deadly civil war. Dove made an appearance in Justice League Dark as a pretty good character.
Men of War – The attempt to bring Sergeant Rock to the 21st century just didn’t get the expected readership.
Mister Terrific – One of the departing titles featuring a black character. Though he has no super powers, Mister Terrific has a brilliant mind and an aptitude for science which he used to create the T-Mask, which renders him invisible to technology, the T-Spheres, which have several functions including holographic projection, generating electric charges and granting limited flight.
O.M.A.C. – Kevin Kho has become an unwilling participant in a war between Checkmate and Brother Eye as he is transformed into the One Machine Army Corp known as O.M.A.C.
Static Shock – A young justice title, focusing on a black teenager who was meant to be a modern, updated Spider-man for the DC universe.
DC Comics Editor-in-Chief Bob Harras stated that the characters in these titles will continue to be appear in the New 52 universe titles.
So the biggest disappointment of the new “second wave” on New 52 titles? A TWELFTH Bat-title: BATMAN: INCORPORATED. Really? If you’re not keeping track, we already had Batman, Detective Comics, The Dark Knight, Batwing, Batman and Robin, Batgirl, Batwoman, Knightwing, Catwoman, Birds of Prey, and Red Hood and the Outlaws. No criticism intended of some of these titles (like the exceptional Batgirl and Batwoman), but there is only so many Bat-stories one can keep track of each month. Ok, it was pretty clear Grant Morrison was going to come back with this title this year, so it isn’t a great surprise. Still…
The cool news is a revamped classic title, WORLDS’ FINEST, known for its Batman and Superman team-ups, now with the apostrophe moved from where it was in World’s Finest, as it appears to have intentionally moved to account for the multiple Earths in the DCU. The part we like is Huntress, just wrapping up her limited series, she will be a lead character sharing the storyline with Power Girl. Written by Paul Levitz with shared art duties for George Perez and Kevin Maguire. DC is marketing this one as Stranded on our world from a parallel reality, Huntress and Power Girl struggle to find their way back to Earth 2. Which brings us to the third new title:
EARTH 2. Written by James Robinson with art by Nicola Scott. This one could be fun, as there’s an unlimited number of change-ups that can be done with the parallel universe concept in the DCU. The greatest heroes on a parallel Earth, the Justice Society combats threats that will set them on a collision course with other worlds.
A big surprise for me is the reboot of DIAL H. Originally a classic series called Dial “H” for Hero, and rebooted only a few years back (2003) in a great series called just H.E.R.O., I think I have read all the back issues on this one and always liked the concept. If it is like the original, you have a dial like the alethiometer in The Golden Compass, which is used by Joe Citizen, often changing hands, to allow you to be the hero you want to be as circumstances require. It’s a little like Quantum Leap or Dollhouse, where you get to change everything with each new installment. This will be written by comics newbie China Miéville with art by Mateus Santoluoco.
And the war concept must not be dead, despite killing the Men of War title, as it will be replaced with the classic title, G.I. COMBAT. This will be a war series with three ongoing separate stories, written and drawn by three separate creative teams.
Finally the sixth new title to be added is THE RAVAGERS – Written by Howard Mackie with art by Ian Churchill. This is a Teen Titans and Superboy spinoff where four superpowered teens on the run fight against the organization that wants to turn them into supervillains.
All Star Western #1 was the coolest, most unexpected surprise of DC Comics’ first round of 52 issues. But to the extent All Star Western #1 was a standout series opener, writer Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti and artist Moritat along with colorist Gabriel Bautista set the bar even higher with issues #2 and #3.
First off, the design and format of the book is unique among DC Comics’ New 52. Chapters have an Old West style separation and font, with catchy titles like “Showdown at House Arkham,” “A practitioner of murder,” and “No news is good.” The aura of Gothic and Old West can be found at every angle.
The foreground of landscape scenes have a nice, almost ghostly style that evokes the 1800s-1920s, using a lot of brown and sepia tones. But the silhouette of grand manor houses and leafless trees on the landscape of an almost photo-real, painted horizon backdrop will have readers stopping in their tracks. Two page spreads with 22 individual panels keep the action scenes moving at full force, and the would-be campy “Pow,” “Crunch,” “Crash,” and “Clop Clop Clop” fill in the necessary sound effects for a Jonah Hex-led shoot ‘em up. We also get some nice splash pages of Hex, looking tough in his own half-faced way.
Unlike several other New 52 titles that unapologetically are going for the biggest shock they can provide to readers, the cartoonish quality of Jonah Hex’s gore serves to tame down the realism of the violence, creating the right venue for a fine good guy vs. bad guy battle to the end, with guns a’blazin’ and bodies fallin.’
The writers have kept up the momentum of the story with the most unlikely of pairings, the fragile Doctor Arkham against the stout Jonah Hex. These two continue together to confound each other, but, for once, in issue #2, Arkham has revealed that there is a killer about even within his own timid, early-era psychiatrist reality.
By the end of issue #3 we have a better look at the villainy coming in future issues, a “cult of crime” based on the story of Cain and Abel. Arkham serves to sleuth out the story while Hex is there to destroy those who get in the way and leave a body count. In issue #3 we also see the duo forming their first potential ally, by saving a city leader named Cromwell. Yet, no one lives long in early Gotham City.
The story has a vibe reminiscent of a short-lived series published a few years ago starting on Free Comics’ Day called The Ballad of Sleeping Beauty (one of the best titles ever), an eight-issue series from Image Comics, by Gabriel Benson and Mike Hawthorne, that hinted at the potential it was ultimately unable to fulfill—a “Gothic Western” that immersed the reader in the Old West. All Star Western is far better, but it does show there are limitless Gothic Western stories that can be told, not just with Jonah Hex and not just in Gotham City.
As an added feature to All Star Western, these issues #2 and #3 have an ongoing mini-series about the character El Diablo. This add-on bonus is full of quick stories in limited panels, but adds to the Saturday serial mystique of a Western series like this. If you like the character El Diablo, I’d suggest Jai Nitz’s very coolEl Diablo: The Haunted Horsemangraphic novel, drawn by Phil Hester and Ande Parks. And as for another book with a similar Gothic vibe, check out Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, by Brian Augustyn, with a powerhouse art match-up of Mike Mignola and P. Craig Russell.
. While you are either left scratching your head or enjoying the ride as the Batman “Death of the Family” story arc wrapped last week with Batman Issue #17, this new trade edition is one way to check out some other New 52 titles you might not otherwise try. And it’s fun watching how several writers can make a crossover take place in one night over 14 issues.
by Brian K. Vaughan, who has entertained me in several stories like Pride of Baghdad, Runaways and Y: The Last Man. 
(one of the best titles ever), an eight-issue series from Image Comics, by Gabriel Benson and Mike Hawthorne, that hinted at the potential it was ultimately unable to fulfill—a “Gothic Western” that immersed the reader in the Old West. All Star Western is far better, but it does show there are limitless Gothic Western stories that can be told, not just with Jonah Hex and not just in Gotham City.
graphic novel, drawn by Phil Hester and Ande Parks. And as for another book with a similar Gothic vibe, check out 
, by Brian Augustyn, with a powerhouse art match-up of Mike Mignola and P. Craig Russell.
