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UNTIL YOUR HEART STOPS v8.1
by Brian Domingos
2/3rds of the World's Assassins
March 23, 2005
Aayy-ooohhh.
I watched a chunk of the ROCKY marathon on AMC this weekend and I've got Rocky on the brain. I love how they labeled the episodes, "The Long Shot," "The Rematch," and "The One with Mr. 'T'".
Anyway, I've got three reviews here and it's a bizarre grouping. The reason these are all together is that they all shipped together, two weeks ago, or so. All should be available at a shop near you.
 THE LONG HAUL OGN
Writer: Antony Johnston
Artist: Eduardo Barreto
Letters: Marshall Dillon
Oni Press
$14.95
Well… that certainly was worth the wait, wasn't it? Antony Johnston and Eduardo Barreto's Western/Heist THE LONG HAUL was due about six months ago, and it was delayed due to an increased page count. It happens. But now, now we can move on from that, and bask in the goodness that is THE LONG HAUL.
It's Chicago, 1871 – Cody Plummer is an ex-bank robber, looking to get his life on track. He's been out of prison for two years now, and he's having a lot of trouble adjusting. There's a lot of temptation out there, but he's being a good boy. He is informed of a $1.9 million cash load headed West by train and he's interested. When he learns that it's being protected by the same Pinkerton shlub who took him down, he's knows he needs to get his crew together.
The first 100 pages or so are used to introduce us to Cody and his crew and, I'll tell you, that gave me some hesitation. I've read far too many Original Graphic Novels that are badly paced and I thought that spending over half the book setting up the cast was a mistake. Johnston was right, though, as the story moves real fast after that. They band together, go over the details, and then Get It Done.
I've always found post-Civil War society to be interesting, so Johnston tapped into a good source. The heists of today are so complicated, but he gave us an equally complicated job with totally believable steps and true results. It's all smarts and timing and Plummer and his gang had all that in spades. All of the time period's archetypes were there: The Man with the Plan, The Damsel, The Hands, The Brains and the Get Away Man.
It really helped that I genuinely liked all of the characters. They weren't rapists and murderers that I had to follow; they were basically nice folks who just wanted a quick buck, and that's something I can get behind. The plan is a damn good one and, really, it happened so fast, I had to reread the ending a couple times to see how it all worked out. It's wham-bam and they're gone.
On the art side of things, Eduardo Barreto was perfect for this. He draws expressive, definitive characters and he has a strong attention to detail. His scenes are rich and full and he has a great sense of pacing. He's an old pro in the industry, but he's done some of the best work of his career here.
THE LONG HAUL is a smart story about taking one last shot and anyone who likes a good caper flick would enjoy the hell out of this. I was really impressed. Go grab a copy today.
INHUMANS: Culture Shock, vol. 1 TPB
Writer: Sean KcKeever
Artists: Matthew Clark (p), Nelson (i)
Colors: Dave Kemp
Letters: Dave Sharpe
Marvel Age/Marvel Comics
$7.99
I really need to stop fooling myself.
At first, I wasn't sure what to expect from Sean McKeever's Tsunami book, INHUMANS. SENTINEL, the book about a boy and his giant, mutant hunting robot was pretty good, but this… this was just typical McKeever.
Now, I'm sure that there are people who enjoy his work. I've liked about half of it, but what INHUMANS was, was "THE WAITING PLACE in space." The book opens with the great, angsty start off spot: The Terrigenesis. What this is, to those of you who don't know, is the process in which teenaged Inhumans (that race of superbeings that live on the moon) all have to under go a biological, physiological change where their cast in life is determined. Obviously, this doesn't always go the way the people plan, so there in lays the drama. That's nothing to fault McKeever with – it's a fairly typical plot point. Paul Jenkins used it in his fantastic INHUMANS series with Jae Lee back in 1999 or so.
So we see the Terrigenesis and San, the son of a son of a Royal Guardsman learns his fate – he's an artist, not a warrior. His new form can't handle the physical strain of being one of the Royal Guard, so he's out of luck. He's a very talented artist, though, which is something to be proud of. It's all well and good and he comes to grip with his new life direction and then the Inhuman government makes an exchange program with the US government. Five Inhuman teen/young adults will go to the University of Wisconsin, Madison for a while, as a sign of good faith.
The rest of the series is the group of Inhumans dealing with being different and trying to fit in on this college campus. This is where the whole thing goes to 'meh'. McKeever's original series, THE WAITING PLACE is about life in a small North-Midwestern town, both in and out of high school. It's not bad, but it's really mellow-dramatic and feels like the same thing over and over again. INHUMANS: Culture Shock is basically the same thing, but with super-people. The cast consists of the loveable-stupid guy, the schemer, the stuck-up bitch, the nice girl and the inbetween guy, pretty much the generic group you'd find in this sort of story. The 'Breakfast Club' crowd, if you must. (Please Don't.)
Now, while that isn't my kind of story, it's executed well. The relationships and betrayals are a bit telegraphed, but this isn't supposed to be the most complex book. It was, as I said, a Tsunami book, and those were aimed at a teenaged audience. McKeever sets the cast up and the interactions are truthful and honest. The artwork by Matthew Clark and inker Nelson is the best work I've seen from Clark in a long time. His work on ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN wasn't too bad, but this is a better fit. He'd actually be good on a book like TEEN TITANS or even THE OURSIDERS. Since it's mostly down-to-earth character interactions, his skill at portraying reactions and emotions helps when the script moves from jokes to serious and back again.
So I gave INHUMANS a shot, and it didn't really grab me. I will say that the production values are really nice and I wish that the RUNAWAYS digest books were on the same glossy paper. It's a quick $7.99 (or less online) and if you've enjoyed THE WAITING PLACE, you'd love this. I'm not continuing with this book.
PROJECT: Superior
Writer: Various
Artists: Various
Adhouse Books
$19.99
PROJECT: Superior was one of my most anticipated books this month. It’s an anthology collection of stories about superheroes by people who don’t usually do superheroes. The creators use the superhero theme to create their straight-up 1960s Marvel-style tales or some of them are self-reflective tales of comics and what those types of characters mean to the authors. Others are straight up stories of men and women in tights kicking ass.
The book is unofficially section by color schemes, which helps to unite the vastly different content. I have a quick bunch of favorites: Bryan Lee O'Malley's "Monica Beetle," Farel Dalrymple's "Hollis," & Tara McPherson's "Dream A Little Dream" as well as the stories by James Jean, Scott Morse and Chris Pitzer. There are short shorts from Brian Wood, John Cassaday and Paul Pope, and they'd top the list, but they're only a couple pages each, and short on content. Still, it's nice to see some extra work from them. It never hurts.
The production values are exceptional with a paper thickness that works with every story. It's particularly important since there is such a wide range of mediums used, from full color with photo backgrounds to pencil scribbles; it all looks as good as possible. The theme really lends itself to an opening of the imagination, and there's really no one here who is repeating themselves.
I wish I could say more about it, but it's just a solid book with some stories I adore and others that I don't, but it's probably the most top heavy anthology I've read in a long time. 90% good is always a great place to start.
After PROJECT: Superior, I'm on board for whatever Adhouse has in store in the future.
Upcoming
Books of note shipping this week…
JAN050348 THE AUTHORITY: REVOLUTION #6 (OF 12) (MR)
Wildstorm/DC Comics
$2.99
I really think Ed Brubaker’s doing something special here with The Authority. He has dismantled the group and brought back the one villain from their past that you had to know would be back. The art’s amazing, too. Just look at the cover. A lot of people don't like it, but I think it's the right step for the characters.
JAN050317 SEVEN SOLDIERS: GUARDIAN #1 (OF 4)
DC Comics
$2.99
Here we are at the second SEVEN SOLDIERS mini series. This was one of the stories I was most looking forward to, primarily because I like the work Grant Morrison and Cameron Stewart do together. They seem to have some really tight bonds and the work always turns out strong. The story is about a former cop-turn-crime beat reporter who takes the helm of The Guardian and ends up fighting a crew of subway pirates. It sounds like the missing pages of SEA GUY, so I don’t want to miss it.
JAN050357 SLEEPER, SEASON TWO #10 (OF 12) (MR)
Wildstorm/DC Comics
$2.99
This issue of SLEEPER looks like Grifter finally knows who set him up waaaaay back in the POINT BLANK story. That’s bad news for Holden. This book gets better and better.
JAN050379 TRIGGER #4 (MR)
Vertigo
$2.99
I’ve been enjoying TRIGGER so far, and it’s truly one of the different books from Vertigo in a long time. It’s leaning to ‘okay – whatthefuck?’ but it’s still entertaining. The artwork is nice, too. I’m hoping for a resolution of this story arc pretty quick.
DEC041526 EXPATRIATE #1
Image Comics
$2.95
This is the type of book that if it was at Marvel, I’d wait for the trade straight up. Since it’s an Image book, I have less faith in the prospects of a timely collection. It seems like a good idea over all: B Clay Moore’s ‘Fugitive’ story about an ex-CIA agent hunted by his own. The artwork looks good online – let’s see how it translates to the page.
JAN051875 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN: SUPERSTARS, VOL. 12 TPB
Marvel Comics
$12.99
I don’t have a clue what’s in this book. I think it’s Ultimate Spider-man Team-Up part deux, or something like that. It doesn’t really matter. Bendis writes a great young Peter Parker and it’s a good, light read.
JAN052418 FILLER BUNNY #3
Slave Labor Graphics
$2.95
This is mostly a surprise for Meaghan. It’s Zim-riffic!
JAN052894 QUEEN & COUNTRY: OPERATION: SADDLEBAGS, VOL. 7 TPB (MR)
Oni Press
$14.95
This book has been nothing but entertaining. Rucka brought me back in during volume five and now I can’t get enough.The artwork is by Steve Rolston and Mike Norton, with Norton providing the fantastic cover.
That's it for today. Be sure to grab a PREVIEWS catalogue and come back next week where me and Hovy will have some picks for June.
Brian Domingos is the Columns Editor of PopImage.com. Get in touch at brian@popimage.com.
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