If you don’t know what the Suicide Girls are then start by googling them and then check back here. Hopefully you didn’t do that at work since you’re probably going to get in trouble. Any ways they have a comic now from IDW that was released this past week with a story plotted by Steve Niles, Missy Suicide and Brea Grant. That’s right three people plotted this bad boy out and it turned out like three people plotted it.
My first thought upon finishing this book was, “Man DC is really ripping Vertigo off.” That is to say that the parent publisher finally produced a DC title that feels like aVertigo book. The key things that support this statement? The book seems to have no tie to the regular DCU, it’s weird and very different and has very unique characters that wouldn’t normally fit in with the normal DCU.
The beginning of Elephantmen is a perfect opportunity for
more people to begin reading this comic book, which is encouraged by this issue’s
heartbreaking story and loveable characters, despite the lackluster art only
brightened by a barrage of colors. This reprint of Elephantmen retells the tale of Ebenezer
(Ebony), an Elephantman feared by most of society except for a little girl that
engages him in conversation. The
little girl, Savannah – like the desert, she points out – continually asks Ebony
questions that bring back painful memories and give us more insight into
Ebony’s past.
Welcome back to Sparta, where the Glomrat and Retsu are still battling for control of Sparta’s valuable resources to further their respectable enterprises. After triggering a Retsu trap in a newly acquired mine, Hal and his Aut entourage fight their way out thanks to Tim, the most efficient Aut ever made. Once out of the mine the group tends to their wounds. Aut unit #6 has lost his leg and Hal has lost his right hand. Now in the medical bay, Hal is recovering with his freshly cloned right hand. By his side is Hal’s wife and Director Goss.
Let me say that I realized something upon finishing this book and that’s that I don’t like Planet of the Apes. Now hold on before you go jumping to conclusions. I’m speaking of the franchise, not this comic. If anything this comic is a wonderful story set in the world of Apes and captures the voice of the original film quite well. The problem is it isn’t my type of Sci-fi. I should root for the humans, but I know how crappy we can be and that if the roles were reversed we’d treat the monkeys like garbage as well. On the flip side, the monkeys are right evil bastards that just make you hate them so much. I’m just not a big fan of Apes, but I do respect the product and quality that Boom! has put into this new series.
Well if you guessed that this story fell from the Fight Club tree of thought than you win a cookie, not from me so good luck claiming it. This issue was created for one reason… the last page and I’m not going to tell you about it. I will tell you that this book does absolutely nothing to drive the story forward or even deal with the fact that the main character killed someone in cold blood the issue before.
In general I don’t like to describe books by comparing them to other stories, but for this series I feel I must. My description will either put you off form the book, or it will peak your curiosity. The Strange Case of Mr. Hyde is part Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (obviously), part Jack the Ripper and part Silence of the Lambs. It’s an interesting combination that not only works, but makes you wonder why no one ever did it before.
This past weekend I stopped by the Long Beach Comic Expo and basically used it as an opportunity to grab a bunch of very indie comics. One of those that caught my attention was Zombie Tramp. It seemed a little strange to have a sexy zombie so I took the bait and bought the graphic novel containing all three issues of the series. In hindsight I kind of wish I had bought the singles instead, but oh well the price was right.
Guess who’s the star of this issue? Go ahead, guess? If you
said Jun you’re wrong, but it’s okay you haven’t read the issue yet. Issue 9
continues the trend of being about one of the main characters from the story.
The first issue in the arc was about Zoe, then Hunter and now the infamous Jun…
and his twin brother Hisao! The book starts with reshowing us the events from issue two
or three when Jun tries to escape the compound only to be stopped by Hisao at
gunpoint. Old news, right? Well the book goes on to show us the teens when
they were just young boys. The school that they now both go to comes to pick them up and
take them away from their mother freely.
Crossgen has always been this weird anomaly in comics for me. It was a company of superstars with top selling titles that still managed to go out of business. I remember that at the time I finally found a Crossgen book the company was nearing its end. So here we are years later after Marvel’s acquisition of the company and properties with all new stories and some new and some familiar creators returning to the titles. It’s the most DC like move Marvel’s ever done.
