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27th April 2024

Fantasy

East of West #26 (Review)

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East of West #26
(Image Comics, July 2016)
Writer: Jonathan Hickman

Imagine an alternative reality whereby the continental United States is divided between the Union, the Confederacy, a Texan Republic, a black homeland called The Kingdom, a Native American high technocratic autocracy called The Endless Lands, and a Maoist Chinese state where California would otherwise be. This universe also features the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse reincarnated as young children. This is except for Death, depicted as a lean cowboy, accompanied by two powerful Native American sorcerers, and who has fathered the beast of the Apocalypse manifest as a young boy.

This is the outlandish backdrop to “East of West”. And yet despite this absurdity, the series is written, by Jonathan Hickman, with utter finesse. The characters and interpersonal relations are riveting, the action epic, the dialogue fine-tuned, and the execution sublime.

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Injection Vol 1 (Review)

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“Injection” Vol 1 (review)
Image Comics, July 2016
Writer: Warren Ellis

British writer Warren Ellis has been intensely prolific over the past year, penning the following titles:

a. “Trees“, another Image Comics publication;
b. James Bond – Vargr;
c. a title for Marvel Comics, “Moon Knight”;
d. another title for Marvel Comics, “Karnak”;
d. a novel entitled “Normal”.

“Injection” is the latest from Mr Ellis, and it consists of his trade mark dense concepts and dry wit. But Mr Ellis is treading on old ground in other ways, too.

If you were to squint long enough, “Injection” is a blurred, fuzzy, contemporary and bleaker version of Mr Ellis’ wondrous title, “Planetary” (1998-2009, Wildstorm Comics). In “Planetary”, three (and sometimes four) archeologists explore mysteries each of which have a core in popular culture. These range from pulp heroes from the 1930s to Japanese monster movies to American and English superheroes.

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Pretty Deadly #10 (review)

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Pretty Deadly #10 (review)
(Image Comics, June 2016)
Writer: Kelly Sue DeConnick

A dark, strange comic which started as an infusion of American mysticism and the Western cowboy tradition, “Pretty Deadly” was as stark on the comics landscape as a hoodoo in the Sonora.

An example of this strangeness is the narrative. It is a conversation between a decomposing rabbit, shot in the head and its brains and skull exposed and twisted by the impact of the bullet, and a butterfly. The horror of the rabbit’s decaying appearance is juxtaposed with the gentle and patient dialogue. The two creatures ramble, Hemingway on a calm day, a whimsical lull punctuated by eerie horror and a crescendo of violence, and the rabbit disturbingly rots away during the course of the plot, whittled down to a ruined skeleton.

This title has been the subject of controversy. Yet commercially it has been extremely successful, a happy by-product of the quality and novelty of this work.

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Alpha King #1 (review)

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Alpha King #1 (review)
(Image Comics, May 2016)
Writers: Brian Azzarello, Nick Floyd and Simon Bisley

Promotional tie-ins between comics and various goods and services are commonplace. Most usually these tie-ins are linked to toys or movies. Some of these have been exceptionally successful, for example, “Transformers”.

More blatant, perhaps, is various American publishers’ efforts to promote cars. In one instance, “Rush City” (DC Comics, 2006-2007), the comic’s existence was to facilitate the promotion of the Pontiac Solstice, a sports car. Dark Horse Comics’ “The Hire” (2004) similarly promoted BMW, a car brand. The Wall Street Journal has reported on Marvel Comics’ efforts to promote DaimlerChrysler AG’s Dodge Caliber car in various titles including Spider-man, and also on Marvel Comics’ deal with Nike’s “swoosh” logo, whereby Marvel Comics undertook to feature the logo within various comic titles over a four-to-six month period.

“Alpha King” is an unabashed promotional tie-in. The goods promoted by the comic, however, are novel: a microbrewery called 3 Floyds Brewing Company uses the comic to promote the brewer’s pale ale in the context of an interdimensional war involving sword-wielding demons. This is as ridiculous as it sounds. The plot begins with an amusing-enough gag: some soldiers in an army of ogres discuss Tolkein, before being rallied to a siege. The story then jumps to a bearded brewer in modern day America, who encourages kids to slip around the corner of the vat and sneak in consumption of the beer.

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