My Top 10 Comics For August 2013

10.Ghosted #2 (Image)

Writer: Joshua Williamson * Artist: Goran Sudzuka

While the story treads on familiar ‘haunted house’ territory, writer Joshua Williamson manages the neat trick of keeping it interesting. Our leading man, snarky Jackson T. Winters, takes a bit of a back seat this issue so that we can get to know the rest of our ‘ghost hunting’ team. Who’s for real and who’s a con is still unknown (Part of the fun will be in the discovery). Goran Sudzuka provides the interior art. His figures and expressions and architecture are realistically rendered. And the charcoal shading gives texture to the shadows that rest on faces, objects and the supernatural beings. Was wowed by that scene when Trick walks through a door and enters another world.

9. Uncanny X-Men #11 (Marvel)

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis * Artist: Frazier Irving

I’m not a fan of Frazier Irving’s art, but yeowzah, that Sentinel was creepy. Good action scenes see the young mutants in the thick of the fight.

8. Batman ‘66 Chapter 6 (DC)

Writer: Jeff Parker * Artist: Jonathan Case

Jonathan Case is back on art (yay!) and the issue is chock full O’ guests. Chandell (not looking like Liberace) is there, and while Doe, Rae and Mimi aren’t around, we do get Lorelei Circe, aka the Siren. In addition there’s Kathy Kane and Bruce on a date and Chief O’Hara as a leprechaun. Great fun

7. Revival #13 (Image)

Writer: Tim Seeley * Artist: Mike Norton

The thing writer Tim Seeley does so well is focus on the characters as much as he does the frights. He gives each personality their own distinct traits and voices. So this horror series isn't just blood and guts and screams. There are quiet, small town moments. Here it's a Valentines Karaoke get together. It's quiet and it's character building and it's what makes the book live and breathe. So that when you get to the scares, they matter, they have significance. It is a slow moving issue, but touches on a lot of important subjects.

6. All-New X-Men #15 (Marvel)

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis * Artist: David Lafuente

Bendis aims for light hearted and humorous… and hits that target dead center. I enjoyed many a laugh (especially at Wolverine’s expense).  Lafuente’s cartoony art -which excels in expression and body language- suits the story

5. FBP: Federal Bureau of Physics #2 (Vertigo)

Writer: Simon Oliver * Artist: Robbi Rodriguez

Art was a bit sketchy this time out on the faces, but it didn't detract and most of it worked, and the bright, trippy coloring is ever a plus. The story offers some weird science and there are eerie moments that make this come off like a candy-coated episode of the Outer Limits. It offers mysteries via the characters strange behavior, and ends with a surprising cliffhanger.

4. Lazarus #3 (Image)

Writer: Greg Rucka * Artist: Michael Lark

It’s like a ropey prime-time TV drama. You have this family of privilege -- scheming and backstabbing. You have a surplus of secrets and lies to unravel. It’s all very intriguing. I liked the bonding between the two Lazarus’s in this issue – Forever comes off like such an outcast, so very rigid with her family, it was nice to see her loose and comfortable with someone like herself… someone genuine. Of course letting her guard down opens a door for those nasty schemers to come after her.

Rucka’s plotting and character work shows him at his finest. And Lark is an able partner in this, he brings it all to life. I loved that scene with the sword -- Forever was so cool and collected as she does what she does.

3. Trillium #1 (Vertigo)

Writer and Artist: Jeff Lemire

Vertigo shoots and scores again! While the fascinating story spans time and space, and there are mysteries to unravel and matters of life and death to contend with. Lemire’s great strength is ever the ‘human’ elements that grace his work. I once heard Wim Wender’s film “Wings of Desire” described as an “Epic of intimate proportions”. I suspect that’s what we might be getting with Trillium. Jeff’s art is primitive in style - not pretty, and there are a few off shots - but it is appropriately evocative and expressive.

2. Thor: God Thunder #11 (Marvel)

Writer: Jason Aaron * Artist: Esad Ribic

Godbomb ends with a bang, and Ribic was ON FIRE! His work was awe inspiring, left me breathless in the way he evoked Thor's raw power and Godly bearing. Aaron wrote some scintillating dialog. And while he doesn't directly answer the lingering question about whether Gorr has a point, he does answer it through Thor's actions. God's will stumble, they can be selfish and stupid and they will carry regrets over that (King Thor's speech to Young Thor) but they will also rise when needed, sacrifice themselves for the good and be there to comfort when called.

1. Wonder Woman #23 (DC)

Writer: Brian Azzarello * Artist: Cliff Chiang

Film critic Pauline Kael once wrote about the difference between movies that entertain and movies that change you. That with certain films you go in one kind of person, and leave transformed. Roger Ebert called it elevation. Its when you discover an art form that is transcendent -- that challenges you intellectually, emotionally, spiritually… It draws you in, lifts you up and takes your breath away. Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang have done that for me with their work on this title. There are comics you read – and they are entertaining popcorn adventures, perfectly fine and enjoyable. And then there are elevated experiences like Wonder Woman that get under your skin and operate on a whole different level.

I finished this book a few hours ago, and it continues to linger in my mind. It continues to affect me. For the second month in a row, Azz has broken my heart and put a lump in my throat. He took me somewhere unexpected with the surprising twist at the end with Diana’s painful action and the change it brings to her status.

He made War more than he has ever been in the decades he has appeared as either Mars or Ares. No longer some cliché spewing blowhard on steroids, he became someone richer, more nuanced in character and voice.

The dialog and composition of the piece is impeccable. When First Born asks of War… “What soldiers would follow you, old man?” You turn the page to receive an answer in both words and image that is sublime.

And there is humor. Zola delivers the best punch line near the end of the battle (again, this moment succeeds because of the way Azz and Chiang work in concert)

As for the action? All too often with big epic battles the ‘punch’ becomes the focus -- punches devoid of substance and meaning. With WW the point is in the story and character development. Neil Gaiman once said that there is what a story is about, and what a story is really about. He was speaking of subtext -- what is the lesson, the theme? It’s not the way punches landed or that a foe falls simply because it looks cool (though Chiang indeed makes it looks very cool), it’s in the how and why in their fall --The story behind the story -- The idea behind and within the battle. (This is something Alan Moore also understood and perfected, but Geoff Johns, by comparison, has yet to master within his massive “events”)

To sum: this was a stunning comic book masterpiece. One of the greatest, if not the greatest issue of WW I've ever read.

Honorable Mentions:

Batman/Superman #3 (DC)

Edison Rex #9 (Monkeybrain)

Suicide Squad #23 (DC)

Swamp Thing #23 (DC)

Phantom Stranger #11 (DC)

Subatomic Party Girls #2 (Monkeybrain)

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