053 Here Are Some Books That Have Pictures In Them That I Read This Wednesday (3/18/2009)

Welcome to the first edition of HASBTHPITTIRTW (I will not be shortening this name). Each Thursday I’ll be reviewing the comics I bought the day before from my brand new local comic shop, Bergen Street Comics.

It was a bit of a slow week, as I only bought three new books. It would have been four but the owner, Tom, got shorted three books. Hopefully I can grab Invincible #60 today, but otherwise, here’s what you should or should not have bought:

Supergirl #39
Written by Sterling Gates
Art by Jamal Igle & Talent Caldwell

There’s all different kinds of “good” when it comes to comics. There’s good as in serious, thought-provoking comics. Then there’s your good old fashioned superhero fun. This issue of Supergirl, and really the whole damn series since Sterling Gates took over writing duties, falls squarely into the latter category. Gates, a Geoff Johns protege of sorts, is really having a good time writing this book and it shows on the page. Supergirl has traditionally been just an awful, awful comic book, used mainly as a way to show a flighty young girl in a slutty shirt skirt. But Gates doesn’t write her that way, and Igle sure doesn’t draw her that way. What you’re treated to in the latest chapter of the larger “Who Is Superwoman?” story is just more build-up to next months big reveal but it’s a good, quick read that keeps you interested in the overall story arc (though i don’t know how interesting that reveal will actually be; is Superwoman Kryptonian or not? This issue seems to say that she is, and if that’s the case why would the reveal be interesting? How would we know her?). I’m not sure that Gates and team are going to be winning any awards for their work but they’re certainly selling books, and fanboy reactions are overwhelmingly positive. But I mean seriously, is there any reason Talent Caldwell needed to draw four pages of this book? His art pops up out of nowhere and switches back to Igle mid-scene. Not only that, he’s like a bad clone of Ed Benes, who is a bad clone of Michael Turner, who is bad. Your high school art teacher has a lot of god damn explaining to do buddy. But if you can survive being completely taken out of the story for a few pages you’re treated to a pretty cool second-to-last panel of Supergirl being bad ass for a hot second, and really this is just silly, escapist pulp fiction anyway so does it need to be great? No, it just needs to not completely piss you off and that’s what this book consistently does: not piss me off. Hey, that might not sound like such a glowing review to you, but try and name a bunch of other books that fit that criteria. Go ahead. Right, that’s what I thought. And now you’re wondering why you read comics if you hate them so much. Don’t blame this on me, I just opened your eyes. You’re the one who has these feelings.

Air #7
Written by G. Willow Wilson
Art by M.K. Perker

OK so, Ian McKaye, of Fugazi and Minor Threat fame: head of Dischord Records, unwittingly started the straight edge movement, revolutionized punk music in the eighties. You know, that Ian McKaye? Well there’s this story that in the late nineties he was going to fold Dischord. He was so bored with everything coming out, and he felt the “D.C. sound” everybody keeps talking about was getting a little stale. So one day he’s thinking about this and he goes to see some show by this band Q And Not U. According to the story he’s so blown away that he decides he’s going to not only keep Dischord going, but he signs this band, and they go on to become one of the most popular groups Dischord’s ever had. And that’s what G. Willow Wilson’s Air is to me: a little bit of hope that reminds me why I’m here.

Vertigo has a history of putting out good books but they have just been so absolutely boring for the past few years. Sandman Mystery Theatre, Un-Men, Young Liars, Vinyl underground; yeah they’re OK books, and to be honest if any other company had their track record I’d be pretty stoked. But Vertigo has always been the Dischord of comics for me, and besides Y and Scalped and a few other books they were starting to get… well, stale. Air is the kind of book that is so refreshingly interesting and original that it really makes me remember the things I’ve loved about Vertigo since the beginning. M.K. Perker is hands down one of the best artists in comics today. Just looking at those pages is a treat because they’re so damn gorgeous. G. Willow Wilson’s writing is just great, especially over the last few issues where a lot of the initial kinks have been worked out. Where she gets her ideas from is a mystery to me, because a lot of them are as out-of-left-field and complicated as a Grant Morrison script. Please buy this book, and if you need a good jumping on point start here. It does a good job of recapping the story thusfar, and it’s only a buck. One buck! In an age where everyone’s bitching and moaning about comics going $3.99 this is a steal.

Batman: Battle For The Cowl #1
Written by Tony Daniel
Art by Tony Daniel

I buckled down and bought this (a week late mind you) because like I said the comic shop didn’t get Invincible in, and I wanted to buy one more book. And boy am I glad I did! This was one of the best no I’m just kidding this book was terrible. It’s funny that they would give both writing and art duties to one man who seemingly doesn’t know how to do either. The dialogue was typical, textbook superhero nonsense (“The Black Mask… but… you’re supposed to be DEAD!”) and the penciling was…. god, I mean do you look at what you draw before sending it to the printer? And shouldn’t the editor be like, “Oh hey, dude, you may want to redraw this because no one has any idea what the fuck that’s supposed to be so how about we give it another shot, hmm? One more shot? Give it the ol’ college try this time, whattya say?” My roommate Joey had this to say: “I don’t understand why they tell you that buying this book is so important and then they put this guy on it” and boy, that just hits the nail on the head doesn’t it? You know how sometimes people are like “I just don’t have enough great things to say about ____”? Yeah. That’s a funny expression.

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