Dead@17

"Dead@17" is a strange comic book series, to say the least, and I'm not quite sure exactly how I feel about it. Some parts are amusing, and it, unlike "Shadowmancer," manages to include pseudo-Christian mythology and have it not appear really stupid. But it's also a bit too fanservicey to the point of distraction, and I disliked how each story arc seems to start over from scratch, not allowing some interesting characters to be fully developed or used. I guess it was a fun enough read, but it could have been much better.

The version I have, entitled the "Ultimate Edition," is made up of 4 storyarcs. the first, just called "Dead@17," introduces us to our main character, a teenage girl named Nara Kilday...who is promptly killed by a mysterious intruder 4 pages into the story. The focus shifts to Nara's best friend, Hazy, who discovers that Nara had been acting strange secretly for the past year or so. Then the town is attacked by zombies, and Nara comes back to life...

It is revealed that Nara is one of the Resurrected, young women chosen by God to fight the forces of evil. It's very "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," actually, although with less snark and more fanservice. Anyways, Nara, Hazy, a male friend of theirs named Elijah, and a mysterious man named Raddemer have to fight off the evil cult that caused the zombie plague and wants to use Nara's body as a vessel for their demonic leader Bolabogg.

The next storyarc "Blood of Saints," takes place several months after the last arc ended. Nara and Hazy are living together, with Nara in disguise whenever she goes out because she's supposed to be dead. Unfortunately, things get complicated as another girl, Violet Grey, is driven to suicide and becomes a Resurrected. The problem is that Bolabogg gets to her first, and Violet is insane and evil. making things significantly more complicated.

The third storyarc, "Revolution," introduces us to Heaven's Militia, a terrorist group devoted to fighting the demonic forces of Bolabogg, led by a third Resurrected, Joan. They want to kill a US senator running for president, who secretly is the human form of Bolabogg. Heaven's Militia recruits Nara to help them, and it all devolves into a Battle Royale, with a surprising twist at the end.

The fourth, "the 13th Brother," is the most unlike the other three. After the events of "Revolution," Nara is no longer available to fight demons, so our main character (at least for the first half or so) is a new character, a troubled teen named Asia. Killed in a car accident as a comet streaks across the sky, Asia becomes a Resurrected as members of a demonic army try to free their leader. But there are more than a few plot twists before the story is over...

"The 13th Brother" is both the most frustrating and the most fascinating. Part of this is the character of Asia, who seems quite different from Nara, especially as she approaches being a Resurrected. But we don't get much in the way of character development for her, at least not before it all becomes moot and Nara returns. I also was troubled by the blatant way that the writer and illustrator of the comic, Josh Howard, models the antagonists of the storarc after Hamas terrorists: they wear bright green bandanas and ski masks, and refer to their leader as "the Prophet." It's really not at all subtle.

I didn't really find the characters all that engaging. Nara is somewhat of a cypher, which is problematic as she's the main character. Hazy is a bit more understandable, but that's problematic too as she isn't really given all that much to do that's of any interest, except in the first storyarc. Raddemer is actually fairly interesting, and we do get to understand him pretty well, which is good, as who we expect him to be is not quite who he turns out to be. Aside from those three, we don't get to know many of the other characters, except the evil Bolabogg, whose motivation can be summed up as "being evil." I wanted to know more about Elijah especially, who simply disappears from the story, and Nara's mysterious mentor Malachi, who remains mysterious even as he is written out of the story. Asia as I mentioned is actually more interesting than Nara, but is again not used as much as she could or should be. We never actually learn anything about Violet, which is unfortunate, as I was interested in what she was like when she wasn't posessed and brainwashed.

It's possible that some or all of these might be answered in later volumes, and I plan to keep an eye out for them if they exist, because it is a fun series. I just wish it had more to recommend besides "fun to read." It's not particularly clever, or original, and as I remarked its characters are either criminally not explored or not that interesting. But if you see it being sold cheap, it's worth a look.

Shadowmancer

I first heard about "Shadowmancer" when it first came to the US, a British import that was, at the time, thought to be the next "Harry Potter." However, the buzz about "Shadowmancer" died down pretty quickly, and I forgot about it until I saw it at Borders in the discount bin and decided to buy it on a whim.

Well, now I've read it, and I can safely say it is not the next "Harry Potter." It's awkwardly written in places, its trio of young protagonists are nowhere near as likable as Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and its plot is just silly. It's not a terrible book, but it's not worth your time.

"Shadowmancer" is set in 18th or 19th century Yorkshire, in the town of Bayton, under the tyrannical rule of the book's villain, Vicar Obadiah Demurral. As well as exploiting the townsfolk to work in his alum mine, Demurral has decided to attempt to seize enormous supernatural power, through the possession of two holy artifacts known as Keruvim. The book opens with him acquiring one of them, a small gold statue. He uses it to summon a sea monster to sink the ship carrying the other one.

However, the other Keruvim is not a statue, but a young Ethopian man named Raphah, the guardian of the first Keruvim. Raphah survives the ship wreck and encounters our other two protagonists, a young boy and girl named Thomas and Kate. Thomas is an orphan, his father dead and his mother in a hospital slowly dying, while Kate has a father, but a distant one who doesn't pay much attention to her. Raphah quickly convinces the other two of the importance of his mission and gets them to help him.

I didn't like any of the characters so far. Demurral just seemed ridiculous to me, so obviously evil that I saw no point in making him a vicar, a person one would think would at least pretend to have a shred sanctity, but he's a cookie-cutter cartoon villain. Raphah, on the other hand, is too sanctimonious, patronizing in his faith in Riathamus, who is pretty transparently the Christian God, and he grated on me. Thomas and Kate just didn't make much of an impression on me: there's nothing to particularly distinguish them from the standard "orphaned child protagonist" package. About the only character I did like was a fifth main character, a smuggler named Jacob Crane. Crane is cynical, morally grey, gruff, but has a good heart under all of his bluster. I also like that he reacted perhaps the most realistically of all the characters in the face of the supernatural occurrences: he is suspicious, but doesn't deny the evidence of his own eyes.

As mentioned, Riathamus is pretty transparently the Christian God. In addition, the supernatural force that Demurral attempts to deal with, Pyratheon, is pretty obviously Lucifer. Possibly these two name changes are because the author, G.P. Taylor, is himself an Anglican vicar, and bringing God and the Devil into the story might have been considered blasphemous, but every time someone referred to them, I groaned on the inside. On a related note, a lot of the invented terminology Taylor uses for various supernatural things (Keruvim, Seloth, Glashan, Varigal, etc.) just sound stupid. I'm guessing that Taylor was trying for words that sound vaguely Hebrew, but it just seemed stupid.

From Taylor's introduction, it's clear that he loves and knows a lot about the folklore of Yorkshire. In early chapters, you even get hints at this, as characters refer to local fairies and the like, and the introduction of a family of characters identified as boggles, but all of that is dropped once we hit about the halfway mark, and replaced with aforesaid stupid cosmology.

Finally, the writing just isn't good. Dialogue especially can be clunky, and more often than not I completely forgot about a chapter after moving on to the next chapter. It's not painfully bad, but I didn't feel particularly motivated to finish it.

"Shadowmance" isn't a terrible book, it's just not a good one. I do not plan to read this book again, nor do I plan on reading its sequel, nor any other book by Taylor. I would advise not reading it.

Why I Hate Saturn

"Why I Hate Saturn" is an odd but fun graphic novel written and drawn by Kyle Baker back in 1990. It has as its protagonist Anne Merkel, a twentysomething writer and columnist for Daddy-O, a magazine for overly hip New Yorkers. She's snarky, bitter, and contemptuous of pretty much everyone around her. But somehow she's still likable--there's something about her patheticness that makes it hard for me to hate her, despite everything. Her snarkiness is oddly charming.

The plot really starts kicking when Anne's younger sister Laura appears on her doorstep with a gunshot wound, needing a place to stay. Laura is significantly more functional than Anne--neat, a good worker, and able to get a man--except for her insistence that she is the Queen of the Leather Astro-Girls of Saturn. The irritating perfection of her sister, despite her insanity drives Anne crazy, until a fight with her causes Laura to leave in a huff.Anne is OK with letting her go, but when a very mysterious and powerful man named Murphy comes to her door looking for Laura and not taking "no" for an answer, she discovers she can't just ignore the problem of her sister....

The best thing about "Why I Hate Saturn" is the tone. It's snarky and breezy, floating from one plot point to another. I'm not sure I'd like to live in the world portrayed in "Why I Hate Saturn," a world cruel and cynical full of horrible people, but it is remarkably funny. All of the characters are almost unbelievably snarky, always with a quick witticism. and I liked how the final plot twist takes the story into the realm of insanity with no warning at all.

It's a fun ride, if not a particularly hopeful one. I would definitely read this story over and over again. I would recommend it to anyone who wants a slice of life story with fun characters and an unpredictable plot that goes places you might not be expecting. All in all, it's great.

Harlan Ellison's Dream Corridor vol. 1

Harlan Ellison was always one of those speculative fiction writers that I wanted to read more of. I encounter other author's references to him as well as appearances on shows like Prisoners of Gravity and the like, and he always struck me as being both incredibly knowledgeable and very opinionated. A person like that, you just have to see what he's got to say.
I'm not sure if, before this book, I had read anything of his, but after finishing it, I'm definitely interested in reading more of his stuff. "Dream Corridor" is a collection of comic book adaptations of various Ellison stories, interspersed with passages of the author himself acting as tour guide of sorts to the Dream Corridor, the strange and ever-changing realm of Ellison's imagination. I hadn't heard of any of the stories in this volume (although, again, I'm less informed about Ellison and only know the titles of maybe five of his stories anyways), but I felt they showed an extreme variety: there are comic stories here, and scary stories, and stories of suspense, wonder, and stories that just plain made me think.
All the stories do have some things in common: a sense of cynicism regarding humanity, while simultaneously expressing an optimism towards what people might strive to do. Ellison seems to be a person who hopes people will surprise him, while still not expecting them to. It's a rather interesting perspective, all things considered.
Some of the stories did leave me a little confused. Ellison can insert a supernatural element into a story that seems to come out of nowhere, leaving me scratching my head as to what was supposed to be going on. Some of the comic adaptations probably would have left me even more puzzled if there wasn't accompanying images. All in all the stories were good, but sometimes I just wished for a little more.
I really liked this collection. Harlan Ellison comes up with interesting ideas for stories, and the comic adapted them beautifully. I'll defintely be looking for volume 2.

The Book of Genesis Illustrated

This is a comic book version of the first book of the Bible, as done by famed cartoonist R. Crumb. Crumb's comments are in the back, and it becomes clear upon reading them that Crumb has done a lot of research to prepare himself for this task. His commentary helped me to get an interesting interpretation of B'reshit, one where a struggle in early Judaism (before it was Judaism) between patriarchy and matriarchy is encoded into the relations of the Matriarchs and Patriarchs. Why does Abraham ask Sarah to pretend to be his sister twice, and why does Isaac have Rebekah do the same thing once? What is with the oddly humorous contest between Leah and Rachel to see which one of their handmaids can give Jacob more children? Crumb's analysis on this is quite interesting.
Crumb did especially well for what could have been one of the slower parts of the book: the genealogies. Creating a picture for every single descendant must have taken a lot of effort, but it looks beautiful. It's also intriguing: I found myself wondering about the history of all of these people mentioned in passing and then never again. there are so many stories in the Bible hinted at but never explored, it's both frustrating and glorious.
Crumb's art style, stylized but realistic, really works. All of the people, buildings, and clothing look just right--again, he must have done a ton of research. He recreates a world that's been dead for milennia and makes it seem real and alive once again. His portrayal of God as a man with an enormous white beard is a little cliche, but it does capture the essence of God as a rather distant deity, who more dictates what he wants than consults with or ask his followers as to their needs.
This is a real treasure. Unless you are either an evangelical Christian or a rampant atheist, this book will almost certainly intrigue you for its interesting portrayal of the many stories of the first book of the Bible. I'm looking forward to Crumb's version of the Book of Exodus next!

Holy Sh*t!!: the World's Weirdest Comic books

This is, as you can probably tell from the subtitle, a collection of profiles of some of the weirdest comics out there. From the exploitative (comics with names like "Leather Nun" and "Amputee Love) to the cynically commercial (comics for products like Greyhound buses, Borden's Milk, and Wall's Ice Cream), to the just plain bizarre (title such as "Godzilla Vs. Charles Barkley", "The Gospel Blimp", and "My Friend Dahmer"). It is truly fascinating to see what some people tried to get people to buy in comic form. While quite a lot of it is utter crap (an evangelical Christian comic about "Hansi, the Girl Who Loved the Swastika," for example, or the bizarre-looking issue of "Babe, Darling of the Hills" wherin the eponymous hillbilly girl is kidnaped by centaurs and forced to serve as a mount), some of it is actually interesting. The collection chronicles the efforts of a variety of African American writers and artists who tried (and failed, mostly) to depict blacks in the comics, and profiles artsy comics like "Longshot Comics," which has the conceit of depicting all of its characters as miniscule dots. Paul Gravett and Peter Stanbury, the two authors, seem to take great joy in their bizarre product, and their profiles acknoledge the stupidity of some of the ideas behind some of the comics, while never being too glib about them either. I found it to be both an educational and fun read.

Bourbon Island 1730

"Bourbon Island" is a graphic novel by French comic book artist Lewis Trondheim and writer Appollo that I read this morning. Like the graphic novel "Northwest Passage," which I also enjoyed but neglected to write an entry for, this is very heavily based on a historical place and time that isn't very well known.

The title gives both the time and the place: it takes place in 1730, on the French colony known then as Bourbon Island and now as Reunion. 1730 was towards the end of the great age of pirates, and the story revolves around the very last of the great pirate captains, a man named Buzzard, who has been captured and is scheduled to be executed. although Buzzard himself never appears, everything that happens revolves around him. Some of the characters want to free him, others want to hang him, and still others want Buzzard to tell them where he buried an enormous island. The island is populated with a fascinating cast of East India agents, reformed pirates, escaped slaves, the Maroon hunters sent to capture them, and two Parisian orthinologists trying to capture the elusive Bourbon Island dodo, also known as the solitaire. Bourbon Island is a richly textured and complex place, and if this book ever gets a sequel I'll look forward to reading it.

The book doesn't exactly have much in the way of a plot, merely having its characters meander about, discuss Buzzard and pirate lore, and try to figure out what to do. But that is alright: it works very well as a snapshot of a precise time and place.

All of the characters are interesting. I especially liked Raphael, the younger of the two ornithologists, who is obsessed with pirates, and Victoria, the daughter of a prosperous planter (and former pirate), who is herself obsessed with the Maroons, the escaped slaves who live in the hills. The two characters' disputes over which subject is more worthy of admiration is very interesting, especially in comparison to the decidely unromantic examples of both pirates and Maroons we are also introduced to. I also quite liked Rapier, a former black pirate who leads one of the bands of maroons in the hills, who comes across as a character who has lived quite a bit longer than he ever expected to, who is just as smart as the whites around him, but resents being treated as unequal.

All in all, a very interesting and rich work. I definitely want to read more of what both artists have to offer, expecially a sequel to this. It is awesome and fub, and tought me about part of the world I knew almost nothing about. NowI want to learn so much more...