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By Aaron Block, on May 7th, 2013  Young Avengers Who Made It? Kieron Gillen (w), Jamie McKelvie & Mike Norton (a), Matthew Wilson (c), and Clayton Cowles (l)
What Is It?: One of the most beloved comics of the 2000s, relaunched under the Marvel Now! banner by friends/frequent collaborators Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie, with the excellent Mike Norton on inks. Young Avengers follows teenaged heroes Wiccan, Hulkling, Hawkeye (Kate Bishop, the young, female Hawkeye), Noh-Varr, Miss America Chavez, and Kid Loki as they try to stop an alien parasite from using them as bio-batteries.
Why Aren’t You Reading It?:
- You hate “teen” books
- Like my personal podcast pals, you laughed at my description of Gillen and McKelvie’s excellent Phonogram and its sequel, Phonogram: the Singles Club
- You’re too cool or grown-up for superhero comics
- You’re a jerk
I can’t help you with that last one; you’ll have to work it out on your own. Probably it’s best to begin with therapy, or a support group for jerks, something like that. Your other objections, however, are much easier to address.
While Young Avengers does follow the exploits of teenaged heroes (or not-quite teenaged, in Loki’s case) who are grappling with romantic relationships, the awkward balance of fun and responsibility, and disapproving parents, it’s no more a “teen” book than Avengers is an “adult” book. In fact the first issue of Young Avengers addresses sex with a maturity and humor that many comics, mainstream or otherwise, can’t manage. Yes, Gillen is unabashedly writing about the experience of being young, but he takes that experience seriously. Which isn’t to suggest that the book is a grim trudge through “realistic” problems – far from it. Young Avengers is thick with the writer’s dry wit and obsession with pop music, and is on the whole a fun read every month. But underneath the humor is a genuine interest in the lives of young people.
I came to the book at a time when I’m doing everything I can to avoid stories about teenagers having fun; they just end up reminding me that my own youth was underwhelming and dull, spent fearing life instead of embracing it. Much as I enjoyed it, I had a hard time reading The Singles Club for that exact reason. Young Avengers is easier to take because it feels much less plausible (the magic in the Phonogram books is all just meant to be figurative anyway, isn’t it?) but I still feel that pang of regret when I read it. No amount of vivid superhero action can cover up the consistency and clarity of the characters’ voices.
A strong, emotionally honest narrative is crucial in making a superhero comic cool. But design consciousness is in, and no superhero comic can be cool without a distinctive style. Look at Hawkeye: the striking covers, the palette heavy on purple, the minimalist title page – all provocative design decisions, and all frequently cited as reasons why readers and critics love the title. Young Avengers isn’t as overtly against the current as Hawkguy, but Jaime McKelvie’s attention to fashion and the expressiveness of his and Mike Norton’s clean lines aren’t commonly seen in superhero comics. For example, the schematic/splash page of Noh-Varr’s fight scene (complete with key to identify important moments in the choreography) is not only a novel depiction of action – maybe the only thing that comes close is Frank Quitely’s and Chris Burnham’s depictions of Damian Wayne’s acrobatics in Batman and Robin and Batman, Inc. – but also a neat bit of pop art. That’s probably not everyone’s idea of cool, but it’s aimed at the young and hip – the rest of us get to congratulate ourselves for being savvy enough to catch on.
Finally, Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O’Malley implicitly endorsed the book by providing a great alternate cover for the first issue – if nothing else convinces you to try it out, that should.
Where You Should Start: There’ve only been four issues so far, and a number of reprintings, so you should be able to pick up the entire run so far from your local comic shop. And if you don’t have a local comic shop or just prefer to read digitally, every issue is available through Comixology. There’s also a trade paperback collecting the first five issues scheduled for release this September, but why wait that long?
By Aaron Block, on March 28th, 2013 Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Artists: Marcos Martín & Muntsa Vicente
2013, The Panel Syndicate
Filed Under: Graphic Novel
Find it at The Panel Syndicate
 The Private Eye #1
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Last Monday the comics rumor/journalism site Bleeding Cool linked to a few teaser images that were posted to Spanish-language comic blogs announcing a new series from Brian K. Vaughan and Marcos Martín, who previously collaborated on Doctor Strange: the Oath, a mini-series for Marvel in the mid 2000s. The images were intriguing, and the names involved suggested a good read – Vaughan is the fan-favorite writer of Saga and Y: the Last Man, among other other celebrated titles, and Martín is best known for his work on Daredevil, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Batgirl: Year One. I anticipated learning more about the book in the coming weeks or months, the plot points and art from first issue gradually teased out in interviews and previews, dulling the surprise but confirming that it’s worth the three or four or however many dollars. That’s how comics are marketed today.
Then it was Tuesday, and suddenly the book, titled The Private Eye #1, was available, for however much I wanted to pay, through The Panel Syndicate (a new digital publisher started by Vaughan, Martín, and friends). All the excitement about The Private Eye was generated by its mere existence, and by the distribution method. Digital-only comics are nothing new, and neither is the “tip-jar” payment model (Radiohead’s In Rainbows is probably the most famous example, but there are many more across all mediums) but the two in tandem, and employed by high-profile creators, is novel, as is the minimalist promotional “campaign.” Vaughan and Martín trusted their audience to generate their own hype, something mainstream comic readers haven’t had to do very often in the past decade or so. …
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By Aaron Block, on March 25th, 2013  Author: Max Allan Collins
2013, Hard Case Crime
Filed under: Mystery
Find it at Goodreads
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Popular depictions of the comic book industry tend to focus on awkward, unwashed readers, hyper-vigilant defenders of their chosen realm of escapism, and the perpetually scoffing retailers who feed their habit. Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons, the cast of Comic Book Men, Dave Lizewski from Kick-Ass; not exactly an intimidating lot. And to the extent film and television depict the writers and artists behind the comics, it’s more of the same stereotypes, but with thwarted ambitions added in.
That pervasive, if inaccurate, image of the subculture would seem an unlikely setting for a murder mystery. But anyone who’s studied the history of comic books, read Gerard Jones’s excellent Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book, and Alan Moore’s excoriation of the industry as founded on vice, knows better. The origins of the medium more closely resembled White Heat than The Big Bang Theory.
Seduction of the Innocent, from Hard Case Crime, is the third in Max Allan Collins’s trilogy of mysteries set in the comic book industry and featuring protagonists Jack and Maggie Starr. As the title alludes, it takes place in the mid 1950s, when Fredric Wertham’s alarmist book of the same name was published, shortly before the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency led to the creation of the Comics Code Authority and the bankruptcy of EC Comics. Collins covers the history in a gossamer thin veil – Werner Frederick stands in for Frederic Wertham, Bob Price for Bill Gaines, Hal Feldman for Al Feldstein – then twists the narrative by having the controversial doctor murdered in his hotel room, setting off an investigation that peeks into the turbulent lives of those very real artists. …
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By Aaron Block, on February 18th, 2013  Author: Paul Pope
2013 (reprinted), Image Comics
Filed under: Graphic Novel
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Paul Pope has never been prolific. But in the past decade or so, as he’s moved away from serialized storytelling to stand-alone works like Batman: Year 100, Heavy Liquid, and 100%, Pope’s comics output has reached “event” status – even a five or six page story in an otherwise forgettable anthology is worth celebrating. So the nearly 300 pages of material collected in The One Trick Rip-Off + Deep Cuts, from Image Comics, is almost an embarrassment of riches.
A little less than half of the handsome hardcover volume is devoted to a reprint of The One Trick Rip-Off (digitally recolored by Jamie Grant of All-Star Superman fame) and Dominic Regan, which was originally serialized in Dark Horse Presents in 1995 and 1996. The other half is a kind of memoir-bibliography, gathering together short stories that originally appeared in iconic 90s anthologies like Negative Burn and Dark Horse Presents. They’re arranged roughly chronologically, and represent Pope’s work as he moved from Cleveland to Toronto to Tokyo, and finally to New York City, where he lives today. The most recent of the “Deep Cuts” dates back to 2001; this is a younger Pope, the art a bit looser and more overtly manga-influenced, but no less compelling than his contemporary work.
Thematically, there is little difference between the Popes of then and now. The misadventures of youth, cityscapes with accompanying grime, and the vacillation between beauty and violence remain prominent in his work, and dominate “The One Trick Rip-Off”. The story follows Tubby and Vim, young lovers who plan to rob Tubby’s gang, the One Tricks, and run away together. Naturally, their plan gets contorted, and they face a violent climax that ends in a quiet, poetic pull up to the stars. There’s also a sci-fi/magical realist flavor to the story in the One Trick gang’s ability to distort anyone’s perception of reality using language – their one trick. The plot draws together spaghetti westerns, Donald Westlake’s Parker novels, and manga. It’s operatic, particularly the scenes between Vim and Tubby, and the heightened emotion makes the quieter scenes of Tubby wandering the desert, after being betrayed by his gang, all the more stunning. …
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By Aaron Block, on February 11th, 2013 In November, things looked grim for comics and me; I was unemployed, and making weekly visits to the comic book store had become an irresponsible expenditure. So I bid comics farewell, promised I’d be back when I’d found work and gotten back on my feet, and walked away.
Now it’s February, two months later, and I…am still unemployed. Well, underemployed. And definitely not making enough to subsidize my monthly reading. But while I may not have a steady job, I do have incredible friends and family. My Christmas and birthday were fraught with gift certificates to Crescent City Comics and invitations to share Comixology accounts, gifts from loved ones who thought a little more Batman in my life might be just the thing I needed. They were, of course, 100% correct because more Batman makes everything better.
And if I’m reading comics, then naturally I also want to write about them. This won’t be a standard Pull List column because I’m not quite there yet. Instead, I want to run through the comics I’ve kept up with, highlight the good, and brush aside the bad (of which there is little – budgeting makes me a savvy reader.)
 Hawkeye #6 Hawkeye
My favorite comic of last year, Hawkeye, is already shaping up to be my favorite comic of this year, too. Javier Pulido filled in for regular artist David Aja for issues four and five, and the slight change in tone helped highlight exactly what makes this book so special. Pulido’s art is flatter, yet more expressive, than Aja’s, and reading his issues I was reminded of watching Ralph Bakshi’s Spider-Man cartoon from the late 60s. That looseness accentuated the humor beats of the story, while still allowing for exciting action sequences. Pulido, who doesn’t employ Aja’s bravura layouts, still connects us to the heart of the story, Clint and Kate’s relationship and the risks one is willing to take for the other.
Aja returned for issue six, which has Clint attempting to juggle his personal life, his responsibilities as a landlord, and his duties as an Avenger. This is easily writer Matt Fraction’s best issue so far – he fractures the narrative, juxtaposes absurdity with a serious threat, and ends the issue with a panel that’s almost a mission statement for the entire series.
In issue seven Fraction tells two stories, one each for Clint and Kate, about the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. He and editor Stephen Wacker assembled the story shortly after the storm hit, and tapped two fill-in artists – Steve Lieber and newcomer Jesse Hamm – to complete the issue. It’s sincere and heartfelt, in a way that almost no other mainstream comics even strive for. But this is Hawkeye, which hasn’t been like other mainstream comics since its first issue. …
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By Aaron Block, on January 17th, 2013  Author: Alex Raymond
2012 (anthologized), Titan Books
Filed Under: Graphic Novel, Sci-Fi, Other
Find it on Goodreads.
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The only newspaper comic strips I read regularly or cared about were funny strips, like Calvin and Hobbes and Peanuts, or one-panel gag comics like The Far Side. I hated the soap opera and adventure strips. In fact, the only adventure strip I read consistently was The Amazing Spider-Man, and then only because it featured a character I already knew from the comics. And still I hated it.
Funny comic strips began and ended within the span of those three to five panels. They’re like a fractal storytelling – part of the whole, and yet the entire concept exists within a single unit. The dramatic strips offered only the briefest fragment of a story, and never enough information to usher new readers into the plot. I never felt guilty skipping Prince Valiant, Apartment 3-G, or any of the others. But Flash Gordon: The Tyrant of Mongo, the second volume of Titan Books’ reprints of the original strips, has me reconsidering my clean conscience.
The Tyrant of Mongo collects the color Sunday strips drawn by Alex Raymond and co-written by Raymond and Don Moore from 1937 to 1941, each fully restored by Peter Maresca. The restoration is stunning – the palette shifts effectively between the muted earth tones of the planet Mongo and Flash’s bright costumes, and Raymond’s careful line work and shading are preserved. A disclaimer on the edition page asks for the reader’s patience with variations in quality considering the condition of some of the original art, but any differences I noticed were minor, and never distracted from the reading. And as each strip takes up a full page, the panels blossom to reveal the fine detail and control of Raymond’s art.
Raymond earned his place in the cartoonists and illustrators pantheon, along with Milton Caniff, Hal Foster, and Will Eisner, with his work on Gordon (not to mention Jungle Jim and the detective strip, Rip Kirby) and his influence on Golden Age comic book artists, most notably Jack Kirby, is evident in every strip. And the intricately designed machinery, fantastic clothes and costumes, and use of dynamic close-ups and panel composition on display in the Flash Gordon strips continues to define the look of comic books. And while Raymond’s art could be considered stiff, particularly in contrast to that of Kirby or any number of contemporary cartoonists, it’s just as compelling. Consider that Raymond was producing strips of this caliber on a weekly basis for close to a decade, and the resulting quality is all the more impressive. …
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By Aaron Block, on December 4th, 2012 [You can follow all of our contributors' best books posts here, and check out picks from 2009, 2010, and 2011 while you're at it.]
The Fourth Annual Aaron Block Awards, Celebrating Excellence in the Comics I Read This Year, Presented By Aaron Block
“Best Comic I Did Not Expect To Like” – Hawkeye #1-3, written by Matt Fraction, drawn by David Aja, colored by Matt Hollingsworth.
 Hawkeye #2 When Hawkeye was announced, I wrote it off as an attempt to cash in on the character’s appearance in The Avengers. On top of that, I haven’t been very enthusiastic about Matt Fraction’s writing in the past. I planned to pick up the first issue for David Aja’s art, but didn’t expect to stick around. Then the first issue turned out to have a unique look and voice, and a narrative concept unlike most anything else I was reading.
Fraction and Aja make the most of the done-in-one approach. Particularly Aja, who often breaks pages into micro panels without overwhelming the reader, or slowing the pace of the story. A typical mainstream comic book offers maybe two or three stories a year, broken up into 5 and six parts. And while that approach can be rewarding, it’s refreshing to see a creative team making the most of a single issue. It’s also possibly an ideal approach for the burgeoning digital market – new readers intrigued by a preview on the Marvel Comixology app might be more satisfied to pay for a story that begins and ends in 20 pages. Or they might not, in which case the sharp storytelling, sardonic tone, and purple palette courtesy of colorist Matt Hollingsworth will bring them back for the next issue. …
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By Aaron Block, on December 3rd, 2012 Author: Scott Tracy Griffin
2012, Titan
Filed Under: Graphic Novels, Other
Find it on Goodreads
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In November Dark Horse Comics published a one-shot comic titled The Once and Future Tarzan, which details the adventures of Tarzan in the future when the ocean levels have risen. I haven’t read the entire thing, but when an eight-page excerpt appeared in Dark Horse Presents #8, which I reviewed in February, I noted it was “terrible.” With hindsight I’d say it’s probably unfair to judge an excerpt so harshly, but the pages felt stiff, and the concept odd. Is a sci-fi reimagining of sorts the only way for a classic character to be relevant again?
At the time I didn’t know that the publication of the full issue would coincide with the 100th anniversary of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Tarzan of the Apes, and the release of several Tarzan and Burroughs-related materials, including Scott Tracy Griffin’s Tarzan: The Centennial Celebration. Knowing that, the revival makes more sense, but it doesn’t answer my central question: is the Tarzan property so moribund that it has to be drastically altered to reach an audience? …
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By Aaron Block, on November 23rd, 2012 [At the end of every month, Aaron surveys the comics he read, celebrates the best, considers the rest, and takes stock of what it means to be a contemporary comic fan. Follow "The State of My Pull List" here.]
As I mentioned last month, a recent cross-country move and accompanying unemployment have put me in a precarious financial situation. I’ve had to tighten the belt, and the most obvious way for me to save some money each month is to cut back on comics.
Since I started this column my list grew to about 30 titles, sometimes more but rarely less. Writing about comics encouraged me to try new books, and more than a handful of those became must-reads. And at $3 or $4 an issue, the tab starts to add up. I continued my regular reading through September, rationalizing that continuing with something I enjoyed would help me cope with a difficult move. But by October, and with no job in sight, that rationalization no longer held up.
I couldn’t bring myself to give up comics entirely, though. So I put myself on a diet of two books per week, which would come down to ten titles for the month. Looking at previous columns, I found it would be pretty easy to pick ten titles that I enjoy, and are of a consistently high quality. And if I was particularly ruthless, then picking ten books could even give me room to try a few new things.
To make it more of a challenge, though, I decided not to allow any “roll-over” comics – that is, I couldn’t refrain from buying my two titles one week in order to get four the following week. In doing so I privileged the weekly ritual of heading to the shop (the well-stocked, friendly Crescent City Comics in New Orleans – the best possible replacement for my favorite store, Boston’s Comicopia) over the comics themselves. Obviously the books themselves are crucial to the equation, and I’m not at the point of going to hang out in the shop when I’m not buying something (though I would do exactly that at Comicopia.) But if I only wanted to read, I would convert to digital or buy cheap trades through one of several online services that cater to fans who don’t have a local shop. I love the whole culture of comics, from reading the books, reading reviews, following writers and artists on Twitter, and talking to the clerks at my store. And even in hard times, I’ll hold onto as much of that as I can.
So I’m going to do something different with this month’s column. Rather than pick a Spotlight book and write One-Shots and all that, I’m going to look at each week’s picks to not only review them, but also explore why I ended up pulling them. …
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By Aaron Block, on October 29th, 2012 [At the end of every month, Aaron surveys the comics he read, celebrates the best, considers the rest, and takes stock of what it means to be a contemporary comic fan. Follow "The State of My Pull List" here.]
Spotlight
 When I wrote about the first issue of Mind MGMT back in June I focused almost entirely on the form of the comic, suggesting that “[cartoonist Matt] Kindt is clearly playing a formal game with his readers, asking us to digest the entire text, including the conventions we’re accustomed to ignoring.” By this month’s issue five, however, those gestures towards form have become fully integrated into the reading experience. The black and white strips on the inside covers, the “instructions” written in blue text along the left gutter that are increasingly intruded upon by another voice pleading for help; they’ve all lost the novelty factor, and have become simply another storytelling tactic.
Which raises an interesting question: are those tactics necessary to tell the story, or is the gradually unraveling plot strong enough on its own? Do we need to read those cryptic instructions and wait until October’s issue six to decipher the code inserted in the back cover advertisements in order to appreciate what’s going on?
Earlier in the run I might’ve thought differently, but with issue five my answer is a firm no. In fact, it’s the other way around: as the world of Mind MGMT grows more complex and involving the formal inventiveness becomes more resonant. Issue five makes that relationship more apparent, as the second chapter of Henry Lyme’s backstory brings the horror of Mind Management’s psychic espionage back to the foreground and reveals how fragile the status quo can be. Reading the unidentified voice’s pleas for help embedded in the comic alongside the brutality that surrounds Lyme’s meltdown, it’s suddenly much easier to understand why someone trapped in that world would seek any outlet, even violating the expectations of the medium, through which to read out. …
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