Comics Roundup 12/5 (CS)

The Amazing Fantasy reboot has hit issue #15, the same issue number where Spider-Man made his debut in 1962. To commemorate the event, the cover features Spiderman in the same pose as he was found in the original Amazing Fantasy #15 with a couple extra characters added in. Each of these characters gets their own 6 pages within the issue and you can go to Marvel.com and vote for which story will get its own shot at a solo series. Personally, I liked Monstro the best. In six pages we got action and depth of character. A man of incredible powers that still knows his limitations AND his responsibilities.... and still has questions about his past. All the elements are there for a classic story for the House of Ideas. So if you love me, you'll head over to Marvel.com and vote for Monstro. If you just want to vex me, you'll vote for Mastermind Excello (shades of Flex Mentallo in that name there?), which was pretty good and looks like it'll probably win (thanks, I think, in part to a Hulk cameo). If you want to straight up piss me off, go vote for Blackjack or Positron. The Blackjack stories were fun, but i think undeserving of a monthly series to itself. And Positron was just a bit too weak, especially in light of the other stories.


Eric Powell continues to do Swamp Thing covers with beautiful results. It is truly a marriage made in heaven. If DC could get him to do the interiors, they could write the most crap story of all time and I'd still buy it. Anyone have some suggestions as to other titles Powell could knock out of the park with his particular touch? He's apparently having a chat on Tuesday the 6th at Comic Book Resources. I'll be busy, myself, but someone out there should totally check it out and tell me if anything interesting came up (or head over there and goad Powell into talking about Dr. Doom some more).



Finally, I got around to picking up and reading R. Kikuo Johnson's Night Fisher. It's been a bit of a while since I read a truly great Indie comic, and this filled that gap. It's sort of a coming of age for a high school senior in Hawaii story. Girls, drugs, and the impending doom of college and "the future." The story isn't entirely concentrated on a set up, typical plot and it is completely unworried about trying to tie up all the loose ends. It's a story that feels particularly true to life in these respects, which I find a tough line for literature and film to tread. There are times when this can be particularly aggravating in what is understood to be an entertainment or even artistic medium, but Johnson let's everything move with a pace usually absent from these types of stories and the lack of neat resolutions feels ironically like a breath of fresh air. Johnson's art is well done and you really take notice of his skill for visual storytelling in the pages where several panels with limited (if any) dialogue tell you all you needed to know and then some. He depicts Hawaii beautifully in that he doesn't illustrate it as entirely beautiful. As an added bonus, the front and back cover illustration is nice and textured and it's got that fantastic indie published book smell to it. Sometimes it's the little things. Highest recommendations for this one.