New Comics

Where the blogger writes about his newly received monthly package of comics from the nice people at Page 45 before he's even read them, although God knows why he thinks anybody would be interested. Anyway, let the inane babbling commence.

Leaf (Fantagrahics Books)

Creator: Daishu Ma

This is the Page 45 Comic Book of the Month for September '15 and the image of the cover does not do justice to the sheer beauty of this book. It's a lovely hardback, with the logo seen through a leaf-shaped cut out in the cover. This is a wordless comic and it is one I'm really looking forward to curling up with as we enter that best of seasons, autumn. Sat in a chair with the leaves falling in the garden outside, and a nice steaming mug of hot chocolate to hand, this book open on my lap. A quick glance at the interior shows that, aesthetically at least, it pushes all the right buttons.

Loki Agent of Asgard #17 (Marvel)

Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Lee Garbett
Colour Artist: Antonio Fabela
Letters: Clayton Cowles

This has been a fantastic series but looking at the editorial on the back page, this is the concluding issue. A great shame and this is a comic I'm really going to miss. Still better to go out whilst it is still on top form and the creators have not tired of it. There is one thing I'm certain of and that is the creators will deliver a conclusion that satisfies on every level. I've every faith in them.

Ms Marvel #17 (Marvel)

Writer: G. Willow Wilson
Artist: Adrian Alphona
Colour Art: Ian Herring
Letters: Joe Caramagna
Cover: Kris Anka

This is the other super-hero comic that I get regularly every month, and shares with Loki a sense of fun. Last issue Carol Danvers had turned up to lend a hand so it will be interesting to see how Kamala handles meeting her hero. This comic has not once let me down in the previous sixteen issues in terms of the entertainment it offers. Young and modern with a strong female lead, this shows just how good this genre can be. The fact that the likeable young hero is also a Muslim, realistically portrayed, adds an extra layer of meaning and importance which never turn didactic.

Providence #3 and #4 (Avatar)

Story: Alan Moore
Art: Jacen Burrows
Colour: Juan Rodriguez
Letters: Kurt Hathaway

 I'm a huge Lovecraft fan and was first turned onto him when Alan Moore mentioned the writer as a key influence in an interview sometime in the mid-eighties, so I had high expectations when this series began to be publicised. The first two issues have not disappointed. This is a dense read, with a  lot of allusions to various Lovecraft stories, and a huge amount of information that helps place you in this world (there are quite long text excerpts from the protagonist's journal at the end of each of the first two issues. Given the rather understated covers we have had, I'm rather disappointed with the cover to issue three and the picture of Dagon rising out of the water. Lovecraft is at his strongest when the horrors are hidden just out of sight, when you can feel there is something slightly out of kilter with the world but can't quite place it. Still I'm hopeful the interior will continue the high standards set so far.

Rachel Rising #36 (Abstract Studio)

Creator: Terry Moore

A lovely cover, as ever with Terry Moore. Each of these issues just flies by when your reading it, so that you are surprised when you get to the end so quickly, and a little disappointed that you now have to leave the world he has created for another six weeks. He has the knack of making you want more every time, a trick he established quite early on in Strangers in Paradise and has perfected through Echo and now Rachel Rising. There was a point some time ago when it looked like he wasn't going to be able to carry on with this title as it was not economically viable. Now we are onto issue thirty six I'm really hoping that things have turned around because comics of this quality are always needed.

The Fade Out #8 (Image)

Creators: Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
Colours: Elizabeth Breitweiser

This is Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. What more needs to be said? I think they are in the upper echelons of creative teams working in English language comics today. In thirty years time I think we'll be looking back on them and their work with the same regard comics fandom has for Lee and Kirby and their run on Fantastic Four (a regard I don't share but that's a purely personal issue). This is lovingly packaged with an image of a still from a film at the back which helps make this world they've created all the more believable.

Velvet #11 (Image)

Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Steve Epting
Colours: Elizabeth Breitweiser

Ed Brubaker again, this time with Steve Epting. I think we are now entering the conclusion of the story that started in issue one, and hopefully by the end of this arc we will have a lot of our questions answered. I don't know if it will work out well for our heroine. I hope it does but I don't expect it will do. That just wouldn't fit the overall tone and I think Velvet may well be left more emotionally damaged than she was at the start. On a personal note I had a quick glance at the letters page and the letter I sent a while ago has been printed. The internet is fine but there's nothing like seeing your name in print in the actual comic to make you grin all over like a loon.

Sunny Volume 5 (Viz Media)

Creator: Taiyo Matsumoto

Volume one was a Page 45 Comic Book of the Month and I'm so glad it was as it introduced me to one of the most entertaining, moving comcs I've read. If you think of manga as all constant action-oriented, fast paced stuff the this will change your mind. It's about an orphanage in Japan where children are sent, not because their parents have dies, but because their parents don't want them or can't cope with them anymore. The concept sounds sad but instead results in really inspiring tales. There is no melodrama here, and there are no dire threats  to the kids. These are tales of the childen's emotional ups and downs in their day-to-day lives and its wonderful.

Providence #2 (Avatar

Story: Alan Moore
Art: Jacen Burrows
Colour: Juan Rodriguez
Letters: Kurt Hathaway

Issue two of Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows' Providence continues the high level of design presentation that the first issue established. The cover depicts the church-cum-nightclub in the Red Hook area of New York where the protagonist spends the issue. Although it is only mentioned in brief in this comic, it's prominence on the cover and in the Lovecraft story “The Horror at Red Rock” indicates that this could have a larger role tom play as the narrative progresses. Inside we get the gorgeous street map of Providence itself which acts as a sort of inner wraparound. I've not been able to see any credits for this, whether it was pre-existing or whether Jacen Burrows has drawn it himself, but it adds wonderfully to the atmosphere of the whole package, even if Providence itself has not really featured thus far.
This issue the creators start to slowly escalate the feeling of slight unease that has been building, although the narrative consists mainly of exposition. We first have Robert Black meeting Detective Tom Malone opposite the church in Red Hook, and their scene together gives a chance for a lot of the history of the area to be delivered to the reader. This is then followed by Black's scene with Suydam, which essentially allows for yet more exposition, this time on the occult history of a particular book. This is punctuated dramatically by Black's descent and investigation of Suydam's mysterious basement during which our hero loses consciousness, followed by his resuscitation. All-in-all it does not sound like a formula for a successful or satisfying comic, and yet is works well, although there are some issues. How does it achieve this?

Very simply, this is a comic in which all the elements, story, art, lettering and colours, all come together and integrate into a whole that is unique to comics. The lettering is subtle and lends a gentle and genuine unease to the proceedings. Virtually all of the dialogue uses a clean and clear, standard comic upper-case style, until we encounter the demon in the basement. Even here it stays understated, never becoming larger than the letters spoken by the human characters, and indeed such a style would not fit with the rather cramped, claustrophobic panels. The noise of the demon is simply presented in bold with slightly distorted letters. Very subtle and very effective as the only change in font for the whole comic.

Colours have been cleverly used. Again subtlety is the word here as we start with mainly brown, green and blue hues when with Black and Malone at the start of the story, with flashbacks shown in greys as a sort of black and white movie. Once we progress into Suydam's home the hues change to mainly green with some brown. As Black descends into the basement the hues change to mainly just green and black, to sinister effect.

The presentation of this comic is all about clarity. This is no impressionistic art style being utilised, but a very clear, clean line. This clarity is enhanced by the page design, which in the main consists of horizontal panels in a regular four panel stacked layout. This consistency remain throughout, until we get to the scene in the basement, where it changes to the vertical panel design, laid out as three regular panels to a page, which as mentioned above, enhances the feeling of dread and claustrophobia as the reader's view to what is happening is restricted and constrained by the narrow panels. There is now peripheral vision allowed.

The only real problem with this issue is the verbiage. There is a lot of exposition and one can't help wondering if the occult history presented by Suydam, would have been better shown visually. However this may have hampered the slow build that made the basement scenes so effective. One last thing to be briefly mentioned is the concept of the outsider. This was mentioned by Alan Moore in an interview before the first issue came out. It's too early to start teasing out all the themes but it is noticeable that every main character in this issue could be regarded as an outsider, and indeed the location of Red Hook itself is a haven for outsiders.

A fantastic comic, well worth checking out by Lovecraft fans and those wandering about the fuss.