As we head closer to Memorial Day, the evidence mounts up that we’re getting closer to summer. That can mean yard work, shedding pets, and lots more time outside. I feel exhausted just typing about it, so this week is devoted to fresh comics to kick back with.
Half Past Danger 1 (Stephen Mooney): There are reads that challenge the mind and really encourage the reader to think. When the mind thinks too much, the absolute best thing for it is a dose of Nazis or dinosaurs. Half Past Danger is one of each, and is medicine for the mind.
Tommy Flynn is an Irish-born soldier in WWII, one of the best scouts around. He’s led platoons through minefields, he’s just evaded a Nazi encampment, but his luck ran out when he led his charges into a thunder-lizard den. Barely escaping with his life, he goes on a one-man expedition to the bottom of a bottle, but before he finishes his trip, another group looking for a fight pull him back in by the skin of his eyeballs.
Tommy Flynn is an Irish-born soldier in WWII, one of the best scouts around. He’s led platoons through minefields, he’s just evaded a Nazi encampment, but his luck ran out when he led his charges into a thunder-lizard den. Barely escaping with his life, he goes on a one-man expedition to the bottom of a bottle, but before he finishes his trip, another group looking for a fight pull him back in by the skin of his eyeballs.
There’s an air of LOEG about this. You’ve got an incredible tracker, an Ayran-looking supersoldier, a tiny martial arts powerhouse, and a young woman with a look that doesn’t smolder so much as cremate. While none of the names are from historic literature, the setting and cast of archetypes couldn’t be plainer. Pack that along with some stormtroopers and velociraptors, and ALL audiences are interested. It makes for instant familiarity. Such a story is an effective trap for cliches and gimmicks. In stories like these, execution is absolutely everything, and this executes.
This is freshly-served comfort food. Stephen Mooney may not be a big name in comics now, but that won't last.
The Bounce 1 (Casey/ Messina): No, this is not a comic sponsored by the popular dryer sheets. The Bounce is a mature-audiences superhero book taking place just when society is experiencing the rise of superhumans. It’s not a smooth introduction.
The title character is a mashup between Spider-Man and Captain America - he’s introduced over a batch of drugs, and he likes to jump around when he pummels his foes. There are other plots floating around, other parties attempting to get a jump on the competition, though who’s opposing whom isn’t wholly clear. The question of this series would seem to be thus: What if drugs unlocked superhuman physical potential, instead of the mental potential so many promise?
The title character is a mashup between Spider-Man and Captain America - he’s introduced over a batch of drugs, and he likes to jump around when he pummels his foes. There are other plots floating around, other parties attempting to get a jump on the competition, though who’s opposing whom isn’t wholly clear. The question of this series would seem to be thus: What if drugs unlocked superhuman physical potential, instead of the mental potential so many promise?
Like life during drug use, it’s difficult to see how things connect in this story. There’s a police force that’s in way over their heads, and underground drug cartel with some unconventional product and distribution, and a deeper-underground government project with a limitless budget and a mysterious purpose. What any of these things have to do with each other is beyond me right now, but hopefully it’ll become clear in future issues.
The look of the book is nice, if a bit standard. The content doesn’t stand out much either, but groundwork is laid that may help it rise above later.
Occupy Comics (Too Many to List): Anthologies are tricky beasts. Creators coming together to support and promote a common cause sounds great and starts well, but reality can interfere, putting the total work back past the time when it could do its job. This anthology explores the Occupy Wall Street movement, which has fizzled out of the media cycle almost completely. The stories within, as well as what’s in the news today, may demonstrate that some delays happen for a purpose, and that some causes deserve a bit more life.
Most of the content is sequential art, with a single character or narrator going through the history of the movement and movements like it throughout history. Others are full-text with the occasional illustrations. Alan Moore contributed an essay about comics’ role in political struggles. Many of the works suggest that the OWS movement is just the latest in a cycle of haves struggling against have-nots, with people changing roles as their fortunes change.
Most of the content is sequential art, with a single character or narrator going through the history of the movement and movements like it throughout history. Others are full-text with the occasional illustrations. Alan Moore contributed an essay about comics’ role in political struggles. Many of the works suggest that the OWS movement is just the latest in a cycle of haves struggling against have-nots, with people changing roles as their fortunes change.
The level of inbalance is an interesting factor to look at in the different histories. Things that we would call atrocities were once common practice. Assuming society survives past this, it’s going to be fascinating to see what future generations consider monstrous what we today consider monotonous.
“The eye of the beholder” is the what ultimately decides whether I think any reader will like a book, but this book covers so many perspectives - even using perspective as a subject - that anyone could pick this up and find something that would interest them. Pick it up!
Accelerators 1 (Porto/ Smith): I despise time travel on principle. “On principle” means that I will not enjoy it just on face value - it has to prove to me that it has merit before I’ll deem it worth anyone’s notice. Such stories suffer, because I can’t talk to the creator and find out what drove them into the forbidden zones. That’s not the case here, and I got the chance to talk with the artist, Gavin Smith, about the project.
For instance, regarding time travel, he explained, “We haven’t used it as a crutch. It’s a character driven story that happens to have time travel involved.” Anyone sick of comics using time travel to write themselves out of their own corners won’t have much to complain about here. A high-ranking physicist is on the run from a gun-toting military captain that’s gone through the rest of her scientific team already, and a young kid gets drawn in over his head trying to do the right thing.
For instance, regarding time travel, he explained, “We haven’t used it as a crutch. It’s a character driven story that happens to have time travel involved.” Anyone sick of comics using time travel to write themselves out of their own corners won’t have much to complain about here. A high-ranking physicist is on the run from a gun-toting military captain that’s gone through the rest of her scientific team already, and a young kid gets drawn in over his head trying to do the right thing.
As if that didn’t sound fantastic enough, there’re other twists. The starting date for this drama is in the mid-1960’s, when NASA was but a twinkle in the USA’s eye. The evasive physicist is a young woman and the gun-toting captain is her racially-diverse husband. A brief look in the history books (or a really awkward conversation with the residents at a retirement home) will tell you how unlikely either case would be in the 60’s, yet both happen in a story where time travel is made possible by a glowing donut. How? “Those things WILL be addressed, especially in parts two and four,” explains Smith.
Gavin’s not new to the comic industry. His original property Human City is still alive, and he’s got other projects to work on inbetween that and his current work with Ronny Porto. Accelerators is slated to be a six-issue series, but there’s room for more according to Smith. Give it a look.
That’s all the time for this week. Thanks for reading!
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