[Comic Execution] 11/14 – ‘SHAOLIN COWBOY’, ‘THE ROCKETEER & THE SPIRIT’, ‘BLOODHOUND’

Let me put aside the jokes for a second and mention the typhoon that has devastated the Philippines. I’m bringing it up because of what I call the “Internet skewing effect.” See, you’re online and you’ve seen a lot of the online calls for charitable donations so you’re thinking “I’m sure the aid efforts are well funded by this point.” But since you’re thinking that, we can count on at least a third of the online audience is thinking the same thing. Add another third to that who simply don’t care to donate and we’re looking at a mere one-third of possible donations being made. Additionally, most of the donations that are coming in are $10 donations which, even in large sums, doesn’t add up to enough to resuscitate a collapsed economy like this. So please, consider donating the minimum $25 (or more) to United Nations World Food Program http://wfpusa.org/, who need your charitable assistance to provide immediate sustenance (including clean water) to the Phillippines.

On to the reviews!

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SHAOLIN COWBOY #2

Writer: Geof Darrow
Artist: Geof Darrow

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Price: $4

So Geof Darrow is a bit of a maniac. I’d say he’s a renegade but the guy makes comics for Dark Horse and that’s not really renegade material. But there’s no doubt he’s got a thing for screwing with his readers. Not really in a bad way, in my opinion, but I can just imagine the legion of furious comic book nerds who bought this volume because “non-stop zombie slaying mayhem” and got EXACTLY what they wanted. And nothing else.

Because there’s literally nothing else here. There’ no story. No dialogue. If there’s a script, it’s probably just one sentence: “The Shaolin Cowboy kills zombies. Well, actually, he DESTROYS zombies. Kind of hard to kill what’s not alive. But yeah.” Which, given that he goes about this task with a huge staff with chainsaws rigged to each end, sounds like an interesting proposition. By the fifth page of said “interesting proposition”, I got suspicious, but kept reading. By page ten, though, couldn’t resist and took a brief glimpse of the back of the book. It appeared that Darrow was going to keep going. But maybe, I thought, there was a joke at the very end, if I was patient.

There wasn’t. I’d just read 33 pages of NOTHING but the Shaolin Cowboy brutally putting down a horde of zombies. No plot, no obvious jokes. Just that. Now, I’d like to discuss in depth what exactly it all MEANS but let me talk about the art first.

Darrow is known for being an artistic savant. His ability to render even the most minute details without losing coherency or perspective is unmatched. What he does here, essentially, is put that talent to the test by immaculately drafting a fully articulated sequence of messy, grotesque carnage. Each page, without exception, is split into two panels of even size (give or take a centimeter) in which the Shaolin Cowboy is shown, from a waist level perspective, leveling zombies with his chainsaw bo staff. From panel one to panel 66, Darrow concretely renders the Cowboy’s smooth progression of forms and the consequent gore as the undead horde is pureed. No detail is missed; there’s more zombie genitalia in this comic than you could ever want to see in your entire life. He even illustrates the scavenger insects that swarm the walking corpses, going so far as to depict those bugs being bisected by one of his attacks. There’s really only five characters in this comic: the bugs, the trash that litters the ground, the Shaolin Cowboy, his weapon, and the zombies. That’s all there is. Though there’s quite a lot of tattoos on the zombies so there’s that, too. So, what can I say about the art? It’s certainly impressive, no doubt; if you study each panel, there’s a mind-boggling amount of detail packed into them, and from panel to panel there’s a sense of logical progression, particularly in the Cowboy’s movements. So yeah, the art is insanely good.

But what can you say about art when it’s in the service of a comic with no story? Except, actually, there kind of is a story here. See, at the top of each page, there’s two things: one is a visual representation of the fuel gauge on the Cowboy’s chainsaws, steadily sinking closer to empty from the final quarter tank. Then there’s an onomatopoeia representing the ever-present buzz of the saws themselves, crossing the top of both pages in one long, continuous take. How does this convey a story? Well, consider the context: up until now, the Cowboy has been running from the horde, staying just out of their reach. Why? What this whole issue seems to show, by the end, is that what the Shaolin Cowboy is trying to do… is useless. On the last page, we see that he’s moments away from running out of gas yet the horde still stands in all its horribleness. Darrow isn’t just trying to establish that Shaolin Cowboy is fighting a losing battle; it’s that he’s fighting THE losing battle. He knows he can’t run forever but he also knows (but is in denial) that he can’t destroy them all, either and this is how Darrow shows us.

But then, consider the context of the comic as a comic book as well. On the one hand, Darrow is a notorious individualist who doesn’t have much fondness at all for mainstream comics and would certainly not be out-of-character if he made this comic as a middle finger to readers’ expectations. But I also don’t think that’s what’s going on here. If I were going to make a case for this comic as anything other than Darrow having some fun, I’d say he’s also boldly experimenting with minimalism. Yes, minimalism. For all the depth, layers and richness of the art, I’d argue that this is about as minimalist as comics get.

Should you buy this comic? Probably not, honestly. Most of you won’t get it. But if you appreciate comics as art, you should ABSOLUTELY get this. You’ve never seen anything like it, ever, and I doubt anyone else has, and that is reason enough to own it.

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THE ROCKETEER AND THE SPIRIT #3

Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: J Bone
Colors: Rom Fajardo

Publisher: IDW/DC Comics
Price: $4

For the second time, this comic book has changed artists. Was this part of the original plan? There’s never been any official word on whether the much-lauded artist Paul Smith was intended to be replaced and while they’re certainly not obliged, it would’ve been decent of the publishers to inform readers ahead of time that they’d be bringing on fresh talent with each issue. The fact that each respective replacement has had a more simplistic, stylized take on the story is really a bit much to ignore; I suspect the publishers knew that, if they’d announced J Bone was slated for the third issue, they’d be struggling to keep readers. That’s not to say his art is repellent, but it’s definitely a downgrade from Paul Smith.

Interestingly, Waid’s writing seems to have improved, if anything, probably due to the time available between issues for editing and refinement. It begins with a truly charming reintroduction to The Spirit’s origin story and Rocketeer’s appropriate response, nodding playfully at the absurdity of pulp’s wackiness. From there on, the story moves briskly from scene to scene with little elaboration as payoffs finally drop from previous issues, with the Spirit putting his detective skills to work and the Rocketeer attempting to do his rocket thing in a crowded urban landscape. It’s great that Waid manages to put both characters through their paces without losing coherence, and the momentum never slips, though the climax has a fairly preposterous twist, one I suspect is a red herring and not so preposterous. Regardless, Waid’s writing here is worthy of Paul Smith’s art, fairly saturated with witty dialogue that pops and well-executed pacing.

But what about the new art from J Bone? It’s actually damn good. Look past the cartoonish proportions and angular lines because there’s actually a lot going on in each panel. J Bone’s aesthetic fits quite well with the pulp world of the story and there’s no real loss of immersion thanks to his busy but friendly illustrations. The scenes of the Rocketeer careening around (and into) buildings are done with unexpected dynamism, the trail of his jetpack serving to buoy the high-flying action. The Spirit gets the short end of the stick, as the few panels that show his one-sided fight serve more to color in the amusingly diverse thugs wailing on him than impress us with the Spirit’s brawling prowess (or lack of). In his defense, it’s already a pretty dense book and what he does with the Rocketeer is far more fun than trying to wring action out of a mundane scuffle. Plus, the new colorist Rom Fajardo and letters man Tom Long really bring it all home with incredibly lush wintry tones and sound effects screaming right off the page; Long mounts a tommy gun’s chatter right along the exaggerated muzzle flash, giving its menace a nice heft.

Despite yet another change in the creative team, this book continues to be an absolutely blast, fun and funny in all the right ways. In fact, if anything, I’m quite pleased with the rotating styles as it gives the readers who wait for the TPB a bit of a middle finger, while those of us who buy the individual issues are greeted with a delightful new take on the story with each volume.

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BLOODHOUND: CROWBAR MEDICINE #2

Writer: Dan Jolley
Artist: Leonard Kirk 
Colors: Moose Baumann

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Price: $4

Before I begin my review proper of this book, I’d just like to put a complaint out there that has nothing to do with the writing or the art. No, I hold contention with the NAME of the damn thing! You can’t possibly expect to call your comic CROWBAR MEDICINE and not prominently feature one thing: a goddamn CROWBAR. I mean, it’s possible they’re saving all the “crowbar medicine” for later but, frankly, I don’t appreciate being teased like this. When said implements DO show up in this comic, it’d better be a veritable OVERDOSE.

Anyway, onto the review. The writing, from Jolley, kicks off by introducing us to a cliche arm Major who, naturally, is a hardass and is bald-headed and has a mustache of authority. And, of course, he doesn’t have the sense to try and handle the titular “Bloodhound” with anything other than blunt coercion. Naturally, Travis “Bloodhound” Clevenger’s handler reminds him of the family he left behind and he does a 180. While the about-face isn’t entirely unlikely, it’s obviously a manufactured encounter designed to remind the readers of Clevenger’s motivations, as though our attention spans are that short. If this is Jolley’s way of showing us how short sighted his protagonist is, it’s a poor way of doing so. From there, the story diverges to focus on a high school principle who considering taking on the offer of instant superpowers that was broadcast on TV in the last issue. His moral turmoil is a bit heavy-handed and it becomes pretty clear that Jolley is trying to mire the story in a one-sided debate on the merits of self-armament via this character. Maybe I’m reading too deep but just the fact that I’m interpreting it that way seems telling. Fortunately, it gets back to the main story and Clevenger’s investigation of the scientist offering superpowers to average folk. Unfortunately, Jolley inserts the unnecessarily abrasive Major once again and it becomes clear that we’re not supposed to like him or what he represents. We get more of the principal, who makes a final, forebodingly framed decision and it becomes obvious that Travis will have to deal with the repercussions of said decision. Too obvious, honestly.

The story gets kind of interesting as Clevenger continues his investigation and stumbles onto a masked intruder (?) with superpowers (!). There’s a bit of amusing dialogue between Bloodhound and this “Terminus” character as they duke it out, which takes up quite a chunk of the book before he escapes. It all ends with the school principal about to get what he wished for, with more than a little bit of ominous dialogue. Overall, I felt the writing really took a sharp turn into cliche TV procedural territory with this issue and all the plot twists into the next issue are being clearly telegraphed. But it does look like things will become less procedural next issue, though I hate to say that the plot so far is pretty predictable and, unless Jolley really trips me up next go around, I’ll be quite unsatisfied with this new storyline.

The artwork’s still good though. But with this issue, I’m starting to notice one particular flaw with Leonard Kirk’s art; his characters don’t seem to open their mouths when they talk. I mean, it’s a comic; not every word balloon is going to accompanied by an appropriate facial expression to go with it, and to his credit, there’s enough emotion on display in the character’s faces to pass by this oddity. Doesn’t make it any less awkward when there’s so much conversation going on in a book and the only time a character is drawn with their mouth open is to yell. Actually, now that I’m looking back through the issue, I’m seeing a few more points where background characters are drawn speaking with open mouths… in totally arbitrary scenes. My suspicion is that Jolley is simply trying to save effort and time by skipping this aspect of the art but it results in a weirdly awkward comic that, otherwise, looks great.

The latest of issue of BLOODHOUND: CROWBAR MEDICINE dips just slightly below the level of quality that the first issue had but I’m optimistic about the third installment.