X-Men: The Shattering (mini review)

I’ve been struggling with Peter Gross and Mike Carey’s The Unwritten, v. 1: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity. I started the review last Friday, but I still can’t decide what to make of it: the beginning of an exciting metatextual saga or a lot of potential wasted on an overexposed copy of Harry Potter with a penchant for pointing out literary geography? It’ll probably be somewhere in the middle, but to which side of the middle? Find out Freya Day.

So, while I figure that one out, I will note that I just read X-Men: The Shattering. This book mainly duplicates the contents of Astonishing X-Men: Deathwish. Aside from the more appropriate name, there are two main differences: one, Shattering costs about $20 more new, and 2) it contains five more issues (X-Men #93-4 and Uncanny X-Men #372-4).

Is it worth the extra Jackson for five issues? No, not really, unless you’re slightly obsessive about your collected editions. (You know who you are.) Admittedly, X-Men #94 is a double issue, and there are a few pages at the end of Shattering from the X-Men 1999 Yearbook. But those pages are low-rent versions of the out-of-context ramblings that made “Stryfe’s Strike File” such a classic back in the early ‘90s. And the extra issues add to the crossover style conflicts, with the high point being Alan Davis (mainly) doing a workmanlike job. Do you get joy from seeing people do workmanlike jobs? I do not either.

On the other hand, the extra story does make the nonsense at the end slightly more comprehensible, and it does water down the bad taste that is Astonishing X-Men #1-3. The first time around, I found Astonishing inoffensive; this time, it was a chore to go through.

So if you need to read this — I don’t know why, maybe it’s an Apocalypse fetish, although that would make me weep — go for Deathwish. The stories haven’t really aged that well in the decade since Deathwish came out, and you can still buy Deathwish new online. (Although the price difference drops to about $10 on Amazon.)

Tales Designed to Thrizzle, v. 1

Collects: Tales Designed to Thrizzle #1-4 (2005-8)

Released: July 2009 (Fantagraphics)

Format: 160 pages / color / $24.99 / ISBN: 9781606991640

What is this?: Absurdist madness designed to look like comic magazines of days gone by

The culprit: Michael Kupperman

I heard about Tales Designed to Thrizzle on the podcast House to Astonish. The two hosts tried to describe writer / artist Michael Kupperman’s humor. It was difficult for the hosts to describe why Tales Designed to Thrizzle #5 was so funny, but they were convinced it was hilarious.

I’m having trouble too describing the humor as well. But it’s extremely funny; you can be assured of that.

The first four issues are collected in Tales Designed to Thrizzle, v. 1, the first Fantagraphics book I’ve reviewed. The book is made up of one-page jokes, with the occasional feature that runs on for a few pages. Running jokes include Cousin Grandpa, Mark Twain and Albert Einstein as ‘70s cops, and Snake ‘n’ Bacon, a crime fighting / time traveling team consisting of a snake who can only hiss and a slice of bacon that says bacon-related things such as “Crumble me in a salad” or “Wipe me with a paper towel to remove excess grease,” neither of which actually fits into the story.

Really, that gives you an idea of the type of humor right there.

The jokes are presented to look like a Silver or Golden Age comic book, with plenty of fake ads that are designed to fill space along the margins. The art apes the style of the ‘40s through the ‘60s, although when appropriate, Kupperman shows he can draw in a more modern style as well. The content is absurd, although not in the Silver Age way — these are knowing absurdities, presented with a wink at the reader and often with a few obscenities mixed in. It’s hard to say why these jokes are funny, other than to point out their outlandish and outrageous nature.

But they are often hilarious: a feature on pornographic coloring books, Prohibition-era sex blimps and sex holes, the world’s worst choose-your-own-adventure story, and the story of Pagus, Jesus’s evil half-brother. The final Twain and Einstein story has ads that look like the junk advertised in ‘70s comics with a humorous twist: a “How to Avoid Being Dominated by Others” ad delivered in a bullying voice, “Learn to Pick Pockets for Fun and Profit,” “Learn How to Dance” (cowboys will shoot at your feet), and a floor safe that looks and smells like a pile of feces.

No, none of it makes any sense. But that’s part of the charm. It’s certainly unpredictable.

Tales Designed to Thrizzle doesn’t come out that often — by my estimates, an issue is released about once per year — so it may be a while before another collection comes out. But I’ll be waiting — well, probably I’ll try to pick up the individual issues, because no one’s that patient. But I’ll buy the collection when it comes out too.

Rating: (4.5 of 5)

August 2009 solicitations

Is it solicitation time again? Prep the fog machines and cue the music:

For the first time that I can remember, I have no interest in buying anything Marvel’s putting out in a month. Marvel’s solicitations are clogged by “Dark Reign,” but two titles transform Marvel into the House of Dubious Ideas:

• Marvel Masterworks: Deathlok, v. 1 (hardcover): I can see it, we’re almost there … yes, we’ve just scraped the bottom of the barrel. Marvel should be pleased: I’m sure all twelve hardcore Deathlok fans will shell out the steep Masterworks price for this one. $64.99
• Marvel Bromance: No. Just … just … no. Has “Marvel Team-Up” become a code word for a homosexual relationship, so they had to use an incredibly stupid term to describe male friendship? I think this is a counterweight to Marvel-meets-Sex-in-the-City Marvel Divas. $24.99
• Spider-Man / Mary Jane: ...You Just Hit the Jackpot: Some good stories here (and a few not-so-good stories), but is there something I’m missing? Has Mary Jane — oh, she’s making her return to Amazing Spider-Man in August. Be nice if the TPB solicit had mentioned that. $24.99
• Our Essential for the month is Essential Marvel Team-Up, v. 3. Some good Claremont / Byrne stuff in there. I already have the issues, but if I didn’t, I would shell out $19.99 for it. Of course, it’s Marvel Team-Up, so I’m not sure it’s worth that much, but it will definitely be inoffensive and probably better than I remember.

At budget-conscious DC:

• The Flash Chronicles, v. 1: Flash joins Batman, Superman, and Green Lantern in getting his story retold from the beginning in color and relatively inexpensively. Are there enough Flash fans out there to make it work? $14.99
• Icon: A Hero’s Welcome: None of the other three companies on this list have anything like the Milestone imprint. Given that uniqueness, DC needs to do something with it. Keeping reprints of the flagship of the minority-heavy imprint available is the least of it. Also: Dwayne McDuffie and M.D. Bright working together. $19.99
• The Showcase is Showcase Presents Warlord: Ostensibly, this is to support the new Warlord series, especially since both are written by Mike Grell. But wouldn’t it have made more sense to release this Showcase in the month the new Warlord launched, instead of when #5 comes out? Still, Showcases have two things Essentials do not: a $17.99 price tag (up a dollar, but still $2 below an Essential) and page numbers.
• Peter & Max: A Fables Novel (hardcover): A Fables novel by Bill Willingham. An interesting idea, at least. Accompanying illustrations by Steve Leialoha. $22.99

Over at Dark Horse, where they’re keeping my interest by picking over the bones of Marvel when they’re not releasing Usagi Yojimbo volumes:

• Chronicles of Conan, v. 18: Isle of the Dead and Other Stories: Entering an undistinguished patch of the series, this book marks Conan the Barbarian’s halfway point. Weird. Roy Thomas is gone, but John Buscema and Ernie Chan are still there, they’ve got the original covers now, and it’s a decent value — 200 pages for $17.95.
• Groo Treasury, v. 1: This, on the other hand, is a fantastic value: 336 pages for $24.95. This has the pre-Marvel stuff mostly, with the six-issue Epic miniseries at the end. Also included are commentary and history. If you like sword-and-sorcery parody, this is for you. Get it.
• The Umbrella Academy: Dallas: Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba’s second Umbrella Academy miniseries, in trade paperback. I haven’t read anything by Way, but both minis were well received. $17.95

For Image, there aren’t any collections I’m interested in, but I want to mention G-Man: Cape Crisis #1, the first issue of Chris Giarrusso’s five-issue miniseries with his own creation, G-Man. If you liked Mini Marvels, you’ll likely feel similarly about G-Man; you can find sample pages at the Image solicitation page. At an affordable $2.99, I might pick up the single issues instead of waiting for the trade.

July 2009 Solicitations

Better late than never, they say. Of course, that’s debatable. Here are the July 2009 solicitations from the big four comic companies, minus IDW and plus Dark Horse (I kid Dark Horse, but really, it and Image fell behind IDW in sales).

From Marvel:

• Agents of Atlas: Dark Reign (hardcover): Can Jeff Parker bring back what everyone liked in the original (poorly selling) mini? $24.99
• X-Men: Wolverine / Gambit (hardcover): Reprinting the forgettable Wolverine / Gambit: Victims miniseries from the mid-’90s. The mini was published to capitalize on Gambit’s popularity, and it’s most likely reissued because of the movie. I mean, what other reason can there be to reprint this? (Yes, I know, Loeb / Sale. That doesn’t cover up that it isn’t much good.) $19.99
• Mephisto vs. (hardcover): The ‘80s miniseries that tried to cover up that it was a miniseries at all by having each issue have a different title! $19.99
• Spider-Girl, v. 11: Marked for Death (digest): Yes, they really are charging $13 for seven issues of a digest. That’s ridiculous and must stop now. $12.99
• New Warriors Classic, v. 1: It’s about time. It seems odd it would take so long for a cult favorite like New Warriors to get on the schedule, but the Classic line has been a little slow, so I suppose it makes sense. $24.99
• X-Men: The Shattering: Rumored on Amazon for a while, this one comes in at a whopping $35. Yes, it has eleven issues plus an annual, but that’s $3 an issue. And three of those reprinted issues are the Astonishing X-Men series, and I’m very reluctant to pay for those. $34.99
• The Essentials (now $20! Geez, there’s a recession on, Marvel!) are Essential Marvel Two-in-One, v .3, and Essential Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man, v. 4. Both are excellent choices, especially Spectacular, which will reprint the Owl / Octopus War and its aftermath, the Black Cat / Spidey romance, and a Fred Hembeck penciled issue. $19.99 each

From DC, who believe in giving you value for your money (and really is eating Marvel’s lunch on that score):

• Gotham Central, v. 2: Jokers and Madmen (hardcover): I didn’t see v. 1, but it’s good that Gotham Central is getting a hardcover reprint that includes all the issues, not just the greatest hits. The missing issues really upset me in the TPBs. Reasonable price for 12 issues in hardback, and I bet it will have better stories than the comparably sized but more expensive paperback X-Men: The Shattering. $29.99
• Secret Six: Unhinged: Gail Simone writes another series with second-tier characters. That’s usually enjoyable, and the price is right as well. $14.99
• Tom Strong: Deluxe Edition, v. 1 (hardcover): I haven’t read Tom Strong, but the other ABC titles were all excellent, and I doubt this will be different. It is $40 for twelve issues, though, so you might hunt down older, cheaper reprints. $39.99
• Fables, v. 12: The Dark Ages: The Adversary’s gone, but the story goes on. $17.99
• The Showcases (still a reassuring $17) are Showcase Presents Eclipso and Showcase Presents The Flash, v. 3. I have to admit, DC is much more daring with its Showcase selections than Marvel is with Essentials; on the other hand, I have a real distaste for a lot of Silver Age DC, so it doesn’t do much for me. If you’re less wedded to Marvel or another company, though, you have to love DC. $16.99 $9.99 for Eclipso and $16.99 for Flash
• Not TPBs, but DC is reprinting the #1s for Green Lantern: Rebirth, Y: The Last Man, Tom Strong, and All-Star Superman and Batman #608 for $1 each. Neat, although I wonder why the first issue of Batman: Hush is being reprinted.

From Image:

• Back to Brooklyn: Garth Ennis does a violent organized crime story. This is for a certain demographic, and you know if you are in that demographic if you have the entire Ennis run on Punisher. $14.99

From Dark Horse, which is always a little unusual compared to the other three:

• Noir (hardcover): An interesting black-and-white book. It’s a collection of noir stories, with an impressive list of creators, including comics’ noir leaders, Ed Brubaker and Brian Azzarello. $24.95
• Pictures that Tick: Dave McKean’s short comics stories from the ‘90s and early ‘00s. Probably worth reading, even if you don’t buy it — McKean is always interesting. $19.95
• I would mention The Umbrella Academy, v. 2: Dallas (hardcover), but it’s a limited-run $80 edition. No thanks. The TPB will be out in October.

Anyone else got any bright ideas?