Strange Tales, v. 1

Collects: Megolamaniacal Spider-Man # 1 and Strange Tales #1-3 (2002, 2009-10)

Released: August 2010 (Marvel)

Format: 160 pages / color / $24.99 / ISBN: 9780785128021

What is this?: A collection of indy comics creators playing in the Marvel sandbox with short, mainly humorous tales.

The culprits: More than two dozen creators, including Peter Bagge, Stan Sakai, Becky Cloonan, Paul Pope, and Michael Kupperman

Strange Tales looks like an odd choice for Marvel, a company that won’t give up on its continuity and sticks more to its mainstream superheroes than the newly revamped DC. Strange Tales features the works of “indy” creators — although veteran creators such as Stan Sakai, Jonathan Hickman, and Paul Pope hardly belong in that classification — telling mostly humorous stories of the non-canonical parts of the Marvel Universe.

By virtue of the creators’ reputations, Strange Tales should be edgy, hip, different. But there’s a contradiction here: most of those creators gained their reputations by not working for the Big Two. Marvel wanted to gain some of what those creators have. But by giving these jokes and parodies its imprimatur, Marvel has removed the edginess, hipness, newness. And it’s not different because Marvel parodies are a dime a terabyte these days — I believe Marvel parodies are the third reason the Internet was invented, after porn and LOLcats.

Still, in Strange Tales, Marvel and its readers do get an outsider’s perspective of the characters, even if that perspective does look at Marvel as a source of humor. Fortunately for Marvel, most of the stories are funny, and their mockery is gentle, even affectionate.

Since the material comes from so many creators, it’s hard to formulate a cohesive conclusion about a collection of such disparate stories. They’re mostly two- or four-page jokes, with a wide variety of comedic approaches. Strange Tales includes style parodies (which look like intentionally nonsensical versions of ‘70s comics), MODOKery, redialogued Silver Age comics, Horatian satire, children’s slapstick humor, gag pages with one panel jokes based on a single concept (“Marvel’s Most Embarrassing Moments”), and full-on absurdity. I found the absurdist sketches the funniest; Tony Millionaire’s story has a Silver / Bronze Age look and features Iron Man battling Baloney Head, Liver-Wurst Face, and the Communist Dwight D. Eisenhower; it’s even weirder than it sounds. My favorite is Michael Kupperman’s “Marvex the Super Robot,” which has nothing to do with Marvel and reads like something out of his Tales Designed to Thrizzle.

Some of these could actually fit as a back-up or in an anthology title. In Jacob Chabot’s “Lookin’ Good, Mr. Grimm!,” the Thing gets a chia moustache; it’s silly, but the art and the plot could be a backup in an issue of Fantastic Four. A series of four posters tries to recruit new workers into the service of Galactus, although allowing Terrax to speak — and giving potential recruits the recipe for Five-Finger Kabobs — might have been a mistake.

A few stories don’t seem to fit; either the creators didn’t the memo about humor being a theme or they decided to go their own way. This leads to a few different approaches: action sequences (“The Punisher,” with the hero redesigned as a kung-fu fighter, by Jonathan Jay Lee), trying to evoke real pathos (“Nightcrawler Meets the Molecule Man” by Paul Hornschemeier), or plain incomprehensibility (“Cupcake!” by Chris Chua). Usagi Yojimbo creator Stan Sakai turns Bruce Banner into a cowardly Shogunate retainer transformed into a Hulk-like oni by a vengeful ghost. “La Querelle des Monstres” by Jay Stephens features a Beast / Morbius battle with a typical Bronze Age downer ending fitting for two characters in their ‘70s incarnations.

The final two stories in the collection, both by Peter Bagge, are the longest: “The Incorrigible Hulk” and “The Megalomaniacal Spider-Man,” each of which originally were single issues and are about 20 pages long. The latter is about Peter Parker, whose life takes an Ayn-Rand turn before Gwen is killed, and his fortunes rise and fall with the fortunes of his alter ego; the former is about the dual-natured Bruce Banner, who attracts two vastly different ladies as a mild-mannered scientist and as a monster. “Hulk” is definitely the better of the two, as there’s a limit to the humor in abuse of power and Randian philosophy, even in satire. Bagge’s characters are distinctively exaggerated, seemingly designed for humor comics, with their bandy limbs and gaping, distorted mouths, but after 40 pages it begins to grate.

This is a funny collection — not hilarious, but funny. On the other hand, this is $25 for 160 pages; at that ratio, it needs to be better than just funny. That’s a good price for a high-quality collection, one that’s at the level of the best work in Strange Tales. But it’s too high for the average level of humor, which consistenly inspires grins but not enough laughter.

Rating: (2.5 of 5)

2010 in review

I had plans for a 2010 review as big as last year’s, listing my favorites (and least favorites) from among the books I reviewed this year. Unfortunately, the books I reviewed — 37 overall — tended toward the mediocre. (That’s not entirely fair; a rating of 3.5, which several books received, is above mediocre. A book that gets 3.5, in my opinion, is fun to read … but it’s not a book that inspires superlatives or a command to go out and buy the book.) So my list of books this year will be short:

1. Birds of Prey, v. 5: Perfect Pitch and v. 6: Blood and Circuits: The antepenultimate and penultimate volumes of writer Gail Simone’s Birds of Prey run, these two were the apex of her work on the title. After finally shedding artist Ed Benes, Simone (coincidentally or not) was able to hone her characterization and sharpen her plots while retaining her customary witty dialogue. If forced to choose between the two, I would opt for Blood and Circuits because the developments in that book finally jolted the audience from some of its complacency about the safety of the team.
2. Usagi Yojimbo, v. 24: Return of the Black Soul: Stan Sakai finally explained the origin of the demon Jei, focusing on the demon’s story for a tale that was not only frightening but surprisingly emotional. After 24 volumes of Usagi in more than 20 years, Sakai is still able to tell stories about the character and his world that are new and powerful.
3. G-Man, v. 1: Learning to Fly and v. 2: Cape Crisis: I’m a big fan of Chris Giarrusso, so it’s no surprise I loved his two G-Man books. Filled with his distinctive humor — a combination of subtle sight gags, running jokes, and absurdist dialogue — G-Man still manages to have an interesting plot, and Giarrusso seems to never forget how the world seems to children.

I actually did better than I thought with the timeliness of the reviews, although given how badly I thought I did, that’s not saying much; still, nearly half the reviews were of books that came out in 2010. Fortunately, G-Man, v. 2, and Usagi Yojimbo, v. 24, were among those, so they’re my picks of 2010. Honorable mention goes to Batwoman: Elegy, the beautiful but occasionally flawed book by Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams III.

The worst books I read this year were The Pulse, v. 2: Secret War and Gigantic. Writer Brian Michael Bendis, who occasionally puts out some great stuff, also generates some of the worst, and The Pulse was about as low as this blog goes: a frequently incomprehensible decompressed mess with bad characterization, saved from a 0 rating only by art from Michael Lark and Brent Anderson. Gigantic, by writer Rick Remender and artist Dustin Nguyen, was a high-concept piece that unfortunately did not live up to the promise of the concept; the writing veered from weird to surprisingly unsurprising, and Nguyen’s scratchy art didn’t help matters either. Since Gigantic was the one that came out this year, it gets my “Worst of the Year” tag despite being better than The Pulse.

What was the best (or worst) collected edition / graphic novel you read this year?

Previous year-end wrap ups:

• 2009 in review

Usagi Yojimbo, v. 24: Return of the Black Soul

Collects: Usagi Yojimbo #103-9 (2007-8)

Released: July 2010 (Dark Horse)

Format: 192 pages / black and white / $16.99 / ISBN: 9781595824721

What is this?: When bounty hunters intensify their hunt for Inazuma, Usagi and his friends hunt for her to put an end to the demon Jei.

The culprit: Stan Sakai

I have, in the past, gone on about how good Usagi Yojimbo is. If you’re already on board with that or are tired of hearing me praise a series starring a samurai rabbit in a 17th century Japan that is populated by anthropomorphic animals, then you can skip the rest of this review, because that’s what I’m going to say about Usagi Yojimbo, v. 24: Return of the Black Soul.

In Black Soul, writer / artist Stan Sakai brings the long-running subplot of Inazuma and Jei, the demon who has possessed her and who is the series’ most terrifying adversary, to a climax. Bounty hunters have been pursuing Inazuma since before her possession because she killed the son of a gangster; when the gangster increases the reward, bounty hunters increase their efforts but find more than they bargain for.

Of course, Usagi and his friends (bounty hunters Gen and Stray Dog and the priest Sanshobo) are in just the right place to find Inazuma, as is a mysterious man named Isamu. They must compete with the bounty hunters to find Inazuma, even though they have different motivations for finding the swordswoman.

Black Soul is the demon Jei’s story, and it shows why the demon is so frightening. He corrupts all he touches, tainting the lives of even those who survive his attacks. He can survive death, returning to possess one of those he has injured in a prior attack. As a swordsman, Jei is almost without peer, destroying all those who he finds “evil” — which tends to be anyone who has reached adulthood. And with him always is his companion: a young, cheerful girl named Keiko. That’s really the creepiest thing about Jei: no matter what a bloodbath he creates around him, Keiko remains unremittingly cheerful about her “uncle” (or “aunt” in Black Circle, since Inazuma is a woman).

This volume is nicely focused. Usually there are other stories simmering in the background of a volume of Usagi Yojimbo, but Jei’s story is one of the most important in the entire series — probably the most important of all of Usagi’s adversaries — so Sakai wisely refrains from inserting any subplots or even setting up the next arc. Black Soul is entirely about Jei, and Sakai includes Jei’s origins in a flashback story originally presented in #103. It is a fittingly tragic story, in which good intentions and the desire to save an innocent’s life leads to horrible, horrible consequences.

The art is Sakai’s usual top-notch stuff, so consistent you could be forgiven for thinking some sort of mechanical replication was present, and so subtle, so full of emotion that such a thought is simultaneously impossible. Sakai has to draw a lot of people in emotional torment in Black Soul, and he does a good job of it — Inazuma, at one point, looks as if she is almost coming apart from her internal battle. The volume is also full of the swordfighting that Sakai is so good at drawing, and Jei does give him a chance to show one or two neat maneuvers that normally wouldn’t be possible.

Although Black Soul has the biggest emotional wallop in Usagi Yojimbo in some time — and given the last few volumes, that’s a pretty big statement — there are a few flaws … I’m tempted to call them nitpicks, but they’re more of plotting concerns. Usagi and Sanshobo separately and coincidentally run into Isamu, Gen, and Stray Dog despite knowing nothing of Inazuma or Jei’s presence in the area — in fact, until this volume, neither knew Jei survived Usagi Yojimbo, v. 12: Grasscutter. It’s also awfully convenient that a powerful demon possessing one of the fastest samurai in Usagi’s world gets injured the way she does, but such things happen, I suppose. Neither is a story breaker, and there are more contrived plot points in other comics all the time, but neither was easy to swallow.

Still: when it comes to v. 24 of most series, I would normally recommend the book to those who have already read at least up to v. 20. In this case, I would say even if you haven’t read Usagi Yojimbo before, you should pick this up (perhaps reading Usagi Yojimbo, v. 6: Circles and Grasscutter to give you a little background first). Black Soul is outstanding work from one of the great comic book series.

Rating: (4.5 of 5)

Usagi Yojimbo, v. 23: Bridge of Tears

Collects: Usagi Yojimbo (v. 3) #94-102 (2006-7)

Released: July 2009 (Dark Horse)

Format: 248 pages / black and white / $17.95 / ISBN: 9781595822987

What is this?: The rabbit ronin fights ninjas and gangsters, but he’s completely out of his depth with a waitress

The culprit: Stan Sakai

Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo is one of the most consistent series out there. Month in and month out, Sakai delivers issues that are excellent reads. The collections are no exception, and Usagi Yojimbo, v. 23: Bridge of Tears is just the latest example.

In Bridge of Tears, Usagi deals with assassins and gangsters — the usual stuff, really; if Usagi is to be believed, feudal Japan was filled with ninjas, swordsmen, and gangsters. (And anthropomorphic animals; but I digress.) But a waitress who just wants to blow town and hit the road is Usagi’s greatest challenge, one he’s completely unprepared to deal with.

The book begins with Usagi foiling the assassination of a merchant; this is standard stuff for the rabbit ronin, who runs into trouble and people needing armed help wherever he goes. But this makes him a target for the League of Assassins. Sakai draws others into the story: the reluctant assassin Shizukiri and his prostitute lover, the waitress Mayumi who desires only to run away from her gangster-corrupted town. Sakai spends eight of the nine issues in Bridge of Tears moving them toward a climax that is far more moving than it has any right to be, given that two of the characters were created only in this volume.

Sakai also advances the subplots of other characters: Chizu, former leader of the Neko ninja on the run from her clan, and the demon Jei, being chased down by bounty hunters Ren and Stray Dog. The latter involves a dramatic battle in which it seems at any moment that Sakai might kill or maim one of his long-running characters; the former allows Sakai to give a frightening look at one way the Jei storyline might play out as well as weakening Usagi for the climax of Bridge of Tears. (Usagi is such a great swordsman even Sakai realizes it’s hard to believe Usagi will fall in a swordfight if he’s at full strength.) Though these two stories are not part of the main plot, none of the book is wasted — each story, each revelation contributes to building Bridge of Tears or in whetting the appetite for the next volume. Which I want. Now.

The only complaint I have about Bridge of Tears is that the covers are not placed before the story they illustrate, being instead grouped at the end of the volume. As good as the cover for the “Fever Dream” story — a demonically possessed Usagi in front of a long line of corpses, with the speech balloons with their last breaths filling the cover — is, it would have had an even greater impact if it had been placed with the story. Still, I suppose I should be glad they’re included.

The end of the volume is a “roast” of Stan Sakai, celebrating 100 issues of Usagi Yojimbo at Dark Horse. Although there is the occasional chuckle, it isn’t a roast, as it doesn’t make much fun of Sakai or his most famous creation, and for the most part it isn’t that funny. Sakai’s own stories in the feature and the short Sergio Aragones reminiscence of things he’s eaten with Sakai are pretty good, though.

As always, you should be reading Usagi Yojimbo. Buy this book and pre-order the next, whenever it might come out.

Rating: (4.5 of 5)

Usagi Yojimbo, v. 22: Tomoe's Story

Collects: Usagi Yojimbo #90-3, Usagi Yojimbo Color Special #1-3 (1989, 1991-2, 2006)

Released: July 2008 (Dark Horse)

Format: 182 pages / black and white / $15.95 / ISBN: 9781593079475

Some reviews are difficult. Some are easy. This is one of the latter.

Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo has been published for the last two decades, amassing about 170 issues, a few specials, and a spinoff (Space Usagi!) among three publishers (Fantagraphics, Mirage, and Dark Horse). Sakai’s story about a masterless samurai rabbit in a world of anthropomorphic animals has often been funny or moving, is consistently entertaining, and is always beautifully drawn.

Usagi Yojimbo, v. 22: Tomoe’s Story is no exception.

In the Usagi Yojimbo issues, Usagi visits the Geishu lands, the closest thing to a home the ronin has. He spends most of his time with Tomoe, the most trusted Geishu retainer and the woman Usagi probably loves but cannot express his feelings for, both because of his society’s and his own emotional reserve. Sakai takes readers from the supernatural to the mundane. There are ghosts, trickster foxes, and magic paint sets; to balance them, there are trade negotiations, the obligations and realities for female samurai in 16th-century Japan, and a truly moving issue featuring nothing more than a Japanese tea ceremony, with little dialogue or action.

If I had a complaint, it would be that there are three issues reprinted from the late ‘80s / early ‘90s. These are the color specials, and as you might guess, they lose more than a little when reprinted in black and white, as they are here. (Actually, Color Special #1 has been completely redrawn by Sakai for this volume.) I have all three of those issues and didn’t need them here, so in a sense, they were wasted on me, but I imagine I’m in a distinct minority. It is a bit jarring to see the older issues that weren’t redrawn — Sakai’s style almost two decades ago was not quite as rounded or sparse as it became, but I can’t deny that since they feature Tomoe prominently, they fit the rest of the issues well.

Sakai nudges relatively static characters forward in the new stories, giving long-time readers a payoff … of sorts. New readers will probably pick up on what I’m talking about, although they won’t be as emotionally involved. Still, an excellent volume for new and old readers.

Rating: (4 of 5)

Usagi Yojimbo, v. 20: Glimpses of Death

Collects: Usagi Yojimbo #76-82 (2004-5)

Released: July 2006 (Dark Horse)

Format: 192 pages / black and white / $15.95 / ISBN: 9781593075491

Probably no one would have thought the comic book adventures of an anthropomorphic rabbit samurai would last 20 years when Usagi Yojimbo debuted in Albedo #2 in November 1984.

Yet here, in 2006, writer / artist / creator Stan Sakai is still going strong, with the series Usagi Yojimbo (literally “rabbit bodyguard”) on its third publisher and nearing its 150th issue. (And that’s not counting the three miniseries starring Sakai’s sci-fi version of the character, Space Usagi.)

Usagi Yojimbo, v. 20: Glimpses of Death continues Usagi’s adventures. No longer traveling with his biological son, Jotaro, Usagi’s adventures are less personal: delivering a token of a faith he doesn’t share, helping an inventor deal with bullies, being bullied by an old woman who feels abandoned by her family, seeing justice done as a vendetta draws to a close. All of Sakai’s Usagi stores are rich in wonderful period and cultural detail, and the trade paperback also includes Sakai’s notes on the sources for his stories.

The final story, which wraps up the saga of Koyama Matabei’s search for his father’s killers, is the only one of the stories that has much of an emotional punch. Koyama and his vendetta first appeared in Usagi Yojimbo #53 (v. 17: Duel at Kitanoji) But this story is an excellent tale of atonement, justice, and vengeance that more than balances the more lightweight tales.

But readers looking for stories about the rabbit may be disappointed. About half the book features stories on other characters who have touched the life of Usagi. In another book, this would appear to be marking time, but since Sakai is the only creator who works on Usagi and he controls Usagi’s schedule, what point is there to waiting around?

Casual readers may not recognize their significance, but long-time readers will be rewarded with looks into the lives of other characters. The most chilling story is that of demon-haunted Inazuma, who breaks free of the control of the demon Jei long enough only to get a dim view of the horror he has put her in. Bounty hunters Gen and Stray Dog renew their rivalry in the pursuit of Inazuma; thankfully, they don’t catch her, but the pursuit isn’t the point. Tomoe deals with a sycophant seeking to replace her in the affections of their lord.

Two other tales involve Sanshobo, a priest, and Inspector Ishida, a detective. Both are enjoyable in and of themselves, which is fortunate, because unlike Tomoe, Gen, and Inazuma, their stories are unlikely to affect Usagi’s. Sanshobo tries to help a troubled priest on the eve of his vows and finds him haunted by an old love; Ishida tries to bring in a troublesome thief but finds himself clearing the thief of a murder he is being made a scapegoat for. The former story is steeped in folklore, the latter in urban legends of a real-life daring Tokyo thief. Both are perfect examples of Sakai’s use of Japanese history and mythology to flesh out his stories, giving them the appearance of being distinctly Japanese and completely original at the same time.

This is another excellent Usagi collection. Although the lack of the title character may put off some, it doesn’t interfere with a great set of stories of feudal Japan (albeit a feudal Japan populated with anthropomorphic animals).

Rating: (4 of 5)