Comics Are Expensive: Umbrella Academy #6, Immortal Iron Fist, Crossing Midnight Vol. 2

A rather light week at the comic shop this week, with only a handful of things I really had to have. The $25 price tag on the first volume of Sinestro Corps proved to be something of a mixed blessing – while pushing the hardcover out of my budget, it left enough room for volume two of Crossing Midnight. The first TPB of The Atheist and issue #4 of Angel, both supposed to ship this week, were no where to be found, but hopefully they’ll turn up soon before some other shiny thing grabs my attention and my wallet.

Spoilers ahead, as always.

THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY #6

Writer: Gerard Way
Artist: Gabriel Ba

And so Gerard Way, lead singer of emotatastic Band-That-Hot-Topic-Built My Chemical Romance brings his first foray into comics to a close. Only it’s not his first brush with the medium, technically – the story goes that Way was an intern at DC years ago, and even then was chomping at the bit to create comics of his own. When nothing came of it, he fell back on that most tried and true of Plan B’s: International rock superstar. Good to see the kid catch a break at last, eh?

I enjoyed the hell out of Umbrella Academy for several reasons, only a few of them stemming from the Hey, this guy can actually write surprise of the first issue. Gabriel Ba’s distinctive artwork certainly had something to do with the initial attraction – after the fantastic job he did with Matt Fraction on the first arc of Casanova, it was clear that, for the first time in pretty much ever, I’d be following an artist around the industry, picking up anything he cared to work on.

Ba’s work here has more than made the trip worthwhile, creating an interesting, solid world for the team and their adventures to rampage through in just six short issues. Sure, it’s not the sort of place you’d want to live, filled as it is with alien squid things with a love of wrestling, sleeping doomsday devices waiting for the perfect Spring day, and masked orchestras playing their way to the end of everything, but it’s a world nonetheless, and one that delights in vivid colors, mad architecture, and countless opportunities for Ba to show of. I hope he’s along for future installments, because it’s hard to imagine anybody else capturing the heroic profile of Spaceboy’s ape body in quite the same glory.

On to the story itself, this issue isn’t quite as neat as the five before it – there’s a lot to resolve, after all, between the end of the world, chunks of the moon falling to Earth, and a whole mess of daddy issues, and one suspects that a truly satisfying ending might require just one more issue to wrap things up properly. That said, it’s still a lot of fun, with almost everybody getting what they deserve, and there are far worse things than having to read a good comic twice to make sure I caught everything.

Way’s been very up front in interviews about his love of Grant Morrison, and while the influence of comic’s own pop magician is felt throughout, it’s just that – influence. Umbrella Academy avoids the lazy trap of trying to lift Morrison’s shtick wholesale that has claimed so many would-be talents, instead showing a real understanding of the blend of great character moments and cool, understated responses to absurdity that made books like Doom Patrol work so well in the first place. It’s a fantastic first effort, and proves there’s much more to this Gerard Way guy than his day job of making awesome music videos.

BUY STATUS: The letter page promises more to come, which will hopefully happen sooner rather than later. Expect a trade in a few months to fill in any nasty deficits in awesome your bookshelves may be suffering from.

THE IMMORTAL IRON FIST:
ORSON RANDALL AND THE GREEN MIST OF DEATH #1

Writer: Matt Fraction

Artists: Nick Dragotta, Mike Allred, Mitch Breitweiser,
Chris Brunner, Lewis Larosa, and Russ Heath

One of the best bits of Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction taking over Iron Fist was the introduction of Orson Randall, rogue Iron Fist of the Golden Age who knew more about the power that came with the name than Danny Rand could hope to imagine. While he’s been dead for several issues now, the repercussions of his return are still being felt, the most important of which being the year’s in the making revolution that seems ready to consume the mystic city of K’un-Lun. This one-shot serves double duty in the slow build up to war, filling an empty month in Iron Fist’s publishing schedule while providing a bit of back story for both Orson and a character bound to become more important in the near future: John Aman, The Prince of Orphans.

And what do you know: it’s pretty great. With a different art team handling each chapter, this issue takes place over several decades, dipping into some of Randall’s adventures with his friends the Confederates of the Curious and their constant race to stay one step ahead of The Prince. The result is an interesting twist on your typical Golden Age story – against this backdrop of a world where Cowgirls from Hell and Kid Frankensteins are the norm, there’s a real sense of innocence lost that follows the characters from one end of the book to the other.

As Randall flees his responsibilities as an Immortal Weapon and the death sentence on his head, the Prince nipping at his heels is a constant reminder that he can’t run forever, that sooner or later he’ll have to face the reality chasing after him. The question is, is it better to choose how and when to face the inevitable, or to keep running? And what will that choice say about the man called Iron Fist?

While not the best jumping on point for the on-going story playing out in the monthly title, this one-off shows a lot of potential for pulling in new readers just by virtue of being a fun, action-filled story with a brain. What it lacks in the slow boil plotting of the regular series it more than makes up for in capturing the character beats that work so well there. It’s a small sample of the sort of man Orson Randall was; maybe not showing him at his most ass-kicking, but perhaps showing him at his most human. While I’m looking forward to getting back to the “Seven Capital Cities of Heaven” storyline next month, it was great to spend a little more time with the previous Iron Fist and the sort of people he called friends. Hopefully, this isn’t the last we’ll see of him.

BUY STATUS: I’d happily buy more of the adventures of Orson Randall, but it doesn’t look like there’s going to be any for a while. Iron Fist has inexplicably become my favorite Marvel comic since the start of the new series, however, so I doubt I’ll have to look far for consolation.

CROSSING MIDNIGHT VOL. 2: A MAP OF MIDNIGHT

Writer: Mike Carey
Artist: Jim Fern

Crossing Midnight is a lot of things. It’s a story about a twin brother and sister, one born just before midnight and the other just after, when there was only ever supposed to be one of them. It’s a fairy tale about the Japanese Kami, spirits of the Shinto faith living in the objects around us, and the sort of trouble you can cause by asking them for a simple favor. And, of course, it’s about growing up, and the horrible responsibilities we have to take on as we move from one world to the next.

More than anything else, though, Crossing Midnight is further proof that Mike Carey is at his best when working on his own creations rather than being the best Neil Gaiman cover band in the world. In the tradition of My Faith in Frankie and his work for DC’s Minx line, he creates complex and intriguing characters with intriguing ease, assembling a cast as adept at moving the story forward into more and more interesting territory as they are at providing tastes of the larger, older tale happening around it.

Within the six issues here, we get the story of Yamada, former servant of the true Lord of Knives turned police detectives with one of the more imaginative curses I’ve seen in a while, Uso-Tsuki the Liar, a pair of extremely resourceful scissors who is never quite what it seems, and Mimi-Sama, retired porn star with a heart of gold and a demon in her belly. All this is before you even meet the Gleamer, a truly monstrous creature that I can’t imagine we’ve seen the last of. If all volume two of this series did was throw characters at you, it’d be more than worth your $14.99 without the first hint of story.

Luckily, however, there’s lot of that to go around as well. While technically divided into chapters, the story here and its many plot lines are far denser than most Vertigo titles, giving each beat all the room it needs to hit just right and not leaving a lot of space for playing catch up or convenient points of entry. To truly appreciate the slow and steady escalation Carey and artist Jim Fern are creating here (and in a lot of ways, to just understand what the hell is going on), you really need to pick up “Cut Here”, the first trade available at finer comic shops for a mere $9.99.

Without the full story, it’ hard to properly appreciate the constant creep of the strange into the lives of siblings Toshi and Kai, and more importantly the way it tends to explode in sudden, violent outbursts of horror like a pipe bursting. Caught between the twin forces of the adult world and the mythical one crashing in on them, it’s hard to imagine a happy ending for our heroes. But then, as Crossing Midnight is one of the few books out there that manages to genuinely surprise with each issue, it’s impossible to say how it’s all going to come down.

Unfortunately, it looks like we won’t have to wait long to find out. The solicits out this week have the final issue arriving in May, making Crossing Midnight the most recent book to fall victim to the week monthly sales (despite trade sales being reportedly strong) plaguing DC’s more adult line. To be a Vertigo book is to stand on shaky ground these days – the line seems to have lost its sense of direction, and while it casts about for a new one few of its newer books have the assurance of safety that comes with a Y the Last Man or Fables. It’s a shame, and a real loss for Vertigo.

With any luck, Carey and Fern will have received enough of a head’s up to bring the series to a suitable end point, leaving fans wanting more but begrudgingly satisfied with what they got. I swear, if Crossing Midnight becomes another of comics’ great, unfinished works, I’m throwing some sort of fit for at least a week. Stomping my feet and holding my breath till I turn blue TBD...

BUY STATUS: Getting the next trade, certainly, and buying up copies of the first one as presents for all manner of people. One less reason to pay attention to Vertigo, then.

And that’s that. I’m feeling the need to shake things up a little – my reading needs a bit of new blood, so to speak, and I’m considering an approach that at best will introduce me to some fun new stuff and, at worst, provide a bit of bile to balance out the love-in of these first three columns. More on that later, probably, and in the meantime feel free to leave suggestions in the comments or email them to chrislamb@gmail.com.

Chris Lamb is a registered Expertologist.

Comics Are Expensive: Teen Titans #55, Avengers: The Initiative #9, Suburban Glamour #3, Captain America #34, Northlanders #3

Note: This is the first installment of the new column by noted Expertologist Chris Lamb

I’m not good with money.

Well, that’s a matter of perspective. There’s a way of looking at things where I’m fantastic with money, only it’s the “getting it as far away from me as possible” way. This becomes a problem when it comes time to acquire little things like nourishment and shelter. I have a great love of things, you see, and a pressing need to gather up as many Comics of them as I can to line the walls, shelves, and other available flat surfaces of my home. make a big portion of these things, and as I try to rein in my disastrous spending habits in a last-ditch hope to survive, I’ve come to a few realizations. Namely, that comics are expensive.

As such, I’ve begun applying a number of draconian policies to the Dresden that is my budget. In the case of comics, I’ve limited my spending to a maximum of $30 a week. This allows me to pick up a decent handful of single issues on busy weeks or opt for a couple of trades on weeks when the quality-to-noise ratio is a bit more...unbalanced (for reference, see all of January). The purpose of this column is to vet a handful of those books each week to see if they’re still worth the money or if, sadly, it’s time for them to be put out to pasture. New books get a bit of leeway in the form of a three-issue trial period for finding-their-feet purposes, but that is the extent of my mercy. And so begins the Thunderdome of my wallet.

And spoilers ahead, for those who worry about that sort of thing.

Teen Titans #55

Writer: Sean McKeever
Artist: Jamal Igle

Confession time: While I was interested enough in McKeever coming on board Teen Titans months ago, I haven’t bought an issue since the first part of the editorially-mandated follow-up to “Titans of Tomorrow”. What I’ve heard of issues since then leads me to believe I didn’t miss much – the words “unfortunate mess” rarely inspires a need to go digging through back issue boxes.

#55, however, is his first chance to really put in motion his plans for the book since taking over writing duties, and his excitement over the chance to cut loose shows. It’s your standard bit of “meet the team” ground laying that starts off a lot of arcs, opening with the jettisoning of Supergirl now that her duties as Kon-El stand-in are complete and ending with our first hint of the threat looming on the horizon.

Along the way we get a taste of where our young heroes stand at the moment, with Wondergirl and Robin out on an actual, honest-to-god date complete with nice clothes and a conversation careening towards dangerous waters just as it’s interrupted by one of those horribly convenient bank robberies that always seem to happen in worlds with superheroes running around in them.

Meanwhile, Miss Martian is slowly going insane while Kid Devil spends most of his time moping and hating the new Blue Beetle. I quite like Kid Devil, as few other young heroes manage to capture the essence of being an awkward teen as he does. Despite realizing his dream of having super powers, he’s even more awkward than he was without them, even more ruled over by his desperate need to earn the respect of his peers and/or get in Ravage’s pants. “I think you just made my soul explode” is easily my favorite line of the book, and makes me hope for a future Titans issue focusing solely on his no-doubt amazing LiveJournal.

We also meet Dreadbolt, one of the Terror Titans destined to cause trouble for our heroes in the near future. “Dreadbolt” is, of course, a horrible name, but sounds exactly like the sort of think a kid would call himself upon both receiving powers and deciding to be evil with them. So that’s all right, then.

All in all it’s a solidly enjoyable issue, and possibly the best thing I’ve read by McKeever since he came to DC. More please.

BUY STATUS: The next two issues will ultimately decide whether I stay on board long term, but I have every hope this will continue to be a lot of fun.

Avengers: The Initiative #9

Writer: Dan Slott and Chris Gage
Artist: Stefano Caselli

“Killed in Action” continues this month with a great many B-listers (and a couple of more important characters) finding themselves just that. This arc seems to be pulling in several plot lines Slott has had simmering since the start of the series, including the first-issue death of MVP, the alien glove things powering Gauntlet and whatshername from early in the series, and of course, the unspeakable amount of comeuppance you’re clearly begging for by putting two genocidal maniacs and a bipolar inventor of killer robots with a history of spousal abuse in charge of a dozen living weapons.

Said inevitable disaster is provided by KIA, a clone of the late MVP who went a bit lopsided after having the alien super weapon that killed him attached to his arm. Personally, I blame all those videogames and hip-hoppers. Kids today, I tell you.

The issue is wall-to-wall carnage, with the seemingly unstoppable KIA appearing to cut down nearly half the cast, including comedy Nazi Baron Von Blitzshalg, enough heroes-in-training to field a softball team, and Hank Pym himself. I’m hoping Pym’s death is a bit permanent this time, as pulling the “I shrunk to atom-size at the last moment!” thing twice in one series would be a bit of a cheat.

Additional highlights include Taskmaster as the new Initiative drill instructor being generally awesome – between last issue’s take down of three giant-sized idiots and his handling of KIA this month, Slott’s take on the character is quickly becoming the most sensible character in the book, if not most of the Marvel Universe. No Faustian annulments or surrendering after a bit of property damage for this guy, oh no.

Avengers: The Initiative continues to be one of the most solid books Marvel’s putting out at the moment. I find it interesting that, along with Thunderbolts, this makes two of the Initiative’s big public operations that are currently exploding in a mess of sticky bits and limbs. Perhaps this is the new thing to do for the next couple of months, like the “everybody punches Tony Stark in the face” meme that swept the MU a few months ago?

Buy Status: Still reading every month. While I hope the rather interesting Trauma isn’t nearly as dead as he seems to be, I’m more than happy to be back next month to find out.

Suburban Glamour #3

Writer & Artist: Jamie McKelvie

I missed issue two of this, as it sold out almost immediately at every store I checked. Even with a gap in the story, this series is still every bit as engaging as the first issue was. I’ve had a huge crush on McKelvie’s art since last year’s Phonogram (easily one of the best titles of ’07) with Kieron Gillen, even if each and every one of his girls cam off looking to be the sort that would set off my crazy meter in ever met in person. If anything, that may have only helped the attraction along.

The book follows Astrid, a typical girl in her late teens with a pretty straightforward life – go to school, go to parties with friends, find yourself talking to imaginary friends long forgotten who now appear to be very, very real, learn from the lady with the new shop in town that you’re actually royalty amongst the fairy folk – y’know, the sort of thing we all dealt with. The teen drama rippling through the book is pitch-perfect, weaving in and out of the more fantastic elements to give the story the sort of ground you need backing up all the little twists and turns it pulls along the way.

McKelvie’s art is clean as can be throughout, telling the story through simple, endearing gestures and character moments that perfectly sum up their owners in an instant. Vertigo should be kicking themselves for not snapping this book up before Image got a hold of it. When not kicking themselves for all the other things they deserve it for, that is.

Buy Status: Only one more issue to go, sadly, but I’m grabbing it for certain. With any luck I can snag a copy of #2 as well.

Captain America #34
Writer: Ed Brubaker Artist: Steve Epting

And then there’s the new Captain America, the first issue with Buck taking up the shield and mantle of his former partner while opting for a new shiny suit. Thankfully, Epting opts to break away from the rather ridiculous metallic sheen of the original Alex Ross design, finding a balance that, while not quite perfect, is much easier to swallow than the patriotic traffic cone gracing the book’s cover. His art, as always, is wonderfully complementary to the dark blend of crime fiction and political intrigue of Brubaker’s storytelling.

And, thankfully, it’s a good story as well. This issue continues the ongoing storyline of the Red Skull’s plans for grinding America into the dust while providing a nice jumping on point in a form even new readers can appreciate: having NuCap smack around a bunch of A.I.M. agents.

My greatest concern with having Bucky fill Steve Rogers’ buccaneer-boots was Marvel’s long history of completely bungling these sort of “passing the mantle” moments. I shouldn’t have worried. Brubaker seems determined to keep the new guy’s distinct history and personality from becoming a carbon copy of the old guy’s, complete with an internal monologue of Bucky feeling uncomfortable with head-to-head fighting after a lifetime spent in covert ops. God only knows how he’ll fair in the hands of other writers, but I have every faith in this team’s ability to tell continue a great story.

Buy Status: Officially switching from “reading the trades” to “reading every month”. Okay guys? You got me.

Northlanders #3

Writer: Brian Wood
Artist: Davide Gianfelice

Brian Wood, I’m sorry I ever doubted you. While I enjoyed the first two issues, I was strongly considering relegating this to “wait for the trade status”. Thank goodness for my three-issue rule, eh? With #3, Northlanders comes fully into its own, stating in giant red letters that main character Sven is more than the insufferable child with a knack for finding naked blonde women in his bed the first two issues painted him as.

Gianfelice’s art works wonders as well, making the explosions of violence throughout the issue just as meaningful as the quiet moments. Well done also for being one of the few Vertigo books lucky enough explore more of the color palette than “brown” and “gray with a bit of brown mixed in”.

This issue, Sven puts his plans for his cowardly, traitorous uncle into full gear by killing any of his men foolish enough to come near. Along the way, he befriends the mountain girl he pissed off last issue and begins to question what he’s getting in to with the beautiful emotional train wreck that is Thora.

It’s good stuff throughout, mixing the brutality of the setting and its history with a number of subtle modern influences including, if I’m not mistaken, just a touch of Noir. There’s the definite sense of Sven as the doomed hero, a man trying to change the world around him only to be broken by it in the end. While it’s too soon for the “Forget it Sven, it’s Orkney-town” line, you can’t read this issue without knowing there’s going to be serious repercussions for his actions. Which is usually the best bit.

Brian Wood has grown in leaps and bounds as a writer over the last few years, and between this, DMZ, and Local his name on the cover is quickly becoming all it takes for me to try a book. That Northlanders handily fills that Viking brutality-shaped hole in my life is just icing on the cake.

Buy Status: Between this issue’s bit with the deer and Sven’s archery skills, I’m on board for the foreseeable future.

And that’s it for this week. Other books purchased by not reviewed include Buffy the Vampire Slayer #11, Green Lantern #27, and JSA #12. Maybe next time, depending on how the shipping lists look. In the meantime, if there’s something you think I should be reading, drop a suggestion or two in the comments thread or email me at chrislamb@gmail.com. I’m always up for new books.

Chris Lamb is a writer and games designer living in New York. He's been a fan of comics of all kinds for twelve years or so, despite regular attempts by the medium to make him think differently.