[Comic Execution] 7/11 – ‘SHELTERED’, ‘BALLISTIC’, ‘GHOSTED’

Welcome to the inaugural column of Comic Execution, containing capsule reviews of notable new releases in the comic book world, focusing on the horrific, weird, fringe and fantastic. With this debut, you get a few bonus reviews in addition to the regular three-book format I’ll be sticking with from here on out. Now, it’s time for…

SHELTERED #1

Writer: Ed Brisson
Artist: Johnnie Christmas
Colorist: Shari Chankhamma

Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3

This was a book that took me by surprise. Image has a lot of titles out there, most of them quality. I’m a fan. But I’m also perpetually cynical about their approach to remaining relevant by launching new titles with rapid-fire frequency. Yet they’ve kept an impressive ratio of hits to misses and, despite being much hyped, Sheltered knocks it out of the park.

Essentially, Sheltered is a story about the kind of thing that will never happen on Doomsday Preppers but I wish it would. You get a large community of dedicated, militant survivalists who’ve nearly completed the last touches on their shelter when they’re overrun by forces consisting of the very last people they expected to present a threat. Now, a lot of other reviews (and even the solicit for the book itself) have spoiled the nature of this threat but I went in totally unaware. Which definitely helped give this book a jarring impact. But that gut-punch revelation was also mostly supported by a brisk yet intriguing exposition popping with real-life details that never bog things down thanks to compelling characters and immersive art. Christmas feels like a perfect choice to flesh out a story that starts grim and gets darker quickly; his bold lines and hard impressions are balanced with fluid expressions and vivid action. Chankhamma, the colorist, contributes hugely by maintaining an appropriately faded, hazy palette that lures you into a false sense of security with gentle scenery then kicks into high gear as everything goes pear-shaped. Of note is the ultimate page, which is really worth the price of entry alone.

The big reason, besides a thrilling preamble, that I’m excited by this book is the promise it holds. The story sits in elusive territory between the visceral intensity of survival horror comics like The Walking Dead or The Last Of Us and more intellectually rich realism like The Massive. In fact, this could easily be the missing link between Revival and The Massive, which says large amounts about how impressed I am with it. I strongly recommend you grab a copy for yourself, before everyone catches on and the panic starts.

BALLISTIC #1

Writer: Adam Egypt Mortimer
Artist: Darick Robertson
Colorist: Diego Rodriguez

Publisher: Black Mask Studios
Price: $3.50

I’ve had my eye on this book since I saw the first ad for it in the back matter of Black Mask Studio’s breakout hit Twelve Reasons To Die. Robertson is best known for Transmetropolitan and while I was really excited to see him diving back into the world of sci-fi, I also tried to approach the book with an open mind, since I’d never heard of the writer before and Black Mask Studios was a brand new publisher. Fortunately, Ballistic could easily be a Transmetropolitan spin-off, except much weirder and way more fun. There’s no politics or in-your-face sci-fi headiness, just a truly bizarre future where impossibly advanced biotechnology has resulted in sentient hardware, mind-warping drugs and a hellishly muggy atmosphere. Butch, an ambitious but downtrodden HVAC-specialist, spends his days endlessly repairing the heating and cooling systems of the multitudes of bizarre characters populating Repo City State, many of them criminals in one way or another. We find Butch contemplating becoming one such criminal by using his customized, talking, snarky gun to rob a bank. Unfortunately for Butch, nothing just quite seems to go right for him which means something as insanely risky as attempting a bank robbery goes spectacularly wrong.

This book has SO. MUCH. COLOR! Visually, it’s a genuine feast of hallucinatory biomachines, eccentric future-humanity and free-wheeling action powered by Robertson’s dense, grungy, style and Rodriguez’s spectacular, elaborate colors. But the story and setting are equally intoxicating, charming you with a warmly familiar everyman narrator and his misadventures, accompanied by the witty repartee of Bang Bang the gun. Their interplay is one of the best things here in terms of character interaction; you get the sense that Mortimer really knows why people love buddy cop movies and channels that, despite really creating what’s more of a buddy-criminal thing. I could also try and describe how feverishly vivid the various settings and technologies present are but that’s an impossible task. Warren Ellis didn’t have this much energy invested in his Transmetropolitan world. Can’t believe I’m saying that, but it’s true; you see things in Ballistic that only make sense in the context of the book but, if you read the backmatter, you realize it’s all based on possible technology!

Ballistic is impossible. Robertson and Mortimer are two very different creative forces that’ve somehow managed to reconcile their differing perspectives of the story to create a comic unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. It has to be seen to be believed. It may not be your cup of tea but you have to at least have a taste. You won’t regret it.

GHOSTED #1

Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Goran Sudzuka
Colorist: Miroslav Mrva

Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3

The name of this comic is just silly. I mean, is that a real word? I don’t think it is. And, frankly, it makes me think of being “slimed” by a spectral entity ala Ghostbusters. Which is interesting, because I feel kind of similar about the book itself. We’re introduced to Jackson T Winters, a jailed master thief who’s in love with death but, instead of rotting in a cell until the end, has been busted out by an enigmatic and insanely wealthy (what a coincidence!) man who wants him to steal a ghost.

Yup.

Naturally, Winters has to assemble a team of equally silly characters to assist him in this task. All of the fit neatly into prescribed character stereotypes with matching introductory scenes. It quickly becomes apparent that Ghosted is a heist film comic with ghosts and it fully intends to embrace both the best and worst parts of this concept. The artwork, surprisingly, does a phenomenal job of assisting in this by being versatile, clean, agile and at times spectacular in a restrained, detailed way. The colors are also solid, maybe too much so; several pages rely on a pleasing but uninteresting warm palette that mutes what should be a fairly emotional confrontation. It still holds up as the story progresses though, especially as the team meets their quarry; the haunted Trask Mansion.

I can’t help shaking how very arranged the whole affair seems. It’s almost like reading an M Night Shymalan comic. There’s bound to be some big plot twists and revelations around every spooky corner but I find myself hard pressed to care. None of the characters are particularly interesting so I’m not invested in them. If the main character did something other than fulfill a worn cliche, that could be an in. Which is a shame, because the visual elements are quite good, very high quality. And not all hope is lost; there’s bound to be some intense horror real soon here. It’s kinda sad that that’s just about all I have to look forward to with this book, other than more tasty artwork. Sorry Image, but I’m afraid this one’s dead in the water.

Extinction Parade #1

Writer: Max Brooks
Artist: Raulo Caceres
Colorist: Digikore Studios

Publisher: Avatar Press
Price: $4
Max Brooks is the author of World War Z and the Zombie Survival Guide. I’ve not read either of those. Every time someone starts explaining those books to me, I find myself growing increasingly distracted and irritated. I’ve realized that what makes me unhappy with it is the idea of treating zombies like a real phenomenon. Zombies are, to me, at their most exciting when the expectations of what they are is being subverted. I’ve seen Zombi and the Romero zombie films enough times that I’m not particularly enthused about more of the same. I’m more excited about new takes on the zombie concept, like 28 Days Later or Dead Space.

Which, by all intents and purposes, means I should stay the hell away from his new comic, Extinction Parade. Like most the current comics under the banner of Avatar Press (Stitched, Crossed) it’s a very graphic horror comic that attempts to tackle traditional horror concepts and play with them. Except Extinction Parade doesn’t really alter the known formula of its zombies; they’re rotting shufflers that spread like wildfire, straight out of a Romero flick. So what’s the draw? Well, Brooks imagines what would happen if Romero’s zombie apocalypse scenario was also sharing space with Anne Rice’s immortal vampire myth?

The first issue begins with what appears to be the end; the world is in flames and it’s implied that the walking dead outnumber the living as well as the undead. Our narrator has that not-quite-angst passed off as detachment that so distinctively belongs to the immortal vampire cliche. We even get a nice little its-not-love triangle as character development between the protagonist(?) and a pair of her friends in a flashback. Fortunately, the strangely uninvested not-romance bits seem to be there strictly for titillation, as the story move swiftly to full-page explorations of the growing epidemic which our flashback serves to illustrate as well as some display of just how godlike the bloodsuckers are.

The point of the first issue is rather blunt; the vampires almost entirely dismissed the first wave of the zombie outbreak, including our protagonist. It is interesting to imagine that this story might be a passive narrative of her witnessing the evolution of the zombie apocalypse from the ground level. And with Max Brooks, that’s a possibility. But what the first issue seems to be hinting at is a knottier tale of betrayal and vampire drama amidst the epic death and reanimation of humanity. I’m not sold on that story yet but I’m in for now thanks to some really spectacular art (a few pages are a veritable cornucopia of zombie carnage) and some promising hints of further carnage. Let’s just hope Brooks steers further away from the passive-aggressive not-quite-drama on display here, as I’d hate to see an interesting female protagonist defined yet against almost entirely by her relationship with a male character.

Lazarus #1

Writer: Greg Rucka
Artist: Michael Lark
Colorist: Santiago Arcas

Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3

I’ve been trying to figure out why this book is such a big deal; apparently, Rucka and Lark have, together, won two Eisners. However, looking at what they won, I’ve never even heard of the books in which the winning stories took place: Marvel’s I Am An Avenger in 2011 and Gotham Central in 2004. Additionally, Rucka has won a GLAAD award for his Batwoman storyline in Detective Comics. So there’s the bulk of the motivation behind the hype for this book.

Frankly, I’m not impressed. The book immediately tries to sell us on edginess; a woman is seemingly shot to death, only to return to life and go on a killing spree. Immediately, it’s established that this book is ACTION-PACKED; as she kills each armed intruder, the respective panel is blasted with cheesy red textures to indicate OMG SHE KILLED THEM. The art is certainly impressive but there’s no impact to their deaths; a snapped neck and a few stab wounds and they go down. We get some obligatory blood sprays but there is nothing confrontative or horrifying about these acts, at least visually. Which results in some serious cognitive dissonance as the scene is not-quite narrated with utter revulsion by the girl herself, apparently given the incredibly annoying nickname of Forever. Her reaction to the incident is one of supreme mortification; I would’ve been significantly more sold on it if I’d actually been, you know, shocked.

It’s a shame Rucka writes at a high school level, because Lark’s art is very proficient and precise, almost clinically so. The colors, as are expected for a dystopian comic, are either washed out grays and blues or weary, burnt warm hues with little fluctuation between them. We’re introduced to the Family that essentially “owns” Forever, having given her the immortality she wields as their de facto protector. Which, apparently, she’s just now finding a distaste for. We’re not really given a reason why she’s falling out with the role she’s held willingly (or unwillingly) this long and I really hope the next issue fleshes out a justification for her change of heart. I really can’t understand how much I dislike Rucka’s writing. His dialogue is soap-opera quality, not so bad it’s intolerable but there’s nothing commendable. What’s worse is what passes for drama here; there’s some incomprehensibly corny moments, like when the old man volunteers to be the scapegoat for a break-in, only to have his daughter try to stop him, which naturally he won’t have. It’s a cliche that’s very tired; it’s a bad world, but not so bad that the youth aren’t incapable of understanding how awful it is.

I’m not going to highlight all of the ridiculous points in this comic but I want to bring forth the greatest offense, one that’s convinced me not to invest in the second issue; the last panel of the comic is Forever, having just been asked if she’s fine, responding with a cold, painfully false “I feel fine.” The panel in question is just her tense expression, eyes closed, struggling with… something? So yeah. As soon as I saw this panel, I could just hear someone off panel commenting “geez, women.” I want to hope this was unintentional, that Rucka would have written a male character into the same bit of annoying irrational and cliche dialogue. Having said all this, I highly recommend this book for readers of “mainstream” comics looking to dip their toes into something very basic that will guide them by the hand and not challenge them too much. Additionally, there is the somewhat limited appeal of seeing Forever being used as a welcome mat during most of the issue and knowing that she’s going to get some retribution eventually. And I guess there’s the mystery the story presents, hovering in the background, of who has betrayed the Family, but it’s not a particularly compelling mystery, as you know it’s just a matter of time before Forever figures out who it is and goes after them. If Rucka has any surprises in store for the readers, this first issue holds no indication the he’s game for toying with expectations.

And really, that sums up my feelings about Lazarus: it’s totally uninteresting. I can’t even commend Rucka for keeping Forever away from shallow eye candy territory; she’s almost a nonentity, her only character feature being her dissatisfaction with the goings-on around her. Writing a solid female role also asks that she be interesting in addition to avoiding the awful tropes that comic book heroines tend to fall into. Maybe Forever will evolve into something more complex, along with Lazarus itself. I’m not waiting to find out; my pull list is deep enough as is.