Ninth Art - For the Discerning Reader - http://www.ninthart.org
|
The Forecast for August 25th 2004
Welcome to The Forecast. Every Monday, Ninth Art's core team of comment writers, the Ninth Eight, will be your guides to the best, worst, weirdest and most noteworthy books on the shelves of your local comic shop. BOOKS OF THE WEEK: THE LOSERS/ULTIMATE ELEKTRA The long-held tradition of most adventure fiction (read: pubescent boys' fiction) is that there are two kinds of women; women who you'd fuck, and women who'd fuck you up. The big-chested, helpless screamer who's constantly being saved from certain death, and the big-chested warrior who would bite your cobblers off rather than talk. They're both wish-fulfilment fantasies. One feeds the fantasy that women need men for everything, in a bastardisation of the "knight in shining armour" myth, while the other suggests that women are basically men with different equipment - and are usually the product of writers with severe dominatrix issues. The shortage of female writers in the industry is certainly one factor leading to this situation, but good male writers should be able to handle any character. Which brings us to two of the better interpretations of the 'strong woman' archetype. Both are ass-kickers, both have got the better of the men they work alongside and fight against, and both are getting a spotlight this month. Andy Diggle and Jock's LOSERS has dug its trench deep and hunkered down for the battle against the forces of goth magickdom (aka Vertigo's regular audience). It's part of a movement by the imprint to diversify its line, which has instead seen it core-targeting the action/crime genre with such titles as 100 BULLETS and HUMAN TARGET. LOSERS' enigmatic Afghan guerrilla fighter Aisha (who has never met Iggy Pop) gets to show off this issue, alongside guest penciller Ale Garza. Meanwhile, Mike Carey finally gets his invite to the coolest party on the block, the ULTIMATE universe, where he gets to shine a light on Daredevil's sometime girlfriend, Elektra. Obviously part of a sensible ploy by Marvel to have the series finished and traded for the upcoming Jennifer Garner movie, this should serve as a great way to get into the character without tracking down her (admittedly great, but definitely convoluted) back catalogue of appearances. In normal Marvel continuity, she's become something of a one-note shadow of a character, so here's hoping Carey can do something more interesting with her. Especially with Marvel's amazing hopping artist Salvador Larocca, who's worked on just about every character going. With the hoo-hah over IDENTITY CRISIS (one rape, one execution and one hanging of helpless female characters), it'll be nice for womankind to get its own back for a change. still like to believe that the mistreatment of women in comics doesn't reflect a belief among creators and fans that this is What A Woman Should Be. There are some creators getting it right, like Ed Brubaker with Catwoman, Warren Ellis with Sue Storm, and Greg Rucka with Wonder Woman, but for every one of these, there's a dozen more women who've been stuffed into a refrigerator. When the misogynists say that a women's place is in the kitchen, even they don't mean for her to be crammed between the orange juice and the cold pizza. [John Fellows] ONE SINGULAR SENSATION The first issue of 30 DAYS OF NIGHT artists Ben Templesmith's first foray into art and writing quickly established the world of SINGULARITY 7 (IDW), a world where alien nanotech, riding a meteor, infests an everyman. History calls him the Singularity, the focal point, able to manipulate anything at a molecular level. Being young and idealistic, the Singularity wants to change the world, and sets about purifying the air, curing disease, and ending wars. But that's only the backstory. Generations later, the Singularity is a name that is feared. Driven insane, he's redesigned the world, killing most of humanity and sending out his legions to convert the leftovers, who are hiding in underground cities. But there are seven wanderers, 'specials', who are immune to the effects of nanotech... Looking at the earlier, moody art of Templesmith, it was a sure thing he'd get around to tackling a widescreen sci-fi action movie. His other work, with all its blood, fangs and darkness, was tame compared to this: gimp masks, swords, guns, disembodied heads with tentacles coming out of them, vomit, and a scarily psychotic god-like figure talking to himself in the third person. Think SEVEN SAMURAI taken to extremes, directed by Miike Takashi, and you're nearly on the right track. [Ben Wooller] TAKE FLIGHT I hadn't heard a damn thing about FLIGHT, the collection of short stories themed around the concept of, yes, flight from Image until a friend showed me a copy in the pub. I was blown away, and rushed out to buy a copy the following day. I've also never heard of any of the people that contributed to this anthology, who come from small press and animation backgrounds for the most part, but I would happily buy work by any of them again. The promo copy on the Image website describes these people as "inspired by Hayao Miyazaki and Moebius", and in many cases I think these are entirely worthy comparisons for the level of talent in this book. None of these stories looks anything less that utterly beautiful, and none of them is anything less than completely charming. From coming of age tales featuring flying whales through re-tellings of classic fables with a modern twist to bleak vignettes about suicide, these stories successfully engage the whole gamut of human emotion. If there's any justice, many, if not all, of these people will make a fortune out of glittering artist careers. A must-have. [Alasdair Watson] THE SHIPPING LIST FOR AUGUST 25th 2004: Shipping details come courtesy of Diamond. Visit the Diamond website for the latest information, as the list is subject to change. DARK HORSE JUN040016 CONAN #7 $2.99
DC COMICS JUN040807 AUTHORITY MORE KEV #3 (Of 4) (MR) $2.95
IMAGE JUN041417 DARKNESS VOL 2 #14 $2.99
MARVEL JUN041613 AMAZING FANTASY #3 $2.99
OTHER PUBLISHERS DEC032292 ALIEN NINE EMULATORS VOL 1 GN $9.99
The Ninth Eight are Matthew Craig, John Fellows, Kieron Gillen, Alistair Kennedy, Zack Smith, Andrew Wheeler, Ben Wooller and Bulent Yusuf. Ninth Art endorses the principle of Ideological Freeware. The author permits distribution of this article by private individuals, on condition that the author and source of the article are clearly shown, no charge is made, and the whole article is reproduced intact, including this notice. Back. |