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The Forecast for October 20th 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. BOOK OF THE WEEK: SON OF THE GUN Alexandro Jodorowsky is one of the most frustrating writers in comics. His output makes Bendis look like a slacker, and his wild originality means he's name-checked as an influence by some of the most creative people in English comics, like Warren Ellis. But, like any prolific author with a wildly successful franchise (in his case, the METABARONS universe), the quality of his work can vary enormously. SON OF THE GUN (DC Humanoids) is hands down his best. It's a modern day Western about the rise, fall, and repentance of orphaned gangster Juan Solo. Born with a tail, 'monster' baby Juan is chucked out onto a garbage heap in Huatulco City, Mexico, where he is found and raised by a dwarf transvestite. (Pretty much every Jodorowsky story involves dwarves and rape. You just have to accept that.) Juan's first pacifier is the barrel of a pistol, and from this symbolic beginning he grows up to be the kind of guy that makes Tony Montana look like a pussy. Juan's burning desire is to raise himself up by the gun from the garbage where he was born into Mexico's elite - and he does, but like a great Greek tragedy, the rope by which he pulls himself up becomes the noose around his throat. Ultra-violent, unrelenting, and with a truly heartrending ending, SON OF THE GUN is the work of a master. It also boasts Georges Bess' beautiful painted work. Bess is one of the greatest artists working in France, and if more comic artists had Bess' sense of line and colour, the industry would be a better place. [Alex de Campi] STEP CLASS Rob Osborne wants to rule the world. Don't we all? Osborne, however, is taking the unusual step of world conquest via comics with his book 1000 STEPS TO WORLD DOMINATION (AiT/PlanetLar). God pops up every now and then to offer advice, as does the obligatory monkey, while Osborne's wife wants nothing to do with his schemes, and his dog just licks its balls. Each step in his plan is one page of the comic, and labelled accordingly (eg, 1/1000). Each page is broken down into four panels, allowing concise observations on topics such as the human condition, or brief trips into the surreal. Osborne assures us it's all leading somewhere. World domination, presumably. 1000 STEPS TO WORLD DOMINATION won the Isotope Award for Excellence in Mini-Comics 2003 and the Broken Frontier Paper Screen Gem Award for Humour 2004 in its original form as four mini-comics, so it comes highly recommended. And the best part is, this is only Osborne's first steps. You can read more about Osborne and his 1000 STEPS in Ninth Art's Big Things. LOVE SUPREME J Michael Straczynski is having something of a mixed relationship with comics of late; his AMAZING SPIDER-MAN has been intermittently brilliant, but has alienated Spidey fans by the truckload by introducing some fairly spurious mysticism to Spidey's already fairly ropey origin story. He's then alienated everyone else with his terrible 'Gwen Stacy slept with Norman Osborn' arc. However, on SUPREME POWER (Marvel), now on its second volume, he's still crafting a very enjoyable book. Yes, it's very much a cynical take on the JLA, or a SQUADRON SUPREME: REDUX, if you will, but Straczynski's penchant for worthy-but-haunted characters and lashings of portentousness works much better without decades of continuity to have to reboot. In fact, SUPREME POWER works best when it makes sly references to the established history and tropes of the likes of Superman and Batman through their analogues here, Hyperion and Nighthawk. The plot is a nicely wrought combination of superpowered demigods being introduced into something resembling the actual course of the 20th century, so these characters are developing against a background of conspiracy, intolerance, ignorance and corruption, which promises for some pretty spectacular fallout in this volume, when Hyperion reacts to the truth that his life has been a carefully-fabricated fiction created by the government, and the analogues of Earth's greatest defenders threaten to turn into the greatest rebels. Gary Frank's lovely pencils mean that it never looks anything less than gorgeous. So, rush out and take the power back. [Lindsay Duff] THE SHIPPING LIST FOR OCTOBER 20th 2004: Shipping details come courtesy of Diamond. Visit the Diamond website for the latest information, as the list is subject to change. DARK HORSE AUG040016D CONAN #9 $2.99
DC COMICS AUG040368D ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #633 $2.50
IMAGE AUG041573D PSCYTHE #2 (Of 2) (MR) $3.95
MARVEL AUG041789D CABLE DEADPOOL #8 $2.99
OTHER PUBLISHERS AUG042360F 1000 STEPS TO WORLD DOMINATION VOL 1 GN $12.95
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. |