So I Read Transmetropolitan

A 250 word (or less) review of the complete series of Transmetropolitan,
By Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson; Vertigo Comics

Transmetropolitan is easily one of my all time favourite comics. Easily. The comic is about the power and importance of journalism particularly as an essential brake on the machinations of politicians. To explore this, Transmetropolitan uses the lens of Spider Jerusalem, an infamous journalist and mildly loathsome creature, as he returns to The City in a vulgar and shocking future. Jerusalem takes up a column and along with his Filthy Assistants explores the wondrous, the downtrodden, and the futuristic while fucking with the local authorities and generally running amok with a bowel disrupter. That is until the Presidential Election, where Spider delves into the disgusting truth of politics and makes a powerful new enemy. "Journalism is just a gun. It's only got one bullet in it, but if you aim right, that's all you need. Aim it right, and you can blow a kneecap off the world." Transmetropolitan is a comic chock full of brilliantly deep characters, imaginatively vulgar settings, high concept Sci-fi, holy shit tension, and ineffably beautiful observations of the human condition. It is by far one of the most complete long running comics you can read: from beginning to end it maintains a sterling level of writing and art and manages to be a perfect blend of gripping, funny, smart, and offensive. It's fucking fantastic comics. Read it, and it might just blow a kneecap off your world.

Word count: 230

Eye On Hawkeye #18

Or a look at how colouring is used to manage setting in Hawkeye #18
by Matt Fraction, Annie Wu, and Matt Hollingsworth; Marvel Comics

Hawkeye continues to be that dang comic. 

I didn't write about Hawkeye #17, the Winter Friends issue because its release date managed to land right in the middle of Busy Times, and because I didn't have much to say about the issue other than it was absolutely tons of fun. I mean, there were a great many interesting parallels between the issue and the series as a whole, but they were obvious and no one likes overtly obvious criticism. (Oh my god, you guys! Steve was TOTALLY Clint!!)

Fortunately for my purposes, Hawkeye #18 is a much more conventional issue of Hawkeye that is pregnat with interesting comics to try and figure out. The thing that struck me most about Hawkeye #18 was just how dense an issue of comics it was: it took substantially longer to read than an average super hero comic. Hawkeye #18, I think, gets its density from both a higher than normal panel count (a hallmark of the Hawkeye series), but also by the sheer number of settings in the issue. Seriously, over 20 story pages Hawkeye #18 has  at least 13 discreet settings (and that's being stingy and not counting all of the flashback scenes or in-transit sequences as settings.) This is a lot of settings!

The thing about a comic with so many locations is that there is the potential for the entire beast to be one confusing mess. But Team Hawkguy is really great at making ambitious comics work through studious attention to detail. To solve the problem of multiple settings in a relatively short comic book, Team Hawkguy leverage work done in previous issues by revisiting, in part, some familiar settings. There is also,of course, the clear storytelling of the Wu/Fraction collaboration and the simple fact that every setting is smartly designed and drawn well. But to me, maybe the most interesting way Team Hawkguy effortlessly encodes information about multiple settings is in the colouring of the issue.

There will of course be *SPOILERS* for Hawkeye #18 throughout this post.

One of the main ways Hawkeye #18 managed to seamlessly juggle so many settings discrete settings and handle characters moving from one location to another was through the use of lighting. Every setting, very nearly, had its own discrete lighting which which affected the tone of every colour in the effected composition. This is just a random sampling, but there is the bright, artificial lighting of the grocery store, the semi-dark lighting of an unlit apartment in chaos, the glaring white brilliance of bathroom lighting, the warm glow of being at the beach in direct sunlight, the dark blue shadow of being outside at night, and the gentle lighting of a tastefully lit restaurant. Each of these scenes looks and feels different, despite the same character colours (Hawkeye is always purple), making each place visually and emotionally distinct. Furthermore, changes in lighting, and particularly shadow, really help keep character location straight as the darkness of the LA night makes it very clear when characters leave one location and move to another. Hawkeye #18 is a masterclass in how effective and thoughtful lighting effects in colouring can convey a huge amount of information about setting.

Hawkeye #18 also leverages colour directly to help solidify each setting as a discrete location. Many of the key scenes have a distinct colour palette that makes each feel unique. Kate's trailer is coloured in tones of purple, since everything Hawkeye must be, while the scary mansion is rendered in blacks and shadowy blues. The bathroom is white-white-white while in the flashback sequences the LA skyline is a sunset, nostalgic orange, hollywood parties are opulent red, purple, and pink, and the beach is a study in tan-yellows and skyblues. Even at a cursory inspection, like in the selection above, each of these settings is clearly different and unique both visually and emotionally. Clearly, say, the dark and creepy mansion is in a different physical space and story location than the swank, fancypants Hollywood party. It's great stuff.

(For sake of argument, think about a Batman comic. I love Batman, but when it comes to setting, Gotham is usually rendered universally as this dark, black and blue, urban landscape that heavily features shadowed lighting. It often feels like this looming, monolithic space of indistinct urban-ness, fear, and violence. Which I think often makes Gotham seem less like a place and, maybe intentionally, more of an indistinct nightmare land. Hawkeye, with this smart use of tying colours to locations, feels much more real and diverse in the spaces visited. Which is a choice so subtle that, I think, it's easy to miss: colouring, when done well, is this permeating invisible thing that can drive so much storytelling.)

Hawkeye #18 also has some great exampls of colouring as a storytelling device that go beyond establishing setting. In the top selection the way colour is dropped in the second panel suggests, with no words or artwork to support it, that Hawkeye is focussing on making a tricky arrow shot. The colour, and the world, fall away for a moment of aiming and we the audience understand the story message of the panel based solely on the colouring information. The second selection works this way too: we see the red and blue glare of rollers and understand that our heroes have been stopped by the LAPD. This is again based solely off colouring information, since we never actually see a cop car drawn in any of the preceding or subsequent panels in this sequence. Which is just more evidence that effective colouring choices can be a fantastic storytelling tool. 

Hawkeye #18 is a treasure trove, I tell ya.

Previously:
Eye on Hawkeye #15: Composition, Layout, and colours.
Eye on Hawkeye #16: Smart layouts and chilling moods.
Eye on Hawkeye #14: Repetitive panels as a device.

Eye on Hawkeye #13: The shattered timeline of Hawkeye

Eye on Hawkeye # Annual Pt. 2: Remixing Hawkeye #3 with Annual thought captions.

Eye on Hawkeye # Annual Pt. 1: Using silhouettes in arguments
Eye on Hawkeye #12: Setting up the perfect splash page

Eye on Hawkeye #11 pt. 3: Action packed layouts!

Eye on Hawkeye #11 pt. 2: Lucky & Clint, Narrative Similarities
Eye on Hawkeye #11 pt. 1: A Dog's Perspective
Eye on Hawkeye #10: Colours and Mood

Eye on Hawkeye #9: Layout and Eye Guiding

Eye on Hawkeye #8: Art and Information

Eye on Hawkeye #7: Setting as Character and Steve Lieber

Eye on Hawkeye #6 pt. 2: Great Writing

Eye on Hawkeye #6 pt. 1: Clever Layouts

Eye on Hawkeye #3: Motion in a Static Medium

Eye on Hawkeye #2: Sock Holes and Characterization

The Dispossessed Is A Good Book

Or why you should read The Dispossessed by Ursula K Le Guin,

The Dispossessed is a utopian Science Fiction novel about binary contrasts and the human spirit. The novel is set in the twin planets Urras and Anarras in the Tau Ceti star system. Despite their proximity, the two planets are diametric opposites: Urras, is a lush, fertile garden world of plentiful resources while Anarras is a hostile, arid world rich in minerals but poor in natural life. While both planets are inhabited by the Cetain species, the cultures of the two worlds are radically different. Urras is mostly an aggressively capitalist planet, divided into warring nation-states which are governed by vaguely authoritarian governments. Urrasti society, as a result, is very much divided between the rich and the poor, the powerful and the repressed. Anarres, in contrast, is a world without governments, ownership, commerce, or hierarchies. Anarresti society, based on the collectivist/anarchist philosophy of Odo, is defined around equality, sharing, achieving personal happiness, and surviving the harsh Anarras environment and the collective poverty of the world. The two worlds, Urras and Anarres, despite their proximity are, aside from some minor trade, completely isolated from each other and have been for generations. It is against this contrasting background that the novel tells the story of the brilliant Anarresti theoretical physicist Shevek, who in his quest to achieve a General Temporal Theory, must consult alien physicists and chooses to travel to Urras to pursue his research. And in doing so Shevek becomes a lens to explore both societies, both halves of the binary, and in so doing examines what it means to be human in a society. It's a brilliantly smart and humane work of fiction.

I would recommend The Dispossessed to any Science Fiction fan: if you have pretensions of being a serious Sci-fi reader this is a must read book. It's beautifully written, emotionally deep, and painfully intelligent (although in a very accessible way). It is also one of the most astute political explorations I've ever read, and unlike most landmark social speculation novels it does't rely on dystopia. Instead it's a frank look at different societies in a way that is aware that few societies are completely shit: most, for all their problems, also have strengths, and the way The Dispossessed uses and breaks its binaries is really mindful of that. It's pretty refreshing. And so I would also recommend this book to anyone into fiction with a heavy element of social meditation because this is Sci-fi built for political nerds. The Dispossessed is also a novel that I would recommend to people looking for more great Sci-fi by women authors. Part of why I picked this book up was having it pointed out/realizing just how few women authors I read and a desire to find out if I'm missing out on some great Sci-fi. And, well, The Dispossessed is exactly the kind of novel I was afraid I was missing out on.

So I Read Bandette: Presto!

A 250 (word or less) review of Bandette Volume One
By Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover; Dark Horse Books/Monkeybrain Comics

Sometimes it's okay for a comic just to be fun. I like brooding drama and intricate mechanical plots with relentless character stakes as much as the next person, but sometimes it's nice to read a comic where everything is pretty okay and all the characters are enjoying themselves. Bandette: Presto! is a relentlessly fun comic. The comic is about Bandette: a French master thief with dubious morals, a penchant for altruism, an infectious zest for the joys of stealing, and a sweet tooth. Presto! introduces Bandette, showcases some of her enjoyable capers, and colours her world with her band of merry urchin accomplices, debonair gentleman rivals, cartoonish inspectors, and Parisian rooftops. Presto! also sets up an ongoing conflict with FINIS and it's leader Absinthe, with a series of crimes meant to infuriate and damage the nefarious organization. The entire package, from the giant grin on Bandette's fez to her chihuahua Pimento, is invitingly, glaringly, relentlessly fun. It's the kind of comic that scampers over rooftops with glee, somersaults gracefully through spells of silliness, and flirts dangerously with the sharp edge of inanity, but somehow manages to tumble through as a really enjoyable, surprisingly mature and smart comic. Bandette is very much the ultra-fun comic for fans who don't typically enjoy silly comics. It's a comic you really ought to try.

Word count: 220

Atoll Comics Round 13

Or changes to my Top-Ten comics

Due to poverty and an urge to buy better comics, I have decided to be super-selective about which superhero comics I read. Harnessing the Awesome Power of Maths, I have determined that I can afford to read 10 ongoing titles. So I get to read 10, and only 10, titles published by either Marvel or DC as well as one trade paperback a week of my choosing.

A complication of this is that I am forced to drop an on-going title if I want to try reading a new on-going title, an act of very tough love. Being financially responsible is the worst.

I will be adding Moon Knight and dropping Avengers.

Why Moon Knight: Sometimes you read a comic because you have some great interest or affinity for the leading character. You are just soooo into Batman that pretty much any comic with Batman in it is something you want to read. Other times you read a comic because the creative team making the thing demands your attention. Moon Knight by Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey, and Jordie Bellaire is exactly that kind of comic. Warren Ellis has written some of my favourite comics, and its a joy to see him back writing more. Declan Shalvey is a great noiry artist and Jordie Bellaire is a reliable awesome colourist and together they are doing some really interesting things. It's maybe an especially interesting collaboration as, I've gathered, Shalvey and Bellaire live together, and that kind of geographically close collaboration between a penciller and colourist is pretty rare and potentially special. If the first issue of Moon Knight is any indication, the book looks poised to be pretty good: a fascinating trip into the mind of the supernaturalish-insane person that is Moon Knight rendered in this fantastic style that sees Mooney stark, flat white in a sumptuously rendered, coloured world. The first issue is a comic worth picking up for quality of the overall story but also just for the daring artwork. You ought to at least give it a try.

Why not Avengers: Avengers is the flagship, tentpole comic for one of Marvel's main publishing lines. It's a comic that draws Marvel's biggest characters and puts them into the biggest storylines, those linewide Events! that change the very nature of the Marvel Universe. Avengers plays for all of the marbles all of the time! OMG!

And... I'm kind of bored of it. The constant smashy crises, even with the best creators, tends to get a little repetitive: the world is ending and the heroes save it. Even worse, from my perspective, Avengers has a nasty habit of setting up and then interweaving with the Event! de jour which means the comic can seem like its either in a holding pattern, set up period, or a tie-in. Add to that a very large (and pleasantly diverse) cast, and there isn't much room for character development. I find I am more interested in reading character driven comics that have enough editorial freedom to tell stories without too much interference from Event! cycles. So, yeah, Avengers is out.

The thing is, I don't think Avengers should change! There is completely a place for this kind of Event! driven, character heavy, comic in Marvel's line. I used to love Events! and the interlocking stories with New Avengers, and I suspect that there is still a large block of readers that buy into this kind of storytelling. And the wonderful thing about a healthy comics publishing line is that there can be comics for everyone. Marvel publishes a lot of other comics that are more my speed, more than I can actually afford to read, so my comic tastes are being still being satisfied. Not every comic is for everyone, live and let live and find what comics work for you.

Previously:

Atoll comics Round 12: She Hulk in and FF out

Atoll Comics Round 11: Ms. Marvel in and Young Avengers out

Atoll Comics Round 10: Black Widow in and The Movement out

Atoll Comics Round 9: The Movement in and The Indestructible Hulk out

Atoll Comics Round 8: The Indestructible Hulk and FF in and Uncanny Avengers out
Atoll Comics Round 7: Young Avengers in and Winter Solider out
Atoll Comics Round 6: Either The Indestructible Hulk or FF in and Batwoman out
Atoll Comics Round 5: Avengers in and Fantastic Four/FF out
Atoll Comics Round 4: Avengers Assemble in and The Invincible Ironman out
Atoll Comics Round 3: Uncanny Avengers in and Ultimate Spider-Man out
Atoll Comics Round 2: Hawkeye in and The Flash out
Atoll Comics Round 1: Captain Marvel in and Thunderbots/Dark Avengers out
Atoll Comics Round 0: The originals

Deep Sequencing: Red-shift, Blue-shift

Or how binary colour schemes are used in The Manhattan Projects Volume 3

by Jonathan Hickman, Nick Pitarra, and Jordie Bellaire, Image Comics

The Manhattan Projects beyond being inane, hilarious, and shockingly horrifying is also a really pretty and visually interesting comic. Obviously, Nick Pitarra, the penciller of the series deserves a lot of the credit for how great the comic looks: his designs and effectively tell the story and enhance the tension or comedy of every scene. But I think part of the magic of The Manhattan projects is the colouring by Jordie Bellaire. I'm particularly interested in the way she colours flashbacks and mental sequences. So here is a look at her use of weird blues and weird reds in The Manhattan Projects: Vol. 3

There will be mild *SPOILERS* for The Manhattan Projects. Proceed with caution and PPC*

(* PPC = Personal Protective Clothing, it's lab jargon for goggles and lab coats and respirators etc...)

The hook of The Manhattan Projects flashback sequences is the contrast between the Blue and Red colours. They are absolutely the colours of madness and Science: these are two very unnatural colours, a kind of textured bright blue, crackling with electricity and Bunsen flames, and a vaguely neon red, glowing like some kind of mutant blood. Neither colour feels entirely real, enhancing the fantastic, afronte-to-nature-ness of The Manhattan Projects, while the yawning contrast between the two extremes is just pure dreamscape insanity. I love it.

Beyond the interesting colour selection, the use of un-Blue and un-Red is also pretty fascinating. In the above sequence, the red and blue are used to emphasize Daghlian in his red containment suit and the glob of presumably plutonium that would change his life forever. It's a pretty simple approach to highlighting key elements, but it absolutely razor focuses the readers attention to the key elements in the composition.

The un-Red and un-Blue is also used to elegantly highlight the isolation of radiation-monster Daghlian after his accident. By colouring him in the angry, unnatural red and every other human in the blue colour, Bellaire manages to perfectly capture the loneliness, and almost literal alienation of Daghlian from the human world now that he is a walking radioactive disaster. It's great comics.

(Also, note that in this sequence Enrico Fermi is in the above panel coloured in blue. This is going to be important in the second.)

In the same way that colour is used to emphasize the isolation of Daghlian, it's also used to show the end of it. Where previously Fermi was coloured as blue, while Daghlian was coloured red, now, with the gift of the radiation containment backpack thing, Fermi is also coloured red. This colouring really helps establish that Daghlian has now found a kindred spirit and is no longer alone. It also helps cement how important the friendship with Fermi is to Daghlian which is a warm human moment and also great set up for Fermi's eventual betrayal.

The red and blue colouring is also used at the funeral of Fermi to establish demarcations. In this case, it really helps establish that the deceased, traitorous Fermi has been cast out of The Manhattan Projects. All of the members in good standing of The Manhattan Projects are coloured in un-red while Fermi's casket, headstone, and photo (in the top left) are all coloured blue. This manages to simultaneously emphasize that Fermi is no longer one of the team (he is no longer coloured red) and that he is no longer alive (his elements are coloured in the same blue as the chairs and shovels and cake). 

The un-red and un-blue colouring strategy is also during the War of the Oppenheimers in which the cannibalistic Joseph Oppenheimer and the consumed Robert Oppenheimer fight a war for the control of The Oppenhemer's mind. It's very much a war of ideas and imagination fought with metaphors and proxy Oppenheimers co-opted by either primary Oppenheimer. Which is a pretty trippy collection of ideas. However, the colouring keeps it straight forward to look at: the armies of Robert and coloured blue, while the armies of Joseph are coloured red. So visually the whole insane mess is distilled the very understandable red-vs-blue. It's a simple approach, but is stunningly effective.

Previously:

The Manhattan Projects: Volume 1

The Manhattan Projects: Volume 2
The Manhattan Projects: Volume 3

So I Read The Manhattan Projects Vol. 3

A 250 word (or less) review of the third Manhattan Projects collection.
By Jonathan Hickman, Nick Pitarra, and Jordie Bellaire; Image Comics

I am a professional Scientist. I believe in the power of Science as a lever to improve human life and elevate humanity to something better. I research cures for diseases and I sacrifice my time, financial security, and how interesting I am at parties on the altar of Science. I am a good person trying to do good things. The Manhattan Projects thinks I'm a goddamn monstrous asshole. And I love it.  The Manhattan Projects is a comic about how the real life geniuses of The Manhattan Projects are a bunch of ruthless, sociopathic geniuses performing terrible acts of Science because they can. The third volume of the comic focuses on the inevitable murderous betrayal that occurs during all Scientific collaborations. The thing about volume 3 is that it really embodies the mad in Mad Science. One of the things about madness that I've always found chilling is how quickly it can shift from something weird and harmless into something fucking terrifying. And third volume of the Manhattan Projects has really thrown itself into the terrifying. It is a very smart, very chilling comic that builds on the ongoing story and pays off a lot of the ongoing plotlines. Volume 3 also cuts out the safety net and increases the stakes of series going forward: the house that Science built is on unsound, faintly radioactive footings. So, despite the toxic things The Manhattan Projects Vol. 3 has to say about me and my colleagues, it is really worth checking out.

Word count: 250

Previously:

The Manhattan Projects: Volume 1

The Manhattan Projects: Volume 2