Review – Kill Shakespeare Vol. 2: The Blast Of War

Kill Shakespeare #7–12
Written and created by Conor McCreery and Anthony Del Col
Art by Andy Belanger
Colours by Ian Herring
Lettering by Chris Mowry, Neil Uyetake and Shawn Lee
Edited by Tom Waltz
Published by IDW Publishing

When I reviewed the collection of the first six issues of this series, I said that I enjoyed it and was looking forward to the denouement of the story. Now that I have consumed the final half of this adventure, I was not disappointed by the conclusion and execution of a great idea.

The first trade paperback did all the hard work, creating the universe in which the characters live and setting up the story. This means the second collection can revel in the broad sweeps and the battle of heroes against foes in the world of William Shakespeare. Hamlet has joined Lady Juliet, Othello, Falstaff and Iago in the battle against Richard III and Lady Macbeth, and in the search for the Bard himself. But there is still time for character development: a play within a play, a device used in Hamlet, is used on Hamlet himself, which leads to story within a story, as we learn how Hamlet and Juliet in this world differ from the plays. Duelling practice between Othello and Iago is intercut with images of how these two men suffered at each other’s hand, with Iago’s dialogue about the sword fighting having another meaning regarding their relationship. There is even a nice reversal of the balcony scene, as Juliet climbs up to Hamlet to give him courage and a kiss.

The comic book is enjoyable in its own right, although knowledge of Shakespeare enhances it – the use of phrases from the plays are littered throughout the book, even seemingly innocuous terms such as ‘this infinite space’. It’s sometimes easy to forget how many expressions Shakespeare was responsible for introducing to the English language. The authors work Shakespearean dialogue into the book – even I recognise the ‘unsex me’ reference from Lady Macbeth, ‘Oh, happy dagger’ from Romeo and Juliet, as well as ‘Sound and fury, signifying nothing’ – but I like that there is deviation: when Hamlet finally meets Shakespeare, Will tells him ‘piss off’, which is a lovely earthy phrasing for a man revered for his poetry and use of the English language. Even my limited awareness of the plays brings something extra to this book, which uses language well – the speech by Hamlet to Shakespeare to force him to face his creations and the speech by Shakespeare to rouse the rebellion soldiers are rousing and inspiring without copying Shakespearean dialogue.

The battle between the two fractions is the climax of the book, and it is brutal and bloody and savage – as were the Shakespeare plays, as people forget – and it takes up the second half of this collection because there is so much to fit in. There is betrayal from Iago, double-crossing between Lady Macbeth and Richard, deaths of major characters, Shakespeare fighting his creations, as well as leaving open the possibility of further adventures in this universe, if the authors are given the opportunity to entertain us with more stories. However, there is still humour: the final words in the story are from Hamlet, ‘I can hear you laughing from down here, Falstaff’, after he has been kneed in the groin (in an affectionate way) by Juliet, which leaves the reader with a smile.

I have spoken a lot about the writing, because it is an important part of a book about Shakespeare (I can understand why this book has been used to bring Shakespeare to a new audience in schools), but the art is important as well. Belanger’s style has become more solid and confident through the series, able to turn from comedy to tragedy, from vast and bloody battlefields to the talking heads of a dialogue scene, from magical battles to flashbacks. There is more design in this book as well, using splash pages in scenes where they will have the most impact, or using a split in the middle of a page to enhance the emotion of a scene (when Juliet and Hamlet reveal their histories to each other). I particularly liked the motif of disembodied eyes percolating out of clouds or from smoke at the start and end of the book, reflecting the nature of the different levels of authoring in a story about William Shakespeare and his stories.

Kill Shakespeare is an excellent comic book series that rewards re-reading and which also makes you want to know more about Shakespeare plays. How many comic books can you say that about?

Comic Book Shop Update: Gosh! Has Moved

Gosh!, my favourite comic book shop in the world, let alone London, was based opposite the British Museum for 25 years – I thought they would always be there. However, nothing lasts for ever and Gosh! moved premises to a new location at Berwick Street in Soho (the blog has a nice map on the flyer used to tell everyone about the move). And the new premises are fantastic.

The previous shop was bijou, to use estate agent parlance; the new shop is much larger and has floor-to-ceiling windows, which lets light into the wonderful display space and makes it seem even bigger than it is. The main floor is full of shelves along the walls with a massive selection of different books, with an emphasis on the variety of genres and styles that demonstrate the range of modern comic books. Art books, European graphic albums, crime collections, manga, history, journalism – the shelves heave with quality and diversity. This seems to have paid off – when talking to Andy, the manager, on the day before the official opening (they were still unpacking and downstairs wasn’t ready yet), he told me that there had already been loads of people coming into the shop, with a 50:50 ratio of women to men, all looking for a variety of books. They had been worried that they wouldn’t get so much walk-past custom after the move, especially as the new shop is opposite ‘porn alley’, but the seedy shops add colour to people’s expectations of Soho and they’ve had more people than ever, despite not being officially open.

In addition to the books on shelves, there is also a big old table in the middle of the shop that is laden with books and has benches around it, so that people can sit and read if they so wish (there wouldn’t have been the room to do that in the old shop). If you go downstairs (there is some art on the walls as you descend), this is where the superhero comics now live – the new imports are on the shelves at the back; the trade paperbacks are on the shelves on the left and right, with the back issues in boxes in the middle (the desk by the stairs is where the subscription lists are still handled). There is nice moody lighting, so you don’t feel as if you’re in a dark pit to pick up your ‘embarrassing’ haul of regular comic books; however, when I bought my first weekly haul from the new shop, a few books had been accidentally left off my list – I jokingly mentioned it on Twitter that they didn’t care about the old regular customers any more, to which they replied (jokingly as well) that it was all about ‘new media now, darling’; the teething problems have now been smoothed out and the shops seems to be running efficiently.

The new premises are an impressive space (which is why it has appeared in Retail Focus Magazine), and I can understand the desire to host exhibitions in the shop (they had some of Dave McKean’s art for a signing on opening day); there have been book launches, such as Nelson, and Eddie Campbell will be giving a talk at the shop in February. The move to Soho has definitely raised the profile of the shop: Gosh! was used as the location for an interview with Art Spiegelman on the BBC.

All of these raise the calibre of the shop – this isn’t your comic book dungeon, this is a book shop where anyone and everyone can feel comfortable coming in and looking around the rich diversity of books and asking the staff for obscure items and recommendations. I’m amazed that Gosh! moved to such big premises at a time when the sales of comic books are decreasing; however, the expansion into the full range of all the possibilities offered by words and pictures in a location that suits this market is a smart move, and shows why they are still in business and thriving.

Notes On A Film: The Adventures of Tintin

Even though I haven't been blogging regularly, I had to capture some of my thoughts about The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, if just for the fact that we in the UK got to see the film long before arriving on North American screens, which makes for a nice change.

Despite the fact that I'm comic book fan, I didn't read the graphic novels of Georges 'Herge' Remy as a child; why this is the case, I do not know, especially as my brothers and I devoured the other prong of continental European graphic albums that invaded the UK, Asterix, but I should include the fact as a disclaimer. Therefore, I didn't have any emotional investment in the cinematic adaptation of the ageless journalist adventurer Tintin (unlike my better half, who has read and loved the books since her teenage years).

Before wittering further, I should summarise my opinion: I thought that the film was perfectly fine but nothing great, especially with the calibre of creators involved (a script by Steve 'Doctor Who and Sherlock' Moffat, Edgar 'Spaced/Shaun of the Dead/Hot Fuzz/Scott Pilgrim' Wright and Joe 'Attack the Block' Cornish, produced by Peter Jackson and directed by Steven Spielberg – surely a Platonic ideal creative team for Tintin). I just hope I wasn't expecting too much from such great folk.

Perhaps Tintin works best on the page – the exquisite clear line of Herge's artwork, the detailed images he created (he used a lot of photographic reference for accuracy) that occasionally veer into pure art in some of the splash pages, the ability to have a talking dog (or the notion that Tintin believes that Snowy talks to him) which is accepted by the reader, the silliness of the slapstick without the pain, the vagueness of time and place (is it the 1930s? Is it mainland Europe?): these are aspects of a comic that can be difficult to translate into a different medium and conserve the special qualities that make something distinct. However, the motion-capture CGI is very impressive – this is not the dead eyes of Beowulf or The Polar Express. The result is a successful combination of a photorealistic style based on Herge's art style (but without the excess of caricature employed in the books), with special mention for Captain Haddock, helped no doubt by Andy Serkis's performance (who employs a broad Scottish brogue for the part, which sounded to me like an impression of the great rugby union commentator, Bill McLaren), with a wonderfully expressive face to match the excess of character in Haddock himself.

The opening credits were a nice touch – an different animation style (a 1960s European feel to them), with some nice nods to various Tintin stories, and even that little swirl behind the feet that Herge used to indicate movement – and the film starts with a lovely introductory scene and in-joke for Tintin and his creator. But it doesn't take long for the film to get underway, with a plot that keeps film motoring all the way through to the end with barely a pause for breath, based on a mash-up of the books The Secret of the Unicorn, Red Rackham's Treasure and a hint of The Crab With The Golden Claws. There is humour and excitement and spectacle, as well as one of the most blatant 'this isn't the end, it's just the first part in a series' I think I've seen in a while. It just doesn't add up to more than the sum of its parts.

Another disclaimer: I didn't watch this in 3D, even though the CGI meant that it would have been true 3D, so I can't speak for the use of it in the film. However, based on some parts, it would have been a mixture of impressive and hideous. For example, the scene where Haddock 'relives' the life of his ancestor: in the books, it's recounted from a journal (not very cinematic); in the film, Spielberg can cut between shots in fantastically imaginative fashion, jumping from the desert to a ship on the high seas, or reflections off a sword to jump between past and present, and it looks spectacular in 2D. However, a climactic scene where Haddock and villain Sakharine fight each other in a dock by smashing loading cranes into each other is chaotic (and not something you would have seen in a live-action film): the power of CGI goes to Spielberg's head, as he whirls the camera around like a dervish, swooshing through windows and gaps in the crane's structure, deranged camerawork that flips and wheels in a dizzying display that might have caused headaches if watched in 3D. It must be the director's dream, to have the ability to move a camera wherever his or her imagination can follow, and Spielberg does it very well, but it can also look a mess.

There is enough in the film to keep people entertained, even if some of it seems familiar (a chase scene in an Arabic town, with the previously mentioned impossible camerawork, seems to be a homage to Raiders of the Lost Ark), but it doesn't quite manage the balance that was achieved seemingly effortlessly in the books. The strangest choice, which seems most out of character for a Tintin story, is the 'joke' of Haddock accidentally firing a bazooka into the wall of a dam over a town, so that it releases the water behind it all over the populace below. The scene is played for laughs as they escape the flood, but surely it killed lots of innocent locals? It seems thoroughly bizarre, and highlights the gap between getting it wrong and getting it right. It means that The Adventures of Tintin doesn't achieve the heights it could have.

Rating: DVD

[Explanation of my updated film rating system]

Review – Darkie's Mob: The Secret War Of Joe Darkie and Johnny Red: Falcon's First Flight

Darkie’s Mob: The Secret War Of Joe Darkie by John Wagner and Mike Western
Johnny Red: Falcon’s First Flight by Tom Tully and Joe Colquhoun
Published by Titan Books

These two handsome hardbacks are part of a collection of reprints by Titan Books of some of the classic black and white stories originally published in Battle, the weekly British war comic which started in 1975, including The Best Of Battle and Charley’s War. Both of these volumes have an introduction from Garth Ennis, a man not unfamiliar with writing war comics, and who has often stated the influence of these books on his writing and how much he loves them. There is also an overview in the Johnny Red book of the story behind the story, and the true incident that was the inspiration for the character.

Darkie’s Mob collects the full uncensored strip from 1976 (the book has a disclaimer at the front: ‘This book is a work of fiction. Characters may have views and use language which some of today’s readers may find offensive. The publisher and copyright holder in no way endorse the views expressed or language used.’), which is about a group of soldiers in 1942 behind enemy lines in Burma when Japan invaded (in what Ennis calls ‘a hateful war’ in his introduction) and the savagery of the fighting that ensued.

This is particularly the case for Darkie’s Mob, with Joe Darkie leading a group of soldiers in a personal guerrilla war against the Japanese. It is a vicious tale of war and fighting and death, told with brutality by John Wagner and Mike Western. The storytelling is amazing: each section is six pages packed with story and character and action. John Wagner, famous for co-creating Judge Dredd and a huge volume of stories, writes these tales with power and intensity and economy. Each chapter is a masterclass in compressing as much into as few pages as possible. Western does his part by fitting as much art on to the page as he can without losing clarity or intensity, fitting up to 14 panels on a page. His style is detailed and dark with a rough edge appropriate to the material, showing the viciousness of the battles but also characters involved.

The story reflects an accurate attitude of the men at the time: the language used is a sanitised but truthful portrayal of that used by the men fighting at the time. The language is inappropriate for the present day, but it was used freely in a different time at a time that we can’t fully comprehend in our supposedly more enlightened time where we haven’t been drafted to fight a vicious war against an equally vicious enemy. Titan should be applauded for reprinting the book in an uncensored form, in a time where The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been reprinted with removal of the ‘n-word’.

The comics are boys’ adventure stuff, so there is a stretching of plausibility for the sake of an exciting story, but the only element that slightly mars seeing these comics now that I enjoyed when I was a lad (like most boys, I was obsessed with all things to do with the second world war) is the sacrificing of various characters for the sake of Darkie’s Mob. I have no doubt that there were incidents of valour and heroics in the war that exceed those described in these comics, but nearly all of the characters seem to sacrifice themselves to save the other characters, and it seemed excessive. But perhaps it is because of the change in my approach to war comics: where once I would have lapped up the heroic deaths of minor characters, I have found that my appetite for it has changed, so your mileage may vary. The strip covers a year of fighting in the jungle with an ending that explains the mystery of Joe Darkie and his hatred for the Japanese and his fighting abilities in the jungle, which make for a very good war comic.

Johnny Red is a different story, describing the adventures of fighter pilot Johnny Redburn, who ends up joining the Falcon Brigade in an advanced airbase in the Arctic Circle in Russia in a stolen Hurricane airplane. The Falcons have been left to fight their own war for the Motherland, trying to stop the Germans in their corner of Russia despite the fact that they only have old biplanes against Messerschmitts. This hardback collects the first volume of the strip, written by Tom Tully (the longest-serving writer on Roy of the Rovers) and drawn by Joe Colquhoun, who was the first artist on Roy of the Rovers.

This book, which contains the same warning about the language used, sets up the story of our protagonist and how he becomes involved with a Russian air squadron fighting on the Russian front and then stays with them, starting in 1941. The strip was the longest-running strip in Battle, lasting about 10 years, covering about three years of the war during its run. It is also a boys’ adventure story, but it’s not afraid to mix in truth about the state of Russia during the war. The people and fighters starving due to lack of food and supplies, fighting a brutal war in vicious and freezing conditions, and the security police killing soldiers and pilots who didn’t die in fighting because they hadn’t given their lives in defence of the Motherland (of the approximately 70 million people who died during the war, over a third were Russians).

Colquhoun provides excellent art: his drawings of the planes used are exquisite, even in the small panels (like Western in Darkie’s Mob, Colquhoun fits a lot on to a page, full of detail without losing clarity), and his dogfights are particularly impressive, with different types of planes in icy and snowy conditions. All his characters are individuals, with a Slavic visual for the Russians, and the starving emaciated people look appropriately horrific; he was a very talented artist, and this is a small section of this 30-year career.

Tully had an equally impressive career, writing for many other British comics apart from his run on Roy of the Rovers, including for Valiant and 2000AD. His writing here is very heroic – Johnny Redburn is a classical hero character – and he has done his research on the war on the Russian Front to provide an accurate depiction of the events in which he places his characters, who are all individuals. I can understand why Garth Ennis declares Johnny Red as his favourite strip from Battle in the introduction, and why it was the longest-running strip in the comic: it’s a classic of British war comics.

DVD Review: Shaolin

I’ve been lucky enough to visit the Shaolin Temple when I went to China a few years back; I don’t think that the building itself is the original but that’s not the point. It’s what it represents: the Shaolin Temple isn’t necessarily the birthplace of martial arts but it is the birthplace of what our idea of martial arts is today. I think this is what the film is about: the idea of what Shaolin Temple represents.

The film Shaolin starts in China in the 1920s: Shaolin monks clean up after a battle, saying prayers over the dead as they collect them to burn, including families as well as soldiers. The Shaolin temple has become a home for refugees, during a time when warlords are rampaging through China. One such warlord is General Hou (Andy Lau), who has taken over the local area after killing the opposing warlord who was seeking refuge in the temple – he even defaces the temple’s sign (‘Birthplace of martial arts’). He plans with his second-in-command, Cou, to eliminate General Sung, his warlord ‘brother’, who Hou is worried is going to kill him after arranging the marriage of their children. However, after killing Sung, Hou is betrayed by Cou, who arranges to kill Hou and his family – Hou escapes with his daughter but she dies when they arrive at the Temple seeking refuge, and his wife blames him for it. Now wanted for murder and treason by Cou (who has now taken over the area, killing and looting), Hou decides to become a monk and dedicate himself to the Shaolin Temple, under the mentorship of the Temple’s cook (Jackie Chan in a small supporting role – his character is a tribute to a famous Shaolin monk cook who defended the temple; the monks still honour his name by shouting his name at the end of a form).

Life in the temple as a monk is shown – the training (which is of course very tough) and the cleaning and the cooking (Jackie Chan, when explaining why he is a monk cook and not a martial monk, says, ‘I can’t do martial arts. It’s beyond me’, which is a very nice in-joke) – and there is even some philosophy as well. Meanwhile, Cou has been using locals to work on railroads in association with the British but then getting the locals to dig for relics to pay for it and killing them to keep the secret. This leads to Huo revealing that he was still alive and Cou comes to the Temple for him, which leads to the finale with Cou’s army coming to destroy the temple and the monks defending it (which has a monk utter the wonderfully anachronistic line, ‘Don’t mess with Shaolin Temple’).

The film is a drama about the nature of man and the philosophy involved, but the action is impressive – there is not as much action as you might think in a film called Shaolin, but what there is makes up for it, and the martial arts are both beautiful and intense. The film is directed by Benny Chan and the action director is Corey Yuen, and they create a suitably epic and visually beautiful film. The camera sweeps and swoops majestically and the period detail feels authentic – for the film, the temple was recreated brick for brick (only bigger); there are genuine Shaolin monks in roles in the film (as Senior Brothers), even the kids in the film are products of Shaolin training; Andy Lau trained in Seven Star Fists, the style of Shaolin, for the film under a grandmaster of Shaolin. Although the film is based on Shaolin Temple (Jet Li’s debut film), it is a very different movie with a greater focus on a violent and ambitious man discovering the philosophy of ‘martial zen’ and becoming a better person, and this film tells that story very well.

The 2-disc DVD has a ‘Making of’ gallery, with some nice background information on the film, plus interviews with members of the cast (it is interesting to see Jackie Chan giving interviews in Mandarin and Cantonese, although more comfortably in Cantonese) and deleted/extended scenes, which hint at even more minutes of beautifully choreographed fight scenes. But, then again, I could watch them train in Shaolin style for ever – the credits close over Shaolin monks training in the snow, and it’s a thing of beauty in itself, as well as a hopeful and enduring image of what the Shaolin Temple represents.

Selecting From The 52 New DC Titles

The first title in the ‘new’ DC universe of titles (I refuse to call it DCnU, which I think is very silly indeed but seems to have caught on) arrived yesterday in stores and online, both legally and unfortunately illegally, so it seemed about time to talk about the titles that interested me sufficiently to pick them up.

An aside: I think this is a bold move by DC to try to improve sales of comics, which have been decreasing in a depressing fashion for some time. DC has constantly rebooted its superhero universe, so this isn’t completely unexpected. However, doing it to the entire universe and starting everything again from the beginning, and then expecting people to pick up 52 new series seems ambitious and wildly optimistic. (And why 52 issues? It makes no sense.) Good luck to them, but the price of comics and the value for money they provide suggest that the business model is no longer viable for such a large-scale operation and the future does not look good for mainstream comic books, and I say this as someone who loves comic books.

Justice League #1
So, I didn’t buy it. I’m not a big DC fan, so I don’t have the affection for the legacy of this team that others have, and I’m not a fan of Geoff Johns’ writing, so it was not going to be on my list, even if it is the flagship of this launch. The only lure was the Jim Lee art (I’m a bit of a fan), but that wasn’t enough.

Action Comics #1
It’s written by Grant Morrison; obviously I’m buying it. I saw him give a Q&A recently, which only reinforced my desire to see a Morrison Superman book. Definite purchase.

Superman #1
A little comic book heresy: I don’t really like the art style of George Perez. I think that it looks stuck in the 1980s. For one of the big books of the ‘new’ DC universe, this seems at odds with the mission statement. He’s only doing breakdowns, but that’s enough. I have never read any of his writing, so I don’t have a compulsion to check this out.

Superboy #1
Don’t care about the character, don’t care for the writer, don’t care for the artists.

Supergirl #1
Don’t care about the character, don’t know the writers, I quite like the artist but not enough to sample this.

Batman #1
I haven’t read the Scott Snyder Detective Comics that has been getting a lot of good reviews (I might check out the trade), so this is an unknown quantity. It would take a proven, high-calibre writer to make me take a chance on this, especially with Greg Capullo on art duties, whose work has never appealed.

Detective Comics #1
Tony Daniel on writing and art? No thanks.

Batwing #1
The idea of the Batman of Africa is intriguing, but not by Judd Winick, who hasn’t written a superhero comic that I’ve liked.

Batman: The Dark Knight #1
Bwahahaha. David Finch doing both the writing and art on Batman managed two issues in all the time he’s been working on the character. I can’t see that changing any time soon.

Batman and Robin #1
Unless it was Dick Grayson and Damian by Grant Morrison, I don’t want to know. Apologies to Peter Tomasi (I don’t think I’ve ever read anything he’s written) and Patrick Gleason.

Batgirl #1
Gail Simone is an interesting writer and Barbara Gordon is an interesting character, but I don’t want to see her back in costume; I think that Oracle has been one of the best characters at DC and it’s a shame that we won’t be seeing her any longer.

Batwoman #1
The artwork of JH Williams on Batwoman in Detective Comics was astounding and I’m sure that it will continue. The only thing that prevents me from this becoming an automatic purchase is the untested nature of the writers: I don’t think I’ve read any Williams work and I’ve never heard of W Haden Blackman. Possible purchase.

Nightwing #1
Never heard of Kyle Higgins (sorry) and I don’t particularly care for the adventures of Nightwing (see previous comment about enjoying him as Batman previously).

Catwoman #1
Another Judd Winick-written comic book, another excuse not to buy.

Birds of Prey #1
Although I like the artwork of Jesus Saiz, I’m not tempted by ‘Gotham City’s covert ops team’ as a concept, and Duane Swierczynski isn’t a sufficiently proven author to change my opinion.

Red Hood and the Outlaws #1
The name alone is embarrassing enough for me to ignore this title, I’m afraid.

Green Lantern #1
I’ve not been reading Green Lantern and this seems to be a continuation of what was happening before (I guess Geoff Johns gets a pass on this title because he’s revived it so successfully and because he’s Chief Creative Officer at DC Entertainment, which means he can do what he wants), so I’ll continue with that track record.

Green Lantern Corps #1
See above for my Green Lantern-related reading habits.

Green Lantern: New Guardians #1
Ditto. I know Green Lantern has been doing well, what with the Brightest Night/rainbow Lanterns stuff, but how much mileage does DC think it can get out of this title?

Red Lanterns #1
Apparently, DC thinks it can get quite a lot of mileage out of this concept. Even though it’s written by Peter Milligan, a writer who has created some great work, I think this will be one of his lesser works (e.g. Elektra). And I don’t want to read about people who get so angry that they vomit blood, thank you very much.

Justice League International #1
I have no deep-seated affection for the Justice League (I’ve only read the Giffen–DeMatteis and Morrison iterations), and Dan Jurgens and Aaron Lopresti don’t do anything for me creatively, so this is a pass, even if it does have August General in Iron.

Aquaman #1
Dear DC, please stop trying to make people care about Aquaman. It really doesn’t work. I think that this only exists because Geoff Johns is writing it (see previous comment about his position of Chief Creative Officer).

Wonder Woman #1
The creative team of Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang is an appealing combination but I’m not sure if it’s enough to get me to try a Wonder Woman comic. I’ll grade this as a possible, and wait to see what the reviews are like. Possible purchase.

The Flash #1
An artist writing his first comic book (albeit with a co-writer) doesn’t fill me with confidence, and I think it’s a strange choice for one of DC’s A-list characters. I’ve nothing against Francis Manapul, who is a fine artist, but I won’t be getting this.

Captain Atom #1
Seeing that JT Krul is supposed to have written some of the worst comics at DC recently (Cry For Justice and Justice League: The Rise of Arsenal), I don’t think I’ll be trying this book.

The Fury of Firestorm #1
When was the last time Firestorm was able to sustain his own book? More bravery from DC, but even the presence of Gail Simone as a co-writer isn’t enough to tempt me into buying what I can predict will be a short-lived title.

Green Arrow #1
JT Krul strikes again, so it’s another issue that can be left on the shelf.

The Savage Hawkman #1
Another character that DC refuses to acknowledge as a failure. Nobody has been able to make Hawkman work in an ongoing series, and I don’t think that Tony Daniel has got the skill to write a story that will change that.

Mister Terrific #1
I’d like this book to work because of the character (Mister Terrific was a great character in Greg Rucka’s Checkmate) but I can’t see it happening, unfortunately. The creative team doesn’t inspire me, and it needs to be a more famous team to give a character who has never had his own series before for it to stand a chance in the current market.

DC Universe Presents #1
I haven’t read a Paul Jenkins-written comic in a good long while, and although he is a competent writer, he’s not a must-read author.

Stormwatch #1
This one has me intrigued: I have a lot of affection for Warren Ellis’ Stormwatch, it’s written by Paul Cornell (who wrote the short-lived but enjoyable Captain Britain and MI:13), and it’s got the Martian Manhunter on the team. That’s enough to make me want to buy this. Purchase.

Grifter #1
I don’t know anything about the creative team, and the character always seemed to be trying too hard in any books I read with him in, but it gets a pass because it seems to have taken its story concept from Killer of Demons by Christopher Yost and Scott Wegener, which was good but it doesn’t mean it can be stolen from for a superhero comic.

Deathstroke #1
I’m showing my ignorance of the DC universe, but wasn’t Deathstroke a villain? Has he been recently converted to the good guys, or is it just this new series? Whatever the truth, it means I don’t really care for something that is trying too hard to be cool with its ‘finest in mayhem and gore’, as it says in the solicitations.

Suicide Squad #1
Another creative team that I’ve never heard of takes control of a strong concept but which hasn’t survived in its own ongoing series since the lauded John Ostrander series. And that cover: oh dear.

O.M.A.C. #1
I usually look at anything that Keith Giffen co-writes and draws, but I really don’t care about OMAC and, more importantly, it’s co-written by Dan DiDio so I’ll be ignoring it and watching the negative reviews.

Blackhawks #1
DC really likes it legacy concepts – when was the last time that the Blackhawks were able to sustain a series? Good luck with updating the concept for the modern world, but I can’t see this comic surviving without a powerhouse creative team behind it, which this doesn’t.

Men of War #1
I haven’t done exhaustive research, but I’m pretty sure that no war-related or soldier-based mainstream comic book that hasn’t been written by Garth Ennis has sold at all in the past decades, so good luck to Ivan Brandon and Tom Derenick, because I’m not confident.

All-Star Western #1
A cowboy comic book? I’ve always felt that this a genre that is loved by creators but not by audiences, but they still keep coming back. Even Brian Azzarello couldn’t keep Loveless going past two years. Another case of good luck to the creative team.

Teen Titans #1
Bob Harras was editor-in-chief at Marvel in the 1990s; he is now editor-in-chief at DC and, based on this title, is trying to bring back the 1990s. Scott Lobdell and Brett Booth seem to be doing a comic that looks about 15 years too late.

Static Shock #1
I have liberal guilt because I haven’t read enough of the Milestone comics, and it looks like I’ll be continuing that by not picking this up either. I’m not a great fan of Spider-man and a copycat version doesn’t interest me.

Hawk and Dove #1
Rob Liefeld drawing Hawk and Dove? The 1990s are back, and that's not a good thing.

Blue Beetle #1
I really enjoyed the John Rogers-written Blue Beetle, so I want this comic book to succeed, but I don’t think that Tony Bedard is the man to do it.

Legion of Super-Heroes #1
DC loves the LSH because it’s the comic book that won’t be allowed to die. Will the man who was creative force behind the team’s success in the 1980s be able to repeat the success now? Based on Chris Claremont writing the X-Men again, I’m guessing no.

Legion Lost #1
Not one but two LSH books to spread the lack of love? That seems cruel. If they had a crazy creative team, perhaps, but Fabian Nicieza and Pete Woods are nothing more than a safe and competent pair.

Justice League Dark #1
This has got a sufficiently stupid idea (Shade the Changing Man, Deadman, Zatanna and John Constantine on the same team) and a writer in Peter Milligan sufficiently oddball enough to pull it off. I don’t think it’s going to work, but I’m going to find out for myself. Purchase.

Swamp Thing #1
This is a conflict: Scott Snyder and Yanick Paquette is an interesting creative team (if Paquette stays on art duties longer than a few months) but I haven’t read an interesting Swamp Thing comic since Mark Millar wrote it. I might take a look if the reviews are positive. Possible purchase.

Animal Man #1
Animal Man will always be associated with Grant Morrison’s run, so I can’t imagine the character in any other way. It’s not helped by the ‘child manifests powers’ storyline, which doesn’t excite me. I’ve never read a Jeff Lemire book before (mea culpa), which could be another reason why I’m not interested.

Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #1
See above for the Jeff Lemire link. The Grant Morrison Frankenstein was awesome, so this has potential, and Alberto Ponticelli is a great artist, but I’d need good reviews before checking this out.

I, Vampire #1
Scott Snyder’s American Vampire is the only vampire comic from DC that has appealed, and I don’t think that’s going to change. I’m completely unaware of the previous work of the creative teams, so that doesn’t help.

Resurrection Man #1
Another comic from the 1990s, and a comic that didn’t last back then either. The concept is quite strong – a character who keeps coming back to life and with a different power each time – but I can’t see it doing any better than its earlier incarnation.

Demon Knights #1
Despite the fact that Paul Cornell writes this, I have no interest in a comic book about the Demon set in the Dark Ages of the DC universe. At all.

Voodoo #1
I didn’t like Voodoo when she was written by Alan Moore; I doubt that Ron Marz is going to change that opinion.

Three definites and two possibles. Hmm, I think I might be a Marvel guy ...

Comic Book Shop Update: A Place In Space (Central London)

I’m not timely on this blog, but I try to be complete. So think of this blog post as a tweak to a previous post, but with little in the way of actual information.

In my compiling of the comic book shops of London, the third in my list was Comicana in central London. I didn’t have much to say about the shop because it was small and I hadn’t visited it very often. Recently (I don’t know exactly when), the shop changed hands because it has a new name but little else different.

As you can see from the photograph, the shop is now called A Place In Space. What I can’t find out is if this shop is connected to A Place In Space in Croydon (which I talked about in a post about comic book shops in Croydon) – there is nothing about it on the Croydon shop’s Facebook page, and my Google fu is weak in discovering any information.

The shop is essentially the same as the previous shop, except that it’s brighter inside now and there are fewer posters and toys in the windows. Apart from that, the only difference is the banner on the front of the shop over the previous boarding (if you look closer, you can see URL for the old shop below the banner – NB: the URL doesn’t work now). At the time of taking the photo, there was a man who was sizing up the front of the shop for the owner, obviously to repair the wood at the bottom, so I guess there will be a new sign up soon.

My apologies for the lack of actual knowledge in this post. I just wanted to keep my files up to date, so to speak.