Goal Achieved. What Next?

I was going to do another in my series of Comic Book Artists, where I post some great images sourced from the web from artists whose work I admire and talk about their career and try to discuss what I like about their work. However, Blogger is having some issues with Image Uploads today, so that shall have to wait.

It was then that it hit me – I had succeeded in my promise to myself of blogging about all of the comics I've bought, the films I've seen, the library books and graphic novels I've read, the DVDs and television I've watched. It's taken me a long time – I decided I was going to attempt this back in January – and I've had digressions and a couple of missed days along the way, but I am now talking about comic books and films that are up to the minute.

I am now suffering from the problem of wondering what to do now that I have accomplished my 'dream', but that's not the worst thing that can happen to a blogger. I wanted to take a moment to let the fact sink in that I did what I set out to do, but without becoming too smug because then I'll mess it up and stop blogging and I'll feel bad for ruining the accomplishment. It's a very difficult balance …

I've still got things to write about – I've bought some packs on sale from Gosh! and there are plenty of trade paperbacks I've bought, not to mention some television programmes in there – but for now, I'm going to take a moment to bask in the feeling of contentment.

Comics I Bought 15 October 2010

These are my thoughts on comic books purchased just last week – I am finally up to date. I'm speechless. Better get my words down before I forget them.

Batman: Return of Bruce Wayne #5
A month late, and a fill-in artist needed to finish the issue, but it's Grant Morrison writing Batman, so I'm not complaining too loudly: Bruce Wayne, still unsure of his identity as he travels through time, finds himself being asked to help investigate the death of his own parents (Martha's mother believes that Thomas Wayne had Martha killed). It's a wonderfully bizarre mixing of the current story with the history of Batman, and Ryan Sook's art is perfect moody noir art for the piece (even if it seems a little rushed in places).

Knight and Squire #1
An appropriate comic next – the spin-off mini-series starring Knight and Squire, the British Batman and Robin recently revived by Grant Morrison in his Batman run. Paul Cornell writes with tongue firmly in cheek (the rhyming slang on the first page is particularly fruity), as he introduces a whole world of British heroes and villains with that particularly British sensibility. And I do mean a whole host of British characters – the issue is full of completely new people; my favourites include the hero The Milkman, and the classic villains The First Eleven (cricket-themed villains who 'never caught on in America, for some reason'). The story itself is mostly unimportant, and Cornell plays the British tweeness to the full, but it's enjoyable and silly, which is fine with me. Jimmy Broxton provides pencils, and does a good job, making everyone distinct and drawing a reasonable pub. Bring on the next issue.

Morning Glories #2
As I explained before, I had Morning Glories on my pull list but Gosh! hadn't saved me my copy for some reason, so it only turned up in my haul this week (because it was the second printing of issue 2). This issue sees our six protagonists having their Breakfast Club detention but with discussion about how they got there involving finding out about the some of the weird stuff going on in the school. They are being tested by the teachers, seeing how they work together as a group and how they react to extreme stress – in this case, flooding the classroom with water which doesn't drain away and the windows are unbreakable. And the last page is another visual that makes sure you want to come back for the next issue. I'd still prefer cover artist Esquejo instead of interior artist Eisma, but the latter isn't a bad artist, and Spencer has a good handle on the dialogue and the plotting.

The Unwritten #18
A few pertinent pages of the fourteenth Tommy Taylor novel. Callendar trying to get rid of Mr Pullman. Our Tom Taylor taking acid and communing with his father and his 'sibling'. Finding out that the title of the comic refers to the villains of the piece, rather than to anything else. There's a lot going on in this issue of The Unwritten, after last issue's 'choose your own' story, and I'm not sure I've made all the connections. However, I did enjoy it, so Carey and Gross must be doing something right.

Comics I Bought 8 October 2010

Writing about comics from this month – I am now topical. Not that this is my sole reason for doing this, I hasten to add; it's just nice to current for a change. I've been enjoying it for my Notes On A Film, so I shall enjoy it for comic books as well.

Buffy the Vampire Slayers #37
The end is in sight, as the final storyline of Season Eight draws closer to its conclusion. The appeal for me is in the dialogue from Joss Whedon (although Scott Allie is included as responsible for the script) – the characters sound exactly as they should (I can hear the actors speaking the lines) and the interaction is a bit more zingy. I'm still not sure about the Seed and the new universe thing as the reasons behind everything, but Whedon is complicating things nicely for a typical happy/messy climax; also, unless I'm being optimistic, Georges Jeanty's art is a little sharper this issue, which could be down to Andy Owens' inks.

Chaos War #1
Fred Van Lente and Greg Pak's run on Incredible Hercules has been a lot of fun, in the mix of entertaining superheroics and funny characterisation, so it's nice to see them get the chance at the mini-crossover mini-series. However, based on the first issue, I don't think that the combination of Hercules/Amadeus Cho and 'gather the heroes to fight the threat' works as well as the earlier comics. There is some good stuff in here, in the dialogue, the reaction of heroes when they believe that they have to rely on Herc, the interactions, Herc fighting the All-Fathers, but it seems to lose its sure footing when it comes to the getting the plot going regarding the battle against King Chaos. I don't know if it's the tonal shift between the two main elements of the book or if I can't handle the difference in expectations of a Herc book, but it didn't grab me as much as previous issues. It's not helped by the art; I'm not sure if it's Tom Palmer's inks on Khoi Pham's pencils, but the style is more diffuse and strangely rendered. We'll see how things progress in the second issue.

Liberty Annual 2010
This book is a charity comic for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, so no negativity can be aimed at it; all the contributors gave their time for free and it benefits a good cause. There are lots of pin ups from the likes of Frank Miller, Skottie Young, Amanda Conner and Rob Liefeld (yeah, I know), and longer stories – a Conan story from Darick Robertson, a bizarre Boys story from Garth Ennis, and pages from Scott Morse, Don Simpson and Larry Marder. However, the best thing about the book is the Milk and Cheese story by Evan Dorkin; it's hysterical, it's incredibly violent and it ridicules the CBLDF and comic book fans. Apart from feeling good about buying it, this story alone is reason enough alone to buy the book.

SHIELD #4
Jonathan Hickman is working an interesting game with this series, with lots of intriguing elements, jumping back and forwards in time, setting up long-term plans and character interactions to have results down the line, as well as wonderfully bizarre notions such as the foetus god gestating in the sun and Leonardo Da Vinci becoming the first man in space in 1956. It's a great read, it makes me want to come back for the next issue, it makes me want to read it again to see the connections – this is the sort of response I want to get from a comic book. The story is enhanced by exquisite art from Dustin Weaver, with different art styles for different time periods, great panel design, able to handle people talking but then having changing location to the surface of the sun. Really good stuff.

Comics I Bought 2 October 2010

It's time to return to my thoughts on the new comics I buy on a (hoped for) weekly basis. I'm so close to being up to date, it looks like I'll have no excuse for not talking about comic books bought that week. I'm not sure I how I feel about that … The books that arrived in UK comic shops on 30 September included Atlas #5, but I've already talked about Atlas in a post talking about the whole series, so that leaves one book:

Powers #6
The cover declares 'All New Story!!' and this does feel like Powers starting anew – after a nice visual gag (a splash page of the skyline with a golden statue of a hero turns to the next page where the statue has bird shit all over it), the story follows Walker and Sunrise on a typical Powers homicide, with cop black humour, and then revealing the extent of Sunrise's investigation into whether or not Walker has powers, just before we see Walker in his role as the secret cosmic protector of Earth defeating a many-tentacled beast in the Andes. So far, a typical (good) issue of Powers. It is the next case that proves the starting point for the next story, as Walker and Sunrise are brought into the murder of Damocles, a supposedly immortal hero and 'god' (one of The Golden Ones, a group of 'gods' who only helped when they thought it was worthy of them), only for a great game-changing last page. It made me smile and opens up some interesting avenues of dramatic possibilities. It's the type of thing that makes Powers so enjoyable. I look forward to the next issue.

Proud Of The BBC

After yesterday's moaning about the current state of a BBC television programme, I thought I should be more positive about the BBC. I was thinking about how much the BBC means to me – how much I associate growing up with various things watched on television, or discovering music on BBC Radio London, about the fact that we pay a licence fee to pay for all of the BBC output (from the television channels to the radio channels to the great website and iPlayer) and how the freedom from advertising is so great. I would like to be able to express how much it means to me as an institution that has had such a profound affect on my life, and continues to do so, and how annoyed I feel by the threat against it from the Conservative half of the current coalition government, but I know I don't have the ability to adequately convey the emotions. Fortunately, I don't have to.

Mitch Benn is a musical comedian (he is a regular on The Now Show) who is also a geek – I recall a podcast interview he did with Neil Gaiman, if you want to gauge his level of geekery – and fervent supporter of the BBC. He has written a song – I'm Proud Of The BBC – and will be releasing it as a single due to the massive response he has received when performing it on his recent tour. Here is the video for the song (I hope the embedding works; I've never tried it before), which expresses love of the BBC better than I ever could. Thank you, Mitch.

Old Man Moans About New Film 2010

This is going to sound like an old person complaining about how new stuff is rubbish and old stuff was better, but I hope to make it come across more rational and reasoned than all that. First, I'll talk about my interaction with the old thing before talking about the new thing, because that's what I do on my blog.

I grew up watching Barry Norman (no relation) – as I chatted about before – and it defined the idea of a film review programme to me: an expert in the area, passionate about the field, sharing views on films, with occasional informative chats with film-makers. I never got the same vibe from Jonathan Ross because he was a slave to multiple masters (he had his chat show, so he had to be nice to everyone), so it was more about him than the films. I know it's old-fashioned – intelligent discourse on the subject of interest from people who know what they're doing – but it's what I want from a television programme, especially on BBC1.

I understand that things have to change, and I'm impressed that the BBC decided to do something new with the Film programme. I was surprised at the choice of Claudia Winkleman, but she's an experienced presenter so it makes sense of sorts. It was also sensible to have co-presenter in the form of film journalist Danny Leigh, someone to bounce against instead of the old format. I also don't mind a team of contributors with a different viewpoint, to add some dimension to proceedings. I just didn't expect what we got on Wednesday night.

My girlfriend described it best when she said that it was 'a visual blog' – it was like watching the internet done as a mainstream television programme, and not in a good way. (Zoe Margolis had the other best description: 'They've BBC3-ed it'.) First things first – there is no need for it to be live: the stupid need for 'interactivity' is a ridiculous modern development, reading out people's texts/emails (I don't care what stupid people think about things, thanks very much), and it cheapens the programme. I was cringing with the most exquisite embarrassment when Chris Hewitt was interviewing Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield at the London Film Festival; it was awful and there was no need for it.

An aside: I like Chris Hewitt. I had a week's work experience at Empire magazine in 2003, which was a fantastic time, and Hewitt was there; I remember him doing word-perfect renditions of Father Ted one day and that meant he was good in my books. His support of geeky films in Empire has been good, and his Videoblogisode Man web videos from San Diego Comic Con have been fantastic. I was really happy when I heard he would be contributing; I thought he did a good job, although I didn't think that he needed to be painted as the total geek with the Darth Vader trainers – was it necessary? Anyway, well done on not swearing live on television, Chris (I loved the line from today's Empire newsletter: 'We now know, however, that icing "Don't say fuck" on a cake is an effective means of ensuring that Chris Hewitt doesn't swear on live TV').

Winkleman looked nervous doing the show (as she tweeted before: So I'm not nervous at all then. *vomits into bucket*); I don't know if this was because she couldn't read the autocue because of too much eye make-up (another thing she tweeted about: I have so much eyeliner on I can't open my eyes. SHITTING IT.). She talked a little too fast, which might be her usual style, and 'loved' too many things to compensate for her nervousness, and had a strange habit of not including certain people's first names when describing them ('the Ishiguro novel'). She didn't seem at all comfortable, and she and Leigh didn't really connect. Leigh was fine, sounding like his columns I've read at The Guardian, although he does wave his hands around too much, and the two of them didn't seem to listen to each other when they were making a point about a film, just trying to get out what they had to say.

The real low point was the Top Five section. Not only was this the epitome of the 'visual blog' – Top Fives, or Top Tens, are the staple of the blog world and it is where it should stay because it is cheap and silly – but it was amateur and pointless and stupid. The best thing about it was the fact that it was in voice-over, so you didn't have to see the face of Charlie Lyne – the 'blogger' contributor who doesn't deserve to be on telly (and that's not jealousy; he looks like a school kid on Newsround who's been given a few minutes on screen for no reason). I couldn't believe that I was watching a programme that was on BBC1 in the late evening when I saw his face appear on screen, nor believe the sound of his voice. It was mind-boggling.

I love film and I love good programmes about film; this wasn't one. I wanted to enjoy the new Film 2010, but I didn't. I know that I'm probably not the target audience for the show any more, but it doesn't mean that it can't be enjoyable for everyone. I hope that it was first night wobbles and that it needs time to settle in, but I'm not sure. I felt myself realising how old I was as I watched the show, but that doesn't make my reaction any less valid.

Notes On A Film: Buried

The impressive thing about Buried is that it takes the idea of a 95-minute film about a man buried alive in a shallow coffin and stays true to that concept and makes a completely engaging movie out of it. There is no cutting away to the people outside the coffin – the entire film is about the man in the box and nothing else. It is exciting and tense and compelling, and I think there are three reasons for this.

The first reason is the script: Chris Sparling has written a taut and believable screenplay about a truck driver in Iraq (who is not a soldier) who was in an ambush and then held to ransom (kidnapping being the lucrative market in the region at the time). It keeps the tension up throughout, with new peaks of thrills along the way, and makes you care about what is going on (beyond just the empathy with someone buried alive).

The second reason is the direction from Rodrigo Cortes: keeping viewers enthralled by events on screen that only occur within a small box for 90 minutes is technically impressive. Moving the camera around to enhance the feeling of claustrophobia, seeing the lack of space, with few lights sources to illuminate proceedings, with obvious patches of dark to emphasise the fear. Using a mobile phone and a Zippo lighter, which aren't on all the time, makes it an impressive achievement that you are sometimes only watching a black screen for several stretches of the movie.

The third reason is Ryan Reynolds: as the only actor on screen for the entire length of the movie, he does a great job. He's a charismatic screen presence but he hasn't done many roles that don't rely on his charm, so this is quality stuff. He shows us panic, despair, anger, hope, rage, and the occasional glimpses of the charm, and is thoroughly convincing  - the start of the film, where the loudest sound is his breathing, and his chesty wheeze of panic was scary. It must have been an exhausting role to play, but Reynolds is fantastic throughout.

I wasn't sure I would enjoy this movie because I didn't know if it could sustain its premise for the duration, but it did. The drama is intense, the moments of emotion are heartbreaking, and there are moments of horror that are not about being in the coffin, such as a phone call with someone from the company Reynolds' character works for that made the audience gasp. This is a great idea, done really well, which will leave you impressed by all aspects of the film.

Rating: DAVE

[Explanation of my updated film rating system]

Comics I Bought 23 September 2010 Part 3

The final part of my thoughts on the comic books I bought on 23 September, which contained my haul for the previous three weeks combined. Only two books remain

Books that I bought and that actually came out on 23 September 2010:
Fables #98
In which Red Rose steps up and lays down the law, showing how smart and tough she really is – putting Gepetto in his place, telling his bodyguards where to go (threatened with the dragon fire of the crow, Clara), listening to grievances, handling the religious issue by wearing a Blue scarf but channelling it for something more positive, and showing diplomacy with the selection of her privy council. There are some other good moments, such as Bigby surprising her by telling that he and Snow have got her back, and what looks like an Alan Moore-alike in the form of Thrushbeard. With additional story in the form of the young Totenkinder returning to the Farm to tell everyone that she has a way to destroy the Dark Man, and the usual excellent art from Mark Buckingham, and it's another quality issue of Fables from Bill Willingham.

Fantastic Four #583
In which Valeria learns about the council of Reed Richards and decides to act upon her judgement of the situation: 'What would Uncle Doom do?' It looks like Jonathan Hickman is finally getting round to pulling the trigger on all the things he has set up, so this issue has a certain urgency to it for a change. He also tries unusual things in a regular comic book, having five wordless pages when Valeria goes through The Bridge. He's helped by the ability of new artist Steve Epting – he has been doing good work on Captain America, so it's a little odd to see his style here on the Fantastic Four. I'm not sure if his style is the perfect choice for the book just yet, but he is a good storyteller, setting the scene, showing scope and emotion – the epilogue at the end with the Silver Surfer shows his ability to demonstrate emotion through body posture and a grimace (combined with the single word, 'Unacceptable', it is quite chilling). An intriguing start to a new chapter in the title.

Comics I Bought 23 September 2010 Part 2

Part two of my thoughts on the comics I bought on 23 September, in which I purchased three weeks' worth of comic books. After adding Morning Glories to my pull list at Gosh!, I was expecting to have issue #2 waiting for me because it was supposed to have come out the week before. Alas, this was not to be – for first time I can recall, Gosh! had let me down and not reserved a copy for me. I'm still coming to grips with this fact, because I've never had a problem in all the many, many years of buying from the my favourite comic shop.

Books that I could have bought on 16 September 2010:
Joe The Barbarian #7
'Why aren't we wiping them out? We have superheroes and ninjas and laser guns.' You can't argue with that kind of logic – Joe is leading the heroic band towards Hypogea, which leads to a mighty battle, where Sir Ulrik has been waiting for them ('They have zombies!'). This leads to some spectacular pages from Sean Murphy (the double-page spread that covers the battle scene is particularly impressive, especially because it includes Batman, Superman and Lobo action figures helping Joe). And then things turn for the worse: 'All it takes is one wrong turn', as Joe takes a fall in the basement. I can't wait for the end of the series to see how it all works out.

The Unwritten #17
Confession time – I don't care for 'choose your own adventures' stories. I know this makes me a dinosaur in the current climate, where interactive entertainment is the norm (and supposedly the future), but what I want is for someone with skill and a vision to tell me a story that completely absorbs me in another world. Having to select what happens from options always seemed like a cheat to me, so I never bothered with them. Which made this an unusual comic book for me, as it is presented as 'A Pick-a-Story Book'. I picked the page on the right-hand side, which meant I didn't do it properly, which at least validated my feeling about the idea. It just seems like too much hard work, especially the flipping back and forth between the pages. However, more information is provided for Lizzie and the story moves forward, so it must have achieved something, and it's technically impressive to have worked out the logistics behind the process. But I'll be happy if normal service is resumed next issue.

X-Factor #209
Peter David's recent X-Factor stories have been fun because of the way he keeps shaking things up and using the history of the associated characters. Bringing in Rahne back into the X-Factor fold to cause drama (and humour – everyone thinking that one of Madrox's dupes could be responsible for her current heavily pregnant state), and then bringing in Doctor (former Nurse) Jane Foster to provide a connection to Thor for the current Hela storyline. He seems to be enjoying himself as well, because the jokes are good and zipping throughout the script. I'm happy to see artist Emanuela Lupacchino back again – I really like her style, and she handles the humour well and draws good-looking characters (although the figure-hugging mini-dress Doctor Foster is wearing for the conference she is attending is perhaps an incorrect choice). Good stuff.

Comics I Bought 23 September 2010 Part 1

I'm trying to catch up on my thoughts on my weekly comic book buying – and then I don't buy my comic books for several weeks. For various reasons, I wasn't able to make it to the comic shop to pick up my books (including illness, as I mentioned). When I finally made it, it was to pick up three weeks of comic books. Normally, I would just do a large post containing thoughts on all the books, but I decided to do it differently this time. It is my blog – I can do what I want, you know. So, the large purchase will be split into its chronological components.

Books that came out on 9 September 2010:

Batman and Robin #14
Yes, there was only one comic book that came out in the first week that I didn't get round to purchasing. But at least it was a good one. Grant Morrison makes things worse for Dick Grayson, as Damian lets his anger get the better of himself at the Joker and the Joker shows why he is the Joker, Commissioner Gordon is in trouble, and Professor Pyg and the Black Glove are up to something. The real charm to this book is the art: Frazer Irving does a great job here – it's moody, scary, intense, well designed, powerful, creepy (he does a great Joker). I love the painted feel, the strong line for the outlines of characters, the different colours for different scenes – when DC get artists who don't adhere to the house style, they do get some great artists, and they usually end up working with Morrison.

Book: JPod

By Douglas Coupland

I'm not a big fan of Coupland (I've read Microserfs, but can't actually remember it) but my girlfriend likes his stuff, and we had this in the house but I hadn't read it, so it joined the list of books to be read (we are in a recession, after all). JPod is about Ethan and his five co-workers in a collection of cubicles called JPod in a big game-design company in Vancouver, where they do some work but not a lot, as well as Ethan's parents and the people who enter their lives.

I would go into more details about the plot but I don't think it's important because I don't think that Coupland thinks it's important. The story lurches from one quirky random incident to the next, not out of organic cohesion but because something kooky has to happen next in the story. Ethan's mother grows marijuana, his dad is retired but is trying to work up to a speaking part via roles as an extra, his brother is a realtor who works with a Chinese businessman who smuggles people (among many other things), the head of JPod's team ends up being deliberately hooked on heroin and sent to a Chinese factory to work. Douglas Coupland is a character in the book, meeting Ethan and acquiring his laptop, which he uses as the basis for this book, after he has been referenced by the characters several times, and he ends up stealing the rest of Ethan's co-workers for his new venture. It all seems so random for the sake of being random – it gets quite tiresome after a while.

The one thing I will give Coupland is his ability to write interesting and funny dialogue – it sounds fresh and real, and I found the book enjoyable when it was just the characters (particularly JPod people) chatting about life and things they find on the internet. However, these sections are rare because, apart from the deliberately quirky incidents that pepper the story, the book is constantly interrupted by digressions. Pages with a few words in large type, stream of consciousness nonsense in smaller type, a couple of pages of the dollar symbol, a page of the phrase 'ramen noodles' repeated throughout, pages with a single Chinese character and its translation, notes on passwords, a page with the words 'Intentionally blank' on it and nothing else. There are sections that are part of the story – the JPod workers' joke ebay listings, the English assignments of one of the workers, the joke letters to Ronald MacDonald, all the three-letter words accepted by Scrabble. The worst are the two sections that are the list of prime numbers that have been written by one of the JPod characters for the purpose of a contest: two 30-page sections that are just lists of numbers. It's at this stage you think that Coupland is just taking the piss, having fun with his readers as he plays with the notion of what a book can be.

I don't know if this is a Coupland version of a Tristram Shandy-style novel, albeit in his own world, or if he doesn't care about what he writes, or if I'm just missing the joke. Apart from some humour in some of the dialogue, I found this a highly frustrating read; it almost made me glad that about there was a third-less story because of all the superfluous nonsense, such as pi to 100,000 digits – at least the book was over quicker. I don't think I'll be reading Coupland any more ...

From A Library – Batman: The Cat And The Bat

Batman Confidential #17–21 by Fabian Nicieza and Kevin Maguire

I was tempted to label the writer as 'Author Not Important', which is not a slight on Nicieza's abilities but because the reason to read this book is the wonderful art of Kevin Maguire. His rendering – detailed but with strong clear lines – has always been a delight and his abilities have only got stronger, staying in the same style because it works so well. This isn't to say he's stagnated but he hasn't experimented unnecessarily with a winning formula.

The plot is quite straightforward – this is the story of the Barbara Gordon Batgirl with Catwoman: Batgirl has borrowed her father's notebook, which has been stolen by Catwoman, and Batgirl has to get it back (her father is Commissioner Gordon, and the notebook contains cryptic notes on all his police work). First one has the notebook, then the other, as they chase each other across Gotham. The most notorious incident is in the third issue, when Batgirl has to follow Catwoman into The Gotham City Hedonist Society – which has a strict policy of 'No Attire', meaning lots of suitably placed obstacles (limbs, bags, a bowl of fruit) to keep this a family book.

Nicieza does a professional job, although the narration from the two lead characters does get a little twee at times (and Batgirl's is done in a font that makes it look like it's written in a diary, which seems an odd choice), but it is all about Maguire's art. He is know for his facial expressions, which sell the comedy of the situations brilliantly, but he also draws beautiful and curvy women, which means a five-issue story about Batgirl and Catwoman fighting each other is a perfect vehicle for his talents.

Splash pages, double-page spreads, multi-panelled pages, dynamic action sequences, sexy ladies, the expressive faces (the characters display the emotions they are feeling, rather than just clenched teeth or smiles – it's quite a talent, and something that's not done enough), the humour; Maguire does it all with skill and exuberance and love of his job. His Batman is suitably dour and, in the fifth issue where Batgirl has to go into Arkham Asylum (which is perhaps where Nicieza takes it too far), he does a wonderfully creepy and maniacal Joker – and all you can see of him are his eyes through the cell door.

I will never tire of Maguire's art – he is on my list of Comic Book Artists to write about in my themed blog topic – because he makes every book he draws so much better. From his great work on the Justice League with Keith Giffen and JM DeMatteis, to the Defenders mini-series, to his own work Strikeback! and Trinity Angels, his art never falters in quality and makes you happy just looking at it. I wish he was more prolific, but perhaps that is the balance – he does the work he enjoys at his pace, which means he only produces brilliance when we see it. I know that was the case here. No offence to Nicieza, but Maguire is why you will read this book.

Equilibrium: A Film I Can Keep Watching

Equilibrium, the 2002 film written and directed by Kurt Wimmer, is not a classic film or a great film but I enjoy its silliness so much, I don't care. It's a film that has gained a following via DVD – it even has a fansite, www.equilibriumfans.com – and it's one of those films that, if it turns up unexpectedly when channel-hopping, I will watch it even though I have it on DVD.

The film is extremely derivative – The Matrix looms large over the film (the black clothes and martial art sequences); it steals liberally from 1984 and Brave New World (a world where everyone is watched by the state, and take a drug called Prozium to keep emotions under control); there is Fahrenheit 451 (art is banned because it excites people) and Metropolis (for the visual feel); and these are just the obvious things that even I can pick up on. However, homage/theft is nothing new in cinema (paging Mr Tarantino), and interesting new things can arise.

The novel thing in Equilibrium is Gun Kata, the wonderfully ridiculous martial art that is supposedly based on the analysis of gun fights, where the practitioner can move fluidly from one position to the next where they statistically will be out of the line of fire. It is absolutely ludicrous but also strangely cool at the same time – seeing our hero, John Preston (Christian Bale in full action hero mode), shooting lots of people dead in the dark, his gun glowing afterwards, is a very cinematic joy. The action scenes are over the top, yet controlled and filmed well, and look good.

A quick word about the plot – some time in the future, the city-state of Libria is controlled by Father (Sean Pertwee) via the Council and the Grammaton Clerics, the elite of the police force who are trained in the art of Gun Kata, who pursue 'sense offenders', people who don't take their Prozium and feel emotions again. Preston's Cleric partner (Sean Bean) becomes one and Bale has to kill him. However, due to breaking his Prozium vial, he misses his medication and this leads to him feeling emotions again, which leads to problems doing his job (such as not being able to see a puppy executed, which is a really funny scene in the middle of this grimness and gun fights). He finds his way to the Underground, who are ready to destroy the system if Father could be killed, and things head towards the obviously violent climax.

Some weird things about the film: the presence of so many British actors in the film. Even though Bale is doing his baseline American accent, the others speak in their native accents: Bean in practically a cameo; Pertwee as the Father character, always on TV screens in the background; Angus Macfadyen as Dupont (the Vice-Consel of the Council); David Hemmings as Proctor (another cameo); Brian Conley as a reading room proprietor (a man British audiences are used to seeing on his own entertainment television programme in the 1980s); and Emily Watson in a small role as a sense offender with whom Bale develops a connection (reuniting with him after Metroland). There are a couple of Americans – Taye Diggs plays the over-ambitious Cleric trying to bring down Bale (for someone who is supposed to be controlling his emotions, he gets angry easy and smiles a lot in the film), and Michael Fichtner is the head of the underground, doing his thing where he appears in small roles in films (including another Wimmer film, Ultraviolet, later on) – but it has a European feel to it, helped as it is by fact that it was mostly filmed in Berlin. I always thought it odd for such an action film, but that could be me.

It's the action scenes which really sell the film and I can watch them endlessly. Bale is a good action actor, and he helps to sell them with his intensity – whether fighting policemen at night when he tries to set free the puppy he saved, or smashing helmeted police goons with the butt of his pistol, or fighting the police in the halls of the Vice-Counsel (looking particularly cool in his white suit), or the piece de resistance: the sword fight between Bale and Diggs. It's only a quick fight, but Digg's face sliding off after Bale has sliced it in one strike is hysterically brilliant. It's icing on the cake when it comes to the enjoyable nonsense that is Equilibrium.

Comics I Bought 3 September 2010

Back to the weekly comic book purchases. Three comic books that came out on time, and a second printing of a book that came out in early August – I mistakenly thought that I would be able to pick up a copy of the first printing from Gosh! or another central London comic book shop, but it seems it was as under-ordered as reports had suggested. On to my thoughts.

Astro City: Silver Agent #2
The first thing that struck me about this book was the cover: particularly, what looks like a double space between the words 'eternal' and 'shame' on the plaque beneath the status of the Silver Agent. It seems an odd thing to notice, but that's what my day job has done to me. Anyway, that's got nothing to do with the story, which brings the adventures of Alan Craig, Silver Agent, full circle – at least, I think that is what is implied by the final page. When I read it first time, I didn't think it added much to the Silver Agent story, but reading it again brought out an emotional resonance I missed the first time, as Craig starts to understand what is being asked of him by his 43rd-century rescuers and his resolution at the moment of his execution. Kurt Busiek made me realise again why I read Astro City.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #36
'Hey! Balls!' and 'How d'ya like me know, y'wankers!?!' – the dialogue alone is an indicator that Joss Whedon is back writing Buffy again for the season finale; there are some small scenes from 'some time ago' about Angel and Spike, and Spike provides transport for our band of heroes (and what the hell is up with having a spaceship driven by giant bugs?). The 'Seed of Wonder' sounds very stupid indeed, but the reveal on the last page more than makes up for it. I want to see how this all ends, but I'm still not sure if I'll keep reading the individual issues of the next 'season'.

Morning Glories #1
I wasn't sufficiently sure about Morning Glories when I first read about it to preorder it (perhaps because I hadn't read anything by the authors before), but I was intrigued enough when I read an interview about it and saw a preview to give it a try – I enjoy stories about superpowered individuals in a non-spandex setting, so this seemed to be appropriate for me. Morning Glories is about Morning Glory Academy, one of the most respected preparatory academies in the US. The story introduces us to six new brilliant entrants – Casey, Zoe, Jade, Hunter, Ike and Jun – who discover that they all have the same birthday on the day they arrive. Earlier the same day, there was an incident at the school with some other students that shows that the school is up to something sinister and controlling. And so the story is set for mystery, intrigue and conspiracy. Nick Spencer does a very good job of introducing his new characters as well as providing enough hooks to keep you wanting to come back for more. Joe Eisma does a good job on art (although I would have preferred the more exquisite stylings of cover artist Rodin Esquejo) with a straightforward storytelling technique and a clear slightly angular style that is appealing. I'll be back for the next issue – how can you not want to read a series with a title that is slang for erections?

Stumptown #4
It may have taken a long time for this issue to arrive but it was worth the wait – Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth do a great job on the finale of the first storyline of our heroine, Dex Parios. Rucka has created a fascinating central character and has put her through a well-plotted crime tale, with genuine threat, real violence and a satisfying resolution. I really like the character of Dex, who is both intelligent and street-smart but being a bit of a mess at the same time. Southworth provides the perfectly suited atmospheric art for the book, although the climactic scene set at night doesn't quite work out as well as the rest of the scenes. I look forward to seeing further stories of Dex Parios.

Notes On A Film: The Town

The Town is an emotional drama with three action-packed heist scenes; it stars and is directed by Ben Affleck; and it is very good. This is an unusual thing to be writing, but it is also true. I have always liked Affleck since Chasing Amy/Good Will Hunting, even through the bad times, so I was glad when he had a bit of a revival, starting with Hollywoodland (which I only saw recently, but he was really good in it), then moving into directing with Gone Baby Gone, but still acting in the likes of State Of Play. He continues this positive run with a good turn as the central character in The Town and handling the direction with equal skill.

Affleck is Doug, a second-generation criminal, who robs banks with this old friends from the neighbourhood, including Jem (a wonderfully volatile and electrifying Jeremy Renner), whose violence and unpredictability are a worry for Doug but he owes Jem – the film starts with a set piece where they rob a bank in a very controlled manner, with some nice touches such as microwaving the security footage on computer disk and collecting people's phones in a bowl and covering them with bleach. However, a silent alarm is tripped and the police are on the way, so they take a hostage, Claire (an excellent Rebecca Hall), just in case. When they discover she is lives in the same area (Charlestown), although she is not a Townie like they are, Doug has to scope her out to make sure she doesn't know anything that will connect them to the robbery. In doing so, he falls into a relationship with her that causes him to re-evaluate what he wants with his life. But it's not so easy to get out of the robbery business, especially when he's so good.

The film is a good mix of character drama and crime film – the three heists, the final one stealing from Fenway Park, the 'Cathedral of Boston', are well filmed and exciting, but the relationship between Doug and Claire develops slowly and movingly, taking time to make it believable. There is also the volatile relationship between Doug and Jem, the fractured relationship between Doug and his father in jail (Chris Cooper in a cameo scene), Doug's former girlfriend (who has a daughter that might be Doug's), and the local godfather of crime (Pete Postelthwaite, doing a very strange accent). Also in the mix is the FBI agent (played by John Hamm) who is leading the team charged with finding the bank robbers – it is here that the film plays closest to Heat: Affleck and Hamm outstubbling each other in the role of thief and cop, even having a similar single face-off scene together; the action scenes are very reminiscent of those in Heat, with the same intensity and noise levels, although Affleck brings things closer to the action, such as being in the front seat of the cars being chased by cops in the second set piece, driving in the very narrow back streets of Charlestown.

Affleck does a good job of directing – there is an element of the actor being good with actors, as all the main characters are excellent in their roles, particularly Hall doing a very good American accent, but he also handles the visuals well, with hand-held camera work to provide an edgy feel but not sacrificing telling a good story with flashy gimmicks. I was impressed with his confidence behind the camera, as well as also playing the lead role; there is a passion for Boston that infuses the film, which brings an extra element to the mix. Admittedly, he has given himself a good role – the intelligent criminal who doesn't want to hurt people, with a tortured past (his mother left when he was 6 years old, although we find out the more horrible truth later; his father went to jail when he was relatively young; he was drafted to play hockey but blew his chances at achieving success) – but the film is adapted from a novel (Prince Of Thieves), so the romantic nature of the character probably came from that. It doesn't hide the fact that The Town is a really good film, with good acting, good directing and a good story, and that Affleck has a good career ahead of him as a director.

Rating: DAVE

[Explanation of my updated film rating system]

Comic Books: Thoughts On Greg Rucka's Checkmate

I'm not a big DC person, so I didn't pick up the Checkmate series when it first came out. However, after reading the first trade (via the library), I knew I'd have to pick up the rest of the comics at some point because it was so good. Therefore, I was very happy and lucky to pick up the four Checkmate trades for half price from Gosh!, which got me nearly all of the Rucka-written issues (issues #23–25 haven't been collected, and the series continued with Bruce Jones writing it before it was cancelled).

Checkmate: Pawn Breaks contains issues 8–12, written by Greg Rucka (with Nunzio Defilipis and Christina Weir on issues 11 and 12) and art by Jesus Saiz and Steve Scott/Cliff Richards. The first story concerns Checkmate's attempt to get an undercover agent, Pawn 502, into the Kobra organisation, something never achieved due to the magical nature of the induction ceremony. This means that Checkmate has to deputise Shadowpact to help them achieve their goal. There is also the appointment of the new Black Bisop and the suspicion that Amanda Waller is using Checkmate for her own agenda, something that comes into the second story collected, as Beatriz Da Costa (previously known as the superhero Fire of the Justice League) destroys evidence of election tampering in a South American country (where Bane is the good guy) due to the secret history of her father. It is an emotional tale, involving two different members of Checkmate trying to console issues involving their fathers, which is impressive for a comic book set in the world of peacekeeping a world involving supervillains.

Outsiders/Checkmate: Checkout covers the crossover with the Outsiders (issues 47–49) and issues 13–16 of Checkmate; it's such a coordinated crossover that Rucka and Judd Winick are listed as writers for all issues. The story involves Checkmate capturing the members of the Outsiders due to what had been happening in their recent stories, but it's just a ruse to get them to atone for their recent history by doing a job on Oolong Island, which is home to supervillains, with the aid of some of Checkmate, including Sasha Bordeaux (current Black Queen, but also former bodyguard and friend to Bruce Wayne/Batman). However, things don't run completely to plan, with Nightwing and Sasha getting captured, and Sasha being tortured by Chang Tzu (the giant egg), which leads to Batman getting involved. There is still time for political intrigue and internal politics of Checkmate, as Waller is running another game behind the scenes, and Mister Terrific (Checkmate's White King) knows something. It's more superhero-based than the rest of the Checkmate series – art is handled by Joe Bennett and Matthew Clark, providing a more traditional DC spandex approach – but there's still time for good characterisation, such as the discussions between Sasha and Nightwing.

The final trade, Checkmate: Fall of the Wall, collects Checkmate #16–22, which is mostly written by Rucka (and some issues with Eric S. Trautmann), with art by Joe Bennett, Joe Prado and Chris Samnee. The story continues, and there are some nice story bits (Sasha sees Mr Terrific as beautiful because the OMAC nanobots can't see him – part of Terrific's powers – so she doesn't have visual analysis of him as with everyone else; Bea [former JL member Fire] is reunited with Tora [former JL member Ice, who I thought was dead] are reunited) in the first chapter about Sasha and Mr Terrific. The second issue is about Carl Draper, former supervillain (sometimes known as Master Jailer or Deathtrap), who is now Pawn 111 in Checkmate but is in the process of becoming Castellan, the call-sign for the castle's head of physical security. His security methods are tested by a variety of different hostiles, including Mawzir (who I haven't seen since Hitman), and is a nice behind-the-scenes story about Checkmate.

The next issues are Fall of the Wall, which is a great tale of intrigue, double-dealing and politics, and incorporates Deadshot, the Martian Manhunter, the August General In Iron (of the Great Ten, the Chinese superheroes created by Grant Morrison in 52) becoming Black Knight's Bishop, a reveal about Jessica Midnight (the Black Queen's Bishop), and Amanda 'The Wall' Waller trying to blackmail Sasha, Mr Terrific and Khalid (the Black King). The title of the story gives away the ending – Waller was played by our heroes, uncovering the presence of nanites in her blood, forcing her to resign. It is a taut little thriller, with a satisfying conclusion.

The collection is filled out with two issues called La Vie En Sang, about the history of Mademoiselle Marie – the codename awarded to agents of the French Intelligence Agency – the latest of whom (Josephine Tautin) is now Black Queen's Knight. A quick look at Wikipedia informs me that Mademoiselle Marie was originally introduced in an old DC war comic in 1959, and the name has been retconned to have existed before the second World War. This is a nice touch and the story tells the history in an engaging fashion before showing Tautin's first mission.

I'm glad I picked these up because they are really enjoyable books integrating espionage and politics successfully into the DC universe of superheroes. Rucka (and his co-writers) do a great job of telling stories that inherently deal with subterfuge and not revealing all of the details but keeping it clear so that the reader can still understand the story. The mix of conversation scenes and action is balanced well, and even though there are lots of characters, they are clearly delineated and interesting in their own right. These books make a great addition to my collection.

Comic Book Artist: Jim Lee

I don't know if it's just my personal experience, or if it's due to the fact that I grew up reading the X-Men, but Jim Lee is one of the defining superhero artists in comic books. His style instigated a host of imitators because it was the apotheosis of the slick and muscular mainstream comic book art of the 1990s. I haven't done one of these in a while, so I thought I would start again with one of my favourite artists.


Although born in South Korea, Jim Lee grew up in America, where he got a degree in psychology with the intention of becoming a medical doctor. However, he decided he wanted to be a comic book artist – an obvious decision – and that is exactly what he became. After working on Alpha Flight and Punisher: War Journal, it was his run on Uncanny X-Men with Chris Claremont that made his name and helped to change the face of comic books.


After having the best-selling comic book of all time with X-Men #1 (it was a shame that things worked out badly with Claremont being ditched in favour of the artist as the main creative force), Lee was one of the original founders of Image Comics in 1992, with WildC.A.T.s, as well as having a hand in Stormwatch, Deathblow and Gen 13. However, he returned to Marvel to work on the Heroes Reborn project, working on Iron Man and Fantastic Four, before taking over from Rob Liefeld on Captain America and The Avengers. He didn't forget his company, Wildstorms Publication (including the Homage and Cliffhanger imprints, which produced many a great comic book), and even wrote and drew his own series, Divine Right.


In 1998, he sold Wildstorm to DC so he could concentrate on drawing again, where he would draw year-long runs on Batman (the Hush storyline) and Superman (with Brian Azzarello), and is 'currently' drawing All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder, although this might be tough now he is Co-Publisher (with Dan DiDio) of DC Comics. He is also an in-demand cover artist, providing variant covers and for trades. His highly rendered, strong-jawed, beautiful people look exactly how heroes should look – his dynamic interiors are exciting and well designed, and his ability to create new designs for characters is perfect for the mainstream comic book – and his covers show an excellent illustrator's eye. New Jim Lee art is always a good thing.


Jim posts sketches and finished art on the gelatometti blog and is a regular on Twitter. There are various places to see more of his art, such as the Comic Art Community and deviantART, but I hope there will be more Jim Lee art to come.

Comic Books: Thoughts On Agents of Atlas

I've been mentioning that I would talk about Agents of Atlas, which became Atlas, which has now ended after five issues and a convoluted publishing history, so I thought I'd get round to it now after that final issue came out. I first discovered the enjoyment for myself when I read the trade paperback of the mini-series (and named it one of my favourite books that I read that year); however, I didn't buy the new series because I thought it was going to be a $3.99 series – I didn't realise that it was only the first issue at that price. Yes, I am an idiot, yes, I regret my stupidity. Fortunately, I was able to pick up nearly all the issues of the ongoing series at a closing down sale of a comic book shop, so that I could buy the crossover mini-series and then Atlas when they came out.

Agents of Atlas was one of several new ongoing series that sprung out of Dark Reign. Under a lovely cover from Art Adams, Jeff Parker and Carlo Pagulayan carry on with the story of our heroes: Jimmy Woo, Ken Hale aka Gorilla Man, Namora, Venus, Bob Grayson alias Marvel Boy/The Uranian, and M-11 the Human Robot (after the briefest and best introductory page ever). Jimmy Woo is the new ruler of the Atlas Foundation, an evil organisation, but he is pretending to be the bad guy so that he can use it as a force for good, which means that they come into conflict with Norman Osborn in his new role as head of HAMMER. This allows for a dialogue where Osborn tells us all about our protagonists (for readers who are unaware), very important for a first issue. After the first issue, which has a back-up story involving the agents and Wolverine, the next few issues have two stories occurring simultaneously, one in the present illustrated by Pagulayan (and some issues by Clayton Henry) and one in the past illustrated by Gabriel Hardman, which obviously are connected. There are appearances from the New Avengers and the Hulk, but Parker is interested in developing the specific story of the Atlas Empire – the Dragon Corridors, the talking dragon Lao (who is advisor to the head of the Atlas Foundation but who has secret plans of his own), the nomination of Temugin (son of the Mandarin) as the second in command of Atlas by Lao and who becomes part of the team, and Jade Claw (Jimmy's former girlfriend and now head of the Great Wall) attacking the Atlas Foundation.

The series ended with issue 11, but continued in X-Men Vs Agents of Atlas, a two-issue limited series where our team infiltrate the X-Men's home to access Cerebra to locate Venus, who is missing – there is fighting, naturally, both at the X-Men's home and in the secret city home of the Atlas Empire, before Namor brings things to a conclusion because he is friends to both teams. And, of course, the agents had met the old X-Men, because it wouldn't be an Atlas story without some flashbacks. The Agents of Atlas locate Venus, who has been kidnapped by the actual goddess Aphrodite for stealing her name, impersonating her and taking away her worshippers.

Then, the story of Atlas continues as a back-up strip itself in the pages of The Incredible Hercules, in the Assault on New Olympus storyline (the special and issues 138–141), which sees the team meeting the actual Aphrodite and Venus being crowned the actual Goddess of Love (she was a siren), in a story illustrated by Hardman that connects with the Hercules story. After this, the Agents of Atlas were back in a four-issue mini-series with the Avengers, Avengers Vs Atlas, illustrated by Hardman again (although with various artists on back-up stories), where Atlas meet the original Avengers due to temporal anomalies, thus having the flashbacks as part of the present storyline, which is a nice touch.

After these mini-series and being a back-up strip, Parker was given another chance at an ongoing series, as part of The Heroic Age, simply called Atlas. With Hardman as artist of the main story (there are back-ups as per usual, with another artist), this sees the introduction of 3-D Man (Delroy Garrett Jr) becoming part of Atlas – the original 3-D Man was a member of the team from the original What If story. But the ongoing series didn't last, although it was Parker who decided to pull the plug – he had kept producing quality comics but the comic-buying public didn't see it that way, and he figured it was time to stop. I guess there's only so much rejection a man can take, and Marvel had been more than supportive in helping this little book try to achieve something, including three-issue mini-series devoted to Bob and Ken.

This was a shame because Parker was doing lovely work – he had a wonderful cast of interesting characters, including a man who had become a gorilla, a killer robot who was reformed (and didn't even speak), a telepathic Uranian, an Atlantean with grief issues, a former siren with the control over people; he had original stories with a connection to old comics that it enjoyed linking; he had a lovely way with dialogue and funny lines, Ken in particular; he had great artists (Pagulayan started things with a lovely style, reminding me of Gene Ha, followed by Hardman, who developed into a strong style that reminded me of Michael Lark) and some great covers – see some of them dotted in this post; and he had a great way with storylines that were enjoyable without being excessively angsty or too dependent on current Marvel crossovers, which had good guys doing good things and which were simply fun to read. It would seem that's a basic thing to do in comic books, but it's a lot harder to do than you'd think, and I'll miss the adventures of Jimmy and Ken and Bob and Namora and Venus and M-11. I'm sure they'll pop up in the Marvel universe at some point – they were characters who are too good not to use again.

Why I Never Did Stand-up Comedy

In my youth, I consumed vast amounts of stand-up comedy – I was a teenager when alternative comedy started and the comedy club boom hit the UK. The only side effect that came with watching hours of (mostly) men delivering routines, either on tape or live in clubs, was the bizarre feeling that I thought I could do comedy. I was never afraid to do readings in church, or stand in front of a crowd of people to make announcements, and I mistakenly thought I was rather funny in my salad days (I wrote some stuff that was produced in my post-graduate days). This fatal combination made me think I could find some open spots and deliver my hilarious observations to an audience who would recognise my talent. Fortunately, this never happened, but I did write down some of the material, which I now share with you in an act of honesty and embarrassment (and because I haven't written anything else for tonight). You have been warned.

I really hate Julia Roberts. Remember in ‘Hook’ where she said that a fairy dies when you say ‘I don’t believe in fairies'? Well, I recorded that phrase onto CD, put it on auto-repeat and went to the Alps to play it for the echo to reverberate it forever, just so I could make sure that I got rid of all fairies if it meant that Julia Roberts would die. Julia bloody Roberts. One film and a career is made. A woman with a smile so wide you could mistake it for a grand piano. Fucking Pretty Woman my arse. What a shit film. Richard Gere falls in love with a prostitute. Like that’s going to happen. Most guys, myself included, are fairly insecure, and have nagging doubts about the proficiency of ones sexual technique, especially comparing oneself with the woman's previous lovers. How is that for someone who falls in love with a prostitute? Blokes have little black books, she's got the Yellow Pages. “How was that, honey?” “Well, you were better than the CEO but not as good as the senator.” I wouldn’t mind if she was famous for something she did, but the thing is, that scene people remember, with her naked and the long legs, IT WASN’T HER. It was a bloody body double, for fuck’s sake.

I have a theory about God. In the Old Testament, he was all blood and thunder and death and shit. In the New Testament, he is all love and peace and kingdom of heaven. What happened to all that fire and brimstone stuff? When did we last have a good plague of frogs or slaying of the first born? I think that God is undergoing post-coital bliss. He is Jesus’ father, so he must have had sex, so he must have orgasmed. I know I am very happy and tired after I have climaxed, so what’s it going to be like for the omnipotent creator of the universe? Especially with the tricky ‘god-in-man, divine human’ stuff he had to get into Jesus. He was so shattered after the whole creating the world malarkey he needed a day of rest, so he is going to be even more tired after creating a new life form that is part mortal, part god. I mean, he was so tired after the six days of creation, he didn’t even notice the serpent tempting Eve with the apple and fucking everything up. Which is why I think he fucked over women and gave them periods and piles and pregnancy and backache and varicose veins and emotions. What a dick. Anyway, after being celibate for so long, God gets his rocks off (unlike all the Greek gods who were shagging left, right and centre) and he has been out of it for the last two thousand years, which is why things have been so shit since.

From A Library: Fallen Angel Omnibus

Fallen Angel #1–21 by Peter David and various artists

I don't know why my local library would have a 466-page brick of independent comic books, but I had to borrow it when I saw it sitting there on the shelf. At the very least it will let them know there are people who read more than superheroes in the graphic novels section.

Fallen Angel is a curious case in comic books – it was created by Peter David and David Lopez for DC, a book that was neither Vertigo nor DC universe but somewhere in between. It lasted for 20 issues before it was cancelled due to low sales, and IDW picked it up to continue the series. There was supposedly a connection with Peter David's Supergirl series (the Linda Lee Danvers version), but it was never confirmed (although David would later suggest that there was a link later in the IDW series). This omnibus contains the five-issue mini-series that IDW launched and the ongoing series that was continued due to sufficiently high sales.

The first five issues set up everything you need to know if, like me, you haven't read any of the DC series, and explains the origin of the Fallen Angel: Lilandra, who prefers to be called Lee, was a guardian angel who was stripped of her title when she avenged the death of the charge who had developed the ability to see her. She wouldn't be allowed in Hell, so she was sent to earth (on which she cannot stand, so she hovers above the ground) and ended up in Bete Noire, 'the city that shapes the world', a place riddled with corruption and where she is the only power for justice (she has some superhuman powers, such as strength and ability to project mystical energy from her eyes). The first five issues also set up the main characters of the city: it is run by The Magistrate (Doctor Juris), who can't be harmed but can't leave the city; there is Black Mariah, who gathers information for the Magistrate, but she has the power to suck the life out of someone she touches; there is the Shadow Boxer, who is the main enforcer for the Magistrate; there is Slate, chief examiner of the city; Asia Minor, a drug lord who lives in a graveyard; and Dolf, the owner of Furor's, the bar where Lee lives and where neutrality exists. The other main character is Jude, Lee's son with the Magistrate, who had been a priest but lets himself be tricked into becoming the new Magistrate. There is also the mythology – God doesn't care about existence, wishes that humanity would stop praying to him (which is why he keeps on raining down disasters, including global warming), so he can rest in peace after all his hard work. That's very Garth Ennis for a Peter David comic.

After these five issues, the stories continue in various directions, including Lee's adventures outside Bete Noire, Jude learning about the curse of being the Magistrate (being able to hear all the individual suffering), Lee's predecessor as the source of justice in Bete Noire (a woman called Lin, who Peter David basically admits to being his Supergirl character), the integration of Sach and Violens – characters created by David and George Perez for Marvel's Epic Comics imprint – into the storyline, and even a few issues where Billy Tucci's Shi plays a role. The series is definitely more mature (in the sense of containing nudity, sex and swearing) than the majority of David's output, but it is all the better for it – he can put the series in the noir setting and see it all the way through rather than having to hold back for a family audience. There is also David's trademark humour (Lee gets most of the best lines), which works just as well in a coarser setting, and his impressive ability to keep his storylines going in whatever series he is working on, without worrying about writing for the trade.

The other aspect is the art. The first five issues are painted art by new-to-me JK Woodward, and it is quite beautiful. It is moody and atmospheric but also exquisite and dynamic. It is really quite lovely and Woodward is quite a find; however, it makes the art in the rest of the series suffer by comparison, which is particularly weird when Woodward provides pencil and ink art for the next nine issues. His art is still solid but it lacks the special quality present in the painted work of the first five issues, which I wish had been used for the entire series (even though that is completely non-viable for an ongoing series, especially for a publisher like IDW).

Despite the poor binding of the book, which means that some pages are falling out, the omnibus is an impressive package. It was enjoyable to read a massive chunk of comics, as Peter David told his stories in an entertaining manner. However, it didn't cause the spark necessary for me to want to buy the trades to see how the story continues. There is nothing wrong with Fallen Angel, but it never crossed over into 'I must read this' territory – I had put the book down beside my bed some time during reading it and then some other books were accidentally piled on top, and I didn't remember it until a while later, which is perhaps an indication of how much it had connected.