Rob Helmerichs
06-05-2006, 04:10 AM
Book of the Week: DMZ Vol. 1: On the Ground. I admit it, I'm a Brian Wood whore. But since he insists on continuing to turn out an endless succession of top-notch material, I can wear the badge proudly. This one is about a vague future in which a war has divided the US, and Manhattan has become a no-man's land. Our hero, Matty Roth, is a photographer who gets sent in with a news crew, and quickly finds himself alone in a very alien society. Both the underground society of Manhattan and Matty's attempts to survive there and fit in are fascinating. This has the potential to be Vertigo's next magnificent long-term story, in the wake of Sandman, Preacher, Lucifer, Fables, Y: The Last Man, and 100 Bullets. It has already shown itself to be worthy of that august company. Vertigo continues, year in year out, to quietly put out some of the best books in the business.
Old Book of the Week: Stagger Lee. For the Old BotW, I reach back through the mists of time to the bygone days of last week. In my defense, when I heard about this book I had no clue how good it was going to be. Maybe it's my training as a conceptual historian, but this blend of history, fiction, and mythography blew me away. The book juggles its components into a cohesive and powerful narrative that simultaneously sheds light on an American folk legend and how that legend came to be, while also telling a moving story with a fascinating protagonist who quietly slips in from left field to take over the book. And it's topped off with a bibliography and historical notes. This is simply a wonderful book
Also of note this week: Power Girl collects the surprisingly good recent miniseries which tries to make sense of her convoluted history, aided by the reliably fun Amanda Conner, and adding the classic original stories by Joe Staton; DC puts out two big, fat Superman collections: the Doomsday Omnibus, and Our Worlds at War Complete Edition; FF/Iron Man: Big in Japan is sadly the last work by Seth Fisher, and while I don’t think it’s his best work, it’s still Seth Fisher and thus very worthy; Spider-Girl, the Little Book that Could, continues the digest reprints of its old-school stories with Vol. 6: Too Many Spiders!
Old Book of the Week: Stagger Lee. For the Old BotW, I reach back through the mists of time to the bygone days of last week. In my defense, when I heard about this book I had no clue how good it was going to be. Maybe it's my training as a conceptual historian, but this blend of history, fiction, and mythography blew me away. The book juggles its components into a cohesive and powerful narrative that simultaneously sheds light on an American folk legend and how that legend came to be, while also telling a moving story with a fascinating protagonist who quietly slips in from left field to take over the book. And it's topped off with a bibliography and historical notes. This is simply a wonderful book
Also of note this week: Power Girl collects the surprisingly good recent miniseries which tries to make sense of her convoluted history, aided by the reliably fun Amanda Conner, and adding the classic original stories by Joe Staton; DC puts out two big, fat Superman collections: the Doomsday Omnibus, and Our Worlds at War Complete Edition; FF/Iron Man: Big in Japan is sadly the last work by Seth Fisher, and while I don’t think it’s his best work, it’s still Seth Fisher and thus very worthy; Spider-Girl, the Little Book that Could, continues the digest reprints of its old-school stories with Vol. 6: Too Many Spiders!