Comic Book Reviews - Y:The Last Man, The Surrogates, Astro City, The Authority Vol. 1

I have been reading so much stuff recently, the pace has been relentless. I've just felt this real drive to catch up on all this stuff that I used to love as a kid and had lost touch with for years. It's been fantastic. So, since there's so much, my reviews will be pretty short. On Friday, I read Volumes 2-8 of the Y: The Last Man series. I know, it sounds like I must have spent all day reading, but it wasn't quite that bad. I read on the way to work, and during lunch, and during the evening b/c LW was out. So, based on the fact that I read 7 volumes in 1 day, you can guess what I thought of it. The series is definitely as good as you have heard. It's compulsively readable - it's like cotton candy or popcorn or something totally addictive. You keep wanting more of it because it is so well plotted, and funny, and entertaining. The art is pretty realistic, straightforward (and extremely well done), and the pace is lightning quick, and as you can guess the writing is terrific. Who knew the death of every man on earth but one would be so much fun?

The next thing I read a few weeks ago, but that I want to discuss is The Surrogates. I wish I could recommend it as enthusiastically as other things I've read recently. If I used a "star" system like they do on Amazon, I'd give it three stars. Not bad, at least somewhat entertaining, but definitely not all I was hoping it would be. The main thing here to note is that the idea is really clever. Not to spoil much, but in the future, we will have "surrogate" bodies through which we can live our lives. The implications are interesting, and the author actually does a pretty good job discuss the impact on crime, career choices, etc., if you could essentially have an avatar live your life for you on the world. Sort of like treating the actual world like Second Life. Anyway, that's the setup, and the story itself concerns a "murder" mystery of a sort, and while it's a decent story, I didn't love it, for several reasons. First, i really didn't enjoy the artwork. It is minimalist to the point of sometimes just feeling like the sketches. It's like the artist made a general overview sketch at the beginning and showed it to the writer, just to get the overview of what the work should look like, but instead of going back and filling it in, the just stopped there. Now, I get that they were trying to go for some sort of minimalist moody noir vibe, but it really just didn't work for me. I'm not saying I need my art to be completely traditional, but it was a distraction for me here. Secondly, I didn't find the mystery particularly compelling. Eventually when you find out who the "bad guy" is, you're sort of like "oh. so what?" If you've got a mystery, the person committing the crime that you find out about at the end should be someone you've already met and someone in whom you have some kind of stake. Not to spoil too much, but that's just not the case here. I feel like in the hands of a more experienced writer, there could have been made a better story out of this good idea. Now, all that being said, it was the writer's first graphic novel and it is a terrific idea, and the author shows promise. Perhaps if he revisits the material some time in the future, he'll have some more compelling story ideas. Of course, I hear they're turning this into a movie, so what do I know.

I'm not going to go into detailed reviews of everything I've read, but let me just mention a few other things I've read recently. First is the Astro City series, which, not to overstate things, is really everything that a comic should aspire to be. If you're interesting in writing in the super hero genre, or interested in reading something in the super hero genre, and you want to read or emulate something that is entertaining, well written, moving (at times), skillfully rendered, and also happens to be (if such a thing is possible) a non-cynical, loving deconstruction (or perhaps a reconstruction) of the super hero genre, then Astro City is the series to read. I've read the first five books in the series - I have not yet had a chance to read The Dark Age because my library doesn't carry it yet. Just to describe it generally, because I feel like to go into too much detail would spoil the joy of discovering it for yourself, but Astro City posits a world where many super heroes and villains exist, and imagines what it would be like to actually live in such a world, whether you are someone commuting from one part of town to another, or you live in a neighborhood known to be populated by frustrated ex-super villains, or getting to see two major super heroes go on a date. Each story is like discovering a new treasure.

Next is The Authority Vol. 1, which is also a super hero comic but VERY different. Not to be completely cliche, but to describe this series as "hard-hitting" would be something of an understatement. These are superheroes who don't save cats from trees, they don't foil bank robberies, and don't worry about secret identities. Instead, they use all means at their disposal to stop evil and save the world. If it happens that 1,000 civilians have to die in order to save 10,000, so be it. The characters are extremely compelling, and while there are some fairly clear analogues to other series (Apollo and Midnighter = Superman and Batman, only gay), the series has its own, original, interesting vibe. The art is terrific as well, very wide screen, "cinematic" approach to the action. I'm looking forward to reading more.