Graphic Novel Reviews

A collection of all the short series and one-offs Alan Moore wrote for 2000 AD.

All of Moore's miscellaneous 2000 AD work, which doesn't rise to the level of what we now expect from the man. These stories have the sarcastic, irreverent feeling typical of much of the magazine's content, and Moore's got some talented artists like Alan Davis, Steve Dillon, Dave Gibbons and Bryan Talbot drawing for him, though not all are well served by the production values. All that having been said, this is still a "everything else" collection, rounding up all of Moore's 2000 AD stories that aren't a part of his already collected longer series, and so while there are some cute or clever bits there's nothing here that will really thrill you. Hardcore Moore fans, or 2000 AD fans, will want it, but for everyone else it's too expensive for what it actually brings to the table.

reviewed by jdp

The entire Buddy series is fantastic! These are laugh out loud funny books with great characters that really hook you. Bagge is the best 'done in one' writer/artist since Steve Ditko. The pacing, characterization, and dialogue are all top notch. This collection has a lot of those issues.

All of Bagge's art is in service to the story. It's cartoony without being for kids. Bagge doesn't skimp out on backgrounds or details. The writing and art mesh perfectly. I strongly recommend this series.

reviewed by Jamie Coville

Marriages and reunions abound as Maggie works to discover who she is and what she wants.

You tend to think of Gilbert’s Palomar as having the enormous cast, but with this volume you suddenly realize just how vast Jaime’s Locas cast is as well. In this final collection of Jaime’s half we get all the plotlines resolved, all the danglers tied off, and we catch up with everybody and where they are by now. The ending to this volume is so simply perfect and satisfying that it is almost beyond belief. While everything at issue in the series is addressed that doesn’t mean there’s no more story to tell: the endings just serve to create new beginnings, just as they do in real life. The artwork is superb and the flashbacks, where Jaime shows us the characters as they looked years ago, brings into focus how much they, and Jaime, have grown. My single favorite volume of Jaime’s, and possibly of the entire series.

reviewed by jdp

A girl becomes the avatar of Promethea, a magical concept/goddess conjured out of the realm of fiction and fantasy.

Alan Moore's personal tract on mysticism and the nature of reality as delivered in the guise of a superhero story. This first volume gets us hooked in by being more superhero than philosophy, and it's a fun and exciting read. J.H. Williams III is an amazing artist with tremendous range, hinted at here and expanded upon in subsequent volumes. The series does become more and more saturated in its own philosophy as it progresses, so if that's the kind of thing that turns you off this is probably not the series for you. But if you like those deep concepts sewn into your comics, you'll love it.

reviewed by jdp

Two tales of Batman in the Victorian era.

This volume collects two short Elseworlds OGNs by writer Brian Augustyn starring a Victorian-era Batman. The titular “Gotham by Gaslight” features Jack the Ripper coming to Gotham and facing the Batman. It’s an unspectacular but mildly entertaining story, but nobody will be uncertain for even a millisecond about the “secret” identity of the Ripper himself. Mike Mignola provides the pencil artwork with P. Craig Russell inking, the two styles combining into something that bears the familiar edge of both men and which suits the story beautifully. The second story is the sequel, “Master of the Future”, drawn by Eduardo Barreto. Barreto’s work is beautiful, to my eye superior to the Mignola/Russell hybrid of the first story, but the writing is equally forgettable, not to mention brief. Not a bad LOOKING book, but the writing is subpar and really brings nothing of interest to the table.

reviewed by jdp

The original reprint of Concrete: Think Like a Mountain, in color as opposed to the black and white of the new trade series. I caught a quick glimpse of this version at the library, to see what the color is like, and personally I prefer Chadwick's work in black and white. Also, the new edition includes short stories not reprinted here, some not reprinted anywhere in the old trade series. And it's cheaper. See that review for more.

reviewed by jdp

This very odd yet engaging graphic novel by Hans Rodionoff (originator, screenplays), Keith Giffen (writer/adaptor) and Enrique Breccia (enchanting painting) depicts H. P. Lovecraft's life as if the various tentacled Old Ones are real and present in his life in various context.

The psychosexual tensions are rampant and form much of the motivations of Lovecraft and his family. It's no surprise that we cannot reach firm conclusions about what is real and what is imagined or hallucination here, and that helps the narrative succeed.

reviewed by DaveH

I loved this run of Captain American when I was a kid, and so did many others. Until recently, many thought of this as the definitive modern age Cap. Many elements of this era have made their way into the current spectacular run by writer Ed Brubaker, particularly the return of Union Jack and the Invaders.

This is an especially good book for younger teens as well, especially those who only heard about Captain America from his recent death. Roger Stern's script and John Byrne's art made this one of the best runs of the series in my lifetime.

reviewed by dan

The second collection of short works by Edward Gorey.

Edward Gorey’s work defies easy description, but it’s certainly worth experiencing for yourself. His pieces are set up like children’s books, with illustrations accompanied by lines of text or poems. The drawings themselves are reminiscent of black and white novel illustrations from the 19th century, heavily cross-hatched affairs in pen and ink. The subject matter is what makes Gorey’s work so marvelous, taking material that is equal parts nonsensical and disturbing and infusing it with a light-hearted charm that makes it downright adorable, not to mention funny. This volume includes stories about the demise of an abandoned sock, a beastly baby that everyone is happy to see die, a cryptic tragedy starring inanimate objects, and a woman who is visited and claimed by the devil. All of these little stories are amusing in their unabashed oddity, which is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. The nature of the book, with many different stories in a single volume, makes it too hit or miss for a perfect score, but there are few better out there than Gorey if you are interested in the amusingly wicked and bizarre.

reviewed by jdp

A collection of Richard Corben werewolf stories from various sources.

Underground comic artist Richard Corben takes a few swings at the werewolf myth, with mixed results. The stories are big on sex and gore, and most are written with the wry smirk made famous by the EC horror books (in fact some of these stories were originally published in the EC-influenced Warren horror magazines). None of the stories are terribly great and I can’t say this is Corben’s greatest artistic achievement, with a few of the tales in particular being extremely rough. Average.

reviewed by jdp