Bye Bye Bruce?

I don't follow the latest events in comic books. I just don't have any means to do so, English language comic books being somewhat hard to find here, and I wouldn't have the money to buy several issues each month anyway. Often I'll read classic stories years later when I stumble upon a trade paperback version in a library.

I was suprised, however, by this news item over at the BBC website. It seems that Bruce Wayne has apparently been killed in the latest issue of Batman. There seem to be indications that it may indeed be the end of Wayne's days as Batman, and that someone else could step into his shoes. Or cape, rather. Well, that remains to be seen.

If the solution is indeed final, I'm not really sure how to feel about it. Ok, superheroes have been killed and replaced by new versions many times. But there are few characters as iconic as Bruce Wayne. It would be a brave move, that's for sure. But of course that's why I love the big comic book universes of DC and Marvel. They're alive, everything's so complex and interconnected. And then a big twist comes along, and wham... While superhero comics need a certain amount of clichés, the best comics of all are those that take those clichés and kick their arses.

Comicsin' It Up Volume 5

My quest through the comics departments of local libraries continues.

This time I've read several more domestic albums by Petri Hiltunen. All of them were perhaps a little out of the ordinary. MacBeth should need no introduction. This is a fairly faithful adaptation of the play (adapted by Petri Hannini), but with a typical, dark Hiltunen look and fairly graphic violence. Aavetanssi, on the other hand, is a historical story about the Sioux Ghost Dance cult and the tragedy at Wounded Knee. Asfalttitasanko ja muita kertomuksia is a collection of short stories, mostly science fiction. Many of these were pretty cool, including one or two hilarious parodies.

Fantastic Four Visionaries: Walter Simonson Vol. 1 is another collection of (surprise) Fantastic Four stories, this time from the turn of the nineties, written and also (for a large part) drawn by Walter Simonson. I'm not quite sure how to feel about this. The first three issue story arc was mediocre at best. The second, longer story was over-the-top enough to be quite entertaining, but the storytelling wasn't exactly the strongest I've seen. It's also a lot campier than one would expect from 1990. Galactus disguising the ultimate weapon as a broken light switch? I mean, give me a break!

But I've saved the best for last. Neil Gaiman's The Books of Magic is a masterpiece! This wasn't the first time I read it, of course, but the time was just right to revisit it. The story's really very simple. Just four magicians from the DC universe (including John Constantine and the Phantom Stranger) introducing the universe to a kid who's got the potential to become a great magician himself. Even though not much really happens, it's just so well written and the characters are so cool! The art is also excellent. Each of the four issues is illustrated by a different artist. The continuation (not written by Gaiman) was pretty entertaining, but never quite got to the same level.

Well, I'm all out of Marvel and DC comics for the time being. Which means no more superheroes. Still got a pile of other stuff, but next time we should be getting very near the end... Unless I happen to wander into a library again and find some interesting comics I haven't read yet.

Comicsin' It Up Volume 4

Here are today's additions to my comic book marathon.

Identity Crisis, written by Brad Meltzer, was excellent. It's really a thriller, or a murder mystery, except its cast features all the great heroes of the DC Comics world. Good storytelling, apart from the beginning part being a little confusing with the story leaping through characters, many of which weren't very familiar to me. It soon develops into a gripping and moving story, though. It was interesting to read this shortly after Marvel's Civil War, because it touches on similar issues, albeit from a very different, more personal viewpoint. In my opinion, Identity Crisis worked better as a story.

Thor: Vikings is from Marvel's MAX imprint, which is targeted to a more mature audience. And, indeed, it's delightfully gory. It's written by Garth Ennis, who's work on Hellblazer was spectacular. This wasn't quite on the same level, but it was still lots of fun to read. The story features Thor and Doctor Strange taking on a horde of cursed 1000 year old vikings. Art's not bad, although the book features some of the ugliest computer lettering I've seen.

Domestic pick of the day is Jadesoturi: Sangfu. It's a prequel to the awesome Finnish movie Jade Warrior (Jadesoturi), drawn and written by first time comic book artist Tuomas Lius, in collaboration with the creators of the movie. It was a pretty cool addition to the movie, but rather too short to work as an independent work.

Comicsin' It Up Volume 1

I consider myself a comics fan. Hardly an expert, though. There are a million things I haven't read. I've never gotten into the habit of actually buying comic books, either, mostly relying on what I find at the library, mostly trade paperback versions. There are several reasons for that. For one thing, English language comics aren't exactly available at every corner where I live, the selection of comics that get translated is fairly limited and I've never been that keen on translations anyway. But mostly I've never really had that much excess cash.

Strangely enough, I've only become a comics fan in my adult years. Of course I enjoyed comics as a kid, mostly reading humorous adventure stuff like Lucky Luke, Asterix and Tintin. Then in my late teens I discovered the world of Japanese comics. But it took me a long time to discover the more interesting, "grown-up" comics of the western market. Sandman was the one that first got me hooked. I'm a huge Neil Gaiman fan, so I decided I had to read it sooner or later, and was impressed. Then followed Hellblazer and Alan Moore's take on Swamp Thing...

Anyways, back to the real subject. Recently I raided local libraries for interesting comics that I hadn't read before. Some by authors or about characters I was familiar with, some entirely random picks.

The Goddess by Moebius was quite interesting. I enjoyed his drawing style as well. I can't believe I've never read anything by Moebius before. I'll have to keep an eye out for his works in the future.

The City, written by James Herbert, was amusing enough. Not the most original story of all time, but a suitably gruesome vision of a post-apocalyptic world.

Civil War from Marvel, written by Mark Millar, was quite cool. I'm not sure the story in itself was so amazing, but the idea of bringing together pretty much every big hero from the Marvel universe was simply insane. The art is quite good... but I'm not really sure I like the glossy, modern look. And the lettering is typeset. That's all wrong. Even though at first glance the font may look handwritten, it's just too even and clinical. It lacks soul. People don't appreciate quality lettering these days, which is a real pity.

Nightwing: Ties That Bind collects the first issues of Nightwing from DC, written by Alan Grant and Dennis O'Neil. I didn't know that Dick Grayson begun a career as Nightwing after leaving Batman. Shows just how little I know of even the most famous comics series. Artistically this collection, compared to Civil War, is very old school, even though it's from the mid 90s. And I almost like it better than many more modern comic books. It has real lettering, to boot. The story itself is pretty ordinary superhero stuff, nothing original, but entertaining enough.

I'm also getting acquainted with the works of domestic artist Petri Hiltunen, of whose comics I must shamefully admit I've read very little, despite having met him on a few occasions. Kuolleen jumalan palvelija, which draws influence from pulp fantasy, wasn't half bad. I also read the first Lordi comic, with which Hiltunen was also involved. That's likely to be of interest mostly to Lordi fans, though. Although it's largely the fact that the band members have cool fictional backgrounds that made me a fan...

This'll do for now. But I've still got a big pile of comics waiting, so it won't end here.