Sinister Monday #3

The Cerberus has been quiet for the past week, perhaps licking the wounds we incurred at the Spider-Debacle. I myself missed a self-imposed deadline and Sinister Monday passed by sans posting, alas. Then my fellow curs were silent and you our loyal readers were left shivering in the cold. Well, this post included, I have managed to give you all something to read 3 out of the first 4 weeks, a production schedule that would put most comics to shame, eat my dust Kirkman and mcNiven, although I would already have been lapped by the mighty DC force of 52/Countdown. But enough logistics, flag waving, excuse-giving and horn-tooting. Though I'm not quite as taciturn (or belligerent) as dear dear Right Head o' Death, I am nowhere near as verbose as El Centrale. Today... I will give the latter a run for his money, I've got lots to say. Forgive me in advance for the pseudo-rambling style of this post. Please feel free to comment on any and all thoughts, for your sake I will try to keep things as organized as possible.

1. The Week That Was

My charming Siren's birthday fell upon this past Friday and in commemoration of this fact i left the other hounds in Chicago and journeyed with my lady to picturesque Mizzou. The day before we left I dropped by the LCS and picked up whatever titles my good lads had been keeping for me. To this end I have glorious news:

I now Have a complete run of the Fables series. Including the Last Castle One Shot. You have no idea the happiness this fact brings me. Now I must add, all is not done in fabletown. A few of the issues I have are in less than Mint condition and i will track down replacements leisurely, I may spring for the Maleev varient #1, and my issues 28 and 29 are signed by the Artist, Tony Akins, but I may want to get unsigned copies too. Fables, (and to a very large extent, the Sandman) is a huge reason I've gotten back into comics. Willingham re-opened the door for me and it is unlikely I will ever look back. Thanks Bill. Look what you did, goddamit.


2. City of Others

One of the titles I picked up on Thursday was a gem of an issue, City of Others #2. Written by Steve Niles and penciled by Bernie Wrightson, this title is going to be a BIG deal. I gave RHD a taste of the first issue and thought he might do a review for us here at the Cerb but he passed, though if i remember correctly his praise was high. The protagonist 'Blud,' is right up Righty's alley (and what a dark and sordid alley that is). This is horror comics at its finest, pulpy no holds barred serial style stories the kind you might find filmed in black and white on a local public broadcast channel or told aloud on NPR after midnight in October. of course those mediums would put a damper on this new series' most wonderful feature, Wrightson's amazing pencils.

They are nothing short of the best illustration work in comics today. The colorists are very careful to leave the drawings 'sketchy,' the ink is light and the work looks like it was grafted straight from Bernie's sketchbook. Color added here and there, mostly mute, but occassionally garrish (this is a horror tale, after all) is entirely subservient to the flawless lines. All of Wrightson's considerable skills are on display here, there are vampires being sired, hordes of zombies laying siege to an old manor, crypt-like sewers, and endless battle sequences. Unlike so many artists who have a 'stock' facial template whereby even the most diverse heroines and heroes all share a certain likeness, all of Wrightson's enormous army of the undead are individual and distinct, a factor which only adds to the oppressively monstrous situations we find ourselves following.

Niles story is competent if not a little too 'horrory.' What i mean to say is that there are plenty of shocks, but after a while the axe-blade is blunted, there is little down-time in this fast paced story, we are covering loads of ground. i for one am happy the plot is racing along, and prefer if the axe gets dulled from over-use. But there are narrative hounds out there who have to be miffed that tension is not being properly maintained, that there is not enough calm before and in-between the storm. Even at such an early avenue of this series I will happily give it a Voltron.

3. Astonishing and Astonishing-er.

During the dead week following the Spider-Debacle I read Whedon's latest X-venture on breakworld. I then tried to explain to Centrale why this particular series may be Marvel's best. Astonishing X-men #21 begins with a gorgeous splash-page featuring Armor and Wolverine on twin space-hover motor-cycle dealies pitted and scarred from recent battle. Logan simply states "sorry we're late," and with that the time between this issue and last (which feels like a long time for some reason) is explained away. What's more, stuff happened in the 'in-between' space between issues, something which rarely if ever happens in contemporary comics. Its all non-essential (the plot equivalent to 'he went into the bathroom to take a leak' or 'she drove 35 miles back into Toledo' and helps accelerate a story which is transpiring at a rapid clip to begin with. It is the hallmark of excellent storycraft.

Cassaday's art is phenomenal--the boy can draw. I must say I haven't been the biggest fan of his cover-work, but the interiors more than make up for it. Like Wrightson, each character has its own unique likeness, Logan is compact and ornery but not comically so, i.e. he still looks like an actual human being as some other artists seem have forgotten; Colossus is mammoth but stoic, haunted and reserved, even when bashing the shit out of Breakworld drones; a de-powered Cyke looks every part the charismatic Leader he should be, but without the playboy over-kill that is whoever plays him in the X-men film franchise; Emma is the cold bombshell, the perfect foil to Kitty, and Kitty... steals the show.

There is a sequence towards the end of this issue which is just brilliantly done and wholly compelling. Without giving too much away, Kitty and Colossus are safe for the moment, have found sleeping quarters for the evening, and are in desperate need of rest before a day which may literally be world-destroying. At the bottom of a page Colossus meditates, "They bring me back from dead. They want me dead. I will destroy them. I will save them. I'm so confused... so... tired." He is putting on a sleeping gown as Kitty undresses behind a red hued blind. The Reader turns the page and is blown away. The top half of the page is stunning, an empty bed rests in the right foreground, Kitty stands in the center, her naked back to us, shaded in a tasteful yet completely seductive way, she is drawing open a curtain revealing herself to Colossus who sits in the background with a face that is dumbstruck, his emotions captured entirely inside his arched eyebrows.

The panel below is a close-up on Kitty's face which we of course couldn't see before. It is the cinematic equivalent of a quick cut. We've just seen Colossus' face, now we get to see the face he was staring at (In the previous panel even though Kitty is naked before him, it is clear that Peter is looking Kitty directly in the eyes). And oh what eyes. The close-up on Kitty is beguiling, she is not smiling, her eye-lids are closed just enough to hint at how tired she is, her soft brown eyes opened wide enough to dispel any doubts to the intensity of her desire.

The next panel 'cuts' back to a close-up of Colossus's dumbstruck face. A tiny bubble reads "Now I am more confused..."

The last panel at the bottom of the page cuts back to a close-up of Kitty who is now smiling and looking deferentially at the floor. We then see what has made her smile. A word-bubble finishes Colossus's sentence:

"and somehow, not as tired."

The whole page an a half is a perfect representation of Whedon's absolute mastery of the medium. With another 20 pages or so that are perhaps not as good but terrific nonetheless, I am forced to hand out another Voltron.

3. Three Sentence Howls

a) Amazing Spider-man #540 Writer: JMS, Artist: Garney
Spidey's Pissed. Shit is going down. Maybe its because he had to sit through his own film.
Rating: Lando

b) New X-men #38
I am throughly enjoying Academy X's Quest for Magik. Colossus sister is one mean looking bitch. Can't recommend this title enough but it will likely remain overlooked by the masses thus...
Rating: Gimli

c) Stephen King's the Dark Tower: Gunslinger Born #4
am pretty sure that is the official, longwinded, overblown title of this series which is rapidly devolving into a longwinded and overblown story. Still, there's alot to like. And the art is gorgeous.
Rating: Lando

4. Things to Look Forward To

Well, I can't believe its Monday and i haven't burned through my stack of new comics yet. Thats what a vacation will get me I suppose. I still have the most recent New Avengers' joint to settle down to as well as Countdown #51. I have high hopes for both books. Regarding the former I might as well close with a factoid which may interest only me, but should provide a few laughs for y'all as well. Back when the Avengers disassembled and were re-assembled under Luke Cage, I remember a splash page of the new rebel group as drawn by Yu. It was a decent drawing, everyone looked appropriately menacing and/or bad-ass as their 'breaking-the-law' status seems to suggest. Well in the interest of Science, or perhaps Comedy, I showed the picture to the aforementioned birthday-girl and asked her if she could name any of the characters. Comics are not her bag, even Spidey's strange black costume (remember this was well before the Spider-Debacle Movie) would through her for a loop. Her guesses? hehe (below with the actual character's name followed by her oft ingenius guess):

Luke Cage: Muscle-Man (pretty accurate all things considered.)

Spider-Man: Chain-Link-Fence Man (Yu's webslingings do have the rough, chain-link barbed quality to them)

Ronin: Sword Scary (pronounced as one word, emphasis on scary)

Iron Fist: Dragon Pants (ell to the fucking oh ell)

Doc Strange: Magic Fingers (ding ding ding, we have a winner!)

Spider-Woman: Bat Lady Boob Babe (as the only female representative I suppose her breasts need be big enough for all women everywhere)

Wolverine: Logan (yeah, that's right. My girl's got mad knowledge)


See ya next week!

Left D