Comics - Return to The Walking Dead

I guess I worked myself up into a bit of a thing between listening to the Robert Kirkman episode of WTF and revisiting a comic post from the past. So I started reading The Walking Dead again. I'm a little over a year behind and I'm in no rush to catch up, so I've only read 2 issues so far. I'll probably not read more than two a week and for now, it's just the one series. I'm sure if I'm not careful I'll wind up with a full blown habit again, but for now it's just this one thing. Although, I was looking through some of the indie comics on Comixology and I've already seen a bunch of things I want to check out. At least doing it digitally it means I'm only buying as I read so with time being hard to come by, I won't likely be binging on anything, really.

Ok, I'm back.

Anyway, the last I had read on Walking Dead was the All Out War storyline, so I didn't stop in the middle of anything. And as a matter of fact, it turned out to be a perfect place for a hiatus since the next issue picked up 2 years after the end of the war. The survivors have now built up a sort of civilization and have developed techniques for driving away herds of walkers. The story in the 2 issues so far deals with a new group that they rescue and it's interesting to see the process of developing trust that we've seen repeatedly in the series, only from the other side. It's the newcomers that aren't sure if they should trust these people who have something that appears to good to be true, and therefore probably is And if we know anything about Rick at this point it's that no matter how good his intentions, he can be pretty intense, so seeing him older, slower and seemingly more at ease is suspicious even to me.

Meanwhile, the decision to keep Negan alive and in prison is bound to bite him in the ass. Carl goes to talk to Negan often, and apparently secretly, but still wants to kill him, supposedly. Still there's a certain mentoring going on there. I'm sure he sees some of his dad's old self there. Some of what he admired. I don't know. No matter how peaceful and boring this might seem, with everyone being excited about the success of learning to make bread and all, it's bound to go to shit soon. It always does. And then they rebuild again, stronger, until the next, even greater challenge comes along. So I'm back!

Manga for the Comics Guy - Gantz Volume 16

The tension rises in this volume to an almost unbearable point, leading to heartbreak and hope. Make no mistake, this gets grim, gritty and gory, but by the end of the volume there's a light at the end of the tunnel, except that light has a choice attached to it and I don't think Kei has realized how difficult that choice will be.

With the team at odds over Gantz's instructions to kill Tae, it's a race against, well, it's against time, each other, and who knows what else. Kei went off with Tae to protect her and the rest are fighting it out with bloody results. Just as you think Reika has figured out that destroying the film with the picture that Tae took of the Gantz gang will end the session and save Tae, it all comes to a head and the inevitable happens. Izumi here amps up his villain status, but I wonder if that's not just setting us up for a more complicated relationship with him. Sure, he has murdered a lot of people at this point but, given that he did it so he could return to the Gantz, and with what we learn at the end of this volume, I wonder if his reasons for wanting to return aren't as selfish as we have been lead to believe. It's just the type of complication you'd expect from the series at this point.

The action and gore is not gratuitous in Gantz. It is always supported by character moments that are typically rendered as simple images that pay off because the relationships have been built properly and believably. It's moments like this that make the comparison to The Walking Dead accurate. Both series manage to take us on an emotional roller coaster from hell without being manipulative. Every moment is totally earned and just when you think you are at the end of an emotional arc, there's another twist. Kei's life just got sadder, more hopeful, and over all, more complicated.

Daytripper

I've laughed out loud reading a comic book many times. I've felt tense. I've been shocked. I've been angered. I've been appalled. The last time I remember being moved close to tears was probably the end of Y: The Last Man. Stupid monkey. . .  Well, that was just close. Daytripper, on the other hand, hit the mark.

How many times can you see the same man die before it gets repetitive? The answer, apparently, is about 10. The simple premise of the series is that we see this man's death in each issue, somehow at different points in his life. Each issue is basically just a one shot story, and yet, somehow, the series inexplicably tells us a complete story as well. We get pieces of Bras de Oliva Domingos's life as well as portraits of his loved ones. By the last beautifully heartbreaking and yet inspiring issue, it's all very real and it's hard not to feel the impact of the last pages and see pieces of your own life in it.

Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon, as writers and artists on this series, manage to do something that is at once literary, like you'd expect in a novel of the highest caliber, and yet still appropriate for the comic book medium. It's work like this that I wish everyone who's ever condescended to fans of comics would take the time to read. No, it's not a "graphic novel." It's still a comic book. Which is simply a medium and Ba and Moon use that medium to tell a moving and brilliantly crafted story that is ultimately about living life to the fullest and appreciating every small moment.

At the risk of getting spoilery, the ending is written specifically for fathers and sons. Now, it's been said that male authors typically have daddy issues. It's been said that stories about fathers and sons are the stuff of myth. I've said these things myself. And I have not said them as a criticism. But this is not that. This is a take on the father son dynamic that is new to me, but is so real, so recognizable, that it's like I was reading it in a dream. Ba and Moon hit on just what being a father means and how that changes your view of your own father. And in a greater sense, what death means and how that changes your view of life. This is such an eloquent and understated parallel, that it literally just occurred to me as I wrote that last sentence.

This book is timeless and I will likely be rereading it over the years to come. I can't recommend this highly enough. Even if you've never read a comic book, I think you need to read this book. If you've lived, you should read this book. If you're a father, a son, a daughter, a wife or a human being, you most definitely should read this book.

Manga for the Comics Guy: Gantz Vols. 3 and 4

It's getting harder to tell where one volume ends and the other begins. The breaks make for great cliffhangers, while at the same time, flowing as if there was no break.

It's basic Western comic book storytelling. Hell, it's basic serialized storytelling period. As a matter of fact, Grant Morrison's Batman, Inc. is currently taking the cliffhanger to a whole new level of awesome, by harking back to the cliffhangers of the good old days and the old Batman TV Series. So, basically, here's something manga and American comics have in common.

There are some moments of pure male adolescent sexual fantasy in this. This is fine, but I hope the characterization of the girl gets some more dimension soon or this will fall into being too stereotypical. How many times do we have to see her getting naked? And for that matter, how many guys have to try to rape her? Is this a common thing in Japan? I don't think so. There are hints of her being a bit more clever than we are seeing, which is a good sign.

I enjoyed the way the new characters were introduced in chapters that focused exclusively on the new characters and left me a little disoriented until the end. I almost wanted a few more chapters like this before getting back into the main plot and action.What you get from it is actually more of a sense of familiarity with the main characters when you get back. We've seen the technique many times in TV shows and I think it was very well done here.

While some questions were answered, a lot remains a mystery. And now that the one person who seemed to know is apparently dead, the stakes are even higher. Can't wait to get deeper into the mystery. Speaking of mysteries, today is new comic book day and out this week is Nick Spencer's Morning Glories #8, another great mystery that is slowly building.

Comic Moment of the Week - Parenting

The thing about The Walking Dead is that these characters are all selfish by necessity. It's reality. The last page of this month's issue brings us back to this reality after a time where they were trying to build a community. This moment is about survival and that's not a community activity.

The Walking Dead #82

As a parent, this is about as real as it gets. There's no doubt that Rick has, and likely will, given up a lot for the good of the group. But never at the expense of Carl and always, clearly, only as far as it is in Carl's best interest to do so. I recently was thinking about this very idea and how as a parent, your decisions are really very simple to make. It's always about what's in the best interest of your child. Of course, because it's easy to make the decisions, it doesn't make it easy to carry out. The reality of possibly leaving a bunch of good people you care about to die in order to save your child is something I'm sure will be explored by Kirkman in Walking Dead.

Manga for the Comics Guy - Gantz Vol. 2

Gantz Volume 2 picks up exactly where Volume 1 ended, which is to say, in the middle of an exploding body. Again we get the various angles of the moment, evoking slow motion in a way that I don't think I've ever seen in a comic book. The attention to the small details is what sells these lingering shots. It may be that I'm more into the story, but I really feel like the art is much better in the second volume than in the first. There were several panels I just stared at for a while.

It all starts coming together, particularly for Kei Kurono, who chose to wear the special suit provided in the room. It turns out the suit gives him super-human abilities. In the process, we learn more about his past as an adventurous and daring kid. A past he seemed to have moved away from, but quickly recalls in the middle of his hero moment. While the first volume gave us lots of atmosphere, this volume also adds action to the mix.

Also in this volume, we get some more indication of what's going on. After what is basically a bloodbath, there are only 5 survivors: Kei Kurono, Masaru Kato, Joichiro Nishi, Kei Kishimoto and the dog. We also learn that this is some sort of a game, and that Nishi has been at it for some time. And that while they can return home after each round, life is not the same.

I'm still struck by the dialogue being kind of clunky. This is obviously due to the translations and cultural differences that don't come through very well. But as a result, I can't really see comparing this to Western comics in any fair way. American comics would just come off as better written, dialogue-wise, by default. But if we look at the writing just from the point of view of plotting and getting points across, it's pretty even. The pacing is different, with the Manga relying more on the relationship between images, I think. The reason the drawn out scenes of people just standing and not saying anything work is because they come after panels of intense action that is equally extended. I think modern American comics tend to fall back on dialogue or one big image to convey these things. Obviously, there are exceptions. However, I feel characters tend to be more real (within the context of the story) in American comics, perhaps because of the more extensive use of dialogue. Of course, these opinions will likely evolve as I delve deeper into manga, but we'll see. The point is, the arguments about one being superior to the other are silly. The fact is, they are basically the same thing and have influenced each other too much to be considered separate.

Powers by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming

Today is new comics day. Out this week, Walking Dead #82, by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard. Here we have a book that uses dialogue effectively, but also uses long drawn action/inaction and crafts a very real, very cinematic world where the characters drill into your subconscious. You should be reading this book.

Manga for the Comics Guy - Gantz Vol. 1

I'll just start with my idiot moment. I was reading the first part and was not sure if I liked it or not because I was mostly confused. "Maybe it's a cultural thing," I thought. "Could be the translation," I pondered. But overall, I was interested in the story. So I get to part two and the following page when it hits me why I'm so confused.

I was reading it backwards! Didn't realize I was supposed to be reading left to right. So that was my facepalm moment. Now, on with what I actually thought of it.

So far, I am intrigued by the story. A brief synopsis, if you haven't read it. Two boys jump onto subway tracks to save a man who has fallen. The train comes but they don't get out in time. They then appear in a room with several other people and a mysterious black ball. Are they dead? Eventually, the ball gives them instructions that make them believe they are on some bizarre reality TV show about hunting aliens. Basically, it's a little bit like Lost, but before Lost and hopefully with a real ending instead of some ridiculous copout where they reveal they've been lying to the audience all this time and wasted my time on this damn show and never really answered any questions and. . . . ok, I'm back. Sorry. Back to Gantz.

There are moments of pure cinematic poetry in this. Unlike most Western comics, I get the sense that Manga writers, or at least the writer of Gantz, Hiroya Oku, take their time telling a story and are not afraid to linger on moments. Much like Asian cinema, scenes of long pauses or slow motion action (in a comic!?) are a great way to get you into the scene and set up atmosphere and emotional resonance. I like this.

On the other hand, HAHH, and this could be a translation issue, HAHH, there is one glaring annoyance, HAHH. It gets a liitle, HAHH, tiresome and takes me out of the, HAHH, story when every little "HAHH," which I guess is supposed to be heavy breathing, is spelled out.
Reminds me of something. . .

Art wise, I like the clean lines. There's nothing that really stands out, which is not a bad thing. The art is there to tell the story, which is acceptable. There aren't any big splashpages for the hell of it.

All in all, I look forward to reading on. I believe there's a movie of this, which should be interesting to see later. In the meantime, yesterday was new comics day. Among them, Sweet Tooth #19, by Jeff Lemire, who also takes his time setting up atmosphere and emotion in his stories. Check it out.

Manga for the Comics Guy

I've read comics, on and off, most of my life. While I enjoy comics in general, what I find myself reading more are DC books and indies. I'm also a big Sci-Fi fan, going back to the original Star Trek and on through Star Wars, ST: TNG, Battlestar Galactica, etc.

My experience with anime has been limited. Speed Racer, Captain Harlock and Robotech are vague memories from when I was a wee lad, but details are scarce. Sure, I saw Akira back in the day, and liked it fine, but the ending was a little over the top for me. It's what I think of when I think of "typical anime." Then, I saw Cowboy Be-Bop and it became one of my all time favorite series, anime or not. But I just doubt that I'm going to find anything else like that. Still, I think it's high time I try manga.

On a friend's suggestion I'll be starting with Gantz. I have purposely not read any synopsis or description of it. I only know what I was told: "You're gonna love me for getting you on this. It's got Sci-Fi, action, everything you love." So, already, I know I can't admit to liking it, but let's see. I'm starting tonight and will report along the way with thoughts.