Todd Klein's Blog, page 114

Incoming: BOOKS OF MAGIC and VICTOR ZSASZ

Images © DC Comics.

These trade paperback collections showed up today, and should arrive wherever you get comics soon. Kat Howard’s writing on BOOKS OF MAGIC has grown on me, I look forward to each issue. This volume covers issues 7 to 13. The other book has many stories about “Gotham’s most sadistic serial killer.” I lettered his debut in BATMAN: SHADOW OF THE BAT #1-3. Not really my kind of character these days, but if you like that sort of thing, here it is.

And Then I Read: NANCY DREW: THE PALACE OF WISDOM

Image © Simon & Schuster and Dynamite Entertainment. Written by Kelly Thompson, art by Jenn St.-Onge, colors by Triona Farrell, letters by Ariana Maher, issue covers by Tula Lotay.

I am definitely not the target audience for this book, even though I did read a few Nancy Drew novels in my childhood, and plenty of Hardy Boys ones (they’re in here too). A mysterious anonymous and threatening letter brings Nancy back to her home town of River Heights, where she is soon involved in several murder mysteries with her old friends and a new one. As the mysteries deepen, Nancy is thrown into danger, literally, and she and her friends are soon investigating secret flash drug parties and a seafood restaurant tied to it. Can Nancy come up with a plan and keep it on track before a new murder happens?

While I have some issues with the art on this book — too manga in style for me — the writing is terrific and pushed me right past the art issues. I don’t think I’ve read anything by Kelly Thompson before, but now I’d like to. I also applaud the all-female creative team on display here, they’ve done an excellent job. I suspect this would be liked a lot by the target audience, teenage girls, and perhaps get them reading Nancy Drew books. Anything that encourages reading is okay with me.

Recommended.

And Then I Read: JIMMY OLSEN #6

Image © DC Comics. Written by Matt Fraction, art by Steve Lieber,
colors by Nathan Fairbairn, letters by Clayton Cowles.

Despite the cover, Batman is not in a lot of this issue as it continues various storylines in and out of any discernible timeline. I don’t mind that, each of the storylines is funny and interesting, and the bemused intro captions on each one help me remember where and who I’m reading about. Those captions are fun, if a bit repetitive. Even a storyline from another book that involved Jimmy is here, and it fits right in. If there is any overall plot, it involves who is trying to kill Jimmy, and that gets coverage here, if not answers. The situations and abuse that Jimmy is taking in this series reminds me a bit of Jim Rockford in “The Rockford Files,” if you remember that one, except I think that Jim was a bit smarter than this one. Whenever I think I know what to expect from this book, it moves in a different direction, which is good and entertaining. The art, coloring and lettering are all as good as the quirky writing, too.

Recommended.

And Then I Read: DRAGONFLY & DRAGONFLYMAN #2

Image © Ahoy Comics. Written by Tom Peyer, art by Peter Krause,
colors by Andy Troy, letters by Rob Steen.

I was a little disappointed in the first issue of this second Wrong Earth series because it lacks the crossover element between the two worlds, but it’s growing on me. Earths Alpha and Omega and their respective hero versions have both been corrupted by versions of Devil Man into turning on their partners, both called Stinger. While in one storyline Stinger is up to the challenge, in the other he’s been given a long-awaited excuse to rebel against his mentor. I like the way each story involves moral challenges as well as action, and the grim and gritty version plays nicely off the cheerful one. Of the text features, the one by Matt Brady was the most interesting to me.

Recommended.

Incoming: THE HUNTRESS ORIGINS

Image © DC Comics

DC has reprinted the earliest Huntress stories, and I think not for the first time. My first clue was that the introduction by writer Paul Levitz is dated 2006. In any case, this is a nice collection of stories written by Paul and pencilled by Joe Staton with a variety of inkers, colorists and letterers, including myself. Huntress’ first appearance and origin was in DC SUPERSTARS #17 dated December 1977, and originally released not long after I began working at DC. I liked the character from the start. Thereafter she appeared in a long series of short backup stories in BATMAN FAMILY and WONDER WOMAN. The many creators involved other than Paul and Joe reflect DC’s freelance policy at the time for backup stories of handing out available work to the next freelancer who needed it without trying to keep any one person on any one series. It certainly worked fine for me, and I was lucky enough to get to letter quite a few of these Huntress stories, and even design her first logo (not the one on the cover, but it appears on one of the stories). My lettering here doesn’t look very good to me now, it was early work when I was still learning, and stories lettered by old pros like Ben Oda and John Costanza look much better, but on the other hand, it’s readable and not terrible. Not sure when this is out, but if you like the character, it’s worth having.

And Then I Read: DRAGONFLY & DRAGONFLYMAN #1

Image © Ahoy Comics. Written by Tom Peyer, art by Peter Krause,
colors by Andy Troy, letters by Rob Steen, cover by Jamal Igle.

We were introduced to these parallel worlds and their parallel heroes in THE WRONG EARTH, where those heroes crossed over into each other’s worlds. This seems to take place before that, so we have two storylines with similar devilish villains and themes, but no crossing over. At least so far. The contrasts between the grim and gritty Earth Omega and the light and happy Earth Alpha are fun, as are the very different relationships between each hero and his teen partner, but I do feel the crossover aspect of the first series made it more interesting. Still, I enjoyed reading this, and will see where it goes. The art by Peter Krause, the only new creator, is fine, and works well. The backup articles are interesting, I learned a few things.

Recommended.

Incoming: THE TEMPEST Hardcover!

Image © Alan Moore & Kevin O’Neill.

It’s finally here, the last hardcover collection of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, collecting the six issues of “The Tempest.” My long working partnership with these two legends has now concluded as far as I can tell. For anyone who may have bought the individual issues and is thinking they don’t need the collection, I should point out there’s an all new four-page comic at the very end, “Retiring Types,” that puts a funny finale on the book, and even continues on the back endpaper. Just saying. A few new design pages in the front too. I don’t know when this is available in shops, but it should be soon.

And Then I Read: MORT by Terry Pratchett

The fourth Discworld book by Pratchett focuses on a young man, Mort, who is apprenticed to Death. That’s to say, he’s hired by Death to help out and to learn the business of ending lives when the time is right. Previously Death appeared as a secondary character, this book fills in much of his history and methods, while continuing to have lots of dark humor. One soon comes to realize that, if he didn’t look like a skeleton with glowing eyes and carry a scythe, Death might be a rather good person to know. To the young peasant boy, Mort, he’s quite kind and welcoming. Mort is surprisingly unafraid of Death, and makes himself at home in Death’s house, where the only other beings are a cook, a young girl who Death calls his daughter, and a magic horse that carries Death and Mort to their appointments. One thing made clear is that Death himself does not appear to every person at life’s end, just the more important ones.

As Mort begins to learn the trade, he is sent off on his own to take lives, following the prompts of hourglasses that measure the time of each person on Discworld. Where Mort runs into trouble is when he’s tasked with taking the life of a beautiful princess he rather fancies. Mort decides to change the rules, thereby throwing reality into chaos. While he’s doing that, Death himself is taking a long-overdue vacation, trying out some of life’s purported pleasures for himself, something he’s never done. By the time Death is dragged back to work, things are well out of hand, and it’s hard to say if they can be put right.

I enjoyed this book, but despite its reputation, I didn’t like it quite as much as the third book in the series, “Equal Rites.” It still seemed very plot-driven, though I did like the characters and storyline. Recommended.

And Then I Read: EDGAR ALLAN POE’S SNIFTER OF TERROR SEASON TWO #2

Image © Ahoy Comics.

Ahoy’s unusual anthology mixing horror and humor is having a great second season. The cover of this issue is an entertaining homage to the first appearance of Superman, in case you didn’t catch it right away, and of course, has nothing to do with what’s in the issue.

The lead story is a loose adaptation of Poe’s “The Conqueror Worm” by Tom Peyer and Gregg Scott with colors by Lee Loughridge and letters by Rob Steen. A scientist is delving into the language of earthworms, and has uncovered their scheme for ruling humanity. Meanwhile, his daughter has brought a partner for his blessing on their wedding. When the scientist becomes a giant worm himself…well, you can imagine the rest.

The backup story is another in a brilliant series now titled “The Monster Serials,” with this one being “The Leprechaun King.” Mark Russell’s fine script and Peter Snejbjerg’s great art, again lettered by Steen, have all the earmarks of classic Universal monster movies, and is quite chilling until you realize most of the characters are drawn from mascots of well-known breakfast cereals.

Both stories are a hoot. Hunt Emerson’s two-pager is a valued bonus. Recommended.

Incoming: BLACK HAMMER AGE OF DOOM PART II

Image © Dark Horse.

This trade paperback just came in, it contains issues 6-12, the concluding ones of this series. I lettered issues 8-12, issues 6-7 were lettered by the artist, Rich Tommaso. It always surprises me a bit when Dark Horse does that, and when they do, the lettering is usually vastly different from mine, but it’s their book and I guess they know best. I will read those issues I missed now to see what happens in them. I’ve yet to be disappointed by Jeff Lemire’s writing on this series, so they should be good. Not sure when this is out, but I recommend all the Black Hammer books.