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Last of the Independents

Written by Matt Fraction
Art by Kieron Dwyer
104 pages, sepia and white
Published by AiT/Planet Lar

The problem with hype is that it’s almost impossible to live up to. So unless you’ve been under a rock for the last couple of months, you’d know that AiT/Planet Lar was publishing a graphic novel called Last of the Independents by Matt Fraction and Kieron Dwyer. You’d also know that according to the hype, it’s supposed to be excellent. And it’s more than understandable if as a result of all of this you’re feeling more than a bit wary. Having now read Last of the Independents, I feel that I can say that when it comes to the hype… it was actually dead-on correct.

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Johnny Jihad

By Ryan Inzana
96 pages, black and white
Published by NBM

When John Walker Lindh was first captured by US forces, I remember hearing a lot of shock and outrage. “How could an American fight with the Taliban!” was the phrase of the day, and the reaction by quite a few people. In the case of Ryan Inzana, though, one gets the impression that he saw the news report and said, “I’ve got an idea for a graphic novel.” And now, just as people have forgotten all about Walker Lindh, we’ve got Johnny Jihad.

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Gabagool! #1-3

By Mike Dawson and Chris Radtke
20-32 pages, black and white
Published by Mike Dawson Comics

One of the great things about mini-comics is that it lets creators hone their talent not by practicing, but by creating. With much lower costs than higher-end publishing, you can get your comics out to people, build an audience, and hopefully keep getting better in a way that you wouldn’t if you only drew for yourself. That seems to be just what Mike Dawson and Chris Radtke are doing with their Gabagool! comics—just keep getting stronger and stronger while getting their comics out to more and more people.

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Case Files: Sam & Twitch #1

Written by Marc Andreyko
Art by Scott Morse
32 pages, color
Published by Image Comics

When is a gimmick not a gimmick? In the case of writing, it’s when using it accentuates the storytelling ability instead of distracting from it. That’s the case Marc Andreyko and Scott Morse’s work on Case Files: Sam & Twitch. What might’ve been misused in lesser hands ends up being an extra kick to a good story by both creators.

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Barefoot Serpent

By Scott Morse
128 pages, black and white, and color
Published by Top Shelf Productions

The trick to a homage, really, is making sure it works without understanding the homage. No, think about it. If you’re going to pay homage to a great influence or idea, that’s super. But what happens when people who haven’t encountered the original work? I think that’s one of the things that stood out the most to me when reading The Barefoot Serpent; even if you don’t catch all (or any!) of the allusions to Akira Kurosawa’s films, you’re still going to enjoy it on its own merits.

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Yu-Gi-Oh! Vol. 1

By Kazuki Takahashi
200 pages, black and white
Published by Viz

Sometimes you think you know what a book’s about before you even read it. I’ve had the extreme misfortune to both discover a Magic: The Gathering card game tournament on cable as well as an episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! and I’m not sure which was less exciting, watching people play card after card after card. So when I first encountered the original Yu-Gi-Oh! comics that spawned the hit cartoon and collectable card game, I figured I already had this book completely figured out.

Wrong.

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Soul of a Samurai #1

By Will Dixon
48 pages, black and white
Published by Image Comics

With smaller-formatted comics taking bookstores by storm, it’s easy to see why publishers would want a piece of the action for themselves. Japanese manga in particular is a hot line of books that’s flying off the shelves, so left and right we’re seeing new products trying to emulate that same tone. The problem is, not all attempts are created equal…

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Pet Shop of Horrors Vol. 1

By Matsuri Akino
200 pages, black and white
Published by TokyoPop

The anthology is rarely a commercial success no matter what form it takes. Prose, television, movies, comics… the number that take off in their own right and really, really do well is awfully small. It’s easy for the audience to fail to find an ever-present hook to keep them around when the basic story changes from segment to segment. The solution? Find a central character or setting to structure these different stories around. Old EC Comics did it in the form of a narrator, with characters like the Crypt-Keeper or Old Witch. Junji Ito’s Tomie stories did so with the titular reoccurring antagonist. And in the case of Matsuri Akino’s comics to just get translated into English, it’s in the form of a certain mystical pet shop in Chinatown.

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Rex Mundi #0-3

Written by Arvid Nelson
Art by Eric Johnson
32 pages, color
Published by Image Comics

It’s fun to think, “What if…?” with world history. What if things went slightly differently? What if the church had never lost its power? What if America ended up being permanently divided into two countries? What if sorcery existed as a tangible force in society? What sets Rex Mundi apart from other books, then, is that it’s not content to simply gaze at an alternate history of the world. Instead, it’s just the backdrop for an even bigger story…

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Xenozoic Tales Vol. 1: After the End

By Mark Schultz
Additional inks by Steve Stiles
160 pages, black and white
Published by Dark Horse

If you asked most newcomers to comics what Mark Schultz has done in comics, chances are they’d be able to point out his four year run as writer of Superman: The Man of Steel. Hopefully, though, soon they’ll learn about a much more interesting creative work of his; a little series called Xenozoic Tales.

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