Written by Kevin Baker
Art by Danijel Zezelj
160 pages, color
Published by Vertigo/DC Comics
Often, when reading a book I find myself starting to compose a review in my head. How I’m feeling about the book, what I think of its progression, and so on. Every now and then, though, a book comes along that confounds those expectations. That is certainly the case with Kevin Baker and Danijel Zezelj’s Luna Park from Vertigo. I thought I’d sussed out the book by the halfway point, knew how I felt about it overall. And then, not once but twice, the book pulled the rug out from under me. And with each instance, my opinion of Luna Park rather radically changed.
By Larry Marder
Written by Peter Milligan
Milligan and company are also taking Constantine out of his normal confines of Great Britain, although admittedly in the case of his destination of India, it’s a former British colony. Still, they’re using it well; there’s a sharp comment or two about the stereotypical ideas that people carry around towards the country and its spirituality. On the down side, Milligan’s also going for the stereotype of the seedy human trafficking underbelly of India, which just goes to show that it’s impossible to break away entirely from some perceptions. Still, with Camuncoli and Landini drawing the book so beautifully, it’s hard to get too worked up over the idea. How they aren’t super stars in comics is a mystery to me. At the end of the day, Milligan, Camuncoli, and Landini are an excellent reminder of why Hellblazer can have over 260 issues and still tell new and fresh stories.
Written by Eric Trautmann and Brandon Jerwa
At the same time, Trautmann makes sure not to fall into an obvious trap, and does his best to keep the character likable. (I’m not sure what it says about society today that it seems almost expected to have a military character in comics end up unlikable.) Add in some beautiful art by Marco Rudy and Mick Gray (plus an assist by Eduardo Pansica and Eber Ferreira), and this has turned into a well-crafted and entertaining book. Even the parade of DC Universe guest-stars moving through the title hasn’t annoyed me like I’d feared; Trautmann’s done a good job of picking the right characters to appear here.
By Roman Dirge
Dirge still follows the old pattern that I remembered in the past; Lenore moves through life in a slightly oblivious fashion, runs into an unexpected (and most likely deadly) obstacle, and ends up defeating it without really trying. All, of course, to the frustration of whomever she’s up against. That’s what we get here, as Lenore has an encounter with the man who originally attempt to embalm her. It’s funny and I chuckled in all the right (or should that be wrong?) places, although at the end of the day Lenore was exactly like I remembered its old run of stories. I think it actually works better as individual comics than a collected edition; the chances of the joke getting old are far less in short doses. Lenore may not set the world on fire, but it makes me laugh and at the end of the day that’s a good thing.
Written by Joann Sfar and Lewis Trondheim
Written by Bill Spangler
Written by Amy Adoyzie, Dustin Harbin, and Lisa Rosalie Eisenberg
Written by Ian Rankin
By Sergio Ponchione