Welcome to Oddville
Jay Stephens. AdHouse, $14.95 (88p) ISBN 978-1-93523-308-4
Drawings with a deliciously old-fashioned feel and atomic-inspired colors that pop off the page place readers squarely in the palm of Stephens's hand from page one of this stunner of a graphic novel. Much of the work consists of stand-alone comics in the epic newspaper broadsheet style of ages past; each forces Stephens to crescendo quickly to achieve the conflict/resolution style this short form requires; luckily, his artistry is more than equal to the task. Best of all, though, is the goofy, harmless brand of humor in evidence throughout, especially in the longer Welcome to Oddville strips starring precocious Jet Cat and her associates. At the end of one adventure, she happily chirps: "Well, we did it! Somehow a kid superhero, a grumpy snail, a vegetable ghost, and the head of a giant robot managed to team up and save the city." With his spot-on comedic timing, crisp can't-look-away graphics, and steady storytelling, Stephens proves that he is the whole package. (June)
One Soul
Ray Fawkes. Oni (www.diamondbooks.com), $24.99 (176p) ISBN 978-1-934964-66-8
An ambitious novelty that follows a single soul as it's reincarnated through human history, this graphic novel is intricately constructed. Each two-page spread is divided evenly into two three-by-three grids. Each of its 18 individual stories takes place in a single panel in that grid through the book's 88 spreads, so that to follow, say, the life of a silk heiress in Imperial China, the reader fastens the eye to a single spot in the book and then turns the pages quickly. A few of the 18 heroes, like a doctor in plague-ridden medieval Europe, make an impression, but the pixilated story mostly allows the characters' lives to register only in flashes. (Historically accurate, these lives are often nasty, brutish, and short.) But Fawkes creates black-and-white tableaux of action, grief, sex and death spanning centuries. Individual spreads allow 18 characters to speak in unison, as when we see every subject's eyes widen simultaneously. When a character dies, his panel goes black for the rest of the book, and we meet the soul itself in cryptic narration. If the words that flicker across those panels offer lightweight philosophizing, there's still unexpected resonance in turning the pages and seeing more and more of the book turning dark. (July)
Mid-Life
Joe Ollmann. Drawn and Quarterly, $19.95 paper (192p) ISBN 978-1-77046-028-7
If you've never heard of Ollmann (This Will All End in Tears, Chewing on Tinfoil), you certainly will as a result of this book, a midlife odyssey of nine-panel graphic storytelling that is part autobiography, part fiction, but above all, a work of uncompromising honesty. Ollmann's 40-year-old protagonist, Joe, must deal with all of the difficulties and domestic responsibilities of middle-age, including his second wife, Chan, and infant son, Sam, as well as grown-up daughters from his first marriage. However, Joe's mundane world of diaper changes and interrupted sleep is threatened when a rock singer–turned–children's performer, Sherry Smalls, turns up on one of his son's DVDs. He senses a connection with Smalls and can't seem to get her out of his head. When circumstances lead to an opportunity to meet her, Joe is forced to confront his midlife crisis head on. The story is brilliantly conceived and executed, moving back and forth between Joe's and Sherry's stories. The story uncannily captures the way men think, not only about their jobs or domestic partnerships but about themselves--and not only about what "midlife" takes from them but what it gives back to them as well. Readers of any age who pick up this gem will find it impossible to put down. (Mar.)
The Plane Story
Kevin Sacco. IDW, $19.99 trade paper (124p) ISBN 978-1-60010-867-9
This engaging autobiographical comic shows a young man assimilating his past while shaping his future. As American art student Kevin is flying to England, his father drops a large chunk of family history on him, describing how his immigrant parents suffered through dreadful labor conditions early in the 20th century, how he himself experienced creative excitement and censorship as a writer in the advertising industry while groping through personal relationships, and so on. The young man must apply this story to his own life. He is able to reconnect, for example, with his recovering alcoholic mother and to build on his father's lessons as he begins a career in advertising art. Sacco's design and art are marvelously inventive, altering color and form to fit the story: sepia sketchwork for earlier periods, black & white wash for later decades, full color for immediate past, even faux airmail pages as Kevin tours Europe. Polished as it is, though, the most appealing thing about the book is Sacco's evident affection for his characters and his belief that they can learn from their experience and change in healthy ways. (Mar.)
Web Exclusive The Goon: Death's Greedy Comeuppance
Eric Powell. Dark Horse, $16.99 trade paper (136p) ISBN 978-1-5958-2643-5
Three short stories explore the grim and humorous world of the Goon and his supporting characters. Powell, who both writes and beautifully illustrates this series, is a remarkable visual storyteller. Whether it's creating the perfect feel of the title character's supernatural, crude-humor filled, depression-era world, or crafting a bizarre fantasy wasteland for his story of the cursed, immortal Buzzard, his ability to draw in an audience through his art is impressive. The collection features two Goon stories. In the first the Goon fights with a malevolent hobo spirit summoned to get revenge on a group of orphans. In the second, Powell conveys a story of crime and manipulative femme fatales using no spoken text. But the majority of the collection concerns the Buzzard, an immortal warrior condemned to live and suffer forever by one of the Goon's antagonists. This third story sees the Buzzard sent on a journey to save a town in the wilderness whose villagers are being transformed into monsters. Unable to appreciate any of the rewards he's offered, and knowing that any who travel with him will likely die, the Buzzard's somber quest is haunting and tragic. Illus. (Feb.)
Web Exclusive Twilight of the Assholes, or Somebody Stop the Spike Machine, Vol. II of the Chronicles of the Era of Darkness, 2004-2009
Tim Kreider, with an intro. by Matt Taibbi. Fantagraphics, $28.99 trade paper (288p) ISBN 978-1-60699-398-9
Created during two overseas wars, rising inequity, a city lost under flood waters, skyrocketing public debt and the largest economic crisis since the Great Depression, this collection is the pained scream of a frustrated liberal trapped in a nation whose zeitgeist, he feels, spent much of the decade steadfastly marching in lockstep to the Right. The excesses of a neo-Gilded Age provokes Kreider with often hilarious results; Kreider finds targets for his ire and contempt ranging from willfully ignorant Americans to the peculiar way in which a despicable dictator like Saddam Hussein became almost pitiable once in American hands. Even the eclipse of the Republicans and the rise in 2008 of Barack Obama offers a dismal respite; Kreider's Steadmanesque cartoons illuminate a paranoia worthy of Nixon, that the Republicans will simply refuse to relinquish power or decide that America's first African-American President could also be the first African-American President to be assassinated. Sometimes vulgar and crude but often insightful, always passionate, Kreider's essays and illustrations offer a voice for a nation seemingly without hope. Illus. (Feb.)
Web Exclusive Axe Cop
Malachai Nicolle and Ethan Nicolle. Dark Horse, $14.99 trade paper (144p) ISBN 978-1-59582-681-7
Have you ever played with a little kid and noticed the anything-goes quality of "kid logic" that allows for amazingly unbridled leaps of imagination? This loony collection of the popular webcomic (www.axecop.com) unleashes the rampaging imaginings of five-year-old Malachai Nicolle as crisply illustrated by his twenty-nine-year-old brother, Ethan, and the results are a glorious and utterly hilarious cornucopia of action, aliens, superheroes, heavily-armed fully-deputized dinosaurs and more. Perfectly capturing the wild concepts that only a pre-adolescent mind could come up with, this book is populated with the likes of the titular axe-wielding law enforcement officer, his partner (whose permutations are numerous and ludicrous), vampire/werewolf ninjas from the moon, assorted oddball superheroes (the armless Sock-A-Rang being particularly notable), and the hilarious Best Fairy Ever (imagine Tinker Bell if she were a skilled and deadly operative along the lines of Elektra, only really itty-bitty), so what's not to love? A delight for all ages, this stuff is laugh-out-loud funny and a welcome blast of unique, unapologetic absurdity. Illus. (Jan.)
Web Exclusive Orc Stain, Vol. 1
James Stokoe. Image (Diamond, dist.), $17.99 trade paper (168p) ISBN 978-1-60706-295-0
The Orcs, fantasy staples from the Lord of Rings trilogy, are colorfully--and lustily--re-imagined here by Stokoe (Wonton Soup) as savage creatures driven by greed, blood and sex. The main source of currency--and warrior pride--for the Orcs is the Gronch, the male genitalia. When dried out, it's known as Chit and when lopped off as punishment, the Gronch is worn as a trophy. In one corner of the Orc kingdom--and kingdom is a loose word for the lawless territories the various roaming bands occupy--a new force calling himself the OrcTzar is determined to unite the disparate Orcs under one banner. Elsewhere, an Orc known as One-Eye is traveling through, helping a particularly sleazy character, Pointyface, gather the treasure necessary to appease the local gang chief, known as a Norman. One-Eye is a keen safe cracker, while Pointy-Face is more interested in finding love nymphs to sleep with and Krabs to smoke. While Stokoe's mythology is slightly sophomoric, the visuals are a standout--though influenced by a mix of Moebius and underground influences, it's truly original. Illus. (Jan.)
