Five Comics Worth Reading - September 2011

THE BOYS: BUTCHER, BAKER, CANDLESTICKMAKER
There were points in issue #1 and the first part of issue #2 where I thought this might be the first installment of The Boys/its various spinoffs I might not really get into, not because it wasn’t any good, but because it seemed like it was set up largely to be a war story, and while Garth Ennis writes those well and Darick Robertson can draw anything, war stories just generally aren’t my jam. However, the war portions, while critical, are not the whole thing, and as noted, they’re done quite well so they contribute nicely to the bigger picture. This is really the origin story of Billy Butcher, an intriguing character in the classic Ennis mold who seems to walk the line between being an oddly endearing antihero and a straight up jerk in pretty much every one of his appearances. This story focuses on the roots of why Billy is the way he is, particularly on his relationship with his father and discovery of being able to lose himself in violence, but it doesn’t do so in a “this excuses his actions” way; it’s very shades of grey in presenting the potential motivators for Billy’s personality, but leaving it up to you to decide whether he was shaped against his will by external circumstances or just uses those as a cop out. It’s Ennis doing a great combination of action with psycho-analysis—which makes for the best Boys story—and Robertson returning to full art duties, where I have missed him sorely as he’s one of my all-time favorites. Very much looking forward to the third issue, where Billy’s slated to be “saved” by the love of a wife we know from The Boys he eventually loses.

CAPTAIN AMERICA & BUCKY
It’s kinda crazy to think that a decade ago Bucky was more or less a cipher, a long-forgotten Golden Age sidekick stereotype more useful to stories in death than in life, given the depth Ed Brubaker has managed to give him since he rolled the dice and brought him back in 2004 (Roger Stern, among others, got some great stories in as well). During his comeback tour, Bucky Barnes went from grinning boy mascot to a character possessed of a pronounced dark side born from growing up literally in the midst of war but also a stubborn heroic spirit that propelled him forward through his trials and made him inspirational as well as easy to root for. Now Brubaker and co-writer Marc Andreyko are taking the time to fill in the gaps of Bucky’s formative years, showing where both the tortured soul and grim resolve to carry on came from in this series. The first two issues have been dynamite, presenting a charismatic and boisterous young kid who makes you chuckle only pages before he’s forced to plunge a knife through a man’s throat for the greater good. Though ostensibly headlining the title as well, Captain America fits better as the co-star here, reversing the traditional dynamic, acting as a concerned father figure who warns his charge about the tough times to come as well as the player coach reminding why these things must be done. Chris Samnee’s art is just terrific, his versatility impressive as ever and used to full effect by his collaborators. The juxtaposition of Samnee’s go-lucky depiction of Steve and Bucky goofing off while watching actors portray them in propaganda films against his wrenching actions scenes give both greater weight. Everybody working on this title seems to recognize they’re sitting on a wealth of potential and their determination to make it count shines through.

THE PUNISHER
Frank Castle can be a tough nut to crack when it comes to casting him in an ongoing series. He’s got a great premise, but as has been noted time and again, a vigilante who kills everybody he comes up against can be hard to sustain over lengthy period and not fall into the trap of telling the same story over and over. The best writers can find ways to rise to the challenge and utilize the Punisher’s strengths as a character while writing around the barriers to longevity. Garth Ennis veered far away from the idea of a super hero universe and got nearly a decade out of writing the stories he wanted to tell with Frank as the anchor. Most recently, Rick Remender went 180, dumping Frank in the midst of the Marvel Universe and playing the contrast, then going in a totally unexpectedly delightful direction by turning him into a Frankenstein monster. From the first three issues of his new series, I’m intrigued by Greg Rucka’s approach of using The Punisher as almost a supporting character in his own story, focusing on the world around him and how it’s affected by this gun-toting boogeyman and introducing a strong supporting cast to speak for him (Frank didn’t speak at all through #3). It’s the idea of Batman-as-urban legend taken a step further and utilizes Rucka’s potent skills writing straight crime drama while holding his familiarity with super hero comics in reserve for when it’s needed. Marco Checchetto brings a welcome fresh approach to the book that sets it apart from past Punisher stories, his European style creating an eerie sort of urban ghost story that fits the elusive, larger-than-life nature of the protagonist; he also brings a beauty to the violence that haunts you.

STORMWATCH
On Captain Britain and MI: 13, Paul Cornell demonstrated tremendous skill when it came to taking the fringe elements of a shared universe and using them to world build a fascinating place just off to the side of the main action where characters not always given the chance to shine got spotlight and characterization while also being able to provide a compelling side commentary to a larger narrative. In this regard, Stormwatch is the perfect comic for Cornell, as he gets to integrate cherry-picked elements of Wildstorm’s remains into the new DC status quo, pull in players like Martian Manhunter to act as a bridge, and then move the camera around as he creates a framework exploration of the emerging landscape. In the first issue, we get introduced to the latest incarnation of Stormwatch, mostly helmed by Authority alums such as Jack Hawksmoor and The Engineer, but also joined by the aforementioned J’onn J’onzz as well as new Cornell creations (I believe) like Projectionist and Harry Tanner. All of these characters plus would-be recruit Apollo and late-coming Midnighter gets a nice moment to show off their powers, something that perhaps seems trivial but is crucial in first issues, especially one like this where a good deal of the audience may be unfamiliar with these folks. The positioning of Stormwatch as an alternative to the Justice League and the threads laid down here in regards to there being a bigger picture guys like Superman might not be privy to made me glad I picked this up and eager to see more. Cornell made the most out of the real estate he had to work with, really packing this debut; he seems to have found a nice sweet spot creatively.

ULTIMATE COMICS ULTIMATES
There are probably few assignments in comics more simultaneously daunting right now than The Ultimates. It’s not like being asked to write an icon like Superman or Spider-Man where there have been decades of history and plenty of subpar runs and it’s not like creating your own stuff from scratch where you create the expectations; despite being around nearly a decade now, Ultimates is still mostly remembered for a handful of comics that set the tone for the last 10 years of comics and a lot of the stuff you’re seeing in the blockbuster movies hitting the screen each summer. What I like about Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic’s first issue of their Ultimates book is that it pays homage to the original stuff but strikes a different tone to let you know that the story has progressed and everything that’s taken place since the end of Ultimates 2 counted and weighs on this cast. The best example I can think of is how Nick Fury still possesses the scowl and swagger Mark Millar initially instilled in him, seeming up to literally any challenge, but as the problems mount, he blinks ever so slightly, until by the issue’s close he’s almost paralyzed by indecision; this is still the guy who took down an alien invasion, but he also saw a teenage hero die on his watch, and he has been affected. Likewise, Iron Man is still the puffed up spin on his traditional template, but he too shows human moments of weakness, like when he insists his new butler answer to Jarvis even though it’s not his name. The Ultimates has always been a popcorn flick with balls-to-the-wall action and huge heroes who have a quip in response to any sign of danger; Hickman’s Ultimates are those same people with the weight of the world and tremendous personal loss on their shoulders and I’m really taken in by getting this three-dimensional examination of where they’re at now. And Esad Ribic’s art is just gorgeous; it always is, but the care he takes here with not just the tech or the fighting but just Thor’s glaring face is remarkably beautiful. Simply put: Nobody today does it like Ribic and Dean White. Heck, I love the way Clayton Cowles letters the word balloons and how the story title is laid out. This is a very good comic. Will it pave the way for the next decade? I’m looking forward to finding out.

Pimping My Stuff: DC Writer's Relay at CBR

I've spent the better part of this week falling behind on the blog and about a half dozen other more important things working up transcripts for something over at CBR that I thought I'd plug before getting right back to a strict regimen of typing things all day instead of showering: The DC Writer's Relay!


See, a few months back Jonah Weiland and I got an itch to try a new feature on the site that we shamelessly stole from the BBC's Chain Reaction series of interviews (though we felt less comfortable stealing the name along with the idea). The basic set-up was the idea that one creator would interview another with interviewee then becoming interviewer on down the line until the whole thing revolved back on itself. We decided to make our first test run with some up-and-coming writers at DC Comics we felt would make for some interesting and in depth discussions. Clockwise from the upper left, they were: Sweet Tooth creator and Superboy writer Jeff Lemire, American Vampire and Detective Comics writer Scott Snyder, Jimmy Olsen and T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents scribe Nick Spencer and Action Comics and Knight And Squire author Paul Cornell.

And boy oh boy, did those guys impress in terms of really fascinating discussion. in terms of topics, we placed no restrictions on what they could ask each other about, so all sorts of work from Lemire's award-winning Essex County books from Top Shelf to Cornell's "Doctor Who" writing to Spencer's rad Image Comics all worked their way in. And in terms of depth, I think I learned more about how working writers approach the craft and business of mainstream comics listening to them on the phone over the past two months than I have all year.

It's really amazing content that I feel really happy to have had a small hand in bringing to the web, and sadly, I'm starting to worry that either nobody's noticed them or they're just opting not to read them because "shit's too long" or because they're "waiting for some REAL news like a teaser image" or because "nobody told anybody to fuck themselves" or something silly like that. So I'm pulling out some brief highlights below and linking to each interview. Spend some time with the pieces this weekend, huh?


First up, Snyder chatted up his good friend Lemire leading to some really funny and interesting exchanges including the following:

Lemire: I think that's because of all that formative stuff where I didn't know what I was doing. No one ever saw that stuff, and I think I waited until I'd done something good enough to publish before I even sought out a publisher.

Snyder: That's one of the weird things about the contemporary mythology of becoming a comic book writer – you write something and then burst onto the scene, so you have your formative years as a writer. But one of the things that's interesting for me is that a lot of people I talk to do what you did. That's what I did in the literary world in the same way. You discover yourself as a writer before seeking publication.

Lemire: It takes a long time to find your voice, I think, as a writer or an artist. One of the things that is so different now – and I say "now," but it was really only ten years ago when I was in that stage – but with the internet and Twitter and all that stuff, everything is so accessible. Everyone is so accessible to each other, and it's easy to put your stuff out there right away. The line between professionalism and the amateur world is so blurred, now that the formative stuff is in everybody's hands.

Snyder: I feel the same way. I feel like a cranky old man saying it, but I was watching a Rock N Roll Hall of Fame induction. Bono was giving a speech about Springsteen or somebody – my wife was watching it when I walked in – and he was saying that if the music industry was the way it is now when U2 was forming, there wouldn't have been anything past "October." Because they had a gestational period! It's like any of the bands I love – since there wasn't an internet when Nirvana was forming, you have time to play in the dark by yourself and figure out who you are. But it does, now, seem like the spotlight is so aggressive. It's so intrusive that the moment you do anything that shows any promise, somebody can pluck you up. There is a certain amount of protection you have to give yourself as a writer or an artist.

Lemire: I feel like a lot of young people trying to do whatever it is they want to do don't have the patience or the work ethic to really develop. Everybody wants to be famous right away. Hence, the fame and notoriety is more important than the work itself. No one takes the time to find their voice. They just start throwing their stuff out there, hoping it catches. I'm really glad – God, this sounds terrible – but I'm glad that I didn't really have a lot of friends in comics or a lot of friends, period, in that time of my life. Like I said, I spent the good part of ten years alone and working and trying to get better. I'm glad that I have that. It feels like if you go to school for comics and be with all these other kids with so many other influences, it'd be hard to make it. Maybe that's why my stuff is so distinct. I just did it in a bubble.

Second, Lemire picked up the ball by talking to Spencer, who he'd never met, and pulling a lot of information out of the writer on his process for both creator-owned and work-for-hire gigs:

Lemire: That leads into what I was going to ask you next. What's your process like? For me, all my stuff tends to come from a visual place where I'm sketching in a book and a story grows from that. For you, you started to touch on this, but where do things start for you? A line of dialogue? A character? A high concept?

Spencer: Almost every idea that I have tends to – a lot of times I'll get a high concept first. It's a weird thing where I'll be sitting on the subway or I'll be walking through the park, and a general pitch line will float into my head. I have no idea where it comes from, but usually from there, I start thinking about, "Okay, what does this say? What's the theme of this story? What's the moral here? What's the question?" Then I start thinking about characters or who's going to be a part of that story. I usually think of myself as a "scene first" writer, but it usually comes out of some general premise that sprung up. And that process can take months.

So with "Existence" as a really easy example, I think the initial idea was "A guys wakes up in the body of the hitman that just killed him." Then you let that roll around in your head for a bit, and you think, "This is a story about a guy who had a life previously, and then he moved into a new life." Then it becomes a story about how when we make mistakes or even when we're unhappy in our lives, the solution isn't always to just go start a new life. The people in our old lives and our feelings for them reconnect us with what we've left behind. So then you start to flesh out the character. Who is this guy? He becomes this self-absorbed physicist who's been stealing from his partners and cheating on his wife, and he's made a general mess of everything. Now he's got this new life where he's a dangerous hired killer. And it's glamourous, and he's better looking. But then his daughter gets kidnapped, and he has to go figure out what happened to her. He's got to go back into his old life, and the choices he ends up making spin out of that.

So you can see how it starts from this standard line that the Hollywood guys love, but you never leave it there. I feel like a lot of writers go, "Oh, that'll be fun!" [Lemire Laughs] But you've got to put substance in that. You've got to build out layers, and that took months of having the idea roll around in my head.

Lemire: That's interesting. How regimented are you in your writing routine? Do you do the same thing during the same hours, or are you a little more open?

Spencer: No. Right now, it feels like it's just a continuous state of writing. [Laughter] It's all just bled together where there's no more times of "break." There are more times writing than there are not writing. I tend to write a lot at the start of the day and a lot at the end of the day. I'll wake up, and I'll have a few hours. Then the head gets a little tired, and you've got to take a break. Then later at night, I tend to be able to bang out a few more hours. I used to be a strictly late night person where I didn't get much of any writing done before ten or eleven P.M., and it wouldn't at all be weird for me to write until six or seven A.M. It was working fine, but I've sort of adjusted now, and I've broken it up into a couple of big blocks. Even though the time is probably about the same, I feel like it's better because I feel like I'm getting twice as much done because I'm sitting down to write twice. It just really depends. Every book is different in terms of how quickly it comes and how much time I have to spend on it and how many times I need to stop and start on it.

The Action Comics had a team-up next as Spencer interviewed Cornell while they both happened to be in the UK, leading to some highly British discussions:

Spencer: I really wanted to ask you some questions about "Captain Britain," which was one of my favorite series of the past decade. I just reread the first arc in anticipation of talking to you, and I'm in London right now, so it was a blast to read it here. The first thing I wanted to ask about was that this was an amazing story about patriotism, but it's also a story about how people don't wear their patriotism on their sleeves. You get goosebumps from these amazing calls to affection for your country, and then the very next line will be somebody making fun of that. Or there's that great splash page of, "We don't like to make a fuss about it." I was curious as to how you handled those moments and tried to strike that emotional chord.

Cornell: That's the nature of British patriotism, I feel. We have a very complicated relationship with our flag especially. And we can never say something straightforwardly patriotic without undercutting it with a joke or irony immediately afterwards in case somebody might think we were being too above ourselves or too serious. British patriotism annoys the hell out of me. It's really complicated. I think I am a British patriot in a lot of ways, but that's a very complicated thing to be. You could ask me that question ten different ways, and I'd have ten different answers. That book is an attempt to honestly address what the Brits would like these days in this field. It doesn't always succeed, honestly. A lot of people tend to view that run as what we like over here to call "jingoistic" which you would just call "patriotic."

Spencer: And at the same time, you wrote Gordon Brown there. How was the feeling of that?

Cornell: Obviously, the only way that a real British politician is going to be in "Captain Britain" is if he's portrayed as absolutely wonderful in all respects. [Laughter] There's no real figure that's going to enter the pages of one of my comics who is still alive and has the option to legal redress by "the Lord High Chamberlain" who is not going to be portrayed in a good way. We actually did have it where the leader of the opposition was supposed to be meeting Dracula on the moon at the start of "Vampire State" rather than Dr. Doom. And we were going to have it that he would initially seem to go along with Dracula and then once he got back home, rush in to call MI-13. It would've been a bit of a fake out. But then our lawyers informed us that that might not be the best idea. I'm the only person in the world, I think, who replaced David Cameron with Dr. Doom. [Laughter] Although, now I'm wondering how Dr. Doom would react to being in a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. That's a comic unto itself.

Spencer: Who would you replace Nick Clegg with?

Cornell: Nick Clegg is obviously Loki, the god of mischief.

Spencer: [Laughs] That's fantastic. But "Captain Britain" did use a lot of British iconography and Excalibur. One of my favorite lines was when she said to Dane, "You're with the N.H.S. now." I wondered how you approach that, knowing a large portion of the book's audience was going to be in the States? Did you think about that at all, or just say "I'm writing this for myself"?

Cornell: I tried really hard to make it not "that British book." I think an American audience likes a little tiny bit of Britishness...but not too much. I think we tried to strike a balance in "Captain Britain" whereas there wasn't anything that had to get explained, but contextually, you'd see the point of what we didn't explain. Maybe it was pretty obvious in context, I don't know. But I tried not to have stuff that had to be explained.

With "Knight And Squire," on the other hand, it's almost offensively British. We don't get any reviews that go, "Oh, that was all right." [Laughter] We either get great love or screaming hostility. I think it's interesting that I've managed to sell to British people both the quite serious superheroics of "Captain Britain" and the over the top Dick Van Dyke superheroics of "Knight And Squire." The Brit audience seem cool with both, which is a bit of a surprise. I thought they might dislike "Knight And Squire." In terms of the American audience, nobody much read "Captain Britain," which was always the problem, and now nobody can quite understand "Knight And Squire." Even with my translator's notes at the back!

Finally, Cornell brought it full circle by talking to Spencer about stuff like the metaphorical dimensions set to run through Detective:

Cornell: Sideline here that you may not be able to answer: Are the birds meaningful? Are they metaphorical? Are they set dressing? Are the plot?

Snyder: Well, I try to make them all of the above. [Cornell Laughs] I'll show the bones of it. They're metaphorical in the way that Gotham is transforming into a Gotham that's a manifestation of Dick's strengths and weaknesses and also sort of a nightmare funhouse mirror of his psychology as opposed to Bruce's. For me, there's an aspect to it that's about making it all feel tribal and animalistic and raw in a way that's changing itself. And the reason there are vultures in the beginning is that the first mystery deals with memorabilia. It turns really dark in the second issue, and for me it's all about the fact that Dick hasn't accepted the fact yet that he's the Batman of Gotham – even though he has Bruce's blessing. It's a light nod to this idea that Bruce's villains are on hiatus, at least for this series and run. The vultures are the whole idea of that Batman being dead and now you're Batman.

So they're metaphorical in that way, and they're plot-driven in a way that I wanted something that carries over into the backup. Thematically, we use them in issue two, and then they come back in #874, also. Hopefully it's not just window dressing for me.

Cornell: Well, it is literally. They're dressing that window. [Laughter] For me, it's a bit like Carl Jung, isn't it? You think of a beetle in a therapy session, and then that particular beetle flies in through the window. It's like Dick's attracting the pathetic fallacy in the form of birds to him.

Snyder: Exactly! I feel like the fiction that I write is pretty paranoid, too. The character is usually anxious and struggling with some diorama of the world that's projected around them with representations of those insecurities or fears so that you're facing those nightmares in a physical form. That's what I'm trying to do with "Detective," now. Hopefully it is a big story about the way that Dick is a very different character than Bruce, psychologically. I want him to be challenged by Gotham, where the mystery will have this effect to show him the ugly face of Gotham's people – its citizens. There's a possibility of them being really ugly in some ways. The second arc is about the new face of crime now that the Black Mask is gone and the Falcone's are diminished. I want this slow transformation of the city into Dick's worst nightmare that culminates in the end of the run.

Cornell: That's beautiful. I mean, how many comics these days ever have an unconscious dimension?

Snyder: I mean, reading them, I feel like your's and Grant's and all my favorite stuff! [Laughter] I do feel like the bar is so high now. I remember it feeling significantly lower when I was a kid where there were a few great comics and then a slew of comics in the middle. Now it feels so much more porous between the literary world and novels and comics and mysteries. The writing quality is so high across the board that it's inspiring to look around, but it's really intimidating too.

Trust me, there is so, so, so, SO much more in each interview than what I've got above. Please read them and share them around with your crew on the web. If this goes over well enough, I might be able to organize something like this again!

Five Comics Worth Reading: November 2010

ACTION COMICS
I actually did not fall in love with Paul Cornell’s Action Comics right away, despite the fact that I was quite fond of Captain Britain and MI:13 and most people whose opinions I respect took a shine to it immediately; I liked it fine and knew I’d be picking it up for awhile because I appreciated the wit if nothing else, but I wasn’t head over heels. It wasn’t the Death issue that turned the corner for me—though it was good—it was the Gorilla Grodd issue, which was among the most delightful comics I’ve read of late featuring the unlikeliest of protagonists for such a tale. Cornell has demonstrated he definitely has a fairly grand vision for Lex Luthor that goes beyond just being the guy who loses to Superman, playing with previously established themes of power lust and whose preservation he’s really after, but in addition to the psychological song and dance, he also doesn’t mind having a giant monkey chase our “hero” with a big spoon with which he hopes to eat his brains. Tipping your hat to the silliness of the Silver Age but not letting the joke overwhelm the deeper commentary you’re attempting to me represents the essence of a really good DC comic, and that’s what Paul Cornell’s doing here. Additionally: Really nice to see Pete Woods finally playing with the big boys. Those Nick Spencer-written Jimmy Olsen back-ups ain't hurtin' either.


THE BOYS: HIGHLAND LADDIE
It was pretty much a given for me I’d enjoy this book, as it’s a spin-off mini from The Boys, which I love, written by Garth Ennis and featuring that title’s most endearing character, Wee Hughie. However, while Ennis being able to marry ultra-violence to tug-on-the-heartstrings stuff in his sleep is hardly news, he actually opts for less of the former here, just the right amount of the latter, and a good deal of psychological exploration into the main character to split the difference. Much of Hughie’s appeal lies in both his everyman status and that he’s the nicest guy you’d ever want to meet, but you really latch onto him because despite all his good qualities, life just seems to be cutting the guy shit breaks at every turn whenever he finds a glimmer of happiness; he’s almost Peter Parker in a mature readers book with a Scottish accent and better manners. He travels home here for a break from his current trials, and in the process we learn not just about his childhood, but see once more how he has experienced so many of the mundane challenges we all do and doesn’t bear them any better than any of us. He bemoans having a surrogate mother who was too over-protective even as he beats himself up for not appreciating her love enough and resenting his dad for subtly and perhaps unknowingly guilt-tripping him about it. As you can tell from most of what I write, I appreciate guys and girls in spandex fighting monsters as much as anybody, but as a pretty normal guy, I must say it’s a weird pleasure to read about a character whose cross to bear is that his parents were too nice (which is of course over-simplifying and ignoring a good chunk of the book, but I digress) when the story is done well.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: PATRIOT
The author of my beloved childhood Superboy series, Karl Kesel remains one of comics’ most underappreciated writing talents, a fact he’s proving once more with this series filling in the blanks on Jeff Mace, the second guy to serve as a surrogate Captain America while Steve Rogers was on ice following World War II. It’s a well-constructed adventure yarn, with the requisite fight scenes and double crosses as well as an air of mystery surrounding more than one supposed ally of our would-be Cap, but it’s also a hard look at Mace, the guy who had the tough job of filling in for a legend knowing all the while he could never live up to anybody’s expectations, including his own. Kesel certainly does a good job of presenting Mace as an impressive hero who doesn’t flinch (much) at the awesome burden he carries, but also weaves in the question of exactly what drives him, whether it’s patriotism or just a desire for accolades and acceptance (maybe all of the above), which certainly fleshes out this previously blank slate. However, much as I love me some Karl Kesel writing and will take it anywhere, any way I can get it, this book certainly goes over-the-top thanks to what I’d consider some career best work from artist Mitch Breitweiser. The washes of ink and carefully-constructed backgrounds Breitweiser and his colorist/wife Bettie surround the story’s players with create an ominous mood that distinguishes the world of Jeff Mace’s Captain America dramatically from Steve Rogers’ and adds even more gravitas to his struggle with his identity and figuring out who he can trust. It’s a captivating read and a great-looking book that I have a feeling will make a seminal collection; would love to see the occasional Jeff Mace adventure from these guys after the current run wraps.

FABLES
Nearly 100 issues in, Bill Willingham is still finding ways to invigorate the expansive universe he’s created with Fables. The series has had its peaks and valleys, but I’ve been fairly impressed that after spending over five years building to one gigantic conflict then resolving said saga with a suitably epic climax, Willingham and the brilliant Mark Buckingham didn’t just pitch their tents and call it a day, a luxury they certainly could have laid guiltless claim to. While the book may have stumbled a bit following the Adversary’s big reveal and then again after the massive war, it has bounced back multiple times and now in the incredible creepy Mister Dark, an antagonist worthy of the big triple digit anniversary has emerged. Whereas the Adversary was a lot of show and ultimately not as much go (he was just an old man, after all), Dark tore through Fabletown like a hurricane, demonstrated enormous power from the get-go, and should prove quite the test for our favorite Fables. Notably, Willingham has been able to build Dark even while taking lengthy (like half-year long) excursions from the “main” story to dabble in stuff like Rose Red’s formative years, government politics on the farm, or just Ambrose hosting a baseball game, and I’ve enjoyed it all. I also admire the way he has a popular and still in many ways untapped core cast of characters, yet still dares to introduce new faces into the mix all the time. Supposedly there are now super heroes of all things around the corner, and I eagerly await the newest reinvention of Fables.

THUNDERBOLTS
Jeff Parker hit some speed bumps when he first took over Thunderbolts, I think; he managed to crank out some solid stories, but he was really just putting the finishing touches on what Andy Diggle had set up, shepherding his predecessor’s characters through Siege and ending their story. Since Jeff kick-started the new status quo with the Heroic Age and put his own cast in place—with nods to the past by including the likes of Moonstone, Songbird, Mach-V and Fixer, not to mention Diggle’s own addition, Ghost—the book has been picking up steam, hitting a nice note during the recent Shadowland tie-in issues and knocking one out of the park with a great issue #150 guest-starring Iron Man, Thor and Steve Rogers. First and foremost, Jeff clearly relishes writing Luke Cage and getting to focus on the side of him that is both a result and proponent of redemption, as well as a guy who can act perpetually gruff and annoyed with those charged to his service, but deep down you know he’s got an internal grin whenever they do something right. I also dig that Parker is getting the book back to its roots though, as a series about how some villains can actually turn themselves around, but he’s upped the ante a little as far as making it more difficult to tell who will and won’t was out. The Warren Ellis/Andy Diggle era of villains getting to run wild as supposed heroes was fun, don’t get me wrong, but not knowing what’s going to happen next is a hallmark of classic T-Bolts, and I like seeing Parker along with ever-improving artist Kev Walker return that feel; it definitely makes the moments where Juggernaut surprises you or Crossbones finally says to hell with it that much more visceral.

Comics' Future "A-Listers"

For the past several days, some buddies and me have been having an interesting ongoing discussion about what comics writers we think could and would like to see inherit spots on the "A-List" from the current guard. Now we're using "A-List" (and I'm putting it in quotes) not just to mean successful, acclaimed writers managing one or two major titles, but the dudes who put out four to five top sellers a month (that also have to be top notch reads) and sit in rooms with the other big wigs at their company and plot the future of their comics universe.

However, comics being in a pretty good place right now creatively also means that it's harder than ever to break into that elite group, simply because there are plenty of qualified bodies already filling those spots and this current crop doesn't look to be going anywhere anytime soon (which is a good thing). But that doesn't mean new talent isn't emerging all the time and finding success, even if it may not quite be on that lofty "A-List" level. There are plenty of guys on my personal "A-List" who may not be not be defining the larger landscape right now, but I'd certainly like to see them doing so in the future (if that's what they want, of course).

Here are just five writers that are on the cusp of something really special (or already there in some cases) and deserve your attention, respect and hard-earned dollars...

Jason Aaron
When I was first introduced to Jason Aaron via Scalped from Vertigo, I admit that I was not a fan. I found his characters too unlikable, his moral landscape too murky and everything to be just too dark. However, I gave him a second look when he came aboard Ghost Rider and was honestly amazed by how much a book about a character I was never interested in written by a writer I thought I didn't care for suddenly became one of my must-reads (it sits near the top of my pile whenever it comes out). Jason's GR is this crazy, surreal mix of horror, action and over-the-top nuttiness that feels more like a grindhouse flick then a comic sometimes. That previous sentence doesn't necessarily sound like it's a describing a formula for a quality comic I would love, but Jason makes it work! It's honestly like nothing else on the market today, and with each arc he's working in more and more actual continuity and comic book-y flourishes that only make it better. However, I'll once again come to the confessional and say I thought it highly possible that Jason's work on Ghost Rider was a glitch and I only liked it because it was unique. Wrong. He absolutely killed it on the "Get Mystique" arc of Wolverine, combining a period piece with balls out action and super hero stuff, then did great work recently on Black Panther, encapsulating nicely the coolness of T'Challa and creating possibly my favorite Super Skrull of the Secret Invasion. Heck, I even gave that first issue of Scalped another read, and I think my initial judgment may have been hasty. Jason Aaron is great at going in directions you don't expect, working outside the box and infusing traditional characters with genres they're not known for playing it, but where they fit nicely; I'd love to see him get a long run on a top flight book very soon.

Paul Cornell
Captain Britain and MI13 has unquestionably been the pleasant surprise breakout hit of Marvel over the past few months, and to say the writing of Paul Cornell hasn't been a huge factor in that is lunacy. Now I don't mean to shortchange Leonard Kirk, who is a brilliantly talented artist and doing beautiful work, but Secret Invasion tie-ins or no, a book starring the likes of Spitfire and the Black Knight doesn't catch the kind of critical fire MI13 has unless it's got a helluva writer steering the ship. What I love about Paul's approach is that he was a British writer handed a book full of British super heroes but was smart enough to know it would never sell as "the British book" (in the same way Alpha Flight will never sell as just "the Canadian book"...but that's another blog entry) and instead found a way to give it a niche beyond that rather limited premise in making it the book that deals with magic in the Marvel Universe. It's a very specified but intriguing mission statement that gives the book direction and then lets Paul's knack for character work do the rest. He does infuse his cast with a certain vaguely alien quality that reminds you they're not from the same country as seemingly 95% of the Marvel Universe, but he doesn't beat you over the head with it. More than that, Paul makes the principals of MI13 likable not so much in the way Captain America seems like a guy you'd love to get an autograph from, but in a way where you'd like to share a beer with them and maybe have Pete Wisdom as a weird neighbor. And of course in addition to the rock solid characterization, Paul also isn't above throwing in twists like having Blade ram a wooden stake through the heart of a core team member on the last page of an issue. Paul's work on MI13 as well as the trippy and fun Fantastic Four: True Story demonstrates an intelligence and willingness to take risks that we need more of in comics.

Jeff Katz
Of the guys on this list, Jeff Katz has done arguably the least to warrant being on it, but yet I didn't hesitate to write his name. To date, Jeff really only has to his credit in the world of big ticket comics 12 issues of Booster Gold, and those he co-wrote with unquestionable A-lister Geoff Johns. Thanks to having spoken to Geoff as he was launching the book and having seen some of the early scripts, I have an idea of what role Jeff played at least in those first issues, but nonetheless, with him being the junior partner in that creative dynamic, you have to wonder how much hand-holding was really done and how well he'd do flying solo. Well, I'd like to learn the answer to that second question sooner rather than later, because despite his reasonably slim bibliography to date, there's something about Jeff Katz that just makes me feel like he's a star waiting to be fully born. Maybe it's the way he carries himself in interviews, as he's affable as well as unquetionably enthuiastic and knowledgable about just about every comic out there. He projects an understanding for why and how properties work (or should work) that inspires confidence. There's also the fact that Booster Gold read different from just about any other Geoff Johns book (in a good way), and while I credit Geoff for being versatile, I also figure at least some of that has to be Jeff's doing. It's a bit of a leap of faith, but I really do think if Jeff Katz committed more time and focus to comics (which he may or may not ever do), he could be a major player. And I'd like to see that.

John Rogers
For a substantial period during the last few years, Blue Beetle wasn't just a book I was raving about month in and month out, more often than not it was indeed probably my very favorite ongoing super hero title from DC or Marvel. When Keith Giffen left the book only a few issues in, people assumed meltdown and cancellatio would be iminent, but his co-writer John Rogers proved to not only be competent, he absolutely blasted Blue Beetle into the stratosphere of quality. Here was a book that took the concept of the awkward teenage super hero originated with Spider-Man over 40 years ago and reinvented it not just for a new generation, but for a whole new cross section of readers. John made Jaime Reyes and his friends seem cool, smart, funny and just impossibly appealing month in and month out, but never like they couldn't also be the kids you went to high school with. John ran with the idea of Jaime not having the cliche of parents he had to keep his secret from, but rather embraced him having an extended family (including his friends) that not only knew about his double life, but offered him the support and guidance he could not do his job without. Jaime struggled and screwed up, but he was always growing, and John made sure you were along for every step of the ride. John also adeptly handled guest stars from Superman and Batman to Guy Gardner and Booster Gold and often cut to their core better and gave thema shinier polish than they received in their own books. But perhaps most impressively from a writing standpoint, John was able to tell engaging and satisfying one or two-part stories that gave you maximum bang for your buck while also never shortchanging those of us in it for the long haul because he never lost sight of his larger 25-issue super story and guided it to an eminently delicious conclusion. John has since departed Blue Beetle for yet-to-be-named other projects and I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for them to be announced, because I think this guy could take just about anything and make it shine.

Fred Van Lente
It wasn't that long ago that Fred Van Lente seemed to be merely the sidekick to Greg Pak's superstar on the Incredible Hercules writing team, but of late, FVL finally seems to be receiving the attention and acclaim he deserves. Before he landed on Herc, in addition to his indy work (which I really need to track down) and work in the Marvel All Ages playground, Fred penned the chuckle-a-minute Super-Villain Team-Up: M.O.D.O.K.'s 11, which had as much heart as it did humor. He and Pak have scored big with Herc, which, as I've mentioned here before, may be my favorite book currently being published (y'know, because John Rogers left Blue Beetle, remember?). No other book out there so deftly utilizes classic mythological structure and tropes as well as buddy cop movie dynamics and plenty of good ol' fashioner super hero punching. Heck, I'm actually not sure if any other comic has featured that particular delectable formula...ever. But then also from solo FVL, you've got Wolverine: First Class, a book that is supposedly for all ages, but I feel was designed specifically for 26-year old males who love dry wit and touching life lessons all wrapped in one (or really anybody who just like good, fun comics). W: FC actually encapsulates what I think makes Fred rock quite well: he excels at humor and a sense of fun, but he doesn't use it as his fallback or his one trick, he uses it as a tool in his storytelling arsenal that compliments the serious stuff instead of overwhelming it. Just last week, FVL launched his latest (and perhaps most high profile) endeavor with Marvel Zombies 3, and showed that he can do horror and gore just as well as Greek god goofiness or classic mutant mayhem. And again: he made it fun, but he also made it smart. Fred's a man with a solid plan who (like everybody on this list) brings something different from the norm to the table and given the opportunity could do some universe building on a grand scale I think any fan of quality would stand to benefit from.