Negative Pop webmaster Alan Camuto came up with the innovative idea that we swap reviews for a change. I would do a couple of music reviews, and Alan would write the next column of "In My Not So Humble Opinion." Unfortunately, two things put a wrench in that plan. First off, Alan ended up with a lot of things to take care of that were understandably more of a priority than writing reviews. He wasn't able to complete his column as quickly as he thought he would. Not to worry, it will be appearing on Negative Pop soon enough.
Meanwhile, I discovered that reviewing music is much harder than it appears. It requires the ability to be concise, to analyze the musicians & their work in a succinct manner. Anybody who has ever read my comic reviews knows I do tend to ramble on. A lot. So it ended up being quite a task to adopt my writing style to music reviews. Then I went off to the Pittsburgh Comicon, which ate up several more days.
Anyway, now I'm back, and ready to do some more rambling, er, um, I mean, reviewing.
The Big Book of the Weird Wild West, $14.95 US, published by Paradox Press / DC Comics
Writers: John Whalen, with Deb Picker, Richard Klaw, and Ben Ostrander; Artists: Various; Cover art: Glenn Barr
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
I've always had an avid interest in history. By studying the past, we can obtain a good understanding of the human condition, of what motivates us as both individuals and societies. We can also see where we are going, what actions we are likely to take, by observing the repeated trends and actions of our ancestors.
My interest in history, and its significance to humanity, has led to a dislike for simplified, one-sided recountings of the past, be they in history texts or popular fiction. One of my pet peeves regarding American history has been the traditional, romanticized regard for the settlement of "The West." So often it emphasizes the pioneering spirit of those brave settlers, industriously taming the wilds of North America, allowing our great nation to expand. Which, of course, completely overlooks the fact that the settlement of western North America was a bloody, violent affair. That it was an era of lawlessness and brutality. That the settlers were more often than not at each other's throats, fighting over land, or gold, or cattle. And that's not even taking into account the atrocities and near genocide leveled against the native American population who were already occupying those "wide open plains," and had been for centuries.
Unfortunately, all of these details inevitably end up being overlook, indeed, ignored, in not only certain history books (such as elementary school textbooks), but in popular culture. I have seen too many movies set in the 19th century American West that had a definite Anglocentric, romanticized portrayal of the time period. This is why I am not a fan of most Westerns, especially those starring John Wayne! So when a work comes along that attempts to present a view of the American West from the numerous disparate sides, I'm certainly interested. Especially when that work also manages to be entertaining.
The Big Book of the Weird Wild West is one of the many volumes published by Paradox Press that explores different themes through sequential narration (other volumes cover such diverse topics as death, hoaxes, urban legends, thugs, and the unexplained, just to name a few). And, like the rest of the series, it is a thoroughly researched volume that reveals just how violent, tragic, and, yep, weird the American West was. Illustrated by more than sixty artists, Weird Wild West covers a broad range of topics in a fascinating manner. Gunfighters, cannibals, con men, cultural clashes, popular entertainment, and ghost stories are all explored by John Whalen and his numerous collaborators.
Doc Holliday, Butch Cassidy, and Jesse James are all here, presented as they really were, without the embellishments. The tragic destruction of the numerous Native American cultures is delved into. Ned Buntline, known as "king of the dime store novelists," is spotlighted, revealing his role in the creation of the heroic myths of the West that prevail to this day. The numerous attempts to bring "law and order" to the West are showcased. The prevalence of alcohol and prostitution in the West is duly noted. And the stories of some the odd, strange, and bizarre people and incidents of those chaotic times are related here.
The Big Book series has always deftly balanced, and often blended, factual accuracy with humor. This volume is no exception. Indeed, with such grim topics being covered, humor is a necessity. True, it's often black, ironic humor, but that's all too appropriate. For example, the tragedy of the Donner Party's horrific decent into cannibalism is illustrated by none other than Sergio Aragones! And all the tales of befuddled bank robbers, inventive swindlers, ghostly legends, exaggerated newspaper stories, and oddball frontier sports are certainly amusingly recounted and illustrated. Whalen was clearly enjoying himself when he came up with the titles for the various segments of the book. "Badman or Bust," "Go West, Young Man-Eater," "A Slice of Vice on the Barbary Coast," and "Cowboys vs. the Flying Saucers" are some of the more oddball ones he thought up.
The Big Book of the Weird Wild West is simultaneously informative and entertaining. It looks at the grim reality of the West, while remaining an engaging read. And, like the other volumes in the series, it is the perfect showcase for the diverse styles and talent found in comic books and sequential illustration.
Savage Dragon #s 82-84, $2.95 US each, published by Image Comics
Writer, Pencils, and Inks: Erik Larsen
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon has been one of my favorite books since the very first issue came out. Larsen started out with the super-powered Dragon working as a cop in the Chicago police department. This was back in the early 1990s, at a time when brand new superheroes were being churned out at an astronomical rate by over a dozen publishers. The Dragon stood out from the crowd, because he wasn't interested in putting on a spandex costume and calling himself a "superhero." Rather, he joined the police force, and fought crime alongside normal, non-powered human beings.
As the book continued over the years, the Dragon's rogues gallery and supporting cast both grew and changed. Larsen had complete ownership of the Dragon's universe, which gave him a free hand to alter the status quo and kill off long-standing characters whenever he wanted to. And such changes were often completely unexpected.
Eventually, though, the continuity of the book became so cumbersome that it was difficult for new readers to pick up the book. Larsen decided to give the series a new starting point. The Dragon had a final battle with one of his arch foes, Overlord. A half-human, half-Martian telepathic powerhouse born in the 1990s, Overlord, when he reached adulthood in the early 21st century, traveled back in time, altered history, and formed a globe-spanning subversive organization known as the Covenant of the Sword. Dragon, determined to stop Overlord once and for all, killed his enemy in 1999, before he could begin his manipulations of time. The result was that the timestream was altered. To Dragon's horror, though, it was not for the better. Without the influence of Overlord and the Covenant, various key events did not take place. Certain heroes did not get created, Earth was invaded by Mars, and in the aftermath the cyborg tyrant Khan took over the ruined planet. Dragon was the only one in this new reality who had memories of what had happened before he had altered history.
The last several issues have been to devoted to Dragon exploring the dramatically changed Earth, trying to get a bearing on what has happened, hoping to discover the whereabouts of the people who were his friends. Unfortunately, some of these issues have been less-than-impressive, with the Dragon randomly wandering from one battle to another, getting bounced back and forth across the globe. While I can understand Larsen wanting to make as many issues of Savage Dragon self-contained as possible, there is an inevitably need for continuing storylines and a supporting cast to bridge the issues.
Fortunately, things have improved greatly within the past three issues. Things started slowly in #82, which at first seemed like it would be another one-off misadventure. Dragon finds himself in Australia, where all electricity has been shut off to keep Khan out, and giant domesticated insects were used in place of machinery (I groaned aloud when Dragon ended up walking along "Wallaby Street") . However, the story continued into #83, where Dragon discovered that Australia was actually ruled by his old foe Brainiape. (For those who are curious, Brainiape is a gorilla with a transparent bowl on top of his skull containing Hitler's mutated brain… really!)
Dragon is captured by Brainiape's fascist police force and tossed into an arena, where he is forced to do battle with numerous super-powered opponents. They are being mind-controlled by Brainiape and his allies, the Brain Trust, which is unfortunate, as many of them were formerly friends of the Dragon. Only the Dragon, due to his healing ability, is immune to the mind control. He finds himself having to fight old friends who are attempting to kill him. He has to survive the arena gauntlet and somehow find a way to defeat Brainiape.
These issues really do a good job of establishing the status of the world in this new reality, as we learn that Khan has conquered much of the planet, with only Australia escaping his influence. Dragon manages to locate many of his old friends in Australia's prison camps. Among them are Barbaric and Ricochet, plus guest stars Madman & the Atomics (Mike Allred's creations), as well as Badrock (formerly of Rob Liefeld's Youngblood).
By setting the three issues in one location, and having them lead into one another, Larsen has given back the book a temporary stability, which enables a longer story to be told, rather than the battles against one-shot foes that preceded them. Yes, there's plenty of action and slugfests in #s 82-84. But the story also involves Dragon's supporting cast and guest stars, and it has him fighting a threat that has been built up over the last few months.
Larsen's artwork is superb. It looks like he put a tremendous amount of effort into these two issues, drawing some dynamic, spectacular battle scenes. Sometimes Larsen's work can be sketchy, especially when he is working on other projects. So it is all the more impressive that he did such a fine job illustrating these two issues at a time while he was also pencilling Defenders and co-writing a twelve-part Fantastic Four miniseries, not to mention recovering from a bout of pneumonia. Considering how many "superstar" comic creators are unable to release a book on even a quarterly basis while in the peak of health, this makes Larsen's enormous output and work ethic all the more impressive.
Issue #84 ends with a hell of a cliffhanger splash page, leaving me eager to see what happens next. After a few less-than-spectacular issues, Larsen has really gotten things going again, once more making Savage Dragon an exciting, suspenseful book.
Oh, yeah, I can't help wondering about the story title of #84, "Breakout From Command D." Is it just a coincidence, or is Larsen cleverly spoofing Jack Kirby's post-apocalyptic series Kamandi?