Recommended Reading for 3/11: Nailbiter

I've rarely written a recommended reading for a series that I review on a regular basis; there are so many comics to write about, I want to get to them all. But there a handful of comics going right now that I enjoy so much that I want to give them a little extra boost, and with Image Comics publishing plan that usually allows a couple of months in between arcs when trades and hardcovers come out, it makes for a good time to touch on one of their series. So today, I'm going to be talking about what is my favorite horror comic on the market right now: Nailbiter.

Joshua Williamson has been a busy guy in the past three years. He's been working in comics longer than that, but on 2013 he got onto my radar for writing the excellent supernatural heist comic, Ghosted, and he's been pretty much everywhere since then (this is quite possibly an example of the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon, that thing where once you notice or learn something you see it everywhere, but give me this one). Not only is he writing two other creator owned series for Image, today's subject, Nailbiter, and Birthright, but he's done ongoing work with Dark Horse, short runs on books for Marvel and DC, and recently became the writer of one of Marvel's All New All Different series, Illuminati. So that's a long way of saying he's a busy guy. And I've read a lot of that output, and I have to say, there's no slip in quality.

But it's Nailbiter, along with artist Mike Henderson, that is my favorite thing Williamson is working on. Nailbiter is the story of the town of Buckaroo, Oregon. Buckaroo would be like pretty much any other small town in the Pacific Northwest, except for one little quirk: Buckaroo has spawned sixteen of the most prolific and disturbing serial killer in the record history of serial killers; it seems like the odds of Buckaroo natives who leave becoming serial killers is extremely high. And the most recent of these, and by far the most prolific, is Edward Charles Warren, the Nailbiter, who took forty-six people who bit their nails, and chewed their fingers to the bone before killing them. But by some miracle (maybe a diabolical one) despite being arrested in his murder den, Warren was acquitted of all charges and returned to Buckaroo.

The inciting incident of the series is the disappearance of FBI agent Eliot Carroll, the agent who had hunted down Warren and was obsessed with finding out why the two spawned the Buckaroo Butchers. He called his old friend Nicholas Finch, an NSA agent, to tell him he had discovered the secret and needed him to come to Buckaroo. But by the time Finch arrived, Carroll had disappeared. Finch's investigation partnered with local sheriff Sharon Crane, formed the spine of the early issues of Nailbiter. Through Finch, we get an outsider's view of Buckaroo. Some in the town revel in the history, setting up murder stores, while many just want this whole serial killer thing to go away.

There are two things that really make Nailbiter pop for me: one is the strength of the characters, and the other is how well it plays with the mystery of Buckaroo and the horror tropes spawned it. I'm going to talk about the second point first. Williamson knows his horror. He knows how to ratchet up the tension and give the reader just enough information to keep us coming back, There's never an issue where nothing happens, and even the issues that seem to be one-offs pay off in the larger scheme of the series.

The mystery of Buckaroo is a deep and complicated one, and every time a layer is peeled away, it turns out there's another beneath it. Oh there's an ancient temple buried below the city? That's got to be the source of the evil, some ancient mystical curse. Oh, that's a fake, and there's a history of people with mental illness being brought to Buckaroo by a doctor? That's got to be it! But is it? We still don't know. You'd think that twenty issues of mystery would get frustrating, but it's paced so perfectly and we get enough answers and big reveals that it never feels like the creators are jerking us around.

It's also a strong statement in the book's favor that it feels like it knows not only where it's going, but where it's been. It would be easy to throw together a concept about a town that spawns serial killers and say, "Well, the first was the Book Burner, then there was... a clown guy (yeah, clowns are scary)... a woman... a few others... and then The Nailbiter" But even though we don't know much about most of the Butchers, every time they come up it feels like the creators know all the details about them, about the town, and about what helped build it into the little slice of nightmare that it is.

And its about much more than the mystery. There are big scares along the way. The different killers and the people of Buckaroo are damn scary. Reverend Fairgold, the local preacher, is the kind of guy who believes the ends justify the means, and has a deep hatred for all the Butchers. There is the mysterious Butcher of Buckaroo, a killer who serves The Master, the man seemingly behind all the horrors of Buckaroo (or at least protecting its secrets), a monster of a man who wears leather and a mask with bull horns who seems to appear and disappear at will, knowing the secrets of the city. And we watch various people, good people, being driven slowly insane and violent by being in the proximity of the city.

My greatest weakness as a critic and scholar of comics is that I feel my vocabulary when it comes to art is fairly limited; that's why so many of my reviews focus on story and only make a general comment on art. But for Nailbiter, I really want to stress how important the art is. Mike Henderson, Joshua Willamson's partner on this book, is an incredible artist. His character designs are excellent, he draws people that look like people, all very distinct in both their facial features and their body types. his designs for the Buckaroo Butchers, some of whom could be comical if drawn by an artist with less of a sense of what makes horror, are uniformly terrifying.

Bet beyond his excellent designs, the thing about Henderson's art that really impresses me is his ability to pace out a scene for the most authentic scares. The pages where Finch and Crane investigate the tunnels below Buckaroo (because what self-respecting town of horror doesn't have tunnels?) are a testament to building atmosphere and making a place as much a character, and as important, as any person. But there's a specific scene in issue nine that sticks out as the best jump shock I can remember in a comic ever. Sheriff Crane gets home to find Reverend Fairgold waiting in her house, and after telling him to get lost, she walks into her room to lay down, and as she does her hand falls off the bed, and the next page is a splash of... Oh, you think I'm going to give that away? Let's just say you mix in urban legends with horror comics and you get an amazing page.

Character is a major part of horror. If you don't care about the people who are in danger, then you might get a shock or some revulsion from something gross, but the creeping horror of tension comes partially from being concerned with the people in the situation. And the characters in Nailbiter are all interesting and well rounded.

It would be easy to just assume that Edward Charles Warren was just a monster who is waiting for another chance to kill. But there's so much more to him. He does have this sinister, wicked sense of humor, and doesn't seem to be afraid of Finch, even when he's being threatened with extreme violence. But there's something more to Warren. One thing, he seems to have a code of ethics about his kills. When children take up a Buckaroo tradition and go to poke around at his house on Halloween,they bump into Warren, and when one gets left behind Warren actually takes care of him, bandages his hurts, and tells the boy he doesn't hurt children. More than that, we've never seen him hurt anyone who wasn't a threat in his or her own right. Warren cares about people, having tried at different times to help Buckaroo natives who left the city make it in the outside world. He's definitely not sane, but the mystery of exactly how mad he is and what is going on in his head is as important as the mystery of Buckaroo.

Finch is also a study in contrasts. When Carroll calls him, Finch is actually on forced suspension, waiting for a trial for killing a suspect in custody. Finch is not just an agent, but an interrogator, and while he might deny it at times, he seems to enjoy his work, and has no problem using, to quote A Clockwork Orange, a little bit of the old ultra-violence to get a result. With a temper and a penchant for beating on suspects, it would be easy to think Finch is as bad as any of the Butchers, but he has the tenacity of a dog with a bone when it comes to solving the mystery about his missing friend Carroll, and about what happened to Carroll after he's found. That dedication, both to his friends and his goals, is an admirable trait, but even the most admirable trait can be pushed too far, and as we see with Finch, he's always walking right on that line.

Sheriff Crane is the closest thing the book has to a legitimate hero. She really wants to do her best by the people of Buckaroo. But she's stymied at every corner by the fact that everyone knows that she was high school sweethearts with Warren. The relationship between those two characters is my favorite in the entire comic. It's not exactly will they/won't they, because she knows he's a serial killer, but at the same tie she cuts him more slack than another sheriff would... until she doesn't. Crane is no pushover, and that's another part of her charm. She isn't Marge Gunderson, the smart but sweet sheriff in Fargo. No, Crane is as tough as nails. And her adversarial relationship wit the previously mentioned Rev. Fairgold is another treat. And it's not that she's defined by her relationship with these male characters. Fairgold is defined by his relationship to her.

And while those are the three principle characters in Nailbiter, the cast is larger than that. Carroll and Fairgold are important, as clearly are the Bucther and the Master. FBI Agent Abigail Barker was another tough as nails officer of the law, bit one who ran afoul of the Master, and her arc, as she does her best to fight what he did to her, and the homicidal urges that comes from that, is a heart breaking arc. And then there's Alice. Alice is Buckaroo's local punk/goth girl, fascinated by the Butchers, and most people's suspect for who will be the next Butcher. And Alice is looking at this history because she's afraid they're right. I think Alice is my favorite character in the comic, because she's just so real to me, the ultimate teenage outsider. And when we learn about her family history? Bam, what a reveal!

I know I've talked more about theme than plot here, but so much of Nailbiter's plot is tied up in its serialized mystery narrative I don't want to give too much away. But the uber-plot is never sacrificed for a good story, as there are some really memorable one off issues of the series. Issues six and seven completely sold me on this book; the first five issue arc was great, but when a book can shift gears from a big horror procedural search for a missing FBI agent plot to a one off about Crane and Alice trying to help a girl who wants her baby to be born in Buckaroo so he can be a serial killer, and an issue where Brian Michael Bendis comes to town, and make them all as intense and interesting, well you know it's something special. Issue sixteen, the earlier mentioned Halloween issue, mixes a touch of Stand By Me into the comic for an issue unlike any other in the series. And the last arc, which took Finch and Warren out of Buckaroo, made for a different kind of story, much more of a whodunnit, and really did start giving readers answers. Just not all of them.

I love horror comics, both of the suspense and the supernatural variety. While we still don't know if there's any supernatural aspect to this comic, when it comes to pure suspense, you can't beat Nailbiter. If you like a horror comic with a brain that still doesn't shy away from some gore and a good shock, you couldn't do any better than Nailbiter.

There are three volumes of Nailbiter available right now, which are, in chronological order: There Will Be Blood (Issues 1-5), Bloody Hands (Issues 6-10), and Blood in the Water (Issues 11-15). Volume four, Blood Lust, comes out in April. Nailbiter Volume 1: The Murder Edition HC, collecting the first ten issues of the series in an oversized hardcover, comes out this Wednesday, March 16th.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 2/3

Nailbiter #19
Story: Joshua Williamson
Art: Mike Henderson & Adam Guzowski

So, for every answer we get in Nailbiter, two more questions get asked. "Devil Went Down to Georgia" wraps up with the answer to who is the Devil Killer, and we finally pay off Agent Barker's continued homicidal fantasies. The payoff on the identity of the Devil Killer is perfect, and made so much sense when I saw it I don't know how I hadn't put two and two together on it before; I want to reread the arc and see if there were clues laid out that I completely missed the first time. But that answer opens up a bigger question involving The Master (who I've called The Doctor in the past) and The Butcher, the serial killers who seemingly protect or control Buckaroo's secrets. Whatever they're doing, we now know that while it is tied to  Buckaroo, it is not exclusively linked to that locale, which adds a whole new level of creepy, knowing they can turn people wherever they want, or so it seems. So many questions! But beyond the plot, there's the usual excellent character work this book does. Alice finally wakes up from her coma, with Sheriff Crane waiting by her bedside, and the fact that Alice is about to learn about the truth of who her parents are can only mean big things for her next arc. Finch continues to be the rock the book rests on, the most stable (which is saying something since he has crazy rage issues himself)of the lot, but his interview with Edward Charles Warren, the Nailbiter himself, opens up with a question that I never thought to ask: How many of Warren's forty-six victims did he really kill? I've always chalked Warren's odd behavior to him being a serial killer with a code of ethics, but now I'm wondering how much of a serial killer he is. And we get to finally see more of Agent Carroll, who is now back in FBI care, since he had his legs and arms cut off in Buckaroo, presumably by The Butcher. And without spoiling anything, if you thought things couldn't get any worse for him, it can. I want to take a minute and really call out Mike Henderson's art on this issue and this title in general. This book is a synthesis of story and art like all comics, but Williamson and Henderson work together perfectly, Henderson has a sense of pacing that works really well in the horror scenes, like the confrontation between Barker and Carroll at the end of the issue, and he draws precise, intimate fight scenes; they're not your big superhero slugfests, but down-and-dirty, up close and personal fights. And his faces! This issue, there were some really great expressions, specifically a panel of Barker as she gets hit with the news there is no cure for what happens in Buckaroo, Finch as her begins to interview Warren, and pretty much all of Warren during that interview. The raw emotion or sly satisfaction are played out in a way that few other artists can capture. Nailbiter is taking a two month break between issues, one for the new trade and one for a hardcover of the first two arcs. I'm planning a full recommended reading for the book in between now and then to really spread the word, so if you like horror or suspense, really give it a shot. You won't be disappointed.

Princeless- Raven: The Pirate Princess #5
Story: Jeremy Whitley
Art: Rosy Higgins & Ted Brandt

I'm about to speak a blasphemy. As much as I love Princeless, and I love Princeless, I think I'm starting to love the spinoff, Raven: The Pirate Princess, even more. It has everything Princeless has, all the amazing female characters, social commentary, smart plots, only there's even more of it. This issue takes place on Raven's pirate ship as the all female crew of pirates she took on last issue are just getting their sea legs. Before this issue, the women were pretty much just first mate Katie's role-playing friends, but this issue we get to tour the ship with Ximena, Raven's former best friend and current navigator of the ship, and get a brief moment with most of the crew. There are women who are physically fit and looking for challenges that way, there are some who are playing games, some who are just working around the ship. One is deaf, one is lounging around, one is wearing something akin to traditional hijab, and there's a brief discussion about the choice to wear that, and how others might view it as oppression but in many cases, the women who wear them are doing so by their choice, which was something that got Ximena to think, and me too. This really impressed me, since it would be so easy to have a ship full of red shirts, since it's an entire crew, and just focus on Raven, Ximena, Katie, Sunshine, and Jayla, the five characters we met in the first arc. Giving these characters in the crew fuller personality means the reader has more buy in, and I know I don't want to see any of them die or be hurt; I don't think I felt that about any random crewman on the Enterprise. A lot of Raven's part of this issue sees her getting her feet under her as a captain. There's a lot about Raven that I like. Despite being captain, she's willing to make much of what the ship does a democracy, as long as her crew remembers who's in charge during battle; democracy during fights gets people killed. She wants to be the best captain she can be. And when she has to deal with Jayla, resident scientist and doctor of sorts, who is being something of a complete brat, when she stops to think, she gives Jayla a shot, and assures her that people will listen. Jayla is the youngest of the crew, and a lot of her bratiness comes from wanting to be taken seriously. This is the first issue of the series with the whole cast, and we're already getting relationships building, be it Sunshine befriending Jayla after Jayla put together a seasickness cure, or the continually frayed relationship between Raven and Ximena. I'm also impressed by the fact that Rosy Higgins has created a crew of I think sixteen characters all with diverse ethnicity and body type who are also facially distinct. Each issue of Raven: The Pirate Princess builds off the last and gives us more and more characters to love, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens when the crew does their first pirating. That has to be coming, after all, because they're pirates, but for now, this issue is a wonderful calm before the storm.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 1/6

The Fade Out #12
Story: Ed Brubaker
Art: Sean Phillips & Elizabeth Breitweiser

People throw around the term "noir" to describe gritty crime stories a lot, and while all noirs are gritty crime stories, not all gritty crime stories are noirs. Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips get that, and their stories are noirs: nobody gets a happy ending, nobody gets to ride off into the sunset, and their heroes have feet of the softest clay. And the final issue of their Golden Age of Hollywood mystery, The Fade Out, leaves us with a protagonist who is no one's definition of a hero. After everything Charlie Parrish has seen, the deaths of people he cares about, the perversions, the horror of the Red Scare... Charlie does nothing other than continue on. As readers we get answers to the questions that have been asked in the series, who and hows on the mystery, but there's no justice to be found for any of the victims. And in many cases that would be frustrating; if you're used to superhero comics, or many more traditional mysteries, the bad guy gets it in the end. But here, Charlie goes to the movie premiere of the film he was working on back in issue one, whose first star was murdered, whose real screen writer, Charlie's friend Gil who he was fronting for, is also dead, and its as if it were any other day to everyone else there. We see where everyone winds up, with Maya, the poor girl who stepped into the dead Valeria Sommers's role, engaged to Tyler Graves in one of the Hollywood marriages of convenience that were such a part of the studio system. And Phil Brodsky, the studio fixer, just watches, knowing the truth and knowing there's nothing anyone else can do about it. It's a haunting ending to a series that scratches off the veneer of Hollywood and shows nothing pleasant beneath it. Brodsky's final lines to Charlie sums up what we learn about Hollywood and the world at large, "But that is how it works, Charlie. Girls die for nothin' and old men cry about it... And the business just keeps on going... Christmas still comes every goddam year, right on schedule..." Don't come looking to The Fade Out for a bedtime story about how things were better back in the day. No, this is a story about people who are lost, about corruption, about the dark. And that's what noir is; the dark, especially the dark in human hearts. Charlie hasn't learned any lessons. He started the series coming out of a drunken black out, and he ends it drinking himself towards another. The Fade Out is a perfect twelve issue series that will read perfectly in one long sitting as a great noir, so if you haven't read it, now's the time to dig in. Just don't expect to walk away as unchanged as 1940's Hollywood.

Hero Cats of Stellar City #9
Story: Kyle Puttkammer
Art: Marcus Williams, Ryan Sellers, & Omaka Schultz

When it comes to charm and originality, few all ages comics right now can touch Hero Cats of Stellar City. And the end of the current arc, The Crow King Saga, has all of the in spades. Trapped in a dream created by an extra-dimensional being called the Crow King, the Hero Cats are all in human form, with only the guidance of Bandit, the brother of Hero cat Cassiopeia, who was trapped in the Crow King's realm in his own form. What this, and the previous issue, have allowed the creators to do is use all the work they've done to build these characters over the first two arcs, and still have completely new designs and a completely new setting. It's a medieval setting, with Cassie as an intrepid explorer, Ace, the Hero Cats leader, as captain of the Queen's fleet, Rocco, the world's strongest cat, as a barbarian champion, and Belle, the beautiful telepathic cat, as the queen. But these new forms allow for character work, as Rocket, who is afraid of humans, has this bleed through into this world, where he is an inventor who is a bit eccentric and nervous because he is not comfortable in this form. The story is a classic resolution to a fantasy quest story, with the Hero Cats and their allies storming the Crow King's castle, and it's there that artist Marcus Williams really takes the ball and runs with it. There are a couple of truly impressive double page spreads, one of the Hero Cats fighting the Crow Kings armored Crow soldiers, and another of Midnight, the final Hero Cat, in conflict with the Crow King himself. But it's all the detailed design work that went into building the Crow King's world that really impressed me, all the locales and the characters. The end of the issue teases a new group of Hero Cats, led by Bandit, who are still in the Crow King's land, and I'm hoping, with this arc wrapped and the tie-in mini-series for Midnight wrapping as well, we might get to go back and see this new band of heroes in their own adventure.

Nailbiter #19
Story: Joshua Williamson
Art: Mike Henderson & Adam Guzowski

Wow, if you come from Buckaroo, you can't get a break. Even when you're trying to escape the stigma of being from the town that spawns serial killers, the stigma finds you. And with the revelation that the Devil Killer stalking Atlanta is killing people who have escaped Buckaroo, well, there's something else for these poor folks to fear. The issue, in the middle of an arc, does a lot to push the story forward. We see Agent Burke continuing to unravel, continue to have the visions of murder that were caused/triggered/something by her time in Buckaroo. Finch continues to distrust Edward Charles Warren, the Buckaroo Butcher known as the Nailbiter, because, well, he is a serial killer. Sheriff Crane has a conversation with Reverend Fairgold where it looks like they put most of their cards on the table. And we find the Devil Killer's next victim and his identity. Or do we? This is Nailbiter after all, and what is on the surface is rarely what is really happening. But mixed in with all the plot are some really great character moments for Warren. There's a fantasy sequence as he tells Finch about what happened after the last time they were together, about his death and his journey through Hell to reclaim his life, which is splendidly drawn by Mike Henderson and is a different window into Warren's psyche; for all his violent tendencies, Warren has always been rooted in reality, so something interesting is going on here. And the revelation that Warren, during his walkabout after leaving Buckaroo, when he was killing, was also helping people who left Buckaroo because he was in pain and wanted to help others so they wouldn't hurt like he did continues to show that Warren, while a monster in many many respects, has a strange conscience of his own, or if not a conscience at least a sense of empathy lacking in most serial murderers. That's one of the key strengths of Nailbiter for me; I know its lead is a nightmare in many ways, but I can't keep myself from liking him.

Totally Awesome Hulk #2
Story: Greg Pak
Art: Frank Cho & Sonia Oback

My shop got shorted the first issue of Totally Awesome Hulk, so by the time I tracked one down it felt a little late to review it. Fortunately, the second issue is just as much fun as the first and as worth a review. One of the things that comics do better than pretty much any medium is allow for a fusion of two creators. When a writer knows his artist's strength, he can write a story that plays to those strengths. And Greg Pak, a writer who I've written about many times before and knows what he's doing, knows what Frank Cho draws well: dinosaurs and buxom women. So the new Hulk, boy genius Amadeus Cho, runs up against Lady Hellbender, the Monster Queen of Seknarf Nine, a warrior queen riding a T-Rex like dinosaur monster. And before the issue's over, we get some other Kirby-type monsters, along with the king of all Kirby monsters, which all just seem made for Cho to draw. But the issue isn't wall-to-wall combat. There's clever banter between Amadeus and his sister, Maddy, who serves as his mission control and travels along with him in a flying food truck and stays close with a flying droid. We also get to see Amadeus interact with a couple other heroes, classic Hulk character She-Hulk and newcomer to the main Marvel Universe, Spider-Man Miles Morales. And Pak continues to play out the two mysteries at the core of the book: what happened to Bruce Banner and what exactly is going on with Amadeus. As confident as Amadeus is in how he can control the Hulk inside, there are clearly moments where the Hulk is the one in charge. Greg Pak introduced Amadeus ten years ago, and if you've been following his development through World War Hulk, Incredible Hercules, and Incredible Hulks, you know Amadeus is a pretty dumb smart guy, lacking a lot of forethought, so I'm wondering if his decision to become a Hulk isn't biting off more than he can chew. We'll see next issue, when he fights a big monster who may or may not be wearing little purple pants of his own (that's a hint if you've ever read Nextwave, folks, and if you haven't, well what are you waiting for?).

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 10/7

Atomic Robo and the Ring of Fire #2
Story: Brian Clevinger
Art: Scott Wegener & Anthony Clark

Atomic Robo is back! Again! After the first issue of the current volume of Atomic Robo, where a few of the action scientists of Tesladyne were able to retrieve the head of Atomic Robo from a warehouse currently controlled by the international super-science secret police, Ultra, we get a return of everyone's favorite super genius robot. Well, his head in a box anyway. The first few volumes of Atomic Robo had our heroes with nearly unlimited resources, but now, on the run from Ultra, they have to make due. I've missed Robo himself all these months, and it was wonderful to see that, as much as I missed him, those who work with him miss him more. I can only imagine what a great boss Robo must be to inspire so much loyalty in his employees, and how much joy in  his return. But there's much more for the team to do, and so they set off for the Disputed Zone, a stretch of the South China Sea that has dubious political ownership, where sales the Vasilia, a ship with the international super science black market (God, I love writing sentences like that), which comes from the remnants of Department Zero, the Soviet Tesladyne-analogue, which just screams for a story of its own. While the team is working on getting together everything they'll need to restore Robo, Ultra continues to prepare for the Biomega threat, which I'm sure will have nothing to do with the plot going on involving Robo, nothing at all... And back with the Tesladyne crew, well, things go well and they're able to put together a temporary body for Robo, only to be raided by Project Zero's security guards, led by... Phil, one of their old coworkers! I love that we're slowly getting the band back together, and I love the genre awareness that Robo has, when he's told that Jenkins, his right hand man of butt-kicking's body wasn't found, and Robo is completely sure he's not dead. This scene also has a great Hackers reference, which every comic should have more of. Oh, and a Biomega attack. Biomega are naturally big scary kaiju things, which are designed incredibly by artist Scott Wegener; they feel right at home in the tradition of kaiju without looking like Godzilla knock offs.  So, two issues into the new volume, we've got more of Tesladyne together, Robo back (well, he doesn't have one, but he is anyway), and giant monsters. Yup, it's Atomic Robo, and it's wonderful.

Nailbiter #16
Story: Joshua Williamson
Art: Mike Henderson & Adam Guzowski

After declaring Nailbiter my favorite horror comic on the racks a couple weeks back, how could I not review this excellent one off issue this week? It's Halloween in Backaroo, and you'd think that a town filled with so many day to day horrors wouldn't celebrate Halloween, but I looks like they do it in spades. But being Backaroo, there are certain very specific traditions, as we follow a group of kids who plan to knock on the door of the current local boogeyman, Edward Charles Warren, the Nailbiter. There's a lot of typical and classic kids out on Halloween in a spooky story/urban legend, with the one kid who's kind of reticent and his friends who keep egging him on and teasing him. And when they arrive and knock on Warren's door, they find it... unlocked. And when they go in to investigate, well, they find more than they bargained for, but less than what they might have feared. Warren is such a complicated character. I know he's a monster, a killer of multiple people in the coldest of blood, but it's very hard not to like him. He has his principles, he's a monster with a very particular code, and his kindness to the kid left behind, like telling him how he did he same thing when younger at the home of another the Buckaroo Butcher, the Bookburner, is the kind of thing that makes you hope there's something in Backaroo making people monsters and there's a cure. Of course, Nailbiter is an ensemble book, and we spend a few pages off in the hospital with Sheriff Crane at the bedside of her daughter, Alice, recovering from her stabbing and talking with Morty the Mortician, and Agent Finch runs afoul of the FBI, finding out not only that Carroll, his fiend and the instigator of so much of what has happened, has awakened and disappeared under the auspices of FBI Agent Burke, who we know has been infected with some of Buckaroo's madness. Things aren't looking good for Carroll, and Finch's hot temper has once again gotten him into trouble, which is par for the course for him. But this issue is Warren's, further digging into his mindset, and setting him of on a roadtrip. The final pages look like they're setting up a new Butcher, and the title of the next arc, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," has me already haring fiddle music. Nailbiter is a comic perfect for a Halloween issue, and this one did not disappoint.

Paper Girls #1
Story: Brian K. Vaughan
Art: Cliff Chiang & Matt Wilson

Credit where credit is due, Brian K. Vaughan has range. Paper Girls, his third series currently running through Image Comics, is a completely different animal than either his space opera/love story Saga or his revolutionary tale We Stand On Guard. Set in the '80s, Paper Girls starts on Halloween night, as Erin goes out to deliver her paper route, and quickly runs into three toughs who are scared off when three other paper girls, Mac, Tiffany, and KJ show up. Erin is taken in by this sisterhood so they all have cover on this particularly dangerous night, only to encounter weirdoes in robes who steal from them and lead them to a house with a device that looks alien in the basement, and once it goes off, they find themselves in a world with a strange sky. Even stranger, when they confront the berobed men again, they are something less than human underneath and drop a device with a version of a logo familiar to us but foreign to the 80s. This is Vaughan hearkening back to Runaways, his last teenager coming of age story, but adding in psychedelic prophetic dreams with elements of the Challenger disaster, fewer evil parents, and more weird alien languages. The first issue spends much of its time giving us a feeling for Erin and Mac, who interact the most, but still spends time making more Tiffany and KJ more than cardboard characters. As always, Vaughan is working with an impressive artist, in this case Cliff Chiang, who is a favorite of mine from his work on Wonder Woman, Zatanna, and Human Target. One of the important things about Chiang in relation to this title is when he draws teenage girls, they look like teenage girls, not shrunken adults. They are also wonderfully expressive. But along with the normal stuff, he also draws a great alien machine and freaky guys under robes. And Erin's bedroom has a movie poster from The Monster Squad up in it (Seriously folks, it's around Halloween, and if you haven't seen that movie, or seen it in a while, do yourself a favor and go out and watch it. It holds up). With a wealth of mysteries, well thought out characters, and excellent art, Paper Girls looks like it will sit nicely with Image's current crop of series.

Rowan's Ruin #1
Story: Mike Carey
Art: Mike Perkins & Andy Troy

Mike Carey's comics work usually has a touch of horror; Lucifer had it's share of monsters, as did The Unwritten, and even his run on X-Men had a giant consciousness eating monster. But Rowan's Ruin is the first time in a while Carey has dived in to pure horror. Opening with a young woman being pursued by some sort of revenant, we flash back to see the woman as Katie, who has just agreed to swap houses with a British girl, Emily, so Emily can see the States and Katie can see England. Arriving at Rowan's Rise, the house she will be living in, Katie gets a bad feeling, but she ignores it, and goes about seeing the local landscape. But things are off, and Katie's bad feelings about the house get worse; it seems to eat electricity, for one, and is old and lonely. Most of this first issue is dedicated to getting to know Katie. Narrated by her blog, we get inside her head, and even see her starting to get involved with a local constable, James Hallam. But there's a pall hanging over Rowan's Rise. Inside Emily's bedroom, locked but suddenly mysteriously opened after a fuse blows, we see the room of someone disturbed; not necessarily insane disturbed but haunted disturbed. Mike Perkins is a great artist, but the scene that really sent gooseflesh up my arms was Emily's room. Festooned in horseshoes hanging from the ceiling, with a circle of salt around her bed, and a booby trap of nails under the window, this is the room of someone who is trying to protect herself from something. More disturbed than ever by this, Kaie confides in Hallam that as a child she had feelings about places, and after years of therapy she got past it, but now those feelings are creeping back. Carey plays with atmosphere, contrasting the beautiful English countryside near Stratford with the dark foreboding of Rowan's Rise. Even without the opening flashforward this would all have the feeling of a classic haunted house tale, but with that it takes on the drumbeat of the inevitable, moving inexorably, horribly towards the monster's coming. Tension is the key to a good scary story, and Rowan's Ruin #1 sets up the tension for the remaining issues perfectly.

Southern Bastards #11
Story: Jason Aaron
Art: Jason Latour

One of the best parts of any of Jason Aaron's books, and especially his crime comics, is the depth and ambiguity of his characters even the blackest of villains has a side that is not so dark, and nearly all his heroes are far from spotless. The new issue of Aaron and Jason Latour's southern crime epic Southern Bastards introduces a new character, and one who I found absolutely fascinating, a character I couldn't take my eyes off of. Boone is a southern man, a woodsman. He is a bow hunter, but not for sport. He kills to eat. He's a self professed holy roller and snakehandler. He is a man of faith, who goes to church, but who kills a man because that man committed an unspeakable crime, and this is what God would want him to do. He might be the first character we've met in this entire series who can't stand football. And he hates Coach Boss, the series' principal antagonist. Listen, I'll be up front if you haven't figured it out yet: I'm about as much the stereotypical Yankee intellectual as you can get. But this issue so deeply dives into Boone's mind that I get a real feeling for the man. In one issue, Aaron has found a way to define a completely different southern man than any other we've seen, a study in contradictions in many ways, but a man who is confident in what he's doing, because he has his faith. Jason Latour's art is stellar as always, crafting the world of Craw County, and this issue really drew my attention to the colors he's using. I wouldn't say the color pallet is muted, but it's unique to the book, really setting it apart from everything else on the racks. The scenes of Boone in the woods, of him facing down some of Boss's men as they encounter each other on boats travelling along the river, and of snakes crawling all over him at his church are indelibly grafted onto my memory. Aaron and Latour are setting up a board with many different pieces in place, and this new one, Boone, strikes me as far more than a pawn. He's a knight, maybe a tarnished one, but an important piece that will be making his move against Coach Boss soon enough, and I can' wait to see what that move is.


And Dan Grote brings two reviews for two of this week's most anticipated launches...

Jughead #1

Story by Chip Zdarsky

Art by Erica Henderson

When I found out Chip Zdarsky (Sex Criminals) and Erica Henderson (Unbeatable Squirrel Girl) were going to be teaming up on the all-new, all-different adventures of Archie’s be-crowned best friend, I pretty much yelled “Shut up and take my money” at my phone.

I was not wrong.

Jughead’s solo sojourn fits perfectly in the retooled Archieverse but also stands perfectly on its own. Whereas the main Archie book by Mark Waid and, until recently, Fiona Staples, is more teen soap, Jughead is quirky teen comedy, hence the creative team, which specializes in quirky characters and generally laugh-out-loud comics. There’ll be no talk of the Lipstick Incident here, but there will be plenty of talk about hamburgers.

With the new series comes a shakeup in Riverdale’s status quo. Longtime Principal Weatherbee is out, clearly not of his own volition, and a younger, leaner, angrier-looking Principal Stanger is in. Stanger is immediately positioned as Jughead’s nemesis when he changes the cafeteria menu, replacing lasagna Mondays with a high-nutrition gruel. As someone whose one true love is food, this will not stand.

This leads into a terrific parody of Game of Thrones, complete with a dragon, an incest reference and football player Moose in the Hodor role. Such dream sequences and other flights of fancy appear to be a regular part of the book, as next issue teases the return of Jughead’s Time Police.

The thing to remember about Jughead is that he appears lazy, but he can be quite resourceful when compelled to action (which we saw in Archie #1 when he set about his own plan to reunite Archie and Betty). The book opens with him spending an entire night killing people in a video game, then, upon arriving at school, mocking Betty for protesting the clear-cutting of trees by Veronica’s developer father. Once Stanger implements the new food policy, Jughead makes his own protest sign, has the home ec teacher show him how to make his own burgers, then bypasses Stanger’s rules by selling burgers for charity in the cafeteria, piggybacking on Betty’s open-space initiative and turning the new principal’s face new shades of red.

Also, he dispenses this nugget of wisdom by which I will now live my life: “Teach a man to fish, and he’ll bring home fish, which are gross. Teach a man to make burgers, and he’ll be the hero Gotham deserves, or something.”

Doctor Strange #1

Story: Jason Aaron

Art: Chris Bachalo and Tim Townsend

Stephen Strange has an odd place in Marvel’s pantheon. As the Sorcerer Supreme, he’s arguably one of the most powerful people in the universe. As a member of the Illuminati, he’s helped manipulate events over decades. Heck, in this summer’s Secret Wars, he was literally the right hand of God (till, you know, God killed him).

Yet the one thing he hasn’t been able to do, at least in the past few years, is carry his own book.

But with a movie coming out next year, Marvel can’t afford to let its top mystic ride the bench anymore. And so, in the first week of the All-New, All-Different age of Marvel, we get Doctor Strange by Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo.

First of all, how has Chris Bachalo never drawn Doctor Strange before? His dark, psychedelic, heavily inked style is a perfect fit for the doctor. Artwise, this book is all giant-mouthed soul-eaters, tentacle porn, mystical bacteria, and floating teddy bears. Everything is in constant, swirling motion, even Strange’s cloak, which he can ride like a magic carpet or tie around his neck like a hipster scarf. (His tunic also transforms into a sleek denim jacket when he’s on the street).

Storywise, Aaron is creating a Doctor Strange for new readers, much the same as he’s done with Thor in the past couple years. An intro page quickly retells his origin, reprinting classic Steve Ditko art, but that’s all the continuity you need for this book. Baron Mordo, Clea, Dormammu, Wong and the rest of his normal supporting cast are all on the shelf, at least for now. This Strange is too busy making house calls, casting interdimensional bogeymen from children’s nightmares, wrestling soul-sucking leeches on the streets of Brooklyn, hitting on women of all planes of reality, and showing up late for drinks with his fellow Marvel mages.

Aaron’s Strange eschews shadowy meetings with Namor, Black Panther and Reed Richards in favor of pub crawling with Doctor Voodoo, Shaman of Alpha Flight, and the Scarlet Witch, all of whom take pot-shots at Strange as if he were their version of Andre from The League. I quite like this unexpected circle of friends, both for its diversity and the fact that no one is treating Wanda like the delicate continuity wormhole she’s been for the past decade.

The book’s long game appears to involve some sort of interdimensional migration (there should probably be a blanket ban on the word incursion after Hickman’s Avengers run/Secret Wars), with all sorts of be-fanged nasties fleeing other realms ahead of a coming slaughter (“Great. Another one of those,” Wanda says casually). There’s also some talk about keeping the cosmic balance by sacrificing a life for every life saved through magic. As of right now, I plan on sticking around to see how these themes play out.

October Horrors Week 1: Best on the Racks Right Now

It's October again, my favorite month of the year, and not just because my birthday and wedding anniversary fall in it. It's because October is the spookiest of all months, where ghosts, goblins, and other things that go bump in the night are everywhere. I've usually tried to focus October recommended readings and some other posts on horror comics in the past, and hope to do some more of those over the next few weeks, but this week I'm in a time crunch thanks to real life, so I'm going to do a spotlight on the best horror comics I'm reading right now in single issues. I'm not making this a blanket statement, as there are plenty of horror comic I don't read, but if you're in the mood for something spooky, these are a great place to start. So, in no particular order, here we go, and you might want to read this with the lights on.

Afterlife With Archie

If you had said a couple years ago that two of the best horror comics currently being published (if published infrequently) would be coming from modern bastion of wholesome comics Archie Publishing, I would have laughed and laughed and laughed. But now, in 2015? Wow, but Archie knows how to do a scary comic. Afterlife With Archie is a zombie comic, where a failed attempt to resurrect Hot Dog, Jughead's dog, leads to a zombie plague ravaging Riverdale and possibly the world. I started reading it for the amazingly gorgeous art from Francesco Francavilla, and while that is as great as I would have expected, it's Robert Aguirre-Sacasa's  story that really keeps you coming back. After an initial heart rending arc where Archie and the gang watch many of their friends turned into flesh eating monsters, the series current second arc is much quieter in some respects. It's a very character focused story, where we see Betty's history through her journals, where Archie talks his problems out with the ghost of Jughead in a hotel suspiciously similar to the Overlook Hotel from The Shining, where Cheryl Blossom has secrets that are way more terrifying than whatever plan she might have had to steal Archie away from Betty and Veronica. There is still some of the classic Archie soap opera, as Veronica is angry a the fact that Archie has chosen Betty, and Mr. Lodge is still the imperious jerk he ever was, and I love that; the comic is still an Archie comic, even with the zombies tearing up Riverdale. I also love the various ties to folklore and literature that Aguirre-Sacasa works in, from the aforementioned Shining scenes, to pacts with the devil, and great Cthulhu himself. Zombies may be the monster du jour right now, in the same way that vampires were in the '90s, but it's the best zombie stories hat are about the people who are trying to survive, who thy really are and how they interact, and not just he people looking to kill the zombies (this is why The Walking Dead has become such a cross media sensation, and is still a title deserving of a look, although I'm not spotlighting it here because it's The Walking Dead and it doesn't need my recommendation). When you add in the fact that you're not only dealing with those themes and using characters like Archie, who have such a rich history, you get a scary comic that really has you invested in who these characters are from page one.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

The companion title to Afterlife With Archie, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is also written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and exists in its own continuity and takes the classic Sabrina the Teenage Witch character and her supporting cast and sets them in a world where witches are far closer to the classic horror icons they are, and he devil is right around the corner. Set in the 1960's, the comic has the feel of some of the classic horror movies of the time, Rosemary's Baby coming particularly to mind. Sabina is coming in to her own as a witch as the story begins, and has to choose between life as a mortal and life as a witch. There's a lot of the classic metaphor of teen angst/life as horror intrinsic in setting the book as a character is coming of age. Sabrina herself is a nice girl who just happens to worship Satan, and has no problem using witchcraft to make the boy she likes like her back. Her aunts, usually played for laughs, are here powerful witches in their own right who we see flashes behind their mortal guises to their true forms which are monstrous in their own right. And while Sabrina is navigating high school and trying to be a normal girl while deciding if she wants to be a normal girl, Madame Satan is looking to destroy her. Madame Satan is Sabrina's dad's old flame who recently escaped imprisonment in hell and finding the man she blames for her fate dead, she decides to take the revenge on the daughter. We get an elaborate plan from Madame Satan, as she makes her way into Sabrina's life as a teacher, and does everything she can to mess with Sabrina's life from behind the scenes. The most recent issue dealt with Harvey, Sabrina's boyfriend, wandering into the black mass in the woods where Sabrina was being confirmed as a bride of Satan, his death, and the ramifications of it all. It's slow burn horror, with moments of truly monstrous terror spaced out between the events that fallout from it, or are simply quiet, making those horror moments all the darker. Robert Hack, artist on the title, has a great style, at times very realistic, at times truly horrific, and that juxtaposition works very well. I don't know how much research he has done, but the book looks and feels authentically '60s. If you've tried Afterlife and haven't given Sabrina a shot, it's well worth your time, and if you are a fan of classic horror, Sabrina is a book that will work for you.

Colder: Toss the Bones

I wrote a full recommended reading on the original Colder in October a couple years ago, and as the final mini-series in the trilogy debuted this past Wednesday, I thought I'd toss it in here, even though I haven't read the first issue of Toss the Bones yet, on the strength of the original and its sequel, Bad Seed. Colder is the story of Declan and Rese, a couple with a most unusual met cute. You see Reese is a nurse, and Declan was a patient in a waking coma of sorts that she took care of, whose body temperature was unusually cold. Only eventually, Declan woke up, pursued by various evil entities hat feed on or grow or embrace madness, and Declan has to escape them, often by going into a supernatural world parallel our own called the Hungry World, where the things that people afflicted with mental illness's delusions are made real, or possible the world where what they see really exists. The main monsters of Colder, Nimble Jack from he first mini-series and Swivel from the second, aren't traditional monsters of any sort, unless you can view them as vampires of a kind, feeding on something that people produce. Jack is a vicious and cruel trickster figure, with a mad laugh, while Swivel looks like a farmer, and views the madness he sows in a similar way. There is a real hear o the series, as Declan and Reese have a wonderful relationship. But I ill say, as great as Paul Tobin's scripts are, it's Juan Ferreyra who steals the show over and over. While he can absolutely draw people looking like people and doing normal people things, he's a master of creatures and at things being just a bit off. Nimble Jack looks human, but the way he rests his body is a times just a bit off, making him look unsettling. The Hungry World is full of terrifying creatures, all of which I would call beautiful in design and execution if they weren't so hideous. The mythology and world building has been phenomenal, creating this fascinating world of madness unlike anything I've ever seen, and with the final mini-series having just started, it's a great time to catch up and be there for the finale.

Harrow County

The quiet country town is often the site of a murder mystery, where the town keeps its secrets. While urban horror is now more prevalent than country horror (except for the cabin in the woods kind, which is an old chestnut that never goes away), Cullen Bunn and Tyler Crook's Harrow County is a country horror story in the grand tradition. Emmy is a girl who lives out on a remote farm with her father. But shortly after she reaches he age she is considered an adult (there's growing up and horror linked again), Emmy begins to display powers, and the local townsfolk start showing up with pitchforks and torches, and I'm not talking metaphorically. Soon, Emmy learns secrets of Harrow County, secrets involving witches, artificial people made real, all the "haints" that occupy the town and its surroundings, and her own origins, which are nothing like she expected. Cullen Bunn, who became a favorite writer of mine with his weird Western The Sixth Gun and Tyler Crook, whose work on B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth is some of the best Mignolaverse art not by Mignola himself, craft a moody story of skeletons, skinless bodies whose skin is still psychically connected to it, a good witch, and with the new arc, another witch who I have a feeling is not so good. When you add in some fun backmatter, like Bunn's tales of supernatural experiences in early letter columns, and a one page back up in most issues that tells another scary story of the supernatural in Harrow County, Harrow County is one of he best looking and best written new series of 2015.

Gotham by Midinght

A lot of comics mash up two genres: the weird Western is a good example, and a lot of times, superhero comics take on aspects of some other genre. But Gotham by Midnight finds a way to mash up three genres, superhero, horror, and police procedural, in a way that not only works, but works really well. Headlined by Jim Corrigan, better known as the human host for he wrathful angel called The Spectre, Gotham by Midnight follows the Midnight Shift, a group of police officers and related professionals brought together by Jim Gordon when he was commissioner to deal with Gotham's supernatural elements. The rest of the squad include Det. Lisa Drake, who is part fairy and has the abilities of a banshee to know when death is near, Dr. Szandor Tarr, forensics and a bit of a mad scientist, Sister Justine, who encountered rue demonic evil and now does her best to help stop it, and their commanding officer, Lt. Weaver. The cases the Midnight Shift have encountered have led them into Slaughter Swamp, to a pair of news pundits who made a deal with the devil, a haunting at Powers Coporation, and a powerful demon that has been working its claws into Gotham for a long time. The police aspect comes into play as Sgt. Rook from Internal Affairs arrives. Rook starts out in issue one as  the way in for the readers, meeting the different members of the Midnight Shift, and encountering the weird. But instead of becoming an ally, as this sort of thing usually goes in fiction, Internal Affairs comes down harder on he Midnight Shift after Rook's investigation, meaning another player is brought in, a lawyer to help the Shift, Kate Spencer, who was the final hero to bar the name Manhunter before Flashpoint, a favorite character of mine, who I'm excited to see back. The most recent issue, issue nine, has cast some doubts on what the Spectre is, and was a great jumping on point, filling you in on what you might not know while also setting up the series final issues, as it has sadly been caught in DC's most recent purge. The art has been great, starting out with Ben Templesmith and his utterly surreal, expressionistic style, and then followed up by Juan Ferreyra, whose work here is as impressive as his work on Colder is. Gotham City has always had a spooky side, and Gotham by Midnight shines a spotlight on those darker corners.

Outcast

Now, I mentioned The Walking Dead before, and everyone out there has at least hard of it. What fewer people have heard of, at least for the moment, is Outcast, Robert Kirkman's other horror comic, this one with artist Paul Azaceta. Outcast is he story of Kyle Barnes, a man plagued by demons. Literally plagued by demons. His mother was possessed, his wife was possessed, and he demons have destroyed his life. At the beginning of the series he's living by himself as a virtual shut in when Reverend Anderson, the pastor who once tried to help Kyle's mother, comes to him for help. Because Anderson believes that Kyle has the power to cast out demons. And once Kyle starts, things begin to spin. Whether demons have been as prevalent in the world up til now, or if Kyle's presence is drawing them out, and exactly why they call him Outcast remain some of the series' mysteries. And then there's Sidney, better known as, well, the Devil. Sidney has entered Kyle's orbit, saving his niece, killing his neighbor and moving into the neighbor's house, and marking the Reverend with an inverted pentagram to scare him off, or at least slow him down. Again, Sidney's motivations are vague, but that's OK. One of the keys of Outcast is that mystery, something that Kirkman is slooooowly paying out. Twelve issues in, we know considerably more than what we did in issue one, but there's a lot left to learn. Kyle is a very sympathetic main character, someone who you feel for. He's a guy who not only can't see his daughter or ex-wife (she got a restraining order against him, since she can't remember being possessed and all she knows is she woke up bruised and beaten), and who fears for the people around him since most of the people he loves have been possessed. Kirkman has also spent time fleshing out the supporting cast, like Kyle's foster-sister, Megan, her husband, Mark, and their daughter, Holly, so you care about them too, and dread what you know is going to be the horrors coming their way. There are two kinds of horror, the kind where you root for the killer or monster and the kind where you fear for the victims. Outcast falls firmly in the latter, and I have a feeling there's only more dread to come.

Nailbiter

OK, I'm going to be up front. I really enjoy all the comics on this list. But if I had to choose a favorite horror comic currently being published, it would be Nailbiter, from Joshua Williamson and Mike Henderson. Nailbiter isn't supernatural horror like the other books on this list, but is in the model of the slasher film, although I wouldn't be surprised if something supernatural appears by the end. I've reviewed a bunch of issues of Nailbiter, so you can go check out those reviews, but here's the series in broad strokes. Buckaroo, Oregon has a particularly dubious claim to fame: over a dozen of is residents have become serial killers. And one of them, Edward Charles Warren, called the Nailbiter for his choice of victims being people who bite their nails, is found not guilty and returns home. But while Warren's return serves as the inciting incident of the series, it's when Agent Carroll of the FBI, the man who brought in Warren, calls his old friend Finch of army intelligence to tell him that he's fond the secret to Buckaroo's propensity for spawning murderers that he series begins. Finch arrives to find Carroll missing, and strikes up an alliance with local sheriff, Shannon Crane, to find his friend and maybe the secret of Buckaroo along the way. The entire cast are well written and varied, from Alice, an outsider girl who feels she's destined to be the next Buckaroo Butcher, to Reverend Fairgold, the local man of God who has his own set of issues, to Warren himself, who is one of those slick, charismatic killers. The characters and the story are phenomenal, and it's paced to perfection. Williamson and Henderson know how to lay out a sequence to absolutely ramp up the tension. Issue nine has a sequence in Crane's house that is so absolutely perfect, so perfectly laid out, that I can think of few scenes in a comic that sent more chills up my spine. The third arc of Nailbiter wrapped up a couple months ago, an arc that answered some questions about Buckaroo while opening up a bunch of others, and the new one starts this month, so there are three trades waiting to be read just in time or Halloween.


Oh, and before I go, something truly scary... This week is Banned Books Week. I'm a supporter of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and any other organization that champions free speech. Every idea may not be right for everyone, but everyone should have the right to share their ideas, and books, be they novels, comics, or anything else, are still my favorite way to dive into an idea. Comics are being banned constantly, partially because people don't understand that comics are for everyone, and partially because people generally like to ban things they themselves don't understandthis link over the CBLDF website. and come back here next week for more horror comics that I'm sure have been banned somewhere.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 8/5

Detective Comics #43
Story: Brian Buccellato
Art: Fernando Blanco 

I'm going to miss Brian Buccellato's run on Detective Comics when it wraps next month. It's been a nice mix of crime and super heroics, definitely the best use of crime comics plot points in a DC Comic since the reboot. This issue opens right on the heels of last issue, with Bullock and the Batman support team of GCPD officers rushing to help Batman, whose armor has been incapacitated by the assassins called La Morte. We've been seeing in Batman as well as here that Jim Gordon doesn't need the armor to be Batman, but the splash page of this issue, of a beaten but unbowed Gordon standing over two of the three La Morte hitmen is a great moment for him. But it also points out that Gordon isn't Bruce Wayne: three talented assassins is what Bruce would have called a warm up, and one of these guys got away, along with the power core to the Bat armor. The remainder of the issue follows three separate plot threads. One is Gordon, who feels like he's failed letting La Morte steal the core. Buccellato strikes a good balance between keeping Gordon from seeming self-pitying, but also making it clear how serious he takes this and how this failure has effected him. The remaining member of La Morte, meanwhile, goes and presents the power core to the person who hired him to steal it: The Joker's Daughter. Frankly, this is the first time I had any misgivings about this story. I haven't been a fan of this new Joker's Daughter since her introduction; she struck me as one of those instances where a character was introduced with some head and suddenly she was everywhere without enough time being spent on her personality. But her with a cult of Joker smiling underdwellers, and the final page revealing what she needs the power core? I'm willing to suspend my suspicion of the character because that's some very cool stuff. We also see La Morte has a second contract in Gotham, one with Stafano Falcone, but the who on that one remains to be seen next issue, and I'd place money it ties into the third plot of the issue. Bullock finds out pretty early in the issue that his partner (and lover) Nancy Yip is dirty, and Bullock tries to figure out what she's into. Buccellato writes the best Bullock since his heyday in the Moench/Grant/Dixon '90s run, and I like him as this gruff but good cop. It's sad to see him confront Yip, to deal with Montoya and Internal Affairs, and then to talk about what needs to be done with Batman. We come back around to the scene that was in the preview for this run that came out after Convergence, and I know there's more to it, since we know no one involved is a cold blooded killer. Next issue is going to have to wrap up a lot, including an assassination at a circus, the fate of Yip, and a giant Joker robot. That's a tall order, but I think Bucellato and Blanco can pull it off.

Nailbiter #15
Story: Joshua Williamson
Art: Mike Henderson & Adam Guzowski

Wow. That's how you end an arc, my friends. With last issue ending with our core cast of protagonists facing down the seemingly unstoppable Bucakroo Butcher, and the Butcher having stabbed Alice viciously, I though we'd get a chase story through the tunnels. And we do, but there's so much more in the issue. The final flashback to a young Sheriff Crane sets up this issue's big reveal, and I'll get to that later, but I have to stress how much these flashbacks in this arc have helped not only flesh out Crane's character, but have actually built some real sympathy for our titular serial killer, Edward Charles Warren. That is only enhanced when Warren lures the Butcher away and gives Crane and Agent Finch the directions out of the tunnels to save Alice. He also gives Finch and Crane additional clues to the mystery of Buckaroo, but that will have to be dealt with when the series returns, as Warren is overtaken by the Butcher and his (her?) master, who I've taken to calling The Doctor, and the threat against his loved ones that the Doctor levels at the defeated Warren is made all the more horrifying by one of the big reveals at the end of the issue (SPOILER WARNING): Alice is Warren and Crane's daughter. Since we're entering a skip month before the next arc begins in October I might have to go back and reread the series to date, because that's a major blow. I don't remember Alice mentioning she's adopted, but there's no reason she should have, and I don't feel this was a cheat in the least. As a matter of fact, with a distinct possibility of there being something genetic in what creates Buckaroo's serial killers, it makes Alice's own fears she's turning into one all the more chilling. I love Mike Henderson's design for The Butcher, and I can't stress enough how much his art helps make this book; the atmosphere in the tunnels, all the work he's done to make the characters distinct and emotive. You'd think this would be enough for one issue, but we also get further evidence of what the Doctor's ministrations did to FBI Agent Baker, and last two page spread that is a shocking twist that left me wanting to grab the next issue right there and then. I can now safely say that Nailbiter is my favorite horror comic on the market, and if you are even the least bit a fan of good horror fiction, do yourself a favor and get caught up before the next arc starts.


And Dan Grote visits World War II with a drugged out writer/artist team and Airboy...

Airboy #3

Story by James Robinson

Art by Greg Hinkle

When last we left this book, James and Greg, its creators and stars, had introduced Golden Age public-domain hero Airboy to their world, complete with alcohol, drugs and some light transphobia. Getting fed up with that quickly, Airboy – through means yet to be explained or explicitly illustrated – transports James and Greg to his world, where it’s still World War II, London has been bombed by the Nazis and steampunk battlesuits prowl the streets.

“Like something Mignola would draw,” James comments, referring to the creator of Hellboy.

How do the two creative types adjust to being thrust into the middle of a warzone? Well, after a plane buzzes them on a rooftop, James gets a massive erection, and Greg poops himself.

In need of a place to hide and clean Greg’s soiled trousers, Airboy takes them to his secret hangar and introduces them to his running crew. There’s Skywolf, who wears a wolf’s head atop his own; the Flying Dutchman, who is not Belgian; Iron Ace, who flies in full knight’s armor; Black Angel, who dresses in leather; and, finally, Valkyrie, Airboy’s lover, whom Greg almost immediately shags, condemning himself and James to greater self-induced punishment ahead (and giving readers another peak at his self-drawn endowment).

Hinkle’s layouts really shine in this issue, now that he gets to draw fighter planes and bombed-out landscapes. There’s a great splash page of the three leads climbing up the wreckage of a building, in which the reader is forced to follow the word balloons from the bottom left up, retraining the reader’s eyes and exploring metacommentary about the Assassin’s Creed games in the process. The color work is also phenomenal, as James and Greg remain painted in the muted blues of their world against the brighter – but still simple – pallet of Airboy’s.

What is actually happening – be it a dream sequence or drug-induced hallucination on the part of James, Greg or even Airboy – has yet to be delineated. That said, the morgue in Airboy’s hangar includes one particular body that deepens the mystery, though I’m not entirely convinced it’s a mystery the creators plan to – or even need to – explain.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 7/1

Detective Comics #42
Story: Brian Buccellato & Francis Manapul
Art: Fernando Blanco

The first issue of Detective Comics in the new Batman era got a bit lost for me last month, as it was released the same day as the new issue of Batman that really introduced Jim Gordon as Batman, despite having good things to say for it. This second issue is not only just as good, but might even be better than the first. While Jim/Batman does show up, both in and out of costume, this issue, and I think this book in general, has the feel of some of the best old GCPD stories from the '90s, and even a touch of Gotham Central, as Harvey Bullock is clearly the main character of this title, not Batman. While we open with a really cool fight scene between Batman and a gang of skull painted assassins called LaMorte, assassins with tech designed to take out the new Bat-mech suit, the thrust of the issue is Bullock trying to come to terms with his new status quo. I'm super-excited that Renee Montoya is back, and it's interesting to see her in a lighter tone. From "Half a Life," when Two-Face outed her, through her appearances as the Question, Renee was a haunted character. I can imagine people familiar with her exclusively through her time as written by Greg Rucka might see this more confident, less tormented Renee as a departure. But if you read her in the '90s, when she was first introduced, this Renee is close to that, a good, strong officer of the law. I love the interplay between her and Harvey, both when they're getting along and when they're fighting. Bullock's anger when he thinks Renee might be internal affairs is also perfectly in character; with the exception of Jim Gordon (and his late, old continuity wife, Sarah) Bullock has always had a problem with authority figures, and his somewhat old school rough cop attitude has caused problems with IA before. There's a lot of building blocks in this issue, with Bullock realizing that his partner/lover Yip might be hiding something from him, and I like that this book is focusing on the Batman support unit of the GCPD, as it's fleshing out exactly how Batman now relates to the city. Fernando Blanco's art is outstanding, sharing some of the git with guys like Michael Lark and Steve Lieber, artists I associate with GCPD, so I feel he's a great fit for the title now that Francis Manapul is off art and soon will be leaving the title. I'm glad that each Bat-title is getting more and more of its own flavor in this new DC era, and as the police/crime book, I think Detective Comics has a lot of potential.

Groot #2
Story: Jeff Loveness
Art: Brian Kesinger

"How Groot Met Rocket..." would be an apt description of this issue. I was a little worried when Skottie Young left his delightful Rocket Raccoon ongoing, and it was replaced by this new Groot title; after all, Groot can only say one sentence. But last issue's adventure with Rocket was fun, and left Groot floating in space, and this issue sees Groot thinking about how he met his pal. He also bumps into a space bus and accidentally terrifies everyone as some sort of floating space monster, but that's just an amusing aside. The main flashback sequence sees Rocket and Groot meet while both locked up in a jail in space. I like how Jeff Loveness builds the relationship. Rocket isn't friendly at first with Groot, which makes sense, since Rocket isn't exactly known to be friendly. But when the guards pick on Groot, Rocket stands up for him, which is a perfect character beat for Rocket, who I think views himself as a defender of the little guy, even though most little guys are bigger than him. The rest of the issue is them getting to know each other more, and Rocket warming up to Groot, and eventually learning to understand Groot's language, although the how  that isn't explained, which I don't mind, This is a fun comic, an all ages book, and I like that we're really just watching these two character on an adventure, not encumbered with any of the continuity of the ongoing Marvel universe epic.

Nailbiter #14
Story: Joshua Williamson
Art: Mike Henderson

I'm not sure if Joshua Williamson is moving his serial killer horror comic, Nailbiter, to its endgame, but he's certainly ramping up the tension and starting to give us some answers. After last issue's horrific final page reveal, we see exactly what Reverend Fairgold's plan is, and that might make his little act of cannibalism all the creepier, as it's all to get rid of Edward Charles Warren, the Nailbiter. But as Warren's reluctant protectors, Sheriff Crane and Agent Finch cart him off, they don't take him to jail. Instead, they insist he show them what he has learned about the history of Buckaroo and how the town continues to give birth to serial killers. What we get is a gorgeous and atmospheric scene, where artist Mike Henderson shows descents into caverns and submerged Aztec temples. It's a creepy scene from a comic that has done a tremendous job of building atmosphere from issue one. Nailbiter is a master class on tension and mood, not just in individual scenes (most notably the scene where we saw Warren hiding under the Sheriff's bed a few issues ago), but in the way the whole two feels. I can't think of another series since Starman that has built the personality of its setting as well as this. And I love the buts of background we get on the Buckaroo Butcher phenomenon. It's not enough to tie everything up, not in the least, but it happily whets my appetite for more. And I was happy to see a brief return of Alice, the teen who believes she is destined to be the next Butcher, as brief as it was. She and Sheriff Crane have been my favorite characters in the series, and I hope her fate isn't sealed in this issue, although this is a comic that doesn't shy away from a body count. I also absolutely loved the flashbacks to Warren and Crane as young lovers on the night of their prom, and the early sign of Warren's slipping. More than that, the fact that Warren resists the urge to kill Crane and leaves a note for her is actually touching. I like that we're seeing more of Warren as a character, and not just the sort of grinning killer he's been since the series started. Joshua Williamson recently wrapped his excellent supernatural caper comic, Ghosted, and that ending showed me this is a guy who knows how to pay off his readers. While I know that Nailbiter will have as great an ending, I do hope there's some more time before we see that end.

We Stand on Guard #1
Story: Brian K. Vaughan
Art: Steve Skroce

It's an embarrassment of riches when we have multiple titles from Brian K. Vaughan on the racks. While Saga is a space opera war story centered around the idea of family, We Stand On Guard is set on Earth in the not too distant future. I was going to say it was more grounded, but that would be doing Saga a disservice, since that comic, despite being set in worlds unknown with magic and superscience, is emotionally one of the most grounded comics out there. We Stand On Guard is set in a world where the USA is at war with Canada, and we readers are following the Canadian side of things. We open with the first salvos of the war, and see our protagonist, Amber, lose her parents to a bombing. Flash forward twelve years, and Amber is now alone in the wilderness and fighting off a robot dog, only to be saved by Canadian freedom fighters. Vaughan gives us snapshots of who each of these characters are, and even gives on, Booth, a great speech about how Superman is Canadian (read it to get the full impact, but it's great). And then a giant walker mech shows up, and we get a great scene of The Two-Four, the name of the resistance, taking it down. While Vaughan does his usual strong job building character and writing clever dialogue, it's Steve Skroce's art hat floored me this issue. Skroce is an artist who doesn't do a lot of comics anymore, working mostly as a storyboard artist in Hollywood, but I've been a fan since he drew Cable and X-Man back in the '90s for Marvel. His gorgeously detailed art is perfect not only for the characters faces and body language, but he draws a mean robot. The giant walker and the robot dog are rendered beautifully, and the action scenes are some of the best I've seen in years. The first issue of We Stand On Guard is a strong start to a new series from two creators I'm glad to see still working in comics.