New Star Wars Comic for Fans Only
By Dan Brown Although it’s well-made, Star Wars: A New Legacy No. 1 will likely appeal mostly to diehard fans of the interstellar epic. If you’re a devotee of characters like Valance, Black Krrsantan and Doctor Aphra, this is the comic for you. The presence of heroes from the movies – Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo – is felt here, but those old favourites aren’t actually part of the action. Instead, this comic contains a trio of tales which were created as vehicles for minor players in Marvel’s Star Wars universe. As Marvel begins a new phase of its Star Wars offerings, they’ve been promoted. Some members of this introductory issue’s cast have a long history. Valance, for instance, originated way back in 1978 in Star Wars No. 16. He was introduced as a self-loathing cyborg, which seemed to be a Marvel specialty back then – the publisher also had Deathlok on its roster in those days. This was years before Star Wars fans got a peek under Darth Vader’s helmet in The Empire Strikes Back. However, there’s no sign of Jaxxon, the giant green alien rabbit, who has gone from being a bad joke to beloved by fans. Hey, if people today can openly express their love for Jar-Jar Binks, then anything’s possible. Marvel got the rights to print Star Wars comics when the original movie debuted in 1977. It was an astute move, as some observers credit that title alone for keeping the company solvent in a financially precarious era. It’s hard to believe now, but over the decades the space fantasy’s appeal faded, so Dark Horse Comics eventually became the official headquarters for Star Wars comics. When Disney brought Marvel under its corporate umbrella, the licence soon reverted back to the House of Ideas. In the first section of A New Legacy, Valance appears on the trail of Doctor Aphra.For years, I wanted to see a Disney+ series featuring Aphra, but my prediction that the gonk droid would get a show before the rogue archeologist seems less and less like hyperbole as Aphra continues to go unloved by the Star Wars brain trust. Even one of her sidekicks, the wookiee called Black Krrsantan, made the leap to the small screen in the Book of Boba Fett without Aphra. She also appears in the back-of-the-book section in a story that inverts the old saying about letting the wookiee win at holographic chess. It turns out that advice doesn’t apply when one of the big, shaggy aliens is playing against a murder robot: “Let the droid win.” Sandwiched between those two stories is a narrative about the Empire’s Scar Squadron, who are also known as Task Force 99. This tale has a slight flavour of the Wild Bunch in that these stormtroopers are men out of time – they embody everything Imperial at a moment when the Rebellion is on the rise. They can’t understand why the crowds that used to cheer them want to rise up at the urging of rebel scum they consider terrorists. “We bring order, while all they have to offer this galaxy is chaos,” their sergeant laments in his inner monologue. This means the white-armoured soldiers – who operate on the outer rim of the outer rim – are on their way to becoming like the U.S. commander in Vietnam who famously said, “It became necessary to destroy the town to save it.” These grunts are on their way to setting fire to the universe so they can preserve it.Every Star Wars buff has their own favourite obscure characters from the vast universe created by George Lucas. If the one’s I’ve mentioned here are among yours, then you’ll enjoy A New Legacy. If not, you’ll want to give it a miss. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 32 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
Scary Halloween Graphic Novels
By Dan BrownIn time for Halloween, here’s a rundown of graphic novels that range from unsettling to creepy to scary to horrifying. Read them at your peril, boys and girls!Vision: The Complete Collection: Imagine you live in suburbia and your new neighbours turn out to be emotionless androids. Literally. This Tom King-written story ends with the Vision taking on pretty much the entire Marvel universe.Monsters Volume 1 and 2: These omnibuses, dubbed “monsterbuses,” collect classic tales by Jack Kirby from the 1950s and 1960s, when evil creatures came with names like Fin Fang Foom. Find out what the world was like before superheroes! Before Marvel was even Marvel!The Simon and Kirby Library: Horror!: See some utterly creep characters the King came up with before he switched to inventing the Marvel universe pretty much on his own. In addition to EC’s many gruesome titles, this is the kind of comic that got denounced by U.S. politicians for causing juvenile delinquency!Any EC collection: From the publisher that brought you the Crypt Keeper! It doesn’t matter which EC horror anthology you read (they have titles like Tales From the Crypt and Crypt of Terror), they are all great examples of EC’s thoughtful suspense and horror!Monsters: Originally envisioned as a story about the Hulk, this thick tome from Conan the Barbarian artist Barry Windsor Smith is as gorgeous as it is horrifying! A military experiment goes wrong and unsuspecting civilians pay the price! Nicely marries horror with a touch of magic realism.Something is Killing the Children Book One: You can file this series under the heading of “the title is the premise.” Something evil has been leaving a trail of lifeless tots in its wake in the sleepy small town of Archer’s Peak. Will a heroine rise to stop the slaughter of innocents? Written by James Tynion IV.Wild’s End: Your basic alien invasion story set between the wars. The twist: The characters who populate the British countryside are anthropomorphized animals. The alien invaders look kind of like Victorian-era street lamps and remind me a bit of Triffids. This ain’t no Watership Down!H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness Volumes 1 and 2: This manga adaptation of Lovecraft’s story about a doomed Antarctic expedition is made even more unworldly by the fact it’s a manga. Japanese creator Gou Tanabe takes his time to recount this encounter between humankind and the previous alien inhabitants of this planet.The Nobody: This Jeff Lemire joint, which made nary a splash when it came out in 2009, asks the question, What if the Invisible Man came to Essex County? Yes, I know Lemire never specifically says the story takes place in Southwestern Ontario, but it’s easy to imagine it does.Snotgirl Volume One: Green Hair Don’t Care: Written by Londoner Bryan Lee O’Malley (yes, he does stuff other than Scott Pilgrim!) this is a psychological drama featuring an influencer named Lottie Person. The fun comes from trying to guess how much of her adventures are really happening and how much of the action is in Lottie’s head. Vampirella Archives Volume One: My favourite version of Vampirella is the one featured in these stories from 1970s Warren Publishing magazines that were drawn by Jose Gonzalez. Giving the character a science-fiction twist – in this continuity, vampires are from the planet Drakulon – infused her stories with that X factor I was looking for as a kid.Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands: What does Kate Beaton’s account of her time in the oil patch have to do with Halloween? If you’ve ever wondered how an entirely male society would work, Ducks explores that theme in horrifying detail. Ducks is all the scarier for the fact it really happened. The old standbys: There’s also the Walking Dead for zombie fans, 30 Days of Night for vampire enthusiasts, and Hellboy books like Conqueror Worm for fans of the paranormal.Your suggestions: What are YOU reading this spooky season? I want to hear it in the comment box below!Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 31 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
Scott Chantler’s Squire & Knight Shows the Power Brains Have Over Brawn
By Dan BrownIf you have a young reader in your life, I have an idea for the perfect Christmas present.Scott Chantler’s Squire & Knight graphic novel came out this spring. It’s a tale of swords and sorcery, and it’s the kind of thing I wish had been around when I was a tween.You may know Chantler as the Stratford graphic novelist behind historical books like Two Generals and the Three Thieves fantasy series. The idea for his latest grew out of a Dungeons & Dragons campaign the artist/writer was running for his kids. It features a musclebound knight who is all bluster and self-promotion, a meek squire who is the real brains behind the operation, and a sleek dragon who sounds to my ear more like a surfer dude than Smaug.It’s one of those simple storylines – man in armour sets off to rid peaceful townsfolk of deadly flying menace – that turns out to be much more complicated by the end.More than anything, it will make youngsters think about bravery. Yes, hacking away at monsters with a broadsword is one way to display courage. But so is risking alienation by not buying into the same story everyone else in your community wants so desperately to believe.I also detected just a dash of Monty Python in Squire & Knight as well.If you know a boy or girl who is falling in love with comics and role-playing games, who’s into Harry Potter but is not quite ready for The Lord of the Rings, you would be doing them a favour by gifting them this 162-page volume as a token of your love this Yule. It will fire the young imagination.That’s because Chantler takes stock fantasy characters like knights, wizards and dragons, and puts a fresh twist on them, while also breathing new life into conventions such as the heroic quest.Even better, it’s all served up with a heaping helping of fun on the side. I couldn’t help but laugh at the headstrong Sir Kelton, who has a habit of getting ahead of himself. Before he’s even slain the dragon, he’s already dreaming about how he will go down in history: He can’t wait to hear the songs that will be sung in his honour to commemorate a deed he hasn’t even pulled off yet. The running joke here is that his page, who is more at home in the library than the livery, is so inconsequential to Kelton that the knight doesn’t even know the boy’s name. But it’s this same unassuming squire who uses the power of reason to suss out the situation on the ground before pulling Kelton’s fat out of the dragonfire.I won’t say much about the story’s antagonist, except that he’s not your typical scaly, fire-breathing beast. When Kelton assaults him with his sword, for instance, the laidback lizard responds, “Pretty rude, man.”For an old comic fan like me, I love the way Chantler plays with panels – including panels that seem empty of action. They teach patience to readers. Nor can I argue with old-school sound effects like “BAM,” “WHUMP,” and “CLANG.”And what should children get the adults in their life next month? Why, a Chantler tome like Two Generals, Bix or Northwest Passage would be just fine for the mature reader on your list.Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 30 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
A Love Triangle Crumbles in a Single Rainy Night
By Dan BrownA short column this week reviewing a short graphic novel.Ivana Filipovich’s What’s Fear Got to do With It? is from East Coast publishing house Conundrum Press, which has been coming on strong the last few years.If you like graphic novels that feel and land like subtitled foreign movies, you will want to check this slender volume out. It runs 58 pages, but doesn’t suffer for its brevity.The setting – Vancouver’s Richmond Night Market – isn’t foreign, but the “feel” of the book is. This might have something to do with Filipovich being part of the Balkan Renaissance in graphic novels. “My main inspiration is (Anton) Chekhov,” the comic creator says in notes accompanying the book’s release last month.She goes on to say that growing up in the former Yugoslavia she was fed a diet of “the best of BBC, great Russian movies, Quebec TV series and, of course, the best world literature and comics from both sides of the ocean.” She also counts Ingmar Bergman among her influences, as well as Salman Rushdie.What does it all add up to? A moody tale that unfolds in a single night showing how a love triangle falls apart. The characters are the criminal Max, who may or may not be a crime kingpin, and his girlfriends Eva and Mia. “It’s a (triangle) in which all characters are faulty, despite some of them being more likeable than others,” Filipovich explains.Another way to put it would be, if you’re a guy and you ever thought having a harem of beautiful ladies would be fun, this story will make you reconsider. The saddest part is that love in this milieu has been degraded to the point where to show devotion, all one has to do is buy the beloved material objects. “You always got whatever stuff you wanted,” an unbelieving Max tells Eva when the triangle crumbles. The tragedy here is Max can’t understand why the unconventional relationship has failed – he spent a lot of money on his foxes, didn’t he? Isn’t that all there is to it? And don’t get me started on how a single question rules one of the girlfriend’s lives: How will this look to my followers on social media? “I was born online. That’s me,” Mia boasts at the outset of the evening.All of this is presented in a moody wrapper. Filipovich evokes another film, Blade Runner, with her scratchy lines. The cityscape is drenched in ever-falling rain, which means the one moment when the sun comes out lands with force.If you are looking for a departure from the same old, same old, I recommend What’s Fear Got to do With It? Dan Brown has covered pop culture for 30 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
Watcher not satisfied with just watching: Omniscient alien serves as role model to journalist-in-the-making
By Dan Brown There is a Marvel character who inspired me to become a journalist – and it’s not Peter Parker. Nor is it Robbie Robertson or Ben Urich or anyone else who worked at the Daily Bugle, not even J. Jonah Jameson. It’s the Watcher. Where else would a boy growing up in small-town Ontario in the 1970s get the idea that being a professional observer could be a noble pursuit, except from a reticent, toweringly tall, omnipresent, bald alien? I certainly didn’t get it from my parents, neither of whom were journalists. I delivered the London Free Press to doorsteps and mailboxes in Poplar Hill every morning, so being familiar with the newspaper business from an early age likely played a part. But looking back, it’s apparent to me the Watcher was my journalistic role model long before I was even thinking of choosing a career path. I forget where I first encountered Uatu, as he is known among his people. It may have been in the pages of The Fantastic Four. I do recall how he caught my attention for real when Marvel’s What If? title debuted in 1977. The Watcher’s mission is to observe events and be present to witness crucial moments as the universe unfolds. He materializes on Earth when things of historic import are in the offing. It was Reed Richards, the leader of the Fantastic Four, who figured out if the Watcher had made himself known to mere humans, something heavy was about to go down. There is something pure to the Watcher’s stated purpose. “My sworn task is to observe and chronicle great events within this sector of the universe. My curse is to always witness and never participate,” he explained in one comic. “Is it not my sworn duty to stand passively by, observing the births and lives and deaths of men – and universes? Am I not fated forever to know the future in its infinite variations – yet bound by a sacred oath never to interfere?” the omniscient one asked in another. I can see how those kinds of idealistic sentiments would have made a big impression on my younger self. Decades later I ended up being a reporter, and that’s what a reporter is supposed to do: Bear witness. Oh, and about that oath never to meddle in the affairs of Earthlings . . . yeah, he didn’t keep his promise. The Watcher was constantly swearing not to interfere, and then, like clockwork, breaking his vow. Kind of like how the crew of the Enterprise was always violating the Prime Directive. Stationed on Earth’s moon, over the eons of rubbernecking the Watcher became enamoured of humankind. His tragedy is that he developed a soft spot for those whose history he was supposed to monitor without altering, which he could easily do, since he is pretty much omnipotent. I notice on some fan sites there are estimates of how many times the Watcher changed the course of events in the Marvel Universe that run into the hundreds. So can a journalist in our world succeed where the Watcher failed? No. For starters, there’s the scientific dictum that states even the act of observing something necessarily changes it. And if objectivity was possible, then we could simply program robots to do the job of journalism for us. But experience has taught me how human reporters can be, if not objective, then fair, which is what I strive to achieve in my own work as a watcher. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for 30 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
Laufman makes jump to grownup themes in Crimson Fall: Lambs of God
By Dan BrownWith Crimson Fall, London graphic novelist Derek Laufman has effortlessly made the shift from all-ages comics to more mature sequential art. That said, I’ve read the books Laufman has written/drawn for younger readers, and I never felt like I was being talked down to. And I’m old.Longtime Laufman fans need not fret about Crimson Fall. It has all the fun and adventure of Bot 9, RuinWorld and Witch of Wickerson; in the Forest City creator’s words, Crimson Fall is “Hellboy meets the Witcher with a splash of Game of Thrones in there.” In other words, the 24-page offering is a dungeon adventure with swear words and one very meaty adult theme that could be lost on younger readers: the complexity of faith.Byron’s Laufman debuted the black-and-white book in April at the Toronto Comics Art Festival, a gathering of creators whose specialty is producing indie comics, which is exactly Laufman’s jam, even though he has done work for DC and Marvel – the Coke and Pepsi of the comics industry – drawing characters like Batman, Spider-Man and Luke Skywalker.Subtitled Lambs of God, it’s part of a projected series set in the same milieu, and takes readers into a shadow-filled monastery that has been pillaged by forces unknown. Father McKellen is seeking answers about how his fellow holy men died, retaining the broadsword-wielding knight Sir Duncross to handle any, er, supernatural entanglements.You can enjoy the story as a straightforward, kickass adventure tale about a pair of demon slayers doing what they do best. But if you go beneath that surface battle, paying attention to the interplay between the two men, you’ll notice a difference in their beliefs.It is Father McKellen, the man of the cloth, who – when confronted with irrefutable evidence that creatures from hell exist – asks a rational question: “How is it possible that demons walk in our world?”Sir Duncross, in between hacks of his wide blade that echo with sound effects like “Slash,” “Slice” and “Stab,” outlines his belief in an older order: He puts his faith in gods, not God. He is not impressed with monotheism. “Does your church not still seek the truth?” the fighter quizzes the cleric, revealing the disgust he feels for religious leaders who won’t be straight with their followers about the nature of evil.The foray into the monastery comes to a fiery conclusion, and in the end, each of the men makes a small symbolic move in the direction of the other.As I have with Laufman’s previous creations, I give Crimson Fall: Lambs of God an enthusiastic thumbs up. This is a fun adventure, stylishly rendered, that left me with much food for thought.Dan Brown has covered pop culture for 30 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
