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The Comix Corner
 Runoff:
Chapter 1
(W) Tom Manning
(A) Tom Manning
Oddgod Press
BW, 144 pages $11.95 US
With so much to choose from on the shelves these days,
I have to wonder how many great comics mainstream audiences
are missing out on. I read a fair amount of books each week,
and as a card-carrying geek, I try to keep up with industry
news. Still, there's so much out there that some of the
smaller independent titles go completely unnoticed, while
assembly line garbage sells like hotcakes. Not too surprising
in a world where reality television controls the population,
but disappointing nonetheless.
Every so often, however, when the planets are aligned,
independent books break through the clutter and make themselves
known. Sometimes they're critically acclaimed in major publications.
Other times they rise to fame through word of mouth. And
still other times, the creator sends you a review copy and
asks if you'd like to read it. That's how I was introduced
to Runoff. I had never heard of creator (and Williamsburg
resident) Tom Manning's self-published title before it showed
up in my mailbox, but it turned out to be one of the more
hypnotically engaging and satisfying books I've enjoyed
in quite some time.
Strange things are afoot in the small mountain town of
Range. A group of poachers has been mysteriously torn to
pieces, and their bodies have been found alongside a sinister
roadkill corpse the locals have named "Mr. Teeth",
on account of his formidable dental work. As if that's not
bad enough, ghosts have been sighted all over town, along
with a weird little floating thingy that looks like a cross
between a Lego character and Japanese animation. And on
top of everything, it seems people can enter Range, but
no one can leave. As the housing shortage grows, so does
the body count, and the mystery deepens in the dark woods
of northern Washington.
Runoff's pages are filled with dead monsters, ghosts, psychotic
recluses, violence, humor, pirate hats, Warren Zevon references
and helper monkeys, but most of all, it's got authenticity.
Manning grew up in Enumclaw, Washington, and his familiarity
with small towns in the Pacific Northwest is impressively
evident. He writes believable characters in a realistic
setting that just happen to be going through some crazy
supernatural shit. It's like Northern Exposure meets Twin
Peaks and 30 Days of Night with a touch of that twilighty
show about that zone. And it works really well. Everyone
from the shifty mayor to the simple truck driver is not
only convincing, but appealingly human. As a reader, you
care about these characters and what they're going through.
Range is a comfortably familiar town, even though it doesn't
exist.
The book's format echoes the quirky, small-town feel of
the story within its pages. From its awkward dimensions
to its experimental layouts and style, it's clear that this
is a homegrown endeavor. The black and white artwork is
rough, the lettering is raw, and the pages have a dark,
photocopied feel to them. But rather than detract from the
story, Manning's approach enhances the book's unique and
alternative status. This is a talented guy who wanted to
create a comic book, and he went out and did it - no bullshit,
no glamour, no compromise. And it's a damn good one. You
can tell this thing is a labor of love, and as a reader,
I felt fortunate to be let in on one of comics' best-kept
secrets.
My only complaint is that after the four collected issues
are over, we're left with more questions than answers. And
with a quarterly publishing schedule, it may be some time
before we uncover the dark secret haunting the residents
of Range. With the support of a mainstream publisher, we'd
be seeing this book on a monthly basis with no shortage
of fanfare and critical acclaim. Then again, the small press
obscurity is all part of Runoff's grassroots charm. If Mr.
Manning needs time to tell his story without sacrificing
this book's quality or sincerity, then I'm happy to say
it's worth the wait.
For more on Tom Manning and Runoff, check out www.robotsandmonkeys.com.
Final Grade: A-
-------------------------------------------
 The
Losers #11
Vertigo
(w) Andy Diggle
(a) Jock
FC, XXX pgs w/ ads $4.50 CAN / $2.95 US
The Losers is one hell of a fun comic book. You just can't
go wrong with likeable characters, a great team dynamic
and non-stop action. It's the closest you'll get to watching
an action movie without…um…actually watching an
action movie.
For those not "in the know", shadowy CIA bastard
'Max' is after something buried on a volcanic island in
the Persian Gulf. Since he's the one who betrayed The Losers
years ago and left them for dead, they're trying to find
it first. And back-from-retirement agent Stegler is hot
on their trail. Also, there are rockets and explosions.
Hooray!
Like the rest of the series, this issue is well-written,
nice to look at, and over far too soon. That's my only complaint
about The Losers - it's an incredibly enjoyable read, but
with the heavy focus on action, it's frustrating to read
in installments. It's kind of like watching Die Hard in
10-minute clips spaced a month apart. The trade paperbacks
are where it's at.
Final Grade: A-
-------------------------------------------
 New
X-Men #156
Marvel Comics
(w) Chuck Austen
(a) Salvador Larroca & Danny Miki
FC, 32pgs w/ ads $3.25 CAN / $2.25 US
You'd think Chuck Austen could write a decent X-Men story,
considering he knows firsthand what it's like to live in
a world that hates and fears him. Nevertheless, this week
brings us another crappy installment of New X-Men, the fourth
X-book to fall out of Austen's ass this month. Issue #156
is the conclusion of the Bright New Mourning storyline,
which is supposed to pick up the pieces from Grant Morrison's
run. It's also the last issue before next month's big Reload
event that shakes up the entire X lineup. New X-Men will
revert back to X-Men. Uncanny X-Men ditches Austen and picks
up Chris Claremont, but whether or not that's an improvement
remains to be seen. And the rest of the X books combine
into Super Happy Mutant Fun Party. Or something like that.
Anyway, the last issue was awful. This one is too. Cyclops
and Beast bicker like teenage girls. The evil robot is destroyed,
but never explained. The search for Cassandra Nova in the
ruins of the X Mansion is promptly abandoned. Ignorant humans
start a riot and the X-Men save the day. Jean Grey's return
is not-so-subtly hinted at yet again - twice. Wooden, uninteresting
and unconvincing characters spew laughable and contrived
dialogue. Hackneyed plot elements are beaten to death. And
my faith in this title swirls ever further down the toilet.
Final Grade: F
-------------------------------------------
 New
X-Men #157
Marvel Comics
(w) Chuck Austen
(a) Salvador Larroca & Danny Miki
FC, 32pgs w/ ads $3.25 CAN / $2.25 US
What's old is new again, as New X-Men drops the New
and reloads with its old title, plain old X-Men. Still with
me? Doesn't matter. It's time for more Chuck Austen!
Issue #157 kicks off the 4-part Black Holes storyline,
and it's actually a decent Austen book. By this I mean it's
not terrible, just boring and mildly annoying. The Xavier
institute has been rebuilt with lots of skylights, and life
is starting over for the wacky mutants roaming its halls.
New students are arriving, X-men teams are changing, and
tempers between teammates are flaring for no good reason.
Through the eyes of young Josh Guthrie, we're reintroduced
to the X-men universe, both new and old. You might remember
Josh as the Angel clone who starred in Austen's southern-fried
mutant version of Romeo and Juliet. If you weren't aware
of that horrible storyline, I'm sorry you had to hear about
it from me. Oh, and the issue closes with the apparent return
of Xorn. Grant Morrison must be spinning in his grave.
These introductory jumping-on-point issues are really hard
to screw up, and though the dialogue is as brutal and obvious
as always, Austen does an adequate job of going through
the motions. The problem is that he has absolutely no idea
how to write these characters. The X-Men have always had
some internal conflict, but more than anything they found
strength together and worked as a team. Ignoring this, Austen
makes every single character painfully unlikable through
manufactured soap opera drama. Josh sulks throughout the
entire tour. Havok and his wife (the completely unnecessary
Nurse Annie) bicker about trust and jealousy. Iceman bitches
at Havok about everything. And everyone complains to Cyclops.
If this is how the X-Men are going to act, bring on the
Sentinels.
Final Grade: C-
-------------------------------------------
 B.P.R.D.
- A Plague of Frogs
Dark Horse
(W) Mike Mignola
(A) Guy Davis
FC, 32 pgs w/ ads $4.25 CAN / $2.99 US
Hellboy is back, baby! Well, not really. The last true
Hellboy story was The Third Wish, and that was published
over two years ago. Since then, we've had to settle for
the uneven Weird Tales anthology, a series of mediocre B.P.R.D
one-shots, and a style-over-substance motion picture. These
have been nothing more than distracting side projects, empty
calories at best, and though they've featured the characters
we all know and love, they haven't carried any impact on
the big picture that began back in the day with Seed of
Destruction.
Everyone knows that a REAL Hellboy story features a story
and art by Mike Mignola. And though we're not there yet,
if Plague of Frogs has taught me anything, it's that one
out of two ain't bad. With the critically acclaimed creator
back in the writer's chair, this is the first Hellboy story
that actually feels like an important part of the Mignola
mythos, and at this point, I'll take what I can get.
In the previous two issues, a giant mind-controlling fungus
with the power to turn people into frog monsters has escaped
from a B.P.R.D. warehouse. Turns out the fungus is the godling
Sadu-hem (harbinger of the entity Orgdru-Jahad), recently
reborn from a spore collected from the ruins of Cavendish
Hall. Having possessed a crazed professor in the warehouse,
the creature has escaped and made its way to the seemingly
deserted Lovecraftian town of Crab Point, Michigan, with
the B.P.R.D hot on its trail.
In the middle installment of this 5 issue miniseries, things
go from bad to worse. Roger the Homunculus has been incapacitated,
Johann Krauss has been torn to pieces and the remaining
expendable B.P.R.D agents have been disposed of in the typical
fashion. Meanwhile, Abe Sapien and Liz Sherman are helpless
at the mercy of the possessed townspeople, gathered in the
dilapidated Church of Mysteries that serves as Sadu-hem's
house of worship, as Kate Corrigan faces down an army of
resurrected skeletons. It's not looking good.
What might have been yet another B.P.R.D throwaway story
is given some real importance in Mignola's hands - the whole
affair is just about drenched in his mythos. There are references
to almost every previous Hellboy miniseries, most notably
Seed of Destruction, from which the frog monsters and cult
of Sadu-hem are resurrected. Plus, we've got the creator's
terse, humorous and believable dialogue on every page (Johann
Krauss being referred to as "Talking Bag" is a
particularly nice touch). And most of all, we've got genuine
character development, as even Abe Sapien's origin is hinted
at for the first time. With Mignola in the driver's seat,
this series finally feels like the real deal. Even without
Big Red, this is a real Hellboy story - accept no substitutes.
Guy Davis' pencils are rough, and they certainly can't
compete with Mignola's famous woodcut style, but they serve
the story well enough. Beyond that, if you consider yourself
a Hellboy enthusiast, there is no reason you shouldn't be
reading this series. Everything about this story feels comfortable
and familiar, and when all is said and done, this feels
like it'll be an important chapter in the Hellboy saga.
Now all we need are Mignola's artwork and Hellboy himself,
and I'll be one happy bastard.
Final Grade: A-
--Dave Brennan
scratchlightning@hotmail.com
 
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