Eight is Enough

Read comics every day! Let’s go!

“The Conscience of the Masses”
The Movement, no. 4
Gail Simone and Freddie Williams II

Okay I don’t like Freddie Williams II’s new art style. I knew his name from an older Robin comic book that I got in a back issue bin and when I read The Movement, I was flabbergasted “is this the same guy? What happened to him?”

Life happened, people change and artists get different ideas of what they want out of their own craft. My expectations were not met but I think that Williams II is probably doing what he wants to do so good on him.

Gail Simone is a writer who I like to see on ensemble cast stories and The Movement is just that. In this issue, she focuses on the background lives of a few of the odder cast members in quick, appealing flashbacks.

My favorite part of this series is the mask-wearing Anonymous/Occupy style mob. I honestly wish that the focus was this somewhat faceless mass of protesters/terrorists. I think about crowds of people and how “political organizing” really requires the heartfelt participation of many hands who often don’t get a huge spotlight. It’s their faceless news (literal and figurative) that I find appealing.

“Beach Girls” b/w “Dweeb”
Box Brown & James Kochalka

If you have never read a Box Brown comic, he has recently been making a bunch of comics about I guess people doing drugs and hanging out. Which has an almost limitless appeal to me because I wasn’t cool enough to hang out when I was younger.

James Kochalka draws a couple of weird monsters being cute. Like a James Kochalka does.

Prophet, no. 38
Brandon Graham, Simon Roy, Giannis Milonogiannis, Bayard Baudoin, Joseph Bergin, Ed Brisson, with Kate Craig and Jim Rugg.

I liked this issue of Prophet a bit more than the last two or three. No particular reason. Just in a better headspace, personally. It’s been months since I figured out Prophet’s general principle and I’m still pleased with the reversal of reader perspective between the opposing factions.

Everybody is always eating in Prophet and that makes it more of my kind of book. The also fight hordes of opponents and destroy planets which also makes it my kind of book.

“Go Owls” b/w “Translated From The Japanese”
Optic Nerve, no. 13
Adrian Tomine

This comic is cool.

I remember when people would speak derisively of Tomine and accuse him of being a Daniel Clowes knock off. What idiots.

“Go Owls” is much better for me than “Translated from the Japanese” but the latter is probably too subtle for my speed-reading brain. Anyway, “Go Owls” is…deserving of closer read.

“The Scientist”/”The Soldier”
Trillium, No. 1
Jeff Lemire

I don’t know how I feel about this but it is a well-done comic. Part of this comic is set in the explicitly imperial westerner past and it always makes me squirm in my chair to see white people retreading their colonialist, imperial past.

No, it’s not set up as a glorified thing but it’s still pretty weird to look at.

Anyway, the other half of this comic is set in the distant future and…white people are still imperial, colonizing invaders! Wouldn’t ya know?!

Anyway, great drawings, Lemire. Nobody can call you a slouch.

Higher Earth, no. 9
Sam Humphries and Francesco Biagini

“DEATH TO HIGHER EARTH!”

I don’t know what’s going on in this comic but a guy gets killed and another guy gets his arm chopped off. It’s awesome. Anyway, word to the wise, don’t pick up a comic series’ final issue and expect to understand it.

Day Men, no. 1
Matt Gagnon, Michael Nelson, Brian Stelfreeze & Darrin Moore

“Day Men” are humans who take care of vampires affairs during the daylight hours. This thing sells itself. I’m sure someone has already optioned the TV/movie rights and I will probably gleefully watch that.

Brian Stelfreeze draws this comic really well. This isn’t my favorite genre or species of comic book to read but I found this debut issue unusually well-written and… let’s be frank, I just bought this for Stelfreeze and took the general quality of the script as a bonus. Also there’s a scene where the vampire Nybor pulls his cigarette out of the front of his pants which is really funny and gross.

Catburglar Cream
Laura Knetzger

This is a fantastic minicomic about a catburglar who has a helpful cat. It’s a short comic so talking about it too much might steamroll over it. Knetzger’s compositions are lively and there’s some real explosions of joy on these pages. The joy of figuring out what’s inside of places and things, the joy of hidden passages, the joy of being clever, the joy of just being smart.

Anyway I like this a lot, joy is my middle name!

@darrylayo