THESE PICTURES OF YOU: COMICS REVIEWS. Let’s go!

Finder: Mystery Date. Wow, I’m so conflicted about this book. First off, I am a Carla Speed McNeil completist at this point. I’m addicted to the Samuel Delany-esque Finder world. This is wonderful science fiction, extending out beyond the borders of the page; rough and weird and sprawling just like real life. It feels like McNeil is describing the Finder world, rather than creating it.

But. Um. This volume feels… lecture-y. Now, that’s maybe because the characters are professors and students. In real life, such people lecture. And McNeil’s lectures feel relatively real. But still, I felt like I was being beaten over the head with characters’ respective positions. The main character is a temple prostitute and most of the lectures involve sex in some way or another, so it’s also lectures about something I’ve thought a lot about (I mean, it’s my job), and I really didn’t feel like I was getting anything new.

One of the major themes of the book is the clash of expectations. And usually this is something that would immediately attract me to a work of fiction. I love seeing clashes where one character is completely shocked by what another character takes for granted. But again, it didn’t quite work here. My guess is that it didn’t work for me because the main conflict was a clash between two very differently-situated cultures (one positioned as “civilized” and one as “exotic”) in a way I feel like I’ve had pounded into my head a hundred times since entering high school. And at this point, either I’m a jerk about “exotic” cultures or I’m not, but I’ve heard all the arguments already and seen all the lopsided conflicts in which the “exotic” cultural insider is obviously more open-minded and sensitive and questioning and whatnot than the “civilized” intellectualizing outsiders. I’m starting to think that right now I more want to see the clash of expectations within a culture–people who thought they were on the same page and only now realize that they were never even reading from the same script. Anyway, I find it hard to tell if it’s that McNeil is being too exaggerated and blunt or if I’m just hugely jaded on this whole question after my Riot Grrrl years, or what.

But see, every Finder book ends with McNeil’s notes, and these are so utterly charming and scientifictionally pleasing that I come away with a huge love for the book. She really has this whole world in her head and it’s wonderful to see. Also, her drawings are amazingly sweet and fluid. I purr at her drawings even when I’m not wildly thrilled by the storyline to which they’re hooked. Plus, her characters are vivid, realistic, and lovable. Very much worth your time even though you might find yourself (as I did) growling and muttering at the page.



Human Target: Strike Zones. This is really a series of short stories about Christopher Chance, who can impersonate anyone perfectly. Lovely little overwritten fables about personal identity and lack of same. I keep hanging on to this fairly predictable title because I’m obsessed with the theme (oh so Walker Percy!) and I can put up with the fact that it always has at least thirteen more captions than it needs. Someone needs to flense the captions, seriously. Anyway, it’s a James Bond suspense thing with a much deeper underlying emotional current than the Bond films, so I’m into it.



Powers: Who Killed Retro Girl? Probably suffered in comparison to the other titles. I resisted picking up Powers in part because of the artwork, which for some reason I didn’t like. Now, I have no idea what I was thinking. The artwork is big and brassy and exaggerated and I love it, almost. (The “almost” is for the amazingly annoying, predictable reason that Oeming draws every female with the same Barbie physique and gives us several infuriating, physics-defying shots of Detective Pilgrim with her pants falling off her ass.)

The dialogue is Bendis standard, which is fine, but… I dunno. I didn’t feel like this comic was giving me anything I couldn’t get better in (the first volume of) Alias, or even Sleeper. Seriously, what is the unique thing that Powers offers? It looks good, but I got no interest in it beyond that.

Oh hey, I totally didn’t tell you what it is. It’s a detective story about two cops, ex-superhero Walker and rookie Pilgrim, investigating crimes committed against your basic costumed superpowered folk. “Homicide superior,” as they say.



Sleeper: All False Moves. I’m so in love.

Okay, so at first glance, this sounds like Powers. It’s basically The Superpowered Spy Who Came in From the Cold. Except he doesn’t get to come in from the cold, because the only person who knows he’s really still one of the Good Guys is in a coma. But it’s a twisty creepy shivery spy story with superpowers. How come you should get it right now? (After you get the first two volumes, Point Blank and Sleeper: Out in the Cold.) I’ve got three reasons:

1) Characters. The characterizations of double (?) agent Holden Carver, his “only happy when somebody else is screaming” girlfriend Miss Misery, his boss TAO, and his friend Genocide Jones are fun and consistent and compelling.

2) Suspense. I flipped every page with intense interest, worrying about what was going to happen to our knockabout and decidedly compromised quasi-hero.

3) Ohhhhhhh, the layout. This book is such a sensual pleasure. The layout is noticeable, but simple and not showy: lots of boxes. But the boxes are positioned in such a way that you can’t help but make the connections to the themes of the book: windows (frame-ups, constricted vision, limited POV), cages, organizational flowcharts, playing cards, photographs (evidence). I dug this layout in Out in the Cold and now I think I have a huge layout crush–I want to send it anonymous Valentines with soppy poetry. Also, the pages are still glossy and weirdly thick in a way that is strangely exciting to turn.

OK OK, Sleeper won’t change your world. But it’s as good as Chandler. It’s fantastic noir-spy comicsness. You want it. You really, really do.

Next up: Planetes v. 2 and 3; the first volumes of The Invisibles and Doom Patrol.