BEST OF THE WEEK
What I bought and what I thought, week of June 4!
Light week for me. My wallet wasn't disappointed...
1. 100 BULLETS 45
I've watched a few episodes of HBO's Oz, which supposedly depicts prison life (albeit an unusual prison) in a harsh and realistic manner- and for my money Oz has nothing on Brian Azzurrello and Eduardo Risso. This is two prison tales Azz has done (the first being a recent Richard Corben-illo'd Hellblazer arc), and while I've never done time and don't know for sure if it's like this or not I'm totally convinced and impressed by Azz's use of prison slang. I dont really want to know how or where he did his research. Likewise for his artist, whose cinematic approach doesn't suffer one iota for the claustrophobic settings he's asked to depict. A
2. ARKHAM ASYLUM: LIVING HELL 2
This makes two very impressive scripts by previously-unknown-to-me Dan Slott, who skillfully takes all the Arkham puzzle pieces left by dozens of previous writers over dozens of years, and like the Humphrey Dumpler character spotlighted this time out, puts them all together very nicely. Right now, if they gave him a regular Bat-book (well, besides his previous Batman Adventures stint) I'd be sorely tempted to buy it. Slott receives a lot of invaluable aid from the outstanding illustration of Ryan Sook. A
3. STARTLING STORIES: THE THING-NIGHT FALLS ON YANCY STREET 1
I picked this up because I couldn't resist the teaming of Evan Dorkin and Dean Haspiel, and while I wasn't disappointed I wasn't blown away either. I think it's just me...the Fantastic Four ceased to be fresh for me about the time Jack Kirby left about a million years ago, and while there have been many worthy attempts to do Marvel's flagship title right over the decades, many of which I'm sure are entertaining to and revered by many who weren't there back in the day, I've greeted most of them with a yawn with only a few exceptions. That being said, this is a good, solid read with Dorkin (known for his funny stuff) being stone serious for once. And while the "Thing feels all alienated" plot is just one of so many that have been repeated over and over and over since 1963, at least it's sharply written and Haspiel adds a lot with his loose, easy-on-the-eyes style. So I'm interested, and I will finish the mini, but I dont expect to look back fondly on it years or even months from now. A-
