Following up on last week’s reviews, here’s another batch of Image comics you should be reading. These ones are all geared toward older audiences (lots of mature themes, not much family-friendly material), so they’re not really suitable for puritanical killjoys or impressionable minds… But they’re great examples of the variety that Image (and the comics industry as a whole) have to offer readers looking for something new and different.
The Manhattan Projects
The new ongoing series from Jonathan Hickman and Nick Pitarra is a heady and intensive read, full of alternate history, mad ideas, and fantastic imaginary science. It stars one Robert Oppenheimer, known to most of the world as the genius physicist whose work led to the development of the atomic bomb… But, as we find here, that was far from the whole story.
The opening pages of issue #1 drop us into the middle of World War 2, as the US government is working to develop technology to protect America from new and unfamiliar menaces. As the issue continues, a series of quick flashbacks introduce us to Robert and his evil (and fictional) twin Joseph, and as the two plot threads begin to intersect, we start to learn just how different this reality is from our own. Hickman has created an inspired blend of historical fiction and complex meta-narrative here, using facts of the era to reinforce a series of events that build quickly from believable to remarkable.
There’s a lot of amazing things about this series so far: the bizarre concepts filling every instant of the story, the stark graphic design of the covers, Pitarra’s detailed and expressive artwork, and possibly most striking, the combination of simplicity and complexity in the storytelling. The pages are filled with intricate tricks of layout, and the narrative unfolds with meticulous attention to design and composition. The use of repetition, color, and delicate counterpoint combine with the mad ideas and frenetic pacing of the script, and push this comic far beyond a mere “alternate history” tale and into a whole new realm… It’s a work of mind-blowing storytelling, and a prime example of the possibilities of the comics form.
The Manhattan Projects is an ongoing series. Issue one is currently available from comic shops, or digitally from Comixology.
The Strange Talent Of Luther Strode
It starts out like a typical high-school drama, our protagonist introduced as he goes through the day-to-day of his life. Luther is a young man without many friends, a decently smart teenager who’s in the process of figuring out his place in the world, and dealing with the trials of encroaching adulthood. He’s gangly, nerdy, a target for bullying and mockery – and then he sends away for a bodybuilding course he sees advertised in the back of a comic book.
And then, the unthinkable happens: when the course arrives, it actually works. Our young hero gains untold strength and agility overnight. Suddenly, he’s able to fight back. He lashes out, and the consequences are dire. He sets out to learn more about his new-found power, and in doing so, draws attention to himself and becomes the target of sinister forces.
Author Justin Jordan and artist Tradd Moore have created a brutally compelling tale here, one that takes no prisoners and holds very little back; it’s not just violent, but verges on grotesque. The script is well-crafted, yet spontaneous: a visceral spasm of story, agitated, emphatic, and in-your-face. The visuals are finely detailed in the quiet moments, intensely bold as the action builds and the mood turns darker. It’s a social outcast’s hallucination, and like all fever dreams, it swings from fantasy to horror in an instant – wish-fulfillment turning to disaster.
In short, it’s a modern superhero take on Greek tragedy: supernatural forces and masked protagonists, over-the-top brutality and extreme emotional impact, innocents paying the price for a hero’s hubris. The characters, the bold imagery, and the sense of imminent disaster keep you turning the pages; all the while dreading the inevitable outcome. A young man’s life spins out of control, and we watch the rise, the fall, and the disastrous aftermath.
The Strange Talent Of Luther Strode is a six-issue limited series. The individual issues can be found in comic shops specializing in back issues. The first paperback collection will be released in April, and is now available for pre-order.
Xenoholics
Sex. Flying Saucers. Self-help groups. Conspiracy theories. And copious violence. These are just some of the elements in this demented comic: a volatile blend of strange and mundane, a tale of love and betrayal and UFOs. The writer/artist team of Joshua Williamson and Seth Damoose pull no punches in creating a twisted stew of sleaze and insanity, never shying away from depicting the less-than-savory sides of human (and alien) nature. Williamson’s scripts are full of black humor and wild flights of fancy, Damoose’s stylized cartooning acts as the perfect delivery medium for the bizarre proceedings… And Dan Duncan’s covers for the individual issues are striking and evocative. It’s an engaging and outrageous series; the sort of fun that requires a decontamination chamber afterwards.
Xenoholics initially ran for five issues. The series is being collected as Xenoholics Vol. 1, which is slated for release in May and now available for pre-order.
Butcher Baker The Righteous Maker
A former government agent leaves his peaceful life of retirement, to settle old scores and do one last job. It’s a well-worn premise, the set-up for any number of espionage novels and spy films… Except this time, the protagonist is an ex-superhero, and the one last job is to destroy a prison full of his old adversaries.
Joe Casey is known for his diverse portfolio of comic work, and over the last few years, he’s been building a reputation at Image for his own creator-owned books like Doc Bizarre, M.D. and Gødland. His titles are marked by a disdain for convention, constantly subverting expectations of design, of traditional storytelling, of what “the comics industry” considers marketable… He finds a thing he wants to create, and he does it. (And the results are usually pretty damn entertaining.)
And if that flouting of convention is what marks a Joe Casey book, Butcher Baker might be his ultimate statement. It’s a skewed and hysterical grindhouse epic, a super-powered sleazefest, and a distorted reflection of the collective American id. It’s a comic that revels in the form’s disposability and absurdity rather than wasting breath denying it. It’s full of shock tactics and entirely gratuitous elements, and it revels in the creative freedom that comic books provide.
Mike Huddleston’s artwork is the perfect match for the script, throwing stylistic curveballs at every possible juncture, leaping from tiny detailed black-and-white scrawl to hyperactive eruption of day-glo tones without warning. Characters stretch and distort, expressions and actions bursting forth in whirlwinds of color and line.
From the front covers to the essays in the back of each issue, this title is marked by its complete lack of restraint. Each available space is filled with violence, nudity, explosions, and car chases. Humanity’s basest instincts and desires are expanded to absurd proportions, stretched and multiplied until the action can’t be contained within the lines and panels.
If you want a visceral brainsplosion of excess, this is the golden ticket. You may think you’ve seen it all before, but you certainly haven’t seen it like this.
Butcher Baker The Righteous Maker is an ongoing series. At the time of this writing, seven issues have been released, and are available through all good comic shops.