Blue

Blue is Pat Grant's Australian comic about childhood, refugees, death, and urban degradation.  Christian is the main character.  We first see him as a 13-year-old surfer on the "wag" from school.  He and his friends, Muck and Verne, ditch school to go surfing.  On the way home to get their surfboards, a friend tells them that there's a dead body on the train tracks.  Also, blue-skinned aliens with multiple limbs have arrived.  Later, Christian is an adult in the same town, only it's almost wholly populated by "blues."

A lot of the story is similar to "The Body" by Stephen King, although Grant maintains that as a kid, he and a friend went to see the body of a boy who was hit by a train, and he's basing the story on this incident, and not that of "The Body."  Even if the story is a complete ripoff of King - which I maintain it isn't - the story is so universal that I'm surprised there aren't more examples of it.  What kid hasn't ridden her bike five miles to see something she shouldn't?

Although the blue-skinned refugees are something of a minor plot element, we hear the theme loudly and clearly.  Many people in Australia are saying, "no," to refugees and, "no," to immigrants.  Of course, we don't have any of that in America, right?  Grant is a very left-leaning comic artist, and I'm sure he means well, but his portrayal of the blue-skinned aliens might serve to inflame tensions between refugees and Australians.  Maybe I'm being overly negative.  I tend to think of comic-book readers as being very left-leaning because I'm a socialist, and I tend to imagine that people who like stuff I like are like me, or that merely being an artist makes one liberal.  It's silly, but the fight for immigrant rights has a long and rich history in comics.  On the radio show featuring him, Superman took on the Klu Klux Klan.

Ringside #5

Ringside, Issue #5 is a story of contrasts.  Danny Knossos, the former wrestler, is fighting for his former boyfriend, Teddy.  Teddy has gotten himself a habit he can't afford, and Danny's taking up his debt.  While Danny is fighting with the bad guys in the beginning of the comic, there are flashbacks to his mother taking him to his first wrestling event.

Ringside is a neat little comic, and the trade paperback is coming out in June.  If you're reading this, and you haven't been following the series, buy Ringside, Volume 1 for a little under $10 this summer.  From there, you can keep reading the trade paperbacks as they come out or spend a little extra money and get the series on floppy.  Like most comics, Ringside isn't meant to be read once or twice a year; you should be reading it every month.

This is an adult comic.  It deals with violence, drugs, homosexuality (although many wouldn't consider this so much of an "adult" topic), and crime.  Danny and others are brutally beaten through the course of this series; Danny's injuries go beyond rugged looks and into the "what's that thing growing out of Hasim Rahman's head" territory.  The creators love wrestling, and it shows.

JLA Deluxe Edition, Vol. 6

JLA Deluxe Edition, Volume 6 covers the first half of the Joe Kelly run, the Joe Kelly years being really the last great run of JLA before the New 52 changed everything.  In fact, JLA Deluxe Edition, Volume 7 came out a year ago, and it looks like they won't be having a Volume 8, covering the much-maligned Chris Claremont years and beyond.  At first, I was disappointed that the Deluxe Edition wouldn't be covering the entire 125-issue JLA series, but from what I've read of the reviews of the "Tenth Circle" arc, I guess I'm not missing much.

So, how good are the Joe Kelly years?  Fantastic.  I initially bought the first JLA Deluxe Edition because Grant Morrison had written so much stuff I liked, but he only stayed on the title for so long.  The Mark Waid years were good, but he was just finding his own voice in the series when he was replaced by Joe Kelly.  In particular, Grant Morrison made Batman the center of the series, and Waid had to follow that idea for a little while.  In Joe Kelly's JLA, all of the characters get a chance to shine, even Aquaman, who isn't on the cover and is presumed dead.

I can't go into every story in this collection, but the highlights are the "Golden Perfect" arc and the standalone "Bouncing Baby Boy."  In "Golden Perfect," Wonder Woman's magic lasso is broken, leading to unthoughtof consequences throughout the world.  In "Bouncing Baby Boy," Plastic Man has a super-powered 10-year-old son who's running amok.  He turns to Batman for help.  I do like the interplay between Plastic Man and Batman.  If there already weren't 15 or 20 titles based on Batman, I'd suggest a regular pairing of the two.

The second half of the book features a number of minor players, which I always like.  The basic idea behind Joe Kelly's JLA is similar in one way to Grant Morrison's and Mark Waid's vision.  There are seven main characters with a number of allies.  The series focuses on the seven main characters, but in case of extreme emergency or a particular need, the other characters pop up now and again.

Ringside #4

Ringside, Issue #4 starts with another flahsback, to when Teddy and Danny meet.  They're working security at a political event when Teddy lets in a friend.  Danny wants to report him, but Teddy talks him out of it, and they become friends.  Later, they become more. Then, in the present, Danny is planning things out with Terrence, the bounty hunter, on how they can find the people Teddy's in trouble with.  Danny gets a lead, a bar in Crockett (this is a reference to the old NWA promoter, Jim Crockett).

I like the covers, with Danny in his wrestling heyday and him now.  You can tell that the creators of this comic are major wrestling fans, and not just WWE.  You hear them reference AAW, PWG, and the other minor promotions in the "letters" section.  I used to go to PWG shows in Reseda, back when you could still get tickets without a blazing-fast computer and some quick timing.  I've tried to get PWG tickets in the past couple of years, only for them to sell out in a matter of seconds.  There's wrestling up in Oceanside I'd like to go to.  They have a few wrestlers I recognize.

I worked on a novel that was about two brothers, one a professional wrestler and one a mixed-martial-artist.  When I write, I never really know where I'm going to go, and although there was a lot of action in the book and a lot of humor, it basically ended up being a romance.  See, I like romance manga and comics, and I like pro wrestling and mixed-martial-arts.  Other people, though? They don't really go for those genres.  Ringside gives me hope, though.  A lot of the characters are gay, and there's an underlying theme of relationships.  Maybe I'll start writing that book again.

Hyperion #1

Hyperion, Issue #1 is a comic I bought simply because it's Marvel.  I've been reading more Marvel lately, and I thought I'd give this title a chance.  Doll is a carny mechanic on the run from her "family," and she thinks she knows that a particular truck driver is Hyperion, the refugee superhero from another universe.  He is taking time off from Squadron Supreme, a group of super-powered beings who either no longer have a world of their own or aren't welcome on their home worlds.  The truck driver's name is Marc, and he gives Doll a lift.

I'm reading a lot of comics, perhaps too many.  I'd planned on picking up Hyperion this week because outside of Cry Havoc, Issue #3 and Ringside, Issue #5, there wasn't much going on this Wednesday, when new comics came out.  Hyperion caught my eye because the main character is described as "a hero and a teacher."  He's against violence to the point that he throws Doll's gun out the window, but when it's time for violence, he's prepared.

There are, of course, many questions that remain unanswered.  Which world is this in?  Will Marcus really kill a bunch of people?  Is that okay?  The realization of this comic is top notch.  I particularly like how the artist, Nik Virella, gives an impression of movement, of speed as they're barreling down the highway in a semi, headed for a crazed strongman in a monster truck.  Did I mention this title is kinda' cool?  And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the colorist, Romulo Fajardo, Jr.  Doll has blue-green hair, but it's never the exact same blue-green; it's different depending on the light she's in.  The same goes for Hyperion's yellow cape.  The letters by VC's joe Caramagna are in a style I like.  I've written about his work in previous reviews.

The verdict?  This is a fun, easily-enjoyed comic.  It isn't bogged down with excessive dialogue or overly intricate drawings, not that either doesn't have its place now and again.  I hope Doll remains in the comic because she serves as a good damsel in distress and narrator.  I'll buy Issue #2.

Ringside #3

Ringside, Issue #3 begins with a flashback of Danny and Teddy's breakup, how Danny Knossos walked out to wrestle in Florida and maybe get a real job in the wrestling business.  Of course, now it's Teddy with the real job and Danny chasing Teddy's demons.  Terrence, the bounty hunter from the previous issue, confronts him.  From there, we go to the boardroom of the CMW, where a sitcom writer with three weeks in the company named Ragan is pulling for Reynolds becoming a top star.  Reynolds is a friend of Teddy's; we saw him in Issue #1.

When the show Total Divas came out, Matt Hardy famously tweeted that his three favorite people on the show were Daniel Bryan, John Cena, and Mark Carrano.  Sure, he was saying that the divas' boyfriends and husbands are more interesting than the divas themselves, but Mark Carrano is the guy in charge of talent relations.  He tells the girls they have to dye their hair, move back to NXT, not get a tattoo, or whatever else.  Most people who watch the show hate him because he's the boss, but even Matt Hardy, who's an insider (although not with WWE), likes the behind-the-scenes look at the wrestling business.

The scene with the sitcom writer trying to make it in the wrestling business is definitely my favorite, not just because it offers a true inside look at the world of wrestling but because Reynolds is a neat character, and I'd like to see where he's going.  See, if this becomes a comic purely about one character and his search for justice, truth, and the American way or whatever, it wouldn't go very far, but now that the creators are investing pagespace to the minor characters, the series can really grow.

Cry Havoc #3

Cry Havoc, Issue #3 starts out a little confusing, but then I noticed that Louise is in the Red Place, a captive of the shape-shifter she came to Afghanistan to kill.  In Afghanistan (and I don't know if the Red Place is in Afghanistan or not), the soldiers come across three Taliban who are harassing a family of opium farmers.

I loved the red of the opium poppies.  Years ago, I had a friend who was in the Peace Corps in Afghanistan before 9/11, and he explained the situation to me.  Regular farmers in Afghanistan would make $100 a year, but opium farmers would make $400 a year.  The "trickle down" effect doesn't really work anywhere, I guess. Opium farmers are still dirt poor, but with the extra money, they can afford to get their children educated.  Normal farmers can't.  According to Cry Havoc #3, the Taliban hate heroin more than just about anyone, and I'd like to explain the situation.

Heroin has been a cash crop for Afghanistan for as long as there's been heroin, and before that, the cash crop was opium.  It is true that just before the American invasion of Afghanistan, opium production had been cut to less than 5% or 10% of its previous levels, which were lower than the current levels.  The reason they did this was not because they hate opium and heroin but to jack up the price of heroin by cutting down the supply, allowing the Taliban's opium production to be worth more.  Some have speculated that the reason why America invaded Afghanistan was to resupply the world with opium and heroin, particularly Iran, Pakistan, and Russia, which border Afghanistan.  Remember, the Taliban offered to give Osama Bin Laden up to a neutral government after the 9/11 attacks and before the invasion of Afghanistan.

Cry Havoc is only three issues old, but it's one of the titles I look forward to reading the most.  I've collected the variant covers, with the big number on the front.  This month's variant is drawn by Si Gane, and I love the designs every month.  I just hope that they don't end up being too expensive for me to collect.  I like how they use three different colorists in the three different places.  It has a unique effect: the artwork by Ryan Kelly is consistent, but the colors range from dusty and gray in Afghanistan to blue and red, respectively, in London and the Red Place.  The letters by Simon Bowland are clear and consistent, easy on the eyes.