The Tithe, Vol. 2

The Tithe, Volume 2: Islamophobia is a book I'd been looking forward to reading for some time.  I went through a period of buying every Image Comics trade paperback that even remotely caught my eye, and this is one of them.  When ComiXology put Issue #5 through Issue #8 on sale for $0.99 each, I went ahead and purchased the issues that make up Volume 2.  Published on Image's Top Cow line, The Tithe, Volume 1 is the story of a group of hackers that rip off mega-churches.  Volume 2 sees Samantha Copeland, the main antagonist of Volume 1, working for the F.B.I.

This is a great story, one I won't spoil by going into detail about much of anything.  The coloring is superb, and Troy Peteri is one of my favorite letterers.  All that's left is to read the three-part series, Eden's Fall, which comes out tomorrow.  Happy reading!

Pluto, Vol. 1

Pluto: Urasawa x Texuka, Volume 1 is a title I bought in 2014 from a library.  I'm a huge Urasawa fan, and pretty soon, I had all eight volumes of Pluto, complete with annoying library stickers.  Today, I finally started peeling off all those library stickers and more importantly, reading the books.  I have read some of the original Astroboy manga by Osamu Tezuka.  Part of the reason I didn't get into Pluto was that I was never a big fan of Astroboy.

Pluto is the story of seven powerful robots who are being killed, one-by-one.  Gesich is one of those robots, and he's a detective stationed in Germany, where many of Urasawa's stories take place (Monster takes place in West Germany, and Master Keaton has a number of scenes there).  The story only begins to unfold in Vol. 1, and of course you'll want to read all of this beautiful series, as I'm going to.  I've already started reading Vol. 2.

The Arab of the Future

The Arab of the Future is Riad Sattouf's autobiographical story of his life in Libya and Syria, starting with his birth in 1978 and lasting until 1984.  His parents meet in his mother's home country of France, where his Syrian-born father gets a PhD in history from the Sorbonne.  When Riad is two years old, his father gets a position as a lecturer at a university in Libya.  The job pays well, but the living conditions are less than ideal, so they temporarily move back to France.  His father looks for work in Europe but takes another professorship in the Arab world, this time in his home nation of Syria.

I think we all have a story to tell, a book to write.  I've written three books, but I don't know how much of myself is in them.  The first two are about alcohol and drugs, the third about sex.  My life is rather boring right now; the most trouble I get up to is the occasional date where I have to hide my tremoring hand or order coffee to cover it up with a caffeine addiction that doesn't exist.  Riad's story is real and serious, and it's a lot better than most comics I've been reading recently.  It makes me want to step up my game.  I love my Retrofit comics, which are often autobiographical, but this is a dialogue-heavy work that takes a good two hours to read.  Moreover, there is a sequel or two coming out eventually (The Arab of the Future 2 comes out in less than four weeks).  And when I say that this is serious and real, I mean that the people in the story can be violent.  It's upsetting, it's disquieting, and it's genius.

The artwork is mostly bichormatic, meaning that it's all black with one color added, blue for France, yellow for Libya, and pink for Syria.  There are exceptions, such as the Libyan, French, and Syrian flags, which are in their original colors.  Sattouf is a very talented artist, but what he excels at is the facial caricature.  He draws simply but with a startling ability to differentiate characters from one another, reminiscent of Shigeru Mizuki.

Star Wars: Darth Vader, Book 1

Star Wars: Darth Vader, Book 1 contains Issue #1 through #12 of Star Wars: Darth Vader, so it's basically two of the paperback books.  Star Wars: Darth Vader, Book 2 comes out in February, and it will conclude the series, containing the "Vader Down" storyline, along with Volume 3 and Volume 4 of the series.  I paid $19 for a new Book 1 off a seller on Amazon, and Book 2 is $26 or so on pre-order, totaling $45 for 27 issues.  In short, it's the cheapest way to read Star Wars: Darth Vader, although you'll have to wait six months to finish the series, which wraps up Wednesday.

The story takes place right after the Battle of Yavin, when the first Death Star was destroyed.  Vader is being demoted, stripped of his command.  In this story that takes place between the first two movies, he turns a political struggle into a military one within the Empire and against the Rebellion.  Of course, we all know that Vader comes out as the supreme military force in the galactic Empire, headed by Emperor Palpatine, who he eventually kills and before dying, himself, turns to the light side of the force.

If by some strange twist of fate, I have spoiled the ending of Star Wars for you, don't worry.  The Empire Strikes Back came out when I was seven, and I just didn't "get" that Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker's father until I read on a Dixie Cup that my Aunt had bought.  It said that Darth Vader's real name was Anakin Skywalker and that he was the father of Luke Skywalker.

Anyway, I'd recommend this series to fans of Star Wars who read comics.  While Jason Aaron's Star Wars comics and Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire novel trilogy remain the gold standard for Star Wars fiction, Star Wars: Darth Vader is very good.  I find myself sub-vocalizing the dialogue in James Earl Jones's voice and hearing the "Imperial March" in my head.

International Iron Man

International Iron Man, Issue #6 is the story of how Tony Stark's biological parents met.  There's no Iron Man in this issue, just his parents; there's not much to talk about, so I'll make this a short (one paragraph) review, perhaps consisting of one long, unbroken sentence which I'm still writing despite it being way too long for this style of writing.  Did I mention I'm reading the C.K. Scott Moncrieff translation of Proust?  It has lots of long sentences, just like the original.

Anyway, if you're still reading this tripe, here's the basic story of International Iron Man: it mixes romance with adventure and intrigue.  If you're not down with that, try another title.  I like it a lot, but then again, I like romance comics and manga.

The Force Awakens #3

Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Issue #3 sees BB-8, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Rey, and Finn in the Millennium Falcon, ready to find their way to the Resistance, but first, they must visit Maz Kanata's castle.  There, Rey learns the truth about Finn and comes into contact with Luke Skywalker's light saber...

Well, that's about all the story.  I can't imagine anyone reading this without seeing the movies, so I don't worry about too many spoilers.  In general, I try to give away a hint of the plotline, just enough so that people are interested.  If by telling what happens on page 4 is a spoiler, I'm guilty of that in most of my reviews.  With adaptations, it's a whole different story, of course.

This comic is fun.  I've only seen The Force Awakens two times, and I'm enjoying the comics more than I did the second time I watched the movie.  Somehow, despite seeing The Force Awakens a week after it came out, I managed to not know that Han Solo gets killed by his son near the end.  That scene really worked for me; the whole movie worked for me, although I think a third movie where they destroy a giant planet-sized weapon is a little much.

Blue Beetle Rebirth #1

Blue Beetle Rebirth, Issue #1 is a title I bought based on the strength of the New 52 version of The Blue Beetle. I liked what I read of Jamie Reyes and his version of the Blue Beetle which was also featured on the animated series, Batman: The Brave and the Bold. I haven't read too many “Rebirth” titles - just this one and Green Lanterns - because I simply didn't want another resetting of the DC Universe. Worse yet, a lot of the great runs ended under The New 52, like Geoff Johns's Green Lantern and Palmotti and Grey's Jonah Hex/All Star Western. Scott Snyder is continuing his epic Batman series, but on Detective Comics, as Batman is going to be coming out twice a month.

But let's not be too hasty about Rebirth. It has gotten me to read two new DC titles, and I've never really read DC in comic-book format. The title itself isn't bad, although I'll take a hard look at the series before I buy Blue Beetle #1, coming out on September 28^th. While there is some characterization, this issue is just your basic smash-em-up action story with nothing (so far) behind it. I am going to continue reading the title, but I'll have to decide whether to read it month-by-month at $2.99 each or read it in trade paperback form. I'm leaning toward the latter.