Cowboys From Hell

Sorry for the absence, folks—some offers I couldn’t say no to, as well as some long-percolating personal projects I wanted to get back to, got in my way of reviewing for a much-longer-than-anticipated period. Anyhow, I’m gonna try to keep this regular again starting now-ish.

The zombie thing has officially gotten waaaay out of hand (I know, I think I might have said this a year or two back, but who knew it would have the legs it did?). I’m saying this as someone who owns all the Romero zombie movies on DVD too, even the extra-fancy four-disc DAWN OF THE DEAD. Not only did Marvel release four, count ‘em FOUR zombie variant covers last week (on WOLVERINE, PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL, SPIDER-GIRL, and RUNAWAYS), but three separate undead western comics shipped last week as well. Interestingly, not a single one was written by Joe R. Lansdale…but I digress. One of ‘em was called OMEGA CHASE, and sadly, I didn’t have time to read that one. Another was called GRAVESLINGER, and it came from creators Shannon Eric Denton, Jeff Mariotte, and John Cboins (no way am I ever gonna try and pronounce that one) by way of Image Comics. The third one was called DEADLANDER, and it was written and illustrated by Kevin Ferrarra. GRAVESLINGER had nice art but didn’t make much sense, and DEADLANDER had REALLY nice art but possibly made even less sense. The art really did carry me through on that one, though—gorgeous stuff, a mix of guys like Frazetta, Mark Schultz, and Berni Wrightson with occasional touches of E.C. Comics atmosphere (one character, a dead ringer for the Old Witch, even talks in an E.C.-style font). I think I might have preferred the art in black and white, but even so, it still looked amazing. Oh yeah, there was also a zombie-themed graphic novel from Slave Labor called EATING STEVE, but I didn’t get to that either. Cal liked it, though, so maybe I’ll read it next week.

OPTIC NERVE’s first extended, multiple-issue story arc (three issues over almost as many years!) arrived last week in a nifty hardcover, under the title SHORTCOMINGS. Adrian Tomine’s squirmy tale of neurosis, infidelity, and racial self-loathing makes a sweet hardcover, and it holds together way better as a single-sitting read rather than a couple of floppies spread out over many, many months. The story covers territory that will be pretty familiar to OPTIC NERVE fans—you know, twentysomething angst, stormy relationships, bitterly dry humour, desperate alienation—but it still remains a fascinating read, mostly due to Tomine’s crisp, sharp artwork which perfectly captures so many nuances of human conversations, gestures, and reactions, and his utterly believable sounding dialogue. If you’re new to OPTIC NERVE, you couldn’t ask for a better introduction.

Chris Staros, publisher of the always-stunning line of Top Shelf graphic novels, released new work of his own last week in the form of YEARBOOK STORIES:1976-1978, published by Top Shelf, natch. The smaller-size black-and-white comic features a couple of autobiographical stories written by Staros, dealing with his high school years. The first, illustrated by Bo Hampton, tells of the author’s foray into school politics, while the second, drawn by Rick Tomasso, details a wild gig Staros’s band agreed to play. This is a fun, heartwarming little book, and it also features a couple of great pics of the genial publisher rocking a terrific ‘stache.

In closing, director George Miller (THE ROAD WARRIOR) was apparently testing actors this weekend for possible roles in his upcoming JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA movie, which is being rushed through production in anticipation of the upcoming Hollywood writers’ strike. Fanboys everywhere, however, are up in arms over the average age of the performers under consideration…most of them in their early twenties (lots of names from THE O.C., were on the list, as well as Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who played John McClane’s daughter in this summer’s surprisingly awesome LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD). It occurred to me, though, that this is likely a film geared towards kids and teenagers, and anyone over twenty seems like a grownup to them anyway…so, is it the fact that these actors are all fairly dewy that has fanboys everywhere gnashing their teeth, or is it that, given the fact that most comic book fans are of at least college age these days, geeks the world over just can’t deal with the fact that they may soon see a live action rendition of a Batman or Superman who is-gulp-younger than they are? I know I’m still having a hard time with the knowledge that I’m nearly twice the age Ferris Bueller was when he took the day off.