Confusion. That was my first reaction after reading David Mazzucchelli’s Asterios Polyp. Normally, an experience like that would be endlessly frustrating. I mean, who wants to finish reading a book only to be left dazed and confused by the process? This time, however, I found the perplexity exhilarating, like a well-designed puzzle that must be savored and relished before it is solved.

Intrigued yet? You should be.

Like many comic book fans, I first encountered David Mazzucchelli through his work on Marvel’s Daredevil, first with writer Denny O’Neil and then with Frank Miller. To be honest, the work with O’Neil was interesting, but ultimately forgettable – pretty standard comic book fare for the time. It was Mazzucchelli’s collaboration with Miller on Daredevil: Born Again that really made me aware of what untapped talent he had. Many were initially upset that Miller himself was not pencilling his triumphant return to the character that made him famous. After reading the first issue with Mazzucchelli, all fears and doubts were put away. Mazzucchelli’s work on Daredevil was quickly followed by another collaboration with Miller – the oft-mentioned (and inspiration for the film Batman Begins) Batman: Year One.

None of this work, as great and spectacular as it is, can possibly prepare you for the monumental evolution of Mazzucchelli’s work that is represented by Asterios Polyp. Gone are the pulp heroes, the realistic character depictions and the melodramatic storytelling techniques. These are replaced by philosophical musings wrapped in the tale of one man’s undoing and redemption, conveyed by a loose-lined, cartoonish art style. If it sounds heavy and depressing, it is surprisingly not. In fact, it is both ebullient and contemplative, a delicate balance that is deftly handled throughout the work.

The title character of Asterios Polyp is a college professor and architect of some renown, though he is a “paper architect” – his designs are theoretical and thus are never actually built. The story begins at what we think is the end of a rather pathetic and paltry existence (and through a series of flashbacks we learn just how much goodness Polyp has thrown away or wasted in his life), but turns out to be the beginning of self-revelation for this intensely inward-looking man. Along the way, the graphic novel covers territory as diverse as: love, duality, rivalry, design, aesthetics, religion, auto mechanics and (perhaps most importantly) the illusion of male power.

If it sounds as though I completely understand this work, well, remember that confusion I mentioned at the start of this review? Yeah. I’m in the dark still about much of what Mazzucchelli is trying to say. But I’m ok with that. Even if I grapple with one-tenth of the subject matter of Asterios Polyp I think I’m doing pretty well. If this graphic novel teaches nothing else, it’s that the the experience of life is more important than the knowledge gained, catalogued and hoarded. Confusion is just another part of the ride.

Cross-Posted at Guyslitwire.

Manga, like most western graphic storytelling forms, must overcome a preponderance of prejudices and stereotypes among American readers. In spite of (some might say because of) manga’s success in American bookstores, the form is viewed as the exclusive territory of titles such as Naruto, Dragonball and OnePiece – male power fantasies with quirky (sometimes outright hallucinogenic) storytelling, frequent battles, and more speed lines than could ever be counted.

What a delight it is, then, when a manga publishing house as prominent as Viz Media decides to print something more than a little outside the norm, a title that seeks to educate more than titillate. That title is Oishinbo, and while it is new to America as of 2009, it has been published in Japan for over 25 years. There are literally hundreds of volumes and thousands upon thousands of pages in the Japanese Oishinbocatalogue, which no doubt created troubles for any company seeking to publish this work in America. Rather than meticulously translating, editing and reprinting each page from the very start of the Japanese series, Viz has opted for what they term the “A la Carte” approach – volumes compiled and heavily edited around a particular theme. Sometimes this approach works well, and other times it leaves a reader scratching his head. That is the price, I suppose, for attempting something ambitious and unique in the American manga market.

So, what is Oishinbo about? It’s about food – specifically, Japanese cuisine – and the obsessions and aesthetics that drive Japan’s culinary masters. But before you start thinking of this as nothing more than a heavily illustrated cookbook, you should also know that Oishinbo is about a young man and his relationship with his father, about the anger of youth and the cynicism of the aged, and about the quest for perfection. Don’t expect any “Good Guys vs. Bad Guys” simplistic motifs. As is the case in real life, none of the characters in Oishinbo fits a neatly-designed cubicle.

The protagonist of the story, Yamaoka Shiro, is grumpy, pretentious, off-putting and occasionally brilliant. His background in the culinary arts, and his refined palate, have earned him the quest for the “Ultimate Menu,” a lengthy newspaper assignment to assemble and create the most magnificent Japanese meal ever imagined. Shiro’s antagonist is his father, Kaibara Yuzan. Yuzan is explosive, verbally abusive, passionate, and, like his son, utterly brilliant. There is much to like and to dislike about each of these men, and while the culinary lessons are intriguing, the human story of a rift between father and son is what lifts this work above its genre.

If it sounds as though I am gushing about Oishinbo, it’s because I am. It’s original, it’s challenging, it’s sublime – but it is not without its flaws. The main problem with this first volume lies primarily with Viz’s decision to heavily edit this large work into discreet, bite-sized (no pun intended) chunks. While this first volume does a relatively good job of introducing some of the basics of Japanese cuisine (necessary knife skills, expected etiquette, and the tea ceremony, among others), it does so at the expense of character and conflict development. In culinary terms, Oishinbo: Japanese Cuisine is a pleasant and a somewhat unexpected appetizer, but if subsequent volumes follow the same pattern we will all be starving for a main course rather quickly.

Cross-Posted on GuysLitWire…

DC Comics has a love affair with experimental formats and with bridging the past with the present. Some of their experiments have worked wondrously (most notably the Morrison/Rucka/Waid/Johns/Giffen weekly comics joint 52), some have failed miserably (the 52 follow-up Countdown to Final Crisis), and some have died of attrition and neglect (the seldom-remembered Action Comics Weekly, published WAY back in the 80s).

Fortunately, the powers that be at DC still hope to reignite the passion and wonder that kids and former kids used to have when seeing their favorite comics characters in print. It is that spirit of yesteryear that fuels the publication of Wednesday Comics, and the series looks to be a phenomenal success.

A throwback to simpler times in every way, DC’s Wednesday Comics is published on full-sized, 14”x20” newsprint and features weekly installments of 15 famous (and not so famous) DC characters. Each character has his/her own creative team in charge of producing one full page of story per week for the full 12 week run of the series. While this limits the amount of story that can be told each week, it broadens the horizons for the artists, who are free to create large, flashy splash pages using a variety of layout techniques. The art, in spite of the low quality paper, is spectacular and will immediately remind older readers of mornings spent poring over the exploits of such characters as Prince Valiant and Dick Tracy in the Sunday funnies.

Since this is only the first issue, it remains to be seen which of the 15 serialized stories will rise above the others, but early favorites include Neil Gaiman and Mike Allred’s Metamorpho: The Element Man strip, Paul Pope’s Strange Adventures featuring pulp hero Adam Strange, and artist extraordinaire Kyle Baker’s Hawkman.

As is fitting for any DC publication, Superman and Batman each have a dedicated page (the latter nearly stealing the show with its noir-inspired artwork courtesy of Eduardo Risso), and well-known characters such as Wonder Woman, Supergirl, the Flash, the Teen Titans and Green Lantern also have their own features.

For readers who already love comics, this series is a must-read. For those who have limited exposure to comic books, Wednesday Comics’ short-burst storytelling style is the perfect way to introduce the DC pantheon of characters. DC’s Wednesday Comics pushes comics forwards by looking backwards.

Cross-posted on GuysLitWire

I hate to be a part of an ever-growing, and ever-annoying trend, but yes – I blog, therefore I tweet. All is not lost, however, since many, many comics writers and artists have found their way onto the Twitter highway. Have I missed any? Drop me a line to let me know. Click any of the links below to follow any of these writers/artists:

Agent M (Ryan Penagos, Marvel.com editor/writer)

Andy Diggle

Bryan Lee O’Malley

Brian Michael Bendis

Brian Reed

Chris Eliopoulos

Ed Brubaker

Geoff Johns

Jimmy Palmiotti

Joe Hill

Joe Quesada

Kevin Smith

Mark Evanier

Mark Waid

Matt Fraction

Neil Gaiman

Rob Liefeld

Robert Kirkman

Todd Nauck

Tom Brevoort

Tom Peyer

Warren Ellis

I’m a Mark Bagley snob. I admit it. I just don’t care for the man’s art unless it’s on one specific book – Ultimate Spider-Man. This is strange, considering I didn’t think much of his work when he pencilled Amazing Spider-Man in the early 90s. There is something that happened to his pencils when he teamed up with Brian Michael Bendis that helped them transcend their overwhelming mediocrity and sameness. I think it has much to do with the quality of Bendis’ scripts and the fact that the cast of characters is primarily made up of teenagers. Bagley is able to capture youth extremely well, so his teen versions of Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson, etc, were exceptional. He has since moved on from Ultimate Spidey, and that’s a crying shame. As a result of his move, DC Comics has editorially decided that Bagley is the “it” penciller of the moment. I assume this is as a result of his recent work on Trinity, a series I gave up within the first ten issues. Trinity’s scripts were more problematic than the art (what has happened to Kurt Buseik???), but Bagley’s takes on DC’s big three left me distinctly underwhelmed.

Now, Mark Bagley has been handed one of DC’s flagship titles – the JLA. There’s a good side and a bad side to this move. The good side is that Bagley has been teamed with one of my favorite writers, James Robinson, so there’s the possibility that a new version of that old Bendis/Bagley chemistry can be ignited. The bad side is that I didn’t care for Bagley’s versions of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman in Trinity, and I have no reason to believe they will significantly change for the JLA. I’ll give it a shot, at least to see what Robinson can do with the JLA. Maybe DC’s editors won’t handcuff his ideas like they did with Dwayne McDuffie.

From www.afhub.com:

I’m stuck in the middle as far as this one is concerned. Once again, DC Comics is reaching out to their band of outcasts/misfits/freaks (just don’t call them MUTANTS!), The Doom Patrol. This time, writer Keith Giffen and artist Matthew Clark are taking a stab at the team that has proven difficult for many creative powers over the years. I’m inclined to give Giffen the benefit of the doubt, but so many have tried to twist this team around their collective fingers to no avail, it is certainly not an easy road he’s chosen to travel. On top of the many failures, anyone attempting a DP book has to contend with the ominous shadow of Grant Morrison looming over them, as Morrison’s take on the book can only be described as a masterwork.

So, here’s to the return of the Doom Patrol. May John Byrne never get near this book again.

Friday’s premier of the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie prompted critic Roger Ebert to write:

Am I being disrespectful to this material? You bet. It is Hugh Jackman’s misfortune that when they were handing out superheroes, he got Wolverine, who is for my money low on the charisma list. He never says anything witty, insightful or very intelligent; his utterances are limited to the vocalization of primitive forces: anger, hurt, vengeance, love, hate, determination. There isn’t a speck of ambiguity. That Wolverine has been voted the No. 1 comic hero of all time must be the result of a stuffed ballot box.

Pretty harsh (the review doesn’t get any more complimentary as it goes) but it raises a legitimate issue. Why IS Wolverine so popular? Long before the idea of film franchises lit the eyes of Avi Arad, Wolvie was supremely popular among comic book fans. The team of John Byrne and Chris Claremont made the character an icon, and the Wolverine mini-series featuring art by Frank Miller cemented the deal. That said, here are our top reasons why Logan/Patch/James Howlett/Wolverine has such lasting appeal:

• The Beast with a Heart of Gold: And no – by “Beast” I don’t mean Hank McCoy. By now, everyone (and I do mean everyone) knows how Stan Lee transformed the comic book industry by creating characters who were more complicated than the standard 1960s fare. By the late 70s/early 80s, however, these once “fresh and complex” characters were becoming flat and lifeless once again, as the Marvel formula for superheroes became the de facto standard. Enter Chris Claremont and John Byrne, whose revitalized X-Men series ushered in a new age for comic book character development. If Lee added a second dimension to characters (rudimentary motivations for behaviors, guilt complexes, etc), Claremont and Byrne began adding a third. Their X-Men were friends first, teammates second, comic book superheroes third. By allowing characters to interact on a personal level, readers began to relate to these once iconic and godlike figures. Chief among these was Wolverine, whose tortured soul and misunderstood status appealed to the often-outcast comic book geek. Here was a sensitive character (who was physically short and often called “runt” by others) who could do more than just stand up for himself. Here was a more accessible Clark Kent for the masses. While less physically strong than Supes, he was nonetheless invulnerable/indestructible, and carried a six-pack of switchblades as well.
    
• The Past Shrouded in Mystery: It’s no secret that comic book fans love a good mystery, and Wolverine’s unknown origin has proven to be a cash cow for Marvel again and again. Bits and pieces have trickled out over the past thirty years, and not all of them have been consistent with one another. Still, Marvel was able to keep interest high in this character’s background for decades before finally revealing all (or at least most) with the Jenkins/Kubert Origin mini-series. It remains to be seen, however, if interest will continue to remain as high now that so much is known about the character. Is Wolverine inherently compelling as a character, or only when his background is largely unknown?

• The Super-Powers: Part Batman, Part Superman: The final part of the equation is that Wolverine is an intriguing amalgam of DC’s two iconic characters: Superman and Batman. The Superman connection has already been mentioned earlier in this article, but it bears mentioning again that comic book fans, notorious underdogs that they are (or were, depending on your view of the recent influx of comics-related culture into the mainstream), easily gravitate to characters who are physically impervious to harm. And, unlike Superman, Wolverine actually feels the pain of his injuries. He simply doesn’t die from them. As for Batman…well, no, Logan isn’t a normal fellow like Bruce Wayne (though “normal” is a relative term – how many multi-billionaires with murdered parents do you know?), but his brooding nature, coupled with his troubled past, gives him a strong connection to Bats. And while Wolverine doesn’t have a utility belt, don’t those adamantium-laced claws and bones count as gadgets of a sort? Is it any wonder, then, that a character with many of the appealing traits of two of the most enduring comic book characters should also garner popularity?

I agree with Mr. Ebert on a number of his points, as there are certainly weaknesses in Wolverine’s appeal, and hopefully I’ll be able to address those in the future. At this point it remains to be seen if the film will be as successful as initially hoped. Do comic book and movie fans of the character and franchise really want all of these mysteries revealed after all?

Click this link to head over to Marvel.com and vote for your favorite five covers from the history of all Marvel Comics. Once all the votes have been cast, Marvel plans to reveal the top 70 covers of all time. My votes are pictured below, and I realize that some of them are not typical (no Kirby or Ditko? HERESY!) but I figured the Marvel icons would get plenty of votes, and I wanted some of my favorites to (maybe) show up in the top 70.

So what about you? What are your top five covers?