By Steve Moncuse

IDW

Oh, never go back, never go back……

It wasn’t long ago I was talking about the re-release of Steve Moncuse’s The Fish Police:

“There’s almost part of me that’s terrified of picking this one up – will it live up to the memories? Only one way to tell of course….”

And the reason I was so worried about re-reading this is how much I loved The Fish Police when I first read it as a teen – I seem to recall my first encounter was Comico re-releasing the first few issues as a collection. (…..quickly checks Wikipedia – oh my God, 1987. How is that possible? Nearly 24 years ago. I’m too old.)

There are many things I adore from 1987, back when I was young. Taking just one of them; The Cure’s Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me album, an album that feels as beautiful, exciting and original today as it did when I first heard it twenty-three years ago and even now, as I write this, I’m remembering the opening guitar parts and a frisson of nostalgic joy is going through my head and I’m reaching across to the iPod dock to set it playing as soon as I finish this line….

Okay, it’s playing, fresh and vibrant and beautiful and exciting as the day I bought it back in 1987. Sadly, I can’t say the same for The Fish Police, even though I really wanted it to be everything I remembered.

But how much of that is memory messing with me? I remember it being an absolute laugh riot. And sure, there’s some funny bits on that… the first couple of pages made me laugh all over again, and lulled me into a reassuring sense that this was going to be as good as I (mis)remembered it. And that false sense of security kept me going for quite a while, until I finally had to admit that, although there’s some funny, although it’s original(ish) and although there’s a fun story here, it’s something that was a damn site better when I first read it, and sadly it just hasn’t aged very well.

(Fish Police page 1 – and we’re right into the mystery – fish & stairs?)

Basic story… Inspector Gill wakes up one day and finds himself a fish. Underwater (sort of), surrounded by lots of other fish. But something isn’t right, and Gill has all these strange memories of a life elsewhere, except the memories aren’t fully formed, he can’t quite put his finger on it, but he’s obviously remembering a life as a human and dammit, he’s wondering where the hell his legs went.

Why is he here? Why does everyone here act like he’s always been Inspector Gill? Why does his boss at the Police Dept. hate his guts so much? Why is the criminal organisation known as S.Q.U.I.D. so interested in him? Why are there even stairs? And just how does beer stay in your glass if you’re underwater?

So Gill gets caught up with S.Q.U.I.D., their highly strung and dangerous leader Hook (with his servants Line & Sinker of course), with Dr Calamari, who may have invented a drug called Hairball which can transport the user to another universe where people walk on funny things called legs. And he also gets caught up with two beautiful women/fish – neither of whom are what they seem – Angelfish and Goldie.

Volume 1 of The Fish Police is pure setup, introductions to the various characters and it’s all wrapped up in the mystery of Gill, using the fish out of water idea to grab the laughs.

And despite my disappointment with The Fish Police Volume 1, I have to admit, it’s still fun, still funny. Just not as funny as I remembered. Now, how much of that is this terrible memory of mine making it funnier that it ever really was, exagerrating it’s impact upon me over the passing years – I honestly have no idea. For a start I seem to remember there being a lot more funny stuff dealing with Gill’s memories of being human than we have here.

So maybe it’s not the book at fault here, maybe it’s just a combination of my tastes that have changed and a nostalgic false memory? Sadly either way, the end result, at least for this tired old man, is a book that sort of, very nearly, but not quite, worked. I wanted really funny and quirky, I got mildly funny and silly.

I genuinely feel rather bad that I’m rather damning with faint praise here. Problem is, I just can’t review it fresh – it was so much a part of my younger life, one very bright bit of humour in the morass of the black & white boom of the 80s, and coming back to it just has me comparing my relatively lukewarm response now to my love back then. But should I really be surprised? Isn’t it always the way, aren’t most things we adored young best left consigned to the rose tinted specs of memory?

In the end Moncuse shouldn’t feel to bad, he’s in good company –  the same thing happened a little while ago with a book I passionately loved as a teen, but re-reading it left me nonplussed and amazed I found it so wonderful the first time round. Maybe there are some things that have a time in a person’s life they ought to be experienced?

Oh, the book in question – JD Salinger’s Catcher In The Rye. See what I mean about Moncuse being in good company?

I’d love to hear from someone reading this for the first time, just to see what it reads like fresh. In fact, if one of the regular readers wants to give it a try, let me know, email me and I’ll post it on to you, I’m genuinely that intrigued to see what you’ll make of it.

Here’s the thing. I love Darwyn Cooke’s Parker series. Love it – and both beautiful hardback volumes – Parker: The Hunter and Parker: The Outfit are on the bookshelf.

I thought the idea in summer 2010 to put the first chapter of The Outfit out as a preview comic – The Man With The Getaway Face – was a great way to make the long wait between volumes more bearable, with an attractive and affordable solution. When The Outfit did eventually come out I had no complaint that I’d already spent a couple of quid for the first chapter.

But now they’ve gone the other way. Instead of a cheap comic to promote and preview the next hardback, we get The Martini Edition:

“IDW Publishing announced that Darwyn Cooke’s first two adapted Parker books, THE HUNTER and THE OUTFIT, will be collected in a tremendous, oversized hardcover edition, with an additional 65 pages of Cooke content. Packaged in a beautiful slipcase, The Martini Edition debuts in July and features a brand new Parker short story by Darwyn Cooke.” IDW Press Release 1st April 2011.

Okay, it certainly looks nice. But consider this – the additional 65 pages of Cooke content actually translates into an extended art gallery and 8 pages of a completely new Parker story. That’s an 8 page completely new Parker story unique to The Martini Edition which costs $75, or the best part of £40.

So my reward from IDW, my loyalty bonus for getting the Parker books as they were published is that I get to spend £40 for 8 pages I haven’t seen before? And although we’ve already seen a precedent for the oversized republication with DC Absolute editions and Marvel Omnibus editions – most of those are for books which have had a respectable gap between initial publication and oversized reprint. Parker: The Outfit will have been out less than 12 months by the time The Martini Edition hits the shelves.

Thanks a lot IDW, but no thanks. That’s not the way to make me feel positive towards a company. I’ll stick with my hardbacks. I’m sure I’ll see those 8 pages somewhere, at some point.

Created and written by Conor McCreery and Anthony Del Col, Art by Andy Belanger.

IDW

Some books come at you with great art, some great writing, some both. Then there’s another type of book, the type that comes at you with an absolute, guaranteed hook of a killer concept.

Guess which one of these kill Shakespeare is?

Killer concept. Absolutely. Take all the bard’s greatest heroes (Hamlet, Juliet, Othello, Falstaff) and pit them against all his most dastardly villains (Richard III, Lady Macbeth, Iago) in a big, epic scale battle. And then, to top it all off, put them all together in a quest to find and potentially kill a reclusive wizard called William Shakespeare.

The concept is just brilliant. It really is. And as is so often the way, the execution of that brilliant concept falls slightly flat. In many ways it was always bound to do so. Anything that has such a strong, simple and really, really cool concept will always struggle to live up to it’s own hype.

That’s not saying there’s not a good story backed up with some decent art by McCreery, Del Col and Belanger. Because once you get past the killer concept what you actually have is a rather decent, thoroughly enjoyable Shakespearean style literary romp of an adventure.

The story concerns young Hamlet, cast out of his recently deceased father’s kingdom, sent abroad with loyal servants Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (or Guildenstern and Rosencrantz perhaps?) and destined to fall afoul of pirates along the way. On waking, he’s about to realise his story is no longer the one we all knew so well:

(Enter King Richard… about to offer Hamlet a task to kill Will. From Kill Shakespeare by McCreery, Del Col and belanger, published by IDW.)

Richard, and his fellow baddie Lady Macbeth convince Hamlet they have the power to resurrect his father and set him to a quest to kill the wizard Shakespeare. He is to be “The Shadow King“, a legendary figure foretold by the three witches, destined to kill the magical and godlike wizard – the very essence of “the creator“. Fiction meets metafiction and has a bloody good time along the way.

But the villains, being villains, haven’t Hamlet’s best interests at heart – all they want is Will’s quill, believing they shall rule with it. Although actually, being Shakespearean villains both Richard and lady Macbeth are plotting behind the others back continuously.

With a possibly traitorous Iago at his side (although traitorous to which side, this volume never makes clear) Hamlet is sent forth and meets up with first a full-bellied and lusty Falstaff, then Juliet and Othello, amidst the stirrings of a people’s rebellion against Richard.

(Lady Macbeth – lusty villainess bar none. Boo and hiss indeed. From Kill Shakespeare by McCreery, Del Col and belanger, published by IDW.)

The good thing about Kill Shakespeare is that McCreery and Del Col haven’t made it completely impenetrable to non-Shakespearean scholars. Sure, there’s characters here who need a quick google to really grasp their significance, but anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of the bard’s works will get who these people are and why they’re doing what they do.

They also work hard to introduce much that the bard would recognise, a hint of swash and buckle, some nods to debauchery and playing to the cheap seats for laughs with Falstaff, even a bit of cross-dressing. Add that to the epic war, intrigue, betrayal, mysticism, diabolical villains, lusty villainesses, patricide, mariticide, and I’m sure there will be a touch of a romance somewhere down the line.

(Falstaff adds a dash of humour – and shows us some of the best of Belanger’s artwork in that great facial expression. From Kill Shakespeare by McCreery, Del Col and belanger, published by IDW.)

The art is …. okay, with touches of really nice (like that Falstaff page above). Which is, I know, a terribly bland way to describe someone’s hard crafted work. But it is merely okay. It’s not offensive in any way upon the eye, it does a good job of storytelling and there are the occasional really nice panels and pages.

But there’s a back up strip here, exclusive to the collection “Et tu, Hecate” where the writer’s put Lady Macbeth back in the pivotal moments of Julius Caesar. The art is by J. Bone – and in just 5 pages he blows everything that’s gone before away. I’m a big Bone fan anyway, so maybe that’s just my own prejudice and opinions coming to the fore. But Belanger’s art is never really spectacularly good and J. Bone’s inclusion merely highlights this. Belanger’s art is functionally good, tells the story very well without excess or great style and is easy enough on the eye, never offensive but neither is it the sort of glorious spectacular I’d have like to have seen for the story the authors are trying to tell..

Kill Shakespeare isn’t the greatest thing I’ve read in a long time, but it did entertain. It was fun, relatively thrilling and executed very well. Certainly enough to make me think getting the second, and concluding volume would be worth my (and your) while. In the end, my enjoyment of the book could never really live up to my expectations of what is one of the best, and coolest, concepts I’ve heard for a long time. But then again, I doubt it ever could.

For your further enjoyment, there’s a Kill Shakespeare website here and here’s a very nicely done Kill Shakespeare trailer:

Now, over to Michael…….

The Man With The Getaway Face

by Darwyn Cooke

IDW

Darwyn Cooke’s adaptation of The Hunter was one of the best-received and most popular graphic novels of 2009. A New York Times best-seller, it has appeared on over 50 “best of the year” lists. (Including the FPI blog’s Best of 2009 – where it was pipped by Asterios Polyp – Richard)

The second book, The Outfit, will debut in the fall, but IDW and Darwyn are presenting the first chapter here as a stand-alone preview comic. Priced at only $2.00, this is a full, 24-page story that offers new readers a perfect introduction to Richard Stark’s classic crime novel anti-hero, as well as a great story that stands alone. As an added bonus to readers, this preview is a whopping 8″ x 12.”

If you read Darwyn Cooke’s adaptation of The Hunter then I really don’t need to say a single thing about this. You probably won’t need to buy this as you know for a fact you’ll be buying The Outfit later in the year and yet Thursday morning this will be in your buy pile.  Simply because you don’t want to go any longer than you have to before your next taste of this fantastic series of books.

If you didn’t read Parker: The Hunter remedy the situation by going out and getting it now and picking up this book as soon as you can and then realize how big a mistake you made by not reading it earlier.  Amazing artwork and a fantastic story beautifully adapted by a master at the top of his game don’t miss out on this book anymore than you have to. (My review of Parker The Hunter is here – Richard)

Sweets Issue 1

by Kody Chamberlain

Image Comics

“A spree killer terrorizes New Orleans days before Hurricane Katrina makes landfall. Detective Curt Delatte just buried his only daughter, and he’s in no condition to work. But when the bodies pile up, he masks his grief and joins the hunt through the bowels of the Big Easy. It won’t be long until his city–and his evidence gets washed away. Chamberlain, a native of southern Louisiana, makes his writing debut with this dark and gritty miniseries.”

Kody Chamblerlain has been around for a while as an artist in the world of comic books but this is his first attempt at a creator owned mini-series where he takes full creative control, which gives you an idea of his commitment to Sweets. Chamberlain’s artwork has a hint of Templesmith about it and if it’s half as good as the artist of Fell and Choker it will definitely be something to marvel at.

Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005 and it is now where more people in the creative arts are starting to use it as a backdrop for their stories.  With Sweets from Chamberlain, the fantastic Treme coming from HBO and David Simon and Dark Rain coming from Vertigo in August.  It will be interesting to see exactly how much of this stuff starts to appear but I think it’s a safe bet that Sweets will be one of the better of the bunch.

The mere image of Bill the Cat still cracks me up even after all these years. The drink, the fling with right wing Republican women, the Soviet spying case, the fame, the furballs, the dubious legal advice from Mr Steve Dallas… Ack, ack, thhppttt… Oh, pardon me, hairball in the throat… The second volume of IDW’s rather lovely Bloom County Complete Library hits our shelves today. Fab.

(images from Bloom County Complete Library Volume 2, (c) Berke Breathed and published by IDW)

(cover to The Activate Primer HC, published IDW)

Hitting the shelves tomorrow, the Activate Primer collection from IDW. Regular readers will know that the Activate webcomics collective is one of my very favourite online reads and its terrific to see a print collection of some of their works. This volume includes contributions from some brilliant comics creators; some you’ll know, some will be new to you (and that’s half the fun, discovering interesting work that’s new to us). The Primer contains work from Molly Crabapple, Roger Langridge, Leland Purvis, Nick Bertozzi, Mike Dawson, Simon Fraser, Dean Haspiel and many more in a neat little landscape-format hardback. Perfect if you’re looking for something that little bit different and seeking out examples of different talents you might want to explore further.

(a page of Billy Dogma by and (c) Dean Haspiel, from the Activate Primer, published IDW)

You may recall I liked Darwyn Cooke’s hard boiled adaptation of Parker. A lot:

“Darwyn Cooke has taken Richard Stark’s hard boiled criminal novel and perfectly distilled it’s elements into possibly the best crime graphic novel you’ll have read for a long time. The art’s exceptional, as you may have expected from Cooke. But this beats anything he’s done up to this point. Gone are the nostalgic renderings of books like New Frontier, he even goes past his previous best of his glorious Spirit tales. This is Cooke’s artistic idea honed to a fine point and executed with incredible, minimalist noir style across the page. It’s a truly beautiful book.”

Well it seems the love for the book has gone far and wide and IDW have been overwhelmed with the demand for the first volume. So much so that, after just two weeks of release, it’s sold out at the distributor level. Not quite as impressive as selling out completely, but it does mean that the copies in stroes are it (for now). Get those first printings of this great book whilst they last. IDW are going back to press and a second printing is due in September.

(via CBR)

Meanwhile ICV2 is reporting more Yoe-related goodness as IDW announces a new imprint launching in the autumn which be overseen by Craig and feature books by or designed by him, with the first two titles being The Complete Milt Gross Life Story and Comics and The Art of Ditko, both of which will interest many of us for their subject matter but knowing Craig I’d also expect the books themselves to be nicely designed pieces of loveliness in their own right too.

by Darwyn Cooke

IDW Publishing.

Bloody hell, this is good.

Darwyn Cooke has taken Richard Stark’s hard boiled criminal novel and perfectly distilled it’s elements into possibly the best crime graphic novel you’ll have read for a long time. The art’s exceptional, as you may have expected from Cooke. But this beats anything he’s done up to this point. Gone are the nostalgic renderings of books like New Frontier, he even goes past his previous best of his glorious Spirit tales. This is Cooke’s artistic idea honed to a fine point and executed with incredible, minimalist noir style across the page. It’s a truly beautiful book.

Richard Stark was the pseudonym for Donald E Westlake. You’ve probably seen one of his Parker tales without even realising it was a Parker tale since Westlake never allowed Parker’s name to be used in the adaptations of his work. Point Blank with lee Marvin – that was Parker. Payback with Mel Gibson – Parker. But tellingly, with Darwyn Cooke’s adaptation Westlake finally gave his permission. Sadly Westlake died in 2008 never knowing what a marvellous job Darwyn Cooke was to make of Parker.

This is real hard boiled noir. Parker is the epitome of the cold hearted bastard. Betrayed on an arms deal by his woman and his partners in crime, he’s left for dead. But he makes his way back, single minded and bent on revenge against those who’ve wronged him and stolen his ill gotten gains. I’m not going to give any of the plot away – it’s one of those books you really need to read and me blowing the story would only spoil it for you. And in truth, it’s hardly revolutionary storytelling. You’ve seen the plot many, many times over. Indeed, if you’ve watched either movie you’ll recognise elements of them here, particularly in Point Blank. But the plot is almost incidental to Parker. It’s an inexorable march towards revenge and retribution, with Parker leaving a trail of dead bodies in his wake, cold, heartless, driven and utterly amoral. Pure hard boiled stuff.

(Parker gets himself together, ready to take back what he considers rightfully his. Darwyn Cooke’s artwork just perfectly encapsulating the sheer will for revenge of the man. From The Hunter.)

Darwyn Cooke’s adaptation must have ditched huge amounts of the source material to have condensed a book into 140 pages, but you won’t notice, such is the perfection of storytelling that Cooke pulls off here. It’s split into four books, each incredibly impressive in it’s own way. There’s a preview of the first few pages at the IDW site and it will give you some idea of just how good Parker is. Those first 20 pages, almost wordless, with Parker making his way back into New York, regaining his life, getting himself ready for the job at hand are quite brilliant examples of how to tell a story on a comics page. After that the tale is told of betrayals and revenge, with Parker single-mindedly working his way through those who have wronged him, stopping at nothing to extract revenge and recover the ill gotten gains he considers rightfully his. If I had to pick a moment though it would be the almost heartstopping scene where Parker finally tracks down the cause of all his ills:

(“That’s when he saw Parker coming through the bedroom window”. Chilling storytelling from Cooke in Parker: The Hunter.)

The one thing that did jar slightly is that cover. Compared with some of the stellar artwork inside the book it’s actually not that good. A minor quibble perhaps. Because once you get inside the art is just sublime; black, white and blue throughout. The purist in me was wondering all the way through what this might have been like in strict noir black and white, but the blue adds something extra, something quite wonderful.

It’s July and this may well be the book of the year. A must for anyone with a penchant for Chandler-esque heroes and hard boiled storytelling. The great news is that this is just the first of four planned Parker graphic novels by Cooke. Book 2 is out in 2010 – I’ve no idea when, but I’ll be eagerly awaiting it. Something this near perfect will no doubt be worth the wait.

Parker: The Hunter is released on July 22nd. A real must buy.

Richard Bruton.