MONDOmagazine

Owen’s Book of the Month

Starman Omnibus: Volume 3
James Robinson (w), Tony Harris and others (p), Wade von Grawbadger and others (i), DC Comics

Every month that another volume comes out, it is pretty much a guarantee that it will be my best of that month. I suppose it’s possible that something better could come out. I suppose there are a few comics that could best it (Top 10: The Forty-Niners comes to mind, as does the last issue of Y: The Last Man), but odds are good that you’ll see another Starman omnibus on my list three more times after this. With good reason, too. To keep it brief, lest I become repetitive (too late), this comic is a masterwork of character building, lush visuals, and serialized storytelling.

Enough, though, about the book as a whole, let’s take a look at this volume. This time out we get some issues that have never been collected before (helping justify the need for these omnibi), including Robinson’s The Shade miniseries. As far as I’m concerned, more of The Shade is always a good thing (The Shade: Origins miniseries written by James Robinson, please, DC?). On top of that, we have a great storyline involving a dead pirate, an exploration of Solomon Grundy in which you learn what Batman’s favourite Woody Allen movie is, an annual that focuses on the romances featured in the comic, and a story spotlighting Jack and Ted’s father/son relationship. This volume is where the title really hits its stride. It may not be the most action-packed of comics out there, but if character development is your thing (as it is mine), then you can’t do any better than Starman.

Sandra’s Book of the Month

Young Liars Vol. 2: Maestro
David Lapham (w + a), Vertigo Comics

Upon finishing this trade, a wave of joy and sadness was brought forth — a combination I feel rarely after finishing a book. There was joy because I was reading another well-written series with interesting and engaging characters that just happen to lead rather effed-up lives. However, there was also sadness because I knew that as much as I was beginning to love the series, I would inevitably have to say good-bye.

I picked up this second trade ready to be blown away by the weird, depressing, and messed up lives of the Young Liars bunch. I was not disappointed. There’s blood, guns, incest, aliens, and spiders galore. None of it makes any sense and yet David Lapham is just able to bring it all together into this twisted little package. This series has been a hard one for me to explain to anyone that has ever asked me about it, so I don’t bother explaining and just give them the book instead. That’s what I’m going to do here. Just go and read it. You won’t regret it. Your only regret is that you didn’t get it sooner.

Isaac’s Book of the Month

Flash: Rebirth #3
Geoff Johns (w), Ethan Van Sciver (a), DC Comics

This book keeps coming back into conversations where I inevitably defend it, and I return to an argument that strikes me over and over as an amazing feat of this book, and the reason why it has to be my book of the month.

The struggle has always been to justify bringing back a character who left us at the top of his game — Barry Allen returning after his death and saving the whole blamed multiverse. Hal Jordan’s return to glory after a foray into super-villainy and the afterlife makes sense; as a friend of mine put it, “There’s no way he was going out like that.” In fact, I’ve greatly enjoyed how that same questioning attitude has infused Barry Allen himself in this series, an act of art imitating life. In having the character re-enter the story with that frame of mind, whatever happens next becomes the answer to why “they” brought back Barry Allen.

The best of stories will build on itself organically, where you don’t even feel the plot threads narrowing together, until dawning strikes and you see how there was never any other way for that story to be written — but it still takes you completely by surprise.

I’ll warn those who haven’t read it that I’m totally going to spoil the ending now. You’ve had a month to read the thing; it’s your own fault. I’m also going to hugely speculate about the upcoming direction of the mini-series, so if I’m right maybe that’s another reason to stop reading.

A main topic in the story has been Barry questioning the idea of himself as a perfect saviour — an idea that everyone else seems to have of him, considering his mistakes (or at least darker actions) like killing Professor Zoom, the Reverse Flash. So then of course it’s revealed that the mystery villain is Zoom back from the dead, or lost in time or something. Of course Barry will get the chance to undo the murder of his arch foe, which is his reason for coming back; it’s a chance at the redemption no one wanted to consider necessary because it was already too late to fix. Until now.

Another complaint about the story thus far has been the seemingly senseless inclusion of a tragic origin for Barry: the apparent murder of his mother by his father (who proclaims his innocence) when Barry was young. My response has thus far been that we’re just finally getting Barry Allen’s post-crisis origin twenty years later, and while that may be true, I’m going to go ahead and say now that this is all leading up to a showdown in the past, Flash versus Zoom, with the fate of Barry’s parents at stake — because that’s how the story has to go. Classic Johns.

Miles’ Book of the Month

The Unwritten #2
Mike Carey (w), Peter Gross (a), Chris Chuckry and Jeane McGee (c). Vertigo.

Here is something that many regular readers probably never saw coming: this month I had a hard time picking between three different DC/Vertigo titles (Young Liars, Detective Comics, and The Unwritten) for my Book of the Month. I didn’t consider a Marvel title, it’s shocking. I might have to give up my Marvel Zombie status. I settled on this issue because I had already written on the other two and I want to stress that this is a fantastic series.

After how much I enjoyed the first issue, I was a little worried about how much I’d like the follow up issue. Maybe I was just buying into the hype and was buckwild on only having to spend a dollar on the first issue. Not the case.

Carey and Gross and company created a strong second issue where the story becomes richer. He’s simultaneously setting up mysteries as well as making fast motions to answer some. It’s expertly constructed to give the reader just enough information to keep going and clamouring for more, topped perfectly with a great cliffhanger ending.

Tom Taylor is now widely believed to actually be Tommy Taylor, the main character of his father’s fantasy series. The media blitz makes Tom look into his father and some mysterious things that have happened to him. And things start to get even weirder.

Gross puts in another great issue with a couple of standout pages. There’s a magic sequence involving Tom walking down an infinite staircase that’s very well drawn. The panel boarders disappear for the only time in the issue because this is the only time something like this happens. It’s an effective visual choice.

It’s a great series that more people should be following.