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Where much of speculative fiction questions or outright violates our perceptions of reality, the first contribution to Murky Depths #6, “The Lastest Marianne” by Alan Frackelton, takes a more direct route. This surreal tale concerns a haunted man’s progressive descent into madness… Full review at The Fix.
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Volume 1
Written by Jamie Delano
Art by John Ridgeway and Alfredo Alcala
Paperback: 1563890526, $19.95
I admit I picked this one up because I really liked the movie. I’d been warned that the movie was nothing like the actual comic, but all the elements of the movie that I enjoyed most were present.
The art is dated and doesn’t add much, but the writing is amazing, especially in the middle story, a supernatural tale of war life and rural reality colliding most violently, “When Johnny Comes Marching Home”. “Waiting for the Man” also features some very disturbing sections, but like the rest of this volume it’s full of loose ends and set ups for later plot lines.
A lot of the imagery in the movie did come straight from the comic, as did large portions of the plot. In fact, I have to wonder, other than the comic Constantine being blond and English rather than Keanu Reeves, what the complaint is. The same callous, ballsy Constantine finds himself dragged into paranormal threat after paranormal threat, often by a damsel in distress. While it’s made clear that he’s neutral and not on the side of heaven, hell or the ethereal, most of the plots in HellBlazer: Original Sins have Constantine coming up against the demonic side of things more than anything else.
It’s definitely a good read, filled with strong, emotional writing and gritty, interesting characters. But beware, this volume leaves off, literally, in the middle of a scene so you might want to buy volumes one and two together.
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Art by Ardian Syaf
*This is set before Storm Front, the first book in the series
Hardback: 0345507460, $19.95
“There’s a killer loose in the Lincoln Park Zoo, and I’m going after him. Though if you ask me, it seems a little unprofessional of him to come after me first. I’ve barely had time to stick my nose into anything.”
A trademark blend of magic, noir and sarcasm Welcome to the Jungle is a full color example of why Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden is so popular.
A special consultant to the Chicago police, Harry is called in when a man is found dead at the zoo under mysterious circumstances. The brass wants to blame Moe the gorilla, put him down and be done with it. Special Investigations lead Karrin Murphy knows the evidence isn’t adding up so she leaves the legwork that she can’t explain to her bosses to Harry. After all, the list of things that can choke a man bare handed has to be small, right?
But before Harry can put the monster who did this down, he has to dodge great cats under compulsion spells (to kill him, of course) and supernatural dog assassins, save the girl and save the gorilla.
Spiked with humor, fast paced and fabulously drawn, Welcome to the Jungle is a welcome addition to the Dresden mythos and a must-have for Dresden fans.
All indications are that a settlement has been reached in the Fox lawsuit over the Watchmen movie. Details c/o G4. We’re pretty much just waiting for a public affirmation at this point.
The good news is that this graphic novel offers exactly what I loved about the movie. HellBoy is a devil summoned by a mysterious Nazi who wants to unleash cthulhu-like elder gods upon the world. He’s got an anger problem, he’s a smart ass, and he calls himself the World’s Best Paranormal Investigator. The art is dark, yet HellBoy’s attitude adds some levity to the atmosphere.
The bad news is that there isn’t much in this first volume that you don’t know from watching the first movie. Having started with the movie that’s to be expected, but it did make the short promo strips included at the back of the volume the most interesting bits. Because I really enjoyed those, I believe if this had been my first HellBoy experience I’d have been won over. (In other words, if I wasn’t already a fan, I would be after reading Seed of Destruction.)
Not only is HellBoy a paranormal tale, and intriguingly so, but it is also carried by an anti-hero of sorts (as the impression readers are given is that HellBoy isn’t supposed to be the hero, he’s supposed to end the world) and one of my favorite character types, the intelligent, more-human-than-humans monstrous creature(Abe). It’s a combination that, when it works, will always get my interest and likely my dollar.
