All Good Things...

Hey all. I really appreciate all that have come here and read my ramblings about comic books and movies and video games and such over the past almost two years, but I think my time as a blogger has come to an end.  Between wife and kids and work and home and family and doing things I want to do, I really don't have the time I would like to put into writing this anymore.  I do thank you if you have read the words that I have typed and I hope that you have enjoyed some of it.  Feel free to write me if you want and if you want this blog title for your own, feel free to contact me. It would be nice to see it used by someone.  Anyway, be good to each other and I hope you continue to love all things nerdy.  Nite.

Patrick

Tradio #56 - Near Death: Volume One

Wow...that was sure a lot of Sandman comics.  A lot of good stuff, but now it is nice to turn the focus back on my weekly randomness at Tradio.  This week, I look at Near Death: Volume One by Jay Faerber and Simone Guglielmini and published by Image Comics.

Near Death is a straight up hit man story that isn't so straight forward.  Markham is a professional contract killer who has a near death experience during a routine assignment that bleaches a tuft of his hair and sets him on a new mission to save as many people as he has killed and thus keep himself from going to hell.  Can he stay on the straight and narrow or will he fall back into old habits?  Will his sudden change of heart cause his past employers to come looking for him?  Since he is motivated only by his wanting to stay out of hell and not because he really wants to help people, will all his work ultimately have it's desired effect?  That remains to be seen, but each issue in the trade is a self-contained story that has central themes and characters woven throughout.

Near Death is good, but it just doesn't seem to be as thought out as something like Criminal, which you can tell that the series borrows heavily from.  The art is really a homage to Sean Philips which is a blessing and a curse.  In one hand, it is familiar if you are familiar with Criminal and feels natural, but on the other hand, this is NOT Criminal and Near Death suffers from that comparison.  It doesn't let the work stand on it's own and I think it will always live in that title's shadow.  Overall, it isn't bad at all, but there are some things keeping it back from being great.  The best this title can do is continue to separate it from other similar works and stand on it's own...only then will it be held up as the work it deserves to be.

Tradio #55 - The Sandman: The Dream Hunters

Wow! Who could have thunk it?!?! I am finally at the end of the Summer of Sandman here at Tradio with my final trade review.  This week, I look at The Sandman: The Dream Hunters by Neil Gaiman with art by P. Craig Russell and published under the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics.

The Dream Hunters is an oddity.  This work was produced during the twentieth anniversary of The Sandman and was an adaptation of a work that was produced during the tenth anniversary of The Sandman.  Confused?  Don't be, though I was at first.  What happened was Gaiman and Yoshitaka Amano produced a prose book called The Dream Hunters and then Gaiman and Russell adapted that book into a comic book.  The Dream Hunters is a Japanese fairy tale that Gaiman totally made up, though some have tried to discover what it was based on.  Telling the tale of a monk and a fox and how their lives intertwine with each other and Dream, we see a story of lose and love and ultimately revenge that will keep you turning page after page. 

The Dream Hunters is really a good read.  It is an oddity in more than just what is mentioned above.  It is also a rare Sandman story where the art gets a chances to tell a lot of the story.  Not that Gaiman is a bad writer or anything, he just rarely produces a work where he doesn't have something to say in every panel and in this tale, Russell gets an opportunity to shine and carry the narrative for many pages on end.  It is a nice change and a nice ending to my time with the Endless family.  I recommend it and the prose book it is based off of.  What is next?  Well, no more Sandman...though it has been an enjoyable time and a great way to spend the summer.  See you next week for something entirely different and if you haven't read the twelve volumes of The Sandman that I have showcased, give it a try.  It is quite good and well worth the time you will need to put into it.  See you soon.

Tradio #54 - The Sandman: Endless Nights

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...oh...sorry...sometimes all this reading can be grueling.  That said, this week on Tradio, I talk about The Sandman: Endless Night which is written by Neil Gaiman with art by Glenn Fabry, Milo Manara, Miguelanxo Prado, Frank Quitely, P. Craig Russell, Bill Sienkiewicz, and Barron Storey and published under the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics.

Endless Nights is the first big collection of Sandman stories done by Gaiman after the end of the Vertigo series.  Each story is illustrated by a different artist and focuses on one of the Endless family.  Through differing time periods and differing perspectives we see new facets to each of the characters and though the stories can be read in any order, there is a through line in some of stories that interconnects them.  We get to see some of the earliest days of the Endless and meet the first Despair and Delight.  We begin to get a sense of what it is like in Despair's and Destiny's realms.  We get to encounter how the Endless have played a part in the lives of many people over time and how they may have shaped things throughout the DC universe.

Endless Nights is amazing.  The writing is some of Gaiman's best and the art is nothing short of amazing.  The stories are so fascinating and effortless that once you start, you will have a very hard time putting the volume down before you have read it all.  If I have one lament about the work it is that I wish Gaiman had spent more time in the regular series like this.  For all of the one and done issues that were in The Sandman series, there really weren't enough that focused on the individuals of the Endless family.  There seems to be a lot of good stories there and though I know that The Sandman was ultimately the story of Dream, his family was so integral to what made the book great as a whole and I would have loved to have gotten to know each of them better.  But I digress...this one is probably my favorite, but it would not have the impact that is has without all that came before it.  Give yourself a few hours and read it...seriously.  Next week...the end of the Summer of Sandman with The Dream Hunters.

Tradio #53 - The Sandman: The Wake

This week, we talk about the last of the regular issue trades of The Sandman here on Tradio.  This week, we review The Sandman: The Wake by Neil Gaiman with art by Michael Zulli, Jon J. Muth, and Charles Vess and published under the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics.

A wake.  If you know what one is, you probably have an idea of what a majority of this story is about.  I don't think that is a spoiler given the title, but there is more to it than simply a wake.  These issues are a celebration of life, a passing of a torch, an introduction to a family, and ultimately a chance to tell yet untold tales.  We get to see how many feel about Dream and see how he has affected so many people and beings during his time of being.  The final two stories are an epilogue of untold tales where we see the bridging of gaps between two different dream lords and between the beginning and ending points of the professional life of a character we have seen before.  Overall, the stories are about the best of the series and helps us get a better handle on our feelings about what has come before.

Pretty amazing in so many ways.  The writing is sharp and reverent and the art is some of the series best.  It really is a great coda for the series as a whole, though the last two stories could have come earlier in the series for me, but that is just personal taste.  The Wake is a great end to the series and again answers a lot of questions that the series as posed along the way.  You never feel sorry for Dream, though you may feel that way for the people surrounding him.  It is touching, but not forced, which can be a difficult thing to achieve and it is a testament to the ability of Gaiman.  Next week, we look at Endless Nights.  See you then.

Tradio #52 - The Sandman: The Kindly Ones

Hello again!  This week on Tradio I get my wish with a very long intricate read in The Sandman: The Kindly Ones by Neil Gaiman with art by a bunch of artists who I have no clue who did what and published under the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics.

Hippolyta Hall.  A character steeped in DC history doesn't seem like a likely cornerstone of a story that stayed on the periphery of the DC universe proper, but she is...or rather, her son Daniel is.  A character we had seen (and not realized it) many issues ago in one of the one and done issues of The Sandman.  In these issues, we see a mother trying to find her son and then wanting revenge, we see the Furies set loose upon the Dreaming, we see friends come and go, and we ultimately see the fate of Dream himself.  The tale is long, but it needs to be to tie up all the threads that has been started from the beginning of The Sandman.  I don't want to say too much since there is so much surprise and discovery to be had here, but if you aren't moved by this story, you haven't been paying attention.  By far, the best of the series, but only because so much has been so good before it.

Ok...before I go into anything else, I would love to know which of the artists did what in this trade.  There is a list of eight different artists on the front cover with no indication of who did what.  I hate that.  Most of the art was done by someone in particular and I liked it, but there is nothing so say who did what.  Yes, the story is very important and Gaiman should get lots and lots of praise for what all is done in this trade, but without the art, it isn't a comic book and there should be some indication of who did what.  It bothers me a lot...but I digress.  The Kindly Ones is good.  REALLY good.  So much of the ground work from stories before has been laid for what happens in these thirteen issues and many mysteries are revealed over the course of this story.  It is sad and triumphant and it reached an end that was laid out really as far back as issue one.  Old friends return and new "friends" are made and we get to see just what Dream is made of.  I finished it with a heavy, yet curious heart and am excited to see what is to come with The Wake.

Tradio #51 - The Sandman: Worlds' End

We are over the hump here at Tradio with the Summer of Sandman. This week, we look at volume seven The Sandman: World's End by Neil Gaiman with art by a BUNCH of artists including Mike Allred, Tony Harris, Bryan Talbot, and Micheal Zulli and published under the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics.

World's End starts with yet another road trip.  But this time, not one for the Endless, but one for some regular folks who just happen to come into a blizzard in the middle of June.  The unseasonable weather only makes a difficult night's journey that much harder and the occupants of the car are quickly ran off the road by an unidentifiable creature and they have to take refuge at the World's End Inn.  What follows are tales from various other travelers from different times and time lines stuck at the inn as they waste away the hours and wait for the storm to pass.  As with most of the collections like this that we have seen before, Dream figures into each story in one way or another and we meet a few people who may have more history with Dream and his extended cast of characters in one way or another.  Eventually we see a sequence that seems to foreshadow things to come as we see a death march that includes Most of the Endless family, but not all.

There are a lot of strong things about this collection, but we get more tales that, while good, really don't deal with the Endless family directly.  The series has really fallen into a pattern of a several issue arc dealing with Dream and then a series of one and done filler issues.  Each of the six different issues presents art from a different artist with the framing sequences all by the same artist which helps to make the overall package that much more coherent than we have seen before.  But, ultimately, it slows a lot of things down and I really wish we had more focus on Dream and his family.  Also, the stories within stories within stories is kind of annoying in the middle of things.  Overall, not bad by any means, but I wanted more of the central story...which is looks like may be on the way.  See you next week for The Kindly Ones.

Tradio #50 - The Sandman: Brief Lives

Howdy all!  This week on Tradio we take a look at an oddity for The Sandman series.  We look at The Sandman: Brief Lives by Neil Gaiman with art entirely by Jill Thompson and published under the Vertigo imprint of DC comics.

Brief Lives is, I think, the first volume of The Sandman series where the art done entirely by one person, Jill Thompson.  What we get is a story that is the classic road trip tale but with the typical Sandman twists.  Delirium misses her missing brother Destruction.  Destruction left the endless three hundred years ago with instructions for his family to leave him be and not follow him.  After asking her sister Despair and brother/sister Desire for help, she ended up asking for help from a recently jilted Dream who is in the depths of depression.  Wacky adventures ensue as Delirium and Dream hit the road to talk with people who may know where Destruction is and we see just how much Dream cares for his siblings.  The story full of highs and lows, we get to see just what is at the heart of Dream and he ultimately has to make a great sacrifice in order to give his sister what she wants.  It seems like we get to see a major turning point for Dream and it will be interesting to see where it all leads.
Brief Lives is great arc of story telling and the use of one artist for the entire run really helps to lead to a cohesiveness that the series as a whole has lacked.  The cast of characters is varied and rich and Thompson really adds a distinct personality to each one.  The story itself seems to have a lot of weight and I really think it is a big event in Dream's tale that will have major repercussions as the series goes forward.  Highly recommended and one of my favorite stories overall. See you next week with World's End.

Tradio #49 - The Sandman: Fables & Reflections

Welcome back The Summer of Sandman here at Tradio!  This week, we hit the half way point with The Sandman: Fables & Reflections by Neil Gaiman and art by a huge cast of artists including Kent Williams, Shawn McManus, Bryan Talbot, Jill Thompson, and P. Craig Russell and published under Vertigo imprint of DC Comics.

Fables & Reflections is another collection of one and done stories that unlike the past collection like this, is full of great stories.  We get to see more insight into Dream's family and get to meet his son and learn what all he gone through for being part of the Endless family.  Each story uses a different artist to differentiate it from the next and we finally get to meet the wayward Endless brother, Destruction.  The final story, illustrated by P. Craig Russell is a tale of a king with everything who makes a request of Dream where the consequences may not be what he exactly bargained for.

I really enjoyed this collection of stories.  The art has it's ups and downs but the work by both Shawn McManus and P. Craig Russell are very much my favorite.  Overall, the Russell story is the most imaginative of the lot, though each one has it's own merits.  What we learn of Dream's son is awesome and sad at the same time and really helps add depth to character of Morpheus.  A great collection and a great midpoint for the series as a whole.

Tradio #48 - The Sandman: A Game Of You

Happy Summer everyone!  This week on Tradio we are continuing the Summer of Sandman with The Sandman: A Game of You as written by Neil Gaiman with art by Shawn McManus, Colleen Doran, and Brian Talbot and published under the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics.

A Game of You focuses on a group of people living in a small apartment building in New York City.  Pretty standard stuff on the surface.  A pretty, young thing from the country, her best friend pre-op transsexual, a lesbian couple, a awkward, bookish lady, and an odd older man all living in a building and going about their separate lives.  Or so it would seem.  As it turns out, they are all interconnected and the young thing from the country is actually Barbie that we met in The Doll's House and one of the lesbians is actually an old girlfriend of a character that died in the initial Sandman story arc.  What do they have in common?  Not a lot, save being thrown into a situation that will end up killing a couple of them and exploring the dream world of Barbie and how she must defeat the Cuckoo.  Black magic, murder, talking animals, a homeless lady who hates dogs, and a hurricane all make for a story that whips around on itself and really plays with the ideas of dreams and their origins.

...or maybe that was what it meant.  Honestly, I am not sure what all happened toward the end of the story.  Barbie was in a dream land that wasn't her own and there was a jewel and a rune and a forgotten childhood.  I don't know.  There was so much good in the story, that final arc of the action really left me wanting.  Maybe I need to reread it, but I don't think I should need to, honestly.  There were a lot of good ideas there, they just never really seemed to gel like they should have.  The very end did tie up some loose ends in a way, but there were a couple inconsistencies even in that.  I totally understand that no writer is perfect, but I don't know, it was kind of a let down in a way considering how good Dream Country was.  It was still good, just not my favorite so far.  That said, the art that was done by Shawn McManus is pretty incredible and he ranks up there with Kelley Jones in a lot of ways in my book.  Anyway, it is a good read, I just hope you understand it a little better than I did.  So, see you in a week for Fables and Reflections.

Tradio #47 - The Sandman: Season of Mists

This week we march on through the Summer of Sandman with The Sandman: Season of Mists by Neil Gaiman with art by Kelley Jones, Mike Dringenberg, Malcolm Jones III, and Matt Wagner and published under the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics.

With this arc of The Sandman, we get a bigger sense that Gaiman has a lot in store for all the characters that he has introduced up to this point.  References and allusions in the past come to the fore as we see a lot of characters make a return and several characters that have been mentioned before giving their grand entrance.  The story begins with a meeting of the Endless family...well the ones that want to be known and they are told by their brother Destiny about an event that will profoundly change them.  This ends up being Dream needing to rescue Nada from Hell, where he condemned her to remain for spurning his affections many, many years ago.  In order to rescue her, he has to confront Lucifer who is his sworn enemy after an earlier story in the series.  What follows are some twists and turns as Lucifer doesn't quite put up the fight that Dream expected and we see Dream is given a gift that is much more of a curse than a blessing.  Eventually, we get to see Dream do that right thing, but not everyone is happy about the outcome.

Overall, Season of Mists is really good.  The way that Gaiman describes each of the Endless and gives a real sense to what each one of them represents is very informative.  The only downside to all the information is the way that it is given; in short prose pieces, where as some sort of illustrated story for each would have been a little more enjoyable.  These are comic books after all.  In the interest of getting to the meat of the story, I understand the decision he made, but it still would have been nice.  And speaking of art, I have to say that so far, Kelley Jones is my favorite Sandman artist.  This may change as the series moves along, but I love his sense of detail and how he adds so much character to everyone who is included.  Anyway, this is a great collection and though the way the cover dress may suggest reading any of the trades in any order, this group definitely benefits from the stories before them.  Keep that in mind.  Talk to you next week with A Game Of You.

Tradio #46 - The Sandman: Dream Country

Hi again!  Summer is in full swing and I hope everyone is having a great and safe time.  Week 3 of the Summer of Sandman brings The Sandman: Dream Country by Neil Gaiman with art by Kelley Jones, Charles Vess, Colleen Doran, and Malcolm Jones III and published under the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics. 

Dream Country is a rather slight volume of four different one and done stories where Dream appears very little.  We are given a tale of a one hit wonder of a writer who finally finds his muse and is eventually driven mad by her, a story involving cats which is probably closer to truth than it is to fiction, a tale of young William Shakespeare putting on the performance of a lifetime in front of the most unique audience you can have, and the story of a young woman who is driven insane by her super powers.  Each story is illustrated by a different artist to reflect the tone of the story and each adds their own spin on the world of the Endless.  The volume also includes a script from one of the stories to walk us through what happens from the written word to the illustrated page.

Overall, I liked the volume, but it's length is disappointing.  Only containing four comics worth of work, it is short...no other way to put it.  The addition of the script is nice, but I am honestly not one to read scripts for comics.  I like to think that what we buy springs fully formed from the heads of the writers and artists and am a firm believer that sometimes it is better to not see what was left on the cutting room floor, so to speak.  Anyway, the stories are very good, with Calliope and Facade being my favorites.  The story A Midsummer Night's Dream is included in this volume and is an award winning story, but I honestly wasn't a fan.  It was OK, but I have a feeling that it probably would have meant more to me if  I had spent more time paying attention in my English Lit class in high school.  I got bored with it.  Anyway, happy reading everyone and see you next week for Seasons of Mist.

Tradio #45 - The Sandman: The Doll's House

Welcome to week two of the Summer of Sandman!  This week we look at Volume Two which is titled The Sandman: The Doll's House by Neil Gaiman and a whole passel of artists including some very early work from Chris Bachalo and published under the Vertigo banner by DC Comics.

The Doll's House consists of a large over arc with a couple other stories thrown in for good measure.  The main thrust of the trade deals with a young lady named Rose and her family.  As it turns out, Rose's grandmother is Unity Kinkade, who we met in the first trade as one of the people who was affected by Dream being imprisoned for so many years and had basically lived in a coma for the entire time.  During this time, she was raped and gave birth to a child who is Rose's mother.  As it turns out, Rose is a vortex of dreams and her very existence could bring about the end of the world in which she destroys the walls separating all peoples dreams. Throw into to this a search for Rose's brother, a serial killer's convention, and Dream looking for some of the lost denizens of the Dreamlands and you get a very twisty tale full of disturbing images and heartfelt emotion that is very well-crafted and laid out.

Again, Gaiman crafts an amazing tale and you can tell that he is getting better and better with the subject and the characters.  The interweaving of the main story will keep you guessing up until the end and the introduction of his sibling, Desire, is interesting, if not a little confusing.  But I trust this will be explained more in time.  The lead in story is good, but really doesn't seem to pertain to the overall arc, which is fine, but the story in the middle has nothing to do with anything and really kills some momentum.  It is a good story about a man living forever and his relationship with Dream, but it breaks up The Doll House, just when you want to know what will happen next.  I am guessing it was an art issue that did it.  Speaking of art...love the early Bachalo.  I am not a big fan of Dringenberg, but it works and he does seem to have a range, it is just his usual style does nothing for me.  Anyway, another great trade in a series that really seems to be getting better.  If I do have one complaint, it is the design of the interiors of the new editions of the Sandman series.  The lettering has a very Se7en feel that is hard to read and distracting.  I have no clue for the change, but I am glad that this is my only edition in this style.  Next week, Dream Country...can't wait.  Till then...

Gaming Marathon Anyone?

So...last summer I tried something stupid.  I gathered a bunch of crap games that I had gotten dirt cheap and set out to play through as many of them as possible.  It didn't work out.  I got bored really quick and ended up reading for most of the summer...which in and of itself isn't a bad thing at all.  What it did do was put me behind playing some really good games that I had and I have felt like I have been playing catchup a lot over the past year.  Well, starting June 1st...all that changes.  I have a stack of games that during the months of June and July I am going to make an honest stab at.  The Mass Effect Trilogy, Red Dead Redemption, Battlefield 3, GTA 4 dlc, a ton of Silent Hill games, LA Noire, Skyrim, and then a stack of games that I will work on with the kids if they want to play.  I want to work through a lot of good stuff and prepare for all the goodness that will be hitting in the fall.  Over the past month, I have been reading a lot and now it is time to jump back into some gaming.  We will see how I do this summer and if I can redeem myself for my failure of last summer.  Might do a review here or there or I may just play...which is much more fun anyway.  Have a great summer and stay out of the sun.  It only causes cancer anyway...

Tradio #44 - The Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes

Happy Summer everyone!  This week, we start my summer-long trek into Neil Gaiman's dysfunctional Endless family as I read the complete Sandman regular series and give my thoughts and feelings about the Sandman series as a whole over the course of the summer.  Feel free to read along and will keep things as spoiler-free as possible.  We start at the beginning with The Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman with art by Sam Keith, Mike Dringenberg, and Malcolm Jones III and published under the Vertigo line at DC Comics. 

The Sandman.  Morpheus.  The Lord of Dreams.  Or simply Dream to his friends and family.  The Sandman series starts with him brought to his knees by people looking for power over death...or actually Death.  See, a dark cult is looking to harness of the power of the entity Death and gain immortality, but instead they capture Death's brother, Dream.  Trying to make the most of the situation, they steal artifacts from Dream and go about trying to get him to use his power for their gain.  He ignores their requests and waits.  And waits... And waits... Eventually, decades later, the people who trapped him are all dead and he is able to make his escape and is set upon a quest to regain the objects of power lost to him.  From the house down the street, to the very gates of hell, and finally to the dream world itself, Dream must use his power and wisdom to overcome the obstacles put in his way to regain what he has lost.  In the end, we get to experience a nice coda where were meet Dream's sister, Death, in an interesting tale where he gets his act together and finds some new direction in his life.

In many ways the Sandman series itself appears to be reflection of title character and the author in that both are trying to find their way and discover their direction.  The first few issues are a pretty standard quest tale that helps to give the character a voice and set his place in the DC Universe.  If there is something that I wasn't crazy about, it was all the DC character cameos that really didn't seem all that needed.  I can see why they are there to help show that the series is in the DC Universe, but I really don't think they add anything meaningful.  The end issue that introduces the character of Death is really the standout and seems to really be Gaiman himself in the role of Dream being shown that he needs to focus his efforts and give his character a greater purpose and a more focused voice.  It really seems to be setting up what is to come with a series where anything can happen, just like in the dreams that are the focus of the series.  On the art side, Sam Kieth is really the standout and gone way too soon.  His images are dark and scary and amazing.  All in all, a great start to a series and makes me want to keep reading and get more into the world that Gaiman has begun to craft. See you next week for The Doll's House.

New Tradio Series Starts Next Week - The Summer of Sandman!

This summer I wanted to do something new for my weekly trade review series.  Over the past year, I have been buying used Sandman trades and I finally got the last one that I needed for a full run of them.  The Sandman is one of those series that I have heard over and over that I should have read and just had never gotten around to it.  So I figured now that I have them all, I am going to sit down and read them from beginning to end and let you all know my thoughts about what is considered the granddaddy of the Vertigo Comics line.  Will I like them?  Will I be engaged enough to finish the twelve trades that I have?  We will see...together...and if you aren't much for this series, maybe I can give you a different spin on them. Hopefully by the end we will see just why this series is lauded as one of the masterpieces of the comic form.  Or maybe we will get bored and have to read something else.  Either way, I have a plan and an idea of something a little different to do while we waste away the days of summer.  Hope you enjoy the series and if you want to read along with me, your thoughts will be appreciated.  Next week is volume one of The Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes.  Talk to you soon.

Tradio #43 - Princeless: Save Yourself

This week we have some indie love coming at you here at Tradio...Eisner nominated indie love at that.  This week I give my thoughts on Princeless, Book One: Save Yourself, written by Jeremy Whitley with art by M. Goodwin and published by Action Lab Comics.

Princeless starts out like any run of the mill Disney princess story, with a fair maiden in distress in a tower, an evil dragon protecting her, and a brave prince rescuing her...all on the very first page.  What we see with this basic setup is just how silly such a scenario is to our Princess Adrienne, who is a young, proud princess of color, as her mother reads her your basic princess in peril story.  Adrienne is too wise for such hogwash and proceeds to point out all the plot holes with a heavy helping of sass.  She vows to never get herself in that sort of situation, but as fates (and her parents) would have it, she is there...stuck in a tower with a dragon and brave princes trying to rescue her.  She's over it and decides to leave her tower and save her sisters who are also locked away, waiting on silly boys to come and rescue them as well.  From this simple set up, we get the first four issues of Princeless contained in the Save Yourself trade.  Not to give too much away, but Princeless proceeds to turn many of the basic troupes of princess stories on their ear in a fun, brisk, all-ages romp through a distant kingdom that doesn't seem quite all that distant at times.  We meet a wide cast of characters and are set up on a "road trip" with twists and turns aplenty.



Two pages in and you will see why Princeless is a great read and nominated for an Eisner.  Four pages in and you will see why Princeless has already won three Glyph awards.  It is really that good.  Sharp, smart, funny and self-aware in a very good way.  The dialogue by Whitley is breezy and really lends itself to getting to know the characters by letting the characters "speak for themselves" and the art by Goodwin is expressive and fun.  You get a good idea of what the characters are feeling from their reactions and expressions.  These first four issues set up for a lot of good things to come in the series and it will be interesting where different characters end up.  This is Adrienne's story, but there is a lot to be told about several other people you meet in these first issues and I really hope that Whitley explores them.  In a short amount of time, Whitley and Goodwin set up Princess Adrienne to be a much stronger character than her only modern counterpart in The Princess and The Frog's Princess Tiana and they don't need bad musical numbers and talking anthropomorphic stereotypes to do it.  It's a testament to their skill and any and all praise they get from this series is more than earned.  Read it and share it with others.  They will thank you.

Tradio #42 - Batman: Year One

With another big Batman movie on the horizon, I thought is would be a good time to take a look at a slight trade that really has set the standard for all other Batman tales that have come after.  This week, we take a look at Batman: Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli and published by DC Comics.

It all starts with a homecoming.  Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham City after years abroad.  Training and preparing himself for what is to come.  He isn't quite ready, but he has a job to do and that is to take back Gotham from the thugs and pusher and pimps and mob bosses that has turned the city his family helped build into a cesspool of crime,  A city that took his parents from him so long ago in a dark, damp alley.  That is the set up to this retelling of the origin of Batman and introduces Bruce, Alfred, Gordan, Dent, and Kyle in a very real world and grounded way that gives these characters depth that makes them more than just figures on a page and shapes them into very relatible, flawed individuals.  We see how Bruce is able to learn and use his intellect and wits to fight the crime that the cops can't seem to deal with and we see how he got the idea to become "the bat".  Additionally, it is as much the story of Gordan as he first comes to Gotham and tried to clean up the cops that have turned a blind eye to crime for much too long

Christopher Nolan has read Batman: Year One...so should you.  The first two Nolan Batman movies owe so much to these four dense issues of comic masterpiece that I really hope that he has taken good care of both Miller and Mazzucchelli at premieres for those movies.  The writing is good Miller and the art is amazing by Mazzucchelli.  Like I said, the issues are very dense with information and action and the art is so fluid and kinetic that you can almost feel the punishment Bruce puts himself through.  Not over rote with splash pages, the art really sells the realism of the story and sets up a situation in which you can't put the book down until you see the prophetic last page.  As mentioned before, Nolan lifted so much directly from these four issues that I really have to wonder where his ideas for The Dark Night Rises has come from.  He did great with some amazing source material, but I have to wonder what happens when he "goes off the rails" with his final Batman movie.  But that is a discussion for another time.  Batman: Year One is Miller's writing at it's finest and pitch perfect art from Mazzucchelli.  Stop reading this and go read it for yourself.

Gratitude

If you are reading this, then I guess I had the balls to publish it.  It isn’t something I am going to make a big deal about or anything, it is just a lot more personal than I usually get in this type of forum and I tend to be rather reserved about these types of things.  Ever since I heard about the death of Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys, I have honestly been in a funk.  It is not that I had some deep connection to him personally or what he represented as a person, but more of what the music he helped create meant to me growing up and the person who introduced me to it. 

Back in grade school, we moved from close to town to way out in the country, which was basically like moving from a cave to a deserted island.  The biggest change for me was school.  I went from being around a very preppy group of kids (that I never really fit in with) to a very country group of kids and though I had always grew up on the farm, I could REALLY not relate to many of them at all.  From the get go, I was looked at as an outsider and I ended up moving more toward the fringe kids in the grade.  Falling in with the smokers and metal heads didn’t seem like a good fit for me (there was absolutely no one to talk Star Wars and Transformers with) but they were at least more accepting than the jocks and the red necks.  Somehow, one of those friends that I made was Keith Lake.  Keith was a good looking kid...well, kid was not really appropriate since he looked at least two years older than the rest of us and had been shaving since fifth grade.  Dark hair, big smile…laugh that was contagious and more than a bit of a trouble-maker.  We got seated next to each other in science class, which he had a lot of trouble with.  What started out as him wanting to look off my papers, to us working on a project together, and ultimately lunch room table friends; which in the day was a big deal.  Keith always had some epic story to tell and exuded confidence.  Even when he was answering a science question about what state most water could be found with a quick, “Kentucky!” he was in charge and owned everything he said and did.  We had an odd friendship that didn’t really seem to make sense, but it worked.  He looked out for me and I helped him with homework.  It wasn’t anything that we sat down and worked out, just some sort of unsaid thing between us that went from grade school and on into high school where even though we didn’t have classes together, we always sat together at lunch. 

In many ways, I idolized him really and there are still to this day certain things that immediately make me think about him.  Acid washed jeans, denim jackets, Mets hats, ADIDAS shoes, and the Beastie Boys are all things that remind me of Keith.  Nazis do too, but more on that in a bit.  Yeah, he introduced me to the Beastie Boys.  Before Keith, I had no clue who they were or what they sounded like.  Remember, I lived in the middle of nowhere and had no access to MTV.  If it didn’t play on the radio, I had no clue about it and if it weren’t classic rock or country, it was nowhere to be found on the radio dial.  I remember him giving me a homemade copy of his Licensed to Ill cassette tape and I was hooked.  I eventually wore it out, but I soaked up every song.  He was a walking advertisement for the Beastie Boys and I think in a lot of ways they gave him an identity that he could relate to.  He never fit in with anyone in particular at school either and even went by his middle name which was Keith.  Whenever he was pressed for what his first name was, he would always reply that it was, “Adam” though it was actually Lerman.  In hindsight, I am pretty sure it was from Adam Yauch, though I never actually ever asked him.  His other fascination was with Hitler and Nazis, which always perplexed me.  He wasn’t overly racist or anything, just had an odd respect for the power that Hitler had.  Once again, I think it was more to do with identity and setting himself apart from the crowd in his own (misguided) way.  Even with that, it is the Beastie Boys that stands out in my mind whenever I think about Keith. 

Over the years, I lost track of Keith, but never with the music had he introduced me to.  It is far too easy to get caught up our lives with college and family, but when the first high school reunion came around, he was the one person I wanted to see most.  He wasn’t there and it was several years before I got any clue of where he was.  He had gone straight to work after high school and delivered ice for a while.  He had a kid, but I am not sure if he ever got married.  He had trouble with drugs and had at least one failed attempt at suicide.  Keith, who had actually changed his name to Adam from what I understood, had had a lot of hard times thrown at him and I really wish I had gotten the chance to talk to him.  Just to let him know how much he meant to me growing up and how much he had expanded the world of music for me.  I will never have the chance. 

Keith died on November 13^th, 2008 in an automobile accident.  At the time, it exploded all over Facebook between friends and past classmates and I am sure that Keith would never have guessed what an impact he had on people.  He touched so many lives and I, for one, was introduced to so much because of him.  For a man who looked so long and hard for an identity, I doubt he would have believed that everyone would remember him for what he meant to them because he was “Keith” and not someone else.  In this same way, I think that the death of Adam Yauch has touched more lives than he would believe.  He was an inspiration to so many and never compromised himself.  The good that I can see coming from both of their passings is that Keith will finally get to meet Adam, who he idolized so much.  They will smile and laugh and talk about the good times and how people are silly for missing either of them.  Looking forward to Keith telling me about that meeting someday. 

The point to all this?  My funk.  Adam Yauch’s passing reminds me how important it is to let the people who mean the most to you, just how much you care.  We all thought Adam was getting better and that we would have plenty of time to let him know how we feel.  In the same way, I thought I would get to catch up with Keith someday to give him a hug and talk about how times we had.  We are only here on this Earth for a heartbeat and for some, even less than that.  Take the time to make every moment count and to let the people you care about know how much you care.  I may seem silly or cliché, but it matters…take it from me…it matters.

Tradio #41 - Crecy

This week, I wanted to take a look at a small press book that you have probably never heard of but really need to seek out and read.  It is called Crecy by Warren Ellis, with art by Raulo Caceres and published by Avatar Press.

War is hell...that goes without saying and Crecy is all about war.  Or at least one very pivotal battle in a greater war.  Considered by many to be one of the most important battles of the Hundred Years' War, the Battle of Crecy took place in France in August of 1346.  Though the French forces were more heavily armoured than the attacking Englishmen, the English held the high ground and rained death down on the slow moving Frenchmen with their powerful English longbows.  Though this may not seem like the most likely use of the comic book format to tell a story, it works so well with a black and white art style that is very detailed and reflects the woodcuts of the time.  We see in graphic detail how the English were able to dominate the French basically using only two fingers...the two needed to hold the arrow on the bow string.  It shows how modern tactics of warfare evolved at the time and how not always the bigger army is the victory when you use the land to your advantage.

Crecy is truly a great work of graphic novelization.  Informative, historically accurate, and brutal, the life of an English archer during this time in history was not an easy one, but their skill was undeniable.  Written in the course language of the Longbowman, we get a front row seat to one of the first truly modern battles.  Ellis does a great job with the material that is a history lesson you don't mind reading about and the art by Caceres is perfect for the subject matter and is both detailed and graphic.  Though it may be hard to track down, Crecy is certainly worth the search, especially for anyone with a love for all things British.

Avenging My Hopes - The (Short/Spoiler-free) Avenger's Movie Review

I have to admit it.  I was a little worried.  Marvel has been doing a great job with the lead up to The Avengers with almost all of the related movies that have come before being good.  Often, really good.  Iron Man was great, The Incredible Hulk was pretty good, Iron Man 2 was better than the sum of it's parts, and then Thor and Captain America were really awesome last summer.  The ground work had been laid and with so many of the principle characters coming back for the big team-up movie with an incredible director, it honestly made me nervous.  Sometimes too much of a good thing doesn't work out the way you want it to.  But, they showed me that my apprehension was not warranted.  What they gave us all was something incredible.  Joss Whedon has never done as well with his work as he should.  He is an amazing creator, but so much of it has flown under the mainstream radar, that I have always been worried that he would never get to put his stamp on something big that would garner him tons of money and notoriety.  I think he has achieved it here.  His ability to get such great performances out of so many good actors is only going get him bigger and bigger offers in the future.  His fingerprints are all over the dialogue and his ability to put so much character within what each person says really brings out the human-ness (or godly-ness) of each person on screen.  It reminded me of the best parts of Buffy or Firefly in that way.  The actors themselves did wonderful with not really a bad performance to speak of, though Banner was a little off at times and Maria Hill was very stiff.  The action...well, the action was incredible.  I saw it in 3D and there were some breathtaking moments though I think that 2D will be amazing too.  The story is tight and easy enough to follow and though it is not overly complicated, it is a lot of fun with lots of nods to things we have seen before in the comics, but also bringing a unique tale to the screen.  In the end, it lead to a great movie and easily one of the best super hero movies ever made.  I want to see it again.  No...I have to see it again.  Oh and wait until all the credits are over for the one of the best scenes in the movie.  There is a within the credits coda, but I think only die hard Marvel Comics fans will really appreciate it.  Anyway, go see The Avengers.  You will be very glad you did.

Tradio #40 - Avengers: The Origin

Well, it looks like Marvel's next big movie is almost here and will tell the tale of how the Avengers (the movie Avengers anyway) got together to form a supergroup and fight evil on an epic scale.  In the spirit of this, this week we will be looking at a recent retelling of the original super-team's origin in the aptly named Avenger: The Origin, written by Joe Casey and drawn by Phil Noto; published Marvel Comics.

Frickin' Loki!  Always stirring up trouble and trying to cause people to fight each other so he can keep his hands from getting dirty.  Thor's half-brother is and always will be a douche and this comic shows that he has been that way from the beginning.  In this case, he manipulates the dim-witted Hulk in order to get the attention of Thor and lure him into bringing Loki back to Earth so that he can be free from his banishment.  A complicated premise that relies a lot on the predictability of how Thor would act, but what Loki can't predict is the other heroes he in turn brings together which end up leading to his eventual defeat and forming of the Avengers.  A classic tale retold through modern words and pictures.

Too bad, I don't feel like it works.  This five issue series tells a story that was told in one issue back in it's day and it suffers for it.  Too drawn out, too much filler, too much standing around talking and trying to explain things that would be better figured out by the reader.  It isn't that it is not well written, it just seems like it should have been told in one double sized special instead of a drawn out mini series.  The best thing that comes from all this is the art of Phil Noto.  It is beautiful.  No line is wasted in his work and it honestly fits the classic costumes that all the characters wear to harken back to the designs of Jack Kirby.  But in it's own way, this is a problem too.  The entire series is set in some sort of odd time that doesn't exist.  I get that it is a modern retelling where there is email, flat panel monitors, laptops, and modern cable TV, but then they are all in their very dated original costumes.  The Wasp would not be caught dead in that weird helmet today and I doubt that Iron Man would be wearing the grey soup can armor.  Oh and there are no cell phones...it just all doesn't add up and smacks of poor planning on the part of the book.  Anyway, it isn't a bad retelling as you head into the movie, but I think you could be better served picking up some reprints of the Stan and Jack original series.

Tradio #39 - Marvel 1602

Howdy Howdy!  How is everyone this week?  Well, this week we continue giving some love to Marvel and continuing on a theme from the past couple weeks where we look at back at a specific time in the Marvel universe.  This week, we review Marvel 1602 written by Neil Gaiman, with art by Andy Kubert and Richard Isanove and published by Marvel Comics.

Marvel superheroes?  In 1602 Europe?  What the crap is going on?!?! Those are totally acceptable questions for this collection of the eight issue mini series penned by a writer that holds a seat right next to Moore as changing what a comic book could be.  The story does take place in Europe at the beginning of the 17th century and we see Marvel characters that we know very well thrown into a world where they do not belong.  We get to see interesting new takes on the Fantastic Four, X-Men, and even Daredevil in a fairly historically accurate Elizabethan Europe.  Is this just a "what-if?" tale or is there something more going on?  Have these characters really been shifted back through time and what could that possibly mean for the future of the Marvel Universe?  To tell too much would spoil the surprises along the way, but needless to say, you are in for an epic adventure that stands convention on it's ear and shows just how versatile these characters can be. 

Yeah...it is really good.  This is honestly the first (but definitely not the last as you will see in the coming weeks) thing that I have ever read of Neil Gaiman's.  He does an amazing job.  The amount of research that went into this is great and it shows a deep fondness for these characters that you would not expect from the writer of Sandman.  Paired with amazing art by Andy Kubert and you really get a comic for the ages that takes you on a grand adventure that few creative teams could pull off to this degree.  Do yourself a favor and read this trade if you have any love for Marvel characters...it will take you places you have never, ever gone before with them.

Tradio #38 - Marvel 1985

Welcome back!  In the coming week, we will be continuing the Marvel love in the lead up to the big Avengers movie premier.  This week, we go back in time again in Marvel 1985, written by Mark Miller, illustrated by Tommy Lee Edwards, and published by Marvel Comics.

Marvel 1985 takes a look back to the glory days of superhero comics and what would happen if the Marvel Universe spilled over into the "real" world.  We get to follow an average kid, Toby Goodman, who is reading Secret Wars and dealing with his very real life of dealing with his family and getting picked on by the other kids at school.  His average life gets turned upside down when he thinks he sees the Red Skull and on further investigation gets chased by very real villains in his very real world.  Suddenly he and his family is thrust into a race for their lives as Toby tried to figure out why super heroes from his comic books have suddenly overrun his world the fate of his world is in jeopardy.

The book is a lot of fun.  Miller's story is fun and really hearkens back to a simpler time when we all wished that super heroes were real.  The art by Edwards is great for the materials and is naturalistic without being super-realistic.  If you read comics in the 80s, this will strike a cord with you and hopefully put a smile on your face...it did mine.