Panel Discussion: Scans from Beasts of Burden, Thunderbolts, Spider-Woman, and More

Cute Overload - Beasts of Burden #2
This book is actually dark and sad and terrifying, but come on, CUTE DOGGIES! The really remarkable aspect of this sequence, in which neighborhood dogs bug our animal heroes with a bunch of frivolous cases, is how Jill Thompson's dog drawings perfectly evoke the personalities Evan Dorkin has written for them in just one panel. We've got the thuggish bull terrier, the dopey briard, the gossipy Pomeranians, and the paranoid Chihuahuas. Anthropomorphizing animals never seemed so true to life.

Pretty girls, crazy supervillians, and cop abuse, after the jump...


Excessive Force - Azrael #1



Gotham is just a mess since Batman died. Robin is slicing faces off with a hacksaw, and Azrael is beating the living crap out of a room full of cops! This isn't even the old crazy Azrael, it's some new perfectly sane guy who just happens to be down with kicking cops in the nuts and punching their noses into their brains.
This scene makes it all better.


Fun with Montage - Power Girl #6
Why are trips to Ikea always fun? Actually sometimes they're horrible and boring, but I've definitely had trips much like the ones experienced here by Power Girl and her galpal whatshername. Amanda Connor continues to turn out the most lighthearted yet densely communicative art on the stands today. I love all the Swedized words - it took me a while to get "tasty rolls" from "tejsti rohls". What is the name of the store, "Aidja", supposed to be?


Best Visual Metaphor - Thunderbolts 137
This panel completely sums up Norman Osbourne's role in Dark Reign. Sitting on his Green Goblin glider (why not?), setting up dominoes, boozing it up. He's completely given up any pretense of pretending to be sane around his underlings. It's kind of classy, somehow.

Photo Reference Done Right - Spider-Woman #2
I don't understand why some comic fans get upset about photo referencing. The model in this case, Jolynn Carpenter, is actually credited at the head of the book along with the writer and artist. I've never seen this done before, but it's a good idea. If you're going to have someone "playing" a comic character, they should get a credit. These panels are beautiful, thanks both to Carpenter being really gorgeous and to artist Alex Maleev's beautiful colors and shadow effects. There's also some very subtle compositional touches that link the panels together - check out how the outline of her shoulder in the top panels becomes the edge of a shadow in the second panel.

Panel Discussion: Scans from Irredeamable #2, Atomic Robo Vol 3, Power Girl #1 and More

The Magic of Comics - Power Girl #1

I have very little interest in Power Girl or her boobs, but Amanda Conner's art in this issue makes it worth checking out. Not only is the character design and "acting" fantastic, every page is full of excellent and inventive compositions and transitions that really emphasize the sort of storytelling possibilities that separate comics from any other medium. Per example:
Panel 1: Robots approach, Power Girl rears back with a freakin Buick. Panel 2: Robot salad. Fantastic sense of scale and movement....it forces you to bend your mind around the physical (un)reality of actually possessing the ability to whip a car around like a big fly swatter. Superhero comics are meant on a very fundamental level to be awe-inspiring, but once your reader is past the age of 13, it's a hard trick to achieve. These panels did it for me.

Then there's this. No daring feats of strength here, just a freakin' hilarious representation of being assaulted by someone who can't shut up. Great acting all around.


Meta Patrol - Irredeemable #2
So here we find Irredemable's Clark Kent analog tell his Lois Lane analog that he's actually a Superman analog. In an intentional contradiction of genre expectations, instead of reacting with shocked wonder or teary confusion, "Lois" gets really really pissed off, and in subsequent pages runs out of the room and spills "Clark's" secret to everyone within earshot. Jeez, I know this is one of them there "gritty" comics, but what a bitch!

Downer of the Week - Final Crisis Aftermath: Run #1
God, when did the Human Flame become the worst person in the DC Universe? I thought he was just sort of a dumb schlub. But here, he brazenly robs the wife and little girl he abandoned long ago, and gets away in his wife's car, with his daughter's cherished bike still attached to the back! OH MY GOD! Fuck the Martian Manhunter, this is all the reason I need to hope Flame Guy dies in horrible pain at the end of this series.

Downer of the Week 2 - Atomic Robo #1, Vol 3
I'm not trying to bum everyone out this week, but here's another one-panel portrait of despair and sorrow. This writer got too deep into the world of supernatural aliens, and had to destroy all his work for the good of humanity. This grey little panel really captures something about the crushing weight of responsibility. I love that this is the very moment he lets go of the match, the exact moment that the decision is made, and can't be taken back. Comics are full of visual representations that are at once figurative AND literal, and this is a great example of how effective they can be.