What Do You Mean They're Not Superheroes?: Westerns

This is the first of what will probably be a series of articles all about the comics I read that don't feature a single spandex clad superhero in their pages, however instead of talking about individual comics I will first be talking about genres so buckle in for what will be a fun ride.


What is it about men who ride horses, carry six shooters, and wear 10 Gallon hats that fascinates me so? I don't know that I will ever know for certain. It all started when I was very, very young and I started waking up at around 5:30 in the morning to watch the old black and white Lone Ranger television show. There was some sort of instant connection for me and to this day I don't know where it came from. As I grew up I sort of lost my connection to the wild west. Sure I would watch the occasional movie here and there and some became fast favorites for one reason or another. Perhaps it is the ethical and moral ambiguity that the characters live in. Perhaps it is the same reason that I love noir. In essence the truly good westerns and the truly good noir stories are separated only by time and attire. But movies like Unforgiven, Once Upon A Time in the West, and television shows like Deadwood, The Lone Ranger developed in me an appreciation for the wild west. And it was only a matter of time and sufficient exposure that I became as big a fan of western comics.

To be honest I don't know what took me so long. I suppose that since a majority of comics that we are exposed to as an audience are super hero comics that it takes some of us longer to allow our focus to shift to stories that are other than those of capes, spandex, and cowls. But it also has to do with the cyclical being that is the comics market. It has only really been in the last 5 or so years that there has been a consistent readership for westerns. But if you are willing to venture outside your comfort zone and read books that are spandex free then you are in for a treat.

From the immensely dense to the instantly accessable westerns run the same gamut as normal comics. With tales of the weird wild west like Wildstorm's (and later IDW's) Desperadoes by Jeff Marrioette and a slew of really great artists, The Big Book of The Weird Wild West, Zuda Comics' High Moon, Doug Tenapel's Iron West, as well as others striking that chord in all of us that yearns to see Zombies, Werewolves, Robots and what ever else you could imagine to the familiar setting of the American West. The Dark Western tales like Brian Azzarello's Loveless and El Diablo from DC's Vertigo line as well as DC's wonderful anti-hero, penned by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, Jonah Hex bring the wonderful ethical ambiguity that is so familiar to Noir and is more akin to the spaghetti westerns of film. And of course the more traditional westerns like The Lone Ranger and Bat Lash that continue the genre that most everyone is already so familiar with.

Westerns are fast becoming a go to genre for the great creators in the world of comics and I think that if you are looking for something great to read that you aren't already reading that perhaps a western is in your future, and if it isn't it probably should be.

What Do You Mean They're Not Superheroes?: Belief in The Atheist

You know how sometimes you pick up a book thinking it will be one thing and it winds up being another? Or perhaps more appropriately have you ever bought a book for what seemed like the wrong reason only to be pleasantly surprised?

I'm a writer kind of guy when it comes to comics. Some people develop an interest in an artist and follow him from book to book no matter the character or characters he is drawing and no matter which company he is working for. Others will find a character that they connect with and they will read the titles that the character is featured in. Me, I follow writers, I follow them to characters I am unfamiliar with, I follow them through genres that typically don't strike my fancy, I even follow them outside comics to their ambitious novels, eager television scripts, ardent screenplays, even to their humble blogs. When I find a writer I like I rabidly consume everything that they have penned, like any good fan.

I first experienced Phil Hester's writing work on The Coffin, one of the first comics I bought once I got to college. I have a very distinct memory of coming back to the room I was staying in (not my dorm room, long story) with a stack of comics that I had never heard of ... It was really a thrill. The Coffin was a really good mini-series that had all the elements of a really good horror story and it was probably the first horror comic I had ever read. It would probably not be until buying the first issue of Kevin Smith's Green Arrow that I even knew he was an artist. Once I knew that he was perhaps better known for his art it actually made me appreciate even more the craft and dedication I had discovered in his writing. I wound up finding all these hidden gems like The Wretch, Deep Sleeper, Thirteen Steps, The Stronghold and, the focus of this article (though it got a bit wander-y there in the beginning): The Atheist.

The first issue of this 4 issue mini-series came out in April of 2005 and unfortunately due to the delays of paid work and the frustrations of changing publishers the final issue only came out in December of last year. This book, however, was worth every moment of the wait. Now available in Trade Paperback (and with a second mini-series currently being worked upon) I cannot do one iota less than to give my fullest and greatest recommendation. This is a mini-series that challenges the preconceptions of it's readers and forces the audience to ask the question, "Is that which will eliminate our fears more frightening than that which we are afraid of in the first place?".

What this series is about is, in it's broadest terms, possession. Now as scary as any monster from any horror story, as frightening as any serial killer imaginary or real might be, as deeply disturbing as any cult bent on creating planetary chaos is, there is nothing more frightening to me than the thought of something outside of myself taking over the function of my body or the bodies of those around me is perhaps the most chilling concept in all of fiction. What appears to be happening in the story is that the young of North America are suddenly running away, which on it's own is not so odd, to Winnipeg. They are participating in huge parties that defy reason. What is more curious is that many are dying, some by overdose, some by suicide, and some by sheer exhaustion. What is truly frightening though is that all the runaways are exhibiting similar "symptoms", sluggish movement, a 101 degree temperature, and their personalities have been replaced by those of people long dead.

At the center of this story are two characters, Antoine Sharpe, and Melissa Nguyen. Sharpe is know, by some of the very few who know him, as The Atheist. He is a man who is purely and completely logical. He either knows something, or he doesn't know something, and that is all. He believes in nothing that he cannot know, that logic cannot explain. And while the title, The Atheist, may have caused some controversy but it aptly describes the central character. Miss Nguyen is along for the ride as she is a member of CSIS and is interested in seeing the best outcome for her city.

The book is smart, scary, incredibly well written and deserving of all the acclaim it is bound to receive. John McRea turns out some of the best work of his career and Will Volley puts a fantastic look on the final issue. So don't just believe my opinion, go out buy it, and find out ... Know for sure.

Words & Stuff: Why The Last Man? Part 1

I am dead. If you are male... you are dead too unless your name is Yorick Brown and own a pet monkey named Ampersand (&) and I'm going to guess thats not a lot of you. Brian K. Vaughn (Ex-Machina, The Escapists) joins forces with Pia Guerra to form this post-apocalyptic tale with a very female agenda. Y: The Last Man is the story of Yorick Brown, a young escape artist who in some way or another survives a mysterious plague, which kills all mammals with a Y-Chromosome. So the gender-ratio skyrockets to 3.3 billion to 1.... lucky bastard. Or is he? Yorick Brown and his sidekick Ampersand meet opposition at every turn and often find their lives at stake. The last issue of this epic was released on January 30th, 2008. Upon seeing this final issue, I challenged myself to read the whole series. I finished 6 trade paperbacks in 3 days. This story is easily a Vertigo classic and resides among the other epics such as Preacher, Transmetropolitan, and Fables. I am in the middle of my journey through Y and encourage you to join me. I won't spoil anything yet but lets just say monkey shit will never be the same. And as LeVar Burton would say don't take my word for it. Y: The Last Man received comic of the year (2003) from Wizard Magazine and The Washington Post described it as, "Funny and scary... an utterly believable critique of society. A+." With such glowing reviews one can not resist to read this man's journey through the sea of estergin. This comic brings it all, action, romance, comedy, and drama and keeps you on the edge of your seat at the turn of every page.

What Do You Mean They're Not Superheroes?: 12 Bullets Left

In about a year the final bullet will have been fired. The conclusion to the decade long series 100 Bullets will finally be told. And while some people may have fallen to the wayside and there may be those who wish to detract from it's greatness, there are still those who anxiously await each and every issue (like myself). Many have said that the book reads better in trade and while I may not agree I am of the opinion that no matter how you consume the series the important thing is that you do consume it. That you do fiend for it's gritty shadowed streets and it's chilled hardened hearts, that you hunger for each clouded consciences and every veiled intention. But there have been those who have fallen to the wayside and wish to be detractors and often they say that the book "has no answers" and that the series is "too confusing" and to them I say to rush back to your spoon fed fiction that holds your hand all along the way and leave me with my dense, intricate, masterpiece. Those who have abandoned the series are, in my mind, those who would quit reading a mystery novel before the final page has been turned because they didn't have "all the answers". If the kind of experience you are looking for in a comic book is the cut and dry of most (not all) comics where the good guys and bad guys are clearly defined and each and every conflict is tied up with a little multi-colored very politically correct bow that is impossible to consider offensive to even the most jaded of readers then continue along your merry way and never open the pages of this series. However, if what you are looking for is the kind of gritty noir tale most often relegated to the likes of James Ellroy novels then welcome home. If you are looking for a series that has the kind of dialog that flows like the smoky poetry of the streets then welcome home. If you are looking for the kind of series where the art can turn on a dime from breathtakingly beautiful to terrifyingly violent then welcome home. If you are looking for a series that will challenge the very notion of what you know is true and good about comics, art, fiction, storytelling, and life itself then welcome home. What Brian Azzarello has done is create a world inhabited by people who seems as full of features and flaws as any real person you have ever met. And in his pairing with Eduardo Risso he has found someone who can create both the sublimely beautiful and the humbly human ... A true artist. This is a series that demands the attention of it's reader and rewards re-readings.