You guys know me. I don’t read comic books, ’cause, well, I’m one o’ those literary types. I waved good bye to Donald Duck and McScrooge years ago and I can’t honestly say that I’ve missed them much. Since then I’ve been feeding my comic needs with the funnies and the occasional webcomic and that’s been more than enough.

But that was before. I’ve finally rediscovered how much fun it can be to read graphic novels and I’ve been tearing through a bunch of ‘em in the last couple of days. The original plan was to review them individually, much like I do with books and films, but as the pile of read comics started growing, I realized just how much work that would entail on my part. So I changed my mind.

In stead of doing ‘em one by one, I’ll rather do big summaries of what I’ve been reading since the last “Comic Books Galore”. If I happen to read a really hefty piece of comics that warrants special attention, then I’ll do that, but aside from such exceptions you’re likely to find most of my comic goodness inside these entries. That’s about enough of the small talk: Let the illustrated fun commence!

Transmetropolitan: Vol. 1 - 2, “Back on the Street” & “Lust for Life” |Ellis & Robertson

This is a far-future SF comic about a infamous journalist that answers to the name of “Spider Jerusalem”. Five years ago he became a world-wide celebrity, but he grew tired of life in the City. The corruption, the freaks, the religious nuts - it was all too much for him. The Truth was day by day getting buried under more and more perverted shit, and that’s why he left to live in the mountains where there at least is some f*cking Silence to be found. But the past has finally caught up with Spider, and he’s forced to move back to the City, ’cause that’s the only place he’s ever been able to write. These two volumes tell the first tales of his return to civilization and just how f*cked up the future’s gonna be.

I really liked my first foray into comics. Ellis’ shocking stories are both funny and an interesting critique of our current society. Sure, sometimes he does drag it a bit too far, but overall this was just what I had hoped for when I decided to pick up comics again. Darick Robertson’s artwork was also of a very high quality and he did fine job of meshing the art and the story into a winning combination. The first volume, “Back on the Street”, limps along a little to begin with, but it does a nice job of setting things up for future issues.

All in all I thought this was a very good comic. It’s funny and twisted in all the right ways and I can’t wait to get my hands on the rest of volumes.

Preacher: Vol. 1, “Gone to Texas” |Ennis & Dillon

This classic comic by Garth Ennis centres around the well-known and much-discussed theme of Heaven & Hell. It turns out that God, the right ol’ bastard that he is, quit his day job after he was done creating, and no-one has seen him since. He left his angel in charge of keeping things in order, but even divine beings like themselves have f*ck it royally at some point in time… For example, one thing they really shouldn’t have done was to let the soul called “Genesis” escape from Heaven and take up residence in a Texan preacher. That was what you call a “real fuck-up”, ’cause now there’s a guy on Earth that has powers that equals those of the Grand Ol’ Man Himself, and he’s out find the almighty geezer and show him the Rightous Way.

Wow, how much did I ever enjoy this! It was a bit of a shift to switch between Transmetro to Preacher, but after I’d gotten over the initial road bumps, it was pure awesomeness from there on out. Dillon’s art wasn’t maybe as good Robertson’s was, but it was sure as hell as effective in portraying the story. I really liked this first volume, so Preacher is first on the list the next time I go comic shopping.

The Exterminators: Vol. 1-3, “Bug Brothers” & “Insurgency” & “Lies of Our Fathers” |Simon Oliver & Tony Moore

The blurb on the front of one of these volumes told me that, “If you’re not reading THE EXTERMINATORS, you’re committing a crime against humanity”. I didn’t want to be that guy, so I picked up the three first volumes of a series that I hadn’t heard a single squeal about. And I’m glad I did, ’cause this was good stuff. Maybe not as good as Transmetro or Preacher, but certainly worth the money I spent on it. The story is about this guy, Henry James, whose just gotten out of prison now works as an exterminator to satisfy his parole officer. But exterminating isn’t just ant spray and rat traps - it’s a war, and we’re not on the winning side.

The artwork in this series isn’t anything special, but it serves it purpose. However, the thing I liked the best about The Exterminators was the immediate sense of an overreaching story arc and that things weren’t panning out on random. This is a series that’s going places, and I’m definitely going to be along for the ride.

The Boys: Vol. 1, “The Name of the Game” | Ennis and Robertson

I’d heard some good things about this comic. Firstly, it’s written by Ennis and Robertson’s doing the art, so you know that there’s at least some quality here. Secondly, it’s about a CIA backed group of humans that’s taken on the job of controlling those pesky superheroes so they don’t f*ck up while they’re trying to save the world. That concept appealed to me, and overall I thought it panned out all right, though it didn’t really get going ’till the very end of the volume. I’d like to see how Ennis continues this journey, but for the moment I’m gonna down-prioritize it. It was fun, but the whole “superhero” side of comics can be a bit too much for me at times.

NextWAVE Agents of H.A.T.E: Vol. 1-2, “This is What They Want” & “I Kick Your Face” | Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen

Heh… I mentioned that I wasn’t especially fond of superhero comics, right? Well, NextWAVE is definitely a superhero comic, but it’s a spoof of one, which I actually thought I might enjoy. And I did enjoy it to some extent, ’cause watching someone make fun of their craft is usually entertaining, but Ellis’ didn’t so much subvert the clichés as he rather played up to them and took them a bit longer than what you usually see. This resulted in a non-stop action orgy that lasted throughout both volumes. So in short: Lots of action, lots of quips and sharp wit, but no real story beyond a very shallow entertainment factor.

And what’s up with cursing and Marvel? That REALLY bugged me. I seriously doubt I’ll pick more of their stuff if they constantly censure the dialogue with stupid emoticons and the like. Are all their comics like that, and is it the same with Dark Horse?

I certainly don’t hope so…