#art ops

Art Ops #3 - How to Start a Riot, Part Three: Screams (December 23, 2015)

100 Bullets - For some reason, I almost forgot about this one despite it being one of Vertigo’s biggest hits and having one of my favorite lines of dialogue in a comic book ever (“no, the Dog killed the Bastard,” It requires so much set up, but in context it’s a great too literal response to a figurative comment). But I don’t really like 100 Bullets. It’s probably the only comic that ever made me feel queasy while reading. There are a lot of things I admire about it, the scope, and the chance to see Eduardo Risso’s art mature. But it occasionally feels cruel for the sake of cruelty. I am reading Risso and Azzerello’s current series, Moonshine, but I don’t want to revisit 100 Bullets.

Air - I got the TPBs after G Willow Wilson successfully launched Kamala Khan as Ms Marvel. I liked the story with its mix of modern political anxieties and Aztec myths. The art is something of an acquired taste and I’d like to revisit it to discuss why.

American Vampire - Still my favorite of Scott Snyder’s writing. Great combo of variety of vampires and Americana. Kind of problematic but thrilling in the decision to make different countries have different breeds of vampires. The only series Vertigo started this decade that really had room for other creators. I am sad it hasn’t had a new issue or more follow ups on the multi creator anthologies. Hope it relaunches under the Black Label soon.

Art Ops - At first I was kind of frustrated by the concept. Art is “real” and “alive”? What does that mean? It’s broad enough to cover having the figure in the “Mona Lisa” and the lead character have a prosthetic arm made of living paint. But eventually I was mostly won over by the charm in the belief that people who don’t like art are villainous. Also, at one point they had a couple of issues drawn by Eduardo Risso and colored by Laura Allred and the results are unsettling.

Bodies - I mentioned this earlier, but it’s mostly great, only it has an ending that really leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Four detectives in four different times, each drawn by a different artist, investigate the murder of an unknown person. So far, great. Each of the detectives is from a persecuted group of its era. Three out of four find transcendence, the fourth is damned. I can understand this from a dramatic standpoint, but damning a member of an already persecuted group in this highly allegorical story feels like damning the whole of that group.

Clean Room - Gail Simone’s horror-comedy comic about cults and the connection to the other realm. A take on cults that focuses more on the community than the criminality aspects and still manages to be freaky. I have to reread it sometime.

Coffin Hill - This one also is demanding a reread partially because I found it confusing the first time. There are a lot of flashbacks and the second arc opens by revealing that an important event in the first issue was missing a lot of context. It is kind of thrilling even as it frustrates. I started reading Caitlin Kittredge’s novels afterwards and came to the conclusion that she understood how to write for that medium better. (though based on her more recent series, Throwaways, she’s gotten better at writing for comics.) But I’m also really enjoying her Image Comics series, Throwaways. Inaki Miranda’s Art is pleasant to look at, but the first issue was memorably difficult to read. I had little idea what he was doing with layout. It frequently felt like he was pushing the action to the edges of the panels. Also the gutters are black, which is unnerving. The book did lead to my favorite ever interaction with an artist at NYCC. I went up to cover artist Dave Johnson and asked him about how, as he does the covers but not the interiors, did he create continuity with Miranda’s character designs. He got frustrated and said no, pointed at the cover to issue #2 , where the lead character is nude showing off her tattoos. If he had earlier sketches he wouldn’t have gotten the tattoos wrong, something that was still bothering him.

Daytripper - this is beautiful and there’s a reason everyone loves it.

Effigy - short lived intriguing mystery about a child star turned detective returning to her pre-fame home and a mystery involving the cultish fans of the tv show that made her famous. As I said elsewhere, I really like Marley Zarconne’s art, and I have a soft spot for Tim Seeley as a writer. I hope this gets relaunched under a different publisher soon.

Enigma - I got this when it was reprinted.  I liked it, but I don’t remember the plot a lot. For some reason contrary to his reputation, most of the Peter Milligan comics I’ve read  leave me feeling uplifted.

Art Ops #8 (2016)