Logan #1

Writer: Brian K. Vaughan

Pencils: Eduardo Risso

When someone as cerebral and literary as Brian K. Vaughan dissects a comic icon like Wolverine, expectations are for the story and analysis to cut deeper than than the bad boy posturing and knife fights that make the character a de facto action hero. In Logan, Vaughan revisits Logan’s time in WWII as a Canadian POW in Japan. Like his work in Y: The Last Man, the author insulates all of his narratives with loads of dialog and factual snippets that immerse the character into a very real and detailed historical environment. In this case, Logan and fellow POW Warren reference everything from Kure Harbor to spy challenges to make their exchange as authentic as fictionally possible. The plot is classic Wolverine with plenty of disembowelments and a humanizing female counterpoint. The real draw of the book, though, is Eduardo Risso’s fluid line work. The art’s washed out coloring and shadowed nuance are absolutely engrossing.

While the pacing delicately straddles the balance between introspective mood piece and typical action romp, Vaughan and Risso are both masters of the form and I doubt any further acclaim would be necessary to pick up this book.

RASL #1

Writer/Artist: Jeff Smith

When I was ten years old growing up in Columbus, OH, I remember skipping church to visit my local comic shop, The Laughing Ogre, to get an autograph from Jeff Smith. If you haven’t read any of his interviews, I can personally say that Smith practically bleeds positive energy and is one of the most humble, likable people I have ever met. Then again, I was ten and probably high off of Dip’N'Stix. It wasn’t surprising to read through the Bone epic and find the optimistic humor and light-hearted characterization that was evident in its author. Smith’s new creation, RASL, takes a more kinetic approach to its story about a dimension-hopping art thief. The art and dialog flows perfectly through the panels, keeping a terse atmosphere that’s engaging from start to finish. It’s a change from the whimsy of Bone, but the imagination and mastery are just as evident as before.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 8th, 2008 at 4:48 pm and is filed under Comics, I'm too lazy to put a real category here. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be moderated but will appear as soon as humanly possible.