Preacher

"Sky was the limit"

Cover Vol. 1

Story: Garth Ennis

Art: Steve Dillon

Volume 1: Gone to Texas (1996)

Volume 2: Until the End of the World (1997)

Volume 3: Proud Americans (1997)

Volume 4: Ancient History (1998)

Volume 5: Dixie Fried (1998)

Volume 6: War in the Sun (1999)

Volume 7: Salvation (1999)

Volume 8: All Hell's A-Coming (2000)

Volume 9: Alamo (2001)

Remember when you were a kid and someone ever asked "if you could choose a superpower, what would it be?". You thought being a wise ass when replying "the superpower of having all powers"! Alright, well, imagine that this actually happens to a random reverend in a small town in Texas... then you start to get an idea what Preacher is about.

Some series mark the comics industry and become classics, such is the case for Y: the Last Man, or The Walking Dead. It was the case for Preacher in the 90s, a rocking series published between 1996 and 2001, nowadays less of a blockbuster, but definitely a series that continues to shine, move readers and entertain them through nine 200-page volumes (pretty good job!!). Preacher is very western inspired, besides the fact that it mainly takes place in Texas, there are many references to the genre and to western movies - for example, the hero has the strange habit of asking a ghost of John Wayne what to do when he doubts. However, I don't really like westerns, I guess it's not my generation, yet I loved Preacher. Mmmmm how does that happen? What's it about this series that is so captivating? Preacher is provocative, fun, tabooless, and deals with topics anyone can relate to: beliefs, friendship, love and "doing the right thing".

Tokyo Days, Bangkok Nights

"Thailand: 1 - Japan: 0"

Stories: Jonathan Vankin

Art: Seth Fisher (Tokyo Days), Giuseppe Camuncoli & Shawn Martinbrough (Bangkok Nights)

Cover

As a kid I grew up watching Japanese cartoons on TV, from Saint Seyia to Dragonball. Japan has always been a little fascinating to me, and I hope I will go there one day. As an adult, I had the chance to spend some time in Thailand, involving a couple of epic nights out in Bangkok. So when I saw this book published by Vertigo, I thought it might be worth a shot reading a comic from an american writer on two mystic Asian cities, such as Tokyo and Bangkok. The book contains 2 separate stories, one called "Tokyo Days", the other "Bangkok Nights". I expected to have much more interest in the Tokyo story than in the Bangkok story, mostly because Tokyo sounds like a different world to me, and I was afraid that the Bangkok story would be full of clichets. Boy, I was surprised as I closed the book, things did not turn out as expected...


Here I'll write a quick review on Tokyo Days (TD) before touching upon Bangkok Nights (BN).

Morning Glories

"What's the Story?"

Cover volume 1

Story: Nick Spencer
Art: Joe Eisma
Covers: Rodin Esquejo (usually I don't mention covers, but here it is worth it)

Volume 1: For a better future (Mar 2011)
Volume 2: All will be free (Aug  2011)

Hey now! One day as I was walking through the shelves of the comics store, I bumped into this series. After asking what the story is about to the sales guys and doing some quick research on the internet, I decided to buy it. On the web, many reviews compare these books to the TV show Lost. As I quite enjoyed Lost - though did not follow it thoroughly- , I decided to buy volume one of Morning Glories and roll with it! That was my first mistake, my second mistake was to buy volume 2...So what went wrong?

Johnny Hiro

"Urban superhiro on the rise"

Volume 1 cover

Volume 1: Johnny Hiro {Half Asian, All Hero} (2009)

Story & Art: Fred Chao

Every time I look at this comic book on my shelf, it makes me smile. It makes me smile because I think of New York City, I think of Brooklyn, and I think that after all, me too I could find myself jumping from rooftop to rooftop in Manhattan, to finally  end my run by a rotating high-kick in the face of jet-lagged Godzilla, or more likely so, my neighbor from two floors upstairs. Johnny Hiro is a happy comic, not that it always has a happy ending, but it makes you feel happy, and here is why.

The Umbrella Academy

Volume 1 cover

"Graduated Cum Laude"

Volume 1: Apocalypse Suite (2007-2008)
Volume 2: Dallas (2008-2009)
Volume 3: Hotel Oblivion (???? ... soon hopefully)

Story: Gerard Way
Art: Gabriel Ba

When talking about the Umbrella Academy (UA), at some point the conversation always drifts towards the uniqueness of the talented comic writer, Gerard Way.  Why is that? Well, Gerard Way is the lead singer of the successful band My Chemical Romance and also, on the side, happens to be the writer of great comic books. Indeed he worked on the first volume of the UA while on tour with his band, and managed to produce one of the most entertaining and captivating comic book series.

Global Frequency

"Hit or Miss...or Miss"

Volume 1: Planet Ablaze ( Issues # 1-6, 2004)
Volume 2: Detonation Radio ( Issues # 7-12, 2004)

Story: Warren Ellis
Art: Various artists, though all issue covers are by Brian Wood.


The Story:

Volume 1 cover

The idea behind this series is brilliant. Imagine an independent agency that groups 1001 agents worldwide, each of them being an expert in his/her specific field, like for example nuclear physics, psychology, History, sports etc... That agency connects all best-in-class talents around the world to help countries, cities or governments, when a danger threatens innocent citizens, if not the entire planet. Every agent can be reached via a special cell phone that operates on a unique frequency, globally. That agency is called the Global Frequency.

Sounds awesome doesn't it? I love the idea of having tons of different people with different backgrounds, different cultures, all brought together in this sort of All-Star team of life. Such a team sounds invincible, it could kick the ass of the most bad ass sci-fi threats, like the most accomplished bionic man gone rogue. So when my friend told me about these books, I was all excited and had somehow high hopes for Planet Ablaze and Detonation Radio. However I had the same kind of feeling as when I eat in a restaurant, the experience is good, but I would not recommend it to friends before recommending other places first.  I felt that Global Frequency was good, yet still closer to a miss than a hit. So what is it that left me feeling that the books were OK yet not great?

Chew

"Foodies' Delight"

Volume 1: Taster's Choice              (Issues # 1-5, November 2009)
Volume 2: International Flavor        (Issues # 6-10, April 2010)
Volume 3: Just Desserts                 (Issues # 11-15, November 2010)
Volume 4: Flambe                           (Issues # 16-20, September 2011)
Volume 5: Major League Chew       (Issues # 21-25, April 2012)

Story: John Layman
Art: Rob Guillory

Volume 1 Cover

Volume 2 cover

Layman and Guillory introduce you to a very strange world. Very strange, yet very cool, intriguing and completely addictive. After an avian flu which killed 23 million Americans, the US government imposes a ban on chicken and every type of bird. The FDA (Food & Drug Administration) has become the most powerful agency in the world, and has a special unit to investigate poultry-related crimes. The search for good food and sought for taste is on everyone's mind. Some people have superpowers, yet are everything but superheroes. The chicken black market is worth more than the illegal drugs market. Welcome to the world of Chew.