Rank up to six of the week’s #1’s, then compare the two in the top and bottom position. We call it Love It Hate It for the weeks of Oct 11 and Oct 18, 2017.
As promised, I’m still running behind, so I’ve combined another two weeks of Love It Hate It. Here’s hoping that the first of the year will see a bit of slack in my schedule (only one planned travel week) and that there will be enough #1 issues to support a once a week review.
For the weeks of Oct 11th & 18th, there wasn’t a lot that interested me, so I’m thinking for the future I might start looking at things I typically wouldn’t pick up. To be honest, that’s the best way to find gems in the massive rubble that often makes up #1 comics. For now, let’s see what the past two weeks had to offer.
I’m not really sure how I managed to overlook this book when it came out, but I’m glad my friend Ashlie at the comic book store made sure she put it in my hands, literally. There is much to appreciate and like about this comic.
Writer James Tynion IV is quickly becoming one of my favorites. I know his work from the re-release of Detective Comics last year when he brought Batwoman back into a serious comic. And he did it well. Tynion IV knows how to include queer characters into comics without that diversity being all about the queer characters.
It’s true that many comic book fans want more diversity, but then publishers get it in their heads that the book itself needs to be all about that diversity, and that’s just not right. Those books, as we’ve seen time and time again, just won’t sale. The story needs to come first, and yes, the diverse characters have to be considered when creating that story, but that’s where it should end.
Here, Tynion IV creates a queer comic about ending diversity once and for all. His main character, Doctor Cyrus Crane, who is a geneticist and just happens to be gay and married, makes the ultimate sacrifice to see his dream come true. It seems somewhat ironic that a diverse character with a marginalized identity wishes to end diversity once and for all. This story is a must read.
As I’ve mentioned before, and I’m sure I’ll mention again, art and the words to talk about art often elude me. I can talk about color and layout and panels, and etc., but I often feel there are terms I should know that I just don’t. Suffice it to say that the art by Eric Donovan (Illustrator) and Dee Cunniffe (Colorist) is quite amazing. Don’t take my word for it though. Here is a sample from a two page spread.
My photo clearly does not do the image justice. This is why you should check this one out for yourself. The panel layouts go beyond the typical reading of left to right with nice clean borders, and the use of black for borders fits perfectly with the overall feel of the comic. I really do love this comic.
I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book. Quite frankly, it’s a bit hard to put it in the “hate” category. However, of the eight books I read for this review, it definitely was my least favorite.
When I dislike a book, it almost always boils down to the story being told. That’s the case with this book as well. Peter Milligan’s (W) story just doesn’t have enough to hook me for this one. We have a kid, who ends up having a new kind of lobotomy in hopes of curing his insanity. He then turns to helping others by performing lobotomies in his hotel and eating the removed parts of his patients/victims brains. The results are not always what he’d hoped.
The problem is that I don’t get it. I don’t know why he does it, I don’t know why he eats the sections of brain he removes, I don’t know if it gives him some sort of power, I just don’t know!!! And for me, not knowing usually means I’m done with the book.
It’s a book I won’t pick up again, and for that reason, it moves into the Hate category for this review.