Daily Breakdowns 002 - Womb 'N Torch

You know, I've been largely outside of the regular New Comics Day/Newsarama/Blogosphere world for at least a couple years now, reading reviews here and there but avoiding most of the fluff and ordering mainly trades and graphic novels from online retailers. And for the most part, I want to continue getting most of my comics that way. But I guess I'm an addict like any other, and so with the intention of only checking out Wednesday Comics, I entered my semi-local (not far from a 45 minute commute) comic shop and picked up the fourth issue, now two weeks ago. I subsequently switched to a much better shop and now am caught up on all of Wednesday, some stuff for my kids, The Comics Journal, and some new stuff. Heck, I even picked up a new floppy, although it's something I would almost certainly have purchased when it's collected, anyway. I guess I'm back.

I'll get into Wednesday Comics soon. But let's first look at the comic from a team I do know and have followed on the Captain America collections.

The Marvels Project #1 (of 8)
Written by Ed Brubaker.
Art by Steve Epting.
Coloring by Dave Stewart
Published by Marvel Comics. $3.99 USD

Brubaker's remit here seems to be something suitably grand to celebrate Marvel Comics' 70th Anniversary, something epic and episodic and somewhat adult without resorting to a lot of hero death, sodomy, rape, incest and whatever else Marvel and DC seem to like in their big event books. If the title makes you think of the Kurt Busiek/Alex Ross Marvels book from the the early '90s, that's probably not an accident. This is intended along those lines, a serious, self-contained exploration of the origins of the Marvel Universe. Mix that in with The Manhattan Project, but with FDR approving a secret mission to create superpowered soldiers rather than atomic bombs. Brubaker is a good choice for this, as he's something of a history buff and has covered WWII before in Captain America, plus he's able to depict a character like FDR with a secret agenda the public knows nothing of, without making him an over-the-top caricature. He's also a good plotter, so we start off with nicely dropped hints for old Marvel fans about the identity of a dying old man, hints about the doctor caring for him and his heroic destiny, and a bit of intrigue with a panel of recognizable but slightly different Marvel heroes of the future. We also get credible motivation for Namor the Sub-Mariner's eventual decision to focus his hatred of humanity specifically on the Third Reich, Professor Horton's fatherly feelings for the childlike android the Human Torch, and the beginnings of Nick Fury's fabled career. There aren't a lot of thrills to this opening chapter, but aside from a somewhat lazy way to get Tom Holloway into the action (four thugs see the Stewart-colored inferno of their city, the blaze inches away, and decide it's the right time to rob or rape a woman), it's a pretty strong beginning. Epting does his usual good work here--some excellent establishing shots and effective, non-flashy storytelling, though it seems he gets paid by the cheekbone. I was looking for a self-contained book I could look forward to each month, and I think I chose well.

Frankenstein's Womb
Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Marek Olecksicki
Published by Avatar Press. $6.99 USD

This format, about 48 pages, cardstock cover, has historically been known as a "one-shot," but this one is labeled a "graphic novella," and perhaps to emphasize the novella-istic part of it, the artist isn't named on the outside, and it's given a painted cover by a different artist that has little to do with the story itself. Well, prose novellas have never gotten much respect, but good luck trying to make the "graphic novella" stick, I guess.

Whatever you want to call it, this is a smallish story, and there's not much plot, but the idea is intriguing. On a carriage ride to visit the castle of Lord Byron, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, her beloved Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Mary's stepsister Claire (pregnant with Byron's child), stop off at Castle Frankenstein. Mary is the only one interested in seeing the inside, where she meets the inspiration for her famous novel. The unnamed creature takes her on a tour through time, to her birth and his rebirth, and into the future, while drawing several parallels between their lives. Olecksicki's work is fantastic, creepy and Gothic and with great skill at casting shadows correctly and to maximum ominous effect. This isn't a knock on Ellis' script, but it's almost a shame Olecksicki is given a story with so much talking and almost no action, because he really will shine on the next horror book he's given.

I found myself regarding Ellis somewhat tenderly and protectively here. This is not his typical stuff; it's not giving the people what they want. This one seems strictly for his own pleasure. I don't mean amusement, as there are certainly plenty of books where it's clear Ellis is having fun. What I mean is that it really feels like he holds Mary Shelley in high regard as an original thinker, and he takes pains to cite examples of how her imagination led to real inventions of the modern era, and he makes liberal use of her writings as evidence of her great intellect. Indeed, in the book she's fearless in facing what to most would be a series of hellish visions. Getting back to my tender/protective comment, the opening scene in the book, with Percy trying to shock Claire and Mary with his potty mouth and more Byronesque lewdness and cruelty, feels very self-conscious, as if Ellis is for this moment trying to draw readers in with the more typical Ellis style, so that they will be more kindly to the rest of the book, which feels more personal, a sweet but gruesome love letter to Mary. I bet a lot of Ellis fans will let this one fly under the radar (Ellis has done zombies already, who cares about Frankenstein?), and yet I would bet this one means a little more to him than a lot of what he's done for Avatar.

Christopher Allen, Aug. 12th, 2009

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