Daily Breakdowns 003.5 (Bonus) - Suicide Night Robots

I was checking past blogs and noticed a draft for what was pretty much a complete trio of reviews that I forgot to post, from October of 2008. It appears that I set it aside in order to review Dan Brereton's Nocturnals: Carnival of Beasts one-shot, and then never did. Sorry, Dan. I do remember it was a pretty nice book even if he only illustrated part of it.

The Night Of Your Life
Writing and Art by Jesse Reklaw
Published by Dark Horse Comics. $15.95 USD.

Jesse Reklaw has created his own particular comics niche in Slow Wave, wherein he distills the dreams of readers into a four panel comic strip in many alternative newsweeklies. It's a fun idea--surreal dream logic adapted into clear storytelling and a rigid comics grid for contrast. And this collection is enjoyable for a while, until it isn't. Reklaw favors reader dreams that mix the mundane with the fantastic or pop-cultural, such as a man using a new power to buy microwave hamburgers. In a weekly format, this probably works well amid the interviews and movie reviews and local color. One after another, it loses its luster quickly. Something I thought was a can't-miss idea--a window into other lives like PostSecret or FOUND Magazine, is instead a chore to finish.

Suicide Squad: From The Ashes TPB
Written by John Ostrander
Penciled by Javier Pina
Inked by Robin Riggs
Published by DC Comics. $19.99 USD.

Growing up reading Marvel Comics almost exclusively, it wasn't really until Marvel defectors John Byrne and Frank Miller ended up at DC in the second half of the '80s did I start reading those titles, and while never a big seller, the John Ostrander/Kim Yale-written Suicide Squad was a big favorite of mine. As dark as comics have gotten since, the concept of a costumed team where any of the members could die on a mission still seems pretty fresh, especially when dealing with less-popular characters whose resurrection is not preordained by the bottom line.

While I have kept a favorable opinion of Ostrander's writing over the years, I haven't read enough to remember just what makes it good. This eight issue miniseries reminded me: Ostrander's a damn good plotter. The story inevitably deals with the reforming of the Squad, some joining just to try to rescue their old leader Rick Flag, who turns out to be alive, but of course by the end there will be a need for the team to continue. Ostrander keeps the story surprising and with enough going on for a year's worth of most comics, and his characterization is also sharp, reminding us that in the right hands, Rick Flag, Bronze Tiger and Deadshot aren't just second-stringers, and that Amanda Waller is about the best female DC character of all time.

Robot Dreams
Writing and Art by Sara Varon
Published by FirstSecond Books. $16.95 USD.

There have been quite a few cute graphic novels about different creatures joining together in friendship, so this story of a dog and his robot and their friendship and separation needed to stand out. Due to the charming artwork and lovely pastel coloring--warm but with a touch of melancholy--it does. But the story, or stories, are what really matter here, and for about half the bookt Varon succeeds. You feel for the robot, suffering from the dog's callousness and ability to move on with new friendships, but oddly enough, Varon lets this narrative engine sputter and die for a series of cute but inconsequential stories of the dog and robot having separate lives. Perhaps Varon wants to tell us that life goes on, but as it seems to go on so easily for both characters after the initial difficulty, one is left feeling this friendship was rather superficial, and by extension the book is, too. A disappointment after a strong start to find the author letting it slip through her fingers.

Christopher Allen
October 27, 2008 / August 15, 2009

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