Today we’ll be looking at a rather recent Yuletide comic book – Doctor Who #12, Volume 2 published by IDW. Written by Tony Lee with art chores by Paul Grist, colors by Phil Elliot.
This is one of the rare comics in the Christmas Comics Cavalcade that I paid full price for upon its release!
Before I started using my job in my comics, I did a bog standard journal comic. Relationship woes, comics about my cat, lots of navel-gazing… if you’ve ever read one of the hundreds of journal comics out there, you know what I’m talking about. Occasionally I would get bored and do “Missed Connection Comics” based on the Craigslist postings wherein hopeful folks will post brief messages about people they barely met, in the hopes of running into them again.
If you enjoyed those comics, you will love the paintings of Sophie Blackall.
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Last week, I wrote a fairly drippy obituary for my ability to enjoy television ironically, specifically the CW reality series America’s Next Top Model. I was being a tad maudlin when I wrote what I did, but I was also being honest. It bummed me out to find I no longer could experience ANTM in the same way I did years earlier.
I thought I’d never be able to crack wise at a silly television ever again… but thankfully, The CW came to my rescue with their new soapy drama Hart of Dixie.
Rachel Bilson is woefully miscast as a heart doctor forced by contrived circumstances to move from the hustle and bustle of New York City to the laid-back hills of Alabama. There’s a bitchy cotillion. There’s an alligator named Burt Reynolds. The first episode show made me laugh more than any situation comedy I’ve seen all year… and I don’t think it was supposed to be funny. The second episode (yes, I stuck around!) was a nice improvement on the ridiculousness… but still.
Thank you, CW. Thank you for disproving my sad thesis. I’ll be able to laugh at and not with Hart of Dixie for as long as its’ on the airwaves.
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I went to the comic store for the first time in about a month. Skipping September means I missed out on all the craziness of the DC Comics’ relaunch… but I’m more or less fine with that. The books I’m reading are not DC’s quick sell-out issues. I’m on the hook for Grant Morrison’s run on Action Comics and Scott Snyder’s Batman book. Besides that, I could be up for Swamp Thing and All-Star Western, if I could find a copy of the books… but alas and alack, they were nowhere to be had.
I wanted to quickly mention a book I picked up as a nostalgia read, but ended up enjoying quite a bit- IDW’s new ongoing Ghostbusters.
I don’t know if it is possible to recreate the tone of Ghostbusters in a comic. The movie so expertly blended horror and comedy with the very specific personalities and quirks of the actors who played the main characters. The handful of Ghostbuster comics I have read have been altogether too hung up on plot with an abundance of awkward likenesses of the main characters.
To be frank, no one’s going to accurately capture Bill Murray in 22 comic pages.
That being said, I believe IDW made a smart move in hiring Dan Schoening on art duties for this book. Schoening eschews photo-realism for a more cartoony style and the choice is a smart one. His slick designs of the four Ghostbusters put one in mind of an animated series take on the characters and those drawings really bring the fun into the book.
It’s a bit soon to tell about Erik Burnham’s story, although the writer is laying some groundwork here for the future which I can appreciate. I did love the first scene in the book, an extended dream sequence with Ray Stantz. Burnham does something quite interesting with this scene, using it as a recap page as well as teeing off the rest of the book. He also creates a really nice homage to John Belushi in these pages that needs to be read to truly appreciate.
In short, IDW and this creative team has me on the hook for the first arc of Ghostbusters. I was already a fan of the property, which makes me an easy get… but I feel that this book has the potential to be something really terrific for fans and casual readers alike.
Teachable Moments 