My fellow commuters are into escapism these days. Nearly every book I’ve spotted on the DART trains lately was genre fiction, usually one in a series of thrillers, murder mysteries, or sword-and-sorcery epics.
Dan Koller
Dan Koller is the managing editor of D Magazine's three weekly newspapers: Park Cities People, Preston Hollow People, and Oak Cliff People. He was one of the founding editors of Quick, where he wrote a weekly column about comic books for three years. His keeps his comics displayed on an old-school spinning rack in his home office, where his sons have easy access to them.
Articles by Dan Koller
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It’s hard to be a fan of Garth Ennis. You want to recommend his work to people, but you run the risk of offending them. Ennis is best known for Preacher, an acclaimed ’90s series about an East Texas minister searching — literally — for God. The comic is as profane as it is profound. For every heartfelt dialogue on the true meaning of friendship, there’s a close-up on a castrated man’s crotch as he sits on a toilet, or something equally shocking.
Ennis’ latest series is Jennifer Blood, the third issue of which went on sale yesterday. The title character is a stay-at-home mom by day and a vigilante by night. As the husband of a stay-at-home mom, I’m aware of what a ridiculous concept this is. But so is Ennis. He heightens the absurdity by framing the story through Jennifer’s diary entries. For example: “I just don’t trust little bullets — 5.56 is nice and light, and you can carry lots and lots of it, but you just can’t smash the life out of people the way you can with 7.62.”
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Fear Itself #1 (of 7): Writer Matt Fraction and artist Stuart Immonen bring you the latest blockbuster miniseries that will CHANGE THE MARVEL UNIVERSE FOREVER! Yeah, just like Civil War, World War Hulk, Secret Invasion, and The Siege have all changed the Marvel Universe forever … all since 2006. [Yawn]
Superstar: As Seen on TV: I’m more interested in this collection of a series drawn by Immonen and written by Kurt Busiek. It’s about a media-savvy superhero whose power is dependent on his popularity.
Herc #1: The only character that Hillcrest High School graduate Greg Pak has written more than the Hulk over the past few years is Hercules. Yesterday, Pak made the following appeal via Twitter: “Hey, let’s play this crazy prank … Tomorrow, everyone go to the comic shop and buy “Herc” #1! It’ll be CRAZY! WHO’S WITH ME?”
The Complete Johnny Comet: This softcover collection of Frank Frazetta’s classic newspaper strip would make a fine addition to any fanboy’s bookshelf.
Die Hard: Year One Vol. 2: My favorite thing about this is the cover art featuring Bruce Willis with a full head of hair.
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It’s hard to ride a DART train these days without invading the personal space of your fellow commuters. Although most people fiddle with their phones, a good number still read books. This is the inaugural edition of a new series of posts on FrontRow we’re calling “Riding and Reading.” Here’s what the people around me were reading this week:
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Fantastic Four #587: As you may have heard, a member of the Fantastic Four dies in this issue. But the clock is already ticking on that character’s resurrection. The truth is, each member of the Fantastic Four will outlive you and me and anyone else reading this. Superman, Captain America, Batman, the Flash, and the Green Lantern have all had their own overhyped death scenes,yet all of them are alive and well, starring in several comics each month.
Cowboy Ninja Viking Vol. 2: Based on positive word-of-mouth, I picked up the first paperback collection of this series about schizophrenic secret agents. My favorite part was discovering all of the other “triplet” combinations. For example, the titular cowboy-ninja-viking’s biggest rival is a conquistador-pirate-oceanographer, and his wife is a sniper-chef-samurai.
Infestation #1: Only in comics could you have a story that involves the Optimus Prime, Snake Eyes, Mr. Spock, and Dr. Peter Venkman. Oh, and did I mention there are zombies?
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Steampunk Palin: In a not-too-distant future, Sarah Palin saves the world with a lot of hot air.
The Boys #50: Garth Ennis’ shocking satire of superheroes reaches a milestone issue. If you’re easily offended, do not read this one or any of the previous 49.
Memoir #1: This series has an intriguing premise: Everybody in a small town wakes up one day with no memories of where or who they are … except one man. Dun-DUN-dun.
Jurassic Park: The Devils in the Desert #1: Normally, a Jurassic Park comic would not attract my attention. But John Byrne got his hooks in me a long time ago.
Starman Omnibus Vol. 6: This is the final installment in a series of hardcover reproductions of one of my favorite ’90s series.
Wolverine and Jubilee #1: Speaking of ’90s nostalgia …
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Spawn #200: Before he started manufacturing action figures and buying historic baseballs, Todd McFarlane was one of seven artists who left Marvel to form a company where they could own the characters they drew. That company was Image Comics, and McFarlane’s contribution was Spawn. Nearly 20 years later, McFarlane has become a businessman who pays other writers and artists to craft the monthly adventures of his creation. In fact, it’s trumpeted as “an event” when McFarlane draws a comic these days. Ironic, huh?
The Infinite Vacation #1: The first issue of another series written by Nick Spencer elicited a rousing “meh” from me, but the premise of The Infinite Vacation tempts me to give him another shot. This book is set in a world where “trading your way through unlimited variations of yourself is as commonplace as checking your email or updating your status.”
The Sixth Gun: Cold Dead Fingers: You don’t come across many stories of supernatural firearms set in the Civil War.
B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth: Gods #1: It’s hard to ignore a piece of promo copy that begins, “As Texas goes to Hell …”
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The Walking Dead Weekly #1 Did you dig watching survivors fight zombies on AMC’s The Walking Dead? Were you tempted to sample the comics that inspired the TV show? Because new readers might be intimidated by a series that is already up to its 80th issue, Image Comics is reprinting the entire thing on a weekly basis, starting today.Batman Beyond #1: The future version of the Dark Knight has starred in cartoons for years, but this is first ongoing comic series.
Weird Worlds #1 (of 6): I know nothing about the character he’ll be drawing (Tanga), but if Kevin Maguire is drawing anything, I’m interested.
Ultimate Comics Captain America #1 (of 4): Writer Jason Aaron made his name with The Other Side, a miniseries about the Vietnam War. Now he’s pitting Captain America against his Vietnam-era counterpart. This series is also notable because it is being released digitally and in print simultaneously, a rarity in comics.
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The Littlest Zombie vs. The Littlest Vampire: (pictured above) OK, surely this one-shot — which San Antonio-based Antarctic Press describes as “Tom and Jerry meets 28 Days Later” — is the zenith of pop culture’s current obsession with zombies and vampires, right?
Fables #100: Bill Willingham’s critically acclaimed series about “fables” such as Snow White, Little Boy Blue, and the Big Bad Wolf living on the fringes of modern society has reached the 100-issue milestone. To celebrate, this issue is padded out to 100 pages with a prose story, a “puppet theatre,” and a board game.
Pantheon: Similar to Fables, this series is about gods living among us mere mortals. What’s notable about Pantheon is that it was created by actor Michael Chiklis, and the character of Zeus is drawn to look like — you guessed it — Michael Chiklis.
27 #1 of 4: Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Kurt Cobain are among the famous musicians who died at 27. This series is about a modern-day rock star who’d really like to live to see 28.
Stan Lee’s Starborn #1: Stan Lee has lived way past the age of 27 — nearly six decades past it, in fact. But the co-creator of Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and so many others is still dreaming up superheroes.
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Black Harvest: This is a collection of a six-issue series written and drawn by Arlington’s own Josh Howard. Set in Jericho, Texas, it’s about a teenage girl working with a paranormal researcher to figure out the mystery behind her three-year disappearance.Danny Husk: The Hollow Planet: I’ve never seen one second of Kids in the Hall. But if you have, you may recognize the titular hero of this graphic novel written by Kids cast member Scott Thompson.
Finding Nemo: Losing Dory: I will definitely buy this, just to see if these characters, who have ensnared my sons for hundreds of repeat viewings, might also keep their attention in print.