Weird.
I don't think I read all that less of my precious comics, books, manga & so on, but it's odd that, when I sit down to consider a new entry, I'm racking my brain to recall what I've recently read. I don't think this means I enjoy it less. On the contrary, I'm getting a lot from them and there's a great deal of quality around.
It's my memory that's the problem. That, and laziness. I have to go check up on the titles & such of what I've read, and that's a big task.
Seriously.

Anyhow, I went and checked this time -_^
I took almost all of last week to finish (and I mean really finish) the newest League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The Black Dossier has received plenty of press:
It's over a year late, it's had shipping restrictions outside of USA etc. etc. Hasn't stopped me from getting a copy (on the contrary, Amazon, Borders et al. must be quite pleased).
I won't be discussing all those fringes, there's plenty of places to catch up, if you want.



The book itself then. Moore's always been out to experiment with his ABC creations in general and LoEG in particular (remember the tourist guides, the mock ads etc. in the previous two volumes) to enhace the world-building he's doing and creating a kind of parallel culture which, though clearly based on our own, and using the paradigms of fiction and so on, but there's unmistakable joy and fun locked in every single page.
And there's plenty of them!
The framing story (I suppose) is the chase scene: we're in the '50s of the LoEG continuity, and the Big Brother phase has just run its course. Mina & Allan stole a Black Dossier containing all kinds of info on the previous incarnations of the League, harking back a long time.
It also reads as a dossier: different snippets and details on different, colourful characters in all sorts of media: files, reports, old cartoons, short stories, all in the style of whatever they are based on, with among them, a particulary hilarious diary-style story by a Brit ponce who's witness to a Ctulhu-invasion (or Cool Lulu, as he calls it) utterly ignorant to what is really going on as a version of the League dispatches the Elder Gods.
Good stuff.
The actual comics narrative has Moore's usual casual air, while still very much delivering a framework for all the supplements and a bridge (I assume) for the true vol 3 of LoEG, to be published by Top Shelf.
There's quite some new (and retro-actively new) characters introduced (or maybe they aren't, you'll understand) in those files, and a lot of ground covered, and you have to pace it.
If you do, it's more than a fun book, it's a rich source of all kinds of odd and wonderful titbits that take some figuring out.
This may help.

Be seeing you
--nout

Alan Moore's horrible Thing!

You can never write enough good things about Alan Moore.
He's been cited as the best writer in (and out) of comics, with intelligent, imaginative, ground-breaking, pioneering &standard-setting work up the wazoo (and I mean this very literally) and unlike so many rave reviews that tend to... reek of greased palms (of which I am NEVER guilty, you may note: I always speak the truth, even when I lie!) whenever one of Moore's works are being praised, they're absolutely right.
Of course, he is a commercial writer. He'll write if you pay him (as should be considered no more than self-evident) and the work will be top quality. Yet! There's one series that is sub-par, to the extent where I genuinly wonder whether Alan Moore actually wrote it. It's one I uncovered recently in the Wild Worlds collection, i.e. the WildC.A.T.S./Spawn mini.


Now, as anyone reading me knows, I dislike commenting on bad comics, because I have better things to do with my time, but for a writer with a track-record like Moore's (his own WildC.A.T.S run, for instance, is WELL worth your time) this thing stood out. Badly.
Voodoo may be a second one, but it has been too long ago since I read it, and there was a fairly negligent printing error ruining a big scene in the originals.
Anyway, enough bad words.
I could praise any other series he's worked on, from Halo Jones over 1963 to Killing Joke, From Hell, The Birth Caul, Whatever happened to the Man of Tomorrow? all the way to Top 10 & Promethea (and I believe on occasion, I have) thereby forgetting a ton of other stuff (so don't remind me)...

Today however (and in a bloody roundabout way) I want to share the greatness that is Swamp Thing, or not-Alec-Holland, as you should be aware. (You'll only get this if you read it, so please do!)
This title, between you & me, is what really started the line that would turn into Vertigo, followed closely by Sandman. (Don't know Sandman? Get outta here!)
It started off as a pretty straightforward weird superhero/horror title. (If you'd call that combination straightforward, of course. I would. Shut up.) You know, guy in industrial/corporate accident, changed/mutated, out for revenge etc. etc. Perfectly alright, by Len Wein & Bernie Wrightson (by the by, the former is one of the creators of Wolverine, but he ain't filthy rich. Go figure. Maybe some other post, I'll go into that sometimes? Dunno if I want to go all political.) But then they kind of killed Swampie off, and Alan Moore, more than ably abetted by Steve Bissette & John Totleben took over.


Nobody really remembers the original take by Wein and Wrightson, after Moore was done with Swamp Thing. The very first issue of his run redefined everything (and I mean really everything) about who & what Swamp Thing was. It set a new standard to imagination and to what can be achieved on the printed page.
That first issue is possibly also one of the finest stand-alone comics of the modern age, and at times, it only got better. From a perhaps predictable title, Moore rebuilt Swamp Thing into a creepy, mature, intelligent and organic (excuse the pun) story, creating a rich tapestry of wildly different characters interacting in a dark, desolate world, with only the merest sparks of hope hidden away, cowardly.
All the while, Moore & his artists experiment with page layout, storytelling tactics and methods, designs and art styles.
I know I've been laying on the superlatives a little thick (to counteract my earlier berating maybe?) but there really is so much to this series.
The only thing I feel bad about is not uncovering this gem sooner.


Be seeing you
--nout