Posts Tagged ‘Dark Horse’

Aryan Thrust & Colonel Crotch

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

It is the 2011 in the dystopian reality of Frank Miller and Dave Gibbons’ Give Me Liberty. The Aryan Thrust is described as a “militant gay racist group” that has sworn retaliation against America’s President Nissen for the accidental incineration of its headquarters in the Appalachian mountains. Its assassination attempt fails, but the Surgeon General cheers the destruction  as an example of how to cleanse America, and follows up by dispatching his “Health Police” to “disinfect Appalachia.”

The Aryan Thrust vow even greater retaliatory measures and under the command of Colonel Wilhelm Crotch captures the orbiting laser cannon that destroyed the Aryan Thrust stronghold. Its crew members are shown floating dead in space. In response Peace Force soldier Martha Washington is dispatched to retake the weapon base. She gains admittance under the pretext of negotiation and is met by the Colonel and three other Aryan Thrust members. They’re simultaneously high camp and ultra butch in their leather uniforms, displaying their violent philosophy and stupidity (threatening to use a firearms on essentially a space station  in the vacuum of space), and racism when Crotch calls Washington “a darkie”. The situation quickly goes bad when Crotch threatens to kill the government representative sent along with Washington. In turn, she proceeds to wound and slay the quartet, but not before Crotch can start the ignition sequence to destroy the White House. Alerted by the shouting, another group chases after her; one of them fires his weapon, causing a hull breach. The sequence is aborted when Washington accidentally discovers and rescues the mutant telepath who functions as the control system. Instead, the pent up energy destroys the laser cannon after the pair barely escape. Having served the plot, the Aryan Thrust die and that’s that.

The Aryan Thrust and Colonel Crotch appear in Give Me Liberty #2 and the Life & Times of Martha Washington in the 21st Century TPB from Dark Horse. The indicia indicates permission for images must be obtained from Miller & Gibbons. You’ll want to find a copy of the trade at your library or look through one at a bookstore to decide for yourself if their depiction is cringe worthy.

© and ® Frank Miller and Dave Gibbons. All rights reserved.

Beasts of Burden

Wednesday, December 8th, 2010

Beasts Of Burden – Animal Rites
Evan Dorkin
Jill Thompson
Jason Arthur and Jill Thompson lettering
Dark Horse
$19.99 HC

On one of my recent trips to my library I was looking through the new books section — creature of habit and all that — when I turned around from browsing cookbooks to find a copy of Beasts Of Burden practically in front of me. I’m familiar to a degree with Dorkin’s and Thompson’s work separatetly, and had seen the mini series solicited in Previews. Despite my love for dogs and cats I don’t have any furry companions, and in my mind I’d reduced the Beasts story to a comic filled with cutesy animals without having taken a look. My presumption was wrong as looking at Thompson’s art while leafing through it in the library drew me in with its lush colors. The only thing I’d lose was a little time reading it if I didn’t like the story.

My pre-conceptions quickly proved unfounded once I started reading “Stray”, the first story in which the gang of regulars (Pugsley, Whitey, Ace, Rex, Jack) conduct a ritual to summon a wise dog to help them rid Jack’s doghouse of a canine ghost. That’s the other thing about Beasts. There’s a supernatural grounding to the stories which would’ve been another obstacle had I known about it beforehand. Dorkin and Thompson give it all a fresh slant because everything is from the animals’ points of view. On the writer side, Dorkin makes the animals’ world interesting by creating phrases (You’re both eating out of the same bowl) and cultural rites (burying a stray dog killed on the road complete with a prayer of sorts). Thompson’s consummate at making all the individual personalities shine through and both creators skillfully balance the different emotions at play throughout the stories. The coloring, as I said, is lush. Thompson having fully painted it with watercolors, giving it a lively sense and a very different feel from Photoshop coloring. Not to disparage work done that way, but something different and “old Fashioned” can be really beautiful.

And about “Burden” in the title…. Burden is the name of the fictional town where the animals live, not a reference to them being used for labor. I wondered about it myself.

Of particular note is the binding itself. Here, as with other Dark Horse hardcovers I own, the pages are sewn together before being attached to the covers. This may seem an irrelevant point, but it isn’t. Books with sewn bindings will stand up better to wear and tear to last longer and pages lay flat on a surface so you won’t have to hold the book open. Less tangibly, it also means the publisher cares about the product.

Instead of feeling like I’d wasted time reading Beasts, I found myself really engaged in the stories and felt a little let down once the book was finished. Space in my book cases is very limited right now (nothing new comes in without something going out to make room) but I’ll put this one on my wish list while keeping an eye out for future mini series.

Amazon sells this book for $13.59 though it seems to be on back order or check out some preview pages first. Please also consider supporting your local comics shop or independent bookstore. If money and space are tight, see if your library has it or can get it for you through inter-library loan.

Sistah Spooky

Friday, November 5th, 2010

Contributed by Mike McDermott

Sistah Spooky is a powerful witch, who serves as one of the senior members of the Super-Homeys team.

As a high school student, Theresa was made made to feel unattractive and worthless as a physically underdeveloped black girl among a class filled with beautiful blonde girls.  She made a deal with a demon, selling her soul in exchange for magically-enhanced beauty (and learned that most of her classmates had already made the same deal).  Her Infernal Service Provider made a mistake when he completed her paperwork though, and accidentally gave her far too much power.  Theresa refused to give back the extra power and used it to become the mystical superhero Sistah Spooky, despite the objections of the demon who begged her not to use it so his superiors wouldn’t discover the mistake.  Sistah Spooky quickly became one of the most feared and respected members of the Super-Homeys.

Spooky’s experiences in school left her with a permanent bias towards blondes, which has impacted her relationships with a few of her teammates.  She ended up developing a secret romance with telepathic teammate Mindf*ck, despite the fact that Mindf*ck is a beautiful blonde, but the relationship was ultimately torn apart by Spooky’s insecurities.  Besides her hatred of blondes, Spooky also has such low self-esteem that she couldn’t believe that anyone could truly love her, so she pushed Mindf*ck away and broke up with her.

Spooky has also taken her blonde-bias out on associate member Empowered (Emp, for short).  Emp is disrespected by most of her collegues for her unreliable powers and tendency to get captured and tied up, but Spooky has gone out of her way to be particularily cruel to her.  She even went so far as to sleep with the man who would ultimately be the love of Emp’s life a month before he meets Emp (thanks to one of her divination spells revealing the upcoming relationship to her) in a petty attempt to sabotage Emp’s happiness.  Spooky’s relationship with Emp has started to improve thanks to Mindf*ck though–she befriended Emp, and told Spooky that Emp is nothing like Spooky’s former schoolmates.  The recent death of Mindf*ck has brought Spooky and Emp a bit closer as well; Emp was the only one Spooky could talk to about her grief since she was the only other Super-Homey that knew she and Mindf*ck had been a couple.

After Mindf*ck’s death Spooky has retreated into herself, not participating in Super-Homey activities, and sitting by herself for hours on end.  She has discovered that Mindf*ck left a telepathic echo of herself programmed into Spooky’s memories, so Spooky spends her days  interacting with the personality fragment of her late lover.

Spooky was recently contacted by her demonic Infernal Service Provider, who tormented her with the claim that Mindf*ck’s soul was now trapped in hell with him.  He indicated that he might be able to release Mindf*ck from hell if Spooky would renegotiate her contract and give up her extra mystic powers.  What Spooky will do about this situation remains to be seen.

Sistah Spooky first appeared in Empowered vol 1 and is outed in vol 4.

© and ® Adam Warren. All rights reserved.

Mindf*ck

Friday, November 5th, 2010

Contributed by Mike McDermott

Mindf*ck was a very powerful telepath who was a member of the Super-Homeys superhero team.  Due to the discomfort caused to her by the “background noise” of too many minds in close proximity, Mindf*ck lived on Joint Superteam Space Station #3, known as the “D10″, supervising access to the teleportation portal network.

When she was younger, Mindf*ck was victimized by her psychotic older brother, who was also a telepath.  He mind-controlled her into gouging out her own eyes and cutting out her own tongue, so that she would be forced to rely more heavily on her telepathic abilities.  In his own twisted way, her brother was doing this out of “love” for her, to make her a stronger telepath.  She was saved and her brother was stopped before she was forced to mutilate herself any further.  Mindf*ck was given a special visor that allows her to see, and in the event that it is damaged, she could “piggyback” on other people’s senses in order to see–this is also how she experienced tastes, since she no longer has a tongue.

Terrified of becoming like her brother, Mindf*ck used her powers on herself, editing her own personality in order to make herself more noble and selfless, and deleting any personality traits that could lead to her turning into a sociopath.Mindf*ck developed a romantic relationship with fellow Super-Homey, Sistah Spooky, which they kept hidden from their teammates.  In fact many of their trysts took place in telepathic mindscapes, as opposed to real physical encounters, to help maintain their secrecy.  The relationship eventually ended due to Spooky’s insecurities, as well as her irrational hatred of beautiful blondes due to childhood traumas.  Despite the break-up the two women still cared about each other very much, and maintained a friendship which Mindf*ck hoped would eventually turn back into a romance.

Mindf*ck was one of the few Super-Homeys to befriend the often-abused associate member Emp, and treated her with respect unlike most of their teammates.  Emp was the only person she confided in about her relationship with Spooky–which did not go over well with Spooky, since she was one of Emp’s main detractors (another victim of Spooky’s anti-blonde issues).

Mindf*ck met her tragic end when the evil fire elemental Willy Pete destroyed the D10 space station during a failed Super-Homey attempt to capture the villain.  Mindf*ck and Emp were stuck aboard the D10 when Willy Pete caused catostrophic damage, destroying communications and the primary teleportation system, and knocking the station out of orbit so that it was starting to burn up in the atmosphere.  The emergency back-up teleportation escape portal only had enough power for one person, so Mindf*ck sacrificed herself to save Emp; she telepathically took control over Emp’s motor functions and forced her to use the portal.  Once Emp was back on Earth she alerted Spooky of Mindf*ck’s peril, but Spooky arrived 3 seconds too late to save her.  Mindf*ck died while in telepathic contact with Spooky, telling Spooky that she loved her, and not to blame herself for Mindf*ck’s death.

Even beyond the grave Mindf*ck’s impact continues to be felt; an inspirational “posthumumessage” she pre-recorded for her monument in the Super-Homey cemetary gave Emp an idea on how to defeat a supervillain.  A part of her also lives on in the form of a telepathic echo of herself that she wove into Spooky’s memories months before she died.  This memory-fragment recreation of herself can interact with Spooky, but is unaware of anything that happened after Mindf*ck programmed her…including her own death.

Mindf*ck first appeared in Empowered vol 4. Please note the character’s name is censored by Warren, so the style is followed here.

© and ® Adam Warren. All rights reserved.

Grendel

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

grendel2Susan Veraghen, this incarnation of Grendel, returns to her nameless hometown riding a hover cycle in a dystopian future. The town has changed. Seedy before, it seems now dead people are hung from transmitter towers to help keep the population intimidated. Veraghen stops in at her former favorite bar, Ground Zero, where she finds people even more desperate than when she left. She also learns from the bartender the reason that people are fearful. A gang called Orion’s Bastards rule the city.

A prostitute named Avril propositions Veraghen in the bar. With a little closer examination, Avril (once known as Martha) recognizes the green-haired woman as a former friend with whom she made out one night. Avril accidentally offends Veraghen, and she storms out of the bar to find her cycle surrounded by gang members who demand she give it over to their leader as an act of tribute. She beats up the various gang members and takes off on the bike with Avril.

While the goons report their defeat, Susan and Avril get further reacquainted at her apartment. Avril admires Susan’s tattoos that adorn parts of her body and they relax together in a hot bath, reminiscing about their past friendship and the night they made out. Susan reveals her time as a soldier and having a lesbian relationship that ended due to political circumstances.

Susan convinces Avril to leave the hellish city. Avril agrees and starts to pack clothes. It isn’t clear why Susan leaves her alone, but the hulkish gang leader Buster accompanied by humiliated subordinates viciously attack her. Susan returns to find Avril and rather predictably, there’s a tearful scene before Avril dies in Susan’s arms.

After burying Avril, Susan readies herself for combat (see image). Veraghen encounters other member beating up two gay men. She in turn beats them up, shooting one in the knee to find out where his leader is. She finds the abandoned catacombs, and walks through an orgy. Finally she confronts him. He downs a fistful of pills to stimulate his strength and rage and overdoses before Veraghen can exact her revenge. The final page shows Veraghen leaving the city and cuts to a close up of a dead Buster with a sign reading “bully” hung around his neck and dangling from a transmitter tower.

Veraghen first appears and is confirmed as a lesbian in Grendel Tales: Homecoming #1

© 1995 and 2000 by Matt Wagner. Published by Dark Horse.

Satsu

Saturday, April 25th, 2009
Georges Jeanty art from Buffy #1

Georges Jeanty art from Buffy #1

Satsu makes her first albeit brief appearance as one of a small group of slayers accompanying Buffy on a mission to kill a nest of vampires. Her scene in issue #2 is also brief. Here she is one of three slayers that Buffy orders to attack her as part of a lesson during a training exercise. Of course Buffy makes quick work of the trio and afterwards remarks that Satsu has the “best hair ever” and “[she’s] making [Buffy] think [she] need[s] a new look.” Later that night, Amy attacks a sleeping Buffy, rendering her to nightmarish sleep unless a kiss of true love wakes her, which happens off panel in the following issue. A clue to the kisser’s identity is provided when Buffy sits bolt upright and remarks, “I have a funny feeling on my mouth. Cinnamon buns!”

Satsu is handpicked by Buffy to be her sole fighting companion to rescue Willow from Amy and her flayed boyfriend Warren. During a brief pep talk with Satsu, Buffy asks to borrow her lip gloss, commenting that it cinnamon flavored. The rescue mission is a quick success and a bit anti-climatic.

Georges Jeanty art from Buffy #12

Georges Jeanty art from Buffy #12

She next appears in issue #11. One night Buffy takes her out in the Scottish countryside to kill some vamps as training and an excuse to discuss Satsu’s love for her. Satsu is upset about her obsession with cinnamon flavored lip gloss and is worried Buffy will kick her out as well as Buffy thinking her love is just a crush. Buffy replies that “your kiss couldn’t have woken me up if it was.”  Once the vamps are dealt with Buffy confides that knowing Satsu loves her makes her feel a little less lonely but being in love with Buffy is bad since people horrible things happened to people before who loved her. After then dealing with a surprise attack by Twilight, Buffy checks in on Satsu who’s confined to bed in a makeshift hospital ward in the castle. Considering Buffy’s speech it was quite a surprise for many readers to turn a few pages into issue #12 and discover Satsu and Buffy both naked and lying entangled in sheets with Satsu’s arm draped across Buffy’s stomach. The conversation turns intimate and funny when Satsu asks how tomorrow should be handled though Satsu becomes downcast when Buffy admits she isn’t certain there is anything for them beyond that moment. Just then Xander walks in to apprise Buffy of a security matter and on cue is in turn followed by several others making for a very awkward situation.

The security issue turns into a serious breach as the castle is infiltrated and assaulted by a Japanese vampire Goth gang who prove not to be your typical vampires. It’s all a diversion as their leader Toru steals Buffy’s scythe from the castle armory. Xander is sent to enlist the aid of Dracula.

Aiko, a slayer operative in Japan, provides info leading to the whereabouts of the vampires. Satsu is reprimanded by Buffy when she questions her plan to take all slayer units to Japan. Later enroute to Japan, Willow and Satsu have a heart to heart talk about Buffy. There’s quite a shock in store for Satsu when Willow asks her how Buffy is in bed, wanting to know if Buffy makes “that high-pitched squeal? I call it her ‘shoe-sale noise…” (Issue # 13)

The slayers arrive in Tokyo to find Aiko has been murdered by the Goth vampires and her body put on public display. Her body is taken down and Buffy temporarily places it in a small Buddhist temple while gathering her thoughts and formulating a plan. Satsu refuses to obey Buffy’s order to help bury Aiko, saying she isn’t sure if she should be hurt or touched, but either way she’ll fight on the battlefield. While Satsu does take part in the fight, she’s seen mostly in the background until after the Goth vampires are defeated and slain. The story arc closes with an intimate scene between the two women. Satsu confesses she doesn’t think she can be around Buffy and asks to stay in Tokyo as a slayer field leader to replace Aiko. They decide to spend one more night in each other’s arms after admitting to each other that the night they spent together was one of the best of their lives. (Issues #14 and 15)

The next story to feature Satsu is “Swell” in issue #22. Kennedy arrives in Tokyo to evaluate Satsu and her leadership and training skills of the Tokyo slayer cell. Kennedy takes a different tack with Satsu over her love for Buffy, trying to drive home the point that no matter what Buffy will never want a relationship with her. Her candid advice is to “Lost the cinnamon lip gloss you laid on Buffy and try kissing someone who can give you their heart not just their body.”

“Vampy cat” plush toys are set to become the newest craze in Japan. Satsu unwittingly picked one up when she discovered it on the scene of her latest mission. Little does she know that Twilight has created the cute and seemingly innocuous toys using a toy company as a front. The next day Kennedy and the other women are surprised to find Satsu wearing clothes and talking out of character as if she were straight. Satsu hits Kennedy, sending her across the room and a fight breaks out between them. Kennedy delivers a hard kick to Satsu’s stomach that causes her to vomit. They’re all shocked when an angry vampy cat rises from the liquid mess and shouts “I am discovered, my brothers! Use what I have given! Strike at the heart of the beast!”  Obviously there’s a new threat to be dealt with.

A surprise raid on the toy company meets with no resistance from its dead employees. One of the slayers accesses the company’s database and learns the entire inventory had shipped just an hour before. In the next scene Satsu and Kennedy appear on board a freighter ship hacking some of the vampy cats until they combine into one giant monster that threatens to kill them until Satsu signals a group of slayers in hiding who successfully execute “plan B.” The issue ends with a video conference between Buffy and Satsu, who seemed to have still hoped for her love to be returned. Suddenly Satsu understands that Buffy can’t and the last panel shows her casually tossing her lip gloss into the garbage and commenting it’s time to get a new flavor.

Look for future updates as Satsu’s story continues. The initial Satsu story won GLAAD’s 2008 Media Award in the comic book category.

Satsu first appeared in Buffy #1 (volume 2).

© by ® Twentieth Century Fox. Used without permission.