Books Overlooked #1

Hello! 'Beat' Nick here, with a post showcasing a trio of trades that you might not yet have clued yourself into.

Fear Agent
Vol 1: Re-Ignition
Image Comics
Story: Rick Remender
Art: Tony Moore

Top-drawer high-sci-fi action here, in a vein not often seen these days - the vein of goldfish-bowl helmets, zap guns and space rockets. Rick Remender provides the audience with snappy dialogue, quick-fire action and a fast-paced story with all the pulp trappings you could ask for, in this tale of Heath Huston, intergalactic bounty hunter and pest control expert.

And there's not really much more to say, other than that Tony Moore is working here at his best first-run-of-Walking-Dead standard (though he doesn't ever seem to have taken a step back since then, bless him). If you liked the alien designs in Iron Giant and the heartfelt empathetic storytelling of Starship Troopers, you owe it to yourself to check this one out. If you're looking for complex character development, best look somewhere else, like perhaps...

Criminal
Vol 1: Coward
Marvel Icon
Story: Ed Brubaker
Art: Sean Phillips

Okay, this recommendation is a slightly bogus one, since not only did the comics themselves sell fairly well, but due to Titan Books acquiring the exclusive rights to distributing the collection, Coward isn't going to be published in the UK until August. And since it hasn't been released, I haven't read it in full (in trade format, that is), and neither can it be said to have overlooked at all. However, there have been copies floating about in the aftermath of the Bristol comiccon (one of which I grabbed a quick peek at), and so I hereby accept the right to rant about how much I love Criminal.

While the world swooned over his depiction of the death of Captain America, Brubaker's full love and attention were really directed here. Human, gritty and surprising, Coward is Brubaker's love letter to film and literature noir, and just the first in what will hopefully become a whole pantheon of traditional pulp stories under the Criminal banner. Sadly, Brubaker's real love letters to film noir - his columns on collecting and reviewing classic genre flicks, which acted as backups for the comic books - aren't collected here. These are worth looking up the issues for if you're so inclined, but what's really important is the story.

This is the joyous reunion of the Sleeper team, and they're both still operating at full tilt. Brubaker's dialogue and storytelling are first rate, and sterling Brit artist Sean Phillips is turning out as stunning material as ever. In comics, I was chomping at the bit for each new issue (for that glorious old reason of wanting to know what happens next!), but I can imagine the story benefiting hugely from being reprinted as one continuous, uninterrupted novel (as it has been). The next series of comics is slated to begin this month, and I personally can't wait. The remit for the overall series is as follows: individual short stories linked by personal connections between characters and/or the effects of previous stories. Sounds deliciously Stray Bullets to me. Get on board in time for #6 with Coward if you're in the US, and if you're in the UK, buy the next issue anyway. It'll be a stone cold gas, I can tell you.

And finally...

Cross Bronx
Image Comics
Story and art: Michael Avon Oeming
With: Ivan Brandon

Okay, now here's a properly overlooked series. The comics were nearly totally ignored, despite it packing the big-time comics punch of Mike Oeming, star artist (even now) of Powers. The book, in the month or so since its release (okay, so it's not quite contemporary) has done somewhat better, but this series needs some serious talking-up. In his first major-league book as both writer and artist (ably assisted by co-writer Ivan Brandon), Oeming serves up some of the best artwork of his career, and certainly the best writing.

Cross Bronx is the story of Raphael Aponte, a hard-bitten inner-city police detective trying to discover the truth behind a brutal gang slaying while grappling with his lapsed Catholicism. So far so predictable, right? Well, Oeming and Brandon kick it up a notch (bam!) by drawing in a tragic unsolved case from the department's past, as well as a heavy dose of the supernatural. The mystery in the book is pretty easily solved by the reader early on, but the joy of Cross Bronx is in watching Aponte struggle with his wavering grasp on reality, and in seeing how the writers depict the human effects of violence in the inner-city.

Cross Bronx's writing is exceptional. How much this is due to Brandon, I don't know, but together, the team serves up inventively verbose narration, and dialogue with a real sense of tension and motive, even lending credence to Aponte's spiritual development. Characters speak evocatively and believably, with one standout moment being the conversation between Aponte and a comatose young woman's mother, wherein it becomes clear that the NYPD isn't focusing the daughter's case as thoroughly as they'd claimed. ("I see she dances.")

Cross Bronx handles police procedure, murder mystery and the supernatural with far more panache than Powers ever mustered, and is well worth your money. Bendis should take note (and be jealous) of Oeming's admirable solo venture.

Really?
Yeah.
For real?
For real.
You're kidding.
Nope.
Huh.
Yeah.

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'Beat' Nick enjoyed The Sellouts, he admits.