Who's Who in the CBU 2008

Name: Regie Rigby

Regie is a strange, almost ethereal creature. Who can plumb the hidden mysteries of his dark and murky past - a past which contains a terrible secret. A secret that taught him that with great power comes great responsibility, that criminals are a cowardly superstitious lot and just who exactly knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men.

By day, he assumes the appearance of a mild mannered teacher, bringing the joy of literature and the English Language to classes of enthralled and enthusiastic students. But by night?

By night he goes home and writes lesson plans. Sorry. That's as interesting as he gets. Really.

The rumours about rooftop struggles with underworld uberfiends, the gossip about the hidden cave filled with hi-tec equipment and the suggestion that his car might be fitted with turbo lasers are all nonsense.

When he's not teaching he reads comics. Sometimes he combines the two activities. When he's not doing that he's either playing computer games or asleep.

Retrospectively Speaking

By Regie Rigby

Well, a big, if slightly belated, HO HO HO to you all, with a little extra “Humbug” thrown in. No excuses for being late this week, except for the fact that I forgot what day it was. I tend to judge the passage of time by what’s happening on my timetable at school, and of course the week before Christmas really throws everything up in the air. What can I say? I’m easily confused.

Anyway.

Since last we spoke the exciting final issues of Malcolm Magic have dropped through my letter box, but I’m ashamed to say I haven’t had time to read them yet, so more about them next time, when I’ve caught my breath a bit – and while we’re on the subject of next week, that’s when the annual awards will be dished out, so if you have any nominations now really is the last chance to get them to me.

In the meantime, we’re at the end of another year and it’s time to take a bit of a look back over the last eleven and a half months. It’s been an interesting year…

Over at the House of Ideas the Civil War has shaped up to be really rather good, with some outstanding action scenes and some real character driven dilemmas. It hasn’t been all that punctual, but the neither have I, so I’m not really in a position to criticize, am I?

Another pleasant surprise was Spidey’s costume change. As predicted, it hasn’t lasted, but it turns out to have served a genuine symbolic purpose in the narrative and wasn’t just a gimmick, which was most unexpected. I particularly liked the sequence where Tony Stark tries to use the costume against Peter, only to discover that Peter had written an over-ride into the software.

The whole Civil War storyline has also brought in some interesting political and philosophical questions from real world events, with clear parallels to be drawn between the superhero registration legislation and various attitudes to homeland security in the West. This is a welcome development – while the issues are still being over simplified and presented in a somewhat unbalanced way, it’s good to see comics having a go at tackling difficult issues again.

For sheer, astonishing front though, you just can’t beat Marvel’s reintroduction of the New Universe. Possibly the biggest turkey of the eighties (which of course means there’s plenty of competition) advertised using the worst example of the original version!. Very brave - but more of that later.

DC fared perhaps slightly less well. Their big project, “52”, has made such little impact on my world that I know absolutely nothing about it. Now, while this means I’m not qualified to say anything about it, the fact that people haven’t been urging me to buy it, talking to me about it, or even mentioning it to me suggests that it hasn’t set anyone else’s world alight either.

Things in the Batbooks have been looking a little better, with Grant Morrison’s run – for all its weak ending – starting in the most spectacular fashion possible. Quite what’s happened to him now is anybody’s guess of course. I’m beginning to wonder if Morrison will ever finish anything again – although it must be said that he’s doing much better than the infeasably tardy team behind Woverine Vs. Hulk which is now a whole year behind schedule…

Morrison notwithstanding, once again though, the best thing in the Batverse has been feline. If you’re not reading Catwoman you should be. Selina has been through it all this year. There’s a baby in the picture now, born to Selina in that year we’re still sort of catching up on after the “One Year Later” thing. With parental responsibilities curtailing her rooftop ramblings (because what, exactly would you tell the babysitter?) Selina has sort of passed the whiskers over to her long standing protogee Holly.

But Holly is still a kid really, and lack of experience is just getting her into trouble. And if that weren’t enough to deal with there’s the question of the baby’s father, and any number of other potentially messy relationship issues. This has been brilliantly written, beautifully drawn characterful drama. Still, without question, the best DC book on the racks, bar none – even if the narrative wasn’t as good as it is these books would be worth more than the cover price for their covers alone! It’s been a pleasure to read over the last twelve months, and there’s not much else from DC you can say that about at the moment.

Elsewhere in the DC stable though, things have been looking up. Garth Ennis has been strutting his funky stuff over in Wildstorm’s corner of the playground. Ex SAS trooper “Kev” has continued to develop from the supporting character status he endured in The Authority to full blown book carrying character in his own right, and I’ve very much enjoyed that ride so far.

But the other Ennis Wildstorm project is the one that really took my breath away. A long time ago now, in the letter column of Preacher Ennis plugged the launch of Warren Ellis’ Transmetropolitan with the warning “If you think I’m going to Hell for Preacher, wait ‘till you see this!”

Well, several issues into The Boys as we are, I can confirm that if Ellis is going to Hell for Transmet, they’re going to have to build Ennis a whole new extension to himself after this relentlessly brilliant tour de force.

The Boys is, quite simply, sublime. This is Ennis at his bawdy, brutal, brilliantly balanced best. Everything looks effortless but an incredibly detailed and complicated tapestry of point and counterpoint is being woven together. For example, in the opening pages of the first issue you have two young lovers at a Scottish Fairground holding each other at arms length, gazing into eachothers eyes. A perfect moment of beauty.

Then, the girl is literally destroyed as a speeding superhuman cannons into her, reducing her earthly remains to a soft, red pulp. Her horrified boyfriend is left holding her hands, staring mutely at the bloodied stumps of her arms as they dangle lifelessly from his uncomprehending grasp.

Brutal, yes, but also a gloriously over the top slapstick moment of bathos. But then, just as you’re laughing that bad taste gross out laugh, we get to see the boyfriend’s full reaction, and we follow his story as he tries to do something about it. Perfect. Just perfect dramatic contrast. Ennis does something very similar with the devout Christian super heroine from the mid west forced to commit acts which disgust and humiliate her if she wants to keep her place on the top Super Team. Over the top, gross out humour, yes, but with the kernel of human tragedy at the core.

But if 2006 belongs to anybody, it has to belong to Warren Ellis.

He’s been everywhere. Fell keeps selling out, there are novels in the offing, TV projects in the wind, and damn his eyes if he hasn’t managed to take the New Universe and make it unputdownable! If he keeps going like this, 2007 may well be the year he simply takes over the world and shows everyone how it should be done, fuelled only by Red Bull and fags.

Of course, in a smaller corner of the comics world, Tony Lee has done something similar. He has several projects in print, his own Wikipedia page (which wasn’t created by him either) and some utterly blinding projects at various stages of development. If you haven’t been loving the BBC’s latest Xena influenced incarnation of Robin Hood, I think you’ll find Lee’s ideas on the subject more to your taste. Trust me.

In fact, although this is a retrospective column, not a looking forward one, if 2006 has shown anything, it’s shown that 2007 could be Tony’s breakout year. I certainly hope so, because he deserves it. He is, as I have observed before, a genius. Obviously I have to say that because I’m an official Tony Lee minion (I have a badge to prove it and everything), but that doesn’t make it untrue.

Overall, there was far more good than bad in the comics year 2006. The only thing that I was truly disappointed by was the non-appearance of Blink Twice comic MOON!, which I predicted confidently last January would “be out in a few weeks”. The only good thing about Malcolm Magic ending is that I might now actually get to read this long awaited comedy Sci Fi treat.

All that is for the future though – and I won’t be hitting the crystal ball for a week or two yet. Next week will be awards week here at FoolCentral. Join me then, to celebrate everything that was good in comics in the last twelve months. Evening Dress not required. And remember, you still have time to nominate your personal favourites, although I do reserve the right to ignore you. (it’s my show, after all…)

Until then, whether you celebrate it or not, may your Christmas be Merry, Peaceful and perfect. Oh, and don’t forget to track Santa with Norad on Christmas Eve!.

Have a good one, my Foolish Friends – see you next week!