Crowdpleasing Comics

My insight on some comics sent from Crowdpleaser...

Superman: Secret Identity (DC)
Kurt Busiek, Stuart Immonen

A Clark Kent that didn't fall from space. A story of a kid living in the shadow of his name. A kid in a universe that recognizes the superman book. A kid awakening with Superman's powers. How does he deal? Where did the powers come from? Think of Smallville in panel form that is aware of the Superman book. The art is great. The softness of the pencil sketches and the collage style colors give the book a sense of wholesomeness and warmth. It's like a Norman Rockwell Superboy.

City of Tomorrow (Wildstorm Signature Series)
Howard Chaykin

Trouble in Paradise? Well that will happen with a past as dark & shady as Old Man Foyle's. In this tale of robotic eutopia gone awary the creator's son, turned antogonist through teenage angst and parental dissilusionment, goes up against his father, the creator of said robotic eutopia. This book moves fast. Cutting through panels in such a fashion that it could be considered a montage. We catch glmipses of Jr. Sonuvabitch's parent's past, and a couple examples of why he hates them. Then at the end a twist that would make M. Night. Shamalongadingdong wet his pants in joy. Ex-cop Machina (love the play on words) has turned pimp and whoring out slutbots. He crosses paths with Jr. at a crossroads in his life. Then book one ends. Dum Dum Duuummmm. The art in CoT is definitely as dark and sketchy as the direction of the plot. Not my preferred art style, but it works well together. I do love the textures though. They do a great job of making things look gritty.

Scooter Girl (Oni)
Chynna Clugston-Major

This book had a nice slow pace to it. Like strolling through campus on a lazy fall day. It is essentially an americanized manga, or so it seems. The story itself is pretty typical for over-the-top high school drama with a hint of justice for women everywhere. Ashton Archer, womanizer from way back, hits a pot hole with scooter girl a.k.a. Margaret Sheldon. Then she vows to knock him down a notch for his shovanist ways. One thing I did like about this book is how Clugston-Major inserted song titles on certain pages in the book. It was like a soundtrack to the comic.