Graphic Clues
Summary 2003
As far as comic books go, 2003 turned out to be a pretty good year for crime fiction. This was in part due to a rise in genre fiction as a whole, in part due to the growth of the small presses, and in part due to a combination of good marketing and fortuitous timing. Yet, as with all growth trends, this year produced a few dogs.
The spandex-clad crowd still holds the majority in graphic fiction, but North American markets are finally beginning to realize the inherent potential demonstrated by manga. Whether you enjoy manga or not, manga comics do carry a lot of different types of stories. Everyone knows about giant robot and sailor girl manga, but you can locate sports manga, political manga, and more. Including, of course, crime manga.
When CrossGen Comics debuted a few years ago, two of its leading titles were Sojourn, a fantasy title, and Ruse, the story of a Holmsian detective. While Ruse has some clear fantasy elements, and could be sold on the basis of the incredible art and storytelling alone, it was the detective genre that people bought the book for. Around the same time, Sam Raimi announced the purchase of film rights for 30 Days of Night, a vampire story from Idea Designs Workshop. Queen & Country (ONI Press) was running a story about human rights abuses in Afghanistan when 9/11 focused world attention on that country. The next issue was delayed, while ONI Press and writer Greg Rucka tried to decide whether it would be more ethical to continue, or to discontinue, the story. On Free Comic Book Day 2003, the small presses cleaned up, with the submissions by ONI Press (an issue of Skinwalker and an issue of Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things) clearly superior to most of the other offerings.
The emergence of a strong small-press company (CrossGen), the interest of mainstream media (IDW and others), and the chance for consumers to try strong books for free (ONI Press and others) led to more calls for small-press books. As a result, retailers could order more small-press books with confidence, and publishers could undertake somewhat greater risks. Graphic crime fiction prospered under these conditions. As the success of recent genre films had proven, there is a real demand for crime stories, and while publishers have become more willing to undertake risks, they still prefer reasonable ones.
Picks for 2003
There are still four presses to keep close watch on for crime fiction genre tales: Vertigo (an imprint of DC), ONI Press, IDW, and AiT Planetlar. Some may wish to include Moonstone in that list. Moonstone specializes in crime fiction books, as well as a few properties such as the Phantom, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, and comics based off the White Wolf storyteller games, such as Vampire: The Masquerade. These books tend to be beautifully printed on good quality paper, but they are a little pricey for what you get, in my opinion. Still, Moonstone is working on putting out some regular, lower-priced series, and they may well be worth looking out for in 2004.
DC/Vertigo continues to come up with new and interesting graphic crime titles. One of the advantages of the Vertigo imprint is that many of the titles are not ongoing, so that the reader knows exactly what she is in for. Recently, Vertigo released Caper #1 (written by Judd Winick, art and covers by Farel Dalrymple), the first of a 12-issue series that follows a family in the Jewish mafia over three generations. The first issue introduces Izzy and Jacob Weiss in turn-of the century San Francisco. This book was solidly entertaining, and bodes well for the series.
I’ve said a lot about ONI Press during the first three issues of Graphic Clues. I’d argue that the five-issue Three Strikes series (reviewed in Issue #3) is the best of 2003. If you can’t find the original issues at your local comic shop, try to get them to order the trade paperback when it becomes available. Otherwise, ONI Press has done incredible things in Queen & Country and Skinwalker (see Graphic Clues in Issue #1 for details). You might also want to try to locate One Bad Day, a digest-sized graphic novel (written and drawn by Steve Rolston) and every/any issue of Kissing Chaos (written and drawn by Arthur Dela Cruz).
IDW’s big entry to the crime fiction genre is CSI: Crime Scene Investigations, the first story of which was reviewed in Issue #1. IDW has continued to create excellent, high-quality stories with both the CSI and the CSI: Miami setting and characters. IDW also produces Lurid (written by Paul Lee, art by Adam Huntley). Lurid is a series of realistic stories revolving around a strip club. The first two issues are excellent, and highly recommended. The third issue is not as well developed, but remains readable and somewhat interesting.
AiT/Planetlar shines in the graphic novel department. In 2003, I was particularly pleased by two crime fiction graphic novels. The first, Last of the Independents (Matt Fraction and Kieron Dwyer) is essentially a movie in graphic novel format. With its widescreen, sepia-toned look, Last of the Independents evokes an old-west feeling as it tells the story of a modern bank robbery gone wrong. The other, Abel, was reviewed in Issue #2. Either one is worth including in your collection, but if you can only read one, pick Abel.
Dog of the Year
As I said earlier, there were some really good books this year, but there were also some dogs. I don’t like to give bad reviews. If it were up to me, every book out there would be gold. I’d rather tell you about what’s good than about what to avoid. I mean, I sell this stuff for a living!
But, I’ve said lots of good things about ONI Press, and I’ve read a few reviews that point toward Midnight Mover as something you should pick up. You should not. Midnight Mover is the Graphic Clues Dog of the Year.
Midnight Mover uses the California porn industry as its hook, and uses it well enough to make the first issue interesting. As good as that might sound, by the second issue, the poorly drawn characters and hokey plot begin to make you wonder why you’re reading this. The third issue confirms all fears. Even so, I read all four issues before outright condemning the book.
The plot’s hokey, and the author does little to convince you that it isn’t. The crooks are unbelievable. The protagonist is unbelievable. The cops are unbelievable. And when one of the villains starts to explain the plot at the end, I can almost hear the “And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for those darn kids.” Darn kids, nothing. If your story requires the villain to explain the plot at the end, give more thought to your story before you try to sell it.
Midnight Mover was published by ONI Press, written by Gary Phillips, and illustrated in black & white by Jeremy Love (pencils) and Jeff Wasson (ink).
See you in 2004!