Hello Chums,
Besides my pile of new comics, I've been busy reading three trades this week. So how about some quick reviews.
First up is New York Times and L.A. Times best seller Fun Home. Fun Home is labeled as "A Tragicomic." I suppose it means the story is drawn in comic form and it's a tragedy. Drawn: yes. Tragedy: no. I've read autobiographical books like this before that have been more sad in content and executed better. The story is okay. However, I was put off by the way the author tells the story and then goes back and revisits ground already covered. The use of references to classical fiction got tedious also. We get the point. The author's father was well read and would refer to passages in literature when making points or telling stories.
So what's Alison Bechdel's Fun Home about anyway? This story is her look back at her family being repressed by her closet-queer father who knows more about interior decorating, gardening and fashion for girls than any straight man would. Oh yeah, her father was also the town mortician at their funeral home (fun home.) Alison's story rolls from childhood through her own budding lesbianism and the the death of her father.
Next up is Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Who Is Scorpio? More sixties secret agent action from Jim Steranko! With all the gadgets, locals, enemies and women, Nick Fury once again reminded me of the sixties James Bond. There should be a book like this available currently. Maybe we'll see more of good 'ol Nick after Secret Invasion.
What's it about? Taking out the bad guys and having a looker of a woman waiting in the wings. Sixties style. That's all you need to know.
Lastly is Scalped vol. 1, by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera. I got my copy at Planet Comicon in Kansas City. I bought my copy then went across the aisle and had it signed by Jason Aaron. I enjoyed his Vietnam story The Other Side and the first issue of Scalped and every interview I've read lately with different creators has had Scalped as one of their favorites. So what the heck.
Scalped tells the story of Dashiell Bad Horse. He's one lone Indian who goes back to the reservation fifteen years after leaving on bad terms. Upon arrival he meets up with his estranged mother and former (now married) ex-girlfriend. The Rez (Prairie Rose Indian Reservation) is now overrun with drugs and organized crime. Think of it as The Sopranos on a reservation. Oh yeah, Bad Horse is now an undercover FBI agent. I can't wait for vol. 2.
Ratings:
Fun Home: story D+, art A-
Nick Fury: story B+, art A-
Scalped: story A-, art A
K.R.C.
D.L.
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