Time Share
show more
Patrick Keller and Dan McDaid. Oni, $19.99 trade paper (168p) ISBN 978-1-934964-54-5
Ollie Finch is a teen who jumps through various timelines in an attempt to stop a threat that’s never particularly clear. It’s reasonable to expect the early pages of a madcap time travel caper like this to feel disjointed, but the confusion starts at page one and never really ends. Stories that introduce alternate time streams or parallel universes need solid internal logic. But debut writer Keller never establishes the rules governing his strange worlds, nor is it ever clear what the oversized cast of characters want at any given moment, or even what the stakes are. For instance, midway through an episode, a soldier on a postapocalyptic mission to save someone named Mike Hawk decides he needs to kill him instead. Why? Who knows. It’s a shame that the storyline is so undercooked, because the book does have an irreverent, tongue-in-cheek humor, and the art by McDaid (Judge Dredd) is a lot of fun and perfectly suited for this type of material. (Feb.)
Dept. H, Vol. 1
show more
Matt and Sharlene Kindt. Dark Horse, $19.99 (168p) ISBN 978-1-61655-989-2
Special investigator Mia is assigned to look into what is presumed to be an accident at a research facility six miles below the ocean’s surface, a mishap that claimed the life of her father, only to discover that the clues point to murder. Set against a backdrop of deep-sea exploration, this exciting narrative works well as a mystery that happens to take place within a science-fiction context. The undersea locale evokes the claustrophobia and isolation of films like Alien and The Abyss, while providing the protagonist with a crew of possible suspects that includes once-trusted friends and respected elders and pitting them all against unknown aquatic life-forms. Mia proves a smart,capable, no-nonsense professional, so readers are swiftly invested in seeing just how she will unravel this whodunit. Matt’s (Mind MGMT, Past Aways) deft scripting and sketchy illustrations mesh perfectly with Sharlene’s moody color tones. Further volumes are to follow, and readers will be eager for more. (Feb.)
The Torture Report: A Graphic Adaptation
show more
Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon. Nation, $16.99 trade paper (144p) ISBN 978-1-56858-575-8
An outstanding example of graphic nonfiction, this adaptation of the 2014 report by a Senate committee describes how the CIA abused prisoners to extract information about al-Qaeda. The 9/11 attack was used to justify what was called “enhanced interrogation”: waterboarding, sleep deprivation, prolonged nudity, slapping, isolation—in short, torture. Whatever one thinks of the morality of this operation, the report clearly shows it proved to be pointless; the only reliable information from the detainees came from timely, nonviolent interrogation, not prolonged physical torment. Jacobson and Colon previously collaborated on other books about the 9/11 report and the war on terror, and Jacobson’s thorough summary of a huge amount of material is matched by Colon’s art, which vividly contrasts the naked, agonized prisoners and the calm, business-suited CIA administrators trying to spin bureaucratic jargon to hide their lack of success. This is not an enjoyable read, but it’s extremely important. (Mar.)
Sticks Angelica, Folk Hero
Michael DeForge. Drawn & Quarterly, $21.95 (96p) ISBN 978-1-77046-270-0
This collection of the psychedelic webcomic from Canadian cartoonist DeForge (First Year Healthy, Big Kids) follows the titular celebrity hero—“former: Olympian, poet, scholar, sculptor, minister, activist,” among other things—through a series of one-page adventures. In the first we’re told that after a scandal, Sticks has decided to live in the forest with a group of talking animals, and the rest of the book explores the dynamic between hero and fans in surreal episodes. In one strip, a rabbit confesses a desire to be Sticks’s pet; in another, a moose (named after cartoonist Lisa Hanawalt) steals Sticks’s sweaters in a ploy to get closer to her. A character named Michael DeForge even gets in on the action, as a magazine reporter looking to interview the arrogant and impetuous Sticks. As a meditation on fame and as a beautiful, disturbing daydream in pink-and-black ink, the book marks a successful shift for DeForge after the sometimes detached body horror of his earliest works. (Mar.)
1 - 4 of 4 Comics reviews
ADVERTISEMENT
