Comics! 3/3/11

I know it's the not the most important thing going on in the world right now, but I am enthralled with Charlie Sheen's descent into madness. Everytime he opens his mouth, posts a picture, makes a cake, it's solid gold. To quote Brock Samson from the Venture Brothers "it's like he's channeling dead crazy people." It's a masterpiece of a media spectacle.

Despite my near obsessive compulsive behavior regarding Mr. Sheen, I'm going to take some time to review some of the fine comics that came out this week. Fine wares that are available for purchase at Coast City Comics!

Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth #1

It's impossible to say anything bad about this book, since it's literally written by a 6 year old child. To insult, or even critique it, is to insult/critique the imagination of a child.

The book is unpredictable, and full of nonsense. It's dialogue and setups are simple, childlike simple, but that's the whole point. It's meant to be like you found a book that you wrote in elementary school and read it again. I don't know about you, but I've always found that experience to be hilarious, and this book is no different.

What makes this better than the book that you created when you were a kid, is the involvement of the writers 30 year old brother. His exaggerated style compliments the insanity of Axe Cop's world perfectly. All the zany characters are full of life and look cool to boot. I can only imagine how much fun it must be to draw this book on a regular basis. I bet plenty of artists would love to see "draw t-rex with chain guns for arms shooting down fighter jets" in their scripts.

Axe Cop is a light-hearted, insane romp through the mind of young cild, and will more than likely make you feel like a child after reading it. I can't recommend it enough.

5 Ronin #1

Some of the Marvel U's most brutal heroes have been re-imagined into the time of feudal Japan. It's something that I would think would have been a meme on an graphic designer forum, but this is a full fledged mini-series. Not that I'm complaining, I love "elseworlds" stories. Out of continuity is usually the best continuity to me.

This issue focuses on Wolverine, with the rest of the series devoting one issue to each of the heroes being featured. We find him roaming the country sides as a ronin, or masterless samurai. The world is changing around him and he's losing hope of finding his new place in the world. It's a story that has been told many times before, and I was actually having flashbacks to Usagi Yojimbo while reading it. Not that saying it's similar to a book about a samurai rabbit is an insult. Usagi is an Eisner award winning masterpiece worthy of praise. The fact that 5 Ronin is similar indicates that this introductory issue is quite good and accomplishes what it set out to do.

An intriguing story, coupled with gritty, detailed art has produced a mini-series that is sure to be talked about in the coming weeks. If you were on the fence about this series, I would encourage you to give it a shot.