The Amazing Kirk-Man. FIRST ISSUE!

Over the past year or so I've become increasingly obsessed with the work of one man and as a result, a fan of many things I would have totally missed out on.

The man is Robert Kirkman. Known primarily for his astounding survival horror series, The Walking Dead. This fantastic writer has shown me on many occasions that there are still original ideas out there and that all you really need is the balls to write them down and get them drawn.

I was first introduced to this writer when, like many others, I discovered The Walking Dead. I was turned onto this work of genius through the recommendation of friends and the general word of mouth from comic book buyers in my place of work.

To summarise, this series is a fresh take on the George A Romero zombie lore, but with enough depth and heart to put it up there with the literary greats.

Surpassing the initial hokey horror of zombie movies within the space of one issue, The Walking Dead has stayed constant in an ever fluctuating market of exploitative gore and tiresome trends. Among horror comics of its ilk, it remains peerless in its strengths, never faltering from the true edge-of-seat terror tactics, but first and foremost, its faithfulness to its characters and the ideal it has created for itself.
This is as honest an interpretation of what the world would be like under such horrific circumstances. Focusing majorly on the physical and emotional survival of the human race, the series takes a stance in following a cold, hard and unwavering rule - Nobody is safe.

Kirkman has illustrated this point on several occasions by abusing, mutilating and outright murdering his characters regardless of their strength and status within the story. Not wishing to spoil the story for anybody who hasn't read this amazing series, I'll sum it up by saying, lots of people die. And they die nasty.

Kirkman has taken his story to levels of horror and depravity usually exclusive to writers who use shock and exploitation as a means for selling their titles, but he has carried it off with a seemingly infinite supply of style and aplomb.

From the get go, Walking Dead takes us into a realm we've only ever really seen in small doses and immerses us in the thick, revolting truth of it. Like I said, nobody is safe. Take that in a few ways if you will, in that the characters aren't safe from the external forces that wish them nothing but pain and suffering and that the characters themselves are not safe. In order to survive they must be brutal and in order to thrive they must be downright callous and malicious. Even the best of these layered characters has the potential to be dangerous and Robert never sugarcoats this point.

The development of all of his characters is so complex and yet so simple. What they are in nature and what they become through experience are details explored at great length and as a result the story just gets stronger and stronger.

This series is fast approaching its 100th issue, which is not an easy feat for an independent comic. Image comics, the creator owned company formed in the 90's by writers and artists tired of churning out the typical stories printed by the mainstream comic industry, have very little that compares in scope to the epic work that Kirkman has provided them with. This is something that they have completely recognised and have actually seen such promise in this man that they have made him a partner in their company and even awarded him his own spin-off branch of the enterprise in the form of Skybound Entertainment. If this isn't enough to make you respect the man, I don't know what is.

The Walking Dead has gained a global following so faithful that it was an easy move to take the tale to another medium, in this case a widely renowned television series which is as brave and diverse as its source material and in many ways just as original. It deviates enough to stay totally new and is true enough to not alienate the readers. Only the most stubborn of purists, or rather (in honour of Mr Kirkman, I'll refrain from any sugarcoating) fanboys, take serious issue with the differences.

The readership has stayed strong and will continue to do so until the story ends and as Robert has said many times, it won't be any time soon.

So for anybody who has not read this and is apprehensive to do so for whatever reason, I passionately urge you to look past the surface. This is not just zombies, it's not just human drama, it's not just a cool black and white indie comic - It is The Walking Dead, and it's coming for you, Barbara.

- your friendly neighbourhood Joe.

P.s. Part two of this will focus on Mr Kirkman's lesser known or rather lesser bought comics, such as Tech Jacket, Astounding Wolf-Man and of course his work in the mainstream.

Part three is the best of the trilogy.
Invincible.

P.p.s. Don't think that I've forgotten the wonderful artists who contribute to these works, because that's a whole other story.

Failure to (re)launch.

DC Comics have started off their big "New 52" scheme of restarting all of their main titles from issue 1 with altered origins etc.
If you're remotely into comics you probably know this and most likely have a moderate to strong opinion.

I don't.

I have a passive sigh, but not much of an opinion. So far my strongest reactions in the positive and negative are either "Oh, that's quite interesting." to "That's kind of pointless." and I've decided that I probably won't be following these titles.
Even Scott Snyder's Swamp Thing didn't get much from me and that had two huge strengths for me - Scott Snyder and fucking Swamp Thing! Still, it's a letdown.
My strongest feelings come from Jim Lee choosing artists whose styles have barely evolved in the expanse of their careers and with the exception of Geoff Johns, Scott Snyder and Jeff Lemire, writers who gave trouble grasping what their characters are really about.

Grant Morrison is a truly great writer. The Invisibles, The Filth, We3 and some of his non-canon DC work are great. But, put him on Action Comics and something goes wrong. You have all the ingredients to make something brilliant - It's an idea that has the potential to be true to Superman's origin as a published character and also be something entirely new and exciting. While most of this is true, the ingredients somehow haven't really blended properly in Action Comics #1, leaving us with a comic that is only decent where in theory it should be brilliant. I'm holding out for more, but my hopes aren't exactly high.

Now I move on to Detective Comics. I was almost certain I would hate this comic, primarily because I'm neither a fan of Tony Daniel as an artist or as a writer. Also, after the stunning, near-perfect work of Scott Snyder, Jock and Francesco Francavilla on the recent series, it would be almost impossible to write anything that could stand its ground against that. But surprisingly, it's not awful, it's not even bad. Tony's artwork is pretty solid and the direction of the story offers some genuine intrigue that I was frankly not expecting. Impressive when compared with my lowered standards for the title, but still, objectively, not really a big deal. At times I felt like its strongest moments were where it was riding on the coattails of Snyder and co, but many writers who follow a groundbreaking run will often do so just to dovetail smoothly and ease the transition for stubborn readers. Ed Brubaker did it for Daredevil and quickly established his version of the character as something even better. So there's still hope.

The main Justice League title has been my favourite so far, mainly because I feel like I actually give a shit about the Justice League again, if only a little. If I have any criticisms about this book they're probably just that the art feels a little dated and it's moving a bit too quickly. DC have the chance to draw out the new origin of the team and maybe even just use each issue for the first few months to establish a character or two and they're unique relationships and drop hints at a big threat rather than having pretty much half of the team meet and say fucking "Darkseid" in the first half of the book. Take it easy, guys! No need to rush this, people will keep reading anyway. Give us some credit, not all DC fans are fickle, slathering morons, lost in the tangles of an oft molested continuity and with the attention spans of a bucket of newts. That's just... the majority of them...
I think the perfect template for a modern retelling of the Justice League origin story has already been told. Unfortunately, it was told outside of DC comics by one of their own writers. I'm referring to the underrated and totally genius "Supreme Power" from J. Michael Straczynski, published by Marvel's MAX line of mature comics.
Still, if you want the perfect Justice League origin story, read that and just pretend they are the DC characters instead of Marvel's thinly veiled approximations.

Basically, we're just about to head into week 3 of the "New 52" and as it stands, there's nothing to really get excited or angry about. It's all just a little big beige.

Except for the artwork. It's not the 90's anymore, so please stop drawing like that, and please stop giving Liefeld work.

Thank you,

Your Friendly Neighbourhood Joe.