The second part of Steve Baxi’s two-part deep dive into the philosophy of Hannah Arendt and the way it manifests in Rorschach (2020) by Tom King and Jorge Fornes. This week: What is Arendt’s impact on Rorschach? On Tom King? What does it mean?
Read MoreSteve Baxi takes a two-part deep dive into the philosophy of Hannah Arendt and the way it manifests in Rorschach (2020) by Tom King and Jorge Fornes. This week: Who was Hannah Arendt, and what does she have to do with Rorschach?
Read MorePeter Cannon: Thunderbolt #1 is out 1/30/2019.
By Zack Quaintance — If you do not follow my instructions precisely, this planet will be dead before the day is out...but the task is not impossible. This is a mission statement for the comic and also a telling look into the personality and capabilities of the the protagonist—Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt. Which is all well and good for a reader like me, who is only vaguely aware that the character has a long history (dating back to 1966, turns out), created by legendary comic book writer/artist Pete Morisi for oddball Charlton Comics. Incidentally, as interested as I am in the history of DC Comics, I did not know the character had ever cropped up there, but he has. I did know he was the inspiration for Watchmen’s Ozymandias, which will come into conversation later, but I digress...
So, what’s up with this new Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt comic book then? Well, it certainly has the right creative team, or at least one that I’d deemed A List. Kieron Gillen is one of the bigger names in monthly comic book writing, having worked on a number of beloved runs at Marvel Comics as well as notable creator-owned books liked The Wicked + The Divine and, most recently, Die (which rules, btw). Providing the art is Casper Wijngaard of the severely under-appreciated creator-owned comic, Limbo, and his work is brought to such vivid life here by colorist Mary Safro.
This is, indeed, a very visual comic book, which sounds odd to say about a medium that’s always very visual, but it’s true: this book brims with gorgeous splash panels, drawn by Wijngaard and Safro. In fact, more than any of Gillen’s other recent new books—his work on Star Wars, Die—it feels like he spends much of this comic trying to get out of the way here, letting the visuals carry readers through the rudimentary stuff, the introductions to the world, the people, the threat it faces, and the way Cannon is almost immediately able to concoct a solution.
Gillen really makes his presence felt at the end, however, when he shows his hand and unveils the conceit of this comic: this book borrows pretty directly from the plot of Watchmen in some really crucial ways. Not to go too far into spoiler territory, but both the reason the threat has come to Earth and the person who sent are essentially right out of the pages of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ seminal comic. This has been a controversial artistic move in the past when done by the property’s actual corporate owners, DC Comics, but I imagine (relatively) small fry dynamite and indie comics good will hoarders like Gillen and Wijngaard will be given the leeway to tell an intriguing story with this concept. Besides, Ozymandias himself was essentially borrowed IP from the original Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt, which sends my mind down an infinite rabbit hole just thinking about it.
Overall: A pithy and entertaining read with some nice throwaway commentary for much of its duration, the real promise and potential of this comic becomes clear in its final pages. For long-time students of comics as well as recent die hards who’ve looked back even a bit, I highly recommend giving this debut issue a shot. 9.2/10
Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt #1
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Casper Wijngaard
Colorist: Mary Safro
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
For more comic book reviews, check out our review archives.
Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase.
My desk on a Sunday in sunny Sacramento, Calif.
Between now and Part 3 of this series, we got off Twitter (briefly) and read actual books about writing scripts for comics, books written by a murderer’s row of influential minds in the medium. As a result, this most recent entry in our compilation series of writing tips from pros features the mighty Brian Michael Bendis (Bendis is coming!!!!!) and Alan “Watchmen” Moore. Plus, also David Lynch, who hasn’t (to my knowledge) written comics but is an amazing film director and my personal artistic spirit animal.
Before we get to it though, I have to confess that my own work is suffering lately due to me failing to invest enough time in it. To that end, I’m going to start Tweeting a weekly tally of what I write, letting you all know how many pages I outlined, scripted, finished, etc., even if it’s all zeroes. I know myself well, and this sort of accountability and shame will without question move me to productivity.
I’ll report back on how it goes in Part 5 (coming soon, after I read more books). In the meantime, I hope you’ve found a productive lifestyle and an accountability system that works well for you!
Now, onward to the advice!
It’s almost a cliche of writing advice, but it’s important to keep a notebook with you everywhere you go. I’ve heard this in journalism school, at creative writing workshops, and from countless authors of instructional guides. I recently read a book by my favorite director—the aforementioned David Lynch—called Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity, and there it was again.
Lynch writes:
“If you don’t have a setup, there are many times when you get the inspiration, the idea, but you have no tools, no place to put it together. And the idea just sits there and festers. Over time, it will go away. You didn’t fulfill it—that’s just heartache.”
To emphasize further, I’ll tell a quick story about Chris Claremont, the all-time great Uncanny X-Men writer I recently met at a comic con in Sacramento. While waiting at his table, I noticed that in the big vest Claremont wore, one pocket brimmed with tattered, oft-used notepads. Here’s a guy with nothing to prove, and he’s still practicing that old kinnard of writing advice. One must assume for a master like him, it’s simply become second nature. Us young’uns would do well to follow suit.
This book is not only useful, but it's so useful I couldn't bring myself to outline in it, opting instead to tab good passages with sticky notes.
Bendis’ book Words for Pictures is an extremely practical guide, especially for those who dream of getting to Marvel or DC. It’s brimming with advice about everything from communicating with artists to identifying the best editors for a pitch. But one thing I found particularly helpful at this early stage in my career (one full script written, one series outlined, one 8-page mini comic slowly taking shape) was this about the difference between outlines and pitch documents.
Here’s Bendis:
“A pitch document is a quick one or two paragraph document that describes the story or series the writer is trying to sell. A story outline is a somewhat more involved document that goes into more detail about story beats and character arcs. The difference between the two documents is detail.”
This may seem rote, but when you have an idea that’s so exciting you start to get nervous, it’s incredibly grounding to have it laid out so simply. And, perhaps most usefully, Bendis’ book gives several actual examples of both documents. My own takeaway after reading them all was that I should focus on my outline, which should then later inform my pitch when I’m ready. Maybe you’ll have your own process. Another lesson from Bendis is that creating comics is a multi-faceted endeavor with few hard rules but many available examples from those who have had success and want to be helpful.
Or, as the kids say, you do you...but read up on what the masters tell you first.
Alan Moore and George Saunders are two of my favorite writers, but outwardly they share little in common. Moore is a bearded Englishman responsible for comics like the searing social commentary V for Vendetta and the seminal superhero deconstruction Watchmen, held by many as the best superhero story ever. Saunders, meanwhile, is from Chicago (like me!) and writes hilarious and heartbreaking short stories, inimitable bursts of speculative fiction about a ghost haunting a Civil War recreation, or a male stripper whose aunt rises from the dead to demand he start showing his gear at work for more money, and so on.
Saunders and Moore do, however, have something in common: they both insist a vital part of being a good writer is being a good human (I think this is also probably true of Bendis, who “is coming!!!!!” but is also massively convivial by all indications).
Observe this quote from Moore’s book, Writing for Comics:
“...if you want to be a truly great writer, it is perhaps worth remembering that even in this, it is more important to be a good human being than it is to be a good writer. The artists, writers, painters, musicians whose voices speak loudest to us across the centuries are those that turned out to have the most profound souls…”
This makes all kinds of sense. At the core, most stories aim to show growth, and how can one convincingly depict growth without at least striving to be a good human?
Let’s listen to Saunders advising the same in a 2013 commencement speech at Syracuse:
“Since, according to me, your life is going to be a gradual process of becoming kinder and more loving: Hurry up. Speed it along. Start right now. There’s a confusion in each of us, a sickness, really: selfishness. But there’s also a cure. So be a good and proactive and even somewhat desperate patient on your own behalf…”
Or in the words of Kurt Vonnegut, another all-time favorite writer of mine, God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.
And hey, what’s the worst case scenario? If being kind doesn’t improve your writing, you’re still putting net positivity into the world, creating something wonderful, and I don’t know about you but creating something wonderful is what brings me to my keyboard in the first place.
Zack Quaintance is a career journalist who also writes fiction and makes comics. Find him on Twitter at @zackquaintance. He lives in Sacramento, California.
Long-running books like Saga and The Wicked + The Divine NOT cracking our top 5 comics of 2017 has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of those books. No, in fact, Saga is as good as always, while Wic + Div is reaching new and awesome heights, propelled by epic twists that have changed this story of music and gods as we know it.
Those books didn’t make the top 5 because, as you’ll see when part 3 drops (hopefully tomorrow!), 2017 was a killer year for comics, at least critically (sales is another story). In our top 5, we’ll have a truly phenomenal Marvel series with a perfect ending, and we’ll have one of the industry’s best writers doing great things on multiple books and characters over at DC. But hey, we’re getting ahead of ourselves! Let’s save it for the next post.
Besides, the crop we have here is pretty great. So, let’s quit fiddling around and check out 6 - 15!
15. Doomsday Clock by Geoff Johns / Gary Frank
We predict Doomsday Clock will end up higher on next year’s list once it's get further into the story, but at the moment we’ve only seen two of the twelve issues. Those issues, however, were quite promising, setting up a tale likely to have ramifications throughout the DC Universe. With Geoff Johns and Gary Franks leading the way, we’re in for some real good comic booking.
14. X-Men: Grand Design by Ed Piskor
As with Doomsday Clock, X-Men: Grand Design will likely be higher on next year’s list. We’ve only seen one of six issues, but this might just be a masterpiece. Reading this book is like watching a perfectly-executed historical documentary, one informed by massive amounts of research. Ed Piskor, the auteur behind Grand Design, did the same thing on his last book, Hip Hop Family Tree, which traced the history of that music genre as Grand Design traces the X-Men. Simply put, this is an unprecedented and artful attempt to streamline decades of convoluted stories, and Piskor is nailing it. If he’s willing, Marvel should have Piskor produce similar books about Spider-Man, The Avengers, Hulk, Iron Man and so on and so on, etc, forever.
13. Secret Weapons by Eric Heisserer / Raul Allen
There was a cinematic quality to Secret Weapons, a Harbinger offshoot that ended up being the best Valiant book this year. That cinematic feel is likely owed to writer Eric Heisserer, who also penned last year’s excellent film Arrival. Secret Weapons is about a team of underdogs who learn to use seemingly useless powers to combat a threat that is hunting them. The plot doesn’t break new ground, but the characters’ powers are fresh, the script is compelling, and the art is top-notch. I'm becoming exhausted with Valiant not letting series grow into themselves, but this mini was satisfyingly self-contained.
12. Deathstroke by Christopher Priest / Various
Deathstroke has been a highlight of DC Rebirth. It's written by PRIEST, an all-time great creator who returned to monthly comics to helm this, and man, are we lucky he did. The plotting and character work in Deathstroke is more complex and nuanced than almost any other superhero title today, and PRIEST is consistently planting seeds that payoff later. His work here has been so good that DC allegedly offered him the Batman editor gig (which he allegedly declined) before giving him its flagship team book, Justice League. Smart moves, all around.
11. The Wild Storm by Warren Ellis / Jon Davis-Hunt
We’ve gone two whole spots without saying this, but The Wild Storm is yet another book likely to be higher next year. There is an incredible amount of complex track being patiently laid here by writer Warren Ellis. In fact, before this book launched, Ellis said he’d plotted exactly what would happen and when (and which books would spin out of the title), and this intricate planning shows. Also, Jon Davis-Hunt is one of the most underrated artists in comics. His facial expressions are almost photographically realistic, and The Wild Storm #9 had a samurai sequence that ranks as the best graphic action storytelling of the year. We can’t wait to see where this goes.
10. Royal City by Jeff Lemire
Royal City is a personal and introspective book, easily the most personal and introspective book appearing monthly in almost every shop. What’s especially impressive for such an introspective book is that the story here is also relatable, rich as it is with family dynamics, economic struggles, addiction, etc., and it's told with a really cool ‘90s grunge vibe, super familiar to readers of a certain age. Also of note is that Royal City is written AND drawn by Jeff Lemire, whose Google Calendar must be INSANE because he’s writing a half dozen other books always.
9. Supergirl: Being Super by Mariko Tamaki / Joelle Jones
Supergirl: Being Super gives the titular character the reimagined out-of-continuity origin story treatment, a concept that has previously resulted in great stories about more prominent characters, mostly Superman and Batman, over and over and over. It's nice to see it now applied to Supergirl. All four of the glossy oversized issues that make up the run of this book were killer, and Joelle Jones’ art was so good it often felt like watching a great teen drama that was heavy on emotion.
8. Saga by Brian K. Vaughan / Fiona Staples
Saga has been a favorite throughout its run, and we’ve given it to friends and co-workers who don’t read comics (harshly judging any who did not respond with praise), and we never miss an issue. Recently, @SageTerrence described this book on Twitter as “Star Wars and Romeo and Juliet combined,” which is a good starting point for explaining Saga. Taking it further, this is also a book about a family fighting to survive a galactic conflict that is so polarized and entrenched many of those engaged in it have lost sight of the cost, becoming blinded to what's productive and only focusing on whether they're right. This, sadly, was a tragically-relevant theme for 2017, a drag-ass year if ever there was one. Here’s to a better 2018, in which Saga continues to be this good.
7. God Country by Donny Cates / Geoff Shaw
Donny Cates was a talented up-and-comer when 2017 started. Then God Country dropped. Now, as 2017 ends, Donny Cates is a bonafide comics star. If you’ve read God Country, this makes total sense. The book was so good, my LCS now orders all of Cates stuff, marking the first time this particular shop has stocked AfterShock Comics or Vault Comics titles (because of Babyteeth and Reactor, respectively). Like all of Cates’ best work, this book is powered by a mix of unique concept and clever scripting, with a healthy coat of pure Texas, Cates native state.
6. The Wicked + The Divine by Kieron Gillen / Jamie McKelvie
It’s been easy to forget The Wicked + The Divine in recent years, not because the book hasn’t been good or memorable, but because it’s been so reliable. It’s like the friend you take for granted because he or she is always there. This year, however, Gillen and McKelvie took the story to new places with a blockbuster arc that paid off events from the first issue that pretty much anywhere realized would come back to be relevant. This year's incredible arc was easily Wic + Div’s best, no minor feat for a story that’s 30-some issues old. The end game is coming for this book, and while we're sad to see it end, we have total faith that the finale will be spectacular.
SPECIAL NOTE: The exciting conclusion, complete with the Top 5 Comics of 2017, is coming tomorrow!