Books I'm Loving by Brian Woods

Aside from reaching the final pages of Thief-Taker General #2 and keeping on top of the day job I have been reading through my usual diet of comic books and graphic novels. My regular titles include Northlanders, Captain America, Daredevil and 2000AD to name but a few. Graphic novels I’ve recently bought include Joe Sacco’s Palestine, Howard Chaykin’s American Flagg vol 1, Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis and The Dylan Dog Case Files. My indy titles you can find about from the Smallpress link on the regular site. But for today’s blog I thought I’d write a bit about my growing love for the work of Brian Woods.




The first book I came across by this US creator was Local. Published in a lovely hardcover edition and drawn by Ryan Kelly, it has the appearance and feel of a professionally made independent comic and is miles away from the usual superhero/detective noir/ magical mumbo-jumbo themes of many American comics. Here the authors focus on 12 years in the life of Megan McKeenan with each chapter representing a moment of each year as he hops from one state to another to both escape and to find herself. We watch as she evolves from a naive, emotionally insecure girl to a mature and sorted young woman, ready to return home and take on the responsibilities that will take her into adulthood. In so doing she becomes an unusually rounded character, one whom you can feel you almost know. The art is rendered in heavy blacks and lends itself well to the story. It is tribute to both Woods' and Kelly's talents that the stories remain in the head long after reading them and I moved from initially disliking Megan to eventually caring for what happened to her. This is a great book and definitely one I will be returning to again and again.

On the basis of that I picked up Demo volume 1, very similar in tone to the sort of stories told in Local but much more fragmentary. By that I mean that each chapter stands alone and features a different cast of characters, all of them rounded and well-drawn both in a literary sense by Woods and in the literal sense by Becky Cloonan. The catch here is that one of the characters in each of these stories has some sort of secret power and is attempting to find ways to live with it bar dressing up in a leotard and cape and saving the world. These stories are rooted in the real world and concern themselves with the day-to-day affairs of ordinary people that we can all relate to. Unlike Local, each story is drawn in subtly different ways, some of them dark and bold, others lighter and some with hints of manga about them. Again another top read that rewards repeated reading.

Earlier I mentioned Northlanders, a series about the world of the Vikings, published by Vertigo and again written and drawn by Brian Woods and Ryan Kelly. Stories vary in length; so far there have been two six-parters and a two-parter. Each tale follows its own theme with its own set of characters, something which appears to be a hallmark of this creative duo. The stories are weighty, bloody and very dynamic to look at. Despite any stereotype images we have of the Vikings and their world, these characters are again very well written and drawn out. In the six-part ‘The Hammer and the Cross’, our perceptions of the three main characters and their motivations are constantly challenged and questioned; by the end of the tale our allegiances have almost (but not quite) reversed as the true nature of events is revealed. Unlike their other work this series is in colour rendered in muted tones that suits its subject. And the painted covers are some of the most glorious and eye-catching ones currently being produced anywhere.

I would heartily recommend any of the above titles and I for one will certainly be looking out for more of their new and previous work. All of the above mentioned tomes are available to by on Amazon.

The Triple Cross

The second issue of Thief-Taker General is due to be published in the next couple of months and work is currently underway to finish off the art, add text and format the pages for printing. It features the second and concluding chapter in the true stories of 18th century London crime lord, Jonathan Wild and petty thief and escapee-extraordinaire, Jack Sheppard. A draft version of the cover has been posted below to whet your apetite. The 32 page comic will be on sale at the regular web site here.

The Final 52 Secret Civil Invasion Crisis Wars

I enjoy the odd superhero title much like most comic readers but one thing that has always put me off, at least for the past decade or so, is the myriad annual crossover events. These stories contrive to tie in dozens of regular titles, produce spin-off mini series and usually result in the comics’ universe never being the same again. Except of course that it always is.

Such events (52, Final Crisis, Secret Invasion, Civil War, etc) can be entertaining enough and the odd tie-in title can often produce new light onto a familiar character or setting. All too often though the whole thing gets mired in continuity, things happen in one title that seem to contradict another and characters often seem to be in umpteen different places at more or less the same time.

Spider-man is a case in point. Following the events of Brand New Day, years of storylines and continuity (not to mention Peter Parker’s entire marriage) were undone at a single stroke. Time was rolled back, characters and scenarios reset to square one. It was a bold and understandable move by Marvel and a great way of clearing the decks. But a little nagging thought kept chattering away at the back of my mind; what about the New Avengers? Spidey was a current member of the line-up and was engaged half-way around the world with his team-mates. Shouldn’t he have forgotten them? Should he not be a member of the New Avengers any more? And wouldn’t they wonder what had happened to him?

It raises more questions than it answers although the stories were generally so well-told that any discrepancies and contradictions could easily be forgotten while reading them. Even so my natural urge for order had a gripe with the whole thing. It would have worked so much better, to my mind, if Spidey had been operating purely within his own universe rather than the wider Marvel one with its myriad of contradictions and connections.

The point I am trying to make here is that while it might all be great fun for the creators and regular fans, it doesn’t seem to me to be a clever way of attracting new readership. And year after year, each ‘event’ is a little bit diminished by the growing number of events; they begin to lose their unique appeal by being so numerous.

I suppose really superhero comics will struggle for new readers anyhow. I’ve often wondered why superhero titles are termed ‘mainstream’. Look around any bookshop and you will struggle to find a comparable genre that appeals to a mass audience mainly because there is no mass audience. Mainstream appeals only to a majority of comic readers who form a very small part of the wider publishing world. In book terms, thrillers, historical sagas and romance would be considered far more mainstream.

Back to superhero titles, I much prefer titles such as Captain America and Daredevil that by and large skirt by the main events following a continuity of their own. I would much prefer my superheroes to lead more solitary existences and maybe reserve the big crossover events for something really major on something like a five-yearly basis. Another problem is events often crossover into new events (Civil War into Secret Invasion into Dark Reign and War of the Gods) which further boggle the continuity and confuse anyone who isn’t already following such titles regularly.

I may be alone in this view as clearly there are sufficient numbers of the comic buying public picking up these event titles, otherwise why produce them. But isn’t it time for a little more plot and characterization and a few less events?

Come and join the Temple APA

Issue three of the Temple APA is now available and free to download - Temple APA issue three (48mb)



The Temple APA is a digital showcase of British Comic Writers and Artists both amateur and professional (also including a Smallpress Comics directory). The group are looking for people to contribute to the next issue, even if it's a couple of pages, it can be anything - comic strips, scripts with no artwork, sketchbook pages, a plug for your own comic... pretty much anything. Temple APA has a proven track record and they like to get a broad cross-section of all the talent out there.

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