(Spoilers ahead.)

Action Comics 827 (DC) leaves me wondering where writer Gail Simone’s work ends and penciller John Byrne’s begins. The script has some signs of Simone’s customary light touch, but it’s kind of an odd fit with Byrne’s very familiar visual style, and many moments end up seeming like a comic that’s been written by Byrne. (While Marvel hasn’t trademarked the phrase “master of magnetism,” the reference is obvious, and it doesn’t particularly flatter the DC character vying for the title.) The story focuses on Repulse, a magnetic villainess who’s determined to eliminate anyone with the same shtick. She’s enormously powerful and takes full advantage of magnetism as an offensive weapon instead of being content to just “bend girders.” She’s fashioned herself has a flirty bad girl with 1940s hair, evening gloves, and vintage nylons. Superman gets drawn into her schemes when one of her victims makes it to Metropolis to seek the Man of Steel’s aid. The level of threat she poses is appropriate for Superman, but he seems incidental to the story. Any number of DC heroes could have been subbed in to Superman’s slot without much difficulty. And some of the work done to establish Superman’s personality and his supporting cast is more than a little strained. It’s a mixed debut for the new creative team. (In fairness, Superman is a tough sell for me, as I find him really boring.)

Adam Strange 8 (DC) concludes the exciting, well-crafted mini-series and settles the fate of the space-hopping planet Rann. Writer Andy Diggle and artist Pascal Ferry have done wonders reviving a little-used DC C-character, accentuating all the things that work about Adam Strange. His formidable intelligence and decency carry him through a range of escalating perils in fine movie-serial style. I do wish Diggle had resisted the urge to introduce yet another subset of DC’s space-based characters, particularly since they function mostly as cannon fodder in the climactic battle. But overall, the issue draws the mini’s threads together nicely and gives most of its surprisingly large cast nice moments. It ends on a cliffhanger, which seems appropriate, given that every issue has ended on one. But it’s not the kind of cliffhanger that demands a resolution, even though one is available in DC’s Rann-Thanagar War 1. It works just as well as a nod to the chapters that have gone before.

I would have liked Desolation Jones 1 (Wildstorm) much better if they’d called it They Saved Hitler’s Porn. Let’s run through the Warren Ellis comic checklist. Cynical protagonist who’s seen better days? Check. Forced introduction of a bit of contemporary scholarship (supermodernism in this case)? Check. Withered, mostly revolting sybarite in the supporting cast? Check. Sexy punk chick? Check. Seedy, conspiracy-steeped milieu? Check. You either like this sort of thing or you don’t, and you’ve had plenty of opportunities to decide. It’s conceived and executed well, but it’s very, very familiar, even with accomplished visuals from J.H. Williams III.

District X 13 (Marvel) tells the extremely worn story of a young mutant whose powers emerge in destructive and dangerous ways. Anyone with even a passing familiarity with Marvel’s mutant stories will recognize its mechanics instantly. Interesting execution can overcome a trite premise, but writer David Hine and penciller Lan Medina play the story entirely straight. As a result, it seems like a comic you’ve read many times before. I think this will be my last issue of District X. It has a terrific premise and a very promising setting, but it hasn’t made very imaginative use of either since the first arc. There’s also some frankly bizarre characterization (the young mutant’s father views himself as a liberal until the conversation turns to mutants, when he goes full-frontal fascist) and some very shaky art (as characters mention that it’s 10:30 in the morning, the sky is dusky and the street lamps are on; people look at a picture and identify a girl as a mutant, though I have no idea how). It’s another disappointing installment of a series that had a lot of potential to be something special.

Jake Tarbox, editor of DC’s CMX line of manga, has resigned from his position with the publisher. Newsarama has good coverage of the story here. I certainly think DC’s handling of their manga output has been problematic and said so, and I’m starting to wonder if CMX will ever get any good publicity. I’m also wondering if DC is really committed to the imprint or if it’s destined to go the way of Humanoids.

It’s hard not to get a sinking feeling after looking at some of the early comments from posters at Newsarama:

“I didn’t even know that DC had a manga imprint.”

“If you weren’t familiar with manga, you didn’t miss anything. If you are familiar with manga, this might have ticked you off.”

“I’d totally forgotten that DC had a manga imprint.”

“DC and Marvel have no idea what manga fans want and why it´s so popular. They just want in on the cash.”

“This is the first time DC has released ANY type of response to the criticism thrown its way over TenTen, and it’s through the resignation of an editor? And not the editor who made the decision, but the one forced to carry it out? If this is damage control, I don’t hold much hope for further repair.”

And that’s just the posters at Newsarama. What in the world will the folks over at the Anime on DVD forums say? (Apologies to Fanboy Rampage for borrowing its shtick.)

If I ever wavered even for a moment about skipping House of M, Marvel has kindly provided six preview pages to reinforce my decision.

(Spoilers ahead.)

In the preview, the Scarlet Witch, still crazy, attempts to recreate the birth of her imaginary twins. Fortunately, the menfolk (Charles Xavier and Magneto, Wanda’s father) are on hand to subdue the poor wretch… for now.

So basically the big, sprawling event springs from one of my least favorite elements of Avengers: Disassembled. Poor, deluded, inadvertently destructive Wanda can’t get her shit together, never got appropriate male supervision in the use of her powers, and couldn’t have real babies, so she’s unconsciously lashing out at the world. Fun!

There’s really no way a story could rebound from that starting point, at least for me. I admit that it’s mostly personal, though I do think Disassembled was a terrible story on almost every level. I also like to think that the transformation of Wanda from competent heroine of long standing to vacant time bomb of mutant mayhem was just an empirically bad idea, made worse by the fact that she was largely absent from the story where it happened. It was wasteful and destructive and it didn’t say anything interesting about any of the characters.

In case I haven’t made it obvious, the Scarlet Witch was one of the first Marvel characters to really click for me. It’s not difficult to see why, looking back.

She was a mutant who lived without concealment or apology. She was who she was, and she left it to others to accept that or not. She also loved who she loved, regardless of how friends, family, or society might respond. She met her various challenges squarely, making friends, finding romance, earning respect, and coming into her own along the way. It was extremely rewarding to watch, inviting identification from a number of perspectives, and it was very unusual by super-heroic standards.

In their decision to turn her into a destructive plot device, Marvel has devalued most of that. Beyond being unable to control her abilities to a lethal extent, Wanda’s attempts at building a life and a family are now portrayed as pathetic, signs of her instability instead of evidence of her determination. “She wanted love, companionship, and support. Oh, how could we not have seen how terribly sick she was?”

And that’s just beyond depressing to me. A great character with tons of potential gets reduced to little more than a malfunctioning weapon, another in the litany of crazy females who can’t handle the pressure, and she’s a particularly deadly one to boot. (She doesn’t even get the nasty thrill of acting with intent. She’s just crazy, and she doesn’t mean any of it.)

Please feel free to accuse me of hating change, because when change makes characters less interesting and reduces their potential to generate engrossing stories, I do hate it.

Lots of comics are coming out tomorrow, but I keep getting distracted by thoughts of all the books at the Barnes & Noble that just opened in town. It seems like tons of authors I really love have new books out at the moment, so it could get really ugly.

Add to that the fact that we’re about to go on vacation and will be spending most of our time without a television, so I’ve almost convinced myself that I need to overspend on fiction. It’s a sensible precaution, I tell myself, like bringing extra water on a hike or stocking up on sun block. Prose levels could drop without warning. I should be ready.

But how can I pick? There’s a new Amelia Peabody installment from Elizabeth Peters. Alexander McCall Smith returns with another chapter in the life of Botswana’s only lady private detective, Precious Ramotswe. It doesn’t sound like vacation reading, but maybe I’ll be in the mood for something by Ian McEwan? I knew having another shiny, soulless bookstore in town would be dangerous, and the timing couldn’t be worse.

The only sensible thing to do is distract myself further with some linkblogging.

Dr. Scott at Polite Dissent makes me very happy by singing the praises of Addams Family Values, one of my favorite comedies. It’s packed with great dialogue, but here’s one of my favorite exchanges, from a scene where Wednesday is forced to participate in lifesaving training at summer camp with her sunny, blond arch-nemesis:

Amanda Buckman: I’ll be the victim!
Wednesday: All your life.

It’s made even better by the fact that Amanda is played by Mercedes McNab.

Immelda Alty resumes blogging at Love Manga only to increase my eager anticipation for Bambi and her Pink Gun. I don’t know why I’m so intrigued by this title, but Immelda certainly isn’t helping any.

I don’t really care one way or the other about DC’s new logo, but I do love the images Heidi posted at The Beat. And, thanks to the comments on that entry, the phrase “nipple ring composition” is now etched on my brain. This could be a very lucrative bit of niche marketing for DC Direct.

There’s a new Flipped up at Comic World News. Like James Schee did before me, I review the two new Del Rey titles. Gump also takes a quick look at them at his blog, Keromaru.

Speaking of Nodame Cantabile, it’s one of the finalists for the Grand Prize in the 2005 Tezuka Awards. The list of nominees is posted at Anime News Network.

When I’m Old and Other Stories (Alternative Comics) is a collection of very accomplished mini-comics by Gabrielle Bell. Bell has tremendous versatility as a storyteller, using a wide variety of tones, insightfully creating a wide range of characters, and modulating her distinct visual style to suit very different scenarios.

“When I’m Old” is a marvelous look at the odd glamour of dissipation. Bell gazes into the future and finds her cartoonist stand-in living on the street, hawking home-made drugs and scratchy portraits of naïve passers-by, and badgering strangers about art even as she delivers grotesquely blunt come-ons. It’s a bitterly funny and concise character study, and Bell overlays it with a cheerful narration that’s a perfect contrast to what’s happening in the panels.

Bell shows a different kind of comic flair in the creepy and very funny “Just One Reason.” It follows protagonist Kate through a bout of existential despair and a series of failed suicide attempts and ends with a grimly satisfying reversal. Bell’s visuals for the story have a sweet fairy-tale feel to them, and her script walks just the right line between lighthearted and horrifying.

In “Just One Reason Part II,” Bell picks up Kate’s story again, and she’s living with the fallout of events in the first chapter. Kate’s become something of a magnet for life’s frustrations and oddities. The despair goes from abstract to very concrete, and Bell builds the tension in Kate’s life very effectively. Kate’s world becomes a very menacing place, both because of her deteriorating mental state and because of actual, everyday threats.

Bell offers two very different adaptations in the collection. She takes a playful approach to her telling of Herman Hesse’s “The Fairy-Tale about the Wicker Chair.” Her light touch and inventive visuals beautifully support Hesse’s work while putting Bell’s own stamp onto the portrait of an artist as a young narcissist.

She takes a more direct approach to her adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s “The Virgin and the Gipsy,” and it’s very effective. Many of the most striking moments in Bell’s work take place in a character’s head or on their faces, so it’s nice to see her demonstrate her skill at turning a straightforward sequence of events into moving illustrations.

I’m always a little reluctant to review auto-biographical work, because it seems strange to tell a creator that they didn’t tell their own story very well. That isn’t a worry with Bell, at least in the samples on display here. In these pieces, she tends to put herself at a disadvantage, whether she’s knocked back one too many or is lost in the unsettling, vaguely paranoid fog of jet let. My favorite is probably “Gabriella Picker-Packer in the Garden,” where she chats up a stranger about the therapeutic value of hypnosis. It’s a wonderfully illustrative bit of conversation.

This collection is packed with such a range of material. There are pointedly funny one-page pieces, longer-form urban fairy tales, dreams, and playful, detailed extrapolations on simple ideas. The unifying element is that Bell’s facility with language is every bit as strong as her visuals. As with all of my favorite cartoonists, Bell’s words and pictures work beautifully in concert.

The cumulative effect of When I’m Old and Other Stories is incredibly impressive, showing an ambitious, evolving cartoonist exploring the range of her abilities and the possibilities of her chosen medium.

Who knew that taking the human-phobic cat to the vet for her check-up would be the highlight of the day?

Like a good little nerd, I got to the comic shop right when it opened for Free Comic Book Day. I was all ready to rip a copy of the Owly freebie out of the hands of a sobbing child if I had to. This wasn’t an issue, because the shop didn’t order any. They didn’t get any copies of the Comics Festival book, either. The shop owner did make sure I knew where to find copies of the Sharknife give-away. I probably deserved that.

On the bright side, I liked the Flight sampler a lot, always enjoy Amelia Rules, and was pleasantly surprised by the appearance of the Shojo Beat preview.

There was a little schadenfreude in seeing the stacks and stacks of Chuck Austen-written comics that the shop had slipped into the FCBD display. The staff always puts some other titles out along with the FCBD comics, mostly stuff they can only give away, and if anyone is looking for a missing issue from “The Draco” arc of Uncanny X-Men, let me know. Actually, don’t.

Bitter and disappointed, I forced myself to buy some comfort manga (Miason Ikkoku and Iron Wok Jan).

In the afternoon, we went to see Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. We sure loved that opening song.

Y’know, I don’t even remember having that clear of an idea of what I thought a movie version should be like. I haven’t read the books since I was in college, and it isn’t like I’ve been waiting for them to make it to the silver screen. But whatever I was expecting, that wasn’t really it. Maybe it was just my mood, but I thought it was shrill and kind of stupid. And I really despised Zaphod and Trillian. I did love Alan Rickman as the voice of the robot. And I’m still singing that song. And it did motivate me to read the books again.

But now I’m going to go make myself a grilled cheese sandwich and try and trick the cat into speaking to me again. Because really, her day was worse than mine.

Sure, Previews is useful for those of us whose shops aren’t able to order a little bit of everything. But sometimes, it goes beyond service as a valuable consumer tool to become something much, much stranger. Take the May 2005 edition.

There’s the solicitation text from Rica ‘tte Kanji!? from ALC Publishing. Rica is an example of the yuri (girl love) genre of manga, and ALC lists one of its features as “a refreshing lack of self-hatred and doubt.” Sold! No, really. I’ve been looking for a yuri title to try. But that blurb does make me wonder if the rest of ALC’s line is filled with portraits of shame and pain. Probably not. And now I’ve got “Jonny and Betty” stuck in my head.

On page 248, a happy tour through the fresh-scrubbed world of Riverdale High. On page 249, Satan’s 3-Ring Circus of Hell! Run, Archie gang, run!

In the Fantagraphics listings, Previews takes a firm hand with the copy for The Comics Journal 269 (the shojo issue). The contrast between what editor Dirk Deppey wrote and what Previews printed is quite striking, so why not pop over here and compare the two for yourself? You can also gaze in wonder at the near-final cover design, which is soooooo pretty.

A high-school comedy featuring super-intelligent monkeys? Why yes, Oni, I will be purchasing Banana Sunday.

I have to hand it to Kazurou Inoue, creator of Midori Days (Viz). In a stunning bit of manga-ka inventiveness, Inoue has come up with a plot where it’s absolutely essential for the boy to have his hand up the girl’s skirt. Well played.

And on page 373, I find perhaps the best review blurb ever: “Tozzer and the Invisible Lap Dancers is Harry Potter done right.” I wish I had better needlepoint skills, because I absolutely must have that on a sampler or a pillow.

I love comics by Gail Simone and Dan Slott. In my opinion, they’re two of the best writers working in mainstream super-hero comics. Any Wednesday where I get comics from both of them is a good day.

Slott has the second issue of GLA, a parody of recent Marvel mega-events. I had expected to like it very much. From Simone, there’s Villains United, part of the run-up to DC’s next mega-event. I picked it up because Simone’s writing, but my expectations weren’t terribly high.

Turns out my reactions were reversed from my expectations. GLA has left me a bit cold, and Villains United looks very promising.

I think part of the problem with GLA is that the stories it parodies are so stupid to begin with. When the target (primarily “Avengers: Disassembled”) is laughable on its own merits, I think it must be difficult to find ways to effectively mock it. In the two issues that have come out so far, Slott has come uncomfortably close to doing precisely the kind of story he’s satirizing. The self-awareness the characters display about the story’s depressing mechanics doesn’t really differentiate it enough from its source material.

Part of the problem might be what normally is one of Slott’s biggest strengths. He routinely makes oddball, marginal characters extremely likable and engaging. It’s no different here, as in the case of throw-away Spider-Man/Iron Man fusion Grasshopper. While I’d never argue for the viability or value of the Great Lakes Avengers, it’s strange to see Slott make them appealing, sympathetic sad-sacks just before they meet a variety of grisly, humiliating fates.

GLA 2 isn’t without its charms. There’s plenty of good throw-away stuff. I love Monkey Joe’s running commentary (and wish Marvel would hire him as an editor, if such a thing was possible). Bits of the recruitment drive, particularly a rather tart look at the customary reaction of loner characters, are smart and funny. But overall, the book is kind of a bummer for me in many of the same ways as the stories that are meant to be bummers.

This seems to be the summer when Gail Simone tests my loyalty. I’m thrilled that she’s getting high-profile gigs like Action, but she’s being assigned with artists I’ll timidly call “polarizing.” Then, there’s Villains United, part of DC’s Infinite Crisis prep. I’d hoped to ignore the pre-Crisis hoo-ha entirely, but I can’t seem to pass up a comic with Simone’s name on it.

I’m glad I didn’t skip this, because Villains United turned out to be a lot of fun. It reminded me a lot of John Ostrander’s Suicide Squad, with a largely unsavory cast put in an impossible situation and managing to emerge oddly sympathetic. It’s also got plenty of Simone’s trademark character-based humor and smart, clear plotting.

In the fallout of recent events, high-profile villains are strong-arming lesser criminals into a sort of collective called the Society. They’re playing on the fear that heroes are routinely dishing out psychic lobotomies and offer a measure of protection. (They also threaten hold-outs with death, so they aren’t quite the Villain Civil Liberties Union.)

Simone focuses on a small group of hold-outs, six super-villains who decline the Society’s rather menacing offer. Maybe it’s just my personal tastes as a reader (I really dislike DC’s current direction), but seeing a group of characters refuse to play along by the prevailing rules is really rewarding. Their bid for independence and subversion has instant rooting value for me.

Most of the character work is excellent. Simone has been talking enthusiastically about her re-imagining of Catman, and it wasn’t just hype. She’s made him both more menacing and more layered, which almost never happens these days. I’ve always liked Simone’s take on vicious, utterly selfish Cheshire, too, and I’m glad to see the poisonous character take a leading role here.

Villains United isn’t perfect. I still don’t have a clear idea on who Scandal is or what she does, and I wonder if my recognition of some of the other characters might not be shared by a more casual reader. And the benefits of signing on with the Society (aside from not being horribly killed) are still vague, but that could be part of the point.

Overall, though, it’s a solid beginning to what promises to be an interesting mini-series. Simone has a solid cast in place and has made strong steps towards generating interpersonal chemistry. She also has fresh and interesting ideas, and I’m looking forward to seeing how they play out.

So, that’s one unexpected misfire (GLA) balanced by one pleasant surprise (Villains United). And really, even with minor stumbles, I’ll still always try anything by these two talented writers. Super-hero comics are much better for their participation.

Maybe it’s the fact that Free Comic Book Day is Saturday, but this week’s shipping list has me in a fog of mixed emotions.

I’m happy to see another issue of Fallen Angel, but I’m sad that it’s the last DC will publish.

I’m happy to see another title written by Gail Simone (Villains United), but it means I’ll have to buy one of those Countdown/Crisis tie-ins.

I’m happy that Marvel has released Essential Defenders Vol. 1, but I have all the issues it collects, so I don’t need to buy it.

It’s not all ambivalence, though. I’m looking forward to Del Rey’s Nodame Cantabile, particularly after reading James Schee’s positive review. (I can’t remember if I pre-ordered it or not. I think I did, but that was a long time ago.) And the second issue of Seven Soldiers Shining Knight is due, so I get to gaze at more pretty, pretty art from Simone Bianchi.

Speaking of Free Comic Book Day, Johanna has some reviews up at Cognitive Dissonance. Oh, Owly. I love you so.

Shortly after posting a review of a Highwater Books title, I found Tom Spurgeon’s piece on the publisher’s decision to shut down its web site. Unfortunate as the turn of events is, it’s nice to hear that Matt Madden (Odds Off) and Jessica Abel are collaborating on a textbook on graphic novels. Another fine piece of comics reportage from Spurgeon.

And there’s another fine piece on comics reportage from Ed at The Low Road. Ed looks at the state of the interview, and he raises some excellent points. I think a lot of them extend beyond on-line comics creator interviews, too. The state of all kinds of celebrity journalism seems so shaky at the moment, driven as much by publicists and hype cycles as anything specifically interesting about the subject, that just about every medium could use a Terry Gross. (And I know “celebrity” is probably a bad choice of words, but it’s all-encompassing enough to suit my purposes.)