COMIC BINGE: Attack on Titan, The Guild, and All-New Captain America
It has been a rough week here at Comic Binge HQ in Cincinnati, Ohio. Our city suffered one of the worst sports losses in recent memory, if not all of memory, and we are still dealing with the aftermath. Our city, our players, our team, our fans, are all being called thugs and classless. We really don’t care all that much, but the fact of the matter is, we were playing a team that is all of those and some. I won’t call players or fans out as a whole for being classless, but the coaches and type of football the Steelers play is straight up trash. The fact that our hometown boy Vontaze Burfict is being called out for being a murderer, piece of shit, etc. really is upsetting, because that fool Antonio Brown is no better than him. He’s just a damn good football player, they both are. Sure, Burfict’s a bit rough around the edges, and he seems to be at the bottom of a lot of bad plays. The dude just tackles, and he’s ruthless. He’s not out there to make friends, he’s out there to win. There are a few instances where he has been caught doing some less than favorable things, but who hasn’t in the NFL that’s worth anything for their play? All we really want in Cincinnati is to be treated fairly, but that will never happen because we’re just the little brother in our conference. Steelers fans will continue to shout “Stairway to 7 baby!” like the fucking tools they are, and we’ll continue to sit here and mope about how we’re all classified as thugs because the Crosstown Shootout drew blows and bows some years ago now. And the Ravens still wear purple, while the Browns wear brown, so they take care of themselves for all I care. Cincinnati is known as a thug city now and forever it seems, and it’s really unfortunate because it’s pretty much not true. We love our teams, and we stick by them… most of the time. I know I do. I will stand by Burfict, and his play. He plays like any other team would want their best defensive player to play, and I don’t care what anyone says otherwise. We’re still hopeful we’ll have a playoff team next year, and McCarron did a hell of a job for Andy Dalton coming on late this year. The team will be picked apart during the offseason, but WHO DEY will do what they can to make it back and hopefully win one of these playoff games for once. However, I digress because you guys are here to read about comic books, not my orange blood and tears so here goes!
Attack on Titan has been recommended to me a countless number of times. I’ve seen its popularity surge since I originally saw a really cool poster of the anime show on Netflix one afternoon when I was looking at anime titles to check out. I have yet to watch the show, but I feel that I am more compelled to now after reading the first tiny volume of the book. One of my reoccurring problems with manga is that the stories seem to be so drawn out. I’m not sure what comes first in the process of making anime and manga, but it certainly seems like one is usually based on the other and this results in the superiority of one over the other. In this case, I feel that I may have a better time with the anime. However, the book starts with several main characters that help to tell the story of the city our people are engulfed in. There seems to be a sense of wild serenity, if that makes any sense, as the surroundings quickly unravel as the chapters progress through the story. What I like her a lot is the concept. The Titans attacked these people years ago, and they’ve built giant, sturdy walls to keep the Titans out. Based on the maps provided in the book though, they are completely surrounded by what appears to be Titan wasteland. We have no idea yet where these Titans come from, what they truly want or can do. What we do know is that the wall was built to keep them out, until now. There is a larger King-like Titan that is threatening the very existence of our people within the walls. It attacks and breaks through the first wall of the city, which we then learn is one of many that the people have built so that they can fall back to a smaller, but again safe city. Based on how many manga books there seem to be, and anime episodes, I’m not entirely sure how this story can get any deeper or fleshed out. The live-action movie looks pretty intense, solely for the grotesque depictions of the Titans and the likely stressful struggle that we’ll see take place on screen. I can’t really decided if I want to just pick up the anime and try it, because that seems to be the main medium of the story that is popular, or if I want to try and squeeze the manga books for the details. Regardless, there is a great, different type of concept here that features really gross creatures in the Titans, but if manga is not your thing like it isn’t with me, this book is going to change your mind.
RATED : ( PG-13 )
STORY : ( 7 / 10 )
ARTWORK : ( 7 / 10 )
COVERS : ( 5 / 10 )
AWESOME : ( 6 / 10 )
FINAL RATING : ( 6 / 10 )
Next up this week were the comics that were created by Felicia Day in order to further develop her web series, The Guild. For those of you who may not be familiar with The Guild, or have not watched it, I cannot recommend it enough. It’s one of those series that has been on my list to purchase since listening to her audio presentation of her book You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost). Felicia Day is quite possible one of the coolest geek chicks working today in the field, because she’s truly authentic. Sure, she is kind of cute for fanboys and I think it’s just because that authentic fandom of hers cannot be torn down as being fake or to be popular. She is truly awesome, and her book proves as much. However, The Guild is not only a truly original and unique show, but is hysterical. Having spent a lot of time in group chat programs playing computer games in my teenage years, I was really familiar with the culture of gaming that she was trying to have her story take place in. This was the show though, and the book isn’t quite the same. What works really well for The Guild in motion picture form, doesn’t really work well for still picture form. Granted, the sense of humor and style of Day is still there, but it’s just not quite as magical as it is when she is performing it all live, especially with her great cast of characters. The first volume sort of delves into Codex’s early times of becoming a gamer. Struggling with her life full of bad relationships, she is searching for a place where she can be herself. Lots of great drama ensues as she becomes fully invested in the life of Codex, and not her personal life outside of the game. The surrounding cast of characters are a hoot too, especially one who is pregnant and trying to manage her life otherwise while still being a game addict. The second volume gives more time to the supporting characters, and telling their origin stories much like a comic book would. I liked both books, but the first one had Felicia’s brand written all over and inside of it, which made it a few steps above the second volume. You still get great characters, and great humor, but without her as present it sort of took away what I love so much about The Guild. If you’re a fan of the show, I would recommend these books, but if you haven’t seen it I would start there first in order to find out if you need these books or not.
RATED : ( PG-13 )
STORY : ( 7 / 10 )
ARTWORK : ( 6 / 10 )
COVERS : ( 8 / 10 )
AWESOME : ( 7 / 10 )
FINAL RATING : ( 7 / 10 )
Lastly this week is the first volume of All-New Captain America, which sees Falcon take up the mantle of Captain America after the events of the Marvel NOW! Captain America title, which I still am a huge, lone supporter of. This book was pretty good. It wasn’t great, but the change of pace with the main character gave it a little something extra. Sam Wilson’s backstory quietly unfolds at the beginning and end of each issue, and we see just a bit more about what makes him the best choice to be Captain America. It’s kind of the usual stuff, in terms of why he is a man of pure integrity and justice, but what else can you expect from Marvel other than the usual. A plot to further the Nazi bloodline unfolds, as the All-New Captain America sets out to stop the blood from spreading. Again, the story wasn’t anything too great for me either, and kind of typical. Baron Zemo and others have developed a way to take a kid’s pure, evil blood and spread it upon the world so that they can no longer have families and will be the new host of this evilly, pure evil blood. It was the equivalent to having nuclear weapons spread throughout the world, bombs, plagues, viruses, you name it. Nothing new here, but what was new was pretty cool. It was the beginning of the fifth issue, though I had sort of gotten some vibes earlier on in the book, that really did me in for liking Sam Wilson as Cap. We see an American citizen talking about the new generation, and that essentially we’re just handed things and we take them as is. He’s being super nostalgic about the old Captain America, and that Steve Rogers cannot be replaced by some guy who talks to birds because who cares about that. But I saw subtext, of the unwillingness for stubborn old fools like this to embrace the All-New. He talks to birds, but the embodiment of America is a bird, in the image of a Bald Eage. And I saw some subtext about racism, because Sam is black and the guy who was complaining was white, clean shaven, and appropriately dressed in what looked like an orange jumpsuit. This really solidified my belief that I was again reading something that despite having a typical plot, had some resemblance to our current state in America. This is what I loved about the Captain America book for Marvel NOW!, and now I may have to like this book as well. Remender and Immonen do an excellent job of taking our country’s current state, and applying it to larger than life comic stories such as this one. There were several other moments in the book, but the beginning of the fifth issue really stuck out to me as characterizing Sam’s struggle as Captain America, but also America’s struggle as it continues to evolve, much like the mantle that was formerly held by Steve Rogers. This is a must-read for fans of Captain America.
RATED : ( PG-13 )
STORY : ( 6 / 10 )
ARTWORK : ( 7 / 10 )
COVERS : ( 7 / 10 )
AWESOME : ( 8 / 10 )
FINAL RATING : ( 7 / 10 )