I Read Comics : Mark Millar edition

Sidenote 1:  I am not only a big fan of Mark Millar, I've pretty bought much been a fan since he first appeared in American comics.  Personally, I use Millar as an example of breaking comics into the mainstream, certainly, 100x's more effective than big budget special effects movies starring Ryan Reynolds.  It's not Millar's fault that comic fans generally have no room for his points of view.

Millar is a divisive figure in comics, and it probably doesn't help that his promotion style seemingly each year approaches more and more of that of Kanye .  The most recent bragging is not only that Millar is a legend, but that there are only three types of comics that matter (DC, Marvel, and whatever Millar is writing).

I still like Millar, even after all of that because 1) if you are going to make your living as an artist, you need to tell everyone you're the best 2) I am pretty sure Millar doesn't mean most of it and is having a bit of a laugh and 3) well, it's sort of true isn't it.  Millar has to be on the short list (JJ Abrams, Joss Whedon) who are doing the best job of bringing comics to the mainstream.

In any case, once again this year, Millar is releasing a half dozen new titles this summer -all int he style that he has done quite well with in the last couple of years.  So how are they...


The Secret Service (Marvel/Icon)- Secret Service has high expectations in that it teams Millar up with Watchmen-artist Dave Gibbons.  Of all upcoming Millar titles, one assumes the biggest and best ideas will go here.

I know a little bit about where this is headed from reading spoilerific news stories, but it will be a bit unclear to readers of issue 1 quite where this is headed.  It is certainly ambitious, and looks to be headed into a story of a Secret Service that may not be too dissimilar to the Watchmen (my first thought.  The second thought I had was that this just may be a ripoff of The Boys).  it tries to marry that with a rough-hewn British working class struggle story not dissimilar from the likes of This is England

Secret Service, though, generally doesn't work in issue 1.  The superhero aspect is a pale imitation of the Boys, and the kitchen sink drama is nowhere near the quality of Garth Ennis's recent The Boys miniseries Butcher... 

I am not sure how long Millar has been in America, but the dialogue sounds like it was written by a teenage midwesterner who has read a bunch of Irvine Welsh and watched a bunch of Ken Loach films and thinks he can write "British".

Perhaps, the story Millar wants to tell here would be better served by 30 minutes of Guy Ritchie film than in 20 pages in a comic book.  The action (which features supercriminals kidnapping actors from science fiction franchises like Star Wars, Star Trek and Dr Who) never really feels completely captured.

All said, I will blame this on a rushed set-up.  Millar's work usually is worthwhile and were I have to waited until the inevitable trade paperback, maybe this story really will come together and gel.  It's too early to throw out this comic yet.

Super Criminals (Marvel/Icon/Millarworld) -  On the other hand, I loved Super Criminals.  The plot being that there are too many superheroes in America, so why stay here if you are a supercriminal ("There's no Captain Spain"  the comic points out.

The internet comic community hates this title, which means its Millar at its finest.  It's snappy, sarcastic, and vulgar.  I like the nod to the fact the good guys always win, Joker always goes back to jail, and the Avengers always have you outgunned.  Supercriminals are essentially the new mob, running vice and Las Vegas.

You're likely already familiar with Leinil Yu from his previous work with Millar, but he is the perfect compliment to Millar's story.  I like this one a lot and will be raving about it, while fanboys across the nation will again claim this is what is wrong with Millar.

Sidenote 2:  reading these titles as they come out, I am struck by one major thing.  Millar famously is connected with his mentor Grant Morrison, but maybe we should focus on where Kevin Smith's influence came in.  I mentally noted when there was a character named Walt Flanagan in Super Criminals.  However, alerts went off when Mark Hammill makes a guest appearance in the first few pages of The Secret Service.  I figure it's only a short matter of time before Jay and Silent Bob show up.

Motor featuring Martin L Gore - "Man Made Machine"

I have a couple of Depeche Mode fans here, so while I posted about the VCMG project a bit back, I thought I should point out a new release from Motor.

I don't really know much about Motor, except they are a German techno band and they have a new album out this week.

What I know about that album is that it features some legends of electronic music. Specifically, it features Martin Gore, Gary Numan, and Nitzer Ebb mainman Douglas McCarthy.

Advance reviews I have seen generally read what you might expect regarding techno (no new ground broken) and comments on youtube are harsh.

Still, I like the single enough and hope to get a chance to listen to a couple of more tracks before coming to a decision.

Anyway, for you to sample.

The The Extraordinary Adventures of Al Bedsitter, Gentleman-Swing State Voter

As you know Iowa features an extended election season because of the caucus.  As you know, the next election starts the day after the last one ended.

You may or may not know that Iowa is a swing state, so the general election tends to be a heated affair as well. 

Iowa doesn't particularly have the prestige (and certainly not the electoral votes) of Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.

Still, as campaigns base strategy on the kind of arithmetic that looks at all possibilities, Iowa becomes a state highly in play.

Combine in that Iowa tends to split evenly between Redder-than-Crimson Steve King territory in the agricultural west and the Blue-loyal cities of Des Moines and the college towns of Ames and Iowa City.

Results don't get much closer than this

2008- D53%R44%
2004- R50% D49%
2000-D49%R48%

In a certain fashion, the general election start with the caucus. 

By all reasoning, this caucus should have been a one-sided attack on Obama.  Instead, it played out as Mitt vs the anti-Mitts.  The focus on attacking Obama was replaced by ads attacking Newt, Rick Perry and Romney.

It also should be noted that it was no secret Mitt wanted to skip Iowa altogether.  With Iowa being a 'purple' stat, that was not doable.  Mitt spent a lot of time and money for a losing effort here in 2008.  His time and money spent for the last cycle was minimal, with Mitt usually sending his sons to do all of the mandatory campaign appearances.  Spoiler alert: it's going to hurt him here.

In any case, the general election has started here.  Joe Biden, Michelle Obama, and even Barrack have made appearances here, which clearly are re-election motivated.

Now, the last week, Obama has started running his first ads here.

It wasn't uncalled for.  For the last few weeks, the Koch Bros' Crossroads PAC has run a pretty damning ad that blames Obama for rising gas prices.  Among other things, it says that Obama is taking credit for Bush-era policies, has foolishly voted against beneficial drilling policies, and that Obama's Secretary of Transportation does not have a car.

Obama's first ad here is a counterstrike at the swipes against him.  It goes after the Republican superpacs with the claim that "when you see those ads, know they are paid for by big oil.

Check it out here.

The ad says if when you see an ad attacking Obama on oil policy, it is because that ad was paid for by Big Oil companies.  The reason being that the Big Oil companies will pay more taxes under Obama, but would get tax breaks in a Romney administration.

Obama's positives are that he is forcing a more gas-efficient car on the market and spending money on renewable energy (while increasing oil production).

My verdict is that it this seems like a forgettable first salvo for the November election.  Advantage would seem to be the GOP.  I tend to believe that gas prices are advantage Romney.  I also think the average American supports drilling wherever it may be- Arctic, off-shore, and Continental plate- and tend to think of the Democrats are stuck with the image that some rare breed of otter is preventing a range of drilling and abundant oil and dirt cheap gas.

That said, I guess this ad is better than it looks.  If Obama just took the punches from the Kochs and the superpac's, they eventually might do damage.  After all, whoever gets the blame for rising gas prices is going to get hurt.

Obama does well by aligning Romney with rich oil companies and rich campaign donors.  he wins when he draws those comparisons.  Especially after the BP spill, oil companies tend to be the villain, and many voters may tend to blame greedy businessmen for gas prices as opposed to the president.  if it becomes Obama vs BP, Obama will tend to win that argument.

We will see a lot of developments, but you can clearly see the election is on.

Real Clear Politics says there are 13 states in play, and those are the battleground states that will decide the election.  Obama, for many months led statewide polling, (Aug 49-39, Oct 43-40, Nov 46-39)  though a month out of the caucus, the Des Moines Register had Romney ahead 46-44%.  If I had to guess, I would say things have started to tilt back in favor of the Dems.

I will make sure you stay informed.