Reviews of Soul Eater, Shenzhen, Hugh Howey's Wool and Superior Foes of Spider-Man.

Due to recent changes in reading and spending habits, I pick up a majority of my weekly comics reading from the Columbus Metropolitan Library. The Columbus Metropolitan Library has a surprisingly extensive collection of comics, and has been an invaluable resource for keeping up on the comics world while trying to keep my costs intact.

As part of my 2015 New Year's Resolutions, I'm trying to write more columns and features to the Outhouse to make up for my decreased presence on the news side of the site (sorry, Jude.) What better way to start that than by writing about the comics I read on a weekly basis while promoting a fantastic local resource? This column will be part review/part rambling/part documentation of what I've read this year. I'll also include my "request/to read" lists, so you can follow along at home if you'd like.

Read This Week:

Soul Eater Vol. 1-3, by Atsushi Okubo (published by Yen Press, 2009-2010):

A Japanese manga created by Atsushi Ōkubo, Soul Eater is an action/adventure comic focusing on the exploits on Maka, a "meister" being trained at a supernatural academy to fight and kill evil souls, and her partner Soul Eater Evans, who can transform at will into a large scythe for Maka to wield. From what I understand, Soul Eater was a popular franchise over in Japan and an English dub of the anime is available on Netflix, which both my wife and I enjoyed immensely.

The Soul Eater manga has very dynamic and fun artwork, with unique character designs and exciting action sequences. The world Okubo created is a gorgeous one, filled with bizarre and grotesque creatures and buildings that reminded me a bit of Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas movie. While some of the fights in the manga were hard to follow at times and the story (through the first three volumes) was simplistic, Okubo has a knack for creating easy to root for character that aren't one-note.

Soul Eater is clearly a book written with the teenage boy in mind. All three volumes of the book featured a bit of gratuitous nudity (with the naughty bits covered up with mist and/or bubbles, of course), and most of the female characters have at least one scene in some state of undress. There's even a supporting character whose main ability is to transform from black cat into busty female, which is played up for pervy laughs. However, in a refreshing change of pace, Maka is presented in a largely non-sexual manner. She's the most competent of her peers, and shown to be as capable of a fighter as her male counterparts. I also enjoyed the largely platonic relationship between her and Soul. While the two have a close relationship, it's left deliberately ambiguous whether there's any romantic interest or if they're just good friends and partners.

While Soul Eater isn't going to elicit much heavy thinking, it's a fun and lighthearted read. Each volume took me about 40-45 minutes to read through, and there's a few helpful translation notes at the end of each volume that explains some of the references and bits of Japanese culture that the ignorant reader (like myself) might not understand. If you're a fan of loud and brash action comics with a bit of juvenile humor, you'll probably enjoy Soul Eater.

Shenzhen: A Travelogue from China by Guy Delisle (published by Drawn & Quarterly, 2000):

Tucked in all the drama over Sony's The Interview movie and whether or not North Korea was trying to attack the United States for mocking their country was a report that Fox had pulled out of a movie adaptation of Guy Delisle's Pyongyang travelogue comic. Delisle had written several comics about his travels in Asia while working for a Canadian animation studio. Shenzhen was the first of these comics, and covers his time in China overseeing a studio of animators.

Those expecting the wit and satire of Delisle's Pyongyang may be disappointed when they read Shenzhen. The comic is set in one of China's "special economic zones", and the area is relatively free of government restriction or strict oversight in order to attract Western investors. Shenzhen is a newer Chinese city that lacks the ancient tourist attractions and culture of other parts of China. Without much to entertain him and few people to interact with due to the language barrier, Delisle struggled with boredom and loneliness during his stay in China. While there are plenty of anecdotes about the quirks of Chinese culture, much of Shenzhen is spent recounting Delisle's mundane attempts to stay occupied. Delisle's commentary on his own boredom, while not as entertaining as his criticism of North Korea in Pyongyang, is an interesting change of pace from other travelogues I've read. I enjoyed how Delisle found a way to depict the "stranger in a strange land" aspect of travel comics without the naivete or sense of wonder that usually accompanies it.

Delisle's artwork is a fantastic mix of detailed depictions of buildings and skylines with simplistic, cartoonish people. I felt that Delisle's talents were a bit wasted on the mundanity of Shenzhen, but it's not really the artist's fault that there's nothing "interesting" to draw. Shenzhen is still an entertaining read, and worthwhile for fans of travel comics.

Hugh Howey's Wool: The Graphic Novel Omnibus by Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti and Jimmy Broxton (published by Jet City Comics in 2014):

In 2013, Amazon announced the launch of Jet City Comics, a new imprint focused on developing comic adaptations of popular science fiction and fantasy book series. I remember reading (and probably even writing) about Jet City Comics, but I had totally forgotten that Amazon was dabbling in the world of comic publishing until I discovered their adaptation of Hugh Howey's Silo series at the library last week.

Wool is a sadly unremarkable story set in a bland post-apocalyptic world where the remnants of humanity are trapped in an underground bunker due to a toxic atmosphere. When Juliette, a mechanic, is appointed by the bunker's mayor as the community's new sheriff, she discovers a sinister conspiracy designed to keep humanity oppressed, because that's the way that these stories tend to go.

As I haven't read the books that Wool was pulled from, it's hard to separate the flaws of the comic from the flaws of the source material. There's a lot about Wool that doesn't make sense, but I can't tell whether the comic does a poor job bringing the world to life or whether the books themselves are the problem. For instance, part of the plot centers around the cleaning of a camera affixed to the outside of the bunker, and how cleaning it is considered to be a death sentence due to the (deliberately) faulty hazmat suit design. But why the camera needs to be cleaned is never explained, nor is it explained why the evil IT people (yes, IT workers are the villains of the comic) who design the hazmat suits install a viewscreen in the suit designed to make its wearer think that the outside world is hospitable.

Honestly, the whole comic is a hot mess, from the plodding story arc to the dull colors of Jimmy Broxton's artwork to the uninspired and boring Darwyn Cooke covers. If Wool is indicative of Jet City's other work, Amazon should probably stick to distributing comics other folks make instead of trying to produce their own.

The Superior Foes of Spider-Man, Vol. 1: Getting the Band Back Together and Vol. 2: The Crime of the Century by Nick Spencer and Steve Lieber (published by Marvel Comics in 2014)

[Note: Vol. 2 also contains two fill-in stories by James Asmus, Elliott Kalan, Tom Peye and a number of artists.]

Marvel released this comedic series in May 2013 as part of an expansion of the company's Spider-Man line, which had recently undergone a recent status quo change involving Spider-Man's body getting taken over by the psyche of his arch-foe Doctor Octopus. Superior Foes of Spider-Man focuses on the minor villain Boomerang and his dysfunctional team of equally incompetent supervillains as they try to pull off a heist against the Owl. The series became a bit of a cult hit online and caused Marvel to extend the series from its original planned 12 issue run to a 17 issue run that wrapped up last November.

Steve Lieber's artwork is fantastic throughout the series, with uncluttered panels and expressive faces that remind me of Kevin Maguire's art during his time on Justice League International. Lieber gives the story a unique "salt of the earth" feel not often encountered in modern superhero fare. The panels are filled with fantastic little visual gags that often callback on past jokes from the series, or reference the larger Marvel Universe. I particularly enjoyed one running gag involving Boomerang's obssession with Dormammu. I also liked the creative team's choice to selectively employ alternative "speech bubbles" that utilized emoji-type pictures to show certain characters' moods and reactions.

Another great aspect of Superior Foes is how the book doesn't try to rehabilitate the images of any of its characters. Boomerang and his cohorts are unrepentant schmucks, willing to double-cross each other at the earliest opportunity. However, the creative team still presents the characters as largely likeable people despite their thieving and murderous ways, which keeps the reader invested as they stumble from one predicament to the next.

My biggest complaint about the series was Spencer's tendency to "over talk", especially in internal monologues and expository scenes. There were several sequences where the pages were filled with more panels and word bubbles than actual art, which I found to be distracting at times. I also couldn't but help but notice the similarity in tone and voice between this book and Spencer's new Ant-Man series, which focuses on a schmucky and slightly morally compromised Scott Lang. The only difference between Boomerang and Ant-Man between the two books is that one is a total dick, while the other is only a bit of one.

In the "To Read" Pile:

Attack on Titan Vol. 1-2 by Jaime Isayama

Corto Maltese: The Ballad of the Salt Sea by Hugo Pratt

The Wake by Scott Snyder and Sean Murphy

Journalism by Joe Sacco

Binky Brown meets the Holy Virgin Mary by Justin Green

Nobrow 9 by various creators

Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant by Roz Chast

Requested but Not Picked Up Yet

Ghost in the Shell by Masamune Shirow

Morbius the Living Vampire by Joe Keatinge

Ant Colony by Michael DeForge

Bakuman Vol. 1-3 by Tsugami Oku

Andre the Giant: The Life, The Legend by Box Brown

The Woods by James Tynion IV

The Flash Vol. 1-3 by Francis Manapul

Soul Eater Vol. 4-6 by Atsushi Okubo

Thor: God of Thunder Vol. 3 by Jason Aaron

Thank you for reading. If you have any reading suggestions or thoughts as how to improve the column, feel free to comment or send me a message via email or Twitter.