Chronicles of Wormwood (2007) #1

Cw1

Stop me if you’ve heard this one… Jesus and the Anti-Christ are sitting in a bar and….

And there’s the pitch for Chronicles of Wormwood.

While Ennis does, on occasional, embrace his readers in terms of giving them something not just profound and good but also entertaining, Wormwood takes it to another level. It’s funny, it’s sad, it’s contemporary. It’s got some filthy jokes and it’s got a talking bunny rabbit. It’s Garth Ennis talking about pop culture geeks and pop culture production.

I’ve read Wormwood before, of course, but I don’t think last time I realized how he’s talking about cable television shows and he’s basically creating the perfect property for it too.

Who wouldn’t want “Cheers,” only with Jay and Danny instead of Norm and Cliff?

The first person narration is what sells the comic. Ennis paces out all the exposition perfectly.

It’s an amazing comic book.

Neonomicon (2010) #4

It’s an imaginative conclusion and it’s… okay. It’s beneath Moore, sure, and I’m sorry he took such a—there’s no other word for it—fan-fic way out. But it’s okay.

It doesn’t quite make having reread The Courtyard worth it but he comes really close with it.

Moore kind of takes something one might think is completely unsuited for the graphic form and turns it into a comic book. The issue ends with talking heads and it kills the issue’s momentum. The characters explain everything in expository dialogue.

If this series were something Moore actually cared about, he’d have spent the issue a completely different way. I’m thinking about all the time he took with Promethea. He doesn’t bother (and Burrows probably couldn’t have made it look good enough—I like Burrows, but he’s got his limits and he hits them here a lot).

Neonomicon’s a nutty, decent series.

Neonomicon (2010) #3

How delayed was this book? And it reads in three or four minutes?

Here’s where Moore’s either going to go someplace interesting or he’s going to go the Avatar place….

This issue introduces this awesome possibility for the story, totally different than where the previous issue led it. And, of course, it could all just be a red herring because it does make the reader care about the protagonist and her survival. Usually, I just assume Moore’s going to do the right thing. With Neonomicon, with an Avatar book… one he wrote for tax money… it’s not clear.

Burrows’s art goes from bad to good here. The opening few pages are just awful, then he slowly brings things around.

Moore has the opportunity to—against the odds—turn Neonomicon into something good; it’s just not clear if he cares enough to do so.

I’m upset I’ve got my hopes up.

Neonomicon (2010) #2

Is Moore trying to prove some kind of point?

It’s a little strange seeing Jacen Burrows do an actual Moore script, by the way. I’m used to far more finished artists.

Anyway… this issue is split basically in two.

The first half is Moore doing Lovecraftian fan-fiction. It turns out Neonomicon isn’t set in Lovecraft fiction, it’s about Lovecraft’s fiction. Actually, it’s about what inspired Lovecraft.

And there’s where Moore checks out intellectually. It’s the kind of thing one might except from a far lesser writer… but it’s clear Moore’s just cashing the check and moving things along and it’s not terrible. Though it’s been decades since Moore’s written “regular” people and it’s clear he’s somewhat out of touch.

Then there’s the second half.

Umm. It’s an orgy scene with a giant monster and a lot of violence. It’s revolting, sure, but interesting as far Neonomicon’s a “mainstream” title.

Neonomicon (2010) #1

Now, I think Moore said in an interview he did this comic to pay for some back taxes. It shows, but it’s Alan Moore writing a comic for a paycheck so it still has a good level of competency… if not imagination.

About a quarter of the issue—which is mostly dialogue, as I guess Moore didn’t want to think too hard—recaps The Courtyard. Coming seven years later, I guess it’s good Avatar reprints it all the time because it’s a direct sequel. The settings are mostly the same, the cast returns.

Moore has time for some mildly gross humor. Some of that humor succeeds and some doesn’t. He’s not really trying so Neonomicon reads a little like I imagine first draft Moore reads. Or the notes he jots on napkins.

Burrows’s art has some problems and the coloring is awful.

But it’s Moore doing Lovecraft exploitation; it’s interesting.

The Courtyard (2003) #2

Ah, I misremembered. I thought this issue ended with an insanely graphic scene. It doesn’t, it’s all implied… which means on the second reading (or whatever) it’s a lot less intense.

There are three or four double-page spreads here, so I guess Burrows does get to do some work. It’s good he gets to do them, even if they’re gross, because the rest of the issue is pretty boring. It’s mostly scene work, but he’s stuck with the two panels a page and it really doesn’t work for someone walking up a flight of stairs.

The Lovecraft reference—the Cthulhu name-dropping—is clearer in the end, but it comes during an early Photoshop (changing color-tones—I hope Burrows got paid for each page, even though the last three are identical illustrations) and it really doesn’t matter.

I hope Moore bought himself something nice with his Courtyard paycheck.

The Courtyard (2003) #1

Not having read Alan Moore’s original short story… I have to wonder if Antony Johnston added all the racial slurs to make The Courtyard seem more “authentic.”

I’ve read the comic before (so I remember the big reveal)—I did not remember, however, the titular courtyard doesn’t even show up until the second issue—but it was probably before I’d read Moore talk about comic book writing. Besides the center spread, Jacen Burrows splits every page into two long panels. Johnston includes the text; again, whether it’s his or Moore’s is unclear.

Burrows’s artwork is good, but The Courtyard doesn’t really give him a chance to do anything. His panels are mostly static, even when he’s got an actual scene, he’s still in the same two panel format (Watchmen it ain’t).

It’s also unclear how Moore weighted the original text; the Lovecraft stuff, for example, could have been more prevalent.

Crossed (2008) #9

You know what, I’m really pissed off.

Really, really, really pissed off.

Because Ennis doesn’t do something lame with the conclusion, he doesn’t do something predictable following up on that last cliffhanger. He does something else entirely.

He’s seen The Last of the Mohicans is all I’ll say. The original cut with the better music.

He does something beautiful with his story about killer rapist cannibals or whatever they’re called.

And I’m mad about it.

Because somehow the format doesn’t allow for the possibility he’s going to turn it into what he turns it into. It’s a really quiet ending about a couple people who are really upset. More upset than if they’d just poorly anticipated how Ennis was going to end Crossed.

Overall, with this conclusion, it’s one of his best works. Without it, maybe not. But he does some beautiful things here.

I feel like crying right now.

Crossed (2008) #8

Gosh, Garth, thanks for the miserably downbeat foreshadowing at the end.

Things are winding down in Crossed, obviously, and it’s kind of hurried. Not a lot of stuff happens this issue. Instead, it’s just a little bit of reaction to the last issue and a lengthy aside with Ennis filling the reader in on other people’s experiences outside the scope of the comic. But all of a sudden things just rev up and go full speed ahead….

Only to have Ennis do everything he can to depress the reader with the last passage.

Wait, I know what the problem is… it’s a cliffhanger. He’s finally ending an issue on a cliffhanger and it just doesn’t work. It feels overly sentimental and melodramatic and cheap.

It’s sucking the anticipation out of the story with a cute device. Ennis’s way better than a move like this one. Worries me for the finish.

Crossed (2008) #7

The seventh issue basically brings the story to where, event-wise, not location-wise (since they’ve been moving for the series), it would pick up before Ennis’s digressions into non-epical storytelling. In other words, the shit hits the fan.

And there’s some bad stuff, but it’s nowhere near as affecting as the old guy’s confession scene in the previous issue. It’s just bad Crossed stuff. If the reader’s given up on a happy ending–and in the case of Crossed, it’s the worst possible ending one’s preparing him or herself for–there’s nothing much more Ennis can do to shock.

So, lots of bad stuff happens. Burrows draws it really disturbing and it’s a nasty time.

Ennis does action well and it’s a good comic. It’s just what I’ve been expecting to happen since the end of the third issue and… I had hoped it wouldn’t have to happen.