Books for 2.7.2007

    Content is king, as we all know, and I need to get cracking on that.  I’m going to mix in a weekly comics review or two;  I do tend to hit the shop pretty regularly on Wednesdays.  My comics habit has settled into a pretty steady routine: I tend to read a lot of Marvel/DC straight-up superheroics, some of the big guns at Vertigo, and the occasional Image title, and I like to mix it all up with the occasional Optic Nerve, Stray Bullets, etc.

The American Way TPB- John Ridley, Georges Jeanty (Wildstorm/DC)

I’ve been hearing a lot on the blogosphere about this, with many going so far as to say it’s the best book of 2006.  While I won’t go quite that far, I will say it’s a damn fine read, with some very nice pencils by Georges Jeanty.  It gets a bit bogged down by monologues and I had some issues with the pacing, but it’s a very entertaining book from top to bottom.

United States of America, 1961:  The Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, the cultural divide between the north and the south…  Societal unrest is plaguing the nation, and things look to be getting much worse before they get better.  In order to get a grip on things and have some hope to steer the nation, the government turns to superheroes to give the people hope and restore a belief the U.S.A., but when the race card gets dealt, all bets are off.

It’s an interesting enough idea, and I like how it’s presented in a fairly realistic, modern take, but I really felt the concepts and the characterization were a little hurt by the lack of room, as there’s a big story held in these 8 issues and a few interesting bits that could use a little more stage time.  Actually, my only real complaints are probably issues brought about by the format; this is certainly a book that was written for the 22-page floppy.  Each chapter is a big, meaty slab of comics, and it takes a bit to get back into actually reading a book like this after having enjoyed the “decompressed comics” trend for so long.

I should have some more impressions soon…