Special Forces #1

You know, as much as I love mutants and genetically altered musclemen, sometimes it's nice to read a spandex free comic.

With a dearth of decent titles on offer last week I picked up a couple of random new non-superpowered books, the best of which was Special Forces #1 by Kyle Baker.



Based on the true story of an autistic man who was recruited to fight in the Iraq war, this is an action packed tale which draws on influences as varied as M*A*S*H and EC's legendary war comic Two Fisted Tales to tell a grim story about a war which has received scant attention elsewhere in the comics world.

Narrated by Felon, a 21st century Hotlips Houlihan with classic comic book cheesecake looks, Special Forces parachutes the reader right into the middle of the Iraqi warzone. It's a tough book focusing on one day in the life of an unlikely band of degenerates and misfits hastily enlisted by a desperate US military.

They're more like the cast of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest than the Dirty Dozen and, with the exception of Felon, none of them are fit to fight. While it might stretch the imagination to believe that such a rag tag crew could really end up in Iraq, Baker provides a couple of clippings in the back of the book which suggest that the US military are actually desperate enough to enlist anyone.

Whether you believe in them or not, the characters are easy to sympathise with, which makes it all the more disturbing that most of them don't make it out of issue #1 alive. These soldiers don't die easy deaths either, they shit their pants in fear before being blown up by IEDs. This is a particularly bloody war, and Baker wants us to know it.

His art is superb, I've already made the comparison to the classic work on Two Fisted Tales, but there's also more than a hint of MAD magazine legend Mort Drucker about the book. I kept thinking about this cover as I read Special Forces...

It's a great comic. Perhaps I was a little uncomfortable with some of the cheesecake in the panels where Felon's butt is juxtaposed against a recently decapitated soldier. But she's a strong enough character for me to put any reservations to one side - besides I'm sure Baker is making some clever point about sex and violence that I'm just not savvy enough to get!

Overall I'd give Special Forces a 9 out of 10. From the pencils to the lettering, everything about it looks different. It feels relevant in a way that a lot of comics don't at the moment. I look forward to issue #2 with real anticipation. If you get the chance, check it out.

Shopping list

After the paucity of last week's shop, I'm actually going to have a fairly weighty nerd sack to drag home this time out. Here (in interactive clickable format!) is what I'll be bagging and boarding over the weekend...

Midnighter #13
I'm three issues behind on this, but continue to buy it anyway. I'm not sure whether I liked Giffen's first issue so I probably should have read his second before ploughing on. Oh well.

Steve Niles Strange Cases #2
Hmmm, wasn't exactly bowled over by the first issue, but I'm so desperate for a good regular horror comic that I'm willing to give issue #2 a shot. I realise that this is horror with tongue firmly in cheek, but I still need convincing that the cheery artwork is right for the genre.

Astonishing X-Men #23
After reading the entire run from #1-#22 while I was flat on my back and unable to move a couple of months ago, I'm up to speed and looking forward to #23. Whedon and Cassaday are a great team who seem to have recaptured a lot of the magic of the classic Byrne/Claremont run while stamping their own identity on the book. Astonishing is slick and exciting. Any sadness about Whedon leaving the title is tempered by the knowledge that Warren Ellis will be taking over. Oh, and that's a PROPER Wolverine cover.

Criminal #10
Another title I've fallen behind on. In situations like this I often curse myself for continuing to buy the single issues instead of waiting for the trade, but Criminal is worth buying in single issue because of the excellent back matter that doesn't get reproduced in the collected format.

Which reminds me, I must watch The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, which I picked up on DVD after reading a great reader review in Criminal.

Marvel Legacy 1960s To 1990s Handbook TP
Gahhh. I'm a sucker for this type of thing. It just looks nice. Stupid unnecessary purchase, but it's the sort of thing I can see myself reading on the loo.

Super Villain Team Up Modoks 11 #5 (of 5)
Started off strong, weakened as it's gone on. Still a decent little mini, but there hasn't been enough MODOK for my liking.

The Order #4 CWI
Savvy stuff from Matt Fraction. Superheroes for the reality TV generation. I like it.

Monster #4
I'm sticking to one volume of this a week. It continues to be an excellent read. Sadly it prompted me to buy some more manga: Naruto vol #1 which I understand is very popular with the kids these days. Blerghh, seemed like a load of old bollocks to me - a badly executed rip-off of an early 90's cartoon. Chuff.

Charity shop comics: The Crunch

How on earth did I get to 35 without ever hearing of or reading The Crunch?

I found two yellowing issues of this late 70s British boys comic in Hackney OXFAM last week and I am now on a mission to buy the entire run. It is without doubt one of the finest comics I have ever read.

The covers are superb...

but the stories inside are even better; crazed, violent, amphetamine fuelled tales from a time when The Wild Geese was playing to packed houses, cold war paranoia ruled the world and American violence, Dirty Harry style was just coming into vogue on this side of the pond.

All the bogeymen are here.

Idi Amin gets speared through the back by mercenaries...



Before being fed to MAN-EATING MARIBOU STORKS!!!


Read that again: MAN-EATING MARIBOU STORKS!

That damp feeling in your trousers is a nerdgasm.

The Kennedy assassination and Watergate are mashed up in a tale of Mafia/CIA conspiracy called "Who killed Cassidy?", while the nationwide obsession with World War Two and the Nazis is still going strong in a fantastic little strip entitled...




Nuff said.

But the pulse pounding Nazi action doesn't stop on earth. Check this synopsis out...

I don't know about you, but I'm ready to suit up and pitch that word for word to Hollywood. In fact every single story in The Crunch deserves to be made into a movie. They all have blockbuster stamped large on them, which is more than can be said for the bleak, but nonetheless fantastic, readers letters page...




Brilliant, brilliant stuff.

I want more! More letters and more insane stories. The Crunch has me hooked with lines like this...

I will not rest until I have the entire run.

Interlude

Hello. I've had nothing to write for the last few days because I've been doing non comics things like going to the football, drinking, playing poker, looking for bigger houses to live in, catching up on Battlestar Galactica (nearly finished season three now) and best of all taking in the Terracotta army exhibition at the British Museum (that Emperor Qin dude was a bad man let me tell you).

Oh yeah and my son is taking up a fair whack of my time too. He's started smiling, properly smiling. Amazing.

Right now I'm going to watch the Hellboy movie and get a bit of sleep (after the film, not during hopefully). I shall return with comics themed posts soon.

My life as a dork - the party years

My love of super-heroes goes back a long way. This shot from 1979 turned up on Facebook courtesy of a childhood friend. He's the one offering you a sausage on a stick. Note his nylon Superman T-shirt; Cool, but not as cool as my Batman number...

Yes, even at the tender age of 7 I realised that the Dark Knight was way cooler than that do-gooding alien scum.

Top of my pops

As featured on the latest episode of Around Comics...

Shopping list

Briefly, (because I'm tired out after wasting my evening watching the quite dismal Verhoven flick: Black Book), here's my list of comics to buy this week...

Tales Of The Fear Agent 12 Steps In One (One Shot)
I'm a sucker for Fear Agent, although I'm not sure it will be as good when it's not drawn by Tony Moore.

Batman #670
meeeergh. I don't get it, but I keep buying it anyway. I have a love hate relationship with Grant Morrison's work. So far I hate his Batman, but perhaps this is the issue where I'll start to love it.

Immortal Iron Fist Vol 1 TP
Been waiting for this one in trade. Here it is. HAIIIIIIIIIIIIII YAAAAAAH!

Monster vol #3
I devoured vol #2 of this super enjoyable manga page turner. Only 17 volumes to go, I'm limiting myself to one a week, although if the first two are anything to go by then this latest volume will get read in one sitting.

That's it. Light week, I'll probably end up buying a heap of other junk(like Action Comics and Midnighter Armageddon) just so my nerd sack feels full.