Holiday reading part 1.

I had planned to write about....well, something, last week but with a planned family holiday coming along half way through, I instead figured well why not just write about the backlog of comics I read during that trip (I have quite a few) and vent my feelings towards those four titles.

(Well, with a change in living conditions, it ended up being seven titles instead of four but what's talking about three more comics).

So, let's begin.
 

First up was Night of the Living Deadpool, a four issue series which saw the Merc with a Mouth wake up from a food coma to find that the entire world had succumbed to a zombie plague, leaving Deadpool to attempt to survive and save others as the last surviving superhero in the world.

Now, I'm not normally a big fan of Deadpool. Yeah, I enjoyed his film and I liked the dynamic he brought to Uncanny X-Force, but otherwise I was never able to get on board with the character. However, having picked up the first issue of this series previously, I felt that Cullen Bunn wrote a really interesting story which deconstructed/satirised the zombie genre in a way I'd not really seen before.

However, while the first half of the series certainly kept with this tone, the final two issues felt like it had such a major tonal shift that I found it pretty jarring and a struggle to maintain my enjoyment. Of course, it wasn't a total jump off the cliff and Bunn continued with a similar humour to earlier, but for me it just didn't keep me engaged after the midway point.

Of course, Ramon Rosanas' black and white art did make up for this, giving the story a real genre feel, and I loved how Deadpool was set against this in colour, enhancing the fact he is different to the rest of the world (and possibly eluding to how the story ends). In the end though, while it was a fun read and I'm glad I gave it a chance, I'm grateful it was only 4 issues as I might have regretted reading further.

My next read was Fantographic's Werewolves of Montpellier, a short story by Jason which followed Anamorphic Singleton Sven, a recent arrival to the city of Montepellier who discovers a way to enhance his career as a burglar by dressing up as a Werewolf to feed off of his new hometowns myth and buy himself a precious few more seconds should he be caught. However, all does not go to plan when his antics are brought to the attention of a real life group of Werewolves existing in Montepellier.

Now, this title I recall having previously read a few years back. However, a recent decision to re-read all my comics (and I am talking ALL, digital is nearly done and print is mid-way through), I figured I would take a look at this again. Thankfully, I'm glad I did for, while I don't recall much of this comic prior, reading it with fresh eyes showed me a really fantastic book.

Despite it's title, an some more thriller-esque aspects of the plot, Werewolves of Montepellier is very much a slice of life book as we get to see Sven struggle through life as an artist as well as his ongoing romantic problems. Surprisingly (to me. I think I've read too many superhero comics), I just loved following Sven go through his life with a certain quiet reflection and silently pine for someone unobtainable. It makes me feel that Jason had literally lived through this, the level of genuineness that is included.

Meanwhile, his art is equally fitting for the story and was the icing on the cake for me along with the perfect marriage of the slice of life story with the more fantastical 'Werewolf' B-Story, which was equally a joyous read. In the end, I was kind of sad that it was only a single issue, but glad that I gave it a second chance and look forward to reading it again some day soon.

Shockingly, just talking about these two comics has taken me an hour to do (in fairness though, I'm at work and I have a habit of being asked questions). Therefore, I've just decided that I'm going to do a another post later in the week for the remainder of my reads.

Therefore, if you wanna hear me ramble about; X-O Manowar volume 1 & 2, Ninjak Volume 1, Star Trek Volume 1, Black Bolt Volume 1 or Luke Cage Volume 1 that'll be next time.