588. The Finger

Here’s a character of my own creation that has no story or powers or anything other than just a spur-of-the moment joke. He will live in my head merely as something that makes me giggle like a 12 year old dork. Don’t ask about The Finger! There are no answers to be found! Never forget!

I’ve said this before, but I should talk more about the comics I read, partially in a move to make sure I read more comics. I should at least mention them like I mention all the movies and television I watch. Although it’s easy to watch things and draw. Kinda harder to read comics and draw at the same time. It seems like most of the time, I only read a comic for the currently on hiatus Gutter Trash. I need to remedy that. I have so many books piling up.

One of those is Supreme: Blue Rose by Warren Ellis and Tula Lotay.

Ellis has seemed to recapture some fire lately. He can be one of the best writers in comics or one of the worst. Usually, it’s his creator-owned stuff that veers to the bottom. I have a theory that he needs a strong editor guiding his work and to pull him back when necessary. He’s an incredibly self-indulgent writer – which, y’know, much respect for him to be able to be a successful mainstream comic writer and be self-indulgent. Unfortunately, his indulgences usually cripples some of his work. But not here. It’s hard to imagine that Rob Liefeld is a hands-on and demanding editor, so Ellis himself may be pulling back on his own. Also, let’s give some respect to Liefeld for allowing creators to take his creations and go off on weird tangents. I may not like some of ’em (Prophet) but it’s cool that it’s out there.

So I don’t know a thing about Supreme. I read some of the Erik Larsen issues, but still, other than it being an EXTREME!!!!! Superman riff, me and Supreme are blank slates to each other. Which is fine, ’cause this comic is not about Supreme. It’s about unemployed investigative journalist Diana Dane and the weird new job she’s taken on. There’s a lot of character and world building in this issue and it all hits the mark. The book opens with a bizzare Morrison/Milligan-esque dream sequence which I found confusing and delightful. The rest of the issue is all set-up, but it’s never boring or exposition heavy and you get a good feel for the cast. What truly sells it all, though is Lotay’s artwork. The art is stylized and gorgeous, the characters expressive and “real” without being “realistic”. The only problem I have with the art is some of the color offset – which could be a printing error – and there are scratchy blue lines overlaid on top of the art. It’s distracting and doesn’t add anything to the experience, other than frustration.

Anyway, I’m on board. Never forget.