Where We Live: The Las Vegas Shooting Benefit Anthology, out today from Image Comics, is inherently political, and not just because of the subject matter, the mass murder at Las Vegas that killed 58 people and injured hundreds, which it addresses in all sorts of ways from the urgent to the oblique. It’s political because comics shops are currently facing daily enraged arguments over what they “should” sell on social media. It’s political because all the money goes to the victims, and there are people all too eager to write those victims off in all sorts of ways. And it’s political because it has to exist at all.
This is a complicated book to review, because it’s enormous, over 200 pages and 150 creators from Neil Gaiman to Mike Mignola to Kelly Sue DeConnick, and they all have differing perspectives. The only way to review it would be to go page by page and that would miss the point. Many of these stories are from the heart or from the gut, from artist and writers who usually have to plan months ahead to deliver their work. There are stories here that hit hard not because they deal with the mass murder directly but with how it unexpectedly affects them, even if they’re a world away. It’s an anthology book, but it’s meant to be read as a whole, to be less analyzed than felt.
But it’s also complicated because even if it didn’t want to provoke a gut reaction, it would be impossible for it not to. More than anything else this book looks at how we understand tragedy, and how whether it’s close or distant to us changes our perspective. It can’t help but be confrontational, even at its gentlest. Because it shouldn’t have to exist. And yet it does.
Blackwood #1, Dark Horse
Evan Dorkin and Veronica Fish with Andy Fish welcome you to Blackwood University, one of the many barely accredited liberal arts colleges that are as much a part of small New England towns as covered bridges and jokes about sheep. Except that Blackwood, and its new class of scholarship kids, has a secret, and it’s going to be up to the new students to figure it out. Dorkin’s take on horror stories offers a fun twist on a sturdy concept, with the wife-and-husband Fish team offering art that’s crisp and bright yet often indescribably creepy. It’s a superb launch and a welcome addition to the horror book ranks.
Abbott #5, BOOM! Studios
Saladin Ahmed and Sami Kivela wrap up their superb tribute to ’70s horror as Abbott, a journalist who is also the mystical Bringer Of The Light (hey, the forces of magic aren’t usually subtle), finally discovers why mystical creatures have been appearing in ’70s Detroit. Kivela’s creatures are creepy and lovingly detailed, of course, but it’s the clever balance of modern sensibilities with the style of fiction that makes this stand out.
Kill Or Be Killed #19, Image Comics
Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips confront the ugliest questions this series raises head-on in its penultimate issue. Is Dylan unhinged? What is justice is a society that can be deeply unfair, no matter how democratic it is? And is murder a solution for everything, or just when you have no other choice? Going into the finale, as well, is a twist you might have expected, but is no less shocking for it.
Vampironica #2, Archie Comics
Veronica has been made a vampire. Her parents are dead. Reggie is dead. She has nowhere to turn but… Dilton?! Greg and Meg Smallwood deliver a brisk, witty take on the idea of Riverdale’s spoiled princess as a revenge-seeking bloodsucker, but also one that doesn’t throw its setting under the bus. In particular, there’s a great moment where we learn vampire or not, Veronica can still get jealous over Betty.
Spider-Man #800, Marvel: Dan Slott delivers a massive, multi-artist eighty-page issue that’s basically a giant string of Spider-Man callouts, and a thrilling story to boot.
Black Lightning/Hong Kong Phooey, DC Comics: Bryan Hill, Denys Cowan and Bill Sienkiewicz deliver a hilariously straight-faced ’70s themed crossover. It’s a blaxploitation/kung-fu story… just with a talking dog and a bunch of DC villains.
The Last Siege #1, Image Comics:: Landry Q. Walker and Justin Greenwood deliver a fun fantasy story that starts with a bar fight and accelerates from there.
Harrow County #31, Dark Horse: Cullen Bunn and Tyler Crook offer a thrilling setup to their finale of their Faulkner-meets-Lovecraft horror series.
Lando: Double Or Nothing #1, Marvel: Rodney Barnes and Paolo Villanelli fill in some pre-Han Lando in this fun little book.
This Week’s Best Collections
Dodo, BOOM! Studios ($10, Softcover): Felipe Nunes tells a story of a young girl struggling to understand her parents’ divorce, and the dodo she stumbles over who helps her get through it, in this touching, thoughtful all-ages tale.
The Art of Jim Starlin Life in Words & Pictures, Aftershock Comics ($50, Hardcover): A handsome and impressively detailed look at the man who invented Thanos and so, so much more in comics.
Will Eisner’s A Contract with God Curator’s Collection, Dark Horse ($125, Hardcover): Will Eisner’s memoir, and one of the first and greatest graphic novels, arrives in a luxurious edition with both the original book and the pencil sketches showing its evolution.
