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Underground > Comic Books >

Exterminators

09:24 / 21.01.06

The guy behind the counter in 'Travelling Man' said 'Oh, good choice!' when he saw that I had this title in my purchases on Wednesday. I was left rather stumped for how to reply to this. Do I thank him for the compliment, ask him why he liked it, tell him I've heard good reviews? In the end I just raised my eyebrows non-commitally.

Back in Leigh, with a fry up in 'Georges Meet and Eat Cafe' I read that days haul and after the latest Fables (I love that book) I started this one.

Like Loveless I'm not sure what to make of it. There's nothing wrong with it per se, just wasn't sure if it was strictly to my taste. I'll be sticking around for the first arc and then make a decision.

For those who don't know, and why would you be reading this thread if you didn't, it's the story of an ex-con starting work for a vermin killing and nfestation destroying Extermination company. In the first issue we learn a bit about the central character, his family and background, and his colleagues. There's a bit too much straining for depth and eccentricity but it's entertaining enough. I just wonder whether this series has legs, particularly as they seem to be heading into B-Movie territory straight from the off.

That said it's nice to see Vertigo finally free of the trap it fell into years ago of trying to recreate Moore and Gaimans best work with other writers. Titles such as Fables, Y the last Man, Loveless, and this book are a million miles away from the Gothfest of the late nineties early noughties and we're all the better for it.

15:09 / 21.01.06

I don't know what it is about this title that fails to grab my interest. Every time I read about it, I faded out in the first few sentances: a series about exterminators? I used to write coverage for various film companies, and the WORST of the lots, the most annoyingly, hilariously bad, was about exterminators. Maybe that accounts for my bullish resistance.

Anybody else like to chime in and tell us why we should check this book out? The art did look lovely...

19:24 / 22.01.06

You used to write coverage? Interesting. I wouldn't mind doing that.

Titles such as Fables, Y the last Man, Loveless, and this book are a million miles away from the Gothfest of the late nineties early noughties and we're all the better for it.

Although I am really glad that we've moved beyond the Goth, I have to say I have next to no interest in any Vertigo titles these days. I can't even be bothered to give most of them a go.

21:44 / 22.01.06

Indeed. This seems about the most misconceived fiasco that the inceasingly misguided people at Vertigo have got involved with since the last one (Loveless, I'm guessing - Cowboys! Doing bad things to each other! Involving their bottoms! Edgy!)

If either of these series see out the summer, I'll be amazed.

01:27 / 23.01.06

I read this. I thought it was hi-concept ("It's about rednecks! And ex-cons! And super-evolved vermin! It's Con Air meets Jurassic Park, but with roaches!") and dumb.

02:43 / 23.01.06

Kinda lost me at super-evolved vermin. I direct you to ruthlessreviews.com and their rundown of Killer Rats (or, as they would have it, Rats, Killer). It's been done before, badly. I don't think it can be done well. It's the kind of thing that's supposed to be shitty. If you're trying to make it good, you're doing it wrong.

On the other hand, if it really were Six Feet Under with cockroaches -- a straight-up drama about the (I would have to imagine) pretty fucking nasty business of being an exterminator, and the various types who fall into this profession in the real world, minus the fantasy elements, I'd probably read it.

Me, and maybe like...three other people...

03:18 / 23.01.06

I think LOVELESS will make it past its first year, simply b/c Azzarello has brought in so much kudos and chedder via 100 BULLETS. DC will probably want to keep him happy. And maybe they're aiming for chain tpb sales, too. IMO, its a good book that may grow into a great one.

To Boboss: rop me a PM if you wanna know more abt "coverage for a living."

20:25 / 19.09.06

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a fucking great comic.

9 issues on and I'm convinced that I'm in for the ride. The characters have grown on me thanks to some nicely judged sidesteps and daliances on the path of the over arcing plot and each issue shines more light on the big picture, which is a B-movie tale linking modern science to ancient egypt and just as much hokey fun as that sounds.

Loving this.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

00:23 / 20.09.06

I was about to say "am I the only person who's really enjoying Exterminators", but I'm clearly not, even though it doesn't seem too popular here. I'm an ish or two behind, but so far I'm loving it.

Jawsus-son Starship

18:30 / 20.09.06

Am digging it to. Big time. Has Tony Moore stopped pencils though, as some new fella is drawing it, and not so well.

22:05 / 20.09.06

Issue 8 was a fill in issue, issue 9 (out last week) has Tony Moore onboard and picks up with 'Insurgency' part 3. I quite liked the art on an occasional fill in basis but I'm hoping Tony sticks around for a while. Mind you if he doesn't want to they could always get Charlie Adlard on between books of 'Savage' and whatever other comic he's working on. What was that again?

23:45 / 25.09.06

Count me in as well. This is really my favorite Vertigo title right now. Can't wait for more bugs and egyptology...

06:43 / 05.03.07

One of the best comics of the last decade.

Essential Dazzler

08:18 / 05.03.07

One of the most important posts of the thread!

09:20 / 05.03.07

fitness instructor:

I really don't know what else I should have said.

"The Exterminators is one of the best comics of the 2000s decade. Read it. It is every bit as good as Preacher, Sandman or Transmet. It is easier to grasp intellectually then Testament, better then Y the Last Man and better written then just about anything Vertigo has ever put out."

That sums up most of my feeling about the series. And for a line that is as much of a "Writer's Line" as Vertigo, it says a lot that its one of the best written things.

Simon Oliver is on Talk@Newsarama and The Engine (I'm not sure if he frequents Barbelith, I don't really see him listed anywhere with a half-hearted search). Only talked to him a couple times but he seems like a really nice guy.

And THIS IS HIS FIRST COMIC. Just imagine the awesome stuff he'll be putting out in ten years if he keeps this up.

The second trade is coming out this week and, honestly, the series reads ten times better in trades then issues (if only because you'll want to immediatley go further on). The first issue is a little slow but just about anyone will be hooked by the end of the first trade.

I have to disagree with the people who want Tony Moore to draw more stuff. I want to see more issues come out so badly that I'd be happy if the series had stick figures so long as it came out quickly.

And it belongs on HBO or SHO. It's every bit as good as what they are putting out now.

Haus of Mystery

10:34 / 05.03.07

See. That's what you should have said.

11:59 / 05.03.07

And THIS IS HIS FIRST COMIC. Just imagine the awesome stuff he'll be putting out in ten years if he keeps this up.

That's what keeps me reading it. I imagine this as sort of a "Portrait of the Comic Writer as Young Man" kind of thing. I'd hate to end up being a big Simon Oliver fan 10 years from now and have to pay through the nose to get early issues of THE EXTERMINATORS (can you say "Flex Mentallo" anyone?).

I'll keep reading for right now, intrigued but not yet blown away.

18:12 / 05.03.07

murphy:

I got Flex Mentallo 4 in a quarter bin.

And, hoenstly, The Exterminators is in trades. So that shuldnt be an issue.

19:44 / 05.03.07

Trades shmades, sez I.

Sadly, my issues of Flex cost more than a quarter. Although once I did get 30 issues of Delano Hellblazer, all at once, for half-off the cover price. I was pretty pleased with that.

19:52 / 25.04.07

And it belongs on HBO or SHO. It's every bit as good as what they are putting out now.

Which is, more or less, what Vertigo are printing in their monthlies at the moment - a quote from a review that basically says "Vertigo is the HBO of comics".

Which is nice.

I picked up the second trade of this over the weekend, and it continues, for me, to impress - there's a lot more plotting going on underneath than would there would at first appear to be, and there's some very impressive stuff there, along with some fine comic moments - "The Black Death", the education into Sikhism at gunpoint - the only small thing being, for me, the Corporation storyline just being distinctly second-string and odd.

11:05 / 26.04.07

"the only small thing being, for me, the Corporation storyline just being distinctly second-string and odd."

Well that's one of those slow burning, over-reaching arc type things, I expect.

The latest arc ties that story thread together with Henrys prison back story and there's an event that is straight out of the hackneyed grim'n'gritty writers handbook. Heck if I tell you it happens to Henrys ex-girlfriend Laura you can guess what it is. I'll be disappointed if this becomes a Killing Joke style motivation for the male lead and the new villain whilst ignoring the repurcussions. I expect more.

MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!

12:01 / 26.04.07

Hmm. I bought the first trade and it really left me cold. Hard to articulate exactly why -- I guess a lot of it seemed like it fell back on easy go-for-the-gross stuff to make an impression.*

I'll have to re-read. Does it get better with the second TPB?

*Yes, I'm aware of how hypocritical that sounds.

17:59 / 26.04.07

Well that's one of those slow burning, over-reaching arc type things, I expect.

Very much so. But the presentation hasn't been spectacular apart from "We're a corporation! We're doing something evil / We're a corporation! We monitor all our employees / We're a corporation! Look at the amount of sex we're having."

But yes. Slow burn.

I'd say the second trade picks it up, yeah - I agree with the way the first handled the intro with gross-outery, and that's still very much present, but, for my money - what it's worth - better handled.

18:30 / 30.04.07

I was fairly amused by this month's issue - the cover, by Philip Bond, depicts hottt girl-on-girl action which is in no way present, or as far as I could make out even vaguely hinted at, in the actual story.

As a sort of last-roll-of-the-dice way of trying to boost sales it seemed almost charmingly dishonest.

Although I suppose I might have been a bit annoyed if I'd bought the thing. It would have been like finding a copy of Farmers Weekly tucked inside the cover of the latest Razzle.

I wonder if anyone went back to the shop to complain?

Simlarly, the (quite legitimate, I think) angry letters and e-mails to Vertigo about this would be great to read.

00:30 / 01.05.07

I definitely prefer Exterminators to Y (which I'm only sticking with 'cause I've been with it for so long...), and probably like it as much as DMZ, but I don't quite put either of them up there with Casanova (my current fave).

I was really digging Exterminators until the whole ressurection/Egyptian God thing in the second trade. Now I'm not sure what to think - it seems like Oliver overstepped the bounds of reality that he'd established in the first trade, so it sort of jars... Maybe I'll be digging that element of it too by trade #3 though...

16:14 / 21.11.07

The third trade is now out; is anyone else still following this? It seems to be locked into roughly the same Trade Cycle as DMZ, which is kind of a plus.

There's even more foreshadowing, as well, with the advancement of the theory that the world - or at least, nature - is fighting back against humanity's problems. There's also a hamster being blown up CPR.

There's a lot of exposition going on in this volume, though, from Saloth's shady past to Henry's own problematic issues, but the last panel is killer...

11:37 / 23.11.07

I've read the first two trades of Exterminators and was a little bit disappointed about the "nature's fighting back"-thing. There are some parallels to Preacher, but where Preacher was a cool farce, Exterminators comes too frumpy. Chief cause for that are the characters: Protagonist Henry James is bland and pale and his supporting crew is a bunch of stereotypes. There are two types of women in this comic what makes it a bit misogynic: The deceptive, bisexual bitch and the housewife in need of protection.

Till now Exterminators is not an enthralling and funny read for me.

14:34 / 23.11.07

Not fair. There's also a whore, a mother, and an angry young black woman. See the range.

14:48 / 24.11.07

I was just talking about recurring characters like the capitalistic lesbians. To my apologies I read only the first ten issues and I'm considering quitting the book.

13:33 / 25.11.07

Well all the others are recurring characters. Henrys mum doesn't have much to do in the first ten, but she is there.

I still buy, and enjoy, the title but it's not broken through into something better than the promise of the first few. Doesn't mean I don't like it though.