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Underground > Comic Books >

The Undermarketed Un-men

02:35 / 22.11.07

I've read a few positive reviews that have made me curious about checking out the trade. Sounds off-beat.

Anybody read this book and like to comment?

Essential Dazzler

02:56 / 22.11.07

Well, I've Googled the title of this thread, which returned zero results.

You appear to have made an awful thread.

I assume you want to talk about the current Vertigo miniseries "Un-Men."

Do you want to talk about it?

ANYBODY BREATHE AIR AND WANT TO COMMENT I LOVE BREATHING ITS GOOD I ALSO AM A SMART GUY THAT READS COMICS

11:22 / 22.11.07

Pacific State: He doesn't want to talk about the comic because he hasn't read it yet; he wants people who have to give it the old thumbs up/down. What's wrong with that?

Unfortunately I haven't read the thing either. All these new Vertigo ongoings look proper dreary to me.

Regrettable Juvenilia

11:43 / 22.11.07

Yeah, seriously, it's hardly an "awful thread". Some of the people taking it upon themselves to try and maintain/improve quality of discussion don't seem to be able to tell the wood from the trees.

Anyway, this is a spin-off from Swamp Thing, isn't it? I have to confess that that alone puts me off.

Essential Dazzler

12:53 / 22.11.07

Apologies.

I spent all of 5 minutes putting together a post of links to positive reviews, previews, and creator interviews of Un-Men. For reasons unbeknownst to me that post stayed on a Notepad and I acted like a giant bell-end instead.

Essential Dazzler

15:25 / 23.11.07

Hmm, I thought I'd work off some of the guilt by actually having a go at reading the book. I haven't paid for it, but I can't really justify the effort of reading past issue 2.

It's, just... well... totally uninspiring. As the whole "Swamp Thing" spin-off status suggests. I can't believe Vertigo are still trying to sell books on that ticket over a year after the last actual "Swamp Thing" title withered and died.

The two issues took me far longer to read than most comics do, they're swimming in stilted dialogue and narration. A couple of the characters are profoundly irritating, like the mad scientist with the Cod-German accent (whose mutant head on a sperate body thing has been used interestingly exactly zero times, one page had the head taken off and put on a table only for the next page to take place in a completely different location, head back on body.)

The art is so completely mediocre, it's difficult to actually comment on it.

Plot wise, I have no solid idea of what it's all about, a murder mystery set against a back drop of corporate, government, and private mutation programs and America's obsession with reality TV and un-normal people, I think.
Thankfully the reality TV sheeple thing didn't raise it's ugly head enough for me to notice it, which was nice.

So, nothing is paticularly execrable about it, but it really doesn't have a whole lot going for it, of course, your mileage may vary, it's a definite try before you buy.

22:40 / 23.11.07

I was also not interested in the Swamp Thing spin off angle, at least initially. The reviews I read, which may both have been by the same person (silverbulletcomicbooks, IIRC), suggested it was morbid and odd quirky in a good way and had little to do with the various ST series. It put me in mind of the X-FILES ep featuring Freaks and Jim Rose's crew, as well as the HBO series CARNIVALE. I've had so many excellent or worthwhile reading experiences from Vertigo that I suppose my sentimental side was hoping they'd popped out one under the radar, and there was a minor classic out there just waiting to be read.

However, the "barbelith test" is not filling me with confidence...at least not yet.

03:47 / 24.11.07

The art is nice and somewhat quirky, but I found reading the first issue to be such a chore (very same-y vertigo stock series vibe) that I never went back to it.

20:38 / 27.11.07

Does it follow from the prior Unmen story done by... whatsishead, Duncan Fegredo? No, no, not him.

Damn, I have to look it up.

Found an interesting thing on the new series' cover art....

Ah, it was Dave Louapre, who I absolutely don't know at all, despite having bought the prior miniseries. I can't remember much about it, other than oh, black helicopters, look, just like the X-files.

Haus of Mystery

20:58 / 27.11.07

I have fond memories of American Freak. It was actually very well written, marred by scratchy indistinct Vertigo then-house style.
Dave Louapre wrote Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children for DC's strange Pirhana Press offshoot back in the pretentious early 90's, a book I also have fond memories of. It was illustrated prose, and it worked pretty well. A strange black-hearted and sometimes quite poignant book.

22:33 / 27.11.07

Oh, man, I have that as well! I have fonder memories of that one (although I always thought I'd bought one issue of an irregular series Piranha Press was putting out).

Shiny: Well Over Thirty

05:43 / 28.11.07

I too have very fond memories of the old series. I've not bought this one, but from the preview in Hellblazer I'm under the impression that it is connected in terms of continuity; the main protagonist from the old series is mentioned, but I also get the impression that it's a completely different tone and style and one which I have no interest in.

12:41 / 28.11.07

I checked out the first issue of this and for a comic book about freaks and physical strangeness it was awfully normal and unfreaky. In fact it was downright...boring? I'm always surprised when a series like this gets the green light. It's as if someone switched the Great Comics Publishing Machine into reverse and no one has noticed:

The Pitch - "I shall pitch an idea that is many years out of date!"

The Greenlight - "We are so excited! Your pitch was very boring and had no reason to exist! Here's your publication date!"

The Work - "I am trying very hard to take out all the good things in my writing and drawring so that my comic will be SUCCESSFUL!"

The Company - "All of our editors and staff are very not excited by your first issue. We must have more of these!"

The Fat Cat Publisher - "I read this comic book and was not interested in the least. Let's make it an ongoing series! But only publish it on Bizarro World where it shall be a huge failure. I mean success."

But then they forgot to ship it to Bizarro World.

Oops.

Haus of Mystery

12:55 / 28.11.07

I know it's a bad practice, but I often can't be arsed to invest in a series that has an air of imminent cancelation hanging over it, y'know? Like, whenever Vertigo announces a new ongoing I think 'hmmm, I give that between 12 and 18 issues'. Unless there are creators I'm interested in, or a really strong central concept idea, I just can't muster much enthusiasm...

Essential Dazzler

01:28 / 22.12.07

I tought this was going to be a 6-issue mini, but a solicitation for #8 came out this week. I'm completely gobsmacked, can anyone point me to an interview or press-release where they confirm that it's an on-going rather than a mini. Also, actual reader sales figures and positive reviews would be interesting.

12:49 / 22.12.07

The Pitch - "I shall pitch an idea that is many years out of date!"

The Greenlight - "We are so excited! Your pitch was very boring and had no reason to exist! Here's your publication date!"

The concept needs to have been rejected as a film or TV series (ideally both) first, I'd have thought, but otherwise that sounds about right. Is Vertigo the front for a money-laundering operation? Increasingly, it looks likely.

My pitch would be called 'The Stump.' It would involve a heroin-addicted private eye with a wooden leg investigating a murder amongst a group of so-called 'friends' who were involved in the Nineties, Seattle Grunge scene. Which our hero was also part of, hence teh smack. And the leg. Nothing (ie, everything) would be as it seemed. Old loyalties would be tested! The past would be revisited! No one would interested enough to even flick through it in the shop!

On the other hand, thinking about it, I could be Vertigo's breakout talent for next year! It might mean the end of my personal life, in any operative sense (bottles of gin thrown at the kitchen wall at four in the morning, bouts of general self-loathing, that sort of thing) but I suppose I could probably manage.

The first page;

The Stump sits in his office, in Miami. It's a little untidy, but it's not too bad. He's doing okay for himself. The sun streams in through the window. Round his arm, wrapped tight, is a vintage tie, and in the crook of his elbow, a syringe.

THE STUMP: In the cold, in the rain ... that's when it hurts the most.

Etc

13:53 / 22.12.07

THE STUMP: Fucking Seattle ... I never wanna go back there.

The phone rings.

14:35 / 22.12.07

And The Stump doesn't answer it. Instead, he shoots it. Then he pours himself a drink - Irish whisky, mixed with his own, bottled tears. He leans back

THE STUMP: (addressing this to the monkey which we now see, is on his back; although The Stump is hallucinating, the monkey is very real) Martin, sometimes, I think I understand why God created the universe.

Outside, there is the sound of shooting

THE STUMP: Fuck, not again.

He reaches for his rifle, then he picks off the gang-bangers, one by one

THE STUMP: (spraying the street with bullets) The tone of this neighbourhood is low enough. I guess I don't owe you any money any more. You fucks ... Bye bye Hector. Bye bye Ricky ...

MARTIN: John, you don't own a rifle, do you? You're just in some sense, still sitting in that chair. Watching the sun.

The phone rings again. This time John, the Stump, answers it

THE STUMP: What do you want?

15:20 / 22.12.07

Add some rat poo, and you essentially have Warren Ellis debut novel, opening chapter there.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

16:44 / 22.12.07

Oh god, don't remind me. Ellis cost me a day of my life I'll never get back.

The man made Godzilla porn sex clubs boring.

19:36 / 22.12.07

Warren Ellis is a lonely man.

Haus of Mystery

17:48 / 25.12.07

I read the first lines of 'Crooked Little Vein' in a shop t'other day, and I have to say that Ellis' infantile 'shock' opening is hamstrung by the fact that I literally couldn't visualise how, or indeed why a rat would piss in a coffee cup.

I figure the rest of it's equally as good?

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

04:24 / 26.12.07

It felt very much like a Warren Ellis Product, capital P, but didn't really have the passion or, I don't know, the invention of, say, the Apparat books or Fell.

What this has to do with the Un-Men, I don't know. Have any of its sibling Vertigo books (of that particular vintage) turned out to be diamonds-in-the-rough? I can't think of any in that crop that I was actually interested in.

Haus of Mystery

08:56 / 26.12.07

I like Scalped a whole lot. I gave DMZ a try, but it didn't grab. I keep idly considering 'Crossing Midnight' if only for the lovely Jim Fern artwork and the somewhat intriguing premise, but Mike Carey isn't a writer that rocks my world. File under: capable rather than exciting.

00:59 / 28.12.07

Poor Un-Men! Unable to sustain a thread without inviting OT comments (albeit worthwhile ones!).

01:06 / 28.12.07

I'll speak up for CLV: I enjoyed it immensely. Ellis is as Ellis does and I never tire of his cranky "don't look at this it's HORRIBLE" POV or his cynical yet honorable rogues. I can see how some may tire of his schtick, but I think he does push himself outside that comfort zone often enough to excuse his pre-occupation with ickness.

SCALPED had an amzing debut issue, but I waited for the trade, which I have yet to sit down and read. But THE OTHER SIDE, Aaron's Viet Nam war story is remarkable, and also feature Lither Cameron Stewart's beautiful art.