Stuff That I Read: Quick Reviews

I consume a lot of media in my life.  Between music, movies, comics, books, and videogames, I simply have too much to write about.  So here are some quick reviews of things that I've checked out over the past little bit.

Comics

The Punisher Omnibus by Garth Ennis:  Collects the entire Marvel Knights Punisher series by Garth Ennis.  I've never much cared for The Punisher, but Garth Ennis uses the character as a vessel for his own brand of hyperactive, over-the-top violence, and if you like this sort of thing, it is absolutely glorious.  Most of the stories hit all the right beats (though one of them, Streets of Laredo, fails on almost every level), especially when Ennis lampoons well-known Marvel characters.  He also does a very good job of tying all the storylines together, yet keeping individual stories self-contained.  Frequent collaborator Steve Dillon supplies a little more than half the artwork, and does a wonderful job as usual, but the other artists throughout the series, while still usually quite solid, don't complement the writing as well.  Also, due to the Omnibus format, the intense violence can get little tiring when read in quick succession.  Overall though, if you're a fan of Garth Ennis, or you just love crazy ridiculous fun violence, this is a must-buy.  Unfortunately, it's discontinued, so you've got a bit of a search ahead of you.   

Zot! The Complete Black and White Collection by Scott McCloud: Zot! is an intelligent superhero comic from the 80s, predating both Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns by about two years.  It's notable for its sophisticated look at real issues.  Zot! is a teenage superhero from a futuristic parallel Earth who periodically shifts dimensions over to our Earth to hang out with a moody girl named Jenny - how Jenny discovered Zot, I have no idea, because though this collects the "reboot" of Zot, which occurred after 10 colour issues, it still makes reference to the first couple issues, often without suitable explanations.  Anyways, the series has it's problems - the superhero parts are boring, and creator Scott McCloud's ideas tend to reach beyond his grasp at times (but cut him some slack; he was young) - but the strong character work usually makes up for it.  The second part of the collection, known as "The Earth Stories", in which Zot gets stuck on our Earth, fares much better as the superhero elements are done away with (aside from Zot's presence).  These stories focus on side characters most of the time, and have a couple stand-out issues which deal with real-world problems, such as Jenny's friend Terry having to come to terms with the realization that she's a lesbian, and a SPECTACULAR issue where Zot and Jenny talk about having sex.  There's also some excellent commentary on every story by Scott McCloud himself.  Overall, certainly worth a look, if not an absolute must-have.

That's gonna be all for now.  More to come.