Perfection in Slices
April 18th, 2007 by david brothers | Tags: daredevil, dark knight, dark knight returns, flex mentallo, garth ennis, ign, matt fraction, norman osborn, nova, punisher, spider-manWhat’re your perfect comics? I’ve got a few. Kraven’s Last Hunt. Flex Mentallo. Daredevil Born Again.
The two most recent (and I referred to these previously as nigh-perfect, but they got an upgrade) are Jacen Burrows and Garth Ennis’s 303 and Matt Fraction and Gabriel Ba’s Casanova. They’re both just tightly packed, written, and drawn slices of excellence. Everything about them clicks and they’re both easy reads.
Those are perfect books. On a smaller scale, there are perfect pages.
These are the pages that give you the stupid grin that comics should. They can be full of import and absolutely serious or completely irreverent. Spider-Man’s “I’ll kill you,” after being told that Norman Osborn is going to kill Normie. “The rain on my chest is a baptism” from Dark Knight Returns, along with the mutant fight in the mud.
Little slices of perfection.
Here’s a few of my recent favorites. Two from 303 #03, one from Punisher War Journal #6, and the page from Casanova #1 that sold me on the series. Words by Garth Ennis on the first two and Fraction on the last two. Art by Jacen Burrows (303), Ariel Olivetti (Punisher WJ), and Gabriel Ba (Casanova).
Two soldiers talking about rifles (I particularly love the line about the difference between NATO weapons the AK-47), one soldier marching off into destiny, Frank Castle’s righteous indignation (“We gotta steal a car. I’m going to Mexico and I’m gonna shoot that guy in the face.”), and Casanova Quinn being both irreverent and awesome (“I don’t know– I have weird brain things. Maybe it would work different for you.”)
Good comics.
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I wasn’t moved all that much by the comic panels so much as your enthusiasm. It’s nice to see such positive reactions to comics, these days.
I just love comics, man. There’s a lot of bad stuff out there, but I’ve found that choosing to ac-cen-tu-ate the positive works wonders for my wellbeing. Why read Civil War, Infinite Crisis, and World War Hulk when I can scope out Casanova, Blue Beetle, or Punisher (War Journal or MAX, both are good)? 🙂
I don’t mean to be all “COMICS! :toot:,” but I don’t believe in paying for crap. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. There are too many good comics out there to waste time reading Boring Punching Adventures Monthly.
More people need to be “Comics! :toot:”, IMHO.
[…] from Fraction and art showcase from Ba. Anyway, in exchange, Fraction love from back in the day: Perfection in Slices and A Few Good Comics, wherein I do talk about the backmatter a […]