SEAN MCQUAID

DILIGENT PANELOLOGIST THAT I AM, I feel odd admitting that my familiarity with the upstart company Image Comics was, until recently, minimal at best. I ignored their debut release, Youngblood, on the grounds of my familiarity with Youngblood creator Rob Liefeld (whose much-hyped X-Force was in- excusably pathetic). I did, however, browse a few other Image offerings: Jim Lee’s WildC.A.T.S, and Todd McFarlane’s Spawn, for instance. Since then, I’ve sampled tons of their books and gotten an inkling of the bigger picture.

For the uninitiated, Image Comics is a relatively new company that has become an industry giant virtually overnight, proving that the field had room for not only isolated inde- pendent success stories like Elfquest and Cerebus, but also for whole entire companies capable of competing with the big two (the eternally dominani Marvel and DC Comics).

Image is most famous for its creators: its writers and artists retain ownership of the characters and concepts they create for Image books, whereas other companies usually claim ownership of all the characters they publish as a matter of course. The Image artists (Rob Liefeld, Jim Valentino, Todd McFarlane, Whilce Portacio, Jim Lee, Sam Kieth, Erik Larsen, Marc Silvestri, et. al.) were poputar comics creators (most of them defectors from

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Marvel) who banded re to create their cwn company.

Since the above gentlemen areall visual artists, Image’s initial offerings were under- standably (and in some cases deservedly) pegged as being all flash and no substance-- after all, Liefeld and McFarlane had failed miserably in their initial writing attempts at Marvel (X-Force and Spider-Man, respec- tively). Most Image titles have a tendency for sound and fury signifying nothing.

One disappointment is how the Image books often seem to out>Marvel Marvel, incor- porating the worst elements of the company they escaped: i.e. sex (cheesecake art galore), and the mighty Marvel penchant for all-out action (taken to new extremes of senseless violence and carnage). Big panels and splash pages abound, with a heavy reliance on specta- cle, and mary Image Comics are one big fight scene (Brigade, Prophet.Cyberforce and nu- merous other titles spring to mind).

What’s most disturbing is Image’s seemingly cavalier attitude towards violence. Comic books are traditionally a violent me- dium, but many Image books go to the extreme in that even their ‘‘heroes’’ seem to think excessive violence and even murder are not only acceptable ways of resolving disputes, but routine. McFarlane’s Spawn thinks nothing of pulping two gangsters in a recent issue, and

Liefeld’s Youngblood seem a strangely ruth- less bunch-- Shaft (an archer whose arsenal includes a variety of non-lethal ‘“‘trick’’ ar rows), thinks nothing of perforating an oppo- nent on occasion, and in Brigade # 25 the Youngblood team ruthlessly stalks and slaugh- ters most of the title characters.

This is worrisome on two levels-- as unimaginative storytelling, and as potentially disturbing content: most Image readers are kids, and even if that doesn’t worry you, the last thing we need is anyone provoking an- other censorship-fest in the comics biz. More than a few ‘‘general’’ readership books (like Marvel’s Hellstorm and Image’s Violator) should really carry a mature readers label to deprive impressionable kiddies and lurking censors of their respective unsavoury kicks.

Paradoxically, these books are often over_written in terms of scripting-- tons of unnecessary dialogue and captions combine with incredibly busy, over_detailed artwork to induce something not unlike a cerebral haem- orrhage if read in one sitting (i.e. the Kindred, which like many Image books comes with a byzantine backstory astonishing for such a young company). Image’s chief problem, ba- sically, is excess. Big biceps, big breasts, and big guns are the order of the day.

Okay, before you expect me to lead you all ina chant of ‘‘crucify them,”’ I should add

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that Image most certainly has its good poin (and hey, gang, this is all meant as constructi criticism of a company that has great pote tial). The concept of creator-owned comi makes both artistic and ethical sense no matt how you slice it, and the medium’s recognitio of creators’ rights (a process accelerated Image) is long overdue. Moreover, Image h very good production values: their comics a all printed on high quality glossy paper stoc (at reasonable prices), which helps showca another of their greatest strengths: colourin Image’s lavish, complex, computerized col ouring is among the most sophisticated in th medium.

A few Image titles deserve a positiv nod before I sign off: Erik Larsen’s Savag Dragon has a great sense of fun sadly lackin in most comic books (and it takes more than few nifty satiric pokes at said comics), Sa Kieth’s The Maxx is one of the most mind bendingly imaginative comics fantasies sinc Little Nemo, and McFarlane’s Spawn is slow! but surely developing intoa minor masterwor light-years ahead of his Spider-Man. Hec even Rob Liefeld’s Youngblood is consider ably more palatable than his (pause to suppre: a shudder) X-Force. Expect to see more of th good, the bad and the ugly of Image in ou reviews in the months to come as we explor their titles (and everyone else’s) in more depth

COMIC REVIEW

By Trent Drake Title: Violator Writer: Alan Moore Artist: Bart Sears (1-2), Greg Capullo Company: Image Issues: 1,2,3 Cover Price: $2.65- $2.75 Canadian

EVERHAVE ONE OF THOSE DAYS WHEN absolutely nothing goes right? You wake up, your cereal’s full of moths, the milk’s gone bad, the dog ate your car and you’re late-for class because the bus driver doesn’t stop on the right street? Sure you have.

And in case you thought that sort of ;

thing doesn’t happen to comicbook characters,

you should take a look at the Violator. A short background note: The Violator is a popular villain from the pages of Todd McFarlane’s Spawn. In the early issues of that series, the title character went to hell (literally!) and accidently brought this fun-loving gorehound back toearth with him. The Violator’s habit of dismembering innocent passers-by witha good- natured wisecrack or two quickly made him

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almost as popular as the hero of the book, Spawn. Now this freakish little demon (whose human form bears a disturbing resemblance to Danny DeVito) has got his own solo book. This three issue limited series follows the misadventures of our exiled demon pal on the worst day of his unlife. He’s lost his demonic powers, the mob is trying to kill him, there’s a gun-loving psycho hitman on his tail, he can’t get his last victim’s head off his hand, and to top it all off, his four full-powered demon brothers are out to make him pay for the inequities of their childhood. And you thought you had it bad. Actually a pretty simple story, the mood of the comic (bloody death and scads of over-the- top-violence with black humor as an added attraction) is helped immensely by the presence

_of Alan Moore as writer. Well known and well

respected inthe industry, Alan made a name for himself on such books as V For Vendetta and the British comic 2000 A.D., where he worked on features like D.R. and Quinch. In all honesty, he was much better in those books than he is here.

Still, his trademark sick humor shines through in spots. The Admonisher (the afore- mentioned assassin) is basically a Punisher rip- off but gives his victims a stern talking-to as he

blows their brains out. Then there’s the Violator’s four brothers: Vaporizer, Vindica- tor, Vandalizer, and the ever-indecisive Vac- illator. Clearly, they’re mad at Violator be- cause he got the coolest, most demonic name. They show up to kill their bro, but they run into the Admonisher and, for all their demonic rantings, they just can’t seem to get past him. The super-violent, ultra-gory fight that ensues is the funniest thing in the whole book. And of course, the main character gets to do a few fun things too, like playing Ventriloquist with a dead mobster’s head (and then getting it stuck on his arm), tricking Spawn into restor- ing his demonic powers and thrashing Vandalizer into little bitty pieces.

The dialogue is also good for a few chuckles. ‘‘Real men don’t wear flesh!‘ “*You despicable, loathsome, slobbering pieces of Helltrash! Now you’re really going to get told off!’’ ‘“Why doesn’t one of you just jump on him until he’s dead??’” And my fave: “*Hey, maybe I can do that thing, y'know, with the spine, where the arms and legs twitch and we all sing ‘Saturday Night Fever’? Heh, heh, heh.

The artists on the series are another story. Bart Sears is a good artist, yes. His stuff

here looks good, yes. But it’s so gory an cluttered that it’s hard to make out what’ going onsometimes. Mix in those four demon and it gets even harder to make out. And th blood and gore is so gut-wrenchingly accurat that the humor of the scene is lost as you run fo the bathroom. But at least the art is well rounded. The characters are three-dimen sional and consistent from all angles, an Sears uses some interesting points of view Capullo, who takes over in issue three, isn’t a: good as Sears. His lines are more random an¢ haphazard, and his grasp on anatomy seems bit shaky in the scenes with Spawn (way to many abdominals, man!). Other than that, it’: okay. Still, it really pisses me off when artist skip out in the middle of a limited series for n: apparent reason. It destroys the whole ston flow when you have to adjust to a new art styl in the middle of a story arc. Overall, Violato is a pretty good read, with lots of blackl; humorous overtones. It can be hard to reat though, because all the gruesomeness gets it the way of the story and makes you want tc throwup. Definitely for mature readers, not fo! kids, sensitive types, the old or infirm, or thos¢ people who make the ‘* Violence Makes Vic- tims Of Us All” commercials.