"American Power", the comic - more news from diepunyhumans

[mrph]

Following up on the announcement of the American Power comic... the company have now started to have some second thoughts about it...

Again, see diepunyhumans for details. No great loss, IMHO.

Comments

[markeris.livejournal.com]

Bah. I for one was very excited by a comic book that appeared to be the tales of Dubya when he was a gimp.

American Gimp

[mrph.livejournal.com]

If they got Steve Bell (or Ian Gibson) on art, I'd buy that...

[rosenkavalier.livejournal.com]

God, yes - I'd definitely pay good money for it if Steve Bell was involved... ;)

To be honest, this sort of thing is the reason why I've never much liked the whole super-hero genre - attempts to mix story-lines based on real world events with protagonists in possession of super-human abilities (and yet remarkably parochial outlooks) always tends to be rather uncomfortable. This, for me, was why Watchmen worked so very well^*.

* Which reminds me - is there anything else in this sort of vein that you could recommend to me?

[mrph.livejournal.com]

Miracleman is also well worth a look. It's another Alan Moore tale (with a sequel now being written by Neil Gaiman) - out of print at the moment, but should be back soon. The start is perhaps a bit wobbly, and the art dips a little in the middle, but it's still good stuff. It's the third collection that really stands out, for both story and are: what if there really was a superman... just how would he change the world?

And Moore's latest piece, Promethea is lovely. It's not quite finished yet, but there are four volumes out and one to go. It's about magic, perception and the end of the world. It has a bit more humour than Watchmen or Miracleman, but still has some serious themes.

What else, hmm... well, I'd be tempted to recommend Planetary, too. Not quite in the same vein, but really very good. A book that's crammed full of ideas, centred around a team who try to expose some of the world's secret history. Superheroes here are mostly offstage or dead - forgotten pulp heroes of the 30s and people who could have changed the world... but never got the chance. There are two collections so far, All Around The World and The Fourth Man.