On The Last Day: The Last Days of American Crime

Being the very last day of 2009, it only seems fitting to re-visit The Last Days of American Crime.  Long-time dabblers will recall we introduced Last Days and its Portland-based writer Rick Remender to the comicsblog back in October.  The series - already optioned for a feature film - debuted earlier this month from Radical Publishing, and now that it has, we're back to tell you those two months  of waiting for the first issue to hit the racks were well worth the wait. 

And we want you to see for yourselves -- you never know, maybe The Last Days of American Crime will be the first comic you'll decide to read come the New Year.  Comic Book Resources is going to help both of us out, too. They've recently posted a seventeen page online preview of Last Days #1  HERE, so you can give it a good review before you venture out to the comics shop.

As for what you're getting yourself into, we'll let you read that for yourself as well. Radical Publishing's summary of Remender and artist Greg Tocchini's new crime-noir series is just below.  Enjoy.

COMICS PAGETURNER: The Perils of "Doctor Voodoo"

Portland-based Rick Remender is no stranger to the criminal element. We sort of take that for granted, and even introduced him to you earlier this week as the man responsible for The Last Days of American Crime as well as the scribe of the Marvel MAX mature reader's title, Punisher War Journal.

With this Wednesday's launching (or perhaps, re-launching) of Marvel Comics' new series Doctor Voodoo: Avenger of the Supernatural, our buddy Rick's pitting that criminal savvy against his understanding of darker arts.

To his credit, Rick Remender has had plenty of experience in the magical arena: his Fear Agent, Night Mary, and the ominous superhero tale The End League are all books no one should read when they're alone. Add his other creator-owned titles, Image Comic's XXXZombies or Black Heart Billy from IDW Publishing, into the mix and Remender comes across as nothing short of a nightmarish pro.

Now Remender's taking his black magic know-how one notch further as he faces the challenge of Doctor Voodoo.

Voodoo (alias Jericho Drumm) isn't a new character in the Marvel Universe; Len Wein and artist Gene Colan created the hero, then Brother Voodoo, for Strange Tales #169 back in 1973. [Interestingly, you can read a back-up essay of Brother Voodoo's creative origins in Doctor Voodoo#1. The off-the-cuff manner is which new superheroes sometimes make it onto newsprint is worth the read by itself.] Brother Voodoo then became the lead character of Tales, although the run lasted just over a year.

Though Voodoo's not a new name, Remender nevertheless will be charting new and somewhat perilous territory with Doctor Voodoo. None of Marvel's African-American heroes -- from "Hero for Hire" Luke Cage to the many attempts of keeping Black Panther afloat as a monthly title -- fare well in the long run. Marvel's two most popular black heroes -- Storm from the X-Men and the Ultimate Comics version of SHIELD super-spy Nick Fury (a name audiences will get to know quite well when Samuel L. Jackson portrays the character in at least three of Marvel's upcoming super hero films) -- have consistently lead their respective title's supporting cast, but have never moved into the front seat.

But Remender's putting his guy right behind the wheel. Doctor Voodoo, freshly plucked from the storyline which re-introduced him in Marvel's best-selling New Avengers series, promises to add the City of New Orleans to the Marvel U map, as well as Voodoo mythology to its mystic pantheons. Before the first issue even begins, Voodoo has assumed the mantle to be Marvel's newly reigning Sorcerer Supreme, a title once held by the more well-known hero Dr. Stephen Strange. In an appropriate turn of phrase, Remender's character prefers to be called 'Houngan Supreme' - the voodoo term for 'sorcerer.'

That's just the first of many differences large and small with which Remender fills the first issue of his new series. And it is, frankly, a lot to adsorb. The prospect of voodoo's obscurity coming to the mainstream is intriguing, and the first issue is packed with information to render it less obscure. Jefte Paulo's pencils and Jean-Francois Beaulieu's color designs definitely add extra flavor to the voodoo Remender's doing, and also serve to delineate this Sorcerer from the more traditional renderings of Doctor Strange. Even Doctor Doom makes a cameo to challenge the new Doctor, and in doing so, validates the book's editorial stance: We're not kidding. This guy's really here too stay. Just ask Doom!

The issue's broad exploration of Voodoo's many magical tenets also serves the purpose of differentiating the title character from Doctor Strange. Strange, an early Stan Lee and Steve Ditko creation that also made his appearance in Marvel's Strange Tales (Issue #10, 1963), has become aged not just in his comic books, but as a concept that's not weathering the times as well as, say Iron Man's Tony Stark. Marvel seems quite sincere in their intention to retire the wizard and welcome his replacement.

In fact, readers familiar with Marvel's current story lines will know that the publisher's been updating their 'Universe' across several of their titles. From the 'superhero side' (The Marvels Project, Captain America, Dark Avengers, Amazing Spider-Man: One More Day, Civil War) to the 'cosmic side' (War of Kings, Nova) and now to the 'supernatural', Marvel's been bringing their large mythology into the twenty-first century. It's a re-invigoration that has gone well with readers, retailers,

critics, and obviously, super-large corporate investors.

Doctor Voodoo is a series that brings with it an undeniable learning curve, which both comic book writer and reader will have to endure. Eve for longtime Marvelites, Doctor Voodoo is a course adjustment of a different kind. But because it is, I'd prefer to see Doctor Voodoo join The Punisher as a Marvel MAX title; it seems a fitting home. There's much promise to its premise, and for a writer like Remender whose storytelling strengths excel in matter of esoterica, Jeremiah Drumm's outer limits - and those of the Marvel U -- should be right up his alley.

I'll stick around to see what new tricks Rick Remender has up his sleeve. With talent, support, and perhaps just a bit of luck, he's just the guy to keep Doctor Voodoo from becoming Doctor Voo-Did.

'The Last Days of American Crime' defines "Radical Comics"

You'll probably remember me mentioning Portland-based Rick Remender as I was giving y'all a tour of Springfield: My Nice Little Town. Rick's been writing Marvel's The Punisher titles for the past couple years now. [Not being much of a Punisher lover myself, though, I've never read 'em. Sorry, people. Sorry, Ricky. I'll let you know what I think when I finally sample your stuff next month with your one-shot, Punisher: The List.]

Anyway, Rick pretty much put himself on the map with his two Dark Horse Comics series, Fear Agent and The End League. That's how I found him, and I've got good hunch that Rick'll be discovered by a whole lot more folks when his new Radical Publishing title, The Last Days of American Crime, starts up this December.

The Last Days of American Crime tells the story of Graham Brick, a petty criminal never quite able to hit the big score. In a grand scheme, Graham intends to steal one of the charging stations, skip the country and live off unlimited funds for the rest of his life. But the media has leaked news of the anti-crime signal one week before it was to go live... and now Graham and his team have just a few days to turn the heist of the century into the last crime in American history. [To read Radical Publishing's press release for Last Days, go here.]

Remender teams up with artist Greg Tocchini for this three issue, 64-page per issue series. Radical Publishing's one of the relatively new kids in town, but as far as the smaller third-tier publishers go, they've been turning out quality books with regularity as well as drawing some top-notch industry talent their way. Last Days is one of three titles Radical's going to be pricing at $4.99 an issue -- an experiment to find the consumer comfort-zone between cost, quality,

talent, and the page-count of a single monthly comic book.

This is the Big Issue here, abbracadabblers. [I'm even taking an extra paragraph to illustrate this fine point, notice?]

As most of you know, the standard monthly title -- and when one says standard or typical, the main referents are comics from DC Comics and Marvel -- is a whopping 22-pages of story, plus advertising. Both of the Big Two have made price increases for many of their monthly books, from $2.99 to $3.99, the majority of them also being the most popular books, too. This economic snafu, of course, has heard considerable fanboy outcry. To counter, Marvel and DC have both attempted to add page-count to their own books; DC by supplementing many of their mid-selling titles with a 'Second Feature', and Marvel by either publishing their best-sellers like The Amazing Spider-Man more frequently or tweaking the page-counts of their other books.

Radical's decided to throw an extra dollar onto the much-maligned $3.99 that's plaguing DC and Marvel, but they also stand alone with their decision of nearly tripling the 22-page industry standard. Most collectors, including myself, will by-and-large find this quite acceptable. The cost is logical, and I believe it's a five-dollar pill collectors would swallow no matter who published the 64-page whopper.

Plus, third-tier publishers like Radical are allowed much more leniency with their costs in the first place. They're expected to have to charge more: they incur substantially greater printing and production costs, likely pay more for talent, don't enjoy widespread distribution, their books have far fewer readers than any of Big Two's, and they see little to no marketing revenue from licensed products.

Radical's been aggressive from the get-go, thanks to its President and Publisher Barry Levine. Levine's drawn some high-profile folks to his line lately, like the prolific Warren Ellis' Hotwire: Requiem for the Dead. Using this approach, Levine has been enlisting high caliber story lines for his comics, and ensuring that those same comics hit the stand as a pre-formatted cinema-style package, primed for Hollywood adaptation. Levine's no stranger to the movie business, and hasn't made a secret of his approach of marrying 'widescreen comic book storytelling' to that of 'widescreen' movie making.

As much as I (and, obviously, a legion of other folks) enjoy seeing their comic books on the silver screen, Levine's approach veers too closely to the lane of pre-mediation for me to be completely comfortable. That discomfort I feel may also cast me as a 'fanboy in denial' or even as a hypocrite. It's a fact that comics, intentionally or not, are already serving this purpose for the bulk of Tinsel Town's producers, from Ron Howard to Michael Bay. Whether the greater purpose of DC and Marvel properties is that of mass-market consumerables is debatable, too. So, I ask myself, why the problem?

Maybe I'll wait until Remender's The Last Days of American Crime is in my hot little hands before I render a verdict. I mean, I've discussed it here, dabblers, because I know it's going to be a good read. And, as a matter of fact, it's already been primed for the screen, too.

To that, I say kudos' to you, Mister Remender just up the I-5 in Portland-town, and hats-off to the Radical folks as well. Abbracadabblers, you've got two months to save the five hundred pennies Last Days first issue will cost you. Give it the read it deserves, and even if it's not to your liking (which I think to be very unlikely, but it's possible), I assure you, the book in your hands may very well become a true modern-day metaphor.

Not of The Last Days of American Crime, mind you, but of the comic industry. I'm not one to be pessimistic; I'm no doom-sayer. I love me my monthly comics, no matter the cost. But I do keep my ears to the ground, and usually my feet along with 'em. In the end, I'm just saying what I'm saying.

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Read more about Rick Remender and The Last Days of American Crime on Ain't It Cool News here, Comic Book Resources here, and on MTV here.

Radical Publishing has placed a fifteen-page preview from Last Day's first issue at their MySpace page here, and if you'd like to try supercomputing with Last Day's B-Cover (as seen below), it's here.

Springfield: My Nice Little Town

I'm taking a bit of a detour from comics tonight to touch on something a little closer to home. And to do just that, I needed to find the answer to a bit of trivia. So I asked around. Raley didn't have a clue. My cousin didn't, either. Tell me, do you know how many towns or cities in the United States are named Springfield?

If Rand McNally is to be believed, the answer's thirty-four. [One source I found quibbled there's actually thirty-five Springfield's in the country, the plus-one belonging to a ghost town somewhere in North Dakota.]

I'm blogging to you live from Springfield #25 in Oregon. #25 lies just across the Willamette River from Eugene, the state's third-largest city. [Eugene's also the place my fascination with comics began, way back before I even entered first grade. Mom used to buy me the big Treasury Editions that Marvel and DC Comics published in the mid-1970's. But lest I digress, that story will keep for another blog.] If you're really curious about the lay of the land, I've got a map you'll love here.

Portland's the regional Metropolis, less than a hundred miles away on Interstate 5. Whenever I get one of my cravings to immerse myself in civilization, up the road I go, pedal to the metal. It's very safe to say the highlights of my stay here in Oregon have been those trips to Portland. The city's cool and green, rivers and bridges all about, and it's a comic town. Dark Horse Comics and Bluewater Productions call Portland home. So does Brian Michael Bendis and Rick Remender.

To its credit, Eugene does have two comic books shops. Springfield, unfortunately, doesn't have any. But the little town I call #25 does have: 73,465 neighborly folks, a really big Wal-Mart that's always open, and as of this weekend, a Fall rainy season making an early comeback.

Although I'd never been to #25, the town seemed strangely familiar to me from the moment I stepped off the train from San Francisco. I was experiencing firsthand the immense power of popular culture. From my subsequent adventures on the internet Googling Springfield, I got at least a snapshot of how that power's reach.

Popular Culture has a very long arm, of course, and I can't say I was shocked in the least by what I found. Dismayed, yes, but not shocked. I learned that if Americans are able to tell you anything about Springfield (and most can), it's that a family with the last name Simpson live there. Although things varied a little between the forums I Googled, the majority of the twenty-something posters really believed that the Simpson's town of Springfield, which was either founded in 1987 when the characters first appeared on the Tracy Ullman Show or in 1989 when The Simpsons debuted, literally exists.

The discussions weren't debating Springfield's existence; rather, the forum members I found were thoughtfully presenting their own rationales as to which of the real world Springfield's was also the place where Bart went skateboarding and Lisa went to school. The top two contenders seemed to be the Springfield's of Massachusetts and Illinois, with Illinois the most popular choice. That kind of made me shudder. If it weren't for my list with thirty-four names on it, I probably would've picked Illinois, too. For a rounded education on Homer's hometown geography, go here.

Okay, I'm kidding. I was a college freshman when The Simpsons became a staple of my Sunday nights, old enough to understand the subtle differences between animation and reality. It certainly seems like those lines have been blurred in the last twenty years, though.

I'm a lucky guy. While most of Generation Y only thinks 'Simpsons' when they hear Springfield, I'm happy to say that I do not. That word only makes one thing pop into my head: GI JOE.

Several publishers have made the rounds publishing GI JOE comic books, but none of them have come close to Marvel Comics' GI JOE: A Real American Hero by Larry Hama and Mike Vosburg. Marvel launched the series to correspond with the 1982 debut of Hasbro's toy line, and I was instantly sold on both.

GI JOE was hands-down my favorite and I read each issue ten times if I read them once, and Issue #10 (1983) probably got read twelve at least. The story, "A Nice Little Town Like Ours," introduced COBRA's most sinister base to JOE fans everywhere -- a Stepford suburbia of a town with a very dark secret, and its name was Springfield.

Hama also hinted that the Springfield of Issue #10's storyline may not be the only one in the country prone to a nasty snake infestation. Even after all this time, I still think that idea is more than awesome.

I haven't gone out looking for any COBRA agents since I made my temporary home #25, though I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to search before I get back to the Bay. I did manage to pull some photos out from the old album, however. If you'd like to drop by for a visit, I'm sure I can find a day or two to show you the sights.