Tagged: Denys Cowan

Review: ‘The Question: Poisoned Ground’

After 20 years, DC is finally collecting Dennis O’Neil and Denys Cowan’s run on The Question, with the second volume, Poisoned Ground ($19.99) out now.

It’s a collection that’s well worth the wait, and I’m not just saying that because the author is one of ComicMix‘s own. While the first collection (Zen and Violence) was good, [[[Poisoned Ground]]] shows the creative team truly finding their voice — think tough and hardscrabble like The Spirit, but with a philosophic bent.

O’Neil explores not just the mind of his hero (who still has plenty of questions for himself), but those of his villains (who are always far more complex than first impressions indicate). The narrative slips between harsh reality and even harsher dreams, a paean to the ugliness of the world.

The book features three standalone stories and one three-issue story, each in turns bizarre, troubling and inspiring. The art is creative, highly detailed and evocative, and O’Neil’s scripts are every bit as inspired and poetic as those of Alan Moore or Neil Gaiman.

Especially now, with Vic Sage having been killed off in the current DCU, these collections are a must-have for fans of The Question, or anyone who likes their comics with plenty of depth.

NYCC: A Post-Game Analysis

NYCC: A Post-Game Analysis

  • News
  • April 22, 2008

Fifty-nine weeks ago I slammed the first two New York Comic-Cons pretty hard, so it’s only appropriate that I comment on this year’s jamboree. The previous shows were held in February, so the mere fact that people waiting in line this year didn’t have to suffer in below-freezing wind chills is, in and of itself, a vast improvement.

The show was better organized, crowd flow on Friday and Sunday was almost manageable, and the convention staff from Reed Communications (not the volunteers, who were great) drifted more towards being hospitable and informed. In fact, they were neither hospitable nor informed but you could tell that this year somebody suggested being so might be a good idea.

Saturday was pretty much the same premise as last year: “What if you tried to squeeze the entire population of Manhattan into a phone booth?” They claim attendance records were broken and that would be nice to believe, but it would be even nicer if they were at a venue where they could actually obtain enough space so that people could walk down the aisles without getting bashed in the face by an endless number of backpacks and tripped by an equal number of light sabers.

I can’t help but wonder what the show would have been like if god hadn’t helped out. Passover started Saturday and the New York metropolitan area contains a lot of religious Jews. And the pope was in for the weekend, so a lot of Catholics were attending one or another event. In fact, it looked like he was on Frank Miller’s Dark Knight panel.

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The Holy See in NYC, by Dennis O’Neil

The Holy See in NYC, by Dennis O’Neil

  • News
  • April 22, 2008

Well, the Holy Father has certainly been all over the media this past week, hasn’t he? Just a while ago, I looked, briefly, at Benedict celebrating Mass in no less a venue than Yankee Stadium – lots bigger than the biggest cathedral – and judging from the shots of the stands, it was a sellout crowd; I wonder if the Yankees themselves attract so many spectators, even when they’re against the Red Sox.

Shall we seek meaning here? Dare we posit that a) this pope is super-beloved or b) the church he leads is making a comeback or c) both of the above?

I’m reminded of an evening in Chicago, about 20 years ago, that I shared with a comic book artist and an actor. I don’t remember exactly why we were thrown together, but it probably had something to do with a convention. The actor was featured in a movie I’d recently seen and kind of liked, though I don’t recall having any strong reaction to this particular man’s performance, which probably means that I thought it was all right. As a dinner companion, sitting across he table at a Chinese restaurant, he was nice enough – chatty and just a bit gossipy, without any hint of malice. Not a stupid man, but he didn’t dazzle us with his intellect or wit, either. An okay guy. And, midway through the evening, I found myself trying to make him like me. It seemed important that he like me. Why? The only answer I have is that he was a celebrity. His image was on thousands of screen. Passersby recognized him. He was privy to really big, major-honkin’ celebrities.

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Lost In ‘Lost’, by Dennis O’Neil

Lost In ‘Lost’, by Dennis O’Neil

  • News
  • February 15, 2008
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Denny’s column normally runs on Tuesdays, which is great because Denny e-mails it to me on Sundays. For some reason – and for the second or third time – his various e-mail accounts don’t seem to like my various e-mail accounts. We think we’ve straightened it out. Go figure. If computers were cars, we’d all be riding horses.

 

And now, Mr. O’Neil… -MG]

 

While I was sort of half-watching the two Lost specials our pals at ABC television were treating us to recently, I recalled the hot new trend of a couple of years ago. Serialized stories. Nothing resolved until late in the season. They came and they went, those shows, though there are a few survivors, of which my favorite, and apparently the favorite of millions of my fellow citizens (including you?) is the aforementioned Lost.
 
The purpose of the specials, which ran on consecutive evenings, was ostensibly to remind the Faithful of what’s been happening to those funsters on the island, and to clue in the non-Faithful, like me, people who just watch the thing for an hour’s easy amusement, as to what the hell the continuity is. (Another reason for the specials might have been the writer’s strike, now settled; clip shows like these eat up airtime at little cost and need no new material. Or am I being cynical?)
 

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