I’ve been in Santa Fe this whole week so it’s been hard to concentrate on anything except the absolutely ridiculous sunsets, picturesque purple mountains, clean air and genuine smiles. As a Jersey Boy and long time Angeleno I still don’t trust a genuine smile. I’m always thinking ‘yeah yeah what the fuck do you want, what’s your angle? Where’s the knife you backstabbing...’ then saying ‘so great to meet you, let’s go on a hike sometime soon, blessings [heart hands]’. I did bring my comic stash but it’s hard to look at art on a page where there’s art every time you look at the sky. So I needed a powerhouse to grab my attention. I needed something that could match the Wow of the World with the Wow of its Comic Book Goody Googamoogah Goodness. So I picked up Vicious Circle and it did not disappoint.
Lee Bermejo is not of this world. Maybe he emerged from one of these mountains as an Alien Native American Spirit from an alternative dimension and decided to try the Human thing. His art is bonkers amazing. The opening arc of the book almost feels like you’re watching a film and his subsequent alternative timeline styles are all also eye-poppingly beautiful. Before I continue to wax comicbooky about Mr Bermejo I have to admit that this is the first book I’ve seen of his since the Batman Wangdoodle series. The ‘Batman…Dayummm’ series. I mean, it’s the Elephallus in the room right? Did we all just sink that down our memory hole? I’m personally dying to know what that convo in the room was like, who started it?
DC: Did you draw Batman’s dick?
Lee: You told me too.
DC: We said we wanted a provocative artistic style.
Lee: Bat Cock not provocative enough for you?
DC: - - -
Lee: I can shade it in more.
DC: - - -
Lee; Or take it out -
DC: Nooo, nooo, leave it leave it leave it. Penny get legal on the line.
I remember that the Bat Dong issue was going for like 75 bux on eBay or something and one of my Comic Book Shop guys said I should sell mine. I remember thinking ‘Isn’t that like, selling porn online? I mean, who’s paying 75 beans for Bruce’s Skin Moose? And do I really want to communicate with them? What do I do with that money? Like, okay, here’s 75 bones for your foray into Cinemax Comic Book smut land. Am I just waiting and hoping to flip that into Hulk’s Puny Peen if it ever comes out? I mean Disney puts in subliminal schlongs all over their movies, was this going to be a thing going forward? Does Spidey have a stiffy in this panel? Yeah, I just bagged and boarded the filthy rag and stuffed it away somewhere.
Anyway back to Beautiful Comic Book Land. The Premise? Two dudes are fighting each other across timelines over activating some death robot machine thingy which we haven’t seen yet. When somebody dies they pop out into another timeline. At least that’s what I’m getting from it. As far as I can tell, I hope they pop into dozens of different timelines because it looks like each timeline gets a different spectacular artistic style from Lee Buymybatdongejo. The writer, Mattson Tomlin, has been involved in some really prestigious projects over the years and is scheduled to co-write the sequel to the recent ‘The Batman’ movie, so he’s definitely in the Hot Hollywood zone. And this is on Boom! Comics?
Does it feel like Boom! is a little out of its league here? Like they stole a Black Label project away from DC or they’ve recently infused their coffers with a cartel sized Walter White dump of cash to pay up for the Monsters of the Industry to work for them? I rarely get a Boom Boom Book. I just picked up their recent ‘Once Upon a Time When We Wrote Another Fucking Apocalypse Story’ which was okay. Here’s a link to all their series:
How many of them have you pulled? I snagged the ‘Faithless’ first arc until it got way too disgusting, evil and weird. I nabbed their first ‘Abbott’ arc which was, mnyeh. Their ‘Laila Starr’ series was one of the best series of 2021 so they nailed that one but, I’m scrolling, I’m scrolling, yeah not so much on any of these. So this one is only the 4th one out of 128 series on that page that I have. That’s a low ass batting average, but they did hit a homer with Laila and this clearly is a moon shot so maybe they’re angling to get themselves into the Image type publisher convo for 2023.
I will say I have one gripe about this book. It has nothing to do with the story, art, lettering or base concept. I have a little issue with the name of their antagonist: Ferris. Really? You named your baddie Ferris? You couldn’t come up with anything else? Not Dracon or Klaw or Adolph or Bob Iger, but Ferris? I think Ferris has been retired from all literary works and from entertainment in general. I mean, now I’m just waiting for the timeline where Ferris is on a parade float singing ‘Twist and Shout’ while wielding an Alien Bazooka. Will they pop into Wrigley field where the hero, Shawn Thacker is running through the bleachers with his laser gun while Ferris yells back at him ‘Swing Batter Batter Swing Batter Swing Batter?’ Is Bermybatballzejo gonna draw us a hot Sloan type babe? Oh pretty please?
Hey admit it, as you watched every episode of the great TV show Succession, aren’t you waiting for Connor Roy to to do this to his dad Logan?
Well, Boom is biting DC’s Black Label modus operandi and has this book down for a 3 issue series. Is there a reason why expensive AF prestige books can’t go for 12? Or be an ongoing series? Why only 3? I’m going to have to get into this pricing insanity over comics at some point. At any rate, Vicious Circle is a vicious line drive over the center field wall. Grab it now and inhale the pages unless you’re being distracted by a purple mountain majesty sunset right in front of you, or if you’re surfing down Santa Monica Blvd on jet skis.
Rating: 9.1
Verdict: Pull
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