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9-11 - THE WORLD'S GREATEST COMIC BOOK WRITERS & ARTISTS TELL STORIES TO REMEMBER
Recommended (8/10)
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DC Comics
Creators: Various
Price: $9.95 US/$16.95 CAN |
There are a number of traits that set this Sept.11 tribute and benefit book apart from its sister, published by Dark Horse Comics. First of all, there's the unwieldy title... that's a mouthful. There are many more mainstream comics names to be found in this book, and overall, there's a more hopeful tone to the stories and remembrances.
Though I enjoyed the other book a bit more for the more intellectually challenging tone, this was nevertheless a riveting and touching read. The organization of the stories into various themes tied the book together nicely, and this anthology also brought with it the return of some cherished comic-book properties like Kurt Busiek's Astro City and Scene of the Crime.
There's a much brighter tone to this book. Some of it can be attributed to the nature of the super-hero characters that turn up in so many of the stories, but there are other factors as well. The art is lighter, and many of the stories boast a more innocent tone. The different between this volume and that from Dark Horse can be summed up nicely simply by observing the differences in the covers.
In a few of the stories, though the super-heroes bring with them a sense of wonder and innocence, they sometimes tend to intrude on the more reflective and serious tones that the creators are attempting to explore. Some of the super-hero elements even come off as silly. The most notable and glaring example of this glitch is in the short piece in which Krypto the Super-Dog brings the search-and-rescue canines some relief in the form of a giant water bowl.
Of course, there are just as many examples of the creators using the super-heroics to reinforce the importance of real-life heroes. Kurt Busiek's story of an Astro City firefighter was one of the most powerful pieces in the book. And then there are those stories when the super-heroes appear only as an extension of children's imaginations. Suddenly, I was in the second grade again, creating my own Justice League adventures in a notebook.
I was surprised and initially elated to see Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark revive Scene of the Crime in these pages, but then I got to thinking... Was this the appropriate place for a comeback or just a simple resurrection of a favored property? To my delight, though, Brubaker offers up a fascinating character study, and a perspective of Sept.11 that could have easily have gone overlooked.
DC's design for their tribute book is much more reader friendly, with stories and creators connected far more clearly. I was also pleased to find that though the book is dominated by better recognized names in the industry, there was still room for introductions to new names in comic art and storytelling.
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