I will not forget that I have forgotten*

[stubbleupdate]

Anybody who is anybody will be following the announcements for new books coming out at Image soon. Books like Top Cow's Think Tank, a four issue miniseries about a scientific researcher, a third Phonogram series, Tony Harris drawing a 1930's Noir, Gangster, horror story!!, 2 books from Jonathan Hickman, another Jonathan Ross pwoject (this time with Bryan Hitch), the bizarrely controversial BKV return to comics, Saga, and Mara by Brian Wood and Ming Doyle.

The concept of Mara is as follows
The world of MARA is a war-and-fitness obsessed future, where the angst and insecurity of average citizens is compensated with an extreme focus on sports and battle. Mara Prince is a superbly gifted athlete, playing in a women's volleyball league, and is as famous as you can imagine, with endless endorsements, comped everything, and millions of screaming teenage fans. Until one day, during a highly visible match, she starts to manifest superpowers. For a culture that prizes physical achievement, conformity, and fair-minded sportsmanship, this puts Mara's entire world at risk.


On Saturday night, I tweeted Mara by Brian Wood is really interesting until it gets to the word "superhero" I'll still take a look at it when it comes out
Then I got a response from Brian Wood
have you read Demo?
I read the first one, I think, where the girl is having a panic attack in the car. I really enjoyed NY4-5 and Local
Mara is about superpowers like Demo is about superpowers.

So, off I went to get a look at Demo, which seems to be a series of one-shot stories. Comixology only has v.2 on it, and I picked up v2#3, which goes like this







With me so far? Marlo has some OCD and plots her life through post-its. Let's look at them again.



Demo v2.#3 was utterly charming and I really do recommend it. When I got to the end of the issue, I felt aggrieved, not because I hadn't got value for my money, but because I really wanted to find out how the story continued. I shall buy the rest of the series soon. I shall definitely be buying Mara.
*

Comments

[q99]

I loved DEMO 1. DEMO 2 had some good issues, but IMO it wasn't *quite* as strong as the first ones.

[stubbleupdate]

I read #1 of Demo a while ago and wasn't massively taken with it. I need to read it again and pay a bit more attention. Considering that the collection is available through Amazon for less than £12, it's an easy bet to pick it up.

[q99]

They're pretty interesting comics. Each about some weird, offbeat circumstance or ability involving a character, most are pretty good, some're really great.

IMO, at least. I can see some people not liking the vibe, but as mentioned, I loved it ^^

[rainspirit]

Really excited to pick up Saga. I read Y: The Last Man and Ex Machina, so I know it'll be an incredibly awesome ride... right up until the ending, when he manages to find a way to crush my soul with heaping piles of sadness and desolation.

[mrstatham]

You forget Vaughan's Runaways, where, hey, the other kids save Chase, but you get the feeling that they, and Nico in particular, will likely be pretty scarred by the experience forever.

Not that any other writer picked up on it in a particularly satisfactory manner, really, but then, I don't think I've encountered many writers who do the whole 'morally grey' thing as well as Vaughan.

[deleonjh]

Yeah, it's cool how responsive Brian Wood is to his readers. I remember emailing about the issue of Local set in Halifax because the establishing shots of the docks would cut away to the Oxford movie theatre which is nowhere near the docks; I happened to know that because I lived around the corner from the Oxford. I told him and his artist Ryan Kelly how jarring it was to someone who was literally local to the city and they were nice enough to consider my criticisms.

I think my favourite issue of Demo is the one where the suicidal precognitive leaves a cassette tape for her boyfriend so they can spend one final day together even after she's killed herself.

[pyynk]

Insanely excited about a volume 3 of Phonogram. I have a feeling I'll be double dipping on that one, getting single issues AND the trade. I'm too excited to wait 6 months for the whole thing to be out, but volumes 1 and 2 would be so lonely on the shelf.

So Tony Harris' book is finally coming out? Sweet!

[endis_ni]

Volume 3? Oh my YES!! Thank you, comics universe, for a brilliant birthday present.

[pyynk]

Yeah it's one of my go-to books for re-reads and it's one of my default presents as well. Know a DJ? Buy 'em a copy of Volume Two.

[mrstatham]

I still need to pick up Demo Vol 2, but the first one was utterly charming and brilliant superpower comics. I think it's pretty likely if the mainstream had any awareness of it, it'd just get branded as being 'hipster', but I really liked it. They were really innovative approaches to superpowers without the superhero stuff attached. And Cloonan and Wood has proved to be a pretty fantastic collaboration - Their current Conan stuff, even with one issue, has basically achieved the same effect as Azzarello's Wonder Woman, to me.