Blair Butler's Fresh Ink

Comic book critic Blair Butler is cooler than anything. You should listen to her when she tells you about comics because Science has proven her opinions have never been wrong...ever. Today, she's checking out Bite Club VCU #3, The Eternals #1, and Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic.

Bite Club VCU #3 (Vertigo) – What if the Soprano’s were Vampires? And the mob boss was a bisexual party girl instead of a corpulent gangster? Answer: it might look a lot like Bite Club. I have to confess – I loved the first Bite Club trade. Really did. But while I’ve been a fan of Howard Chaykin’s “American Flagg,” his collaboration with David Tischman in the sequel “Bite Club VCU” just, well, bites. We all know I’m a gorehound, but this series just feels like shock for shocks sake, without a single likeable character in it. Unless the promise of naked girls having a fist fight is all it takes to get you to pick up this book, sadly it’s a BURN. Pick up Chaykin and Tischmann’s “American Century” instead, to see a master of modern comics at his best.

The Eternals #1 (Marvel) – Created by Jack Kirby in 1976, the Eternals return to Marvel courtesy of Neil Gaiman and John Romita Jr. Gaiman’s last big project for Marvel was the ill-received “1602,” and the fans have been dying to check this one out. First things first: JRJ’s art has never looked better, thanks to some amazing colors by Matt Hollingsworth and co. Now, on to the story. We all know that no one handles complex mythology like Gaiman, he’s the legendary creator who gave us Sandman. Yet this “cosmic” project (and the Eternals themselves) just feels a little inaccessible. Not bad at all, just not instantly great, so it gets a BROWSE. We’ll see what happens as the series progresses. It’s in the hands of a master, and that’s promising.

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic – Alison Bechdel’s autobiographical story of her father’s suicide is rapidly becoming the most critically acclaimed graphic novel of 2006 – and after reading it, I’m not surprised in the least. The “Fun Home” of the title is actually a Funeral Parlor, and that sets the tone for the entire novel. As Bechdel unravels the threads of her father’s death and secret life, she finds striking similarities to her own. As an exploration of death, grief, gender, family, and coming-of-age, Fun Home is a MUST BUY on every level.