So, I've been wanting to post about this for a long time, but just now really had the time. Okay, I actually forgot all about this and just now remembered.
About a week or so ago I read the first two issues of an Image book called Southern Cross by Becky Cloonan and Andy Belanger. The gist of the story so far is about a woman heading out to the moons of Jupiter to find what happened to her sister. It was a pretty good read. Nothing overly spectacular, but certainly enough there to get me back for issue #3 and I think it will get better as more is exposed. I love mystery, I love horror and I love sci-fi and this covers all of those.
However, I am not here to give a review of the story. I am not writing this to state my opinion of the book or to get you to buy the book. No, I am only here to relay something that happened after I was finished reading this title. I thought about the title. Yep, that was all. I just thought about this story. I thought about where this writer would go next with some of these characters, I thought about the art, the coloring, I thought about ship and engine designs. I thought about a great many things inside of these two issues, and THAT got me thinking about one more thing.
When was the last time a book from the big two hit me like this?
Like Jeff was stating the other day about Star Wars, we know, in the end, that certain characters will be safe. We know Spider-Man will swing again, just as we know Batman will never die. But not only are we assured that our Dark Knight will never know eternal peace, we know how each frightening Batman story will end. Even if it takes 30 issues to do so, we know how each Batman story will conclude. If it's a mystery Batman will solve it. If it's a crime that has taken place Batman will capture the criminal. If Batman has a young ward under his care he will screw up his head.
There is no thinking ... no true thinking to be done with the big two. Nothing that really matters anyway. I mean sure, you can think about if Alfred will actually become a computer program in the near future and what that will do to the Batman stories, but you also know, even if Alfred does go pure digital, he will one day return to human form. It is the way comics work. It's the way the big two work at least.
I am NOT saying that I/you can't/don't enjoy comics from the big two. Hell, I love 'em. BANG, POW, ZAP all day long brotha!! But it is truly a different form of entertainment. There is no thinking required or expected. You read, you enjoy, you move to the next issue, you read, you enjoy, you move to the next issue, you read, you ...
But with these creator owned books, you really have no damn clue what can happen. You are left with no advance knowledge of what will transpire when you read creator owned books. your favorite character could actually die and never be seen from again. By the same token, your favorite character could die, but due to alien technology, live once more. you have no clue.
And it's just not the characters. I think more about the places, the scenes, the background, the history of everything I inside of these creator owned gems. How much of a role does the engine really play in Southern Cross? It does seem like a lot, but ... I don't know, I thought about it though. Is the Captain of the Southern Cross involved? I don't know, I thought about it though. Will the character I am following now be an afterthought by issue 10? I HAVE NO IDEA!!!
But I thought about it.
Again, nothing against Marvel or DC. I love what they do (well, not so much DC as a whole, but hopefully they are turning a corner
). But what the big two puts out on a regular basis doesn't make me think. Not really.
I like to think.
I love me some creator owned books.