We apologize for the lack of a Walk of Shame for last week, there wasn’t much shame to have regardless, as there was a ton of nothing to read last week. So without further ado, here we have our third issue of THE WALK OF SHAME with Jeff Ayers and yours truly.
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DAVE: I’m about halfway through LOCKE & KEY vol. 1, and I have to say this 
book is completely brilliant. Bode, that kid, holy shit, I haven’t read better characterization of a kid that age since Vaughan was on RUNAWAYS. That moment between he and his mother while he’s fishing for treasure about the homework assignment where he did a comic about his father’s death was completely heart-wrenching and beautiful. I mean, Hill earned that Eisner nod on that page alone.
JEFF: And Gabriel Rodriguez’s art is ideally suited for the story. It’s somehow gritty and brutal, and often unrelentingly tense, but he can balance it out with tenderness and nice characterization. Draws great facial expressions. He’s got a real passion for the story and it shows. He also worked on an adaptation of Clive Barker’s Great and Secret Show, which I also dug.
Have you read any of Joe’s prose? His novel Heart-Shaped Box and short story collection 20th Century Ghosts… They’re pretty terrific, too.
The guy’s really talented.
Absolutely, Ty’s expression when his cousin says to him about being more famous than famous people now was detailed perfectly. The dead stare on Sam’s face is perfectly indicitive of a killer without emotion. I can’t say I’ve ever seen an artist who matches up Hill’s characterization with his line work. The looks on Duncan and Kinsey’s face when Bode tells that Owl/Echo joke. Totally brilliant.
That’s something not often discussed- comics stories best told through facial expressions. AKA The Steve Dillon Experience. Preacher would have been nothing if, say, Jim Lee or any other action oriented comicker took a crack at it.
Yeah. Its been a long time since we’ve had something like that. What other books do you think work like that?
Allred’s Madman, to an extent. Hewlett’s Tank Girl. Jaime’s Love& Rockets. Tons of books are made by the artist’s facial expressions skillz…
What did you end up getting this week?
Picked up the Irredeemable trade, and the subsequent 5th ish (a steal at 99 cents), the Pax Romana trade because I have a Jonathan Hickman man-crush, and um, ah, um, um Star Trek Alien Spotlight on Q… cuz I’m a dork.
You?
Oh, and of course the obligatory Wednesday Comics.
Picked up: Iron Man, Deadpool: Merc with a mouth, World of New Krypton and Locke and key. Yeah that Pax Romana shit is so ground-breaking. Hickman has really done something to change the style comics design. I got the first couple of issues of Pax but missed on the final few, I wanted to pick it up but thought it was too many trades on the day.
Was a huuuuge week for nice books. My pockets can’t keep up.
There was also that new TMNT reprint. 30 bucks, but it’s sooo sexy.
Right, yeah, I saw that. Really beautiful. You know what I just noticed I’m watching DEXTER and that kid who played Doomsday on SMALLVILLE plays the the suspected serial killer stalking Dexter. He was terrible on Smallville but he is so creepy good on this its awesome. Ever watch Dexter?
Love it. Fantastic show. Never read the books it’s based on, but been meaning to.
Yeah, the books sound great if its anything like this. This is a brilliant show. What did you like the most from this week?
Michael C. Hall. That guy’s fantastic. What’d I like most. Um. There’s a lot of books out this week, but I got the most enjoyment out of…. the new Q Star Trek issue. I hate being so honest. I have the Q Virus!!!
Jesus. Why?!
Because that’s how I roll. And I haven’t read every book that came out this week to find something to trump the Q. Love that character.
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That concludes the third issue of THE WALK OF SHAME. Tune in next week for another issue.
