Best Comics of 2011: No. 11: Terry Moore's work

A day late, due to illness, both my own and that of the home Net connection. Now at work and trudging ahead.
The next entry is in two parts. First up is Terry Moore's new book, Rachel Rising.

Like his past works, ECHO and Strangers in Paradise, this work has a female lead.
Unlike those works, this is a horror story.
For a while it seemed like Moore's work, good as it's been, might all be variations on a theme. After all, Both Strangers and ECHO are about two women who pair with varying degrees of reluctance, albeit in very different circumstances and with very different goals.
However, in both books, there's always been an unrelenting tension that drives the plot, as much as the strong characters. Moore's understanding of motivation may be the strongest aspect of his work. And anyone who's read all of either of his previous works knows that Moore is not adverse to blood letting in the furtherance of his plot at times.
So when he announced his next book would be a horror story, I envisioned a smart Mario Bava outing with lesbian overtones.
I was so wrong.

 Rachel Rising is tense and involving, with an uneasy creepiness, owing more to Nicholas Roeg than Bava.
This is not to say the story of Rachel trying to find out if she's dead or not, and who buried her, is bloodless, as this spread from issue 2 demonstrates.

And Moore hasn't lost his trademark wit, although the term "gallows humor" was never more spot on.

I'm a couple issues behind, but despite Moore's annoying tendency to put out truly spiffy collections of his stories on their completion, I'll keep picking up Rachel Rising.
This year, Moore also began his sporadic How to Draw... series.

These are more pragmatic than many drawing books. Moore covers the basics, but in the same tone as McCloud's books on comics. They're more about WHY to draw something or someone in a certain way than HOW to do it.
In my mind, this approach is much more useful than "the leg bone's connected to the thigh bone". You can always expand your understanding of the mechanics. Understanding the psychology and philosophy of your art is vital!

Now that I'm well enough to leave the house, the iffy Net connection will not stop me from continuing my 2011 review.
Next: more lesbians. What, again? Wait for it....

Top 10 Comics of 2009: # 10: ECHO

I'll post one of these a day until I've reached #1. That will give me a bit of time to think about my choices. I have them chosen, but I do want to review, since I can read a lot of comics in a year!
#10 is the most recent issue of Terry Moore's ECHO.
For those not in the know, ECHO is the story of a broke photographer who happens onto a weapon test site, and is deluged with refuse from said weapon. This refuse attaches itself to her skin, seemingly irrevocably. The material also contains some of the consciousness of its inventor. Many people are trying to kill our photographer. Alliances are formed and a chase ensues. Pieces of the puzzle are doled out to our heroine (and her reluctant partner, the boyfriend of the late inventor) on the run. That's a very stripped down version of the plot.
The current issue, #17, takes the storyline into uncharted territory as this smart, soulful adventure book delves into areas of physics, human evolution, philosophy, and tells us the connection between the hydrogen bomb and art forgery. All this happens in a cafe conversation over a salad and a glass of water.

I was so disappointed when I saw this cover. This has been an intriguing read, but I was starting to feel like  I did around the middle of Strangers in Paradise- great story, but get on with it already. And this cover looked to me like a good Marvel cover- lots of pyrotechnics, but not about anything, really. Boy, was I wrong! It's been a while since a comic was so good that I was frustrated to not be able to read the next issue right away. So it was with this one. So many ideas and emotions crammed into a scant 24 or so pages, and let's add, a backstory that pulls previous events together in a way that, while not completely unexpected, is at least unorthodox and so heartfelt.

I don't know if Terry Moore lost his steam for a while or I just got frustrated. Whichever it was, he's back in full force with this issue, and this book is a high point for the year.

Tomorrow, #9, with a silver bullet!