Whispers # 1 - Joshua Luna

Have you ever felt nervous while dating? Have you ever had irrational fears? Have you ever had an anxiety attack? If you answered yes to any of these questions then you’ll probably feel identified with Sam, the protagonist of Whispers -Joshua Luna’s brand new series for Image Comics.

Sam is a young man who hasn’t been able to process some traumatic events from his childhood, and as a result he’s now suffering from what we commonly refer to as OCD –obsessive compulsive disorder. Raised by a seriously disturbed mother and despised by some of his peers, it’s quite an accomplishment for him to actually leave his apartment and rendezvous with his friends in a café.

Nonetheless, as he reaches the café his OCD takes over. He cannot open the door and enter, since the sole idea of touching a door handle that has been manipulated by countless of people makes him shiver. We all deal with germs and bacteria the best way we can. But what would happen if we were absolutely obsessed with cleaning and disinfection procedures? We would live quite healthily, but we wouldn’t have much of a life, would we?

Sam, however, is not a crazy guy. But unlike the rest of us –assuming all of my readers are, at least, partially sane- he is unable to connect with the phantasm: “A phantasm is a strong and very basic perceptual pattern, a sort of idee fixe that organizes our world view”. Whenever we meet someone, whenever we interact with people, we do so through a phantasmatic construction. Id est, an idealized version of a human being that prevents us from feeling disgusted by its corporeity. Because, after all, what constitutes a human being? First and foremost, we are physical entities, but at the same time we cannot deal with the materiality of our bodies.

A body is composed of fluids, viscera, gases, smells, excrement, blood, mucus and many more substances that most people would consider repugnant. For instance, if we see a dissected body we are likely to feel disgusted by it. We simply cannot cope with the ugly truth. Sam, nonetheless, has fully embraced the truth to the point that he can no longer relate to others through the phantasm; he is unable to create an idealized version of people and so he only looks at them as walking bags of germs and bacteria. He’s truly terrified of what might happen to him if he stops washing his hands maniacally or if he’s careless in the –ever contaminated- streets.

Now, the most interesting aspect in Joshua Luna’s narrative is that Sam, then, turns into a ghostly figure that can wander amidst crowded streets without a single worry. Indeed, Sam can leave behind that which he finds revolting -the human body- to be an ethereal manifestation that needs not to worry about diseases or internal organs. He has already approached some of his friends during dreamtime, and now, fully conscious, he pays a visit to his mother and his first girlfriend, the love of his life, who is now a hopeless drug-addict. As a ghost, he can finally connect with people in a way that had been impossible for him before. He can, at last, stop seeing them as a source of infection and start appreciating them as what they truly are. Nonetheless, as an immaterial manifestation he no longer has access to the materiality of the body, and thus he can neither touch them nor talk to them.

Joshua Luna’s first issue has truly captured my attention. He has a very original concept, properly executed. Besides his wonderful ideas, he’s also one hell of an artist. With a clear and impeccable style, slightly reminiscent of famous artists like Mike Allred, Joshua’s illustrations are surprisingly good. An amazing beginning, I strongly recommend it.
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¿Alguna vez se han sentido nerviosos en una cita? ¿Han tenido miedos irracionales? ¿Les ha dado un ataque de ansiedad? Si han respondido sí a alguna de estas preguntas entonces probablemente se sientan identificados con Sam, el protagonista de "Whispers" -la nueva serie de Joshua Luna para Image Comics.

Sam es un joven que no ha sido capaz de procesar los eventos traumáticos de su infancia y, como resultado, ahora sufre de lo que comúnmente denominamos 'trastorno obsesivo compulsivo'. Criado por una madre seriamente perturbada y despreciado por algunos de sus compañeros, es ya todo un logro para él salir de su departamento y reunirse con sus amigos en un café.

No obstante, al llegar al café el trastorno lo domina. No puede abrir la puerta, la sola idea de tocar una manija manipulada por incontables personas lo hace temblar. Todos nos enfrentamos a gérmenes y bacterias de la mejor forma posible. Pero ¿qué pasaría si estuviéramos absolutamente obsesionados con la limpieza y los procesos de desinfección? Viviríamos saludablemente, pero probablemente eso no sería vivir de verdad, ¿o sí?

Sam, sin embargo, no está loco. A diferencia de nosotros -asumiendo que todos mis lectores son, al menos, parcialmente cuerdos- es incapaz de conectarse con el fantasma: "Un fantasma es un patrón conceptual fuerte y muy básico, una suerte de idea fija que organiza nuestra visión del mundo". Cada vez que vemos a alguien, cada vez que interactuamos con gente, lo hacemos a través de una construcción fantasmática. Es decir, una versión idealizada del ser humano que nos impide sentirnos asqueados por su corporeidad. Porque, después de todo, ¿de qué está constituido un ser humano? Primero, antes que nada, somos entidades físicas, pero al mismo tiempo no podemos lidiar con la materialidad de nuestros cuerpos.

Un cuerpo se compone de fluidos, vísceras, gases, olores, excrementos, sangre, mucosidades y otras sustancias que muchos considerarían repugnantes. Por ejemplo, si vemos a un cuerpo diseccionado seguramente sentiremos asco. Simplemente no podemos enfrentar la fea verdad. Sam, sin embargo, ha asumido la verdad hasta tal punto que ya no puede relacionarse con los otros a través del fantasma; él es incapaz de crear una versión idealizada de la gente y así sólo los ve como bolsas caminantes de gérmenes y bacterias. Está verdaderamente aterrorizado de lo que podría pasarle si deja de lavarse las manos maniáticamente o si se descuida en las -siempre- contaminadas calles.

El aspecto más interesante de la narrativa de Joshua Luna es que Sam, luego, se convierte en una figura fantasmal que puede vagar por las calles despreocupadamente. De hecho, Sam abandona aquello que le parece asqueroso -el cuerpo humano- para ser una manifestación etérea que no necesita preocuparse por enfermedades u órganos internos. Ya se ha acercado a algunos de sus amigos en sueños, y ahora, conciente, visita a su madre y a su primera enamorada, el amor de su vida, que actualmente es una drogadicta. Como fantasma, por fin, puede conectarse con las personas de una manera que antes le habría resultado imposible. Puede, finalmente, dejar de verlos como una fuente de infección y empezar a apreciarlos por lo que son realmente. No obstante, como un ser inmaterial ya no tiene acceso a la materialidad del cuerpo, así que no puede tocarlos ni hablar con ellos.

El primer número de Joshua Luna realmente ha capturado mi atención. Tiene un concepto muy original, muy bien ejecutado. Además de sus maravillosas ideas, él también es un artista de primer nivel. Con un estilo claro e impecable, ligeramente reminiscente de famosos artistas como Mike Allred, las ilustraciones de Joshua sorprenden por su calidad. Un asombroso comienzo, lo recomiendo.

Severed # 6 - Snyder, Tuft & Futaki

Jack Garron is merely 12 years old but surviving in the streets of Chicago has taught him much about adults and wickedness. Initially, he trusted in an old salesman who promised him to help him get into the music industry. However, the trip has been quite revealing about the man’s misogyny and hostile nature. But that’s not all, Jack has discovered his wallet inside the man’s luggage, the same wallet that Sam –Jack’s friend- had supposedly stolen from him, at least, according to this sinister salesman.

Now finally everything is clear to Jack, but can he vanquish a foe as old as vice itself? In a secluded house, the man no longer hides his shark-like teeth. Jack tries to defend himself and although armed with a knife he barely manages to escape.

In the first issue of ‘Severed’, Jack run away from home, in search of his father. There’s nothing weird about this quest, after all, the necessity for a fatherly figure has been explained by many psychoanalysts. It can’t be easy for a single mother to raise a child, but Jack cannot understand this. He blames his mother for the disappearance of his father. However, if any true failing can be adjudicated to the motherly figure is her inability to summon the name of the father and invest herself with an authority that comes from that tautological figure that does not need to explain or justify himself, that needs only to say 'no because I say so'.

The absence of Jack’s father also means the absence of the nom de pere, the ultimate authority that inscribes the subject into the symbolic order. Ultimately this ‘name of the father’ commands his offspring to occupy the male or female position in the symbolic order. Without this authority, male and female positions can be seen as interchangeable which is made evident by Sam’s cross-dressing, id est, a fatherless girl undertaking the male position. At the same time, Jack becoming the object of desire for other men, especially when he almost gets raped in a train, would seem to unequivocally place him in a more feminine/passive position.

Jack, nevertheless, cannot stop searching for this elusive father, although what he really wants is the ‘name of the father’, because his only wish is to be a part of society, of this world, and for that he requires this connection with his progenitor, a link severed by his own mother since he was a child. After finally arriving to his father’s place, Jack courageously enters into the house without realizing that the merciless salesman had planned for Jack to be there all along...

Overtaken by the salesman’s vicious attack, Jack seems to be defeated. Will youth and innocence succumb before the power of an old evil? There’s no way of knowing the ending until issue 7 –the final issue of this miniseries- is released.

Meanwhile, if you want to know what did you miss in issues 1 through 5 you can click on the following links:

Severed # 1, Severed # 2, Severed # 3, Severed # 4,
Severed # 5.
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Jack Garron sólo tiene 12 años, pero sobrevivir en las calles de Chicago le ha enseñado mucho sobre los adultos y la malicia. Al inicio, confió en un viejo vendedor que le prometió acercarlo a la industria de la música. No obstante, el viaje le ha revelado la misoginia y hostilidad de este individuo. Pero eso no es todo, Jack ha descubierto su billetera en el equipaje del hombre, la misma billetera que Sam -la amiga de Jack- supuestamente le había robado, al menos, según decía el siniestro vendedor.

Finalmente todo es claro para Jack, pero ¿podrá derrotar a un enemigo tan viejo como el vicio mismo? En una casa aislada, el hombre ya no esconde sus dientes de tiburón. Jack trata de defenderse y aunque está armado con un cuchillo apenas logra escapar.

En el primer número de 'Severed', Jack escapó de casa, en busca de su padre. No hay nada extraño en esta búsqueda, después de todo, la necesidad de una figura paterna ha sido explicada por muchos psicoanalistas. No debe ser fácil para una madre soltera criar a un hijo, pero Jack no entiende esto. Culpa a su madre por la desaparición del padre. Sin embargo, si se le puede adjudicar alguna falla a la figura materna es su incapacidad de invocar el nombre del padre para conferir sobre sí misma una autoridad que proviene de esa figura tautológica que no necesita explicarse ni justificarse a sí misma, que sólo necesita decir 'no porque no'.

La ausencia del padre de Jack también significa la ausencia del nom de pere, la autoridad definitiva que inscribe al sujeto en el orden simbólico. Este 'nombre del padre' ordena a sus vástagos ocupar la posición masculina o femenina en el orden simbólico. Sin esta autoridad, las posiciones masculinas y femeninas pueden verse como intercambiables, algo que se hace evidente en el travestismo de Sam, una chica sin padre que se desplaza hacia la posición masculina. Al mismo tiempo, Jack se convierte en el objeto de deseo de otros hombres, especialmente cuando casi es violado en un tren, esto lo ubicaría inequívocamente en una posición más femenina/pasiva.

Jack, sin embargo, no puede dejar de buscar a su elusivo padre, aunque lo que realmente quiere es el 'nombre del padre', porque su único deseo es ser parte de la sociedad, de este mundo, y para ello requiere esta conexión con su progenitor, un lazo cercenado por su propia madre. Luego de llegar al hogar del padre, Jack valientemente cruza la puerta sin darse cuenta que el despiadado vendedor lo tenía todo planeado...

Abrumado por el salvaje ataque del vendedor, Jack parece estar derrotado. ¿Sucumbirá la juventud y la inocencia ante el poder de una maldad antigua? No hay forma de saber el desenlace hasta que el número 7 -el último de la miniserie- salga a la venta.

Mientras tanto, si quieren saber de qué se perdieron en los números 1 al 5 pueden hacer click a continuación:

Severed # 1, Severed # 2, Severed # 3, Severed # 4, Severed # 5 

Jóvenes talentos - Galería John Harriman / Británico

Lost in Translation (2003)
Directed by Sofia Coppola

The first minutes of Sofia Coppola’s best film to date are quite revealing: A woman, Scarlett Johansson, is in a five star hotel, beholding Tokyo’s skyline. A man, Bill Murray, looks through a car’s window, curious perhaps, but above all estranged. Combining a deeply poignant music with suggestive images, the director creates a world, a filmic universe that captures our attention immediately. What Sofia Coppola does in the opening frames is what many filmmakers struggle to achieve in their entire careers.

Throughout the film there is always a certain feeling of longing, of loneliness; longing for a different tomorrow, and loneliness as the confirmation that the one constant in human condition is discontent. Many critics must have explored the lack of communication as a fundamental key in “Lost in Translation”, both as the obvious reference of the title and also as an indicator of all that we can’t put into language.

Perhaps in the best role of his career, Bill Murray plays Bob Harris, a washed-out actor that used to be a super star and now has to endorse a Japanese whisky to make a couple of million bucks. He feels like an alien in Tokyo. But he’s also a specular image of the Japanese people’s own alienated condition. Westernized to the extreme, the Japanese have lost their essence, they are the living example of how further can people go in order to disallow themselves.

Giovanni Ribisi’s character, a professional photographer also ponders on it: Japanese rock and roll groups that have no substance and exist only thanks to the decoration, the false reality that photography and the right publicity stunt can imprint on them. The photographer is there to sustain the alienation process, even if he disagrees with the falseness of it all.

In the same way, Bob Harris has to synthetize in a TV commercial what the Japanese consider the core of Western elegance and sophistication. He is asked to be Roger Moore, Frank Sinatra, he is asked to perform not as the white man he is but as the white man they need him to be. Of course, there can be no words or guidelines for such a taxing acting job. And that’s why also it’s impossible for the interpreters to translate the instructions given to him. Not only are words lost in translation, but also there is an unnamed need, a ‘real’ that threatens to irrupt into reality, and as Lacan explains in his psychoanalytic theory, the real exceeds the language, the real can never exist within the boundaries of the symbolic, id est, language.

Bob Harris is an exhausted man that finds alcohol soothing, although just barely. After 25 years of marriage he is unhappy. Between him and his wife no real communication exists. What takes place, however, is a very insistent simulacrum, much in the same way that everything takes place in Japan. Philosopher Alan Badiou’s talks about the importance of the simulacrum in postmodern society; if Sofia Coppola’s film is more revealing and enthralling than anything else out there is precisely because it embraces contemporaneity to the maximum; this isn’t a film about explanations, about outcomes, which would be a modernist approach; this is a postmodern film in the way that it sates our hunger for art, for beauty and for intellectual value while establishing what Derrida proposed in his deconstruction theory: knowledge can never be complete. When Bob’s wife sends him a fax, or Fed-Exes carpet samples, or calls him, it’s all a simulacrum. They are never able to connect with each other, not even at the most basic of levels.

my page / mi página

In the same manner, Charlotte, extraordinarily interpreted by Scarlett Johansson seems to be drifting away. She’s married to a successful photographer but she can’t figure out what to do with her time. There is no meaning for life, and that thought depresses her and fills her heart with anguish. She tries to get into self-help audiobooks to feel better, to no avail. The entire boom of auto-help material is also an example of Badiou’s simulacrum; thousands if not millions of these books are written each year, and yet they are all useless. Life cannot be summarized, standardized and explained so that you can feel better. But despair takes the best of us all, and thus self-help becomes the one and only thing that sells out nowadays.

When Charlotte and Bob meet in the hotel’s bar, they recognize in the other the same existential doubts, the same sensibilities, and they feel connected. They are the only characters able to actually communicate with each other. Their bond is intensified when contrasted with the world around them, for example, with Charlotte’s Japanese friends who are so absolutely alienated and have tried so hard to look and act like Americans that end up as ridiculous and pathetic creatures. Tokyo is a city that denies its past, its traditions, so much that it’s simply brutal to see how its inhabitants behave.

However, there is still some true beauty left (beauty as it would be understood in the Genji Monogatari and other traditional Japanese works of art), and Coppola gives us a glimpse of it, in a couple of moments. Nevertheless, this beauty, this true spirit, is constantly covered by the appalling reality that surrounds the protagonists. When Bob Harris receives the visit of a woman wearing sexy stockings, we are privy to yet another example of westernized acculturation and fantasies, although here the fantasy instead of covering the horror of the real merely exacerbates the void, the structural fissures of Japan’s society.

Sofia Coppola’s masterwork resonates deeply inside of us because it’s one of the most refined and superb portrayals of the human condition in cinema’s history. The final scene, of course, proves once again that there is no such thing as a happy ending, and precisely because of that it reminds us that life is just like that, unpredictable, full of suffering but also possibilities of change and, of course, free will. Lost in Translation makes it into my personal top twenty without a second thought. 
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Hace más de una década que no visito Cusco y mis últimos viajes han sido o bien a Estados Unidos o bien a países vecinos como Colombia, la tierra de mi padre. Así es que considero una falta grave, de mi parte, estar desconectado de lo que sucede fuera de Lima. Más aún en términos artísticos.

Por suerte, aunque sea levemente, algo de esto se puede subsanar gracias a la admirable labor de la curadora Élida Román, quien se ha esforzado en descentralizar el arte. Así, con el apoyo de la galería John Harriman del Británico, ella ha logrado organizar una muestra anual enfocada en artistas de provincias, en este caso, de Cusco.

La muestra “Jóvenes talentos” reúne las originales y sugerentes esculturas en piedra y metal de Edwin Huamán y los fantásticos cuadros del artista plástico Richard Peralta. Acostumbrado al arte contemporáneo limeño, debo admitir que quedé gratamente sorprendido por el altísimo nivel de calidad de los trabajos seleccionados para esta muestra. Tantos las esculturas como los cuadros me transmitieron una fuerza y una energía que a veces no se percibe en obras de artistas locales. La muestra quedará abierta al público en la galería John Harriman (Jr. Bellavista 531 / Malecón Balta 740. Miraflores) desde el día de mañana hasta el 31 de marzo. Vayan a verla, realmente vale la pena.

Me enteré de la muestra gracias a mis amigos Andreé Ferro y Natalia Higa, justamente hace un par de semanas, los tres nos reunimos en el café Gianfranco y conversamos con Élida Román mientras comíamos helados artesanales. Conozco más artistas que curadores, pero considero sumamente valiosa la opinión de una conocedora del arte que está en constante búsqueda de nuevos talentos. Gracias a ese afán, Élida ha descubierto para nosotros la obra de dos cusqueños con propuestas artísticas de primer nivel.

Además de conversar con Andreé y Natalia durante la inauguración, también me encontré con varias amistades como Mariloli de Koechlin y artistas como Joseph de Utia. Lo cierto es que, tras conversar brevemente con ellos (y tomarme un par de vasos de whisky y algunas copas de vino tinto y blanco, dicho sea de paso), todos estuvieron de acuerdo en una cosa: la originalidad y lucimiento de los trabajos expuestos.

Por esas casualidades de la vida, la primera vez que un escritor me firmó un libro Andreé estaba presente, y eso me ha hecho pensar en la gran cantidad de libros autografiados que tengo actualmente, entre ellos “La piedra alada” del genial poeta José Watanabe. Ahí van la foto del libro y del autógrafo. Y también he decidido incluir una de mis páginas completas para un próximo cómic (así como el gran dibujante Keith Giffen se inspiró en el genial artista francés Druillet a principios de los 80, yo también intenté plasmar, sobre todo en la primera viñeta, el estilo y la composición del ilustrador galo). 

Ferals # 1 - David Lapham & Gabriel Andrade

Truly frightening werewolves stories don’t come easy. I won’t even try to find a good one in comic books, suffice to say that in movies, for instance, it’s not that difficult to come across interesting productions about Dracula or other classical monsters. I can think of several extraordinary productions about vampires, such as Tomas Alfredson's “Låt den rätte komma in” (“Let the Right One In”).

Nonetheless, in recent years films or comic books about lycanthropes are not only rare but usually quite disappointing. I’m pleased to see that David Lapham has created a very solid narrative that brings werewolves into an isolated and peaceful town.

cover by Gabriel Andrade / portada de Gabriel Andrade

When a man is found in the woods savagely mutilated theories start to abound. For some, only a bear or a mountain lion could be responsible for such butchery, nonetheless, as officer Dale asks “what kind of animal stuffs a man’s dick in his throat?”. Nobody can explain this death and there are no suspects.

So when Dale gets drunk and finds comfort in the arms of a mysterious albeit seductive Norwegian woman, an ominous moment takes place. As they head for the bathroom to have sex, the woman demands to be hit, she demands violence. What is the essence of sadomasochism? For some, the quintessential sadistic pleasure derives from the Marquis de Sade’s philosophical assertions. For others, however, the masochist is the one who adopts a particular position in the sexual structure (sadomasochism and sex are, after all, undividable which explains why the sex scene between Dale and the woman is indispensable). The masochistic subject makes himself the instrument of the Other's volonté de jouissance.

check the mouth... / revisen la boca...

A werewolf could easily be seen as a manifestation of the otherness that we carry inside ourselves. The savageness, the bestiality, the undiluted rage… There is, nonetheless, a jouissance present in the behavior of the man –or woman- who turns into an animal. An undeniable jouissance that explains why the werewolf seems to target sexual organs with a special ferocity. The entrancing perversity created by Lapham’s wild imagination successfully places a classical monster of black and white cinema into the colorful although bleak reality of today’s world.  

Whosever the werewolf might be, he or she is clearly a pervert. A pervert is the person in whom the structure of the drive is most clearly revealed, and also the person who carries the attempt to go beyond the pleasure principle to the limit "he who goes as far as he can along the path of jouissance" (Lacan).

This is a very promising issue but, of course, it wouldn’t be so great if not for Gabriel Andrade’s wonderful pages. Gabriel provides the reader with a clear sequential approach while retaining all the details that we need to see. For instance, the viciously disemboweled bodies are shown in its integrity, while the sex scenes are enticing without becoming too graphically explicit. Avatar Press has yet again released a series that no horror fan can miss. You’ve been warned.   
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Las buenas historias de hombres lobo son escasas. Ni siquiera intentaré encontrar alguna en cómics, basta decir que en el cine, por ejemplo, no es tan difícil hallar producciones interesantes sobre Drácula u otros monstruos clásicos. Puedo pensar en varias obras extraordinarias sobre vampiros, como “Låt den rätte komma in” (“Let the Right One In”) de Tomas Alfredson.

the masochistic woman / la mujer masoquista

No obstante, en años recientes las películas o cómics sobre licántropos son poco habituales y usualmente decepcionantes. Me complace ver que David Lapham ha creado una sólida narrativa que lleva al hombre lobo a un aislado y pacífico pueblo.

Cuando aparece el cuerpo de un hombre salvajemente mutilado, las teorías abundan. Para algunos, sólo un oso o un león montañés podría ser responsable de semejante carnicería, sin embargo, el oficial Dale se pregunta "¿Qué clase de animal metería el pene de un hombre en su garganta?". Nadie puede explicar esta muerte y no hay sospechosos.

Así que cuando Dale se emborracha y se acerca una misteriosa aunque seductora noruega, llega el momento de lo ominoso. Mientras si dirigen al baño para tener sexo, la mujer exige ser golpeada, ella demanda violencia. ¿Cuál es la esencia del sadomasoquismo? Para algunos, la quintaesencia del placer sádico deriva de las afirmaciones filosóficas del Marqués de Sade. Pero para otros el masoquista es aquel que adopta una posición particular en la estructura sexual (el sadomasoquismo y el sexo, después de todo, son indesligables y esto explica por qué la escena de sexo entre Dale y la mujer es indispensable). El sujeto masoquista se convierte en instrumento de la voluntad de goce del Otro.

Dale's lover / la amante de Dale

Un hombre lobo podría ser visto fácilmente como una manifestación de la otredad que tenemos en nuestro interior. El salvajismo, la bestialidad, la ira sin control... Hay, no obstante, un goce presente en la conducta del hombre -o mujer- que se transforma en animal. Un innegable goce que explica por qué el hombre lobo parece ensañarse en los órganos sexuales con especial ferocidad. La sugerente perversidad creada por la imaginación salvaje de Lapham ubica con éxito al monstruo clásico del cine a blanco y negro dentro de la colorida aunque desolada realidad del mundo actual.

Sin importar quién sea el hombre lobo, se trata claramente de un ser perverso. El perverso es la persona en quien la estructura de la pulsión está más claramente revelada, y también la persona que intenta llevar el principio del placer hasta el límite y más allá "aquel que va tan lejos como puede en el camino de la jouissance" (Lacan).

Este es un primer ejemplar muy prometedor pero, por supuesto, no sería lo mismo si no fuese por las maravillosas páginas de Gabriel Andrade. Gabriel le proporciona al lector un claro enfoque secuencial mientras retiene todos los detalles que necesitamos ver. Por ejemplo, los cuerpos salvajemente destripados se ven en su integridad, mientras que las escenas de sexo son eróticas sin ser demasiado explícitas gráficamente. Avatar Press, nuevamente, ha creado una serie que ningún fan del terror puede perderse. Están advertidos.

January comic books / cómics de enero

I got my January comic books on record time! And I think I read them even faster. Icon is still producing some of the most interesting titles such as Brilliant and Superior, while Avatar keeps catering to the horror fans like no other publisher could… this month Caligula ends, but Ferals begins. Unwritten and Morning Glories continue to be some of my favorite ongoing series, while Luther Strode and Severed are the best Image miniseries right now. I’d like to emphasize the quality of the first issue of Whispers, a very promising title. And now, without further ado, January issues are here as per solicitations. Which one of these should I review first?



And also, a couple of panels from an old X-Factor issue. How could you not love Madrox, the Multiple Man?

BRILLIANT #2 (MR)
Created by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS & MARK BAGLEY Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS Pencils & Cover by MARK BAGLEY Variant Covers by DAVID MACK & MICHAEL AVON OEMING How do Bendis and Bagley follow up their record-breaking, award-winning run on the million-selling ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN? With another chapter of their new creator-owned series BRILLIANT. The challenge has been set: a handful of?genius college students have taken it upon themselves to crack the mystery of superpowers. Can it be done? Can science fiction again become science fact? Find out in this crackling thriller sure to entertain fans of SCARLET and POWERS. 40 PGS./Mature  Copyright 2011 Jinxworld Inc.

CALIGULA #6 (OF 6)
The streets of Rome run red with blood as David (CROSSED) Lapham brings a startling conclusion to the story of the most feared Emperor of time, Caligula!  Felix has endured the brutal slaughter of his parents, the intrusive savage needs of a nightmare steed, and the hedonistically maddened ravings of his beloved and despised enemy.  Having been tasked to record the gospel of Caligula, can a mortal man decipher the supernatural secrets of Rome's most despised despot and put an end to the insanity® David Lapham drags fans into the darkest corners of Rome's history and dares you to stare down the madness within.  German Nobile illustrates this final gruesome chapter in the Caligula epic.  Caligula #6 is available with a Regular cover by Jacen Burrows, a Wraparound cover by series artist German Nobile, and a special Golden age of Rome retailer incentive cover.

FERALS # 1
Cover: Gabriel Andrade Writer: David Lapham Art: Gabriel Andrade Lapham unleashes a new on-going horror series! David (CROSSED) Lapham returns to his Stray Bullets roots with a brutal supernatural crime drama that features the grueling horror of a new type of werewolf! Officer Dale Chesnutt has a big bloody problem - slaughtered civilians are turning up in the sleepy town of Cypress and now it's on him to figure it out. But while he is discovering more carnage, and his violent passions for a sexy mysterious woman, a vicious creature strikes again, this time at Dale's own family. The horrific mystery begins to unfold with Gabriel (LADY DEATH) Andrade illustrating the on-going Ferals epic. Available with a Regular, Wraparound, Gore, and special Slashed Retailer Incentive cover by series artist Gabriel Andrade.

LORD OF THE JUNGLE #1 (MR)
The original Lord of the Jungle returns! If you thought you knew the story, think again! For the first time in its 100 year history the classic Edgar Rice Burroughs story, Tarzan of The Apes is told UNCENSORED! This series will capture the savagery and action of the original while expanding on it with new elements! The story begins in the late 1800s, John Clayton, Lord of Greystoke, and his wife, the Lady Alice, are left stranded on a remote African coast. They must fend for themselves in this savage world, and the fact that Lady Alice is pregnant doesn't make things any easier! The violent saga of Greystoke begins in December written by Arvid Nelson and illustrated by Roberto Castro, and featuring covers by Alex Ross, Lucio Parillo, Ryan Sook, and Paul Renaud!

MORNING GLORIES #15 (MR)
P.E. Part Two

SEVERED #6 (MR)
story SCOTT SNYDER & SCOTT TUFT art / cover ATTILA FUTAKI  'PERMANENT TEETH' In 1916, a boy runs away from home in search of his father. But along the way he meets a salesman with sharp teeth and a hunger for flesh. SCOTT SNYDER (AMERICAN VAMPIRE, BATMAN, SWAMP THING), SCOTT TUFT and ATTILA FUTAKI (NYT Best-Selling-Artist: PERCY JACKSON) comes the most terrifying horror series of the last year.

STRANGE TALENT OF LUTHER STRODE #4 (OF 6) (MR)
story JUSTIN JORDAN art / cover TRADD MOORE Luther versus The Librarian, Round One! The truth is revealed as Luther meets the Librarian for the first time and finds out the origin of his abilities and what the pinstriped madman has planned for him. All your questions are answered as the countdown to the end begins.

SUPERIOR # 7
Written by MARK MILLAR Pencils & Cover by LEINIL FRANICS YU DOUBLE-SIZED FINALE to the best new comic in years as the first volume of Superior draws to a close and the creators promise is the best fight-scene they have ever achieved on the printed page. It's Superior versus Abraxas in the middle of New York and thousands of innocent people dying every time someone throws a punch. Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass) has already snapped up the rights for this book meaning Millar has yet another movie franchise he can boast about. Buy this now while it's still cheap. Plus: An exclusive 6-page lettered preview of the new Supercrooks series by Mark Millar and Leinil Yu, launching in January. 40 PGS./Mature

UNWRITTEN #33
Recovered and recharged, Tom is ready to invade the cabal's inner sanctum as 'Tommy Taylor and the War of Words' continues. And the Cabal are more than ready to receive him into the charged narrative space of the Grid. As Pullman's trap closes, revelations about the Cabal's true aims come thick and fast.

WALKING DEAD #93 (MR)
story ROBERT KIRKMAN art / cover CHARLIE ADLARD & CLIFF RATHBURN  'A LARGER WORLD' begins here! As we ramp up to the release of our monumental 100th issue, the world is changing.  Rick and his band of survivors are faced with new threats - and new opportunities.  Nothing will ever be the same - and with this book, you know we mean it!

WHISPERS #1
story JOSHUA LUNA art & cover JOSHUA LUNA A mentally troubled man is suddenly empowered with the ability to leave his physical body in 'ghost' form and manipulate people in strange and disturbing ways. With this incredible power, will he control his demons...or discover even more® JOSHUA LUNA of the Luna Brothers (ULTRA, GIRLS, THE SWORD) makes a solo debut with a dark, supernatural thriller that questions free will and explores the obsessions, addictions and urges we all have and may not have control of at all.
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Recibí mis cómics de enero en tiempo récord. Y los leí aún más rápido. Icon sigue produciendo algunos de los títulos más interesantes como Brilliant y Superior, mientras que Avatar sigue engriendo a los fans del terror... este mes finaliza Caligula pero comienza Ferals. Unwritten y Morning Glories siguen siendo algunas de mis colecciones regulares favoritas, mientras que Luther Strode y Severed son las mejores miniseries de Image actualmente. Me gustaría hacer énfasis en la calidad del primer número de Whispers, un título más que prometedor. Y ahora, sin más preámbulos, ahí van los cómics de enero. ¿Cuál debería reseñar primero?

X-Factor

Y finalmente un par de páginas de un número viejo de X-Factor, ¿a quién no le encanta Madrox, el Hombre Múltiple?

BRILLIANT #2 (MR) 
Todos conocen el reto. Ahora, un grupo de jóvenes genios, estudiantes universitarios, deciden investigar científicamente los súper poderes. ¿Podrá la ciencia ficción convertirse en ciencia a secas?

CALIGULA #6 (OF 6)
Las calles de Roma se llenan de sangre. Félix ha resistido el brutal asesinato de sus padres, las intrusivas necesidades salvajes de un corcel de pesadilla, la locura de su hedonística de su amado y odiado enemigo. Su misión es registrar el evangelio de Calígula, pero ¿podrá un mortal descubrir el secreto sobrenatural del más odiado déspota?

FERALS # 1
Llega una nueva raza de hombres lobo. El oficial Dale tiene un grave problema: civiles masacrados empiezan a aparecer en su pacífico pueblito. Y mientras descubre la carnicería, su propia familia es atacada.

Multiple Man

LORD OF THE JUNGLE #1 (MR)
El rey de la jungla original regresa. Por primera vez, la historia de TARZAN de los simios es contada sin censura. En 1800, John Clayton y su esposa Alice se pierden en la costa africana. Y ella está embarazada.

MORNING GLORIES #15 (MR)
‘Educación Física’, segunda parte.

SEVERED #6 (MR)
Dientes permanentes. El horror de verdad está en 1916.

STRANGE TALENT OF LUTHER STRODE #4
Luther versus el Bibliotecario. La verdad se revela en este primer encuentro, y Luther descubrirá el origen de sus extraordinarias habilidades.

SUPERIOR # 7
Superior versus Abraxas pelean en medio de New York, y miles de inocentes mueren cada vez que uno de ellos lanza un golpe.

UNWRITTEN #33
Recuperado y recargado, Tom está listo para invadir el santuario interno de la Cábala. La guerra de los mundos continúa.

WALKING DEAD #93 (MR)
El mundo está cambiando. Rick y los suyos se enfrentan a nuevas amenazas y nuevas oportunidades. Nada volverá a ser lo mismo.

Madrox

WHISPERS #1
Un hombre mentalmente inestable repentinamente gana el poder de salir de su cuerpo físico como un fantasma, manipulando a la gente de extrañas y perturbadoras maneras. ¿Podrá controlarse a sí mismo?