Review: King City

My New Frank Miller

It's been nigh on a year since I've fallen off the wagon, indulged in my own crapulence, kicked up my heels and indulged my comic 'sweet tooth.' Ah, heaven. In that time I've been looking for 'my guy' (or girl), that one creator I can swear fealty too, my new Frank Miller.

I'm one of those 'follow-the-creator-kind-of-guys.' Back in the 80's [oh good Christ, not this again!] there wasn't a Frank Miller [or Bill Sienkiewicz or Howard Chaykin, or, yes, yes, we've heard it all before!] or Bill Sienkiewicz or Howard Chaykin or David Mazzucchelli [Mazzucchelli, how could we almost forgot him! Next thing you know he'll be goin' on about Walt Simonson] or Walt Simonson [spoke too soon!] comic book that I didn't try to track down, read and collect. [Get on with it already!] Some have Brian Wood, while others Brian K. Vaughn or Mark Waid, but it wasn't [it's Brandon Graham] until I read [oh, get on with it!] the trade paperback of [Brandon Graham!] King City by Brandon Graham [will miracles never cease!] that I thought, yeah, this is my new Frank Miller, I'll follow this guy anywhere.

Brandon Graham's sales receipt. He paid cash.

[Inevitable mention of Twitter and Aaron Meyers in 3 … 2 … 1 …] A couple of weeks back, I was tweeting with Aaron Meyers to say that after reading King City, I would happily read Brandon Graham's shopping list. A few minutes later, the social-media savvy Graham tweeted said list out and mentioned Meyers and me. Awesome. [Here comes the predictable Comics Bulletin mention, wanna' bet he drops Daniel Elkin and Jason Sacks's names?]

Daniel Elkin and Jason Sacks [what no mention of Danny Djeljosevic?] my fellow writers at Comics Bulletin asked if we could team-up on a review. I suggested King City, with the thought that it might work well for Danny Djeljosevic's [ah, there it is!] Fair Trade column about creator-owned comics. I also floated the idea that we involve Graham knowing what a big supporter he is of creator-owned comics. 

[Not sure where he's going to go next, maybe a Kelly Thompson shout-out?] The more I read and reread King City for my review, the more puns I caught, the more details I saw in Graham's art and the more I got the heartfelt and human story Graham tells about Joe, his super-human(?) cat and his friends. Brandon Graham is my (new) Frank Miller. Long live the King (City)!

 
So, hit the link to read what Elkin, Sacks, and I wrote as we traveled the hidden byways and secret underpasses of King City. [that was actually … not bad … sometimes sentiment doesn't suck].

Go here for a 'drug knife you can have sex with.'