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ealgyldenComic Rec: Ruse #17 and 18- more fun than Quatermain (though less manly than Bracy and Gedge)
So I've finally caught up with the last, what, ten issues of Ruse. Good thing comics don't go bad, eh? Ruse is one of CrossGen's better titles, IMO, and it's a shame that it's one of the ones that will be ending after the company's big "Oh no we have no money we're bankrupt help us!" multi-title crossover "event" in January (along with The Path, which I read but can live without, Meridian, which I've loved from issue #1 and will miss terribly, and a bunch of others that I don't read). Ruse is the story of Simon Archard, the Sherlock Holmes of the almost-but-not-quite Victorian English city of Partington, and his clever, brave, beautiful Watson, Emma Bishop. The art (by Butch Guice) is generally lovely- Simon looks like Rex Harrison by way of the Arrow Collar Man, Emma is realistically gorgeous (and has some great clothes), and the supporting characters are an interesting mix of the attractive, the grotesque and the... odd. Like Ophelia Pressmonk, the pretty, tiny, bearded lady. The writing from Scotty Beatty isn't quite as strong as Mark Waid's run was, but it's still very, very good. To be honest, it would be tough for me not to go for a comic that includes the League of Aggrieved Man-Servants among its villains, or features an almost-London infested with living gargoyles, but Ruse mostly lives up to its potential.
It's not really necessary to have read the previous sixteen issues before checking out #17 and 18. Sure, it's nice to know that Miranda Cross is a recurring villain, or that Emma has the ability to freeze the world in place (except for herself and Miranda) but that she's not supposed to use this power except under the most dire of circumstances, or that Simon's losing favor with the powers-that-be in Partington. But all of that can be inferred from context or glossed over. These two issues mostly stand alone as a brief excursion onto a Rider Haggard/Conan Doyle/Manville Fenn-ian island of lost civilizations ruled by immortal white queens, dinosaur-like beasties, and some bracingly manly adventurers, Theophilus Dare and his "Dare's Dodgers" (seriously, I want those guys to have their own comic). Oh yeah, and a cameo by Tarzan, sort of. Two issues are just enough to give us a fun, exciting mini-romp through the clichés of the genre without allowing us time to be annoyed by them (of course, I wouldn't have minded several more issues spent on this arc, but I'm a sucker for this sort of thing. I've inflicted the Helen Gahagan version of She on many, many unsuspecting victims. Mwa ha ha!) Here are a few scans from issue 17 and issue 18, the covers and first three pages (disclaimer- I'm linking to their pages, but I'm not affiliated with Mile High. I can vouch for them in general, but in this case I think you could get these comics slightly cheaper elsewhere). The ladies' clothes in these issues are a big change of pace for this title, since Emma and Miranda are usually rather more... respectable-looking. But that's Rider Haggard World for ya. Anyway, fun comics, worth a look.
Willow AF Update
With pictures. I won't be able to afford all four of them. Three of them are limited or exclusives and will probably become demonically expensive pretty quickly. But oh, how I want.
Random thing
The end of the world. Animated thingy (language warning). Weirdly fun.
So I've finally caught up with the last, what, ten issues of Ruse. Good thing comics don't go bad, eh? Ruse is one of CrossGen's better titles, IMO, and it's a shame that it's one of the ones that will be ending after the company's big "Oh no we have no money we're bankrupt help us!" multi-title crossover "event" in January (along with The Path, which I read but can live without, Meridian, which I've loved from issue #1 and will miss terribly, and a bunch of others that I don't read). Ruse is the story of Simon Archard, the Sherlock Holmes of the almost-but-not-quite Victorian English city of Partington, and his clever, brave, beautiful Watson, Emma Bishop. The art (by Butch Guice) is generally lovely- Simon looks like Rex Harrison by way of the Arrow Collar Man, Emma is realistically gorgeous (and has some great clothes), and the supporting characters are an interesting mix of the attractive, the grotesque and the... odd. Like Ophelia Pressmonk, the pretty, tiny, bearded lady. The writing from Scotty Beatty isn't quite as strong as Mark Waid's run was, but it's still very, very good. To be honest, it would be tough for me not to go for a comic that includes the League of Aggrieved Man-Servants among its villains, or features an almost-London infested with living gargoyles, but Ruse mostly lives up to its potential.
It's not really necessary to have read the previous sixteen issues before checking out #17 and 18. Sure, it's nice to know that Miranda Cross is a recurring villain, or that Emma has the ability to freeze the world in place (except for herself and Miranda) but that she's not supposed to use this power except under the most dire of circumstances, or that Simon's losing favor with the powers-that-be in Partington. But all of that can be inferred from context or glossed over. These two issues mostly stand alone as a brief excursion onto a Rider Haggard/Conan Doyle/Manville Fenn-ian island of lost civilizations ruled by immortal white queens, dinosaur-like beasties, and some bracingly manly adventurers, Theophilus Dare and his "Dare's Dodgers" (seriously, I want those guys to have their own comic). Oh yeah, and a cameo by Tarzan, sort of. Two issues are just enough to give us a fun, exciting mini-romp through the clichés of the genre without allowing us time to be annoyed by them (of course, I wouldn't have minded several more issues spent on this arc, but I'm a sucker for this sort of thing. I've inflicted the Helen Gahagan version of She on many, many unsuspecting victims. Mwa ha ha!) Here are a few scans from issue 17 and issue 18, the covers and first three pages (disclaimer- I'm linking to their pages, but I'm not affiliated with Mile High. I can vouch for them in general, but in this case I think you could get these comics slightly cheaper elsewhere). The ladies' clothes in these issues are a big change of pace for this title, since Emma and Miranda are usually rather more... respectable-looking. But that's Rider Haggard World for ya. Anyway, fun comics, worth a look.
Willow AF Update
With pictures. I won't be able to afford all four of them. Three of them are limited or exclusives and will probably become demonically expensive pretty quickly. But oh, how I want.
Random thing
The end of the world. Animated thingy (language warning). Weirdly fun.
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(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-31 10:09 pm (UTC)And thank, Ruse -- I keep seeing it, meaning to look at it, and then forgetting what it's called. *makes note*
(no subject)
Date: 2003-11-01 07:24 am (UTC)And you should definitely check out Ruse- Emma and Simon are great characters, the art is snazzy, and there's nothing else quite like it being published right now. I'll really miss it when it's gone.