80-Page Thursdays: Vertigo Quarterly CMYK #1!

Give thanks, it's a new 80-Page Thursday entry! From 2014, Vertigo Quarterly CMYK #1 ("Cyan") with stories by Shaun Simon, Amy Chu, Fabio Moon, Robert Rodi, and more; and art by Jock, Ana Koehler, Martin Morazzo, Alitha Martinez, and more.

While Vertigo had in recent years had other 80-page specials named for classic DC series like The Unexpected and Strange Adventures, Cyan was the first of four anthologies featuring stories tied together by a color. In this case, blue. Some of the stories are more tied to, or the art more defined by, blue than others; but that does open up the book to murder mysteries, steampunk activists, and sci-fi drug addicts.

None of the stories rocked my world or anything, but nothing was absolutely terrible either. The lead story, "Serial Artist" was a fun murder story, followed by "918," in which a drug addict doesn't find the destination he intended. "Blue Sundae" has a pair of ice-cream men versus "some sort of demon dog," which is just odd. In "So Blue" an aging pop-star plots against her up-and-coming rival, and in "Much Ado About Nothing" an anti-terrorism codebreaker is present for the accidental unlocking of the universe's numbers.

"Rebolt" is a steampunk anti-coal, anti-corporate story; and "Madame Bluebeard" tells the story of a beard for closeted actors in the fifties who lives up to her nickname. "Once Upon the End of Time..." was a post-apocalyptic love story; and "Breaking News of the Wonders the Future Holds" a short about two artists wondering about vases after their art gallery is closed. That last one is stronger than I make it sound; but the latter half of this book mostly wouldn't be out of place in a classic DC anthology. (Well, the subtext of "Madame Bluebeard" might've been a tough sell, but still.) "Cyan" is a little pretentious of a title, for a batch of shorts, but not unreadable.

I picked up this one, two other new 80-pagers (no points for guessing!) and seven other books; during a "Deal of the Day" sale from Hastings: ninety-nine cents an issue! More like two bucks with shipping, but still. $70-some worth of books for $23 shipped!