From before zombies were a big thing. Or comics, for that matter...

Actually, of course the modern zombie was around back in 1999 when this issue was published, but certainly wasn't as ubiquitous as they are now. Of course, this isn't quite a typical zombie story: from Flinch #6, "Dead Woman Walking" Written by William Messner-Loebs, art by Duncan Fegredo. A heiress is betrayed and murdered by her new husband, and is so angry she rises from her grave. Upon getting back to her husband, though, she has a change of heart, and decides to take him to bed instead. And his girlfriend. And then things get weird.

This is just an eight pager, and might've benefited from a few more, but not bad. I lucked into finding this one the same day Mignola and Fegredo's Hellboy: the Midnight Circus came out, too. (Spoiler alert: it's great!) The rest of the issue holds up as well: in "El Ogro" a morbidly obese son can't get over the death of his brother, as his family wonders how much more they can stand; and in "The Day Wife" Phillip Hester writes and draws the story of a man making a curious discovery about his wife's inner nature. I don't think Flinch has been reprinted yet, so you'd have to dig it up issue by issue.

It's Halloween, and as usual I've taken the day off! It would probably make more sense to take the day after off, so I can stay up late watching crappy zombie movies, but here we are.
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Milligan and Fegredo may not have had Morricone in mind here...

...ah, maybe they did. From Weird Western Tales #4, "What a Man's Gotta Do" Written by Peter Milligan, illustrated by Duncan Fegredo. While watching old westerns, a put-upon, hen-pecked realtor gets the idea that he needs to get in touch with his inner cowboy. With mixed results...

Damn, I have the rest of this series somewhere. This issue also features a brutal revenge story from Bruce Jones and Cully Hamner, "Savaged," and "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie" from Jen Van Meter and Dave Taylor: on a cattle drive, three cowpokes try to press on after a fourth dies of natural causes, and they try to get his body to the nearest town for a decent burial. Slapstick ensues, but with a tragic ending.

Anthologies are often hit-and-miss; but I thought Vertigo did all right on this one. And after the break: some Ennio Morricone, which I probably should've had at the start of the post, but I couldn't embed "The Ecstacy of Gold," so this'll do.




Huh, Morricone composed the score for John Carpenter's the Thing, another movie that like The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, I'll always stop and watch.
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This would be House's best cold-open EVER.

From Face #1, written by Peter Milligan, art by Duncan Fegredo. As the GCD points out:

Synopsis:From the "On The Ledge" column: "The first of the Vertigo Voices one-shots explores the horrific consequences when the world's most famous artist hires the world's most brilliant plastic surgeon for his own warped agenda."

It's pretty good, but hard to beat that first page there. If you're not one for blood, this one won't be for you; but it's one to check out if you've got the stomach. I do believe DC's reprinting the Eaters, another Vertigo Voices from Milligan (with Dean Ormston on art) but I did prefer Face, and wish Vertigo was a little more free with the one-shots these days.

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Tomorrow: Hellboy: the Fury #3

I don't always get to the comic book shop every Wednesday lately, but tomorrow would be a special trip either way. Hellboy: the Fury #3 (spoilers!) comes out, and...this could be a big one. If you've ever had an interest in Hellboy, this wraps up years worth of storylines. I think it's going to pay off, since Mignola and Fegredo have been consistently on top of their game here. It's going to be an issue you want. Better hurry.

Scan from Hellboy: the Fury #1 (and love that variant cover) Written by Mike Mignola, art by Duncan Fegredo.
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If Girl Comics had featured this Girl...ah, if only.

It's funny: I didn't think I was a huge fan of writer Peter Milligan--we've only seen a few issues from him here, like his Scarecrow one-shot or the Minx. But, I liked the Minx up until it's premature end, I liked Milligan's Batman work (especially his more oddball Detective stories) and a lot of his Vertigo work, like Face, Human Target, Egypt, the Eaters...and then his X-Force/X-Statix run. Huh, yeah, that's a pretty good batch of Milligan.

Then there was Girl, a surprisingly amusing three issue limited, under the Vertigo Verite label, and following the misadventures of young, charming, and imaginative Simone Cundy. Trapped (not unlike every teenager) in the terrible urban blight of Bollockstown, she struggles to deal with her identity, with her frankly horrible family, and with her grip on reality. It's hilarious, even when a murder mystery shows up later...


Milligan usually does pretty well with artistic collaborators, and this time is no exception: Duncan Fegredo is one of those artists, who, if there's any justice, should be getting paid to draw whatever the hell he feels like right now. (Actually, that may not be far off, since Fegredo is currently Mike Mignola's replacement on Hellboy.) Great facial expressions, a ton of detail, and a lot of fun.

And, as I have a lot lately, it seems I've picked another series that hasn't been collected to date. (In fact, Fegredo is the subject of a recent interview at Newsarama and Girl comes up.) I don't think Milligan's later Vertigo Pop! limited London has been collected either, but we might have to scan a few Philip Bond panels from that one sometime.

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