Monday, 19 August 2013

The Invincible Haggard West #101: My Comic of the Week 14-08-2013

With the likes of Thor God Of Thunder #11 and Infinity #1 on the shelves this week I certainly did not expect to have Paul Pope’s one shot The Death of Haggard West as my pick of the week but let me explain to you why. Paul Pope has been a name I have heard a lot of since I started reading comics but the only work I am really aware of him doing, to my shame, is Batman Year 100. So I took this opportunity to finally grab a Paul Pope comic, comic which after grabbing my regular stack I returned to the store to grab a copy, and I am very happy I did so. This comic is an introduction of sorts to the world that Paul Pope’s upcoming Graphic Novel Battling Boy will be set. Pope illustrates his scenes with a great pace and energy, a style that makes me think of Emma Rios and Becky Cloonan a mixture of sorts, from the steady introduction to the characters and the setting to the sudden arrival of our hero and the action that ensues. You are immediately drawn to the Hero and his dramatic arrival to save the children who are in peril, being attacked by the monsters, villains and evil that appear in the dark. The dialogue of the monsters and villains tell you Haggard West has been a Hero to his people for some time, but with my greatest Admiral Ackbar impression ‘It’s a Trap’. In this comic Pope invites you to witness the death of the World’s hero, the loss to the people and most of all his daughter, the monument to him proof of the hero he was to the people, a hero who I wish I had the chance to actually have read the adventures of, while also setting up an interesting, exciting and perilous world for the arrival of Battling Boy. There is a great interview on CBR with Paul Pope discussing his upcoming novel Battling Boy and also talking about this issue and Haggard West, http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=46144

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