X-Men: Second Coming Chapter ø5 hit stores yesterday, and this is the big “death” issue that’s been talked about since the crossover began. I’m never really sure how to handle major plot spoilers in reviews, so I’m probably going to overcompensate. Click through to read on, provided you don’t mind knowing all the tragic details.

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Circa Survive

I should start out by acknowledging the fact that it’s probably inappropriate for me to review Circa Survive’s Blue Sky Noise. I’m undeniably biased when it comes to Circa Survive. Many moons ago Anthony was in a band called Audience of One and Colin was in a band call This Day Forward, both of which released a record on a label that I was associated with at the time. I constantly root for them both to succeed. Having said that, as good as their first two full lengths were, those songs just weren’t what I was looking for from these guys.

Anthony Green is a chameleon. His voice sounds completely different on each of the projects of which he’s been a part. So I really shouldn’t have been surprised that on the first two Circa Survive records he didn’t sound like the singer of Saosin, but that’s not what I wanted from him either. I wanted the Anthony Green who sang on the first Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer record to sing over heavier music. The first time I heard “Get Out” off of Blue Sky Noise, it was like the Circa Survive I heard in my head had finally become real.

Circa Survive have crafted an interesting sound for themselves ranging from spacey prog to driving punk inspired rock. Anthony Green never takes the easy road with his vocal and lyrical phrasing which offers many unexpected treats. The record hits it’s strongest moments when Anthony’s highest vocals give way to intense screams over top of dueling guitars and driving beats.

The production level of Blue Sky Noise blows away anything the band had released to date (as it should considering it’s their major label debut). It’s easy to imagine these songs getting some radio support. Highlights of the album include: “Get Out,” “Imaginary Enemy,” “Strange Terrain,” and “Frozen Creek.”

If there’s anything to complain about it’s that the record is long. I’ve rarely made it all the way through the final tracks of the album. This may have more to do with how enjoyable the first six or seven songs are than demonstrate a lack of quality in the last few tracks.

The deluxe version of Blue Sky Noise features a few bonus semi-acoustic/reimagined versions of songs off the album. It’s interesting how different they feel. These versions remind me of the mid-90s Layne Staley project Mad Season. Definitely worth a spin.

J. Michael Straczynski. JMS as he’s commonly called. I don’t even pretend to know the dude’s name or how to spell it were it not in front of me. Everybody knows something he’s written, whether its the Spider-Man comics that erased 20 years of continuity, Babylon 5, The Changeling… Something.

He’s been at DC for awhile now writing their team-up book The Brave and The Bold. I’ve picked up the occasional issue, but while it’s fun, the book had been nothing particularly special. The stories are all told in a single issue. Cliff Chiang’s art is solid but not spectacular. Also, the fact that they’re telling lost stories plays a part in the book’s blandness… Nothing feels like it counts. Issue 33 isn’t one of those issues, however.

The issue teams up Wonder Woman, Zatanna, and Barbara Gordon as Batgirl. It seemed like an oddball team up if I’ve ever heard of one and yet somehow it was impossible to ignore. The story starts out strangely with Zatanna and Wonder Woman deciding to enjoy a night out on the town.

Half-way through the second act it becomes chrystal clear where the story is going. There’s only one moment it can be leading up to… and yet when we get there the book manages to be surprisingly uplifting.

I don’t know how else to say it… this issue is something really special. If JMS keeps writing stories like this, I’m on board.

Drexel University

When I park in a parking garage, I’m headed straight to the roof (if available) every time. I don’t know what the allure is, maybe it just always seems like it’s somewhere I’m not supposed to be. I’m not going to lie, I think part of it makes me feel like I’m in The Matrix. Regardless of the motivation, the view is always fascinating to me and it’s totally worth driving up and down a few extra ramps to get there.

University of Pennsylvania

Lately, I’ve been alternating between lots at Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania. Drexel’s lot is superior in nearly every way, particularly the view. The building’s are right next door to one another, but Drexel’s provides an unobstructed view of the skyline. Amusingly, it’s a Drexel building that blocks the view of Center City from Penn’s garage.

The Fresh Grocer

Penn Relays traffic kept both of these buildings from been available to me last week, so I took refuge in a new garage above the West Philadelphia Fresh Grocer. Upon reaching the roof I was inexplicably taken with an open stairwell to ground level. The view to the West offered an interesting perspective on the surrounding neighborhood, and the North featured the Philadelphia Zoo Balloon. This building also afforded the most Martix-like aesthetic, but it will not be part of the regular rotation given it’s exorbitant rates.

Vertigo’s American Vampire marks Stephen King’s first writing work in comic books ever. Several of his stories have been adapted to or expanded upon in the medium, but apparently he’s never written any of those stories. Most interesing of all (to me at least), American Vampire isn’t even a King property. Instead it is a property developed by writer Scott Snyder.

American Vampire follows the adventures of this continent’s first vampire, Skinner Sweet, and each issue is divided into two stories. One of which is written by Snyder and one written by King.

Sweet, as the first vampire created in the United States, represents a step forward in terms of evolution into apparently a whole new species. What exactly that means we have yet to be told specifically. In fact, in a bit of meta-text, Sweet specifies in a note in issue 2 that he doesn’t want to ruin that surprise.

What we do know is that Sweet can travel in the daylight with no problem and survive for years underwater. The book at least suggests that maybe other vampires would not have survived such a flood.

Snyder’s story takes up the first half of the book and features Sweet’s
Adventures in Hollywood in 1925. His character during this era is creepy but his true nature remains unclear. Some of his actions seem typical of an anti-hero.

The second half of the book features King telling Sweet’s secret origin as an outlaw in the old West. During that era Sweet is an unrepetant outlaw. There seems to be nothing redeemable about him. Which makes some of his actions in 1925 more interesting.

We’ll have to see where it all goes.

The art by Rafael Albuquerque ranges from cartoony to having a sort-of-painted feel. Some pages are stonger than others, but I definitely like it overall.

Both stories are oddly compelling. They certainly strive to make vampires more terrifying than the way popular culture has portrayed them in recent years. (Twilight, I’m looking right at you.) The book certainly has more in common with 30 Days of Night than New Moon.

The key problem is something that has been debated for years: Can comics even be scary? While an enjoyable read, American Vampires suggests no. It is not scary, at least not in the way a film or a novel can be… even when written by inarguably the most successful horror writer of the last 30 years.