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The Exterminators by Simon Oliver and Tony Moore
DC's Vertigo imprint is very often called "the HBO of comics". In fact it says it right on the cover of this book and I guess it's kind of true. I read somewhere that if that is true then The Exterminators is the Six Feet Under of Vertigo. That I'm not so sure about. I guess you could draw the comparison that they're both a little dark and weird but what Vertigo book isn't? A more compelling comparison is that they both deal with weird occupations that you don't usually see fictionlized in any interesting way. That's where I think this book is on the danger of dropping the ball though. A book about exterminators has the opportunity to go a lot of interesting places especially if it gives us some actual insight into the types of people that decide to make their living doing that job. That's something Six Feet Under did very well with morticians. It gave us a believable glimpse into a morbid occupation.

So far in the first volume of Exterminators we get a lot of set-up and meet our main character, Henry, new to the job at Bug-Bee-Gone Co. There are some mysteries brewing involving mutating cockroaches and a new pesticide that may be the cause of it all. We meet a bunch of Henry's co-workers and this is where I had my hopes with this book but all the characters feel a little two-dimensional so far. They may develop with time though but I fear that the book is going to get too caught up in mutant bugs and Egyptian scarabs and other 'comic-booky' stuff that will keep it from really breaking any new ground.

I'm a big fan of Tony Moore though from his Walking Dead days and he does some great work here. Especially if you are into icky bugs and gruesome deaths.

A good start to the series but it's lacking the character insight and originality to get me truly excited about it. Grade: B

Loveless by Brian Azzarello and Marcelo Frusin.
Speaking of HBO, I have Deadwood to thank for my heretofore non-existant interest in westerns. And I'm sure Vertigo has it to thank for the renewed interest in Western comics that has come about recently.

Loveless takes place in the post-Civil War south and its main character, Wes Cutter, is a Confederate soldier who has returned from battle and is looking to get his land back from Union-control. It's also a love story of sorts between Wes and his wife Ruth who faced some despicable horrors while Wes was off to war.

Brian Azzarello, famous for his great Vertigo series 100 Bullets brings his signature tough guy writing style to a slightly different genre here and you can see why he would be able to write a good modern western. This first volume is brutal in both the language and violence and the developing story promises to deal with some complicated issues like slavery and Reconstruction as well as more personal issues for the characters.

Marcelo Frusin who worked with Azzarello on Hellblazer does an amazing job on the artwork here. Interestingly his style is very similar to 100 Bullets artist Eduardo Risso so it almost gives Azarrello's work its own style. Like Risso, Frusin masters the use of shadow in his work and his storytelling here is as good as Sergio Leone.

This could be a new Vertigo classic judging by this first volume. Grade: A

Fear Agent by Rick Remender and Tony Moore
I really want to like this book because I can tell that Remender and Moore love the same retro sci-fi stuff that I've always loved. The protagonist of this sci-fi adventure series wears a jet pack and an orange jumpsuit that's reminscent of both 1950's cosmonauts and early Buck Rogers type space faring heroes. The monsters and robots are definite Cold War era creatures. And each issue ends on a cliff hanger in pure serial fiction style.

Tony Moore (of Exterminators fame, see above) seems to be having a blast drawing this series. It's a little bit of a departure from his previous horror-themed work but still a perfect blend of grotesque detail and cartoony fun.

The problem I have is maybe there isn't enough of a clear direction that Remender and Moore are going in. The first chapter of this volume fell completely flat to me. It wasn't until the end of the book that I really felt any interest in what was going on. I think Remender tries too hard to fit world-weary gravitas into his hero and goes overboard with the unnecessary narration. It saps the fun out of half the book and when you're doing a book like this, at least half of it better be fun.

Still, it really picked up towards the end with weird robots with monkey brains and a time-spanning danger that seems to have some weight to it. It might be worth checking out volume 2 when it hits. Grade: B