So to issue #2, then, and a clear indication that the hook that holds the series together is a looser one than previously appeared. It was my understanding that each issue dealt with a different individual in possession of supernatural powers of some kind – and while it’s just about true of this one, it’s not really what you’d call a “power”. If anything, it’s the opposite of a “superpower” – it’s a superdeficit. Or a “subpower”. However you want to linguistically flip it. But the thing is, you could take away any hint of supernaturality from the story, and it would be exactly the same – the literal reading of it is that it’s a physical characteristic, but it could just as easily (and this is, perhaps, the scary part) be a psychological one instead.

Either way (and since the latter view changes the overall interpretation somewhat, I’m choosing to look at the issue from the more supernatural perspective implied by the series as a whole), while the topic in question is hardly untouched in fiction (heck, there’s another comic out there – Chew – covering broadly similar territory, albeit in a wildly different fashion), Wood brings to the table an examination that’s thoughtful at the same time as shocking. This is a stark, bleak little comic – and yet it’s hard to truly argue with the way it sympathises with its lead character. This isn’t about a twisted desire, it’s about something more unstoppable: a hunger that the (unnamed) protagonist can’t, for whatever reason, otherwise sate. In other words, it’s taking to an extreme – yet logical – conclusion an aspect of living that we all experience; it’s just that in this case, pushing this particular biological impulse past society’s usual boundaries makes it immediately grotesque to us. And while we and he know his murders to be reprehensible, there’s a punishment – of sorts – in the alternative action he later forces himself to take. You’re left never really knowing whether this is someone truly sinister, or a victim that we could in some way be empathising with.

This ambiguity is only enhanced by the work of Becky Cloonan – someone I’ve never fully clicked with, but reading this shows me that her true strength lies in stark black-and-whites rather than the coloured work I’ve seen in things like American Virgin. She makes the protagonist a terrifyingly thin and haunted figure – thus immediately casting him as an obvious-looking “villain” – yet something about him softens towards the end, even as he’s making himself frailer and thinner. She also somehow manages to emphasise the pure body horror of the story even when working in two colours and heavy shadow, and almost entirely with implication – indeed, you suspect it’d be rather less creepy if we were seeing everything in full-colour splat-o-vision.

I’m not sure, though, that Demo – in this second volume, at least, as I can’t comment on the first – quite takes on the role of being the deep and surprising examination of the human psyche I might have expected. This is certainly interesting – and really quite well-crafted in the way it makes one shiver to read it – but much like the earlier Wood work with which I’m familiar (Local) it intrigues rather than full-on captivates. Not that that intrigue isn’t enough to keep me interested in trying the next issue, or indeed catching up on the much-lauded first volume – but it’s not made it to New Favourite Comic status just yet.

The high concept of Demo is familiar to virtually any comics reader: How would your life be affected if you had an unusual, supernatural ability? However, unlike most takes on that concept, these aren’t stories about donning a mask and cape and fighting crime – indeed, they’re about anything but. In this issue, The Waking Life of Angels, a woman named Joan receives visions of someone, somewhere apparently falling to their death, and finds herself compelled to investigate.

One of the essential challenges of a single issue story is to make the reader care about the lead. Wood and Cloonan instill an instant, if wearied humanity in Joan. Given a cause, however tenuous, she’s happy to drop her life at home in pursuit of this new role. When the vision arrives, it (as you might expect) doesn’t quite occur how she interpreted it – but despite this, someone is saved and she perhaps even begins the new chapter in her life that she was looking for.

One of Demo’s selling points is the polymorphic art of Becky Cloonan, who demonstrated a range of styles in the initial series. In this, the style is stark and architectural – except when the real world dissolves into a dream, at which point things become intricate and elaborate, almost more real than Joan’s actual reality, which helps demonstrate the seductive charm of her obsession – it is, after all, far more interesting than what she leaves behind in pursuit of it.

Although the issue stands firmly alongside those fromthe previous series, it nonetheless tends towards the weaker end, which is a little disappointing as an opener. The story’s twist is predictable from the outset, with a inevitability to it that previous issues of Demo lacked. Personally, I’ve found the series is its best when telling one of two types of story – the traditional twist ending (Bad Blood; Stand Strong; Girl You Want), and the mood piece (NYC; Mixtape; One Shot, Don’t Miss). This one falls right in the middle of those types of stories, neither one nor the other – the mood isn’t powerful enough to be the centre of the piece, and the twist isn’t strong enough to define it.

Perhaps future issues will give this one a little more context in terms of Demo’s re-appearance – however, even if that isn’t the case, one of the best things about Demo is that by showcasing a range of styles and approaches from its superb creative team, every issue is worth a look, regardless of the ultimate quality. It’s already objectively good, the only matter to resolve is how much you, personally, enjoy it.

Capsule reviews from the Comics Daily team, including Amazing Spider-Man #580, DMZ #37, Mirror’s Edge #2 and X-Men/Spider-Man #2.

Review: Amazing Spider-Man #580
Roger Stern returns to the character to deliver a rather decent done-in-one issue with artist Lee Weeks that, together with Waid’s recent 2-parter, does much to convince me that Spider-Man is getting well back on track. Stern delivers a story that feels timeless, rather than retro, and the even fact that it stands alone doesn’t derail the book’s momentum at all. Weeks’ art is great, and together with the last few issues makes the case for a rotating creative team very strongly. A rewarding read. [JHu]

Review: DMZ #37
Matty returns to the DMZ to discover that the new governor he helped put in charge might not be quite the saviour for the DMZ that he hoped. Even as the election of Obama threatens to suck the bile out of the audience for such a political title, Wood warns us against the perils of getting the leader you voted for, rather the one you wanted. Consistently gripping. [JHu]

Review: Mirror’s Edge #2
With the introduction out of the way, Wildstorm’s games tie-in moves onto the story proper, with no drop in quality from last month’s proposing beginning. The inclusion of a downtown area adds flesh to the bones of the setting, but the closing sequence of the issue is of particular note. Writer Rhianna Pratchett manages to translate the sort of moment that typifies the game, with Faith sneaking into a back office, with the result not feeling remotely incongruous in a more detailed narrative. Mirror’s Edge is a compelling series in its own right, and bodes well for next year’s Resident Evil series from the same publisher. [JHa]

Review: X-Men/Spider-Man #2
Aside from a rather hard-to-fathom team-up between Kraven and Sinister, this series is turning out to be rather good. It might have sounded a bit gimmicky on paper, but between fantastic artwork and a decent exploration of both property’s histories, it’s really getting the inner-fanboy going. This month takes place during the comics of the 80s, and a Black-Costumed Spidey teams up with a completely different bunch of X-Men, while a mutant massacre tie-in serves to make it seem…all a rather convenient fit. Unexpectedly excellent – roll on next month’s “90s” issue! [JHu]

Every Wednesday we take turns to delve into our trusty longboxes, pluck out a dusty back issue, and give you our thoughts. We’ll also try and place it in the context of the time it was originally published.

Dusting Off’s been fairly X-heavy of late, but with Ed Brubaker hastily moving pieces into place for Astonishing X-Men #25, it’s worth taking a look at the last time Warren Ellis was asked to bring something different to Marvel’s mutants. As part of the X-Men’s 2000 re-launch, Marvel hired Ellis to take control of three of the line’s under performing spin offs, and re-conceptualise them under the banner “Counter-X”. The writer took an extremely critical look at each of the titles, stripping them back to their unique storytelling elements. Ellis co-wrote eight issues of each book, before handing over to the series’ permanent writer, in this case a pre-DMZ Brian Wood.

Unsurprisingly, given its promotion as a jumping on-point for new readers, Ellis makes his all-new villain a key part of the issue, choosing to open with an introductory sequence in which Coffin, a “war-criminal for hire” demonstrates his abilities and viciousness. In creating this opponent, the writer has clearly focussed on what made this part of the X-franchise distinctive. Coffin is not interested in mutation, which only features in the story as the means by which Generation X are able to fight him. The “Warden” is a disciplinarian, running a sci-fi/ horror young-offenders institution for the culprits of thought crimes. No punches are pulled in establishing this setting, with the Columbine shootings explicitly mentioned in the dialogue. However, what should be an unforgivable lapse in taste is made much more acceptable by Steve Pugh’s restrained art, which is just as easily able to illustrate decades old cyborg-children as comical exchanges between Jubilee and Chamber. Wood’s scripting also impresses, with some extremely natural-sounding dialogue given to each of the teens. He also finally manages to blend the lighter and darker sides of Emma Frost’s personality, which had been only shown alternately since the character was brought over to the side of the angels.

In hindsight, what proves most striking about the issue is the ruthlessness shown to the comic’s previous incarnation. In a move somewhat ahead of its time, Generation X’s Academy had functioned as an actual school, well before either 20^th Century Fox or Grant Morrison applied the same approach to the X-Men themselves. Ellis clearly decided to strip the cast down to a skeleton crew of its iconic figures, with the titular generation reduced to its four most interesting members. We rejoin the students in an almost ruined academy, and dialogue makes it clear that some of the missing have died off-panel since the previous story. Although missing the high-concept driven approach that has characterised the writer’s more famous work, there isn’t a shortage of new ideas here, with the paradoxes of government illustrated in a throwaway line. Roots of Ellis’s current preoccupation with communication technology may also be glimpsed, with Paige discovering Coffin’s activities through newsgroups.

It’s almost disturbing how clinically Ellis cuts away vast parts of the book’s previous identity. The “superheroes-in-training” approach that has always characteristed books of this sort is discarded; leaving its cast attempting to find ways they can actually change the almost-real world they’ve been placed in. Deliberately confining himself to a tiny periphery of the X-universe, Ellis still manages to create a compelling story, making his forthcoming centre-stage role an even more intriguing prospect.

There’s an uneasy ceasefire in the DMZ – something the series has never seen, which creates an immediate sense of tension. Matty can’t believe his story about Delgado has been rejected, but Zee explains why, calling it a “press release” – seems like Matty has lost his journalistic objectivity, and we later see that Delgado is willing to exploit that. However well-meaning he might be, you just know this isn’t going to end well.

After all Matty has been through, his simplistic view of the situation in the DMZ has been shattered and put back together so many times that he’s lost the plot a little. Delgado seizes upon this, encouraging Matty to actually choose a side once and for all, and Matty literally embraces the certainty he craves. It’s to his credit that despite all this, Wood remains detached from the situation - the reader is never lead to believe one way or the other whether Matty’s doing the right thing or not.

With Matty having chosen Delgado’s side, the still-unaware Liberty News once again tries to get his father to talk to him – you might remember that, at the start of the series, Matty was a spoilt rich kid who had to struggle out from under his father’s shadow. I saw the big cliffhanger twist coming only seconds before it arrived – the issue ends with Matty’s MOTHER getting in touch. Once again, the sense of family and what that means proves to be a strong theme in Wood’s work.

Seeing Wood take on a specific kind of political figure in Delgado may well prove the high point of the series. DMZ’s complicated politics have set it well apart from the herd. The dissection of characters and situation is as incisive as any broadsheet, if not more so. It’s almost hard to believe this kind of story is coming from someone who, as far as I know, has never been in the military at all. Still, Wood is always serious about his research, and between this and Northlanders, he’s displaying a range that would make some writers gnash their teeth in envy. At this rate, DMZ is going to make a lasting impact in the comics landscape, and deserves some serious recognition from the wider media as well.

Whew. Lots of traffic and positive response to that Ultimates v3 “review” we posted earlier this week – hope some of you are choosing to stick around! Just in case, I thought I’d give a brief overview of the site’s raison d’etre for anyone new: The goal is to have one comic reviewed every weekday for either discussion or perusal. On Wednesdays, we review a back-issue in a feature we call “Dusting Off.” On Thursdays, we review the first of the current week’s new comics, and on Saturday we rest. On Sunday, we post this column. We call it “The Sunday Pages”, and the idea is we use it to talk about the industry news and rumours which have shown up over the previous week.

This week, we’re thinking about JMS canning his exclusive deal with Marvel and what he might do at DC, the new Secret Invasion teaser images, the Foo Fighters’ fight with Marvel and the news released regarding a few of the various comics movies. Enjoy!

NEWS: Marvel fans breathe a sigh of relief : J. Michael Straczynski is no longer exclusive. In fact, Thor aside, it doesn’t look as if he’ll be doing very much work there at all in the near future. What’s good news for the Zombies, however, is potentially ominous for the Distinguished Competition, whose fans will surely now be looking over their shoulder. It’s already been announced that he’s got work lined up for DC, in what appears to be a Crapness Exchange Programme with Jeph Loeb, and the only question now is to which title he’ll bring the sort of “magic” he worked on all but the earliest issues of his Spider-Man run. And while Superman appears to be safely in the hands of James Robinson, plans for Batman after Final Crisis look worryingly up in the air if Grant Mozza doesn’t end up staying around… (SP)

Personally, I would put money on JMS being the man who takes over on All-Star Superman following Morrison. He’s certainly got enough name-power to follow the critical darling that is Morrison, but as for the ability… well, let’s just hope he’s learnt something from the last time he tried a super-powered epic story in his interesting but over-ambitious Top Cow series, Rising Stars… (JH)

SPECULATION: Marvel has released another pair of Secret Invasion teasers entitled “Who Do You Trust”. One shows a Skrulled-up Hawkeye (in his old, purple costume, rather than the Ronin costume he’s been wearing.) The other (left) is showing a Skrulled-up Wolverine. It would be interesting to discover that the reason Wolverine is in about 90 books a month is because there’s a skrull version of him on those teams.

That said, if you read my Dusting Off for Uncanny X-Men #375 you’ll know that, er, IT’S BEEN DONE. Make what you will, though, of the fact that both of the Skrulls appear to be wearing out-of-date costumes, as Wolverine appears in the “Origins” brown/orange costume. Anachronistic costumes suggests, bizarrely, that there might actually be a link with the Skrull infiltrators of that X-Men story after all… (JH)

NEWS: Foo Fighters to sue Marvel. This could be fun. The question is, if Grohl and co. are successful, will we see the publishers of various porn magazines bring a suit against them for Greg Land’s “work” of the last few years? (SP)

Also – while I totally get that the Foos are 100% within their rights here – am I wrong to think they should be suing the animation company rather than Marvel? The trailer, for the cartoon, Wolverine and the X-Men (in addition to looking utterly awesome) strongly resembles an internal video that was never supposed to be available for public viewing, and it seems like a genuine, if unfortunate, mistake that it got out. But still, if you can find it, go and watch it now, because with these kind of problems, it won’t be available for long… (JH)

NEWS: A couple of movie snippets – first of all, in What Comic Is Neil Gaiman Adapting Corner this week, we find that he and Roger Avary are scripting an adaption of Black Hole, with David Fincher down to direct. Once again, colour me excited. Meanwhile, the first Watchmen still has been released, and it’s kind of cool, but a bit disappointing compared to those lovely set photos. Let’s just hope the mask looks better in the rest of the film, eh? Oh, and what the hell, let’s have a third – some guy’s been cast as Gambit in that there Wolverine film. Woo. Yes. (SP)

NEWS: Remember that Brian Wood/Becky Cloonan item last week? Well, Wondercon is in full swing, and it’s announced that Yes, There Will Be a New Demo Series. A 6-issue mini, and it’s almost certainly going to be the best thing I read this year, and I’m genuinely not overselling it by saying that. Start putting your money aside for it now. (JH)

In this week’s column, there’s an update on speculation about Pixie’s status in the post-Messiah Complex X-Men, some stuff about the new Invincible Iron Man ongoing, and speculation about what Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan might be up to…

NEWS: Just as a postscript to our original piece of X-Men speculation, turns out that the image of the team with Pixie is apparently promo/cover art for an original comic that Marvel will be releasing as part of this year’s FCBD. Will it turn out to be as important to the X-Men franchise as last year’s Swing Shift was to Spider-Man? Time will tell. JH

NEWS: Marvel to launch second Iron Man ongoing. As good a writer of modern superheroics as Fraction is, it feels a little like it’s being set up to fail. Sure, the movie buzz will keep it afloat in the short term, but even the Fantastic Four, a far richer stable of characters, couldn’t keep up a second ongoing series for long. I can’t help but wonder what they’re going to do to make this title substantially different from its parent series – it’s an odd move to see, especially when half the reason that the Spider-titles were consolidated was because everyone knew that stuff that happened in the peripheral books didn’t really count towards the character – surely Invincible Iron Man is going to have exactly the same problem? JH

SONG: You’ve probably seen this – from the creator of the brilliant “Hey Hey 16K” – already, but just in case you haven’t… “Alan Moore”, by MJ Hibbett. No words necessary. SP

SPECULATION: Brian Wood, a creator everyone knows I have serious fanboy issues with, is going to giving a joint Q&A with some-time collaborator Becky Cloonan at Wondercon on the 23rd. Brian reposts the press on his blog, which has the following information attached: Brian and Becky will have an exclusive announcement to make during this panel!- while this is sure to be good news, with Wood currently exclusive at Vertigo, Cloonan’s pencilling gig on American Virgin at an end with the cancellation of the title, and the rights to the Demo collection now licensed to DC, there’s a fair chance it’ll be the rumoured sequel series to Demo. If so, that’s utterly fantastic – it’s a series that, alone, managed to contain about 3 of my top 10 comics ever. Whether they announce a direct sequel to Demo, a thematic/structural one, or even something else entirely – it’s got my money already. JH

DMZ #27 once again features guest art from Nathan Fox, and continues the “Hidden War” non-arc concentrating on various new and supporting characters from around the DMZ. Under the spotlight in this issue is the DMZ’s own club DJ, Random Fire, who finds himself just angry enough with the world to make some seriously bad decisions.

At the start of the issue, Random Fire’s set is bumped in favour of DJ Grendel, a celebrity DJ who has moved in to the DMZ to do a “dangerous” live webcast. RF discovers that he’s manipulating the situation for his own popularity, planning to stage an atack during his set, and he’s just angry enough that when the chance arises to stop it, he jumps at the chance. As ever, the politics are vivd and the characters realistic in their motivations and decisions. A large part of DMZ’s appeal is the well-realised world it’s taking place in, and the recent issues have exemplified that by telling stories largely removed from the main cast.

Wood’s solo issue, #12, which was a magazine-like “guide” to the DMZ in the style of say, Timeout, has clearly proven a goldmine for ideas, as club Rezurrection, which appeared on fliers in that issue, finally makes a grand entrance here as the focal point for the action (and my nerd credentials would be at stake if I didn’t mention that it’s got the same name as the club from Wood’s debut work, Channel Zero.)

Still, it’s also fair to say that the ongoing plot of DMZ is also a big draw. This arc has been great, and next issue about the Central Park “Ghost” has me particularly excited because they were always a neat concept, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t ready to pick up Matty’s story and see how the larger series arc is shaping up. Granted, everything contributes in its own way, but with an arc focussing on a DMZ Guevara/Chavez analogue around the corner, it’s hard not to get excited for a return to whatever passes for normalcy in this series.

If you’d told me a year ago that I’d consider a Viking comic one of December’s most anticipated new releases, I’d probably have been fairly sceptical. More so if you’d told me that it’d be coming from Brian Wood, who’s made his name writing a mix of hip indie, street-level blockbusters and the odd politically-tilted piece of speculative fiction. And yet, here we are. Northlanders #1 is the latest attempt by Vertigo to show they’ll go where other publishers probably wouldn’t dare. It’s certainly got a credible name on it, but since the only other viking comics I can recall are Groo and Hagar the Horrible, it feels like a fairly risky move.

Of course – no-one need have worried, because Wood simply goes from strength to strength and hasn’t had anything even resembling a flop since his first Vertigo mini, Fight for Tomorrow,scooted neatly under everyone’s radar after a fairly big launch – and even that was almost 5 years ago. If anyone can make this work, it’s him. Northlanders is Vikings done by way of TV’s Deadwood - even the hero of the piece is hard-talking, lustful and violent, and while he doesn’t talk like a viking, the curse-filled and blunt tone of the writing echos the spirit of the time, if not the letter of it. The first arc, Sven the Returned, focuses the titular hero, a cosmopolitan young Viking who returns to the home he abandoned to collect what’s rightfully his – his dead father’s money. When he gets there he finds his uncle has taken control of the village and with it, Sven’s money. After receiving a severe beating from his uncle’s goons, Sven vows to move on with his life and forget the past he feels no connection to. What are the odds that’ll happen?

In a way, this is the most out-there comic Wood has ever written, yet on closer examination, it’s actually not that different from his others. Wood’s signature themes are all present – family, homecoming, honour and obligation – these are things you can find as the subtext in a lot of his work. Perhaps, then, that’s why Northlanders works so well. It’s not simply concerned with being “the viking comic” but with telling good stories about good characters who also happen to be vikings.

Art comes from Davide Gianfelice who, I believe, makes his US comics debut. Wood has collaborated with European artists before, notably on his other vertigo series, DMZ , and it brings his comics a unique flavour. It seems that the language of comic art from mainland Europe is as different to their American counterparts as Italian is to English, and just as I never tire of Burchielli on DMZ, I can imagine the art in Northlanders will continue to delight with each new issue.