Global FrequencyVol 1: Planet Ablaze
Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Garry Leach, Glenn Fabry, Steve Dillon, Roy Martinez, Jon J. Muth and David Lloyd
2004
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
Global FrequencyVol 2: Detonation Radio
Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Simon Bisley, Lee Bermejo, Tomm Coker, Jason Pearson and Gene Ha
2004
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
Tagline: If the world is always Doomed, then why hold out for a hero? What's stopping us from saving ourselves? Answer: not a damn thing.
Cue: title music!
Back when I first started writing this blog my descriptive powers were a little - well - shabby. Thankfully they've become a little more honed [1] over time - but still I wasn't ready for the shudder that went through my body when I read that I had described Global Frequency as "James Bond meets The A-Team meets Web 2.0." (urg - who writes like that [2]? - major minus points for using the phrase "Web 2.0" (which I think was outdated halfway through the 00s) and "James Bond meets The A-Team" doesn't even come cross to describing what this book is even like [3]).
Of course the first time round I tried to write about Global Frequency Anonymous (the "hacktivist group" See: V for Vendetta) weren't really a thing. But re-reading these two issues - they're the people who sprung to mind (in fact I wouldn't be surprised if they were fans). So - if I was rewrite what I wrote back then - I'd go for "it's Anonymous meets Thunderbirds meets please shut up and just read it already."
But yeah: I was put off from reading this series for a long long time by the moody, dark Brian Wood covers that made it look like somekind of boring, everyday life kinda thing. Plus the fact that it had so many artists working on it made me think it somekind of hodge podge series: messy, inconsistent and whatnot. I'll say now don't make the same mistake as me: it's pretty everything that I thought it wasn't: exciting, taut and gripping. Designed like a television series [4] where each episode can stand alone (and each issue is handled by a different artist) Global Frequency is 12 stories about an underground crowd-sourcing spy/rescue network that spans the entire world - hundreds and hundreds of members all liable to be called into action at any time. With few reoccurring characters and all types of science-fiction threats and outlandish crazy scenarios - this is story-writing that administers it's giddy pleasures as small sharp shocks: BLAM. BLAM. BLAM. BLAM. BLAM. BLAM.
Name-checking both Borges and Buffy and with characters who can always be relied upon to sum themselves in three sentences or less - it's the sort of comic that I guess might be a little bit too low-brow for some of you. With most people calling them "graphic novels" it's expected for comics to behave themselves and act presentable and keep the same artists running throughout an entire run so that you get a consistent tone [5] but what's nice about Global Frequency is the way it's designed to have a different artist take over each issue and then attack it with their own special brand of whatever craziness (and I would love to know how much collaboration the artists got to have with Warren Ellis - because I'm nosey like that).
Plus (and I don't know if anyone else gets this): but I really love how they put the credits on the last page. Somehow for me - that just makes it feel a great 80s American tv show (like how the last shot would be a freeze-frame and then flash up by saying: "Produced by Johnny Whathisname"?) - but yeah - maybe it's just me - but I thought it's a really nice touch.
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[1] I would compare them to a knife - but truth is - it's more a spoon. A dangerous spoon - but - well - yeah - still a spoon.
[2] Well - me - obviously - but that's still no excuse.
[3] In fact "James Bond meets The A-Team" would be a pretty good description for The Losers comic and/or film - but hey - let's not go there.
[4] In fact they tried to make a Global Frequency TV series back in 2005 - but only got as far as the pilot. Oh well. I'm sure it couldn't have been as nifty as the comics anyhow - unless they managed to secure themselves a big enough budget - because a lot of the fun of these books is how it goes big with it's concepts - jetpacks, zombies from space, indestructible killer cyborgs, space catapults etc. And that's not the sort of thing that you wanna go cheap with.
[5] And hey - I'll put my hands up - and say that most of the time I'll complain when that doesn't happen (I'm looking at you Grant Morrison).
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Links: Shaking Through Review of Vol 1, Comics Should Be Good Review, Comics Worth Reading Review, Comics And...Other Imaginary Tales Review of Vol 1.
Further reading: The Avengers: Secret Avengers: Run the Mission, Don't Get Seen, Save the World, Queen & Country, Desolation Jones, FreakAngels, Sleeper, Planetary, The Complete Future Shocks, Supergod, Anna Mercury.
Profiles: Warren Ellis.
All comments welcome.
