During the first official week of the September War, Love Stories (to Die For) is my Pick of the Week! This week saw the first issue of God is Dead, the first two chapters in the X-Men: Battle of the Atom series, the return of Hoax Hunters, the start of Batman Black and White, the beginning of Forever Evil, and the kickoff of Villain Month. We also had the second issue of Army of Darkness vs. Hack/Slash and the first issue of the long-awaited The Star Wars. For me, Love Stories (to Die For) stood out the most as the comic I think you should take a look at.
Love Stories (to Die For) is easily my Pick of the Week!
Conflict of Interest?
Yes, Dirk Manning is one of my friends in the industry, he is a good friend of Wonderworld Comics, and he is coming to our store later this month for a signing – but that is not why Love Stories (to Die For) was chosen as my Pick of the Week. I read comics created by other friends this week, but there were a few aspects of Love Stories (to Die For) which set it aside from the rest. Remember, the Pick of the Week is the comic which I suggest above all others for you to take a look at because something inside it shines.
What is Love Stories (to Die For)?
Love Stories (to Die For) is a flip book published by Image’s Shadowline. Both stories are by Dirk Manning with the art on a historical timepiece story by Rich Bonk and the art on a futuristic story done by Owen Gieni.
Symptom of the Universe
The futuristic tale in Love Stories (to Die For) is about a couple who is preparing to be together while the female’s husband is in the other decks of a space station trying to battle his way through alien creatures. As we enter the story, the male in the couple is trying to make sure his lover is ready to part ways with her husband. The husband is decks away and has just set a self-destruct sequence to blow up the station and the aliens inside.
While reading, you gain a sense of understanding of what the female character is going through as she works through feelings for her lover and for her husband. While this can be a common theme in literature and comics, it is not something which is typically easy for a male writer.
Men traditionally have issues conveying complex emotional states in their female characters. Usually, women’s emotions are displayed in simple formats or downgraded to stereotypical characters which can only display base emotions like the females we find in the work of Stephanie Meyer. Instead, Dirk Manning did a superb job of bringing an emotional attachment to this woman’s emotional struggle.
Bloodlust: Deceiver of the Gods
The other story in Love Stories (to Die For) takes us to 946 AD Friesland (Germany of old). As someone who grew up reading Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, reading Thor, and playing Dungeons & Dragons, I gained a love for Viking stories. Dirk Manning delivers a Viking tale here which veers from the typical clichés of fantasy writing by creating deeper dialogue in characters which do not call out to the gods every three lines or rabble on about honor and battle. Statements like these are present, but not relied upon for full content.
Most fantasy writers who attempt to tell stories of the Vikings typically leave out anything about Christianity. The Christians were in Europe during the later times of the Vikings and the two groups often crossed paths. In fact, during the late times in the Viking period (such as when this story took place), Christian leaders often paid Vikings to help guard their churches, monasteries, and sacred lands – as was done in this story.
In this portion of Love Stories (to Die For), we see Vikings facing off against vampires. It is interesting to watch how Dirk Manning connected the readers to the shock the Vikings faced when going against foes which would not stay down. He gave the right amount of shock to not compromise the legends of the Viking warriors while still holding the balance of a story which is supposed to cause fear and trepidation in the reader.
The Art
The art by both Rich Bonk and Owen Gieni do what they are supposed to do in Love Stories (to Die For) – complement the story. Not only is the art pleasant to look at, it complements the writing by displaying the needed emotions and causing an understanding of the emotions which writing cannot always do alone. Both artists brought in some gore, but it was not over-the-top for shock value. That is a line which too many artists today cross which often distracts from a story.
The Endings
Both stories in Love Stories (to Die For) draw you in quickly and keep you interested (even after you are done reading). Both stories leave you at the edge of a cliff and force you to ask “Ok, what happens next?” Whether we see more of these characters in the future is left to be seen. It should be noted that there are few writers on the market today which can keep your imagination going past the end of a story as well as Dirk Manning can. He obviously learned the lessons of writers such as Phillip K. Dick and Ray Bradbury who mastered the techniques he uses today.
