I’ve never read J.M DeMatteis’s for-grown-ups comics, like the Moonshadow book I always hear about; nor am I part of the DeMatteis/Giffen Justice League cult. But I’ll always have a soft spot for the guy, because his Kraven’s Last Hunt is the best Spider-Man story I’ve ever read. (With the possible exception of Brian Bendis’s Ultimate Spider-Man series, of course. But until that book came along Kraven was my favorite webhead tale by a very, very substantial margin, and at any rate I prefer Mike Zeck’s art on Kraven to Mike Bagley’s on Ultimate (even though Bagley has improved as the series has gone on, and it has a weird vibrant energy to it that’s much greater than the sum of its seemingly pedestrian parts), and at any rate I don’t think Bendis has yet told his definitive Ultimate Spider-Man story. Phew.)
So I was intrigued when I heard that DeMatteis will be writing a children’s/young-adult fantasy title for CrossGen’s creator-owned imprint called Abadazad. The concept, and especially the title, sound a lot closer to Clive Barker’s kid-fantasy epic Abarat than they do to the classics DeMatteis cites as influences; the fact that Abadazad will be a comic and Barker’s book is prodigiously illustrated only enhances the comparison. But even if we dock points for originality, I’ll be excited to see artist Mike Ploog back in action. Ploog worked on the early years of Marvel’s Ghost Rider, and his art had this freaky sloppy melty pop vibe that was an undeniable joy to look at. I’m very interested to see where he’s at today.