It’s
been a little too long since my last Comic Book Update, but I’ve
had a lot going on. I’ve actually been wanting to write this for
about a month now, and if I had done it back when I first wanted to
it would have fallen in line with the time between the others –
about three months. But here it is now – wedged in between my
Dragon Con-nery and 31 Days of Halloween.
I
am sensing another big drop coming up. There are quite a few titles
that I think I might be buying out of habit now, or picking up
because they’re not bad enough to drop immediately. As I’ve
explained before, this is kind of the main impetus of the comic book
collector. You’re afraid that book you’re buying is going to get
better as soon as you drop it or you’re just too lazy to tell the
store to stop pulling it for you.
As
always, what follows is a list of what I’ve been buying for the
past few months, along with commentary about each title.
A+X
This
book is still a ton of fun thanks to the rotating creative teams and
characters. Each issue features two stories about different
combinations of X-Men and Avengers. They’re all quick one-shots and
so far have been hugely entertaining. The last issue featured art by
both Ron Lim and Mark Teixeira, so that was pretty mind-blowing.
Verdict
- KEEPER
ALL-STAR
WESTERN
Not
only is this easily the best book DC is putting out right now, it is
also one of the best comic books I buy, period. The current storyline
features a time-displaced Jonah Hex in modern day Gotham City.
Unfortunately for Hex, he’s finding himself in almost the exact
same relationship with Jeremiah Arkham that he had with his ancestor,
Amadeus. Hilarity and action ensues.
If
all of that isn’t enough for you, Bruce Wayne shows up on the final
page of the last issue.
Verdict
– TOP OF THE STACK
ANGEL
& FAITH
Season
9 just wrapped up and I’m not sure when the next one starts. Angel
& Faith has been far
and away the best of the Buffyverse books thanks to the outstanding
and consistent creative team of Rebekah Isaacs and Christos Gage. The
art is beautiful and the stories have felt very much like episodes of
Buffy.
Even if you don’t follow the main Buffy series, I would say pick up
one of the trades of this one. It’s great stuff.
Verdict
– KEEPER
BATMAN
The
current “Year Zero” storyline has been pretty good so far. Not as
impactful as Earth One,
but still solid and acceptable within the confines of what I expect
out of Batman. Right now, though, the DC books are all experiencing a
bit of “narratus interruptus” with the “Forever Evil” thing.
I’ll discuss that a bit more below.
Issue
23.1 is a Joker story. The main narrative is about Joker adopting a
gorilla. It is pure Silver Age awesomeness and could go alongside any
of the Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told. I was very impressed with
this one, which is good for DC because it was my gauge as to whether
or not I was going to pick up any other of the villain one-shots. The
only problem I could see with this story is the portion that seems to
be a flashback to Joker’s childhood. Personally, I just took that
as the same sort of thing Heath Ledger was doing in The
Dark Knight. Either made up
or pure delusion. With Joker, pretty much everything can be
discounted. I don’t honestly believe this was an attempt to nail
down an origin.
Verdict
- KEEPER
BATMAN
AND______
The
last issue dealt with Alfred’s reaction to Damian’s death and was
pure genius. Tomasi and Gleason are producing some of the best Bat
Family stories I’ve seen in years.
Verdict
- KEEPER
BATMAN
INCORPORATED
I
feel like the last six or so issues of this title could have been
compressed into two issues. I was so ready for this book to end. Part
of it was the drawn-out narrative, part of it was the fact that I
can’t stand Chris Burnham’s art. I don’t think he’s bad at
all, I just really dislike his style. A lot. I’ve known it since
before the New 52 started, but it was never clearer than when it was
necessary for Gleason to re-draw some of Burnham’s panels for the
above issue of Batman and
______. I enjoyed reading
the new version so much more. I specifically remember disliking those
exact panels quite a bit.
Verdict
– GLAD IT’S OVER
BATMAN
SUPERMAN
This
is an interesting book from Greg Pak and Jae Lee. I don’t love it,
but I am enjoying it. I have been a huge fan of Jae Lee’s art for
years, but as I get older I find I want more storytelling out of
artwork. While Lee’s art is awesome to look at, it isn’t the most
expressive and linear in the world.
Verdict
– KEEPER
BATWOMAN
The
narrative has gotten a bit more straightforward, but I get the sense
that Trevor McCarthy might be having trouble keeping up. His work
seems to be suffering a bit from being on a regular title. I’m
actually going to stick around and give this one a chance after
Williams III and Blackman leave. Their run has been a bit unfocused
and I think that a new creative team could be a good thing.
Which
brings me to the recent business about DC not allowing Kate Kane to
get married. Or as most media outlets would put it, not allowing Kate
to get Gay Married.
I
don’t think that’s the point. I think that DC just doesn’t want
Batwoman married. Whether or not that in and of itself is a good or
reasonable decision I don’t know. But DC owns Batwoman so they get
to make the call. But since Gay is a Hot Topic and gets all kinds of
media attention right now, the headlines were about that. And DC
being DC they handled it absolutely dreadfully and made all of the
media and the people who believe the media feel totally justified in
their assumption of bigotry.
Verdict
- PROBATION
THE
BLACK BEETLE
Francesco
Francavilla crafted an excellent and simple story about a crime
fighter. The art is beautiful and the narrative is quick and
engaging. I highly recommend this one. A collected edition should be
available soon, as the four-issue miniseries just wrapped up. I
believe a new miniseries is starting within the next couple of
months. You should add it to your pull.
Verdict
– BUY THE TRADE
BREATH
OF BONES
I
have always been a fan of the golem. It’s the primarily Jewish
concept of a clay giant brought to life – usually to protect but
sometimes for revenge. This is the Hollywood-ready story of a golem
protecting a village during the second World War. It’s three issues
and it is fantastic. Guillermo del Toro should direct.
Verdict
– BUY THE TRADE
BUFFY
THE VAMPIRE SLAYER SEASON 9
The
season just wrapped and while it had a satisfying conclusion, I’m
getting a little tired of the old “bad guy that turns out okay in
the end” thing. Granted, we had the evil Slayer that didn’t turn
out okay in any way, shape, or form; but there’s a whole other
recurring theme there that I am also tired of – lots of bad guys. I
feel like the creators don’t have enough faith in their creations
to allow for a true Big Bad. Since the Dark Horse comics started as
direct continuations of the TV show we haven’t had a single true
villain. It’s been these groups or armies of people with bad
intentions (many of whom later turn out to be misguided or whatever).
I’m really hoping for something fresh for Season 10.
Verdict
– GLAD FOR THE BREAK
CABLE
AND X-FORCE
Dennis
Hopeless is creating an exciting tale that draws on a lot of Marvel
Mutant lore but that manages to take place outside of the main drama
of the current X-books. There is a great balancing act between the
characters in the book – Cable, Domino, Colossus, Boom Boom, Forge,
Doctor Nemesis, and now Hope. I feel like I get just enough of
everybody in each issue, but always want more. The narrative is
moving right along and Salvador Larocca’s art is lovely as always.
There was an artistic bump in last month’s issue that bothered me
quite a bit, though. Somebody else took over halfway through and it
simply didn’t work. Not only was there a severe stylistic change,
the artist was seemingly unaware of the condition of Cable’s left
arm – it is shrunken and crippled under his bionic arm – and
editorial let the mistake through. The book is still great, but that
was very distracting. The newest issue was all Larocca, so things
were back to normal.
Verdict
– KEEPER
CHIN
MUSIC
Steve
Niles and Tony Harris. That should be all you need to know.
Verdict
– TOP OF THE STACK
DANGER
GIRL: TRINITY
Trinity
wrapped last month. I can’t call it a must-have, but if you like
fun comics and Danger Girl in particular this one was a total success
and you should probably pick up the trade. These are popcorn comics
and I love them for that. No long-running series to keep up with, no
angst. The new miniseries, The
Chase, just started this
month and it’s more of the same. And I mean that in the best way
possible.
Verdict
– FUN BOOK
DOCTOR
WHO
I
have thoroughly enjoyed this title. I hate to see IDW lose the
license for Doctor Who comics to the publisher that brought us WWE Heroes – the single worst comic book I have ever read.
Verdict
– TOP OF THE STACK
DOCTOR
WHO: PRISONERS OF TIME
This
continues to be a fantastic title with a brilliant narrative that
shows a deep understanding of and love for Doctor Who. Issue #8 gave
us a very enjoyable look at Paul McGann’s Doctor, along with a much
more interesting and fun characterization of Grace. My only problem
here is that I didn’t care for the artwork in this issue at all. I
am a big fan of Roger Langridge’s work on the Muppet titles, but
his style is not what I want on Doctor Who. I’m just not a fan of
cartoony Who, which has been a problem from time to time for the
duration of IDW’s deal to publish the comics. They have had nothing
but top-notch writers on the books, but there have been many
instances where I disagreed with their choice of artists.
Verdict
– TOP OF THE STACK
FOREVER
EVIL
First
of all, that is a terrible title. It sounds like a goth version of
legendary tween store Forever 21. Which I guess would pretty much be
Hot Topic, but whatever. “Whatever Evil” would be a much better
title because that’s kind of how I feel about everything that
happens in the New 52 – “whatever”. We’re two years in and I
still don’t feel like this is the real DCU or that anything that
happens really matters.
This
title – and related crossovers; all 2,139 of them – are about the
Crime Syndicate invading the New 52 Universe. In this first issue a
bunch of stuff happened that I didn’t really care about and then
Ultraman crushed up Kryptonite and snorted it like cocaine. It came
off exactly as stupid as it sounds.
Verdict
– DROPPED IT
THE
EXTINCTION PARADE
Max
Brooks has created a very interesting story about what happens to
vampires after the zombie apocalypse. Yeah – think about that for a
minute.
Verdict
– STILL READING
HACK/SLASH
VS. ARMY OF DARKNESS
Somebody
has the Necronomicon and is selling the pages. Obviously this is bad.
So retired Slasher hunter Cassie Hack and S-Mart employee Ashley J.
Williams have to team up to stop all of the resulting chaos and evil.
So
far this book has done an amazing job of not only combining the two
franchises involved, but also of giving equal time and quality
characterization to Ash and Cassie. Crossovers often feel somewhat
slanted toward one property or the other, but this one truly feels
natural and balanced. The thing you have to remember going in is that
this is Ash in this book and not Bruce Campbell, so the age
difference is probably less than ten years and him hitting on Cassie
isn’t as creepy as it might seem.
Verdict
– KEEPER
INDESTRUCTIBLE
HULK
The
new story arc is about time travel, which made me a little nervous. I
fucking love this book, but time travel stories can be very tricky
when they’re part of a narrative that is not specifically about
time travel. The problem is creating believable drama in what is
almost certainly a set timeline. Thankfully, Mark Waid is a very
clever man and is telling a fun time travel story. The best part is
that for the purposes of the mission, Hulk has to stay Hulk. This
means that Banner’s consciousness has been duplicated into a flying
robot drone and has the task of keeping Hulk angry enough to not
transform. The interaction between the two entities is priceless.
Verdict
– TOP OF THE STACK
IRON
MAN
Speaking
of stories I was concerned about, I honestly feel like Mark Waid and
Kieron Gillen – the current Iron
Man writer – are basing
their current narratives off of dares.
Gillen
– “I bet you can’t write a good Hulk time travels tory.”
Waid
– “Oh yeah, well I dare you to retcon Tony Stark’s origin and
have him take on a Marvel Universe crossover-worthy event
single-handed.”
Both
challenges were accepted and both have – so far – been met one
hundred percent. “The Secret Origin of Tony Stark” had the
potential to both suck and
be a colossal downer. It has done neither.
Verdict
– TOP OF THE STACK
JUSTICE
LEAGUE DARK
As
soon as DC announced that I was going to have to buy Justice
League to complete the next
story arc I dropped this one. It was really good and I might go back
to it, but I refuse to buy a title that produced the single worst
comic book arc I have ever read as long as the creative team
responsible is still there.
Verdict
– DROPPED IT
NIGHTWING
It's entirely possible that I've missed an issue because the last thing I remember is Dick tracking down an old mob boss from Gotham. I feel like it was a while ago. But the book is awesome.
Verdict
– KEEPER
RED
SONJA
This
book had so much going for it – swords, sorcery, a scantily-clad
redhead, Gail Simone – but it just did not click for me. I buy too
many comics as it is, so when I pick up something new it really needs
to wow me. Red Sonja
was solid, but I just wasn’t excited enough to keep buying it.
Verdict
– DROPPED IT
REVIVAL
It
feels like something really big is getting ready to happen in this
one. This has been a quality title from the start and I highly
recommend you pick up the trades or back issues or whatever and catch
up. If you like the Coen Brothers’ darker movies I think you’ll
really dig Revival.
Verdict
– TOP OF THE STACK
SAGA
In
the thrity or so years that I have been reading comic books, there is
not one title I have read that I would recommend over Saga.
Verdict
– TOP OF THE STACK
STAR
WARS
There
has been a lot of praise heaped on this book. Not only for being a
strong story, but for having the feel of the Original Trilogy. I’m
enjoying it, but I don’t find it to be the revelation that others
do. I’m actually finding the Leia-centric story to be almost
contradictory to the rest of the Expanded Universe. Princess Leia has
always been depicted as a strong character. I don’t think there was
a need to retcon her into a pilot or the leader of a secret squadron.
Like I said – the story is good, but it could have been told
without altering the history of this great, established character.
Verdict
– TOP OF THE STACK
STAR
WARS: DARK TIMES
This
title has been producing miniseries that alternate between the
characters that were established in the original Dark
Times series. It’s a
clever way of keeping things fresh while, still following a primary
narrative and I am thoroughly enjoying it. There was a much shorter
break between the last arc – (whatever) and the newest one –
(whatever), and the momentum seems to have carried over. I feel like
there might be a blending of the separate narratives soon. This, to
me, is the best Star Wars story being produced right now. I love
these characters and the post-Order 66 setting is exciting and
interesting.
Side
Note: I think it would be very smart of the Buffyverse to adopt this
publishing style. Rather than trying to support two ongoing books and
occasional miniseries, I think it would be smart to have an ongoing
line of miniseries that alternated between the Scooby Gang and Angel
and Faith or whoever else they might want to feature.
Verdict
– TOP OF THE STACK
UNCANNY
AVENGERS
Rick
Remender is continuing to build on the events he created in one of
the best Marvel Mutant books ever, Uncanny
X-Force. The book’s new
artist is absolutely fantastic and I cannot get enough of his art. I
was not familiar with (dude) before he took over duties here, but he
reminds me a lot of Francesco Francavilla, which is one of the
highest compliments I could give.
The
last book that felt this epic and impactful to me was Joss Whedon and
(dude)’s Astonishing
X-Men. If you’re
interested, the one before that was Grant Morrison and Frank
Quitely’s New X-Men.
Verdict
– TOP OF THE STACK
UNCANNY
X-FORCE
I
don’t want to say too much about this book because it has some
nifty surprises and I think you should just read it, but the way that
(writer) is building the core team for the book is a lot of fun and
something we don’t always see. More often than not the team that a
comic book is built around is just the team and that’s that. Here
we’re getting to see why.
Verdict
– KEEPER
WALKING
DEAD
The
shit just won’t stop hitting the fan. This book is astonishingly
consistent and good. If I could recommend two boos to people they
would be Saga
and The Walking Dead.
The amazing thing about that statement is that neither of these is a
superhero book and I am most definitely a superhero guy.
Verdict
– TOP OF THE STACK
THE
WAKE
Scott
Snyder and Sean Murphy are creating a Hollywood-ready tale that feels
new and original, yet is reminiscent of ocean disaster movies like
Leviathan
and Deep Star Six.
With a touch of HP Lovecraft thrown in (because pretty much
everything gets a dollop of Cthulu now). I absolutely love this book.
Snyder’s writing is tight as always and Sean Murphy’s art is
beautiful and engrossing.
Verdict
– TOP OF THE STACK
WOLVERINE
Paul
Cornell. Alan Davis.
FUCK
YES.
I
can’t even tell you how happy I was when Alan Davis returned.
(artist) took care of the second story arc and was great, but it was
so special seeing Davis’ artwork on that first arc. I’m glad to
see that he is apparently going to be alternating. This book feels
like such a classic, but has the modern sensibilities that Cornell is
so deft with.
Verdict
– GREAT BOOK
WOLVERINE
AND THE X-MEN
The
finale of the Hellfire Academy arc was awesome. I love this book. As
long as Nick Bradshaw stays a regular artist I can deal with him
taking a break from time to time.
Verdict
– KEEPER
WONDER
WOMAN
I
don’t even know if I’m still getting this book. I can’t
remember for the life of me what is going on.
Verdict
– IF I HAVEN'T DROPPED IT I SHOULD
X-FACTOR
The
last seven or eight issues of X-Factor
have been like the last
thirty minutes of Return of
the King. Just sort of
wrapping things up after the ending. I suppose things were resolved
enough for me. In all honesty I didn’t enjoy the “Hell on Earth”
story very much, so I haven’t been as invested in this book as I
once was. But it’s all over now, and looking back I am very
satisfied with Peter David’s legacy on the book. I just hope
somebody at Marvel can find something interesting to do with these
characters that I have come to love so much.
Verdict
– HAPPY ENDING
Other
Comic-Related News
I
had planned to do a quick review of Agents
of SHIELD here (which is
why this is posting later than normal), but that turned into enough
to warrant its own post. And I am not one to pass up the opportunity
to pad out my posts. Five days a week gets a little tough sometimes.
So
check back tomorrow for the full review, plus some words about Sleep
Hollow is I still feel like
it!
-Phantom
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