New comics

Battle Beast 11

It’s a fighting issue, which means it’s a good issue.

Fantastic Four 14

This is Ryan North at his best, a one-shot with a clever problem and an even more clever twist/solution.  Absolutely love it.  

Detective Comics 1111

Tom Taylor reveals how Prion died, and Batman unravels another twist.  Probably not worth buying w/out Mikel Janin’s art, but the combination is enough to keep me reading.  

Flash 35

So….basically Wally needs to make the city a surveillance state with himself as the camera in order to prevent all the crime.  How is this not creepy?  I’m surprised North hasn’t addressed the concern yet.  

Dark Knights of Steel II 1

Tom Taylor comes back to this universe, this time drawn by Otto Schmidt.  (Woots!)  A good start to this arc.  I’m not as invested in this Elseworld as I was with Taylor’s DCeased and Injustice, but there’s no denying he knows how to do an alternate reality.

New comics

I’ve got like 3 weeks of comics to recap here.  

Detective Comics Annual 2026

Batman teams up with Lobo (?!?), but it’s really an excuse for Tom Taylor to do his spin on Batman’s Black Mercy hallucination.  It’s not all that different from what you’d expect: married to Selina, kids, parents and Alfred still alive.  It’s competently done, but nothing that’s must-read.  

The backup story is a twisted little Pyg story that wasn’t bad at all, but still missable.  Not a waste of money, but I wouldn’t buy this again.  

Super Creepshow 1, 3-5

An anthology series I picked up on iFanboy’s recommendation.  It’s a bunch of creatives doing their EC Comics spin on superheroes.  Very Twilight Zone.  A fun read, and while I’m not going to go out of my way to find the missing second issue, I’d pick it up if it was convenient to do so.

Doomquest 3

Hee, Doom as George Washington.  Ryan North’s having so much fun with this, and he’s taking us along for the ride.  

Absolute Wonder Woman 22

Barbara succumbs to temptation and accepts the Cheetah spirit into her life.  Diana rescues Circe from Scylla.  Dillon Snook does a fine job, but I obviously miss Hayden Sherman.  

Absolute Batman 22

Absolute Harley Quinn’s origin is well told by Scott Snyder.  Batman eludes the Robins.  Joker adds a twist to the story at the end.  (Thomas Wayne is alive.  We think.)

Absolute Catwoman 2

Some well done action scenes, and I like what Snyder and Che Grayson are doing with some Bat-Universe staples.  No reason to quit yet.  

Daredevil 4

Is this worth picking up for the Lee Garbett art?  Because the story is very mid for me.  There’s some promise with the detective freezing in the middle of a crisis, but that’s not enough.  Maybe another issue or two.  

Barbara Gordon: Breakout 3

Really not living up to the promise of the premise.  It’s off after this issue.

Assorted Crisis Events 9

A down-on-his-luck guy has no choice but to become a temporal soldier, trapped in a shitty existence.  It’s not Deniz Camp’s best work, but it doesn’t suck.  

Powers 25 11

The mystery continues as the killer is possibly revealed.  Standard good Bendis/Oeming material here.

Wonder Woman 35

Tom King does his take on Diana’s contest victory, the one that won her the mantle of Wonder Woman.  It’s well done, and goes a little deeper into Diana’s psychology at the time, but it’s not required reading or anything.  

Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Spider-Man: Brand New Day

What’s the special sauce w/ the MCU Spider-Man movies?  How do they consistently stand out from the rest of the pack?  Let’s list the ways:

1. Tom Holland.  He continues to shine.  This go around, he plays the reluctant loner, forced to work alone to keep his friends safe.  It’s a well-worn trope, but he pulls it off well in a way that doesn’t make you want to smack him upside the back of his head.  (See the end of Tobey Maguire’s first Spider-Man.)  

Yet through all of the depression, Peter’s innate joy for life still comes through.  His “That is so cool” when the Hand strike a kickass fight pose, while he’s getting his ass kicked, is his character in a nutshell.

2. Zendaya.  So perfect in this role.  The scene where she kisses/fools Spider-Man pulled all my emotional strings.  Phenomenal.

3. Sadie Sink as Jean Grey.  Was anyone surprised by the reveal?  Regardless, she’ll be just fine as the MCU’s first X-Man.  Particularly loved her scene with Marisa Tomei (yay!).  This movie did a great job of hitting all the feels for me.

4. There are some gorgeous camera shots from director Destin Daniel Cretton and cinematographer Brett Pawlak.  There’s one where the camera spins around during a fight/chase sequence that I just loved.

5. I’m a sucker for the “hero shares a silent moment with a kid” thing (See: Cap with the kid in the museum, Andrew Garfield at the end of Amazing Spider-Man 2.)  Also, Peter getting a chance to see what he means to the city was sweet.

6. I liked that Scorpion was a misdirect as the main villain of the film.  And that the finale didn’t fallback to a generic battle with huge explosions.  

7. Peter’s last scene with Ned.  There may not be a magical kiss, but there’s a magical handshake.  (And I still think the kiss will work, just like it did at the end of Chuck.  MJ was possessed the first time, didn’t count.)

8. It’s always a pleasure to see Florence Pugh as Yelena.  

9. Heh, Naomi Watts voiced EV, Spidey’s AI.  Excellent.  

What didn’t work as well

1. I don’t buy evil Jean Grey.  Before the reveal, her actions, especially when torturing Peter, evince a cruelty that doesn’t fit with her character, even within the context of her single-minded quest.  Also, her plan really doesn’t make any sense at all.  With her powers, jumping into Director Metzger’s mind from the get go would have been much cleaner w/ a far greater chance of success.  But then there wouldn’t have been a movie.  

2. Peter develops organic webshooters and there’s no reference to Tobey from the last movie?

3. I’m on the fence with funny Punisher.  Jon Bernthal plays it well, and Garth Ennis has put to rest the notion that Frank can’t be both grim and hilarious, but it didn’t quite sit right with me.  

4. Good to see Mark Ruffalo, and the Hulk fight scenes was pretty good.  But he still felt shoehorned in.  

5. Not enough Ned, not nearly enough MJ.  These movies ultimately sing because of the relationship between the three.  The too-few scenes we get with them only reinforce that truth.

6. Rarely a fan of “whipping up next-gen tech in the back of my garage” gimmicks.  He may be a genius, but Peter’s no Tony Stark.

7. Cretton did a superb job with this film, but it also means this is time not spent on Shang-Chi 2.  Where the hell is that movie??????????????????

This is the kind of Marvel movie I know and love.  Nice to see it can still be done.  Really hoping the Russos can bring more of the same in December.  Also can’t wait for Peter and MJ to get back together.  

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: Yes

Rating: Good

Updated MCU rankings

1. Avengers: Endgame

2. Captain America: Civil War

3. Captain America: Winter Soldier

4. Spider-Man: No Way Home

5. Avengers: Infinity War

6. Shang-Chi

7. Avengers: Age of Ultron

8. Ant-Man/Wasp

9. Avengers

10. Spider-Man: Brand New Day

11. Spider-Man: Homecoming

12. Captain America

13. Dr Strange 2

14. Thunderbolts

15. Thor: Love and Thunder

16. Spider-Man: Far From Home

17. Iron Man 2

18. Black Widow

19. Fantastic Four: First Steps

20. Black Panther

21. Iron Man

22. Ant-Man

23. Dr Strange

24. Deadpool & Wolverine

25. Iron Man 3

26. Thor 3

27. Captain Marvel

28. Thor

29. Thor 2

30. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

31. Guardians of the Galaxy

32. Guardians of the Galaxy 2

33. Guardians of the Galaxy 3

34. Hulk

35. Eternals

36. Captain America: Brave New World

37. Ant-Man/Wasp: Quantumania

Supergirl

Supergirl

The second film in James Gunn’s new DCU.  I went into this not expecting it to reach the quality of the source material, Tom King and Bilquis Evely’s phenomenal Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.  I mean, that’s an insanely high bar to rise to.  But would it come anywhere close?

No, not really.  I enjoyed the first two-thirds of the movie enough, but the final third lost me with a bunch of movie silliness.  The usual list:

What I liked:

1. I’ll put Milly Alcock on this list, but I’m actually still mixed in my feelings.  She’s got a very non-traditional look.  (She really does look like Will Poulter.  Apparently I’m not the first person to say so, but I swear I came to that conclusion on my own.)  But I wanted to reserve judgment until I saw her on screen.  I ultimately liked her performance and her attitude, and I’d happily watch her in this role in future movies.

2. I liked the film’s take on Supergirl’s character.  “You don’t have to be nice, but you have to be good.”  It’s a very clear articulation of a way of thinking that you don’t see with many superheroes.  Well, I suppose you do - Wolverine, Hitman, etc.  But this is a new spin on Supergirl in particular that’s  necessary in order to set her apart from the DCU Superman.  (It’s very different from King’s interpretation, but I’ll allow it.)

3. The VFX of Supergirl flying.  Flying may be my favorite visual effect to see on screen when it’s done well.  I love the exhilaration that I feel when watching it.  

4. The comic did a much better job of conveying the horror of Kara’s time in Argo City, but the film’s version was pretty good too.  

What I didn’t like

1. Krem was meh.  Boring villain.  At least the comic knew not to make him such a focus of the story.  And why would he carry the antidote as a necklace.  Bringing it back further, where did he even get the poison arrow from?  Didn’t his ship and all his belongings get blown up by Ruthye’s father at the beginning?

2. Lobo was completely unnecessary.  Jason Momoa did as good a job as he could have, but it’s a thankless role.  The only time I’ve ever liked him is when Garth Ennis wrote him

3. So when Ruthye brought Supergirl’s costume along, she brought the boots along as well?  Also, when did she find it again?  

4. Was the point at the end that Supergirl already killed people so it was okay for her to do it to Krem?  Her soul was already tainted with the burden of murder?

What this movie really accomplished was to inspire me to read the comic again, which I did today.  God, it’s so freaking good and beautiful to look at.  Run don’t walk to your local comic store and pick up a copy now.

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: No

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Nice

Persepolis

Borrowed from the library.

Persepolis

The first volume.  I gave this a shot after reading that Marjane Satrapi had passed away.  I’d heard all the praise and accolades for Persepolis, but it never really tickled my interest.  Turns out my instincts were right.  This didn’t work for me on either an emotional or artistic level.  I intellectually appreciate her sharing a world that I knew little about, but it didn’t reach me on any level. 

New comics

New comics!

Fantastic Four 13

No Humberto Ramos, but Andrea Sorrentino proves to be surprisingly adept at drawing the funny.  He draws a hilarious out-of-his-depth Johnny Storm, whose hare-brained Ghost Rider goes wonderfully awry.  One of Ryan North’s better FF issues.  

Supergirl: Survive 2

I said last issue that this could go in any number of directions.  I didn’t expect either the Rainbow Lantern Corps or the Lobo Bunch to show up, but I wholeheartedly approve the decision by Ethan S Parker and Griffin Sheridan.  It’s lots of fun and makes for a colorful issue, and I totally didn’t see the totally obvious turn on the last page.  Once again, anything can happen in the next issue, and I’m looking forward to it.  

Absolute Martian Manhunter 12

At the end of it all, do I regret buying all twelve issues of this?  Only the reread will tell, but I suspect yes.  Even Javier Rodriguez’s art isn’t enough, as the shine’s finally come off of that apple.  And Deniz Camp’s story stopped being enjoyable or even coherent about six issues ago.  I’m glad that I don’t have to debate whether or not to buy this anymore.

Batman 11

Like Tom Taylor’s Detective, Matt Fraction’s Batman is just good, clean, superhero fun.  Love The Ojo’s visual design.  (By Jorge Jimenez?)

100 Bullets: The US of Anger 1

Didn’t expect to ever see more 100 Bullets, but the original team of Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso are back at it again.  I might be buying this just out of habit, but it’s still entertaining enough.

New comics

New comics!

Supergirl: Survive 1

An iFanboy recommendation.  What if Kara and Kal-El crashed on an alien planet moments after escaping Krypton’s destruction?  A good start by Ethan S Parker, Griffin Sheridan, and Rod Reis.  This can go in any number of directions.  

Doomquest 2

Doom Groundhog Days his way through the Titanic disaster.  Ryan North captures his voice perfectly.  A great issue, and next month looks to be just as fun.  (Doom is George Washington.)

Powers 25 10

More of the excellent same.

Battle Beast 10

Yessss.  More fighting!  That’s all the title needs.  None of that talking crap.

Flash 34

More Ryan North, and he’s definitely picking up his game on Flash.  There’s a delightful choose your own adventure two-page spread involving a massive gorilla invasion.  I still don’t quite buy the “flashes of insight” (intentional ugh), but North is barely managing to make it work.

Absolute Batman 21

Batman fights the Robins (sitting in massive mechs), Jim Gordon gets his funeral, and Jack Grimm (Absolute Joker) confronts Bruce Wayne.  I wish the fight was better (the Bane fight from a few months back really set high expectations), but this is still a darn good title.  At least, when Nick Dragotta’s drawing it.  

Detective Comics 1110

Man, can Mikel Janin draw.  His Black Canary is particularly good.  It’s a rare title where the artist eclipses the Tom Taylor writing, but this is one of them.  

Wonder Woman 34

Wonder Woman defeats the Matriarch in a very satisfying manner.  I really need to read this full Tom King run.

Absolute Wonder Woman 21

Sigh.  Dunno who Dillon Snook is, and while he doesn’t suck, he’s no Hayden Sherman.  I can’t help but read this wondering how it would have looked under his pen.