Read All the Comics!: Lucifer, Mighty Avengers, Honor Girl

Honor Girl

A coming-of-age memoir by Maggie Thrash. A fifteen year-old girl realizes she’s gay at summer camp. I love a good teenage relationship story, the kind with angst, romance, and the intensity of new love. This one’s pretty good, complete with the bittersweet ending that comes with most real-life first loves. (Blankets is the one that comes to mind as the pinnacle of the genre.) The art isn’t all that much, but then I discovered that this was the first time Thrash had drawn a comic. My impressed meter shot way up at that point.

For all its unpolished simplicity, it clearly tells the story and the strength of the emotions still comes through.

I read this at the bookstore, so slightly different categories.

Would buy? No

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Nice

Mighty Avengers 1-20

Brian Michael Bendis spends the first eleven issues chronicling Tony Stark’s attempt at running a post-Civil War Avengers team. It’s strictly middle of the road Bendis. This team never really gels, and their fights against Mole Man, Ultron, and Doctor Doom aren’t that interesting. Frank Cho does fine with the first arc, but Mark Bagley struggles with the second. He’s a great artist when he’s on Spider-Man, but I’m hard pressed to come up with another title that he shines on.

It's just...not awe-inspiring.

The one thing that stands out in these issues is Bendis’ liberal use of thought balloons. He so rarely partakes in the practice (I think there was an actual Marvel edict forbidding their use for a while) that their frequent appearances here stand out. He thankfully spares us the interminable inner monologues of the 80s. Instead, they provide instant snapshots into the minds of the Avengers, what they’re thinking at precise moments. The balloons reveal the insecurities and pettiness in these characters, to an extent that we rarely see nowadays.

The last nine issues of the trade provide a ton of background on Secret Invasion – How and when certain Skrulls infiltrated Earth, Nick Fury’s gathering of his Secret Warriors, etc. The strongest issues correspond with the strongest artists – Alex Maleev kicks ass (12 and 13) and Stefano Caselli (18) gets warmed up for his run on Secret Warriors.

Lovely to look at. No need for Bendis words.

Overall, this run of Mighty Avengers is pretty skippable. Maleev and Caselli’s issues are good, but they could just as easily have been the first three issues of Secret Warriors.

Ares would get along with Doom.

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? No (Yes for 12, 13, and 18)

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Fine (Nice for 12, 13, and 18)

Lucifer 42-55
I’m going to spout out random thoughts, and see how far it takes me.

Issue 42 has some of the laziest word balloon placement I’ve ever seen. Jared Fletcher and Comicraft complete botch the balloon pointers on a number of panels.

Okay. Garamas is the big one. Gyges is the little one.

Both balloons are pointing at the wrong demons.

Both should be pointing at Garamas.

The balloons in the first panel are pointing to the wrong people.

A lot of Marc Hempel influences in this hand. (And the coloring by Daniel Vozzo really sells the sequence.)

Peter Gross pencils.

Hempel.

More reinforcement of the inevitability of this title, the feeling that the plot controls all, and the characters are just going with the flow. I know it’s not a hidden theme or anything, Mike Carey is pretty blatant about it. But there’s something about Carey’s writing style that makes this whole endeavor so cold and clinical. I still don’t care about any of these characters.

Lucifer looks great in that black trenchcoat.

I like this cover a lot, but there’s something Lolitaesque about it that also makes me deeply uncomfortable.

P. Craig Russell draws issue 50, just like he did for Sandman. He had practice drawing all of those angels when he did Murder Mysteries two years previously with Neil Gaiman.

From Sandman 50

Murder Mysteries

Lucifer 50

P. Craig Russell is so good at picking projects that play to his strengths. They all showcase his ability to draw the fantastical.

Contrast that with Ted Naifeh on issue 45. His excellent work on Courtney Crumrin would suggest an affinity for the world of Lucifer, but most of the script calls for regular people, and his style doesn’t suit it so well.

Eh. Not a good use of his talents.

That's more like it.

The remainder of these issues are about Fenris and his plot to blah blah end of the world blah blah Yggdrasil the World Tree blah blah. I think this is where it’s starting to wear thin. I didn’t care about the characters before, and now I’m not caring about the story, either. It’s not looking good for the rest of this run.

Then, when the title needed it most, Marc Hempel comes in and saves the day in issue 55 with his looks-like-no-one-else style. That first shot of Remiel immediately catapulted me back to Sandman’s Kindly Ones, not a bad place to be. Subsequent panels of the Angel of Persecution Complexes just get better and better as his life gets worse and worse. And Hempel pulls it off like no one else.