Batman: White Knight, Elric, Amazing Spider-Man, Moth and Whisper, Superman

New comics!  I didn’t get the new Catwoman.  I flipped through it in the store, and felt zero enthusiasm towards reading it.  Joelle Jones lured me in with her gorgeous art, but couldn’t get me to stay with the story.  

Amazing Spider-Man 6

I bought this after the iFanboy podcast selected it as their Pick of the Week.  The premise sounded fun - Boomerang, now Peter’s roommate, drags him to a supervillain trivia night, where the topic is Spider-Man.  With his secret identity unknown to all, Peter cleans house with a perfect score, earning the praise and cheers of his rogues gallery.  It certainly is amusing, and Humberto Ramos does his usual great work, but it comes in third out of the three titles I bought this week.  Certainly not Pick of the Week caliber.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Moth and Whisper 2

The second issue continues to build on the promise of the first.  Niki embarks on a infiltration mission, putting the technology of the era on display to the readers, as well as his sharp mind.  Lots of fun.

I’m also a fan of the facility with which Niki switches between male and female disguises.  He’s equally capable performing as either, and there’s something cool about that. When I thought about it some more, I realized that Niki’s gender is actually unclear to me.  The way they’re drawn reads as male to me, but there’s enough ambiguity that I could be mistaken. I like that.

Superman 4

The things that make Superman super shine through in this issue, and it’s those splashes of personality that elevate this over the previous three.  Clark’s flashback conversation with Jon is sublime. It’s a mix of so many wonderful things. Clark engages in some strong, positive parenting, clearly teaching the lessons he learned from his Pa.  It’s a sweet passing along of values across generations.

Bendis continues to build on Superman’s bromance with Batman.  He’s really leaning into it both here and in Action Comics, and it’s still the best part of his run so far.  Jon notices it too. “So, you like Batman the way you like mom?”

Elric: The Vanishing Tower 1-6

This is entirely a nostalgia buy.  I’ll talk about it more when I do my reread.  It is unapologetically old-school fantasy, and feels like a D&D campaign I would have run as a middle schooler.  It jumps from set piece to set piece, with the barest hint of connecting narrative tissue. Still, it’s fun in its outlandishness, and I dig it.  

Batman: White Knight 1-8

This was SO GOOD.  Sean Murphy knocked this one out of the park.  Things I liked:

Flipping Joker into becoming the actual hero.  Yet not. He does all the right things, and seeing him as a legit good guy is mind trippy and awesome.

Two Harleys!  A neat way of reconciling the original Dini Harley with the Margot Robbie version.  Setting Harleen up as the mastermind (and a force for good) is inspired.

Accentuating the negative aspect of Batman’s war on crime.  Focusing on the property damage, injured bystanders, and miscellaneous fallout really brings out the psycho in Batman.  Coupled with his manic anger, everything combines to create a thoroughly believable situation where he’s at odds with the GCPD, his teammates, and the entire city.

Murphy’s art.  

All the best Freeze art involves him pining in front of Nora.

So many Batmobiles, so much detail.

I may review this again on re-read, but I’m feeling pretty solid about my ratings.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Really good

Deathblow, Desolation Jones

Deathblow 13-15, 19

Trevor Scott takes over as the penciller.  I thought I liked him, but now I think it’s his inking that I like.  His whites streak across his blacks in an inverse inking sort of way, if that makes sense.  I’ll get into the importance of his inking more when I review Team 7.  For now, his pencils look a lot like Whilce Portacio, both in detail and tendency to horribly distort human anatomy.  

Okay, I’ve spent way too long looking for Portacio reference images.  Not in the mood. But let’s not ignore the fact that Scott’s nose shadows look like Hitler mustaches.  

Anyway, these issues are not that good.  Deathblow finds himself directionless in life after fighting the Black Angel, so naturally he becomes a bodyguard.  Sure. Okay. And then the werewolves and vampires of Wetworks get involved.  (Another Portacio connection.)  Hooboy. Then some even more boring things happen.  Cut them all!

Regret buying: Yes

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Stupid (Cutting)

Deathblow 20-26

These issues aren’t that much better, but I’m keeping them for a couple reasons.  There’s something nostalgically old school (redundancy?) about this arc - Miles Craven hires Le Gauche to extract the gen-factor from all the former members of Team 7.  So each issue deals with one of the members (Lynch, Dane, Backlash, and Grifter) as the band slowly gets back together. Because I followed each of these characters in their own titles, there’s something very “Marvel shared universe” about seeing them team up.  Their shared history also adds another layer of richness.

Hmm.  That’s really the only reason.  The story itself doesn’t make much sense, Scott’s art is meh, and the fill-in pencils by Scott Kolins and Geof Isherwood in issue 24 is legitimately horrendous.  I might be talking myself into cutting these as I write this...No. Still keeping it. But just barely.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Didn’t suck

Desolation Jones 1-6

Not one of Warren Ellis’ better titles.  There’s not even a real hook here - A former MI6 agent who underwent horrible government science experiments (with no real discernible results aside from an inability to sleep or have feelings) solves crimes in LA.  In this opening arc, he’s tasked with finding a stolen pornographic film starring Hitler (classic Ellis right there). The convoluted mystery that he uncovers isn’t that interesting. Not even JH Williams’ art is enough.  There’s so much better Ellis out there in my collection, I don’t see why I should keep this one around.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Didn’t suck (Cutting)

Deathblow

Deathblow 1-12

Aged well: The plot.  It seems odd for the creators to throw a down-to-earth Navy SEAL into an adventure involving the Holy Grail, Sword of Heaven, and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse for his introductory story, but it somehow works.  

Aged poorly: The writing.  Brandon Choi subscribes to the “tell, don’t show” school of dialogue.  Even worse, he also had a degree in “tell, even if the art is showing.”  There’s also a formal quality to the way his characters talk, creating a stilted atmosphere that feels like the comic book equivalent of bad acting.  

Nothing natural about this conversation.

Aged well: The Jim Lee art.  Perhaps it started out as a homage to Frank Miller, but Lee’s art immediately became something all its own.  The level of detail he brought to every panel was truly stunning, and different from anything he did before or since.  I’m sad, but hardly surprised that he was unable to sustain it for more than three (very very short) issues. At least he kept doing the covers, each of which is a true work of art.

Aged poorly: Tim Sale’s art.  Deathblow was my first exposure to Sale.  It’s impossible to overstate just how much of a letdown he was coming on the heels of Jim Lee.  To my high school eye, he sucked.  I’ve obviously since come to appreciate him for the all-star artist that he is, but I still maintain that he wasn’t the best choice for this title.  

Maybe it's the exaggerated expressions.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Bitch Planet, Danger Club, Darker Image

Bitch Planet 6-10

Found the second trade.  Read, didn’t buy. I liked it more than the first five issues.  Now that Meiko’s dead, Kelly Sue DeConnick gives us her origin story, which sets off the rest of the plot - Meiko’s father takes control of Bitch Planet, setting off a riot that allows Kamau to find both her sister and presumed dead President Eleanor Doane.  The trade ends with the assassination of the High Father. (New name for the president? Dunno.)

Things are happening, which is fun.  Women fight back against a shitty system, which is good.  I have no desire to own it, which is good for my wallet.

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Danger Club 1-8

I remember loving the first five issues when this first came out.  They told the story of all the sidekicks in the world coming together to save the world from the evil global leader after the disappearance of every one of their mentors.  It ended with their failure.

Then the series went on a two-year hiatus before returning for the final three issues.  In addition to not really remembering what happened before, I thought the title went completely off the rails - The plot had gone from a gritty struggle-against-all-odds superhero story to a weirdass fight against a cosmic ancient with the help of Greek gods.  It was complete letdown of my expectations, and disappointing ending to an amazing beginning.

The re-read is a lot kinder to the story.  The connection between the science of time travel and the magic of the supernatural Chronos makes more sense.  Most importantly, the plans, sacrifice, and ultimate victory of these teenage heroes feel earned and satisfying.  Their fight against overwhelming odds zips along at a breakneck pace, and I loved every second of it. Yeah, things get a little Akira-y with the blobby threat, bright flashes, and abrupt finish, but it works way better the second time around.  

The ending is as Asian parent as it gets.  And because we don’t know Red Vengeance the way we know Batman (his analogue), his terse statement of approval doesn’t have the tacit affection that it would have had coming from Bruce Wayne.  So it just comes across as cruelly brutal. Really really harsh.

What a dick.

The art is beautiful.  I love the clean art by Eric Jones and the fine lines in his inking.  Michael Drake on colors is just as important.

Also, Jones’ Rob Liefeld parody had me laughing for a full 30 seconds at its perfection.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Darker Image 1

This felt such a big deal when it came out.  It showcased the first appearances (I believe) of Maxx, Deathblow, and Bloodwulf!  It was polybagged with a trading card! Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld on art!

As with many Image titles, this four-issue mini-series didn’t make it past the first one.  Not that much of a loss, but I would have liked to see how the Deathblow story finished up.    

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

Cyblade/Shi, Walk Through Hell, Magic Order, West Coast Avengers

Some new comics.  I’m out of town right now for my cousin’s wedding, so I’m doing this from memory.  Don’t have the issues in front of me.

Walk Through Hell 5

Garth Ennis builds out his supporting cast, spending a little more time with one of the other detectives on the force.  This man has a phobia of literal monsters. One would think that shouldn’t be so bad, seeing as how, well, they don’t actually exist.  But this guy never got over the idea of creatures under the bed or in the closet, imagining what it would feel like to have them touching or crawling all over him.  

It’s just too bad this he finds himself trapped in a place where these things are actually real.  I never thought that this warehouse is actually Hell, but one of the leads posits that theory, and I’m starting to believe her.

Ennis’ final lines describing Detective Goss’ predicament gives me chills every time I read them: “And later, with more of them in him than he would have though was possible -- all fingers and thumbs, all clutching, fisting, twisting -- Goss realized that his whole life he’d been right.”

So creepy.

Magic Order 4

Mostly setup this issue.  The good guys make a peace overture, and the bad guys soundly reject them.  The reluctant sibling find himself dragged back into the family business after a disruption to his peacetime life.  Still fun, still beautiful art by Olivier Coipel.

West Coast Avengers 2

So BRODOK is MODOK?  Everyone on the team seems to think so.  The visual of a hot guy with a slightly-too-big head cracks me up every time I see it.  The rest of the issue is fine, though I’m starting to feel like Eleanor Shellstrop from this week’s episode of The Good Place.  Things felt better before there were so many people in mix.  I like Kate Bishop’s adventures with Clint Barton best, without this massive cast of characters along for the ride.  

Cyblade/Shi 1

I had completely forgotten about the existence of Shi until I read this issue again.  The William Tucci creation was an independent comic sensation (because she was a hot ninja drawn by a decent artist) in the nineties, but fell off the radar relatively quickly.  I really remember nothing about her story at all. I’m sure it had something to do with her father and revenge.

She crosses over w/ Cyblade from Cyberforce for no apparent reason here, aside from the fact that they’re both attractive women with a talent for martial arts and turning heads on the street.  (That literally happens in this issue.) Then Witchblade shows up, promoting her new series. There’s a fight or two in there, and that’s about it. I didn’t get the followup issue, but if memory serves, that’s where things get really insane, with independent darlings from all over the industry making appearances, like Cerebus and Bone.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

Inspired by Joe Posnanski’s podcast with Mike Schur, my wife and I have started doing drafts of random things.  It’s a great way to pass the time, and I love the insight it provides into my wife’s thinking. Yesterday, we drafted fruits.  I had first pick.

Me	Her
Mangoes	Oranges
Grapes	Cherries
Peaches	Plums
Pears	Apples
Pineapples	Blueberries
Watermelons	Raspberries

She quit after the last round, unable to believe that she’d left watermelon on the draft board for so long.  She’d completely forgotten about it. A blown pick like that really throws you off your game. (Don’t get me started about the composers draft.)  I’m quite pleased with my team, and it always feels good to get a steal in the last round.

Cyberforce

Cyberforce 1-4

Cyberforce 1-7, 9-11

The original miniseries and the regular series that followed.  I’m stunned not stunned at the horrendous writing that infests these pages.  I wasn’t expecting greatness, the glasses of my memory weren’t that rose-colored.  But I didn’t remember it reading like a parody of Chris Claremont. And...there’s Chris Claremont writing issues 9 through 11, showing that he doesn’t need anyone to show him how to mock himself.  He does just fine on his own. I need to create a new rating for this. It wasn’t so bad that I wanted to stop reading. It wasn’t boring, it wasn’t hateworthy. It was so bad that calling out all the horrible problems with it became an entertaining game all by itself.  Examples from issue 11:

My god, all the narration.  So much internal narration. And even more verbal narration as all the characters explain everything that’s happening.  And the horrible quips!

What is she wearing??  Who talks to a comrade in arms at pre-kiss distance with an intimate chin lift??  What does “I can’t function in cyberspace” even mean???

Words fail me.

For the first time, Mark Silvestri’s art smacked more of Rob Liefeld than Jim Lee.  I’ve always liked him up until now, but so many little things stood out this time around that I’ve had to bump him down a few notches in my estimation.  

That's a Liefeldian number of visible teeth.

I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it’s like he does all that cross-hatching without understanding what makes it so effective.  His faces, especially, lack depth. If it weren’t for the coloring, would it really look that different from the fan art that they print in the letter column?

Can you tell the difference between Eric Silvestri and Chris Claremont monologues?

Okay, that’s pushing it a bit too far, but Silvestri's not as close to Jim Lee as I’d previously thought he was.  

From a creative standpoint, the team itself lacks any kind of originality.  It’s a common problem among most of the Image team books of that era. Impact: Colossus clone, obligatory team strong-man.  Ripclaw: Wolverine clone with sharp claws. Cyblade: Psylocke clone, down to the psychic blade. Heatwave: Cyclops clone, generic energy-blast shooting leader.  I’d call him out for having no personality (just like Cyclops), but everyone else on the team is just as bland.

Stryker doesn’t have a real analog, but his hook is that he’s got three right arms.  The reason he has no doppelganger is because that’s just about the stupidest mutant ability I’ve ever seen.  And it’s not like they’re his real arms, either - they’re cybernetic replacements for the ones that got blown off in an explosion.  If it was really such a great power, why haven’t they given everyone 2 extra arms? On the same side of their body?

That’s before you even get to the arm placement fudging.  There’s no consistency from drawing to drawing, because there’s no sense to be made out of it.  Do they share a shoulder joint?

Are they attached to his body vertically along his side?

Or does the artist just give up and not even pretend that the arm has a connection point to the body?  The laziness in character conception drives me crazy.

He sums it up so well.

So yes.  There’s a ton to pick apart, and this was fun to rant about.  So new rating.

   

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Trainwreck bad

Chrononauts, Civil War II

Chrononauts 1-4

Mark Millar churns out another movie pitch.  Two scientist bros crack the secret of time travel and proceed to break all the rules with abandon.  The butterfly effect and damage to the time-space continuum are given only the briefest of mentions, and then promptly ignored.  It’s a refreshing take on the usually strict rules that most time travellers need to follow, and allows for some glorious anachronisms.  Nothing on the order of the finest temporal mashup ever, but still tons of fun.

An instant classic in high school, an actual classic now.

This must have been an homage by Murphy.

Blissful insanity.

Which the characters completely recognize.

It’s also got a laugh out loud page-turning twist that I didn’t see coming, but often wonder about:

There are so many moments in media entertainment where the hero barely escapes death.  There’s always a part of me that wonders how the story would unfold if the bullet didn’t miss by an inch, or the hero couldn’t outrace the explosion/crumbling floor/velociraptor chasing them.  Sure, there’d be no story, but it’d be neat to see a How It Should Have Ended flash forward of how things would be different.

(Also, the best out-of-nowhere death ever:)

Getting back to the comic.  Sean Murphy has such a distinctive style, and he’s been such a good fit for everything I’ve seen him do.  I’m a fan.

The story, on the other hand, suffers from two unlikable protagonists.  Quinn and Reilly are completely unsympathetic, and while their cavalier attitudes towards the time stream are what enable such amazing imagery for us to see, they’re also what make them such douchebags.  I was rooting for them to die.

Still, I’d watch this movie.  The spectacle would be spectacular.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Civil War II 0-8

I’ve generally shied away from any event series that Marvel or DC put out.  They’re horrible at staying self-contained, requiring you to read a ton of tie-in issues in order to get the whole picture.  (See Civil War, Secret Invasion, etc.)  Civil War II had the extra strike of sounding stupid - heroes fighting over the morality of the Minority Report.  But I jumped at the opportunity to buy the trade at half price, especially with Brian Michael Bendis and David Marquez’s names on the cover.  (Discounted due to some minor damage on one of the corners.)

Totally worth it.  In hindsight, I would have bought this at full price.  Bendis has plenty of opportunities to flash his dialog-writing strengths, and he knows exactly how to use Marquez.  The fight scenes and emotions both explode off the page.

Bendis and Marquez are so good at Miles.

This fight was way more one-sided than it felt when I first read it.

The ethical debate shook out as I expected - Captain Marvel is terrified of the potential world-ending cataclysm that she’ll be unable to prevent, and desperately claws at the solution Ulysses bring her with his apparent precognitive abilities.  Tony Stark is understandably skeptical of arresting anyone for something they haven’t done yet, and fights back. As with the original Civil War, I found myself understanding the side that I felt was completely in the wrong.  Captain Marvel’s successful track record with Ulysses - stopping the Celestials, intercepting Thanos - spoke to how well the system could work.  It’s when she got into the sticker situations with Hulk and Miles Morales that things started going sideways. (I never bought into Tony’s argument that Carol caused the death of Rhodey.  Did he think that they wouldn’t have fought Thanos eventually?)

It ends up very much like the first Civil War - the person on the established, wrong (in my eyes) side finishes in a greater position of power, rewarded by a government less concerned about the individual than the big picture.  It’s a bit anti-climactic, but easy to look past considering how much fun everything before it was.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

One last time.