Strange Attractors, Murder Me Dead, Batman

Batman 61-63, 66-69

The next trade of Tom King’s epic, this is seven issues of Batman’s nightmares.  I wouldn’t have thought this could work, but King teams up with an excellent array of artists to absolutely crush it. 

There are some straight up classics here, particularly a look at Catwoman’s bachelorette party in the Fortress of Solitude.  This arc is really an excuse for King to take another look at the Bruce/Selina relationship. It’s so nice to see the two of them together again, even if it’s only in Bruce’s head.  As unlikely as it is, I love them as a couple when written by King. More on this story when I do the reread.

Strange Attractors

A graphic novel by Charles Soule and Greg Scott, well done in both concept and execution.  What if there’s a person who can see and manipulate the butterfly effects that make or break the infrastructures of New York City?  It’s a neat idea, and the resulting story is really entertaining. I’d be tempted to say that it wraps up a little too neatly if that wasn’t the entire point of the book.  Worth checking out.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty Good

Murder Me Dead 1-9

Now we enter the David Lapham portion of my collection.  This guy is a master of comic noir, and his ability to both write and draw stories like this amazing.  I’m flipping through the last issue, and his forty-two page account of the final murder blows my mind. Primarily told with no dialog, it’s a masterpiece of storytelling.  I don’t remember very much of Stray Bullets, only that it’s really good, and this story just makes me more excited about tomorrow.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty Good

Second Coming, New Comics

I am so far behind it’s ridiculous.  I expect it’ll get even worse once the baby show up.  Anyway, let’s see how much I can keep this going.

New comics!

Action Comics 1015

Seeing the continuation of Naomi’s story and her first interactions with the Dynamic Duo enticed me into buying this issue, after an eight month hiatus from this title.  (No regrets on that pause.) Bendis continues to show his remarkable ability to write Superman as an inspirational big brother for ever other hero in the DCU and Batman as Orin from Parks and Recreation.  

I might stick around for another issue, but this initial meeting may be all I really need for now.

Batman/Superman 2

The art by David Marquez may keep this in rotation for a few more months, but Joshua Williamson’s words alternate between pretty decent and a little too on the nose.  

Looks so damn good.

It's true, but I don't think he'd ever say it out loud.

I’m still bored by The Batman Who Laughs, I’m not sure if I’ll last through this story arc.

Batman: Curse of the White Knight 3

Sean Murphy continues to draw a stunning book with another brilliant action scene at the end of the issue.  I’ll pay more attention to the plot when I read this in its entirety.  

Ragnarok: The Breaking of Helheim 2

Good clean Walt Simonson fun.  Reminds me a lot of Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo.  Though if I think about that, I stopped buying Usagi when I realized that as good as it is, I’ve never needed to re-read it - Each trade is pretty much interchangeable with the next.  Is Ragnarok the same?  Will I ever want to revisit this?  Something to consider when the next issue pops up on the shelves.  

Five Years 4

I think I like the practice of buying the issues of this series that have both Katchoo and Francine in them.  Theirs is the story that I want to follow, not the bigger “quest to stop development of the world-ending bomb” plot.  I’ll flip through this each month. If Francine shows up, I’ll consider it. She’s great in this. (A testament to the strength of Terry Moore’s creations that I’m evaluating the characters as if they’re real people.)

Harleen 1

Sunstone’s Stjepan Sejic tackles the origin story of Harley Quinn.  It’s as stunning and intricate as I hoped it would be. He’s telling the story at a slow, tense pace, ratcheting up the horrors inside Harleen’s mind as her inevitable first interview with Joker draw closer.  It makes the final line on the last page an absolute gutpunch. My heart breaks for Harleen, who has no idea of what’s to come, what that small acquiescence portends.  

Chills.

Second Coming 1-3

My decision to stop buying this means that it can slot right into Misc Box number five, the one I’m in the middle of reviewing.  Looking back at my reviews of the past two issues, it’s clear that my concerns were borne out.  Reading these issues a second time confirmed my original critiques - A great start that lacked a strong follow up.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Spencer and Locke, Spider-Man, Second Coming, Excellence

Remaining new comics for the week!

Excellence 5

I’m out.  It makes me sad to say, since the art by Khary Randolph and concept/story by Brandon Thomas are both well above average.  It’s the story execution that completely fails for me. Thomas makes time jumps and leaps of storytelling logic that do him absolutely no favors.  I actively disliked my reading experience because of them, and I can’t justify buying this anymore, despite how positively I like the other elements of this title.

Second Coming 3

Maybe I’m just having a bad day, but this is probably my last issue of Second Coming as well.  I’m just tired of the third straight issue of the same things: Sunstar is a well-meaning idiot who’s utterly inept in just about everything he does.  Jesus is a sensible chap who’s discovering that society is happy to evoke His name to justify their actions without employing any of His actual teachings of love and tolerance.  God’s a dick.  

After a strong first issue, Mark Russell’s subsequently failed to bring anything new to the table.  (He had the same problems with Wonder Twins.)

Spider-Man 1

JJ Abrams teams up with his son Henry to write this alternate future story.  Sara Pichelli is her usual phenomenal self with some beautiful art. MJ’s dead, Peter’s spirit is crushed, and their high school son is starting to develop powers of his own.  It’s everything I could want out of a first issue, looking forward to more.  

Spencer and Locke 1-4

Spencer and Locke 2 1-4

I bought these completely on the strength of the elevator pitch - Calvin and Hobbes have grown up to become detectives, but with a much darker, fucked up childhood - Dad’s a drug kingpin, Mom was an abusive prostitute, Rosalyn sexually abused him, and now grown up Susie Derkins is lying dead in an alley.  

It’s a commendable effort by David Prepose and artist Jorge Santiago, Jr.  They do a nifty job of folding in tons of references to Bill Watterson’s classic work, and their twists are cleverly integrated into this piece of noir.  I’m glad they gave this a shot, and I’m glad that I gave this a shot as well.    

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Sojourn

Sojourn 19-26, 28, 29, 31-34

Sojourn ended abruptly with issue 34 with the closure of Crossgen Studios, but I’m not exactly heartbroken that I won’t see how Arwyn’s quest ends.  Some final observations about this series:

Hey look, it's Catwoman.

Or is it Kitiara from Dragonlance?

Larry Elmore rules.

Jealous Arwyn is stupid, out of character, and completely unnecessary.

The generic damsel in distress romance novel cover shot here is nauseating.  

Since when has Arwyn ever not been able to take care of herself?

 Ian Edginton replaces Ron Marz with issue 25, and I do like the “mutual respect between enemies” bit, but the quality of the story doesn’t measurably improve over the course of his tenure.  

A nice moment between foes.

To be honest with myself, there are still aspects of Greg Land’s art that I just can’t quit.  

But that's the problem with Land's art. It's all posed. Everything feels staged like a magazine photoshoot, there's nothing natural about his characters. I don’t dislike Sojourn.  And I can imagine a time where I’ll want to flip through this again.  It just won’t be for a very very long time.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Fine

Sojourn, Spencer and Locke

Another new comic:

Spencer and Locke 2 4

The final showdown between Beetle Bailey and Calvin & Hobbes.  Locke’s Spencer delusion (if that’s what you choose to call it) finally takes over in irreparable fashion, and Locke kills Beetle in a fit of rage while visualizing Spencer as the murderer.  The series ends in John Romita fashion, and I’m pretty sure that I’ll be walking away from the title as well. This was kinda fun, but I don’t need to spend any more money on it if there’s a third volume.  

The classic that spawned a thousand homages.

Sojourn 13-18

I don’t mind Greg Land’s photo reference so much as his inability to maintain a consistent hair style on Arwyn.  It’s so very distracting. Storywise, Ron Marz is...fine. As nice as I still find that art, I’m finding it harder and harder to justify keeping this second-rate fantasy title in my collection.  I’m halfway through the series, let’s see how it closes out.  

Okay, it's not just the hair.  Something about that face is thoroughly disconcerting.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Fine

Sojourn, Swing

One of this week’s new comics:

Swing Vol. 2

The second volume is as excellent as the first.  Matt Hawkins continues the story of a couple exploring the swinging world in a thoughtful, respectful, playful, and sexy manner.  The art by Yishan Li and Linda Sejic is beautiful and hot. The Sunstone/Sugar/Swing universe is one that I’m always happy to return to.  

Sojourn 1-12

Ron Marz writes as standard of a fantasy story as you can imagine - The hero seeks revenge on the big bad for killing her family.  She’s joined by a wise-cracking sidekick and her dog. A mysterious sage directs her to collect five quest items that will allow her to kill the bad guy.  

I bought this back in 2002 for the Greg Land art, of course.  I wouldn’t have made the same decision today. His Arwyn is still gorgeous, but the blatant photo referencing is always a bit disconcerting.  And there isn’t enough to the story to make me want to read it again. But at the end of it all, it’s still too pretty to cut from my list.    

Land's goal for this image was to draw something "that wasn't too over-the-top."  Okay...

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Didn’t suck for the first trade, Fine for the second

Shockrockets, Smoke and Guns

Finally done with Misc Box number 4!

Box Summary:

Time spent reading: 32 hours, 2 minutes

Issues read: 262

Issues cut: 57

Highlights (Good or better): Judenhass, Judas, Best of Ray Bradbury

Project Summary:

Time spent reading: 21 days, 5 hours, 7 minutes

Issues read: 4170

Issues cut: 572

Shockrockets 1-6

Kurt Busiek packs this with standard tropes:

1. Hotheaded youth who
1. Scrounges for tech in landfills
2. Builds his own vehicle
3. Is a self-taught pilot
4. Yearns for a better life than his current meager existence
5. Happens to be in the right place at the right time, becoming a member of an elite squad of pilots
6. Struggles to fit in with the others and earn his place on the team
7. Brings a fresh point of view that breaks from the accepted way of thinking and levels up the team
8. Explores where he isn’t supposed to, stumbling upon bad guy meetings and secrets
9. Saves the day
2. Future Earth that
1. Has recently survived an alien invasion
2. Repurposed alien tech to create their state of the art spacecraft
3. Is under attack by an evil rebel general with a surprisingly large and well funded army
3. Other plot points:
1. Traitor pilot who’s mad that the hotheaded youth took her spot on the team
2. Bad guy dies by falling down a long shaft

Still, Busiek and artist extraordinaire Stuart Immonen take these elements and create something that manages to excite and entertain.  These guys are good. Both have been better work, but this is worth reading nevertheless.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Smoke and Guns

Fabio Moon, working without his brother Gabriel Ma, draws this slight but massively entertaining action comic by Kirsten Baldock.  A cigarette girl picks fights with other similarly employed gangs of women and wreaks havoc across the city. Bullets and fists fly with abandon.  It’s just fun.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Rome West, Scars

Rome West 1-12

I liked this quite a bit when I first read it.  Second time through, I found the first half a lot more compelling than the later material.  I would have liked to read a regular series about the early days of this new Roman empire, struggling to live in harmony with the Native Americans while clashing internally over the idea of cultural assimilation.

Writers Justin Giampaoli and Brian Wood make massive time jumps forward between each issue, and it’s both a testament to their amazing ability to craft a strong alternative history and an indictment of their need to cover the span of two thousand years in twelve issues that each chapter left me wanting more.  Each issue only scratched the surface of the amazing potential for each moment in history, and it felt like I was watching a series of trailers instead of a full movie.

I also stopped caring about the story the more it got closer to the present day.  There wasn’t enough focus on how things were different from our timeline, removing the main draw of the series.  

I probably wouldn’t buy this again, but I would buy a fulltime series.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Scars 1-6

This is Warren Ellis at his self-admitted darkest and most twisted, writing about his worst nightmare - his daughter kidnapped, tortured, and murdered in the most gruesome manner imaginable.  It’s...not the worst thing I’ve read in comics, but it’s probably up there for the worst thing I can imagine happening to my future kid. I’d certainly crack and break if something like that happened in my life.  

After the shock value of the crime, the story is fairly standard - Cop recently traumatized by a personal tragedy returns to a case too soon, identifies with it too closely, and is willing to cross the line in the name of justice.  Finely executed because it’s Ellis, with solid, functional art by Jacen Burrows that doesn’t get in the way.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

Olympians, Ray Bradbury, King Thor, Ironheart, Batman: Universe

New Comics!

King Thor 1

I return to Jason Aaron’s Thor after Mike Del Mundo drove me away on the main title.  I have no such problems with Esad Ribic. This is epic stuff, and if this is truly how Aaron’s going to end his long run with this character, I’m happy to be back for it.  

Ironheart 10

“Shuriri.”  That is all.

Batman Universe 3

As with Tom King on Superman: Up and Away, these Walmart books are just an excuse for Brian Michael Bendis to hop around the DC universe and give his half-issue takes on any hero or villain he wants to play with.  They’re so delightful to me that I really don’t care if it’s out of character for Batman.

Back to the Misc box.

Olympians 9

Artemis.  A lot more of a collection of vignettes than some of the previous volumes.  O’Connor’s Goddess of the Hunt gets added to the list of awesome female archers that I love seeing in comics.  

Really like the moon-shaped arrowhead.

I really think I’m going to get the rest of these.  I want to share them with my kids in the future.

Speaking of kids…

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Best of Ray Bradbury

Reading the introduction, it sounds like Ray Bradbury was tickled pink by the fact that his stories were adapted into comics.  I absolutely love the man and his writing. He’s on a very short list of famous people that I completely idolize. His positive attitude and his take on the world are things that never fail to inspire me.  “In all the years since I have not once listened to any so-called friend who made fun of my hobby, my dream, my lifeblood.”

His writing is simultaneously utilitarian in its simplicity and wonderfully evocative with its perfectly balanced wordsmithing.  I practically teared up while reading “Golden Apples of the Sun” and “Picasso Summer” today, even after knowing the stories backwards and forwards.  I daresay he’s my favorite writer.  

The artists commissioned to draw these classic stories are equal to the task of matching these magical stories with art that’s just as good.  Look at this lineup: P Craig Russell, Dave Gibbons, Mike Mignola, Richard Corbe, Matt Wagner...Pretty awesome.  

This doesn’t get a higher rating because as good as it is, I find that Bradbury still reads better in short story form.  I love comics, but sometimes the purity of the word is all that’s needed.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

Olympians

Olympians 6

Aphrodite!  

I like that O'Connor didn't go stereotypical with her character design.

George O’Connor focuses on the Judgment of Paris in this trade, and he inserts an unexpected amount of humor into the proceedings, which I did not expect and found completely delightful.  

Sucks to be Zeus.

Sucks to be Hermes.

O’Connor continues to entertain me with every book, and I’m finding it harder and harder to resist getting the rest of these.

And I love how he draws this donkey:

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice