Sunstone

Sunstone 6-7

Not quite as good as the Lisa/Ally story.  I think it’s because the Alan/Ally side of this tale was already established over the first five volumes, and this is filling gaps that I didn’t really need filled.  The Anne/Laura relationship is really well done though, and I’m having a blast with that.  However, it’s all a little depressing because we know neither of these pairings will last.  Anne and Laura are already being set up for a horrible, painful breakup.  I do trust that Stjepan Sejic will make it all worth it once Alan and Anne get together.  I just wish the next volume would come out sooner.  With all of his ongoing projects, there’s no way of knowing when that will be.  (His Twitter currently says he’s working on “sunstone v8, death vigil v2, the queen and the woodborn v1, achilles shieldmaidens v1.”  Phew!  Whatever keeps him creatively inspired!)

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pure joy

Sunstone

Sunstone 1-5

I spent four hours today reading the story of Lisa and Ally.  Couldn’t put it down.  I think this is my first time re-reading it, and it’s as compelling and beautiful as I remember.  As comic deity Stjepan Sejic probably intended, I came for the stunning art and lesbian BDSM sex, then stayed for the developing romance between the two main characters.  As hard as it may be to believe, their personalities and emotional struggles are seriously what kept me turning the pages, not the admittedly hot sex scenes.  

Sejic really gets into their heads, and it makes for a great read.  Like all of their friends, I’m just screaming at Lisa and Ally to hurry up and say they love each other already (since they’ve already fucked.  Many, many times), but the reasons why they haven’t make maddening sense.  It’s as good as any romcom.  

Hee, cute.

So sweet.

This was my first introduction to Sejic, and it’s still my favorite work of his.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pure joy

Swing

Swing 1-5

There’s not much more to say about Swing that I haven’t already mentioned in my original reviews.  This is an engaging story about a young couple who discover swinging/ethical non-monogamy to be an exciting way to spice up their marriage.  It’s a worthy treatise on the importance of trust, communication, and doing what works for you as long as it’s not hurting anyone else.  A nice series by Matt Hawkins and Yishan Li, with initial contributions by Jenni Cheung and Linda Sejic. If they do continue with a new Swing arc in 2023 as advertised, I'm in.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

Blood Stain, Sugar

Blood Stain 1-3

Original review.  Holy moley is the pacing for this glacial.  Maybe it reads better as a webcomic, but as a graphic novel, things take forever.  An hour of reading to get through Elliot’s first couple of days at the house.  It doesn’t help that she’s a total spacey flake without much in terms of likable qualities.  Unlike past me, I don’t think I’ll buy any more of these.  (As far as I can tell, volume 4 hasn’t been released yet.)

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Didn’t suck

Sugar 1

Original review.  This is still a cute romance the second time around.  Matt Hawkins and Jenni Cheung do an impressive job of making the sugar daddy lifestyle understandable and even relatable.  It’s a shame that volume 2 never came out.  I hope they find an opportunity to return to these characters, with or without artist Yishan Li (who does a splendid job here).

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Vision

Vision 1-12

As good as I remember it.  (Though I don’t remember it that well, because I still found myself on the edge of my seat the entire time.  Virginia’s death still came as a surprise to me.)  It’s hard to believe that this is one of Tom King’s earlier works; along with Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, it’s still my favorite series written by him, and honestly, it holds together better as a complete story.  (It’s interesting to me that my two favorite King stories are complete opposites in tone; One’s a bleak tale where things constantly go from bad to worse.  The other is about how one person’s goodness can push through the darkness and make the world a better place.)

The hits just keep coming for this family, and they never let up.  There’s a constant sense of foreboding, wondering when the next thing’s going to happen, the next thing that’s going to crush the lives of Vision, Virginia, Viv, and Vin.  It’s horrible, depressing, and glorious in the telling.

The comic is full of these little flashpoints.

So creepy.

Amazing art by Gabriel Hernandez Walta.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pure joy

Nextwave, Punisher, Secret Avengers, New comics

New comics!

DCeased: War of the Undead Gods 3

This feels like the final setup issue before things get going for the end of Tom Taylor’s epic story.

So good.

Love Everlasting 3

Still not sure what the hell’s going on, but I’m completely sucked into what Tom King and Elsa Charretier have got going on here.

Nightwing 97

As long as Tom Taylor keeps Dick and Babs together and having fun, I’m totally on board.

Heh?  Heh?

Nextwave 1-12

Heh.  Batshit crazy Warren Ellis throws every stupid ass hilarious idea and quip he has into a script and then expects artist extraordinaire Stuart Immonen to somehow pull it off on the page.  The result is truly magnificent.  There isn’t another comic like this out there.  Others have tried, none of them have succeeded.  There’s a slight hiccup with issue 10, and issue 12 is a little disappointing, but the rest of it is sheer gold.

Thusly was I introduced to Elsa Bloodstone.

That also had to have been Mattia De Iulis' inspiration for this gorgeous shot.

In his pants!

The most ridiculous, perfectly realized image.

LOVE the omega energy signature.

Immonen is so good at action.

The tagline reminds me of "Dejour means family!"

Baby Elsa rules as much as adult Elsa.

Mindless Ones doing West Side Story.  I didn't think Ellis had it in him.

Mark Millar's never going to hear the end of it about that line, is he?

How much of these were Ellis and how much Immonen?

Nothing quite like family giving each other shit.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pure joy (Fine for 10, Pretty good for 12)  

Punisher 1

Original review from seven months ago.  Everything still holds; Frank Castle as leader of The Hand still doesn’t work, even if Jesus Saiz’s art is pretty pretty.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Secret Avengers 16-21

Generally not as good as I remember; Warren Ellis clearly took this for the paycheck, and the stories have all the hallmarks of classic Ellis single issues (Big action scenes, sarcastic quippy heroes, and sudden endings that abruptly wrap everything up in a single page), only not as good.

This is how he concludes a 20-page fight scene.

Issue 18 stands out for the awesome David Aja, who continues to crush action scenes with his bare hands.

Probably cake for Aja to draw after the perspective nightmare of the previous sequence.

And there’s issue 20.  Still one of the best time travel stories I’ve ever read.  It’s perfect in its elegance, how all of the little details end up fitting together to create an amazing completed puzzle.  It’s really up there as one of my favorite single issue comics ever.  Kind of weird that it comes in the middle of all these mediocre tales.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No (Yes for 18, 20)

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine (Pure joy for 20, Pretty good for 18)

Fury, New comics

New comics!

Captain Marvel 42

A tie in with some Avengers/X-Men/Eternals event that I know nothing about.  Goose the Flerkin stars.  Maybe I’m not just in the mood for that brand of cute right now.  Once again, I’m ready to drop this title.  One more arc, if that.

Fables 156

The wolf cubs finish their quests.  (Mostly.  Winter is still on hers.)  Peter Pan takes center stage as the big bad for the second half of the arc.  Nothing really memorable, Fables may have just run its course for me.

Public Domain 5

So it looks like this isn’t a limited series after all.  The family starts their quest to self-publish, with the backing of a tech mogul/fanboy.  This gets another issue or two to prove itself.  

Fury 1-6

Garth Ennis has a couple of modes.  He’s in satire mode here; over the top violence, super out-there characters (Fuckface, Wendel), and a few genuine moments of character insight.  Very The Boys and the Russian/Spacker Dave Punisher.  It’s not my favorite version of Ennis, but this iteration of it isn’t that bad.

Arseface reference.

Such vivid imagery.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice  

Fury: My War Gone By 1-13

This is Ennis playing it straight, serious, and grim, like his later Punisher run.  He’s got his Punisher co-conspirator Goran Parlov along with him as well.  Two things stand out to me: Fury and Castle’s team up in Vietnam is epic, two operators who immediately respect each other’s skills and are brutally efficient when they work together.  

The other is the aging of Shirley DeFabio across 40 years.  I’m not sure why I find it so striking.  Maybe because it isn’t something that I normally see in comics.  The women are usually hot and stay that way.  Even in real life, as celebrities age over the years, it’s so gradual that the changes aren’t apparent.  Here, the physical changes hit like a ton of bricks.  Parlov does a great job of depicting the changes.

1954

1961.

1970.

1984.

1999.

Ennis does one more Fury title for Marvel MAX, it looks like one of his usual war stories.  I’ll try to pick up the trade.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

Dark Ages

Dark Ages 1-6

Tom Taylor could have used more issues and a better artist (sorry, Iban Coello) for this series.  The ending is completely rushed and anticlimactic.  The art lacks the gravitas and polish that would really make the story sing.  Which is a real shame, since seeing how all the Marvel characters exist in this post-electricity world is fascinating and interesting.  Taylor still manages to get a few choice lines in.

Heavy indeed.

Heh.  Parenting advice from Doom.

Not a fan of Coello's work, but that's another fantastic addition to Storm's wardrobe.

To compare it with another recent Taylor work, I prefer this to Dark Knights of Steel going on over at DC right now when it comes to the worldbuilding and the characters.  But it’s coming up short with the execution.  Total shame.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice