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)