New Comics

So many things to catch up on.  

Somna 3

Hrm.  Tula Lotay’s art barely makes this worth it, even with the frankly nonsense story.

Transformers 6

Another instance where the art outpaces the story.  Daniel Warren Johnson hands off the penciling duties to Jorge Corona next issue, who has exactly that long to convince me to stick around.

Crave 4

Interestingly, not as good as previous issues as the plot kicks in.  “The app is spyware, data mining is evil, privacy rights, yadda yadda.”  Only two issues left, I’ll stick around.

Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees 4

Once again, less fun now that the killer’s been revealed.  There’s nothing original about the frame job that ends the issue, but I’m holding out hope that it leads somewhere more intriguing next month.  

Wonder Woman 7

Wonder Woman and Superman shopping for Batman’s birthday present should be a no-brainer home run for Tom King (to go along with shades of Alan Moore’s “For the Man Who Has Everything”), but it’s way too cute for its own sake.  I love the concept of Superman getting a mani-pedi, but this wasn’t the place for it.  (Though to be fair, I’m hard pressed to come up with the proper circumstances…)

Fantastic Four 18

Not Ryan North’s strongest issue.  Franklin Richards tries to prevent a bad future, fails, but discovers that the Fantastic Four have no fate but what they make for themselves.

Nightwing 112

Batman and Nightwing finish up this two-part team-up.  Bruce Wayne internally narrates how proud he is of Dick, and it’s all very sweet.  

Penguin 8

Penguin returns to Gotham, preparing to take it back from his children (!).  (Seriously, when did that happen?)  Standard Tom King goodness.

Fables 162

Essentially an epilogue issue, this would no doubt have been an awesome issue if it hadn’t been almost two years since I read the series.  I just don’t care as much anymore about these characters.  (Bigby and Snow’s kids, to be precise.)

The Peter Pan situation is cleaned up neatly and satisfactorily.  

Avengers 11

This was going to be the deciding issue for whether or not I’d keep reading; I wanted to see Jarvis back in action.  He’s fine, the Avengers fight a villain of the month, and the art by Ivan Fiorelli is not good at all.  I’m out.  I tried, Jed MacKay, I really tried.

Birds of Prey 7

Really like the Javier Pina art, and Jordie Bellaire’s retro colors are still a delight.  But the story’s completely forgettable, even with the lingerie show at the end.  

Action Comics 1063

Nope.  Not even Jason Aaron can make Bizarro good.  This was a pretty miserable experience.  John Timms’ art is great though, and the next arc certainly couldn’t be any worse.  This gets one more arc.

Ultimate X-Men 1

My first exposure to Peach Momoko, I think.  I’ve heard her name come up a lot as a creator lately, but never had the chance until now.  This is basically a manga take on X-Men through the POV of Hisako Ichiki (Armor).  A new enough twist that I’ll read some more.

Love Everlasting 13

This really needs to be read in one go when it’s all done.  Even still, I’m super happy Tom King and Elsa Charretier are doing this.

Swan Songs 1-6

iFanboy kept going on about how good this title is, so I gave the trade a shot.  Each issue is a self-contained story about an ending.  The concept is better than the execution, but special shout out to the Shel Silverstein-inspired final issue.  A work of art and homage that I wouldn’t have imagined was possible.  

Zorro: Man of the Dead 1-3

Totally missed that this Sean Murphy title had started.  He makes a bold move by moving the Zorro myth to the modern day, reincarnating the Fox through the delusions of a traumatized young man.  He makes it work, helped in large part by his usual standout art.  I love this man’s work, he’s one of the strongest writer/artists out there today.