New comics

I’ve got like 3 weeks of comics to recap here.  

Detective Comics Annual 2026

Batman teams up with Lobo (?!?), but it’s really an excuse for Tom Taylor to do his spin on Batman’s Black Mercy hallucination.  It’s not all that different from what you’d expect: married to Selina, kids, parents and Alfred still alive.  It’s competently done, but nothing that’s must-read.  

The backup story is a twisted little Pyg story that wasn’t bad at all, but still missable.  Not a waste of money, but I wouldn’t buy this again.  

Super Creepshow 1, 3-5

An anthology series I picked up on iFanboy’s recommendation.  It’s a bunch of creatives doing their EC Comics spin on superheroes.  Very Twilight Zone.  A fun read, and while I’m not going to go out of my way to find the missing second issue, I’d pick it up if it was convenient to do so.

Doomquest 3

Hee, Doom as George Washington.  Ryan North’s having so much fun with this, and he’s taking us along for the ride.  

Absolute Wonder Woman 22

Barbara succumbs to temptation and accepts the Cheetah spirit into her life.  Diana rescues Circe from Scylla.  Dillon Snook does a fine job, but I obviously miss Hayden Sherman.  

Absolute Batman 22

Absolute Harley Quinn’s origin is well told by Scott Snyder.  Batman eludes the Robins.  Joker adds a twist to the story at the end.  (Thomas Wayne is alive.  We think.)

Absolute Catwoman 2

Some well done action scenes, and I like what Snyder and Che Grayson are doing with some Bat-Universe staples.  No reason to quit yet.  

Daredevil 4

Is this worth picking up for the Lee Garbett art?  Because the story is very mid for me.  There’s some promise with the detective freezing in the middle of a crisis, but that’s not enough.  Maybe another issue or two.  

Barbara Gordon: Breakout 3

Really not living up to the promise of the premise.  It’s off after this issue.

Assorted Crisis Events 9

A down-on-his-luck guy has no choice but to become a temporal soldier, trapped in a shitty existence.  It’s not Deniz Camp’s best work, but it doesn’t suck.  

Powers 25 11

The mystery continues as the killer is possibly revealed.  Standard good Bendis/Oeming material here.

Wonder Woman 35

Stephanie Williams does her take on Diana’s contest victory, the one that won her the mantle of Wonder Woman.  I wonder how much of this is plotted out by Tom King. It’s well done, and goes a little deeper into Diana’s psychology at the time, but it’s not required reading or anything.  

New comics

New comics!

Planet She-Hulk 3

Emilio Laiso takes over on art.  The fact that I could barely tell the difference between him and Aaron Kuder speaks to the importance of Sonia Oback’s colors.  It really ties the look of the series thus far together.  The story by Stephanie Phillips is as by the numbers as it can get.  It doesn’t bode well for her upcoming Daredevil run.  Which I’m going to pick up regardless because Lee Garbett’s doing the pencils. 

DIE: Loaded 3

Still enjoying this.  Kieran Gillen is bringing together a compelling cast of tertiary characters from the previous series to play the main roles this time around.  It’s a smart idea, and he’s pulling it off so far.  

Children of the Round Table 5

I think I’ve figured out why this series isn’t working for me: it plays more like a highlight reel than an actual story.  Things are moving too fast, there are too many time jumps.  Tom Taylor isn’t giving me an opportunity to like the characters before zipping along to the next plot point.  It’s lacking the depth of character that Taylor’s usually so good at instilling.  Super disappointing.  And the big reveal at the end is yawn.  

Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite of Spring 5

Holy shit, things are blowing up fast.  I’m not sure why Sam is letting things escalate to this point, it’s like she wants things to go south.  Patrick Horvath’s pacing is impeccable, the pages just flew by at a thoroughly enjoyable breakneck speed.  Can’t wait to see how this all ends.  

DC: KO 3

For an event like this to succeed, the fights have to be top notch.  They aren’t.  They’re not even as good as the ones in Deathmatch.  I’m not sure what’s missing, but they don’t satisfy in the way the best comic battles do.  (Of the top of my head: Bane/Batman in Absolute Batman, Uncanny X-Men 277, anything from Dragonball Z.)

Fantastic Four 7

The twist to this month’s fight was way too cutesy for my taste.  The whole issue’s also a detour from the main Sue Storm/Galactus plot, which I’m way more interested in.  I want to see the core four in action, not their kids.

Wonder Woman 29

Diana returns to Themyscira in an attempt to heal her crumbling mental health.  (Being a single mom’s hard, even for Wonder Woman.)  The rest of the Wonder Family shows up, as does a scheming-in-the-shadows Discord.  (Of Golden Apple fame.)  A fun issue--Whoa, just noticed that Stephanie Williams wrote it, not Tom King.  Nicely done.  And Jeff Spokes does some beautiful work on art.  

Assorted Crisis Events 8

A clever issue that takes place in the gutters of a comic book, but the intellectual exercise gets in the way of the story.  But I appreciate the effort by Deniz Camp, and Eric Zawadzki couldn’t have done a better job with the art.  I also love that they used the old crummier comic paper from the 80s.  

Powers 25 5

Brian Michael Bendis doing what he does best.  Never change, sir. 

New comics

Assorted Crisis Events 7

Not the strongest of Deniz Camp’s efforts on this title, but good enough.  A guy keeps encountering dead versions of himself from other multiverses.  What does he do with the bodies?  How does it affect his psyche?  A downer of a story, as are most of these.  

Fantastic Four 6

Most of the issue is standard adventure-of-the-month, but the ending is set up really well, and I’m looking forward to see what Ryan North and Humberto Ramos do with this.

Children of the Round Table 4

What is it about Tom Taylor and Daniele Di Nicuolo collaborations?  They’re both individually amazing, but both of their comics (this and Seven Secrets) just don’t click for me at all.  I’ll probably give this a few more issues, then bail.

Ultimate Spider-Man 23

Oh no, is Jonathan Hickman going to crash and burn on the landing?  This was going so good for over twenty issues, and now it’s going to falter?  Grah!  The various dilemmas here didn’t captivate me in any way.  I really hope he pulls it out.  It’d be such a shame.  (But, alas, hardly a surprise given Hickman’s track record.)

New Gods 12

Only a re-read will determine if this story was actually any good, but the quality of Evan Cagle’s art is not in question.  A+ work.  

Powers 25 3

Origin story of the cop from the end of issue 2.  This is so in Bendis’ wheelhouse.

Trinity 5

Middle Liz goes on a date with Jason Todd (of all people).  This should be a slam dunk for Tom King, but the fact that it’s Jason Todd keeps this from working for me.  

Batman/Deadpool 1

The DC side of the crossover.  This was mostly total crap.  Grant Morrison writes a shit main meta story.  The backup stories are completely forgettable (except for the excellent Tom Taylor/Bruno Redondo Nightwing/Wolverine/Honey Badger teamup).  

DC KO 1-2

I didn’t pick this up because the first issue was polybagged.  Luckily, the reprint wasn’t.  Elevator pitch: What if the extremely entertaining Deathmatch actually used DC IP?  It’s actually way more Battle Royale free-for-all than the bracket elimination tournament I was expecting.  But it’s still a lot of fun, which is really what something like this really needs to lean into.  

Partisan

Fuck.  Garth Ennis and Steve Epting have something magical going on over at TKO Comics.  This isn’t as good as Sara, but that’s one of the all-time greats.  This is both darker and more life-affirming at the same time.  God, this is good. 

New comics

Kaya 1-5

Picked up this trade because it got amazing reviews and I like Wes Craig’s art on Deadly Class.  This a Lone Wolf and Cub-type fantasy story, where a young girl must keep her ousted prince half-brother safe and deliver him to a faraway safe haven.  It’s not bad, but not good enough for me to buy more.

Cheetah and Cheshire Rob the Justice League 4

The heist kicks off, and is anyone buying that Cheetah’s playing the role of the wildcard?  This was already done in Ocean’s 11, and there’s no way this isn’t part of the plan.  

Assorted Crisis Events 6

So this might be an ongoing series now?  Deniz Camp writes a harrowing dementia allegory.  This is my nightmare scenario, to be trapped in my body as my mind goes, forcing those I love to care for me.  Kill me before it gets that bad.  

Absolute Green Lantern 8

I quit this with issue 6, and the issue 7 flip through shows me I made the right decision.  But Al Ewing gives us Sojourner’s origin story here, and it was compelling enough for me to buy it.  The next issue is on flip through watch as well.  

Runaways 5

As this much-appreciated miniseries ends, Doombot ceases to embrace the duality, Gert and Nico explore their new magical powers, and Alex might be back on the team?  I hope this does well enough for Rainbow Rowell to return in the future.

Voyeur 2

Issue 1 retold from the woman’s PoV.  Still enjoying it.  

Batman: Long Halloween: Last Halloween 10

I stopped enjoying this ages ago.  At least we’re finally done with this.

Absolute Batman Annual 1

Holy fuck can Daniel Warren Johnson write and draw a story.  So so visceral, and with an strong emotional core as well.  This was effing phenomenal.

New comics

 New comics!

New Gods 1-10

I’ve never cared for the New Gods, but I’ve been a fan of everything I’ve read from Ram V, so I thought I’d give this a shot.  I tried the first trade, and it was good enough that I picked up the next four issues.  I just found out it’s a twelve issue miniseries, and I’m definitely going to finish it off.  The art by Evan Cagle is absolutely phenomenal.  There’s a European look to it, stunning.  Sadly, I’m assuming it’s the crazy detailed nature of his art that necessitates the appearance of a guest artist doing at least a couple of pages every issue.  (And sometimes way more than that.)

The story isn’t bad as New God stories go.  I’ve just never cared for any of them aside from Barda and Scott Free.  

Assorted Crisis Events 1-5

Holy crap.  Issue 3 is one of the darkest things I’ve ever read.  And the rest of this anthology series isn’t a bucket of roses either.  Deniz Camp does what the best science fiction writers do; he takes a sci-fi conceit and then applies the darkness of humanity to it, so that it feels all too real and hauntingly terrifying.  Really glad I picked this up.

Wonder Woman 25

Not the biggest fan of this arc, but I’ll suffer through it.  Tom King and Daniel Sampere are still worth following.  

Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite of Spring 3

Sam’s origin story.  This is so freaking good.  

Ultimate Spider-Man 21

Ultimate Mr Negative’s origin.  I’m so confused.  Is Gwen Stacy his sister?  Or been masquerading as his sister?  Or is he delusional?  Poor story telling by Jonathan Hickman.  (It’s finally caught up with him.)

DC vs Vampires: World War V 12

And so ends (presumably) this multi-volume saga.  Not as good as DCeased, but an entertaining, worthy effort by the always-dependable Matthew Rosenberg and Otto Schmidt.  

Detective Comics 1101

A new story arc.  Tom Taylor has really gone back to basics with Detective, self-contained adventures that are just solidly well-told.  I’m not complaining, especially if he continues to do it with Mikel Janin.  

Absolute Wonder Woman 12

If I could only read one comic a month, it would be this one.