Fables, Scalped

Fairest in All the Land

Cinderella and the Magic Mirror solve a murder mystery while wrapping up the Goldilocks story.  (Finally.  Never been a fan of this character in this title.)  Cinderella’s one of Bill Willingham’s standout characters, and I’m happy that she’s back in the Fables return.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Fables: Wolf Among Us 1-5

Based on the Telltale video game, which I remember liking while retaining none of the details.  I originally stopped buying this after five issues (out of sixteen), presumably because I got bored with it.  

This time around, I’m having a lot more fun with it.  I think it reads a lot better in one go; it’s way harder to keep all the details of a complex murder mystery straight when it’s interupted for thirty days every twenty pages. 

I’ve ordered the rest of the series, looking forward to reading the rest of it.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Batman vs Bigby 1-2

This was a questionable proposition from the beginning, and I only bought it because Willingham was the one doing the writing.  My original thoughts stand.  I quit this at the right time.  I’m still keeping it, though, because it’s still Fables, and I might want to finish reading this at some point in the future.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Didn’t suck

Scalped 1-5

I have three trades of this, but I have practically no recollection of it.  I originally picked it up because of positive reviews and Jason Aaron’s name on the cover.

Reading it this time around, it’s got so much in common with Aaron’s later Southern Bastards.  Prodigal son returns after years away to find his old stomping grounds run by a corrupt, older man who pretty much owns the town.  Death, intrigue, and machinations follow.  

This original iteration isn’t as good (so far) as the later one.  I don’t care about what happens to any of these characters, they’re pretty much all reprehensible people.  And Aaron doesn’t do nearly as good of a job of making them interesting enough to want to follow.  He’s got another twelve issues to change my mind and convince me to buy the rest.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

Batman: Long Halloween, New comics

New comics!  I am so far behind on writing.

Human Target 1

It’s weird.  This story feels SO Tom King, it’s like there’s nothing new here at all, even though there’s not much that I can directly point to as evidence.  There’s the mystery, the narration, the jumping around in time.  Maybe it’s the coldly distant tone of the story.  I’m not sure.  The other thing that’s nothing new is that this is darn good.

Dark Knights of Steel 1

Another Tom Taylor Elseworlds special.  Here, Jor-El and Lara take the shuttle to Earth, where they form their own fantasy kingdom and Kal-El is the heir apparent.  Bruce is his bastard half-brother, an inspired twist.  Per usual, Taylor’s sucked me in from the get go.  Excellent art by Yasmine Putri, whom I’ve never heard of before.  (Looks like she’s done a few DC covers that I own.)

Batman vs Bigby 2

This may be written by original Fables writer Bill WIllingham, but it reads like poor fanfiction.  What if Batman and Bigby worked the same mystery!  Blech.  I could barely get myself to read this fresh from the comic book store shelf, I can’t imagine how painful it would be the second time around.  Cutting my losses and dropping this now.

Batman: Long Halloween Special 1

This is a new comic, but I’m reviewing it now because it’s immediately going into the Batman box along with the original limited series.  I like seeing Gilda return, her disappearance at the end of Long Halloween is a loose end that’s a great starting point for the followup.  

Unfortunately, Jeph Loeb doesn’t do much with it from there.  Calendar Man kidnaps her, Two-Face teams up with Batman to save her.  Along the way Batman discovers that Gilda was the original Holiday killer (I think.  It’s a little murky) and Robin goes trick or treating with Barbara Gordon.  

It’s all very nice, but it lacks substance and ultimately feels like a cheap cash grab.  Which I fell for, obviously.  I don’t regret it, but I wouldn’t buy it again.

Absolutely brilliant use of mirrors by Tim Sale.

Just beautifully done.

Though I do wonder what ends up happening to Gilda.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

New Comics

New comics!

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow 4

This is a special series, even by Tom King standards.  He can be so good at the two-page mini-story, using it to capture yet another aspect of Supergirl and what makes her great.  It struck me today that the writing style he uses is reminiscent of Laura Ingalls Wilder or Lucy Maud Montgomery.  There’s a refined, old school elegance to his language that works beautifully here.

This is very Clark Kent.

But this is where Kara differs from him.  She's harder.

Nightwing 84

Crossing over to Fear State, the event going on over in Batman, I presume.  Robbie Rodriguez does a great job filling in, I love his kinetic, lean style.  There’s Otto Schmidt and Sean Murphy in there.

Batman vs Bigby 1

I got this out of my love for Fables, but even with original writer Bill Willingham at the helm, I have to say that I’m not feeling this.  It reads more like a lesser Jack of Fables spin off than something from the master.  I might want to cancel this before I get in too deep.

Black Widow 11

Lovely art as usual, but this time it’s from Rafael de Latorre.  Between this and Captain Marvel, Kelly Thompson is really cornering the market on awesome all-women teams.  Though it would be really nice if she weren’t the only one.

Seven Secrets 12

I think that’s it for me.  Twelve issues in, and this has done very little for me, despite the colorful, beautiful art.  I just don’t care about any of these people.

Rorschach 12

Annnd, that’s it?  I mean, it’s well done from a craft POV, but it’s a little underwhelming.  I think it’ll be much better on the re-read.  

That’s it for all the non-Spider-Man Ultimates titles, it fills one box!  I’m not sure if I’m moving on to that Bendis run or something else.  It’s a lot of Spider-Man to be starting, no matter how good it is.  

Box summary

Time spent reading: 22 hours, 25 minutes

Issues read: 238

Issues cut: 42

Highlights (Good or better): Ultimate X-Men 1-6, 40-45, 58, Ultimate War, Ultimate Fantastic Four 1-12, Ultimates, Ultimates 4 1-12

Project Summary:

Time spent reading: 42 days, 21 hours, 42 minutes

Issues read: 9001

Issues cut: 1074