New comics

New comics!

Avengers 5

Very little actually happens here, but it’s still all very exciting.  And it ends w/ a very nice “Not today” moment, even if it does rip off Syrio Forel.

Birds of Prey 2

Setting up the next issue.  Kelly Thompson uses the time to build characters and relationships.  Lots of fun, looking forward to next month.  Such an interesting color palette choice by Jordie Bellaire.

Danger Street 9

I got this after iFanboy gave it a good review as a bottle issue.  Sure, I dropped this title earlier as a rare Tom King misfire, but I was up for a good one-shot.  Manhunter and some nameless assassin fight and philosophize on a rooftop for a whole issue.  It’s not the best single issue ever (King labeled it one of the best things he’s ever written), but I applaud the boldness.

Transformers 1

I was all in once I heard that Daniel Warren Johnson was going to write and draw one of my favorite childhood franchises.  This is a surprisingly by-the-numbers retelling of their origin story, but the art is dynamic in that Johnson way, and I’m certainly going to read more.

Fantastic Four 12

The Fantastic Four travel to an alternate universe where the Avengers (and everyone else) are dinosaurs.  It was about time, given Ryan North’s claim to fame as the creator of the stellar Dinosaur Comics webcomic.  This is inspired, hilarious, amazing stuff.  And then there’s the last page:

Brilliant.

Penguin 2

Penguin recruits the retired, 85-year-old The Help.  Given the mystique Tom King built around this guy, I don’t buy that he’s so easily broken by Cobblepot.  This sudden show of competence by Penguin doesn’t quite work for me.

Batman: Brave and the Bold 5

Tom King’s chilling Joker title finally returns to this title.  This show of competence totally works for me.  And Mitch Gerads draws one of the scariest Joker’s I’ve ever seen.

Jesus.

New comics

Slaughterhouse Five

I’ve never read the original novel, and I’d heard good things about this adaptation.  (I know Ryan North from the Fantastic Four series I’m reading now.  I had no idea until now that he’s the genius behind the web comic Dinosaur Comics, a favorite of mine from years ago.  Good to see him again!)

Maybe Slaughterhouse was revolutionary when it first came out, but its story with all the time jumps and aliens has since been done much better.  It’s similar to when I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time when I was 22; Wish I could have experienced it earlier.

New comics!

Fantastic Four 5

Speaking of Ryan North.  This definitely isn’t my favorite run of FF, but North has been very good every month at taking one nifty hook and using it to carry 22 pages of story.  Once he starts faltering in that realm, I’m probably out.

Danger Street 4

Speaking of out.  I haven’t dropped a Tom King miniseries in as far back as I can remember.  But there’s nothing here that’s keeping my interest.  It’s a super rare fail from a modern master.

New Comics

New comics!

Junkyard Joe 1-4

Picked this up after a strong iFanboy recommendation.  Geoff Johns and Gary Frank tell the story of a robot (made by the US government?) that joins a platoon of US soldiers in Vietnam.  After the war, the sole platoon survivor achieves acclaim through the comic strip he creates starring his pal, the robotic Junkyard Joe.  

Now, in the present day, the real Junkyard Joe finally returns, bringing with him a mess of trouble.  It’s a slow burn, but a great start with two remaining issues to go.  Johns’ excellent work here has me considering whether I should check out the rest of the titles in this universe he’s created.

Fantastic Four 4

Ryan North reveals why the team’s been split up for the last three issues.  It turns out Reed sent the FF Tower, all of the surrounding buildings, and all of their inhabitants one year into the future.  This includes all of their children.  The resultant public and internal backlash led to their separation.  But now they’re back together and more adventures will commence.  Not bad at all, it’s a nice take on the family.

Batman: Beyond the White Knight 8

So not as good as the first two series.  I’d say I was done with the Murphyverse, but the promise of Superman in the next arc, whenever it comes out, is too tempting to pass up.  Though I’ll be skipping the non-Sean Murphy penned spin off that’s coming out next.

Danger Street 2

Things are in the usual Tom King set up phase, but for the first time in a while, I’m really not feeling this one.  Aside from Lady Cop (I know she hates being called that, but King doesn’t give us another name to go with), every other character is annoying as fuck.  It makes for a hard-to-enjoy series.  

Gotham City: Year One 5

More is revealed as Tom King and Phil Hester’s noir tale approaches the end.  A nice, straightforward, entertaining tale.

New comics

Human Target 10

Christopher Chance uncovers the truth, that Ice helped to stage Guy’s murder.  Along the way, Tom King gives the readers a G’Nort character study and another great Guy Gardner one-punch.

Not as good as some of the other issues (A little G’Nort goes a long way), but this is still a great series.

Danger Street 1-2

A new Tom King series, with his Rorschach partner Jorge Fornes.  It’s got a couple of strikes against it: The New Gods, annoying clueless kids, annoying evil kids, and an annoying right-wing tv personality blowhard.  But it’s early, it’s Tom King, and he’s almost never steered me wrong before.