Black Cat

Mary Jane and Black Cat: Beyond 1

As good as the first time I read it.  Jed MacKay writes a great dynamic between MJ and Felicia, and after the not-as-good Iron Cat (coming up), this issue makes me want to give the upcoming MJ/Black Cat miniseries a go.  

I've actually wondering this whole time why Felicia wears that useless mask.

It's not like it disguises the face at all.  Neat to learn there's another reason.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

Iron Cat 1-5

Completely fine, but lacks the kick/fun of the previous Black Cat titles by MacKay.  Too much fighting between Iron Man/Cat armors, which isn’t as interesting as all the other stuff MacKay has shown himself capable of bringing to the table.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

GI Joe, New comics

New comics!
Batman: Beyond the White Knight 6

This series has lost all of its luster at this point.  The story is pretty much a slog at this point, and the lovely Sean Murphy art is the only thing keeping it around for me.

Human Target 8

Rocket Red’s the focus of this issue.  Not one of the stronger ones in this series, but certainly readable.

Iron Cat 5

This series, like White Knight, may have hit diminishing returns.  But it looks like the next Black Cat title by Jed MacKay is going to be Mary Jane and Black Cat.  Their previous team-up was excellent, so maybe that’s the kick this title needs to get back on track.

Variants 4

Jessica Jones finally goes back to the X-Men for help against the Purple Man, and it turns out it’s all in her head.  On the one hand I’m glad it’s not actually more Purple Man shenanigans.  On the other, I’m tired of the fact that this one thing is still defining so much of her personality.

With that now out of the way, the series will wrap up next month with the real villain, the Jewel variant.  Eh.  Maybe this will be better on the reread.

Cobra 17-21

GI Joe: Cobra Files 1-4

Aside from a Snake Eyes miniseries that’s in the mail as I write this, I believe these are the last issues of the superb Michael Costa run.  Given the piecemeal nature with which I filled in the gaps in my collection, I’d love to read this again from beginning to end.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Wonder Woman, Batman minis, New comics

New comics!

Tales of the Human Target 1

A lame fill-in where Fire, Booster Gold, and Guy Gardner tell their separate tales of how they ruined a Human Target case.  Superhero incompetence write large, rarely a fun thing to read about.

Captain Marvel 41

Carol returns to Earth, somewhat makes up with the Enchantress, and Binary takes to the stars to find herself.  Not bad, but the lack of anything standout is really making me question the continued purchase of this title.

Iron Cat 4

Same thing w/ Jed MacKay’s “ongoing.”  Fun, but not really memorable.  I’ll probably finish out this storyline, then reevaluate.

DCeased: War of the Undead Gods 2

At least Tom Taylor still has it together.  Green and Yellow Lanterns face off against Darkseid and the other New Gods.  Long story short, Sinestro dies and Darkseid has his yellow right now.  Ruh-roh.

Fables 155

It’s five issues in, and Bill Willingham is still doing setup.  It’s very Tom King, but not as effective.  Completionist me can’t bring myself to stop buying this, but I’m really not enjoying myself with this.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

Future State: Wonder Woman 1-2

Joelle Jones’ art isn’t enough to save an unlikable character and a nothing story.  I’d cut this if there wasn’t a chance this could increase in value.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Stupid

Batman/Catwoman 1-12

Tom King shuffles Batman/Catwoman stories across four different timelines in an effort to hide the fact that he doesn’t have much of anything to share with the reader.

Plus, Liam Sharp fills in for three issues in the middle, a complete tonal shift that wrecks the fact that at least the series had Clay Mann’s art going for it.

WTF is Sharp doing with those lips?  This is poor Sienkiewicz or Janson.

Yes, those are Joker's body parts decorating the tree.

Back to Mann doing cool looking stuff.

I was all excited to see what King would do with the return of Andrea Beaumont (for the first time since Mask of the Phantasm?).  He wastes it with this muddle of a story involving her adopted son, the Joker, a faked suicide, and a happy ending that isn’t earned at all.

Also a complete fail is the wedding (at last!) of Bruce and Selina.  It’s tacked on to the end of the whole thing, coming out of nowhere and bringing things to an abrupt end.  After spending so much time on their romance, King completely bungles their happy ending.  He’s proven himself to be way more adept at handling their story, it’s a shame to see him end it on this note.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Didn’t suck

Batman/Catwoman Special 1

Case in point; this issue really gets to the heart of what makes the Bruce/Selina relationship sing.  Original review. 

It’s super sweet and sad.  Selina dying alone in an alley - eight months later and I still don’t know how I feel about it.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Really good

Batman: The Detective 1-6

The concept is cool; Someone’s out killing everyone who Batman’s saved over the years.  The following five issues don’t live up to the initial premise.  I can’t recall a single “Bruce Wayne training to become Batman” story that’s really worked for me, and this adventure w/ Henri Ducard continues that streak.  

Batman: Killing Time 1-6

I was so tempted to re-edit this so that I could read it chronologically from start to finish.  With its rigorous adherence to timestamps, it’s screaming to get reorganized like that.  Instead, as I read it through as Tom King intended, I realized that it wasn’t necessary.  The storytelling is clear and impeccably executed.  I guess I was negatively influenced by the mess that was Batman/Catwoman.  (Maybe that’s the one that needs re-editing…)  

So I’m of two minds about this story.  On the one hand, there’s stunning David Marquez art, excellent action, and a brilliant new villain in The Help.

Heh.

Very Inigo/Westley.

On the other, the whole thing revolves around a stupid MacGuffin.  Why anyone would believe that possessing this “Eye of God” will let them rule the world defies comprehension.  Certainly there’s no reason why the FBI would want it.  It doesn’t help that King rubs it in our faces, saying that absolutely none of it matters at all.  

It’s trying to be clever, but it comes off as insulting.  Still, it’s awfully well done.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

House of X/Powers of X, New comics

New comics!

Iron Cat 3

A nice extended fight scene between Felicia, Tamara, and Tony Stark.

Captain Marvel 40

Carol starts to figure out that her reality is a false one.  This series, while still fun, is teetering on the brink of too-fluffy-to-keep.  There’s not enough substance.

Captain Carter 5

At the end of it all, not as good as I wanted it to be.  I wouldn’t buy this again.

Love Everlasting 1

I’m so glad that this Tom King/Elsa Charretier Substack offering gets a paper publishing as well.  King has hit upon a sweet concept: What if all the girls in those old-school romance comics were somehow the same person?  I have no idea what the hell’s going on (neither does the heroine Joan), but I can’t wait to find out.

House of X 1-6

Powers of X 1-6

I’ve been wanting to read this for a long time, but I was too skeptical of Jonathan Hickman’s ability to write a coherent story on top of all his brilliant, batshit crazy ideas to actually buy it.  But it was available at the library, so perfect!  Thoughts:

• “To me, my X-Men.”  Those words still give me chills.

• Hickman should just do a book of infographics.  He makes them such wonderful vectors for exposition dumps.  

• As always, the concepts, even the throwaway ones, are so creative and thought provoking.  (Examples: Tony Stark and Reed Richards bequeath their IPs to each other to prevent the wrong people from getting them whenever they die.  Moira’s now a mutant with the power of reincarnation that literally reboots the universe (!!!)  The whole premise where the mutants of the world form their own nation.)

• Hickman’s comics are not character driven.  No one behaves with any kind of personality that’s been established in the past fifty years.  Everyone’s either coldly efficient or talks like a brainwashed member of a cult.

• The stuff set in the present is way better than the storylines one hundred and one thousand years in the future.  

• The assault on the Mother Mold satellite is a legitimately excellent action scene.  

• They’ve figured out a way to resurrect mutants.  This is a game changer.

In summation, this is one of Hickman’s better efforts.  I’m happy to have read it, but I don’t need to buy it.  I’d rate it at Pretty Good. 

Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass, New comics

New comics!

Iron Cat 2

Some great backstory setting up Tamara, Felicia’s former partner in crime and love.  Black Cat continues to be Jed MacKay’s muse.  He definitely does his best work with her.

Variants 2

Sigh, more Purple Man stuff.  Gail Simone, there really wasn’t enough story with the variant Jessica Joneses alone to fill five issues?  Give me more of that!

Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass

As with all of these DC YA graphic novels, this offering from Mariko Tamaki and Steve Pugh is a nice reinterpretation of an established character.  This Harley isn’t evil, or even insane.  Her motivations are easy to empathize with, and if her actions lean towards the criminal, it’s hard to really find too much fault with her decisions.  

Tamaki backs Harley up with a great supporting cast, between an adopted family of drag queens and an activist (not poison) Ivy.

The thing is, though, I don’t see myself pulling this off the shelf just because I want to read it again.  It doesn’t quite hit that level.  (Maybe I need to re-evaluate my “Would buy again” definition.)

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Blankets, New comics

New comics, I’ve got like three weeks of issues to catch up on.

Captain Carter 4

Vampires.  The bad guys are vampires.  Sigh.  I would have preferred a government conspiracy, I think.

Variants 1

Gail Simone and Phil Noto are a team that I can get behind.  I was intrigued by what kind of take they would have on Jessica Jones and parallel universes. 

Despite being one of the best villains ever, I really wish people could tell a Jessica Jones story without using Killgrave.  I’m so sick and tired of her being defined by that experience, as I’m sure she is as well.

The other aspect, with multiple Jessica Joneses, is a lot more promising.  I hope that’s the part Simone chooses to focus on.  (I’m already sighing in exasperation at the idea of multiple Purple Men…)

Iron Cat 1

A continuation of Jed MacKay’s Black Cat run.  Good, clean fun.  Come to think about it, it’s of the same vein as Kelly Thompson, another of the stellar writers at Marvel right now.

Heh.

Captain Marvel 39

Speaking of which.  I used “stellar” just now, but the more I think about it, Thompson’s run on Captain Marvel has been undeniably positive, but ultimately disposable.  Not to say that I wouldn’t happily read it again, but it won’t linger in my mind for very long.  

Batman: Beyond the White Knight 4

Not as engaging as the previous series, but fun enough.  This appears to be a theme with all the new comics this today.

Seven Secrets 18

Wow, did this end poorly.  Something about a godlike being who divided his essence into the titular seven secrets.  Horcruxes, basically.  Blech.  I should have gone with my original instinct to stop buying this.  I’m disappointed by this outing from Tom Taylor.  He’s done way better.  

Batman/Catwoman 12

Another rare misfire from an exceptional Tom.  I hope the re-read proves differently, but this has been a completely pointless series from the beginning.  Was this how Tom King originally planned to end his Batman run?  Such a bummer.  

Batman: Killing Time 5

At least I got a much better Tom King Batman story this week.  King’s description of the massive shootout in the park is a masterclass in narration.

Five pages of this, and I could have used more.

Blankets

I haven’t looked at Craig Thompson’s magnum opus in years, but my feelings this time around are exactly the same as my previous readings; This may be the best thing I’ve ever read when it comes to depicting the euphoria of first love, the sheer joy of emotionally connecting with someone, and the intoxicating thrill of every physical interaction - that first touch, first kiss, first everything.  It’s something that can never be experienced again, is never quite the same again.  It’s absolutely magical.

First touch.

First kiss.

First time sleeping together.

The magic of watching her sleep.

Would I be so understanding?

You never know when it'll be the last time you see her.

The best description of this I've ever read.

I wish that the comic didn’t start with an unbearable mix of bullies, horrible parents, child molesters, and rigid Christians.  But the contrast is needed to further accentuate the impact of Craig’s relationship with Raina.  

The ending of their romance is as abrupt as it is unexpected.  There’s no way it was going to work.  But that doesn’t diminish the potency of the memory or the relationship.  That kind of thing is a formative experience, something that will never be forgotten.  

Yeah, this one hits home.  Obviously.  

 

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Really good