New comics

New comics!

Battle Action 1

I’ve never heard of Rebellion Comics before, but I’ll go anywhere that Garth Ennis is writing war comics.  Here, he continues his work on Johnny Red.  It’s as good as it was before.  I may have to pick up the earlier Battle Action trades, it looks like Ennis did more Johnny Red stories there.

Absolute Wonder Woman 2

Wonderful.  I don’t know if I’d like Hayden Sherman’s art anywhere else, but it’s perfect for this.  Ready for more.

Detective Comics 1091

I didn’t expect Bruce to take the de-aging drug.  But I guess when Superman gives his blessing, it’s okay.  I’m just so happy to see Mikel Janin’s art again.  

JLA Unlimited 1

I was certainly going to give this Mark Waid/Dan Mora collaboration a shot.  It’s a take on the excellent cartoon series, where every hero in the DCU is a member of the team.  The result is fine, but nothing more.  I won’t be getting more.

Question: All Along the Watchtower 1

This ancillary miniseries is more of what I’m looking for.  I’ve always been a Renee Montoya fan as a detective.  I watched her downward spiral and subsequent transition into the Question with skepticism, but I’m on board for this interpretation by Alex Segura and Cian Tormey.  Montoya’s got a great look (cowboy detective!) and delicious interpersonal drama lined up (Kathy Kane’s the team!).  This should be fun.

Batgirl 1

This reads like a Chuck Dixon comic: Lots of action, just enough plot to tie it all together.  Cassandra Cain and her mother, Lady Shiva, are forced to team up against ninja.  That’s more than enough for me.

Batman: The Long Halloween: The Last Halloween 3

What a difference an artist makes.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen Mark Chiarello’s work.  I knew he was an artist, but mostly knew him as an editor.  Jeph Loeb is definitely a writer whose work rises and falls with the quality of his penciller.  All of a sudden I’m way higher on the rest of this series, especially w/ Cliff Chiang next in the lineup.

Jenny Sparks 4

I’m prepared to call this mini the rare Tom King piece of trash.  This is just plodding along, boring, pointless, and a negative on the entertainment scale.  Off my list, I think.

Black Canary: Best of the Best 1

Luckily, King is back on track with this much simpler story.  Black Canary versus Lady Shiva for reasons yet to be disclosed.  Ryan Sook is almost amazing here, but some of his drawings are a touch stilted.  This would probably be better w/ a different artist, but I’m not really complaining.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4

TIme for Donatello.  A fun, twisted single-issue tale from Jason Aaron and Chris Burnham.  An excellent start to this mini, and now we’ll see where things go with the brothers reunited.

New comics

New comics!

Detective Comics 1090

So this is where Tom Taylor went after finishing off Nightwing.  And with Mikel Janin, most recently seen by me doing a drive-by on Wonder Woman.  Hopefully he stays longer than the one? two? issues he lasted that time.

Taylor kicks things off w/ a massive retcon; Thomas Wayne once saved Joe Chill’s life on the operation table.  Dun dun DUN!  Doesn’t feel necessary, but there’s no question of me sticking around.

Babs 3

A lot more fun than the previous issue, where I had dropped the title from my pull list.  (Too late to keep this from making it into my box.)  Not enough for me to bring it back, I think.

Zatanna: Bring Down the House 5

The plot’s been a bore for the entire story, but the character moments and art have sparkled throughout.  It averages out to an above average effort from Mariko Tamaki and Javier Rodriguez.

Absolute Wonder Woman 1

I’ve never heard of artist Hayden Sherman, but this is stunning work.  Kelly Thompson has me intrigued with this take on Diana, and the unanticipated Absolute line at DC is now two for two.  

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3

Cliff Chiang is the next top shelf artist to draw this title.  It’s Leonardo’s turn for Jason Aaron’s treatment.  This is super fun.

Plastic Man No More! 1

Christopher Cantwell puts a human face on the happy go lucky hero, forcing him to deal with his mortality in a world where no one takes him seriously.  I don’t read all of Cantwell’s work, but I’m always impressed when I do.

Jenny Sparks 1-3

Not Tom King’s best work.  I’m not digging the “Captain Atom-as-immature-Doctor-Manhattan” hostage situation, and Jenny Sparks isn’t much more than an attitude right now.  At least this is a shorter series.

New Comics

More new comics!

Batman: Dark Age 5

This is still not bad, but I’ve pretty much lost all interest.  Only one issue to go.

Jenny Sparks 1

This fits in the “starts off a bit incomprehensible” camp of Tom King’s books.  

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2

Jason Aaron’s really nailing it.  It’s a very generic “I have everything that I want now that I’m rich and famous, why am I so unhappy?” story.  (Listen to Britney Spears’ Lucky.)  I suppose mixing in ninja and diamond nunchaku separates it from all the others 🙂

Transformers 12

This story arc ends, and I’m done with the title as well.  A month after saying I’m going to stick around for the full 24 issues, I’m tapping out.  It’s missing something.  Can’t explain it, but it’s definitely lacking something crucial.

Helen of Wyndhorn 4

So effing good.  This is why I love Tom King.  And he collaborates so well with Bilquis Evely.

Zatanna: Bring Down the House 3

I know it’s magic and all, but this is getting too psychedelic for my taste.  Still, the art by Javier Rodriguez is good, and maybe Mariko Tamaki can turn it around.  The arrival of John Constantine is a promising addition.

Fantastic Four 23-25

I so wish that Ryan North’s excellent run was paired with a better artist than the perfectly fine Carlos Gomez.  North’s scripts don’t always land perfectly, but the originality of the ideas deserves pencils of equal quality.

Jenny Sparks

Jenny Sparks 1-5

Mark Millar gives us the “secret history of the Authority,” which apparently means that over the last 90 years, Jenny Sparks met every single member of the Authority prior to the events in Stormwatch.  Not only that, she Forrest Gumps her way through history and owes her life to a repaid favor from Adolph Hitler.  Seriously.

Why would you even want to go there, Millar?

Twenty or so years later...

It’s not bad taken on its own, but the need to tie everyone’s past together is kind of stupid.

On a totally different note, I’d forgotten that Jenny and Shen hooked up somewhere along the line.

And I think she hooked up with Angie also?

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good