Cages, Alias, Jupiter's Legacy

Cages

Dave McKean’s magnum opus.  I haven’t read this in a very long time, but I’ll always remember it for the best depiction I’ve ever seen of that magical moment when you click with someone for the first time and the rest of the world falls away.  Only comics can do this:

Magical.

The story is fine, talking about the lives of the residents of an apartment building. McKean has a surprisingly keen ear for dialogue and monologue:

There's something profound and true right here.

So sad and pathetic.

Heh, great button.

Soul crushing levels of realization.

But there are also plenty of clunky bits that don’t work for me at all.  (His description of all the musical keys stands out in particular.)  As a whole though, Cages is a worthy read.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Alias 22-23

The missing issues came in the mail today.  Basically, I spent eight bucks for two issues that took four minutes to read.  Not the best value, but I’d still rather have the complete run of issues than not.  The origin of Jessica Jones goes by really fast.  In a retcon I don’t have a problem with, she went to high school with Peter Parker and had a major crush on him.  She was going to ask him out on the day he got bitten.  Cute.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Jupiter’s Legacy: Requiem 1-6

Mark Millar jumps ahead twenty or so years.  The stars of the last miniseries have grown up superpowered children of their own now.  Everything’s as dysfunctional with them as it was with their parents and their grandparents.  And then a ton of them start dying because that’s what Millar does.  (Quite well, it’s not like a Joss Whedon situation.)  

This reads a lot better in one sitting than in monthly installments.  I’m not sure if I’ll get the last six issues when they come out.  (The last announced release date came and went last month with no sign of issue 7.)  But I won’t deny that I want to know how things end.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Simonson Thor, New comics

New comics!

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow 6

More often than not, Tom King issues follow a similar pattern: It always takes a few pages to set up the premise, where it’s hard for me to figure out how it ties into the main thrust of the series.  It’s like warming up a cold engine, I’m not sure if it’s actually going to get started or sputter out.  Almost always, the car roars to life, and this time is no exception.  Supergirl continues to be one of the best new series I’ve read in a long, long time.  This time around, King describes the destruction of Argo City and how it affected Kara starting from a very young age.  It brings harsh details to a period of time that’s always been glossed over in the past, and it’s a harrowing story.  So top notch.

Jupiter’s Legacy: Requiem 6

Mark Millar continues to kill off just about every single good guy in this universe with no hesitation.  I will very likely have to re-read this just to refresh my memory when the final volume kicks off next spring.

Batman/Catwoman 9

Sigh, Liam Sharp has got this Bill Sienkiewicz vibe going on that doesn’t suck, but just isn’t a match for the preceding Clay Mann issues.  Also, this still feels like filler.

Nightwing 87

The much-anticipated 22-page-long single-panel issue.  Bruno Redondo hits this out of the park.  The story itself is rather slight, but it’s completely understandable given the high concept.  Super fun.  

Thor 373-374

Thor helps out X-Factor during the Mutant Massacre.  Hela reveals the curse she’s laid on Thor: Brittle bones that won’t heal, plus the inability to die.  As curses go, it’s pretty good.  Sal Buscema continues to provide completely adequate art.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

Seven Secrets, New comics

Working my way through my new comics pile.

Jupiter’s Legacy: Requiem 5

It was a tarp.  Some key players get killed, this is the Empire Strikes Back part of the story.  I gotta say, I’m impressed by Mark Millar’s willingness to kill off major characters with no ceremony or fanfare.  These things happen in single, tiny panels and are then immediately dismissed.

Seven Secrets 1-12 

Breaking the usual review order because I’m considering taking this off my subscription.  I haven’t been enjoying the issues on a month to month basis, but had the strong suspicion that it read better all at once.  I couldn’t believe that a Tom Taylor story with such gorgeous art by Daniele Di Nicuolo was actually boring, and found it entirely possible that my inability to remember the plot and characters was the real culprit.

How happy I am to have my hypothesis confirmed.  This is a fun, action packed, touching comic.  Definitely keeping this on my pull list.  

*Sniff*

Look at these colors by Walter Baiamonte. Stunning.

This comic is filled with inspired, eye-catching character designs.  Even the grunts looks spiffy.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Ultimates, New comics

New comics!  I was literally passing out while reading these, but I don’t think that affected my feelings for these issues...

Moon Knight 3

I’m not feeling this so much anymore.  After the intriguing first issue, things have been remarkably uninteresting.  This is nothing more than an extended fight scene.  I might get it one more issue, I might actually cancel now.  Not sure.

Death of Doctor Strange 1

I’ll give this another issue to see where it goes.  Lee Garbett on art certainly merits at least one more month.  

Jupiter’s Legacy: Requiem 4

This isn’t bad, but I don’t know that I need to read this ever again.  Another candidate for immediate cut.  I may have to read the first couple of miniseries to see if that makes me care more for the characters than the zero that I do right now.  

Old Guard: Tales Through Time 6

I got too caught up in the rush of the movie.  This anthology series is seriously not worth the purchase.  It’s not bad, but I certainly wouldn’t buy it again in hindsight.

Batman: The Detective 5

A rare misfire from Tom Taylor.  This is entirely replacement level, nothing that makes it stand out as a Taylor title.  Another “wouldn’t buy again.”

Ultimates 1-13

This was amazing when it first came out - Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch bringing the widescreen blockbuster action of Stormwatch over to the Ultimate universe.  Crazy fun action, quippy heroes saying clever things, the whole package.  

This comic is literally how Sam Jackson got the MCU role.

This was just before Pirates came out.  Thank goodness they went with RDJ...

Buscemi would have been interesting...

I would totally read a Butler Club teamup comic.

Total Matrix ripoff, but the ensuing action scene is pretty sweet.

The classic, defining moment for this comic.

Hitch really can draw a splash page.

But reading it this time around, I’m mostly struck by how cynical and bitter Millar’s take on the premier Marvel team really is.  There are almost no truly likeable characters (Thor is the only one), and most of them have at least one trait that makes them at least annoying, if not worse - Captain America’s stuck with his out-of-date 1940s morals, Hank Pym’s a weak-willed wife beater, Bruce Banner’s a weak-willed suck up, Quicksilver and Wanda have their incestuous relationship going on, Natasha ends up being a traitor, Tony Stark is a drunken fool, Betty Ross is a cruel, calculating phony, and even Jarvis is an unpleasant asshole.  

Takes the original and cranks it up to "way worse."

This is just mean spirited of Millar.

Really?  Still going with gay jokes?

Sure, the action scenes are spectacular, but underneath it all, there’s an unpleasantness to it all that really tainted the experience for me.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

Ultimates 2 1-13

Ultimates Annual 1

About halfway through volume 2, I realized that The Ultimates is really just Garth Ennis’ The Boys a few years early.  You’ve got your government/corporate-sponsored team of superheroes sent off to do the whims of their master.  Everyone’s despicable to some extent, no one’s really friends with each other, and it’s all vaguely depressing.

I don't mind with Sam Jackson, but Patrick Stewart's likeness completely takes me out of it here.

Such a phony, cynical moment.

Agree with Nat, I actually cheered when he got shot.

I don't get Millar's affections for "[Name], [begging]" moments.

Is it supposed to make the hero more badass?

Because it makes the final blow more pathetic for me.

The team’s so dysfunctional that I stopped caring after a while whether or not this team succeeded or failed.  It stopped being fun. 

And yet, it still gets a much better rating than you’d imagine from the tone of this review.  It’s too ambitious and well drawn to deserve anything less, and I’d still read it again.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Ultimates Annual 2

A piece of crap about Captain America, Falcon, race, and Arnim Zola.  Incoherently written by Charlie Huston, I had zero patience for this.  

Regret buying: Yes

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Disliked (Cutting)

New comics

So many new comics, and yet again, it’s a reaffirmation of why I love this medium so very much.  A ton of great stuff.

Die 19

Lots of stuff happens here, and it’s all entertaining, but I’m honestly ready for this to be over with the next issue.  Depending on how it ends, I might not be back for any follow ups.

Old Guard: Tales Through Time 5

Yeah, this series wasn’t worth picking up.  There’s no meat to any of these short stories.  I got suckered in by the first issue.  Mistake.  And now I’m committed, there’s only one issue left.  

Black Widow 10

This arc has been generic from the story side, but the art continues to be incomparable.  Elena Casagrande!

Awesome reveal.  And Kate Bishop is always welcome.

Dude.  This is insane.

Hee.

Superman: Son of Kal-El 2

Some nice character moments, mostly set up for future confrontations.  It’s still weird seeing Wildstorm properties like Gamorra and Henry Bendix in the DC universe.

Heh.

Jupiter’s Legacy: Requiem 3

This is...fine.  Do I really want to stick around for another nine issues?  Kind of torn on this one.

Batman/Catwoman 6

Probably the weakest Tom King story since Heroes in Crisis.  It’s not bad or anything, but there doesn’t seem to be any point to this, even for a King story.  He doesn’t appear to be setting the groundwork for anything, it’s just some disjointed scenes that don’t contribute much of anything.  I could be wrong, though.  I’m hoping I am.

Black Cat 9

Not really feeling this caper so far.  Maybe it’s because I’ve found Star to be a boring villain, both here and over in Captain Marvel.  (I just discovered that Kelly Thompson wrote a Star miniseries, but I can’t be bothered to pick it up.  And this is as a recent Thompson convert.)

I didn't think much of this Pepe Larraz cover until I examined the faces.

Moon Knight 2

Not as strong as the first issue, but I’m in for at least a few more issues; Jed MacKay deserves that much.

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow 3

Loving this.  The strengths of this issue lie in the moments, not the plot (which is the standard “town hiding a genocide” trope.  (Is that really a trope?  It didn’t feel new to me, in any case.)).  

It’s in the way Bilquis Evely draws the outline of Supergirl’s hair with solid, impossible curves:

It’s in the protective way she shields the narrator during an assassination attempt:

And it’s the way she brushes aside a bullet to the eye, very reminiscent of Superman Returns:

Nightwing 83

No one masters the “moment” like Tom Taylor.  The thing is, none of these instances are that surprising; they’re actually pretty obvious.  But the point is that Taylor’s the only one who actually takes the time to realize them.  That’s the magic.  

Power pose!

Alfred getting the proper respect.

*Squee!*

This literally brought tears to my eyes.