Moth and Whisper, Marvels Epilogue

New comic from last week:

Marvels Epilogue

Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross return to their industry-changing work twenty-five years later.  Reading it is like going to your high school reunion, revisiting friends you haven’t contacted in years, but are still overjoyed to see again. 

Moth and Whisper 1-5

Everything I said about this title while it was coming out still holds true.  Ted Anderson and Jen Hickman’s origin story about a thief trying to find out who killed their parents hits all the familiar story beats, but they mix in a ton of sci-fi elements that keep it super fresh and entertaining.  A nice comic that I’m glad I picked up.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Prodigy, Strangers in Paradise XXV, Walk Through Hell, Moth & Whisper

New comics!

Prodigy 2

This got a lot less good in a hurry.  Watching three generations of rich white guys hunting orphan children for sport is about as distasteful as it gets.  I don’t care if that’s the point Mark Millar’s looking to get across, there are still better ways to do it. Pair that up with plot development that’s far less compelling than the character work I got last month and this title sudden plummeted to “better flip through it next issue before buying it” status.  

Walk Through Hell 6

This is a weird comic.  Weird things are happening in this warehouse, everyone’s acting just a little bit off kilter, and Nazis are marveling at the beauty of Notre-Dame Cathedral.  I don’t know if I like it, but I know I don’t dislike it. Garth Ennis continues to pique my curiosity, so much like the agents in the comic, I’ll keep inching forward.

Strangers in Paradise XXV 9

I haven’t read Terry Moore’s other work, so maybe this isn’t all that out of place for those characters, but I’m not accustomed to a SiP world where Katchoo and Francine have to worry about atomic bombs powered by God.  It’s a couple steps too far removed from what I want them to be dealing with. Visions of dead friends and family? Sure. Magic with people disappearing out of thin air? Too much.

I hope the scene in the cover (which doesn’t happen in the issue) is just meant to scare us, and won’t actually take place later on in the series.  Too scary. (What’s with all these comics placing children in grave danger?)

Moth & Whisper 5

An obvious but still satisfying ending.  No part of the final heist was surprising, which is usually the death knell for this type of story, but Walter and Niki are so likable that it’s fun just watching them succeed.  I don’t know if this is a limited series, but I’ll continue to buy this as long as there are more.

(While I understand that it’s the proper thing to refer to Niki as ‘they,’ I find it highly unlikely that a security guard in hot pursuit would have the presence of mind to be so conscientious.  (Though maybe in this future society, it’s just a matter of course. That’d be cool.))

Way to stay woke!

Pearl, Cover, Moth & Whisper

Movies usually don’t linger in my consciousness for more than twenty-four hours, but Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is still bouncing around in there.  I worked to the soundtrack today - it’s so catchy, despite not being the kind of music that I normally listen to.  

New comics!

Pearl 5

A nice bounce back after last month's weak showing.  Bendis strings some very nice scenes together - A strong opening sequence with a quirky topic (a classy porn mall), a riveting text piece explaining how Pearl got her tattoos (which was horribly spoiled in the recap on the inside cover), a beautiful photo-manipulation by Michael Gaydos (who I still get confused with Alex Maleev), and a cliffhanger that has be wanting to buy the next issue.  They’ve got my money for another month. Well done, gentlemen.

I live in SF.  I really need to make it up to this view at some point.

Cover 4

So little continues to happen.  Essad beats up Max for four pages.  Max dreams for seven pages. Max talks to Julia for six pages.  Max recovers for seven pages and reads a colleague’s comic for another two.  The plot progress can be summarized by “Essad lets Max go.” Scintillating. (It actually is, with Bendis’ dialogue and Mack’s art.  Let’s look at some.)

I love the two page sequence below.  I’m always in awe of how a talented artist can make a couple of squiggles into an amazing work of art, and Mack illustrates that process beautifully here.

It's just a bunch of curves, and all of a sudden it's hair!  How??

Moth & Whisper 4

Continuing to enjoy the heck out of this series.  I’m not sure what it is that made me pick it up in the first place, or what’s keeping me happy month in and month out.  Niki’s disguise tech is neat, but that’s not it. The art is fine, but not particularly noticeable. The overarching plot is a standard “revenge for killing my parents” boilerplate.  And yet it all works so very well, and I’m having a ton of fun.

Manhattan Projects, Cover, Pearl, Moth and Whisper

New comics!

Pearl 4

Grr.  Rapidly losing interest.  Things are moving at a slow pace, and the dialogue isn’t scintillating enough to distract me from the fact that nothing’s happening.  This was initially meant to be a six issue miniseries, but has since been extended to at least twelve. I’ll stick with it through the first arc, but things aren’t looking good for Pearl’s long term prospects in this household.

Cover 3

David Mack’s art continues to carry this title.  More accurately, David Mack’s five different art styles continue to carry this title.  This time, he’s added some kind of Walt Simonson madness to his repertoire. Just as slow as Pearl, but I’m enjoying this way more.

Mack

Simonson

West Coast Avengers 4

I was on the fence about this, and it didn’t pass the flip through test today.  It’s just a little sillier than what I’m looking for out of this title.

Moth and Whisper 3

The turn of events isn’t that surprising, but it’s well done and I continue to be entertained.  Of course, our hero’s been caught two issues in a row now. Doesn’t speak highly about their skills.

Manhattan Projects 1-25

Love this concept so much.  Take the most amazing scientists of the 20th century, turn them into amazing mad scientists, and throw them all into the same laboratory.  This is probably Jonathan Hickman’s best idea ever.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t exempt from every other Hickman book’s tendency to crash and burn on the landing.  By the end, it felt like Hickman really had no idea about where he was taking the book. Also, at the end it all, what did any of these scientists accomplish?  They build the atomic bomb and went to the moon. (Which happened IRL.) Enrico Fermi turned out to be an alien and got chainsawed to death. Robert Oppenheimer got eaten by his twin brother, triggering a psychic civil war between the two that ended up being pointless when Albert Einstein shot him in the head.  (After returning from banishment to an alternate dimension by his doppelganger Albrecht Einstein.)

Sounds cooler than it reads.  (Though it is pretty cool for a while.)  But by the end, it really feels like everyone’s spinning their wheels and failing to get anything of consequence done.  This could have been so much better.

The art by Nick Pitarra is slick.  It’s very Frank Quitely.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice for 1-19, Fine for 20-25.

Batman: White Knight, Elric, Amazing Spider-Man, Moth and Whisper, Superman

New comics!  I didn’t get the new Catwoman.  I flipped through it in the store, and felt zero enthusiasm towards reading it.  Joelle Jones lured me in with her gorgeous art, but couldn’t get me to stay with the story.  

Amazing Spider-Man 6

I bought this after the iFanboy podcast selected it as their Pick of the Week.  The premise sounded fun - Boomerang, now Peter’s roommate, drags him to a supervillain trivia night, where the topic is Spider-Man.  With his secret identity unknown to all, Peter cleans house with a perfect score, earning the praise and cheers of his rogues gallery.  It certainly is amusing, and Humberto Ramos does his usual great work, but it comes in third out of the three titles I bought this week.  Certainly not Pick of the Week caliber.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Moth and Whisper 2

The second issue continues to build on the promise of the first.  Niki embarks on a infiltration mission, putting the technology of the era on display to the readers, as well as his sharp mind.  Lots of fun.

I’m also a fan of the facility with which Niki switches between male and female disguises.  He’s equally capable performing as either, and there’s something cool about that. When I thought about it some more, I realized that Niki’s gender is actually unclear to me.  The way they’re drawn reads as male to me, but there’s enough ambiguity that I could be mistaken. I like that.

Superman 4

The things that make Superman super shine through in this issue, and it’s those splashes of personality that elevate this over the previous three.  Clark’s flashback conversation with Jon is sublime. It’s a mix of so many wonderful things. Clark engages in some strong, positive parenting, clearly teaching the lessons he learned from his Pa.  It’s a sweet passing along of values across generations.

Bendis continues to build on Superman’s bromance with Batman.  He’s really leaning into it both here and in Action Comics, and it’s still the best part of his run so far.  Jon notices it too. “So, you like Batman the way you like mom?”

Elric: The Vanishing Tower 1-6

This is entirely a nostalgia buy.  I’ll talk about it more when I do my reread.  It is unapologetically old-school fantasy, and feels like a D&D campaign I would have run as a middle schooler.  It jumps from set piece to set piece, with the barest hint of connecting narrative tissue. Still, it’s fun in its outlandishness, and I dig it.  

Batman: White Knight 1-8

This was SO GOOD.  Sean Murphy knocked this one out of the park.  Things I liked:

Flipping Joker into becoming the actual hero.  Yet not. He does all the right things, and seeing him as a legit good guy is mind trippy and awesome.

Two Harleys!  A neat way of reconciling the original Dini Harley with the Margot Robbie version.  Setting Harleen up as the mastermind (and a force for good) is inspired.

Accentuating the negative aspect of Batman’s war on crime.  Focusing on the property damage, injured bystanders, and miscellaneous fallout really brings out the psycho in Batman.  Coupled with his manic anger, everything combines to create a thoroughly believable situation where he’s at odds with the GCPD, his teammates, and the entire city.

Murphy’s art.  

All the best Freeze art involves him pining in front of Nora.

So many Batmobiles, so much detail.

I may review this again on re-read, but I’m feeling pretty solid about my ratings.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Really good

Mage, Superman, Runaways, World of Tanks, Catwoman, Moth and Whisper

New comics!  Though I shouldn’t sound so excited.  This was a lackluster week. Part of it might be because I’m pretty sleepy and that’s affecting my enjoyment of these issues.  But I don’t think that’s why.

Mage: The Hero Denied 12

The Matt Wagner art has officially stopped being enough to make up for a boring-ass story.  So little happens in this issue that it’s hard to believe I spend four bucks on it. But with only three issues left in the series, am I pot committed?  I don’t think I’ve ever felt the need to reread the first two parts of this trilogy, nor do I really want to reread this one. I have much better examples of both Wagner’s writing and art.  So...do I save myself the twelve bucks?

Even if I don’t like the other Mage’s the second time around, I don’t see myself cutting them from my collection.  It’s unlikely to happen with Hero Denied, either.  The art’s still too good to get rid of.  From that point of view, the completionist in me will want the last three issues.  Sigh. Looks like it’s got me hooked for now. (And not in a good way.)

Runaways 13

The first real misstep by Rainbow Rowell on this title.  I hate Alex WIlder, with his sanctimonious “I know I’m right” attitude, the way he assumes control of the group, and his arrogant presumption that he can behave as if he’d done nothing wrong.  So much hate. I’m not enjoying this at all.

Also, Kris Anka isn’t around with his wonderful art.  David LaFuente takes over, and his work isn’t nearly as good.  It doesn’t suck, but it just isn’t in the same league.

Catwoman 3

First of all, Stanley “Artgerm” Lau does some of the most beautiful covers in the world.

Second, what the heck is up with DC’s digital comic program?  The first issue was available to redemption, but the next two weren’t.  It’s frustrating. Marvel lets you add just about all of their titles, which is really sweet.  

Third, this might very well be my final issue of Catwoman.  Joelle Jones continues to draw a good looking book, but I haven’t cared about the hero or the villain for the last two issues.  Raina Creel’s flashback origin doesn’t provide any insights - I don’t need further reinforcement that she’s really really evil. Selina’s in full self-destruct mode, and she’s not doing it in an interesting way, either.  

I’ll flip through the next issue in the store, but its prospects of making it home aren’t good.

World of Tanks: Citadel 5

Complete failure on all counts.  The story isn’t driven by character, which is a usual hallmark of Garth Ennis’ war stories.  The art by PJ Holden looks worse than in previous issues. The storytelling is confused - there were plenty of times where I couldn’t tell what was going on.  I’m hoping that the failures in story are due to editorial directives from the World of Tanks IP, and not Ennis losing his touch. That would be a tragedy.

Superman 3

No digital redemption for this issue either :(

I’ll keep posting David Mack covers as long as he keeps doing them.

The streak of poor issues this week continues.  Rogol Zaar convince Jax-Ur, a Kryptonian trapped in the Phantom Zone, to attack Earth with him.  Superman asks a bunch of people how to get Earth out of the Phantom Zone. They don’t know. That’s everything that happens.  It’s making me sad, but I may have to drop this title. (I’ll keep going with Action for a while longer; the story there’s a little more engaging.)  We’ll see how the next issue looks on the stands.

Moth and Whisper 1

It’s sad that the best issue of the week is a first issue that looked intriguing in the solicitations.  (Not that a new title can’t be awesome, but because it’s only decent.) The protagonist takes over the identities of both his parents when they go missing - Moth and Whisper, two of the best thieves in the city.  It’s fun enough, and the art has a nice indie feel to it. I don’t know if that’s sufficient to warrant continued purchase, but I’ll keep an eye out for it next month.

Some nice work by Jen Hickman.