Fury, New comics

New comics!

Captain Marvel 42

A tie in with some Avengers/X-Men/Eternals event that I know nothing about.  Goose the Flerkin stars.  Maybe I’m not just in the mood for that brand of cute right now.  Once again, I’m ready to drop this title.  One more arc, if that.

Fables 156

The wolf cubs finish their quests.  (Mostly.  Winter is still on hers.)  Peter Pan takes center stage as the big bad for the second half of the arc.  Nothing really memorable, Fables may have just run its course for me.

Public Domain 5

So it looks like this isn’t a limited series after all.  The family starts their quest to self-publish, with the backing of a tech mogul/fanboy.  This gets another issue or two to prove itself.  

Fury 1-6

Garth Ennis has a couple of modes.  He’s in satire mode here; over the top violence, super out-there characters (Fuckface, Wendel), and a few genuine moments of character insight.  Very The Boys and the Russian/Spacker Dave Punisher.  It’s not my favorite version of Ennis, but this iteration of it isn’t that bad.

Arseface reference.

Such vivid imagery.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice  

Fury: My War Gone By 1-13

This is Ennis playing it straight, serious, and grim, like his later Punisher run.  He’s got his Punisher co-conspirator Goran Parlov along with him as well.  Two things stand out to me: Fury and Castle’s team up in Vietnam is epic, two operators who immediately respect each other’s skills and are brutally efficient when they work together.  

The other is the aging of Shirley DeFabio across 40 years.  I’m not sure why I find it so striking.  Maybe because it isn’t something that I normally see in comics.  The women are usually hot and stay that way.  Even in real life, as celebrities age over the years, it’s so gradual that the changes aren’t apparent.  Here, the physical changes hit like a ton of bricks.  Parlov does a great job of depicting the changes.

1954

1961.

1970.

1984.

1999.

Ennis does one more Fury title for Marvel MAX, it looks like one of his usual war stories.  I’ll try to pick up the trade.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

Suicide Squad, New comics

New comics!

Public Domain 4

Can’t tell if this is the last issue or not.  Either way, I might be done with this.  None of the characters are likable, and the industry parts of the comic aren’t as interesting as I’d have hoped.

Love Everlasting 2

This doesn’t follow the formula of the first issue.  (Three similar stories where the protagonist gets more and more self-aware.)  This scenario takes the full issue, only getting weird in the final third.  Still no idea what’s going on, but Tom King and Elsa Charretier’s subversion of the old romance comic is excellent.  

Nightwing 96

Big fight between Nightwing and Blockbuster, ending the arc, but the highlight is the DTR conversation between Dick and Barbara.  

Love her hand on his butt.

Suicide Squad 1-11

This isn’t Suicide Squad so much as an excuse for Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo to create a new team of likable characters and put them through their paces alongside Harley Quinn and Deadshot.  I’m not complaining at all, this is a rollicking fun story with some real heart, hallmarks of a Taylor title.  I’d love to see the Revolutionaries in their own title.  (Apparently they’ve shown up in Superman: Son of Kal-El, but I’m not going back to that.)

I love Portal-type shenanigans.

Maybe.  But it'd be fun to see in action.

Taylor writes a funny Harley.

Batman can't be the butt of the jokes that often, but when it works...

Hee.

Ollie's gesticulations in the last panel.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

Echo, New comics

New comics!

Fables 154

So much filler.  On the one hand, I probably wouldn’t buy this again.  But the completionist in me can’t bring myself to stop.

Dark Knights of Steel: Tales from the Three Kingdoms 1

Yet another anthology that’s a waste of time and money.  I was skeptical about buying this, I should have listened to my gut.  

Variants 3

This continues to be a solid story.  It’s a brilliant move by Gail Simone to make one of the variants a more innocent Jessica who never encountered Killgrave.  Talk about a Sliding Doors moment.

Public Domain 3

I’m still enjoying this intriguing battle between creator and company over an IP.  It’s just a very well told story.

New Champion of Shazam 2

Great art by Doc Shaner, but the story by Josie Campbell isn’t quite as charming in this second issue.

Great lightning.

Batman: One Bad Day - Riddler

I did not expect to read something this good today, even with Tom King and Mitch Gerads’ names on the cover.  This is basically Killing Joke for the Riddler, complete with origin story, showdown in the rain, and leveling up the villain to another tier of evil.  This is really good, as instant of a classic as I can recall in recent memory.  It’s definitely the best Riddler story I’ve ever read.

Then there’s the ending.  Did Batman kill Edward Nygma?  The panel layout, mimicking the opening murder in the book, certainly seems to suggest that.  Which would make this an Elseworlds.  That would be a shame, this certainly deserves to be in canon.

Echo 1-30

As good as Strangers in Paradise is, I was never all that interested in reading any of Terry Moore’s followup works.  (And it’s not like I made it through SiP the first time around.)  But I certainly wasn’t going to turn down the complete collection for ten bucks, a 75% discount, at my LCS.  That was four years ago, and I finally got around to reading it today.  

Moore is an amazing comic book creator.  His art and writing are so strong.  I couldn’t put this down, reading the whole thing in a little over two hours.  

Absolutely lovely narration

Hahaha

Was this meant to be sweet?  Because it's creepy as fuck.

I’m dubious about the whole “end of the world” thing, it’s super melodramatic and really doesn’t fit with the tone of the story.  (In case you’re wondering, the science fiction of the suit works for me.  Global apocalypse does not.  Nor does the appearance of Cain.  That Cain.)  It’s probably why the whole Five Years thing didn’t do much for me.   

But I am still interested in picking up Rachel Rising and Motor Girl at some point.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

New comics

New comics!

Public Domain 1-2

Bought this off of a recommendation from iFanboy.  It’s a timely story about a comic book artist whose creation is making millions for the company (MCU-level movies) while he’s getting nothing in return.  All legal, of course, but it leaves the worst kind of taste in one’s mouth.  What happens when the artist and his family try to get what they think they deserve?

A compelling start from Chip Zdarsky.

New Champion of Shazam 1

Checked this out on a whim, and it looks to be super fun.  Mary Bromfield (formerly Mary Marvel before losing her powers in another title) is finally on her own as a freshman at Vassar College, eager to discover who she is as a person.  Unfortunately, she’s dragged back into the superhero game by a magically enchanted rabbit.  An awesome start to a new miniseries.

Batman: Killing Time 6

I’m sure someone’s going to compile a chronologically-correct version of this series.  I’d very much like to read it, because I’m sure I’m missing some key point that will give this story meaning.  But barring that, this is still entertaining enough through the individual beats.  Not King’s best, not his worst either.

Batman White Knight Presents: Red Hood 1

In the White Knight universe, Jason Todd was the first Robin.  This two-part mini covers the backstory and his new role as mentor for a Robin-wannabe.  Fine enough for me to get the second part.