Stray Bullets

Stray Bullets 15-41

Stray Bullets: Killers 1-8

Amy Racecar Color Special 1-2

Yeah, I went on a binge these last couple of days, and tore through the rest of this series.  So it couldn’t have been that bad. My thoughts:

Continuing on my last post, I realize that I like the standalone stories better because David Lapham is writing about bad people.  These are characters who have, through various combinations of poor decisions and horrible environments, become unsavory characters with whom I would never wish to associate.  And because Lapham doesn’t condescend to his readers by glamorizing the violence and crimes that his motley crew commits, it’s not a very pleasant reading experience. It’s remarkably well crafted, so each introduction to a new character is exciting and gripping.  But I generally found myself less interested in spending any more time with them after their first appearance.  

The exception was with Ginny Applejack.  Here’s someone that we’ve been with from the start.  Her decisions, while often ill-advised, are a little more understandable than those of the other characters.  Plus, there’s still a chance that she pulls out of her tailspin and extracts herself from the nosedive she’s in.  (Though by the end of Killers, that’s pretty much shot to hell.)    

Hers is the story that I stuck around to read.  I cared enough about her to stick around for 21 more issues than I otherwise would have.  I wanted to know what happens to her. And now that I do, I’m glad that I stopped buying where I did (issue 28).  Her world is terrible. And the worst part is that her high school might be worse than anything she had to live through on the streets.  God, I hope my kid doesn’t have to go through any of that.  

By the way, Amy Racecar does nothing for me, except for the issue where she deals with the aftermath of Ginny’s kidnapping.  That was pretty well done.

Stray Bullets deserves the title of magnum opus.  It’s a sprawling beast of a work, executed with amazing artistry by David Lapham.  As a feat of writing, it’s really up there with the best.. But I still can’t give it a very high grade because it’s just not...enjoyable.  Kind of like Y the Last Man.  It’s good, but it doesn’t strike the emotional chord in me that would elevate it to that level of greatness.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Stray Bullets

Stray Bullets 5-14

The high quality from David Lapham continues, but I much prefer the standalone stories to the longer arcs.  Sure, they’re all tied together into one larger epic, but the Seaside story wasn’t as gripping as the death of Ginny’s father, for example

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes, No for 11-14

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good, Nice for 11-14

Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass, New Comics

Nothing but new comics today!  Alas, it’s a poor week for the single issues.

Runaways 25

It feels like these kids haven’t had a real win in a while, and things continue to go downhill for them here.  They’re driven out of their home, and Chase’s despondency is achingly depicted by Andres Genolet. On top of that, the new Doc Justice interests me not at all.  I predict that the kids will forget their “trust no adults” mantra, and it’ll turn out poorly.  

As they’re forced to start over again, I’m left wondering if this is a good stopping point for me with this title, as much as I’ve enjoyed it over the past two years.

Lois Lane 4

A complete waste of time.  Greg Rucka jumps around three plotlines, advancing none of them and boring me at the same time.  Total clunker.  

Superman: Up In the Sky 4

The third misfire this week.  It’s really disappointing. Tom King’s narration fails him here, and Andy Kubert’s art doesn’t do anything to help him out.    

Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass

I gave this Mariko Tamaki work a shot because she killed it with Supergirl: Being Super.  This is an Elseworlds where Harley Quinn’s a high school student and Poison Ivy is basically Zendaya’s MJ.  

I love Steve Pugh from his work on Preacher and Hitman, but I don’t understand how he reached this beautiful, refined level of art from this:

It’s not better, it’s just a totally different style.  Exquisite.  

The story’s pretty good, too.  Tamaki writes a Harley that I’d like to read more of. 

Stray Bullets

Stray Bullets 1-4

Issue two is one of the most disturbing things that I’ve read in my life, because it’s something that happens in real life - child on child violence, as brutal as anything that adults can inflict on one another.  I remember how horrified I was when I reached the final page of the issue, positive that Ginny Applejack was dead on the forest floor on Halloween night. Combined with the injustice of the circumstances that put her in that position in the first place and the inhumanity of the multiple cover ups that follow, the whole thing adds up to create inside my soul a seething hatred of all that’s wrong with the world.  

Impressive for a twenty seven page floppy.  I said yesterday that David Lapham was extraordinary, and this was the issue that first convinced me of that.  

Victimology is only one of four stories in the first trade, and while it’s the only one that I still vividly remembered almost twenty years later, the others are almost as strong.  The names came rushing back to me with a familiarity that I had long forgotten - Spanish Steve, Monster, Nina and Beth, Joey - I don’t recall what happens to any of them, but it was still like seeing old friends.  Except I would never want to be friends with any of these people.

But I sure am looking forward to spending the next few days with them.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

Strange Attractors, Murder Me Dead, Batman

Batman 61-63, 66-69

The next trade of Tom King’s epic, this is seven issues of Batman’s nightmares.  I wouldn’t have thought this could work, but King teams up with an excellent array of artists to absolutely crush it. 

There are some straight up classics here, particularly a look at Catwoman’s bachelorette party in the Fortress of Solitude.  This arc is really an excuse for King to take another look at the Bruce/Selina relationship. It’s so nice to see the two of them together again, even if it’s only in Bruce’s head.  As unlikely as it is, I love them as a couple when written by King. More on this story when I do the reread.

Strange Attractors

A graphic novel by Charles Soule and Greg Scott, well done in both concept and execution.  What if there’s a person who can see and manipulate the butterfly effects that make or break the infrastructures of New York City?  It’s a neat idea, and the resulting story is really entertaining. I’d be tempted to say that it wraps up a little too neatly if that wasn’t the entire point of the book.  Worth checking out.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty Good

Murder Me Dead 1-9

Now we enter the David Lapham portion of my collection.  This guy is a master of comic noir, and his ability to both write and draw stories like this amazing.  I’m flipping through the last issue, and his forty-two page account of the final murder blows my mind. Primarily told with no dialog, it’s a masterpiece of storytelling.  I don’t remember very much of Stray Bullets, only that it’s really good, and this story just makes me more excited about tomorrow.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty Good

Second Coming, New Comics

I am so far behind it’s ridiculous.  I expect it’ll get even worse once the baby show up.  Anyway, let’s see how much I can keep this going.

New comics!

Action Comics 1015

Seeing the continuation of Naomi’s story and her first interactions with the Dynamic Duo enticed me into buying this issue, after an eight month hiatus from this title.  (No regrets on that pause.) Bendis continues to show his remarkable ability to write Superman as an inspirational big brother for ever other hero in the DCU and Batman as Orin from Parks and Recreation.  

I might stick around for another issue, but this initial meeting may be all I really need for now.

Batman/Superman 2

The art by David Marquez may keep this in rotation for a few more months, but Joshua Williamson’s words alternate between pretty decent and a little too on the nose.  

Looks so damn good.

It's true, but I don't think he'd ever say it out loud.

I’m still bored by The Batman Who Laughs, I’m not sure if I’ll last through this story arc.

Batman: Curse of the White Knight 3

Sean Murphy continues to draw a stunning book with another brilliant action scene at the end of the issue.  I’ll pay more attention to the plot when I read this in its entirety.  

Ragnarok: The Breaking of Helheim 2

Good clean Walt Simonson fun.  Reminds me a lot of Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo.  Though if I think about that, I stopped buying Usagi when I realized that as good as it is, I’ve never needed to re-read it - Each trade is pretty much interchangeable with the next.  Is Ragnarok the same?  Will I ever want to revisit this?  Something to consider when the next issue pops up on the shelves.  

Five Years 4

I think I like the practice of buying the issues of this series that have both Katchoo and Francine in them.  Theirs is the story that I want to follow, not the bigger “quest to stop development of the world-ending bomb” plot.  I’ll flip through this each month. If Francine shows up, I’ll consider it. She’s great in this. (A testament to the strength of Terry Moore’s creations that I’m evaluating the characters as if they’re real people.)

Harleen 1

Sunstone’s Stjepan Sejic tackles the origin story of Harley Quinn.  It’s as stunning and intricate as I hoped it would be. He’s telling the story at a slow, tense pace, ratcheting up the horrors inside Harleen’s mind as her inevitable first interview with Joker draw closer.  It makes the final line on the last page an absolute gutpunch. My heart breaks for Harleen, who has no idea of what’s to come, what that small acquiescence portends.  

Chills.

Second Coming 1-3

My decision to stop buying this means that it can slot right into Misc Box number five, the one I’m in the middle of reviewing.  Looking back at my reviews of the past two issues, it’s clear that my concerns were borne out.  Reading these issues a second time confirmed my original critiques - A great start that lacked a strong follow up.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Spencer and Locke, Spider-Man, Second Coming, Excellence

Remaining new comics for the week!

Excellence 5

I’m out.  It makes me sad to say, since the art by Khary Randolph and concept/story by Brandon Thomas are both well above average.  It’s the story execution that completely fails for me. Thomas makes time jumps and leaps of storytelling logic that do him absolutely no favors.  I actively disliked my reading experience because of them, and I can’t justify buying this anymore, despite how positively I like the other elements of this title.

Second Coming 3

Maybe I’m just having a bad day, but this is probably my last issue of Second Coming as well.  I’m just tired of the third straight issue of the same things: Sunstar is a well-meaning idiot who’s utterly inept in just about everything he does.  Jesus is a sensible chap who’s discovering that society is happy to evoke His name to justify their actions without employing any of His actual teachings of love and tolerance.  God’s a dick.  

After a strong first issue, Mark Russell’s subsequently failed to bring anything new to the table.  (He had the same problems with Wonder Twins.)

Spider-Man 1

JJ Abrams teams up with his son Henry to write this alternate future story.  Sara Pichelli is her usual phenomenal self with some beautiful art. MJ’s dead, Peter’s spirit is crushed, and their high school son is starting to develop powers of his own.  It’s everything I could want out of a first issue, looking forward to more.  

Spencer and Locke 1-4

Spencer and Locke 2 1-4

I bought these completely on the strength of the elevator pitch - Calvin and Hobbes have grown up to become detectives, but with a much darker, fucked up childhood - Dad’s a drug kingpin, Mom was an abusive prostitute, Rosalyn sexually abused him, and now grown up Susie Derkins is lying dead in an alley.  

It’s a commendable effort by David Prepose and artist Jorge Santiago, Jr.  They do a nifty job of folding in tons of references to Bill Watterson’s classic work, and their twists are cleverly integrated into this piece of noir.  I’m glad they gave this a shot, and I’m glad that I gave this a shot as well.    

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice