New comics!
Barnstormers 1
The story by Scott Snyder is passable, it’s the art by Tula Lotay that’ll have me coming back for the next issue. I bought this entirely on the strength of her work in Supreme: Blue Rose, and my confidence is entirely rewarded.
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| Dude. |
Fables 159
Still a lot of setup, but Tinkerbell flexing her power (against her will) spices things up a bit.
Love Everlasting 9
This arc is lasting a lot longer than I would have imagined. Joan’s been trapped in this life for a number of issues now, and I’m just waiting for something new to happen.
Fantastic Four 9
Ryan North tries to make Alicia Masters useful in a combat situation, and it doesn’t really work, despite a valiant effort. Last month I said this would be the last issue if it wasn’t good. I’ll probably flip through the next issue in the store and decide from there.
Batman: The Brave and the Bold 2
Geez, the Tom King Joker story. It’s amazing, what a difference inserting morbid jokes into the flow makes in ratcheting up the dark tension of the whole thing. This is an amazingly gripping tale. All the other stories are meh.
Captain Marvel 45-50
So I know I quit with issue 44, but when I heard that 50 was the last one, the completionist in me was compelled to finish out the run. That was…kind of a mistake. The Revenge of the Brood arc is really a weak note for Kelly Thompson to end on, and she’s really not helped by Sergio Davila’s art. (If only fill in artist Javier Pina were the regular one.) Thompson makes Binary’s death to be this massively traumatic event, but she failed to make Binary a compelling enough character to sell the tragedy. (See her work with Natasha’s son in Black Widow for a successful example.) As a result, it’s hard to take Carol’s crisis of confidence that seriously.
Still, this was overall an impressive 50-issue run by Thompson. Kudos to her and the rest of the creative team.
Comics I borrowed from the library!
Superman: Son of Kal-El 7-15, Superman: Son of Kal-El Annual 1, Nightwing 89
I didn’t hate this when I dropped it w/ issue 5, only underwhelmed. So I was happy to see what happened to Jon Kent in the subsequent months. Basically a lot of battling against Henry Bendix (apparently the leader of Gamorra after his fall from grace as Weatherman of Stormfront). I loved seeing the Revolutionaries from Taylor’s Suicide Squad, but they’re not given nearly as much of the spotlight as I would of liked. (Not that I blame Taylor. It’s not their book.)
I don’t regret dropping this, but it wasn’t a waste of time to come back to it like this.
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| It's an old joke, but Taylor always makes it funny. |
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| ...and then outdoes himself. |
Reckless: Destroy All Monsters, Reckless: The Ghost in You
It’s been a while since I read an Ed Brubaker/Sean Phillips collab, and the standalone nature of their work means I didn’t have to worry about not knowing any of the continuity. This is standard case-of-the-week fare, well executed, but completely disposable. Good for a night of reading.
Battle Born: Lapis Lazuli
I’m always up for a good war comic. This is a banger from Maximilian Uriarte, covering a Marine squad’s time in Afghanistan. The protagonist, the sergeant of the group, is faced with the age-old dilemma of following orders or doing what he believes to be right. It’s expertly told, with some bold use of repeating panels that puts Brian Michael Bendis to shame. I’d be happy to have this in my collection, it’s certainly good enough, but I don’t really feel the need to read it again.
Great Naval Battles of the Twentieth Century
Jean-Yes Delitte and Giuseppe Baiguera tackle the Battles of Tsushima, Jutland, and Midway. I was hoping for Garth Ennis-quality, but that was probably never going to happen. Instead, I got a series of stories that couldn’t quite hide their pedantic roots. Too much dialog that sounded like college lectures, not enough action or true character development.
Still, I was glad to have read these; I didn’t know much about Tsushima or Jutland, and it was fun to learn about them. (Midway didn’t teach me anything new.)
New comics!
Superman 5
This issue is a drastic improvement over the previous one. Joshua Williamson does a great job of making me care about the relationship between Jimmy Olsen and Silver Banshee, and Jamal Campbell does his usual phenomenal job of drawing the heck out of it. Then there’s the final scene where Lex calls out for Superman’s help for the first time - and is met with no response. Very well done.
Nightwing 105
The whole issue’s done from Dick’s POV. So good to have Bruno Redondo back. Love his Barbara Gordon.
Nice sight to wake up to.
Titans 2
I’m so glad this spun out of Nightwing so that I don’t have to read it anymore. It’s the rare miss from Tom Taylor. And Nicola Scott’s art isn’t as good as I remember it to be. I may give this one more issue, but I may not.
Wonder Woman 800
An absolute mess of an issue. The main story is an incomprehensible mess of a jam issue with a few nice pages of art. I only got this to see the beginning of Tom King’s run on the title, and that part of it is intriguing.
Avengers 1-2
I wasn’t going to get this initially, even with Jed MacKay and CF Villa as the creative team. The first issue didn’t look that special during the in-store flip through, and the new team lineup wasn’t particularly interesting. But the second issue perusal revealed MacKay’s grand plan, and it’s super fun so far. And there’s a nice chill-inducing moment:
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| What indeed? |
New comics!
Love Everlasting 8
Things have stopped being surprising, but I still have no idea how this is all going to end. I’m betting Tom King’s going to shake things up again in the next issue.
Dark Knights of Steel 11
Now that the White Martians have been revealed, this has become a fairly generic “the night before the final battle” issue. While it doesn’t suck, this also isn’t one of Tom Taylor’s stronger titles.
Fantastic Four 8
Ryan North starts off with an intriguing mystery, but it quickly becomes a standard monster of the week with an unexciting cliffhanger. I’m losing interest in this title, it may not last beyond the next issue.
New comics!
Junkyard Joe 5-6
I reread the first four issues because it’d been so long. Past the initial concept of a Vietnam-era robot returning after sixty years, this is an entirely paint-by-numbers story. There’s absolutely nothing surprising in these six issues, Geoff Johns hits every single predictable plot point I could have imagined.
It’s the execution that saves Junkyard Joe. I still enjoyed reading this (even as it felt like three issues of content stretched over six).
Nightwing 104
Speaking of predictable, Nightwing with the powers of Superman turns out exactly as I expected. (Spoiler alert, he doesn’t take Neron up on his offer…) This arc didn’t suck, but I’m not sad to see it end.
Deep Cuts 2
Another jazz story, set in the late twenties. The story is fine, but Helena Masellis’ art is absolutely beautiful and perfect for the issue. I’ve never heard of her before, but check out her other work, I love it! https://www.kirbyscomicart.com/helena-masellisNew comics!
Batman: Brave and the Bold 1
An anthology series that I’d never consider picking up if it weren’t for the Tom King lead story. He’s got a freaky take on Joker that’s perfectly complemented by Mitch Gerads. Ed Brisson’s Stormwatch has some nice moments with a neat lineup, but it’s weird seeing Shado in this setting.
Titans 1
I’ll give anything by Tom Taylor a try, and Nicola Scott’s art is always welcome. This is a decent start, but nothing that makes it stand out. It’ll get at least one more issue.
Fantastic Four 700
Ryan North is back on point with a really neat Doctor Doom story that takes a look at his hubris from a new (to me) angle. It also incorporates a new take on time travel that I need to read again.
Love Everlasting 7
Joan’s trapped in a storyline for way longer than usual, moving well past the marriage stage. She has a breakdown as a result, perhaps moving the plot on to the next phase, finally. (Not that it hasn’t been fun thus far.)
Superman 4
I didn’t think Joshua Williamson could get me to care about Silver Banshee, but he manages to do so here. His take on Luthor is also completely delightful, so this gets another month.
