Mister Miracle, Skyward, Superman, Unstoppable Wasp, Mage

New comics!

Skyward 8

A neat twist at the end had me breathing a sigh of relief - I would have been very disappointed if Joe Henderson had followed through with the trite, overused plot he was using.  Instead, I’m still pleased as punch with this title. Keep it coming!

This issue's obligatory beautiful Lee Garbett art.

Superman 5

How long can nothing continue to happen?  This entire arc has been so devoid of anything interesting.  If it weren’t Bendis writing it, I would have dumped this issues ago.  If this arc doesn’t conclude next issue, I’m most likely not going to buy it.  

Mage: The Hero Denied 13

Two issues from the end, and I’m so tempted to not buy the rest.  What’s future me going to wish I did? Will I be disappointed that I don’t have the last two issues, or will I end up cutting the first thirteen anyway?  

Matt Wagner’s Grendel is so much better than Mage.  I’ve never had the urge to re-read Mage.  Huh.  Why am I buying this title??

And yet….

Unstoppable Wasp 2

I love love love this title.  There’s so much joy and optimism and fun and smiles and laughter.  It’s everything that’s good in this world in comic book form. If every person on Earth read this, it would eradicate road rage and talking during movies.  What else has Jeremy Whitley written? Princeless, huh?  Sounds good, now reserving at the library!

Mister Miracle 12

Whaaaaaa…….Okay.  So. Scott is living in this life where he’s happily married, one and a half children, and Highfather of the New Gods.  And it might all be some kind of dream where Scott’s trapped in the Anti-Life Equation. The apparition of his father comes out and says it - Scott has the option of returning to reality, but can’t bring himself to leave this seductively normal (for Scott) life.  

Or is Scott doing ‘fine’ and just having hallucinations of the dead people in his life?  

Is he dead from his suicide attempt back in issue one?  Is he in heaven? Is he a comic book character controlled by the whims of whoever’s writing him at the time?

I don’t know, I don’t care (in a good way), and it seems like Scott’s come to the same conclusion.  He’s happy, so who cares what real is? It’s not that he’s choosing to stay in the Matrix. He’s decided to entirely ignore the question of where he is at all.  

Not as good as Vision, but that’s one of the masterpieces from the history of comic books.  It’s still pretty fricking amazing, and the re-read’s going to rule.

Infinite Horizon

Trying something a little different for today’s review.

Infinite Horizon 1-6

Regret buying: No.  Resetting the Odyssey in the not-so-distant future is tailor-made to catch my interest.  Phil Noto’s art is solid, but not as good as his work on Black Widow.  It’s kind of neat, seeing how Gerry Duggan translates bits of the classic story into a modern sensibility.  Why can’t our Odysseus (not given a name in the comic) just fly home? His military unit was abandoned in the Middle East by the army.  Why can’t he call home? The Chinese shot down all the relevant satellites. Even if limited to ocean transport, what delays him for ten years?  A badly broken leg and an involuntary dependence on mind-numbing drugs. (Along with a soldier in cyclopean armor and a radio station that lures unsuspecting refugees with the promise of a ship to better places.)  

What’s up with Penelope?  She owns the land that controls the water in New York.  (The government’s a little broken down in this world.) So all her surrounding neighbors are exerting pressure, trying to bully her around.  This Penelope is a lot more assertive and can clearly take care of herself. But I don’t buy that none of these men would have tried to take the property by force, no matter how adept she is with a gun.  

Would buy again: No.  It’s missing that spark of inspiration to make it truly sing.  Odysseus is mostly an blank slate. A most effective soldier, but wanting to get home to his family and a devotion to his men isn’t enough to define a personality.  The Odysseus of myth was a trickster with a sly sense of humor. This guy could just as easily have been Frank Castle. (Which actually would have made for a sweet Elseworlds story.)

Would read again: No.  I like the additions to Penelope’s side of the story, but it’s not enough to make this worth another read.

Rating: Fine.  I wasn’t bored, and it was fun to find the parallels.  But I don’t care enough about the hero to want to read about his adventures.  I’m very much on the fence about whether to cut this or not, which means I’m going to keep it.  Might as well hang on to it, I may be tempted to give it another go in the future.

Huck

Huck 1-6

Huck is a simple gas station attendant with the ability to find anything.  He’s also super strong. He’s tricked into finding his long-lost mother by her previous Russian government captors.  Huck escapes with his mother, they live happily ever after.

It’s a very slight story.  I blew through it in twenty minutes.  It’s still a lot of fun. Huck is very sweet and kind, in a Clark Kent country boy kind of way.  (Rafael Albuquerque even draws Huck a lot like Tim Sale’s Superman.)

His tracker ability is really neat, and Mark Millar finds some nifty applications for Huck’s mom’s psychic abilities as well.  

Perhaps it’s the basic nature of the story that makes it so memorable.  “Oh, it’s the one about the guy who likes to help people.” Good execution by a strong creative team.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Art of Homage Studios, Deathmate Black, Hellshock

Art of Homage Studios 1

A collection of pinups and micro stories by an extremely talented group of artists.  Nothing really noteworthy, but this is still a great snapshot of a seminal (to me, if no one else) moment in the history of the comic industry.  I do love Jim Lee’s comment about J. Scott Campbell: “J.Scott will definitely be turning heads in the near future.” That’s an understatement.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

Deathmate Black

This was a total clusterfuck of a project and story.  All of the Image issues of this crossover w/ Valiant Comics came in super late.  I only bought this issue, as it was the one created by Homage Studios. It really was drawn by an all-star team of pencillers: Brandon Peterson, Brett Booth, Marc Silvestri, Greg Capullo, Scott Clark, Whilce Portacio, J. Scott Campbell, and Jim Lee.  Unfortunately, the writing came courtesy of Brandon Choi and Eric Silvestri, so the plot came out overwritten, boring, and unnecessarily complicated.

Oh, he did not just say that.

In what world is this good writing?

In this picture, Ripclaw's right arm has been blown off. So what exactly is he crossing his left arm with? He looks all heroic and imposing, but if Voodoo got out of the way, he's just a one-armed dude with standing with his arm ridiculously folded across his chest.

As with Art of Homage Studios, a fun little time capsule into early Image days, but nothing more.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Didn’t suck

Hellshock 1-4

Jae Lee’s creator-owned contribution to Image.  His art is the only saving grace for this series, as the story is total garbage.  Hellshock is the spawn of an archangel and human. After spending the last twenty years being tortured in hell for his indiscretion, the now-psychotic angel father  comes back to earth to bring the mother back to hell with him. Hellshock has to stop him.

There’s also a completely separate B-plot about an abused kid who has to resist the temptation (from a demon in human form) to kill his father.  This is some kind of set up for future stories that I have no desire to read. At least it’s pretty.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Didn’t suck

I really shouldn’t keep all these sub par comics around, but they have sentimental value.  And pretty good art. Most of the early Image comics I got had that going for them.

Fire, Four Women, Green Valley, Action Comics, Heroes in Crisis

Still catching up on new comics from while I was gone.

Heroes in Crisis 2

Things I didn’t like:

I don’t buy that Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman would bare their souls confessional-style.  It feels out of character.

No way Harley Quinn can beat Batman 1-on-1, let alone all three of the Trinity.  

Booster Gold.  I’ve yet to like him in anything I’ve ever read him in.  

Lois’ outfit.  Who wears an ensemble like that to work?

Great for the nightclub, not for the office.

Things I liked:

Batman lying about the kryptonite in his belt.  

Harley booping Ivy.

Harley saying goodbye to Ivy (What’s all that about?  Is Ivy dead?)

Lovely work by Clay Mann.

Action Comics 1004

Bendis writes a great Lois/Clark relationship.  Which makes it all the stranger that Bendis uses this issue to separate the couple.  I hope this isn’t how Lois takes a backseat in the run. I want more of them together.  

Thank you, Ryan Sook, Wade Von Grawbadger, and Brad Anderson.

Fire TPB

One of Bendis’ earliest works.  The facility with dialog is there, and I think it’s a shame that he’s not doing art anymore, but the plot is weak sauce and the lettering is atrocious.  In the afterword, Bendis talks about how he redid the lettering, and it blows my mind that even after taking a mulligan, he’s unable to tell the difference “your” and “you’re.”  It’s infuriating.

This is worth reading to see the evolution of Bendis over the years, but not a key part of his output.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

Four Women 1-5

The titular four women undergo a harrowing ordeal when they get stranded in their car in the middle of nowhere.  The details are slowly revealed as a therapist picks apart the unreliable narrator’s story.

Sam Kieth does an amazing job of creating an ominous, terrifying environment.  The first three pages of the first two issues are ridiculously effective at making me not want to know what’s going on.  I know it’s nothing good, and I’d rather leave it a mystery.

What's happening to her???  I don't want to know!!!

The reader eventually finds out, of course, and I found myself slightly disappointed at the outcome.  Things get resolved a little too easily, and the aftermath has an odd “begging for forgiveness from Jesus” feeling that was too pat.  

Still, this is a different type of miniseries (as Kieth comics tend to be), and I’m always entertained whenever I pull this out for a re-read.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Green Valley 1-3

This starts out so so strong.  Four stalwart knights, protectors of their kingdom, are finally defeated in battle, which results in the sacking of their home and the deaths of everyone they know.  After licking their wounds for a year, a boy from a distant village recruits them to fight an evil wizard who’s been terrorizing the area.

Everything is awesome up to this point.  The story by Max Landis is excellent, and Giuseppe Camuncoli’s art is equally strong.  The camaraderie between the knights and their distinctive personalities make them protagonists that I want to follow.  How are they going to recover from their losses? What amazing adventures will they embark on next? I wanted to know.

Then the third issue comes along and it all goes to shit.  The wizard is a time travelling punk from the future. He has a future iPad that can control the weather, shoot energy blasts, and generate personal force fields.  Are you fucking kidding me?

Maybe there’s a situation where I would have found this to be a neat twist, but this wasn’t it.  It completely derailed my expectations, and changed the title to something uninteresting to me. Such a shame, I would have followed the initial premise for quite some time.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good, until it totally wasn’t.

Five Weapons

Five Weapons 1-10

I’m can’t remember if I first read this before or after Deadly Class, but having read both now, this feels like Deadly Class for kids.  For a comic about kids learning to be assassins, I don’t think they tally a single kill.  Pretty disappointing.

It’s all a little bit too cute.  The protagonist is a kid who has taken a vow against using weapons and must resort to using his smarts and powers of deduction to outwit and outlast his fellow students.  Each issue ends on a cliffhanger, where Enrique is moments away from certain death, yet certain in his ability to emerge victorious.

I found it odd that Jimmie Robinson would choose such abrupt, anticlimactic finishes to each issue.  The final panels always take up a tiny strip along the bottom of the page, drastically reducing their dramatic impact.  

It wasn’t until I remembered one of Robinson’s visual clues in the second issue that the endings made more sense.

Each issue’s ending reads exactly like the ones in Encyclopedia Brown’s cases.  Encyclopedia would always finish a story along the lines of, “It’s too bad he didn’t count on one thing!”  The reader would then have to flip to the end of the book to read the solution, just as the reader here needs to read the next issue to learn how Enrique would get out of his predicament.  

The story itself is underwhelming.  The “outsider slowly wins the respect of everyone he deals with” trope can be an winning one (see Anne of Green Gables), but everything here is just a touch too easy for the main character.  For all the situations he find himself trapped in, he’s never in any kind of true danger, and that robs the plot of any serious stakes.  

I’d give this to my future kids to read, which is the only reason I’m keeping it around.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

Ex Machina, Runaways, Wasp, Skyward

More new comics.

Skyward 7

Still beautifully illustrated, but the concept of insect knights strays a little too far from the scientific grounding that I like so much about this title.  Hopefully, Joe Henderson won’t tarry in this part of his universe for too long.

Great art...

...but a little too close to this for my liking.

Runaways 15

Ahh, back to Kris Anka on pencils, and it feels so good.  Unfortunately, the story involves Nico making an incredibly short-sighted deal with her staff.  In no way is the staff gradually introducing its own blood into Nico going to turn out well in any way.  Nico’s stupidity infuriates me.

Unstoppable Wasp 1

I am so happy that this title is back, with Jeremy Whitley returning as the writer.  The previous series was packed with joy and positivity, without coming across as saccharine or pandering to a younger audience.  I was saddened by its ending, and thrilled that Marvel’s brought it back. That it’s blatantly trying to encourage girl interest in STEM disciplines is more than okay with me.  

Ex Machina 1-12

Another in a long line of Brian K Vaughan comics that I didn’t get very far into.  

Mitchell Hundred is the Mayor of New York in 2002.  He used to be a superhero, with the ability to communicate with machines and order them around.  He got his power from an alien device planted at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge. The comic bounces around all of these phases of his life, focusing mostly on his time as mayor.  

As we learn in the first issue, Hundred’s career change pivots around the terrorist attacks on September 11th.  In this reality, he succeeds in saving one of the towers.

Chilling.

Even today, that image evokes an emotional response from me.  When this came out in 2004 it was more than enough to earn a couple more purchased issues.  As was the controversial piece of art involving Abraham Lincoln in the second issue.

No, this isn’t the piece, this was the cover to the issue.

I debated whether it would be acceptable to post the actual image here.  I ultimately decided it was not. It gets into issues of race, art, and expression that are too complex to explore here.  And it’s safer to err on the side of discretion.

Am I wussing out?  Yes. It’s a conversation I’m happy to have face to face, but not anonymously here.  

Vaughan also covers gay marriage in these issues, essentially mirroring SF Mayor Gavin Newsom’s actions in the real world.  (Though Vaughan takes the easy way out by mentioning the political and social hoopla that would follow without actually dealing with it after the wedding.)  

Tony Harris does really good work, but it doesn’t approach his apex on Starman.  

What does this remind me of?  Ah, yes:

Ex Machina joins the other comics on my list of “Things I’d like to finish reading, as long as I don’t have to pay for it.”  Someday.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice