The Week of June 12 in Review Part 2 of 2 - Some High Points for the Week

As you can see I’m going into retirement by even ratcheting down the number of posts going up on Monday and Tuesday. I’m a slacker! Actually we are entertaining on Saturday and Sunday is Father’s day and I’m going out to Dinosaur World. All of that is my excuse for keeping things leaner this week.

Being a mail order customer I normally get my books on Thursday. Now this makes Thursday a comic book day to remember. New books come in, next week’s list is posted and I order my books and the early peek at two weeks ahead comes out. In addition my buddy at Cosmic Comix posts his best of the week picks and I use that as a guideline for some of my must reads. Many of the following books made that list.

Joe Hill’s Thumbprint #1 (of 3) may have been the best book I have read this week. It was based on a novella by Hill, written by Jason Ciaramela and art by Vic Malhotra. I was immediately drawn into the story. It is about a young woman who has left the army after being involved in the Abu Ghraib incident during the Iraq War. It was a black eye for the US when the army’s torture of POWs was exposed. We are seeing her story of both what happened to her at Abu Gharib, her adjustment back into civilian life and a mystery threat that is noted by someone leaving an envelope with a thumbprint in it. It is only going to be three issues long and obviously we do not have all the answers in issue #1, but we are getting a picture of Mallory Grennan. After WWI, there was an old saying “how are you going to keep them down on the farm after they had seen Paris.” It was something to that effect. Now the question is how do you return to normal after you have been part of what Mallory was in Iraq? After dehumanizing and torturing people in the name of a supposed greater good, can you wash that stain from your soul? Who is now torturing her with the thumbprint? It is a good story and I have to say for two creators I have not heard of before, they have produced a top notch book.

Next up is Breath of Bones #1 (of 3) By Steve Niles and Matt Santoro plot, Niles on script and Dave Wachter on art. It is in black and white and I have to say I was initially struck by the great art in this book. It is another artist I’m unfamiliar with, but I would gladly look at any book he is drawing. I saw a ton on influences in his art from Alan Davis to John Severin and everyone in between. There is one panel with the water on a soldiers face that reminds me of work by Barry Windsor-Smith. The story is of a young man who is growing up as war is all around him. We start in 1944 and then flashback to life in his village as a young boy. The entire first issue is a build up to the young boy being given a small clay figure by his grandfather and told that he may need to use a monster to fight a monster. It is obviously the Golem, which actually does not even make an appearance this issue. It is the start of a good story and again only three issues long, so worth the price of entry.

Next up is Walking Dead #111 by Robert Kirkman and Charles Adlard. I keep wondering when Kirkman is no longer going to have time to write the book that has garnered him such fame and fortune. It took many years for it to happen, so maybe he will keep on keeping on with the book. Since Kirkman has adapted the Hollywood team approach to Thief of Thieves, I would not be shocked to see him outline the plot and letting someone else script the series down the road. What is surprising to me is that even though I desperately want to see a five or ten year jump we just continue to move forward in a slow manner. Time passes, but not month for month with the publishing schedule. This issue was fascinating as Negan shows again how much of a cold bastard that he can be and yet is frighteningly perceptive on some levels as he rejects trusting a man in Rick’s camp who wants to sell Rick out.

I do note that traditional super hero comics still can be enjoyable, but are certainly far from my favorite. A big favorite with many fans is Guardians of The Galaxy and issue #3 has a great cover. I mean anthropomorphic animals, what is not to love. Brian Bendis with Steve McNiven and Sara Pichelli deliver a great looking book. I also know Marvel is pushing to have this type of series as a movie is on the way with the GOTG. Yet with all of the great fight scenes and political Game of Thrones stuff going on it just feels like I’m missing the purpose of the book. Is Peter Quill trying to overthrow his father? Is he trying to protect Earth? Finally what the flock is Iron Man doing in this book? I have the feeling that with the success of the Iron Man movie that his insertion into this book was more about lining up with the movie then any other reason. Bottom line it is a fun series, not worth the $4 price tag, at $3 it would be fine.

Thor #9 by Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic was a flat out great fight scene as King Thor, Avenger Thor and Viking Thor fight Gorr and his space worm. Of course the big problem I have with almost any episodic story that says it is part 3 of five, I know the Thor(s) can’t win yet. I keep hoping some writer can put in a climax of the story in the middle and surprise me with the story having a different ending, but not this time. It is without a doubt one of the coolest fight scenes this week and maybe for the month. Not a philosophical book, but good entertainment.

In spite of myself I picked up Green Lantern Corps #21, as I was off this title when Fialkov left under a cloud of editorial mandates. My curiosity got the better of me and Venditti is co-plotting and I have not heard of Van Jensen before, so I took a chance. It was okay. Number one Bernard Chang is way down on the list of artists whose work I want to see. It also went a little all over the place, but it did set in motion the next major enemy that the GL Corps will have to face and that is the *&^%$, I’ll let you find out if you decide to read it. In spite of Chang, I’ll be back for another issue, but this book is on a month by month death watch.

The last book I will mention is Suicide Squad #21 by Ales Kot and Patrick Zircher. The last team got the book this far and for the new DCU any book outside of the Johns, Snyder, Superman realm that gets this far deserves a cookie. The raves have been high on this book and I agree that Kot has scripted a good story and Zircher’s art is always well done. He is a true rising star in the industry in my book. Harley Quinn does a take over of the organization and ends up cutting a new deal for the Squad. It is all well done and the additional of James Gordon Jr. was a masterstroke. But the problem I have is I still have no clue of the purpose of the group. The missions have become secondary to the character study.  I want both and now that we have a new status quo, maybe we get that next issue.

Just two this week, so that is a wrap. Come back next week for my sort of swan song. 

The Week of June 12 in Review Part 1 of 2 - Scott Snyder Week

Okay I’m officially “retiring” from the blog after next week’s post. This does not mean I quitting the blog that I started almost seven years ago this August. What it means is I’m no longer working under a deadline. I will post a review, rant, nomination for the Comics And Hall of Fame and other diatribes about comics, but will not worry about when I actually do a post.  A few years back I turned over management of the blog to Lee, who has been with the blog almost from its inception. What he and the boys plan to do in the future will be their decision and I’m sure they will let you know. Please dry your tears; I will still be here, just not on a schedule.

Of course before we jump into any remarks on last week’s books, we need to give you next week’s list. The Cosmic Comix hook up for the clean and simple cut and Midtown for all the details and list of variant covers you could want. Next week brings the new 100 Bullet mini-series, the final Age of Ultron (click on link for a fun send up of the ending), Dream Thief #2, Captain Midnight #0 ( that name sounds dirty), Wild Blue Yonder #1, Invincible, Harbinger, Bloodshot, Wonder Woman, Superior Spider-Man and many more. It looks to be a good week.

Okay I called this segment Scott Snyder week because he has three books that came out, Superman Unchained #1, Batman #21 and American Vampire Special (under Vertigo). I hope that Snyder is making a boatload of money because without him DC has nothing. Batman has been a top selling title under his pen and now after probably five years we have a readable Superman comic. Add to that the nice one-shot to tide us over while the series is on hiatus and you have three very good comics in one week. If Snyder is not at DC, Batman will still do okay and was great under Morrison, but it will not be the mega hit it is now. Superman will of course be continued to be published, but it will be most likely more of the same trash that has been put out there. Finally without Snyder, there is no American Vampire.

American Vampire the Road to Hell was a great one shot. It was also a spotlight for artist Rafael Albuquerque because he co-plotted and scripted the book. I think Rafael maybe only the third person outside of Snyder and Stephen King to script an AV story. It was an extra long issue that told the story of a young couple who are turned into Vampires and how they still managed to have a happy ending before their final ending. It featured the 50’s greaser type as a Vampire hunter and introduced a strange little boy who I think maybe prominent in the next story line when AV comes back. A terrific read and a book that while pricey at $7 still delivered the bang for the buck with an extra issued and a very good story.

The Week of June 4 in Review Part 3 of 3 – Everything Else

As I look to transition away from weekly work I hope to do more opinion pieces discussing things like who is the creator of Superman as he exists today, are comics important to Warner Brothers and Disney and other such topics. I also want to start a series of columns where I induct creators and characters in the Comics And… prestigious Hall of Fame. For fun maybe try and do an occasional Hall of Shame. Of course a few reviews and rants thrown in along the way, just no longer on a set schedule. As I work out the timing with the crew I will let you know also.

                                              

Geez, another long preamble, it is like I can never get to the point of these posts sometimes. This post is more the short blurb type of thing.

Earth 2 #13 by James Robinson and Yildiray Cinar. I enjoy this book, I’m not dead in love with it, but I like it. I’m bummed Robinson has walked away from it as he seems to have had a long range plan for what he is doing. I’m not 100% against him leaving as that long range plan is taking forever. Also as much as I love Robinson, he seriously over writes a modern comic

as can be seen from the scanned page. The series is has such a wide ranging cast it is hard to pull it altogether so the book has been more about Earth 2 and not a true super hero group book which I kept expecting. I’m curious if DC will still do a second book and what the long term plans are now for Earth 2. Sadly I like Earth 2 better then the new DCU.

Buy it for now.

The Avengers #13 is by Jonathan Hickman, Nick Spencer and Mike Deodato. It is hard to not like a book by Mike Deodato. I keep remembering he had a different style at DC and I thought I read where Marvel asked him to adjust his style. Anyway he is a star at Marvel now. One thing I will give this series is that I sold the first 12 issues for $36 on Ebay, so it was almost a rental situation for me to read along. I’m concerned to see Nick Spencer’s name on this book as I’m not a fan of his work and wonder where this is going. This concludes the arc of the strange children of the Savage Land brought about by the builders. It is a good story but how this is all going to play out and pull together is questionable. Hickman’s plan appears to be too ambitious or at least needs a faster pace  then even the one it is on now.

The Week of June 4 in Review – Part 2 of 3 – Five Books That Rocked

This week was so massive that I have not had a chance to read close to everything but these five are the type of books that keep me reading comics.

After far too long of an absence Astro City has returned, this time it is under the Vertigo banner. Who knows all the convoluted machinations that must have gone on behind the scenes, but I don’t care as long as the creators are happy and we are getting an Astro City comic. Kurt Busiek in the back matter explains that he has been dealing with a long term illness that saps his ability to work as much as he would like. He states that he is recovered enough to be more productive and that during the interim he has stockpiled 10 full issues of scripts. So now if there are delays in publishing I’m guessing it won’t occur for over a year. Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson have managed to create a world of super heroes that tell stories about people first and foremost. By morphing his man on the street POV from the Marvel series, Kurt now tells us stories about people. Powers maybe involved, but it is the story of the person and the character study that is the most interesting. Brent Anderson always does his best work on Astro City and Alex Sinclair is one of the finest colorists in the industry. It is all topped off with Alex Ross’ signature photo realistic style on the cover. This is a perfect comic book package. Heck Kurt is even promising to keep a page for letters, something sadly missing in any book published by DC.

The Week if June 5 in Review Part 1 of 3 - Three Marvel Books

I’m growing very tired of the weekly grind. I have constantly toyed with the idea of quitting the blog altogether. As of August 24 it will be seven years ago that I started the blog. I will have to discuss with Lee, Thomm, Matthew and Shawn more about my plans. I think I want to jump to a format that is a little more spontaneous. In others words no set schedule for when I post. I’m just playing out my thoughts. In many ways I think I have said what I want to say about comics, yet I’m opinionated and always have something in my head to say about a comic as I’m reading it. I also keep exploring different ways to approach how I talk about a comic.

Alright enough rambling, here are the requisite lists for next week’s books with the clean list at Cosmic Comix and the detailed list at Midtown Comics. Marvel comes in the lightest for me with only Alpha, Guardians, Thor and Wolverine. DC actually does okay with me next week as I have decided to try all the GL books with the new writers and Snyder has his Superman book out next week. Who scheduled this crap? DC has Batman and Superman Unchained coming out the same week. Otherwise I’m picking up American Vampire (back for a one shot I believe), Demon Knights (cancelled), GL Corps try out issue, Stormwatch HC (Warren Ellis stuff), Suicide Squad, Threshold (also a cancelled title) and the Batman and Superman books. The Alternative Press win the week as it often does (and American Vampire should be in this category) with Walking Dead, Doomsday, Half Past Danger (great fun), Thumprint, Black Beetle, Breath of Bones, Star Wars, X, Shadow, Six Gun Gorilla (had to try it), Stuff of Legends and Harbinger Wars. I’m very curious about Superman Unchained. I think Snyder’s Batman has been good to great, but not the best ever and I’m not a big Jim Lee fan. It all adds up to limited expectations about the Superman title. No matter it has to be better then the other books since I won’t even picked them up.

Onto the reviews or thoughts I had about books I read this week. This part of the series of posts I want to talk a little bit about what themes intentionally or unintentionally Marvel is writing about in some of there books.

I’m starting with Superior Spider-Man #11. I realized the book is making an interesting point about what it is to be a hero. Peter is now gone and Otto is totally in charge. The book has become more vibrant and alive then it has been in a long time and brought me back into the fold. The reason is that we have the illusion of change and what a great illusion. It is Peter Parker, but he is no longer the Peter we knew, it is now his greatest enemy taking over Peter’s life. Otto seems to be better at it in many ways and is perhaps still a little too aggressive in other ways. From what I have seen the sales are sky high and maybe Otto remains Spider-Man for a long time. Heck he is Peter Parker, so the change is internal and plays to the comic fans while keeping the corporate masters happy. The question becomes what makes someone a hero. Is Superior Spider-Man a hero? Doc Ock is an acknowledged mass murderer and was for many years (in comic books years it may only be about 10, but heck he still killed a lot of people). Is this a story of redemption? Is there no limit to the bad you do that can be at least mitigated by now doing some good? How is it that Doc Ock is now totally in charge and still being a good guy? Does the Joker get a chance to redeem himself one day? I find the story interesting because I’m not rooting for Superior to win, but I have noticed that we are ratcheting up the level of the bad guys. They are worse then ever. How does this play out when Peter Parker himself returns (or will the 2099 Spider-Man be the Superior Spider-Man for a year? It also points out that Peter Parker is no longer interesting. Like reading my opinion on certain things, you know what they are by now and if you are a regular reader you are possibly bored in hearing it again. Have we become that way with Peter Parker? Is the hero who does the right thing no longer exciting? What does that say about us as readers, just excited for a new take or do we have a desire to see things in a harsher light?

Part 4 of 4 The Week of May 29 in Review – A Few More I Read

There is a part of me that wishes I had more time to devote to writing these mini-reviews/impressions of each book. That is because regardless of whether I think it is trash, entertainment or genius I know that a lot of hard work goes into creating each book. Often I think that that the goal of the effort is missed. If I had more time I could play editor and try and offer more constructive criticism as opposed to the brief comments I make. I need to hit the lottery.

New Avengers #6 by Jonathan Hickman and Steve Epting was its usually maddening self. On one hand many people will say it is a great book and heap praise upon it. I often feel like many of Hickman’s books are praised for fear that if you say it is not understandable people will think you are not cool or maybe just too stupid to understand his brilliance. I feel it is the Emperor’s new clothes syndrome with some writers. No one wants to say it is crap or should be written with more explanation. As with Azzarello, Hickman’s work is often a challenge to understand. That can be a good thing; it can also be a bad thing, especially when I’m reading over 100 books a month. Epting’s artwork as always is clean and concise. He is a top flight artist, but not a top artist. I don’t think I have ever disliked Epting’s work, but he is somewhere between great and good. As for the story itself we are six issues in and can someone tell me what the hell is going on. I know the Black Swan (wonderful name and reference) is captured by the Marvel Illuminati. I know they are trying to save the world from other worlds coming into our world and killing everyone. Of course I was confused that this issue another planet is next to ours but there is no impact of the gravities. The Black Swan spouts stuff that sounds like a fortune cookie on crack/cocaine. The heroes stand around and talk to each other, concepts are introduced and they destroy a world. They are all emo about it, but a page before it was barren with no life, then when it is destroyed the caption reads “It was an avengers world.” I’m obviously missing a lot of what Hickman is trying to convey. I don’t have the time to re-read his current epic.

Wait for the trade, it should read better.

The Deep Sea one shot by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and Tony Akins was a lot of fun, but ultimately a disappointment. This was obviously the zero issue to an ongoing mini-series. I kept looking to see if the three eight page chapters were in Dark Horse Presents, but I could not find any indication that was the case. So a great start to a cool story, excellent art by Akins and I guess we have to see (pun unintended) if the full story can find a home. Hey Jimmy run a Kickstarter to do the whole series!

Read it on the stands.

Sex #3 by Joe Casey and Piotr Kowalski was a solid issue in this series. If anything it suffered from middle chapteritis. The plot was moved forward, characterization was deepen, but outside of the Catwoman character pleasuring herself while dreaming about her and the Batman character nothing earth shattering happened. That is not a condemnation it is just a factual statement that in the course of a long form story sometimes a chapter has to advance each character but we lose any climaxes occurring (except for the Catwoman character). I crack myself up sometimes.

Buy it.

Avengers #12 is by Jonathan Hickman and Mike Deodato. See my above review of New Avengers. It is the same issue with this story, just better art.

Buy the trade or wait till I put the issues on Ebay.

As I write these posts I run out of steam, but I have two more books I want to mention.

Captain America #7 by Rick Remender and John Romita is still rollicking good fun. I’m not sure why, but the Jack Kirby acid trip has been an entertaining story. Plus I’m curious how this will all play out when Cap gets back home. Then I’m curious to see where Remender takes us next.

Buy it – or pay me when it goes on Ebay

Earth 2 Annual #1 by James Robinson and Cafu. The thrill is gone. I liked the issue, hated that we get no reveal on who the new Earth-2 Batman is, liked the origin of Al Pratt’s powers (actually still left it a mystery) and enjoyed most of it. No matter as Robinson has quit. Now the next guy may do well, but it just feels like another time that DC us pissing off the creator.

Buy it.

Come back next week for more rants, reviews and commentary.

The Week of May 29 in Review Part 3 of 4 – Five Number Ones

I know these did not all come out last week, but remember I was gone for a week. I’m contemplating being gone from a weekly post altogether too. Again I feel like all that I want to say I have said 450 billion times. Often it is just cathartic to type out my views.

Half Past Danger #1 by Stephen Mooney was a book I went in with almost zero expectations. It was tagged as being about Dames, Dinosaurs and Danger with a burning Nazi flag on the cover. It was shades of Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Xenozic Tales and an ERB type of novel. Also I have no idea who the heck Stephen Mooney is, but he wrote and drew the entire thing. It was a fun ride. We start in WWII on the Pacific front. Sgt Tommy “Irish” Flynn is leading his squad on a small island doing reconnoitering with a small squad. They find Germans where there should be none. Take pictures and run into a jungle filled with dinosaurs. Only Tommy survives. Then we find Tommy getting drunk when an army Captain and femme fatale show up to recruit him for some mission. The bar fight was epic and now we just await issue #2. Solid art, with great layouts and page designs, all the characters are distinctive and the story is just outlandish and fun. I’m sold.

Buy it.

The Top Ten Reasons DC Sucks – Part 2 of 4 The Week of May 29 in Review

This has nothing to do with the week in review; this is just me in yet another of endless rants complaining about DC. It just kills me to see the characters I had grown to love are being wasted. I'm starting with the biggest problem. 

1)      Dan Didio – for all the tries at innovation and efforts to shake up the status quo he has ultimately just thrown out the baby with the bath water. His constant changing his mind causes havoc throughout the line. His idea to kill Nightwing, re-writing some of the 52 series and other things speaks to an inability to truly plan. Until he goes DC is going to have problems.

The Week of May 29 in Review Part 1 of 4 - Daredevil #26 and JLA #4

I’m back and therefore this week in review will encompass whatever I happened to read and felt compelled to comment on.

Of course before we jump into the posts I will give you the links to next week’s books at Cosmic Comix for the clean list and MidtownComics for all the details you could want.

I hate next week’s books because I have three hard cover collections showing up on the same week. I order these books and if they showed up when they are supposed to the bill would be spread out. It never happens and inevitably a bunch of stuff shows up the same week. The books that look great are the return of Astro City – now a Vertigo title, Ultimates with Joshua Fialkov as the new writer, Ten Grand #2, Locke & Key and Polarity. Plenty of other stuff too including the new writer’s first turn on Green Lantern now that Johns has ended his long run. John’s run will be remembered for adding the rainbow corps, but he never advanced Hal Jordan’s character. Sadly in five years it could all be changed again anyway.

Okay onto the comics and why Daredevil #26 is the most disappointing comic of 2013. Mark Waid has been doing a solid job on this book. It is certainly a better run then what the horrible Shadowland series. The mini-series following it did nothing for the character. Even Brubaker and Bendis runs before only were in many ways continuation of the themes Frank Miller had established a long time ago. When Waid took over I thought we were going to get a different take on the book. When Chris Samnee joined as the regular artist I was thrilled as Chris’ artwork has such great storytelling and a minimalist style to his line work. His work is very complex and yet is clean and simple. Yet Mark succumbed to the best theme Daredevil has and that is tear the character apart and let him fight his way out of it. The problem with long lived characters is that they are still the same character and I as a fan have hung around too long. It is been there and done that way too often. Even with all of that the villain Ikari was a perfect mirror image for Dardevil. Ikari has Daredevil’s powers and can still see. I loved that twist last issue.

The Alternative Publisher Books I Read – Part 3 of 3 – The Week of May 15 in Review

I have to say that this side of the weekly haul of books gets better and better. Not only with what is out, but the projects being announced are great. Fraction and Chaykin on Satellite Sam, Rucka and Lark on Lazarus.

GI Joe Special Missions #3 is a guilty pleasure. This book I picked up for the creators as Chuck Dixon is a top notch writer and Paul Gulacy is an artist whose work I enjoy. Now I know Paul’s style is not one to please everyone, but I own two pages of his original artwork. I have always loved the cinematic feel he brings to his work. Chuck Dixon has long been a well regarded and very good comic book writer. I think Chuck is one of those writers that never received the acclaim he deserves. This story is about the Baroness trying to get back into Cobra’s good graces and a GI Joe team trying to stop it. Normally I could pass on this type of book but Dixon and Gulacy make it a fun action / adventure.

Buy It.

Green Horner #2 by Mark Waid and Daniel Indro was a good read. Again I can usually pass on a Green Hornet book, but with Mark Waid’s name as the writer I wanted to give it a shot. Mark is crafting a nice story showing us how the Green Hornet establishes himself as a bad guy. Waid is also giving us an idea of how Britt uses his position as newspaper publisher to further his war against crime. At the same time you can see Britt’s arrogance is going to get him in trouble as the unknown big boss in the background is outplaying him. Indro’s art is decent and is slightly better then average. Dynamite in general seems to have heavy handed coloring and often I think it is to cover up some of the less then stellar art. Still more and more Dynamite books are on my list.

Buy It.

Marvel and DC – Part 2 of 3 – The Week of May 15 in Review

So DC continues to just be an unending fountain of bad news. James Robinson walks away this week as the news of four more cancellations are released.  What hurts DC even more is that they have nothing exciting on the horizon. The idea of not launching new series every month or so and the obsession with having just 52 titles makes DC dull. I no longer even review the DC solicitations. There is no point; it is the same old titles. Nothing cool is coming out in collected editions and Vertigo is a shadow of itself. The talent that has been chased away in the last two years includes Nathan Edmondson, Joshua Fialkov, Andy Diggle, George Perez (seems to have disappeared too) and James Robinson. Scott Lobdell is the backbone of the Superman franchise and Scott Snyder is their one star.

Not that Marvel does have issues. Marvel is killing all their smaller titles like Red She Hulk, Moribus and others since readers (even me) can only buy so many books and the 24 or whatever issues a month of the big “X” books and Avengers books means other have to be cut. Still it seems that all of this corporate interference is having a positive effect on the alternative press as we have tons of great titles coming out from Image, Dark Horse, Dynamite, Valiant and IDW.

Okay now it is time to go onto the reviews.

The Dream Review of a Thief and a Merchant – Part 1 of 3 – The Week of May 15 in Review

I decided to start the week in review with a review of two new series tied together only by their title, but it was an odd coincidence that book that both had Dream in their titles showed up the same week. Of course we first need to give you the links for next week’s books. The clean list is at Cosmic Comix, my store and the detailed list is at Midtown Comics.

This coming week is a little heavier on the big two. Of course part of that is me filling out a smaller week by picking up and re-trying a book or two.  From DC I’m curious to see Johns end his Green Lantern run, something I feel was long overdue. The real highlight is Batman Inc as we head into the home stretch of Grant Morrison’s epic run on Batman. Looking over my Marvel list I would say the highlight is Daredevil. Mark Waid is going down the Frank Miller path of tearing DD down, let’s see how or if Matt gets back up. The Alternative press has a new Joe Casey book with Bounce #1 and the next issue of his series Sex. Add into that mix the next issue of Mind Mgmt and GI Joe Cobra and even on a light week the alternative press shines brighter.

Chin Music #1 – A Review Part 6 of 6 – The Week of May 8 in Review

Chin Music #1 by Steve Niles and Tony Harris is off to a good start that is a little confusing. I love Steve Niles, the man is a writer. He writes for Image, DC, Wildstorm, IDW and anyone else who will publish his stories. The old saw that a writer writes fits Niles to a “T”. He appears to always be writing and has another story in mind.

                  

This book is another mixture of the supernatural and the classic PI Noir type of story. Like the movies which seem to turn out similar projects at the same time, comics and TV also have that tendency. It is more pronounced to me as I read both this and Ten Grand in the same week.

The story opens with our PI scratching runes into his bullets. The time frame appears to be the late 30’s. He sticks a gun out a window and fires. We then flip to what appears to be a Middle Eastern country. Some form of mystic battle takes place and a skeleton is still alive and crawls away after losing the fight. He is told that if he interferes again they will track him down and kill him. He looks dead to me already.

Next we jump, I guess back to the US as Elliott Ness finds the skeleton man in the middle of a road. He helps get him an ambulance but it is empty when it gets back in town. We switch to Al Capone having dinner and as he stands up his head explodes as it is hit by a bullet.

As I wrote the summary of the story I guess it is not really confusing. Elliott Ness is possessed and we can guess Al Capone and other bad guys are possessed by his enemies. The war between the law and the mobsters in the 30’s just got a new element thrown into the mix.

Tony Harris work is always great to look at. He conveys all the story elements needed and has a great stylistic feel that makes it distinctively his work. The dark color palette makes sense, but at times I felt it was overly dark.

Buy it.

That is a wrap for this week, see you next Monday. 

Uber #1 – A Review Part 5 of 6 – The Week of May 8 in Review

It is fun seeing Kieron Gillen writing something so extremely different from what seems to be his norm. First off I have never been a great fan of his work. What I have read was good, but it was never 100% to my taste. With such a wide and heavy number of books I get he often gets cut. Still everything I have read has been very readable and well structured.

Uber #1 according to the back matter was written two years after Uber #0 and it shows. Uber #1 is a superior book to Uber #0. Zero suffered from trying to establish too many things at one time. The base story line is WWII did not end with the Battle of Berlin because the Nazi’s managed to develop and unleash a group of super soldiers that turned the tide. This issue picks up after the Nazi’s have won that battle.

It starts with Hitler about to blow his brains out when he receives news they have won the battle. We jump around and find out Churchill is crushed by the news. There is hope as England has a spy that has been part of what the Nazis have been doing. She succeeds in blowing up production of the drugs that are making super humans and is trying to make it to England. The Nazis are reveling in their glory and some are wondering what they have unleashed. The atrocities of WWII just got ratcheted up a level as we watch a super soldier slaughter POWs.

Where zero was uneven, this issue set up the premise and gives us a divergence point as we now build the alternative reality. These stories, when done well, are always fun and I believe a writer named Harry Turtledove has made a career out of this type of stories. Someone let me know if any of his stuff is worth reading.

The art is not the strongest. Caanan White has not made his entire cast distinctive enough. Perhaps it is the uniforms that are causing some of it as I’m not 100% sure which German general is which. I feel that the art is at times muddled by the heavy handed coloring, but that maybe to cover artistic flaws. I always feel a little bad criticizing any artist because I can’t draw at all, but I know what I like and don’t like. White’s work is on the bottom end of acceptable, but in the end does convey the story.

Buy it. 

X #1 A Review Part 4 of 6 - The Week of May 8 in Review

Look a book from this week. Before I jump into the mini-review of the book I want to point out how many exciting new books and projects are just over flowing from Image, Dark Horse, Boom, Dynamite and even Avatar. It is a new golden age to me. I’m enjoying so many books that the Marvel and DC stuff seems to be more stagnant then it was even a few years ago. The corporate gods will never open the gates for true creativity in their characters until the last dollar has been squeezed from the souls of those characters. Sadly with merchandising, cartoons, movies and the rest that will not happen in a very long time. I’m sure I will dust before it occurs. On that happy note let’s talk about X.

                                      

No nude dancers appear inside - Sorry Lee

X #1 is a revival of Dark Horse’s nineties foray into super heroes. Instead of the excess of the nineties, Dark Horse seems to be dipping its toe slowly in the water in reviving Ghost, X and other characters. First off they do some work in Dark Horse Presents. Then they green light a mini-series and watch the sales to see if they are getting it right or not.  Therefore the Zero issue is a repacking of the Dark Horse Presents stuff and then we jump into issue #1. Duane Swierczynski seems to be the go to guy for the hard edge and shoot’em up type of characters. Paired with Eric Nguyen the series has the right type of feel for a vigilante who seems to be more prone to getting himself beat up and shot as much as he defeats the bad guys.

I don’t remember much about X from before so I have no clue how much of this is a true re-imagining of the character or how much is updating the same character. Regardless I’m enjoying this street level vigilante who targets people who deserve to die. He is brash enough to announce what he is going to do but mailing a photo to his target with an X through it. This issue is a direct follow up from issue #0 and if someone jumps on with issue #1 they may have been a little loss. The net impact of the story is the police outwit him. X escapes in bad shape and is looking for help from a free lance journalist to get away.

An action packed start and the difference is the characterization focuses on the cast around X and we get nothing on X himself.

Buy it. 

Ten Grand #1 – A Review Part 3 of 6 - The Week of May 8 in Review

Ten Grand #1 is another cheat from last week, but what the hell this was a great start. J. Michael Straczynski has revived his Joe’s Comics imprint and has gotten Ben Templesmith as his artist partner for this book. I think it was a brilliant move as Millar has shown that a great artist can elevate any script and make it greater or add to its greatness.

Once you have read as many stories as I have it is hard to not read something and say it reminds me of this, this and this. It is a function of being a fan of stories via comics, TV, movies and books and then multiplying by my age. Ten Grand is about an ex-hit man trying to pay off his debt to heaven to buy a few minutes with his dead wife on occasion. A little Hellblazer mixed with a hard edge noir character and the assassin with a heart of gold. This thing could have easily been a train wreck as all the disparate elements have to be put together right to make it work. JMS and Templesmith pull it off.

I know JMS has been a lightning rod for some creators to cast disparaging remarks at him and I’m sure some has been earned and some are totally unfair. All I know is that there is a lot of his work that was very enjoyable. He has done Midnight Nation, Babylon 5, Changeling, Spider-Man and The Twelve to name a few. All in all this looks like another winner.

Now I would be remiss if I did not say that without Ben Templesmith I’m not sure if this series would have work. His dark and moody art and scratchy style enhanced the story every step of the way. I would have to guess that Ben added a lot of his own story telling into this book and the JMS is smart enough to know how to write to an artist’s strength. I could feel every bit of Joe’s pain and remorse for the life he lived and the love he has lost.

Joe is now sort of a private eye that wants ten grand for any case that he takes. This case harkens back to the tragedy that ended up killing him and his wife.  So we set the premise and get an origin story all at the same time. It even has an audio file that you can scan with a QR and listen to the book if you would like. A great product and a great re-launch of Joe’s Comics.

Buy it. 

Suicide Risk #1 A Review Part 2 of 6 - The Week of May 8 in Review

This is a cheat as it came out last week, but what the heck. I wanted to review some good number one issues and did not want to pass up a chance to talk about this one.

The first think that strikes me is seeing Mike Carey writing for BOOM Studios. I know Waid wrote for them, but after he was their EIC for awhile. Carey has done a lot of work for Marvel and Vertigo so it was surprising to see him show up at BOOM. I’m curious as to the ownership of the story and other background details. The one thing this points out to me is that more and more the choice of creators is not just Marvel or DC.

Suicide Risk #1 was interesting. Our point of view character, Leo, is a normal police officer in a world where super powers have been cropping up more and more. Also the good guys seem to become bad guys rather quickly.

We start with a robbery or something and a large group of police are trying to stop the bad guys. Almost ever police officer dies except for Leo. He is given time off and told to get a psyche evaluation because of the extreme nature of what he had been through. Before heading home he finds a clue about how people are getting their powers.

When we get to his home life it was refreshing to see that his wife’s heritage is from India and it is not a part of the story, it just is. I enjoy that a writer can build in levels of diversity without it feeling forced in any way shape or form. Leo is helping to celebrate his son’s birthday. We see he is struggling with what happened and the clue about how people are getting their powers.

Leo decides to take a meeting with the people from the clue he had developed. When meets with them there is a dispute. Still he is granted a shot at getting powers and promptly seems to die. I hate that; the main character can’t die in issue #1, so don’t even try and sell me that bullshit.

Outside of that Carey has set up a great premise. A normal world suddenly goes nuts with super power powered people showing up. Even the good guys are going bad. A strange couple is granting powers to certain people for money. Leo looks like he will become a super powered person. Who is this couple? Why is this happening? Will Leo remain a good guy? How will this affect his family and more questions? It was a very good start and has me signed on for the series. I hope it is a limited series, but it can be a long limited series.

Finally the art by Elena Casagrande is decent. It was not awe inspiring and I’m not looking to own any of the pages, but it told the story very well and conveyed the emotions of the characters. She also kept the people relatively distinct. A professional job that did not hurt the story.

Buy it.

Some of What I Read - Part 1 of 6 - The Week of May 8 in Review

Okay I’m back. Of course I’m going on a trip at the end of the month, this time for a wedding. My wife and I only travel back to Maryland for wedding and funerals it seems. I’m planning on going to Baltimore Comic Con this year to break that trend.

First off I have to thank Matthew for filling in on Tuesday. He did a great job as always. Next I have to give you the clean and simple list for next week’s books here at Cosmic Comix and the detailed one at MidtownComics. For me the week breaks down with only 2 DCU comics, Sword of Sorcery and Wonder Woman. I’m getting the Authority collection since I sold my Absolute Editions. Outside of that I’m only getting Fables, so DC is barely on my radar next week. Marvel fares a little better with five books, Age of Ultron, Cable and X-Force, FF, Iron Man (following the new origin) and Nova.

My point of sharing every book I’m getting next week is to show that over 50% is coming from other publishers. The full list is Dream Merchant, Fatale, Legend of Luther Strode, Think Tank, BPRD, Conan, Dream Thief, Doomsday, GI Joe Special Missions, Bloodshot, Mark Waid’s Green Hornet, Comic Book Creator, Thunderbolt, Shadow and X-O Manowar. I believe that not only with my list, but in general we are seeing a shift in power. The big 2 will of course remain dominate, but the other publishers seem to have the more exciting projects. The big names are flocking to creator owned projects. It is an exciting time for comics as the digital market place, Kickstater and other things are changing the industry.

Onto the books, my plan is for the first post to be a long one. I’m covering most of what I read and tomorrow to have five shorter solo reviews of recent number one issues.

The Walking Dead #110 was a great issue. Jesus stops the one guy from blowing the planned attack of Negal and his group. Rick and company go to Ezekeil’s compound. Michonne does not take well to his acting as a king and he confesses his back story to her. Looks like Michonne may have found a friend and someone she could care about. This book always has it peaks and valleys. For my money the book is moving towards a peak. It is ten times better then the TV show and you really never know what is going to happen and who will live and die.

Buy it.

Battlefields #6 was a brilliant ending for Anna Kharkova. In fact Dynamite should pull all six issues of her story and publish it as a collected edition. In some ways Garth realistic portrayal of war stories faltered this issue. While Anna’s last story was touching and a fitting ending for a pilot and proud warrior it felt like it was not real. She steals a Mig and flews it towards to US. She does not turn in the plan and become a traitor she decides to fly straight up. It was a poetic ending, just not as reality as Garth brings to most of his stories. I think Garth feel in love with Anna as much as we all did.

Buy the trade.

Suicide Squad #20 was a nice start for the new creative team. Now I want to see what else Ales Kot has written and I believe this is Patrick Zircher’s first DC work. It was not a hard re-set; it was more of the next phase of the Suicide Squad. In my mind it gave us some new stuff, but did not wipe away the past. DC has been quiet for about 4 weeks and this type of issue gives me hope that maybe things are settling down. Then I remember who is running the company and cross my fingers this book gets left alone and can just be what it is. It is odd that they have something called the Samsara serum which can bring you back to life and it is being used for villains by the government. The problem I have if this is in the DCU then death is meaningless. Batman will be pissed when he finds out. It is one of those plot points that sounds cool as you are writing it, but the overall implications are problematic. So I will ignore it and just enjoy the ride. Great kick off for the new team as they establish the cast and now we await the next mission.

Buy it.

Justice League #3 is crap. It has Geoff Johns, David Finch and Richard Friend and it is crap. The art feels rushed as Finch has never maintained a monthly book. The script is weak and the motivations of the characters are not compelling. After the Trinity War crap I will have to re-assess, it maybe time to drop the three Justice League books. Marvel is doing a better job with the Avengers books then DC is with the JL books. It has been a long time since Johns has been a reason to buy a book.

Skip it.

As happy circumstance would have it, next up is Avengers #11. It was a good issue as some of the kids run off to do a covert operation. Gambling, drinking, fighting and other shenanigans ensure. My favorite stuff is seeing Shang-Chi in action. I wish to Thor that Marvel could get some sort of deal cut and reprint the original Master of Kung Fu stuff as a high end edition and not some damn doorstop Omnibus. I’m enjoying this series but I have to say that all of the Avengers books that I’m reading are convoluted as hell. This book is still dealing with the builder stuff and has more moving parts then a Rube Goldberg device.

Buy it.

Harbinger #12 was another solid issue. I recently re-read the first arc from the 90’s version of the comic. I remember loving all of the early stuff under Jim Shooter, but the update is better. These are the same characters but the motivations and who they are is done better. Of course I believe that the planning behind the series was easier once you decide that you are going to update old concepts. It is easier to rebuild then build from scratch. I would love to hear what some of the original creators think about what is going on and of course I’m sure there are issues about who owns what. Anyway we are in the middle of the Harbinger wars and Peter comes to offer his help to the escaped Psiots kids of Rising Spirit. Only they are not concerned with escaping as they are just trying to enjoy life for the moment since there are bombs in their head that could be re-enabled at any time.

Buy it.

Batman #20 was just flat out fun. Capullo can draw the crap out of Batman and each issue is just beautiful. Scott does a nice job with Batman defeating Clayface. My one gripe is that Snyder has fallen in love with Batman having more gadgets then ever. On one hand, of course Batman would own every technological advantage possible. On the other hand I like to think ultimately Batman’s brains and physical skill can take down almost anyone. It is a tough line to straddle with the level of foes Batman is up against. All in all this is just a rock solid beautiful book. Another plus is  that this book will not be part of any of other “events” for a little while.

Buy it.

Thor #8 was a fun issue. Thor teams up with Thor and Thor. King Thor, Avenger Thor and Viking Thor all finally get together and are now united. It is funny, as I read somewhere it is like Marvel discovered time travel recently. We have it in the Fantastic Four, Age of Ultron and Thor. Of course if you press on time travel too hard the stories all fall apart as the logic of time travel never works. Still Jason Aaron is not letting logic come into play as he crafts a story of the 3 Thors battling to save all the gods of the Universe. Ribic’s art is a great compliment giving the book the gravitas when needed and the humor when needed.

Buy it.

Uncanny Avengers #8 also has time travel and is at least as convoluted as Hickman’s Avengers. Heck Rick Remender is dragging in plot lines from Uncanny X-Force. I did not even remember Angel having twin children. I also never knew Sunfire served as a horseman for Apocalypse. See what happens if you don’t read every Marvel comic ever published or fail to take notes. I hated the ending. We are supposed to believe a group of Avengers was killed on the last page. The whole anyone is dying at Marvel or DC has no impact anymore. Also I’m not a big Daniel Acuna fan. His art is okay, but it leaves me a little cold. Now after all of that, you may think I hate the book, I don’t. It is enjoyable to read and you have to try and make sure you following all the moving parts. I’m curious as to how it will come together. Of course with Remender I worry a little. He often slow plays the finish out so far that by the time we get there I no longer care. When I’m reading Remender and Hickman I feel like a kid again as I’m yelling “Are we there yet”.

Buy it.

Batman and The Red Hood #20 was a good book. Peter Tomasi writes some great stories and sadly is often the third best Batman book of the month. With Grant wrapping up his Batman run Peter will be the second best Batman writer and often is doing stories as good as Snyder. Right now Peter is giving us Batman dealing with his grief, This issue he is with Jason. Of course Batman only needs to get the the Samsara serum and he could fix all of this.

Buy it.

Archer and Armstrong #0 was a nice origin story that gave me as many questions as it answered. It is interesting as sometimes I vaguely remember the old Valiant stuff as I’m reading the new stuff and it creates a level of confusion in my mind. This is not Valiant’s strongest book, but this issue was entertaining.

Read it on the stands.

Wolverine #3 is typical Paul Cornell as you read it you are wondering about what the hell is going on. Alan Davis and Mark Farmer’s art looks great as always. This book could get interesting down the road, but right now the art is carrying the book.

Skip it.

Okay nothing else until Tuesday and they will be solo spotlight reviews of some recent #1s.

Books I Read Part Two

Welcome back to Part Two of my fill-in of Jim’s “What I Read”/Week In Review.  As you know by now Jim was away for a family funeral and we remember him and his family in our thoughts and prayers.  Part One was in place of my normal Saturday post.  So, if you’re a Jim-only reader just step back a few days and see five more titles.

Superior Spider-Man #009 by Dan Slott and Ryan Stegman was a Grade A book.  I had planned to do a solo spotlight review, but this “fill-in” post for Jim got to be rather large, so I thought I’d “cheat” and split it into two parts.  Potto® manages to (for now) eliminate Peter Parker’s brain patterns (or “ghost”).  The story mainly consisted of mental battles consisting of Peter’s greatest friends and foes (well, only the Ditko-era ones with the exception of the Kingpin) and a great (literal) face-off.  It was pretty sad to see Peter forget people (join the club dude, but I think my mental frailties come from sleep deprivation) and I really liked that Slott thru in the classic “mistake” of Peter Palmer from an early issue.   I can’t wait to see what Potto® does without the controlling influence of Peter and it’ll be even more interesting to see how Peter comes back from this setback.  This is the most entertaining Spider-Man storyline in DECADES!!!

Buy it and buy a copy of Avenging Spider-Man for Jim (He needs it).

Books I Read Part One

The Thompson Twins had a song “King for A Day”.  Well, this week I get to be Jim for a day and am mocking mimicking his latest (ever changing) format for The Week In Review.  Actually, this post got to be too large (and I got too tired) so today, I’m filling-in for Jim filling-in for me (not really a break for me) and Tuesday you can read Part Two, where it’s just me filling-in for Jim.  Make sense? I figured I’d better give you all fair warning at the beginning or otherwise you might actually read this!

Age of Ultron: Book Seven by Brian Michael Bendis and Brandon Peterson and Carlos Pacheco was a little uneven.  The past sequences by Pacheco were interesting, but the present scenes by Peterson not so much.  While I prefer Carlos’ art over Brandon’s, it really was more of the story and the character designs in the “now” that I didn’t like.  Alternate Timelines are supposed to generate really amazing costume changes (like Mirror Mirror), but just look at the cover of marred heroes.  It doesn’t look that exciting to me (although my LCS owner did like it) and you can’t even recognize Janet as being Janet.  I wish Pacheco was doing the whole series – his and Busiek’s Avengers Forever is one of the all-time greatest epics!

Read it on the stands.