The Continuing New Comics Thread

Topic

Discuss new issues of your favourite comics here.

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If it’s all like issue #1 then it will be a huge letdown and a waste of DWJ’s time and talents. After his Wonder Woman book he feels like he’s at the height of his powers, ready to give us something amazing.

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Chris-S

I blitzed through Kick Ass #7-18 and Kick Ass vs Hit Girl #1-5 over the last week or so. And, when I say blitzed, I mean blitzed. Each issue took 5 minutes maximum to read. If I had paid anything close to cover price for these I would have been pissed.

Steve Niles and Marcelo Frusin take over the series, taking Patience Lee’s story from where Millar & Romita Jr left her, as the budding kingpin of crime to its conclusion 17 issues (or approximately 1 hour of reading material) later.

There’s some insane violence along the way. But absolutely none of the charm or inventiveness of the earlier creative team’s run. It’s all just do pedestrian.

The artwork is alright, I suppose. It tells the story. But, it’s very loose and feels insubstantial.

The story is just very run of the mill. It’s boring, and predictable. And, just dull.

I really liked Patience Lee when she was introduced. I thought she was one of the best characters introduced in recent years, in fact. Very relatable and realistic, as far as these things go. I’m annoyed that all of that got thrown away and her story ends like this. Disappointing.

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Dave, Chris-S

Department of Truth has hit a bit of a lull with the last couple of issues, #6 and #7. They’ve been just OK, which is a big step down from the first five-issue arc, which was great.

Frankly, the book misses Simmonds art and without it, it has a very different (and not as distinctive) feel.

I get that they’re holding back the present-day story for Simmonds to come back to, which is why these past couple of issues have been flashbacks to decades ago, but I think I would rather have had a gap of a few months and keep the consistency than have a couple of issues of filler.

Tom King’s Strange Adventures has been quite an odd series.

The central idea isn’t a bad one – using Adam Strange to explore the murky morality of war and what being a soldier entails, and treating cosmic conflict in the same way as real-world warfare is treated (with all of the repercussions and political fallout and difficult questions that come out of that.)

But it’s just not very entertaining. And it’s been the same stuff for nine issues now, and I’m a bit tired of it at this point. It feels it should have gone somewhere by now but honestly you could join the series here and not have missed that much.

The art is lovely but it’s a story that’s been spinning its wheels and could have been told in half the time.

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Rocket

It just doesn’t sound like King really doesn’t get the idea of superheroes.

Is Strange Adventures a Black Label book?

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Rocket

Yep it’s Black Label.

Batman/ Catwoman #4 felt slight and insubstantial in isolation, but moved the story being told across all three time periods ahead significantly. This is a book that benefits greatly from not being tied into or responsible for driving the main Bat-continuity.

X-Men #18 & #19 by Hickman and Asrar were excellent. Powers of/ House of X level excellent.

X-Men Legends #1 & 2, on the other hand, was a nice little throwback tale by Fabian Nicieza and Brett Booth. Totally inconsequential to modern continuity, especially given the cop out ending, but fun and endearing nevertheless.

Having read the X-books for a long time the mission of this book – to give prior creators of note the opportunity to come back and tell another X-tale – holds a lot of potential. I doubt this book will be for everyone, but I think it’s a pretty great idea.

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lorcan_nagle

They have done it before. Claremont got something like 40 issues of X-Men Forever that take place from the point where he left the book and I think they did something similar with Louise Simonson and X-Factor around the same time.

I recently finished X-Men Forever (I read the first trade years ago but fell off it). It was fun in many ways but probably suffers from letting his imagination go off without anyone reining it in. If you hear CC speak he is a mine of ideas, he constantly looks at any story and goes ‘what if this happened?’ that takes it on a tangent. If he’s asked about an MCU movie for example he instantly comes up with half a dozen different, often very good, ideas that take things another way. In his 80s peak with strong editors it produced really exciting and unpredictable  story paths within a still traditional Marvel setting.

He goes quite wild on Forever, with his own version of the universe he kills off Wolverine and Tony Stark, gives Kitty an adamantium claw, Nightcrawler and Rogue swap bodies. It’s all a bit too much.

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Rocket, Vikram, lorcan_nagle

I think I read the first trade of X-Men Forever, but found it a little too crazy. It’s like Claremont just saw what had happened in the books after his departure, and deliberately did the opposite. Even good ideas were thrown out unceremoniously.

I think I would have liked the book a bit more had Claremont been allowed to do what he wanted, but within the restrictions of the broader Marvel continuity. So Spider-man, Avengers and so on stayed recognisable, but he could do what he liked with the mutants. That would have better reflected a genuine continuation of his prior work, rather than the completely alternate reality thing that it ended up being.

I think probably too much time had passed too. Claremont has revealed his plans a few times that Xavier was set to die and Cyclops retire, the secret of Sinister and Gambit etc many times in interviews. The intention was the group would evolve and senior members fade away as younger ones graduates to the X-Men.

So he wasn’t just rebelling against what came out after he left but his own plans too (although he retains Sinister being a kid). So it’s left with a strong ‘what if’ feel with leftfield ideas coming thick and fast.

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Todd, Vikram

Geiger #1 is the first issue of a creator owned Image mini-series by Geoff Johns, Gary Frank and Brad Anderson. It’s post- apocalyptic sci-fi meets superheroes. I was a little hesitant to get this, as Johns can be hit or miss with me, but this debut issue was pretty great.

Nocterra #2 by Scott Snyder, Tony Daniel and Tomeu Morey was another great issue. I clearly like my post- apocalyptic sci-fi! There are a few intriguing hints about what caused the blackout here, that tease at the scope of future storylines. Along with high octane road trip action. The colours on this book are superb, and really add to the visual impact of the storytelling.

Fire Power #9 and #10 (by Robert Kirkman, Chris Samnee and Matt Wilson) start with the lead character falling to his “death” from 30,000 feet and end with him leading a surprise attack in his enemy’s base. Along the way new characters are introduced, old friends return, and pancakes are eaten. I really love this book, but definitely more for the characters than the plot itself (and, the art, of course – Samnee’s awesome!). Having not read a lot of Kirkman’s work beforehand, I get the impression that this is his thing. It makes me want to check out Invincible too now.

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Dave, Ben

Vikram wrote:

X-Men #18 & #19 by Hickman and Asrar were excellent. Powers of/ House of X level excellent.

#19 is definitely Hox/PoX level. It actually advances the story told there. Synch in this reminds me a bit of Moira in Hox. It also has a timeline like the one from Hox. Synch remembers what happened but Laura and Darwin did not make out alive so they are reset to before they entered, right?

Is it me of is the Eternals not very good? Maybe I just don’t have any interest in the characters but it’s not very exciting. Anyone?

I haven’t tried it yet but I’ve always struggled a little with Eternals because it’s all very grand concept and not much character. I recently re-read the Gaiman mini series and it’s good enough but quite cold really in a way his work isn’t usually. I followed that up by reading the first couple of Kirby issues and it didn’t change my mind really.

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Will_C, Uncle Retrospective

garjones wrote:

I recently re-read the Gaiman mini series and it’s good enough but quite cold really in a way his work isn’t usually

I felt the same way about it.

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Will_C

[Steve Sensible]

I was surprised when I heard Marvel Studios were making an Eternals movie because it’s far from Kirby’s best work. I can only assume they took some of what was planned for the Inhumans movie and transposed it to the Eternals.

Like much of Jack’s solo work (I.e. without Stan) it’s rambling and unfocused. It does have some great concepts though, like the Celestials.

And sometimes I think you have to actually hunt for the characterisation through Kirby’s hokey dialogue and clumsy captions, which often just describe what the panel is already showing, which is kind of How Not To Make Comics 101.

Rumour has it Chloe Zhao’s movie is something special though.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by Steve Sensible.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by Steve Sensible.

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Todd

Steve Sensible wrote:

Like much of Jack’s solo work (I.e. without Stan) it’s rambling and unfocused.

This had better not include the Fourth World Saga, or I may have to put on my war harness…

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Sean Robinson

Will_C wrote:

This had better not include the Fourth World Saga, or I may have to put on my war harness…

Oh man, don’t get me started…. I only read Kirby’s Fourth World saga for the first time a couple of years ago. I was less than impressed. New Gods quickly devolves into monster-of-the-month nonsense (there is one great issue, where Jack explores the character’s origins, but the rest is a bit of a mess.) And Mister Miracle is the world’s worst escape artist! Literally every escape he performs relies on his Mother Box performing some minor miracle. As for Forever People, I can barely remember it at all.

I even tracked down a copy of Hunger Dogs to complete the “saga” and it added pretty much nothing, besides Darkseid actually doing something for a change, rather than just standing around looking moody. How he became one of THE Big Bads of the DCU is a mystery to me, unless other writers came along and did amazing stuff with him later. (I’m aware of the Great Darkness saga but haven’t read it yet.)

I may go back and re-read them at some point, seeing as I went to the trouble of tracking down all the individual issues on eBay, and I definitely enjoyed Eternals more the second time I read it, but my initial impressions were not great. Sorry!

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Will_C

James Robinson’s Starman is my favourite comic book series of all time. Or, at the very least, the one series that really opened my eyes to the possibilities of the medium, transitioning beyond the confines of the never ending battle to a mature, complete story with a beginning, middle and end.

One of the things I really enjoyed in that book, in retrospect, were the Times Past issues. They provided background to the series, and expanded the mythology, whilst also giving the creative team a break to ensure Jack Knight’s story remained visually consistent. Even as a teenager I thought that was pretty clever rather than having fill in issues by whoever was fast and available.

That’s all a long winded preamble to me saying I caught up with Department of Truth #5, 6 and 7 today.

#5 was the end of the first story arc, and a pretty dramatic conclusion it was too. The “bad guys” make a move that adds shades of grey to the ongoing story, and hints at more twists to come.

#6 and #7, however, are “Times Past” issues that provide one off views into the events of yesteryear. Aesthetically quite different from Simmond’s work, they are initially quite jarring. But, I really enjoyed the scope and expansion of the mythology of the series.

Tynion does like to provide up and coming artists a platform to reach a wider audience. That’s another cool aspect of these between arc interlude issues. I’ve never seen Charretier or Boss’ artwork before this. It’s good to see work by people I may never seek out otherwise.

I also caught up with Rorschach #5 – 7. Fornes continues to be the MVP of this series. His work is fantastic, and a worthy successor to the storytelling of Gibbons’ earlier work. King’s story also finally starts to weave the disparate plot threads together, leading to a somewhat bizarre Frank Miller appearance. It sort of works, in the alternate reality of this storyline, but it’s a weird thing to have done and does run dangerously close to breaking your suspension of disbelief without quite going too far.

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Uncle Retrospective, Ben

Steve Sensible wrote:

I even tracked down a copy of Hunger Dogs to complete the “saga” and it added pretty much nothing, besides Darkseid actually doing something for a change, rather than just standing around looking moody. How he became one of THE Big Bads of the DCU is a mystery to me, unless other writers came along and did amazing stuff with him later. (I’m aware of the Great Darkness saga but haven’t read it yet.)

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Uncle Retrospective, Todd, Will_C, Steve Sensible

Steve Sensible wrote:

Will_C wrote:

This had better not include the Fourth World Saga, or I may have to put on my war harness…

Oh man, don’t get me started…. I only read Kirby’s Fourth World saga for the first time a couple of years ago. I was less than impressed. New Gods quickly devolves into monster-of-the-month nonsense (there is one great issue, where Jack explores the character’s origins, but the rest is a bit of a mess.) And Mister Miracle is the world’s worst escape artist! Literally every escape he performs relies on his Mother Box performing some minor miracle. As for Forever People, I can barely remember it at all.

I even tracked down a copy of Hunger Dogs to complete the “saga” and it added pretty much nothing, besides Darkseid actually doing something for a change, rather than just standing around looking moody. How he became one of THE Big Bads of the DCU is a mystery to me, unless other writers came along and did amazing stuff with him later. (I’m aware of the Great Darkness saga but haven’t read it yet.)

I may go back and re-read them at some point, seeing as I went to the trouble of tracking down all the individual issues on eBay, and I definitely enjoyed Eternals more the second time I read it, but my initial impressions were not great. Sorry!

That’s fair. And I agree on Hunger Dogs, that was a disappointing finish. I just appreciate how personal Fourth World is, mixing his interest in mythology with his grief and anger over the Holocaust. And he has a knack few other writers have for making his comics feel like modern mythology. I don’t buy the idea that superheroes are modern myths, mind you, but his comics certainly make them feel that way.

I’m sure there’s a ton of stuff I missed, breezing through the Fourth World as quickly as I did, because so many people rate it so highly. I often find Jack’s scripting hard going though, and I kind of have to be in the right mood to want to wade through it. (Oddly enough, this isn’t a problem I had with his Machine Man run, which I’m reading at the moment. I’ll post about it in the Old Comics Thread when I’ve finished it.)

If nothing else, I did appreciate the art. Kirby was firing on all 12 of his crazy-cylinders by then, and some of those double-page spreads are incredible.

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Will_C

I read through all of the Fourth World material when DC brought out the four mini-omnibuses many years ago. The art is great and some of Kirby’s best and most Kirby-esque art ever, some amazing bold visual concepts and dazzling, colourful designs that really leap off the page. But the script is generally pretty poor and overwrought almost to the point of unreadable in places, and generally the writing gets in the way of the story quite a bit.

I always like seeing a creator’s pure vision like this so I’ll always appreciate books that really allow them to cut loose in that way, but the Fourth World stuff is definitely flawed (and especially suffers from the way it peters out and is poorly resolved in Hunger Dogs). At the same time though I think it’s essential reading for anyone who likes Kirby.

I picked up the first two issues of Karmen and really enjoyed it, largely for the art which is beautiful. I haven’t ever taken much notice of Guillem March’s work before but this book has changed that.

The story itself is a little reminiscent of things we’ve seen before, with a light-hearted female Death figure (shades of Sandman, but a bit different) guiding a recent suicide victim through her life as she invisibly flies through the world and visits people and places she knows, unseen (shades of It’s A Wonderful Life, among others).

But like I say it’s the art that makes this really stand out. The beautiful fantastical flying scenes are the standout but there are also some great forced perspectives, clever and innovative panel layouts and really well-drawn faces that all really elevate the whole thing, and it’s all rendered in a high level of detail that is realistic while still maintaining a real dreamlike quality. The few pages of art process stuff included as backmatter each issue only make you appreciate it all the more.

My only real complaint is that the translation is occasionally a little clunky – you can really feel that it is a translated book at times – and so I’m tempted at this point to just buy the original French album and read that rather than waiting for the English-language issues #3-#5 to come out monthly.

But having said that it’s not a particularly text-heavy book – some pages are completely ‘silent’ – so it’s not a huge deal either way. This is a story that has hooked me in and I’m eager to complete it.

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Will_C

The Joker, I think you’ll find, is definitely worth a look.

<u>Edited to add</u>: although at $6 an issue, YMMV.

Thanks – I might try the current Batman stuff at some point, although I’m currently loathe to jump into anything that’s too connected to continuity. Maybe in future though.

Felt good to walk into the LCS today for the first time since before Christmas.

Picked up a decent selection from the last couple of weeks.

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DavidM, Will_C, Vikram, garjones

No Reckless?

Will_C wrote:

No Reckless?

Got Reckless and Monsters coming in the post. Good week for OGNs this week!

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Will_C

The Department of Truth was good but lead me down a scary bit of reading about Denver Airport. Everything is insane, isn’t it.

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Dave, Vikram, Rocket

Beta Ray Bill #2 was pretty good, and better than the first issue. It felt like the story really got moving here and was free to have a lot more fun.

I had hoped the more continuity-heavy first issue was just a prologue and it seems that way – this adds far more meat to the bones.

Plus, it made room for enjoyable flourishes like this:

(If you squint you can see Murder Falcon and Jake in there, next door to Marvel editorial – and down below, DWJ drawing this very page!)

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DavidM, Ben, Will_C

Batman: Black and White #5 was one of the less dazzling issues of the series overall, but it did include a knockout short story by Gillen & McKelvie that uses an innovative choose-your-own-adventure format to tell a dense, clever and funny story in just a handful of pages – and with a great twist.

It’s worth buying the series just for occasional gems like that.

[Will_C]

I’ve liked almost all the stories in Batman B&W but I agree #5 was the weakest issue so far. I liked Jorge Jimenez’s the most although it wasn’t mindblowing. Still gotta read the Gillen/McKelvie one, I wasn’t in the mood for a “choose your own adventure” story late last night.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by Will_C.

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Dave

Friend of the Devil is so bleak. I mean it’s very good but maybe someone should go round and give Ed a hug or something…

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Vikram, Will_C, Todd, njerry

Department of Truth #8 was a great kickoff to the second arc. With the return of Simmonds on art it feels like the book is really back again. Can’t wait to see where this goes.

Alien #2 was a bit better than #1 – a bit more tension in the story and I liked the art a little better. I’m still not clear on exactly how it fits in with the movies but it’s not a bother. I also think it does reasonably well at capturing the fast what-did-I-just-see horror of the Alien movies in comic form, which isn’t easy in a static medium.

Finally for tonight, Crossover #6 ended the book’s first arc, and while it was ok it felt the big moments didn’t quite land for me as they were meant to. It was a fun premise for this first arc and I don’t regret reading it but I’m not sure I’ll continue into arc two.

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Vikram

Dave wrote:

Batman: Black and White #5 was one of the less dazzling issues of the series overall, but it did include a knockout short story by Gillen & McKelvie that uses an innovative choose-your-own-adventure format to tell a dense, clever and funny story in just a handful of pages – and with a great twist.

I’m lost, what’s the twist with this one? Every route possible ends in death but then there are leftover panels that don’t correlate to any choices that are possible from the starting point. What am I missing?

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Ben

Will_C wrote:

Dave wrote:

Batman: Black and White #5 was one of the less dazzling issues of the series overall, but it did include a knockout short story by Gillen & McKelvie that uses an innovative choose-your-own-adventure format to tell a dense, clever and funny story in just a handful of pages – and with a great twist.

I’m lost, what’s the twist with this one? Every route possible ends in death but then there are leftover panels that don’t correlate to any choices that are possible from the starting point. What am I missing?

Actually I think I’ve figured it out. But I’m kind of annoyed by it, tbh. Dirty pool. Gillen has a too-clever-for-his-own-good streak that bugs me, probably why the only writing of his I’ve really enjoyed is Darth Vader, which was played straight.

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Ben

Will_C wrote:

Dave wrote:

Batman: Black and White #5 was one of the less dazzling issues of the series overall, but it did include a knockout short story by Gillen & McKelvie that uses an innovative choose-your-own-adventure format to tell a dense, clever and funny story in just a handful of pages – and with a great twist.

I’m lost, what’s the twist with this one? Every route possible ends in death but then there are leftover panels that don’t correlate to any choices that are possible from the starting point. What am I missing?

Yes, that’s the idea. You have to not follow the Riddler’s lead but instead slide between panels invisibly by actively breaking the rules of the game to get to the sequence where you win. It’s effectively applying the Batman mindset to how you read the story. And it’s why the Riddler is so surprised when Batman shows up somewhere that should be impossible.

I thought it worked well and packed a lot into a short page count. But then I love that kind of messing around with the reading experience – others might have a lower tolerance for it.

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Rocket, Will_C, Uncle Retrospective

I think I would’ve been more on board with the idea, which isn’t bad, if I hadn’t reread the “choose your own adventure” parts so many times thinking I’d missed a choice.

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Ben

Orphan and the Five Beasts #2: This book is such fun. Just an all-out crazy kung-fu action book from beginning to end that isn’t afraid to get pretty weird and gory in places. I’m enjoying it a lot. Stokoe’s art is crazily detailed but also incredibly dynamic. And the boss-fight structure fits a monthly comic really well.

Luna #3: Getting a bit bored of this one though. It hits a lot of familiar beats for Llovet but the characters and story just aren’t that compelling. The art is nice enough but I’m just not that engaged.

Rorschach #7: And this was just odd. The series still feels pretty incoherent and this latest issue – which, without giving anything away, draws in some real-life comics creators very prominently – is one of the most baffling of the lot. I just haven’t got a clue what this book is trying to say any more.

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Will_C, Todd, njerry, Ben

Dave wrote:

just haven’t got a clue what this book is trying to say any more

I think you’re just supposed to look at the art and tell us what you see.

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Todd, Dave

DavidM wrote:

I think you’re just supposed to look at the art and tell us what you see.

A pretty butterfly.

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Uncle Retrospective, Todd

Steve Sensible wrote:

DavidM wrote:

I think you’re just supposed to look at the art and tell us what you see.

A pretty butterfly.

Uh-oh. Sounds like Steve’s been killing dogs again.

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Todd

Hrm.

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Todd, DavidM

You know, I’ve been reading the Bat-books for a long time now. Decades. In fact, I must be close to having bought and read half of the Batman books ever published. That’s kinda insane. So, I feel that I can say with some authority that the current crop of Batman books are probably the strongest that the line has ever been across the board. I may be down on DC in general at the moment, but it’s a great time to be a Bat-fan!

And, it is awesome to have Oracle back. Awesome!

Batman #107 is the second part of “The Cowardly Lot” by James Tynion, Jorge Jiminez and Tomeu Morey. I’m going to go ahead and say that this is, by a considerable margin, the best looking monthly on the stands today. The artwork blows me away every month.

Story wise there is a lot of world building on display too. It feels like a whole new era for the city, as it tries to recover from the horrors of Joker War. The parallels with real life events add a nice touch of relevancy to proceedings.

The Ghost-Maker backup that starts here is entertaining, if inconsequential.

Tynion and Guillem March’s The Joker #2 is a character heavy issue, that sets up a lot of dominoes and  features a revelation a long time coming. Jim Gordon is a brilliant leading man, and March draws an epic, imposing Batman.

The Punchline backup sits in stark contrast to the main story. Lightweight and cartoony. It’s a weird juxtaposition.

It’s a shame that DC have made the decision to charge $6/ issue for this book. I’ll buy it for the duration but I can’t see it attracting a casual audience, and that will limit its appeal unjustly.

The first issue of Tom Taylor and Andy Kubert’s Batman: The Detective was fun. An aged Bruce Wayne, contemplating the meaning of his life, leaves Gotham to hunt down a group of terrorists with a very personal connection. Nice action with some great art. Colours by the always amazing Brent Anderson.

Taylor and Bruno Redondo’s Nightwing #79 was even better than their debut issue last month. The artwork is astonishing. So fluid and graceful, as appropriate for the title character. And, the story really demonstrates why Dick Grayson is the heart of the Bat-family. It’s funny, it’s cute, it’s got action in it, and real feels too.

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Todd, Will_C, Dave, Ben

Hmm, how have they brought Oracle back Vik?

The conceit is the implant that she had on her spine, that allowed her to walk again in the New52, is starting to lose its potency. The more she uses it the less effective it becomes. Therefore, Babs has voluntarily decided to hang up the cape & cowl and return to the clock tower instead.

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Ben

Vikram wrote:

The conceit is the implant that she had on her spine, that allowed her to walk again in the New52, is starting to lose its potency. The more she uses it the less effective it becomes. Therefore, Babs has voluntarily decided to hang up the cape & cowl and return to the clock tower instead.

Well, that and her father was after her as Batgirl because he believed she murdered her brother.

I’ve the Simone Batgirl omnibus on the way.  Going to read it with the Nightwing one.

I read Eniac #1 from Bad Idea today. I thought the main story was good: a fun sci-fi/military plot with engaging setup and characters and nice art.

But then I went to look for #2 and it’s impossible to find a copy for a reasonable price thanks to the deliberately limited Bad Idea publishing model – and apparently they’re not doing collections either. So I guess I either wait for a reprint of #2 or… don’t read any further?

Equally baffling is the backup material in this issue – a black and white short story (unrelated to the main story) with a punchline that doesn’t make any sense, and then a character profile page for some psychic motorcyclist character who doesn’t appear in either of them.

I don’t know if this is all part of Bad Idea’s too-cool-for-school persona but it felt like a bit of a jumbled mess to me. Maybe an editorial page explaining some of the thinking behind the publisher and the series would have been better instead.

Ultimately I came away from the book feeling a bit frustrated and confused despite enjoying the main story.

Vikram wrote:

You know, I’ve been reading the Bat-books for a long time now. Decades. In fact, I must be close to having bought and read half of the Batman books ever published. That’s kinda insane. So, I feel that I can say with some authority that the current crop of Batman books are probably the strongest that the line has ever been across the board. I may be down on DC in general at the moment, but it’s a great time to be a Bat-fan!

Well… Tom King (who used to work for the CIA) was promised a 100 issue run on the title. He had some good ideas and storylines but started to lose the viewers after a while and DC cut his 100 run short and gave it to Tynion. Tynion also has some nice ideas and he is introducing all these new characters like a new female Joker sidekick Punchline. this punk teen age vigilante with a spiked baseball bat, and this masked ninja guy who was an acquaintance of Bruce when he was training in the Far East (more and more former acquaintances each issue). Now there will be more characters and, I guess, the fans will be buying the issues as the first appearance of this character etc. I wish Tynion well, but personally, it can be a bit much. Only time will tell which new character will stick and stand the test of time.

I thought King’s run had its moments, and was enjoyable in places, but overall was too long and boring. There was this obsession with a 100+ issue run when there wasn’t the plot to sustain it. That’s never a good way to make comics, and pretty unforgivable on the company’s flagship title. By contrast, I am really enjoying Batman/ Catwoman.

Tynion’s run is like the anti-King. Mad idea after mad idea. Some of these will stick. Some won’t. Some I like (Clown Hunter), some make me cringe (Punchline). But, it’s definitely not boring. It’s also got great art.

And, my point wasn’t actually to compare King to Tynion directly (because that’s a matter of personal taste, and whilst I know who I prefer I’m unlikely to change your mind), but to compare the overall strength and integration of the line of books. They are a lot more cohesive and better quality overall right now than they were back then. YMMV.

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Will_C, Ben

Batman: Urban Legends #2 was an improvement on the first issue. The Red Hood lead by Zdarsky and Barrows is much better than I was expecting it to be – a tense, emotional charged story, with some excellent artwork. I think I need to check out Zdarsky’s Daredevil off the back of this.

The Grifter story brings back more of the charm from the Future State instalments. It’s lightweight and a little nonsensical, but the artwork is fine, and the likeable lead character carries it.

There’s also an Oracle short story, picking up on loose threads from the just concluded Batgirl series, and the second part of an Outsiders story.

Whilst I’m not a fan of Damian Wayne, I did choose to take a gamble on Robin #1, and it was exactly the book I thought it would be. Both good and bad.

Joshua Williamson writes an entertaining enough story, but there’s nothing here that elevates this beyond the perfunctory and somewhat cliché plot of a mysterious island hosting a martial arts tournament. You’ve read or seen this a million times before.

Menikov’s artwork is slick and cartoony. There are some definite McFarlane vibes here. It’s nice.

The one element this book does have going for it though is the cast of supporting characters. It’s a veritable who’s who of Chuck Dixon’s back catalogue. That appeals massively to the 1990’s Bat-fan in me, I must admit, so I’ll probably give this a few issues, just on the nostalgia factor alone.

I’m clearly not the target audience for this book, but it should appeal to someone looking for a more visually appealing, action focused superhero book. My boy will  probably love it.

The first issue of Non- Stop Spider-man was fair to middling, I thought. A story beginning in medias res with little to grasp on to as you tried to figure it out. #2 was a huge improvement, with many questions answered and some fantastic artwork from Chris Bachalo – 12 panel pages, crazy angles, a visceral sense of momentum. It was a lot of fun to look at. And underneath it all there’s that touch of darkness that Kelly brings to the table that makes it more thought provoking than your usual superhero story.

I know I gave Marvel some stick for the unintentionally ironic name and shipping schedule of this, but it is a quality book worth a closer look.

Peter David’s Maestro: War & Pax #4 is the penultimate issue of this mini. Nothing has been announced so far but I hope there’s more to come. This is a great continuation/ sequel to his original run on the title.

I said it after the first issue, but it bears repeating, I think Marvel’s Alien #2 really captures the feel of the franchise better than anything post- Cameron. Evil corporations, genetic experiments, colonial marines, it’s all here. This comic makes great use of sound effects too with the unique sound of weapons fire and the unmistakable sounds of the xenomorph. It’s not all good though as Larocca’s work still borders on distracting, but if you come expecting that it’s definitely more tolerable.

Garth Ennis and Goran Sudzuka’s new book, Marjorie Finnigan Temporal Criminal #1 is a light hearted and funny affair. The title of the book probably tells you as much as you need to know going in, but expect temporal hijinks, a cast of oddball characters, and plenty of Ennis’ usual dialogue flourishes too. It’s a 8 issue mini series, from AWA.

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Dave, Ben

I put Marjorie Finnnegan on my pull list, so good to know.

It’s definitely more Code Pru than Punisher MAX.

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Dave

Two good debuts this week, both recommended.

On the strength of their work on the OGN WRITE IN IN BLOOD that was released via Image Comics earlier this year, I picked up the first issue of the new series TIME BEFORE TIME by writer Rory McConville (with help from Declan Shalvey) and artist Joe Palmer. Very interesting concept set in the year 2140 that follows a time machine pilot working for a group called The Syndicate, which smuggles people into the past for a fee — sort of a mix between the Witness Protection Program and “coyotes” sneaking illegal immigrants across the border. I won’t say anything else, except that this first extra-long issue was enjoyable enough to bring me back for a second issue.

HOUSE OF LOST HORIZONS is a new release from the Mignolaverse via Dark Horse, this one starring occult investigator Sarah Jewell, who was an associate of Hellboy’s adoptive father Professor Bruttenholm when he was a young man. The book is subtitled “A Sarah Jewell Mystery” which suggests this may only be the first of many adventures. The first issue is mostly set-up for the rest of the 5-issue miniseries, but I’m in for the long haul due to my love of Mignola’s work; he cowrites this with frequent collaborator Chris Roberson, but the art is by someone new to the Mignolaverse but not to the comics medium, brilliant artist Leila Del Duca.

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Vikram, Will_C, Dave, Ben

Nocterra #3 continues the science fiction/ horror/ road trip mash up, by Scott Snyder and Tony Daniel. It’s a hugely entertaining book, that’s rapidly becoming one of my favourites.

American Vampire #7 is an interlude issue with three short stories, each exploring the familial relationships that feature prominently in the book. The guest artists are pretty spectacular with both Lotay and Francavilla drawing a segment.

American Vampire #8 picks up immediately after the dramatic cliffhanger of #6, and the stage is set for the big finale. It’s both a huge epic story, and a very personal one as Snyder focuses heavily on the thoughts, feelings and motivations of his core cast.

This book is quite different now than it was when it started out, and I thought for a while that we’d never get here during its absence from the shelves, but we’re finally close to seeing how it all ends. Looking forward to the next couple of issues.

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Dave

Bought Superman: Red & Blue #3 because it has stories by Michel Fiffe and James Stokoe in it. Both are fun, especially the former, but you’re really buying them for the art. Love these guys.

Can’t find any of Stokoe’s pages on Google Images so here’s double the Fiffe:

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JRCarter, Sean Robinson, Dave

Annoyingly Nightwing #80 didn’t make it to my LCS this week (was this a U.K. wide issue?). This makes me blue. I was really looking forward to reading the latest issue.

Wolverine #12 did come in with a clever twist in the ongoing vampire storyline. I hope Percy gets to continue this plot line without it getting co-opted by the Avengers title that also appears to be having vampire related shenanigans going on. Scott Eaton’s artwork was alright, but he’s no Adam Kubert (or Bogdanovic).

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Will_C

Neither Nightwing or the new Batman series made it to this side of the Atlantic.

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Vikram

Caught up with Eniac #2 and #3.

Regardless of the complaints I have about Bad Idea’s distribution model, this is a good series. The core concept – off-the-grid agents against a super-smart computer system – has been done before, but it’s executed well here and there are enough specific details to make the characters feel like more than just generic archetypes.

Plus Doug Braithwaite’s art is very nice – rich and detailed, but loose enough to still feel dynamic and lively.

I’m looking forward to seeing how the fourth and final issue plays out.

Finally caught up on Wolverine (well, I still have to pick up #12) and it’s fantastic. Benjamin Percy gets what makes the character tick and doesn’t rely on a bunch of “I like beer and stabbing things” jokes which Jason Aaron’s run, the last Wolverine title I followed, unfortunately devolved into near the end.

Percy really leans into the shady, former CIA operative side of the character; there are outright atrocities in Wolverine’s past that make him deeply skeptical of Krakoa’s utopia and whether he deserves it, as well as more committed than perhaps anyone else there to protect it. Because he intimately knows what’s coming for them.

Percy’s also created a great supporting character in CIA agent Jeff Bannister, a laid-back, long-haired, Hawaiian-shirt-wearing, similarly disillusioned mirror of Wolverine. The two work together off-the-grid, not fully trusting their superiors, as they hunt down a Russian cartel selling stolen Krakoan flowers as a new street drug called Pollen. Meanwhile, they’re monitored by the CIA’s new Krakoa-focused taskforce, the X-Desk.

Percy employs a bifurcated plot structure, the cartel arc running alongside a looming war between the Krakoan mutants and Dracula’s Vampire Nation. Omega Red is Dracula’s spy, and although Wolverine knows it he can’t get his fellow X-Men to reject the amnesty they’ve offered the world’s mutants in Red’s case. Adam Kubert handles the art for the cartel storyline and Victor Bogdanovic handles the vampires. The two art styles are complementary, combining the best of bombastic 90s superhero art with the moodiness required by the story.

I’m very happy with this book and plan on catching up with Percy’s X-Force.

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Rocket, Vikram, Todd, garjones, JRCarter, lorcan_nagle

I came for Kubert, stayed for Bogdanovic, and now look forward to Percy every month.

I don’t even really like Wolverine (the character), but this is a quality book.

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Rocket, garjones, Will_C

Percy introduced Bannister in the early issues of X force through the use of Bannister’s case notes. they stopped but it is nice to know he is not gone.

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Vikram, Will_C

Finished the last two issues of The Green Lantern, my LCS had missed giving me #11 and I only just got around to buying it.

This run was a mixed bag overall, some great stuff and some undercooked stuff that just left me scratching my head. Liam Sharp’s art is great, though. He’s one of the best artists Morrison’s ever worked with. He blends styles as diverse as Philippe Druillet, Alan Davis, and Simon Bisley to create a superhero comic closer to 2000AD and Heavy Metal than DC, and drastically alters his approach depending on the needs of the story. He does looser pencil & ink drawings for down to earth stories and dazzling digitally painted artwork for the cosmic stuff.

Even in the middling or outright bad issues, Morrison always thinks up cool stuff for Sharp to draw, so on a visual level it’s a smashing success, and shows how much room there is left to experiment in superhero comics.

I do think Season One was genuinely really good, and there were a few standout issues in Season Two (the sentient cloud issue, the hospital issue) but the over-arching plot of the golden giants and their evil toys was a pale shadow of similar Morrison depictions of soul-destroying evil like Mandrakk and the Empty Hand. There seemed to be some commentary on how zany superhero concepts get watered down over time, which is nothing new for Morrison but this time they added a critique of adapting superheroes into other more profitable mediums like toys and movies. But it felt half-baked and thrown in at the last minute.

Overall though I’m still pleased with this book. Thematically it was a bit disappointing and Morrison’s writing on a sentence level was kind of all over the place, sometimes crystal clear, other times really awkward and opaque (weird, as WW: Earth One remained so focused), but as a document of how superhero comics allow the human imagination to go wild, free of budget constraints and the focus grouped mush aesthetics of modern superhero cinema, it’s pretty wonderful.

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Rocket, Dave

I agree with that pretty much entirely. It’s not one of Morrison’s masterpieces, but it was a decent enough run that had some great moments, particularly visually.

Season One was definitely superior but Season Two did have a couple of good issues (I enjoyed the one told in reverse chronology in particular).

I also thought the Blackstars mini was enjoyable and one of the funniest Morrison books I’ve read in a while.

I do wonder though what Morrison might have made by following the original trailed concept of a police procedural but in space,  rather than falling back on old habits and going so wacky and cosmic so quickly. The first few issues at least hinted in that Top Ten-ish direction.

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Rocket, Will_C

I dropped the book after Season 1, as it just wasn’t working for me. I wish he has stayed with the, ironically, more grounded galactic police take on the series. I think that had a lot of mileage. A Gotham Central in space.

Will_C wrote:

He blends styles as diverse as Philippe Druillet, Alan Davis, and Simon Bisley to create a superhero comic closer to 2000AD and Heavy Metal than DC, and drastically alters his approach depending on the needs of the story.

That is Liam Sharp’s party piece that I think has actually held him back in popularity over the years. He can do pretty much any style which means his own is hard to pin down. I’ve read his stuff since he started in 2000ad doing detailed cross-hatched stuff in black and white, to aping Jim Lee in the early 90s (not alone there, see Gary Frank and Travis Charest in the early 90s) and everything else you could imagine inbetween.

It’s nice to see him getting a real following since he came back to ‘mainstream’ comics on Wonder Woman. He launched an art book on Kickstarter recently and seems genuinely thrilled it had been backed more than 10 times his initial goal.

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Todd, Ben, Will_C

Oof, Scot Eaton on the last two issues of Wolverine instead of Kubert or Bogdanovic….

I know this is mean, but I’ve been reading X-Men comics for almost as long as I’ve been alive and I’ve come to dread the Scot Eaton fill-in.

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Vikram

Unfortunately Bogdanovic is off Wolverine now, so I suspect we may be seeing a lot more of Eaton’s work.

Bogdanovic is moving to Detective Comics, where he and Dan Mora will be rotating issues between them.

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Will_C

Oh man. I hope Eaton was just a last minute replacement and someone else gets hired to alternate with Kubert. He really isn’t up to snuff.

The future solicitations they have up to August are Kubert. So no idea really if Eaton will be alternating or if he was just a fill-in.

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Will_C

They ought to find another 90s/90s-inspired artist to fit with the Kubert/Bogdanovic dynamic. Probably a long shot, but I wonder what Capullo’s up to now that he’s finished with DC.

Capullo is doing something creator owned with Scott Snyder. He won’t say what it is but it seems quite advanced as he’s been posting pages since early Feb. So I think zero chance on that one.

Ah, I thought going creator-owned might be the case with him. Good for him, but sad for me.

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Vikram, garjones

Oh! Brett Booth would be a good fit. He just did an issue of X-Men that looked great. A Kubert/Booth Wolverine run would be perfect.

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garjones, Vikram

Batman: Black & White #6 was ok, but I’m kind of glad it’s the last in the series. It feels like the ratio of good to bad has been steadily declining, and it’s only really the Snyder/JR jr story that hits home this time. The rest is either average or poor.

I think there were too many artists who had never written before given stories on this run, and the inexperience showed.

Strange Adventures #10 is a decent issue that brings a lot of the series’ story threads together with an interesting potential twist. Is all as it seems? We’ll see. To me it feels like there’s a bit more to come there over the next couple of issues.

I continue to be blown away by the art on this book too. Both Gerads and Shaner are turning in some fantastic pages here.

Wonder Girl #1: After enjoying the debut of the character during Future State, this was a good first issue proper for Yara Flor.

Jones’s art is the star of the show and it’s just as good here as in the Future State issues. The story itself is a little thin, but (re)introduces the character nicely and sets a few things in motion.

Overall it feels like the kind of accessible #1 issue that a new character like this needs. And honestly the art is worth it on its own – really beautiful stuff.

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Vikram

Marjorie Finnegan: Temporal Criminal #1 is a fun time-travel romp with lots of outlandish ideas and some fun scenes, as well as some trademark Ennis gore and swearing.

Most of all it reminded me of Chrononauts – there’s a similar infectious silliness to it and it’s not afraid to have fun with the anything-goes historical mash-up aspect of time-travel stories.

The art is a relatively simple style but it’s nice and clear and consistent. I’m on board for more of this.

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Todd, Vikram

I decided to switch from digital to physical with Something Is Killing The Children #16. It’s the start of a brand new arc, a deluxe hardcover of #1-15 is coming later this year, and Tynion IV is on fire at the moment so I can always sell it again later when the inevitable TV series gets made. Anyways, I digress.

#16 starts an origin story for Erica and the “House of Slaughter”; the mysterious monster hunting organisation that she and her brother work for. It’s set in the recent past, as we see the events that lead to Erica’s induction. A charming new mentor character is introduced that sadly you just know is not making it out of this alive.

It’s very much a scene setting issue, clearly setting up things to come in future instalments. I suspect those will include the teenage angst and identity issues that Tynion has an affinity for from his prior work.

From a recent newsletter, it appears as if SIKTC was only originally planned out as a 5 issue mini, that got extended to 15 issues, and then an ongoing based on its popularity. So, in a way this is very much the start of “season 2”, and that’s reflected by a quite noticeable tonal shift. There’s a greater maturity and confidence of storytelling on display here. I liked the series beforehand, but I loved this issue.

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Uncle Retrospective, Dave

Dave wrote:

Batman: Black & White #6 was ok, but I’m kind of glad it’s the last in the series. It feels like the ratio of good to bad has been steadily declining, and it’s only really the Snyder/JR jr story that hits home this time. The rest is either average or poor.

I think there were too many artists who had never written before given stories on this run, and the inexperience showed.

Aw, I really liked this one. I think the main thing these B&W strips have to do is showcase the artist’s usage of B&W and nearly every one of them did that for me. In this issue I think my favorite was Nick Derington’s. Often I feel like it’s a bit of a cheat to rely heavily on grays in these but he made it look gorgeous, and he’s such a master of fight choreography. The first story about two brothers from a poor Black neighborhood who build a Bat-signal to get Batman’s attention and save their friends from the Mad Hatter was pretty touching, too, I thought.

Just read The Nice House by the Lake, a new book by James Tynion IV.

This man is disgustingly talented. It’s setting up a post apocylapse story but is inventive enough to drag you in and set up something I haven’t seen before. I think he’s buy on sight at this point.

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Will_C, Dave, Vikram

Haven’t picked up my copy yet, but I’ve been looking forward to this. Alvaro Martinez is a phenomenal artist too.

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Uncle Retrospective, Dave

I’m grabbing that this week too. Looking forward to it.

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Uncle Retrospective

Uncle Retrospective wrote:

Just read The Nice House by the Lake, a new book by James Tynion IV.

I didn’t add this to my pre-order, but I’ll look for it on the shelf of my LCS this morning.

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Uncle Retrospective

The Nice House on The Lake #1 was pretty spectacular. It’s almost impossible to live up to the hype that has been building around this book, but it is a very impressive debut issue. There’s a lot of information to digest, and as you’re still processing all of that, you get smacked around the head with the killer hook. Where this book goes from here I have no idea. It’s going to be a long wait for #2.

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Dave, Uncle Retrospective

Based on comments made in another forum, I picked up the first issue at my LCS this morning. Glad to hear it’s money well spent.

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Vikram, Uncle Retrospective

For those of you in the back, I will repeat myself. Snyder/ Daniel/ Tomeu’s Nocterra is another fantastic book. Part horror, part science fiction, part road trip around a post-apocalyptic America. It’s got a little something for everyone.

I read #4 last night. There’s parts of it that gave me chills. It’s brilliant and genuinely exciting. Give it a try.

This is turning out to be a great week of comics. More to come.

I’ve been reading the Heroes Reborn event and Aaron has taken a different approach with the main book. None of the main stories have anything to do with the main plot. They are just character studies of the Squadron supreme except for the parts involving Cap and Starbrand. The back stories advance the plot. They tell the story of how Blade gathers together this universes version of the Avengers. The tie in books are mostly good. The Sh’iar empire is dealt with in its version of LSH. Young Society is a Champions book with Miles, Sam and Kamala. Siege society is good because it introduces the rest of the squadron heroes but it drops a huge plot point on the front page that is not shown anyplace else. The architect behind all this is very obvious but has not make an appearance so far.

I’m enjoying the Heroes Reborn books, but I hope and trust they’re some kind of foreplay to the “real” adventure. In other words: I’m counting on Heroes Return to bring satisfaction.

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Rocket

The Nice House On The Lake #1 was an excellent debut issue, and one that I’m really glad I knew very little about going in, as it meant that the big moments really worked for me.

I’m not a big horror person in general but the flavour of this book connects with stuff that has disturbed me since childhood (and also weirdly with a specific experience I once had) while also tapping into some wider ideas that feel very current.

The writing pitches everything just right, with some clever touches, and the art is brilliant, particularly the use of colour (Bellaire is always great).

I was planning on tradewaiting this if I liked it, but it’s so good that I think I’m going to have to pick it up monthly.

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Uncle Retrospective, njerry, Will_C, Todd

Talking of tradewaiting, Something Is Killing The Children gets a 15-issue OHC in November

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Dave, Uncle Retrospective, njerry

Just in time for Tynion’s signing Thought Bubble 😉

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Dave

So, apparently, Tim Drake is bisexual now. I’m surprisingly okay with that. Don’t get me wrong, I’m seriously dizzy from all the eye rolling and to the general public this will pretty much define him going forwards. But, in continuity, for the character it kinda sorta makes sense. His prior relationships always felt a little forced. And, what’s the harm if it makes a bunch of people happy. Just stay true to what makes him tick and please don’t make it literally all that he’s about going forwards. That would piss me off.

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Will_C, Todd, Rocket

Vikram wrote:

Just stay true to what makes him tick and please don’t make it literally all that he’s about going forwards

I agree with this completely.

I’m straight so if what I am saying is offensive or ignorant, let me know. Can we have a LBGQTIA(?) character who isn’t a role model or out and proud. how bout a person whose personality counts more than orientation?  I don’t know if that portion of humanity feels they need more representation but just being a guy/girl/genderless who is a genius level superhero and likes all types is fine with me.

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Vikram

Depends – does Robin having a male relationship count as being too out? As that would probably be objected to, as the point is not having to hide it, but also having it be accepted as a matter of fact.

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Rocket

I liked how this was handled in the first issue of Department of Truth. Protagonist guy mentions he’s got a husband waiting at home and that’s the only time his sexuality is mentioned in the first issue (which is up to this point the only issue I have read).

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Rocket, Ben, Uncle Retrospective, Vikram, Dave

There are two recent examples that demonstrate how this could go.

There’s Batwoman where she’s a lesbian, but that’s almost incidental to the superheroics.

Then, there’s Iceman which was pretty “in your face” with the sexuality, and the superheroics were pretty incidental.

I’ve got no problem with the former but would struggle mightily with the latter. I just don’t want his defining feature going forward to be his boyfriend, just as his girlfriend was never that in the past.

I know there’ll be a vocal contingent who get their knickers in a twist no matter what happens, but there’s no helping those people.

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Rocket