Discuss new issues of your favourite comics here.
The Continuing New Comics Thread
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Nightwing
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Detective Comics #1047 – 1058 – the twelve part “Shadows of the Bat” weekly event was … disappointing.
It starts well, with some great tension and horror; but, it tips its hand soon after robbing the story of much of the suspense, before descending into a confusing free for all in the last couple of chapters.
The artwork was nice throughout, although the chapters by Ivan Reis at the start were sublime. So good.
Mariko Tamaki’s story never really rose to the challenge though. I do like aspects of her work, but the overall storytelling is disjointed and difficult to follow at times. She’s benefitted from some great artists – Mora, Bogdanovic, Reis – but on her own merits doesn’t quite hold up for me. I won’t be buying anymore issues after this.
Theses issues weren’t a total right off though. The 12 part backup “House of Gotham” by Rosenberg and Blanco was a bit of an unexpected gem. Telling the tale of an orphaned child over the years as his life intersects with that of Batman and his rogues. It touches of many of the significant events in Gotham’s history and asks sone interesting questions of Bruce’s crusade.
I think DC are publishing this story in its own TPB later in the year. I think that would be worth checking out.
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I have to respectfully disagree here. Bruce could have planned better. Like I’ve read a lot of fans say, it wouldn’t have taken him much to have sprinkler systems with holy water.
I’m not reading this book, but I really hope they haven’t missed the opportunity to do a “holy water, Batman” joke.
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It’s been a while since I read it, but if I remember it correctly, it’s pretty standalone until the back end of #3 where it sort of segues back into the original Johns/ Kubert Flashpoint series.
The new Flashpoint Beyond mini-series ties into the current DCU continuity bollocks. From what I can tell, Flashpoint Batman has been a recurring character in that since Infinite Frontier.
#0 of the Flashpoint Beyond mini-series, by Johns and Risso seems to pick up from Doomsday Clock too, if the previews are accurate.
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Flashpoint Beyond #0 felt a bit meh to me. I’ll try the #1 too but I’m not all that interested in continuity shenanigans. I appreciate the Mime and Marionette though, fun to see them again.
On the other hand Superman: Son of Kal-El keeps on being amazing. This weeks issue got me right in the feels. Taylor balances action, suspense, heartfelt moments and humour really, really well here. This title is just what I need. It’s what you need to, you might just not know it quite yet.
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The Wrong Earth: Fame and Fortune was a sweet little done-in-one that uses sometimes smart, sometimes ever-so-slightly clunky storytelling tricks to tell the story (stories?) of one particular instance where the two Richard Fames of Earth-Alpha and Earth-Omega are using both their business and crimefighting personae to further their personal goals.
It was an interesting, albeit perhaps not a necessary, installment in this series. I liked it. If you’re starved for The Wrong Earth content, give this one a go.
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I read The Secret History Of The War On Weed, a 4/20 special that came out from image comics yesterday.
It was stupid and silly and hilarious. I don’t mean that it was stupidly written, it was smartly written but it doesn’t take itself in the least bit serious and the premise is in itself stupid but the writer(s) (Duggan) embraces that.
I kinda wish I had some weed to go with it, it would without a doubt have been even funnier then.
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I just read JL75 Death of the Justice League. I was not reading JL because I don’t read Bendis but this book was written by Joshua Williamson and drawn by Rafa Sandoval. Sandoval hits it out of the park. His pages are worthy of the Epic Williamson is starting here. It is Perez or Hitch worthy with his single and double page splashes. The plot has holes that hopefully will be answered in the upcoming Dark Crisis. There are some epic fights here and Plenty of DC’s big guns slugging it out. I’m not reading GL so not sure where John Stewart is coming from but his entrance is a masterpiece. This has some of the best artwork I have seen in a Superhero book for years. If you like Michael Bay-like fights definitely pick this book up
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Marvel seems to have a real hard-on for making Peter Parker’s life miserable, as indicated by the newest Amazing Spider-Man #1. Even under Stan, the “Parker luck” was never this bad.
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Read the new ASM#1 and really enjoyed it. Great to see JRjr and Scott Hanna on art, and they turn in some good stuff here – reminiscent of their classic early-2000s run with JMS.
And the story was pretty good, with plenty of intrigue and nothing that I had too much trouble following after years away from the Spidey books. At least, assuming that the mysterious things the book doesn’t tell you are things we’re not meant to know yet.
It all feels very faithful to Peter Parker and his classic characterisation and supporting cast, albeit in a bit of a new situation.
So very positive overall, and it feels like this could have the makings of a modern classic Spidey run.
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I really like Wells’ Spider-Man – along with Waid and Kelly he was my fave of the BND writers.
And, Romita with Hanna are near perfection. Best combination this side of Al Williamson.
Don’t forget to pick up the FCBD issue too, for a short story by the same creative team.
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I really like Wells’ Spider-Man
He really nails Spideys voice.
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warning: I have not read the FCBD book yet.
Dark Crisis-My Synopsis: Something called the darkness escaped Dark Metal(?)(last year’s main event) , procured a henchman(Pariah from the OG Crisis) and gathered uber powerful evil beings to do its bidding, and began to take down the Multiverse a Universe at a time. JL Infinite, a multiversal league, fought them and lost. Barry Allen was brainwashed by Pariah and stuck in a subuniverse. The Big Guns on Earth(which include John S instead of Hal J) were asked to help JL infinite rescue Barry and defeat the Big Evil gang. Supes et al defeated the Big Evil but were then destroyed by Pariah who was powered by the darkness who had been powered up by all the evil in the multiverse. Black Adam returned to Earth to tell Dick and Jon Kent(Hyperaged child who is protecting Earth while Clark is gone) that their fathers as well as the rest of the A team were dead.
DARK CRISIS is what happens next.
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That sounds like a mess. I appreciate your succinct recap of it, though. Way clearer than the comic itself.
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the comic itself.
That was an entire miniseries of comics.
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I haven’t read any new DC or Marvel in years. I got copies of their Dark Crisis and Spider-Man/Venom FCBD issues and I really don’t have the foggiest idea what either of them were going on about.
The Spidey story felt like a fairly standard thing of him fighting a monster and then it turning out it was all part of some wider plan cooked up by the two baddies we see at the end.
The Venom one was a bit weirder and less accessible though – I didn’t have a strong handle on it even as someone who read the first arc of the new Ram V/Hitch book.
To be honest I think a lot of this magical/fantasy/alien stuff that they’ve been doing with Venom is a weird route to go down with the character, I think he’s much better as an urban anti-hero or villain in a more grounded environment. But in a world of multiple different symbiote and magical monster bad guys it makes Venom himself feel much less special somehow.
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The Venom one was a bit weirder and less accessible
The Venom was the opposite of the Dark Crisis book. DC threw in way too much back story and Venom not enough. I did not know Eddie had lost the symbiote, had a kid, and now the kid has Venom. That would have been nice to know before reading that story.
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Reading Thor Banner War Alpha or whatever its called.
“That is ANAL!”
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Reading Thor Banner War Alpha or whatever its called.
“That is ANAL!”
Just be thankful Hawkeye wasn’t involved.
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I read the FCBD teaser issue for the Bone Orchard books tonight and enjoyed it. Lemire and Sorrentino are great at this kind of slow-burn unsettling horror, and from the description at the back of the book it sounds like they’re pursuing a similar path to Brubaker & Phillips, and have a plan for an extensive series of minis and OGNs to build out this world.
On the strength of this I’ll definitely be picking up at least the first one to check it out.
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Oh, so that’s what those two are doing next. Sounds cool.
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Oh, so that’s what those two are doing next. Sounds cool.
Anal isnt THAT cool.
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Neither is your total disregard of font
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This series ended very well. If you’d told me beforehand that a “silent” wordless comic could be so beautiful and powerful and moving, and in such a complex way, then I might not have believed it – but the whole creative team pulls together here to produce something really unique and special that I can’t wait to read again. And it all looks beautiful.
Hopefully this will have a long life in trade.
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Aquaman: Andromeda #1
I picked this up on a bit of a punt and quite enjoyed it. I’m a fan of the thoughtful undersea extraterrestrial sci-fi sub-genre, and this evokes stuff like Sphere and The Abyss heavily while also feeling like it might have something of its own to say.
It’s a slow-build introductory issue but one that does a good job in building atmosphere and introducing all the characters and concepts neatly.
Weirdly though Aquaman himself feels a bit extraneous here – this would be just as good without any kind of superhero element – so it’ll be interesting to see whether that continues.
Either way, for now this is a good start and I’ll pick up future issues to see how it plays out.
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For various reasons I am so far behind on my weekly comic haul, I almost have a short box full of “to read” floppies at the moment. Trying to catch up over the next few weeks.
Punisher #1-3 is a strange one. It’s very well done, no doubt. With some surprising plot twists, and magnificent artwork from Jesus Saiz in particular. But, it’s in danger of retreading ground from Shadowland, and the merging of Frank Castle’s world with that of the Hand feels inherently wrong.
I like it, and am intrigued enough to continue reading, but it is also so dangerously close to breaking the character that Marvel are going to have to get Ennis back soon to reboot him again. This is out there in much the same way that Punisher as an angel of vengeance was previously.
Approach with caution, I guess.
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Punisher #1-3 is a strange one. It’s very well done, no doubt. With some surprising plot twists, and magnificent artwork from Jesus Saiz in particular. But, it’s in danger of retreading ground from Shadowland, and the merging of Frank Castle’s world with that of the Hand feels inherently wrong.
I like it, and am intrigued enough to continue reading, but it is also so dangerously close to breaking the character that Marvel are going to have to get Ennis back soon to reboot him again. This is out there in much the same way that Punisher as an angel of vengeance was previously.
Agree on all points. Sometimes the artwork is downright amazing. And the writing is really good, it’s just (as you say) the idea itself that is dangerously close to becoming something of a shitfest in the wrong hands.
I’m imagining that this is a story that has some sort of definite and carefully planned ending rather than being left for another writer to deal with at the end of Aarons run. But that’s entirely headcanon and probably a direct result of thishful winking on my part.
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Punisher #1-3 is a strange one. It’s very well done, no doubt. With some surprising plot twists, and magnificent artwork from Jesus Saiz in particular. But, it’s in danger of retreading ground from Shadowland, and the merging of Frank Castle’s world with that of the Hand feels inherently wrong.
I like it, and am intrigued enough to continue reading, but it is also so dangerously close to breaking the character that Marvel are going to have to get Ennis back soon to reboot him again. This is out there in much the same way that Punisher as an angel of vengeance was previously.
Approach with caution, I guess.
Thank every cop who appropriated his skull symbol.
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Read the latest issue of The Nice House On The Lake. It’s very refreshing to have absolutely no idea where this is going and still feel like it’s all somehow falling in to place.
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Josh Williamson is a perfectly decent writer. There’s nothing about his work that makes me sit up and take notice. There’s nothing that annoys me either. It just exists.
So him being DC’s de facto lead writer, post- Tynion is a bit weird. But there you have it.
I haven’t been reading Infinite Frontier or Justice League Incarnate or what have you. But I did want to check out Dark Crisis so I picked up Justice League #75, the Death of the Justice League issue.
It’s pretty entertaining, truth be told. A little continuity heavy, but nothing you won’t really get coming into it cold, or pick up quickly assuming a passing familiarity with DC events of yesteryear.
The big death scene doesn’t have much of an impact though. Much like Williamson’s writing it just happens, and is over in the blink of an eye.
Leaving Dark Crisis #0 to pick up the pieces. The FCBD issue features a short story providing a tribute to the League, emphasising the ongoing changes that have been made to their roster over the years.
Last week’s Dark Crisis #1 kicks off the event proper, and was an entertaining read. Jon Kent is on a mission to recruit a new League, which doesn’t quite go to plan. Deathstroke is on a mission to destroy the Titans, which he is far more successful at. And, the seeds are sewn for the missing League’s inevitable return.
As you know, I am a massive fan of DC history and their legacy characters. As such this scratches an itch quite nicely – Jon, Nightwing, and Wally all have big roles to play here. I look forward to seeing where this goes over the rest of the summer. But, without that emotional connection to the DCU, your mileage will likely vary greatly.
It has to be said that the art in all three issues was superb though. Sandoval, Cheung and Sampere (respectively) knocked it out of the park.
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So him being DC’s de facto lead writer, post- Tynion is a bit weird. But there you have it.
Yeah. I know he has a lot of other stuff going on with The Deep cartoon show but I would have thought Tom Taylor was the main man for that role. I suspect he may prefer to dabble a bit more than commit.
I think the big two deciding to favour characters over creators, exclusives seem to have died and page rates have apparently dropped may be okay for sales, I haven’t looked in-depth for a while but the Comichron stats seemed fairly positive, has left a group of good but not great writers on the rosters. A chunk of the best writers are concentrating seemingly on creator owned.
There’s a lot of comics to enjoy but not love. Even in the Shooter and Quesada/Jemas eras of Marvel there was a lot of shit in with the great stuff but that’s maybe preferable to overall competence as you can just choose not to buy/read the bad books.
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I read Tynion’s The Closet #1-3 last night. It was originally a mini-series published on his Substack platform, but is coming out in hard copy form over the summer, from Image.
It’s a short, sharp, and presumably “done in one” horror story, akin to his Boom trilogy of 3 issue minis (Cognetic/ Memetic/ Eugenic).
It’s creepy rather than scary, but as a parent it is quite impactful. That being said, it is the more human/ mundane elements of the story that resonated most strongly, which I wasn’t expecting.
It’s a good read, with some nice artwork. But not exactly essential.
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The DC Pride: Tim Drake Special reprints his stories from Batman: Urban Legends #4-6 and #10. They’re the ones where he came out as bisexual. It also has a new 10 page story, where Tim has that conversation with Stephanie, his ex-girlfriend. Which is why I bought it, having already got the reprinted material in its original form.
Meghan Fitzmartin wrote all the stories here. She’s got a decent handle on the character, and his various co-stars. She also builds credibly off Tim’s recent continuity and doubts about his place in the world.
I did find the foreshadowing to “the big reveal” a little obvious and lacking subtlety. That being said, the character turn was generally done well. It doesn’t really fit with prior continuity, as Tim’s prior relationship with Bernard never suggested an attraction, but it’s not totally contradictory either so I’m more than happy if the attention means I get more Tim Drake stories as a result.
Belen Ortega’s artwork is lovely. She has a graceful and fluid line, that evokes the likes of Alan Davis’ work. Alberto Albuquerque’s artwork sticks out awkwardly in comparison, but it’s not bad per se.
At $6 for 10 new pages and 50 pages of reprinted material, I would suggest this isn’t for everyone. But, if he’s your favourite Robin then it’s a nice reintroduction to that character and a good primer for his upcoming solo series.
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Do A Powerbomb! #1
This was a cracking first issue. Like all DWJ books it’s incredibly dynamic and has a lot of heart, and I also really love the ethos of bringing readers like me into the world of wrestling in an inclusive and welcoming way.
(Really there’s so much crossover with superheroes – the costumes, the physicality, the drama, the hero vs villain storylines – it’s a surprise there aren’t more wrestling comics.)
Anyway, the story is good and sets everything up nicely and already it takes a couple of twists and turns that I didn’t expect.
I know I’m going to really enjoy this series.
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That Texas Blood #14
Great to see this book back – it’s been a while.
I really like the way it’s shifting genres somewhat for each new story (this time, 90s VHS-era horror) while still very much retaining its own identity.
There are some nice scenes in this issue with some subtle effects in the art that really help to sell them.
I’ll be interested to see where this arc goes.
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Amazing Spider-Man #4
This was excellent. I’ve already been enjoying this run by Zeb Wells and JRjr but this issue might be their best so far.
It’s really dynamic stuff that shows off Romita’s art brilliantly but also pulls off some clever moves with the writing that make you realise it’s a smarter book than it might first seem.
Can’t wait for more.
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I agree. Amazing Spider-Man is pretty awesome at the moment.
Zeb Wells’ work has a lovely dark bite to it, that contrasts nicely with the clean and elegant artwork of Romita Jr/ Hanna.
It’s a fantastic looking book, with a tense and exciting story too. It has all the makings of a pretty epic run if they can maintain this quality.
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This was a cracking first issue.
That “30 years” Image logo is really stupid. I read this and honestly thought, why doesn’t Dave realise this is issue #30?
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Since Fire Power came back from its hiatus the series has morphed into something quite different. Maybe that’s the wrong description. Maybe escalated is better. Everything is on a much larger scale, now that there’s a great big dragon flying around wreaking havoc. Which, is a bit of a shame as the smaller, family moments are where this book really shines.
That being said, the story is still fun and exciting. And, Samnee’s artwork is spectacular at selling the scale of events. Aided, in no small way, by Matt Wilson’s sumptuous colouring.
There were a couple of moments in #20 that left me scratching my head, wondering if they had misprinted the book. But, the back matter chat between Kirkman and Samnee indicate that this was deliberate. A weird storytelling choice.
#21 was a quieter issue, as our protagonists regroup, to lick their wounds, before embarking upon a quest to gather together the legendary kung fu masters for the battle to come. The different personalities and fighting styles of these new characters are fun to see in action.
Good all ages stuff.
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X-Men #9 – 12 wrap up the the first year of Gerry Duggan’s run on the title. Not sure if it counts as the main book anymore, given Gillen’s new title, but this was the book featuring the X-Men doing superhero stuff and interacting with the wider Marvel universe. I liked it.
It feels like a logical continuation of Hickman’s run. Especially with Pepe Larraz on art. And the roster of the team was probably my favourite ever X-team, or close to it – Cyclops, Jean, Laura, Synch, Sunfire, Rogue and Polaris. Great combination of the young and old.
But, #12 looks like it’s bringing this era to an early close, with the events of the next Hellfire Gala set to shake up the team membership and Judgment Day on the horizon.
It also looks as if Larraz is off the book too, and he was the major reason I was still buying this in physical form.
Will continue to read on Marvel Unlimited, I’m sure, but I’m going to use this as a jumping off point.
Putting all that aside though, #12 provided a nice conclusion to the first season; tying up many of the plot threads that have been in the book since its launch. Several of the characters get some great moments to shine – Jean in particular kicked much ass. As did Polaris.
And, the title’s continued use of characters from the wider universe is done well. I was always disappointed that the X-Men didn’t play a bigger role in wider events, and it has been good to see that level of integration here.
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Vikrams going to have a heart attack reading Batman #125.
The art is stellar, as I’ve come to expect from Jimenez. The writing is good.
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I’d say it was ok. Maybe even good, I just didn’t feel quite as invested in it as I already do with this one issue of Zdarsky.
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This was wild. A sprawling sci-fi fantasy epic told across three different time periods, all written, drawn and lettered by Liam Sharp.
It’s a bit disjointed in places and at the moment it’s not easy to see how everything lines up, but you have to admire the sheer ambition of it all.
Plus it surprised me with a much more playful tone in the writing than I expected from the art.
If you liked 2000AD and Heavy Metal style fantasy sci-fi you might like this.
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Vikrams going to have a heart attack reading Batman #125.
The art is stellar, as I’ve come to expect from Jimenez. The writing is good.
That was rather unexpected. Not quite what I wanted to see happen. The shock was kind of lessened by recent announcements indicating that the life threatening consequences of this are likely only temporary. Sometimes DC don’t help themselves
I really liked Batman #125 though. It felt like a logical continuation of Tynion’s run, but more grounded in its tone. More traditional. At least to begin with. The ending suggests an interesting twist in the tale. This is speculation as Zdarsky has said that Failsafe is going to be Batman’s Doomsday, but if Bruce created Failsafe as implied, then is he really saying that Bruce’s worst enemy is Bruce himself? And is this run going to address some of his self- destructive behaviours?
Jorge Jiminez returns to the art, along with Morey on colours. They give the book a rougher, more Milleresque look than it has had previously, but still gorgeous to look at. Great stuff.
I do like it when the book’s main writer is also doing the backup story too. Which is what happens here, with Zdarsky and Belen Ortega kicking off what looks to be an entertaining road trip style story for Catwoman.
Whilst Batman kicks off a new era with #125, the epilogue to Tynion’s run also came out this week with The Joker #15.
I’ve sang the virtues of this book beforehand. It has been a real high quality tour de force from Tynion, March, Francavilla, and Camuncoli. Tying together threads from Tynion’s long tenure in the Batcave, and Snyder’s before him, this book harkens back to “The Black Mirror” in tone and content.
The finale is a little disappointing in it inevitably has to hit the reset button somewhat, and is therefore less ambitious than it could have been, but it still manages to provide a satisfying denouement for all involved.
Reading between the lines you can hear Tynion commenting on why he’s moved on from superheroes now too, especially in Gordon’s closing monologue, which is an interesting if slightly disappointing subtext.
However, the Punchline backup remains an annoying distraction. Her story is sadly to be continued later in the year. I won’t be rushing out to buy that though.
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That was rather unexpected. Not quite what I wanted to see happen. The shock was kind of lessened by recent announcements indicating that the life threatening consequences of this are likely only temporary. Sometimes DC don’t help themselves
I’m thinking Tim needed to be taken off the board for the Failsafe story to work. He is the resident computer genius, after all.
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What’s the consensus here?
Buy THAT TEXAS BLOOD instead.
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Batman: The Knight continues to be an interesting if superfluous book. Seeing Bruce travel the world, learning his craft, and putting together the pieces of the man he will go on to become is fun, but I’m not sure that it is adding anything to the lore.
Zdarksky and Di Giandomenico are certainly skilled, and telling an entertaining tale from issue to issue, but it’s a lot like a Rocky training montage that runs for the whole length of the movie rather than just a few minutes.
I guess there’s potential here that Zdarsky could be sewing the seeds for things that will play out further down the line in the main ongoing title. I guess time will tell.
That being said, I am a sucker for a Batman/ Zatanna team up, and that’s what we get in #7. It also hit close to home on a personal level for me, adding an emotional weight that worked to elevate it above the issues that came beforehand.
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interesting if superfluous
I read the first couple of issues and this sums it up perfectly for me.
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I just read the first issue of Judgement day. It was impressive. It is interesting that it is written by the writer of the Eternals. First, you could be lost by the politics of the Eternals. Second, there is a new Eternal I am amused by the comment that when Hickman left, the remaining creators said that they wanted to keep the current storylines going. Did they know Gillen was going to come along?
edit: spoilers are not working so I removed them. sorry about that. But go read Judgement Day. It sets some great points.
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Not sure if this is the issue, but spoiler tags sometimes don’t work when there are paragraph breaks in the middle (so you might have to tag all individual paragraphs separately).
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For all I want to be cynical, Gillen tends to be reliably good.
Be hard to be worse than Avengers Vs X-Men too.
I also read Judgement Day 1.
Pretty good for laying the groundwork of what is to come.
Sort of the mutant Pearl Harbor/9.11 moment… Call to arms!!!
I will (like everyone else) stick to those six issues and a few of the tie ins IF
they add more to it. If they are smart, some of the tie-in issues should be VERY significant,
unlike a typical “side mission” in a role playing video game… -
This weeks Amazing Spider-Man seems to be both issue number 6 of the current volume and an oversized issue 900.
The story is good fun, a massive Sinister
SixSeven adventure brawl thing with the Living Brain added in and some use of the spidey supporting cast.But the art is something else. I’ve always liked Ed McGuinness art, but he has really progressed and he really really delivers here. His spidey looks
awesomeamazing. Not only that, but everyone looks so old school. Older designs of classic villains brought back to life on the page. Really digging it. My favourite part, art-wise, is probably when Jonah enters the scene in an unusual manner. It just looks so… good. McGuinness really got the chops for this cartoony vibe. We already knew that but if you doubt what I’m saying, just read it.1 user thanked author for this post.
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There are some fantastic superhero books coming out at the moment. These are three of them.
World’s Finest #5 wraps up the first arc of the book, by Waid/ Mora/ Bonvillain. It’s an incredibly fun book, with big exciting moments, fun guest stars, and gorgeous artwork.
It’s got a light hearted, anything goes sort of sensibility to it, that evokes the craziness of the silver age with a distinctly modern style.
Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo’s Nightwing (with guest art by Geraldo Borges on #94) continues to hit the 1990’s nostalgia button hard.
Much like Tynion beforehand, Tom obviously grew up reading the same sort of things that I did, ‘cos his work really captures the spirit of that era, but similarly with a contemporary style.
For example, in #93 and #94 Nightwing takes on police corruption in dramatic fashion, whilst throwing in huge moments in Dick & Bab’s relationship too.
I’ll echo Anders’ comments re: Amazing Spider-Man #6. It was an expensive issue, but a fun escapade, with great art from Ed McGuiness (guesting for John Romita Jr), and a “hell yeah!” moment that perfectly encapsulates everything about the character.
It was tonally a lighter issue than Wells’ usual fare but a great anniversary issue (Legacy #900) before hopefully going back to the darker tone next issue.
The incorporation of Stan Lee’s dialogue in this issue was a really nice touch too.
Three very different books by three wonderful creative teams. All three may not work for you, depending upon your tastes, but they definitely make a strong case for the 2020’s being a great time to be a superhero comic book fan.
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Dammit, wrong thread!
it’s never the wrong thread, Dan; just the wrong post.
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It took me a few issues to figure out what was bugging me about the second arc of Scott Snyder and Tony Daniel’s Nocterra (#7-11) “Pedal To The Metal”. It’s because the colourist changed. Tomeu Morey coloured the first arc, and Marcelo Maiolo did the second. The difference is palpable. Morey’s style is very bright and bold, neon almost. Maiolo (who I don’t think I’ve ever come across before) has a much more subdued and subtle palate. For a book like this, I think Morey’s aesthetic fits better. So that was slightly disappointing.
But, other than that, the book remains a high octane thrill ride. A post-apocalyptic science fiction/ horror road trip, that feels a lot like a Fast & Furious film on paper (seriously, all it’s missing is one character talking about family to make it official).
This is the Snyder of American Vampire, and the book definitely feels like a spiritual successor to that one. Even down to some of the storytelling choices, where Scott came very close in this arc to repeating himself (the similarities between Blacktop Bill and Skinner Sweet are hard to overlook), but he has enough credit in the bank for me to trust him here.
I really like this book. Looking forward to this next arc.
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Given the erratic shipping schedule, I kept the last few issues of Batman/ Catwoman (#10 – 12) to read together one lazy afternoon.
It’s been such a long time since #9 came out I’m not sure I remembered all the details, but I got the gist of it enough to enjoy the conclusion, such that it was.
The series isn’t the easiest to follow, with the multiple timelines running concurrently, and King’s deliberately opaque storytelling. It takes some effort to follow the individual threads, and even then there were points I was left going “huh?” The Super-cameo at the very end was a nice touch though.
On the other hand, Clay Mann’s artwork was delicious. This was a gorgeous looking book, and worthy of the price of admission by itself.
Which is why the collected edition of the book is going to be quite frustrating. The story, I feel, will make a lot more sense and be considerably easier to follow. However, there’s going to be a 3 issue segment by a completely different artist for no apparent reason.
Now Liam Sharp is a great artist, but stylistically he’s quite different from Mann’s smooth Jim Lee like style in the rest of the book. That will inevitably be quite jarring to the reader.
I did also read the Batman/ Catwoman Special tribute to John Paul Leon as well. That was a lovely book. A main 38 page Christmas themed story, along with a couple of JPL short story reprints and pinup tributes from a wide variety of guest artists. It was quite moving in places, bringing a tear to the eye once or twice. Good job with this one, DC.
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X men Red 5
Takes place within the 1st Judgement Day issue. I won’t give anything away but
as with my previous posting, this is their Pearl Harbor/9-11 Call to arms moment
It is all going to go down now.(I now regret skipping all those diagrams of timelines, small summaries, and who is an
Omega Level mutant. Hickman put them there for a reason and so did the followup writers.)I want to see now where the Avengers stand on all this.
Emma, Cyclops and Logan have repeatedly over the decades argued to Captain America’s face
and Tony Stark’s face “Where were you when we needed help?”Well, now is the Avengers’ chance to finally answer that question.
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Superman The Space Age – book one (by Mark Russell & Mike Allred)
Is wonderful. I think DC have made a huge mistake in not marketing this better, I’m sure it will find an audience through word of mouth in future, or at very least become a highly regarded cult classic once the series ends and is collected.
It’s set during the assassination of Kennedy and the Cold War era. A sort of elseworlds book. There’s some tweaks to origins here but thankfully Russell doesn’t spent too long on these aspects and moves on to provide a very satisfying plot for the entire volume. It could be read on it’s own but there is more to come.
Russell showed a lot of promise on The Flintstones and Snaggletooth and that promise hasn’t quite been fulfilled in later work, he tends to write in a quite a choppy fashion piecing 2-3 page scenes together that feel almost like a series of vignettes, which worked for The Flintstones but I feel this is the first thing I’ve really read of his that is well paced and comes together holistically as a story.
It’s clever, with some great dialogue and there’s some excerpts in here from Lois Lane’s newspaper pieces which on their own are very well written.
As is quite typical for Russell there some political and moral stuff in here but I feel he’s not being too on the nose with it, unlike a lot of DC’s other current books. He does tackle some of the topics of the time though.
Allred is as brilliant as ever, the two of them are a great pairing.
Can’t recommend it highly enough if anyone has been on the fence about whether to pick it up, it was a joy from start to finish.
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I bought what I think is my first physical monthly comic in about ten years this week. Transformers: Best of the Rarities. I don’t normally bother with monthlies, let alone buy them on paper, but this isn’t going to get reprinted, so I wanted it “properly” rather than as jpgs.
This is IDW’s last hurrah for having the TF license, in a way, an big one shot featuring things that haven’t been re-printed before mostly or printed at all in one case. It’s a total grab bag though and some of it just kind of makes you wonder what the point is.
There are three late era TFUK strips, using the colouring added for the Hachette partworks. They’re nice enough, but a tad limp divorced from all the rest. This is the remnants of James Roberts trying to get IDW to do the rest of the TF Classics UK trades before the license expires and it doesn’t feel a good substitute.
Better are a G2 back-up strip that Titan didn’t reprint in their trades, a short comic included with the Australian DVD of the movie and the text story from the final TFUK annual.
The real stars though are a Christmas story from 85 by the TFUS team printed in some Woman’s Weekly style magazine, of all places, and a set of trial strips for the Sunday Times comic section. These latter ones are really weird. For some reason, they decided to do them as half page gag strips, which isn’t really Furman’s strength. There’s a bit Marvel UK Ghostbusters energy to them. But because they’re also stand-alone gag strips, each one uses different characters and has to laboriously set up who they are, making each strip feel like the cheap pseudo-advertisement that the cartoon and comic proper were accused of being. It’s probably for the best they didn’t happen.
In all though, Best of the Rarities really sums up the majority of IDW’s use of the TF license: great potential that is ruined by execution that is half-arsed, bumbling and self-sabotaging. Most of this material really should have been in TF Classics UK v6-8 but they just wouldn’t print them (and not for James Roberts’ trying). Instead they put out this half-baked alternative, same way they screwed over Furman’s run and MTMTE with rushed, compromised conclusions.
Farewell, IDW. I shan’t miss you.
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I read last weeks issue of Batman and in the pages leading up to the “reveal” or “cliffhanger” I realised quite clearly where it was going before we got there and man that felt great. Very nicely done by Zdarsky, and awesome to see the return of Zur-En-Arrh. Unexpected to see this story beat from Morrisons run (I know it’s originally from the silver age era) show up again. Then again, it’s been like 13 years or something since that so it’s not like it’s too soon.
Also, I’m really liking the antagonist of this arc, Failsafe. They definitely sell how menacing and unstoppable he his. Very curious to see where this is all leading up to.
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Just read this Frank Miller Presents ashcan issue, and it’s done a good job in getting me excited for the line.
Ronin Book II especially looks great – Philip Tan’s pencils and Daniel Henriques’ inks over Miller’s layouts (and writing) is a combination that works really well. Can’t wait for the new Sin City books too.
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Read these and thought it was a very decent start to Zdarsky’s Batman run: immediately gripping, with lots of interesting story threads already in play and some nice art from Jorge Jimenez.
Looking forward to seeing where this run goes – it’s already gone straight on my pull list.
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Our old pal Deniz (Camp) on here released an Image book today called 20th Century Men. When we did the Millarworld annual vetting process and review for Mark – Deniz’ entry was head and shoulders the best one in his category, it was a very easy choice.
So I read the first issue today and it keeps up that quality. It has echoes of Hickman’s Manhattan Projects in that we have an alternate history of that era but has a very different story to tell mostly centred around Afghanistan in the late 80s when in our real timeline the Soviets were exiting and the west not very interested. In this version things are changed up in a very interesting fashion.
It’s a very strong start to a series, I highly recommend it.
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Yeah I’m planning to grab that and I picked up some of Deniz’s previous books from indie publishers too, Maxwell’s Demons and more recently Agent Of WORLDE #1 that came out a couple of months ago.
I thought of him when I heard the recent Valiant news, hopefully his planned Bloodshot book can still come out. I grabbed the FCBD issue and it bodes well for the series so it would be a shame if that got canned.
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I didn’t know he had a new book coming out. I hope it’s not too late for me to order it. Though I would imagine there will be a trade as it’s Image?
Honestly, whenever he put any of his writing on the old Millarworld boards, he made the rest of us look like amateurs. He makes most of the current crop of professionals look like amateurs.
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I thought of him when I heard the recent Valiant news, hopefully his planned Bloodshot book can still come out. I grabbed the FCBD issue and it bodes well for the series so it would be a shame if that got canned.
Yeah same here, I’m glad that if the Bloodshot thing may fall through he’s got a solid Image book to back him up. No offense meant to Vault or Scout who put out good work but the profile is so much higher with Image or Valiant.
Though I would imagine there will be a trade as it’s Image?
Almost certainly, as long as something doesn’t completely tank or the creators get flaky and don’t finish it the Image model makes a trade pretty inevitable because of the way the cost is covered upfront, the profit as Kieran Gillen described is almost all in the trades. Saying that I think with singles there’s often a re-order window if you get in quickly.
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The book only came out this week so singles should be freely available at retail.
FP still have copies of the B cover available here:
https://forbiddenplanet.com/358449-20th-century-men-1-cover-b-kordey/
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I didn’t know he had a new book coming out. I hope it’s not too late for me to order it. Though I would imagine there will be a trade as it’s Image?
Honestly, whenever he put any of his writing on the old Millarworld boards, he made the rest of us look like amateurs. He makes most of the current crop of professionals look like amateurs.
20th Century Men is due a trade in Jan 2023, its on my hitlist.
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Read this tonight. It’s Tom King doing his best Killing Joke-era Alan Moore impression, and to be honest, like Killing Joke it’s just slightly too nasty and unpleasant to really feel truly enjoyable.
That said, it’s mostly pretty decently written (albeit with a few favourite King themes and stylistic touches cropping up, as usual) and Gerads’ art is good. I also like the format (essentially the old KJ format of a standard size, 64-page squarebound comic) and I like getting a complete standalone story.
I am a bit confused though by the idea of doing one of these “one bad day” stories for so many different Batman villains. It’s already a stretch of the concept here (it’s more a KJ homage than a story about one bad day) so I’m not sure it’s an idea that can support an entire series of one-shots.
Also, I’m not sure why this isn’t a Black Label book as it feels like prime BL material. Are they winding up that imprint or something? As one of the only good things about DC at the moment, I wouldn’t be surprised.
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