Best Comic of the Week:
Avengers #40 – 
This is a huge issue of Avengers, as Jonathan Hickman brings together a number of plotlines that he’s had running since he started with the title (and New Avengers). We finally learn just what Reed and the rest of the Illuminati had planned all along, as the three Avengers teams that have been in conflict with each other come together to try to put a stop to Namor and Thanos’s Cabal. After so many betrayals, however, it’s kind of inevitable that there’s going to be another one, as Hickman possibly kills off a major Marvel character in a scene that will have a lot of repercussions. I’ve been really enjoying this Time Runs Out stuff (although I’m still very sceptical about Secret Wars), and am now very excited to read the next issue of New Avengers to see what happens next. This is not a series that is easy to predict.
Quick Takes:
Abe Sapien #19 – I feel like the supporting cast that’s been built up around Abe and his friend Grace hasn’t been developed enough to make me care when some of them get killed, as they do this issue. I like Abe as a character, but don’t have a clear feeling as to where this series is headed, and I’m starting to find it frustrating. Mike Mignola and Scott Allie keep hinting at stuff, but rarely get to the point with this book.
All-New Captain America #3 – As much as I enjoyed the first two issues of this series, this one was a lot harder to follow. Falcon-Cap goes through the ‘infinite elevator’ to a simulated World War II battle before falling down a hole that lands him in icy caverns in mountains, or something. He fights Sin, who tries to lay down a massive mind game on him, but thanks to a very improbable example of deus ex falcona he’s able to hold his own. Sometimes Rick Remender gets into a bit of a Michael Bay mode, and that’s how this issue felt, with spectacle holding sway over story. Also, I’m finding it hard to believe that what should have been a big-deal death last issue gets little space this one. I’m hoping that things make more sense with the next issue, because another issue like this one will cause me to drop this book.
Amazing X-Men #15 – I really feel that we need an X-Men book like this one, that splits the balance between character work and actual superhero stuff. Bendis’s books are too Bendis, and are both focused on characters that are not a part of the actual, school-based X-Men. I have no interest in reading Spider-Man and the X-Men, as it looks too silly (much as its predecessor, Wolverine and the X-Men was), and the adjectiveless title is way too inconsistent. I know that Chris Yost is a great writer, and does well with ensemble casts, and I was impressed with the art of newcomer Jorge Fornés. The story was a little too decompressed though, as the team heads off to search for the Cyttorak Ruby, the thing that gives Juggernaut his powers. At the heart of this issue is the conflict between Storm and Colossus, a former avatar of Cyttorak (to be honest, I’d forgotten about that nonsense), and Ororo’s lack of trust for Peter. I was planning on dropping this title, but I think I’m back on board for now; if Yost starts cramming a little more story into each issue, I’ll be quite happy.
Batgirl #38 – Cameron Stewart and Brendan Fletcher use this issue of Batgirl to explore in a little more depth the effects of social media on superhero-ing, as Barbara begins to take her celebrity status in Burnside a little too far. I like the way they use her budding relationship with a GCPD officer to create a space for discussion around vigilantism, giving this issue a little more substance than their previous ones. I was a little confused to see Barbara relying on some high-tech gadgetry, since I thought she was completely broke (maybe her new scientist friend, who can’t figure that the two new redheads he’s recently met are the same person), but am otherwise enjoying this series a lot. Artist Babbs Tarr is pretty amazing.
Copperhead #5 – Jay Faerber wraps up the first arc of this excellent sci-fi western series, and does it in such a way that also helps build a supporting cast around Sheriff Bronson and her son. Faerber’s put a lot of thought into developing this world, and now that Bronson has solved her first crime, I’m curious to explore it with her. I’m thankful that I gave this book a chance, as I haven’t always been interested in Faerber’s work, because I’m really enjoying it and hope it is around for a good long time. I also hope that Scott Godlewski doesn’t get poached by the Big Two, because he’s insanely talented.
Cyclops #9 – I continue to get a lot of enjoyment out of this book, as young Cyclops continues to pose as a pirate as a way to protect (and hopefully free) his father, but is also beginning to feel some loyalty to the crew that he’s with, as some of them prove themselves to be very decent people. When a new mission goes awry, his divided loyalties are nicely portrayed in his face by artist Javier Garrón, who I believe is someone to watch.
Daredevil #12 – You wouldn’t really think that Daredevil is the right character to use in a high-speed car chase up and down the streets of San Francisco, but Chris Samnee gives us one of the most cinematic chase scenes I’ve ever seen in comics. This is another good issue, as Matt tries to help his old acquaintance the Stunt Master, only to find that something very different from what he thought is going on. As always, this book is rock solid.
The Fuse #9 – The murder case our two intrepid homicide detectives are investigating continues to get more complex, as their investigation puts them at odds with their colleagues in Vice, the DA’s office, and eventually, brings in another department altogether. Antony Johnston is writing a near-perfect police procedural, set on a space station. He combines science fiction and crime genres effortlessly, and gives us a very interesting series. What I like best about this is the way we are learning a little more about our two main characters with each new issue. This is a great series.
Grayson #6 – For the first time, the writers abandon the done-in-one format that this book has used until now to start a longer story that has Midnighter abducting Dick during a mission and taking him to the God Garden (whatever that really is), leaving Matron on her own to complete their task. We are beginning to get a better sense of who Spyral’s enemies are, but I still feel that there is a lot going on in this series that the reader is not yet aware of. Midnighter gets a couple of great lines here.
Jupiter’s Legacy #5 – I’m disappointed that the end of Jupiter’s Legacy, Mark Millar and Frank Quitely’s very late series, is actually just the end of the first book, with no follow-up announced. This issue has Chloe and her family outed as superheroes in a world where a small group of powered beings, Chloe’s family, have taken over the United States. Quitely’s art is fantastic here, and I hope it’s not too long before we see the rest of this story.
Justice League United #8 – Jeff Lemire brings back the rest of the Legion of Super-Heroes in this issue, as the majority of the team come back to the 21st century in a last-ditch effort to stop Byth from turning Ultra into Infinitus (which, of course, doesn’t work because there is still another two issues in the arc). There is some confusion as to who is on the team though, as Shadow Lass is shown flying through the time portal, despite the fact that it was just mentioned that she was in the hospital. I was also surprised to see characters like Monstress and (I think) Laurel Gand, who I would have thought would have been retconned away (she was used post-Crisis to fill in Supergirl’s place in past continuity. Let’s face it, the Legion is a mess, and it seems like no one is ever going to try to make it work properly in the New 52. Still, I love the team, and am happy to see them again.
Lazarus #14 – For a long time now, Greg Rucka has had Forever Carlyle, the hero of this series, question her parentage, her true place in her family, and her role as the family’s Lazarus, or enhanced bodyguard. This issue, when sent to kill her brother to keep him from being used as a pawn by the family’s enemy, Forever gets some of the answers she’s been looking for (perhaps), although they are not what she expected. As always, this is a very well-executed comic, with great Michael Lark artwork, and the kind of fully realized society that Rucka is so good at slowly revealing. This is a great series.
Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man #9 – Brian Michael Bendis continues his two-issue look into Miles’s father’s time as an undercover SHIELD agent, when he infiltrated the Kingpin’s organization. I guess it’s nice to see Bendis actually resolve a plotline in Miles’s life, but after the first arc’s focus on the return of Peter Parker, and this one’s focus on the senior Morales, I’m ready for a story that is actually about Miles in his own title. Too much to ask?
Rai #6 – As the conspiracy against Father, the AI that runs Japan, continues, this book becomes more interesting. Strangely, Rai himself is being sidelined a bit, with most of the story being given over to his allies in the battle. At the same time, they are much more interesting characters than Rai, so I’m okay with that. This issue marks the clearest that Clayton Crain’s art has been on this title yet.
San Hannibal #5 – This private-eye mini-series by Dan Schadke (with colours by Jesse Snavlin) caught my eye from the beginning, lost me for a little bit in the middle, and ended up very satisfactorily with this issue. Schadke put together an interesting and strange city, as a missing persons case took his PI character into some strange sex and slavery business that involved political players at the highest levels in the city. What I found most interesting about this book is the way that, over its five issues, the colour went from a monochromatic palette to a richer, but not usual, look, matching the main character’s understanding of what was going on (although he stayed grey throughout). It was a cool series.
Star Wars #1 – As a long time Star Wars fan (like, since I was four years old), I was pretty intrigued to see what a new Star Wars series at Marvel was going to be like. I didn’t always read the Dark Horse titles, but became a big fan of the work that Brian Wood was doing with the main movie cast in his recent series, set between the first two movies. This series, by Jason Aaron and John Cassaday is set in the same time frame, but where Wood was interested in the mechanics of how the Rebellion would be operated after the destruction of the Death Star, and how the characters would grow into the close crew we saw later on, Aaron is going for a more cinematic feel. Han bluffs his way into a massive Imperial weapons plant, with Leia and Luke posing as guards from Jabba’s palace, so they can destroy the place. Vader shows up though, and things go a little pear-shaped. I enjoyed the way Aaron writes these characters, and he captures the slapdash planning that got them through three films very well. Cassaday is, of course, fantastic, and his visuals gave me the same sense of excitement that the movies used to. I don’t see how this story fits properly between the two films though. There is too much reliance on things that were surprising in the later films, and the crew feels like it’s worked together for a long time. There’s an ease between Han and Leia that doesn’t match the fact that they would still effectively be antagonistic strangers at this point in their relationship. Still, this is a pretty attractive book, and it does capture the excitement of the films in a way the Dark Horse books didn’t always manage. It’s Marvel, so of course they’re going to go big. I intend to stick around as long as Cassaday does.
Stumptown #5 – This third volume of Stumptown is perhaps my favourite, as we’ve gotten a lot of insight into Dex’s character, as her new friend CK keeps grilling her about her time in the army, her apparent PTSD, and why she came home. This issue wraps up the Case of the King of Clubs, which involves Portland’s soccer culture. The ending is very satisfactory.
Supreme Blue Rose #6 – Warren Ellis’s journey into Rob Liefeld’s world has been a little rocky, mostly because his narrative hasn’t been the easiest thing in the world to follow, but in this penultimate issue (of the series or the arc? I don’t know) things come together a little more clearly, and Diana Dane finally starts exerting a little more control over things.
The Walking Dead #136 – Robert Kirkman has made Carl into a very complex character. While sitting in a detention cell for almost killing the boys that attacked his friend Sophia, he begins to chat with the girl brought into the Hilltop who was part of this new group of people who have attacked members of the Hilltop community. Carl wants to help the girl, but because this is a Kirkman comic, the reader is pretty sure that she can’t be trusted. Some other stuff happens too, most notably the beginning of a conspiracy to take Maggie out of her position as leader. I never get bored of this title.
Comics I Would Have Bought if Comics Weren’t So Expensive:
Avengers #34.2
Batman Eternal #41
Captain Marvel #11
Deadpool #40
Death-Defying Doctor Mirage #5
Deathlok #4
Fables: The Wolf Among Us #1
FBP #17
SHIELD #2
Silver Surfer #8
Spider-Verse #2
Superman Wonder Woman #15
Wilds End #5
Wolverines #2
X-Force #14
Bargain Comics:
Aquaman #32-35; Annual #2 – I picked these comics up because I enjoy Jeff Parker’s writing, and while for the most part these are decent comics, I feel like they are rubbing up against the limitations of a character like Aquaman, whose stories often fall into two categories: weird Atlantean mysticism, and weird undersea monsters. These issues deal with both, as he has to fight the very powerful Chimera, and figure out why the kingdom of Atlantis is rejecting his foreign blood by having seaquakes every time he comes to town. The Annual, which features Wonder Woman and follows up on an earlier plot of Parker’s, is a bit of a mess.
Batman Eternal #11-17 – My enjoyment of Batman Eternal is growing, although at the same time, I’m a little confused by the apparent lack of an over-arching plotline. Originally, I thought that the whole series would be about the gangwar between Falcone and the Penguin, but now there is some stuff involving the resurrection of Deacon Blackfire, that doesn’t fit with the rest. One thing I like is the involvement of more of the Bat-Family, with Batgirl, Batwoman, and the Red Hood tracking down leads in Brazil, Red Robin and Harper Row jetting off to Tokyo, and Batwing and Jim Corrigan dealing with devilry under Arkham. I guess the shoddy and forced ‘anger’ everyone had towards Batman in Death of the Family has been forgotten or forgiven? I like that Batman Incorporated is being worked into this story, as there was so much potential in that concept that never got realized. My favourite issue in this batch is the one drawn by Ian Bertram, an artist I’m not familiar with, who straddles the line between Chris Burnham and Frank Quitely perfectly.
Fables #140-142 – Bill Willingham is setting out to close down the series, by having many of the Fables realize that they can now return to their Homelands (took them a while, didn’t it?), while more sibling rivalry takes hold of Snow and her sister. There’s a lot of foreshadowing, but this book has been running on fumes for a good long time now.
Spider-Woman #1 – I wish Marvel would stop launching their new titles during events, because while that event may attract a larger audience, nothing about the comic gives them reason to stick around afterwards, pretty much guaranteeing a large drop in sales for the third or fourth issue of the comic. This latest Spider-Woman series is a perfect example. Had I not read the first few chapters of Spider-Verse in Amazing Spider-Man, I’d have no clue what was going on in this comic. Jessica Drew has taken Silk and the Noir Spider-Man on a cross-dimensional jaunt, trying to stay ahead of the Inheritors, who are trying to kill every Spider-x in the multiverse. Later, our Spidey tracks them down and gives Jess a different mission, while leaving Spider-Girl/Araña and Spider-Gwen to look after Silk, who has taken off. There’s nothing here that makes me think Jessica can carry her own book, which is a shame, because she’s a character I like. Also, putting Greg Land on a title is an easy way to make sure I don’t want to come back for more…
Superior Iron Man #2 – I still do not understand this whole Extremis App thing, and how cell-phone software can hack a person’s body and make them perfect. I don’t need a lot of explanation of wacky science in my comics, but I like to think that the writer has at least given it a little bit of thought. I’m not sure that this title is going to last for long. Tom Taylor has already had to make Daredevil the hero of the comic, because Tony’s just become so unlikeable, and that can’t last for more than a few issues.
The Week in Graphic Novels:
Sin Titulo
When I think of Cameron Stewart, I think of books like Seaguy, Catwoman, and now Batgirl. He’s someone I equate with more cartoony, fun comics. He’s not someone that I would immediately think of as the person to create so surreal and compelling a book as Sin Titulo, his webseries that Dark Horse published in a single, beautiful, volume.
Alex Mackay is an underachieving fact checker for a magazine company who falls down a particularly strange rabbit hole. He makes a visit to his grandfather’s rest home, only to discover that his grandfather had passed a month before. When picking up his effects, he finds a photo of the old guy with a beautiful young woman he’s never seen before. When he asks about the woman’s identity, the staff behaves strangely, and make off with the picture. While waiting for answers, he stumbles across the sadistic and abusive behaviour of one of the orderlies.
From here, things just keep getting stranger for Alex. He follows the orderly when he gets off work, and that leads him to an odd building, where he bluffs his way past the front desk to find himself in a room with a desk and a video phone, and the woman from the photo looking back at him. As things continue to get weirder, Alex becomes more obsessed with things, losing his job and his girl over his behaviour (not to mention his car).
Throughout the book, Alex experiences dreams about a tree on a beach, sometimes with a person sitting under it (hence the cover). It’s difficult to explain this part without giving away some pretty big stuff, but the book really becomes interesting once Alex meets a painter who has been having the same dream, and painting the same image over and over again.
Stewart captures perfectly the Kafkaesque quality of this story, as Alex never quite questions his sanity, despite the fact that everyone around him is treating him like a crazy person (and he’s wanted for killing two police officers). The internal logic of this story keeps things moving quite well, and Stewart really takes the time to flesh out Alex’s character, showing us scenes from his childhood and from an office party that help to colour who he really is, even though they aren’t completely necessary to the story.
The story is told in pages of eight panels, which fit quite tightly on these sideways pages. That helps add to the claustrophobic feeling of the story, until a key page towards the end when Stewart uses the whole page to stunning effect. The book ends with a fight scene that could only be done in comics, the logistics of which must have been very difficult to plan.
In all, this is a very satisfying read. It’s given me reason to look at Stewart’s other work from a different perspective, and I hope to see him doing something so psychological again soon.
