Best Comic of the Week:
The Superior Foes of Spider-Man #12 – 
After a too-long hiatus, the Superior Foes return (with a tidy little price hike) and Nick Spencer and Steve Lieber once again show how much potential B- and C-list characters really have. This is a very funny issue, as Boomerang continues to try to get himself out of trouble by spinning more and more lies, and trying to work ever more complex schemes on friend and foe alike, while Shocker has to try to figure out what to do with Silvermane’s head, now that the Maggia know he has it. This is a truly wonderful series, and I hope that it is back on track schedule-wise, as I really love it.
Quick Takes:
Amazing X-Men #8 – I was really happy to learn that Craig Kyle and Chris Yost were teaming up to write this book, especially since it did not impress me in the least under Jason Aaron’s pen. I loved their work together on New X-Men and X-Force, and expected some good things. Unfortunately, there is a lingering sensibility from Aaron’s run, which has the duo taking a pretty light approach to these characters. At the same time, they bring Colossus into the book, and the story features some of Alpha Flight, so I can’t be too negative about the comic. My issues are mostly with the art (because apparently Ottawa, the capital of my country, is all pine trees and wood cabins), but I’ve heard that Ed McGuinness won’t be around much longer, so I can expect that to improve. My hope is that the writers position this book with a more serious approach, as there is a lack of X-books that don’t read like sitcoms these days (especially since Brian Wood is leaving his title soon).
Avengers World #7 – I was pleased to see that Jonathan Hickman was going to be spotlighting the Falcon in this newest issue of this endless story arc (it feels like it’s barely begun), but instead, he uses most of the issue to introduce SPEAR, the Chinese counterpart to SHIELD, and a number of its powered heroes. I don’t expect Marvel to do much with these characters – DC’s Great Ten proved that there is still a limited market for non-American team books, unfortunately – but it is nice to see that the world’s most populated country has managed to develop a few heroes of its own. They can’t all live in New York, right?
Cyclops #2 – Greg Rucka’s father-and-son galactic tour continues, and he’s given this book a feel that reminds me a lot of the much-missed TV show Farscape, as things are pretty weird in the galaxy. Corsair and Cyclops stop off at a Vegas-like planet so that Summers pere can arrange a refill on his secret medication, but instead run into some bounty hunters that have been looking for him. I’m really enjoying the way Rucka is writing this book, and artist Russell Dauterman is doing a fine job. I’m hoping to see the Starjammers again soon, but for now, I like the way these two characters are getting to know each other all over again.
Great Pacific #15 – A new story arc begins as a rich hunter appears in New Texas, hunting for local game, although (of course) there’s a lot more going on than that, it’s just that Chas and Alex don’t know what that is. I’ll give you a hint though – it involves nuclear weapons. Joe Harris continues to tell a very strange story with this series, which is set on the Pacific Garbage Patch, which is also the world’s newest country.
Green Arrow #32 – Ollie is back in Seattle, just in time to run into problems with Richard Dragon and his new crew, who are trying to take the town over. Once again, Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino give us a very competent comic, with impressive visuals. I especially like Dragon’s flashback scenes, which Sorrentino has shown using mostly silhouettes. This book is miles apart from everything else DC publishes these days.
Hinterkind #8 – I feel that Ian Edginton needed the first six issues or so of this series to establish how things work in his vision of the future, and now that he’s gotten all of that out of the way, he’s got the time and space to make the comic good. The two groups of Hinterkind and human that are walking west run into different problems, as the threat of the creatures that have been draining blood from folk is made clear. The characters are feeling more developed as this series continues, and I’m feeling much more invested than I did at the beginning.
Iron Fist: The Living Weapon #3 – Kaare Andrews is really putting Danny Rand through his paces, in what has to be the darkest take on the character I’ve ever seen. Between scenes that revisit (yet again) his origin, Danny arrives in the newly-destroy K’un Lun, where various characters are coming to grips with the devastation. Andrews’s art is pretty amazing, which makes up for any deficits in the writing, or the fact that the tone of the book doesn’t really fit the character as he’s usually portrayed.
Lobster Johnson: Get the Lobster #4 – Mike Mignola and John Arcudi have the Lobster fight a remote-controlled gorilla in a scale model of Manhattan, giving the whole comic a very cool Japanese monster film vibe in a scene that artist Tonci Zonjic just kills. Does it even matter that the rest of the book reveals the reason why the Police Chief has been acting so strangely, and continues to work on grounding the Lobster’s identity as a legacy hero or some kind of spiritual thing? The Lobster books can be the most variable of the Mignola-verse, story-wise, but this arc has been wonderful.
Loki: Agent of Asgard #5 – I’ve been enjoying this new run of Loki, but as when the superior Journey Into Mystery tied into Thor for a while, I’m going to be dropping this book as it heads into a crossover with Thor again, under the Original Sin banner. This issue has Loki infiltrating the dungeons of Asgardia, where he meets himself. Al Ewing has a good handle on the character, both in his young and old iterations, and Lee Garbett is always a great artist. I might come back after the OS stuff ends, if the same creative team is going to be in charge…
Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man #2 – Miles had a surprise visitor last month, and we get to see them interact with each other for a while, a conversation that gives Miles plenty more things to worry about. Brian Michael Bendis always writes this character very well, and David Marquez’s work continues to be pretty incredible.
Moon Knight #4 – Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey have been conducting this series like a master-class in the done-in-one format, and this issue, which involves some kind of phenomenon interrupting the dreams of sleep-study participants, is another fine example of what comics can be. Things get a little psychedelic when MK volunteers to sleep in the lab where the patients have been affected, but the story is wonderfully strange from the first page.
Original Sin #3 – Okay, I’m going to admit to having almost no idea what’s going on with this book. Someone important gets killed this issue, by someone else who has some importance in the Marvel Universe, and who wouldn’t do something like that. The Watcher’s eye goes off like a bomb, releasing secrets, while the various heroes that have been gathered by a mysterious shadowy figure to investigate the Watcher’s death discover that Scourge, the classic 80s villain, has gone cosmic, but is no longer screaming out “Justice is served” after each kill. This has become as dark (beheadings? eye gougings?) as a DC event, and about as incoherent. Yet, out of some morbid curiosity, I’m still reading it… Sometimes my relationship with comics feels really dysfunctional…
Swamp Thing #32 – I have to appreciate how well DC handled this cross-over between Swamp Thing and Aquaman. The story was kept short and manageable, and both characters were written well and consistently with how they appear in their own books (I assume, in Aquaman’s case). There should be more cross-overs like this one – limited in scale, and with a story that works for both titles, and not just editorially-driven and mandated. Charles Soule’s work on this book has been underrated, as he’s the first writer to do something new with Swamp Thing in a very long time.
The Wake #9 – We’re getting close to the end of The Wake, and Scott Snyder has his story jump over as much journeying and adventuring as would usually fit in a year’s worth of comics, to bring Leeward and her new pirate friends to the coordinates from the message she heard. Of course, they are being pursued, and Snyder gives Sean Murphy the chance to design a lot of crazy different vehicles. I’ve been enjoying this series a lot, and look forward to its conclusion.
The Woods #2 – A high school has been transported to an alien planet, and the faculty and student body are only just coming to grips with that situation. A few students have headed off into the alien forest following what looked like a marker stone, while the teachers are near-paralyzed with fear and indecision. James Tynion IV has put together a pretty interesting situation, although I’m not sure if the teens and adults would divide into separate camps so quickly; in that sense, this book feels a little too much like a Hollywood teen comedy film. Michael Dialynas is doing some very nice work on the visuals for this book.
Comics I Would Have Bought if They Weren’t $4 or More:
68 Rules of War #3
All-New X-Factor #9
Amazing X-Men Annual #1
Black Widow #7
Caliban #3
Captain America #21
Iron Man #27
Magneto #5
Miracleman #7
New Warriors #5
Punisher #6
Suicide Risk #14
Superannuated Man #1
Bargain Comics:
All-New X-Factor #4 – Danger joins the cast this issue, but only after getting into a big fight with most of the team. I continue to be underwhelmed with this title, as I’m not really understanding its purpose yet, and because Carmine Di Giandemonico’s art makes it difficult to follow the story in places, or to tell people apart in others. This book should be better than it is.
Days Missing: Kestus #1-5 – I enjoyed the first Days Missing series from Archaia and the Roddenberry people, but never bothered with the second series, mostly because I wasn’t (at the time) familiar with artist David Marquez, and because I’d figure that there was no rush to read a series about a character who has the ability to fold time on itself. This second series separates itself from the second because of the appearance of Kestus, another immortal who often finds herself at odds with the Steward, the hero of the series. Over many centuries, they influence each other and become kind of close, in a strange relationship that writer Phil Hester makes work. Marquez’s art is nowhere near as nice as it is on Ultimate Spider-Man now, but part of the blame for that could be placed on the overly cold digital colouring used on a lot of Archaia books.
Thor God of Thunder #21 – I’m not entirely sure why Jason Aaron continues to position half of this story in the far future, as Old Thor tries to keep Galactus from consuming the Earth again. The main story, featuring Present Thor in a fight with Roxxon over Broxton Oklahoma, is much more interesting and relevant.
That’s everything I read this week. What about you? Tell us in the comments section below. I’m going to be taking next week off from the column, but will be back with a double-sized edition the following week.
