I hope that everyone is doing well, and staying inside as much as possible. My thoughts are with people who have been impacted by the corona virus, and the first responders and essential services workers that are doing so much to protect us and keep us safe and fed. Amidst all the uncertainty that the world has been plunged into the last few weeks, worrying about comics seems like a luxury, but escapism is needed more than ever to help people remain calm, and to fill in an endless number of hours spent in isolation. News came out this week that Diamond is no longer going to be receiving new books, or shipping comics to comics stores. As I write this, it looks like some publishers are trying to find ways around this. I preorder my comics, and fully intend to continue supporting my local comic store (which is definitely hurting right now), and so I will not be looking for new comics online or elsewhere. Instead, my future columns are going to be focused on the huge stack of comics and trades that have been piling up for a while. (Diamond managed to short my LCS on their last order, so I am still missing five comics from this week; maybe I’ll get them at some point, maybe I won’t.
I’m curious to know what you are reading while this is going on, whether you are discovering new comics, or are revisiting old favourites. Drop a line in the comments and let me know.
Best Comic of the Week:
No One’s Rose #1 – Zac Thompson and co-writer Emily Horn have put together an interesting new series at Vault, featuring great art by Alberto Alburquerque, of Letter 44 fame. At some distant point in the future (which is annoyingly referred to as being after the fall of the Anthropocene, as if a geologic era could collapse like an empire), humanity is relegated to a single dome on the planet’s toxic surface. We learn about the stratified society within the dome, and get to know a brother and sister who have very different views on that society. Tenn is on track to being promoted and wants to reach the higher levels of the dome on her own merit, while her brother, Seren, is more rebellious, and is opposed to the way his people have to work to provide for the comfort of others. This book has a lot of potential, and I like how it links environmental degradation with social inequality. I look forward to the next issue.
Quick Takes:
Black Panther #22 – T’Challa communes with his ancestors, and once again has to prove himself to them. Ta-Nehisi Coates’s run on this book is building to its conclusion, and while it’s had its ups and downs, it’s generally been very good, especially since relaunching with this intergalactic storyline.
Hellions #1 – I mocked this title when I first saw it, because I couldn’t quite get my head around a team run by Mister Sinister and Pyslocke that featured Havok, Scalphunter, Wildchild, Empath, and the much-hated Nanny and Orphan Maker. Honestly, it’s just the last two characters that I don’t like, but I really don’t like them. Zeb Wells is one of those journeymen comics writers – his stuff is generally good, but he’s not a writer I ever really think about. I like the idea that Sinister is using this team to try to reform the more psychotic and maladjusted mutants on Krakoa (Havok’s inclusion is a little weird), but am not sure that this is enough of a concept for a lasting run. Stephen Segovia’s art is nice, and while I also hate the villain that is revealed on the last page, I can see myself coming back to this book when shipping resumes.
Lazarus: Risen #4 – I was surprised to see that this issue of the now-quarterly series takes place before the first three. It focuses on two of our point of view characters – Michael, a doctor, and Casey, a Dagger. We see Casey’s graduation and induction into that highest level of special forces in the Carlyle family’s organization, and see how she and Michael interact with Forever. It’s a very solid issue that helps explore what life is like in Greg Rucka and Michael Lark’s world. There is a prose story backing this up that features Jonah Carlyle, who is on the run in Bittner territory under an assumed name. This story follows up on Jonah’s last comic appearance, and is as strong as the comic part of this book. As the years pass, Lazarus starts to feel more on the nose than it did back when it began; it’s not a good feeling to see that Rucka might be right about our collective future.
Legion of Super-Heroes #5 – I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the Legion of Super-Heroes, as I’ve recently read some thirteen years worth of Legion stories, going back to the early 80s, partly in anticipation of this new series. It’s clear that our conception of the future has changed a lot compared to how people saw a thousand years from now back then, and while I still miss the Legion that I grew up with, I think that Brian Michael Bendis is doing a fine job of reimagining the team for a new era. This issue continues to tell the team’s origins, as they find themselves at odds with President Brande, the very being who wanted the team formed in the first place. I do take issue with the way the Legion always has to be tied to what is happening in the current DCU (it would be like all of our major stories being somehow connected to what happened in 1020, a year in which I imagine very little happened). It’s curious that our two glimpses into the past in this issue showcase the pre-Crisis Teen Titans and the post-Zero Hour JLA, teams that I’m not sure ever existed in the current understanding of the DCU post-Rebirth. Honestly, I have no idea anymore with DC, so I just try not to think about that stuff. So while the broad strokes are working for me, I do wish Bendis would take a little more time to introduce some of these characters. The appeal of the Legion is its size, but when everyone on the team is a characterless cipher, that appeal doesn’t really hold. The art, by Ryan Sook and Scott Godlewski this time around, is lovely.
Protector #3 – As we get deeper into this post-Apocalyptic series, the awakened cyborg that has become viewed as a savior by the Yanqui people learns from the captive Hudsoni leader that there may be more of him, and they go looking for the temple where First Knife’s uncle found his knife. Simon Roy and Daniel Benson give readers very little information to work off of, and Artyom Trakhanov’s art is beautifully difficult to follow at times, but I find this comic fascinating. I like how Roy and Benson depict religion in this book, and have the characters questioning their faith the more time they spend around their “gods”. I would like to have a clearer understanding of what the Devas, the beings that the Hudsoni worship, really are, but expect that that’s coming in future issues.
Sex Criminals #28 – Suze confronts Badal, the guy who has been manipulating everyone since this series began, and we get to hear his backstory, and about how he uses cruelty to tap into his own sexual powers. I really haven’t been enjoying this arc as much as I did the earlier parts of this series, but that’s what I usually find happens as long-running titles that I love reach their crescendo. The same thing happened with Wicked + Divine and Sandman. Basically, I feel like I prepare for their loss by emotionally pushing them away a little. Or the plot just takes hold.
Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #2 – This title is starting to grow on me, as various bounty hunters go searching for their former associate, who got them all in trouble years before. There’s some work that needs to be done to make this feel like it’s important, but I like the way Ethan Sacks is using flashbacks to establish the connections between these characters. There’s potential here, but it’s not quite there yet.
Wolverine #2 – So I guess we are focusing on the mysterious drug dealer story in this title before we focus on the vampire one (the first issue started two separate arcs, and it was a little confusing as to what this title would look like). In a lot of ways, this does not read like a solo Wolverine book yet, given how much of this issue is given over to the Marauders and to X-Force. Ben Percy does write Logan well though, and I like the growing partnership between him and the typically unconventional FBI agent. I see potential here.
X-Men #9 – I’m enjoying this Brood storyline, which brings some of the Summers family into contact with the Brood, the Shi’ar, the Starjammers, and the Kree. It’s mostly an action issue, building on events from the New Mutants, and where most of this series has so far been concerned with laying out various puzzle pieces for Jonathan Hickman’s larger Krakoan story, this is just about a good adventure. I was surprised that Guardian didn’t have anything to say when Vulcan showed up, given some of their history, but this was a good book.
X-Men/Fantastic Four #3 – It’s always a bit tricky when teamup books like this are written by people who aren’t writing either of the ongoing books of the teams involved. Chip Zdarsky probably should be writing the Fantastic Four, as he has a good ear for them (as seen in his excellent Marvel 2-In-One run that gets referenced here), but I’m not sure I’m as happy with the staunch unreasonableness he has the X-Men expressing. In this comic, he has Doctor Doom positing the source of mutant powers, offering to help the son of his greatest enemy, and sending innocent Latverians into harm’s way as part of his power play. It doesn’t all fit together. I’m also curious why Kwannon is on the cover of this issue, when she’s not in the book, and does not have the stature on Krakoa that her cover appearance suggests (unless Terry Dodson doesn’t know that Psylocke is not Elizabeth Braddock anymore, and just thinks she’s hot).
Comics I Would Have Bought if Comics Weren’t So Expensive:
Amazing Spider-Man #42
Detective Comics #1021
Far Sector #5
Suicide Squad #4
Wonder Woman #754
X-O Manowar #1
Bargain Comics:
Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda #4 – I love that this book contains characters like Man-Wolf and Mockingbird. There needs to be more space for D-list characters (see Strikeforce, below, too) in the Marvel Universe, especially when writers like Jim Zub do interesting things with them.
Conan: Serpent War #1 – I haven’t bothered with any of Marvel’s Conan books, because it’s not typically my thing, but this was $1, and featured Moon Knight, so I thought I’d check it out. I don’t know, I’m not that familiar with Robert Howard’s other characters, like Solomon Kane or Dark Agnes, and while the entire point of this issue was introducing the characters to the reader and finding a reason to bring them together, I came away from this issue not at all invested in the story. Oh well…
Firefly #6-11 – Firefly is a delight. The comics form allows Greg Pak to put together a sprawling story for the crew of the Serenity, as they have to deal with the resparking of the war, and the crew struggles to rescue Mal from Boss Moon, of the Unificators. There’s a lot going on in this book, as Pak adds some interesting new characters and a much broader understanding of how the war has never really gone away in the minds of many people. Dan McDaid’s art is rough for a licensed book like this, but he captures the essence of the characters well, and the shabbiness of their world perfectly. I wish I had more issues in my stockpile.
Strikeforce #3 – Tini Howard’s Strikeforce is a much more fun Avengers version of Justice League Dark. I love the character lineup, and think that German Peralta’s art is great. Best of all, there are a couple of flashback pages by the incredible Marco Rudy! Had I known that, I would have gotten this book when it first came out. This is much better than I’m sure anyone really expected.
Yondu #2-4 – I hate when Marvel tries to force movie characterizations onto their publishing line, and can’t understand why anyone thought that the 21st century Yondu needed to be a thing. But then they get Zac Thompson and Lonnie Nadler to write about this rogue pirate, and they got John McCrae to draw his story, and that team had him meet the real Yondu, his descendant from the 30th century. It was a wise choice, as it has allowed Movie Yondu to develop, and still fit in the anti-hero zone that McCrae seems to always draw characters in. This mini is decent, and has me missing the original Guardians of the Galaxy some.
The Week in Graphic Novels:
Pete and Miriam – I usually think of crime comics when I think of Rich Tommaso, but this quick trade is more of a slice of life comic about two friends, Pete and Miriam, and how they’ve grown up together. Pete is a film student who needs to finish a film, while Miriam is kind of his foil, floating in his orbit and helping him out. There’s not a lot of plot to this book, which jumps around to different times in their shared lives, and no real sense of resolution to things. Pete seems to be pretty unhappy in his life, while Miriam has resigned herself to being his friend, and has given up on looking for more. I feel like there could have been more depth to this, but I did enjoy it.
Void – I picked up this Titan hardcover a while ago because it features art by Sean Phillips, whose work I adore, and who I haven’t seen work with anyone other than Ed Brubaker in years. This Belgian book, written by Herik Hanna, is set on a prison transport spacecraft. A small meteor shower has damaged it, and caused the man in charge, Colonel Mercer, to go insane. It seems that there is only one prisoner left alive, and he has to figure out how to get away from Mercer and save himself. The problem is, he can’t really trust his own perceptions, as he starts to lose his mind and hallucinate. There’s a little more to it, but I wouldn’t want to spoil things. The writing is tight, and the approach that Hanna takes is different. Phillips’s work is always gorgeous, so that’s nothing new. I liked this, and it reminds me that I should be reading more Titan graphic novels; they translate and bring us some interesting things.
The Week in Music:
What’s really been helping me get over the stress and strangeness of the last few weeks has been listening to a ton of music. For the next little while, I thought I’d make a couple recommendations each week of new albums or projects that I’ve been enjoying, with links to the artists’ Bandcamp pages.
Witch Prophet – DNA Activation This is a beautiful exploration of Witch Prophet’s background and family, fusing r’n’b, jazz, and hip hop with Ethiopian and Eritrean sounds. I’ve had it practically on repeat.
Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad – Jazz Is Dead 001 – The two geniuses behind the Midnight Hour and the soundtrack to the Luke Cage Netflix series (not to mention one of the founders of A Tribe Called Quest) have put together this compilation featuring jazz legends and gods like Roy Ayers and Doug Carn. It’s beautiful, and it swings.
Beverly Glenn-Copeland – Primal Prayer – This album was a surprise this week. I saw it mentioned twice by artists that I admire as their go-to album for hard times. It came out back in 2004, and is a groundbreaking collision of spiritual music, jazz, and electronics.
