The Weekly Round-Up #625 With Echolands #4, Black Hammer Reborn #6, Decorum #8 & More Plus The Week In Music!

Columns, News, Top Story

Best Comic of the Week:

Echolands #4 – I am continually blown away by how beautiful this book is.  JH Williams III is a rare artist, to be sure, and seeing him put his all into every double-page landscape spread is a joy.  The story is strange – a girl named Hope and her group of sorta friends are on the run from the daughter of the Wizard who controls their city, and as they flee, they keep coming across new realms and people who either want to help them or do them harm.  In a lot of ways, this book is like an early side-scrolling video game – Hope and company just keep moving to the right, and we get to follow on this journey.  Williams is crafting incredible worlds here, and finding new ways to lay out his panels to make maximum use of them.  There is no other comic like this.

Quick Takes:

Aquaman/Green Arrow: Deep Target #2 – It’s still not entirely clear how Oliver and Arthur have changed places, as they start to work together to solve the problem.  There’s a military agency after them, or something like one.  Brandon Thomas is a great writer, but something is not clicking here.

Black Hammer Reborn #6 – We get to learn the backstory of how Skulldigger and Doctor Andromeda ended up working together twenty years ago, as Skulldigger and Black Hammer find themselves squaring off against a number of villains from the other Earth.  This book has been pretty enjoyable, and I’m really liking this run of guest art by Malachi Ward and Matthew Sheean.

Black Panther #1 – I’m glad Marvel gave this title some time to breathe before relaunching it again.  John Ridley is giving us a story about secret, hidden agents that T’Challa installed in various countries, and the fact that it seems someone is going after them.  This leads T’Challa, who is in the process of transitioning his kingship to a democracy (which is weird, given that he’s also now the emperor of an interstellar empire).  I feel like this story touches on something that Priest did with his legendary run – we’ve already seen T’Challa betray the trust of his allies due to his need to obsessively engage in espionage.  I’m hoping that Ridley takes this somewhere new, but I am still interested in what happens.  Juann Cabal is a great artist for this book.  He’s been doing some impressive work lately, and I’m glad to see him land on a book I want to read.  

Deathstroke Inc. #3 – I think that Joshua Williamson might be moving too quickly to reveal who is behind TRUST, the organization that Slade and Black Canary are working for.  I’d have rather seen a longer build, as this book is moving a little too quickly, leaving me to wonder what might be next for our heroes, and if there will be a reason for Dinah to keep working for Slade.  At the same time, maybe what comes next explains why this book is called Deathstroke Inc…  Howard Porter’s art on this book is starting to bother me.  He’s gotten a lot looser than he was when he drew JLA, and I find that the storytelling is starting to suffer from that.  I should be happy that he’s not a DC house artist, but I’d like to see things be a little more cohesive.

Decorum #8 – I’d pretty much forgotten that Decorum existed, and that it had one issue left to go (it’s basically a year late).  Then I saw that this last issue was square-bound and thick, and for only $5, and I immediately forgave Jonathan Hickman and Mike Huddleston for taking so long to finish their story.  This issue is fantastic.  Huddleston filled this series with a variety of art styles, with some pages mixing lush painting with rough pencils.  Neha, our protagonist, has defied her very capable sisterhood of alien assassins to escape with their target, a being that is growing smarter by the moment.  The assassins come after her, but once Neha is able to connect with her mentor, things start to change.  This is a serious slab of comics, and it achieves quite a bit.  I was surprised to see that a sequel is announced on the last page, as I felt that the story was mostly wrapped up by the end of this issue, but if it’s going to look this good, I’m down for it.  

Iron Man #14 – Tony has gained control of the power cosmic, and as that power starts to change him, it takes him on a trip through his memories and ego.  This issue, like many in Chris Cantwell’s run, is a little too decompressed for my liking, but I’m curious to see his coming fight with the equally empowered Korvac.

Robin #8 – Robin is officially my favourite DC book right now.  Joshua Williamson has him going up against Connor Hawke in the last fight in the tournament on Lazarus Island.  Damian is determined to win, and we finally find out why he’s so bothered by all of this, and what is driving him.  The fight scenes in this comic are excellent, thanks to Gleb Melnikov’s amazingly fluid pencils, and the final page surprised me.  I would love to see a regular title featuring the secondary characters that have gathered around this island.

That Texas Blood #12 – We come to the end of the early 80s Satanic cult story, and learn how it’s impacted Sheriff Joe Bob in all the years since.  I love this series, which looks at life in a remote county in Texas.  I’m impressed that Jacob Phillips is drawing this and Newburn at the same time, as he’s doing a great job on both books.  I’m also very impressed with Chris Condon’s writing – this arc had a strange shape to it, and many writers wouldn’t have been able to pull it off.  

Thor #19 – Thor’s quest for the being that stole Mjolnir takes him off to find his father again, which is starting to happen just a little too often.  I don’t think I like Thor as Donny Cates writes him, but I also think that’s the point.  I am enjoying Nic Klein’s art on this book a lot.

Wolverine #18 – I like these issues that have Logan working with his buddy in the FBI.  They work to figure out what Maverick is doing with the bugs that Forge invented.  The story moves quickly, and wraps up some of the plot threads left behind from the earliest issues of the series.  I don’t have a whole lot to say here – Percy’s two Krakoan titles never click all the way for me…

X-Men #5 – Gerry Duggan gives Polaris the spotlight, as she goes up against the new Reavers on her own.  I like that Duggan is putting some work in on Lorna’s character – she’s often been mistreated by writers, and she can be a pretty interesting character.  I also like the slow build of the story involving Ben Urich’s investigation into mutant resurrection.  I do feel like this series jumps around a lot though, and that we don’t see enough of this team operating as a team. 

Comics I Would Have Bought if Comics Weren’t So Expensive:

Joy Operations #1

SFSX Vol. 2

Bargain Comics:

Future State: Superman – Worlds of War #1&2 – I’ve found myself drawn to Philip Kennedy Johnson’s Action Comics lately, so figured it was time to go back and check out the start of his run, which I guess is here with this Future State miniseries.  In the future, Superman has disappeared, and people gather in Smallville to mourn and honour him, although a young woman doesn’t agree with the way people do things.  Her part of the story delves into the legacy of Superman, and what he really meant to the Earth.  At the same time, we see he’s on Warworld, where Mongul has been keeping him prisoner for years, attempting to break him.  The main story of these two issues is excellent, and showcase what’s got me interested in Johnson’s run.  The backup stories, featuring Mister Miracle, Midnighter, and a new Black Racer all left me cold, and were kind of hard to read.

Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters – IG-88 #1 – This was the only War of the Bounty Hunters one-off that maybe interested me beyond the Boushh one that I already picked up.  It’s decent enough, featuring IG-88 being rebuilt and then going after Boba Fett.  Giuo Vilanova’s art is lovely, but this didn’t do a whole lot to add to the WotBH story.

The Week in Music:

YUNGMORPHEUS & Eyedress – Affable With Pointed Teeth – This was a nice surprise project.  I know Eyedress as a hiphop adjacent shoegaze artist, so was surprised to see that he produced all of the tracks on this album for YUNGMORPHEUS, an up and comer from the LA scene who recently released a project with Pink Siifu.  This album is laconic in all the right places.  Eyedress’s beats and live instruments are a little bleak, and YUNGMORPHEUS matches that energy beautifully.  I love projects like this that just kind of show up on my radar unexpectedly, but then stick with me for ages.

Silk Sonic – An Evening With Silk Sonic – I’ve been a fan of Anderson .Paak for a while now, and while I’ve never paid any attention to Bruno Mars and his career, the thought of them teaming up to form Silk Sonic was an exciting one.  Andy does his thing across every track, providing catchy hooks and clever lyrics.  Mars helps where he can with his vocal contributions, and adds a commercial appeal and slickness to the proceedings that I don’t usually like, but can appreciate here.  Andy’s drums really stand out on this fun party album.

Get in touch and share your thoughts on what I've written: jfulton@insidepulse.com