The Weekly Round-Up #630 With Robin #9, Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #19, Devil’s Reign #2 & More Plus Remembering Ryan Bodenheim!

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So my local comics store didn’t get their Diamond shipment this week (they probably have it by now, but I didn’t go back), so this week’s stack was exclusively from The Big Two.

Best Comic of the Week:

Robin #9 – I’m really enjoying Joshua Williamson’s run with Damian.  In this issue, Damian leads the fighters on Lazarus Island in the fight to stop the demon that his grandmother has unleashed.  We get some cool insight into both Damian and his father with this one, and some nice and dynamic art by Roger Cruz.  The ending surprised me, as I was expecting that we’d get closer to solving some of the mysteries of this series so far, but I’m down to see where Williamson takes Damian next.

Quick Takes:

Action Comics #1038 – I’m really enjoying this series now.  Superman’s been defeated by Mongul, and his crew (those that are still alive) are all captured, except for Midnighter.  I like the way writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson is not letting Superman break, despite these difficult circumstances.  In addition to this being an exciting story, it’s also a great character study.  I’m not usually a Superman fan, but I really like how this is going.  I’m less impressed with the Martian Manhunter backup story, which is pretty pedestrian and doesn’t add anything to the character.

Aquaman: The Becoming #4 – It’s time to learn the secrets of Jackson’s mother’s actions in Xebel when she was younger, and why her daughter is so angry and resentful.  There’s a lot of family drama in this issue, and it works pretty well.  I picked this title up because I don’t know much about Jackson and was curious to learn more about him.  I’m glad I did, and I think this has me on board for the upcoming Aquamen series.  I’m realizing that I should also be reading the current Black Manta miniseries, but what can you do?

Aquaman/Green Arrow: Deep Target #3 – It’s common knowledge that I don’t understand a lot about DC continuity these days, but I thought Aquaman wasn’t king of Atlantis anymore, which leaves me wondering why he’s the king in this book.  Is this part of the regular continuity?  Why is this all so confusing.  I am enjoying this as a stand-alone title, though.  Arthur and Oliver confront the dinosaur-man who has made their lives so confusing, and it’s all pretty decent, without ever being impressive.  I’d rather be reading new issues of Brandon Thomas’s Excellence.

Deathstroke Inc. #4 – I’m a little surprised at how quickly this series is moving, with Slade and Dinah revealing that they know that TRUST cannot be TRUSTed, and then learning who Juliette, their handler, has allied herself with.  This issue works more on the dynamic between Slade and Dinah, and I like that.  I’m also surprised to see a Grant Morrison-era villain who I’ve always kind of hated, but who can be trusted to deliver exciting stories.  I’m still not a huge fan of Howard Porter’s new style, but there are some pages that look amazing here.

Devil’s Reign #2 – While I can’t escape the parallels between this series and Civil War, I do like the way Chip Zdarsky is approaching this story.  The Kingpin has declared all superhumans in New York illegal, unless they work for his new Thunderbolts initiative, which has so far attracted mostly criminals and supervillains.  Spider-Man (Ben Reilly) gets into a fight while Luke Cage suggests that he run against Fisk in the coming election, which is what Tony Stark wanted to do.  It’s interesting that Zdarsky is also continuing some of the storylines he started in his recently-finished Daredevil run, as Elektra worries about her own plans.  I’m liking this event so far.

The Human Target #3 – I really didn’t expect that this series would mostly exist as an excuse to revisit the days of the Justice League International, but I’m here for it.  Chance and Ice continue to investigate who has murdered him (he has a little over a week to live after being poisoned).  Guy Gardner does not like that Chance is spending so much time with Ice, and Tom King decides to show Guy as the difficult person he’d be in life, instead of taking a comedic approach to him.  That is saved for Booster Gold, who also makes an appearance in this issue.  This series is fun, nostalgic, and has wonderful Greg Smallwood art.  It’s pretty different from the other books King has done recently, and I really like it.

Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #19 – This issue was released out of sequence – it should have come before the most recent issue of Darth Vader, as it shows Valance’s first mission for Vader.  It’s a decent issue, but I feel like the split between Valance’s part of the issue and the part that is devoted to the other bounty hunters is too harsh now, as Valance isn’t really even a bounty hunter anymore.  This title is always struggling to find itself.

Teen Titans Academy #9 – I had to hunt this one down at another comics store, as it seems that DC distribution is still a little wonky.  I enjoyed seeing everyone react to Roy Harper’s still being alive, although I would have thought that the revelation of his living might have been a little more consequential.  I also like the storyline that has Psimon trying to recruit some of the kids, including Red X.  This book continues to impress me, and I’m pretty happy with Mike Norton drawing it lately.

Teen Titans Academy #10 – Tim Sheridan is really leaning into the Dane/Nevermore storyline with this issue, which reminds me a lot of Raven’s earliest story arc, although no one else seems to remember that.  I do like the way Stitch stands up to the adult Titans about how to deal with Dane, but this issue left me a little cold.  I like it better when it’s more focused on the students than the teachers.  

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

Swamp Thing: Green Hell #1

Timeless #1

Bargain Comics:

Action Comics #1030-1035 – I’m really enjoying Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s Action Comics.  I’m caught up after reading these, and now I have the full story of what motivated Superman to try to liberate Warworld in the first place.  Johnson has a really good handle on the character, and I like how his ideals have now placed him at odds with the Justice League.  I do have some odd timing issues with this and how it fits with the Superman and the Authority series that Grant Morrison wrote, but whatever.  This is a new take on a character I rarely find interesting, and I’m here for it.

Batman/Superman: Authority Special #1 – It’s been a long time since I’ve seen any Ben Templesmith art, so this was kind of special.  I like the way Phillip Kennedy Johnson works to establish the new Authority as a team, and I enjoyed Batman’s reaction to them.  This was a good comic.

The Week in Graphic Novels:

Reckless – Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips remain one of the greatest collaborative duos working in comics today.  They’ve had so many hits, and are such a proven quantity, exploring a number of genres.  Now they’ve turned to hardcover OGNs in the pulp tradition with Reckless.  Ethan Reckless is a damaged person – after being caught in an explosion as a young man, he doesn’t feel emotion the way most people do, except for anger, and now lives in a defunct movie theatre, taking jobs through a 1-800 number, helping people for cash.  He is surprised when a person from his previous life – a former lover from when he was an FBI agent infiltrating a radical leftist group – tracks him down and gets him involved in her drama all over again.  Brubaker works a few surprising twists into this story that make it hard to talk about in detail here, and Phillips does a terrific job (as always) of giving this book a real 80s adventure movie feel.  He’s aided by Jacob Phillips on colours, who really captures that California vibe.  I am glad to see that two more volumes of this book have been published (I guess I was sleeping), and I’m looking forward to reading them.  This was exactly what I was looking for this week.

Teen Titans Earth One Vol.1 – I only picked this up to round out a 3 for $10 deal, making it effectively free, but I did end up enjoying it.  Jeff Lemire does not do his best work with someone else’s characters, but since this is a total reimagining of the Titans for the Earth One series, I feel like it was more up his alley.  Basically, he was charged, alongside Terry and Rachel Dodson, with creating new versions of the non-sidekick classic Teen Titans.  A group of teens who mostly don’t know each other, although their parents all do, start to develop their abilities (or in Vic’s case, grow metal skin) around the same time that they start experiencing visions of an alien girl.  Like I said, this was enjoyable, and the Dodsons have done fine work, but it’s not a very memorable book.  What even is the Earth One series?  Other than Morrison’s terrible Wonder Woman book, I’ve never read any of these, and am not sure I understand the concept.  Is it DC’s attempt to very slowly do Ultimate DC?  Is there a market for that?

In Memoriam:

Ryan Bodenheim – I was sad to hear of the passing of Ryan Bodenheim, an artist whose work I’d really enjoyed.  He drew some of Jonathan Hickman’s earlier series, like Red Mass for Mars, Secret, and the never-finished The Dead & The Dying, as well as doing some work at Marvel (Black Panther), Valiant (X-O Manowar), and Image (Halcyon).  He had an interesting approach to his art, using lots of details and a slightly European aesthetic.  I’d noticed that he was working on an Eternals one-off with Kieron Gillan that I hope gets published still.  I’m not sure of the circumstances around Bodenheim’s passing, but at 44 he was way too young.  My condolences to his family, friends, and fans.

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