The Best Comic of the Week:
Robin #12 – I am loving Joshua Williamson’s take on Damian. This issue has him leaving Lazarus Island and considering using a vial of pilfered Lazarus Serum to resurrect Alfred Pennyworth. Damian is in conflict with himself (literally, thanks to Mother Soul’s residual magic) and his mother, as he tries to chart a new path for himself. I like how Damian has grown as a character, as Williamson sets up the Shadow War crossover, and the next year’s worth of storylines. This is a masterful comic.
Quick Takes:
Action Comics #1041 – The focus has been on Superman and his troubles on Warworld, but with this issue, Phillip Kennedy Johnson shows us what all Midnighter has been up to, as he’s gathered a small group of refugees and worked to track down Apollo. I’m really enjoying this storyline, that has Superman and the Authority mostly trapped by Mongul, and like the slow pace at which this story is unfolding. This issue has art by Dale Eaglesham and Will Conrad, and looks great once again. I do wish that the Martian Manhunter backups weren’t part of this package though, as I’m not at all interested in the story and am a little resentful at having to pay extra for them. I’d rather Johnson was writing some smaller Warworld-centric backups checking in on other characters.
Aquaman/Green Arrow: Deep Target #6 – This miniseries just keeps getting stranger. It looks like Arthur and Ollie have wrapped things up in their fight against some time-altering scientists, but Ollie can tell things still aren’t right. Brandon Thomas’s writing on this series has not been as strong as his other Aquaman mini, nor the first issue of Aquamen. I’d expected that this would be related to all of that, but it really is a standalone story that I now kind of regret having started buying. Oh well.
Arrowsmith: Behind Enemy Lines #3 – Fletcher meets with the person he’s been sent to contact, and for the next step of their secret plan (Fletcher doesn’t actually know what it is) to work, they need to escape the Prussian prisoner of war camp where they’re being kept. This issue has some pretty high stakes, but also finds young Fletcher a few moments of pleasure along the way. It’s nice to see Kurt Busiek writing again, but it’s especially exciting to get regular doses of Carlos Pacheco’s art. I’ve never understood why he’s not viewed as an absolute superstar – he’s just so good at this stuff.
Black Hammer Reborn #10 – Things keep getting wilder as the other Spiral City gets closer to the main one. Lucy has to make a decision about how she feels about the other version of her father she’s met, while her son continues his journey to find the rest of his family. This book is gorgeous, thanks to Caitlin Yarsky, and has a lot of emotional resonance to it. I think it’s set to end with issue twelve, so I expect there’s a lot happening in the next two issues.
Deathstroke Inc. #7 – Now this is more what I was looking for from this series from the beginning. Stephen Segovia comes onboard as the artist (at least for this issue – are there even regular artists anymore?) and things look more like what I’d wanted from the beginning. Ravager and Respawn infiltrate Slade’s new fortress, and we finally learn who Respawn is (his story started in Robin), and it’s a bit of a surprise (it also doesn’t fully fit with what was established in Robin, but it’s all good). Joshua Williamson is making Deathstroke more interesting than he was in the first arc, but also telling the story through Rose’s perspective, which makes it work better. I’m looking forward to the Shadow War event that Williamson has happening really soon.
Department of Truth #17 – In a series about a top secret government agency that influences and reshapes reality itself, it’s not a surprise that Richard Nixon would show up, is it? This issue shows us how Lee and his predecessor (that was an interesting surprise) helped orchestrate the moon landing, and drops some very vague hints about the woman in red that we keep seeing turn up in this series. It’s another very strong issue with some very nice art by Jorge Fornés. At this point, this book is jumping around so much it’s hard to remember the main cast, but I like the way James Tynion IV is building the history and mythology of the Department. It’s a very good series.
Devil’s Reign: X-Men #3 – Emma Frost’s issues with Wilson Fisk get dealt with in this issue, which has a cameo by Union Jack! I’ve always loved his costume, so I was happy to see him here, and to see Phil Noto draw him. This has been an enjoyable miniseries, retconning a friendship of sorts between Emma and Elektra, and establishing just why Fisk would have dirt on our favourite telepath. It didn’t do much to advance the Devil’s Reign story, but it was still a good read.
Ghost Cage #1 – Nick Dragotta has a new series with co-writer Caleb Goellner that feels, in many ways, like it would fit into a corner of East of West, his long-running and brilliant book with Jonathan Hickman. In this future world, a massive tower complex spans into the heavens, and provides power to the city around it. There has been some sort of terrorist attack on the tower, called Ohm, which has led to the holographic boss unleashing some kind of child AI missile into the tower. A customer service rep is tasked with helping him, and we are led through two Surrealistic “boss level” fights against Coal and Water. I don’t know – there’s an environmental subtext that I think is not as clear as it could be, and makes the book a little hard to follow. Leaving story aside, Dragotta’s art is incredible throughout this oversized book. He balances a lot of manga influences, and incredibly cool design ideas. The holographic guy looks a lot like the two old men in East of West, which threw me a little, but otherwise, this book is incredibly original. I’m going to give it a second read before the next issue, as I’m not really all that clear on the plot, but I am liking what’s going on here anyway.
The Human Target #6 – I was convinced that this was the last issue of this series, and couldn’t understand why things weren’t wrapping up, and then remembered that there’s still one or two more issues to come. Chance and Ice spend a lot of quality time together this issue, which leads to Guy Gardner getting involved, with surprising consequences. I’m pretty sure this story is happening outside of continuity, but either way, it was a bit of a shock. This book has been very good, as all of these minor character-focused Tom King series have been.
Iron Man #18 – Christopher Cantwell has been using this series to explore some of the darker parts of Tony Stark’s mind, and his need to always be right. Last issue, he used his cosmic powers to kill some of his friends, and in this one, Patsy Walker forces him to confront those facts. I like how Cantwell uses the story of Jekyll and Hyde as an allegory for Tony’s own story, and while I haven’t loved every part of this story, I think that the themes come together nicely here. Lan Medina gives us some beautiful splash pages as well, as we get set for the final confrontation between Tony and Korvac next month. Now, my biggest issue with this comic is that it is printed on the thinnest paper I’ve ever seen in a comic – I hope that Marvel isn’t moving to this low quality. I’d rather they go back to printing on newsprint…
Saga #57 – It’s so redundant to talk about how much I love Saga, but I really do. Alanna works out her terms with the pirate they met recently, and heads out to do a job for him, while The Will arrives at the Robot Kingdom with Marko’s skull. It’s taken me a little bit to get back into the swing of this series, with so many story details slowly coming back to me, but now I’m drawn right back into things and loving it. Fiona Staples has only gotten better during the book’s hiatus!
Star Wars: Darth Vader #21 – Greg Pak has so many double agents in this book now, it’s getting hard to keep track of who is working for and against whom. I like the scenes featuring Ochi, but the various side characters that got introduced in this arc are not growing on me at all. The ending leaves me a little confused, but not as confused as I’ve been by the big round assassin droid that has no arms, but occasionally seems to have guns floating next to it. This is not a good design.
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #19 – We get a better understanding of the roots of Kho Phon Farrus’s dislike of Aphra, dating back to their university days, as Kho makes their move to retrieve the Ascension tech that Aphra is also searching for. I’m enjoying this book, and how it moves around the outskirts of the Star Wars universe.
Teen Titans Academy #13 – The War for Earth-3 event moves into the Titans’ book. As the teachers try to figure out their next steps, and the kids try to settle into the safehouse facility where they are all hiding from Red X, and as Raven considers an extreme method to save Cyborg and Changelings’ lives, Rick Flag leads his team into the facility looking for help to stop Amanda Waller. It’s a solidly written issue by Tim Sheridan, and Tom Derenick, who is not one of my preferred artists, does a serviceable house style job of drawing the story. I am not sure what the future of this concept is, now that I know this book is going to be canceled in a couple of months. I hope they relaunch, as I like this approach to the Titans, and I’m enjoying a number of the new characters that populate this book. I wish DC didn’t insist that the Future State stuff was such a short roadmap for some books.
X Deaths of Wolverine #5 – X Deaths was my favourite of the two Wolverine miniseries of the last couple months, but this ending left me unsatisfied. Our version of Logan finally showed up in this title to take on the future Phalanx version of himself. What made this book work more than X Lives was the way it focused on Moira MacTaggert, and that is largely missing from this issue. Now that it’s done, I partly feel like the entire purpose of this was to just make it clear that the X-office is moving away from Jonathan Hickman’s plans for Krakoa. I don’t know – it just feels like something is missing from all of this.
Comics I Would Have Bought if Comics Weren’t So Expensive:
Avengers Forever #4
Rogues #1
Bargain Comics:
DC Pride #1 – I guess it says a lot about my current understanding of the DC Universe that I didn’t know who some of these characters are. I get it that this collection of LGBTQ+ themed stories was used to spotlight a trans character from the Supergirl TV show named Dreamer (although I didn’t understand that until I read the backmatter, so couldn’t understand why Brainiac 5.1 was hanging out in a current day story), but I had no idea who the Flash character in this book was. Some of the stories here are quite decent – Sam Johns and Klaus Janson give us a very good story about the first Green Lantern and his son talking about Alan’s recent decision to come out – but many of them are pretty forgettable or just okay. I’d hoped for something a little more moving or consequential. Most of the characters in here are severely underutilized.
The Week in Music:
Secret Night Gang – Secret Night Gang – This album came out very quietly a little while ago, and deserved a lot more discussion than it got. It’s a nice blend of soul and Britfunk, on the Brownswood label, which never misses. This whole album sounds like a smokey room full of musicians having a good time, and I’m here for it.
PremRock – Load Bearing Crow’s Feet – I was lucky enough to see PremRock perform many of the songs on this album last week, and it just feels so good to be able to attend live music again. PremRock rhymes over beats by BrainOrchestra, Small Professor, local legend Fresh Kils, Denmark Vessey, Willie Green, Messiah Musik, and himself, and his perceptive lyrics are joined by features by artists like Henry Canyons and the incomparable billy woods. I’m always happy to support an artist on Backwoodz Studioz, and am glad I was able to pick up a physical copy of this album. It’s dope.
Blue Lab Beats – Motherland Journey – This production duo has been knocking around for ages, providing tons of great remixes or one-off collaborations, so I was excited to get their debut album on Blue Note. This album is all over the place, moving from jazz to soul to afrobeat to more dance floor music, but there’s a cohesive sense of groove to the whole thing. It’s a very lovely album, with a very impressive track featuring Fela Kuti (from beyond the grave). It’s one of those albums that I know will keep growing on me the more I play it.
