Best Comic of the Week:
Justice League Vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes #3 – Why does this book come out so slowly? I’ve been very pleased with Brian Michael Bendis’s take on the Legion, and am really enjoying this story that has that team interacting with the Justice League. There’s a Great Darkness that is linking, and messing with, the eras of both heroes, and I’m left wondering if it’s connected to the Great Darkness that appears to be a part of the upcoming Dark Crisis event. Bendis is filling this book with lots of great character moments, building the mystery surrounding the Gold Lantern, and looping in DC characters from other points in time. Scott Godlewski is juggling dozens of characters, but making each of them distinct and very cool looking. This is a good, good series.
Quick Takes:
Captain America: Symbol of Truth #1 – I’m happy to see Sam Wilson back in the spotlight, and this issue does a good job of capturing the visual excitement that Sam and Joaquim (his partner, the Falcon) can provide, but I am left with a few concerns. Sam has been a secondary character for so long, I’m not sure that there’s a lot of fertile ground for stories that concern him on an ongoing basis. I’ve felt that his relationship with Misty Knight is a little lazy (and just who does Misty work for – is she a private eye “hero for hire”, a cop, or part of Aberrant Crimes Division, which apparently is a national organization?), and there’s really no one else in his life. The scenes where Sam and Joaquim go after a train thought to be transporting super-soldier serum work really well, but the revelation of what they find felt forced. I like the dedication we see from Sam towards fixing America, but I’m not sure if a pro-Wakanda street preacher is the right foil to use to rouse it. I was very excited to see that the White Wolf is going to be in this book, as that’s an aspect of Priest’s Black Panther that I’ve missed (his costume is so cool). So, I have mixed feelings, but am remaining hopeful that Tochi Onyebuchi has a solid plan for this book (it does have me more excited than the upcoming Steve Rogers title). RB Silva’s art is great here, and I look forward to seeing more of it. The political aspects of this story have me intrigued too.
Crossover #13 – This arc comes to a great end, as Donny Cates faces death, and comes to some last minute revelations about life, being a writer, and what makes stories live. I’ve really been liking this series, partly for all of its cameos by other Image characters, but also because of how unique Cates’s story is, and how Geoff Shaw is portraying it. I’m looking forward to seeing what the next arc brings.
Farmhand #17 – This series just keeps getting darker, as Zeke is manipulated once again, and the stresses of post plant mutation life are taking their toll on the family. Rob Guillory is usually a very funny and light artist, and that makes this darker turn even more interesting and unexpected (even though there’s been a lot of darkness in this book from the beginning). It’s really cool to see him evolve as an artist and writer over the course of this very good series.
Moon Knight: Black, White & Blood #1 – I don’t usually bother with these anthology series, as I find that the stories never have enough space to fully breathe before they’re over, but I got roped into this one when I saw that it had art by Chris Bachalo and Jose Fornés, as well as a story by Jonathan Hickman. Bachalo’s art is gorgeous, even if the story didn’t make a ton of sense. The Fornés story is also gorgeous, but Marc Guggenheim’s decision to write the story in reverse was annoying and added nothing. The middle story, by Murewa Ayodele and Dotun Akande, was pretty enjoyable, and Akande’s art was also gorgeous. These are two creators I’ll need to keep an eye out for.
Superman: Son of Kal-El #11 – Finally, we get a quiet issue that gives Jon the chance to catch up on his life a little bit. He confronts Batman about his allegations against Jay, but that leads to him also learning more about Jay’s connections to the characters from Tom Taylor’s slept on Suicide Squad run. We also see Jon attempt to help the burning man that Bendix sent after him at the beginning of this series. I like how Taylor has so many DC characters casually appear in this book – I’ve missed the shared universe aspect of things lately in comics. Cian Torney’s art in this issue is pretty nice, and I look forward to seeing what happens when Bendix escalates the timeline of his attacks.
X-Men #11 – The women of the squad head out to Gameworld to put an end to the attacks on Earth, while Scott and Synch go after Stasis in the sewers. This book is finally really coming together as a team book, which is why I’m not all that happy that the lineup is set to change soon. I wish that Gerry Duggan and Pepe Larraz took more time to build things, as this current approach to the main squad is becoming impressive. Larraz’s art is sooo good.
Free Comic Book Day Comics:
I still haven’t finished reading them all, so I’ll have a few more to discuss next week.
Avatar: The Last Airbender – This ended up being kind of disappointing. The first story, which is very all ages, is about everyone sneaking around behind Aang’s back and trying to exclude him from something, but we won’t find out what until July, and it’s not announced where the rest of the story will be published. There is also a Legend of Korra story about Toph and Katara engaging in a prank war while all on vacation together. It’s cute, but doesn’t do much. Neither of these make me want to read more Avatar comics…
The Bone Orchard Mythos Prelude #1 – Now this is what I’m looking for in a FCBD book. Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino are about to begin an ambitious set of horror comics, a mix of OGNs and miniseries, and this is the start of all that. A writer has gone up to a remote AirBnb cottage on a lake to get some writing done, and to give his wife some space from him. We quickly learn that he’s having an affair that he doesn’t feel great about. His dog is definitely disturbed by something up there, and he soon finds an abandoned house (this book is after my own heart). Later, some other creepy stuff happens, and we see yet again just how good a team Lemire and Sorrentino are. I was considering sitting out the Bone Orchard books, but now I think I’m all-in for them. This looks like an exciting and original project.
Clementine #1 – I don’t tend to read YA graphic novels, but I was intrigued by the news that Tillie Walden would be creating a book set in the world of The Walking Dead. This FCBD preview definitely engaged me, and has me thinking about getting the OGN when it comes out. The main character, Clementine, is apparently from the Walking Dead video game, which I’ve never looked at. I think this is set a while after that. She’s a young woman, travelling alone and struggling with her crude prosthetic leg and crutches. In this chapter, she is discovered by some young women who live in a small settlement, where she is able to get a new prosthetic. Walden’s art is lovely, and Clementine seems like an interesting and very individual character. I’m curious to see where her story goes. The backup stories didn’t do much for me, but I’m not the audience for them.
Free Comic Book Day 2022: Marvel Voices #1 – It’s cool that Marvel gave a higher profile to their line that spotlights marginalized and racialized groups. As is often the case with things like this, there’s not a lot of actual story to grab ahold of, but the infographic identifying Indigenous North American heroes is cool, as is Prodigy’s overview of Queer characters in the Marvel Universe. I also thought it was cool to see Whilce Portacio drawing Bishop again in a story featuring Wave.
Free Comic Book Day 2022: Spider-Man/Venom #1 – Once again, Marvel uses this as a vehicle to promote what’s going on in these two titles. We get a short Spidey story that has him fighting a demonic mailbox. This reminded me a lot of the Inferno tie-ins from back in the day, which made a lot more sense when I saw who the villain of this upcoming Dark Web storyline is (which makes even more sense given writer Zeb Wells’s last series). The Venom story made zero sense to me. Neither did the few pages of some kind of Avengers thing. These stories promote storylines that are months out, and I really wonder if that works as a promotional gimmick or not.
Flower Department:
After losing Neal Adams and George Pérez a week apart, and then listening to an interview with rapper Quelle Chris, wherein he talked about wanting the kind of fame that comes with death while he’s still alive, I started thinking about all the comics creators that are still with us who had a huge hand in shaping my development as a reader and as a person. So, I’m adding this new section to my column, where each week I want to talk about and thank a creator who means a lot to me.
John Byrne – John Byrne was the first comics artist whose work I could recognize reliably and immediately. I picked up some of his books when I was very young (I’m pretty sure Uncanny X-Men #128 would have been my first John Byrne comic), but it wasn’t until he was writing and drawing Fantastic Four and Alpha Flight (at the same time!) that I became a big fan (I was not yet ten). I remember finding two or three back issues of AF on a spinner rack while the book was barely into the double digits, and falling in love with these fellow Canadian characters. The death of Guardian shook me. I also remember getting really into his Fantastic Four run, and then paying attention to his career. I didn’t follow him over to The Hulk, and when he made the move to DC and the Superman comics, I didn’t follow him there, either, as I was not a fan of the character (but then I kept buying issues of Action Comics, and regret not having them all now). His Namor was eye-opening for me, as the idea of mixing the corporate world with the superhero world felt new. I loved reading his X-Men run through the Classic X-Men reprint series, and that’s where I really got to understand how special a creator he was/is. His Next Men was cool for a while, and I liked the idea of supporting a creator-owned book, but I felt that as he aged, the comics industry went in a different direction. It saddens me that he’s now better known for being an internet grump, but I still carry a lot of respect and admiration for the man, and his work of the 1980s was foundational for me. I don’t read his forum site, but I hope he’s doing well.
The Week in Music:
Phi-Psonics – The Cradle – Gondwana Records releases are a buy on sight thing for me, so I knew I’d want this journey into stripped-down, spiritual astral jazz. I don’t know this group at all, but I find this album to be a lovely little trip into some meditative spaces.
S. Carey – Break Me Open – I picked this up at an S. Carey show last week, and feel like I’m on the way to loving it as much as his last album, 2018’s Hundred Acres. Carey is part of the collective of artists around Justin Vernon and Bon Iver, and that shows in his lush but minimalistic approach to music. I don’t know if this would be described as alternative folk, or if it’s indie rock – these are not genres I spend a lot of time with, but there’s something about his work that really draws me in. This is a beautiful album, and his live show is very good.
Pierre Kwenders – Jose Louis and the Paradox of Love – Kwenders has put together an enjoyable album of French afro-pop. It’s dancey and light, and sounds pretty cool. I’d love to see him perform these songs with a live band.
