Best Comics of the Fortnight:
Deadly Class #55 – I think it’s going to be hard to say goodbye to Deadly Class with the next issue. I’ve been a huge fan of this book over the last eight years, and feel like some of these characters live in my head now. This issue, the second last, moves the story to 2020. Marcus and Maria are riding out the first round of Covid lockdowns at a luxurious beachfront hotel in Hawai’i, but as usual, Marcus is miserable. I love how Maria has been a consistent source of hope and positivity for him, especially since she’s the one suffering from a degenerative medical condition, while he is just always Marcus. Of course, this story wouldn’t be progressing if we didn’t also see what Shabnam and Brandy are up to, as they continue to whittle down their list of former classmates. A pretty major character dies in this issue, and it hit me. Rick Remender and Wes Craig’s work on this book has been stunning from the beginning, and while this extended goodbye has been a little indulgent (especially as it becomes more and more clear that Marcus and Remender have so much in common), it’s also felt like the type of closure you rarely see in comics.
Superman: Warworld Apocalypse #1 – Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s Warworld storyline has had me more excited about Superman than I’ve maybe ever been. Applying his worldview and personality to a situation like that of the servant/slave class on Warworld has provided some new and interesting ways to look at the character. In this very oversized issue, Superman faces Mongul and the man who has betrayed him, while various members of the Authority work to stop their teammates who were turned by Mongul. There are lots of big heroic moments, some sacrifice, and some great art, provided by Brandon Peterson, Will Conrad, Max Raynor, and Miguel Mendonça. I’m glad that Johnson is staying with Action Comics, because I’m looking forward to seeing how Kal-El reintegrates on Earth after these experiences. This was a very satisfying storyline, and one that is different from a lot of what we get these days.
Quick Takes:
Action Comics #1046 – Superman’s whole mission to free the people of Warworld is coming down to him receiving a power-up of sorts from Olgrun, a dead deity or something. If I’m being honest, the last two issues of this excellent storyline have lost me a little, which is what always happens to me when final confrontations get a little bit mystical or otherworldly. Still, Phillip Kennedy Johnson has written the best Superman story I’ve read in ages, and I’m very excited to see how it all ends next month. I also love that David Lapham is drawing the backup story, which features every other Super-character on Earth.
AXE: Judgment Day #3 – This series is moving pretty quickly. Last issue, representatives of the Avengers and the Eternals created a new Celestial as a way of stopping Druig’s attack on Krakoa, but now that god is wanting to judge the Earth and decide if it deserves to continue existing. Sinister, who has been kidnapped by the Eternals, passes on some important information to Krakoa, so they can lead an assault and possibly destroy it, although that could lead to widespread devastation. Kieron Gillen has a lot of balls in the air on this series, but is doing a fine job of consistently ramping up tension and excitement, while finding plenty of opportunities for some solid character moments. This is how I like my big events to go, and I’m enjoying this. Valerio Schiti’s doing incredible work here, and the book looks terrific.
Captain America: Symbol of Truth #4 – Sam has snuck into Wakanda, but it looks like he’s been set up, as Crossbones is waiting for him. At the same time, Joaquim’s been captured, although his capture allows the other captives to make good on their escape plan. This series has my interest, and I’m loving RB Silva’s art, but I realized partway through this issue that I didn’t really remember what the central problem really is. Is that down to my memory, or is it because things have been a little too clever and a little too based on coincidence? I’m concerned that’s the real problem.
The Department of Truth #20 – Cole’s husband has been contacted by Black Hat, and they show him a different version of just about everything we’ve learned since the start of this series. But, because this is the book it is, I’m left wondering if maybe this is the truth, and everything we’ve seen so far is the distorted version of the truth. Once again, James Tynion IV is messing with our expectations, and it’s what makes this book so great.
Deathstroke Inc. #12 – The third chapter of this Year One story shows Slade’s first mission as Deathstroke, which includes a pretty exciting fight with Green Arrow, and perhaps his first failure. Dexter Soy’s come a long way as an artist, and he makes these fight scenes gritty and dynamic. Ed Brisson is doing a fine job of clarifying and adding cohesion to Slade’s backstory, and giving us an exciting issue to read. It’s good stuff.
Defenders Beyond #2 – Al Ewing continues with his tour of the Marvel multiversal firmament, a project that he’s been working on across a number of his different series over the last decade. This issue has this new incarnation of the Defenders come face to face with those From Beyond – that’s right, the Beyonder returns once again. I love Javier Rodriguez’s art in this book, but if I’m being honest, the extra-dimensional stuff is starting to lose me. I love many of the characters in this comic, but the story is not clicking for me. Ewing is just about the best writer working at Marvel these days, though, so I’ll stick this out. I know he’s been building something, and I want to see what it is.
Detective Comics #1063 – I’m still not entirely clear on everything that’s going on in Ram V and Raphael Albuquerque’s new run on Detective Comics, but I’m really liking how atmospheric and horror-tinged everything feels. There’s a family moving into Gotham that feels they have historica claims on the land, and they are gathering followers in ways that Batman can’t figure out. I like how V writes Harvey Dent here, but also have no idea what’s been going on with him lately. Albuquerque is just right for this story, which hinges on the demon Barbatos (I should probably reread his older appearances, because I don’t remember much). The real draw, once again, is the James Gordon backup story by Simon Spurrier and Dani. They pack so much into eight pages, and Dani’s art is fantastic. I was a little on the fence about adding this series to my pullfile, but this backup clinches it. It has real Gotham Central vibes, but also with a horror element.
Farmhand #20 – This current volume closes off with a pretty serious confrontation between Ezekiel and Monica Thorne that helps to lay bare so many of the problems Zeke has had throughout his life. Rob Guillory’s story is about an alien plant consciousness trying to take over the world through the use of plant-based organ transplants, but really, it’s about a fractured family and how adult children can confront the truths of their childhoods and learn to deal with and accept their parents for who they really are. It’s powerful and gross in equal measures, and I can’t wait for the last arc to arrive next year.
The Flash 2022 Annual #1 – I was a little disappointed to learn that most of this Annual is given over to Linda’s novel, which based on the cover looks like a bodice-ripper, but is actually a Justice League meets Star Trek romance. It’s cute. It maybe helps Jeremy Adams develop Linda’s character a little more, but there’s not a lot of substance to it.
Justice League Vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes #5 – With the last issue, I suggested that Brian Michael Bendis might not be able to pull off a satisfying ending to this series with the space he has left. This issue does a lot of heavy lifting, as the members of both teams try to figure out what’s going on, everyone gets on the Gold Lantern because of something a random villain said in the first issue, and we maybe figure out who is behind the weird Great Darkness time thing that is causing so many problems in both teams’ eras. I am still enjoying this book, but the layered conversations of this issue remind me why I don’t read a lot of Bendis’s books anymore. Scott Godlewski’s art is gorgeous, and he makes each character feel unique, but at the same time, the titular ‘vs’ is false advertising. I’m curious to see if Bendis can stick the landing on this one; he has a bad track record with final issues.
Marauders #5 – I remain a little confused about this book, but I’m hoping that now that this first arc is out of the way, Steve Orlando is going to tighten up his writing a little, and focus it more on the characters that make up this team, rather than retconning the history of the Shi’ar Empire. I like the way he’s writing Psylocke, and some of the other characters are interesting (I would be happy to never see Cassandra Nova again), so there’s a lot of potential here. The fact that we look to be heading into yet another story involving time travel in a Days of Future Past sort of way doesn’t give me the best vibes, but I remain optimistic that things can turn around.
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #41 – We come to the end of the Days of Alternate Cloned Spiders Past storyline (that’s not really it’s title, but I think they should consider it). I’m happy that Miles and friends are going to be back in the 616 because this series is always at its best when Miles is grounded by his family and friends. I enjoyed this storyline, and am really digging Christopher Allen’s art, but I’m ready for this book to get back into its regular groove.
New Masters #6 – I really enjoyed what I hope is just the first miniseries in the New Masters world. Shobo and Shof have put together a fascinating vision of a future where interstellar space travel is dependent on the use of two gates constructed in Africa, and the locating of a rare resource that is also concentrated in Nigeria. This mini introduced us to Funlola and her family, a crew of mercenary types. Ola has mixed human/Jovian blood, and has been, for the length of this mini, the sole possessor of an ancient and vast archive that could help many out of poverty, or become a tool of oppression. This final issue starts with a three way standoff, and it’s up to Ola to figure out what to do. The story is rich with strong characters and interesting perspectives, and Shof’s art is phenomenal. There is so much potential in this series and this world, and I really hope that it returns, and we get to explore it further. If you haven’t been reading this, I highly recommend watching for the trade and treating yourself to a fantastic new world.
Public Domain #3 – Things take a surprise turn in the latest issue of Chip Zdarsky’s family drama about the comics industry. We learn the reason why Miles is so intent on his father receiving fair payment for the comics character he created, but when his parents negotiate with the publisher, the deal is an unexpected one. I was a little surprised when I saw that Zdarsky has long-range plans for this book – I kind of assumed it was a five issue parody series, but now I can see how the bigger picture is coming together, and I’m here for it. This book is both funny and poignant, and is pure distilled Zdarsky.
Robin #17 – I’m sad to see that Joshua Williamson’s run on Robin has come to its end. I’ve really liked his take on Damian, and hoped that the idea of Damian presiding over a community of young fighters and killers on Lazarus Island. This issue both wraps up a number of ongoing storylines, especially looking at Damian’s relationship with Flatline, and teases the upcoming Batman & Robin series, which is going to continue the story of the Island, I guess. It was a trip to see Roger Cruz’s art again in this book, but I preferred Gleb Melnikov’s at the beginning. It seems that a lot of the DC titles that I enjoy are all ending, which is a shame.
Star Wars: Darth Vader #26 – Much of Greg Pak’s Vader series has been concerned with Vader’s unresolved feelings towards his old life, which has been made manifest in the form of Sabé, a body double for Padmé, his former lover. This current arc, which has Vader helping Sabé protect a colony from an Imperial governor who is also Crimson Dawn, feels like it was built around things like the scene where Vader has to drive a podracer. This leads to many pages taken directly from Episodes I and II of the Star Wars prequels, and while I can handle a little of that, it left this issue little space to progress the story. Luckily, Rafaelle Ienco’s art is phenomenal, so at least things look nice. I am getting a little bored of this title, though.
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #23 – Sana’s put together a small group of Aphra’s exes and other close associates to go after her, while Tagge’s people have Just Lucky and his crew searching for her as well. The problem is, Aphra’s normally hard to find, and things are a little trickier now that she’s been possessed by the Ascendent Spark. This storyline has been the most enjoyable of this current run, and with the return of a couple of fan-favourite characters on the last page, I’m excited to see the next issue.
Star Wars: Obi-Wan #4 – Obi-Wan and Anakin are sent on a mission that is clearly an homage to Apocalypse Now! as they hunt down a rogue military operative. I feel like Chris Cantwell’s constant use of actual light and darkness as ways to comment on metaphoric light and darkness is getting a little played out, but it’s nice to revisit the Clone War in comics sometimes.
The Swamp Thing #16 – I’m glad that Ram V and Mike Perkins were given an extension on this series. This new Swamp Thing is very different from Alec Holland, and I think I like his outlook on life a lot more. His approach to solving things, like how to handle his enemy who is manipulating the new Parliament of Gears, is creative and takes a new approach to elemental heroism. Perkins’s art is the main draw of this series, and it’s fantastically detailed. I’m not sure if we’ll see more of this book or not, but I’m hoping that other writers make use of Levi in their books.
Tales of the Human Target #1 – I’ve been missing Tom King and Greg Smallwood’s Human Target lately, so I like that they dropped an interstitial issue to keep the momentum going. This holds three stories, told simultaneously, featuring three of the JLI mainstay characters. Guy Gardner, Booster Gold, and Fire all are talking about different moments in their life that kind of intersect with this series, but I can’t say much without spoiling things. There is art by Rafael Albuquerque, Kevin Maguire, and Mikel Janín, so the book is lovely. I have to say, though, that I hate the way King writes Booster Gold. I don’t find his extreme flakiness endearing at all. I’ve never been a big fan of the character, but King in particular writes him as if he’s too dumb to live. It gets under my skin.
Vampirella Year One #2 – Priest continues to unearth Vampirella’s childhood for us, as we see that she spent a year living with Hilal, not knowing that his wife is secretly her mother in disguise. Young Vampirella wants to do something to help the people on the surface of her world, but that just brings too much attention her way. The flashback nature of this series makes it a little more straight-forward than a lot of Priest’s other books, and it’s kind of nice to have a more linear story for a change. I’m very glad that Ergün Gündüz is back to drawing this title.
We Only Find Them When They’re Dead #13 – This multi-generational science fiction series about faith and greed is nearing its end, and Al Ewing is tying together various threads as, I hope, he prepares to finally reveal what’s up with these ‘gods’ that used to turn up dead in deep space. In this issue, Thierry-9, the AI constructed out of Malik Georges’s godheart, is being interrogated by the leader of the Malikists. As always, there’s a twist at the end. This has been a very impressive series, which is tightly plotted and very complex.
X-Force #31 – Kraven the Hunter is preparing to come after the mutants, and the fact that he has bits of Deadpool lying around makes that easier. Omega Red and Sage are growing closer, but that’s mostly because she’s sliding down a very dark path. This issue kind of connects to the AXE event, but doesn’t impact it in any way. I also really question the way Deadpool’s healing factor is used here – is there a precedence for him to be able to control parts of his body that have been severed? It feels like something new, and I’m not sure I like it. It’s gross.
X-Men #14 – In the middle of fighting off the Eternals, the X-Men are needed to stop the latest scheme to come out of Gameworld (which I thought was finished with). This means that Iceman needs to stop a massive solar flare from destroying the Earth, something he manages using ice. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, given that solar flares are usually accompanied by radioactivity and electromagnetic activity, but it does provide for some cool visuals, and helps Gerry Duggan spin the wheels a little in the middle of this massive event. One thing that irritates me here is that Firestar has been an Avenger, and I’m hoping she’s not always going to be doubting herself or minimizing her career.
Comics I Would Have Bought if Comics Weren’t So Expensive:
Ant-Man #2
Avengers Forever #8
Batman: Fortress #4
Moon Knight: Black, Red & Blood #4
Thunderbolts #1
Variants #3
Bargain Comics:
Batman Annual #5 – I stopped reading Batman during Tom King’s run, and didn’t pick it up again until after James Tynion IV left, and that’s left me with some gaps, now that it seems I’m reading a lot of Batman titles again. For example, I have no idea who this Clownhunter kid is, but I can tell he’s going to be a big part of Batman Inc., which I intend to read. Then I saw this Annual, and that it was drawn by James Stokoe, and I wonder how I missed it. Stokoe does an incredible job with this story, which shows how a teenager named Bao becomes the newest vigilante in Gotham. The story involves a lot of Leslie Tompkins, a character I’ve always liked a lot. I should probably start looking for sets or trades of Tynion’s run – he’s such a good writer on his creator-owned stuff; I’m not sure why I ignored his Batman.
The Fortnight in Graphic Novels:
Geiger – I’d gotten kind of tired of Geoff Johns’s writing at DC, and stopped paying attention to him some time ago. I let his Image book Geiger slip under my radar, but then picked up this already very attractively-priced trade for a discount, and I’m glad to get caught up. Johns and Gary Frank give us a great post-Apocalyptic story that also serves as the foundation for their own new shared universe. Geiger is a guy who was undergoing treatment for cancer when nuclear war broke out. He managed to get his family safely into a fallout shelter, but was caught in the blast himself. It changed him, making him into the “Glowing Man” who haunts the wastelands twenty years later. He finds himself getting involved when two orphaned children find him as they try to flee the decadent hellhole that Las Vegas has become, carrying the secrets of the nuclear football. This is some pretty emotional work, although I felt it started to slip once Johns started to use the story to build his world. Frank’s art remains impressive. I would be open to checking out their future titles in this world.
La Voz de M.A.Y.O.: Tata Rambo – I picked this book up at TCAF from its writer, Henry Barajas. It tells the story of his great-grandfather, Ramon Jaurigue, a WWII veteran who advocated for community development in the Tucson Arizona region, working with the Mexican American Yaqui Organization (MAYO) to save the Yaqui and Latinx community from being turned into an interstate highway. Barajas includes himself in this book a lot, and we see how he worked to track down his great-grandfather’s story from documents and the memories of people from that time. He, with artist J. Gonzo, portrays Ramon as fiercely dedicated to the cause, if not so much to his family and his marriage. It’s a complicated book, as it seems that Ramon was a complicated man, but the reader comes away with a strong acknowledgment of just how much Ramon loved the community and the people in it, and fought to make things better. The book is filled with some documents, including many editions of the MAYO newsletter. It’s an important book of comic reportage, and I liked how it also became so personal for Barajas. There are so many people like Ramon who have been important to small and marginalized communities, and we so rarely get to know their stories. This is a valuable book.
The Fortnight in Music:
Kokoroko – Could We Be More – I’ve been waiting a long time for a Kokoroko full length album, and I’m so happy this is finally here. Kokoroko is a pretty big band – there are eight people on most of these tracks – playing an updated version of old school Afrobeat music. It’s a little more jazz-oriented than the music that Fela Kuti pioneered, and not as dance-floor ready, but it captures the same sense of joy and spiritual uplift that I associate with that sound. The band is about evenly split between female and male members, and their playing gives a real sense of unity and warmth. There isn’t a track that stands out the way their ‘Abusey Junction’ did in 2018 when it was the standout on the amazing We Out Here compilation, but as a whole, this album really satisfies.
Theo Croker – Love Quantum – I feel like trumpet player Theo Croker is moving into Robert Glasper territory with this album, which is ostensibly a jazz album, but also has tracks that are more hip hop, R&B, and soul. There are a ton of guests, including Gary Bartz, Kassa Overall, Jill Scott, Jamila Woods, Ego Ella May, and Wyclef Jean, and that helps contribute to the wide spread of styles and sounds on this album. I like it, but I’m not sure it’s the most cohesive project we’ve seen from Croker.
