Best Comic of the Week:
Phantom Road #1 – Jeff Lemire and Gabriel Walta are a terrific team, just check out their TKO book Sentient, so I was happy to see them working together again on a new Image book. Phantom Road stars a trucker who comes across the scene of an accident with one survivor, and when he touches the odd-looking thing on the road that caused the crash, he and the woman are transported to a strange world full of zombie-like creatures. We get very little in this issue in terms of explanation, but we get a lot of tone and atmosphere, and a general sense of who this trucker is. I’m not sure if this is a miniseries or an ongoing, but I’m on board for it. Walta is great at making creepy situations creepier, and has a very understated way of showing emotion in his characters.
Quick Takes:
Action Comics #1052 – The main story in this series has me interested. I like the way Phillip Kennedy Johnson is including almost all of the Superman Family in this series, with Jon, Connor, and even Kenan interacting with the two orphans from Warworld, giving the series a nice cohesive feeling. I was starting to question how this series seems to contradict what’s happening in the new Superman title, but then found that same issue more or less addressed. I could do without the backup stories, though. I have little to no interest in Dan Jurgen’s story set during Jon’s childhood (even though I love the combination of Lee Week’s pencils and Elizabeth Breitweiser’s colours), and the Omen/Power Girl story is a little silly. I’ll stick around for a bit, because I liked Johnson’s Warworld story so much, but don’t like paying so much for essentially half the comic I want to read.
Batman Vs. Robin #5 – It’s so strange that this miniseries was put on pause for the Lazarus Planet event that started here, and now concludes here too. It does make me miss when epic storylines took place within a self-contained series, but maybe I’m just being old fashioned. Mark Waid manages to give this book a real sense of importance, as Robin has to deal with the fact that expelling the demon Nezha from his father might end up killing him. Waid’s done a good job of using this event to raise the profile of the Monkey Prince, who is an interesting character, and to help Damian down the path to maturity. I enjoyed this series, but would have preferred to see the previous Robin series continue longer, and liked the idea of Damian leading a community of fighters on Lazarus Island. Oh well, easy come, easy go.
Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #10 – The centerpiece of this comic is a fight between the Destroyer and MODOC, and it looks pretty cool, as the fight is happening in the shared mindspace MODOC has created between him and the new Invaders. It’s odd to see scenes that rely on prior knowledge of Destroyer and Nick Fury Jr., as both characters have not been developed very well over the last few years. This run is fizzling for me, and it’s making me worried about the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy run written by the same writers.
Detective Comics #1069 – Ram V’s Detective is continuing to sprawl some, as Batman finds himself being rescued by Two-Face, and Oracle starts to work at the mystery of what the Orgham’s are doing in Gotham. We check in with Renee Montoya, and in the backup, with Mister Freeze. There’s a lot going on in this book, and occasionally it leaves me thinking I’m not getting something, but I’m enjoying it.
The Human Target #12 – This series ended differently from how I’d expected it to. From the beginning, Tom King has made it clear that Christopher Chance had only twelve days to live, and he spent them investigating who poisoned him. I’d anticipated a more comic book ending, but this series ends kind of quietly, and ambiguously. This was another interesting character study by King, which was elevated by Greg Smallwood’s beautiful and expansive art. I liked revisiting all of the old Justice League International characters, as their oddball humour got applied to a very serious story. King has had quite a run, and I’m always curious to see what he’s doing.
Little Monsters #10 – Somehow this didn’t turn up at my comics shop when it was released, but I’m happy to have it now. This issue explains a lot, as the narrator tells us what Romie told them about how the child vampires ended up in the city for so long, what happened to the elders, and why Romie never told the others. Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen’s work on this book is subtle and lovely, and I’m really liking it. I was sad to see that it’s scheduled to end soon, but will look forward to their next work together.
Star Wars #32 – Chewbacca doesn’t get enough screen time, so it’s nice that in this current story arc, Charles Soule is acknowledging just how good an engineer and mechanic he is. The crew is trying to find their way out of No-Space, and their hopes might all depend on the Path Engine they brought with them, which is currently in the possession of big war robots on the platform they found when they first arrived. This is another solid issue, with slightly cartoonish art by Madibek Musabekov, who is new to me.
Star Wars: Han Solo & Chewbacca #10 – This arc ends in a big rush, and I’m not really sure the ending was satisfactory. I’ve been enjoying this book, but it’s a little strange to see Han and Chewie involved in stuff with so many new characters; it makes it a little hard to care about things, as this is all prequel to Episode IV, and we obviously know nothing bad is going to happen to our heroes. I’d rather see a little deeper examination of Han’s character, or maybe some adventures with more established characters, like Sana Starros. Still, this book is fun.
Star Wars: Hidden Empire #4 – We’re getting close to the end, as the Archivist sets up the Fermata Cage, drawing the Emperor, Darth Vader, and the Crimson Dawn fleet, as well as some other key players, into the same region. I think it’s pretty clear that Qi’ra’s plans are going to fail, but I want to see just how spectacularly. This has been a good series, and I’m excited to see how it ends.
X-Force #38 – I’m a little surprised with how quickly and easily X-Force takes down the Man with the Peacock Tattoo this issue, given that he’s been set up as the main villain in this series since it started. I like his connection to classic X-Men stories, but am left wondering where this title is headed. I guess we’ll see after the current Wolverine storyline is resolved, as it will have to cause a shake-up in X-Force’s leadership. This book feels very disconnected from the other Krakoan titles.
Comics I Would Have Bought if Comics Weren’t So Expensive:
I Am Iron Man #1
Rogue & Gambit #1
The Week in Music:
Brendan Eder Ensemble – Therapy – I just learned about the Brendan Eder Ensemble in the summer, when my friend played me their album that pretended to be found recordings unearthed in the home of a retired dentist. Taking a different path for this album, they’ve put together a hauntingly beautiful ambient record that is all played on live instruments (keyboards count, right?). The music sounds like the best rainy day film music, relaxing and beguiling. There is an appearance by harpist Nailah Hunter that is very moving, and two tracks are covers of Aphex Twin compositions. I’ve been a huge Aphex fan from back in the day, but I think I might actually prefer these covers now. This is a gorgeous piece of work, and I love it.
