The Best Comic of the Week:
Nights #4 – Nights is one of my absolute favourite comics on the stands right now. It’s very unconventional, as Wyatt Kennedy just keeps tossing new ideas and story elements into the mix, but it’s also very focused on its main characters (even though we don’t know most of them very well yet). It blends fantasy concepts with 20-something angst, all seen from the perspective of a teenage orphan who has fallen in love with a beautiful vampire. This issue provides some important insight on Matt, the ghost that lives with the cast (in this world, ghosts are given a number of years to resolve their worldly business before moving on, and are basically solid, living beings, except they have cartoon skull heads). There is so much inventiveness in this book, and the story gives artist Luigi Formisano so much license to create weird things (like the drive-in that is inside a giant plaster crocodile – why don’t we have drive-ins that are structures you drive into?). This is a fantastic book, and I wish it a long life.
Quick Takes:
Batman #141 – Batman’s fight with Zur En Arrh continues, and now that his alternate personality resides in the Failsafe robot, he’s more of a threat than ever before. Chip Zdarsky continues to put Batman through his paces, as he fights an opponent that knows everything about him. It’s entertaining.
Birds of Prey #5 – I understand why books need guest artists sometimes, but having Arist Deyn take over the drawing and colouring of this issue is a jarring change. I like Deyn’s art a lot, but it’s very different from what Leonardo Romero has been doing on this title (and there are a lot of other artists who work in the Marcos Martin/Javier Pulido style that would have been a better fit). Still, this is a very enjoyable issue, as Sin and Dinah confront the Megaera while the rest of the Birds try to keep the mind-controlled Amazons, including Wonder Woman, from stopping them. Kelly Thompson has made this a must-read book, as she has such a good handle on these characters.
Doctor Strange #11 – After all the heavy events of the last arc, Jed MacKay gives the Stranges a bit of a break. They take Clea’s infant sister to a fair, where the magical baby takes off on them, and finds the new Ringmistress and her new Circus of Crime. It’s a fun issue that nudges the series along.
Fall of the House of X #1 – I am trying to decide if I came into this with unreasonable expectations. I’ve enjoyed Fall of X a fair amount, although I’ll admit now that I could have easily skipped a number of titles and probably would have enjoyed things a lot more, but seeing how this book makes a call-back to the House of X series that launched the Krakoan era, I think Marvel raised the bar a little too high. Really, this is the continuation of what’s been happening in X-Men, as Cyclops goes to trial in France (I would like to know more about the jurisdictional discussions that allowed that to happen) and the X-Men plan to rescue him. I see how Gerry Duggan is doing a lot here, making this fit with other titles and finding enough for everyone to do, but I think I would have liked more cohesiveness. Still, I’m going to reserve judgment until we’re a little further ahead in the story, and the Powers of X series is also underway.
Fantastic Four #15 – Ryan North is just killing it on this book. Last issue he raised the idea of an internet app that decentralizes tasks, allowing its owner to incentivize people doing jobs for him that help him to steer human history. This issue, we learn that that app is actually sentient, in an issue that masterfully blends anxiety about AI, hard science fiction, and family drama. North’s writing is such a breath of fresh air in comics, and makes this book a real treat.
Love Everlasting #11 – The third arc of this bizarre series by Tom King and Elsa Charretier starts much as the previous ones did, with Joan Peterson meeting a man and starting to develop feelings for him. This time around, the action is in the Old West, and the man in question is the funny talkative sheriff who treats her drunken father with kindness. As I read the issue, I started to worry that things weren’t progressing, and that we were back in the early days of the series, but I should have had faith, because King tosses in an interesting twist at the end of the issue. This series is fun and a little maddening at times, and I appreciate that aspect of it. It’s fun to see the outdated romance comics genre subverted like this.
Maple Terrace #3 – Noah Van Sciver’s autobiographical series wraps up in this issue, which does a fantastic job of capturing the awkwardness of early middle school days. Young Noah has attracted the attention of a local bully by stealing some of his comics, which he can’t return, at the same time that one of his good friends has banned him from attending his birthday party. This book is harsh. You really feel for Noah, who is portrayed as a little clueless and trapped in a cycle of poverty and domestic neglect that could be described as abusive. You see the ways in which he tries to protect himself, but he’s kind of a clueless kid. Van Sciver’s art is simple but evokes the time period well. I like that he’s not above poking fun at himself and his family, while also making us feel for him. These three issues have been great.
Paklis #0 – I’ve been mostly enjoying Dustin Weaver’s very sporadic anthology series, and was intrigued to see this issue, wherein he publishes a bunch of stories he drew when he was trying to break into the comics industry. The oldest story here was drawn when he was 17, and it’s remarkable to see how talented he was at that age. None of these stories, which have been re-scripted and re-coloured for this issue, really go anywhere – they were mostly sample pages or aborted beginnings of more ambitious tales, but they show that Weaver’s always had a more independent sensibility (his first story is an anthropomorphic rat homage to Sin City). His take on the WildCATS is interesting here, and in general, this is a neat historical document. I would like to see more of Paklis, on a more regular schedule, because I find I can’t keep track of the different stories.
The Space Between #3 – I’ve been a fan of Corinna Bechko’s writing for a long time now, but think this must be her best work yet. She is telling a multi-generational story about the people living in a colony ship that is now dangerously off course. The Dodona continues to suffer from the shifting of the social order that began in the first issue, as people become more equal, but that also leads to mediocrity in leadership. The main characters from the second issue continue to star in this issue, as they go up against the established order to try to fix things. It’s a bit of a bleak issue, but Bechko makes these characters compelling, and Danny Luckert’s art is very nice. I guess there’s only one issue left in this series, which is a shame.
Star Wars: Darth Vader #42 – With Dark Droids over, Vader is trying to use what he learned from the Scourge on other cyborgs, which leads him into a fight with an elite Rebel squad. At the same time, Sub-Administrator Moore makes her move to get her rank restored, and to advance her own agenda while appearing to be helping the Emperor. I feel like Greg Pak is working hard to establish the conditions under which Vader will betray the Emperor in Return of the Jedi, but it seems to be increasingly about things other than a father’s love for his estranged child, which is what made that betrayal so effective in the first place. I wonder if this series is actively undermining one of the things that worked best in the original trilogy (which is usually George Lucas’s job).
Unnatural Order #2 – I’ve missed Chris Yost’s writing in comics, so was happy to see him return with a new series at Vault. The first issue set up a pretty interesting but kind of standard sword and sorcery story about a group of warriors coming together to kill a druid who is taking over the world. The issue ended with an interesting twist, and now this second issue introduces us to the American soldier who leads the attempt to stop someone from messing around with the CERN supercollider. I like how Yost played with my expectations in this, and made this more interesting than it started out being. I’m enjoying Val Rodrigues’s art here, and am again impressed with the quality of the books Vault puts out.
Vengeance of the Moon Knight #1 – I didn’t love that Jed MacKay killed off Moon Knight at the end of his last series (a few weeks ago), but am interested in this relaunch by the same creative team. Reese has stepped up to run the Midnight Mission and try to keep Marc’s purpose alive, and his friends have gathered to support her. We learn what happened after his death, and see how the Mission has continued its work, but we also learn about the existence of a new Moon Knight who seems very different. It’s a darker take on things, and it’s the kind of mystery I always get excited about.
The Week in Music:
Fabiano Do Nascimento – Mundo Solo – This was a random find for me (although further research shows that Do Nascimento has released music on Leaving Records and Now-Again, so I’m not sure how I didn’t stumble across him before now), and I love it. It’s an ambient guitar album, with Do Nascimento playing many different versions of that instrument, as well as using some electronics. Listening to this, there are elements of Spanish and Brazilian traditions, as well as strains of contemporary ambient music. The effect is that this album ranges widely, but stays beautiful and deeply emotionally effective. It’s my last favorite album of 2023.
Beneficence & Jazz Spastiks – Summer Night Sessions – If you miss the sounds of an older style of rap music, performed over nice jazzy beats, this album will probably make you very happy. Beneficence has a style that takes me back twenty or thirty years, while rapping about current things. He’s joined by a number of fantastic rappers (Saukrates, Doodlebug, Skyzoo, Rakaa Iriscience, J-Live, and El Da Sensei, among others) from that same era. The Jazz Spastiks’ beats are wonderful, and this is just fun to play.
Sneaky Jesus – For Chaching Tapher – As I’ve gotten deeper and deeper into jazz music, I’ve enjoyed seeing how it manifests itself in other parts of the world. Increasingly, I’ve become aware of a cool scene coming out of Poland. In addition to the stuff on Astigmatic Records, I’ve become entranced by the energetic and fun music of Sneaky Jesus, a Polish quartet. I don’t really know anything about them, but they compose their own music, and I think it would be a lot of fun to see them perform live some time. This is a solid album.
Atmosphere – Talk Talk – Atmosphere have been keeping themselves pretty busy the last few years, with a steady drip of new albums. Recently they released this odd little EP, which is basically a love letter to the days of electro. I know that Ant, the group’s producer, has always been fond of the electro era, and it seems like the duo decided to indulge themselves a little bit with this one. It’s fun, but it’s not until the last couple of tracks that Slug truly sounds like himself on here. I still much prefer their album from this last year to this, but I remain a big fan.
Ancient Infinity Orchestra – River of Light – I almost missed this one, but I know to never skip a release on Gondwana Records. This is a beautiful collection of orchestral soul jazz pieces composed and led by Ozzy Moysey, an upright bassist. If you told me this came out in 1975, I’d believe you, but it is also very contemporary sounding, full of big swells and layers of sound. The choir is gorgeous.
