Best Comic of the Week:
If You Find This, I’m Already Dead #1 – Matt Kindt has been on fire lately, releasing a number of quality series at Dark Horse. This one, which is drawn by Dan McDaid, is in the same format as his current Subgenre series, and it’s different from the rest of what he’s been doing lately. Mankind has discovered a portal to another, very hostile, world, and the American military has established a small beachhead on that world. A New York Times reporter accompanies a group of soldiers there, and things immediately fall apart, and she finds herself on the run with one of the soldiers. Kindt and McDaid keep upending the reader’s expectations of what is going to happen, and keep the story moving in a really interesting way. McDaid’s art looks so good on these larger pages, and his designs for this world are really interesting, especially the look of the dominant aliens on this world. This is a really solid first issue.
Quick Takes:
Abbott 1979 #4 – Elena learns how much is at stake in the fight with the Umbra, and gets an upgrade as she prepares for what will hopefully be the final fight against the forces of darkness. I think this will be the last of the Abbott series, as it gives off ‘final boss’ energy. I’ve really liked the way Saladin Ahmed weaves the decay of Detroit into this series, and love Elena’s character. I think it’s amazing to see how good Sami Kivelä’s art has gotten over the life of this series, and it started out really good.
Batman #143 – I’m not loving this Joker Year One story as it feels like a distraction from the other cool things that Chip Zdarsky has been doing in Batman, but there are a couple of things being added here that I find interesting. Zdarsky has been making good use of the Zur-En-Arrh persona, and now adds something similar to Joker, which helps to explain the character in a much more convoluted way than Grant Morrison’s explanation for his shifting moods. Anyway, this story is kind of all over the place, and the far future segments seem completely unnecessary, aside from Andrea Sorrentino’s gorgeous art. I look forward to returning to the regular program soon.
Batman And Robin #6 – I liked this issue a lot more than I did the Annual the other week. Joshua Williamson has a good handle on Bruce and Damian’s relationship, which is kind of the point of this book. They continue to investigate the principal of Damian’s school, and discover one student’s connection to a regular Bat-villain. I’m excited to see what happens with the character who shows up on the last page, as her appearance continues a plotline I enjoyed in Williamson’s Robin run.
Black Panther #9 – The Panther and Ibiss continue to work against the spirit being that has infiltrated B’iti’s main crime family. I continue to enjoy this series and how Eve Ewing has taken it in new directions. I would like to see more of the city and its people, but realize we’re at the stage in the story telling where the plot is everything. I hope T’Challa sticks around when this story is over.
The Deviant #4 – James Tynion IV and Joshua Hixson are doing an incredible job with this series. A young cartoonist is interested in putting together a graphic novel about a man who took the fall for a serial killer-sytle double murder decades ago because he was gay, and now someone is copycatting those same killings, and it looks like it might be our cartoonist. His story is coming out in drips, and Tynion is writing him as a deliciously secretive and unknowable character. Hixson packs a lot of drama into the art, even when things are feeling pretty ordinary, and the last page of this issue came as a bit of a shock. This is an impressive comic.
The Displaced #1 – As someone who lives in Toronto, there is a lot in The Displaced, the new miniseries by Ed Brisson and Luca Casalanguida that connects and amuses me. It concerns the sudden disappearance of the town of Oshawa, a former industrial town and now increasingly a bedroom community of my city. Many of the people I know, including ones who grew up in Oshawa or the surrounding municipalities that become the settings of this book, would not see anything that happens in this book as a bad thing (aside from the presumed loss of life), but that is a joke that Brisson has the characters reacting to in the story. Basically, late one night, a giant sinkhole opens up and the entire town disappears. An old man that is on the edge of the sinkhole seems to have some idea of what’s happening, and warns that the whole thing will soon be forgotten, although apparently not by the people who were with him. This is interesting, reminding me a little of James Tynion IV’s The Woods, but told from the perspective of the people who stay behind. Casalanguida’s art is very nice, and the characters are interesting. I trust Brisson, especially when he is writing odd stories like this, so I’m going to be sticking around for the rest of this series.
Fall of the House of X #2 – One of the most impressive things about the Krakoan era of X-Men comics has been how well-coordinated the releases have been. As we move towards the end of this era, though, that’s starting to fall apart. Currently the story being told in Wolverine (see below) takes place out of sequence with what’s happening in X-Force, and this issue seems to reference things in Invincible Iron Man that I haven’t read yet. Things continue apace, as the X-Men work to rescue Cyclops and make their moves against Orchis. Polaris attacks their orbital station with the help of unexpected friends, just as Wolverine and Colossus work to get to Firestar. There’s a lot of excitement here, but despite having just reread issue one, and having read all the tie-ins, I kept thinking I’d missed something. This is not a storyline that’s going to collect well in trade.
Green Lantern #8 – Hal is visited by a former Blue Lantern, and realizes he needs to get off the planet, only can’t do it under his own power. Jeremy Adams has me interested in what’s going on in this series now, although it did take a little while. I like Amancay Nahuelpan’s art, and am happy to see him on a higher profile book (I’ve been following his career since he was drawing Young Terrorists at Black Mask). The Kyle Rayner backup wasn’t doing it for me, until a certain favourite GL showed up.
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #16 – I’m glad we’re getting to the end of this Gang War stuff, as it’s taken the focus away from Miles and his own plotlines. I don’t remember where Prowler went, but he’s not in this issue, which is jammed with heroes and villains (who are sometimes convinced to act like heroes). Cody Ziglar’s story is paced well, but lacks many character moments, and the art is a little too busy for me, making it hard to follow the storytelling.
Outsiders #4 – Writers Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly lean into their Wildstorm influences with this issue, as the Outsiders investigate the powers and life of Jenny, the Century Baby whose moods and whims have outsized influence on the entire world. This series has been a remaking/reworking of Planetary from the beginning, and with this issue they acknowledge the existence of Jenny Sparks, and the retconning away of Jenny Quantum. It’s a solid issue that would probably stand on its own without familiarity with Warren Ellis’s work, and it introduces a new interesting element to the DC Universe. I’m a little surprised that we are four issues into this series and still don’t have an overarching arc or storyline, which makes this different from what Ellis did with Planetary, but I am enjoying this book. Robert Carey’s art is really nice, and I like this Jenny and hope to see more of her.
Speed Force #4 – I’m still finding myself irritated by the way Jarrett Williams is writing this book. As it continues, I find that I appreciate his understanding of these characters, but the main plot is still poorly explained, and the flashbacks in this issue came a little too late in the larger story to fully explain the threat. The scenes focusing on Avery and Wallace’s mindstates are the best; the rest kind of reads like filler.
Star Wars: Darth Vader #43 – We see how Administrator Moore has been moving within the Empire, gathering allies for her ‘schism’, many of whom have had run-ins with Vader. Now that Vader is preparing to make his move, Moore is bringing them all together. As the other Star Wars titles come to their ends, I’m finding this book a little thinner than it was before, which has long been the case. I’m hoping that Greg Pak has something cool up his sleeve still, but am starting to doubt it.
Transformers #5 – I love Daniel Warren Johnson’s art on this book. This is the first time I’ve been interested in Transformers since dropping the original Marvel series, and that is entirely because of the art and strong writing that Warren is providing us with. I don’t know who all these characters are, or why I should care about the randomly returned new characters each month, but the way Johnson draws action scenes has me craving more.
Vengeance of the Moon Knight #2 – The mystery of the new Moon Knight deepens, as Tigra talks to Marc’s therapist about all that’s happened. It’s an effective framing sequence, giving the supporting cast room to breathe and helping to build the enigma of the title character’s identity. Jed MacKay is doing good work with this book, as is Alessandro Cappuccio.
Wolverine #43 – I didn’t read the two Sabretooth miniseries that came out during the Krakoa era, and now realize that they were kind of necessary backreading for this Sabretooth War storyline, especially since it has Wolverine showing up only in flashbacks. Creed’s multiversal counterparts start to chafe under his leadership, while Quentin Quire’s dead head reaches out to The Exiles (a team I didn’t know existed) for help. I’m not disliking this storyline, but I find it weird that it’s happening at the same time as the Fall of the House of X stuff and is so disconnected from it.
The Week in Music:
Danny Brown – Quaranta – I’ve always been happy to see Danny Brown’s name turn up on a feature, but haven’t really gotten into his solo work before now. His frenetic pace and voice are all toned down a little here, as he reflects on aging and how it impacts his music. There are some good appearances by Bruiser Wolf and MIKE, and an impressive collection of producers (Chris Keys, Quelle Chris, Kassa Overall, and Paul White. Oh, and The Alchemist blesses the record with one beat too! I’m really looking forward to seeing Brown perform this album next month, and like it so much more than Scaring The Hoes.
