Life has been so busy lately that I haven’t even made it through my whole stack this week. For the next few weeks, I’ll just be writing about what I’ve read and not even try to get through it all until things calm down.
Best Comics of the Fortnight:
Napalm Lullaby #2 – I had a hard time remembering what happened in the previous issue when I started reading this one (I usually have time to reread previous issues, but life’s been beating me up lately), so it took me a while to get into the story. From what I remember, in the first issue Rick Remender and Bengal showed us the world this book is set in, and introduced us to the two main characters, but didn’t really get into the nuts and bolts of what this series is about. This issue has our two siblings convincing their father to join them on a mission to infiltrate the church that seemingly runs the world, with the intent to kill its supreme leader. It’s a solid issue that sets up what’s going to happen next, and gives us a better look at these characters. Bengal is very good at this kind of book, and things look great. I’m intrigued.
Helen of Wyndhorn #2 – Tom King and Bilquis Evely are taking their time in spinning out this story. In this issue, we see a little of the person the series is being narrated to, and we learn more about the narrator, a governess, and her strange adventures at Wyndhorn House. Her young charge is growing increasingly erratic, and the girl’s grandfather is equally difficult, in different ways. It’s clear to the reader that the grandfather journeys back and forth to a mythical world, and that his son wrote about it in his pulp stories. Basically, this book is playing in similar territory as Alan Moore’s Providence, but is exploring a Robert E. Howard character. It also reminds me of The Deviant, but that’s more because of the writer who is mining the narrator’s stories. It’s a very accomplished series, and I love Evely’s art in it.
Quick Takes:
Action Comics #1064 – I guess Jason Aaron’s run on this title was pretty short, because it looks like Joshua Williamson has taken over this book for his House of Brainiac event, which continues in Superman. Brainiac makes a move to collect members of the Super-Family, and attacks Metropolis with a bunch of Czarnians in order to do it. I liked the set-up and execution of this issue, even if it was hard to keep track of some of the many characters here (I didn’t know that Lana Lang was still Superwoman – DC is so confusing). Rafa Sandoval’s art is really nice in this issue, and I like how this doesn’t feel like a very sprawling story, and appreciate the reasonable number of tie-ins. This has been teased for a while, so I hope it turns out okay.
Batman and Robin #8 – Double crosses and turnabouts abound as Batman tries to work with Shush to stop Man-Bat, and Robin tries to help Flatline save her sister from a dark fate. This is an enjoyable story, with Joshua Williamson making the relationship between Damian and Flatline the centrepiece. I like guest artist Nikola Cizmesija’s work better than regular artist Simone Di Meo’s, because it’s a lot easier to follow.
Fall of the House of X #4 – I feel like this one is slipping away from us. Since the last Hellfire Gala, we’ve seen a steady degradation of the X-Line, as so many of the miniseries didn’t really do much, and now this, which is clearly the central book, is sprawling out of control. Apocalypse tries to help Krakoa by killing a bunch of mutants and pouring their blood on Krakoa’s Groot-like avatar, while Professor X (who is off doing other things in Rise of the Powers of X) tries to cut a deal with Orchis to save just the mutants as they exterminate all humans on Earth. I feel like I’ve missed an issue or something, and am feeling really lost. I was sad to see the end of the Krakoan era, but now I just want it to be over with. This is grim.
Fantastic Four #19 – Ryan North continues his run of stand-out single issues, as he gives us a new take on the Fantastic Four. When this issue opens, Alicia is working as a private investigator in a world that has come from film noir. Sue hires her to help locate her fiance, Reed Richards, and we get a very different look at how the FF exist. There’s a reason for the change in scenery, and it’s Alicia who has to figure everything out. This is an enjoyable issue, as they all have been. Carlos Gómez’s art is growing on me as he stays on this book.
Green Lantern #10 – It took too long to get underway, but now I’m very committed to this title. Hal is on Oa, where Jo connects him with the resistance. When they discover that the head of the UP is conducting experiments on Lanterns, including that kid from the previous run, Hal jumps in without a plan, and it looks like the entire resistance is at risk now. This story really worked for me, and has me interested in where this series is headed. The back-up story, which features art by Kevin Maguire, ties into the House of Brainiac event. It’s great to see Maguire art these days.
The Incredible Hulk #11 – Hulk’s fight with ‘Frozen Charlotte’ takes up most of this issue, and while it’s entertaining, the lack of b-plot is starting to hurt this series. I’ve been impressed with everything I’ve read from writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson in recent years, but I’m starting to find this series is dragging a little. I feel like he’s trying to do a Vertigo-esque horror book, a little like post-Veitch Swamp Thing, but it’s becoming an odd fit for Hulk after so long. I am enjoying this, but it’s just feeling a little too decompressed lately.
The Invincible Iron Man #17 – I’ve thought it cool how closely connected this book has been to the events of Fall of the House of X for the last half year or so, but this issue really feels like it’s stalling for time as Tony goes through a weird trip through a hallucination before coming face to face with Feilong, who has penetrated his massive Sentinel Buster armor. I like the art by Patch Zircher, especially compared to the previous issue, but would have liked to see more happen in this issue. I wonder if Gerry Duggan’s run is going to end at the same time as the Krakoan era…
Jay Garrick: The Flash #6 – I guess this series was okay, but I never really connected with it. I don’t love that so many characters are being retconned into DC’s already crowded Golden Age, and I’m not sure that adding a teenage daughter to the Garrick’s lives will contribute much at this stage of things. This series, which was designed to integrate Judy Garrick more fully, didn’t really convince me that she’s needed (especially since, ultimately, she just needed to be rescued). I was hoping for more of a coda to Jeremy Adams’s Flash run, but this wasn’t that.
Nightwing #113 – In this touching issue, it’s Dick’s birthday, and the city decides to celebrate him by giving him the key. I like the way Tom Taylor wrote this issue, and found the two pages written by Marv Wolfman at the end of the book to be really touching. Taylor’s run with Dick has been impressive, and I’m happy that it’s showing no signs of slowing down. This book is kind of special, and gives us a clear look at a hero who really lives the lifestyle. The backup story has Howard Porter channeling Gene Colan in all the best ways, and is pretty cool as well.
Outsiders #6 – I’m not entirely sure how I feel about Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing more or less aping themes from works by Grant Morrison and Warren Ellis (as well as borrowing so many of Ellis’s characters). It’s hard to say much without ruining a surprise I didn’t see coming (but really should have), but so much of this issue, which has the Outsiders moved to a meta-limbo where canceled characters go to while away the decades, just felt way too familiar. But then that surprise ending grabbed my attention and made me think it might be time to reread some old Wildstorm books. I don’t know – this title is strange and I’m a little surprised that it exists. Robert Carey’s art is really nice, and it was fun trying to figure out who all of the characters in the Limbo-world were.
Phantom Road #10 – Jeff Lemire and Gabriel Hernandez Walta raise the stakes of their story in this issue, as Dom and Birdie find another person living in the wasteland, and as Agent Weaver gets taken off her case, and also starts to piece together a few more clues about the Billy Bear restaurants. This is a very strange, but very compelling, series.
Resurrection of Magneto #4 – I’m still hoping that Al Ewing will be writing one of the ancillary X-titles after the Krakoan Age closes down, as he’s shown such a good understanding of both Magneto and Storm in this book. This issue has them entering the fight against Orchis, and gives us a good idea of what kind of path Max is headed down in this new life. This series was great, in that it featured two of my favourite mutants, although it really doesn’t stand on its own outside of what’s happening across the rest of the line.
Roxxon Presents Thor #1 – I’ve liked the idea playing out in Al Ewing’s Immortal Thor that Dario Agger has acquired a comics company and is publishing comics as a form of story magic. This is the comic they are publishing, and it’s an amusing sendup of corporate comics as tools of propaganda. In the story, Thor (who works for Roxxon as an AI finance guy) drives around in a parody of a Cybertruck, and fights Loki, who is trying to convince people that climate change is real. It’s amusing, and made all the more amusing by the decision to have Greg Land supply the art. Ewing’s Thor has been a tougher sell for me than literally anything else I’ve ever read from him, but I liked this (once, it’s not a well we should ever return to).
Speed Force #6 – This series ended up being a big disappointment. I was looking forward to seeing some of the outer-tier Flashes, namely Wallace and Avery get the spotlight for a while, but this story was so convoluted and hard to follow that I never really enjoyed it. I understand that writer Jarrett Williams was trying to appeal to the TikTok generation with this story about an evil music streaming site with (I think) AI-generated hologram rappers, but so many elements of the story were poorly explained (why were they kidnapping people like Mas Y Menos and Superboy?), and things jumped around too much. In the few pages where the story focused on either Wallace or Avery as heroes, it got better, but I’m not looking to pick up anything with Williams’s name on it again. The art was all over the place too. This issue starts with abstract cartoony art by George Kambadais which is a little hard to follow but attractive, and then ends with Tom Derenick, whom I think of as my nemesis, trying to ape a similarly youthful style. Overall, I’ve been pretty happy with the Dawn of DC stuff, but this was a miss that I should have dropped right away. There was a good comic here, but the editing and shaping of the story was terrible.
Star Wars: Darth Vader #45 – As Vader continues to work with Administrator Moore’s Schism, we get a bit of a character study on the one member of the group who doesn’t hate Vader. This series is really starting to feel tired, and I found my attention wandering while reading it. I imagine there’s not much time left for this book, and I’m hoping that this Schism storyline will get more interesting. I guess it’s tough – we know that Vader is going to betray the Emperor in Return of the Jedi, but that move does most of the interior heavy lifting, so Greg Pak doesn’t have much room to do things with Vader here.
Superman #13 – As Superman recruits Lobo to help him deal with Brainiac and his Czarnians, we see what’s going on in Brainiac’s ship. Lex tries to cut a deal, while Kara and Connor work to free themselves. I’m enjoying the House of Brainiac event so far, and was pleasantly surprised to see that Rafa Sandoval drew this issue as well as the first chapter. I’m not a Superman fan, but I’ve been enjoying his Dawn of DC appearances a lot.
Transformers #7 – I was disappointed to see that Jorge Corona has taken over the art on this series, not because I don’t like his art, but because Daniel Warren Johnson’s art was the main reason I started to read this book (I don’t care that much about the Transformers). Johnson is still writing the book, and uses this issue to reorient both the Autobots and Decepticons for their second story arc. Soundwave makes a play for leadership of the Decepticons, while Optimus’s people, and their human allies, wrestle with everything that’s happened so far. This series is focusing more and more on the internal lives of these giant robots, and I find that interesting. Corona is a good fit for this book, but at the same time, I’m really going to miss Johnson’s art.
Ultimate Black Panther #3 – I’m noticing the creeping return of decompression to comics, and I’m not a fan. This issue of UBP didn’t move the story forward too much. Shuri and Okoye got into a dispute, and Killmonger and Ororo took T’Challa into their confidence. I need a little more to happen, especially this early in an ongoing series that hasn’t done enough to differentiate itself from the 616 version of a character. This is an interesting comic, but it needs to start moving faster for me to stick with it.
Underheist #3 – Things are falling apart faster and faster for David, as the money he helped steal is missing, the man he stole it from comes to his apartment, and the cult that David once escaped is somehow involved. David and Maria Lapham are playing this one close to the chest, but it’s clear that things are going to get stranger as this miniseries continues. Lapham is so good at this kind of comic.
Unnatural Order #4 – As I was reading this issue, I was a bit confused because I thought there was one more issue to go and it seemed to be wrapping up. It turns out that’s not the case, but there will be another volume of this series coming soon. Murphy and his new friends are trying to stop the wizard, but can’t decide which world is real (the modern one we know, or the historical one they live in, which is full of magic), and which they’d prefer to live in. This issue reminded me a lot of Rick Remender and Jerome Opeña’s Seven To Eternity, as Murphy faces similar choices as the star of that book. I’m happy to be reading a Chris Yost book again, and figure it’s not long before we see artist Val Rodrigues get scooped up by the Big Two. This was a solid and rewarding miniseries, and I’ll be here for volume two.
Wolverine #47 – As the Sabretooth War continues, Nekra interferes with Creed’s plans, while the multiversal Creeds bring Graydon Creed into the mix, and Laura makes her move too. There’s a lot of moving pieces in this story, and I’m understanding why they decided it needed to be told on a biweekly schedule.
The Fortnight in Music:
André 3000 – New Blue Sun – This double album of ambient flute music from a master rapper ranked high in my favourite albums of 2023, and I’m really happy to finally get a copy for my collection. André has given up the mic for a variety of digital and acoustic flutes, and has surrounded himself with artists from the LA ambient/New Age scene that I love and respect. He’s joined by Carlos Niño, Nate Mercereau, and Surya Botofasina on almost every track, and there are also appearances by Shabaka Hutchings, Matthewdavid, and Deantoni Parks. André really captures the sound of this odd movement, and his music is transportively gentle and centring. It’s a really special album, and I can’t wait to see him perform it live (hopefully with these collaborators) at the end of June. This is something I’m going to treasure.
