The Weekly Round-Up #788 w/ Absolute Batman #4, Uncanny X-Men #8, Snotgirl #17, and more

Columns, Top Story

Of course I’m immediately behind again, but that’s because I’m trying to skim through the most recent issues of each title before reading the new one. I’m hoping to catch back up again before life gets too busy.

Bloodbrothersmother

The Blood Brothers Mother #3 – There aren’t a lot of Western comics being made these days, and I kind of feel like anyone who is thinking of doing that would want to change their mind after reading this book, by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso. The 100 Bullets team are back together making this truly remarkable series that manages to pack a ton of story into each oversized, gorgeous issue. Azzarello continues to follow the three brothers who are searching for their mother as they head across the country. First, they help a half-Comanche woman bury a small village of Indigenous people who have been slaughtered, before joining up with a family of Swedes heading west. At the same time, their mother continues to travel with the criminal that is their father. The gang is looking to get into bounty hunting, and choose the Comanche woman as their first target, but they soon find themselves caught between some killers and a different bounty hunter. Azzarello always has an interesting ear for dialogue, and that continues here, and Risso’s art has only gotten better. In addition to his usual off-kilter eye for layout and camera angle, his colours are beautifully washed out and reflective of the landscape. This miniseries could easily be turned into a full TV show, and I find it hard to believe that the creators can wrap this all up in one more issue.

Absolute Batman #4 – I was a little surprised to see that Nick Dragotta only contributed to the plotting of this book, as his art is the top draw of this title for me, but this issue was drawn by Gabriel Hernandez Walta, so I was not disappointed. Scott Snyder and Dragotta focus on Bruce’s past in this issue, filling in a lot of details that have been missing so far. We see more of how Bruce started out as Batman, and get a better sense of his relationship with his father and why bats became such a source of inspiration for him. It’s a solid issue in what’s becoming a terrific reimagining of the entire Batman character. I do hope that Dragotta is back for the next issue though…

Blacklightning

Black Lightning #3 – I do like the way Brandon Thomas has made this series about parenting as much as anything else, as Black Lightning continues to struggle to communicate with his daughter, Thunder, after her powers got messed up during Absolute Powers. I don’t know if there’s enough here for this to be an ongoing series (and I’m not sure if its supposed to be), but I am enjoying Thomas’s writing and Fico Ossio’s art. 

Green Arrow #18 & 19 – I hadn’t realized that Chris Condon (the writer of the excellent series That Texas Blood and The Enfield Gang Massacre) was taking over Green Arrow (I had his name with another writer I don’t have a lot of enthusiasm for), and by the time I realized it, I had to back order his first issue, only getting it this week. Condon is off to a very strong start on this book, joined by the excellent artist Montos. Ollie is living on his own for a stretch after all that’s gone on in his life, and it’s not long before he’s drawn into a mystery involving the murder of people related to a water poisoning scandal from years before. The thing is, Ollie has a bit of a connection to that same incident, and I suspect he might even be a target. We meet a new local detective who he kind of teams up with, and she’s pretty likeable. This book is good; it’s not terribly focused on Ollie as a character yet, but Condon has a good handle on Ollie’s argumentative nature, and Montos’s work is great. I’m glad I got these issues and have this title back on my pullfile list. These issues don’t match the complexity that Condon showed in That Texas Blood, but it’s early days and I trust him as a writer.

Jupiter’s Legacy: Finale #3 – Jason and the other heroes of three worlds rush to try to save the people of Palomar before a very powerful alien race, which has seeded humanity across the universe, comes to harvest them as food. I can’t help but wonder if this was always Mark Millar’s intent with this series, as the revelations of the last issue cheapen everything that has come before, or if this was a late-stage decision that just happened to work out (we learn the real use of the device we’ve been seeing since the series began). Either way, this is a good comic, but it’s kind of mean and bleak. Matthew Dow Smith took over for the art on this issue, and while his work is very good, I was really enjoying what Tommy Lee Edwards was bringing to this book.

Kaya

Kaya #24 – This current Kaya arc is pretty chaotic, and occasionally hard to follow. This issue switches up the status quo for the Robot Kingdom, as they finally capture Jin, but don’t exactly get what they want from that. Wes Craig has noticeably picked up the pace in this arc, and while it looks cool, I think I miss the space that was given to the characters in earlier issues.

Napalm Lullaby #8 – This new arc of this series is a little confusing, as Sam keeps finding himself in new realities, as dreamt up by his sister, who has now somehow become the villain of the series. Rick Remender does this sometimes, making a title that was never clearly defined about something totally different after a while, and it kind of works for him, but seeing as the sister was the character I understood the best, the switch up feels a little forced. I’m curious to see where this goes though.

Saga #71 – This was delayed a week, and like every issue of Saga, well worth the wait. Alanna gets closer to the bartender she’s been kind of flirting with, while Hazel gets closer to her new friend. This series is always a delight, especially because of Fiona Staples’s glorious artwork. I always look forward to a new issue of Saga!

Sentinels

Sentinels #4 – This was always the odd child of the new slate of X-Titles, and it both gets stranger and more impressive with this issue. Writer Alex Paknadel reveals that there has been a deep cut character behind the Sentinel program all along, and it’s not someone I ever thought I’d see again in a Marvel comic. I’ve liked this book, but have not felt any connection with any of the characters. I guess I like seeing a different angle on what’s happening at the Graymalkin facility, but I also don’t think I’m going to miss this after it finishes next month.

The Sickness #6 – After a long delay, we get a new issue of The Sickness, the very disturbing comic by Lonnie Nadler and Jenna Cha. This comic moves at a very slow pace, and usually leaves me feeling like I could use a shower. In 1945, a teenage boy deals with debilitating hallucinations that leave him misunderstood by his family and friends. In 1955, a doctor tries to figure out the nature of an illness that has been spreading slowly, marked by these hallucinations and the common appearance of a shadowy man. This book is creepy and strange, and very effective. Cha’s art is a huge part of the creepiness of the comic, and contributes so much to the sense of disease I feel when reading it. It looks like a new couple are being added to the storyline, but I don’t know enough about them yet to be able to guess how they’re going to impact things. I hope the wait for the next issue isn’t too long.

Snotgirl

Snotgirl #17 – I never really expected that I would like Snotgirl as much as I do. A series about vapid online influencers going through the silly problems of people in their 20s, with some odd dashes of spycraft and intrigue? It doesn’t really sound like the type of book I usually enjoy, but Bryan Lee O’Malley is so good at creating interesting characters that he’s drawn me into this series. In this issue, Lottie inadvertently angers Caroline by asking about her family, and Virgil makes use of the chill that ensues to manipulate Lottie to his own ends. It’s goofy, but likeable.

The Uncanny X-Men #8 – The end of the Raid on Graymalkin leaves me with mixed feelings and opinions. There was a lot that I liked about this first crossover of the new X-Era, but there were also things that I thought were regretful. It was cool seeing the two teams operating together, but the lack of trust and respect between the teams feels very forced to me, as does Cyclops’s new hard-line opinion of Charles Xavier. I thought it was interesting that Charles never knew about the existence of Scurvy, the powerful mutant who helps run the Graymalkin mutant prison, but including the recently deceased Harvy X, a child, as part of a secret group of mutants alongside Scurvy feels forced. I’ve decided, having just reread the previous issues of Uncanny, that I’m beyond over the way Gail Simone is pushing the regional accents and dialects in this book. I like Javier Garron’s art in this issue, and am still invested in seeing where both Simone and Jed MacKay take their respective teams.

Wolverine

Wolverine #5 – Saladin Ahmed’s take on Wolverine is working for me. I like how Logan is so focused on looking after the young Wendigo, and find the threat of the Adamantine, a sentient metal that has taken over other adamantium-based characters, to be pretty interesting.  Martín Cóccolo’s art is very nice; he’s a better fit for this book than he was for the beginning of Immortal Thor. I don’t know if there’s a precedence for Wendigos continuing to suffer their curse outside of Canada, but that’s a minor point I guess. I’m also left wondering how this book connects with Gail Simone’s Uncanny X-Men (because Logan’s not with them, and Nightcrawler has access to a Blackbird). Beyond that, this is all pretty decent.

Get in touch and share your thoughts on what I've written: jfulton@insidepulse.com