Where do the weeks go?
Best Comic of My Week:
The New Gods #3 – There’s so much to like about this new series by Ram V and Evan Cagle (with some help from Riccardo Federici, who draws a long sequence). We learn about the threat coming for Apokolips and New Genesis, while Mister Miracle gets Oberon to help him look for the child that Orion is planning on killing. There’s been a lot happening in this book already, and this issue helps make clear where things might be headed. Cagle’s art is great, and Federici’s is luminous. I hope there’s a nice long run planned for this.
Quick Takes:
Batman and Robin #18 – I think that the tension between Damian and Bruce in this issue feels a little forced, and is a bit repetitive given that Joshua Williamson walked on similar ground in the opening arcs of this series, and the Robin solo book before that. At the same time, I’m enjoying the work that Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Javi Fernández are doing on this title. I like how it touches on some of the elements from Chip Zdarksy’s Batman: The Knight series, and works to continue to explore Batman’s relationships with various Robins (the Red Hood has a guest appearance). Fernández’s art is very nice.
Bug Wars #1 – I hadn’t intended to pick up this series, but the first issue looked interesting, and now I’m glad I grabbed it. Jason Aaron sets up a barbarian world, filled with tribes that live among and ride insects into battle. Then he reveals that this world is in a family’s backyard. The family, a mother and her two teenage sons, have had to move to the house that the boys’ father died in, as the mother struggles with bankruptcy. The boys do not get along, and after an incident between them, the younger one finds himself shrunk down and dealing with the wild world outside his home. Mahmud Asrar outdoes himself on the art in this issue, creating a wild looking environment and cool designs for the different types of barbarians. I’m intrigued enough to grab the next issue, and see where Aaron intends to take this story.
Deadpool #11 – I am not a fan of Deadpool, but felt like I should get this issue since it’s the start of a crossover with Miles Morales: Spider-Man, which I do buy. Both titles are written by the same writer, Cody Ziglar, so I expected that the tie-in would feel organic. Deadpool and his daughter are broke, so they accepted a contract to kill Spider-Man. When they try to put their plan in action, though, they end up shooting Shift, Miles’s shape-changing clone brother. I didn’t really love this issue, although I did find it interesting to see Miles’s new costume drawn by a more traditional artist like Andrea DiVito. I’m not sure how this story is going to take up four whole issues…
The Holy Roller #9 – I feel like this series, which pokes fun at the far right and the businessmen who take advantage of them, stopped being funny in the long hiatus between the previous issue and this final one. Too much of the chaos that Rick Remender and his co-writers describe seems, if not plausible, at least more believable in the two months since Trump took office. Since Remender was working with some Hollywood folk on this one, we got a pretty Hollywood ending, but it’s fitting and a tiny bit heartwarming. This was a good series, even if it ended up hitting the mark a little too closely.
Let This One Be a Devil #1 – I’ve reached the point where I’ve realized that I should buy anything James Tynion IV writes, but hadn’t realized that this new series, with artist Piotr Kowalski, is part of his his True Weird series, which takes supposedly true stories of strange events, and adapts them into comics. The main story here is about a young man who has returned to his rural home from getting an education in the early twentieth century. He catches a strange, demonic looking creature in his mother’s chicken coop (if you read the classic Jamie Delano/Steve Pugh run of Animal Man, it looks like Buddy did in that story). We also learn that something strange happened in the same area two hundred years before that, which is probably connected. Tynion does a great job of establishing what life is like for this family, and the alienation the main character is feeling since returning, and Kowalski’s art is always nice (it’s been a while since I’ve seen him on anything). There’s a backup story that didn’t really grab me, and I’m wondering if that will happen with each issue in this series.
Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #5 – Marc’s had enough of Fairchild going after him and his people, so he agrees to fight the larger man, one-on-one. The fight looks like it’s going in his favour, but not for the whole issue. At the same time, the rest of the Midnight Mission crew work to protect their territory and realize how much things have changed. As always, Jed MacKay delivers an excellent story, and I’m really getting excited about artist Devmalya Pramanik’s art. This run continues to be a favourite.
Nightwing #123 – This storyline is taking its time to develop, as Nightwing continues to try to help the gangs of Blüdhaven while also investigating the company that is trying to inflame tension and secure influence in the mayor’s office. Dan Watters has a good way of letting this story play out, and Dexter Soy’s art is decent. This is not as great as the recent Taylor/Redondo run, but it’s still a solid comic.
Psylocke #4 – Kwannon goes looking for the man who attacked John Greycrow (or at least, sent his robotic dead animal minions to do it), infiltrating his home, which is more of a strange museum. I’m not really sure what Alyssa Wong is looking to do with Kwannon in this series, but in terms of it being a solid straight-forward mutant book, I’m not mad at this at all. I read a comment that said there’s nothing about this book that couldn’t feature Betsy Braddock in the main role, and I do think that’s true, but I’m hoping that Wong has long-term plans. I don’t think this is a miniseries anymore, but don’t actually know.
Storm #5 – Murewa Ayodele is taking this book into strange cosmic territory, as Storm becomes an avatar of Eternity, and has to fight Oblivion over the role that Death plays in the cosmos. It’s a strange turn for a book like this; I’d expected this series to focus more on Ororo aiming for some normalcy in her life after her adventures on Krakoa and Arakko (no one even mentions that place anymore), but instead, we’re playing with big concepts like this is Mark Gruenwald’s Quasar. I’m down to see where this is leading, especially with Lucas Werneck’s gorgeous artwork, but I would like to see the main character be more important to the story.
Ultimate Wolverine #2 – Chris Condon further shows us what life is like for Logan in the Ultimate Universe, where he is a mindless puppet of the Rasputins and Omega Red. There are some cool scenes designed to show us just how brutal he is, when he goes up against a number of Colossus’s own men as a test. This story is developing slowly, but it has my interest. I do want to know more about the resistance movement that Nightcrawler and Mystique were running in the last issue, but that can wait. It’s interesting to see Condon, as I know from his rural noir series That Texas Blood, working on a book like this.
Weapon X-Men #1 – I was sceptical of this title when it was announced, but seeing as it’s written by Joe Casey and drawn by Chrisscross, I figured it was a safe purchase. I’m not sure I feel that way, having read it. Someone is going after Wolverine, who is in Paris, and then Deadpool turns up to help him out. They barely spend any time together before Cable shows up to say they need to go on a mutant rescue mission, which also needs them to grab up Chamber. Their mission, which is never explained (or I missed it) is to Latveria, where they find John Proudstar fighting robots. I don’t really know what this book is all about yet, but Deadpool seems pretty certain that it exists to cash in on film synergy, despite the fact that no one is talking about the Wolverine & Deadpool movie still. I have read some great Casey comics over the years, so I’m hoping that this clarifies itself soon, and becomes something I want to read.
Wonder Woman #18 – Most of the time, it seems like Wonder Woman doesn’t do much in this series, so it’s nice to see her do something big, like walk from the Washington Monument to the White House. Of course, that walk has her facing down some high tech weapons, Sarge Steel, and Grail. I keep changing my mind about Tom King and Daniel Sampere’s run. There are times when the slow pace of this series makes me nuts, but most of the time I appreciate the formalism King brings to his plotting. I think this is going to stand as a very memorable WW run, but I don’t see myself ever wanting to read it again. Does that make sense?
W0rldtr33 #13 – We continue to explore the early days of the W0rldtr33 group, through the eyes of Cammi, the young girl who would grow up to be the nude killer working on behalf of the Undernet. This story arc gives us a good look at how things developed, and helps fill in some blanks. At the same time, I feel like it’s derailed some of the momentum from the last arc. I do trust James Tynion IV to see this story through, and am enjoying the darkly hallucinogenic art by Fernando Blanco.
X-Factor #7 – I saw the news this week that X-Factor is ending soon, and I’m not surprised. Mark Russell is very good at writing satiric takes on superhero comics, but this one has not clicked with me at all. He’s been trying to mash up X-Statix, Justice League International, and a dash of Suicide Squad, while also poking fun at Elon Musk, and it’s been a bit convoluted. In this issue, he tries to shoehorn in the One World Under Doom event, with Angel returning to lead the team on an attack on Gigosha, an algorithm-driven country, so Doctor Doom doesn’t get their technology. I could see this working a lot better if Russell had more understanding of and respect for some of the characters used in this book; Cecilia Reyes is terribly written here, and completely out of character. I haven’t hated this book, but I wish more was done to fix its flaws from the beginning.
X-Men #11 – A visitor from space with ties to Cyclops brings chaos with him in another enjoyable issue of this series. Jed MacKay is continuing to build on the central concept here, with this X-Men squad beginning to feel more like a team. I was very happy to see the return of one of my foundational comics teams at the end of the issue, although I’m not sure what’s up with Marrina’s current appearance (I wish they’d just let this poor girl be). Netho Diaz’s art has really grown on me, as this cements its place as my current favourite X-Book.
The Week in Music:
Uyama Hiroto – Breath of Love – This Japanese jazz album was one of my absolute favourites of 2024, and sent me down my recent Japanese rabbit hole. Hiroto mixes smooth jazz with hiphop influenced beats, playing both wind instruments and keys, and the result is stunning. This is the album I’ve played the most over the last six months, and I’m always happy to return to it. I’m especially happy to finally own my own copy. I get lost in this on the regular, and find it soothing, but never boring. I would love to see Hiroto play some day.
Rich Ruth – Water Still Flows – I found this album on a couple of year-end best of lists, and it’s an interesting mix of jazz fusion and post-rock from an artist from the Pacific Northwest. I’m not sure if it all works for me, but parts of it are great.
Nujabes and Shing02 – Luv (sic) Hexalogy – Nujabes and Shing02 collaborated slowly on these songs, starting in 2001, with the last three released after Nujabes’s death in 2010 (the sixth track was incomplete at that time, but Uyama Hiroto stepped in to help finish it). These six songs hold a special place in the history of hiphop. They are just about perfect, with Shing02 flowing effortlessly over Nujabes’s beautifully jazzy beats. This double-disc package includes a bunch of remixes, and a second disc of just the instrumentals. It’s taken me way too long to decide that I needed to own a copy, but I’m glad this is in my collection. Hiphop is a global phenomenon, and these two have secured a place for Japan with this legendary hexalogy.
