I barely read anything this week, and the rest of June is shaping up to be insanely busy.
Quick Takes:
Detective Comics 2025 Annual #1 – I really liked seeing Batman in a solid detective story for a change. Al Ewing wrote the main story here, which has Batman solving a closed room murder which leads to his discovering a strange plot that involves a little known theory in physics. Ewing’s writing is very nice here, as is the art, but I found the switch between the three artists (Stefano Raffaele, John McCrea, and Fico Ossio, to be pretty jarring. The backup by Joshua Hale Fialkov (a name I haven’t seen in a while) and Mike Norton is also very good, although the child detective in it could have easily been replaced by Maps Mizoguchi.
NYX #10 – Like other From The Ashes titles that have met early ends, I was disappointed in this series. I think the concept of it was great – that a pro-mutant community centre would open up in New York should have led to an interesting approach to writing post-Krakoan stories, but instead of focusing on day-to-day living, the writers, Lanzing and Kelly, decided that the best thing to do would be to pit a group of mutant friends against Mojo, one of the most annoying antagonists in the X-office. I think had this played out differently, it might have lasted longer. The characters are good in this book, but Lanzing and Kelly keep doing this with their Marvel series, where they have a high concept that has not been suitably workshopped, and then it falls apart when the character interactions don’t fit with previous portrayals (and yes, I’m talking about their Guardians of the Galaxy run now). Shoe-horning Ms. Marvel into the X-Books because she had a movie coming out was weird, and continuing to focus on her being a mutant isn’t really the path to take the character. I loved Kamala’s first run, but we’re just retracing old paths with her now, and forcing her to become friends with one of the Cuckoos never fit. I’m hoping that whatever next wave of X-Books that get approved will be able to benefit from better planning than a lot of this wave did.
The Question: All Along The Watchtower #6 – At the end of this series, I’m not sure that the story here justified six whole issues. Alex Segura told an exciting story that involved The Question and a pretty random group of heroes fighting off the Cyborg Superman on the JLU’s satellite. It kind of addressed some of Renee’s ongoing issues, but not really in a way that was all that satisfying. I think this one could have used a little more time in the oven, really, as there was a lot of potential here. It’s just strange to see a street-level hero leading the charge in this kind of situation. I often felt the same about Segura’s recent twelve-part Star Wars series, and it leaves me a little nervous about the new Star Wars title that is lurking in my reading pile.
The Seasons #4 – This is such a bizarre series, but it does have me interested, mostly because I really can’t tell where Rick Remender and Paul Azaceta are taking it. The circus has their grand opening, and they’ve managed to lure Summer Seasons, the starlet, into their weirdness. Azaceta’s art continues to be the draw for me here.
The Week In Music:
Butcher Brown – Letters From The Atlantic – Butcher Brown continue to evolve, with every release taking some different approaches to their brand of hip hop infused jazz. I wonder if the band switches leaders for each album, as there are so many talented and unique individuals in this band. This issue is a little more soul-inflected, but features all the things we expect from a Butcher Brown album. Corey Fonville’s drums always stand out, as do Tennishu’s raps, which are not all that common on this one. This time around there are a lot of guest vocalists, including two favourites of mine, Melanie Charles and Yaya Bey.
Gerald Clayton – Ones & Twos – I wasn’t all that familiar with Gerald Clayton, who plays keys, sings, and who wrote this album. I picked it up because it features Joel Ross on vibraphone, Elena Pinderhughes on flute, and Marquis Hill on trumpet. Kassa Overall was also involved in this. When I see names like that, I’m sure I’m going to like something. This is Blue Note core through and through, but if you like that kind of thing, this is a terrific contemporary jazz album by a lot of very talented people.
Max Richter – In A Landscape – After seeing Richter perform a few weeks ago, I decided I wanted to add his latest album to my collection. This is very calming and sweeping music, consisting mostly of strings and a piano or keyboard. You can tell that Richter mostly composes for film scores by listening to this, but these pieces do work on their own without visuals. It’s a nice piece of Sunday afternoon music, or good for late evenings when you are trying to unwind.
