Best Comic of My Week:
The Ultimates #20 – Deniz Camp and Phil Noto introduce us to the Ultimate Vision, and it reveals a cool trick that Iron Lad played a while earlier, which we never really noticed. We also see Ultimate Jim Rhodes, in a cool twist on his usual role (although I’d like to know more about his background). As the Ultimates make their move across North America, Vision steps in to help them coordinate after the events of Endgame #1, and this leads to one of those issues that feels really important for the larger story. I am going to miss this book and Camp’s intricate plotting a lot when it ends.
Quick Takes:
Aquaman #13 – So far as DC K.O. tie-ins go, this is basically a ‘red skies’ issue, with just a couple of pages devoted to showing us Arthur’s adventures in the main event book. The rest of the issue focuses on Mera in Xebel, where she finds that her people have gone missing. Back on Earth, Andrina makes a play to take over the collective undersea kingdoms that are connected to Atlantis. I’m never sure of the status quo of DC’s underwater characters (or Marvel’s, if I’m being honest), so this issue confused me a little. I am looking forward to finding out everything that’s going on with Andrina, and why this book is getting a title change soon.
Captain America #6 – It’s interesting to see how Chip Zdarsky’s run on Captain America is so influenced and shaped by the aftermath of One World Under Doom. Both the United Nations and the revived SHIELD want Cap to go into Latveria to secure weapons of mass destruction, and Cap’s not too eager to do this. He ends up joining up with Nick Fury Jr.’s group of mercenaries, but that earns him the ire of the American military. Zdarsky’s plot is not touching on some of the themes I expected (he seems like he’d have something to say about American totalitarianism and imperialism, but I guess that’s been covered in recent years). I am curious to see where this is all leading, and how it’s related to this upcoming Armageddon event, whatever that is. The comic’s artists, Delio Diaz and Frank Alpizar are new to me, but I like what they’re doing. This should be an interesting run.
Dungeons of Doom #1 – I wasn’t sure what this was going to be, but when I saw that Phillip Kennedy Johnson was co-writing, I decided to dive in. A few factions (Latverians, Americans, and Hydra) are fighting over Dr. Doom’s castle, but all end up deep in its catacombs, where they separately discover his dungeons, and while trying to find their way out, come across some of Doom’s secrets. Johnson appears to trade writing duties with Benjamin Percy, and the artist switches with each chapter. I’d expected something a little more cohesive, and perhaps more political, but this still held my interest. I like that a secret Wakandan agent is entering the mix as well.
Minor Arcana #13 – As Jeff Lemire gets deeper into this series, I find myself even more drawn in. Theresa goes looking for her friend’s brother in a neighbouring town, and learns that he’s connected with whatever is going on with her. Lemire created a conspiracy of psychics in small Canadian towns, and I am so interested in that. He’s just about the only person that could write and draw this book and make it work (Matt Kindt is the only other person, but his version would include spies).
Nights #17 – While I haven’t loved this current prequel arc as much as I did the earlier issues of this series, I am appreciating how Wyatt Kennedy has plotted out this story, and like getting the insight that this prequel brings. Gray, Tsukumari, and Gray’s boyfriend are present when the island community of Thule opens a gateway into what is supposed to be a promised land, and see everything go wrong. Luigi Formisano’s art is great, as are these characters. I’m concerned that the next issue will be the final one, but I’m hopeful that this book will return.
Nova: Centurion #3 & 4 – I’m really happy with this new Nova series. Jed MacKay has established a new status quo for Richard, partnering him with a combat accountant and with Cammi, from Keith Giffen’s excellent Drax series. He’s got to keep making money to keep the Worldmind running, so he’s working basically as a mercenary. These two issues have him settling an old score with Ravenous, and then dealing with someone trying to steal his ship. MacKay gets Richard’s voice really well, and is building a great series here, following something like his formula for Moon Knight, where he’s established a solid supporting cast. I am really liking the art by Matteo Della Fonte and Álvaro López. I hope this series sticks around for a good while.
Star Wars: Legacy of Vader #12 – It makes me sad to see how moribund the Star Wars line is these days. This is the last issue of this series, which has done its best to dig into the character of Kylo Ren and give him more depth than was shown in the movies that featured him. Charles Soule has him confront himself in this issue, and it is decent character work, but to what end? It’s crazy how ten years ago the Star Wars titles were among the best Marvel was publishing, but now? Crickets.
Transformers #28 – Robert Kirkman’s got his ducks in a row now, having taken a couple of issues to build up the Autobots and the Decepticons, and now he’s ready to have them go at one another once again. I feel like he’s spending a good amount of time on character development, causing me to get a better sense of who some of these characters are. Dan Mora’s art looks great, and I wonder how he can handle two books with so many characters in them (this and JLU).
The Twilight Zone #3 – I didn’t even know that IDW was publishing a Twilight Zone series that featured one-off stories by top tier cartoonists. I saw James Stokoe’s name on this at the comic store, and had to grab it. It’s a very cool story that at first I thought was about barbarians attacking a Christian outpost at some point in history, but it’s not that at all. Stokoe adds a cool twist or two and illustrates the hell out of this book. It’s interesting to see his book in black and white, which helps showcase his fine pencil lines, but I couldn’t escape wishing that this was printed on the scale of a DSTLRY book; Stokoe crams so much onto each page that details get missed in a regular-sized format.
Uncanny X-Men #22 & 23 – it’s nice to see Gail Simone and David Marquez return to the present and their usual cast of characters after the Age of Revelation, but it also reminded me of my gripes with this series. Issue twenty-two has Nightcrawler’s birthday party get interrupted by Mutina, Simone’s new psychotic character, while issue twenty-three has the team attempt an intervention on Gambit (because of his Eye of Agamotto-related issues), which is interrupted by some established monster characters. I feel like Simone’s efforts to make this a horror series, while also channeling the energy of the original year of The New Mutants is a strange fit. I liked issue twenty-three, but half the comic is given over to the guy whose house they live in reading an old Rawhide Kid comic to his daughter, but changing it to incorporate the Outliers. It felt too cute and added nothing to the story. I have an idea of what Simone wants to do here, but it’s just not working consistently enough. The high parts are great, but…
The Week In Music:
GoGo Penguin – Necessary Fictions – At this point, I know what to expect from a GoGo Penguin album – lots of lush soundscapes created by this trio. I consider them one of my favourite bands, but don’t often expect a lot of innovation apart from their signature sound. I was surprised to hear a vocal track (featuring Daudi Matsiko) or the two expansive tracks featuring the Manchester Collective. These guys sound terrific live, and playing this album takes me back to their show from the spring or summer.
