Not much time to read this week…
Best Comic of My Week:
The Department of Truth #35 – With MAGA having taken over the Department, our main characters scramble to figure out what their next steps should be. While Lee goes to meet his decades-long enemy to see if they can find common ground, the recently fired employees meet up with Cole and start to plan the beginning of their own organization. When this series is all over with, I’d love to hear how James Tynion IV changed his plans for this series to reflect the second Trump administration’s ruptures with the established ways of doing things in America. It has energized the book for me, and made it even more interesting than before.
Quick Takes:
DC K.O.: Boss Battle #1 – While I’m glad that DC resisted the urge to make this multi-company crossover tie-in a miniseries, I do think that they tried to cram way too much into this comic to make it effective. The Final Four of the DC K.O. tournament are about to face the heroes of the Absolute Universe, but the World Forger first tries to juice them up with Omega Energy by having them (and some other heroes from the tournament) participate in more fights, this time with characters from other publishing houses or media companies. We get short glimpses of Red Sonja, Vampirella, Homelander, some Mortal Kombat guys, and a few other properties that I’m less familiar with. It’s a cool concept, but the whole thing is over before it begins, and nothing about it is memorable.
DC K.O.: Knightfight #4 – Joshua Williamson and Dan Mora wrap up Batman’s side adventures in the K.O. storyline with this issue. I like how Williamson had the Heart of Apokalips punish Bruce by showing him a perfect version of Gotham’s future, knowing he’d have to dismantle it to save the real world. It’s a cool issue, and Mora’s art is so clean. I always figured Batman would end up back in the K.O. main event, but I’ve enjoyed the road that took him there.
Detective Comics #1105 & 1106 – Tom Taylor and Mikel Janín wrap up their “The Courage That Kills” story arc in these two issues, and they do it very effectively. Batman’s been dosed with a virus that makes him unafraid of anything, but also clouds his judgement. In these issues, we learn who The Lion, the man that has concocted this attack, really is, and see how Batman and his allies ultimately deal with the problem. I like how Taylor writes this series, bringing back some real detective elements to the story. Janín’s art is always welcome, and I enjoyed the way he designed Bruce’s quarantine suit. I think what I like most about Taylor’s writing is the way he accesses a number of elements of the DC Universe in ways that feel natural and unforced.
Green Lantern #31 & 32 – Hal continues to journey around visiting friends while he tries to figure out what’s going on with him (the Book of Oa was downloaded into his head). That means we get an issue that has him teaming up with the powerless Barry Allen, and then another issue that focuses on his relationship with Star Sapphire. The Barry issue has some pretty big flaws in it – it starts with Barry being taken to a safe house before he can testify against a mobster in court, but when his escorts try to kill him, he needs Hal’s help to get the evidence he left in his apartment, and then get to court, which is already in session. I thought that witnesses didn’t usually bring evidence with them to trial, but then, I’m not a lawyer. The issue focusing on Hal and Carol was much better. I’m happy to see that Montos appears to be drawing this series now; I’ve been enjoying his work the last couple of years, and with Green Arrow canceled, I was hoping he’d land somewhere I’d be reading.
Justice League Red #6 – This ended up being a very odd miniseries. In the end, it seems that Saladin Ahmed was as interested in building up the Red Canary’s character as he was Red Tornados, but I’m not sure to what end. I like books that feature odd collections of characters, and this did that, but I don’t know that there’s much I’ll remember from this series. I do think that this is probably the first Big Two comic that has a character refer to their hero skills as ‘buns’, so I guess that’s notable.
Ultimate Endgame #2 – I hadn’t really expected that the scenes inside the dome would get so time-oriented, as Tony and his small squad talk to Howard Stark, who doesn’t remember his own son, and learn what the Maker has been up to. Outside the dome, Killmonger starts working with the Ultimates network as the world continues to rebel against the Maker’s Council. This is an exciting issue that blends a lot of weirdness with some solid event comics. The knowledge that this is going to finish off this universe really raises the stakes in this story.
The Week in Music:
Joel Ross – Gospel Music – Joel Ross is one of my favourite vibraphone players, so pre-ordering his new album without hearing it is a no-brainer for me. I was a bit surprised, even given the album’s title, with how focused he is on Christianity this time around. It’s not a gospel album in the regular sense of the phrase, but each instrumental piece has a bit of accompanying scripture in the booklet. There are only a couple of places where there are vocals, so it’s easy to not notice the religious overtones, and instead get lost in the beauty of the music. Most of Ross’s collaborators are new to me on this one, aside from sax player Josh Johnson, who is always incredible. This is a long album, but there’s nothing on it I would cut out.
