Best Comic of My Week:
The Sacrificers #19 – I’d always assumed the title of this series referred specifically to the children that were raised to be sacrificed to the gods so that the world would continue as it was, but with this issue (and maybe I am just a little slow) it’s clear that this world is destined to endure sacrifice after sacrifice in service to others who neither appreciate, nor even necessarily deserve it. Soluna has succumbed to the spore that has eaten away at her, but Pigeon holds out hope that the machine he’s spent decades building will save the world, and it’s almost finished. At the same time, Beatrice, his kind and loving sister, has turned her back on him and even taken up arms. This is a brutal issue, which is something you come to expect from Rick Remender in every series he writes, but I think that with everything going on in the world, it hit even harder this week. Is this series ending with this arc? Can Rememder and André Lima Araújo (whose art is brilliant, by the way) claw their way to a happy ending after this? I’m not so sure. This one is going to stick with me…
Quick Takes:
Absolute Flash #12 & 13 – As Jeff Lemire wraps up the first year of this book in issue twelve, he sets some future stories in place, and then issue thirteen starts one of them. The final confrontation with Thawne leaves Wally in a bad place, but he returns to Ralph Dibny’s youth shelter, and ends up confiding in Linda about everything. This leads to his next adventure, involving the Absolute Mirror Master. I like this book, and felt that these two issues were less decompressed than the previous ones. I like the idea of Wally being more or less on his own, as the mainline Flash is always surrounded by family. I also really like the art of Haining, who is the artist for issue thirteen. Their use of manga influences really works for this story.
Absolute Martian Manhunter #9 & 10 – I’d gotten confused and expected issue ten to be the end of this run, and kept wondering how Deniz Camp was going to wrap things up as I got closer to the end of the book. I was relieved to see that there is one more issue to go, mostly because I’m going to really miss this book once it’s gone. Camp really gave artist Javier Rodriguez space to go wild here. John is now partnered, against his will, with Despair-The-Zero, while government agents try to vivisect the Martian, and the White Martian’s hold on John’s son grows. This book is hard to describe, but it’s pretty incredible. I’m glad to hear that Camp and Rodriguez are working together on something else, but first I want to see how this all ends.
Absolute Wonder Woman #17 & 18 – Diana’s fight with the Suicide Squad goes badly when Zatara shows up, a flaming skeleton using blood magic, and attacks. I like how Kelly Thompson is using this team concept, and like how she once again shows that Diana is like any hero we’ve seen before. Hayden Sherman’s art across these two issues is incredible, as he continues to play with page design, and makes these characters so compelling. I loved the fight between Diana and Giganta.
Batman/Green Arrow/The Question: Arcadia #3 – Gabriel Hardman’s excellent Black Label series continues, with the three heroes finally working together, although not necessarily agreeing with one another. They’re trying to protect some workers from some evil industrialists, who don’t mind killing to protect their investments. This is an exciting series with lots of Bondian elements to keep things interesting. Hardman is an incredible artist, and the perfect person to draw a project like this. I would love to see him do an in-continuity ongoing series with any of these characters. I can’t wait to get to the last issue of this series.
DC K.O. #5 – This event ends, as all modern events do, teasing the next one. I’ve enjoyed this event, even if the main concept is kind of dumb. It’s odd that this ends without really taking the time to move people back to Earth, and it suggests that things might have changed again (the only constant in the DC Universe is constant change). The issue does allow a character I previously hated a chance to be noble, and shakes up the various Superman and Superman-related books a little, in ways that can’t last very long. I am looking forward to diving into some of these other DC books that have been piling up while I waited to read this in publication order, as it’s led to shakeups in a number of the books that I buy.
Inglorious X-Force #2 & 3 – Tim Seeley’s approach to this series is working for me. He’s had Cable assemble a team based on a fear of something that might happen in the future, and while a lot of that premise doesn’t make a lot of sense, he is doing a good job of using each issue to explore the cast members, and I like how he’s acknowledging parts of Marvel past that are often overlooked or forgotten (such as Boom Boom’s time in NEXTWAVE). Michael Sta. Maria’s art is as impressive as it was during his Vampirella run, and has my interest.
New History of the DC Universe: The Dakota Incident #1 – I’ve been wanting to read the original Milestone comics for a while now (I’ve made a few limited forays, but have had a hard time finding back issues), so I thought I’d check this out, especially once I saw it was written more as a story than a guide like the recent New History miniseries. A future hero, Static’s nephew, falls backwards in time and sees the history of his city change. We learn how heroes like Icon, Rocket, Hardware, and Static got their start, along with some other Milestone characters, but we also see why they all stopped being heroes after President Luthor intervened. It’s an interesting comic, but not really knowing these characters well, I wasn’t all that emotionally invested in it. It does make me want to keep getting back issues of Static so I can read them all in sequence.
Skinbreaker #6 & 7 – This is such a gorgeous comic, even when it’s full of ultraviolence. In issue six, Paca, the new Chieftain, chases Anok to his death, but not before he hears him, perhaps for the first time. In issue seven, the large animals that the villagers hunt come to their village in large numbers, and Paca and his shard-bearers are not equal to the challenge of fighting them off. Robert Kirkman has crafted a subtle story about the tension between tradition and modernity, while also giving Finch so much space to wow us with his massive action sequences. I really really like this book, and am happy to learn that Kirkman and Finch are doing something new together.
The Twilight Zone #5 – I grabbed this because it’s by Francesco Francavilla (with L. Marlow Francavilla) and looked too good to pass up. This story is about a young scientist who has specialized in sound waves. She is picked up by the military to investigate a strange meteorite that has crashed into the ocean and is broadcasting strange sounds. The military crew that goes to study it is attacked by mutated fish, and only our scientist can see things for what they are. Francavilla’s art looks so nice in black and white, and like the only other issue of this series I’ve read, the story pivots at the end in an unexpected way. I need to start looking into the other volumes of this series, because these are good comics.
Void Rivals # 27 & 28 – The Quintesson War arc is moving at breakneck speed, as these weird alien robot judges and their weapons attempt to invade both halves of the Sacred Ring at the same time. The people are fighting back, and realize that their newly discovered energon helps them immensely. Robert Kirkman keeps the pace quick in these issues, and gives new artist Andrei Bressan lots of space to show off his skills. This is a cool series.
The Week In Music:
The Olympians – In Search Of A Revival – At this point, whenever you need some uplifting horns, the best thing to do is pick up just about anything on Daptone Records. The Olympians capture that sense of positivity and optimism that best exemplifies modern instrumental soul music, and make this record feel really good to listen to. The credits run deep (three trombonists!) and the sound on this thing is huge. It’s very nice.
Shabaka – Of The Earth – On Shabaka Hutchings’s new album, he continues his exploration of flute music, and pushes himself in all sorts of new directions. This feels very avant-garde in places, and much less traditional compared to any of his previous solo or group projects. It’s very hard to pin down, with some tracks being ambient, others kind of free jazz, and on two songs, he raps. These reminded me a little of when Flying Lotus adopted the Captain Murphy name and rapped for one project. Shabaka feels like a seeker to me, and I love that with every project, I don’t know what to expect, aside from sheer mastery.
Roc Marciano – 656 – There is a very reliable sound to a Roc Marci album, especially when he produces his own beats, and I love it. On 656, Marci is rapping about luxury and the street, and delivers a perfect distillation of what makes him such an interesting rapper. He makes street stories sound so beautiful with his terrific minimalist beats, his laidback delivery, and his sharp, sharp pen. Marci belongs in rarified air – I put him with such modern rap gods as billy woods, Mach-Hommy, and the much-missed Ka, in the way he does so much with so little. This is an amazing album, and I’m glad my copy finally arrived.
