I’m starting to fall behind again (I have four comics I couldn’t get to before I had to submit this column), but it’s not too bad yet.
Best Comic of the Week:
Six of Us #1 – Vision team Tom King and Gabriel Hernandez Walta reunite for this story, which is about the six actors who starred in a sitcom that is so obviously intended to make us think of Friends. When the book opens, we learn that one of the actors, decades after their show ended, has apparently killed himself. King jumps around in time, and slowly builds our understanding that there were some strange things going on with these actors. It’s a quiet but tumultuous book, and the ending came as a surprise. I never really watched (or liked) Friends, so I can’t say if there are Easter eggs in this, but it’s compelling stuff.
Quick Takes:
Barbara Gordon: Breakout #5 – Things are getting stranger for Barbara, as Supermax shows her that she can’t actually protect anyone, and she can’t figure out who she’s able to trust and who she’s fighting against. I found this issue a touch confusing, but I also didn’t review the last issue before reading it like I usually do, so it’s possible I am just forgetting things. I was surprised to see that this series is not connected to the Bad Seeds event, seeing as it’s got a heavy focus on Vandal Savage.
Batman: Bad Seeds – Gotham Central #1 – I’ve always enjoyed books that are Batman books, but don’t have Batman in them. The original Gotham Central series is the best example of this, and I was happy to see the name brought back for Bad Seeds miniseries. As chaos runs wild in Gotham, we follow a few cops as they try to keep the peace. James Gordon and his partner attend to a dead body in the Botanical Gardens, which puts them on the trail of an escaped inmate from Arkham. Another cop chases Anarky after he robs a gambling operation. I did sometimes find Christopher Cantwell’s dialogue a little stilted and almost out of sequence in places, but Jacob Phillips’s wonderful art keeps things moving quickly, and makes the characters feel unique. Parts of this book, with its heavy use of red, reminds me of Francisco Francavilla’s work. I like how Cantwell writes Gordon, and allows him to show his disdain of Vandal Savage’s tenure as commissioner.
DoomQuest #4 – As Doom continues to move through time, he finds himself back in his own youthful body, with his lost love Valeria. Ryan North has her and Doom make the most of this second chance, but is it within Doom’s nature to live a quiet life? Artist Francesco Mobili does incredible work in this issue, giving us interesting double-page spreads, and making a book about domestic bliss visually interesting and original.
Emperor Aquaman #21 – Things are moving really quickly in this book. We’ve just established that Aquaman has all these new powers, and that Mera’s mother is moving against him, and now we have a full-on invasion of Atlantis by her forces, while Arthur is on another world. I know that the entire DC timeline is moving towards another big event, and writers have to fit their stories to that timeline, but this book needs more time to breathe. I do like John Timms’s art here; it reminds me a bit of Jim Calafiore’s work in the excellent Peter David Aquaman run.
Green Lantern Corps #20 – I love issues where the cast of a book take a breather, although all the Lanterns that take a bit of time off end up in trouble together, as the Darkstars make their first appearance here (I think Morrison used them in their run, but I haven’t seen Darkstars for years), while Guy goes off to investigate a problem on Oa. I like this book more and more as it continues to develop its cast and juggle so many characters, despite the fact I’ve never loved the Green Lantern concept.
Inglorious X-Force #9 – Domino has put together her own X-Force crew to confront Cable’s, and they struggle to convince anyone that Cable is actually the problem, at least at first. I still struggle with the premise of this book, that Cable is supposed to keep together a team for some twenty years in order to protect Ms. Marvel in the future, and that has made it hard for me to enjoy this. I like seeing many of these characters, but Marvel really doesn’t know what to do with them, it seems.
Iron Man #9 – The revelation of Citizen V’s identity didn’t move me all that much (more on this after the next issue, because I don’t want to spoil anything), but the rest of this issue worked very well. Joshua Williamson has figured out that Iron Man books can’t just be about Tony Stark, because he’s become a very annoying character. I am also just happy seeing the classic Whiplash character getting used again.
The Karman Blade #1 – Darcy Van Poelgheest, writer of the new Doom Patrol series, and artist Ian Bertram have made two previous miniseries together that I’ve enjoyed and found hard to follow. Their newest book, The Karman Blade, does not appear to take place in the same world as the first two books, but it’s still a little hard to follow. We are introduced to someone who is at a low point, having buried his family and been captured by slavers of some sort (this is a fantasy series), but then the story switches up, and shows us what happened when this guy got ahold of the Karman Blade. I’m going to have to give this time to evolve, as it’s a bit confusing, but I like Bertram’s art and the scope of this book’s ambition. I’m curious to see what happens here.
Nano #2 – The first issue of this miniseries by Matt Kindt, Alexandra Grant, and Natacha Bustos was a rather involved story about spies infiltrating a science-based city, but this issue is about a girl pretending to be a boy so she can receive training in a monastery before the people who pursue her catch up to her. I felt like I was reading a different book, one that owes a bit to Avatar the Last Airbender, until I got to the end. I liked this, but I’m not sure how the pieces are going to fit together in the last issue.
Odin #4 – This is such an unusual book. A group of far right weirdos have gotten themselves lost in the Nordic north in an attempt to find the god Odin, and a journalist has embedded with them, looking to write an expose about them. Only now, it looks like maybe some of this stuff is real, and none of it is what they were actually looking for. Writers James Tynion IV and Marguerite Bennett are doing interesting work, but it’s artist Letizia Cadonici that is carrying this book, with her creepy visuals.
Of The Earth #5 – This is a quick issue, but it’s an effective one, as Abby’s grandmother, possessed by an oil-entity of some sort, attacks Abby and the man from the oil company who have been trying to help her. Artist Charlie Adlard does most of the heavy lifting in this issue, and it’s handled very well, but letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou is probably the real star of the comic, as his sound effects take up a lot of space and are very effective. This has been a cool horror series, and I’m looking forward to reading the ending next month.
Starhenge Book Two: A Kiss For Atticus #3 – Okay, I have no idea what is going on in this book, but at least it’s pretty, in a mid-90s dark Vertigo kind of way. I might not be returning for Book Three…
Tankers Vs. Ancient Aliens #4 – Here we are, four issues into this series, with only one left to go, and the Tankers, near-future techsuit operators who are trapped in the Jurassic period, finally find the aliens that this series has been about. Robert Venditti has taken the time to build up our understanding of the alien race’s history and culture without making any of them individual characters, so it’s kind of hard to care about what’s happening here. If there really is only one issue left, I doubt he can wrap this up satisfactorily.
Wolverine #27 – This Adamantine stuff has gone on too long, as Wolverine finds himself in another dimension fighting a sentient metal with a band of alternate Logans. This comic works best when Logan is dealing with more realistic adversaries, and isn’t having interactions with gods. I’m getting a little tired of this run.
The Week in Music:
Dua Saleh – Of Earth and Wires – I’ve liked Dua Saleh’s music for a minute, and when I saw that production on this album involved Justin Vernon, Psymun, and Ryan Olson, it was a no-brainer that I would like it. Saleh has further refined their artistic voice, creating haunting and effective alt-r&b songs that sound very modern and a little strange. I always keep an eye on the Minneapolis scene, and while it’s not what it once was, there is still a lot of very creative and interesting music coming from there. This is a good example of that.
Richard Spaven – Light of Day – Richard Spaven is an incredible drummer (I think I’ve only seen him perform twice, sadly), and on this album, he shows what he is capable of when composing his own pieces. He’s joined by very few familiar names (Nils Petter Molvær, and Wildchild raps on one track), but the band he’s assembled is pretty incredible. These are jazzy explorations, with great beats.
