4/14/10

SIEGE: LOKI #1 – Picked it up solely for Team Phonogram. Of course, didn’t realize until a very few pages in that that meant there was a pretty low ceiling in terms of how much I was going to be able to enjoy this very well done tie-in that, yeah, is probably by itself going to do the numbers that all seven SINGLES CLUB singles did combined and McKelvie will now be able to eat a little while longer, which is of course of paramount concern, it’s all you ever hear about, so we can all just rest easy on that for a few weeks or couple of days or I don’t know how fast he burns through his check, maybe that’s the problem, surely Kieron’s thought to look in on that by now? at any rate, nice of Marvel not to charge us $4 here for no reason in the world that I can discern, great bits in this particular sequential narrative involving the Disir and that splash with the twenty-four little panels overlaid like it’s not a big deal at all, magnificent and wonderful and still such a pale shadow of what we want and need, more and more PHONOGRAM, all of the time.

NEW MUTANTS #12 – Don’t know this Roberson fellow but he does just fine in here. Wells returns after being spelled by Kieron, who maybe might want to consider using all of this sweet event tie-in cheddar to pick up some tabs for McKelvie, so that he can put on however much weight or pick up enough other jobs or whatever the necessary required ruling is to get going on a Series Three. Off-point again. It was more fun than I expected to see Cameron Hodge’s head get removed from the biped and returned to that nutty body that I can only ever remember as drawn by Bogdanove in the strangest event artist tag team that springs to mind, at the moment (Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld being the other two guys, I mean, taken in succession, that is one funky strange ride through nine issues). Great cliffhanger with Illyana. Dug Sam’s Cyclops-Beta attitude, perfect fit. That shot of Archangel’s wing-blades raining down was a beaut.

And then DC/VERTIGO opens up a can of whupass:
(not even counting DMZ, such a strong showing this week)

FABLES #94 – I quite enjoyed that Lapham two-parter, but then we get back with the regulars and hit the afterburners on the first page. SO much happens in this issue, a nice dense read for us folks showing up every month. King Cole and Ozma’s exchange was probably my favorite. Well, after that first scene. Fine work all around. I’m not one who’s been saying that lately this book’s quality level has dipped, but if you are one of those folks, I’d advise you check this issue out and eat your words, and welcome back.

THE UNWRITTEN #12 – And Then The Thunder. This book is now officially infinitely better when it does not feature its protagonist. We were still chalking #5 up to some kind of Mercutio lightning fluke, a better series stealing the show for a minute, and don’t get me wrong, I’ve got nothing against Tommy Taylor and am totally on board with him and his plight/quest/etcetera, adore every beat of #1, the premise and hook teased out to perfection, but while both main arcs have been entertaining, they’re nowhere near the level of that pilot episode and the now plural digressions we had for #5 and, seven months later, here. And, it should certainly be disclosed, I’m spending the days reading children’s books and comic books to a voracious sixteen-month-old girl, so am maybe the ideal target demographic for this sort of thing at the moment, but you know you’ve got a winner when toward the end of the issue, you realize you’ve maybe got ten contenders for Best Single Page in your mind and, I mean come on, that’s almost like half the book. Good show, Gentlemen. Mr. Bun will never be forgotten.

BRIGHTEST DAY #0 – This was exponentially better than I expected, and I was looking for it to be pretty good. Johns and his old lanterneditor-turned-copilot team up with until now go-to fill-in guy extraordinaire Fernando Pasarin, and this kid knocks it out of the park. A-game stuff. This book has the initial feel that it’s going to move in all the right ways like 52, except this is, at first blush, a much more interesting cast. The crazy thing is, for all the talk of brighter days, tonally, it’s maybe just barely a notch down the dial from BLACKEST NIGHT. I mean, if you’ve been reading all this stuff at least since Meltzer showed up, held your head up above the resultant tide of DARK, then we’ve had all this buildup to how it’s going to be great and shining and mo better and heroic here and across the street, all that, and then the baby bird dies on Page One, it’s a good thing I wasn’t in a crowded room when I read that one because everyone would have gotten a high-five and it would’ve taken forever.

This issue has to do quite a bit. It’s setting up, I guess, a 26-issue bi-weekly ongoing? With 12 main characters. Quite a bit of heavy lifting that’s executed efficiently. PLUS+most importantly, the four pages with Flash are some of the most kinetic stuff I’ve ever seen with any iteration of the character ever, I mean, take a look at that shot when he shows up, that is some seriously iconic business, and it’s not like we haven’t been drowned in pretty sick Barry Allen art the past year and a half. Had to raise an eyebrow at the next issue on the stack, too. Winding down: Fantastic pilot. Certainly a book worth four dollar bills. Definitely on board with this, though old Gleason’s going to have to crank it up from what he was doing on CORPS to step to with Reis, my man.

FLASH #1 – Have been really looking forward to this, but not as much, certainly, as Johns has been to writing it. It shows. He’s having so much fun, and dragging everyone along with him just like in some speedster’s wake whirlwind, you can’t help but enjoy the ride. Manapul is even more cartoony and idiosyncratic than he was on ADVENTURE COMICS and it works. Though it’s kind of crazy to see Barry Allen walk into the lab at the Central City PD and have the art style just a stone’s throw from something on the order of CHEW. It’s a good thing, I’m into it, but it’s wild to hold this and think, this is Barry Allen, in continuity, a mainstream title, this is not some alternate or lost story, this is what is happening right now, tonight, on the Wednesday Night Mass signal tuned to Central City, and it looks like this and Barry Allen is texting and having two-pg “Nice to Meet Ya” moments with awestruck innocents and Manapul is even willing to try and run, for a page at least, with that layout insanity JH was pulling with Kathy Kane over in DETECTIVE, and you know, never saw that coming anytime from anyone and certainly not here, pretty impressive little nick, there, though it does of course do little more than call attention to how sick EVERY FREAKING PAGE of that run was, but here I am again raving about some other title than the one I’m supposed to be reviewing, well at least it’s not PHONOGRAM again, let’s just leave off that this one lived up to all of my hopes and dreams, and yet again I was suckerpuncehd when Johns did that trick he always does and gives you a THIS SEASON ON . . . for the last page or two. Lest anyone accuse them of not having an exit strategy for BLACKEST NIGHT, it looks like the maps have been drawn and we’re already heading toward another event called FLASHPOINT summer after next. That Johns is one mathematical cuss.

DAYTRIPPER #5 – Best one yet. On every level. Dave Stewart’s the guy who glides around and the world painting the actual sunsets and Ba and Moon just keep catching him when he comes around and begging out six or seven pages before letting him fly away again. Wondered several times this month if the premise was finally going to wear out this time, surely the boys couldn’t go another round here with this, to such a degree of success as what had come before. Now I’m just more concerned about how crushing the back half is going to be, if I’m going to make it.

Only other thing I'll say about this issue is that it’s going to earn a place on anyone’s Top 5 Depictions of a First Kiss. Me, I’m one of those who puts it closer to the top, but I’m sure you’ll find a home for those two pages at the very least around slots 4 or 5.

****

BEST OF WEEK: DAYTRIPPER, not even close. I'm barely even talking about the book, you notice. Just go get it, get the rest too if you keep letting them blow by you. Why are you doing that? Why are you going to the store if you're not getting this? Did you show up for the damn plastic ring? Come for the ring, stay for BaMoon. Superior work.