UNCANNY X-MEN #525 – Fraction and Dodson firing on all cylinders, dropping in the FF and Avengers opposite the X-Club for good measure while X-Force reunites with Cable on a suicide mission to the future ordered by Cyclops, which of course makes his son’s adopted daughter hate him For All Time as the fuse on this latest and greatest sputters our merry mutants ever closer to extinction. Yes, this is why you buy this title.
CAPTAIN AMERICA #606 – The way that last arc bumped up against REBORN and SIEGE made me feel like the entire thing was filler, or maybe it was just Luke Ross, but everything’s better now, we have landed in the Heroic Age and Guice is over on the monthly title (where I'd love him to stay, especially if Epting never comes back) and Zemo seems poised to hurl himself into the big bad nemesis void we’ve had ever since that Red Skull malarkey finally played out. This has been one of Marvel’s best monthlies since Brubaker and Epting jumped on board. With Bendis and Fraction laying the groundwork to elevate several key franchises to the level these guys have been hitting for, what, five or six years now, glad to see this title not getting left in the dust but right up there with the best efforts in Marvel’s latest initiative du jour, or really, d’ane. I could still give two shits about McKeever on NOMAD, though, sorry to say, no idea how that pitch cleared the gate.
THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #27 – With that cover, it’s a shame this one couldn’t have been perched outside even only all the midnight screenings of Favreau & co’s latest. Not just a whole lot happens in this one, but it’s a testament to the dialogue and pretty pictures that I didn’t realize that until thumbing back through. The insane thing about Larocca is that he seems to be changing his style, evolving, at an exponentially increasing rate, and showing no signs of letting up, so that for the first time, instead of marveling at how far he’s come since #1, am suddenly horrified and worried and delighted at the notion of what this is going to look like a year from now, the landscape if these guys get to continue shaping it. I keep saying it because it’s so true, Marvel is looking really good right now for the long term, as long as they stick to what they seem to be setting up, here.
NEMESIS #2 – I liked this quite a bit better than the first outing and can’t really tell you why at first blush. Maybe because #1 didn’t really surprise me and this one did a couple of times? The bits just had a little more bite, you know? The secret origin with Mom at the electric chair and that aerial rocket launcher stunt. McNiven is, as ever, a treasure, one who should be locked down and horded, which I guess Millar realized first, and managed. Hoping that Matthew Vaughan eventually works his way over in this direction, can’t imagine great that flick would be.
JUSTICE LEAGUE: GENERATION LOST #3 – Another action-packed blast. Don’t think I’ve ever run across Dagnino before, but it looks like he can get it done. It will be interesting to see where this book goes after this stage, which so far has pretty much consisted of Max manipulating them and having his way. Giffen is one of the great unsung talents of the medium.
THE UNWRITTEN #3 – Well, Desmond never died, so I quite obviously had no way of knowing that Lizzie Hexam belonged to Dickens until Carey just went ahead and told us. And, man, it’s cheap and easy, but all of a sudden, that makes her a more interesting character here. Standing on the shoulders, and all that. The séance with blood flecked on the pages was pretty damn cool. Nothing beats the greatness of that first page, though, even a rip-off Tommy Taylor novel is more interesting than most. Really hope Carey eventually cranks one out for real. Cheers, Vertigo.
HOUSE OF MYSTERY #26 - And on that note: Surges and Rossi seem especially charged after last issue's round robin, or maybe they're just itching to show everyone why this book is, once and forever, theirs. Rossi's lines have never looked better. Sturges's have never crackled so. Ziggy might be my favorite story-within-a-story of the entire run. And this is only the first issue of the arc. Exciting times.
DAYTRIPPER #7 - Jeez, Vertigo. Quit battering me with all this sprawling maximization of the medium's potential. I bet that Neil Young graphic novel is pretty killer, too. But here we have one of my very favorite offerings currently on the stands, and good ol BaMoon does it, do it, again. Of course. With the gorgeous tones of Dave Stewart, as ever. I made it in a few pages this time before remembering how it was going to end again, a great feeling. It's interesting how the narrative is starting to stack up, we finally get a couple of references back to things we've already seen, meaning this isn't taking place in a bunch of isolated pockets of possibility, but (if we keep advancing and don't just jump back to crashing the car at 14 or choking on something at six months or something)(though you just know these jokers can even string out an entire flattening 22 pages out of just the shit going down with that baby Bras who can barely hold his head up before we hit that damn last page a lot sooner than anyone'd like) is really a single narrative that keeps getting derailed. Every time, Bras makes it a little further, gets a bit older. It will be cool to see him in his sixties. If that's the plan. Or, actually now really looking for that CHAPTER TEN: 1, now. Heavy stuff.
BaMoon, I love you and pledge fealty to you and your cause! Viva CASANOVA.
SPIDER-MAN: FEVER #3 - What a crowded day. I needed this book last week. Am almost at threshold, incapable of discussing. It did not disappoint. Surpassed expectations heightened by previous two issues. Had me at Harrah-Harrah! in the recap page. But the last page seals the deal. With Wacker's insane factory spewing out 36 exceptional issues every year, these might still be the best three of good old '10. Certainly the closest in tone to those raving Ditko years. I will never get over the way this guy uses color. A singular talent, Brendan McCarthy.
This series and DAYTRIPPER are usually locks for BEST OF WEEK whenever they come out. Tremble at the mere thought of what is yet to come!
ASTONISHING X-MEN: XENOGENESIS #2 – Now that is how you open up a comic book. You can bitch about the price point, and I certainly have been known to, but at the end of the day, if this is what gets put out and with a straight face marked up a dollar for no additional content, who is really going to say they’ll spend three dollars on this but not four? Not one goddamn X-fan, I’ll tell you what. Andrews continues to deliver memorable hyper-expressive work after outdoing himself in those first couple double-page splashes. The silhouette of Hank working feels instantly classic. And that last line, what a place to leave it. Already missing the Ellis on X-Men.
S.H.I.E.L.D. #2 – Maybe this is bimonthly and not late? That just occurred to me. Doesn’t matter, I’ll take it whenever I can get it. This one had a lot to live up to after the blast of insanity that was the first issue. It delivers. Hickman’s of course a madman for coming up with all this in the first place, but someone’s still got to draw it. I hope this series catapults Weaver to the upper echelon, he destroys it every single chance that he gets. To say nothing of Miz Strain, what a shot of the Immortal City. I remain way into the idea of making Agents Richards and Stark integral parts of this jaunt. AND WHAT WAS WITH THAT BIRD THAT SAID Oh, no RIGHT BEFORE THAT CORE GOT DISPLACED?!? That was barking batshit lunacy of the first order right there, yes? There is nothing in the story previous to this to explain why a bird should suddenly be pictured reacting opposite these other folks and uttering dialogue, correct? I certainly hope I haven't just missed something, because I loved that beat most of all. Also, what a stellar decision to just drop a page of text dialogue for the walk down the stairs, was sure that the issue was over and then shocked to see more sequentials on the next page. Everything about this was wonderful.
And, again, you would think it would be a lock for BEST OF WEEK. I mean, I think the week this came out was the one that I finally couldn't stand it and had to start doing this. Buuuuut . . .
* * * *
BEST OF WEEK: BATMAN #700 – Then this beautiful bastard comes barreling up out from the shadows, a white-hot pulsing dwarf star of a comic book that keeps giving and giving and bleeding ambient radiation out all over the living room carpet. I'm in the dark now, reading by its pulsing light.This story is perfectly tailored to run through the typical bullpen's worth of artists that you usually find on these anniversary issues. Let's talk about them first.
I was having some trouble with Tony Daniel's style there in the back-end the last time Morrison's epic graced this title. I didn't hate it like some folks, but something definitely seemed off about it, and not just the anatomy. For whatever reason, I had no issues with his eight pages, here. It's interesting to contrast this style with previous work, these pages have a scratchier quality to them that I like. Looks like he really tried to soak up that pair of Kubert issues last year.
It was such an adrenaline delight to realize a few pages in that all of a sudden any minute now, the Morrison/Quitely team was about to reunite with the Grayson/Wayne duo they made famous. Fantastic! Those first three issues of BATMAN & ROBIN somehow managed to surpass all the post-ALL-STAR SUPERMAN-never-even-mind-FLEX-MENTALLO-NEWXMEN-WE3-etc expectations, which should have crushed further offerings from even this dynamic duo up into free range atoms and left us all feeling very very sad. But that fight scene on Page 4! Wow, indeed, Master Grayson. Shame that Quitely could only manage five pages. Don’t get me wrong, his last shot of Dick adopting the tough guy smile from Miller’s DARK KNIGHT is one of the greatest things ever, and Kolins did tear it up on the following three pages. Truth be told, the way the story accelerated to montage right then, I didn't even notice until like the second panel on the second Kolins page, but still, you want everything to be symmetrical and neat. To the point that I was sure that it was Frazier Irving there, which does tie us right back up to the latest RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE and upcoming BATMAN & ROBIN arc. But still, that digital painting thing Kolins drops is a far cry from Quitely. How many more weeks would we have had to wait for three more Quitely pages? Okay, now I'm just being funny.
But then Kubert, man. Such a draftsman. A delight to welcome him back after that tour de force with Gaiman, finally finally bringing us back to that quick little detonation of narrative these guys dropped on us way back in #666 (the week of Comic-Con '07, even) by rocketing us into a future in which Damian has jumped from being a pompous little shit to worthy bearer of the mantle (by way of being responsible for Dick's death). Three years worth of speculation are trumped in just nine pages as we get weaponized Joker-venom rain hacked into Gotham's climate control system, an antidote for same synthesized from defiant spittle and hotlined on the run to the authorities, the rats devouring Roboto, Commissioner Babs telling Damian she'll arrest him in the same breath that she asks for all he's got, Brother-I reborn and masering the monster barbecue, 2-Face-2 firing Roboto's Right Eye of Death, and invisible ink that only the insane can read. Can you imagine what this thing would read like in 22-pg installments?!? Could even Morrison and all the most brilliant sequential visionaries in the world susTAIN such seething perfect glorious dementia? I love it and I love it.
And finally we come to Finch's impressive debut on DC interiors. He could not have picked six more insane pages to show up for. Morrison throws the throttle wide open for this last section, opens with a page starring a permutation we know before hurtling us through the years. Except, given the trend that each Robin becomes the Batman in the following story, does that mean that Morrison's got Damian helping out Terry McGuiness instead of Bruce (as in the cartoon)? That postapocalyptic one was new, right? I certainly never heard of the Iron Heel of Fura, but Morrison seems to have read like every issue since '39, so maybe they're hanging out somewhere. Almost my favorite part of the entire issue was making it back to the 853rd century to see the Batman from the old ONE MILLION crossover. Robin the Toy Wonder is unbeatable.
This technique of racing through several different new future Batmen and status quos on every single page serves to perform the ideal function for an anniversary issue released during a period when the protagonist finds himself an amnesiac lost in time: we celebrate not the man but the archetype that he forged all by himself, that will outlive him for hundreds of years, millennia even, the idea that one man can push his mind and body past the point of human endurance in order to make his city - his world, even - a better place and channel his grief into the fuel that enables him to save others from what befell him, all this as the narrative hits escape velocity, each page racing faster, burning brighter, jumping further, until bringing us right back around to where we've always been, silhouettes in the signal, up on that roof, no matter what year it is, there's a commissioner and a Batman and a job to do, and that's all that's ever mattered.
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