The other piece has art by Benes, and I’d be curious to get opinions from those who have maligned his work in the past (I found his work on Meltzer’s JLA relaunch to be pretty solid. Yeah, there were an insane number of ass shots. I battled through, somehow). But it’s a pretty striking departure from that kind of second-gen Jim Lee thing that he’s got down pretty pat. I liked the tone of the narration, the diction Cornell chose to tell the story. This one right here’s good comic books, yas, people.
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: SEASON EIGHT #49—Weeeeell, it’s almost over. Sorry to say that this one fell flat for me. Jeanty’s style has certainly grown on me, but it didn’t feel like he gave the all-important death scene the blocking it deserved. It didn’t feel momentous and epic enough and I think that’s strictly a matter of the camera angle. Also, frankly, the guy didn’t get much of a send-off. I guess we’ll get to that next issue, but the buildup is just as important. I never went back and reread these from #36 like I meant to, but this sacrifice feels like it came from out of nowhere. Certainly not a bad issue, but it doesn’t hurt my heart the way I believe that it needs to in order to be judged a success, given what happens inside.
GENERATION HOPE #2—And the next generation of merry mutants are just barely hanging in there with their second installment. Espin’s art takes a bit of a dip this month out. Casting the fifth light as the first villain remains an inspired choice, but I don’t think Gillen did enough to raise the stakes this second issue out. Again, not terrible, but I’m not on pins and needles to have the next issue, and that’s what you need in this day and age.
FLASHBACK TO LAST WEEK!: THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #32—Somehow I missed this one. I tell you, I sure wish that every Marvel book priced at $3.99 had a McKelvie back-up. Though it is as grim as it possibly could be while remaining swathed in those beautiful phonogrammatic colors. This one’s just another notch in the belt for Fraction/Larocca and co. They keep cranking out the superior product. I definitely pity whoever has to follow them and hope that day is a long way off.
ADVENTURE COMICS #521—All right, this one threw me. The continuity from the other book just invaded this one, right? Kind of a crazy move for anyone who’s only buying that one. I guess they will be confused in two weeks. Pretty big moment in Legion history if you ever cared about Green Lanterns or Daxamites. Which, all of you, right? And I guess I’m on the hook for that Atom special whenever it comes out, they did a good job with it. Too, back to the feature, it has been a swell year to find the names Stephen King and Borges in the credits box from time to time.
BRIGHTEST DAY #15—All in all, really a throwaway, that whole it-was-all-a-mindtrap bit that surely everyone saw coming from page 2. That said, it was entertaining enough and did more to sell me on Gleason’s art style than any of his work over on GLC did. Going to have to give their B&R at least a chance, it looks like. This issue, though, none of it happened except the last two pages. And one of those features the Mikaal Starman and Congorilla playing chess. Buyer, beware.
AMERICAN VAMPIRE #9—Oh! That was the end of the arc. Snyder wraps everything up in reasonably thrilling fashion, Albuquerque continues pumping out the work of his career, and we get a coda leading us right into LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, or at least a pretty close approximation thereof. I’ll be interested to see where this one heads next month.
THE BOYS #49—Mm, reading this one at the back end (read: considerably more blasted portion) of the evening might have been a disservice. Top drawer writing on that conversation the Homelander’s having with himself in the mirror, really the sequential equivalent of that Gollum malarkey. I like how it started out with one voice per panel, then when they start stacking them up in the same panel, the reader’s like, Wait no that isn’t right, because there’s such a strong illusion created that the dude isn’t talking to himself, there must be someone or –thing on the other side of that mirror. And this whole thing was a flashback, right? The Lamplighter is about to become the complete vegetable we know and love? Still can’t believe how much Braun is killing this. And Ennis is in full great guns blazing glory mode, next issue should be just a hell of a thing.
****
BEST OF WEEK: SUPERGOD #5—This one finally came out and was worth the wait. Ellis has been setting everything up for the past four issues/year or so it’s taken to get them out and Gastonny goes completely mad with the climax, six pages without a word of dialogue, a climactic fight sequence that you really have to see to believe, words, even the ones in the script that inspired/dictated the pages in the first place, surely can simply not do the finished product justice. Digikore Studios also ratchets up the coloring for this last bow. This series doesn’t make you feel good about any aspect of the human condition, I mean, the sole dialogue in the entire thing is an English mad scientist on the bank of the flaming Thames at the end of the world narrating how we got there, so, you know, not exactly KABUKI, but even while he’s lampooning or satirizing the idea of countries building themselves weaponized superheroes, Ellis still manages to pack each individual concept full of enough wow and wonder that you can almost believe or just for a moment grasp how they were each a good idea in and of themselves, in a platonic ideal sort of way, and only a complete disaster when actualized within the relatively realistic framework of this narrative, only a clusterfuck when placed next to all the other abominations of science.
Required reading for fans of BLACK SUMMER or NO HERO. I haven’t heard that Ellis has any more of these in the can, but I hope so, or that they’re gestating, because it’s really been interesting to get these self-contained Avatar minis and longer one-shots to juxtapose with the excellent corporate work he’s been pumping out at Marvel. What will the future bring us from Warren? He knows but can’t tell us! But keeps talking about it anyway. Ranting, even, about all the secrecy!
Oh, when will the scribbled notes in Notebooks C & M yield sweet fruit?
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