O.M.A.C. #8—What a magnificent last issue. Didio cranks the writing up, providing a solid expository secret origin of Kevin Kho via multiple pages of captions while the title character absolutely wrecks shit inside Mt. Rushmore. Great nod to the end of the original O.M.A.C. #8, I’m really glad that I just jammed through that original run concurrent with this series. Giffen’s contribution here really cannot be overstated. While Didio certainly gives this last blast a very solid architecture to hang itself upon, the real thrill is all of the Kirby greatness erupting from every page. The text/image ratio works really well, an impressive balance to strike, given the amount of expository captions. This was really fine work all around, and I’m sorry to see this one go. But, as ever, grateful for the ride.
ANIMAL MAN #8—I like how Buddy’s totally okay with just sending Maxine out as his go-to strategy. No, you dick, she’s four years old! The mother-in-law certainly sums it up pretty well a few pages later. Yipe. He’s maybe calling his daughter “Little Wing” a time or two too many. It’s a cool idea for a nickname in this setting, but is losing steam through repetition. Huh. Buddy’s “got this,” too. Just like ol’ Clark at Ma & Pa’s grave. Odd synchronicity. I’m glad it picked up this time out, we’ve kind of been coasting these last couple of months. But Buddy kicking a rabbit’s head off its body, with the head in the foreground dropping an “--UT!” is all the goodness that this humble reviewer needs. But what about that ending? Oh noes!
SWAMP THING #8—Man, so great to get these new Vertigo expatriates on the same day, an even better serial experience collectively. Lemire and Snyder have done great jobs setting their situations up and building them into these monster third-act climaxes that are thrilling to read back-to-back. I really dug the one page of Swamp Thing POV with the first-person captions, fine fine work. One hiccup a couple pages later, though, I wasn’t really feeling the badass “Or maybe SOME pain” line delivered by our hero. Maybe in keeping with this iteration of the Alec Holland character as established, but it felt a little bit off coming from Swamp Thing (though not as off as BRIGHTEST DAY #24! Never forget!). That’s just a tiny little nitpick, though, man, what about that art? Paquette and Rudy, as noted above, tag-team as well or better than anyone working today. Fantastic splash of our protagonist in the air. Followed by a series of ridiculous two-page shots that are as gorgeous to look at as they are horrific. Big props to Nathan Fairbairn on colors and an amazing tandem effort from Paquette and Rudy. This franchise really couldn’t have come off any better, these guys had the odds stacked against them. Can’t imagine what they’ve got on tap for a second arc, whenever that happens.
SUPREME #63—Shit, I’m so into my preferred rotation of the first week of the month, that I completely blew it and didn’t read brand new Alan Moore Supreme right up next to Grant Morrison Superman. Certainly never going to get another chance to do that again. Ah, well. The Chris Sprouse comment threw me. Did Larsen or Stephenson throw that in after the fact or was Moore already a fan fifteen-odd years ago? The thing is, man, I really really wish they’d gotten Sprouse or really a long list of folks to show up and knock out the pages on this ancient old script. Larsen’s facial expressions have improved, but I’m not a fan of his, shall we say, stylized anatomy. A few panels were on the far side of Liefeld, just chicken-scratch sketches. The really uncool thing is on the one page where New Dax is walking away, just a series of four horizontal panels, Larsen just straight copies his backgrounds for the entire page, meaning it’s a static shot of like five characters having the exact same reaction as one character walks into the foreground, the only thing that changes about the entire page. That kind of thing is all right with me when it shows up sparingly in INVINCIBLE or back a few years ago, Bendis used it as a crutch to convey his faux-Mamet beats, but, guy, you’re dusting off The Last Alan Moore SUPREME story. It’s kind of a big deal. Spend an extra afternoon on four panels worth of acting/varying facial expressions for some background characters. Overall, though, the art doesn’t throw the reader off the experience too much, just because it’s of course kind of what we grew to expect from the original run. Some Extreme horrah! The dialogue still sings all these years later, recaptures the Silver Age madness every bit as well even though it’s now so much further back in the rearview mirror. Such a damn shame that Moore didn’t finish the last issue of his second arc, or that they can’t talk him into jamming it out now. It seems like Image might be poised in a way that the Big Two of course aren’t to make some conciliatory gesture to bring him back into the fold for one last damn issue, and what a magnificent thing that would be. Drawn by Sprouse, naturally.
CHEW #25—Man, I love this series. Much much more satisfying in singles than I would have thought after jamming the first four trades. Nice to see Jay and Silent Bob kicking it with Statler and Waldorf (man, what would THAT group have done with Tony if they’d’ve won the auction?!?), always a pleasure to see Amelia on the case, and what a magnificent 35-issue flash-forward. This one really is on the short-list of comics that every lover of the medium must must must be reading.
+
I keep forgetting that Poyo is one of my favorite characters in all of comics and then again every time he pops up, I get that shock of thrill and delight right back for the first time. Poyo!
FATALE #3—Man, I’m buying more Image regularly than ever before, it seems. As a rule, Brubaker/Phillips/Stewart operate at such a high level of ideal energized collaboration that they are incapable of turning in work that is without hyperbole pretty much anything less than the best of which the medium is capable, whatever they want to call it. Right now, it’s FATALE. But it’s also still the best episode of SLEEPER, INCOGNITO, and oh laws yes, even CRIMINAL yet. That said, Phillips gives off more than a hint of rush here, not coasting as much as scrambling to get it done. All praise to Kirby. Did Phillips just crib the last panel on the second page for the cover here? That’s one way to get the book out on time, Johnny! I’m okay with that, though, especially if this one’s going to take as long as Brubaker has said, maybe the end chapters could stand to take a little bit longer, get every line in their right place, but there’s something to be said for just jamming it out, too. BONUS: You’d think that with losing Jess Nevins, the bar would drop a little bit on the essay, but this other fellow Stephen Blackmoore shows up with the secret origin of Phillip Marlowe via Harry Raymond and Raymond Chandler, and it is nothing less than riveting. Vice & Corruption in Prohibition LA!
KIRBY: GENESIS #6—Aaaaaaaaand on the opposite end of the spectrum, we have this. Of course, why not throw some non-Marvel Asgardians and Ulysses into the mix for good measure? What I love about this title is the insane scope that it’s managed to retain after six issues, where you still pretty expect the ground to start quaking halfway through any given issue and giant robots battling bionic subterranosaurs to roar up out from the center of the earth. This thing is frothing-at-the-mouth-insane and I hope it never changes. *(Dynamite is going to release an OGN of DINOSAURS vs. ALIENS?!? I guess I’m on the hook for that one . . .)* And the climactic confrontation begins next issue? Serious times.
THE BOYS #65—Wow. This plays out as a pretty satisfying climax to all that’s come before, in and of itself. I mean, I could probably deal with a single oversized issue to epilogue this entire situation. The fact that we’ve still got a five-issue arc left to go is almost as horrifying as some of the events that take place upon these pages. The mystery of Black Noir is finally revealed, and Butcher finally gets his. This is nothing but damn fine comics, the $5 price-point doubled up with CASANOVA made for a pretty tight week, but 38 pages of greatness over here is more than worth it. Also, cool that KIRBY: GENESIS finally showed up this week, I likes my groupings by publisher.
DAREDEVIL #10.1—All right, well, I see what the deal is/was about Khoi Pham. The linework certainly isn’t bad, but it’s nowhere near the astronomically high bar that Martin and Rivera have set. It might be best for him to move on and let Samnee take a shot, the man’s got the stuff. Waid gives us a few pages’ captions worth of status quo exposition to knock out the .1 aspect of things before thickening the plot with a meeting of the minds and subsequent escalation from Matt. Not reading Spidey or Punisher at the moment, but figure Waid will treat us right next month, folding us regulars into the third and final part of a crossover that we’re just stumbling in to.
BEST OF WEEK: CASANOVA: AVARITIA #3—This is beautiful work, everything coming together and escalating in a way and to a degree that it hadn’t quite worked its way up to in the first couple of installments back. That shot of Cass walking into the hospital room on the fourth page is almost my favorite Bá shot ever. And of course the new epilogue from GULA makes all kinds of sense now. Good night, this entire series is such a mindfuck. I’ve been through the whole thing at least half a dozen times and can just barely wrap my mind around what’s going on, and I’m pretty sure that what I’m understanding is a mirage. No, wait, the Kirby crackle time machine on Page 8, THAT’s my favorite Bá art. Cris Peter really steps it up, on this volume as a whole, but in particular with this issue. And as many letters columns as have suddenly come rushing back, the words generated by this crew of readers are no problem the most consistently entertaining and intelligent. Happy to spend $5 or whatever they’re asking for this piece of sequential entertainment, this slab of my heart frozen and recorded upon what appear to be static pages of two-dimensional space/time though I suspect they are so much more.
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