9/26/12

BATMAN INCORPRATED #0—What a gorgeous issue. Frazer Irving’s very distinctive style carries us through several scenes we’ve experienced before (including a perfect recapitulation of the ringing-the-bell scene from YEAR ONE), and then does nothing more than flesh out the recruiting process that Bruce did for the Incorporated rollout. Real dense work. The three panels in Russia are priceless. You’ve got to love the Dark Ranger and Beryl the Squire holo-Skyping. But the former trading out his boomerang for a batarang is even better. And then a perfect last two pages between Alfred and Master Bruce. I could read Morrison Batman comics for the rest of my life and never get tired of them. And good on Burnham, whatever his contribution to the script was, very cool to see an artist punch through and get a co-plotting credit, not sure that’s ever happened before with Morrison.

HAPPY #1—Robertson’s work is on-display in all of its finely rendered hyperdetailed glory. Maybe the style just already cues THE BOYS up in my head, but from the very first page, this very much reads as Morrison riffing on Ennis. By way of JOE THE BARBARIAN, I suppose, there is a healthy dose of imagination crazy in at the end, there, with the introduction of the titular character. I guess the deal is, in this world of bastards, assholes, dicks, etc, can one little girl’s imaginary friend redeem the hard man who is the worst of the lot? Morrison’s super-short self-contained work (WE3, SEAGUY, VINAMARAMA) is always a pleasure and it looks like we’re in for more of the same, here.

FLASH #0—This one’s beautifully drawn and well constructed and all, but I’m still just having trouble getting onboard with the whole Dead Mother scenario. Barry Allen works just find without inserting that as a driving characterizing motivation. I wish Geoff Johns had grown up in The Silver Age instead of The Bronze. (I want Captain Marvel back, too.)

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #0—This is all well and good, very much the secret North American origin of Constantine in case the 200-odd issues by the very best of the UK talent pool had by chance left some itch that you needed scratched. I love Lemire and Garbett provides more-than-capable fill-in work here, as ever, but Constantine’s infiltration of the DCU proper isn’t working for me in the way it is over across with the ANIMAL MAN/SWAMP THING situation. He can’t be enough of a bastard outside the elastic confines of Vertigo? I’m not sure. Those other two still feel like Vertigo books. This one doesn’t and, I think, suffers for it. Of course, I’m rooting for John and Zee, but in the end, really think Dini should get his way and just have her move her things into Stately Wayne Manor.

OZYMANDIAS #3—I’m warming up to this one a bit. Though don’t really see the need for it to run six issues. Things speed up this time out as Wein/Lee show us what happened the first time the title character and The Comedian fought, Ozymandias’s reaction to Manhattan’s appearance on the global stage (HINT: within the week, he’s got a Master Plan involving an Antarctic retreat!) and we witness the advent of . . . the bank of monitors! Who monitors the monitorman? I’m so sorry!

AMERICAN VAMPIRE #31—Snyder/Albuquerque continue to roar through their best arc yet. The idea of Pearl & Skinner as federally sanctioned vampire hunters is too great, could sustain an entire series, though I suspect we’re only going to maintain the status quo for this one little run, here. And, hey! A big shocking cliffhanger/reveal that doesn’t feature Skinner! That’s a big deal in this book. Though I was going to totally be onboard with it before the page turn, if it had been him, glorious madness.

PROPHET #29—This is again one of the most consistently rewarding books on the rack today. Graham maintains the science pulp adventure tone that makes this seem like a discovery of the long lost best ever comic book from Flash Gordon’s own longboxes while Dalrymple turns in possibly the work of his career. You could stare at the Page 2-3 spread all night long. And this maybe isn’t even the best issue lately, it’s just better than almost everything else. Am really turning to this title in these days of regular consumption of Morrison Batman and Hickman FF flickering out of my life. It takes BEST OF WEEK by a nanometer over those other two.

FF #22—A lovely resolution to the entire Bentley/Wizard conundrum in an issue that’s got just enough room to breathe, the right amount of dialogue and character beats for the ensemble. I also like how it starts out before the main title’s first part, encompasses that issue, then finishes up the story. This is the first time I’ve seen Andre Araujo’s work, but he’s another solid addition to creative, here. Kudos to the editors or Hickman, whoever keeps finding these random people I’ve never heard of whose art all seems to have a similar aesthetic that never makes them just dropping him disrupt the momentum of the title. This one is a happy ending for Valeria and Bentley. I dearly hope it lasts through next month’s final issues. Such a glorious run.