7/10/13

SUPERMAN UNCHAINED #2 — Apparently, if you knock it out of the park the first time out, the smartest thing to do is add Luthor, Batman, and the Bat-Cave to your 250,000-selling comic book spectacular. That will do it for me, anyway. And but wow, before this series came out, I predicted that these would be some of my favorite first-person Clark Kent captions ever, just because nailing internal voices is really one of Snyder’s great strengths, but the second-person emergency options routine he gives himself in that opening scene are really not to be believed, just strong strong work. Of course the big guy winds up thanking God, how else could it all go down? But man, that COMEDY BANG! BANG! ad for the IFC show is very distracting. Then, a terrific scene between the World’s Finest. I guess it isn’t possible to be writing pages for Jim Lee and not ask for at least a page-and-a-half of Bat-Cave. No, I get it. And Bruce Wayne utters the phrase “One hundred and forty gigawatts,” we live in shining times! Lois shows up for a token page and then we get the main event of the issue, General Lane puts the smack-down on our favorite Kryptonian before a couple of excellent cliffhangers. Is this really going to stay monthly? How long will we get this art every four weeks? Stunning pages.

BEST OF WEEK: BATMAN: LIL’ GOTHAM #4 — And normally nothing could make me break up this opening Snyder double-shot but Dustin Nguyen’s epilogue sent me trapdooring over here into the artist’s digital-first book and, man, these two chapters fire on all cylinders. I have been loving what’s been happening every time out, but after putting the boss on the bench for the past two chapters, he comes roaring back with pretty much the entire ensemble of sidekicks and rogues that is really too much fun to be believed. I felt kind of screwed up to be so pumped about seeing dear Babs back in a wheelchair, but of course was involuntarily punching the sky to see Oracle back in action with no advance notice of any kind. But that backseat gag was maybe the best. That panel where Penguin joins the fun and Batman just has his right hand over his face was, no problem, the little girl’s favorite of the issue, she has reenacted it many many times, always ending with, “And then Batman is just like, ‘Oh, brother!’” This is not to slight the second Mad Hatter/Easter chapter, a couple pages of which really nail the insane absurdity of the Carroll source material and send the reader reeling. And the “Bring it, Honey Bunny” panel is another standout. Have been very much digging on this series since the first page, but these two chapters really take it to another level. Am thinking there are only going to be two issues left of this, as its holiday theme implies twelve chapters, but holding out hope for more. Superlative work, all around.

BATMAN #22 — Surprising no one, this crew continues to make a pretty much riveting comic book despite the massive number of times that we’ve had origin flashback arcs shoveled down our throats since 1987. And it all comes down to craft. Snyder locks us right in to the mindset of 25-year-old Bruce and makes him a compelling character even though we’re all shaking our heads and knowing exactly where things are heading. Alfred’s slap was choreographed to perfection. And of course the circular Riddler snake page is Exhibit #294 of why this has been the best New 52 book for just about two years running, the art rendered to perfection but then every line of dialogue singing just as sweetly, just one more slice of story that could not have been delivered in a superior fashion in any medium other than this. It will be a sad, sad day when Snyder/Capullo finally leave this title but let us hope that that tragedy is still many years off. They are laying down a run for the ages, issue by issue, page by page.

DAREDEVIL #028 — Javier Rodriguez shows up on pencils! And hangs with the considerable artistic talent that has preceded him on these pages. But Waid certainly doesn’t pull the punches just because Samnee is off changing his new kid’s diapers, we get an engaging enough flashback that does all the terrific character work with Matt that we’ve come to expect from this title but then there’s an about-face on the last page that is completely out of nowhere. Another kick-ass issue of Waid DAREDEVIL, what a surprise.

HAWKEYE #012 — And now, a brief interlude to introduce Clint’s brother, of whom I have lived my entire life in ignorance. But what a fine occasion for an actual recap page. Going in, I was expecting an antagonistic relationship more in the vein of what old Simon Williams has going on with his brother, so that last page kind of snuck up on me. Oh, the bonds of fraternal love! Francavilla of course shows up and lays waste to every page. Like DAREDEVIL, yet another installment of possibly the very best series that Marvel has on the rack today.

UNCANNY X-MEN #008 — So glad to welcome Bachalo back to these pages, hope he stays in rotation for the duration. Still can’t believe he’s coloring his own work, these pages look amazing. This issue is kind of a catch-your-breath installment. A mutant leaves, then other one we’ve been introduced to gets shot and then recruited, Scott and Magneto all but hug it out, and then Dazzler shows up in her fabulous Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform. Leave it to Alison Blaire to jump in at the last possible minute as soon as she finds out that Whedon’s about to sprinkle his magic all over that.

ASTRO CITY #2 — Still can’t believe we’re just going to be getting these regularly now. When this series first started coming out close to twenty years ago now, it really drove me crazy to have all of these tantalizing hints of series mythology only to routinely have the emphasis diverted to salt-of-the-earth non-powered characters. I wanted ADVENTURES OF SAMARITAN, dammit! But, of course, I just didn’t get it. That’s what makes this series what it is. This issue is no exception, Busiek introduces us to a new civilian and dials us in right away so that we’re already invested in her voice and point-of-view even before we find out what her job is. And of course, no one can do it for you on the out-of-nowhere splash pages like Anderson and Sinclair. (are there maybe too many hyphens in this review?) Everything’s going along just fine and so well that of course we should have expected that gut-wrenching twist on the final page, there. Nothing less than another damn fine installment of this all-time great series.

AMERICA’S GOT POWERS #6 — Man, there is nothing like Bryan Hitch blowing it up on interiors. Take as long as you want, sir, it is always more than worth the wait. Jonathan Ross’s mini-series blew up out of even his control, as what should have been the final issue is apparently now penultimate. This one is relatively quiet after all of the madness that erupted last time a few months ago, but all of the developments escalate the narrative toward climax in a way that feels natural not forced. And Obama talks some serious trash to the lady who was running the whole reality show back at the top of the series.

CHEW #35 — Pity John Colby. The tension certainly keeps rising, but the six+ week gaps in between issues are starting to get to me. As if it was possible for me to lapse back into tradewaiting. Guillory’s background joke Easter eggs continue to delight, though we possibly hit new Ouroborosian heights with the notes about the 815 crash and smoke monster scrawled on Tony’s board, possibly drawn around the time that the creators found out the live-action Showtime adaptation of this series was dead and in which Ken “Miles” Leung would not, in fact, be appearing as the series lead.

STAR WARS #7 — Now, the past couple of issues have been solid enough but felt a little bit padded with not quite enough going down for my taste. Not so, here, we’re all over the place with several plots moving forward and young Skywalker getting a promotion. Really hoping that this series is going to last more than five more issues but not sure about how long the whole licensing thing is going to hold out. The princess had better find that ice planet pretty soon, now.

EAST OF WEST #4 — This one right here was the thunder! The adjective is terribly overused these days, but “epic” might be the only way to adequately describe what happens when Death comes a’courting his darling Xiaolian, who’s been held hostage by her father, the emperor Mao III, for quite some time. Hickman makes a good decision and stops jumping around so much throughout the many varying characters and locales that we’ve blistered through here since we got started. Almost this entire issue takes place in one setting with a single cut to Texas for commentary for and context of the aftermath. About the only valid criticism that one could make of the first few issues of this is that there was been such a massive amount of characters, backstory, and world-building that it was potentially overwhelming for readers who didn’t show up already acclimated to massive ensembles. I mean, I like to think that I’m pretty good to go and I about got a buzz off of working so hard real-time processing what was happening with #1 on the first pass through. As a result, Death is the only character who I feel like has been, for painful lack of a better term, fleshed out over the course of the first three issues. It’s therefore a nice piece of character work here to not only develop Xiaolian all on her own but then pull that little trick at the end where she almost inherits any attachment or emotional connection that the reader’s made to Death when we hit that final page. Bow down, indeed. Wonderful character work. And I haven’t even mentioned the art, just cracking good stuff.

THE TRUE LIVES OF THE FABULOUS KILLJOYS #2 — A solid post-apocalyptic double-bill headlining, here tonight. This issue picks up a little bit from last time out as the plot with the girl messiah advances and we spend some time with Killologist Korse, who looks just really a whole lot like King Mob, you guys. It turns out that he has a live-in secret gay lover and it is making him lose his edge. I would love to have been there for Way to break the news to Morrison, that would have been some comical business. Cloonan continues to turn in beautiful pages. We still have absolutely no reason to care about the drug-addicted sexbots, however, as of yet can’t understand why we’re burning pages on them. It looks like we’re going to get some serious escalation as we head into the back half of the series, though. Make some noise!