11/20/13

BATMAN AND TWO-FACE #25 — This is more a team-up between Matches Malone and Erin McKillen than the title suggests but I’m with it. These creators continue to do what they have been for the past two years plus, present lean compelling adventures that are in no way extraneous, wasting no character beats or lines, be they artwork or dialogue. And then a panel like the bottom of Page Four comes along, Batman jumping from one roof to the other to save some hostages and there happens to be an American flag in the background and just that one shot, only a third of the page, is so damn gorgeous and iconic and over-the-top badass ‘Merica!, it’s almost like these guys are showing off but then they rein it right back in and get on to the business at hand, telling the very best Batman story that they can and taking us all along for the ride.

BATMAN ’66 #4 — Is that a shot of Batman & Robin on a gargoyle in the montage, there? At night? I don’t think these versions roll that way, actually. This is very well done and all but I’m thinking I don’t actually miss the old show enough to need monthly doses of immaculately constructed new material to the tune of $3.99 a pop. I wish the creators continued success and am ducking out. POW!

HARLEY QUINN #0 — This right here is a solid conceit, Harley on board with the writers while auditioning artists for the book, one page at a time. I actually took the trouble of going through the credits on the opening page so that I’d be certain of who was whom in the pages ahead, didn’t realize they’d all be getting name-checked along the way. But a quick scan down the roster of artists assembled definitely lets you know that you’re not gambling much for your three dollars. Simonson and Lee are on opposite pages, for God’s sake. And following Hughes with Baltazar was hilarious. Harley is indeed a bad fit for the Treehouse. The new guy Jeremy Roberts can certainly hang with the big boys, if this single page is anything to go by. And then you’ve got Cooke and Kieth. Truly an embarrassment of riches. Conner & Palmiotti also do a solid job with the writing, Harley breaking the fourth wall on every page could get shrill and annoying fast but they keep it entertaining throughout.

ANIMAL MAN #25 — This one didn’t really knock me out. Maybe it was due to the lack of Maxine. It certainly wasn’t a bad comic book, just kind of felt like we’d already been here and done this one time too many. Lemire might be running out of gas a little bit, we’ll see, though the Lost in Space cliffhanger is at least promising.

WONDER WOMAN #25 — And the Greek situation comedy keeps on rolling. Cassandra’s got Wesley Willis hanging from underneath a giant plane and the rest of the cast lets Strife pretty much do whatever she wants. Azzarello has always famously incorporated modern-day vernacular into his dialogue but I’m not okay with any version of Orion saying, “I got this.” Ever.

THE WAKE #5 — All right, well, I’ve been saying that I didn’t see how this cast was going to go the distance for the duration of this mini, and I guess the creators agreed with me. What a hell of a thing! It would certainly be nice if this was somehow not the end of the story for our present-tense crew but I have to say that the outlook as be bid farewell to them this time is decidedly bleak. It looks like we’re accelerating into the post-deluge future in a couple months and that will be that. Hard to believe that the creators have been holding back and are now REALLY going to let us have it, this book has been pretty devastating from the very first issue. Very much looking forward to the second half of the tale. It does my heart good to be this invested in a new book from Vertigo.

FABLES # 135 — That Russ Braun is a hoss. Just like with THE BOYS, when I was ready to drop a title over losing Robertson, Braun comes in and throws down finishing justice all over Buckingham’s pencils. I know Buckingham still did layouts but I’m very impressed by Braun’s chameleonic style. You would never know that this was the guy who illustrated the back third of THE BOYS just to look at these pages. Very impressive. Willingham keeps building Rose’s Round Table, taking enough time with it now that there’s surely going to be some serious payoff, while the plot thickens between Rose and Snow. Fifteen more issues doesn’t even seem like enough for all of this.

CONAN THE BARBARIAN #22 — All good things must come to an end and Editorial brings in Wood’s old DMZ collaborator Riccardo Burchielli to see things through to #25, which was a good damn call. While the characters’ facial expressions/acting are not as strong as depicted by previous artists, Burchielli’s sense of staging and sensuous linework is a good fit for this series. Bêlit exudes both menace and sexuality through just body language, the way she carries herself while striding off The Tigress. Things are off to an ominous start and it already looks like there is no way that there can be a happy ending for these wild young lovers. As if such a thing were possible.

UNCANNY X-MEN #014 — Terrific Benjamin Deeds-centric. Whereas over in the other book, the ensemble representation has been incredibly nuanced and balanced, this book’s new new mutants really haven’t had that much room to develop as individuals just because we all certainly want to see how this administration is bouncing off of one another. But while across the street, it was very much Professor K & Her X-Men v. 2.0, this right here is all Emma training Deeds with a dash of Illyana and Cyclops for flavor. Bachalo pencils and colors everything and makes it so you can hardly be bothered by the fact that there are five different inkers. Emma’s Punisher shirt, of course, wins the issue.

AVENGERS #23 — This issue is entitled “…To The Very End,” which is a little funny because we all know that this one is surely going to end with the Avengers about aBOUT to hit Earthspace and really and truly start fighting the great big climactic battle but then, what ho, it actually happens in this issue and there is a great big firefight! It is a pretty cool thing Hickman has done, assembled Gladiator and the Imperial Guard next to Ronan next to Kl’rt next to fucking Annihilus, all believably motivated to fight for Earth because Captain America just is that awesome. But the most remarkable deal of all is how poor Black Widow manages to keep those bazooka breasts Yu’s got blasting out from her chest from exploding through her cleavage V on each and every panel, that is some Level-8 or -9 shit right there, my friends.

FANTASTIC FOUR #014 — Well, now Bagley walked, as well. To help go blow up the Ultimate Universe again or whatever the hell. Kesel’s script was all right but maybe all this fill-in bullshit is just tainting the situation too much for me to be objective anymore. I mean, I think we got the first page of the run in this issue. It’s on the cover and it’s in a small little panel there halfway through the book. The whole entire everything-coming-round-the-mountain-they-showed-us-this-image-on-the-very-first-page-of-the-run-and-now-we-finally-made-it-back shot and nobody appears to really even care. I certainly don’t. Am just barely hanging on until the end of this run but it’s going to be a close call. I fully understand that anyone who feels betrayed by corporate comics at this point is either an asshole or an idiot or still just terribly naïve and innocent in some primal unformed way, but yeah. Maybe INHUMANS will be really great.

DAREDEVIL #033 — Jason Copland pinch-hits for Samnee as well as anyone can, fully capable business but not quite enough to put Waid’s script over the top like usual. Nice callback to that climactic Mazzucchelli shot of “Born Again” but maybe the least bit desperate. Like, “These are the only twenty pages of DD I might maybe will ever get to do, can we just cut to the backlit-by-the-fire shot with Nuke and maybe have Bullseye filch Elektra’s sai and push it out through her back while we’re at it?”

SEX CRIMINALS #3—Well, they found a way to crank it up and make me love this book even more. Yes, that’s the banned musical number I’m talking about. Every bit as brilliant and all meta-hijinx madness like CASANOVA but kind of sweeter at the same time? The thing with Esteban is hilarious. And then there’s Jon’s porno star crush in the BARTON FINK porn, out of control. Zdarsky continues to turn in beautiful pages, I’m really a fan of his palette choices in particular. And the recaps! The PREVIOUSLY recaps are now almost my favorite part. This book is too gorgeous for iTunes, that’s what it is. It would melt all the servers.

BEST OF THE WEEK: YOUNG AVENGERS #012 — I really dig the notion of the crew having to recruit all the teens of the Marvel Universe to combat a menace that the adults can’t perceive. And the ’zine title page! Still so disappointed in Noh-Varr. But totes love Loki referencing Scott Pilgrim followed by the obligatory “the book was better” comment. SO much, right? Okay, so this was all amazing and climactic and everything but I have got to confess, maybe it was because this was the last book in rotation after a hard day of teaching and a harder night of Star consumption (I have sincere difficulty working the Lone part into the name when there are just so damn many of the little buggers) but I made it through the last page almost ignorant of the plot twist. As in, the fact that there had been one. Dear Kieron was good enough to make mention of it right in there at the beginning of the letters column but it was still all I could do to just shake my head and shamble off to bed. The next morning, the little girl went right to that cover, still on top of the pile, and asked whose arm THAT one was. The one at six o’clock. I kind of tilted my head at it. It . . . it looks like . . . oh-HO! PLOT TWIST. A reality warper’s powers gone astray, indeed! Well played, all. It seems like I have a lot of favorite Marvel books lately but this one is definitely one of my most favoritest.