5/21/14

BATMAN AND FRANKENSTEIN #31 — Man. Why can’t this be the book every month? Well wait, no no, I love the main guys too much, but a spinoff anyway. Tomasi/Mahnke giving us the adventures of Batman, Frankenstein, and Ace the Bat-Hound solving mysteries and punishing the evil occult at the top of the world or wherever their mission takes them every single month. We know that Mahnke can bang out the deadlines! The worst thing I can say about this issue is that twenty pages wasn’t even close to enough. I have been a fan of Mahnke’s for a long time, he tore it up with Kelly on JLA back when, FRANKENSTEIN was by far my favorite branch of the SEVEN SOLDIERS insanity, and then of course him rolling up on the back end of FINAL CRISIS was a pretty impossible save from an artistic standpoint that he executed flawlessly with grace. Not to mention how many months in a row he blew it up afterward with Johns on GREEN LANTERN without almost ever needing a fill-in. So, suffice to say, I was very pumped to hear about this set-up, can’t really imagine a more ideal fill-in situation for this book, particularly with it’s current B&tB set-up. The chemistry between the two leads is terrific. The beat of silence between Frank demanding the apology and receiving it is golden. And then of course they get to fight a bunch of yeti. If this issue doesn’t warm your Arctic heart, then you’re more of a corpse than good old Frank.

WONDER WOMAN #31 — Another installment that manages to be charming without Cliff Chiang. Though it was also a bit horrifying due to all the baby-in-mortal-danger action. A nice bit of character work with Diana as Queen of Amazons/God of War. Azzarello continues to throw down pretty incredible beats for this character and Goran Sudžuka manages to stay right there with him.

FOREVER EVIL #7 — This one started out a bit slowly for me but Johns and crew landed the entire thing pretty well. Of course, it was all the story of Luthor. Interesting implications for plot developments going forward, particularly in light of Johns shorthand cribbing the deal Byrne did with an identity reveal back when with his own SUPERMAN #2. I got a little bit concerned when Ultraman didn’t like get his face torn off or something equally graphic but then at least Luthor squashed that female evil Atom analogue under his boot, so I guess the graphic violence quota is maintained. I’m getting jaded enough that instead of that last page being some awesome reveal, it just made me sad about how superhero comics are mainly reduced these days to going all Ouroboros on their own previous continuity.

FUTURE’S END #3 — Frankenstein again! It’s good to see that you’re still not taking guff off of that old Father Time in five years, fella. Bringing that character into the ensemble can only be a good thing. And wow, so Ronnie Raymond is just straight evil now. I like the range of Jason’s negotiating, how it runs from bargaining to just straight stone-cold “I’m going to kill you.” This has got to be the most fleshed out I’ve ever read the character of Cole Cash. Mister Terrific kind of turned into an asshole, too, so I’m in favor of his positioning as apparent antagonist for Terry. And sure Lois finds Tim alive, why not? I am a fan of these crowded ensemble weekly DC titles and this issue moves the pieces along nicely without anything too crazy happening. Jurgens layouts are charming as ever, getting the job done.

BATMAN ETERNAL #7 — Maybe I’m starting to get late onset Batmania, but while reading this I felt like I’d missed an issue. Emanuel Simeoni turns in pages that are almost overly rendered but pull back from the edge just in time. Tim Seeley’s script is serviceable except for the horror of making not one but two “What Does the Fox Say?” allusions, which is so much worse than anything Professor Pyg has ever or will ever do, I just don’t know where to start. I can’t decide if I’m all in on this one yet, the gang war inspired by Falcone’s return isn’t really knocking me out and the scripts have been coasting here this last little bit. Wondering when Snyder/Tynion will return and whether or not that will boost the overall quality.

AMERICAN VAMPIRE: SECOND CYCLE #3 — Now, finally at long last, that is a Skinner Sweet appearance that knocked me out. Well done, all around. Snyder & Alburquerque show no signs of letting up in bringing the absolute thunder to this series. Very strong.

THE UNWRITTEN: APOCALYPSE #5 — Well, of course being privy to Bruckner/Mr. Bun’s story is batshit bananas and terribly rewarding. That was a messed up bit of business in there with the woman and the kid fighting to be Rhea’s only blonde, horrible, really. And what at first blush feels like an issue that is a momentary digression that’s fulfilling all on its own turns out to have serious implications to the final stretch of the ongoing narrative based on those last couple of pages. These boys are going to do some terribly insane feats of storytelling alchemy here in the next seven months, I can’t wait.

PROPHET #44 — All right, let’s hang out with this astral entity. I think it’s been too long since I’ve been reading this series, I honestly am not sure who she even is if she’s shown up before now. But she sure seems like a swell character. A quality done-in-one here, to be sure, looking forward to seeing how she actually folds back in to the main narrative. The back-up strip is killing it as usual.

EAST OF WEST #12 — Man, once Miss Xioalian shows up to declare war, she doesn’t play about in the slightest. There is enough diplomatic intrigue and the old ultraviolence erupting in this single issue to fill up the third act of one a them Hollywood picture shows. But Hickman is barely just getting started, it looks like. This book channels glorious madness, barreling past any sort of conventional standard and plunging headlong into the abyss. How far we fall remains to be seen, but I’m confident that Dragotta and Martin are going to make the ride a visually stunning one to sing sweet accompaniment to all of Hickman’s batshit crazy.

MPH #1 — Old Millar’s got a little bit of goodwill in the bank with me after showing up with new material as strong as JUPITER’S CHILDREN and particularly STARLIGHT, and I’m such a sucker for superspeed, I honestly might have given this a shot anyway. And it’s nice to see Duncan Fegredo of KID ETERNITY fame kicking around again. So, what do we have here, on the eve of “Quicksilver in the Kitchen,” arguably one of the greatest translations of sequential glory into the cinematic medium via Bryan Singer’s X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST? Kind of a boilerplate morality play that traffics a bit too hard in black and white for my liking. Millar bends over so hard to make the protagonist a likeable good-guy-even-though-he’s-a-drug-dealer that you can see all of the marionette strings and my suspension of disbelief, at least, came crashing down. The one superspeed scene is cool enough, but I would like a first issue with a little bit more pop in it, the setup is all right, but there’s not like a really palpable gutpunch hook at the end the way he just hit us with STARLIGHT. I’ll definitely keep picking it up to see how it’s going. But am still just a little bit worried that if more than one person lays hands on this MPH formula, Millar’s going to go back to being all edgy and have one dude run around involuntarily sodomizing folks until our plucky morally upright hero has to put a stop to it. And I don’t want to read that book.

SAGA #19 —  Oh, SAGA. I didn’t realize how much I missed you in my life until seeing that television-headed infant being delivered through that robot vagina. The miracle of life, indeed. As predicted, just flashing forward and having Hazel aged a year and change drastically raises the stakes. I dig Alana’s new job, an interesting take on soap-hero-operas in this universe. And of course Marko is kind of a pitiful stay-at-home dad whose act of rebellion is to take her to the park. Which is the beginning of the end, meeting that other mom? Just when I was thinking that final conversation between the parents at the end was coming across as a little ham-handed, Hazel runs in and is so precious, and then Vaughan just cuts your throat with a single line on that last page. Oh, man. Really good trick.

ZERO #8 — It took me maybe longer than it should have to get hip to the three timelines before they converged, but that’s probably on me and all of the Lone Stars I had while reading the other issues before this one. It was a pretty crowded week! Once again, Kot and friends deliver a really compelling single shot that is nail-biting and satisfying all on its own while moving the overall narrative along in a palpable way. Which is how you’re supposed to make them sequential funny books! Jorge Coelho, no surprise, is terrific and a perfect fit for this particular installment, ably abetted by Jordie Bellaire, as ever. Once again, I dug this but was immediately greedy for the next issue as soon as I got done. I tell you, that binge-reading stuff in trades will ruin you.

VELVET #5 — A hell of a compelling flashback. You’re not really supposed to do that for pretty much the entire issue, but of course Brubaker/Phillips can do whatever they want to. Just ask Batman’s butler (see unfortunate tangent below). I’ve got to confess that I’m not one-hundred percent what went wrong between Velvet and Mockingbird eighteen years ago, the nuance of what that phone call set off that suddenly it was go-time between them. Probably rereading the initial arc, or even just the previous issue or two would make that clearer to me. Too many fictions to juggle in this noggin! Terrific fight sequence, though. This remains a very compelling double-feature with ZERO, flip sides of the espionage coin.

ROCKET GIRL #5 — Wow, that seems like a pretty definitive shutdown there. Though I suppose that the plot will have to somehow thicken between now and September. If this was the last issue, though, Amy Reeder would have thrown down a serious bit of business, beginning middle and end. I’ve really enjoyed the hell out of this comic. Which actually brings up the sole issue I’ve had with it, language, something about the GoshGeeWow! feel of the book makes swearing come across to me as really anachronistic in this context. Even if it’s just a pedestrian in Times Square 1986. And it’s not like that’s usually an issue with me, but it just felt tonally off to me. A minor gripe. Beautiful art, particularly the coloring. I look forward to more in a few months.

DAREDEVIL #003 — Everything was just going along all normal, DD was kicking the hell out of a C-list villain (because I must disagree with his B-list characterization for The Shroud) and then he’s got to go and bring Lying Cat into this. Lying Cat! The implications are staggering! Are all Image titles available for perusal in the Marvel 616 Universe? Does Peter Parker read SPAWN obsessively or perhaps instead shudder every time he sees the exaggerated anatomy on the cover? Are the X-Men Whilce Portacio fans? Or at least the members of Storm’s Gold Team who stayed over in UNCANNY when they did the big Jim Lee split in ’91? And do subsidiaries like Top Cow also exist? How does Wolverine feel about Silvestri’s latest output? Or is he more of a Brubaker/Phillips fan? You know who would eat CRIMINAL or FATALE up with a spoon, though? Is that Alfred Pennyworth. I should think the work of Misters Brubaker/Phillips runs very much to his tastes. Of course, what would Matt think about Brubaker? Does he resent him for all of the trouble that he put him through? All right, I’m obviously not going to be able to do anything coherent with reviewing this issue. It’s exactly more of the same in the best possible way, Waid/Samnee/Rodriguez romping along with Silver Age fun in the merry Marvel tradition!

UNCANNY X-MEN #021 — Oh, why can’t we just have Bendis/Bachalo delivering madcap mutant misadventures for all time? Bachalo’s sickness does not want to be contained on a single page. Magneto’s rage at Fred J. Dukes triggering a flashback to the early days, complete with Kirby panel art, natch, is a fine little beat, there. But wait, S.H.I.E.L.D. has been infiltrated! And the Helicarrier is firing on the mansion! And Firestar was taking a shower! I love how Bendis works that in amidst all of the other dialogue. A nuanced character moment! But I am just funning, this series continues to be tremendous work from all involved.

ORIGINAL SIN #2 — Aaron and the gang are easing into it a little bit more now. There’s at least enough requisite flying car action for a book that’s got Fury cast as the lead. Absolutely terrific to see Oubliette storming back into the fold, I can never believe how many good ideas and characters Morrison sets up who never get heard from again. Deodato and Martin completely throw down on the big ensemble action sequence in the final scene. This one is still ramping up but looks like it’s heading somewhere interesting.