8/20/14

BEST OF WEEK (just barely): MULTIVERSITY #1 — I have been looking forward to this series ever since it was announced four years ago, and of course even more so when I saw some pages a couple years ago at MorrisonCon. Lots of anticipation and expectation built up for this series. This first issue dropkicked those hopes and dreams over the horizon. This is an incredible audacious ambitious and bold slice of sequential entertainment that revels in both the medium and itself. The one thing I wasn’t expecting was for it to be a spiritual sequel to not just SEVEN SOLDIERS (the format is a bit of a tip-off to that) but also FINAL CRISIS itself. But the protagonist appears to be The Reader yourself, who is then invited into the pages to become alter ego Superjudge, our own Nix Uotan, the final Monitor from good old FINAL CRISIS. Our hero is summoned to hold off The Gentry, a horrifying extra-dimensional threat that wants to consume all of existence. But the fun only begins there because then we’re off to Earth-23 and Calvin Steel, one of my favorite of the dozens of great ideas in FINAL CRISIS, President Superman. But that’s only a short status quo set-up before our guy gets pulled in to the Ultima Thule, the multiverse-traversing shiftship, where we meet none other than Captain Carrot, who is played completely straight, in addition to an entire gang alternate versions of DC heroes, including the cute li’l kid versions from #51 and 52 or so of that last volume of SUPERMAN/BATMAN. And you can’t do one of these things without Harbinger in the mix. No more summary, but it’s very clear that Morrison & friends have only begun to open the box of absolutely crazy shit that they are about to drop on us. The art team of Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, and Nei Ruffino turns in A-list pages all the way, depicting every single one of these momentous events with the staggering grandeur and gravitas that they deserve. Stunning work throughout.

LITTLE NEMO FROM SLUMBERLAND #1 — I heard that IDW were starting a new series of this and was duly horrified. How DARE they? Then I heard that Eric Shanower was writing and Gabriel Rodriguez was the artist. How could I NOT check it out?!? These guys, along with colorist Nelson Daniel and letterer Robbie Robbins, completely knock it out of the park, every page, every single panel, is a love-letter to Winsor McCay and the medium itself. This is a complete and utter delight, Rodriguez tackles the challenging and trailblazing source material with aplomb and sheer mastery of his craft while Shanower has done just as much of a wonderful job capturing and honoring what has gone before while using it to weave a new story. I could not be more thrilled with how immaculately conceived and executed this title is on every level. My favorite part is how they kept the little bottom-right corner panel for every time Nemo wakes up. “I was only dreaming, Mama!” Utter perfection. This is another really big deal right here, and also only just getting started.

DARK HORSE PRESENTS #1 — This week is truly an embarrassment of riches. Geof Darrow returns to THE BIG GUY AND RUSTY THE BOY ROBOT and David Mack finally at long last gives us new KABUKI pages. That’s more than enough the $4.99 sticker-price right there, never even mind Brendan McCarthy showing up with the first part of a new serial. This is Darrow’s first time writing this strip, taking over from Frank “Craaaazy Eyes” Miller. The pages are, of course, gorgeous and immaculate, and the writing is solid enough. However, I wish that he would dig a little bit deeper in terms of narrative content. As brilliantly rendered as every single page is, this is basically a gag strip. People are lackadaisical drunk assholes and don’t give a shit. The Big Guy is an awesome kaiju-fightin’ robot. Rusty has spunk and spark and is so darn cute. Is it too much to wish that there was some pathos to be found here? Darrow is a draftsman of the very highest order, and I wish he would dig a little bit deeper in terms of narrative content.

Mack brings us back into his magnum opus with the rush of suspense. Our girl is getting her palm read, but all is not as it seems and The Noh is closing in, as ever. It’s hard to put into words the sense of peaceful calm that enveloped me as I fell into these pages. Reading this work is an immersive experience that bypasses my typical plot-devouring character-empathizing set-up and heads straight for the gut, really hitting hard on an emotional level. I certainly hope he’s gearing up Vol. 8 and we won’t have to wait a few more years to find out What Happens Next.

McCarthy’s DREAM GANG is typical McCarthy: mind-expanding, senses-shattering, colors-bleeding-out-of-your-eyes type business. You can certainly take a bath in all of that.

The other stories were fine, no real hits or misses for me. I am very grateful to Editorial for curating such a strong lineup of talent for this relaunch. Yow!

BATMAN AND ROBIN #34 — Bruce clears the air and hopefully puts the fallout from all that nasty “Death of the Family” business to rest once and for all. Tomasi once again does a terrific job mining the emotional content of the relationships and giving them some real heft on a page-by-page basis.

INFINITY MAN AND THE FOREVER PEOPLE #3 — Didio does a cool thing here, shoring up the mythology of the book’s central concept in a way that really makes sense. And Giffen needing a fill-in would normally be catastrophic news, but I guess we can make do with some Jim Starlin pencils in the meantime. A couple of serious plot twists at the end, it’s going to be a long wait until #4. And that last page brought the cliffhanger from PSI-FORCE #17 to mind, now that’s digging deep!

BATMAN ETERNAL #20 — The writers are once again keeping this one clipping along at a nice little place. Stephanie Brown fans had to be completely delighted about this last page. It only took twenty issues, folks!

FUTURE’S END #16 — I found Fifty Sue quite annoying initially, but she’s becoming one of my favorite characters of this ensemble. I have to say, I did start guessing this week’s Big Last Page Reveal as soon as Mr. Terrific’s off-panel benefactor mentioned being off-planet but en route. That whole deal has been orchestrated pretty well from the first issue on, though, and it’s still a very powerful reveal while still being forehead-slappingly obvious in hindsight.

FABLES #143 — Well, it all keeps heading toward that final THE END, which is not looking too HAPPILY EVER AFTER thus far. Glad to see Ozma’s superhero duds brought back into play. And Beast gets some steampunk Iron Man armor even! This is nothing but more of the quality to which we have all grown accustomed and will miss dearly when it is gone.

THE UNWRITTEN: APOCALYPSE #8 — Tommy’s reputation as a stalwart is restored but not in time to keep Lizzie and friends from having to spend the Grail’s energies on bringing him back to life. Or, the cup’s energies, I think? Because there’s still a quill ex machina thing happening here. Naturally. Carey continues to prove a master of straddling the line between elevated antiquated English and its more vulgar modern cousin, and that goes double for Gross & Chuckry on the art.

TREES #4 — Man, again, I just can’t give Jason Howard enough praise. His work on this series is stunning. I completely didn’t get that Zhen is transgendered, that didn’t present itself to me at all, but as soon as she said something, I looked closer at her face, the sharp angle of her nose, and it’s clearly there. But not obvious, a really impressive subtle and nuanced thing. This is going to read as much more unified in a single volume, but I kind of like the fragmented structure of it in singles, we never know who we’re going to spend time with or for how long. I could walk around Shu with Tien & Zhen all day long.

SUPREME: BLUE ROSE #2 — Yeah, all the seriously weird Lynch shit is now officially kicking in here. I’m curious to see if people are digging this and where they fall in the demographic of digging Moore’s run on this character (or the character SUPREME, this book isn’t really about any of that as of yet) or Ellis’s greatest hits, be they creator-owned or even the work-for-hire stuff that he put his own indelible stamp upon. PROFESSOR NIGHT is still the absolute best thing ever. That’s never going to change. Tula Lotay continues to be a revelation. Space is the place!

THE FADE OUT #1 — All right, I liked this one just fine. I brought some baggage to it for not just falling out of my seat over the FATALE finale, which is the first time since SLEEPER that these guys ever actually brought one of their great ideas to a THE END, so I was kind of peeking out with one eye at this one wondering how it was going to go, and then it opens with that cast of characters page that begged the immediate question, “These guys know about SATELLITE SAM, right?” But then once I forgot about all of that context and let myself fall into the story without worrying about anything else, I enjoyed it just fine. This is kind of nineteenth-verse-same-as-the-first. Brubaker had the gripping noir first-person present-tense narrative voice down to perfection a few years ago and has just been honing it ever since. Sean Phillips is the other half of his heartbeat, a master draftsman, and in Elizabeth Breitweiser (whose name belongs on the cover), they’ve found their missing voice to make lush narrative harmonies that you really happen to open your eyes wide and hold the pages right up next to your face to even be able to distinguish where one ends and the next begins. The couple of plot twists in this one are pretty much standard tropes, but we don’t care, everything’s executed with such a degree of confidence and skill that we’re just lucky to be along for the ride.

THE WICKED + THE DIVINE #4 — All right, I guess I officially don’t care about these people. Four issues is long enough for them to get the hooks in, but the flippant snark that didn’t bother me at all on PHONOGRAM is tedious and annoying here. The art is still stunning and always will be, and I’ll keep picking it up to see if Gillen’s got something waiting to kick in and change my mind, but every single cliffhanger is limp and reads like Gillen’s almost a victim of his success, he doesn’t come across as hungry and bleeding on these pages the way he used to on PHONOGRAM or YOUNG AVENGERS, it’s just another script to knock off and back to IRON MAN or PRINCESS LEIA or what have you.

SAVAGE DRAGON #197 — Larsen consistently produces some of the most exciting and dynamic splash pages on the rack. And he is not afraid to maim or kill his characters at the drop of a hat! Or mess with their status quo. Too bad about the electric powers. It’s nice to see Maxine & Malcolm’s relationship build organically and not have Larsen throw up petty roadblocks to their happiness, such as Maxine getting jealous of Zelda showing up on the last page, which a lesser writer would have totally done to manufacture conflict. Much respect to Mr. Larsen on keeping this epic serial going, month after month, year after year.

DAREDEVIL #7 — Never one to pad things out, Waid brings this whole Maggie-abducted-by-Wakandans arc to a close here in the second part. Finally addressing the reason that Matt’s mom left him only to return when Frank Miller needed some Catholic imagery for David Mazzucchelli to draw in the second-act wherever Matt was holing up and recovering for the big finale in a twenty-seven year old story, this was a pretty big answer to finally supply and it completely works, Waid sells it. I am sorry to see that this is Javier Rodriguez’s last issue. His colors have been an integral part of this glorious title since the relaunch and he has also contributed excellent interiors. Best of luck to him on his new gig!

NEW AVENGERS #023 — Man, another seriously high-quality issue that’s tremendously satisfying as a single (even though it’s pretty decompressed) while doing a hell of a job pushing forward the mega-narrative that Hickman’s been building up since the beginning. This is the story of how each member of the Illuminati spends his last six hours on Earth, knowing that it’s all about to end, and it’s a pretty pitch-perfect breakdown. Banner drinks a six-pack while getting ready to toast the end and final triumph over his alter ego. Hank searches for absolution from his younger self, who of course is not on board. Then Stephen Strange and Wong do that too. Tony lines up two dozen shots of his favorite brown liquor. T’Challa heads to the Jean Grey Institute for Higher Learning for some of that good Ororo loving. Reed of course doesn’t tell Sue a damn thing but drags her across the world so that he can check in on Franklin, the FF, and Valeria in Latveria, a final three-page scene that is a thing of absolute beauty. Oh, and Black Bolt lets it rip. But then, there’s a plot twist! And it’s the only way that it could have happened. In the last scene of this issue, Hickman does the same deal as before, where he took the solid groundwork that Bendis laid with the Illuminati and just launched it into the stratosphere? It’s the Cabal’s turn. And, oh my goodness.