5/20/15

STAR WARS #5 — This is another really good single, and they manage to make that happen without the presence of Vader or -3P0, even! Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Boba Fett is rampaging around Tatooine trying to steal this book. I, in particular, dug that three-panel montage of him making the rounds on Page Two. The last shot in silhouette is classic STAR WARS. Aaron is managing to gradually escalate Han & Leia’s bickering without making it grating, which is kind of tough because we all know that at the end of this whole deal, they can’t be any cooler with each other than the whole “scruffy-looking nerfherder” deal. Cassaday’s actor likenesses continue to be masterful with Harrison Ford maybe taking top honors. They’re all really impressive, though, it must be said. Even the asshole bartender from the cantina.  And Laura Martin’s colors, I can’t praise them highly enough. Her Tatooine sky alone is absolutely gorgeous. Great narrative hooks all around, I’m definitely interested to see how this is going to go at the top of next issue, as we all know Luke Skywalker doesn’t really need sight to be effective in combat.

UNCANNY X-MEN #33 — Dazzler gets her resolution here. It’s another great-looking issue with Kris Anka once more killing it. But there’s a really gross thing at the end when the new kids decide they don’t have to be X-Men anymore, and just when I’m questioning whether or not this is because of the whole Marvel Studios/Fox shitslinger, one of the kids actually brings up the Fantastic Four and is told that’s no good, too. Just to really slam the point home. I did not find that cute in the slightest or cool in like a meta- kind of way but really just a disgusting invasion of all of the Hollywood nonsense into the relatively pure artform that gave all of these concepts birth in the first place. I wouldn’t care so much in another situation perhaps (if Deadpool was throwing all of this shade, for instance), but I have really really loved Bendis’s entire run on these books, and the penultimate issue ending on this note really just makes me sad.

BEST OF WEEK: A-FORCE #1 — After all of the nonsense with that New Yorker essay a couple of weeks back, this book shows up and knocks it damn out of the park. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Jorge Molina’s work before, but he’s knocking on the door and ready to hang out with Coipel and the rest of the big dogs on a massive ensemble big-event type situation. Marguerite Bennett & G. Willow Wilson craft an all-star tale of basically the Marvel Universe’s version of Themyscira (only it’s totally okay that Luke Cage and other dudes live there; they just don’t do any fighting/border patrol). Given apparent carte blanche to just pick up anyone with XX-chromosomes they can think of, Creative pulls together a very interesting and diverse line-up with She-Hulk running the show, Medusa barking in her ear that she could do a better job, Nico from RUNAWAYS and Miss America from YOUNG AVENGERS representing the new generation, Carol Danvers apparently captain of the guard, and then every damn X-woman and Alpha Flight lady you can name. Hilariously, Jean Grey is just totally hanging out in her pre-Dark-Phoenix Phoenix duds, and that’s no thing. No one cares (though it seems like they might be underusing her power set just a liiiiiittle bit). Oh, and of course Spider-Gwen is in the mix. Just the cast makes it kind of an event unto itself, but what makes this book really special is what a tight first issue it is, the way that it starts off with a day like any other, though of course, it’s the day when our story really begins. It’s a shame that, by design, I don’t think that this book is going to run longer than through the summer because of the event it’s tied to because it is immediate greatness.

DAREDEVIL #15.1 — I didn’t know they were still doing this .1 thing, which I always found a bit pointless, but the track record on this title is strong enough that I’m willing to stay with them, especially with the regular team’s name on the cover. It turns out that Waid only shows up for the first page to set the retrospectives up, but Guggenheim/Krause deliver strong work in the main feature. Krause has evolved quite a bit since starting that IRREDEEMABLE run with Waid. This is a smart story taking place at the beginning of Matt’s dual career and dealing with the tension between busting bad guys as a vigilante by night and then having to defend them as a lawyer by day. Then, regulars Samnee/Wilson turn in a charming little tale of Matt getting all jacked up on Diablo’s extra-sensory dust. I wouldn’t have minded one more page of Matt, Kirsten, and Foggy to bookend the deal, but all told this was pretty solid, even though a better deal at $3.99 than the $4.99 we’ve got. Greedy Marvel!

EMPIRE: UPRISING #2 — Waid/Kitson deliver another installment of this second volume that continues the interesting tension of keeping our proto/antagonist Golgoth off-panel for almost the entire issue (and dialogue-free for the whole ride), electing rather to explore his character through the menace, dread, and fear that he evokes in the higher echelons of his command, who are all compelling enough characters. This one is a slow burn, but very engaging.

THE FADE OUT #6 — This title is getting into that territory that FABLES did after they cracked triple digits where every issue is very very solid from a craft standpoint and moves the narrative along just fine, but there’s not much I find myself able to say about it month after month other than, “Good job, thumbs up, everybody!” Brubaker/Phillips and now Breitweiser have really carved out their own little corner of the medium where nothing else feels like their work, tonally or visually. It’s funny, I forgot until now that Brubaker and Fraction are, I think, Portland buddies, so it’s interesting that this is kind of a Hollywood riff on SATELLITE SAM. And I never met a segueway that I didn’t let segue, so . . .

SATELLITE SAM #14 — Not as much the home stretch as kind of the climax, here. It seems like next issue will be more of an epilogue, as there’s really not that much left to resolve. I totally don’t get how Gene got out of that noose, though. He was hanging and then when Eve was shooting those guys, something just started going KRAK! and then he fell down? Seems like that action should have been a little bit more on-panel. The art on this has been amazing, but these people are all so shitty, I’m not really going to be at all sorry to see this one wrapped up and put to bed.

WYTCHES #6 — Well, this one certainly took an ugly turn. I haven’t been that into the dad as our protagonist from the get-go. I get that Snyder’s really trying to present a fleshed-out character who’s very flawed, but the execution has just left me feeling stuck with a lead who’s kind of weak and who I’m not really rooting for at all. I’ve been more on board with this title in appreciation of the stunning Jock/Hollingsworth art, but, without spoiling the way this story pivots at the end, I am much more interested to see what the second arc of this title looks like. I pledge to continue picking it up.

TREES #9 — After killing off most of his ensemble, Ellis zooms in on Dr. Joanne Creasy, the apparent sole survivor of all of that horror that erupted off the coast of Svalbard at the end of the first arc. She’s your typical Ellis protagonist: smarter than everyone in the room but won’t take shit off of any of them. She’s compelling enough to bring us around to the next series of beats, anyway. We meet one new character, Ridley Calderwood. I wonder if there will be more new faces to become acquainted with in the issues to come. Last arc was such a well-balanced cast. There’s a kind of odd tease at the end of this issue. We burn an entire five pages on a flashback to when the trees first dropped down eleven years ago. Gorgeous Jason Howard art notwithstanding, it’s strange to use up that much real estate at this point on something that doesn’t at this time appear to move things forward. This is, of course, addressed in-dialogue in the final panel, so I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see. Jason Howard’s art is breathtaking once again, I don’t think I emphasized enough.