6/22/11

THE MIGHTY THOR #3—We live in a beautiful world in which we get monthly doses of Laura Martin coloring both THOR and FEAR ITSELF. Poor Fraction. These pages are gorgeous, Copiel and Morales delivering A-list work. I kind of thought the entire issue was going to be slugfest gotime with just Thor and the Surfer throwing down, but of course it’s better to get more. The bit with Loki and Sif played perfectly, Volstagg versus Broxton, Oklahoma was as hilarious as it ought to have been, and just the page of Galactus and the Surfer sitting on the moon justifies the four bucks all by its lonesome. Really an incredible run brewing, here.

CAPTAIN AMERICA #619—Brubaker and company bring this three-in-one “Gulag” arc to a thunderous conclusion that, as usual, does as much to launch us into the next arc as it does to resolve what’s come before. I’ve really been digging the multiple art teams drawing a few pages each from a particular character’s POV. Nice validation for the extra buck. But, man! Brubaker’s suddenly schisming himself into two books. Not cool! Marvel keeps figuring out tricky ways to get my money out of my wallet in four dollar increments. The new title makes that scene from FEAR ITSELF #3 seem not quite so dire, though.

JOHN BYRNE’S NEXT MEN #7—I suddenly understand this perfectly and it’s BYRNE, he who dropped the FF run that’s arguably still second only to Stan & Jack (though Hick and man are words it’s probably not too soon to start stringing together during this conversation), relaunched The Man of Steel when I was nine, and is the twin heartbeat to arguably the greatest supersoap-opera run in all of comics, and what this man has done is dance back and pick up one of my favoritest dangling cliffhangers from 15+ years ago and turn Volume Two into, suddenly, one of my favorite time-travel stories that I’ve read in a long time. Thrilling. To be continued.

FABLES #106—Baaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwww! Well, this will be a HUGE difference between Wednesday regulars and tradewaiters, because I was totally unprepared four weeks later for the opening scene to just roll out with the pedal all the way down on the floor and then just THAT WAS THE ARC. I mean, climax in the first six pages and then only clean-up after that, on to the next thing. Master storytellers. Like clockwork, even.

BATMAN: GATES OF GOTHAM #2—Snyder and company are doing some cool things with dynasty and legacy here, validating Loeb’s Elliot family in a way that some folks might argue is undeserved but works for me just fine. This is a nuanced tale that juxtaposes the story of the brothers who built the bridges to Gotham for the major families with the shenanigans erupting in the present with all sidekicks on deck and Dick still in the cowl, for a little longer, anyway. So many good books in the Batman staple, lately.

****
BEST OF WEEK: SUPERMAN #712—Man, I can’t believe they were just sitting on this. Because editorial was afraid that there was some potentially sketchy content re: Muslims in the story Chris Roberson originally wrote for this issue, DC shelved it and dusted off this gem that Busiek wrote during his run five years ago, drawn by Rick Leonardi. This is a Krypto solo issue dealing with his reaction to Superboy dying during INFINITE CRISIS. Well, the fact that Conner has already been resurrected does nothing to diminish the emotional power of the simple tale of a dog who misses his boy. Just some heartbreaking moments in here, folks. If you can make it all the way through without misting up just a little, I swear they’ll get you on that last page. Very very well done.