FF #13—Really really really good. Everything has been cranking up, building, and intertwining for so long now, you can’t it through an issue anymore without your feet getting all hurt from too much toe-crinkling. I pretty much expected the tension just to blow in #600, but all that did was up the stakes. What Byrne did was certainly a feat, but I can’t imagine anyone who was showing up for those monthlies and has still hung out doesn’t think this is the greatest this title has been since #108. The Celestials showing up is always just ominous as hell. Suddenly, the last alternate Reed is a sympathetic character? It works, just quite the hairpin curve, there. But oh, Valeria and Doom. Their relationship has come out of nowhere and stolen this book. Really, I enjoyed these last three pages as much or more than anything in the entire run, thus far. Must have been over them at least a dozen times. She doesn’t want anything to happen to him. And the silent, inscrutable reaction shot before Doom launches into surely some of his most extreme, in-character braggadocio of all time, off to face a pack of angry Celestials with only an inferior alternate Reed for a wingman and he’s still all, Doom will return shortly after this minor inconvenience, child! And next month, both books come out on the same day?!? Sweet fourth week, you have never been more thematic or lovely.
ULTIMATE COMICS ULTIMATES #5—Mm, after all the thundah from the first four issues, this one slows down the pace considerably. Like, almost to the point that I’m going to just bail and eventually pick these up cheap. Harsh, but with this at $4 and the other two Hickman FFs out the same day, I think I can make it.
BEST OF WEEK: SECRET AVENGERS #20—Magnificent. Stunning. A tour de force. It is a great tragedy that they couldn’t lock Ellis down for more than a half dozen of these, but what a brilliant run it’s been. The last two were absolute perfection and this one is somehow even better. When Captain America gets killed in the first panel of the done-in-one, without any sort of context going in other than The Black Widow is the greatest secret agent in the world, you know you’re in for a hell of a ride. Ellis dials into Natasha’s voice to the same tremendous effect as he did to Emma Frost during his ASTONISHING run. Him and the no-bullshit women, I guess. No one else in the world could pull off such a tightly focused ride, this entire 18-week trip back and forth between three eras in twenty pages. Maleev turns in his usual amazing work. My favorite was the three-panel newspaper strip comics that came right out of nowhere. Why can’t we get a syndicated Ellis/Maleev Black Widow strip? EVERYone would show up for that. And what a trick, Khronus & Kongo, in the space of a few pages, hell, a few panels, really they went from being the kind of joke at which Ennis excels to me actually getting choked up for that final sequence, there. And the understated glory of that last page. Nobody has ever, will ever, write a better Black Widow solo adventure. Brava, darling.THE MIGHTY THOR #9—I just don’t get this whole Tanarus thing. How was Karnilla able to channel the power/energy/what have you from Thor’s funeral pyre and somehow replace everyone’s memories of Odin’s firstborn with one of her double-agents? Including the Silver Surfer? Really? It’s not quite lining up for me. Ferry’s work looks beautiful, as ever. Loki steals the show again, always. Don’t want to bail out on this, but kind of need a little bit more to be happening every month.
UNCANNY X-MEN #3—I don’t know how he did it, but Gillen has made Sinister not suck. Not as much evolution as alchemy! I dug the sequence with Hope on Page Five, pitch-perfect characterization. Get in his face and say Thank You! I didn’t even notice that there were three pencilers while I was reading, so good show, all around, there. Loved the shot of The Celestials. Ah, Kirby. You’ll be keeping the lights on for a long time, your majesty.
CAPTAIN AMERICAs #5 & 6—Wow. I know McNiven got them behind, but it seems like a pretty dick move to drop two $4 singles of the same title on the same day. Bend the market until it breaks, Marvel! At least one of my brothers took that as his own true and personal jumping-off point, but I don’t want to live in a world where I don’t buy a book with Laura Martin coloring Alan Davis. Especially since it’s, what are we, seven years into Brubaker’s run? That said, Bru really seems to be coasting here. That first arc was the most decompressed-nothing-happens bit we’ve seen in this saga, enough to seriously make me consider jumping before they reeled me back in with the new art team. And really, the story’s still not pulling its weight. I hate to be so mercenary, but I buy a lot of books and it’s a simple metric. If you charge $4 suddenly, for the same or less content than before, you’ve got to be giving me 133% of the charge you were. Ellis SA does it, Bendis AVENGERS mostly does it, Hickman ULTIMATES was doing it, Fraction IRON and THOR, not so much. This is the least I’ve enjoyed the run since it started. Going to have to crank it up here, or I’m going to have to regretfully excuse myself. And no one wants that!
KICK-ASS 2 #6—I tell you what, I’ve bailed out on everything else Millar’s done (though, truthfully, I’m going to have to give the thing with Quitely at least a shot, I mean, it’s Quitely), but he’s still got me on the hook with this one, as hilariously over the top as it is. I think I really just want to see Hit-Girl cut McLovin’s head off. Her last line here is perfect.
SPACEMAN #3—This remains one of the most original books on the rack, brought to you by one of the tightest, most synergistic creative teams of all time. Azzarello nails the beats of his truncated futurespeak to perfection, making the words both understandable and plausible while singing almost like to a foreign language. And Risso, Mulvihill, Robins, these people are just supposed to be together. The action heats up as Orson makes it home with Tara, but the last page explodes the tension in this new hunkered-down status quo and will hopefully expand our ensemble and pull character dynamics in new and interesting ways in the issues to come. Great book.
AMERICAN VAMPIRE #22—Man, and don’t the hits keep coming. Snyder does a fanTAStic job of crafting new protagonists who are instantly engaging. It was great fun to find out that Travis Kidd was not yet another fanged American badass but a hunter (I guess we can’t call them slayers?). Solid narrative voice out of the gate, interesting spin on the 50s drag-racing greaser archetype, and an excellent raising of the stakes on the final page. And Albuquerque shows no signs of slowing down. Good American fun to be found right here!
THE UNWRITTEN #32.5—Whoa, I didn’t think Gross was going to be drawing any of these .5s, what a nut. Once again, I dial into a brand new story and cast just the least bit more than the adventures of Tommy Taylor and his confederates. This one inverts the back end of the Gilgamesh epic. Instead of the hero going on a quest to discover the secret of immortality from Utnapishtim in Tablets 10 and 11, the flood-hero makes his way to Uruk and possibly conjures the flood that results in his extended notoriety. As is the case with many legends, the real guy turns out to be much more of a piece of shit than the tales have it. This does have interesting implications with regard to the origins of the main narrative. Is Abaddon the Big Bad? Or Utnapishtim? I feel like I should be catching that left-hand reference. Really going to have to blast back through this whole thing in one go when they announce what the last issue’s going to be, the threads are going to line up much better than in installments.
FLASH #4—This book looks so good! You would think these guys have been working together for years. They actually did such a job keeping things moving (again, so crucial to stay true to the title) that when Barry showed up, I was a little surprised, had barely missed him. It’s cool to see something this consistently excellent on all levels live up at the top of the charts.
JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #4—I think I’m bailing after the end of this arc. Maybe if I just loved Shade things would be different, but I never read it back in the day and don’t really care about Deadman, and Constantine pulling the old Rorschach-in-Dreiberg’s-kitchen routine is not enough to keep me around, as beautiful as the art is.
SUPERMAN #4—You can definitely see Merino feeling the heat, this is quite a different style from the first two issues. And by that, I mean rushed. The story remains rock-solid early-80s ACTION COMICS fare with a pacing and feel that reminds me of Cary Bates in a good way. I’ll definitely hang out with Pérez for the next couple of months to see him close it out but then make my exit with I hope as much grace.
ALL-STAR WESTERN #4—I need to go back and read #s 1 and 2 again, because I remember they knocked me out and I can’t figure out what the last two issues haven’t been doing for me that they did. Gray/Palmiotti deliver an action-packed enough narrative and Moritat can certainly draw some pretty pictures. I don’t know. I thought the back-up was a bit better than they have been. At $4 a pop, though, this one’s on the bubble. Dun dun DUUUUUUUUN!
No comments:
Post a Comment